Dear friends,
First, a small announcement: I am working with a few friends to try to get a daily “Operation Z SITREP” posted in our SITREP section. This would contain the latest news and the maps that so many like so much. This is still a work in the planning stages, but I hope to get the ball rolling reasonably soon.
Next, according to Chechen sources, Chechen special operations have entered the Azovstal factory in Mariupol. This is too important a claim to be accepted yet, but there are many indirect reports which seem to confirm the veracity of this claim. If so, then that means that most of the residential areas of Mariupol have now been liberated from the Nazi terrorists of the Azov battalion. If the combat operation inside or near the Azovstal buildings is still going on, well that means that very soon Mariupol will be denazified which, considering that the Nazi forces inside the city were just about the most evil and yet quite combat capable units available to the Ukronazi regime, the final liberation of Mariupol will mean a huge difference for the entire operation.
Check this video by Gonzalo Lira to get a full picture of why Mariupol is so crucial.
Speaking of Gonzalo Lira, I am extremely worried about him, he has said that he would post a YT report every 12 hours, and by now it has been sixteen (16!). And, considering this, I am frankly anxiously waiting for him to give a sign of life. Gonzalo, if you read these words (who knows?) I recommend that you try to get out towards the Russian lines if at all possible. If somebody has his email, please send it to me, I would like to contact him.
If you have any news from/about him, please let me know.
Now turning to Zone A:
This is the kind of stuff one can see in the London subway, I was told.
True or false? Who knows, but the point is that it pretty much encompasses the traditional British view of the Russian people. Again, these types of “coming outs” are fantastically important for the future of Russia, so I encourage them.
Which brings me to the official narrative.
I think that it is finally cracking. Here and there in the official corporate media, there are articles about some Ukrainian fakes, other articles question the wisdom to go to war with Russia over what is a dead, corrupt, Nazi country 404.
The reports about the Russians losing a million tanks, soldiers, missiles and men are gradually being replaced with more sober assessments and the maps produced by Western outlets are gradually starting to look more or less similar to the maps produced by the various “Putin propaganda outlets”.
I see two things coming next:
- The much announced “Russian atrocity” false flag (several have failed over the past few days, including one chemical one which was thwarted when the wind blew in the “wrong” direction – that is away from the targeted town.
- Poland will try to convince the USA to allow it to hide behind Uncle Shmuel’s back and conduct a “peacekeeping operation” to create a mini-Banderastan in western Ukraine.
Now there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the USA wants three things:
- A war lasting as long as possible
- As many civilian victims as possible
- To flood the Ukraine with weapons to then direct a “stay-behind” insurgency
I am not at all convinced that the USA will go along with the Polish plan. Why? Because I believe that a Russian Iskander strike INSIDE POLAND (similar to the ones we saw in Iavorov, the ammo dump in Kiev and in Novaia Liubomirka) is a quasi-certitude (remember: Russia IS ready to fight both NATO and the US together!). BTW – the one in Iavorov blew up a huge ammo dump which was buried under 60 meters of rock. I have no explanation for how that was achieved. Does anybody?
Bottom line is that if the Polacks organize another little “peacekeeping training camp” and think that the Russians won’t dare to strike a NATO country they are quite wrong. They are probably too dumb/delusional to realize that, but the folks at the US DoD probably do and don’t need this. Why, well precisely because NATO member or not, Article 5 or not, nobody will come to aid the Polacks against the wrath of the entire Russian military, the manpower and resources needed is not there anyway…
Unless the Russians and the US Americans agree to a partition of the Ukraine. Not likely, but always possible. It is going to almost certainly happen anyway, the only way to prevent that is Russian tanks at the Polish border, and not just for a quick visit, but to create something like the 201st base in Tajikistan.
Anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, this is all still in the future.
Want a good laugh?
Here is how low CNN has sunk, check out this truly priceless headline: twice poisoned and still very much alive, amazing! Russian “biowarfare killers” really need more training if they can’t even kill a guy but kill his pets (Skripal), they can’t poison a Russian citizen inside Russia (Navalnyi) and fail to kill that guy (his name is Vladimir Kara-Murza, he is a common criminal) TWICE!
KGB killers are not what they used to be…
What about the events on the front line?
I won’t into details here but I will offer a few bullet points
- Very heavy combats near Avdeevka and Mariupol.
- Combat pretty much everywhere the line of contact, which result in slow positional warfare with artillery exchanges and very careful mopping up building by building and even room by room.
