Use this open thread to discuss issues related to the Saker Blog but not being discussed in other live threads. All moderation policies are in effect.
We have a grind in the Ukraine. It looks like slow and methodical progress is being made but I don’t think this is necessarily bad, except for our own peace of mind. Where most of the non-kinetic work is being done is in restoring and normalizing smaller towns and cities that the Russians liberate. What is being reported is that Russian managers are now routinely being brought on site of these towns and cities to establish order and normal civilian function. They restore Russian Television, and Internet, get cleaning up done, start rebuilding, demine, and provide emergency food stocks for normal life to continue. There are rumors all over the netisphere that the status of Donesk and Lugansk will soon more formally change to Russian influence. We cannot speculate and will have to wait to see but what is clear is the de-nazification is in full progress.
Slow and methodical? But is it so? Take a look at today’s Russian Mod report and the sheer size of a complete demilitarization: https://t.me/mod_russia_en/1329
And then take a look at the latest map from Riafan.ru. We may have to say slow and methodical but another descriptor comes to mind: Slow, Methodical and Total.
I am reminded of a descriptor that Andrei Martyanov uses. He explains that the Russian way of warfare is netcentric where every moving part or incoming or outgoing is immediately visible to the complete planning network. As such, it can adapt as it goes. We do not have the luxury of this view.
Azovstal: There are reports (both from a LDNR commander and some panicked Ukie commander) that there has been a breakthrough into Azovstal. The leader of “Azov” said that the troops of Russia and the DPR broke through to “Azovstal” yesterday, there are heavy battles, and the situation is critical:
Here is the panicked Azov Commander: https://t.me/intelslava/27893
Azovstal is still being fiercely missiled and bombed, yet during daytime, humanitarian corridors are open. The siege (where no fly can enter or leave – Putin), has now reached deathly critical mass for whoever or whatever is hiding below. The militants are offering to exchange civilians for food and medicine and nobody will be allowed to leave, except in exchange. “Vyacheslav Volodin: 66.6 kg for a person’s life. As it became known, the militants in Azovstal offered to exchange civilians who were there for food and medicine. The indicated terms of the deal are fifteen hostages per ton of food, as well as medicines.” ” What will those who defended these freaks say now? ”
Finally, it appears that the Russian MoD has decided that any US/NATO aircraft which delivers weapons to the Ukraine will be considered as a “legitimate target” by the Russian military. We need more information here.
Use as open thread.
Compiled and commented by Amarynth
UPDATE: This is yesterday’s Readovka map. If you want to know how the maps advanced, please go and compare with Andrei’s (The Saker) updates from early March. Now please do not make too much of the maps. They are an indicator of what happened in the past, and surely not a crystal ball for the future. It is a visual ‘feel’ of where things stand and not an absolute. The Readovka maps are also designed to look spectacular.
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Any aircraft providing supplies or support to Ukrainian forces should be destroyed without warning. Any aircraft or vessel operating without IFF bacons should be considered hostile and destroyed. NAYOYO thinks this war won’t come to their doorstep; they couldn’t be more wrong.
Time for a laugh!
Ukrop with a grenade!
https://t.me/black_list_VSU/3484
This so beautiful that I can relate to the best moments of my life! Even don’t having the luxury of witness this work in progress, a great militar-humanist simphony, we can conbine all information/maps/images with our imagination. Being well informed about one of the greatest revolutionary acts against Imperialism! This is real History! Real sh*t!
Thanks Putin, Russia, Russian People, Russian General Staff, Russian Army and Intelligence as well Chechnya freedom fighters! Thanks Pepe, Andrei and all contributors for The Sake. Victory for Russia and to all resistence forces against that Evil Western Imperialist Alliance! Power to the People!
