Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Nymrohd]

Don't think they ever held back minus the nukes, but Russia did have their best month in Oct when it comes to total land gain since last year which blows.

I mean, they did hold back when it came to weapons that would force an international response by even their allies. Bio weapons (which likely can be as effective if not more than nukes), chem weapons against civilians.

[alach]

Kind of slim pickings on the news from Ukraine. I did enjoy this one though,

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Russia was massing troops near the city of Vovchansk in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Ukraine’s president said Moscow’s assault on the eastern city of Pokrovsk was aimed at demonstrating battlefield success to Donald Trump, the US president. The Institute for the Study of War said Russian troops had advanced marginally near the mostly destroyed, partly Russian-held city in pursuit of bringing Kharkiv city within range of tube artillery. Ukrainian army units reported that Russian troops filmed themselves raising a flag in Vovchansk, only to be quickly killed by Ukrainian drones.

Pokrovsk still hasn't fully fallen. The defenders are holding on. I imagine the situation isn't as dire as some media outlets would have you believe. I really doubt Zelensky would leave thousands of men to be captured or killed by the russians if it was that bad. He would withdraw them first.
One thing is for certain, winter of year four of this war looks to be the hardest yet for the people of Ukraine.

And hey, look! Two pieces of shit in a white, round, space.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump chuckles as Orban tells him victory for Kyiv would be ‘miracle’
literally laughing at a democratic, victimized, country being invaded and its people killed, tortured and kidnapped instead of doing anything to help. Real pieces of work these guys are.

[Deus Mortis]

Kind of slim pickings on the news from Ukraine. I did enjoy this one though,


Pokrovsk still hasn't fully fallen. The defenders are holding on. I imagine the situation isn't as dire as some media outlets would have you believe. I really doubt Zelensky would leave thousands of men to be captured or killed by the russians if it was that bad. He would withdraw them first.
One thing is for certain, winter of year four of this war looks to be the hardest yet for the people of Ukraine.

And hey, look! Two pieces of shit in a white, round, space.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump chuckles as Orban tells him victory for Kyiv would be ‘miracle’
literally laughing at a democratic, victimized, country being invaded and its people killed, tortured and kidnapped instead of doing anything to help. Real pieces of work these guys are.

The shit is awful atm, over 90% of the city is in control of Russia and Myrnohrad(right next to Pokrovsk) is about to be fully encircled. These choices to leave men too long before retreating is usually not a choice done by Zelensky but by his generals which still repeat the same fucking mistakes time after time that get Ukrainian's killed. Just this week we had another fucking dipshit order a military awards ceremony which was promptly bombed which got a lot of elite Ukrainians killed. This is shit that happens time after time.

The city to the left of the encircled pocket which is all red is Pokrovsk.
https://x.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1986783974652596733

[alach]

The shit is awful atm, over 90% of the city is in control of Russia and Myrnohrad(right next to Pokrovsk) is about to be fully encircled. These choices to leave men too long before retreating is usually not a choice done by Zelensky but by his generals which still repeat the same fucking mistakes time after time that get Ukrainian's killed. Just this week we had another fucking dipshit order a military awards ceremony which was promptly bombed which got a lot of elite Ukrainians killed. This is shit that happens time after time.

The city to the left of the encircled pocket which is all red is Pokrovsk.
https://x.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1986783974652596733

Yeah, that would be the time to bug out.

Russian forces are poised to finally capture Pokrovsk, a symbolically important victory with a heavy cost

Russian forces appear to be on the brink of finally seizing the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a symbolic victory that President Vladimir Putin has been pursuing for 21 months at an increasingly heavy cost.

Fighting inside the city has intensified in the past few days, after Russian troops successfully infiltrated it. The fall of Pokrovsk – the strategic value of which has already been greatly diminished but would nevertheless represent the biggest win for Moscow since 2023 – now seems almost inevitable, according to those on the ground.

While Kyiv denied Russian claims that Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk have already been surrounded, saying on Wednesday that active operations stopping the Russian advance were still ongoing, Ukrainian soldiers on the ground have described an increasingly grim reality.
“The situation is difficult, with all types of fighting going on, firefights in urban areas, and shelling with all types of weapons,” one battalion commander told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“We are almost surrounded, but we are used to it,” he said. Another soldier, who also asked for his name to be withheld for safety reasons, told CNN the Russian military continues to press forward with large numbers of men.

