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 ...
Do you want to investigate if that is true or false?
Everything in the Atlantic is slanted hard left and this article is no different.
The White House is increasingly dissatisfied with Ukrainian leaders who are resisting U.S. calls to lower the draft age in the country from 25 to 18," writes The Washington Post, citing the Biden administration.@ukraine_watch pic.twitter.com/O6j2GoLR5d— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) December 2, 2024
Kiev officials stole up to half of US aid: Ex-Polish deputy minister
According to a former Polish deputy minister, Ukraine did not get as much foreign aid as the Biden administration reported, and what it did receive was substantially embezzled. Piotr Kulpa claims Ukrainian authorities misappropriated up to half of the financial aid given to Kiev.
The political pundit formerly held many positions in the Polish government, including deputy labor minister in the mid-2000s, and is now a regular contributor to Ukrainian web shows.
Kulpa, an outspoken admirer of US President-elect Donald Trump, told Ukrainian journalist Lana Shevchuk on Thursday that “Everyone understands that war-related corruption is linked not only with Ukraine but also the supplier nation."
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1863658525102088223
❗️4,000 drones will be sent to Ukraine.
HX-2 hits armored vehicles, artillery and military targets.
Weight - 12 kg, Speed - 220 km/h.
https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1863624940731220334
Coming soon...drone swarms.
Several tanks with gasoline and diesel fuel exploded
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1863631421245472829
🇺🇦 36th Marine Brigade Eliminated 🇷🇺 Assault.
https://x.com/Vijesti11111/status/1863560527173030082
Kremlin snuff box, 12/01/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
Isn’t it time to put Erdogan in his place?
Several interlocutors in power approached us with this and similar messages. A group of hawks is dissatisfied with what is happening in Syria.
“For now, the entire focus is on the North Military District, Syria is a real nightmare for us. Erdogan, the bitch [https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/4968 ], took advantage of the moment,” says one of the hawks from among the security forces. According to another interlocutor, questions for Erdogan have accumulated.
“Then our fighter was shot down, then the ambassador was killed. And nothing to him. He does whatever he wants. It’s time to punish,” says the source.
The interlocutor in the Kremlin believes that now it is worth using all the levers of influence on Turkey. Starting from restrictions for tourists, ending with restrictions in the agricultural sector. The situation regarding gas supplies is difficult.
“Our gas will flow to Europe, firstly, via the Turkish Stream. There is another mechanism, but we won’t talk about it, until everything is fully operational,” the source said, noting that Erdogan has influence on both supply schemes, so any restrictions here could hit Russia.
In general, the interlocutors agree that it is necessary to demonstrate a tougher position towards Erdogan. But there is no single recipe in this regard. There are fears that the situation will worsen on a number of other tracks.
Russia has very little capability to project power into the Middle East against a regional power like Turkey, and currently little capacity to fight a second front even on her own borders. Any retaliation would have to be diplomatic or economic, and those options are limited. All according to plan.
Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba: ‘If it continues like this, we will lose the war’
The Christmas wreaths are hanging from the windows of the Corinthia hotel in Whitehall. But there is nothing festive about the news from Ukraine. Scanning the newspaper as I wait for Dmytro Kuleba, I read that Russia has just hit the city of Dnipro with a ballistic missile.
Until a couple of months ago, Kuleba was Ukraine’s foreign minister. I first met him in Kyiv in 2023. There were sandbags and fortifications surrounding his ministry, but he was strikingly relaxed and funny — a living refutation of old clichés about a backward country run by post-Soviet apparatchiks.
In September, Kuleba, who had been foreign minister for four years, resigned from the government. He has not commented publicly on his departure. But the general assumption is that he was pushed out — as strains and tensions mount in the inner circle of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, under the pressure of a faltering war effort.
