Russia Ukraine Update Thread - part 2

a reply to: dragonridr

True but remember, not all foreign volunteers that are lining up to help Ukraine are created equal. There's plenty of ways for plausible deniability to be created. Nope, don't have a shred of proof to offer except history and stories like this...

globalnews.ca...

See this POS cut bait and ran. He is/was in Ukraine. I don't have any info about his current whereabouts, as I really don't care. That dude has connections throughout NATO due to his previous deployments and commands as well as he was tapped to head the Canadian Army until those allegations surfaced. I'm pretty sure this is the guy the Russians tried to say was running the imaginary bioweapon lab under Avozstal, even though his career was with the Armoured Corp.

Not all volunteers are created equal.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

see my last response for an explanation

a reply to: GAOTU789


"Not all volunteers are created equal."


That was worth repeating.


The early volunteers ranged from lifetime basement dwellers to recently retired spec ops.

* - Russian forces in Svitlodarsk of Donetsk region

* - Overnight Russian missile strike hit empty field in Pavlohrad district of Dnipropetrovsk region

* - Russian army shelled Zelenodolsk community with MLRS Uragan, also shelled Shyroke territorial community

* - At Avdiyivka, Kurakhove, Novopavlivske directions Russian troops using artillery and aviation, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - At Sieverodonetsk direction Russian forces assaulting Toshkivka and Ustynivka, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - Russian forces gained ground near Vasylivka village at Bakhmut direction, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - Russian army assaulting northern outskirts of Ternova town in Kharkiv region, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - Russian army shelled Bilopillya of Sumy region, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - Russia has deployed Iskander missiles in Brest region of Belarus, 50kms to the border of Ukraine, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

* - A video reportedly showing the launch of the Iskander missile from the territory of the Belgorod Oblast of Russia at a target in the Kharkiv Oblast of Ukraine a short time ago

* - Heavy shelling in Merefa

* - Another explosion reported in Pavlohrad, no sirens sounded

* - Explosions reported in Kharkiv and region

* - Russian diplomat to UN in Geneva Boris Bondarev quits over Ukraine war

* - President @ZelenskyyUa said that Russian troops in the Donbas have 20 times more vehicles than the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and called on Western partners to hand over modern weapons to Ukraine

* - 4 missile strikes against railway infrastructure in Pavlohrad and Synelnykove districts of Dnipropetrovsk region. Nearby residential houses damaged

* - Czech Republic has recently donated attack helicopters, tanks and missile systems to Ukraine - US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said

* - Rammstein-2: 20 countries have announced new defense assistance to Ukraine, and Denmark will hand over ASM Harpoon. On May 23, the second meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine, including over 40 partner countries, took place

* - Tractor operator killed as result of landmine explosion in Chernihiv region

* - Explosion near Pidhorodne

* - Russian troops shot and wounded an employee of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

* - Woman wounded as result of shelling in Severodonetsk

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

Resources - Where most of the updates come from.
* - Flightradar24 - tracks flights worldwide
* - Live Ukraine control map 1 - updates on the ground
* - Ukraine Control Map 2
* - Ship radar
* - Military vessel tracker
* - Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
* - Stopfake - Countering Russian propaganda about Ukraine
* - MilitaryLand - Maps

Youtube resources -
* - Speak the Truth
* - War in Ukraine
* - Artur Rehi - Estonain soldier
* - Daily Report

Social media resources -
* - Twitter - Jomini of the West - Battlefield Maps

a reply to: Xcathdra

So many of them now that even Wikipedia has an article on them.

en.wikipedia.org...

Article mentions Botashev may have been flying for the Wagner mercenaries.

Cheers

Flightradar24

* - FORTE11 - Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk / USAF - Black Sea duty
* - ROCK32 - McDonnell Douglas F-15E Eagle / USAF - Over Britain / North Sea
* - CD23 - Boeing F-15 Eagle / USAF - North Sea
* - DK4300 - Boeing F-15 Eagle / USAF - Off the coast of UK near North York Moors N.P.
* - QID24 - Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker / USAF - Off coast of UK NE of Norwich doing circles over North Sea
* - ROF2706 - Alenia C-27J Spartan / Romanian air force - Over central Romania
* - CL60 - Bombardier Challenger 650 / UNKNOWN - Patrolling Romania - Moldova/Ukraine border
* - PORTER02 - PZL-Warszawa PZL-130 TC2 Orlik / Polish air force - Over Poland southeast of Lublin
* - YANK01 - Beech RC-12X Guardrail / US Army - Patrolling Lithuania
* - YANK02 - Beech RC-12X Guardrail / US Army - also patrolling Lithuania
* - R2791 - Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk / US Army - over Latvia
* - 78705 - Fairchild A-10C Thunderbolt II / USAF - Over Latvia
* - L39 - Aero L-39 Albatros / UNKNOWN - Doing circles over Baltic Sea / Estonia
* - PLF042 - Casa C-295 / Polish air force - over Estonia
* - NO CALLSIGN - Tupolev Tu-154M - Russian Navy - South of Yaroslavl
* - RA86906 - Ilyushin Il-76MD / Russian air force - Also south of Yaroslavl
* - RO201 - Airbus Helicopters AS365 Dauphin / Romanian air force - over central / east Romania

23 May update

Key Takeaways

* Russian nationalist figures (including veterans and military commentators) are increasingly criticizing the failures of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine and are calling for further mobilization that the Kremlin likely remains unwilling and unable to pursue in the short term.