- On average Russian forces advance between 5 and 20 kilometers per day, which is rather fast against a defense in depth prepared for years.
- The key cities of Kiev and Odessa are almost completely blocked, but not fully surrounded yet.
- The Black Sea fleet basically controls the entire Ukie coast and all of the Black Sea itself.
- The Black Sea fleet also prevents any resupply of Odessa from Romania.
- Russia has full air superiority over the entire Ukie airspace
- The Ukies are STILL firing both Tochka-U and Grad/Smerch missiles in the general direction of liberated cities just to create as many casualties as possible, but the Russians have become very skilled at not only shooting down these missiles (the destruction ratio has gone up very sharply) but also destroying the key Ukrainian ammo dumps where they hide those missiles (this is what happened with the big building in downtown Kiev which the Russians totally vaporized with one perfectly aimed Iskander missile. If you have not seen this amazing video, you can quickly re-watch it here:
And here is a video of what the Ukies were hiding under this commercial building (photo from a local resident since disappeared by the Ukie SBU:
And, finally, I want to share something very important with you: the Ukronazi forces cannot resupply or rotate themselves. Why?
- Because moving around when the air is full of Mi-24/35s, Mi-28Ns, and Ka-52s in “free hunting” mode requires a type of courage very few people have.
- Because most roads are carefully monitored by multi-sensor Russian reconnaissance/intelligence capabilities
- Because more big roads (you cannot use small dirt roads to resupply or rotate effectively) are either already physically controlled by the Russians or are “shot through”, which in Russian indicate that while Russian soldiers have reached each other and hugged they can shoot at any location from these roads from any side.
So it does not matter how motivated the Ukrainians are. Even if we assume 100% of the Ukrainians are well trained, well-armed and would rather die than retreat or surrender, they still need many TONS of stuff (food, ammo, water, MREs, medicine, batteries, petroleum, diesel, lubricants, oil and many more things!) EVERY DAY. Just to give you an idea, read this pretty decent discussion of some aspects of logistics by the US military.
So once the Ukies are blocked by Russians, it is essentially over for them. Anybody with a basic understanding of modern warfare can confirm that to you.
Add to this in the very first day Russia destroyed all the Ukie communication centers and capabilities in the first few hours of the operation, and you will see that while the Ukrainian side has “brigades” and “battalions” these are all undermanned and, crucially, cannot cooperate with each other. In other words, they cannot jointly maneuver to support each other.
To put it in the simplest terms, the Ukrainians are not able to conduct any operations, and that is why all their so-called “counter-attacks” always fail and mostly never even materialized. At best, they can destroy a Russian checkpoint, blow up a truck or even shoot down a helicopter, but none of that solves their real problem which is that they are now mostly reduced to WWI type of warfare against a 21st-century ultra-modern military which has the total control of the situation.
That’s it for today. I really have to stop because I have a roaring repetitive stress injury (RSI) in my right hand because I spend waaaaaaaaaay too much time on my keyboard. I already use a brace to protect my thumb, but even that does not help. So I will sign off for the day and be back tomorrow, God willing.
Kind regards
Andrei
PS: found a very decent map of the situation on Telegram (the place to go for good info!). Does anybody know where this map is originally from?
After the Godfather’s attempt to strongarm China into opposing Russia, Global Times has on their front page the following article.
“Ukraine crisis instigator: US-led NATO reneges on ‘Not one inch eastward’ promise to compress Russia’s space to the extreme” by Zhang Hao
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1256665.shtml
It begins with an “Editor’s Note”
“Since the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, the international community has become increasingly aware of the roles the US and NATO have played behind the crisis.
From leading NATO’s eastward expansion to hem in Russia’s territorial space, to launching color revolutions; from imposing sanctions on “disobedient countries,” to coercing other nations to pick sides… the US has acted like a “Cold War schemer,” or an “vampire” who creates “enemies” and make fortunes from pyres of war.
The Global Times is publishing a series of stories and cartoons to unveil how the US, in its superpower status, has been creating trouble in the world one crisis after another. ”
The Global Times has also been running several articles on the NSA cyberwar capabilities, exposing the tools they use.
I think China’s answer to Blinkie and Sleepy is rather clear.
What is the sound of a billion people laughing?
