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 ...
General SVR
https://t.me/s/generalsvr
While a man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin with a puffy face and breathing heavily was talking with the winners of the Leaders of Russia management competition, the real leadership of the country was busy with much more important matters.
Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev held a meeting via video link with representatives of the leadership of the security and military blocs.
We discussed many issues in the field of security, such as: strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with unmanned aerial vehicles on oil refining facilities, energy infrastructure facilities, sabotage with the undermining of bridges, power lines, arson of industrial and commercial facilities, invasion of Russian territory by sabotage groups, and so on.
On the eve of the presidential elections, all this, according to the Secretary of the Security Council, creates an unpleasant background, and most importantly, the results of work to counter all the above-mentioned problems are not visible.
Throughout the entire meeting, Patrushev was tense, interrupting the speakers, harshly identifying those responsible for the “omissions,” and threatening to take action. Nikolai Platonovich relied on regular promises from the leadership of the military and security blocs to ensure a “normal” situation before the presidential elections, but the situation is only getting worse.
As a result, the Secretary of the Security Council demanded that each of the meeting participants provide detailed plans for the implementation of measures that would significantly affect the “enemy’s” ability to commit any sabotage on Russian territory. Having puzzled his colleagues, Nikolai Patrushev closed the meeting.
Yesterday evening, the Secretary of the Security Council received a report on the preparation of new exercises to block instant messengers, social networks and YouTube video hosting.
As the authors of the report assure, past mistakes have been taken into account and corrected, and methods and technologies have been improved and refined. New exercises are proposed to be held at the end of March - beginning of April. Patrushev agreed with this proposal and allowed the next exercise to be held.
Plunging Russia into the Middle Ages is the main task of the current Russian leadership.
Without having to find out details about many of these interventions, which I don’t know, Iran 1953, Chile 1973 (Well, actually, I believe the American involvement in overthrowing that commie Allende was marginal at best, it was mostly a domestic affair.) and Grenada 1983 come to mind. I believe many more were equally good, but I would have to find out who was overthrown.
Some of the items on the list seem strange, for example Bulgaria 1990 and Albania 1991, as in these cases the Bulgarians and the Albanians themselves overthrew their Communist governments.
Some of these were inevitable even if they didn’t turn out well eventually. The Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to have its training camps in Afghanistan. After 9/11 they simply had to be overthrown.
Iraq 1991 was primarily an operation to liberate Kuwait, the coalition troops didn’t try to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
“Iraq 1991 was primarily an operation to liberate Kuwait, the coalition troops didn’t try to overthrow Saddam Hussein.”
Bush encouraged Iraqis overthrow Saddam, but we didn’t help. That’s one reason why Iraqis were so mad at the US when we later tried to make it up with Iraqi Freedom.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/remembering-iraqi-uprising-twenty-five-years-ago
41 to go.
“The discharge petition to bring the bill that already passed Senate, which provides for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, to the floor for a vote, has now collected 177 signatures.”
Anyone seen Geronimo?
“Where is Gerasimov? Well, he is reportedly dismissed as Chief of the Russian General Staff. According to Russian media, Lieutenant General Viktor Poznihir will temporarily perform the duties of the Chief of the General Staff.
The question remains. Where is Gerasimov?”
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767906506681340139
WSJ:
“One of the drone attacks hit a large refinery operated by Lukoil, Russia’s second-biggest oil company, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, some 600 miles from the Ukrainian border. The strike caused a fire that spread thick black smoke over the morning sky, according to local authorities and images on social media.
Another drone hit near the town of Kirishi not far from St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, and home to a large refinery. A third attack struck oil-storage tanks in Oryol, a region near the Ukrainian border, authorities said...
...Ukrainian attacks have caused damage severe enough to prompt monthslong repairs and required Russia to ban gasoline exports to preserve domestic supply...
...The disruption to Russia’s exports of valuable fuels has contributed to a recent rise in global diesel and gasoline prices, while crude prices have remained relatively stable.
The impact on Russia’s military fuel supply is difficult to estimate...
...“Oil refineries are unbelievably vulnerable,” said Mikhail Krutikhin, an independent Russian energy analyst. “Ukrainian drone attacks can be very efficient, and they will certainly be continued and expanded.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday it had intercepted some 25 drones in various regions. Later Tuesday, the ministry said it had shot down several Ukrainian drones that took part in an attack in the Kursk region near Russia’s border with Ukraine. In the Oryol region oil-depot attack, the fire spread and local authorities had to evacuate 17 people from nearby buildings, local authorities said.
Russian refineries were built to provide protection against catastrophic damage. The plants were mostly designed according to Soviet construction codes that require them to be spread out across up to 60 process units, according to JPMorgan Chase strategist Natasha Kaneva. This builds in resilience against traditional air bombing.
