Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I remember you posted similar articles from earlier in the year, similar theme things are bad , losses are bad , unnamed sources,

And yet we see videos daily on the front lines in bakhmut showing the complete opposite,the Russians have been stopped in bakhmut, Vuhledar, kreminna,

But yet we keep hearing the same opinions,

Hopefully kupol spends a lot of time shovelling **** for the next few months, lesson to be learned

I think there's something brewing with Prigozhin. I'd say the ukrainians sense that too. If they allow Prigozhin claim victory in Bakhmut he'll be more on his way for the crown. Prigozhin won't have the regal touch (posted in a way that Putin is still a mass murdering genocidal dictator) about him but be more blunt and more pressing in his threats. Prigozhin recording that clip means he thinks he's now untouchable. He's gone beyond and out the other side of the few Putin supporters posting sh1t posts about him.

USAF B-52 flight Noble 61 on a late night flight past Kaliningrad down the Baltic.

The man knows how to work the cameras and rise emotions in people. By proposing business men pick up the tab for the families he's playing on the communist history group think distain of capitalist private business. The "common" people would be hugely in favour of this. Or should in his mind.

Except the things going against this stunt is there's no personal proposal to look after the families from Wagner funds. And the tags shown are all blank for camera.

Must have been one hell of an interview.

Fair play to the reporter. There's definitely a non-zero chance that they get killed or injured doing a report like this.

I've seen Orla Guerin and Lindsey Hilsum put themselves in similar danger on the front lines in the past few months. It definitely takes courage, considering unlike the soldiers, it's not their country that they're fighting for there - they're just doing a job.

I think we may be overhyping Prigozhin a little bit, in real terms. It may be a good thing to do in order to make Putin sweat and cause some internal discord to further hamper the Russian war effort, and I fully support that, but on the down-low, if Bakhmut were to give Prigozhin all this prestige, whoever the guy in charge of the Russian forces was when Sievierodonetsk was taken last year would surely get even more brownie points. If we're keeping score in that way, seven months to take Bakhmut with militarily unsustainable tactics isn't really that impressive. By comparison, the Russian shelling campaign of Summer 2022 seems almost deft and subtle and probably took more net territory and larger settlements.

The world is all about publicity and prestige. The man is as vain as Putin. Not vain as in golden palaces and designer clothes. But vain as in being seen to be the common people and getting things done.

Yeah, certainly food for thought.

Have belief young man.

If the head of one orc faction is complaining about an "ammunition famine", his words, not mine! You can be sure there's one side here that's in deep trouble.

But it's not him killing tens of thousands of Russian fighters (well it is), it's Ukraine and the war. He'll portray it as it's just the way it is and he'll sacrifice whatever needs be to finish the job. (Not his own life of course). When job is achieved, it's achieved.

When he's courting this much publicity and demanding more now he must feel like his tail is up with Bahkmut now and thinking further ahead to the Kremlin. Because otherwise none of this makes sense. There'll be another Bahkmut after Bahkmut is taken/not taken. But I don't think he's thinking about that or heart is for another one. He's like imo he sees this as the last job before easy street.

Something burning in Rostov again.

What's with the recent interest? An oil refinery was hit there, more recently an FSB headquarters, and now this. Trying to draw forces away from elsewhere?

Speaking of ammunition shortages:

It's hard to believe we're almost 5 month's of all out Russia attack and almost no gains. Putin didn't have the patience to just hold their lines over winter he wanted more. 5 month's is a long time for Ukraine to have built up their forces for an attack.

Personally I feel another month and a half of defending before Ukraine unleashes their best efforts.

Bakhmut has proven very useful at holding Russia's best efforts. Vuhledar and Kremina fronts too. But Bakhmut in particular has soaked up an insane amount of Russian offensive power. Please God it lasts until April and if it held until a May counter offensive that would be a miracle.

A couple of interesting Aviation matters this morning.

1. Over Greece at the moment, a Q4 Reaper , similar to the one that was brought down by Russia, ( under instruction from the Kremlin, it now seems), is on its way to the Black Sea. Keep an eye on it. It's transponder is ON at the moment, but will soon be OFF as it transits towards the Black Sea. I was up close to one at Farnborough a few years ago. They are bigger than one would expect.

2. Here we see a Russian designed and built TU-214 in the air near Moscow. Its from the Special Flight Squadron and is an example of the few Russian built aircraft not completely harmed by sanctions. This exact aircraft makes almost daily flights to Beijing. In a recent discussion, at the Duma, it was stated by engineers that it wasn't Sanctions that was the challenge, but qualified personnel. Russia wants to ramp up the production to 10 per year to try to replace Western jets. See quote under the following picture.

"Participating in the discussions during the visit of Borisov to Kazan was UAC's General Director, Yuri Sluysar. He told the deputy Prime Minister that the company was ready to revamp production of the aircraft, with the facilities in Kazan having recently gone through modernization.

However, Mr Slyusar acknowledged that one of the main issues would be attracting qualified personnel to support the increased output, a problem previously reported during a hearing in the Duma towards the end of last year"