Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then lost in service with its new owners, it is only added as a loss of the original operator to avoid double listings. When the origin of a piece of equipment can't be established, it's not included in the list. The Soviet flag is used when the equipment in question was produced prior to 1991. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.
(Excerpt) Read more at oryxspioenkop.com ...
Having determined that the source, Lord Bebo might be providing false information regarding Ukraine, I then decide to ask Mr. Google about Ukrainian political scientist Alexey Buryachenko, also mentioned in comment #16,916. The Google page linked below has sources I found when I asked for information about Mr. Buryachenko. It seems he is connected with information some for today indicating that President Trump has been pushing the Immigration issue to hid his failure with regard to the Ukraine situation:
One of these sources was “News-Pravda.com” Anyone who has been observing Russia knows Pravda is an official Moscow news source, thus very likely to purvey false information for propaganda purposes. I suspect Putin is very angry President Trump has not swallowed his bull fertilizer. Anyone who has been paying attention to American politics for a while KNOWS immigration was an important Trump issue, before he ever started talking much about Ukraine and this mislabeled WAR started by Russia. I believe our President has wisely declined to waste his time on a person who wastes his people’s lives in a useless war. If others continue their strong support for Ukraine, Putin will likely lose and shorten his own life span. Trump no doubt understands this is a life and death decision for Putin. Therefore Trump will let Putin simmer in his own juices until his war finishes cooking. Ukraine is already scorched, the question is whether Russia will end badly charred, with no fame and glory for Putin, but rather endless infamey.
You are right, “There is no money”. Russia has also suffered other losses to their far east Russian naval hopes. A ship carrying important heavy equipment for either a submarine or heavy Arctic ice cutting ship or perhaps both, sank in the Mediterranian last year. After leaving the Baltic Sea, it suffered heavy Atlantic storms while traveling to the Suez Canal. and failed completely while in the Mediterranian Sea. This loss will also set back Russian plans even if they can find or make replacement parts lost when this ship sand.
It was reported this ship was also carrying heavy cranes perhaps for use in a new Russian home in Libya, or even Sudan, after Syria became a no longer friendly home. It must suck to be Putin with all this bad news.
That 47 does not wade in with full support for Ukraine is a travesty of what America has stood for since it began. Worse, 47 still seems to blame Ukraine for starting the war.
CIA offices on Observatory Hill in Washington. Some three-quarters of the CIA agents stationed in Europe as part of Operation Red Sox were killed immediately or captured and tortured. | N/A/OSS Society
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, American authorities realized that their insight into their former allies in the Soviet Union was severely restricted.
This dearth of information stemmed from two primary, related reasons. The first was the lack of any kind of structured intelligence apparatus in the U.S., remedied by the formation of the CIA in 1947. But the second was even more concerning: the lack of contacts inside the Soviet Union, especially in the regions pushing back against Moscow’s rule. And it was that latter issue that only became more salient as the Kremlin began seizing and strangling conquered countries and annexing regions in Europe, including a chunk of Ukraine previously outside Moscow’s grip.
In Washington, the newly formed CIA floated a potential solution. American agents would scour displaced-persons camps across Europe in search of exiles they could train and then secretly smuggle back into the Soviet Union. They would use them to both gather intelligence and link up with other anti-Soviet movements. But some CIA higher-ups wondered why they should stop there. What if the U.S. could also arm these returned figures, and potentially fracture the Soviet Union?
The plan had a couple of things going for it. As one of the few scholarly examinations of the operation detailed, “At the time, Soviet air defenses were terribly unorganized, allowing U.S. planes to violate their airspace with near total impunity.” Moreover, as American handlers saw it, these trainees were hardly landing in a vacuum. If anything, they were effectively jumping into a wildfire: a warzone pitting Ukrainian nationalists against the Soviet authorities trying to hold on to Moscow’s colonial empire. And those Ukrainian nationalists appeared to be winning. For the first time in decades, Ukrainian independence appeared within reach, a message the Americans were happy to reinforce. “The Ukrainian organization offers unusual opportunities for penetration of the USSR, and assisting in the development of underground movements behind the Iron Curtain,” one declassified CIA document from the time reads. And if they could succeed, “ultimately an operational base may be established in… Ukraine.”
