Here we go again-Ukraine once again pt2

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Russia left with one 'loser' vessel in Black Sea after Ukraine wipes out Moscow fleet

Russia has removed the majority of vessels capable of firing cruise missiles from Crimea after suffering considerable losses amid continued attacks from Ukraine, Kyiv's navy has claimed.

Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk told national media that Moscow authorised the removal of most of its remaining fleet except one "loser" vessel. Capt Pletenchuk said: "Most of the combat units, if you take the carriers of cruise missiles, actually all relocated, except for one."

He reported that Russia's Cyclone warship remains stationed in Ukraine but dismissed its capabilities as he noted it "still has not launched a single missile".

While Ukraine's naval capabilities are numerically inferior compared with Russia's, Kyiv has carried out frequent missile and naval drone attacks on Russia's fleet - delivering heavy blows to the Russian navy despite the difficulties advancing into occupied territories in recent months.

Russian media announced the Cyclone, a Karakurt-class corvette, joined the Black Sea fleet in Crimea in the summer of 2023.

The move came as Ukraine started to intensify its attacks on the fleet, which has since allegedly lost a third of its warships in a heavy blow to Moscow's naval capability.

Capt Pletenchuck last week said the Ukrainian navy destroyed the amphibious landing ship Kostiantyn Olshansky, which was resting in dock in Sevastopol.

The ship was part of the Ukrainian navy before Russia captured it while annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.

Capt Pletenchuk previously announced that two other landing ships of the same type, Azov and Yamal, also were damaged in Saturday's strike, along with the Ivan Khurs intelligence ship.

Challenging Russia's naval superiority has helped create more favourable conditions for Ukrainian grain exports and other shipments from the country's Black Sea ports.

Moscow officials have not addressed most of Ukraine's claims. However, previous navy losses have been confirmed by Russian military bloggers and media, who have harshly criticised the military brass for its slow and sloppy response to the threat.

Last month, Russian media reported that the navy chief, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, had been fired and replaced with Adml Alexander Moiseyev, the commander of Russia's Northern Fleet.

The Kremlin has not yet announced the reshuffle, but in mid-March Adml Moiseyev was presented as the new acting navy chief during a ceremony at a Russian naval base.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...b16a7ab9&ei=20

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine lowers combat call-up age to boost numbers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a bill lowering the military mobilisation age by two years from 27 to 25.

Kyiv has faced heavy losses on the battlefield after two years of war, whereas Russia has benefited from a sizeable advantage in manpower.

The move will allow Ukraine to call up more people to replenish its reserves, after volunteer numbers dropped.

Mr Zelensky said in December that 500,000 more soldiers were needed.

Ukraine's parliament approved the bill in May 2023, but it did not come into force because Mr Zelensky did not sign it.

In a separate move, Nato foreign ministers in Brussels were due to consider plans for a €100bn (£86bn) five-year fund to provide long-term military support for Ukraine.

Asked if the figure was correct, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the framework was yet to be decided but Nato allies agreed that Ukraine needed more money and for many years.

Russia was "pushing" on the battlefield in Ukraine and trying to win the war by "waiting us out", he said.

It was not immediately clear what prompted President Zelensky to approve a law to lower the age of mobilisation, although he has previously warned of plans Russia may have to launch a spring or summer offensive this year.

His decision could signify Ukraine's effort to build up strong defensive fortifications in preparation for a Russian offensive.

Ukrainian forces had hoped to take back swathes of territory gained by Russia as well as cutting off Russian supply lines to Crimea.

But lacking air superiority and faced with formidable Russian defences, Kyiv's counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of winter and there are fears that Russian forces could outgun Ukraine.

Last year, Ukrainian Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi warned troops had already been forced to downsize some military operations because of a drop-off in foreign aid.

Ukraine has relied heavily on Western supplies, particularly on deliveries of long-range missiles and air defence systems. However, billions of pounds of US and EU aid have been held up amid political wrangles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said more than 600,000 of his troops are fighting in Ukraine, but has not revealed how many have lost their lives there.

A classified US intelligence report released in December estimated that 315,000 Russian soldiers had been either killed or wounded since the war began - which it said was almost 90% of Russia's military personnel at the start of the invasion.