Kuleba, who is in London to give a lecture, appears five minutes late for our breakfast meeting at the Northall restaurant. He is a young-looking 43, slightly greying at the temples, and wearing a jacket over a polo shirt. He apologises for the delay and explains that he was arranging for the delivery of a parcel to his home in Kyiv. He used to have staff to look after all that. So, I ask, how is he finding life out of power?
“Russia has very little capability to project power into the Middle East against a regional power like Turkey, and currently little capacity to fight a second front even on her own borders. Any retaliation would have to be diplomatic or economic, and those options are limited.”
Erdogan holds the energy weapon whip hand over Putin. Pipeline capacity to export natural gas to China has reached full utilization ahead of plan (Nov 2024), and Ukraine is turning off Russia’s exports through the Druzhba Pipeline at the end of this month. Russia is more dependent than ever on Turkey to export natural gas through the Turkstream and BlueStream pipelines.
OilPrice.com reports:
“Gazprom’s natural gas flows via the Power of Siberia pipeline to China have reached full capacity of 38 billion cubic meters annually, the Russian gas giant said on Monday.
Gazprom started sending gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline at the end of 2019, and flows have now reached the maximum design capacity. (a new Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline was planned for 2030, but China has withdrawn the needed funding from the project)”
“Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas company, is planning for a scenario in which no natural gas will flow to Europe through Ukraine after Dec. 31, 2024, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Kyiv has indicated it will not extend the transit deal, ending over 50 years of gas flows from Siberia to central Europe — a vital revenue stream for Russia since the Soviet era.”
“On December 1, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, started supplying natural gas to Slovakia’s Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP), the country’s largest state-owned energy operator. This comes just a month after SPP signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan as it prepares for a possible halt to Russian supplies via Ukraine.”
“Gazprom’s internal planning assumes no Ukrainian transit next year, the source said, adding that the company expects Russian gas exports to Europe and Turkey—termed “far abroad”—to decline by 20% in 2025. Due to the loss of the Ukrainian route, exports are projected to drop to just under 39 billion cubic meters (bcm) from the more than 49 bcm expected this year... Turkish supplies via the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines are not expected to decline.”
Turkey controls the only natural gas pipelines from Russian fields to the West, remaining operational after New Year’s Eve - a comparable volume as Russia can export to China is currently flowing through Turkey, but the only available additional transport capacity is through the Turkish pipelines.
Putin is on the verge of financial collapse, and simply can’t afford the loss of that revenue - so Erdogan can now get away with murder.
Erdogan could also close the Dardanelles to Russian oil tanker traffic in a direct conflict, choking off a big chunk of Russia’s oil exports as well. Putin can’t afford a direct fight with Turkey.
“Will Russia fight for the corridor with Kaliningrad? (The Suwalki Gap)”
Poland and Turkey combined have about the same total population and GDP as Russia, and both have large Militaries by NATO standards.
Now with Russian and Turkish surrogates in a large scale shootout in Syria, Russia could ill afford another front.
More drones coming from Germany this month, in a big package.
Kyiv Independent reports:
“(German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz visited Ukraine’s capital for the first time since June 2022, promising 650 million euros ($680 million) worth of arms to be supplied this December.”
