Russia Ukraine Update Thread

* - Russia Plays Down Peace-Talks Progress, Intensifies Attacks in Eastern Ukraine

Moscow on Wednesday dismissed a diplomatic overture by Ukraine in peace talks, while Russian forces hit targets around Kyiv despite saying they would limit attacks there and also stepped up ground and air assaults in eastern portions of the country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks Tuesday in Turkey between Ukrainian and Russian delegates didn’t represent a turning point in the conflict. “No one said that the sides have made headway,” he said. “We can’t point to anything particularly promising.”

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* - Fact check: Video shows graves from 2021, not new graves for Russian soldiers

he claim: Video shows new graves for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine
The Russian military has suffered significant fatalities since the invasion of Ukraine. Some social media users have begun circulating a video they claim shows Russian graves prepared for the returning bodies.

The video seems to be shot from a moving vehicle. What appear to be cross-shaped tombstones are shown out one window of the vehicle.

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Rows of rectangular holes next to piles of dirt are then shown out the other window.

"Hundreds of graves have been dug in the cemeteries of Russia - they are waiting for the burial of Russian cargo 200, which is starting to come from Ukraine," reads a March 5 Facebook post. "The Russians are filming and posting on social networks, they are in shock."

"Cargo 200" refers to military fatalities, according to AFP.

The video was viewed more than 250,000 times this month, but it has nothing to do with the current Ukrainian-Russian conflict.

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* - U.S. military veterans answer Zelensky's call to fight, but not all are chosen

First he missed his flight. Then his gear got lost somewhere between Little Rock and Warsaw. Finally, after traveling thousands of miles to help Ukraine fight the Russian military, the country’s foreign legion rejected him.

Cody Heard, a 29-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Arkansas, was undeterred. He and three other young volunteers — a Brit and two Dutchmen — were headed to the Ukrainian capital the next day to try to hook up with a military reserve unit.

“They will take us — I hope,” said Heard, hanging outside a hostel in Lviv with his three comrades, all bedraggled after days on the move, their packs lying on the ground. “I mean, I messaged them. But I haven’t heard back yet.”

Heard is among hundreds or possibly thousands of foreign nationals who have swooped into Ukraine in recent weeks to join the battle against the Russians. Some are ex-soldiers. Many are not.

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* - Georgia’s South Ossetia plans to take steps to join Russia

he separatist leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia says the Moscow-backed territory is planning to take steps in the near future to become part of Russia.

Russia recognised South Ossetia as an independent state in 2008 after fighting a short war with Georgia. It has provided the separatist region with extensive financial support, offered Russian citizenship to its population and stationed thousands of Russian troops there.

“I believe that unification with Russia is our strategic goal, our path, the aspiration of the people,” Anatoly Bibilov, the separatist leader of South Ossetia, was quoted as saying by the press service of the United Russia party.

“We will take the relevant legislative steps shortly. The republic of South Ossetia will be part of its historical homeland – Russia.”

Meanwhile, Abkhazia, another Russian-backed breakaway region of Georgia, said on Wednesday it had no plans to join Russia.

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* - 3 signs that Russia is moving towards a totalitarian regime click link for video


* - In Kyiv’s suburb of Irpin, Ukraine’s military claims a big prize

Creeping forward block by block, Ukrainian soldiers in a reconnaissance unit on Tuesday found signs of a retreating Russian army everywhere: a charred armoured vehicle, abandoned body armour decorated with an orange and black St. George ribbon, a Russian military symbol, and the traditional blue-and-white-striped underwear issued to Russian soldiers, cast aside in a forest.

What they did not encounter was the Russian army in any organized state.

After a month of savage street fighting, one of the most pivotal battles in the war ended this week — at least for now — with an improbable victory in Irpin for Ukraine’s outgunned and outnumbered military.

By Tuesday, Ukrainian forces had quashed any significant Russian resistance in this strategic outlying town near Kyiv, the capital.

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a reply to: alldaylong

Fair point. Honestly, though, it doesnt even look like it had been launched. Maybe captured on the battlefield?

originally posted by: WeDemBoyz
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

There is a photo in the following link that allegedly shows an unexploded hypersonic missile. I wouldnt know what one looks like, so it could be a false claim. Nevertheless, here ya go...