This US ally thingy is worried sick that Russia won’t return their calls on nuclear attacks, while bickers among themselves on why some of them have to come up with loads of рубль.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/23/russia-us-military-leaders-communication/
Top Russian military leaders repeatedly decline calls from U.S., prompting fears of ‘sleepwalking into war’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/23/nato-us-biden-split-russia-ukraine-deterrence/
As allies meet, splits emerge in NATO about how to deter Russia
What are the chances that if a full war breaks out….or is threatened (due to a downed polish fighter, or missile attack on ammo depot in polish territory etc), that China makes a move on Taiwan? Or even raises the warning that it may send ground troops/airplanes to help in Ukraine/protect Russia?
It’s starting to feel that escalation may be drawing a stark line between China and any offramp from decoupling with west. Clearly USA is gonna push this and at some point China is going to have to push back hard.
@ KitaySupporter
What they are “worried sick,” to use your expression, is about how to take back the strategic initiative from Russia. They have been wrecking their pea-brains trying to find a way to “support Ukraine,” meaning, stopping the overwhelming advance of the Russian army, with “peacekeepers,” mercenaries, no-fly zones, dropping their garbage surplus on the Ukrainian “army,” etc., etc., etc…Russia has been warning them in convincing manners, by means of words and Kinzhals, not to intervene, However, the 3B lapdogs + P&R, are barking loud for an intervention in whatever form. They have their own vested interests, Ukraine owns territory they consider historically theirs.
Russia is not answering the phone because, for now, there is not much to talk about. Plus, they are busy. The conversation took another path, one that Russia didn’t want to, but was prepared to take once the corrupt West decided to kick the can down the road with a response to Russia’s draft proposals, Russia knew they were only helping Ukraine to get ready for the invasion of Donbass. Russia’s special operation was a preemptive move, their intel beat 404 invasion of Donbass for days.
Lone Wolf
Russian Alligator-class landing ship reportedly damaged by a Tochka-U missile at the port of Berdyansk
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1506892100679393280
Southfront has coverage of what happened now.
https://southfront.org/breaking-russian-large-landing-ship-exploded-in-ukrainian-port-of-berdyansk-videos/
Clear View of this from YouTube, 2nd ship also on fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7C3FZCkKy8
Gonzalo Lira is still publishing news in his Telegram channel at the time of writing. Not in video form but brief, written news items and graphic stills. Latest one at time of writing was at 12.28pm GMT. So, I think he is OK.
I agree that it is time get out Dodge and try to head for the Russian lines before he gets arrested. I hope he is cloaking his IP address which could reveal his location. What is the best means for doing this, I am not an expert? A VPN or some such thing?
Gonzalo is on Telegram and he just signed off and went to bed.
Lone Wolf/Nightvision any comment/observation on the disaster at the port of Berdyansk? There is some talk that a Tochka-U missile wouldn’t have the range to hit the port based on where the remaining one are positioned and maybe this was a sabotage operation. Regardless, Russia was caught with her pants around her ankles. I would think this would be being talked about.
Thanks
Frank
@ Frank
See my post on the Open Thread.
According to Colonel Cassad’s report, based on official information from the “military-civil administration of the liberated territories of the Zaporozhye region,” a Tochka-U was shot down, and the fragments ignited a fire on a fuel and ammunition depot.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/35833
/open-thread-for-today/#comment-1051700
Lone Wolf
I s whoop de Scooby Doo though. Russia can beat up Ukraine. Why are you acting like that is impressive? You are responding to propoganduzed, not reality. The reality is the Russian military just blew up Ukraine. Good for them. What heroes.
It wouldn’t surprise me if western special forces units are already in the Ukraine Conducting recon and probing Russian positions and or just gathering info. If caught, they will obviously run a cover story.
edited image from UKR :
https://greatgameindia.com/ukraine-shopping-mall-rocket-launchers/
The rocket launchers leave to both sides, I guess in between they were refilled and they turned on that sand patch more than once. Perfect place to hit and efficient, one rocket only, seven in one go.
And you know what ? Why is the Truck driving full speed on an empty road on the wrong side, almost crashing into a big truck ? That happens to people, who are used to drive on the left side and just arrived in a country with other habits.
You know a country with left-hand driving ? Exactly, UK !
I read that the Kinzhal took out the Lavorovo 60′ underground chamber.
“BTW – the one in Iavorovo blew up a huge ammo dump which was buried under 60 meters of rock. I have no explanation for how that was achieved. Does anybody?”
The missile strike was cover for the real method.
Beyond that, I won’t say, because I believe Russia is on the correct and morally sound side in Ukraine.