Russia

Well, seems the Russians are enjoying more success in Pokrovsk than previously reported. Today a small group of Russians, 5, made their way most of the way across the city, south to north, and invaded an abandoned train station, being used as a shelter by local civilians remaining in the worn-torn city. The Orcs murdered three elderly people and wounded two more before they were taken out by Ukrainian troops. The war crime is no surprise, but the fact these thugs managed to traverse clean across the city, some 5 miles across, and not be taken out sooner is a concern. The Orcs are sending in dozens of these small units, 4-6 soldiers in each, using tunnels and basements to stay under cover.

South of Pokrovsk that mass of Russians has been attacked, losing 6 armored vehicles, 6 motorcycles, and 8 trucks while moving 15 miles behind the lines. Uran drones delivered the bad news.

Russian small units have penetrated Kupiansk, seizing a rectangle-shaped piece of suburbs in the northern part of that city. Units of the 1st Azov Corps were reported to be in that area. Not clear if they are still there because there were reports over a week ago they were being deployed elsewhere. But, then there was no more news about their movements.

Another of Putin's key plants is kaput. This one a chemical plant that produces various lubricants and fuels with 80% of it supplying the Russian military. Plant is, or was, located in Bryansk. Six Ukran drones struck the facility, four separate buildings, setting off huge explosions of storage tanks of highly flammable/explosive chemicals.

This is awesome. But the mission itself and how drone attacks are conducted against the Russian countermeasures is fascinating...at least to me. In this case Ukraine launched 12 drones initially. Two of them were recon drones for the early portion of the mission designed to guide the following 10 attack drones through the active battle zone and into Russia. They peeled off and returned to base sending the 10 bomb carrying drones on their way. Then it got really intense. A Russian SU-30 fighter on patrol detected the flight of the 10 drones and attacked with air-to-air missiles. The drones successfully used countermeasures which sent the 4 missiles on a chase of "ghosts." Then Russian ground missile batteries alerted to the approach of drones went into action. The drone operators, the Ukrainians actually flying the FPV drones...in this case the big boys with wingspans of 8 feet carrying 300-pound warheads...picked up on the Russian radar searching for them and dropped down to below 50 feet, skimming tree tops. But the Russians also use satellites to track Ukrainian drones and the group of 10 was detected. Because the satellite is in orbit it was only able to "paint" the drones briefly as it moved on, but was enough to give the Russians a vector of travel. The Russians launched missiles from S-300 batteries with specially fitted electronics designed to pick up drones. These drones all have Chinese-built electric motors that produce 7,400 RPMs. The Ukrans detected the missile launches and slowed the motors to below 7,400 RPMs, which they can do only for 10 seconds at a time. The Russian missiles were on to them though. So, one drone had to be sacrificed. One of the drones returned to 7,400 RPMs and climbed to above 200 feet and veered off 45 degrees. It worked. All the Russian missiles homed in on that one drone allowing the other nine to continue on their way. The chemical plant is, or was, located 650 miles inside of Russia, and there were more defensive hurdles to clear. Three more drones were sacrificed allowing six to reach the target. Kaboom!

The drones struck around 10am local time when the plant was at full staffing. Scores of Russian workers are confirmed dead, many more injured, some with severe burns and other life-threatening injuries. The gloves are off. Ukraine has tried for 3+ years to avoid/minimize civilian casualties, but Putin has only escalated his attacks on Ukrainian civilians. So...an eye for an eye.

And, being reported, Ukraine used the British-made Storm Shadow cruise missile to strike another chemical plant in Russia, this one produces gunpowder and other components used in shells, bullets, and rockets. This plant, also in the Bryansk Oblast, which is an industrial region, is (was?) only 300 miles inside of Russia, which is about the limit of the range of the Storm Shadow cruise missile.

The mass of Russians formerly south of Pokrovsk but moved has shown up. Four brigades, mostly motorized rifle brigades, supported by armor, attacked Ukrainian defensive lines near the town of Orikhiv. This is a small town, mostly a farming community, which had been taken by the Russians in 2023 but recently liberated by the Ukrainians. This is about 40 miles south of Pokrovsk. Putin is seeking some kind of success along the eastern front where he deployed 110,000 fresh troops in the spring promising a summer offensive that would seize Pokrovsk and then the rest of the Donetsk Oblast. That has not happened, so Putin is getting desperate wanting some kind of success before winter weather sets in.