That sucks but was expected at this point, they were on the verge of taking it for over a year now and russia is paying heavily for these gains.

[Wilian]

Loss of Pokrovsk is first actual strategic battlefield loss for Ukraine since 2022 before they pushed ruzzians out of northern and north-eastern Ukraine due to how logistics work and it's a shame. Pokrovsk also acted as fortress defending the next 3 following cities in Donetsk Ukraine controls so time will tell how this affects overall situation. Ukraine is also prone to continue doing mistakes about when to retreat for better prepared positions when under danger of encirclement, something they've been pretty bad at for a long while. But on other fronts it's not all doom and gloom. After the what seems like first proper sanctions from UK/US regarding major oil producers and refiners in Ruzzia, Lukoil is feeling the heat properly.

On Finnish front, Teboil is essentially over (and they had one of the largest, if not largest networks of gas stations in Finland) with many stations declaring bankruptcy and main branch essentially phasing out their operations. They tried a switcheroo by attempt of being bought out by ""not-Ruzzia" company Gunvor which was owned by ruzzians but not under Ruzzia related conglomerates. US blocked that trade by rejecting any future permits for Gunvor if they try it.

In Moldova, Lukoil is forced to cease all their operations because of the sanctions.

In Bulgaria, the country has passed law to nationalize Lukoil assets, including the largest refinery in entirety of Balkans.

These economic victories are some that are causing actual damage to Ruzzia's capability and economy and these are the sort of sanctions that should've been in place at latest in February 2022 if not when Crimea was invaded and annexed.

[Dontrike]

Watch Ukraine cast magic missile and make a Russian port disappear. Not just any port, but Russia's key port for oil exports.

[alach]

Ukraine has become "drone superpower" and produces 4 million UAVs per year – Bloomberg

Ukraine has become a "drone superpower", meeting the needs of the front line and expanding its presence on international markets. Ukrainian companies now produce four million drones of various types every year.

Source: Bloomberg

Details: Bloomberg noted that these include both inexpensive FPV drones and long-range strike UAVs. By comparison, the United States manufactures about 100,000 military drones per year.

"It's not just the quantity of drones, it's the variety. Probably more than all NATO countries combined right now," said RAND analyst Michael Bohnert.

Some Ukrainian drone manufacturers have entered the EU market. For example, Skyeton has opened a facility in Slovakia and has announced partnerships with Denmark and the United Kingdom. The company produces reconnaissance drones capable of remaining airborne for up to 24 hours.

Another domestic company, TSIR, is currently operating in Finland, where it is preparing to launch a UAV production line. It plans to produce drones for NATO in the future.

Now that what I call, cards...
These are the weapons of the future, and Ukraine is front and center and miles ahead with the tech.

[diller]

You will be surprised, how many Ukrainians are not following evacuating orders and instead choose to wait for the Russians. This is the other side of the war, there are lots of Russophiles in eastern Ukraine who risk death because they don't want to be with the west.

Please enlighten us with more of this information.

[alach]

Russia plans to import 12,000 North Koreans to work in its massive Shahed drone plant, HUR says

Russia is running out of workers to build its Shahed-type deep-strike drones, and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) says they're calling on North Korea for help.

HUR wrote that Russia plans to import 12,000 North Korean workers to make its drones by the end of the year, according to a Nov. 14 Telegram post.

The new workers are reportedly bound for Russia's Alabuga factory in Tatarstan, which produces the bulk of its domestic versions of the Iranian-designed Shahed drones, also called "Gerans" and "Gerberas."

According to HUR's report, the recent negotiations are between Russia and the Jihyang Technology Trade Company, which is a front company for Green Pine. Green Pine is the hub of North Korea's weapons trade, including ballistic missile exports, and has been under U.S. sanctions since 2010 for aiding North Korea's nuclear program.

Russia has actively recruited, hoodwinked and kidnapped workers for its war machine from across the developing world, particularly Africa and Central Asia. Interpol is investigating reports of human trafficking in Botswana.

I have nothing witty to add.

Hungary to sue EU over ban on Russian gas

What an absolute dick.

[Omega10]

The Russian plan to import North Koreans to help make drones is very sensical. First of all, both North Korea and China know that if Russia falls, we will destroy them next. That is US stated policy. The only question that is up for debate is: do we sequence it Russia then North Korea then China, or are we strong enough for all 3 at once. Trump's decisions imply that the US is going all in on all 3 at once, with Europeans being sufficient to take care of Russia.

