Russia braces for Ukraine to attack Crimea following liberation of Kherson

Russian troops are reinforcing their position in Crimea in anticipation of attacks from Ukraine, a Russia-installed regional official admitted.

“Fortification works aimed at guaranteeing Crimeans’ security are being conducted under my supervision,” Russia’s regional governor of the annexed peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, said Friday.

The prospect of a showdown over Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in the clandestine operation that began the war, has loomed into view due to a series of Ukrainian successes in a counteroffensive conducted this fall. Russia’s retreat from the west bank of the Dnieper River not only freed the key city of Kherson but allowed Ukrainian artillery forces to advance into range of the vital peninsula.

“The security of the Republic of Crimea and its inhabitants is ensured through measures taken on behalf of our President,” Aksyonov wrote on social media, per an unofficial translation. “The joint work of the authorities, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and law enforcement agencies is aimed at ensuring that the Crimeans can feel calm.”

Russia retains control of the east bank of the Dnieper River, leaving a buffer between Ukrainian forces and the isthmus that links Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland. Yet the persistent Russian struggles in protecting supply lines could be exacerbated by the approach of Ukrainian artillery — especially their HIMARS, the ground-to-ground multiple rocket launch systems provided by the United States.

Ukraine executed a similar operation on the west bank of the Dnieper, one that forced the withdrawal of a major Russian force that was taking gradual casualties and running out of equipment. “Ukrainian forces will likely find it harder to achieve such dramatic effects in eastern Kherson but may be able to disrupt Russian efforts to solidify and hold their new defensive lines,” ISW added.

Slavyangrad, [11/19/2022 5:30 AM]
🇷🇺Dmitry Medvedev:

The clumsy attempts to shift the blame for the bombardment of Poland to our country have not been accepted by anyone, not even the most inveterate Russophobes, the Poles. And this is an important symptom:

1. Everyone is sick and tired of the Kiev regime. Especially the neurotic Zelensky, who is constantly inflaming passions, whining, bawling, and extorting more and more handouts in money and arms. He behaves like a hysterical child with developmental problems.

2. The US, NATO, and the EU do not want an eventual break with Russia, which is fraught with the risk of World War III. Hence, there are more and more attempts to coddle and talk sense into Kiev and push it out of negotiations.

3. Zelensky does not need negotiations for quite obvious petty reasons. Moreover, they are very dangerous for him, as we have already said. After all, if he does not recognise the reality of Ukraine’s collapse, there is no point in sitting down at the table. But if he admits it, he will be killed by his own nationalists, who are in league with the army’s top brass. And whom he is frightened out of his wits. Zugzwang.

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Slavyangrad, [11/19/2022 5:46 AM]
The head of Ukraine’s biggest private energy firm says people should consider leaving the country to reduce demand on the country’s power network.🤣

“If they can find an alternative place to stay for another three or four months, it will be very helpful to the system,” DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko told the BBC.

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I really hate all this pro-Ukrainian BS on FR. I spent my entire life either as a soldier or diplomat “fighting RUSSIA”. I am clearly seeing the reality of this situation, as opposed to the ra-ra BS in the DNC state run media.

Bleed dry of her oil and her youth, the old men are not as willing to enter the fray. The Ukraine is going to get one chance at the table to sit down, STUF, and listen to a presentation that can lead to peace. When they leave the peace table will be disassembled, and loaded into the back of a Russian Supply truck. Only after Odessa is back in Russian hands, and the last Ukrainian help port city in the North on the Black Sea, will Russia again offer a peace. In fact, Russia is counting Z-man being unable to talk peace so this happens first.

Remember Ukraine had 600,000 in their army, 7.5 years to build defensive positions that supported each other and were one layer of defense after another. Russia sent in 150,000 and 80,000 were combat troops. Russia systemically smashed the Ukrainian defensive fortications in what can only be described as a slow artillery pounding of positions.

Russia is going to declare the Special Operation over. This will clear the way for Russia to declare War. Russia is not longer going to be without her rocket forces, or air force, or best soldiers but rather has called up 300,000 to backfill the empire’s boarders, backfill combat units up to 106 percent, and prepare 450,000 men to enter the field... when the ground is frozen.

