Please use this thread to continue discussing the war in Ukraine.
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BRUSSELS — EU countries today approved a first tranche of up to €1.4 billion in military aid for Ukraine coming from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets, according to four diplomats.The money is channeled to Ukraine through the Ukraine Assistance Fund (UAF), but payments have been blocked by Hungary.However, the Council's legal service argued that Budapest cannot stop these payments because it abstained in the vote earlier this year creating the UAF. The reason allowing the work-around is that the funds do not come from EU taxpayers, EU officials said.
BRUSSELS — EU countries today approved a first tranche of up to €1.4 billion in military aid for Ukraine coming from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets, according to four diplomats.
The money is channeled to Ukraine through the Ukraine Assistance Fund (UAF), but payments have been blocked by Hungary.
However, the Council's legal service argued that Budapest cannot stop these payments because it abstained in the vote earlier this year creating the UAF. The reason allowing the work-around is that the funds do not come from EU taxpayers, EU officials said.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-approves-military-aid-ukraine-russian-frozen-assets/
what exact date was Trump president up to? Was it Jan 6 th 2022 or what?
Politicians in Russia added themselves as friends to a fake online account that was publishing online, Nazi poems from the 30' and 40's with just a few words changed to the Russian forces. It was started by journalists as a joke to see who would add the account as their friend. Fairly successful endeavour. It was styled as a Z poet account.
May as well rename the US New Hungary or something like that at this point.
Then there's this only today.
Well least that's good and not everything was destroyed.
Conflicting reports, but some of the more trusted twitter accounts claiming materials and vehicles on four carriages were destroyed, but other carriages were salvageable.
At least the UAF have been hitting the Russians hard today.
Saw that video. Anymore about that Ukraine train Russia hit that you posted yesterday?
Is it really a surprise to anyone? The UN is useless because 5 countries have a veto. At least some(maybe all) wouldn’t be a member if they were to lose that veto. So Russia gets away with its evil acts and nothing will ever change.
We have to be frank as well, a lot of non western countries have changed their mindset recently as well when it comes to the west, whether people want to recognise that or not is up to them but it’s because of America constantly using its veto at the UN. They see it as a double standard and hypocrisy, the US rightfully condemning and preaching about the brutality and evil of Russia while enabling and protecting the Israelis in Gaza in all they do. In conclusion the scum Russian regime will continue to get away with whatever it does at the UN and non western countries care less than before thanks to Americas actions over recent months. They have damaged the wests image.
It's going to happen at some stage with a F16. They will then spam it ad nauseam.
They are hitting other places on a daily occurance but you don't really hear it. The oil facilities are still being hit in different parts of Russia. It's more in the line on Russian local news where it's reported.
UAF caught out again. Think this is the 3rd or 4th time it's happened.
why are Ukraine not hitting other areas with the same ferocity they hit Crimea ?
I doubt most of the attacks are coming from Crimea
Lots of smoke in Crimea
Sure Tiktok is just a bit of harmless fun 😏
It starts with the apologists and continues with anti-establishment cranks* and then the fencesitters whose common retort is "who's to say what the truth is".
*I'd consider myself anti-establishment to a certain degree which really limits my voting options greatly as there is very very little substance behind the loudest of the voices in that arena (my european first preference candidate got 500 votes 😂) . However, I'd worry how some carefully selected and trained agents could easily catch the attention of non-mainstream voters. Needless to say I was relieved that Daly and Wallace didn't get back in but they still got more votes than I would be comfortable with.
The west got lazy. And then started making apologies for countries that wouldn't be classed as western. So much so that practices and policies that wouldn't be acceptable in western societies began to be seen as acceptable to western society.
The tail wags the dog.
When do we start to see the dictatorships and crackdowns on freedoms and the brutality of Russia and China being imposed in Ireland, UK, western europe? Because it sure as hell looks like these are just accepted now as normal behaviour. Wallace and Daly was just the start. Seems to be drip feeding into western brains whilst telling ourselves "it's for peace".
I get ukraines need for manpower but disappointed they’re going to offer clemency to murderers,albeit singular murderers. We see how well that worked out in despotic Russia. Only this is worse as they’ll have free reign to go wherever they want in Europe including here.
Ukrainian convicts are being offered their freedom in exchange for their service in the war against Russian invaders - including murderers. Those convicted of rape, sexual assault, murdering two or more people, or crimes against Ukraine's national security aren't eligible
Same as the original Nazis did ...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_in_Nazi_Germany
Three Jehovahs's Witnesses have been sentenced to incarceration in prison in Russia for being extremists and members of an extremist organisation. The court in Novocherkassk sentenced the three from 6 years and six months to 2 years and three months. In 2017 the Supreme court in Russia declared Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist and they had the power to liquidate those as a legal entity.