Link

It's reasonably close in size and shape, but something looks off with the nozzle config. I couldn't find anything to compare it to so can't be sure either way.

It shows signs of horrible manufacturing methods though, and I doubt this one could even fly, never mind at hypersonic speeds, with part of the mounting gear still attached.

This one may have fallen off a plane that was shot down or failed to release properly when launched.

Thanks for the pic though, I'm gonna hold onto that one for a while just in case.

originally posted by: alldaylong

originally posted by: WeDemBoyz
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

There is a photo in the following link that allegedly shows an unexploded hypersonic missile. I wouldnt know what one looks like, so it could be a false claim. Nevertheless, here ya go...

Link

If that had hit the ground travelling at 5 times the speed of sound, i would think there wouldn't be much left of it.

And no ground damage either.

No way this hit the ground at speed, regardless of what it is.

a reply to: Grimpachi


I don't think Ukraine ever had anywhere near that number there, but whatever the number was, most have been killed defending the Mariupol Alamo.

a reply to: WeDemBoyz

I am going to say it isn't hypersonic. It has flip out wings. Anything going at the speeds estimated would have fixed fin's/wings. I imagine it also wouldn't be round like that. Our designs and more space craft-like.

* - UK spy chief says Russian soldiers disobey orders in Ukraine

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Demoralized Russian soldiers in the Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft, a U.K. intelligence chief said on Thursday.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, made the remarks at a speech in the Australian capital Canberra.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion, he said.

"It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory,” Fleming said.

“We’ve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Fleming added.

Although Putin’s advisers were believed to be too afraid to tell the truth, the “extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime,” he said.

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* - Germany Calls Russia's Bluff in Gas Dispute. It Looks to Have Worked

Germany appears to have called Russia's bluff in a dispute over payments for gas after President Vladimir Putin demanded so-called "unfriendly countries" pay for his country's energy in rubles.

German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced on Wednesday that he was triggering the first in a series of three warning levels for the country's gas supplies in the first step to deal with a potential cut-off of Russian gas.

Following Habeck's announcement, the Kremlin said the switch to paying in rubles would not take place immediately, after Putin gave his government and the Central Bank of Russia one week to work out a solution.

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* - Russian forces 'walking away' from Chernobyl, heading to Belarus: Pentagon official

Russian troops are beginning to pull out of the Chernobyl nuclear facility and moving into Belarus, a Pentagon official said on Wednesday.

The retreat comes a day after Russian officials said military operations in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv would scale back and over a month after Vladimir Putin's army seized the site of the catastrophic 1986 nuclear disaster.

"Chernobyl is [an] area where they are beginning to reposition some of their troops — leaving, walking away from the Chernobyl facility and moving into Belarus," the U.S. Defense official said, according to a report.

"We think that they are leaving, I can't tell you that they're all gone," the official cautioned.

UKRAINE SAYS RUSSIAN ARMS DEPOT NEAR CHERNOBYL 'HUGE' THREAT TO NUCLEAR FACILITY

Both the Pentagon and the White House believe that attacks will continue across Ukraine despite Russian troop movements.

Russia intends to “refit these troops, resupply them and probably employ them elsewhere in Ukraine,” according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

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* - 'Everybody's Waiting for Putin to Die.' A Russian Businessman on the Hopes for His Homeland

Evgeny Chichvarkin is looking agitated. He’s just heard a whisper about some potential stock going cheap and so politely declines my suggestion we leave his bustling wineshop in London’s tony Mayfair district in search of somewhere quieter to chat.

But Chichvarkin isn’t dashing off in pursuit of another 1774 Jura vin jaune, which sells for a precise £72,553.80 ($95,308) at Hedonism Wines, the store he set up in 2012 to be “the world’s best wineshop.” Instead, he is preparing to inspect a consignment of military fatigues and battle wear at a warehouse in the nearby town of Slough—worth some $650,000, he tells me conspiratorially. “It belongs to a rich Russian who had his assets frozen and needs to sell. If it works out, I’ll send it straight to the Ukrainian army.”

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* - Britain: Russian units suffering losses, forced to leave Ukraine to resupply

The British Ministry of Defense said in an update on Wednesday that Russian forces were suffering losses, forcing them to leave Ukraine "to reorganize and resupply."