* Russian forces around Izyum increased their tempo of air and artillery strikes and likely intend to attempt to resume stalled offensive operations in the coming days.

* Russian operations to encircle Severodonetsk made minor gains in the past 24 hours, driving north through Zolote. Fighting is ongoing in Lyman (north of Severodonetsk) as Russian forces attempt to cut off Ukrainian supply lines.

* Russian forces will likely make further minor gains west of Popasna in the near future but are unlikely to be able to quickly seize Bakhmut.

* The Ukrainian counteroffensive northeast of Kharkiv continues to threaten Russian positions and is forcing Russia to pull units from ongoing offensive operations in eastern Ukraine to shore up their defensive positions near Vovchansk.

More at URL above.

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

lol I found the comment that the Russian military is "top heavy" funny. Nothing like thinning out the heard by sending them to their deaths.

a reply to: Xcathdra

They did the same thing the USA did. Plenty of generals kept active even if there were not formations for them to command.

The idea was originally that we would have enough general officers if the army had to be expanded to the size it was in World War II.

The problem is, no one has realistically expected for a long time that such an expansion would take place, yet flag officers galore is still the order of the day. Perhaps the Russians think they could rebuild an army like they had in World War II, but it isn't likely considering how much it costs to organize, equip, and maintain divisions these days.

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Sounds like we need to thin the heard as well. During WW2 we had operational ranks, meaning colonels in the US who were sent to Europe were "promoted" to the rank of 2 star generals (as an example). If they were transferred back to the US their rank reverted back to colonel. That concept worked well then but leave it to the US and wanting to reinvent the wheel.

a reply to: Xcathdra


WTF is an A-10 doing in Latvia?

Hopefully part of the NATO exercise?

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2


Have you seen any of the online claims about large NATO fleet activity in the Baltic?

I've been waiting for ATS analysis on those 'reports' since I've never really followed Naval activity much.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

10 A-10's from the Maryland Air National guard deployed for exercises and interoperability training.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

NATO has beefed up their presence to remind Russia that NATO is present and also to protect Finland and Sweden should Russia decide to invade as well as watching Kaliningrad.

The HMS Prince of Whales is now in operation. From what I have seen the UK and French aircraft carriers are to cover the north sea and the Baltic's while the US and Italian aircraft carriers cover the med.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: PatriotGames4u

10 A-10's from the Maryland Air National guard deployed for exercises and interoperability training.

Thank you.

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

That is the explanation thus far but im pretty sure we have them deployed to Germany on a permanent basis. Italy is deploying F-35's to the Baltic's for their turn doing the Baltic air policing.

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Got to love the British sense of humor... During WW2 the Brits had "the women's auxiliary territorial service".

Taking the first letter of each word speaks volumes - The Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service = TWATS


Ground updates
* - Poland's president @andrzejduda at wef2022 Davos: Ukrainians won't accept any peace conditions consisting in taking the territory by Russia. This war should end when Russia gives up the territory taken from Ukraine

* - Shelling in Kharkiv with missiles from the side of Russian and the sea

* - Kyivstar cellular network service is again available in Kherson

* - Fire at petrol station in Ingulsky district of Mykolaiv

* - Engineers detonated unexploded ordinances in Kyiv region

* - Smoke rising after Russian army shelled Lysychansk refinery(defunct) in Luhansk region

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

Resources - Where most of the updates come from.
* - Flightradar24 - tracks flights worldwide
* - Live Ukraine control map 1 - updates on the ground
* - Ukraine Control Map 2
* - Ship radar
* - Military vessel tracker
* - Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
* - Stopfake - Countering Russian propaganda about Ukraine
* - MilitaryLand - Maps

Youtube resources -
* - Speak the Truth
* - War in Ukraine
* - Artur Rehi - Estonain soldier
* - Daily Report

Social media resources -
* - Twitter - Jomini of the West - Battlefield Maps

a reply to: PatriotGames4u

I don't follow fleet ops much, either. Did find this:

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is underway in the western Mediterranean Sea. The CSG made a port call in Naples, Italy, on May 10. This is the first visit by a US Navy aircraft carrier to Naples in six years.

The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are in the Baltic Sea. According to a Navy release, elements of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) held a training event with Norwegian Armed Forces on May 6.

From news.usni.org...

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2


I thought you did for some reason, I must be thinking of another user.

Thanks for what you found though.