Lights out in Belgorod, lol
I can't speak for most NATO nations in terms of doctrine approved by the senior generals, only the US, UK and French (At least, French as of three years ago). The French are a bit different in the Division Deep, but when it comes to tube artillery, the differences are pretty small. When it comes to ammunition supply, I can't speak to any but the US, and the US position is that it has 'enough for its needs'. (i.e. a set of war stocks it does not dip into, even when giving to the Ukrainians. Score one for excess capacity being purchased by the US even if the US itself doesn't actually need it, Javelin being an excellent case in point).
The 'change' in artillery doctrine referred to by the article is not a change from the US and UK perspective. We can do counter-battery, we have the radars and will service any targets so detected, but it's not our preferred way of doing business for two reasons. Firstly, modern artillery can 'shoot and scoot' pretty damned quickly, target decay is a real thing resulting in wasted rounds. We'll still shoot in case we get lucky, or in case the artillery we're shooting at is an older type (such as towed). Secondly, in order for us to get a hit on their locations in counterbattery, it means we've let them shoot at our guys first. Not a preferred course of action. Instead, we like to see first, shoot first. The British, in particular, seem very good at this; in the US we prefer a more brute force approach, but we're the US, we can afford to do it. You will recall I had mentioned in my previous post that rockets have a place in counter-battery. Enter, amongst other artillery-hunting assets in the division, the M30A2 GMLRS, a precision area effect rocket round. We don't want to hit individual targets, we go for the battery, and we don't want to be worried about a lack of calibration if the detector is a dozen meters off (or if the rocket's navigation system is jammed). A number of targets will take the M31 unitary round (or ATACMS at higher levels), but not normally artillery targets.
That leaves a whole host of other work to be done, and that's what is mainly the purview of tube artillery. Of six artillery battalions available to a typical deployed US division, five of them are tube, one is rocket. Think of all the targets a division is going to work before the brigades make contact, how many of them are not artillery 20+ km behind the forward line of troops, and how many are truly suited for a precision targeting process instead of a battery six airburst. And then when the brigades do make contact, their artillery (one of the five division tube battalions normally assigned to support each brigade) are not hanging around to worry about ten-digit-grids being hammered out with lead calculations for every moving tank and infantryman they are engaging. You want to shoot a point target, use a guided round. If you're shooting a mechanised infantry company, use basic munitions.
In a move to strengthen relations and to lead to an understanding on how to turn russian citizens more like north korean citizens. The first group of Russian children are being sent to a North Korean institutional children's camp.
There's a world of difference between contrarianism and just plain trolling.
In Siberia, Vladimir Putin has given the green light for gold mining in previously pristine land where the native people practised farming, wild food gathering, wild animal hunting and reindeer farming. Now the prospectors have the backing of Putin. Who are using this "roof" to accuse the locals of being foreign agents. Being accused of being a foreign agent is a way the kremlin use since the Ukrainian war to jail and move people to penal colonies.
I do trust you, but aI suppose a better question is if the senior generals also have the same view?
If so, then their failure to keep pace with artillery shell production is deeply worrying.
However, its also possible that the numbers have shifted on the cost benefit. If a basic artillery shell costs $1,000 and an excalibur costs $25,000, the question is whether 25 unguided shells or 1 excalibur is more useful. With basic artillery shells becoming more expensive and the potential for economies of scale with the more advanced system, the dial ticks more towards guided munitions. Add in the cost of primer and reduced barrell wear, less training and logistics needed, and guided munitions make a lot more sense.
Forbes view on Ukrainian counter battery fire:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/09/18/artillery-duels-are-a-thing-of-the-past-as-ukrainian-and-russian-gunners-hunt-each-other-at-long-range/
Perhaps a bit sensational, but the key point being that unguided artillery shells are not perceieved as being sufficiently useful by NATO to invest heavily in them vs precision fires.
This is based on the ochams razor view that if you exclude the possibility that NATO are incompetent, stupid or remiss in their duties, the obvious reason for not producing massive amounts of unguided 155 is that it wont be as useful as large amounts of guided munitions.
By contrast, for example, the utility of prepared fixed defensive positions has been proven in Ukraine, and the Baltics consider it worth heavily investing in them.
Tatarstan's rate of reported dead in Ukraine went up 18% for the six months of 2024 above 2022 and 2023 combined 24 month total. The reason given is as a consequence of the state being given the BRICS summit and the "Future Games".
So basically the government of Tatarstan was told send more men to Ukraine and then you can have these goodies. Up to that the Tatarstan reported dead was well below neighbouring states. They say this decision was partially so that numbers killed would be evened somewhat not to cause region instability.
Hard to confirm since we cannot trust anything from Russian sources,
But looks like the Russians had a very successful hit on an armoured supply train
Im surprised like everyone else that Russia hit a military target and not a civilian apartment
BuT wHy DoEsN't UkRaInE wAnT pEaCe?
No, I do mean basic unguided 155mm shells.
Don't get me wrong, there's a very specific and critical place for MLRS/HIMARS vehicles, and almost exclusively those vehicles at Corps level (Where aircraft also become more important), and but the majority of the work at division and below is done by good, old fashioned unguided tube artillery with rockets mainly in the counter-battery or HPT role. Trust me on this.
This deserves to be on RTE 1 nine o clock news.