No detailed reports yet about the fighting at Orikhiv, but I would think the Ukrainian units in the area were rather thin. Reinforcements will have to be rushed there.

Putin struck a kindergarten...this was no accident as the school building sits on an elementary school campus, the whole campus clearly separated from the other buildings in this small Ukrainian town. And, three Russian drones were used coming in from different directions arriving about 3 minutes apart.

Led by local Civil Defense "soldiers" locals raced into the burning building to rescue as many of the small children as possible. Horrific video...I got so sick I had to stop watching it. War crimes? Yeah, but so much worse than that. PURE EVIL!

In another town Russian soldiers, obviously very drunk, randomly entered a house of local civilians and murdered an entire family "just for the fun of it." Which is what one of the thugs said when asked why they did it. This occurred in the occupied portion of Donetsk Oblast. Many of Putin's so-called "soldiers" are hardened criminals released from prison in exchange for service in Putin's thug army.

Why the "civilized" world continues to allow this to happen is beyond me. Of course, Putin is Trump's BFF!

In better news, about 100 Russian troops surrendered in one of those pockets north of Pokrovsk.

And another of Putin's war machine plants was utterly destroyed last night, a munitions plant, some 1,100 miles inside of Russia. Ukran drones made the long flight and hit the plant. This plant operates (or it did) 24/7 so there are casualties among workers. First report says 12 killed 30 injured. Both totals expected to rise as first-responders are just now searching the wrecked structure.

President Z gave Putin one more chance two weeks ago to stop targeting Ukrainian civilians or the gloves would come off. Well, they are off.

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Originally Posted by dawg80

In better news, about 100 Russian troops surrendered in one of those pockets north of Pokrovsk.

And another of Putin's war machine plants was utterly destroyed last night, a munitions plant, some 1,100 miles inside of Russia. Ukran drones made the long flight and hit the plant. This plant operates (or it did) 24/7 so there are casualties among workers. First report says 12 killed 30 injured. Both totals expected to rise as first-responders are just now searching the wrecked structure.

President Z gave Putin one more chance two weeks ago to stop targeting Ukrainian civilians or the gloves would come off. Well, they are off.

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Now both of the pockets are gone. All Orcs in the two pockets are either dead or POWs. Ukraine had allowed them to exist serving as bait for Russian attempts to rescue them. But after four attempts/failures the Russians have withdrawn so Ukraine saw no need to allow the pockets to continue.

South of Pokrovsk the Orcs had some success capturing a small village just below of the city. A Ukrainian counterattack was beaten back there.

John Deere tractors are not drone proof. Putin attacked Ukrainian farmers in the Kherson region, killing 4 farmers and blowing up their JD tractors. Putin's thugs also targeted an 84-year-old woman, a goat herder, Russian drones chased her down and killed her. Terrorism.

Russian TV propagandists were bragging on Russia's "new" anti-drone weapons/tactics...which are not "new" because Ukraine has already been doing this, plus other countries, including the US, have been working on this concept for 2+ years now. What is it? the use of old propeller planes, converted civilian planes and crop dusters armed with machineguns designed to shoot down slow-moving drones. The US has a prototype...a working model(s) of converted crop dusters armed with .50 caliber machineguns and can be fitted with a variety of rockets, air-to-air, and air-to-surface kinds. But, for Russia this all new.

Well, the worst thing you can do while engaged in a shooting war with a determined and very clever opponent is brag too much. Russian TV showed a report from the main Russian airbase for these converted planes. Within 3 hours of the telecast every plane was destroyed on the ground by Ukrainian drones. Bam! The base is located fairly close to the Ukrainian border, less than 70 miles, and as such is an easy reach for Ukran drones. Silly Russians had camouflage netting on the planes. So, an apparent "shrubbery" sitting on a concrete tarmac at an airbase. Gee! that would fool anyone! Stupid is as stupid does.

Russia is rattled by Trump's proposed sanctions on oil, specifically on Russia's versions of Exxon-Mobile, two HUGE oil companies: Lukoil and Roseft. The catch is these sanctions don't kick in until November 21, 2025 and already Russia is taking steps to get Trump to change his mind. Russia's minister of commerce is on a plane to Washington right now to meet with Trump and his team. Without a doubt Trump will back off in favor of Putin.

