re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Guerre d'Ukraine - Semaine 18

Gains ukrainiens
En complément de la synthèse d'hier.

Secteurs :
?? Kupiansk : + 6 km²
?? Siversk : + 0.55 km²
?? Bakhmut : + 0.15 km²
?? Avdiivka : + 8 km²
?? Pavlivka : + 51 km²

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Yevgeny Prigozhin reports that the place where Wagner keeps their Ukrainian POWs was hit with HIMARS missiles. War reporters and investigators are en route to document what happened.

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The #Netherlands may transfer F-16 combat aircraft to #Ukraine

According to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the issue of the supply of F-16 fighters is being discussed with the United States, Great Britain and Denmark.

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The #Russian Ambassador to #Poland failed to lay a wreath at the memorial in #Warsaw.

The citizens forced him to leave the place.

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Russian May 9th Parade 2023 vehicle composition thread. Now we finally get to compare this year's parade to the previous years'.

This year I have not seen an official lineup released for the first time.

Last year 131 vehicles took part, down from over 200 the previous years

I am expecting under 100 vehicles, with a distinct lack of MBTs compared to other years. Overall numbers will be pumped up by an increase in Tigr-Ms and similar.

First we have to get wait for the troops to leave Red Square before the vehicles come through.

As per tradition, the parade opens with WW2 era T-34-85s.

This year it is again just a single T-34-85.

This is immediately followed by 7 Tigr-Ms

(Total Vehicle Count: 8)

Getting an accurate count of the next set of vehicles was hard due to camera angles changing, but there are 6 VPK-Urals

(Total Vehicle Count: 14)

These were followed by 10 Remdiesel Z-STS Akhmat MRAPs which are only used by Chechen forces.

(Total Vehicle Count: 24)

Immediately followed by 6 Iskander-M lead by a BTR-82A meaning we skipped the entirety of the IFV and MBT section from last year

(Total Vehicle Count: 31)

Followed by 6 S-400 TELs lead by a BTR-82A skipping the short range air defense and entire VDV section from last year.

(Total Vehicle Count: 38)

The parade then skipped right to the end with the 3 RS-24 Yars lead by a BTR-82A and flanked by 6 Tigr-Ms. This skipped their usual display of their unmanned ground vehicles. (Total Vehicle Count: 48)

Finally the 3 VPK-7829 Bumerang IFVs closed off the parade. (FINAL VEHICLE COUNT: 51)

The flyover is expectedly cancelled. As no rehearsals had taken place, this was a guarantee.

Since the invasion the amount of vehicles in the annual parade has plummeted into a pitiful display:
2021: 197
2022: 131
2023: 51

No reason for Ukraine to do anything at the parade. The Russian military is perfectly capable of embarrassing itself.

I am amazed they couldn't even drag one of the T-14s to the parade.

To even get to 51 vehicles, the Russian military had to "borrow" 10 Remdiesel Ahmat Z-STS from Ramzan Kadyrov.

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Britain, which has prided itself on being ahead of its Western allies in introducing new weapons systems to Ukraine, now appears poised to send Kyiv the long-range missiles the Biden administration has long denied it.

In a procurement notice posted May 2 by the British-led International Fund for Ukraine, a group of northern European countries that has set up a mechanism to send weapons to the battlefield, the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry asked for “expressions of interest” in providing strike capabilities with a range of up to 300 kilometers, or nearly 200 miles. The notice asked for responses within three days.

No final decision has been made, according to a British official who declined to confirm the type, timing or quantity of weaponry under consideration. But the notice is a substantive step toward Britain itself supplying such munitions, and the requested specifications and capabilities closely match its air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

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Storm Shadows can be mounted on Ukraine’s Soviet-made jets and reach into Russian territory. Kyiv has long sought that capability, and tried to ease Western escalation fears with pledges it would refrain from using donated weapons in such attacks.

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Concerns that Ukraine would fire missiles at targets in Russia is a key reason the administration has repeatedly rebuffed Ukrainian pleas to supply long-range U.S. munitions.

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has dismissed talk among Ukraine’s benefactors of their depleted stockpiles. “If there is a moment in this conflict we can make a difference, why not seize it? What are we waiting for?” he asked of European allies at the Munich Security Conference in February. “What is the purpose of these stockpiles? If the weapons are degrading Russian armed forces, that is increasing our security.”

Weeks before those remarks, according to a previously unreported file included among the classified U.S. documents leaked online through the Discord messaging platform, U.S. intelligence confirmed Britain intended to send Ukraine an unspecified number of Storm Shadow missiles, along with British personnel to aid in targeting.
“The United Kingdom will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer range weapons,” Sunak said in his Munich speech.

Being first is something Britain has striven for throughout the war, beginning under former prime minister Boris Johnson. After the United States, Britain has been the second-largest supplier of Ukraine military aid — contributing $2.5 billion worth of munitions last year. Though that’s only a fraction of what Washington has provided, the British have claimed the cutting edge, sending some of the first shoulder-launched anti-air and antitank weapons to combat Russia’s February 2022 invasion, and more recently by training pilots on NATO-standard fighter jets.

In mid-January, Britain broke through allied reluctance to send heavy tanks to Ukraine by unilaterally announcing it would send 14 British-made Challenger tanks. The United States, Germany and others in Europe eventually followed suit in promising to send their own heavy armor.

“It’s a position the United Kingdom can uniquely do [since] Russia doesn’t like us very much anyway,” said the same British official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about internal alliance issues. “We know that if we give something it makes it slightly easier for others.”

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President #Erdogan, 5 days before the elections, announced a 45% increase in the salaries of 700,000 civil servants.

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... in the last 5ys the Lira went down from 0.2 to 0.05 compared to Euros. That is a loss of 75%. The remaining 25% get a raise of 50%. Meaning, we are at about 35% of income, compared to before 5ys.

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The capabilities in this package include:

Additional air defense systems and munitions;
Equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems;
Ammunition for counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems;
155mm artillery rounds;
Commercial satellite imagery services;
Support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities.

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1) Lingering fears of escalation and/or fear of destabilizing Russia in the event of a complete Russian loss, or

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We are paying their military and other bills with these funds.

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Official confirmation from the Pentagon that a Ukrainian Patriot missile shot down a Kinzhal.

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