TeessideCleveland
Well-known member
I would imagine there were quite a few people in Luhansk and Donetsk. Were there others from outside Donbass?
Will watch it over the next couple of days
The end?
- Thread starter borolad259
- Start date
Will watch it over the next couple of days
swordtrombonefish
Well-known member
Meanwhile on the world stage Putin appears to be a couple of moves ahead of the West
Wagner in Africa: How the Russian mercenary group has rebranded
Russia has taken the mercenary group into its intelligence services, using it to destabilise Africa.
www.bbc.co.uk
Meanwhile on the world stage Putin appears to be a couple of moves ahead of the West
Wagner in Africa: How the Russian mercenary group has rebranded
Russia has taken the mercenary group into its intelligence services, using it to destabilise Africa.www.bbc.co.uk
They've been at this in Africa for a long time .... along with the Chinese. Initiating coups, installing puppet governments and raping the country of its natural resources. That's why Sweden and Ukraine actually went into the Sudan to hit them there. They are basically mobsters, at home AND abroad. This week it was South America (Ecuador). It's the main reason they wanted Donbass (mineral resources) and why Svalbard is next on their list. It's why they need to be stopped.
Conversely, there are many Russians, Zyrski and Tank Girl for instance, leading Ukraines troops. This is often overlooked. Plus there are the ex-Wagner freedom movement lot that keep wandering into Belgorod.
TeessideCleveland
Well-known member
Just watched it @Norman_Conquest
It certainly was very interesting
For obvious reasons we don't see things from that side of the frontline - or citizens living there
I am so glad you posted that.
I loved this lad when he was travelling around Afghanistans in the 90s and I just couldnt remember his name. I tried so many times to find re-runs of his BBC stuff. When I followed your link I realised it was him - with grey hair
But this documentary does push the idea that there are two sides to every argument. It isn't as cut and dried as the western media make out. Putin is a maniac but there are more than a few Ukrainians who see themselves as Russians who would rather be part of Russia than an independent Ukraine. Of course, Russia used this minority as an excuse for atrocities but they are there. Its more complicated than a lot of people think.
swordtrombonefish
Well-known member
...and then there's...
Russia 'struggling with supply of weapons and ammunition' for Ukraine war - Western officials
Reports of Russian shortages come as concerns over the provision of Western weapons to Ukraine mount.
www.bbc.co.uk
...and then there's...
Russia 'struggling with supply of weapons and ammunition' for Ukraine war - Western officials
Reports of Russian shortages come as concerns over the provision of Western weapons to Ukraine mount.www.bbc.co.uk
Russia has, since Avdivka, lost air dominance (hence their jets suffering from gravity issues). The article is correct ... small nuance is that they have the munitions, but are running out of barrels, tanks etc. Their heavy equipment losses have been staggering lately ... but this has come at a cost for Ukraine in terms of munitions. When Tank Girl got to work on the heavy mech that rolled into the northern pincer, she burned through a huge portion of the Ukraine's shell stocks. One of the reasons for Ukraine's defence only posture these last few months has been shell hunger and consequent rationing.
Thanks to the Chinese and some European partners, that has now been solved.
This just in (it refers to a huge shipment of shells that Pet Pavel managed to find in China)
"Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic found them, Sweden guaranteed the payment, and now the Shell-Alliance have formed with Canada and the UK taking up large parts of the tab, and surprisingly, China lowered the already decent price with 20 percent to aid in the funding.
The deal is now done, but other countries may jump aboard to help spread the pain.
You guys will never understand what a relief this is for us who has lived in this shell-crunch, not knowing if we will run out completely, and having to make decission for how each shell is used, and to avoid firing missions that cost lives, or make it possible for Russians to move forward.
It has been painful.
So, nobody is happier this night than we are, now we dare to increase shell expenditure, now we dare to plan.
These shells will carry us through until more European shells are delivered, and with a planned future delivery of more Chinese shells, we even dare to dream about how we can overwhelm Russia with artillery in a not too distant future."
I am so glad you posted that.
I loved this lad when he was travelling around Afghanistans in the 90s and I just couldnt remember his name. I tried so many times to find re-runs of his BBC stuff. When I followed your link I realised it was him - with grey hair
But this documentary does push the idea that there are two sides to every argument. It isn't as cut and dried as the western media make out. Putin is a maniac but there are more than a few Ukrainians who see themselves as Russians who would rather be part of Russia than an independent Ukraine. Of course, Russia used this minority as an excuse for atrocities but they are there. Its more complicated than a lot of people think.
It'll be nuanced when Russia attacks Svalbard (to lay claim to huge natural resource deposits in the arctic and at the same time open a northern front in the war). They have already issued the pretext for this... that there are Russian speakers on the island to protect. Norway would be powerless to repell them.
Fortunately, a hasty group of friendly countries (including the UK and Ukraine) are taking steps to deter this.
There is a YouTube channel run by a lass called Cecilia Blomenthal who lives on Svalbard and i seem to recall her going to a village (Barentsburg) on the island at some point which was a Russian. Looking at Wikipedia it looks like the Russians are already mining coal in the area and they have shared mineral rights with Norway. It does look set up for a "We used to have half but all of it is ours now" scenario.
en.wikipedia.org
Barentsburg - Wikipedia
There is a YouTube channel run by a lass called Cecilia Blomenthal who lives on Svalbard and i seem to recall her going to a village (Barentsburg) on the island at some point which was a Russian. Looking at Wikipedia it looks like the Russians are already mining coal in the area and they have shared mineral rights with Norway. It does look set up for a "We used to have half but all of it is ours now" scenario.