One thing about Russia withdrawing from the Kiev area and fighting in Eastern Ukraine it is a long way for all those Nato weapons to get to the front. A Javelin missile costs $175.000 each. A truck of 30 of these is worth $5,250.000. A Russian missile worth $100,000 taking out said truck is a very favorable exchange rate. A lot of expensive Nato reserve supplies at are blown up in the Ukraine now. Besides MofA has pointed out Ukraine does not have that many trucks, and now that rail communications are being cut, the trucks have much further to go.
a javelin missile is approximately $250,000…………four of them a cool million dollars………WONDER HOW THE US DEFENSE STOCKS ARE DOING DURING THE DOW MELTDOWN??? As an aside the battery in them is only good for 1/2 hour after being activated and cannot be recharged……….
Good video from Patrick Lancaster in Mariupol helping refugees and bringing in supplies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYyN5VRAHVg
Look at what the Russian military has to deal with daily, great example of nato training in action.
‘Odessa, AFU command post has been set up in the building of the regional clinical hospital on Akademika Zabolotnyi Street, while armoured vehicles, artillery and MLRS are located in the adjoining territory;’
Good luck Rambo’s! You should all volunteer.
continued….
‘Ukrainian Armed Forces units continue to use medical facilities for military purposes, as well as use civilians as “human shield”:’
‘in Kharkov, artillery and ammunition storage facilities have been located on the territory of city hospital No 8, and the hospital staff and all civilians, including the seriously ill, have been forced to leave the medical facility under threat of reprisals;’
‘in Slavyansk, heavy military equipment has been placed on the territory of the railway hospital on Malogorodetskaya Street and a stronghold with an ammunition depot has been equipped in the building;’
‘in Lisichansk, a stronghold of nationalist battalion fighters has been deployed on the territory of a child health centre.’
We tried to help Gonzalo Lira and it seemed to work. Well we need to help Anatoly Shariy in Spain too. He has now been arrested by Spanish and Ukro cops in Spain and is awaiting extradition .
Those of us who are good at such things need to start making waves as we did for Gonzalo. Anatoly is also a brave and truthful man deserving of our help.
What the U.S proxy/Russian war shows is how successful the U.S has been in taming Western Europe post WW2.
They have made old Europe just a brand for the tourism industry.
Germany doesn’t exist except as a platform, if Germany did exist they wouldn’t cut their own throats for the American 1% “masters of the world!”
The West isn’t ruled by countries, but by a select group of plutocrats, a few thousand people at most, many of whom are European and Japanese. The stewards who run their demesne may be headquartered in D.C., but it isn’t American politicians and upper echelon bureaucrats who call the shots, it’s the plutocratic powers behind the American, German, French, etc., thrones who do. They aren’t Davos, they aren’t Schwab, they are generally invisible, which they ensure by owning mainstream media, universities, publishing houses, and other disseminators of information.
It seems no one can ever actually identify these plutocrats except in generalities, and even then they get it wrong by labeling them ethnically or racially. But the’ve certainly left a trace in the historical record, n’est pas? The Hapsburgs ruled Europe for 1,000 years and most recently in the early 20th century. Did they and their courtiers just disappear with the fall of Austria-Hungry? The Savoys ruled in southern Europe for 500 years; Did they just disappear with the fall of the kingdom of Italy? The Massimos have been around since ancient Rome (or at least the 10th century). Do they simply mark the centuries by watching or do they manage their interests in a more active manner?
I would be interested in your thoughts on this…
It would be good to some info on all of this, Oligarchs, Plutocrats, Zionists, and more, what are the differences, how do they manifest, are some oligarchs plutocrats who remain hidden and etc?
I’ve mentioned this on here before, it’s all too abstract and distant. Probably comments in response in a thread rather than an article.
littlesis.org might be helpful there.
IIRC, back in the OWS days they pushed a global analysis down to 1800 people owning 80-something percent of global assets. Something like that.
Of course, there is massive obfuscation of ownership and influence to deal with, the best money can buy.
Usually, in a given country, it’s no big secret who owns the place, with the obfuscation reserved for their assassins, and sometimes not even them.
A few videos for today.