(Scholz is facing elections in February, and wants to be seen as strong on Ukraine)
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 2, 2024
Russian Mobilization and Force Generation Efforts (Russian objective: Expand combat power without conducting general mobilization)
The Russian military command is focusing on training additional Russian forces and improving Russian forces’ tactical assault operations. The Head of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) Main Combat Training Directorate, Colonel General Ivan Buvaltsev, claimed in an article published in the MoD’s official newsletter Krasnaya Zvezda that the Russian military trained over 300,000 contract servicemembers in reserve regiments, including over 3,000 drone operators, for service in Ukraine in 2024.[75] Ruslan Pukhov, the head of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies and a member of an MoD civilian advisory board, claimed in April 2024 that the Russian military could recruit roughly 300,000 total personnel in 2024 - and this claim is consistent with Buvaltsev’s report of the total number of trained contract servicemembers this year.[76] A Russian milblogger claimed that the Russian military is focusing on preparing soldiers to operate in fireteam-sized tactical assault units composed of two to five soldiers and is prioritizing training drone operators and electronic warfare (EW) system specialists.[77]
The Russian MoD is increasing one-time payments to soldiers from Russian federal subjects while neglecting to pay forcibly mobilized servicemembers from occupied Ukraine. Russian opposition outlet Vazhnye Istorii (iStories) reported that every Russian federal subject increased its one-time payments to citizens who signed a contract with the MoD at least once in 2024 and that the current average regional payment is 900,000 rubles ($8,450) per contract.[78] Vazhnye Istorii stated that some federal subjects increased their one-time payment 75 times in 2024, which indicates that some regional governments may be struggling to meet their recruitment quotas more than others. Vazhnye Istorii noted that new contract servicemembers also receive 400,000 rubles ($3,756) from the federal government for signing a military service contract, indicating that on average new contract servicemembers receive a one-time payment of 1.3 million rubles ($12,206) when they sign a contract with the Russian MoD. ISW has previously assessed that ongoing efforts by Russian officials to increase one-time payments for contract service indicate that the Russian military is struggling to recruit a sufficient number of volunteer servicemembers to replace Russian casualties in Ukraine and indefinitely delay or prevent another partial involuntary reserve call-up.[79] Ukrainian Luhansk Oblast Military Administration Head Artem Lysohor stated on December 2 that the Russian MoD is refusing to pay over 3,000 forcibly mobilized soldiers from occupied Luhansk Oblast for their service and injuries sustained in combat.[80]
The Russian military is increasingly relying on private organizations to meet drone and EW system requirements on the frontline. The head of the Russian Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies, Andrei Bezrukov, reported on December 2 that the center, Russia’s ruling United Russia political party, and the “Our Right” fund delivered over 30,000 drones and 4,000 EW systems to the Russian military during an unspecified period.[81] Bezrukov claimed that the center is creating “special technology clusters” to lower operating costs and increase cooperation for dual-use startup companies located at the Russian “Skolkovo” innovation center.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-2-2024
Кремлевская табакерка
Anti-alcohol patrols will be created in Russia from veterans of the SVO [war in Ukraine]. They may be joined by fighters from Chechnya.
According to our sources in the Kremlin, anti-alcohol patrols will be formed as part of a campaign to restrict and ban the sale of alcohol - first in certain regions, and then throughout the country. This campaign, we remind you, will start next year. “Patrols will be formed from veterans of the SVO. They will ensure that alcohol is not sold in unauthorized places, at unauthorized times, is not drunk on the streets, and so on. There are plans to give them broad powers - up to and including detaining violators and confiscating goods. [i.e. good for bribes] ´ Who, if not veterans, the most reliable people in Russia, can be trusted with this task?” - our source in the Kremlin said.
Patrols will first appear in several regions that are the first to introduce restrictions and bans on alcohol. In particular, in the Vologda Region and St. Petersburg. After that, their effect will spread to the entire country. In particular, such patrols should start operating in Crimea from the summer of 2025. Ramzan Kadyrov also expressed a desire to send his people to work in the patrols. He believes that “no one will defeat alcoholism in Russia better than Muslims.”
According to a source in the Ministry of Defense, lists of veterans who will be enrolled in anti-alcohol patrols are now being compiled. The issue of what their salaries will be is also being decided. “We are trying to make them higher than the market, these are our veterans,” the channel's source said.
https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/4979
PETERSBURG, June 6, FederalPress. The increase in the number of people professing Islam in Russia pleases the country's authorities. This was reported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are not against the growth of the Islamic population; on the contrary, we are happy with what is happening now,” Putin said. The head of state does not consider the Islamization of the country a problem. He pointed out that in some Russian republics, primarily those with a predominantly Islamic population, “very good birth rates” have been recorded. “We are very happy,” the head of the Russian Federation emphasized.
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