Russia Ukraine Update Thread - part 3

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: alldaylong

Vlad's Army?

"Don't Panic"?

I like it, i like it.

a reply to: alldaylong

"They don't like it up 'em'!

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I wonder if what seems like a fumble on the Russian side is someone angling to make Putin look bad enough that he has to opt for retirement somewhere in Siberia, oligarchs being oligarchs . . .

Cheers

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

If I'm a resident of Kursk I'm getting the hell out of there. The FSB's MO tends to be scorched earth.

Black smoke is billowing from one of the cooling towers at ZNPP. Zelensky is saying it was intentionally set by Russia. If true, this is a clear case of nuclear blackmail on Russia's part and needs to be called out by all nations.

a reply to: Threadbarer

Do you have a source?

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Source

originally posted by: Threadbarer
a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Source

If true, they are only hurting themselves.

I don't know if any of the intense footage from this recent Kursk offensive was published in this thread so far. I went back eight pages to about 306 and did not see this one, so I will add it now from War Leaks. However, they age-restricted it after 16 hours . It is actually quite a hell of an operation and the Ukrainians/Foreign Legion did some serious damage. As all can see in the video, the Ukrainians took quite the beating to pull it off.

His full video requires a subscription to his private channel, but much of the content is also available and extensively documented on Documenting Reality , which is not for the faint of heart. Free previews are available on the previous

The Kursk operation seems to be a direct response to the Russians early August gains in Donbass. . Lost some good armor that week, and some more HIMARS.

11 August Update

The Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast and further possible Ukrainian cross-border incursions force a decision point on the Kremlin and the Russian military command about whether to view the thousand-kilometer-long international border with northeastern Ukraine as a legitimate frontline that Russia must defend instead of a dormant area of the theater as they have treated it since Fall 2022. . . . Russia's prolonged treatment of the international border area as a dormant frontline is a strategic failure of imagination.

Geolocated footage and Russian and Ukrainian reporting from August 10 and 11 indicate that Ukrainian forces advanced westward and northwestward in Kursk Oblast, although Russian sources largely claimed that Russian forces have stabilized the situation.

Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported on August 11 that Russian forces have thus far redeployed roughly 10 to 11 battalions from across the theater to Kursk Oblast but suggested that these battalion units are below their intended end strength, likely further exacerbating the disorganization of the Russian response.

Russia’s redeployment of battalion and lower-level units rather than full brigades and regiments to defend in Kursk Oblast is likely contributing to Russian forces' difficulty in quickly establishing effective C2 in the area. . . . Confusion about the status of Russian conscripts fighting in Kursk Oblast is a consequence of ineffective C2 and will likely continue to further strain Russia’s C2 structures to respond to the Kursk operation.

Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk and Donetsk City.

More at URL above.

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Excellent source, thank you.

Sounds like Belgorod is going to be next. 11,000 have been evacuated as Ukraine gets closer.

It's funny, it's the 24th anniversary of the Kursk sub disaster, the first threat to Putin's legitimacy, and now we have another Kursk disaster that's posing the greatest threat to Putin's legitimacy since.

Continuing development along with Russia’s defence ministry claiming that it had “thwarted” attempts by Ukrainian forces to break deeper into Russia.

While Russia continues to advance on Kupyansk and Donetsk in the east as seen on “ISW”

a reply to: Imhere

BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk...
Ukraine war live: Putin vows to 'kick the enemy out' as Ukraine pushes into Russian territory - BBC News




"Kursk's acting governor Alexei Smirnov is now speaking at Putin's meeting with officials.

Smirnov tells him that Ukraine controls 28 villages in the region.

"The situation remains difficult," he says.

Ukrainian forces are 7.4 miles (12 km) deep inside the region, and the front line there is 40 km wide, he says.

Putin interrupts, saying "the defence ministry will report the depth and width" and asks him to "tell us about the social and economic situation and how people are being helped".

Smirnov tells Putin that about 2,000 Russian citizens remain in areas occupied by Ukrainian forces in Kursk."

Putin saying you can't negotiate with people that target "civilians and civilian infrastructure".

He's been doing precisely that since the War began, on a massive scale.

originally posted by: Threadbarer
Black smoke is billowing from one of the cooling towers at ZNPP. Zelensky is saying it was intentionally set by Russia. If true, this is a clear case of nuclear blackmail on Russia's part and needs to be called out by all nations.

Of course it's true. Ukraine didn't get anywhere near that nuclear plant, and besides, the whole thing is ridiculous and silly. Cooling towers are not flammable, they are made of concrete and steel and steel pipes filled with water. What can burn in a cooling tower? Nothing that would make that kind of black smoke.

Denys Davydov explained this in his latest update and of course he's right that there's nothing to burn in a cooling tower. He thinks the Russians put some old tires in there and set those on fire. The black smoke does sort of look like a tire fire.

About the nuclear blackmail, I'm not sure what you mean by that, no nuclear engineers are dumb enough to think smoke coming from a fire in a concrete and steel cooling tower means nuckear emergency. It's just desperate propaganda from Putin to try to influence people who know nothing about cooling tower construction.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

'About the nuclear blackmail, I'm not sure what you mean by that, no nuclear engineers are dumb enough to think smoke coming from a fire in a cooling tower means anything other than desperate propaganda from Putin to try to influence people who know nothing about cooling tower construction."

Seems to be working judging by posts in the other thread on this fire.

12 August Update

Russian milbloggers claimed on August 11 that Ukrainian offensive activity decreased in Kursk Oblast; however, a prominent Kremlin-affiliated milblogger refuted these claims on August 12 and noted that Russian forces are far from stabilizing the situation, in part due to poor C2. Ukrainian forces reportedly launched new incursions into western Kursk Oblast near Slobodka-Ivanovka (northwest of Sumy City and two kilometers from the international border), Tetkino (south of Slobodka-Ivanovka along the international border), Gordeevka, Uspenka, and Viktorovka (all north of Sumy City along the international border and south of Korenevo). Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces seized Slobodka-Ivanovka, Uspenivka, and Viktorovka.

Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov expressed concern on August 12 about "alarming" Ukrainian activity along the border with Belgorod Oblast. Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov claimed on August 12 that Ukrainian forces have seized 28 settlements in Kursk Oblast and that Ukrainian forces have advanced roughly 12 kilometers deep along a 40-kilometer-long front into Kursk Oblast.

Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk.

More at URL above.

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
12 August Update

Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk.

More at URL above.

Cheers

Russia keeps advancing!?

Thought Zelensky incursion in forests of Kursk was supposed to stop this!

a reply to: Imhere

Ukraine keeps advancing in Russia?

I thought Putin's special military operation was only supposed to take three days.