The Russkis, and their apologists, claim Putin/Russia can't make a deal allowing Ukraine to keep Donbas because it's in the Russian constitution. Yep, it is. But it got there from a 2022 executive order (EO) from Putin. And Putin just issued another change to their so-called constitution with another EO changing the call-up status of army reservists. What kind of "constitution" can be changed with simple EOs? Answer: one that is not worth the paper it is written on. Just another Russian joke.

On the call-up matter, Putin changed the law such that now he can force his 2 million reservists back into active duty. Already he is getting massive push back on this, some reservists posting on social media they will not sign a contract, they will not return to active duty to fight the illegal, immoral war in Ukraine. Some will for the sign-up bonus and to avoid legal trouble for themselves and their families. Yes, the Putin regime threatens the families of soldiers with legal action too.

What a great fellow Putin is! :icon_roll:

Ukraine has liberated three more villages north and east of Pokrovsk. Russian forces withdrawing. The last pocket of surrounded Russians, northwest of Shakrove, tried to break out to reach that town thinking their comrades had taken it days ago. But, four attempts to do so were thwarted. Apparently the trapped Orcs never got the word and made a mad dash across open terrain hoping to reach Shakrove and what they expected to be welcoming Russians. Oops! Those not killed or captured were able to retire back to their defensive works in that pocket. Best estimates say there are now, after this episode, about 800 Russians left in the pocket. They will be better served by surrendering and living.

Ukrainian drones striking targets close to Moscow overnight. The Orcs have gotten so desperate, and their army is so depleted, that they have actually mounted machineguns in the back of pickup trucks to serve as anti-drone defense. Reeks of the savages in Somalia and other third world countries.

Ukraine blew up a dam in Belgorod and now the river, previously dammed, is flooding the valley, trapping 6 brigades of Orcs, some 20,000+ troops. This is along the Belgorod-Kharkiv border. The roads, which are the supply routes for those brigades, are now impassable. Russia has used drones to supply trapped troops before, such as in those pockets near Pokrovsk, but this is far more troops. Gonna be interesting to see what happens, especially as winter comes on and the weather worsens.

In Pokrovsk, the Orcs are gaining ground. The attack from the south started as a trickle, usually groups of 5 or 6 soldiers, but now is increasing. Latest estimate placed close to 300 Russians inside the city limits and house-to-house, street-to-street "urban combat" is ongoing. There are still about 5,000 civilians, mostly elderly folks, trapped inside the city. The Russians are using them as human shields denying the Ukrans the use of drones, and especially artillery. So, foot soldiers have to be sent in to try to minimize civilian casualties. Of course, the Orcs don't give a damn if Ukrainian elderly are killed, so they do not hesitate to fire on Ukrainian soldiers when civilians are in the line of fire. The Russians are also throwing grenades, again with total disregard for the proximity of civilians.

North of Pokrovsk the Ukrainians have swept the Russians back over 5 miles. This has secured the eastern supply highway for the Ukrainians. With bad weather already occurring, heavy rains, only the paved highways can be used. There are just two paved highways Ukraine can use to supply troops at Pokrovsk. Both are firmly in Ukrainian control. Except, of course, all vehicles are still subjected to drone attacks.

Russia tried again to reach Skakhove. This was their 5th try and for a 5th time the convoy, 30 vehicles, were all destroyed. This was on a road a little further east which parallels the other two roads they have tried previously. This road is only about 2-3 miles east from the main Shakhove road so it's not like they were going to sneak by unseen. And, it's mostly open ground. The patches of woods' trees have all lost their leaves so there is no cover even there. With drones constantly reconning the ground, 24/7, no way can either side go merrily driving along a road and not be detected. Of the 30 there were 11 tanks, the rest APCs and IFVs. No report on casualties, but from the video it appears very few, if any, Orcs escaped with their lives. The vehicles all exploded in huge fireballs, and all were struck while on the move. Often a vehicle, like APCs, get hit, stop and you can see soldiers piling out of the vehicle before it explodes. Not this time.

As one Ukrainian YouTuber says, "The Russians are stupid. For which I am glad, but I just don't understand their thinking." He then quoted the well-known definition of "insanity."