Barentsburg - Wikipedia
Russia actually lease part of Svalbard from Sweden, but stopped paying for that lease a long time ago. So that portion is actually Swedish owned, although Russians are living there.
For your amusement
afcb_acklam
Well-known member
an unusually downbeat & concerning ukraine podcast from the telegraph today. a reporter from the front line citing soldiers frustrations & anger at lack of ammunition & equipment, causing ceding ground, and a general feeling that the russians are beginning to get on top generally, with troop numbers, and seemingly more supplies, missiles, drones etc. depressing listening.
Yes their reporting has been very good, accurate and honest.
Ukraine are losing the war.
Out manned, out gunned and the one thing they had over Russia, morale, is taking a massive hit.
Simply not true.
Whilst it is true that they have suffered from a lack of consumables in recent months, thanks to the GOP, that has now been solved in a big way (thanks to China). Suddenly they have much more at their disposal.
The reason that the Russian milblogger Murza killed himself (and yes, he did, he wasn't suicided) was because he calculated the losses that Russia suffered in Avdivka, reported them ... and then killed himself be cause he calculated that Russia was no longer capable of winning the war after such catastrophic losses in equipment (and manpower).
Since the Avdivka withdrawal, Ukraine has been able to assert air dominance (hence loss of Russian jets last week and the sudden cessation of the Russian use of glide bombs, which were doing a ot of damage). Instead, Ukraine is making use of them, and also now deploying the large delivery of the latest, state of the art GLSDBs, which have been modified to be launched safely from Himars.
Russia has lost 30 to 40% of its oil refining capacity (and a significant amount of foreign income) and all Russian banking has been stopped in China (you may be getting the picture that China has quietly put its allegiance somewhere else).... they did, after all, give a whopping 20% discount on the 800,000 155mm shells. It comes to something when the USA have been outplayed ... as you can imagine, China are not unhappy about this situation. There's a longer game for them ... trade with the EU.
These last night's headlines
"-Lavrov is stuck in Brazil after the Brazilian oil company refused to fuel his airplane due to sanctions. Lavrov was last seen singing Thong Song at the Copacabana Beach...
-US House of Representatives about to force a vote on the aid package.
-200 Brimstone missiles for Ukraine.
-Taurus cleared.
-Poland fixed border problem by making border crossings, roads and railroads into security zones where protests are illegal.
-NATO officially approved F-16 sorties into Russia."
Note on the Polish border issue ... it has been rendered less important recently by Romania opening up alternative routes.
On top of all this, there's an enormous package of top spec gear on its way to Ukraine from Sweden as I write .... which you'll see in action in Kherson soon.
"the Billions poured in so far have only moved the front line one way." ....again, not actually true.
They have more bodies and they did have a heck of a lot of heavy equipment to lose, but they now retain significantly less in the way of good heavy mech, artillery, UAV tech etc than Ukraine. You won't see many T90s or good T72s on Xitter videos any more. The last of the good ones were taken out by Tank Girl in Avdivka's northern pincer. Have you seen the post apocalyptic videos from there? There's a reason Murz lost the plot.
After being pushed into ill-advised advances last year (by NATO/the USA) they (UAF) realised that their best strategy was active defence, degrading Russian capabilities. The biggest problem, by far, was the lack of air superiority. They do not have that completely yet, but they are on the way ... and yes, F16s are already flying.
The plan in Avdivka, as in Bakhmut, was to drain Russian resources and eventually withdraw to pre-prepared lines. The balance of ground taken in the last 18 months is actually massively in Ukraine's favour .... remember N. Kherson? Kharkiv? Ukraine cares about troop losses, so losing a few fields here and there is not a major problem. Avdivka would have been useful to hold, but not worth losing countless lives for.
This is one of the reasons Murz was so incensed. Russian losses were enormous. Ukraine's much much smaller.
But the prevarication of Biden, Sullivan and the GOP has only served to lengthen the conflict.
More from one of Russia's main propogandists
Thanks borolad. Your optimism isn't reflected in the reporting elsewhere.
The Russians have been firing ordnance at a rate of 5/1 compared to the Ukranians
And when the numbers were spun it had little effect on the front lines.
For sure Russian loses outstrip several times over the Ukranians but thats been the case just about throughout the war.
I'm just in awe of what the Ukraine has done and continues to do but there needs to be some tangible gains now to match the latest supply of hardware.
If there isn't I fear there won't be another major supply push from a West that has becoming more weary of it as time goes on and as elections loom on both sides of the pond so will focus.
Just my perception and I do appreciate that you have better detail and knowledge of the reality on the ground but given the info thats there for the general public I don't think public opinion will differ too much from it.
The Russians have been firing ordnance at a rate of 5/1 compared to the Ukranians
And when the numbers were spun it had little effect on the front lines.
For sure Russian loses outstrip several times over the Ukranians but thats been the case just about throughout the war.
I'm just in awe of what the Ukraine has done and continues to do but there needs to be some tangible gains now to match the latest supply of hardware.
If there isn't I fear there won't be another major supply push from a West that has becoming more weary of it as time goes on and as elections loom on both sides of the pond so will focus.
Just my perception and I do appreciate that you have better detail and knowledge of the reality on the ground but given the info thats there for the general public I don't think public opinion will differ too much from it.