A T-72B3 tank destroys Kiev-regime firing positions:
https://rutube.ru/video/ad93e2a166cb450ae422ccd7a6ed4e0e/
Russia’s Ka-52 helicopters conduct night strikes:
https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/Ka_52_05:f
This one shows some of the Kiev-regime military equipment that has been destroyed recently:
https://rutube.ru/video/713f96ac111604d220ac5814a8a0fe5f/
Chechen troops engage in a shoot out with Kiev-regime forces in a forest in Kharkov oblast:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/4nIrMhPPqNoJ/
Lots of negative comments. I am disappointed too. Lukashenko seems to have hoped it would have been over by now. This seems to be an indication that something has gone wrong. The Izyum thrust started off so strong and then we saw all the AFU surrenders, was very encouraging, but it seems they have hardly moved now for the last two weeks. Not sure why. The DNR/LPR are dying every day on the frontlines and cities are being shelled. They need some relief.
May 9th is right around the corner. I had hoped that they would have at cleared that damn plant out before the 9th, but I don’t think that is going to happen. I was under the impression that all the remaining AZOV were trapped underground, but that isn’t the case at all. Somehow they come up during the day. Not sure why all the exits/entrances are not monitored.
From a Pro Ukraine Twitter Account; however, it shows a Russian video report on Ukraine fortifications. No wonder they are having a hard time blasting them out. It’s like a bank vault!!!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1522244907540307968
“As the Donbass war has been going since 2014, Ukrainians had time to build very thorough fortifications. Notice how a Russian TV correspondent is describing an abandoned Ukrainian position. Why would he need to show that? Well, to show why Russian advance goes slower than planned”
An excellent article on Tsargrad from the Russian analyst Vlad Shlepchenko. Which answers a lot of questions we are struggling with here on the blog:
https://tsargrad.tv/articles/zagadka-zheleznogo-potoka-udar-po-lvovu-zavershit-specialnuju-operaciju_534490
The Aerospace Forces and Rocket Forces have very limited ability to track targets in Western Ukraine, and the destruction of railway lines will not give the same effect as in the Great Patriotic War. But not everything is so bad: our army also has the opportunity to ‘turn the chessboard around.’ Tsargrad will talk about how we are cutting off the endless flow of weapons from the West.
The West continues to flood Ukraine with arms flows. Following the deliveries of thousands of anti-tank grenade launchers, man-portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank systems (MANPADS and ATGMs), machine guns, and other relatively light weapons, rows of Soviet-era tanks and infantry fighting vehicles flowed into the country from storage warehouses in eastern European countries. Kiev was given Slovak S-300 systems, and, apparently, Polish MiG-29 fighters.
According to the latest statements by the British leadership, London is considering sending Alvis Stormer self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, firing Starstreak missiles; these were created [in the 1970s] to destroy Soviet attack aircraft and helicopters protected by armour. The Pentagon has arranged for the delivery of 155 mm M777 towed howitzers. Also, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian accomplice Justin Trudeau have promised heavy artillery to the Ukrainians.
In addition, according to unconfirmed information, the Americans are trying to persuade South Korea to give Kiev the T-80U and BMP-3, bought from Russia back in the nineties.
Against this background, the question is getting louder: why doesn’t our army bomb all the bridges, roads and railway stations which supply the Ukrainian army? Well: if there is a question, it is necessary to understand the answer.
Anatomy of the logistics
To understand how to interrupt supply flows, you must first understand how they are organized. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has said that the United States and its allies are sending 8-10 aircraft a day to Ukraine, stuffed with weapons: “We are talking about eight to ten flights to the region per day and almost constant ground convoys which move into the country. We would like to keep to that.”
What he meant by the word ‘region’ is not difficult to understand. This is Poland, the main transport hub for the transfer of weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine. It follows from Kirby’s words that the deliveries do not cross the Ukrainian border, but terminate their flights in Polish airspace. The bulk of the weapons then travel across the border by road.
Naturally, the railway is also used: not so long ago, the social networks of Poles and Slovaks were full of videos with images of trains carrying dozens of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles towards Ukraine. But this is not the main supply channel. A bunch of C-130 Hercules, plus trucks, are a more flexible and therefore invulnerable combination used by the Americans.
