Russia

[dawg80]

There's an 8-minute clip on YouTube, Maria Bartiromo interviewing Marco Rubio, and he spelled out VERY clearly, what Trump and his administration are trying to accomplish. Rubio is clear, concise, and emphatic. Anyone who watches this and then claims Trump had sold out to Putin or some other such nonsense is just purposely being stupid (being political).

Jake Broe has a YouTube channel and is getting dangerously close to invoking a visit from the FBI. Some things you simply cannot say in public, with hints to the near-time health of the POTUS.

[dawg80]

Two Russian generals taken out by Ukranian drones! Good stuff! One of them a high-ranking "Colonel General" who was overall commander of Russia's 2nd Army Group. This guy commanded Russian units in Syria, Chechnya, and Georgia in years past and now was (WAS!) commander of an entire army group. That is way up there in rank/importance. But his armored vehicle was no match for Ukran drones! Bye bye.

Meanwhile, Russia targeted a small community of families, an entire family was wiped out, a father, mother and their three young children all killed when a Russian missile struck their house. Why? Russia also attacked and destroyed buildings on the campus of Sumy State University. College students are just now returning to that campus to start the fall semester. Well, not anymore, the semester will have to be delayed now.

Russians are flying the American flag on their tanks and IFVs as they attack Ukrainian positions. Yes, you read that correctly. Flying the Russian flag too, right next to it. This is designed to tweak Trump and those who support him and his administration's support of Putin/Russia. Like a big THANK YOU to Trump. It is what it is. Some MAGA folks will just look the other way, maybe saying, well, this is just Putin playing mind games. True. But it SHOULD piss off anyone who cares about what the American flag stands for. It won't bother Trump, Vance, Rubio one bit...

[dawg80]

More good news from the Pokrovsk area, the situation has stabilized, at least for the time being. Putin/Russia won't give up trying to take the city, it is too important in their scheme to own all of Donbas. But, for now, the Russians are pulling back to lick their wounds, regroup, and no doubt try again later.

Based on what I have learned following this war closely for 3 1/2 years, here's my prediction. This is purely my speculation, not based on any sources, any pundits, just my own thoughts. Russia knows it is impossible for them to prevail on the battlefield at Pokrovsk right now. Not while Ukraine has so many elite units operating in the area. Although Russia still greatly outnumbers Ukraine in terms of troops, about 100,000 vs 25,000 (Ukrans), the quality of those troops are worlds apart. It's nothing but a meat-grinder as Russia feeds more and more hapless souls into the fight. They die and gain nothing. So, I think Russia's strategy will be to shift their emphasis somewhere else along the 600+ mile front, this to draw off those Ukrainian elite units, cause them to deploy miles away from Pokrovsk. Then, from their POV, hopefully initiate a lightening strike against lesser Ukrainian units. Russian military leaders are dumb, uncaring about their soldiers, but they are not totally stupid and have demonstrated the capacity to learn from their many mistakes. Russian "intelligence" (ahem..) now knows the lay of the land around Pokrovsk and can devise a better battle plan to exploit this knowledge. They have successfully done this before. Yes, Russia will still lose thousands of soldiers attacking Pokrovsk, but they just might overwhelm Ukrainian defenders if the elite Ukrainian units are no longer present.

[dawg80]

Belarus is moving many thousands of troops toward their border with Ukraine. Probably just a chest-thumping bluff, trying to "scare" Ukraine and Europe due to the event happening in DC today. Belarus is an ally with Russia and did actually take part initially in the February 2022 invasion. But exercising self-preservation they quickly and completely withdrew once things turned sour on Putin's invaders. Since then, Belarus has sent mixed signals, sometimes standing firmly next to Russia, and at other times seemingly distancing themselves from Putin/Russia. It has a lot to do with current events, such that when Russia is enjoying success on the battlefield, they start the hostile rhetoric toward Ukraine/NATO. When Russia suffers setbacks, Belarus acts like they may want to join NATO themselves. Classic "playing both sides against the middle."

[DawgyNWindow]

Not sure what the "deal" is going to end up being, but Putin getting Eastern Ukraine for a willingness to "discuss" and "consider" security guarantees doesn't sound like much of a deal at all. I guess it's better than the war continuing and losing the whole thing.

[dawg80]

I don't think for a minute President Z/Ukraine is going to agree to any kind of "land swap" deal. In fact, the Ukrainian constitution forbids surrendering sovereign territory. Nope! that silliness is already DOA. President Z and all those European leaders know that but none of them saw any reason to get into a petty argument with Trump over it. Rubio might know it too, I think he does, and J. D. Dunce is totally clueless on such matters. The war will continue until one side or the other has no soldiers left to fight with.

Putin attacked more civilian targets overnight, killing more women and children, and few elderly folks too. Ukraine responded as they always do by striking purely military or key infrastructure targets. A Russian fuel/supply train was hit by Ukran drones, a few cars escaped destruction but are now stranded on the tracks in the middle of nowhere. Ukraine will probably send more drones to finish the job.