Lukoil’s Nizhny Novgorod plant, which was struck on Tuesday, had already lowered throughput earlier this year because of unspecified incidents at a gasoline-producing unit in January. The reduction boosted domestic Russian gasoline prices, which, in turn, prompted the government to institute the ban on exports of the road fuel for six months from this month.
A full repair of such facilities would usually take no more than a couple of months. But sanctions have tightened Moscow’s access to Western parts, on which much of Russia’s energy industry has been built over the past few decades.
Russia has been able to source some Western parts via third countries but the process is complicated and slow, especially for specialized parts needed for oil-and-gas facilities. Russian and Chinese equivalents, meanwhile, are sometimes incompatible.
“With a bit of luck, [Kyiv’s drones] can damage not just pipelines, but also compressors, valves, control units, and other pieces of equipment that are tricky to replace because of sanctions,” Sergey Vakulenko, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and a former Russian energy executive, wrote in a recent analysis.
“You can’t replace a faulty clutch in a BMW with a similar part from a Russian-made Lada, the same applies in industry. And ‘making do’ with what’s available creates a host of knock-on problems,” he wrote.
In Russia, domestic-fuel supplies are a particularly sensitive issue for the government and oil companies in the run-up to presidential elections this month. Inflation is already running above 7%.
A fuel crisis last year showed how Russia—despite ranking as one of the top petroleum exporters—is vulnerable to shortages on the home front. A surge in prices led to a ban on diesel and gasoline exports in the early fall.”
“SpaceX is hoping to launch its first Starship test of 2024 as early as Thursday (March 14) in what it hopes will be a historic orbital flight of the world’s biggest rocket, and if you need to know when to watch it online, you’re in the right place.
While SpaceX has yet to receive final approval and a launch license for its next Starship launch from the Federal Aviation Administration, the company has said it is targeting no earlier than March 14 for the launch from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. The company has set up a livestream on X (formerly Twitter) that begins Thursday at 7:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT). Since SpaceX has said the webcast would start 30 minutes before launch, that would peg the launch for 8 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) on March 14. “
OT:
SpaceX’s Ship 29 & Booster 10 are ready for Flight 3
Wet Dress Rehearsal: Fuel loading test of >10,000,000 lbs (4,600 metric tons) took only >40 minutes for both booster and ship, or almost 2 tons/sec. Falcon 9 takes 35 minutes to load 488mt. Count down pushed to T minus 10 sec.
Possible Launch on Pie (π) Day March 14th - tomorrow! (if all licenses and permits are approved)
If all goes well, they will try opening &closing the payload bay door, relighting a Raptor engine in space, doing a propellant transfer.
Splash down in the Indian Ocean.
Kremlin snuff box
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
Putin again spoke about negotiations on Ukraine. There are two serious reasons
It was not for nothing that Vladimir Putin in an interview returned to the topic of negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis with Dmitry Kiselev. Several sources in the Kremlin told us about this.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich beautifully poked Zelensky and other representatives of the Kiev regime into their problems ( Ed: remembering in an interview about “the use of psychotropic drugs and a nose in cocaine,” https://t.me/rian_ru/235173 ). But we also have difficulties, and because of this the President is talking about negotiations,” said one of our interlocutors.
First, the military asked Putin to make a statement about the negotiations. “There is a threat of NATO troops entering Ukraine ( Ed: we wrote about what the military fears in this regard: https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/3674). We, of course, can talk about a nuclear war, but the situation in the area where the Northern Military District is held could become tragic in the event of direct NATO intervention; there is a threat that we will lose our advantage and initiative at the front.
Plus, the Americans are helping Ukraine again ( Ed: by the way, we warned about this: https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/3710 ). The possibility of our direct war with the West, which is constantly becoming more impudent, has not gone away. Therefore, we need to hurry to at least temporarily stop the SVO on our terms. And just, I’ll be honest, gain strength,” another source said.
Secondly, according to an interlocutor from Sergei Kiriyenko’s team, what is happening now is very unpleasant on the eve of the Presidential elections. “Ukraine continues its terrorist attacks, drone strikes, and saboteur attacks ( https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/3756). Let’s be honest, we cannot completely protect the population from them. Therefore, Vladimir Vladimirovich’s words sound logical and correct,” he believes.
It is getting hard to keep track of all the drone strikes, and the damage inflicted on Russian refineries. The pace has accelerated sharply the last two nights.
Kyiv Independent on last night’s drone attacks on Russian refineries (second night in a row setting another new record in the number of drones):
“Certain “technological facilities” of the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov Oblast have shut down after an overnight drone attack, Rostov Oblast Governor Vasiliy Golubev said on Telegram on March 13.
Russian officials have claimed an uptick in the intensity of drone attacks in recent days, with alleged attacks on oil refineries reported in Ryazan Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, and the city of Oryol.
