Russia

[dawg80]

You (we, the free world) either stand for freedom and against evil tyrants, or we do not. Plain and simple. F**k Putin and all the "peaceniks" wanting Ukraine to bend over and take it up the azz. The US, NATO, the Free World have been absolute pussies so far. Putin/Russia should have been hammered into oblivion within a month of their invasion. Instead, we have barely done anything to support Ukraine, slowly providing aid with aged equipment, sending it in piecemeal. All the while the gallant Ukrainians have done the near impossible, standing toe to toe with a country 10X its size and with what many thought was the 2nd largest/most powerful military in the world. Anyone who thinks Putin can be appeased in any way is beyond stupid. He has to be smashed, killed, like you stomp on a cockroach. Putin is pure evil, you don't negotiate with evil, you crush it.

Now, for some good news, the Ukrans have counterattacked in eastern Kursk Pocket trapping those Russian forces who had enjoyed some initial success. Early reports say Ukraine saw the Russian build up and prepared for it with their own buildup on their flank. Heavy fighting occurring, but those Russian units are now fighting in two directions. We'll see how it plays out.

Ukraine shot down a Russian SU-30 fighter-bomber after it launched missiles at Odesa, on the coast of the Black Sea. One report claims it was a Ukran F-16 that shot down the SU-30 but that is unconfirmed. What is confirmed is the SU-30 crashed into the Black Sea, Russians sent helicopters to search for the two-man crew, no reports if the crew has been located. The SU-30 is no ordinary fighter plane. It is a very expensive, high-tech weapons platform, equipped with the very latest electronics/technology and capable of carrying a variety of weapons, including 6 air-to-surface missiles, such as the ASM3, the Type 93 anti-ship missile, and nuclear missiles. In this case the SU-30 had 4 ASM3 missiles, three of which struck civilian targets in Odesa, and the fourth missile hit an open field where Ukraine used to have some military equipment parked, but not anymore. The SU-30 carried just 4 missiles since it came from a base deep inside of Russia and had to carry extra fuel tanks. This is a big loss for Putin as he doesn't have very many operational SU-30s left. It'll be interesting to learn what took it down.

Meanwhile the Ukrans have adapted US JDAMS missiles to their Soviet-built MIG 29s and are using those with great effects attacking Russian bridges and positions in Kursk. The US-made missiles were never designed to fit MIGS, but a clever under-the-wing mounting is making it work. The Ukrainians continue to amaze the world with their ingenuity.

[dawg80]

The Russian advance toward Pokrovsk has been checked. No movement in the past three days, and actually, the Ukrainians have retaken some ground in the bulge.

Russian units were slaughtered overnight in the Kursk salient. Ukraine set a trap watching Putin amass forces for his counterattack and moved units to strike them on the flank and in the rear. Varying estimates on the number of troops Russia has amassed, from a low of 35,000 (the ISW)** to a high of 70,000 (Putin propagandists). US Intelligence says Russia has 50,000 in the operational theater of the Kursk salient. Most accurate estimate of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk is 12,000, so regardless of what number one chooses, it is clear Ukraine is outnumbered. But the Ukrans have never concerned themselves with being outnumbered as they have been able to out-think and out-fight the Russians every time it was an equal contest.


** the ISW is the Institute for the Study of War, a military thinktank, and using its own satellites and drones has consistently been the most accurate when reporting on the facts on the ground.

[dawg80]

Good news: four NATO countries agree to send a combined 80 more F-16s to Ukraine by the end of the year. Of course, Ukraine has to have trained pilots to fly them. Romania just accepted 18 more Ukran pilots into their F-16 flight school. Ukrainian pilots are spread all over Europe enrolled in F-16 training programs in various countries.

Sweden is donating two long-range aerial radar planes to Ukraine. Both are twin-engine prop planes equipped with the very latest radar, to work with the F-16s giving them the capability of detecting Russian planes at greater distances than the F-16s can. This will be a huge help.