Russia attacked more Azerbaijan O&G infrastructure, two targets are inside of Ukraine near Odesa. Azerbaijan has angered Putin when they announced they were selling 122MM and 155MM artillery shells to Ukraine. And of course Putin is pissed about their deal with Armenia, brokered by Trump. After the repeated attacks on the Azerbaijan O&G facilities, they announced, fine, now we are selling another 3 million artillery shells to Ukraine. So there! Putin is losing total control as nation after nation is turning against him.

Now, if only NATO/US would grow a pair and also stand up to the evil tyrant.

[PawDawg]

Yes the US needs to do more…

[dawg80]

Trump needs to stop making a fool of himself and carry his butt to India. Sorry for Ukraine...where three more children were murdered last night by the Putin terrorists...but our relationship with India "trumps" concerns over Ukraine. Modi is playing hardball, and he actually has the balls to do what he says he will do. His summits with Xi and then Putin are coming up in a couple of weeks. They will enter into agreements to support each other both economically and militarily and then starting with the Pacific region it will be "Ukraine on steroids." Now I know some of you won't care anymore about Taiwanese, Japanese, Australian kids being slaughtered than you care about Ukrainian children dying horrible deaths daily. I get it, just as long as drones aren't blowing up apartments and houses in West Monroe, who gives a shit!? Right? But, there is that whole economic thingy too, and that might affect you. Heck, you might have to pay more for that Iphone...

Nope, time for Trump to put this one to bed. Do the best you can for Ukraine to get some kind of peace deal and carry your butt to India. Unless Trump can get India squarely on our side and agrees to support sanctions on Russia, in exchange for American oil (slightly discounted) and favorable trade partner status. Need to drive India away from Putin/Russia and freeze up the thawing relations between India and China.

[dawg80]

There were two Russian fuel trains struck the past 24+ hours. The second one had 31 fuel car (tanks). Nine of the 31 were destroyed, both engines, front and back knocked out, leaving 22 fuel tankcars stranded. Ukraine is sending more drones to finish that job too. This one had just pulled out of a station at Listi, Russia, Kursk Oblast, I think it is. The fire spread to the station damaging a second rail line and destroying a small warehouse as well.

[dawg80]

Another Russian general taken out. This one survived the hit on his armored car, but he has lost an arm and a leg, amputated in surgery yesterday. Reports are he is not likely to return to active duty anytime soon. Ya think!? This guy can say he has given Putin "an arm and a leg" fighting this illegal war...literally.

[dawg80]

Well...Germany is working closely with Ukraine developing weapons. Two of these have taken on the look that is "interesting." One is a prop-plane, a crop duster design engineered now with 20mm cannons and air-to-air rockets, and its landing gear is fixed. It will be used to shoot down drones. Yes, they resemble the German Stuka dive-bomber. And secondly, Ukraine is manufacturing their own cruise missiles, with German help, and they look like the German World War II "buzz bomb." Hmmm...the first prototype was painted with an undercoat to protect the metal, and it is pink in color. Thus the cruise missile has garnered the nickname of "Flamingo." The actual, operational cruise missiles will be painted a dull gray color. They will carry up to a 225-pound warhead, reach speeds over 450 mph, with a range up to 2,500 miles. That puts every Russian military installation west of the Urals in range. And that represents 90% of Putin's air force. Say hello Ivan!

[PawDawg]

As usual, you are watching and believing too much too much of the leftist mantra. Try to keep up.

[dawg80]

As usual, you are watching and believing too much too much of the leftist mantra. Try to keep up.

I am right, squarely on top of the REAL news. You are the one lagging behind in reality.

[DawgyNWindow]

Dear surface dwellers,

Please don't get the Germans started. They never know when to quit.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Earth

[dawg80]

Yeah, I know, PawDawg will insist this is just lefty spin, but here is the news...

An American electronics company, a design and manufacturing plant, was struck by Russian missiles last night. It is located in the far western part of Ukraine, in Mukachevo, near the Polish border. At the time of the attack there were 600 employees working. Fortunately, they reacted to the air raid sirens and evacuated to a bomb shelter in time, but 16 workers were injured, one in serious condition at early reports. This company makes non-military products, just consumer products. Most of the employees are Ukrainians, some other nationalities, and about 30 Americans work there in management positions. I will pass on more details when I get them.

This marks the second attack on an American company, the first was on a Boeing office in Kyiv some months ago.

Now...was this intentional? In other words, did Putin order this attack to "teach Trump/America a lesson"? Some Ukrainian bloggers are saying so this morning, but one would expect that reaction from them. PawDawg will insist that no way did the good dude, Putin, target this plant because it is an American company. But he does lean to whatever the lefty media feeds him. At this point, I do not know if Putin/Russia even know it is an American firm, maybe they just thought it was an electronics plant and assumed it must supply the Ukrainian military. Last night, Putin struck numerous natural gas facilities across Ukraine, including a gas pipeline pumping station right on the Polish border, about a mile inside of Ukraine.

All of that aside, this does demonstrate Putin has no intention of ending the war. Trump can live in his "give me my Nobel Peace Prize" delusional world, but in the real world Putin is playing him for a fool, and the rest of the world just shake their heads in utter disbelief at Trump's tomfoolery.