Russia Ukraine Update Thread - part 2

originally posted by: WeDemBoyz
alleged first photos of the ship on fire, taken from shore are shown on this twitter link: twitter.com...

LOL, reminds me of this:

The Hunt for Red October: Andrei you have lost another submarine...

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: WeDemBoyz
alleged first photos of the ship on fire, taken from shore are shown on this twitter link: twitter.com...

LOL, reminds me of this:

The Hunt for Red October: Andrei you have lost another submarine...

The Ukrainian General Staff report for today has 11 russian ships destroyed, which is +1 from yesterday, but no other details were provided.

russia is still claiming the ship was not struck, but are using 'wiggle room' terms.

a reply to: WeDemBoyz

Zmiiny Island aka Snake Island


"Russian warship, "go @#$%^ Yourself" ..........

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

The Ukrainian General Staff report for today has 11 russian ships destroyed, which is +1 from yesterday, but no other details were provided.

Couple days ago 2 patrol boats were reportedly sunk by laser guided missile from drone

originally posted by: firerescue
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

The Ukrainian General Staff report for today has 11 russian ships destroyed, which is +1 from yesterday, but no other details were provided.

Couple days ago 2 patrol boats were reportedly sunk by laser guided missile from drone

Yes, those have been confirmed by Ukraine and video sources, though russia appears to be pretending it didn't happen.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Hopefully there will be ammunition for them this time. The SP anti-aircraft vehicles arrived with little to no ammo, as the Swiss weren't willing to provide it.

Cheers

a reply to: GAOTU789

I've no doubt the RN and USN will be going over the lessons of these encounters in fine detail.

Cheers

I am kind of surprised the ship was not sunk. The Moskva weighed in at around 12k tons. The Admiral Makarov weighs in at 4k tons. Russia only has 3 of those ships, all in the Black Sea. The crew compliment is 200 +/-. The reason they can't make any more of those ships is the engines were produced in Ukraine.



also,

Moscow’s military top brass being blamed for Ukraine ‘quagmire’, defence minister says

During a visit to British troops stationed in Finland, Ben Wallace said Moscow’s military chiefs are blaming each other for the invasion’s poor progress and fear being purged by Vladimir Putin if the “quagmire” turns into a retreat, said The Times.

Wallace said the generals are being made scapegoats for the Russian military’s shortcomings and are “always terrified they are about to be purged and pushed out”.

The secretary of state added that generals were getting closer and closer to the front line trying to “sort out this quagmire that they’re in”, but said their approach of “shouting and screaming” at people “tends not to get the best result”.

Wallace’s comments came as officials in Washington told The New York Times that US intelligence has allowed Ukrainian forces to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the conflict.

Ukraine claims to have killed around 12 generals on the front line, a figure that has “astonished military analysts”, the paper said. US agencies have used a variety of sources, “including classified and commercial satellites”, to trace troop movements.

click link for article



* - Every Mysterious Fire to Break Out in Russia Recently—Full List

Newsweek has been reporting for weeks on a series of mysterious fires that have broken out across Russia in buildings, oil and ammunition depots, warehouses and other places.

The causes of the fires remain under investigation by Russian authorities, and the blazes remain unexplained. Ukrainian authorities have not officially claimed responsibility for them, although Western officials - like British armed forces minister James Heappey - have said that it would be "completely legitimate" for Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil.

Newsweek has listed all of the mysterious fires reported in Russia in recent weeks, and tried to look at what links them together.

click link for article, pictures etc...

5 May update

Key Takeaways

* Russian forces continued ineffectual offensive operations in southern Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts without securing any significant territorial gains in the past 24 hours.

* Ukrainian officials and military officers confirmed that Russian forces have breached the Azovstal facility itself and confirmed that Ukrainian forces are losing ground. Russian forces will likely capture the facility in the coming days.

* Ukrainian offensive operations around Kharkiv likely intend to push Russian forces out of artillery range of Kharkiv city, force Russian units to redeploy from the Izyum axis, and potentially threaten Russian lines of communication.

* Russian forces conducted limited offensive operations toward Zaporizhia City but did not conduct any attacks in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts in the last 24 hours. Ukrainian forces claimed to recapture additional territory west of Kherson, but ISW cannot independently confirm any advances.

More at URL above.

Cheers

On the German howitzers.

A total of SEVEN.

That's enough to equip a standard NATO battery of six howitzers with one as a maintenance spare. Maybe Berlin could cough up a complete battalion of three batteries?



Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
On the German howitzers.

A total of SEVEN.

That's enough to equip a standard NATO battery of six howitzers with one as a maintenance spare. Maybe Berlin could cough up a complete battalion of three batteries?