Pedestrians in Red Square, Moscow, November 1959. After the Second World War, U.S. authorities became concerned about their lack of contacts inside the Soviet Union. | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The emigres “were being told that all was in the service of liberation, of overthrowing the communist regimes,” Scott Anderson wrote in The Quiet Americans, a book on the early history of the CIA. “That message was reinforced by the constant drumbeat of rhetoric now emanating out of Washington.”
Still, the plan did receive pushback from certain quarters in Washington. As the acting chief of the CIA’s Special Projects Division for Soviet operations wrote in 1947, the U.S. had to “face the fact that in the long run operations using the Ukrainians as an organized group will probably turn out to be worthless — simply because without political support the Ukrainian nationalist groups will be decimated by Soviet pressure and demoralization.” But in those early days of the Cold War, the CIA was looking for an early intelligence success that it could expand elsewhere, especially as relations between Washington and Moscow entered a tailspin during the late 1940s.
By September 1949, the operation was ready, and the first flights launched. Ukrainian commandos successfully crossed into Soviet airspace, touching down in western Ukraine, in heart of the Ukrainian resistance to Soviet occupation. And at first, everything appeared to go well. Messages relayed back to American handlers, via new electronic equipment smuggled behind Soviet lines, talked of operational success. Optimism continued to grow as month after month, drop after drop, the same rosy messages came back.
Yet, back in Washington, concerns started to grow. On the one hand, there was the reality of who these Ukrainian emigres were actually linking up with. The main body of Ukrainian insurgents, and in particular the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, had already been linked directly to Nazi atrocities in the region. “They were Nazis, pure and simple,” one CIA operations chief said. “Worse than that, because a lot of them did the Nazis’ dirty work for them.”
Beyond those concerns about enabling fascists, there was also increased understanding of how the Soviet secret police and counter-intelligence operations actually worked — and how little success an operation like Red Sox would likely have in a place like the USSR.
“You’re sending people into these Soviet-controlled areas — Poland or Ukraine or wherever — with the idea that they’re going to start resistance groups or meet up with the ones already there,” one CIA station chief remembered. “But it’s impossible that these resistance groups can exist under the Soviet security system…. It’s a dream. It can’t work. You’re just sending people to their deaths.” If anything, Anderson added, those supposed anti-Soviet resistance groups the CIA thought it was helping support were, in reality, “catchment basins in which the regimes’ enemies, both internal and external, could be concentrated and safely confined until the state was ready to scoop them up.”
Military equipment at May Day Parades in Moscow. The anti-Soviet resistance groups the CIA thought it was helping support were, in reality, "catchment basins" for the Soviet regime's enemies. | National Security Archive
All of which was precisely what happened, up and down the region. It was a reality that took the U.S. years to catch on to. In Russia, agents parachuted in only to promptly disappear. In Poland, trained agents suddenly appeared on state radio claiming they’d engaged in “criminal, anti-Polish activity,” all on behalf of a completely fabricated Polish nationalist group. In Latvia, in Lithuania, in Estonia: all of the supposed resistance groups were “either hoaxes or thoroughly controlled by the KGB,” Anderson wrote. Over and again, Soviet intelligence had conned the gullible Americans, sending the exiles directly to their death or imprisonment.
But it was in Ukraine that the Americans saw arguably their most embarrassing fiasco. To be sure, there had been a veritable resistance movement in the region immediately after the war. But by the time the Americans launched their operation, the resistance had already been effectively decimated, hobbled by KGB penetration and an unrelenting Soviet pursuit. The Americans, however, had no idea. “Buoyed by Soviet disinformation,” Anderson noted, the CIA continued sending dozens and dozens of operatives into the region, even through the mid-1950s. Instead of sparking rebellion, some three-quarters of the trained agents simply disappeared into the Soviet maw. “Many of the agents were not on the ground for more than a few hours before they were arrested and shot,” one later analysis found. Without the U.S. even realizing it, Moscow had dismantled one of America’s most significant covert operations across Europe.
