Here is an interesting way to boost the troop count:
7 more Indians release video, say forced to fight Ukraine war by Russian army
Days after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India is trying its best for an “early discharge” of around 20 Indians working as support staff to the Russian army, a group of seven men have released a new video claiming they are being forced by Russia to fight the Ukraine war against their will.
And Russia finally hit a HIMARS launcher.
I don't have the link to support this. It is just something I saw online during lunch today.
In reply to Noddaz :
I have seen it. It's sitting along a treeline in some non-snow area. Video is obviously from a Russian drone. No idea what hit it, but it looked pretty big (e.g. probably not a Lancet drone?).
Pretty impressive though that they have not been hit yet. Then again, they don't say "shoot and scoot" for no reason! Makes them difficult to track. Obviously, it looks like they found this one before it had a chance to launch.
Nikopol (southern region, just outside the conflict area) had a russian lander hit a shopping mall. Might want to take that into consideration if you're browsing your feeds today. No word on casualties yet, but I expect there to be some.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1765407765718073610
Honestly, it seems like it's been a quiet day (all things considered). I'm seeing reports small probing operations by russia against the lines, and some drone drop videos into russian vehicles. Nothing really newsworthy to report.
In the Kherson direction I saw a report that the UA artillery has been silent all day...
Fire brok out at a russian tank training center
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765692427577200991
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1765704536293822533
Looks like "calm" is over, here comes the storm...
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765712250860339254
I ran across this bit of info. I don't think this idea has been discussed (?). Clearly an O2 type topic.
It seems pretty bizarre to me. I mean, from what I know, the entire POINT of NATO was to be an alliance to counter the USSR. With Russia (USSR Jr) on board, what would they be countering? What would be the point?
This seems to me a bit like a city neighborhood setting up a "citizens against gangs" group and having the leader of the largest gang in the city wanting to be a member.... uhm.... OK....
What are the rules of NATO if one NATO member invades another? I suspect there really isn't one, except maybe removing them from the alliance, then being able to align against them(?)
Either way of course Putin had to be a D about it...."I don't want to wait in line..."
(Note: this is an old article, this is not any new news)
Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule
George Robertson recalls Russian president did not want to wait in line with ‘countries that don’t matter’
Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join Nato but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line “with a lot of countries that don’t matter”, according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance.
George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said.
The Labour peer recalled an early meeting with Putin, who became Russian president in 2000. “Putin said: ‘When are you going to invite us to join Nato?’ And [Robertson] said: ‘Well, we don’t invite people to join Nato, they apply to join Nato.’ And he said: ‘Well, we’re not standing in line with a lot of countries that don’t matter.’”....
I am not sure I would call it a "new" phase, just more of a turn of who's charging at who's trenches.
Ukraine is entering a new phase of war - trench warfare - WSJ
Armed Forces of Ukraine intended to carry out combat missions, are forced to dig trenches in anticipation of a large-scale offensive that the invaders may resort to this spring. "The front already looks more like a construction site than a battlefield."
Ukraine is trying to build fortifications similar to those built by Russia a year ago.
aircooled said:It seems pretty bizarre to me. I mean, from what I know, the entire POINT of NATO was to be an alliance to counter the USSR. With Russia (USSR Jr) on board, what would they be countering? What would be the point?
The USSR tried joining in 1954 and was rejected.
I guess the point would be peace, right?
In reply to aircooled :
I don't think it has much to do with NATO per se, at least not primarily. Putin's quote, if accurate, suggests more of a desire for the West to acknowledge Russia's status as a major power at a time when that was very much being questioned. By inviting Russia to join and leapfrogging the usual process (something that simply wouldn't happen in a large, multilateral alliance, but could very much happen in a Soviet-style top-down alliance structure, albeit with suitable window dressing to make it look like mutual agreement), Putin was probably fishing for a way to stabilize the domestic situation, justify major spending cuts on the military, and give himself a nice feather in his cap, all in one stroke. Remember too that in 2000, NATO's reason for being and continued existence was also in question at that point; it was looking increasingly like an alliance without a purpose.
I don't think it had much to do with actual NATO operations, though Putin would certainly have been aware of the unanimity required in NATO decision-making, and much like the Soviets in the UN Security Council, would have held the possibility of veto over everything, essentially threatening to deadlock the organization.
Historically, the Soviet attempt to join in 1954 was a last-ditch effort to keep West Germany from joining (which it did in 1955).
Happy Friday, everyone.
We’ve got fighting reported in the directions of Bakhmut and heavy meat-waves today in Robotyne. I haven’t yet seen much movement in the lines though. There’s another video available from Robotyne on the twit, but it does show the bodies, so click responsibly
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1766030521597845799
With that, KI did post an update on russian losses. Looks like we’re climbing our way to half-a-mil pretty quickly.