Check out the Kyiv Independent.

https://kyivindependent.com/ and https://kyivindependent.com/tag/business/

Look at some the headlines.

A week ago, Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv that caused a 12 hour power outage in Kyiv.
Last night Russia launched a "wicked attack" on Kyiv.

Scattered throughout the website are news stories about Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian assets. Russian propaganda, for what it's worth, states that cities other than Kyiv were also hit by Russian drones and missiles.

Russia and Ukraine are launching Shock and Awe Drone and Missile Campaigns against each other. A 12 hour power outage in Kyiv implies that some of the weaponry is hitting their designated targets. From what I can tell, both Russia and Ukraine are doing a lot of damage to each other's infrastructure, and the damage is increasing over time.

Anthony Blinken talked about Ukrainians fighting to the last man in order to bleed Russia. His vision is becoming a reality. Russian air defense systems can't stop Ukrainian drones. Ukraine is getting obliterated as well.

Europeans talk about having a 500k plus army (I have read different numbers at different times, as high as 800k) on the Russian border in several years. Russia, China, and North Korea are preparing for this, expecting it to be reality. I am expecting Shock and Awe to intensify, with the NATO-Russian Shock and Awe war to eventually cause German and Polish people to flee west to France and Iberia, while European Russians, Moscow and everything west, flee east to Central and Eastern Russia.

The good news is: there is a strong chance that a buffer zone from Munich to Moscow will be a no man's land between what's left of Europe and what's left of Russia. Keeping them apart is important. The drone and missile attacks that Ukraine and Russia have launched at each other have already done a lot of damage. The most likely scenario is that both sides dramatically increase the number of missiles and drones over time, and that the damage will be harder to recover from.

[Gorsameth]

<Snip>

Folks.

Don't do drugs.

[Kaleredar]

The Russian plan to import North Koreans to help make drones is very sensical. First of all, both North Korea and China know that if Russia falls, we will destroy them next. That is US stated policy. The only question that is up for debate is: do we sequence it Russia then North Korea then China, or are we strong enough for all 3 at once. Trump's decisions imply that the US is going all in on all 3 at once, with Europeans being sufficient to take care of Russia.

Check out the Kyiv Independent.

https://kyivindependent.com/ and https://kyivindependent.com/tag/business/

Look at some the headlines.

A week ago, Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv that caused a 12 hour power outage in Kyiv.
Last night Russia launched a "wicked attack" on Kyiv.

Scattered throughout the website are news stories about Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian assets. Russian propaganda, for what it's worth, states that cities other than Kyiv were also hit by Russian drones and missiles.

Russia and Ukraine are launching Shock and Awe Drone and Missile Campaigns against each other. A 12 hour power outage in Kyiv implies that some of the weaponry is hitting their designated targets. From what I can tell, both Russia and Ukraine are doing a lot of damage to each other's infrastructure, and the damage is increasing over time.

Anthony Blinken talked about Ukrainians fighting to the last man in order to bleed Russia. His vision is becoming a reality. Russian air defense systems can't stop Ukrainian drones. Ukraine is getting obliterated as well.

Europeans talk about having a 500k plus army (I have read different numbers at different times, as high as 800k) on the Russian border in several years. Russia, China, and North Korea are preparing for this, expecting it to be reality. I am expecting Shock and Awe to intensify, with the NATO-Russian Shock and Awe war to eventually cause German and Polish people to flee west to France and Iberia, while European Russians, Moscow and everything west, flee east to Central and Eastern Russia.

The good news is: there is a strong chance that a buffer zone from Munich to Moscow will be a no man's land between what's left of Europe and what's left of Russia. Keeping them apart is important. The drone and missile attacks that Ukraine and Russia have launched at each other have already done a lot of damage. The most likely scenario is that both sides dramatically increase the number of missiles and drones over time, and that the damage will be harder to recover from.

…is this sarcasm? Like, you’ve gotta be making a funny here.


Russia has no capacity to fight anyone else; they barely have the capacity to fight Ukraine. They aren’t escalating to a point where they’re attacking Europe in any way beyond the chickenshit low-grade infrastructure sabotage they’ve been so coyly engaging in for years now.