Generations later, it remains unclear how, exactly, the Soviets penetrated the program. It remains possible that arch-spy Kim Philby betrayed the program, just as he’d done with similar covert operations in Albania. Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: the mission was a manifest disaster. As one CIA historian summed it up, “In the long run, the Agency’s efforts to penetrate the Iron Curtain using Ukrainian agents was ill-fated and tragic.”
Now, nearly 75 years later, Ukraine burns once again. With Russia’s invasion dragging into its third month, eyes have begun turning to what may come next. It’s clear by now that there’s no returning to status quo ante. Despite Ukraine’s remarkable showing thus far, it appears that a new dividing line will sever part of the country yet again. A new Iron Curtain has already descended. All that remains is to discern the actual dividing line.
All of which means that the U.S. will need to formulate new strategy regarding not just Ukraine, but Russia writ large. We already see the contours of a new policy taking shape, including blanket sanctions designed to degrade Russia’s expansionism and ongoing armed support for Ukraine. But those are mere tactics aimed at short-term gains, with a broader strategy yet to take shape (despite Biden’s ad-lib comments about Putin’s removal). Additionally, even as Ukraine girds to reclaim the territory Russia’s occupied, it’s unclear whether, or how, the U.S. will support the entire effort — or if Washington will do all it can to aid Kyiv’s potential assault on Crimea.
Which brings us back to that first Ukrainian mission, decades ago. Because that was an operation whose lessons have apparently been forgotten in Washington. As Lindsay O’Rourke noted in Foreign Affairs earlier this year, “out of 35 U.S. attempts to covertly arm foreign dissidents during the Cold War, only four succeeded in bringing U.S. allies to power.” Washington’s aid for Ukraine this time around is hardly covert; just last month, the White House requested some $33 billion in military aid to Kyiv. But much of Ukraine’s territory remains occupied by Russia outright and Ukrainian partisans are now beginning to emerge behind enemy lines.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that the US aims to weaken Russia so much that it can't attempt a military incursion like the one in Ukraine again.
"We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country able to protect its sovereign territory," Austin told reporters in Poland on Monday.
"We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine."
Austin made the remarks a day after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The meeting was the highest-level American visit to Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24.
Austin's comments also reflect the strongest position the Pentagon has taken on the conflict so far.
Russian forces launched a new offensive in eastern Ukraine earlier this month after failing to take control of the capital, Kyiv. It announced last week that its goal was to conquer the country's eastern and southern regions — an apparent scaling back of its initial initiatives, which included full demilitarization of Ukraine.
Russian forces continue to struggle in the face of a staunch Ukrainian resistance that continues to receive more heavy weaponry from Western allies. An unnamed senior US defense official said last week that Ukraine, which has both received military vehicles from allies and destroyed Russian ones throughout the invasion, currently has more tanks on the ground than Russia.
Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy over the weekend that the US would provide Ukraine with more than $300 million in foreign military financing and had already approved a $165 million sale of ammunition, the Associated Press reported.
In an official statement on Monday, Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for President Joe Biden's support, saying he would like to thank him "for his personal clear position."
“That 47 does not wade in with full support for Ukraine”...
...is finally getting Europe to pay their fair share for Defense, after decades of free riding, and failing to develop their own ability to fight tyrants like Russia, who are on the march.
Europe must step up, and they needed a big boot in their butt to get moving.
"We are the ones that won the war [World War II].
Now Russia did help, they lost 51 million people.
They [Russia] lost 51 million people, we can't forget that," - President Trump, commenting on the approximately 27 million Russian casualties.
pic.twitter.com/ZaoqdFhAHD— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) June 9, 2025
It's too late. The EU is more concerned with Pride parades than defense.
Europe must step up.
In about two weeks at this year’s NATO Summit, NATO is expected to approve a new level of Defense spending.