Bad news (if true): Putin propagandists are echoing a Bulgarian claim that of the 31 Abrams tanks sent to Ukraine, 20 have been destroyed/captured/damaged, and that the Ukrainians have declared the Abrams to be a death-trap. No independent confirmation on this, but Kyiv, when asked, replied with "no comment."

On the ground, some good and bad news, but none of it particularly earthshattering. In Belgorod the anti-Putin militias have resurfaced, emboldened by the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, and their brief appearance in Belgorod. One reliable source says the Freedom for Russia organization is down to as few as 350 effectives (maybe as many as 500) and are just a nuisance for the Russians.

Local Russian citizens outed Russian drone operators hidden in a barn in Kursk. These "peasants" hate Putin, his regime, and his war and ran to Ukranian soldiers revealing the location. It turned out to be quite a haul as 6 Russian operators and 30 of Russia's most advanced drones were captured. The Ukrans are now using those 30 drones to attack Russians with. And the Russian counterattack launched in Kursk has completely flittered out, with those units now trapped in a closing pocket.

Russians made a few small advances toward Pokrovsk and Vuhledar, but also lost some ground on both of those fronts.

[dawg80]

Ukrainian spokesman disavowed any connection to the kook, Ryan Routh, saying his wild claims on social media about working with Ukrainian government/military officials is blatantly false. Routh did visit Ukraine a year ago and recorded some video where he recited total BS about his official involvement. One Russian blogger picked up on the hype and posted that Putin, while not involved, applauded Routh's try at assassinating Trump.

Love and war make for strange bedfellows... Routh wants Putin dead and Russia crushed...many think Trump will be bad for Ukraine, good for Putin/Russia...yet, Putin supports Harris, wants Trump dead too. Go figure...

[dawg80]

Awesome videos of Ukranian troops, in the trenches, their hardships, their determination produced and released by the British media agency the Daily Mail. One part was shot last year, February-March 2023 in Bakhmut before that city fell to Russian (Wagner) forces. Incredible video, somewhat disturbing, of the Wagner "human wave" attacks, being wiped out by Ukran machineguns, mortars, rifle fire. In one 30-minute span, over 400 Wagner morons, were mowed down. The comments by the Ukrainian defenders are heart-wrenching. They were shouting at the Wagner cannon fodder to "go back" and "stop" and "no, don't attack us," etc. Ukran soldiers pleading with the idiots not to sacrifice themselves. But, nothing seemed to work. Some pundits say Wagner shot them up with drugs, like meth, and they were so zoned-out they didn't realize what was happening.

Story follows a sergeant and his platoon, part of the Thunder Battalion of older Ukrainians...average age of the unit is 43. The Thunder Battalion held their ground at Bakhmut for 7 months, then were rotated off the front lines. The unit replacing them, young soldiers, many drafted, lost the position inside of 3 weeks, overrun by the Wagner human wave attacks. Bakhmut fell two weeks later.

One corporal purchased his semi-automatic rifle by ordering on the Internet, said it cost him $3,000 USD. Asked by the reporter why he bought his own rifle, the man replied, my life is worth $3,000, I needed a rifle I can depend on. Oh...and the cats! The trenches/bunkers are overrun by fieldmice, so each company has their own bunch of cats to check the mice. They dress the cats in handmade uniforms, name them, and give them ranks with stripes on their uniforms. The Daily Mail reporter tried to sit on a chair in a bunker and the cat swiped at him and hissed. The Ukran soldiers laughed saying that is First Sergeant _____, couldn't catch the name of the cat.

The video is in three parts, each about 90 minutes long. Most of it shot in the trenches, and on Ukran patrols, including a night scouting mission. And some of it shot in the towns of Donbas, many subject to Russian artillery and drone strikes. The locals refuse to leave their homes and endure the danger and daily grind of living in a war zone.

On the night mission, the Ukran patrol, 6 soldiers and that sergeant, and the Daily Mail reporter and his video guy, had gone further than they thought, having passed through the Russian lines during the night. When the sun rose they realized they were behind enemy lines. The sergeant looked at the reporter asking him how fast can he run? The reporter said, I'm pretty fast. The sergeant said, prove it...let's go! They all made it out safely as the Russians were caught by surprise, most of them busy fixing breakfast, and just watched the Ukrainians dashing back across the field.

