[SpeedyInTexas]

Ukrainian Tank losses Running Total: 696

Ukrainian Artillery losses Running Total: 426

RuZZian Tank losses Running Total: 2527
December 2023 – 21
November 2023 – 67
October 2023 – 108
September 2023 – 57
August 2023 – 86
July 2023 – 113
June 2023 – 73
May 2023 – 90
April 2023 – 5
March 2023 - 127
February 2023 – 118
January 2023 – 61
December 2022 – 76
November 2022 – 105
October 2022 – 212
September 2022 - 217
August 2022 – 74
July 2022 – 108
June 2022 – 67
May 2022 – 148
April 2022 – 243
Feb 24 - March 2022 – 350

RuZZian Artillery losses Running Total: 946
December 2023 - 8
November 2023 - 25
October 2023 - 77
September 2023 - 48
August 2023 - 67
July 2023 - 56
June 2023 - 47
May 2023 - 43
April 2023 - 24
March 2023 - 37
February 2023 – 41
January 2023 – 31
December 2022 – 19
November 2022 – 55
October 2022 – 64
September 2022 - 73
August 2022 – 21
July 2022 – 21
June 2022 – 18
May 2022 – 20
April 2022 – 52
Feb 24 - March 2022 – 110

[SpeedyInTexas]

Previous day’s thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4201945/posts

Summarizing this war:

A tragedy for Ukraine.
A disaster for RuZZia.
A strategic win for the USA.

“Why Internet Trolls Do What They Do and How to Spot Russian Fakes”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLtBzvw0—0

“Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.”

https://twitter.com/TheDeadDistrict/status/1730119780873441750

[Gaffer]

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.

This list (10 ones, one five and a twenty) includes only money of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of money I really have is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than recorded here. Sheesh.

[PIF]

Kremlin snuff box
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets

When will the NWO end and will there be a new war? Putin has three options for next year

Many opinion polls (both open ones, for example, a study by the Levada Center, and closed ones, the results of which are at our disposal) indicate that the question is increasingly relevant for Russians: when will the SVO end?

Vladimir Putin’s team is also seriously concerned about this problem. Perhaps Vladimir Vladimirovich will say something on this topic on the direct line on December 14. But the question is much broader, and the real answer will be the actions of the authorities and the army next year.

According to our sources in the Kremlin and among the military, three possible options for the President’s actions in the current situation are now being considered.

The First of them is to end the NWO, trying to enter into negotiations with Ukraine and the West as soon as possible. This option is attractive in the sense that Vladimir Vladimirovich can go to the polls in the guise of a peacemaker who has ended the bloodshed. But the risk of getting the image of a “loser” is also extremely high.

“To finish the SVO, you need victories. Winning is difficult. For example, it is unlikely that the military will be able to fulfill the President’s task and take control of the entire territory of the DPR by the end of the year (and forecasts for next year are contradictory).

“Vladimir Vladimirovich is preparing personnel decisions in this regard, but they are also unlikely to help. That’s why, frankly, I don’t believe in the speedy completion of the SVO and in negotiations,” an interlocutor close to Putin told us. He also does not believe that the fighting will end next year.

The Second option is to simply continue fighting, starving the enemy to death. “But our enemy is almost all NATO countries.

“In the coming weeks, as intelligence reports to us, the Americans will allocate many billions to the Kyiv regime, and then, lo and behold, these bastards will try to attack again. Therefore, this option is the most likely, but also the riskiest,” notes another Kremlin source.

His opinion was confirmed by our interlocutor at the General Staff. He hopes for mobilization, which will most likely be announced at the request of Valery Gerasimov after the elections.

In light of the intensification of hostilities and the fact that partial demobilization of the troops seems to be carried out, the recruitment of “300-400,000 into the army could become a factor in our victory, although not very quickly,” the military man claims.

The Third scenario is a new military conflict, including with NATO countries. The Kremlin is reluctant to talk about this scenario, but they admit that there is such a possibility.