Even if Russia is able to destroy the railways and sidings east of the Polish border, then the supply of armoured vehicles will not be stopped. Simply because there is such a thing as a semi-trailer that allows you to transport equipment weighing up to 100 tonnes (the weight of Soviet tanks barely exceeds 40 tonnes). In extreme cases, the armoured vehicles can be driven on their own. This, of course, will reduce the requirement for trucks but damage the roads, but in case of urgent need, no one will be deterred by such costs.
In other words, the tactics chosen by the Americans mean that the only way to cut off the Ukraine without these weapons is to stop the road traffic going through the Polish border.
Bombing is easy to order
Now let’s look at the means of destruction at the disposal of our military, and the conditions in which they are supposed to be used. The means are available in two classes: long-range missiles and combat aircraft. The problem with the former is that the Kalibr is designed to destroy previously reconnoitered stationary objects; they can easily destroy a railway station, but hunting for a moving train, and even more so for a truck loaded with weapons, is impossible with their help. Iskanders are a more flexible tool, but they cannot be used to destroy individual vehicles either. Moreover, these missiles are required for eliminating headquarters, air defense systems and other high-priority targets.
As for aviation, the problem is that the Ukrainian air defense system is still alive, at least in part. This is evidenced by regular statements by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Igor Konashenkov, that fresh air defense systems have been destroyed in Ukraine. In addition, the problem of identifying targets and aiming our aircraft at them remains. We don’t have ground spotters there; therefore, to hunt for enemy trucks, you will have to organize air patrols. It is not difficult to guess how many hours of flights over the territory with a undestroyed enemy air defense will end: the loss of expensive aircraft and the painful death of pilots.
In addition to this, the enemy is not stupid: no one will dispatch MANPADS and ATGMs in olive-colored tarpaulin trucks with inscriptions: ‘We are bringing weapons, shoot here.’ Most of the systems which the Ukraine receives can be transported in minibuses and even in regular cars. Moreover, knowing the custom of the Ukrainian leadership, there is no doubt that as soon as strikes on the roads begin, the resupply of weapons will be carried in buses transporting children.
As for oversized cargo like tanks or self-propelled guns on semi-trailers, they can be transported at night, running at maximum speed from shelter to shelter, using ‘frog jump’ tactics, which have already been worked out by Ukrainian tankers in the frontline zone. American AWACS aircraft will warn the Ukrainians about the approach of Russian bombers. They will also give target designations to the Ukrainian S-300 and Buk missile batteries, operating in a passive mode.
It is worth noting that people who criticize our army for the fact that the Russian air force does not bomb railways in the areas around Lvov in the style of World War II lose sight of the fact that the number of combat aircraft in the Aerospace Forces (VKS) is limited; the intensity of their use is too. According to unofficial estimates, our air group makes 250-300 sorties a day. At the same time, until recently, the air force ensured the rout of troops from potential pockets, and now it is helping Russian troops break through the enemy’s defenses in the battle for Donbass that has begun. That is, the military command is always forced to prioritize and choose the targets defeat of which is the most important within the framework of the existing plan.
Hypothetically, the problem of airspace control over western Ukraine could be solved by medium-altitude attack drones. They are able to loiter over the patrol area for days;their loss does not lead to the death of pilots; moreover, exchanging them for air defense systems is cost effective. However, the Russian defense industry has not been able to bring the Sokol Altius strike UAV to perfection; the Kronshtadt Orion available to the troops were originally designed as reconnaissance vehicles and only then were converted into strike vehicles, which is why they have very limited capabilities for destroying targets. In addition, according to open sources, their number is small. Accordingly, this possibility cannot be realized within the framework of the current conflict.
The conclusion on the means available for counter-attack against the NATO arms flow is this: Russia does not have the technical ability to reliably block traffic through the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Opinion of decorated pilot
Commenting on the current situation for Tsargrad, decorated Russian military pilot, Major- General Vladimir Alexandrovich Popov noted that western Ukraine has a very extensive road network, which is difficult to take under control from the air.
