Russia must have been experiencing a severe shortage of cocktail napkins for quite some time.
Dear Putin. If we send a drone to kill you it will not be something you will have any post-attack issues with.
That is my impression as well after reading Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves. The technology to pick which window you want the Hellfire missile to go through was in place about twenty years ago and it has only become more capable since. A US drone strike wouldn’t miss. Obligatory XKCD.
This is nearly day old news but I don’t think it’s been posted here yet.
Probably don’t have enough people or equipment to fill the event.
Ukraine says they used a Patriot missile to take out a “unique” Russian missile. Apparently Putin said this couldn’t happen.
And Russia has been accused of using white phosphorus ammunition in Bakhmut.
EDIT: Ammunition, not bombs. I misread.
A Russian nationalist on Prigozhin:
Another Russian military blogger done got blowed up. Not killed, although his driver was.
A Russian military blogger has been injured and his driver killed after their car was blown up, Russian state media reported, the latest attack on a pro-war figure.
Zakhar Prilepin was hospitalized with a leg injury in the blast in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 250 miles east of Moscow, TASS said.
[snip]
Prilepin, whose Telegram channel has more than 300,000 subscribers, last September put up a commentary that described Russia’s retreat from Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, as a “catastrophe.”
“Now we can observe the result of the criminal irresponsibility of those who were responsible for this direction,” the post read, before concluding: “The special military operation is long over. There is a war going on.”
With how rapid the Kremlin’s response to the drone has been, I’m changing my mind. This was definitely a false flag. Putin just apparently sucks a lot more than I thought at false flags.
I mean, if Ukraine really were behind it, why would they deny it? This is war. Ukraine attacking Moscow is just as much a part of war as Russia attacking Kyiv.
Ukraine’s been very cautious about claiming responsibility for anything that happens outside Ukraine. I think they’ve made the assessment that attacking Russians in Russia may be counter-productive, because it will strengthen the support of the war by ordinary Russians, similar to the way the Blitz strengthened British resolve rather than weakening it.
It also plays better internationally, that Ukraine is a sovereign state defending itself from an aggressive invasion.
I found this detailed analysis of the challenges faced in a Ukrainian counter offensive. It helped me better understand the challenges that Ukraine faces. I’ve read it several times. There’s a lot to study.
Mick Ryan is a former Australian general and military analyst
Link The Coming Fight will be Different - by Mick Ryan
Interesting (to me) history of the use of an octopus in media to describe a country’s ambition to control it’s neighbors and colonies. Russia has been depicted numerous times in the past; not just its current territorial seizures in Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia.
Latest aid package from US. Security Assistance for Ukraine. Drawdown of existing stocks rather than the purchase of production items. Details continue to be sketchy for security reasons.
May 3, 2023 |
Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s thirty-seventh drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. It includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression valued at up to $300 million.
The capabilities in this package include:
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- 155mm Howitzers;
- 155mm artillery rounds;
- 120mm, 81mm, and 60mm mortar rounds;
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- AT-4 and Carl Gustaf anti-armor weapon systems;
- Hydra-70 aircraft rockets;
- Small arms and small arms ammunition;
- Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing;
- Trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment;
- Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair;
- Spare parts and other field equipment.
The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration ordered Russia to cough up a whopping $5 bn to energy giant Naftogaz in compensation for losses from annexation of Crimea However, securing restitution during the war may prove to be challenging, experts say https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/05/04/ukraines-naftogaz-awaits-usd-5bn-hague-award-when-will-russia-cough-up/?swcfpc=1
Restitution challenging may be a massive understatement.
Ukraine destroys Russian military warehouse in Bakhmut with JDAM smart bombs.
Some welcome news. I remember when the Azov surrendered it seemed unlikely they’d ever be freed.
The guardian blog
Panic as Russia evacuates town near nuclear power plant. watchdog says severe accident might occur. A claim that many of the convoys are retreating Russian troops.
This video has been around for a while and was purported to be the first documented use of JDAMs. It could well have been “warehouse” or storage depot of some sort but I thought I read that Ukraine is targeting high rises being used as observation posts. A high rise doesn’t seem to be a logical place to store large quantities of anything but it is Russia/Wagner we’re talking about
More news about Russian drone attacks. Meanwhile, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, asked Moscow to let him hand over his position to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s forces.
Wagner says they’re running out of ammo and want out. I don’t think it’s legit-I bet it’s a power play for more men and influence. “The bosses won’t support the brave fighting man!” kind of thing.
The third or fourth (not easy to tell) seemed to result in some very frisky secondary explosions, so I suspect there was some amount of ammo or such there.