Cheers

I'm guessing this is going to be significantly increased if the first group training is successful, like with the U.S. guns.

A lot more training for self propelled versions, and a lot more potential problems, I think they're just being cautious to make sure what is donated can be used properly.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Not sure about that. Berlin has already said they don't have more to give up ... though apparently they have something like 100 with only 40 in service.

Wouldn't surprise me to hear that the Germans haven't kept them maintained. They've enjoyed being surrounded by friendly countries and cutting corners on their NATO obligations.

Cheers

originally posted by: Xcathdra
I am kind of surprised the ship was not sunk. The Moskva weighed in at around 12k tons. The Admiral Makarov weighs in at 4k tons. Russia only has 3 of those ships, all in the Black Sea. The crew compliment is 200 +/-. The reason they can't make any more of those ships is the engines were produced in Ukraine.

Moskva was an incredibly lucky hit in that the Neptune strike immediately caused something massive to explode on the ship, and that ignited a massive liquid fuel fire.

The initial explosion on Moskva broke the ship completely in half, with only the keel and deck chains holding everything together, until the keel broke when they tried to tow the broken ship while it's bow was full of sea water.

Neptunes can't do that on their own, it took something stored on the ship to create that explosion

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Sounds like the Makarov is out of action for months at least, unless the flames reach a magazine.

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Sounds like the Makarov is out of action for months at least, unless the flames reach a magazine.

Cheers

Even better, it *should* mean that russia can no longer risk putting it's missile boats close enough to Ukraine to have any real effect on the ground war.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Things like this go back to comments I made in other threads regarding the difference between a country launching a lot of ships, and a country running a genuine blue-water navy.

I *hope* our navy and the RN has the defensive gear to defeat missile attacks, because if our stuff isn't much better, we're all right back to the Falklands ca. 1982.

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Not sure about that. Berlin has already said they don't have more to give up ... though apparently they have something like 100 with only 40 in service.

Wouldn't surprise me to hear that the Germans haven't kept them maintained. They've enjoyed being surrounded by friendly countries and cutting corners on their NATO obligations.

Cheers

True, but other NATO countries use some of the same gear, I think it it was Denmark that just announced they were also sending a few, but I suspect that Ukraine will be receiving America Paladins in quantity if they are able to effectively use the German versions, because you are correct that nobody else has the numbers.

We do.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Things like this go back to comments I made in other threads regarding the difference between a country launching a lot of ships, and a country running a genuine blue-water navy.

I *hope* our navy and the RN has the defensive gear to defeat missile attacks, because if our stuff isn't much better, we're all right back to the Falklands ca. 1982.

Cheers

The U.S. has been working VERY hard in this for 30+ years, but I don't think anyone knows how effective all the new stuff will be until tested in battle.

I'm 100% confident however, that some of the serious design and integration flaws that were present on moskva, are not present on our aegis destroyers or carriers.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Hopefully there will be ammunition for them this time. The SP anti-aircraft vehicles arrived with little to no ammo, as the Swiss weren't willing to provide it.

Cheers

Yeah, logistics is a real mess in Ukraine right now, no way to avoid it in the short term, and it might get even more challenging

I highly recommend that other countries try to do what we did with the Howitzers, send enough ammo with the weapons to wear out all the weapons, these things aren't going into storage for potential future conflicts, they're going directly into battle.

For quite some time now I've tried to keep abreast of domestic affairs in Iran.
This began back in the 80's when I got to know a man who had been very active in the movement to replace The Shah but was also very much against The Islamic Revolution and had made many enemies.

So I try to keep up with events as much as I can, I don't consider myself an expert on Iranian affairs but I guess I am slightly more informed than most.

What one earth has this got to do with Ukraine?

Quite a lot actually.
Iran is refusing to cut ties with Russia and some rumours allege that they are actively assisting them - I don't know about that but its certainly not beyond the realms of believability.

But the one really big takeaway from this for Iran must be NATO's response to Russia's naked aggression.
NATO has steadfastly refused to get directly involved and will only do so if a member nation is attacked - the Putin apologists and acolytes may disagree but its true.
So Iran must be asking itself - WHY?
The answer is simple; Russia's nuclear weapons.

I suspect - and there are certainly rumblings in Iran - that this will only strengthen Iran's resolve to gain nuclear weapon capability.
From their point of view the acquisition of nuclear weapons can only help deter any future attack from NATO/USA/Saudi Arabia etc.
It has been suggested that they gain the capability, the wherewithal, but remain a screwdriver away from actually assembling the nuclear weapons - apparently like Japan?

I'm sure Iran won't be the only country thinking like this at present.

I know not an update on Ukraine but I really didn't want to start yet another thread yet I do think its worth considering.....