The pilot also explained that the airforce needs preliminary reconnaissance, so therefore, as a general operating rule, its targets must be fixed: fuel and lubricant depots, artillery weapons, military equipment or accumulations of enemy units and subunits, production facilities. According to Popov, “the international organizations are displaying deceit in that they allow the transport of weapons under the guise of humanitarian cargo. It is extremely difficult to single out the trucks in which weapons are being transported. This can only be done with careful aerial reconnaissance, or rather undercover reconnaissance,” – said the expert in a conversation with Tsargrad. His assessment is that the surviving air defence systems in the Ukraine remain dangerous for our aircraft. “In the Ukraine, there have always been a lot of air defense forces and means, they are quite well trained, mobile and can suddenly counteract,” the major-general explained. In general, according to him, the fight has to be very selective.
Outlook: war of attrition
Modern Ukraine is a fully-fledged terrorist state based now on total propaganda and equally total terror against all those who disagree. For this reason, the regime of Vladimir Zelensky has almost unlimited possibilities to mobilize the population and send it to the slaughter. Behind this zombie state is the combined industrial power of the West, so that the Ukraine is not at risk of either industrial collapse or starvation.
There is growing understanding in Russian society that waging war in the current format will have a ‘meat grinder effect’. “The limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s did everything to block the external border of that country, to stop the supply of weapons to our opponents, the mujahideen, from Pakistan. This was the only way to end the war. Everything newly learned lesson is an old lesson forgotten. As long as the transport capabilities of arms supplies to Ukraine are not reduced, the intensity of resistance will remain the same. I’m talking about the destruction of railway stations and roads, bridges, airfield runways, tunnels and part of the tracks in the Carpathians, river–sea berths, etc…. By maintaining such a situation, we create the effect of a meat grinder, into which resources are driven, and out of which we get the ‘minced meat’, of corpses, smashed equipment and destroyed houses”, wrote the well-known military correspondent Alexander Sladkov , in his Telegram channel.
This is a comprehensive and accurate description of what is happening on the battlefield right now. However, it should be understood that the reinforcements that are flowing into the Donbass largely consists now of the Ukrainian troops. During this battle, the most combat-ready units should be knocked out, therefore, the stamina of the Ukrainian troops will fall. It is already being noted that the mobilized reservists surrender much faster and more willingly than the professional military, with whom our army has dealt previously.
However, the decrease in the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may not occur. This option can be achieved if the Ukrainian General Staff manages to pull the most combat-ready brigades out of the Donbass cauldron, and leave expendable ‘human cannonfodder’ to die in it. In fact then, the consequences of the battle for the Donbass will determine whether Russia will be able to continue the war in the current format or whether something will have to be radically changed.
We need a second front
In the current operational-strategic configuration, it is almost impossible to solve the problem of Western supplies of weapons available to Russia. However, this does not mean that the problem has no solution at all. Moreover, that solution is perfectly obvious— just look at the map.
Russian troops can deploy along the Brest-Kobrin line, on the territory of allied Belarus. They will have a powerful logistics hub behind them, where the E30 and M10 highways converge. The first through Baranovichi, Minsk and Smolensk goes to the transport heart of Russia – Moscow. The second runs parallel to the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and again goes through Gomel and Bryansk to the Moscow transport hub. Thanks to this configuration of roads, it is possible to arrange the supply of a huge strike force and troop rotation if necessary.
There is a whole network of highways for an offensive in a southerly direction. At the same time, the European route E373, which connects Ukraine with Poland and is therefore one of the key supply routes for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, runs less than 75 km from the Belarusian border. Taking Kovel, our troops will cut off one of the main supply lines of Ukraine, and the attack on Lvov (about 300 km from the Belarusian border, if you go along the roads through Kovel and Lutsk) cuts off all transport flows coming from Poland. The capture or blockade of Ternopil also closes supplies from Slovakia.
A strike on Western Ukraine does not solve just the problem of supplies from Romania. However, due to the fact that Hungary does not allow military cargo through its territory, the resupply of the southern end of the new defence lines is a completely different logistics problem for the United States and its allies — cargo delivered to Poland will have to be transported around half of Central Europe. Accordingly, other amounts of assistance will be required.