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1766001347160158268/photo/1
In other news, more russian oil stuff is on fire…
(I did not see word yet on what started it. Probably another smoking accident)
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1766073641714717126
As far as I understand, the Czech initiative is now funded and thus completed the pathway to deliver on Europe’s “1-million shell” promise
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1766081555582124226
and last but not least:
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1766029241139786173
Hoping for updates soon.
Macron has been on a bit of a roll lately. He has been talking about NATO troops in Ukraine, including (I think it was him) talking about setting up NATO troops in Ukraine as tripwires (justifications for NATO action if they are attacked).
I am not sure if he knows something, or has just come to some sort of realization. It's nice to see a European leader get some perspective though.
Macron called the world leaders cowards and called on them to step up in the war against Russia, Reuters.
He emphasized that the war came to (!) Europe after coming to Ukraine, so it will not be possible to sit back.
In addition, France has already supported the Czech plan to supply 800,000 artillery shells to Ukraine.
Macron: A Russian breakthrough in Kyiv or Odessa could be a reason to send French troops to Ukraine, - L'Independent
It is reported that the French President showed the leaders of French parties maps of possible directions of strikes by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.
As an update to the someone not-so-op-related story I posted above. This is a result of the sunken fertilizer tanker. Millions of dead shrimp washed up on shore. Yeman has a decent fishing industry. A bit of a self own I guess. Not that they care.
Ooh! forgot about this gem:
https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1766132168521113698
So the Ukrainians picked up a downed rooskie drone and found a spool with 10km of cable attached (used for guidance communication from operator to drone). This makes it far less vulnerable to Electronic Warfare (EW) interference by Ukrainian countermeasures (which had me wondering about that HIMARS they just lost. Could something like this have been used to avoid active EW in the area?)
Anyhoo, there are some obvious pluses and minuses with this. First is the aforementioned defense against EW, but boy-howdy is 10-clicks of wire nothing to bat an eye at! I really have to wonder if the benefits out weigh the risks and drawbacks here. I mean, weight aside. Depending on 10km of cable to support your flying object (read: Not getting it stuck and dragging on something or breaking) seems like a pretty big risk to me...
I'm curious to see if Ukraine will duplicate this tech for a similar effort, or pass it up based on risk, added complexity, and reduced range/payload.
Good times.
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Making a 10km spool of fiber optic seems like a challenge. Spooling it out while flying seems, not so hard. Flying back when your battery gets low, and not tangling that 10km of wire (!!!) in a tree or bush seems like a HUGE challenge. Perhaps it just detaches at some point? Now, if you could transmit power through that cable to charge the batteries (or eliminate the batteries)....
In reply to aircooled :
Right? Right away it sounded like a 1-way operation based of the potential for entanglement alone.
Really though, I'm surprised at how "not-expensive" fiber optic cable is:
This was just a quick search for the thinnest stuff I could find. 1-way transmission, cladded, etc, etc, etc. and at just over $20 a click, you'd only be out $200 for a 10-click roll!
Some more googling lead me to find that FI cable weighs between 17 and 27lbs per Kilometer. That's nothing to bat an eye at when you're trying to run the whole 10k (doesn't seem to be that big/heavy though in the video...)
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Or possibly adding a high voltage zap to the cable to affect the viewing devices?
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Price/Unit and unit is Meter, so 10KM is 10.11 x 10,000. Still pretty affordable if you are blowing up or protecting multi-$1,000,000 stuff .
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
And that RC Lipo battery is just velcroed on, and it seems there's no covering on any of the motors or the electronics so they're open to the elements. I honestly can't tell if this is just, some Chinese kit they're making work or if it's a total hack job.
You can also see what appears to be an RPG round attached to it. That would tend to imply they had no intention of having it return, which makes a bit more sense. That does appear to add a lot of cost to what would be a pretty low cost drone.
Another bit of news, which makes you wonder what they know (other countries have made similar warnings), and where this might be coming from. My big wonder on this one though is: There are US citizens in Moscow! Maybe political people (embassy etc)?
U.S. warns of imminent Moscow attack by 'extremists,' urges citizens to avoid crowds
The U.S. Embassy said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow."
U.S. citizens in Moscow have been warned to avoid large gatherings Friday and Saturday because of heightened fears of a terrorist attack.
The U.S. Embassy in the Russian capital said it was "monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours."
U.S. citizens should avoid crowds, monitor local media for updates and "be aware of your surroundings," it said in a brief online update.
The embassy did not elaborate on who or what poses the apparent threat to the Russian capital, or what kind of attack may be imminent.
But Russia's FSB security service said Thursday that it had foiled a planned attack by an Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist group on a synagogue in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow......
