https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1680701950143152130
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1680701950143152130
Though there is no doubt the Russians have lots of artillery in storage the question has always been what is their status, are they operational, rusted hills, barrel condition…
Ammunition stockpiles and production is another important question. Tubes without ammo are useless.
Regardless pretty sure days of 50-60000 rounds per day are gone
Ukraine: military situation update - July 16, 2023
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
[ Ukrainians Destroy a Russian Rocket Base. More Officers Liquidated | Visible 50km away ]
••Day 508: Jul 16
Today Ukrainians conducted a series of massive strikes, combining aerial and marine kamikaze drones and Storm Shadow missiles.
The most powerful explosion happened in the Luhansk region.
Today in the morning, residents of Luhansk reported hearing multiple explosions.
Many people reported that the explosions were so powerful that the impulse resembled an earthquake.
A former commander of the LPR forces, colonel Marochko, claimed that Ukrainians conducted a strike on Luhansk City using Western cluster munitions.
However, first of all, it turned out that the explosion happened in the small village of Yuvileine, it’s just that the huge plumes of smoke could be seen tens of kilometers away.
And secondly, even though the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed that Ukrainians have already received Western cluster munitions, judging by the explosion, it is unlikely that Ukrainians used them.
It is more likely that in response to such events, Russians are using information operations to set the local and general population against Ukraine and its allies by claiming that they used devastating weapons to target civilians.
The real target of the strike turned out to be a coal mine in the village of Yuvileine, and many analysts are saying that it was targeted by Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainians destroyed a huge warehouse with Russian rockets.
The coal mine was a perfect location for storing rockets because it is not located on the surface and because it is located right next to the railways, which allows for easy transportation.
Unfortunately for Russians, these transportation routes were closely monitored.
The second target of the Storm Shadow missile strike became Mariupol.
Local residents reported hearing multiple explosions.
Ukrainian Mariupol Mayoral Advisor Petro Andrushchenko added that Russian air defense got triggered not only in Mariupol itself, but also near Nikolske and Mangush, which are located around 15 km northwest of Mariupol.
The third target of the Storm Shadow missile strike became Berdyansk.
Local residents reported hearing explosions in the southeastern part of the town and north of the town.
Both Berdyansk and Mariupol are some of the most important Russian logistical hubs, with a lot of warehouses and industrial areas that are constantly being used for stationing troops and storing ammunition and equipment.
But the most comprehensive strike happened in Crimea.
Russian sources reported that there were several waves of attacks.
The first wave happened at 1 am. In order to complicate interception, Ukrainian aerial drones targeted various objects at the same time: the airfield, the oil depot, and the Black Sea Fleet.
The second wave happened at 5 am, and it was even more diverse because apart from launching 9 aerial drones, Ukrainians also launched 2 marine drones.
Russian sources reported that interception proved to be very challenging, and they had to engage all of their resources to prevent dire implications.
Russians tried to use regular air defense, which did not work efficiently against such targets.
That is why they used stationary as well as mobile Electronic Warfare Systems and multiple units with small arms.
Marine drones are even more challenging targets due to their mobility. The most effective weapon against them was a machine gun.
This time Russians got lucky because, even according to the Russians sources, the drones got shot down in the last seconds, less than 100 meters away from the Black Sea Fleet.
In the meantime, Russian forces lost another important officer.
Today Ukrainian officer confirmed that Ukrainian forces liquidated the commander of the Russian 96th Reconnaissance Brigade, colonel Maksim Kharlamov.
Ukrainian Intelligence reported that this brigade was created in 2015, specifically in preparation for the invasion of Ukraine, and the activities of exactly this brigade inflicted a lot of damage to the Ukrainian forces.
That is why this commander was considered to be in the top 10 of the most important targets.
Maksim Kharlamov was reportedly eliminated in a Storm Shadow strike that happed previously.
Some of the strikes do not receive a lot of publicity because they target some bunkers that serve as headquarters, so there is no big explosion that catches people’s eyes.
But, just because the result is not known immediately doesn’t mean that the strike was made in vain.
Today we saw a lot of similar strikes in the south because they were not accompanied with pictures of huge and visible explosions.
That indicates Ukrainians were highly likely targeting not ammunition depots, but headquarters and command posts, trying to effectively behead the Russian army and undermine Russian defense by causing disorganization in the rear.
••Dibrova-Kreminna
Russians had some success here and moved up to the UA mine fields and stopped. Now the tried advance, but without success - many vehicles spoke Kaboom.
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New tactic - the UA tries to identify every threat, including individual soldiers and eliminate them with artillery, before sending in infantry.
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According to the WSJ, Ukraine only got 15% of the required tools needed to de-mine before the offensive began, which has led to getting bogged down, due to the extensive Russian mine fields. [ More US-NATO foot dragging, costing needless lives. ]
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The President of the USA approved the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in European countries - the adviser to the US President on national security.
I had to tell about the issue in my yesterday’s video and today he approved it. It will start in one or two weeks.
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The Ministry of Defense is an important state body, an important structure. But if it is privatized by a group of individuals, this does not mean that we should participate in this crime - Prigozhin.
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Russia ramps up production of the Israeli designed Lancelot drone, which is hard to see and used to target Western tanks.
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VDV in Bakhmut area recorded warning message for the Russian Military Command: touch our general and we will go to Moscow.
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It is reported that the Russian Major General Ivan Popov, recently removed from his post as commander of the 58th Army, will be transferred to a command post in Syria.
With the start of full-scale hostilities in Ukraine, the Russian group in Syria became a some sort of prison for both some failed commanders and inconvenient for higher Russian authorities.
••The grain deal is terminated - Dmitry Peskov
Updated. “Putin’s talking mustache” added that Russia would immediately return to the grain deal as soon as the agreements concerning it were implemented.
Updated. Russia today officially notified Turkey and Ukraine, the UN secretariat of its objection to the extension of the grain deal, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said.
The thing is that doesn’t change anything. Russia is unable to control the ship movement and Turkey with provide security of the ships anyway.
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The grain deal “has gone down in history,” Erdogan said
At the same time, Ankara emphasizes that they intend to discuss this issue during Putin’s visit to Turkey. China also said that the grain deal should continue.
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The Russian Su-25 attack aircraft fell into the water not far from the coast in Yeysk.
Eyewitnesses filmed a splash on the water and the moment the pilot ejected.
As reported pilots didn’t make it to the soil and decided to join the Moskva ship crew.
