Russian Ukraine Invasion

[RainbowUnicorn]

The tactics of Corrosion & Asymmetrical warfare
(watch to the end to see massive cook off of 2 ammo dumps)

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XLnZjT2aB3k

[Yazata]

More explosions reported in Russian-occupied Nova Khakovka, where a major bridge across the Dnipro river about 35 miles north of Kherson is located. Because of the bridge choke-point, lots of Russian supplies cross the river here. HIMARS or something similar?

I get the impression that the Ukrainians want to disrupt Russian resupply of their forces to the west of the river, but don't want to destroy the bridge because they hope to use it themselves when/if their anticipated counter-attack gets rolling.

[Image: FZZAB9KX0AAL0Z8?format=jpg&name=900x900]

In less cheery news, there are indications that the Ukrainians who were getting the crap shelled out of them at Pisky (right outside Donetsk, capital of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic since 2014) have been overrun and the elaborate defensive underground concrete earthworks the Ukrainians built there have been breached.

But the next big battle in the east appears to be shaping up at the Ukrainian held town of Bakhmut further north. The main force of the whole Russian army is opposite this Ukrainian town and much of the remaining Ukrainian army is opposing them.

[RainbowUnicorn]

Orcs with no dog tags

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/fiX3NE1lEag

[Yazata]

Russian surface-to-air missiles launching in Belgorod Russia, north of Kharkiv across the Russia/Ukraine border.

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/stat...9672867840

[RainbowUnicorn]

Russian surface-to-air missiles launching in Belgorod Russia, north of Kharkiv across the Russia/Ukraine border.

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/stat...9672867840

i hope they missed
i notice a few comments saying russia cant shoot down the HIMARS



GRAIN SHIPMENTS
the 1st grain ship carrying corn is now moored off Turkey because of purchasing problems in Lebanon while a further 4 ships have just left the Ukraine Port.

news reports "business to business problems" being the reason for the 1st ship being stalled.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62454674

Twenty million tonnes of grain are stuck in the country, as a result of the blockade imposed by Russia on Ukrainian ports. If the deal holds, Ukraine expects to export up to three million tonnes of grain per month.

[Yazata]

It looks like the Ukrainians have hit the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro at Kherson again this evening.

[Image: FZlZTcCWQAE_XOY?format=jpg&name=small]

Ukrainian improvised weaponry. Large quadcopter drone laden with grenades which it drops on exposed Russian troops. (Small grenades like this aren't useful against armor.)

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/stat...1891623938

List of military equipment supplied to Ukraine, according to article in Turkish publication

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/an...plied.html

[RainbowUnicorn]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2otDU4wBAUA

[RainbowUnicorn]

CBS News posting false claims of Black Market Arms theft & sale by Ukrainians
i don't read CBS News generally
has there been one single confirmed report of heavy weapons going missing ?
not that i have seen in the main news channels
i would expect Ukraine to be on it like a hawk if something disappeared because they need it soo desperately and have people training and waiting for things which means platoons would be waiting for the missing equipment which would spark investigations fairly quickly & using the main stream media to help find it would be helpful...
thus the main stream media would find out fairly quickly and broadly if something went missing.
that's my general take on the issue
what i do think is highly probably is MAGA members inside some main news channels who might deliberately promote fake media for personal political gains

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/aCMVDI7SP9s

---

It looks like the Ukrainians have hit the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro at Kherson again this evening.

it will be a huge win if they can cut off russian soldiers from retreat and cut off their supply lines
the soldiers will inevitably call their familys and friends and post media that will show to ordinary russians how terrible the russian military are and heavily dissuade some potential new conscripts from signing up.

the chaos and panic that Ukraine can instill into Orcs is highly productive.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/...end-bridge

What is quite surprising, however, is how Russia has responded to this threat — by deploying radar reflectors.
Radar reflectors are basically metal contraptions installed on ships or other objects to draw off radar-guided missiles — sort of like a lightning rod. You hope the radar-guided missile locks on to the reflectors instead of your ship or bridge.
What’s odd about this is that Ukraine pretty much doesn’t use radar-guided missiles. HIMARS is guided by GPS. So why try to defend against radar-guided missiles?
Good question.

On missile target barges used by many navies there are a considerable number of these corner reflectors of various styles, in very close proximity to each other – and generally all on masts. This is as well as being on the very solid metal barge. These create a huge radar return for missile tests.
What the Russians have done at the bridges is almost the complete opposite of this. They have put them at near water level, not on masts, not grouped them, nor put that many out – and they aren’t really that well constructed. By this I mean, whilst they have created reflectors with four “sides”, they don’t appear to have a bottom plate – which, with this missing, greatly reduces the reflection!

As the above blogger points out, if you are going to employ radar reflectors, you need a lot of them to cover huge bridges.

There’s plenty more I could say about this to show the potential missile defence attempt made here by the Russians is pretty well pointless. More so because all of the attacks carried out by HIMARS don’t even involve a radar and the Ukrainians don’t have a missile capability as such anyway!
It just isn’t worth the effort. The bridges will always create a bigger radar return than the reflectors.