The Novoshakhtinsk refinery is situated close to the border with partially Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, around 200 kilometers (124 miles) behind the front line.
Golubev claimed earlier on March 13 that three drones had been destroyed on approach to the refinery in the early morning.
The governor published a later update that a drone had fallen onto the territory of the Novoshakhtinsk refinery. There were no casualties, but certain “technological facilities” of the refinery had been shut down, Golubev claimed.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that Ukraine’s military intelligence agency was responsible for the attack, citing a source in the agency who said the attack was part of a pre-planned and ongoing operation.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 65 drones had been downed overnight and on the morning of March 13.”
“The discharge petition to bring the bill that already passed Senate, which provides for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, to the floor for a vote, has now collected 177 signatures.” (41 to go)
I am really rooting for the Ukraine (and Israel and Taiwan) aid to pass. It is enough to make a sea change on the battlefield.
I guess that 5 Republicans would be needed for the discharge petition, if every Dem voted for it, but some Dems will likely oppose the aid for Israel.
I hadn't considered that possibility. I was assuming an uncontained engine failure, which is pretty uncommon. A single engine failure (contained) wouldn't have brought down the four engine Il-76, so there was more extensive damage, consistent with a missile hit or an uncontained engine failure. Friendly fire is certainly a possibility.
Armenia may be leaving the Russian bloc (CSTO), and eyeing joining the Better Bloc (NATO). French President Macron has reportedly been working on this switch.
ISW reports (12 March):
“Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia would leave the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) if the CSTO fails to meet certain Armenian expectations, as Armenia continues to distance itself from Russian security relations.
Pashinyan stated on March 12 that the CSTO must clarify its “zone of responsibility” in Armenia and pledge to defend Armenia against foreign aggression, likely referencing Article 4 of the CSTO Treaty that parallels Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and states that aggression against one CSTO member state is aggression against all member states...
...Pashinyan expanded on his February 22 statement that Armenia “essentially” froze its CSTO membership and explained that Armenia does not participate in CSTO sessions, does not have a permanent representative in the CSTO, did not appoint a CSTO Deputy Secretary General, and does not express opinions on documents circulating in the CSTO. CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov stated on March 12 that Armenia has not recently participated in that CSTO secretariat, but that Armenia has not made any official statements about its suspension of CSTO membership.
Pashinyan also stated on March 12 that Russian border guards will leave Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan by August 1, 2024, following a March 6 announcement that Armenia officially informed Russia that “only Armenian border guards” should perform duties at the Zvartnots Airport. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on March 12 that Russia received Armenia’s notification that it is terminating Russian border guards’ operations at the Zvartnots Airport.
“IL-76 crashed near Moscow.”
One engine fire out of four should have allowed the plane to land, but it crashed.
It happened during what was at that point the biggest wave of drone attacks on Russia of the war (since surpassed by last night’s wave which may have been 60 or more) - so Air Defense was likely stirred up like a hornet’s nest.
https://twitter.com/rybar_force/status/1767506143926972655
To me, it appears more than an "engine" fire.
It is a large fire then engulfs the right wing near the #4 (right outboard) engine.
My guess is a massive fuel leak at the fuel manifold feeding the #4 engine.
Probable cause is vodka induced crappy maintenance...or sabotage.
My vote is sabotage.
“IL-76 crashed near Moscow”
It did happen shortly after takeoff, so that is also a likely time for any maintenance issue to manifest.
True, but an uncontained failure is catastrophic, and can certainly result in the loss of the aircraft. There have been a few uncontained failures of the D30 engines used on the Il-76, but still a pretty rare event. With the timing coinciding with large scale drone attacks, it's quite possible that air defense was responsible.
Considering the performance of Russian air defense vs Ukraine, it would be an absolute circus against a modern air force with stealth fighters and bombers, advanced EW, cruise missiles, decoys, drones, and the worlds best SEAD/DEAD capabilities.
I wonder if this has anything to do with Ukraine’s successes.
From July 2023—How Palantir (AI) Is Shaping the Future of Warfare in Ukraine -— 2023
https://archive.ph/wlC7Q
Here is a new thread on the article.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4224049/posts
“Ukraine destroyed (!) 10% of 🇷🇺Russia’s oil refining capacity in two days, - Bloomberg.”
Seeing reports that Sweden will invite NATO to join them in fortifying Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea that will allow NATO almost complete Area Denial capability on, over and under the Baltic. After the cold war, this island was completely demilitarized, but after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, Sweden began rebuilding a small garrison. Though not clear yet exactly what will be built on the island, about the size of Rhode Island, it will likely include strong air defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine forces, as well as infantry to defend the island itself. Gotland would be a critical objective for Russia should they wish to invade the Baltic states.
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