From the current 2% of GDP, up to 5% of GDP.
Based on last year’s GDP of NATO countries, that would add an additional $1.6 Trillion in Defense spending per year (over ten times Russia’s Defense budget).
Russia is doomed, because of Putin.
Russian fighter jets hit on the ground, deep inside Russia.
Kyiv Independent reports:
“A Ukrainian strike allegedly damaged two Russian military aircraft — a MiG-31 and either a Su-30 or Su-34 fighter jet — at an airfield used to launch Kinzhal missile attacks, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on May 9.
The extent of the damage is still being assessed, the military said.
Ukraine’s overnight strike targeted the Savasleyka airfield in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, which the Kremlin uses to launch MiG-31K jets armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, according to the General Staff.
The operation was conducted by Ukrainian Special Operations Forces in coordination with other units.”
Trump is restrained from imposing the Bone Crushing Sanctions, until the EU gets itself out of the line of fire, and stops buying Russian oil products, LNG and uranium.
OilPrice.com reports:
“Senior Washington-based legal sources who work closely with the White House exclusively told OilPrice.com last week, that the Presidential Administration is “closer than ever” to imposing at least some of the “devastating measures” on Russia that Trump mentioned recently.
A key point to note is that although the sanctions element of these measures could be imposed at any time independently by the U.S., they are in reality likely to complement the new sanctions measures being rolled out by the European Union (E.U.)...
...Dovetailing at least in part to these (past EU sanctions) measures, the new U.S. sanctions would also involve additional targeting of vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet and firms associated with that trade, according to the Washington sources. “The number of vessels sanctioned would be increased big time, and so would the number of associated [Russian] oil and gas companies beyond Gazpromneft and Surgutneftegas that were sanctioned earlier this year,” said one of the Washington-based sources last week...
...Much more is to come from both the U.S. and Europe – again, with several key measures being similar. In Europe’s case, according to a senior source in the E.U.’s energy security complex exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com recently, further measures are going to be taken to tighten up the monitoring of the Russian System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), which was established to act as an alternative to the international SWIFT payment system. In its earlier 16th sanctions package, the E.U. imposed a ban on all SPFS transactions that occur outside Russia itself and imposed multiple sanctions on neighboring Belarus as a broader signal of its intentions to allies and potential allies of Russia.
Additionally, the E.U. will focus on a likely reduction in the current US$60 per barrel (pb) price cap on Russian oil. Premium products are capped at US$100 pb, and discounted products at US$45 pb. President Trump has been reluctant to do the same so far, fearing that it might threaten some part of the U.S.’s own oil industry, but according to the Washington sources, he appears less against the idea now. In its next package of sanctions, the E.U. is also looking at expanding sanctions relating to gas pipelines, banks, and payment networks and mechanisms not just relating directly to Russia but involved in any way connected to it...
...Many of these measures also tie in with dramatically increased surveillance by the E.U. included in its last – and next planned – package of sanctions. This is seen very clearly in the E.U.’s 6 May roadmap to phase out Russian energy imports completely by the end of 2027, which features enormously improved mechanisms to improve the transparency, monitoring and traceability of Russian gas and oil across the E.U. markets. New contracts with suppliers of Russian gas will be prevented and spot contracts will be stopped by the end of this year. Another part will increasingly restrict new supply contracts co-signed by the Euratom Supply Agency for uranium, enriched uranium and other nuclear materials deriving from Russia.
The U.S.’s ‘Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025’ (Bone Crushing Sanctions) also echoes this policy, with Washington threatening the imposition of tariffs of at least 500% on imports from any country that: “Knowingly sells, supplies, transfers, or purchases oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum products, or petrochemical products that originated in the Russian Federation”.
This close practical co-ordination between the U.S. and its allies in Europe and elsewhere is unsurprising, given that the aims of these sanctions are twofold now, according to the Washington sources: “First, it is to end the war in Ukraine once and for all, and second to erase any idea in Putin’s head that he can win any further conflict in Europe”.
Even Canada?
