https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1678178743406276608
Posted on 07/07/2023 2:14:10 PM PDT by SpeedyInTexas
NATO allies hold ‘frantic, last-minute’ talks on Ukraine ahead
July 10, 2023
https://kyivindependent.com/politico-western-allies-hold-frantic-last-minute-talks-on-ukraine-ahead-of-nato-summit/
“The objective is to establish a broad-based plan to secure ongoing military aid to Ukraine, accommodating diverse terms and conditions from country to country.
While a security assurance declaration may simply consolidate the aid allies currently provide Ukraine, the aim of the declaration is to offer a more enduring demonstration of unity among member nations.
“It is basically a guarantee towards Ukraine that we will, for a very long time to come, we will equip their armed forces, we will finance them, we will advise them, we will train them in order for them to have a deterrent force against any future aggression,” a senior NATO diplomat told Politico.
Kyiv seeks swift inclusion into NATO, which would invoke mandatory military support from other members under Article 5. However, a significant number of NATO allies maintain that Ukraine should only be considered for membership once the war with Russia ends.“
https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1678178743406276608
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1678223566003634176
Location (48.18, 37.74)
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1678301311542984704
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1678208761079508992
Ukraine: military situation update - July 8, 2023
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
[ Operation Starvation | Ukrainians Strike Crimean Bridges. Russian Generals Fired ]
••Day 501: Jul 09
Today there is a lot of news all over the front.
First of all, today, Ukrainians reportedly conducted a missile strike on the Crimean Bridge.
Russian sources reported that Ukrainian Air Force made an attempt to once again destroy the bridge and cut off the Southern Russian Group located in Zaporizhia from supplies.
Russian air defense operators claimed that they shot down the missile just several kilometers north of Taman and that the remnants of the intercepted missile fell into the Azov Sea.
Nonetheless, Russian authorities closed the bridge and caused massive traffic jams.
Local authority’s representatives claimed that Ukrainians used a cruise missile.
Russian analysts stated that any use of cruise missiles would necessitate Ukrainian jets to fly way to close to the front line, exposing themselves to the Russian air defense.
Later there were two more strikes: one on Russian military objects in the Rostov region and one in the Bryansk region.
Here, Russian air defense was unsuccessful in shooting down the missile, which is why local surveillance cameras captured the arrival of the rocket.
The footage was quickly analyzed, and almost all analysts agreed that Ukrainians used modified S-200 rockets that follow a ballistic trajectory, which is why such rockets have a range of up to 400 km.
Interestingly, simultaneously with the strike on the Crimean Bridge, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed that they were responsible for the destruction of the Crimean Bridge last year.
The combination of such news made some analysts raise the alarm that Ukrainians are determined to destroy the bridge in the near future and called for the reinforcement of the area with even more air defense systems.
The Russian Ministry of Defense should also come out with an official announcement.
Today, some media sources reported that Putin removed the Chief of the General Staff, Gerasimov, from the position of the commander of the so-called special military operation.
Gerasimov should still formally remain the Chief of Staff to avoid the loss of face, but the new commander should be Colonel-General Teplinskiy, who was the commander of Airborne forces.
The changes have not yet been confirmed by Russian officials, however, such changes would not be unlikely in the aftermath of the completely failed winter offensive campaign, even while Wagner forces achieved notable results.
The Russian High Command had an unclear structure from the very beginning, and such rotations of commanders and complications of the chain of command make it less and less efficient because everyone has an incentive to blame someone else for the failures on the front line.
In the meantime, Ukrainians finally returned their commanders of the Azov Regiment back to Ukraine.
These commanders were responsible for holding Mariupol for more than 2 months at the beginning of the invasion, which required Russians to devote tens of thousands of soldiers, giving Ukrainians time to form a defense line.
Azov Regiment was considered to be the most elite Ukrainian detachment, with extremely high standards for physical readiness as well as years of combat experience.
The commanders stated that they would join the army again and continue to fight, and with the ongoing counteroffensive operation, it is no doubt that these commanders would cause a lot of damage to Russian forces.
When it comes to Ukrainian Air force, it is about to receive 10 helicopters, Mi-24. The helicopters were already seen en route in Poland and should get to the front very soon.
Right now, Ukrainians are amply using these helicopters in the Kherson region to protect the Ukrainian bridgehead on the other side of the river and facilitate offensive operations toward Oleshky.
Due to the local geography, the Russian air force struggles to detect and shoot down Ukrainian helicopters that operate from the higher western bank of the Dnipro River.
This is one of the reasons why Russian forces struggle to develop their counterattacks and establish new positions on the islands.
Finally, in order to help Ukrainians to proceed faster with their counteroffensive, the United States announced new weapon deliveries, which this time included cluster munitions.
A cluster munition is a specialist shell that scatters explosives covering a large area.
When used in residential areas, such weapons cause high collateral damage, which is why they are banned by more than 100 countries.
Nonetheless, both Ukrainians and Russians have been using cluster munitions from the beginning of the war, and such weapons proved to be very effective when conducting artillery preparation on the trenches in the field.
Right now, Ukrainians are facing countless Russian positions and fortifications in the fields, which means that deliveries of such weapons will greatly help Ukrainians to conduct their storming operation faster and with fewer casualties.