[dawg80]

Alexander Korobov, a Putin propagandist, known as "Crab" on his blogs and social media sites, was found dead...his skull crushed by a blunt instrument (or a sledgehammer (hint)). Ukrainian troops were led to where he was being held, captured by anti-Putin militia...now, he's kaput. This happened in Belgorod.

[dawg80]

Kaboom!

One of Russia's largest ammo dumps is kaput! Struck by Ukran drones over 40,000 tons of explosives, in the form of shells, missile warheads, etc. have been destroyed. As a comparison, the A-bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 had the explosive equivalence of 15,000 tons of TNT. So, imagine what an explosion of 40,000 tons can produce. The mushroom-shaped cloud was seen over 60 miles away, seismographs in Norway, many hundreds of miles away, registered the blast as 2.8 on the Richter Scale. Whoa! And, the Russians had bragged the ammo dump was housed in a hardened shell, invincible to airstrikes.

Invincible? That sounded like a challenge to the Ukran drone operators. Well, hello! No details on how they did it, but based on past drone strikes, the Ukrans probably flew a drone(s) through some kind of opening, like a door, a window, a ventilation shaft, something like that, and once inside were able to pilot the drone(s) carrying warheads onto the stockpile of explosive ammo. The big explosion set off several secondary explosions in other structures at the site. There were 200 Russian soldiers/engineers housed at the ammo dump and all are presumed either dead, or nearly so. Thus far no one has been able to approach the site as explosions are continuing and fires rage. The site is located in the town of Toropets, about halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

An Australian military expert commented on Sky News that right now, Ukrainian drone operators are the most effective, most destructive force on the planet. Pound for pound the ultimate weapon on Earth is a Ukrainian drone operator and his fleet of FPV drones. On that subject, just watched a video on Ukrainian mobile drone units. Basically, such a unit is composed of 6-8 soldiers who carry everything they need on specially designed backpacks, which have aluminum frames, and on which they carry everything. When they reach a launch site, it takes about 20 minutes to unpack the frames, set up, and start launching drones. They can pack up and move to another location in about 20 minutes as well.

[dawg80]

New video just released showing the exploding...still exploding! ammo dump. Sounds like a battle raging but it's various artillery shells "cooking off." The site is gone, completely destroyed. Video in daylight of the next town, houses have all windows shattered and various other damage from the main blast last night, a shockwave that swept across the flat, open ground. Some of the video, by residents, shows the billowing clouds of smoke and you can hear the continuing blasts still occurring. One Russian citizen can be heard lamenting, "this can't be good for us (Russia)." Yes, the YouTuber provided English captions.

Ukrainian officials debunked a Russian claim that Ukraine sent a "flock" of 100+ drones to attack the ammo dump, too many for their defense to handle. Ukrainian military spokesman shrugged that claim off, simply saying, "it didn't require that many drones." The distance covered by the Ukran drones was at least 400 miles, possibly closer to 500 miles, depending on which location was used to launch the drones. Again, the Ukrans refused to confirm/deny the speculation on where the drones came from.

Ukraine continues to degrade Putin's military. They are doing the FREE WORLD a huge favor. Just think, just three years ago Putin had what many considered to be the 2nd largest/powerful military in the world. I do not agree with that assessment as three years ago Russia was sitting 4th, but still, a powerful threat to world peace. Now most pundits rank Putin's military strength outside of the Top 10, some as low as 15th largest in the world. Why is this important? Well...Russia has entered into their version of a QUAD with China, Iran, and North Korea. Now Russia has been so depleted militarily that its partners in crime are having to empty their own warehouses of reserve ammo/equipment to keep Putin in the fight. This means this evil QUAD is less ready today to stir up trouble in the world.

As Senator Graham correctly surmised, the US and our western allies have contributed relatively little, a small fraction of our defense budget, to Ukraine and they have used it to virtually eliminate Putin from the world stage in military prowess. That is a great ROI!

A big THANK YOU to Ukraine!