too much
They have 2 Iris-T systems, but multiple radars for each system.
Pretty rediculious parking a radar (painted white) among trees, within range of drones on the Frontline. Unless there's more to the story.
disrupted lines because of the dam burst probably
This dam is not at fundamental risk from missiles. They just don't cause enough damage where they need to. You need demolition charges.
Besides, this is the heart of Ukraine controlled territory, the dam and others like it will be ringed by very effective Western anti-missile systems like Patriot.
A battery of IRIS-T SLM includes three truck-mounted launcher trucks, a multifunctional radar for target detection and tracking, and a command post truck.
One radar in a battery.
Street interviews behind the lines in Ukraine
You can have have more than one. Ukraine have 3 or 4 of them (despite only having 2 IRIS-T battery's) with 7 more radars due to be delivered.
Tucker Carlson new video on twitter viewed tens of millions of times. He’s the most prominent voice of the right in American media which is a sad state of affairs. Here’s some of his rantings
He blames the Ukrainians for the dam. He referred to Ukrainian president Zelensky as “sweaty and rat-like”, “a persecutor of Christians”, and in bed with American investment bankers.
And Musk retweeted it.
Musk changed how views are counted some time ago. Elon counts Impressions now, which for example, includes anyone who has seen your post now, as you linked to the video, regardless of whether I played the video or not, the metric will record it as a view because the webpage loaded the embedded tweet.
He was also previously absolutely sure the US did it.
Of course elon shared it. That's not shocking.
"we" as in Russia, US, and Britain?
From the same video
Big fighting overnight near orekhiv in zaporozhia region.
Ukrainians have pushed russians back and taken some initial positions
Almost 100m views. Amazing the reach this guy has.
Russia ultimately gets out of this jam. It's clear they can't win, and the longer this drags on the chances of them holding the territory they occupy diminishes.
Ukraine won't settle for anything less than a return to pre-war borders, and off course Crimea. They're both sticking points as Russian pride is on the pyre and they need to save face. A new leader could perhaps axe the whole operation as a "good will" gesture, and blame the whole mess on the previous regime, but we're a long way from that point I suspect.
The threat of escalation is a dangerous gamble. As much as we dislike Russia in its current form, we can do without it completely disintegrating and only a dangerous fool would want that. NATO getting involved is a can of worms. However, the fear of the situation spiralling out of control might be what's needed to get Putin's backers to turn on him.
The longer this drags on, the greater the likelihood other countries will be dragged into it. NATO doesn't declare war, and NATO armies can't stay mobilised on high alert indefinitely. But that doesn't mean that individual countries, like Poland say, can't act unilaterally. A Polish declaration of war could start a dangerous tipping of dominoes. Equally so if Belarus tries to join the fight against Ukraine. I think the most likely scenario would be Belarus trying to go after Ukraine, followed by Poland or another country going after Belarus.
The war is not a stalemate; Russia are losing ground. Destroying the dam has slowed things down a bit, but it's hurt the Russian defence a lot more than the Ukrainian attack. It just comes down to two things - when will the tipping point arrive, and how will Putin respond when it does?
I think that the guy is an abomination. He is good for ratings and nothing else. I play him to see ‘what’s out there’ to ‘see the oppositions point of view’ to ‘ to see the wacky ideas that are out there and FOR A BIT OF LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT.
so the question I have is what % of theses views actually support him
NOT ME FOR ONE
Trick is, there's no danger of escalation I feel, it already escalated ages ago. Russia are in the process of trying to violently annex a neigbour and are thankfully for the sake of European democracy making a dogs dinner of the attempt.
I suggest that we should not fear "Russian Escalation", because I believe what we are witnessing in Ukraine is Russia's very best shot at a Total War, and are failing at it. This is it, this is the best they can do. Decrepit Soviet surplus weapons, untrained conscripts, a gaggle of undisiplined soliders for hire and "Wish.com" drone tech they have to buy from Iran.
But I do share your concerns for a destablised Russia. I fear that this is something we cannot avoid, nor is it something that can be prevented by *not pissing the Russians off*. They are plenty pissed off already, the Russian world is collapsing and only the most obtruse bell-ends in the West even like them anymore. Ukraine needs to get all the gear, training and help they can get. When all this is done, Ukraine and the Eastern NATO nations will need to contain an increasing unstable Russia.
Best case, a pro-demorcratic movement in Russia to replace Putin's lot and try to bring that place to some kind of sanity. Disavow Putin's nonsense, repay Ukraine for what has happened, give up war criminals and then rejoin the world in peace. Might take a generation, and it will require military defeat in Ukraine, but I like to hope that a reformed Russia might be something we see in the future.
Regarding Belarus. Their army is very small compared to Russia or Ukraine and is mostly armed with Soviet hand-me-downs. Russia aleady use their territory as a staging area, which is what they really need from them, so I see an offical joining of Belarus into the fight to mostly be a symbolic measure, which is probably part of why they have stayed out. Unless Belarus strike West into a NATO nation, I don't feel like they will be a factor here.
Strikes on Luhansk. Looks powerful.
I know it sounds ludicrous at this point in history, but the fervent hope of the ordinary Russian should be...to join the EU.
Absolutely.
And people probably said the same in May 1945 - within a generation, West Germany was free, liberal and prosperous. A force for good.
I wouldn't want them to join.... Their people are so indoctrinated I actually believe they are beyond help at this stage.
The German Nazi regime lasted only about 12 years, and prior to 1933 Germany had a strong liberal and social democratic political culture. Russia has been in almost perpetual darkness and it will take an awful long time for that to be overcome.
On a broader level, it would suit Russia to draw the border along the Dniper river, so making that even harder to cross, for both military and civilian uses, makes sense.
Yeah, I know. Russia has no democratic traditions or institutions to fall back on.
But I do think Russia is too big and too strategically important to be walled-off forever, North Korea style. And, if they are to ever come back into the civilised world, there will have to be some element of carrot. It's my view that stability and prosperity are the biggest carrots that could eventually be offered to Russia. The problem of course being that first there would have to be vast transformation in the makeup of the Russian government.
Great, feeding the narcissists ego's and creating polarising opinions through fake news. As another poster said, twitter is a cesspit.
I think the claim that these are Leopards (model 2A2) might actually be accurate. The little nodge on the turret to the right of where the gun is gives it away.
Possible they suffered hits, but no indication the tanks are out of service
The breach of the dam can be a blessing in the sky for Ukraine. Give it a couple of weeks for the water to recide below the dam and the levels above the dam going as low for it to allow a crossing.
They need high tech drones and air defence more than tanks it seems.
If they are Leopards there is no denying it’s a disaster and not a good sign for Ukraine having success.
Agreed. If a Leopard was destroyed/disabled the Russians would have footage of it and you can bet your bottom dollar we would be looking at it already.
It looks like the counter offensive is ramping up. The next couple of week's could be crucial.