In general, the implementation of this scenario requires two components: a political decision by the leadership of Russia and Belarus; and a strike force of about 100,000 people, which will be able to break the resistance of about 50,000 well-trained and equipped forward line of the Ukrainian army, which is under the Zakhid or western operational command. The success of this operation will make it possible to tightly seal the Polish border with infantry and tanks and block the traffic on the cross-border roads.
So what?
At present, Russia does not have the military-technical means that allow air strikes to cut the transport arteries connecting Ukraine with the West, or at least significantly complicate the supply route. After the completion of the operation in Donbass, the air forces and missilemen can pay more attention to the railway network, bridges, road junctions and other infrastructure facilities, which, together with the fuel shortages, will complicate, though they won’t stop, the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army and the foreign and territorial battalions.
The battlefield can be radically changed, nonetheless. For this to happen, the Ukrainian supply lines will be brought within the reach of Russian artillery and MLRS [multiple launch rocket system] systems; in addition, they can be completely blocked by our troops. The transfer of hostilities to the Zapadenschina [Russian expression for the Galician region of western Ukraine], the birthplace of Ukrainian separatism, Bandera and Russophobia, will have a great moral and psychological, one might even say educational effect.
The natives of the Lvov, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions quietly hide behind the women and children [of eastern Ukraine], whom they call Donbassians and “Koloradi” [derogatory Ukrainian term for the Novorussians likening them to the potato beetle whose stripes resemble colours of the St George ribbons]. They are quite satisfied with the razing of Mariupol to the ground, and the steady destruction of Kharkov. They will not grieve much for other Russian cities – Odessa, Dniepropetrovsk, Kiev.
However, if the hostilities are transferred to Galicia, the uncompromising fighters for independence may sharply change their minds, deciding it would be better for Lvov to repeat the fate of Paris in 1940 than to become the Stalingrad of 1943.”
FWIW I asked Martyanov about the article but he would only say that in the absence of calculations that quantifiably prove the author’s arguments, he is unconvinced. He also wanted to know the author‘s credentials.
Wow, that’s a doom and gloom article to which my question would be, how is fuel being supplied and how are Ukraine able to keep adding and training new reservists to take on the battle to the RAF?
Telegram is full of Ukrainian service mem who have surrendered and left behind western weapons where many claim only one in four actually work.
Against this backdrop, I have my doubts about the veracity of the article.
Seems quite a pragmatic description. I would concentrate even more to the ‘meat grinder’ strategy. It is a perfect opportunity to wear off the opponent, and deplete the westerns from as much of their resources as possible.
So, I would opt for very strong defences, destroying as much equipment as possible, and let them waste their strength and precious resources crushing on impregnable defence. I would even pretend to be a bit weak, to encourage them to believe they’re near a breakthrough, so they get reckless and waste even more of their resources, while I would carefully preserve mine.
It is important to deprive the enemy from as much power as you can. Before the main phase of the conflict.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,”
– Russia’s president has apologized to the Israeli PM over controversial remarks made by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov –
https://www.rt.com/news/555039-putin-lavrov-israel-apology/
read a little further…
”
While the readout of the talks released by the Kremlin press service did not mention the apology, it said the two leaders discussed the importance of the upcoming Victory Day celebrations
“
simplistic and non-logical. the president of israel does not rule over us. nor do “the jews” as a people. nor is it likely many individual jews are in that club. the greeks, the romans and the germans all subjugated them and now they are magically the rulers of mankind?
Hmmm, take some time to find out the percentage of ashkeNAZI jews that are oligarchs, billionaires in control of critical industries, media, academia, and politics.
You will be surprised.
Garcii is correct, the argument is simplistic and nonlogical. The polutocrats of the West have been in power for centuries, if not a millennium, and have no relation tothe descendants of a group of jews that were driven from the Rhineland after the Crusades. They are not welcome “in the club” and thus have set up their own, which is very much a junior enterprise. Somewhere in this thread is a more intelligent recitation of who those plutocrats are.