In February, Mr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the war, but US officials have put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed as at least 70,000 and as many as 120,000 injured.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68719473

[Dargo]

One of Russia's best-defended structures to be destroyed this spring, says Ukraine: 'It's inevitable'

The Ukrainian Secret Service says it will blow up the Crimean bridge in the first six months of 2024, destroying the symbol of Russia's occupation of the peninsula. Two previous attempts to take out the bridge previously succeeded only partially. "Third time, good time" seems to be the motto at GUR headquarters in Kyiv. After two previous attempts to blow up the 18 kilometre bridge between occupied Crimea and the Russian mainland, the Ukrainian Secret Service wants to finish the job for good before July. This is what senior military officers of the GUR are already saying in interviews with the British newspaper The Guardian. According to them, the eventual destruction of the bridge is "inevitable," since in addition to being an important supply line for the Russian military, it is also - and above all - the symbol of the Russian occupation. Russia began construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait two years after the illegal annexation of Crimea. The road section was festively opened by President Vladimir Putin in April 2018, the rail section in December 2019. The construction at the time cost more than 225 billion rubles, converted to the exchange rate at the time about 3.5 billion euros.

Back in October 2022, the bridge was targeted a first time, then, according to Russia, with a bomb in a passing truck. Several bridge sections fell into the water, and both the rail and highway could not be used for months. In July 2023, the road bridge was attacked with naval drones, requiring repairs for months again. How Ukraine will attempt to blow up the bridge this time remains unknown for now. In recent weeks, Ukraine has been regularly attacking targets up to more than 1,000 kilometres from the border with drones. So the distance from the front, 250 kilometres, seems to pose little problem in itself. A bigger question is whether Ukraine has the resources to attack the bridge. Drones are unlikely to suffice: the work of art is currently one of the best defended Russian structures, just because of its important value and previous attempts. Both anti-aircraft systems and physical barriers in the sea should help repel attacks.

Earlier, therefore, Kyiv looked primarily to the German Taurus cruise missiles as the most high-performance means of taking the bridge under fire. That one, thanks to its powerful warhead, could theoretically both pierce the road surface and blast the bridge piers of reinforced concrete. In a telephone conversation leaked by Russia, senior German officers discussed in late February how 10 to 20 Taurus missiles might be enough to destroy the bridge. Yet, GUR officers assure that they do already possess "most of the means necessary to carry out the objective." Thus, the successful campaign to take out more and more ships from the Russian Black Sea Fleet and force the rest of the Russian Navy to withdraw further and further from Crimea are a prelude to the ultimate grand prize, they say. The plan is said to be co-authored by intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov and approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Among other things, the sinking of the large landing ship Sergey Kotov in March, using ten Ukrainian Magura V5 naval drones filled with explosives, was allegedly a so-called "shaping operation" or preparation, according to the GUR. The Sergey Kotov was sailing south of the Crimean Bridge at the time of the attack. https://www.demorgen.be/oorlog-in-oe...lijk~bb041aed/

[Skybird]

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukra...se-war-russia/

Essentially, everything now depends on where Russia will decide to target its strength in an offensive that’s expected to launch this summer. In a pre-offensive pummeling — stretching from Kharkiv and Sumy in the north to Odesa in the south — Russia’s missile and drone strikes have widely surged in recent weeks, targeting infrastructure and making it hard to guess where it will mount its major push.
And according to high-ranking Ukrainian military officers who served under General Valery Zaluzhny — the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces until he was replaced in February — the military picture is grim.
The officers said there’s a great risk of the front lines collapsing wherever Russian generals decide to focus their offensive. Moreover, thanks to a much greater weight in numbers and the guided aerial bombs that have been smashing Ukrainian positions for weeks now, Russia will likely be able to “penetrate the front line and to crash it in some parts,” they said.
They spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“There’s nothing that can help Ukraine now because there are no serious technologies able to compensate Ukraine for the large mass of troops Russia is likely to hurl at us. We don’t have those technologies, and the West doesn’t have them as well in sufficient numbers,” one of the top-ranking military sources told POLITICO.

I think that no matter what the West decides and does now, it no longer makes a decisive difference.The show has essentially run. What happens now is buying time to get oneself mentally arranged with the sobering outcome.

Europe better prepares much much more for war. It will come, and Putin knows NATO can only grow stronger again from now on. Thus he knows it is in his interest to attack NATO as soon as he can.

What irks me is that with more determination and quickness shown, this outcome had a fair chance to get avoided. Trump's former Republicans, Germany and France shall be cursed most. Others like Italy, Greece and Spain did not shine as well. Turkey's role is murky at best. And then Hungary...

The alternative would have been to say: "Ukraine is not NATO territory, so we completely stay out of it." Techncially correct, practically a strategic dud.