••Bakhmut:
UA took Berkhivka. North of that the UA moved south toward Soledar by 2 km from the Rozdolivka-Vesele direction in one day.
In the North:
Russia took some ground just west of Dibrova and entered the UA positions. Only one part of a forest line taken.
==
Putin dismissed Gerasimov from the post of commander of Russian troops in Ukraine. His place was taken by the commander of the Airborne Forces Teplinsky - Daily Mail.
At the same time, according to the publication, Gerasimov will remain the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, but the overall responsibility for the war now lies with Teplinsky. There was no such information in Russian media.
Teplinsky is originally from the Donetsk region. He is considered one of the most capable Russian military commanders.
==
Russia sends more reinforcements toward Avdiivka without success. Again. 4 tanks and 4 BTRs lost from a convoy of 8 vehicles. Wipe Out.
Strilekov said from the Avdiivka result, using useless meat waves and vehicles, it seems the main goal of the Russian military is to lose as many Russian soldiers as possible, while losing this war as fast as possible.
==
A UA modified S-200 landed 70km from the Smolensk nuclear power plant.
“If an attempt to attack the Smolensk nuclear power plant with NATO missiles (Storm Shadow) is confirmed, it is necessary to consider the scenario of a Russian strike on three nuclear power plants in Ukraine and nuclear facilities in Eastern Europe” - Medvedev.
New day - new nuclear threats from Russia. Medvedev is not alone the push to use nuclear weapons or attack nuclear power plants in the West.
==
Poland secretly provided Mi-24 helicopters to Ukraine - The Wall Street Journal. We are talking about ten attack Soviet helicopters. Warsaw did not announce their transfer in advance.
==
Zelenski said there are signs of a second attempted coup in Russia - he did not elaborate.
••The head of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Gerasimov, got in touch for the first time after Prigozhin’s rebellion.
A video with him was published today by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Thus, the Daily Mail information that Gerasimov was removed from his post and replaced by General Teplinsky was not confirmed.
==
Putin met with Prigozhin in the Kremlin on June 29, 5 days after the rebellion - Peskov
The meeting lasted about 3 hours, it was also attended by the commanders of PMC detachments, there were 35 people in total.
According to him, the president gave his assessment of what happened and offered the representatives of PMCs employment options.
==
Rheinmetall to open armored vehicle plant in western Ukraine within 3 months - CNN.
There they will create and repair tanks, as well as train the maintenance of armored vehicles.
==
Russian officials said everything is going according to the Plan & Prigozhin agreed.
Russia is a 14th century feudal empire running a gas station with nukes in the backroom.
“a missile strike on the Crimean Bridge.“”
“ Putin removed the Chief of the General Staff” (from Commanding the war)
Things like this used to be big news, but as the Russian adventure in the Ukraine swerves wildly out of control, they are becoming just another day at the office
Turkey’s Bombshell Sweden Demand Rocks NATO Summit Before it Even Begins
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/19309
(NATO) “Alliance leaders gathering in Vilnius on the eve of Tuesday’s summit were hoping a meeting between Erdogan and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson would see the Turkish leader lift his veto on Sweden’s membership.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared in no mood to compromise, declaring that he would only back Sweden’s NATO candidacy if European Union members – most of whom are also NATO allies – agree to revive Turkey’s negotiations to join the EU”
“Almost all the NATO members are EU members. I now am addressing these countries, which are making Turkey wait for more than 50 years,” Erdogan said, before boarding his flight for the Lithuanian capital.
“First, open the way to Turkey’s membership of the European Union, and then we will open it for Sweden, just as we had opened it for Finland.”
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a powerful figure in both NATO and the EU, was quick to stress there was no link between Sweden’s bid and Turkey’s EU application, which was formally launched in 2005 but has stalled.
“Sweden meets all the requirements for NATO membership,” he said in Berlin (Leaving unspoken that Turkey does not meet all EU requirements).
Since announcing the "F-16 Training Program" back in May, dates have consistently slipped to the right. And while many countries have jumped on the training support bandwagon, there still hasn't been a single country that has committed to providing the actual aircraft. Hopefully this announcement includes Ukraine's transition to NATO fighters. They also need a path to western attack helicopters.
https://twitter.com/antiputler_news/status/1678385634199699456
https://twitter.com/antiputler_news/status/1678387532763996160
https://twitter.com/antiputler_news/status/1678388685983629312
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1678373103007682561
As I predicted from the beginning. Congrats to Sweden and NATO.
"Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden's accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification. This is an historic step which makes all #NATO Allies stronger & safer".
Sweden will be a great addition to NATO.
https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1678500408514293762
The new "Nordic Air Defense Pact" among Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, will now be a large NATO Air Force in the north, with a modern fighter fleet that will rival anything the Russians can bring. They should consider the same with their Navies.
Nordic Air Defense Pact Combines Forces Of Hundreds Of Fighter Aircraft
The genius of Putin never ceases to amaze
While I’ve never liked him, I respected his apparent ability to exert geopolitical influence far beyond Russia’s stature as a global economy. But his ineptitude over the past 2 years has been pretty stunning. Of course if the 2022 invasion had gone like the 2014 invasion the world would be a very different place right now, and Putin’s legacy as ‘Vladimir the Great’ would have been sealed.
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