So why even bother with these radar reflectors?
Well, I guess they have to show they are doing something, even if it makes zero sense.

on the link i posted
it has comments underneath the article(i am not a member[members only comments] & have not posted any comment)
i read roughly 25 of them
some go into detail discussing the mechanics of destroying the bridge

[C C]

CBS News posting false claims of Black Market Arms theft & sale by Ukrainians
i don't read CBS News generally
has there been one single confirmed report of heavy weapons going missing ?
not that i have seen in the main news channels
i would expect Ukraine to be on it like a hawk if something disappeared because they need it soo desperately and have people training and waiting for things which means platoons would be waiting for the missing equipment which would spark investigations fairly quickly & using the main stream media to help find it would be helpful...
thus the main stream media would find out fairly quickly and broadly if something went missing.
that's my general take on the issue
what i do think is highly probably is MAGA members inside some main news channels who might deliberately promote fake media for personal political gains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCMVDI7SP9s

I recall left-center outlets intermittently reporting about Ukraine being a bastion of black market arms sales over the years, long before this conflict. (Business Insider Media Fact Check: left-center bias ... Reuters Media Fact Check: least biased)

(2016) Ukraine has become a trove for the black market arms trade
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-...ade-2016-7

In terms of political bias, CBS is left-center like all the oldest, air-broadcast networks in the US. (The Fox Broadcasting Network was bought by progressive Disney circa 2019, and Fox News [right-center bias] was primarily on cable/satellite even when they were still part of the same parent company.)

None of the news agencies of the four networks below is pro-MAGA oriented. They've been pointedly anti-conservative for decades and anti-Trump in recent years, though they obfuscate the former with a veneer of impartiality. 

CBS: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/cbs-news/

ABC: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/abc-news/

NBC: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/nbc-news/

PBS: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/pbs-news-hour/

- - - - - -

SIDE NOTE: The left isn't really a complete non-critic of Israel, either, contrary to what right-wing conspiracy retailers seem to suggest at times. The Labour Party got into a mess with anti-Semitic complaints a couple of years ago.

[stryder]

CBS News posting false claims of Black Market Arms theft & sale by Ukrainians
i don't read CBS News generally
has there been one single confirmed report of heavy weapons going missing ?
not that i have seen in the main news channels
i would expect Ukraine to be on it like a hawk if something disappeared because they need it soo desperately and have people training and waiting for things which means platoons would be waiting for the missing equipment which would spark investigations fairly quickly & using the main stream media to help find it would be helpful...
thus the main stream media would find out fairly quickly and broadly if something went missing.
that's my general take on the issue
what i do think is highly probably is MAGA members inside some main news channels who might deliberately promote fake media for personal political gains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCMVDI7SP9s

I recall left-center outlets intermittently reporting about Ukraine being a bastion of black market arms sales over the years, long before this conflict. (Business Insider Media Fact Check: left-center bias ... Reuters Media Fact Check: least biased)

(2016) Ukraine has become a trove for the black market arms trade
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-...ade-2016-7

In terms of political bias, CBS is left-center like all the oldest, air-broadcast networks in the US. (The Fox Broadcasting Network was bought by progressive Disney circa 2019, and Fox News [right-center bias] was primarily on cable/satellite even when they were still part of the same parent company.)

None of the news agencies of the four networks below is pro-MAGA oriented. They've been pointedly anti-conservative for decades and anti-Trump in recent years, though they obfuscate the former with a veneer of impartiality. 

CBS: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/cbs-news/

ABC: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/abc-news/

NBC: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/nbc-news/

PBS: left-center bias
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/pbs-news-hour/

- - - - - -

SIDE NOTE: The left isn't really a complete non-critic of Israel, either, contrary to what right-wing conspiracy retailers seem to suggest at times. The Labour Party got into a mess with anti-Semitic complaints a couple of years ago.

In July 2019 there were a number of arrests in Italy involving Neo-Fascism and a stockpile of weapons.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/15/europ...index.html

The people arrested were involved in smuggling to the Donetsk region, to supply the fighters who were fighting the Ukrainian government. The weapons black market has likely been from that region and are likely those backing the illegitimate PRD claims (through the money they've made? or the deals?). The number of different nationalities involved actually proves that it's a systemic problem that is likely rooted in a number of different countries, not just the Ukrainian Donetsk region which used the network of neo-fascists to move their wares. (Russia has actually backed "Nazi's" by supporting the Donetsk separation.)

Also a subject linked to the Black Market trade is the number of weapons stockpiles in various countries that mysteriously explosioned over the years, (some of the explosions were linked to the Russian originated Salisbury poisoners).

A potential strategic reason for the destruction is, if a stockpile has control munitions stolen from it, the only way for an espionage team to cover the theft is the destruction of the stockpile (Otherwise any "inside man" might be spotted). So Russia likely had involvement of stealing NATO weapons for reverse engineering for years, if not for the sale to over countries to do the reversing.

It makes me wonder if they intend to attack the GPS network (from reverse engineering the munitions interaction) in an attempt to throw off guidance, which in turn would mean losing it as an advantage and having to resort to other primative methods.