That Putin really is a persuasive salesman.
Kyiv Independent reports:
Canada will reach NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP this year, five years ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on June 9...
...Carney said Canada’s current military capabilities are inadequate, noting that only one of four submarines is operational and much of the maritime and land fleet is outdated.
To reverse this trend, his government is launching a $6.8 (9.3 billion Canadian dollars) boost to the defense budget for 2025-26. The investment will be tabled in Parliament through supplementary estimates and directed toward rebuilding the Canadian Armed Forces, upgrading equipment, and expanding domestic production capabilities.
The Kremlin appears to be dangling the prospect of bilateral arms control talks with the United States to extract preemptive concessions from the United States about the war in Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded on June 9 to a question about Russia ending its moratorium on the deployment of land-based missiles prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by claiming that Russia retains “freedom of action” - mirroring Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov's June 7 claim that Russia's “unilateral moratorium” on the deployment of such missiles is nearing its “logical conclusion.”[13] Ryabkov claimed on June 9 that Russia and United States need a “reliable ... military-political foundation” in order to resume arms control talks and that the United States must be willing to respect Russia's “fundamental interests” in order to normalize bilateral relations.[14] Ryabkov claimed that the United States’ actions regarding the war in Ukraine could demonstrate the seriousness of the United States’ intentions to improve relations with Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov further claimed on June 9 that Russia will be ready to resume strategic stability talks with the United States when the discussions will be on equal footing.[15] Kremlin officials appear to be asserting that Russia's willingness to engage in arms control talks with the United States in the future is contingent on Russia gaining preemptive concessions from the United States about the war in Ukraine. Russia notably violated the INF Treaty by developing, testing, and deploying intermediate-range missiles, leading the United States to suspend its participation in the treaty in February 2019.[16] ISW assessed in early 2025 that Russia was using economic incentives that are unrelated to the war in Ukraine to extract concessions from the United States about the war in Ukraine, and Russia's use of incentives related to arms control talks appear to be the latest iteration of this overall effort.[17]
Western security officials continue to assess that Russia is preparing for a protracted confrontation with NATO. NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte stated on June 9 that intelligence assesses that Russia will produce 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and 200 Iskander missiles in 2025.[18] It is unclear whether these vehicle production assessments are only referring to Russia's production of new vehicles or also include vehicles from Russia's Soviet-era stockpiles that Russia is refurbishing. Rutte stated that Russia is cooperating with the People's Republic of China (PRC), North Korea, and Iran and that Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology. Rutte announced that NATO states’ defense ministers agreed on June 5 to increase air and missile defense spending by 400 percent in order to protect against large-scale drone and missile strikes like those that Russia is launching against Ukraine. Rutte also stated that Russia could be capable of launching military operations against NATO within five years. ISW assesses that Russia does not need to reconstitute its forces to pre-2022 levels before posing a threat to NATO states and could launch military operations against a NATO state before 2030.
Russian forces conducted the largest combined missile and drone strike of the war overnight on June 8 and 9. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 499 projectiles, including 479 Shahed and decoy drones from the directions of Kursk and Oryol cities; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; Shatalovo, Smolensk Oblast; and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai.[19] The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces also launched four Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” aeroballistic missiles from Tambov Oblast; 10 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Saratov Oblast; three Kh-22 cruise missiles and two Kh-31P anti-radar missiles from airspace over the Black Sea; and one Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missile from occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces shot down 277 Shahed and decoy drones and that 183 drones “lost” or suppressed by Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) systems. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces shot down all 10 Kh-101 cruise missiles, all four Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles, two Kh-22 cruise missiles, both of the Kh-31P anti-radar missiles, and the one Kh-35 cruise missile. Ukrainian officials reported that the Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kyiv, Rivne, and Volyn oblasts, damaging civilian infrastructure.[20]
Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Colonel Yurii Ihnat stated on June 9 that Russian forces continue to adapt their strike packages against Ukraine, using large numbers of drones to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense systems and distract from subsequent cruise and ballistic missile launches.[21] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that the June 8 to 9 strike series was part of Russia's response to Ukraine's ”Operation Spider Web” long-range drone strike series against Russian air bases on June 1.[22] ISW has notably observed a significant increase in the scale of Russia's drone and missile strike packages against Ukraine prior to ”Operation Spider Web.”[23]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-9-2025
A 22-count indictment was unsealed today charging Iurii Gugnin, also known as Iurii Mashukov and George Goognin, 38, a resident of New York and citizen of Russia, with various offenses related to using his cryptocurrency company Evita to funnel more than $500 million of overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions.