We wrote that the President wants serious victories, including military ones, in connection with the spring elections (victories will suit him even after re-election, they do not necessarily have to happen before the vote).

We also reported that these victories could be “hidden” military operations in individual NATO countries, for example, in Latvia. But the stakes are rising. It is no coincidence that Maria Zakharova was given the task of publicly saying that the threat of our direct military clash with the alliance is growing.

“To be honest, we will try to prevent a direct collision. At the same time, operations on the territory of NATO countries are quite possible. I hope that these operations will be more successful than the SVO in Ukraine.

“And that our people will like them, removing all questions about why and for what Russia is fighting. There are risks, but the opportunity to win is much more important,” a Kremlin source noted in this regard.

[nwrep]

Sounds like globohomo propaganda.

[BeauBo]

Something seems likely to come from Hungary, but what?

EU funding or membership for Ukraine? Swedish accession to NATO? Rule of Law/Democracy reforms?

Kyiv Independent reports:

“The European Commission is expected to unlock 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in frozen funds for Hungary, the Guardian reported on Dec. 8, citing anonymous diplomatic sources.

The funds, which constitute about a third of Hungary’s total suspended funding, will likely be released on Dec. 12, according to the media outlet.”

[BeauBo]

Igor Strelkov, the man (FSB Officer) who led the initial Russian operation to feign an internal revolt in the Donbas against Ukrainian rule in 2014, rots away in prison, worried for his life.

Kyiv Post reports: (Karma Update)

"In his latest interview, Igor Girkin (AKA Strelkov), a nationalist militia leader arrested for “extremism” in criticizing Putin’s handling of the war, said he fears for his life in Russian captivity."

"Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer turned militia leader turned prisoner, said he was afraid he would suffer the same fate as the deceased Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“My greatest fear is that instead of the usual criminal punishment, I will be ‘amnestied’ in the same way as the Cook [a common nickname for Prigozhin due to his background in the catering business],” Girkin said in his latest prison correspondence with Russian news outlet Baza ahead of his trial.

He also had a grim outlook for his upcoming trial, saying there’s “no place left on Earth where I would be recognized as a law-abiding citizen.”

Girkin explained: “In the West, I have already been recognized as a terrorist after the verdict of the Hague Tribunal. And in my homeland, apparently, the dubious reputation of an extremist awaits me.”

The Hague District Court issued Girkin a life sentence in absentia for his involvement in downing the civilian MH17 airline in 2014 that involved a Russian BUK missile system.

Girkin was arrested in July 2023 by Russian authorities over extremism charges, where his pro-war views, often critical of the Russian military’s lackluster performance, clashed with the Kremlin’s narratives."

[BeauBo]

The Guardian (UK) reports:

“The Ukrainian parliament has approved four bills necessary to start European Union accession talks, including one on national minorities’ rights, a critical demand from Hungary which opposes Ukraine’s EU bid. Parliament’s website confirmed that president Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed all the bills into law.”

[BeauBo]

Guess where Russia’s frozen National Wealth Fund assets are going?

The Guardian reports:

“The EU’s executive is due to approve next week a legal proposal on using proceeds from Russian assets frozen under sanctions, but doubts in France, Germany and Belgium mean Ukraine would not get the money anytime soon, officials and diplomatic sources said. The draft law is expected on 12 December, two days before the year’s final summit of the EU’s 27 national leaders at which billions of much-needed budgetary and military aid for Kyiv are at stake, as well as advancing Ukraine’s membership bid.”

[BeauBo]

Big grain crops in both the Ukraine and Russia in 2023

From the Guardian (UK):

“Ukraine’s farm ministry has raised its 2023 grain harvest forecast to 59.7m tonnes, saying the country had a “record grain yield”. The total grain and oilseed harvest is expected to reach 81.3m tonnes, the ministry added in a statement.”