Despite Trump’s idiotic bloviating he’s not invading anyone, least of all China. The US picks low-stakes targets to pick on that can’t materially fight back. There is literally nothing in it for the US to attack China. And doing so as a proxy to attack Russia… who they also aren’t attacking… is nonsensical.

China is poised to gain a huge amount of international power due to Trump just giving it up on the part of the US, one of the dumbest things they could do is enter into some sort of war. Russia losing over the course of years is literally no skin off their bones; China’s “support” has been tepid and noncommittal this whole time for a reason. Their literal best course of action right now is to do nothing while Trump craters the US’ international standing because he’s an idiot.

North Korea is going to act like a little angry dog the way it always does.

[alach]

Did Vampire get a name change?

[Elder Millennial]

The Russian plan to import North Koreans to help make drones is very sensical. First of all, both North Korea and China know that if Russia falls, we will destroy them next. That is US stated policy.

Crack is whack.

[alach]

NATO alarmed as Putin's new 'Petrel' missile apparently ready for use

A new Russian cruise missile is causing concern for NATO. The Burevestnik missile has a range of up to 5,500 kilometres and the warhead can be equipped with different types of ammunition, including nuclear ones.
Vladimir Putin's new super weapon "Petrel" has apparently been finalised. The nuclear-capable missile is said to be able to stay in the air for hours, avoid defence systems and pose a potentially serious threat.

This assessment is supported, at least in part, by Western intelligence analyses.

A fully operational Burevestnik would be a major problem for Europe. If Russia is indeed deploying the system, NATO would face a new and very hard-to-control risk. According to a classified NATO document:

The super-weapon is considered particularly worrying. The paper refers to a nuclear-powered cruise missile, “Burewestnik” (“Petrel”), known to NATO as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
The document comes from the intelligence department of the military alliance, according to Die Welt. It examines Russia’s updated arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons.

Three weeks ago, Russian Presiident Vladimir Putin publicly announced successful tests of the missile.

According to the NATO paper, the missile can reach speeds of more than 900 kilometres per hour. It is highly manoeuvrable, has long range and can be launched from mobile platforms. This would allow it to take long, indirect routes and avoid NATO air defences. According to NATO, “existing challenges (…) would be further exacerbated by the extreme range and manoeuvrability” of the missile.

Sounds like a clear and direct threat to NATO if you ask me, and NATO should really do something before putin starts lobbing these at European cities and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction while we sit on our thumbs.

[Santti]

Sounds like a clear and direct threat to NATO if you ask me, and NATO should really do something before putin starts lobbing these at European cities and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction while we sit on our thumbs.

Yawn. Yet another Russian superweapon that will clearly work as advertised, and with Russia clearly being able to afford to throw them around like candy at cities, and not at missile silos and the like that would be an actual threat.

No, Putin is not that stupid, even if these things worked like a charm. He's a rich bastard living a comfortable life, who would like to keep living like that.

[Vampiregenesis]

Wow, we are going to become one of Ukraine's main suppliers of gas replacing Russia. Apparently, we have the best infrastructure for LNG delivery in the Balkans/central Europe. Well, I guess this is one of these rare times that you see something good coming up in the Greek news. Good to see that we are good at something. This is all thanks to the US though, not the EU, we are selling their gas. Most good stuff these days comes from the US but I guess being almost a US state pays off at something. Interesting to see that our interests align with the US, this wouldn't be possible without the Russian war. I only hope that the prices on electricity will drop because we pay some of the highest in the EU.

[Edge-]

Wow, we are going to become one of Ukraine's main suppliers of gas replacing Russia. Apparently, we have the best infrastructure for LNG delivery in the Balkans/central Europe. Well, I guess this is one of these rare times that you see something good coming up in the Greek news. Good to see that we are good at something. This is all thanks to the US though, not the EU, we are selling their gas. Most good stuff these days comes from the US but I guess being almost a US state pays off at something. Interesting to see that our interests align with the US, this wouldn't be possible without the Russian war. I only hope that the prices on electricity will drop because we pay some of the highest in the EU.

as an american, sure is fuckin news to me lmao

[Vampiregenesis]

as an american, sure is fuckin news to me lmao

US protectorate to be more precise

[gondrin]

as an american, sure is fuckin news to me lmao

And here I thought that Puerto Rico, Guam and Washington DC were the "almost US states". Along with Israel(according to most of our elected officials in the US).