The Ukraine has already been Bleed Dry of her oil and her youth and the tatters of a once well trained and well lead Ukrainian army has pissed away men and resource in tactically useless counterattacks. Russia is about to show the world what a military force under one man (not four separate army groups + 2 militias) can do in a well planned and well provisioned attack on the Ukrainian front lines.

The common soldier will probably conclude it is uselsess to die in this next onslaught, knowing he cannot protect his family in Keiv from freezing as he dies.

How Ukraine can end this war is if their next offensive pushes south and liberates Melitopol and down to the Black Sea coast.
With that they can control all paths in and out of Crimea. After that is a simple matter of time before Russia is forced to abandon the peninsula as they did Kherson.

The Ukies have been following a strategy largely of attacking where the Russians are weakest and slowly grinding out victories to liberate territory. A push toward Melitopol is the obvious next move for Ukraine, which is why they may attack somewhere else, at least as a feint. If they have air superiority, they can attack across the Dneiper-Bug estuary to the Kinburn Peninsula, to push Ivan away from Odessa, or perhaps even to Endhodar, which is a strategic target to regain control of that nuclear reactor. The Ukies may do something unexpected, at least at first.

Interesting insight by a “former” marine about his experience with the Ukrainian troops. (Yes, I know, there are no “former marines”..:-)

“Alright, so I’m going to get straight to the point for brevity sake & kinda vague for opsec sake.

Back in mid 2018, I was Augmented with a United States Marine Corps Reserve unit taking part in Exercise Sea Breeze, under the overall umbrella of OP Resolute Trident (or some sh*t like that.)

Our mission was to advise & train Ukrainian Naval Infantry forces (Marines) in Amphibious assault and just take part in a general overall NATO joint live fire operation. -Public knowledge look it up, we were like 100 miles or so from Crimea, it was on purpose obviously to try and intimidate the Russian Forces there.

What’s not public knowledge is how disgusting, lazy, and undisciplined these dudes were. Their gear was all jacked up, they wouldn’t wear their flaks correctly, if at all, they couldn’t PT for sh*t, could barely shoot, kept on social media and swiping on tinder (obviously fucking up Opsec & Comsec, we got all over their asses about it constantly.) They were bags of ass, no morale, looked like sh*t, etc. Definitely sh*tbirds as we’d say.

Things got interesting when I started to notice their little field graffiti. On their helmets, helmet covers, vehicles, even their rifles. Swastikas & fu*king little edgy Ásatru runes, Nazi wannabe stuff. At first, I just thought they were being edgy, like internet Neo-Pagan idiots. At the time, as an American, I had no clue who Bandera was. These guys had little like clip on pictures of his face on their blouse pockets and shit. It was bizarre, and I didn’t think much of it because I knew some Marines that were into that neo pagan garbage and wore Vegvisir patches and stuff on their gear.

After getting to know these guys a little better, and when hurrying up and waiting with them, we started shooting the sh*t. They spoke surprisingly good English alot of them btw. Most of them didn’t care about much at all, it was just a paycheck & a way to get off their sh*thole potato and pig farms or whatever. Other guys, were true believers. Not only that but they were telling us they’d seen a little action against “the traitors & separatist back east.”

They were telling us stories of shooting at old Russian speaking people that were walking on the side of the road going home, or detaining and beating teenagers and homeless people. I kind of laughed along not knowing any better at the time, thinking, ‘these guys are fu*k ups anyways. Probably making up edgy sh*t to try and impress us Americans.’

Well that changed when the videos of exactly that started pouring out of the Donbas, the beatings, the shootings, the kidnapping & extortion of civilians. I had gone home and done a little research and discovered all this. Appalled and pissed off is an understatement, I was fighting mad that these fat, old, or scrawny toothless Werhmacht-wannabe idiots were hurting innocent people in the Donbas, .. what should’ve been their own countrymen. A good quarter of those dudes spoke Russian at home or were ethnic Russians who the government had erased their heritage and cultural identity since God knows when.

Aaaand pretty much. I’ve been anti-Ukraine ever since then, I tell everyone I know.

Let’s go ZOV, stomp a mudhole in those motherfu*kers asses.

-& P.S. alot of them had no, or crooked fucked up teeth & breath smelling like they brushed with dogsh*t. Lol”

-R/S, a very pissed off Marine”

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