"Russian units suffering heavy losses have been forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganize and resupply. Such activity is placing further pressure on Russia's already strained logistics and demonstrates the difficulties Russia is having reorganizing its units in forward areas within Ukraine," the British Defense Ministry said in an update released through Twitter.

The British Defense Ministry said that Russia would likely defer to missile strikes and mass artillery to make up for their reduced ground maneuver capability.

"Russia's stated focus on an offensive in Donetsk and Luhansk is likely a tacit admission it is struggling to sustain more than one significant axis of advance," the ministry added.

The development comes as the Pentagon said on Tuesday that it did not believe a claim made by Moscow that its troops would be reducing military activity near the cities of Chernihiv and Kyiv, saying that Russia was instead "repositioning" its troops.

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* - How intelligence is helping to win the unthinkable war with Russia

Exploiting the conditions wrought by Vladimir Putin's indiscriminate violence in Ukraine and repression at home, the U.S. is leveraging intelligence to preemptively shape the battlefield, covertly enable partners, pressure cooperation from allies, and mitigate against the cornered Russian leader's inclination toward further escalation.

Metaphors for influence campaigns abound in this struggle, which rightfully casts Putin and his kleptocratic minions as the villains in this epic David versus Goliath tale. Putin's scorched-earth tactics provide ample fodder to amplify the good v. evil plot line as his reckless dispatch of poorly supported and badly led troops undermines his image of omnipotent master strategist. And American support to Ukraine's heroic battlefield defense, overt and covert alike, is being celebrated and encouraged rather than disparaged and condemned.

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nvm

* - Turkish Foreign Minister: The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers may meet within two weeks

* - Fire at oil depot in Lysychansk after Russian missile strike yesterday

* - Death toll of Russian missile attack on Mykolaiv regional administration increased to 19 dead

* - 3 Russian airstrikes at Popasna in last 30 minutes

* - Donetska Oblast(12:42). Red Alert: aerial threat. Sirens sounding. Take cover now!

* - Kharkivska Oblast, Mykolayivska Oblast, Sumska Oblast, Odeska Oblast, Poltavska Oblast, Zaporizka Oblast(12:41). Red Alert: aerial threat. Sirens sounding. Take cover now!

* - Rivnenska Oblast, Volynska Oblast(12:35). Red Alert: aerial threat. Sirens sounding. Take cover now!

* - Destroyed Russian equipment after heavy battles in Huliaipole district

* - Russian missiles targeted oil depot in Fastiv, Kyiv region

* - Shelling continues against villages of Zhytomyr region, including with cluster ammunition

* - 2 killed, 5 wounded as result of missile strike at military unit in Dnipropertovsk region this morning - regional administration

* - Poland's president @andrzejduda has met with the Ukrainian FM @DmytroKuleba. Tomorrow at the Vatican Polish president will discuss war in Ukraine with Pope Francis @pontifex

* - Shelling audible in Kharkiv

* - British Foreign Secretary: New sanctions target Putin's supporters and promoters

* - Assault units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with other units of the Defense Forces of the Zaporizhia region, captured the settlements of Zatyshshya, Malynivka, Vesele, Zelenyi Hai and Chervone from the Russian army

* - 11 wounded, among them 4 children were brought to Kurakhove city hospital from Maryinka

As a reminder -

Just so people know and understand. Information from war zones can become confusing as there will no doubt be info released from the players (on both sides) involved that might not necessarily be true.

As such take everything as a possibility and NOT as absolute truth.

The very first casualty in a war is the truth and all warfare is based on deception

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: WeDemBoyz

I am going to say it isn't hypersonic. It has flip out wings. Anything going at the speeds estimated would have fixed fin's/wings. I imagine it also wouldn't be round like that. Our designs and more space craft-like.

Our designs are a completely different animal and far more advanced. They don't look or work the same as the russian toy.

This one on the ground is roughly the size and shape of the hypersonic toy, but looks like it was assembled with junkyard parts, with part of the mounting gear still attached.


This is the real russian toy:

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

My thinking being if there hypersonic toys can reach hypersonic velocity's whilst remaining intact and relatively on target then they cannot be that badly constructed.

Russia generally builds things bigger, heavier, and somewhat underpowered compared to there western counterparts by my guesstimation.