According to court documents, Gugnin is charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program, failing to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and related conspiracy charges. Gugnin was arrested and arraigned today in New York.
Gugnin’s cryptocurrency company allegedly served as a front to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for sanctioned Russian entities and to obtain export-controlled technology for the Russian government,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. “Let this serve notice that using cryptocurrency to hide illegal conduct will not prevent the FBI and our partners from holding you accountable.”
During a recent visit to the DPRK, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu discussed with Kim Jong-un issues of increasing mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries. In particular, the DPRK leader highly praised the technological level of the Russian army and expressed interest in our kamikaze drones.
“Kim wants to teach some of his military to fly FPV. This is too progressive for them, but such a wish was voiced and conveyed to the president,” said a source familiar with the negotiations. So far, there has been no decision on this issue.
Shoigu also agreed on the delivery of a new batch of shells and missiles from the DPRK, but we will not go into details here.
https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/5778
Russia Giving North Korea Shahed-136 Attack Drone Production Capability
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3328416/posts?page=104#104
First of all, more information became available about the aftermath of the night operation that was conducted last time, when 4 Ukrainian soldiers, without incurring losses, managed to repel a mechanized Russian assault with 3 armored vehicles and two dozen soldiers.
According to Russian sources, Russian forces managed to retain a foothold in the village by organizing a defensive position around the local school. However, Ukrainian fighters released several videos that suggest otherwise.
In the first video, a Ukrainian soldier is walking past one of the armored vehicles destroyed during the attack, and judging by the fact that they are walking slowly and not trying to hide, Russian forces are not present in the area.
Another video shows how a Ukrainian unit entered the school building, confirming that Russian forces were pushed out of these positions and lost the foothold inside the village.
This prompted many Russian sources to update their assessment of the situation and state that the Ukrainian Army recovered all the lost positions in the settlement, with some even claiming that Ukrainians also reestablished control over the southern trenches.
Russian soldiers complained that they struggled to clear seized Ukrainian trenches due to Ukrainian mines and struggled to establish a foothold in the houses because of the destruction that the Russian artillery inflicted on the settlement.
Shortly after the Ukrainians consolidated control of the retaken positions, Russian forces start everything from scratch.
The Russian command understood that the sudden mechanized attack did not pay off, and as Ukrainian reinforcements arrived in the region, catching Ukrainians off guard for the 2nd time would be extremely unlikely, which is why Russians launched extensive artillery preparation.
Russian sources published footage of artillery strikes showing Russia’s attempts to identify and destroy Ukrainian firing points.
Notably, Russian forces did not stop there, and launched bombardments of the tree lines behind Robotyne. This is because Russians could see that there is no way to keep lots of soldiers inside the village, meaning that Ukrainians logically accumulated their reserves outside the village.
However, Ukrainian forces did not passively let Russians conduct their firing missions, and they launched counterbattery fire to undermine the Russian artillery preparation. Russian analysts admit that, so far, the Ukrainian counterbattery fire is very effective, thanks to HIMARS.
Combat footage shows how Ukrainians hunted down a lot of Russian artillery systems. The most valuable targets became 3 Russian Uragan long-range multiple-launch rocket systems. Other footage shows the destruction of howitzers, such as MSTA-S and Gvozdika.
In order to amplify artillery fire, Russian forces also deployed a number of tank crews, whose job was to approach the village from the east and strike potential Ukrainian firing points with high-explosive shells. Ukrainians quickly adjusted, and the subsequent raids were prevented by Ukrainian drone crews that destroyed Russian T-80 tanks.