You can also detect radio transmissions from the drone to be alerted of its approach. Much like a wire guided torpedo, this could arrive as a surprise.
A 3KG spool of 3d printer filament is about 10km long and costs about $50, presuming this doesn't need perfect 10gigabit communication, you can get some pretty okay bandwidth out of a flexible plastic fiber.
aircooled said:Macron has been on a bit of a roll lately. He has been talking about NATO troops in Ukraine, including (I think it was him) talking about setting up NATO troops in Ukraine as tripwires (justifications for NATO action if they are attacked).
I am not sure if he knows something, or has just come to some sort of realization. It's nice to see a European leader get some perspective though.
Macron called the world leaders cowards and called on them to step up in the war against Russia, Reuters.
He emphasized that the war came to (!) Europe after coming to Ukraine, so it will not be possible to sit back.
In addition, France has already supported the Czech plan to supply 800,000 artillery shells to Ukraine.
Macron: A Russian breakthrough in Kyiv or Odessa could be a reason to send French troops to Ukraine, - L'Independent
It is reported that the French President showed the leaders of French parties maps of possible directions of strikes by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.
Macron is trying his best to deflect from the civil strife there. I swear the two favorite things for the French are to protest/revolution and screwing Russia.
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Price/Unit and unit is Meter, so 10KM is 10.11 x 10,000. Still pretty affordable if you are blowing up or protecting multi-$1,000,000 stuff .
yeah, that tripped me up. I saw 500m for $10 and didn't think about it any further. When I went to order (to get the shipping weight) it got expensive fast 
red_stapler said:You can also detect radio transmissions from the drone to be alerted of its approach. Much like a wire guided torpedo, this could arrive as a surprise.
A 3KG spool of 3d printer filament is about 10km long and costs about $50, presuming this doesn't need perfect 10gigabit communication, you can get some pretty okay bandwidth out of a flexible plastic fiber.
I wasn't sure so I looked it up. Looks like a single KG is about 320 meters. A 3kg spool will net you just under a single KM (which still seems like a long way to me).
someone on here mathed it out:
https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx54PBE0LF4N8M/?
Some updates from the weekend:
It's always a Toyota...
https://twitter.com/StettingerN/status/1767173756089213174
Good riddance to bad rubbish:
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1767172683404345588
More bullets (still no ride requested):
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767076319697813799
This isn’t the only thing burning in russia right now:
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767101020885156266
First up was the A-50 hit in the hangar that was already reported. The russians claimed to intercept over 40 drones that night and how many were bravely intercepted by the roof of that building is unknown. Also unknown is the damage to whatever was inside, but it seems like most people agree it was an A-50 that the facility was working on getting refurbished after bravely eating a drone in belarus earlier in the war. What’s noteworthy about this is the reports from the russians that the drones used were faster, flew lower, and seemed to have a larger than expected “boom” that accompanied them.
https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1766745602379886700/photo/2
Next was a gas line in Khantymansiysk, russia erupted in an explosion after a sabotage strike that’s being credited to the Ukrainians. This would be the second time in 10-months that this pipeline has been hit (of note: This is WELL within what would be considered “central russia”, so it’s not like a drone flew across the border or anything)
Finally was a fire in a hangar near Novogrelovo (Near St. Petersburg). The airport delayed all its flights for just over an hour.
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1766905373846290874
A patriot system looks to have taken a hit near Pokrovsk. It looks like an aviation glide-bomb blew a couple launchers to pieces. This combined with the recent loss of a HIMARS system has me curious to know if this is just luck on the russians part, the result of Ukraine taking increased risks to get results in tough times, or if something more nefarious is going on within the UA military (leadership leaks, etc)
Meat waves are still happening in Robotyne. Reports are that the russians have been able to make it into the city, but this isn’t the first time it’s happened this month and Ukraine was able to push them back out before. Looks like the russians are having trouble in Avdiivka as well with their attacks in that direction losing steam. It looks like Ukraine is constructing defense lines to try to accelerate the russian losses in their attacks. UA trench networks appearing in Zaporizhzhia and Dragons Teeth making an appearance in Dnipro Oblast
add in the pope stuff, and I think that about sums up the weekend!
(oh, and first 6 F-16s are scheduled for delivery in July)
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1767095592012894259
It’s Monday...
Ukraine blows up a grounded ship. (via mil.in.ua)
https://mil.in.ua/uk/news/povitryani-syly-urazyly-rosijskyj-tanker-mehanyk-pogodyn/
Ukrainian aviation struck the tanker "Mechanic Pogodyn" used by the occupiers.
This was announced by the Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykola Oleschuk.
Oleschuk said that thanks to the airstrike, the Russian command post, which was located on the ship that ran aground, was hit.
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