Far as i can establish all the same they are ahead where hypersonic missile technology is concerned, if only by a little, or at least compared to what we have admitted to have or fielded thus far.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

My thinking being if there hypersonic toys can reach hypersonic velocity's whilst remaining intact and relatively on target then they cannot be that badly constructed.

Russia generally builds things bigger, heavier, and somewhat underpowered compared to there western counterparts by my guesstimation.

Far as i can establish all the same they are ahead where hypersonic missile technology is concerned, if only by a little, or at least compared to what we have admitted to have or fielded thus far.

I was referring to whatever that is on the ground, I've never seen a real one up close so I have no idea how well it was built.

It was built with a much older technology than ours though, the only thing they really have in common is the speed range.

Russia drafts 134,500 conscripts but says they won’t go to Ukraine

LONDON (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia’s annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.

The order came five weeks into Russia’s invasion, which has run into fierce Ukrainian resistance. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that none of those called up would be sent to any “hot spots”.

The issue of conscripts’ involvement in the war is highly sensitive. On March 9, the defence ministry acknowledged that some had been sent to Ukraine after Putin had denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in.

Putin’s spokesman said at the time that the president had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts.

The annual spring military draft, which runs from April 1 to July 15, will affect Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27, Putin’s decree said.

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a reply to: PatriotGames4u

On the ground?

Im seeing what appears to be a Russian Kinzhal PatriotGames4u.

As to the level of technology, Russia is always a little bit behind in that department down to the gap where there material science is concerned comparatively speaking.

As to a commonality where speed/range of there missiles is concerned, well that's them still got a dog in the fight even if it is a little longer in the tooth.

a reply to: andy06shake


Sand castings like that aren't 'a little' behind.

What do you think the purpose of the green paint is on a vehicle made of materials that don't rust, and how do you think it survives traveling so fast that the speed alone creates enough heat to generate a plasma bubble?

Do I see a little rust on Titanium?

Why do you think they would use what looks like 4 nozzles on a solid fuel hypersonic bird, and how do you think that configuration could even work?

Just a few of the many issues with that thing in the ground being a dagger.



The real daggers do appear to be performing well though.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

I thought Titanium alloy was a rather rust and corrosion resistant.

As to the purpose of the green paint im not sure, or what it could have to do with regarding the generation of a plasma sheath.

What do you imagine the purpose of the paint to be?

As to the nozzle configuration, that may have something to do with propulsion and control at hypersonic velocity at a guess.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

I thought Titanium alloy was a rather rust and corrosion resistant.

As to the purpose of the green paint im not sure, or what it could have to do with regarding the generation of a plasma sheath.

What do you imagine the purpose of the paint to be?

As to the nozzle configuration, that may have something to do with propulsion and control at hypersonic velocity at a guess.

That was my sarcastic point, Titanium doesn't rust.

That was also my sarcastic point, there is no purpose for the paint, and it couldn't possibly survive flight.

Separate nozzles might make sense with liquid fuel, but no sense at all for solid fuel, the fins would have to provide maneuverability all by themselves.

I think this an older russian missile with a similar size and shape.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Far as i can establish a mere titanium shell would melt at hypersonic velocity.

Titanium's melting point is around 1,650°C.

The heat being generated at hypersonic velocity through the atmosphere is in excess 2,000°C and upwards, so composite materials able to withstand such temperatures are going to be required.

Probably some kind of silicon carbide material is used in construction, at least where the nose and leading edges of the missile and control surfaces are concerned.

My guess is there hypersonic toys top out around Mach 6 or 7, and not 8, 9 or 10, at least not anywhere near sea level.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Far as i can establish a mere titanium shell would melt at hypersonic velocity.

Titanium's melting point is around 1,650°C.

The heat being generated at hypersonic velocity through the atmosphere is in excess 2,000°C and upwards, so composite materials able to withstand such temperatures are going to be required.

Probably some kind of silicon carbide material is used in construction, at least where the nose and leading edges of the missile and control surfaces are concerned.

My guess is there hypersonic toys top out around Mach 6 or 7, and not 8, 9 or 10, at least not anywhere near sea level.

Perhaps, but the alloy would not include iron, so there would be no rust.

Or need for green paint.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

I don't have a clue as to the purpose of green paint PatriotGames4u.

Someone else that knows more about the missiles and construction process involved might be able to weigh in on the reasoning behind the colour of the paint if indeed that's what it is.