When the artillery preparation was completed, Russian forces launched a new wave of attacks. At first, many Russian assault units used a variation of the same tactic and tried to send between 1 and 3 armored fighting vehicles carrying approximately 10 soldiers each. Ukrainian fighters from the 180th artillery brigade released footage of the aftermath of one of such assaults.
Another video shows how an armored vehicle got immobilized by artillery and was left burning near the shell crater, until the detonation of the ammo. Some Russian soldiers were spotted hiding under the remnants of the destroyed vehicles in hopes of being evacuated, but most of them were detected and destroyed.
Russian forces reported that, with the arrival of reinforcements, Ukrainians were able to assume a more active stance and started meeting Russian attacking forces by attacking them. Many sources reported ongoing meeting engagements, which allowed the stabilization of the situation.
A fighter from the 24th Battalion reported that Russian forces developed a new tactic and started using quad bikes instead of armored fighting vehicles.
The main idea behind this tactic is that quad bikes are significantly more mobile and smaller than traditional armored fighting vehicles. Since Ukrainians assumed a more active stance, it became harder for Russians to reach the village on heavy equipment.
However, quad bikes are capable of carrying only up to three people, reducing the size of the assault units. Quad bikes also do not protect Russian soldiers from mines, and Russian soldiers cannot use them as cover from Ukrainian fire.
The high mobility of the vehicles did not pay off, and according to Ukrainian soldiers, all assault units were liquidated on the approaches to the village.
Overall, Russian forces struggled to establish a foothold in the village because they lost the element of surprise, and now Ukrainians deployed their reserves and conducted counterattacks.
The Institute for the Study of War assessed the situation and concluded that Ukrainian forces are effectively employing the tactic of maneuver defense. Based on the recent developments, such actions successfully slowed the pace of the Russian offensive effort and minimized the scale of attempted advances.https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
Lavrov has a serious conflict with Shoigu over Indian “legionnaires”
The Indian military in the ranks of the Russian Army has become the subject of serious tension between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
The fact is that Sergei Lavrov, on the verge of hysteria, demands that the Ministry of Defense do everything so that the Indians return home, but Sergei Shoigu is against it.
“It’s no secret that there are a lot of foreigners fighting in the Northern Military District zone. And not only from neighboring countries, but also Africans, Asians, Brazilians, and so on. There were problems with the Nepalese publicly, but many other countries also contacted us about the participation of their citizens in the war,” explained a source in the Foreign Ministry.
He emphasized that by sending Indians to their homeland, Russia will have several problems at once: already attracted foreigners may also want to break contracts, and it will be more difficult to get new recruits.
However, interlocutors in military circles hint that Shoigu’s position is categorical for another reason. The refusal to return Indian citizens is due to **the fact that the real number of deaths in the NWO zone is significantly higher than official statistics say**. At least 53 Indian citizens have been unofficially confirmed dead, and at least a 100 more were injured.
Moreover, the unpreparedness of Indian legionnaires for specific conditions has led to the fact that cases of “hazing” have been recorded.
One of the commanders told us that not far from Avdiivka, 3 Indians, as a result of a conflict with the command, were raped in front of 7 more foreigners. The victims had a hard time with the incident; one of them tried to shoot his colleagues, but in the end was severely beaten.
Now the military command faces a dilemma - if they return the Indians home, there is a risk that they will repeat the story of the Serb Dejan Beric and tell the press about everything. If you don’t return it, relations with strategic partners will deteriorate, which Lavrov does not want to allow.
This problem has reached the Kremlin, but who and how will solve it is still unclear.
it is to end the war in Ukraine once and for all, and second to erase any idea in Putin’s head that he can win any further conflict in Europe”.
—
Short of a complete military defeat, sanctions will not achieve either goal. Putin if he has to will march his entire population on foot from the Far East to Ukraine and tale all of Europe - if half of them die in the process, it would be acceptable to him.
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