” simplistic and non-logical. ”
Really ? Go to the US and say something slanderous against Jesus. Now say the same thing about the Khazars. Let us know the reaction you get from each .
Regarding ‘BABUSHKA’ …. a lot of negative and misleading ’emotional’ responses from earlier, even going as far as to discredit and bashing the Saker.
People really need to stop reacting to every single telegram, or twitter feed like its f*n confirmed news. Really annoying. So looks like it was a false alarm, or not. Who’s going to know for sure, key is not to react like a juvenile and post the shit. That goes for ever single feed, unless you can verify and triple check the sources are
100% or near accurate.
Since your all so damn good at reporting false news, go find the update your selves.
————–
Nevermind guys, false alarm! 👆
@vityzeva writes: The granny that the Ukrainians are now showing is not our granny. And the grandad is different too. Our granny is very old and small. And her husband is in his right mind and does not at all look like the one who got on the Ukrainian video.
So we have yet to find our granny.
See for yourself and compare – I put two videos into one so as not to force you to search 😊.
——–
For those who thought this would all be over in a few weeks, a word of caution: Hope based on wishful thinking and undue optimism can be disastrous (see the Stockdale Paradox).
https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/Stockdale-Concept.html
It is worth bearing in mind that Russia is fighting all of NATO on multiple fronts, and that NATO has been preparing for this for 8 years. Russia is fighting pretty much alone, because the few countries who would dare disobey Empire to help Russia are doing so surreptitiously and with restrain.
In a sense the West has laid a big bear trap for Russia in Ukraine which Russia could neither ignore nor avoid.
Given these facts, Russia is doing remarkably well. Let’s not lose heart where “heart” is bravado based on war porn. This will be long and hard, but Russia has already fared very well in the early months economically, militarily, and with much more support geopolitically than Empire likes.
Remember “biolabs”. Remember the pattern of exploitation of weaker countries by America and Europe for the past 500 years – genocides, enslavement, famine’s and destitution.
If the West is exceptional in any way, it is in its violence, sense of entitlement, and cruelty. They are still Viking hoards in their longboats at heart.
This is what Russia is fighting with her back to the wall. I am convinced she will prevail yet again, but it will be long and bloody.
Thank you for the comment about “Hope based on wishful thinking and undue optimism can be disastrous (see the Stockdale Paradox).” I had not heard of that before, thanks for the education! I appreciate your other comments too.
Does anyone have any good info on Russia’s weapon production capabilities? In particular, I have been hearing for weeks that they are about to run out of missiles any day now, but they obviously haven’t. I know they are the number two arms dealer on earth, so clearly they can produce a lot. I’m guessing they can produce truck loads a day of bullets, dumb bombs, and artillery shells. But what about the more complicated stuff like cruise missiles, drones, tanks, helicopters, etc.? I believe I read on this site the company that makes the caliber missile engines is hiring 500 more people. Still, guided missiles seem complicated to make. They must be using them up faster than they are making them. The US is the number one weapons exporter, and the US reportedly ran out of bombs in Syria at least temporarily.
Try this site…..https://www.rt.com/russia/554134-borisov-interview-defense-industry/
Thanks, for the link. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, Borisov doesn’t give anything close to hard numbers. Still, it was interesting to read his take on how Russia has been bringing manufacturing back. Seems like bringing manufacturing back home is turning into a global phenomenon that Russia might have been ahead of the game on.
So they banned Russian orthodox church leaders in the EU? if that is correct.
Is this not what Nazi Germany did during WWII – all religion organizations that were against the Nazi’s were banned.
Maybe we never eradicated anything after 1945, the same evil, hatred took over most of the western world continued under a new name called ‘democracy’ only hidden in a closet to be unveiled in 2022.