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine general warns Russia cannot be stopped: 'There's nothing that can help us now'

Asenior Ukrainian military officer has warned that there is "nothing" that can help Ukraine as Russian troops continue to attack.

Following months of endless Russian assault in the east of Ukraine, Moscow's forces began gaining ground in February as they took control of Avdiivka.

Since then, Vladimir Putin's soldiers have continued to attack as Ukrainian forces warn they are running low on both ammunition and manpower.

Speaking to Politico, one top-ranking military source from Ukraine made a concerning warning about the state of the war.

They said: "There's nothing that can help Ukraine now because there are no serious technologies able to compensate Ukraine for the large mass of troops Russia is likely to hurl at us. We don't have those technologies, and the West doesn't have them as well in sufficient numbers."

This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Kyiv's forces may have to retreat unless more Western military aid arrives soon.

He told the Washington Post: "It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps. We are trying to find some way not to retreat."

Ukraine's recently appointed commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky added: "It should be taken into account that people are not robots. They are exhausted physically and psychologically, especially in the conditions of hostilities.

"Until a few days ago, the enemy's advantage in terms of ammunition fired was about six to one...we learned to fight not by the amount of ammunition, but by the skill of using the weapons that are available.

"Recently, the number of positions we regained exceeds the number of lost positions. The enemy did not manage to advance significantly in strategic directions, his territorial gains, if any, are of tactical importance."

Many in Ukraine are now concerned that Donald Trump could win the US election in November and withdraw US support.

The former president has not committed to supporting Ukraine, even refusing at one stage to say who he would rather see win the war.

It has now been reported that NATO is considering sending Kyiv a €100billion aid package as a safety net in case Trump wins and then withdraws support.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...a4b0317d&ei=12

[Dargo]

When you see the visual confirmed losses in the past days, Russia lost more equipment ratio is about 7 : 1 daily. Large when you see the shortage Ukraine has at the moment, I do not believe this shortage is so big as stated in the press. Also when you consider Ukraine is preparing against new Russian offensive they stock at mutch they can to counter this.

The Russians now have more grenades and missiles, and the Ukrainians feel it. You now see the correlation between the number of available shells and the number of Ukrainian casualties. But the Russians also have gigantic problems. They have lost 350 thousand people. Half of what the Russians initially captured, the Ukrainians recaptured. The Russian navy has been driven out of Sevastopol, the Ukrainian grain corridor has been restored. 1.3 million young, bright Russians have left the country, as have thousands of foreign companies.

The Russians have not yet achieved a single strategic objective, which is why they continue. And as they continue, the Ukrainians must continue. Both sides have to do more to replenish supplies, both sides struggle with mobilization or conscription. There are 475 thousand Russians in the occupied part of Ukraine. To get them out, of course, is heartbreakingly complicated.

[mapuc]

You have a very positive attitude Dargo.

Having positive thoughts when it comes to Ukraine and their fight against the Russians is good, but it can also be to much.

The west can't compete with Russia, North Korea and Iran, when it comes to production of 152 mm shells and weapon system.

And changing our factories to produce ammo and weapon is not as easy as it is said.

Fear the worst-Hope for the best.

Markus

[em2nought]

What an absolute waste on both sides. Meanwhile Chyna just sits back smiling, and biding their time to become masters of the world.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by em2nought

What an absolute waste on both sides. Meanwhile Chyna just sits back smiling, and biding their time to become masters of the world.

Yep

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by mapuc

You have a very positive attitude Dargo.

Having positive thoughts when it comes to Ukraine and their fight against the Russians is good, but it can also be to much.

The west can't compete with Russia, North Korea and Iran, when it comes to production of 152 mm shells and weapon system.

And changing our factories to produce ammo and weapon is not as easy as it is said.

Fear the worst-Hope for the best.

Markus

All I have written are facts on the moment we can not compete, but the Czechs have already as proxy produced over 1.5 million shells add that to Europe production we produce next year more than Russia it takes time we need more production lines they will come. We in the West are economical +20 times bigger if the will is there we can easily compete with this Russia Axis. I am positive because Kyiv is still in Ukraine hands, the front is still holding despite massive offensives, Ukraine economy is doing good, Russia does not take any menial large terrain it is still crawling with heavy loses against Ukraine so far good defence positions that Ukraine sometimes must give away terrain is no disaster that is how defence works.

[Jimbuna]

[Dargo]

[mapuc]

Markus