Interesting article – presents the argument that the Peacekeepers in a Phase 3 operation will be driven to secure Kiev’s western border to eliminate Washington’s military supplies from entering Ukraine.
banned site removed … mod
Not quite sure if I agree, but it’s a interesting line of thought
Time to revisit that last scene in the Film ‘Underground’
Once there was a country….Here we have built new houses with red roofs and chimneys that will inhabit here with elaborate gates open to dear guests, we will be grateful to our new country that feeds us and the sun that warms us, flower fields that will remind us of the goals of our homeland with pain, sadness and joy , we will remember our country when we tell our children stories that begin as a fairy tale, there was once a country
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSCfej_YdcQ
Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate of the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet is reportedly on fire near Zmiiny island in Black Sea. Rescue operation ongoing, multiple aircraft, rescue vessels in the area.
The Ukrainian counter offensive begins.
On the Kharkiv front, Ukrainian forces head east with 80 American howitzers to kettle the 31,000 already once defeated troops of the Eastern and Central Military Districts in Izyum. Minor Russian advances of 1 or 2 km a day, with great loss, facing the Donbas army become irrelevant.
The devil has given Von Manstein a day off in hell to watch the Russians make the Izyum error a third time. Why don’t Russian generals study their own military history.
Netherlands Ambassador to UK tweeted ” India shouldnt have abstained UN resolutions against Russia” that India ” Should respect the UN charter”.
Indias Ambassador to UN replied ” Kindly don’t patronise us, Ambassador. We know what to do,”
Netherlands = population 17 million.
India = 1.35 billion
New Delhi ( including National capital Region) population = ~30 million
GDP Netherlands = Budget of New Delhi Municipal corporation ( not including the 5 cities bordering New Delhi)
These guys dont know their place.
Western free speech in action. ( I am posting the whole article so that those who can’t get RT can read it)
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Top Western media outlet deletes video critical of Ukraine
Germany’s Der Spiegel removes clip in which Azovstal evacuee criticized Ukraine
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Citing “discrepancies in content,” the German magazine Der Spiegel has removed a video showing the testimony of an evacuee from Mariupol’s ‘Azovstal’ factory, a stronghold of the neo-Nazi Azov militants and other Ukrainian fighters.
The woman in the video had revealed that her family were basically being lied to, held hostage, and used as human shields by the Ukrainian militants.
Another German outlet, Junge Welt, noticed the deletion on Thursday evening. According to JW, Der Spiegel published the three-minute video on Monday. It featured Natalia Usmanova, who had worked at Azovstal before the conflict and sheltered there with her husband and children.
In the recording, Usmanova tells reporters that Azov militants “kept us in the bunker” for two months and did not allow her family to leave using the humanitarian corridors established by Russian troops.
“They hid behind the fact that they are supposedly concerned about our safety,” Usmanova said, according to a German translation, adding that her family was repeatedly yelled at to “Go back to the bunker!”
“Ukraine has died for me as a state,” Usmanova said at the end of her testimony.
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Der Spiegel said it had obtained the video from Reuters, and that it was temporarily taken down “because of discrepancies in content that were subsequently discovered.” Asked to specify the alleged discrepancies by RIA Novosti, Der Spiegel said they were “still in the process of clarifying this issue.”
The video published by Reuters is only a minute long, however, and has Usmanova talking about the intensity of artillery fire and the difficult life inside the bunker. Both videos come from the same interview with multiple press outlets – including RIA Novosti, which has confirmed the authenticity of Usmanova’s remarks from the now-deleted Spiegel clip.
Instead of the video, the German magazine now features a photo of Usmanova in a bus with other civilians, taken by a RIA Novosti photographer on May 1.
Usmanova’s testimony directly contradicts claims by Azov militants and the government in Kiev that Russia is preventing the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal complex. Moscow has repeatedly opened humanitarian corridors from the area. The UN announced that another 500 civilians have been evacuated from the plant in the night between Thursday and Friday.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
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https://www.rt.com/russia/555093-spiegel-video-azovstal-mariupol/
I am surprised how some young Russians who have Youtube channels do not believe in defending their country.
One I liked to watch has moved to a different country. Azerbaijan! Like it’s really going to be better there! All the comments are for the move and how evil Russia is. How do they come up with their world view of things? Young people here in the states are the same way. The West has captured the minds of men.