re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Looks like another night of Missile and drone strikes on Odessa

https://twitter.com/Faytuks/status/1681818403483385858

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More missile launches from Russian strategic bombers towards southern Ukraine. Shahed drones are also airborne heading towards Odesa.

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Reports of more cruise missile launches from Russia's black sea fleet towards southern Ukraine

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Supersonic onyx cruise missiles launched towards Odesa oblast

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What is a Onyx Cruise Missle??

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The P-800 Oniks (Russian: ?-800 ?????; English: Onyx), also known in export markets as Yakhont (Russian: ?????; English: ruby), is a Soviet / Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr. Its GRAU designation is 3M55, the air launched Kh-61 variant also exists. The missile has the NATO codename SS-N-26 "Strobile". Development officially Started in 1983, and in the 1990s the anti-ship missile was tested on the Project 1234.7 ship. in 2002 the missile Passed the whole range of trials and was commissioned.[6] It is reportedly a replacement for the P-270 Moskit, and possibly also of the P-700 Granit.

Description
The missile is carried in flight by aerodynamic lift. A solid-propellant booster is located in the ramjet's combustion chamber and is ejected by the airflow after it has burned out.

Advantages
Over-the-horizon firing range
Full autonomy of combat use ("fire and forget")
A set of flexible ("low-profile sea-skimming", "high-low") trajectories
High supersonic speed in all phases of flight
Full harmonization for a wide range of platforms (surface ships, submarines and land-based launchers)
Possible use of the missile in electronic countermeasures environment and under enemy fire

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Video at link
https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1681811494877515776

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For the third day in a row, Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian city of Odesa.

At least one impact in the area of the port tonight.

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Yea, This is definitely an escalation from Russia.

I can't decide if they are stupid or if they want to provoke an international incident.

Maybe they figure they have nothing to lose given the already-in-place sanctions.

I don't know a lot about international shipping, would it be normal for cargo ships from NATO or European countries to be in those waters?

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Yea, This is definitely an escalation from Russia. I can't decide if they are stupid or if they want to provoke an international incident. Maybe they figure they have nothing to lose given the already-in-place sanctions. I don't know a lot about international shipping, would it be normal for cargo ships from NATO or European countries to be in those waters?

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Ukraine is, or was, one of the global leaders in grain supply. Ships from all over the planet load Ukrainian grain into their holds to go to countries everywhere. As for Europe, they can railhead grain from Ukraine. Many other places cannot.

Having said all this, I don’t see Biden actually trying to challenge the Russian blockade. He’s too weak and feckless. He talks a lot of bluster. If you actually study his foreign policy, it’s a complete wreck and actually was a strong contributor to starting this damned war.

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Your tranny lover is calling you.

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Damn Winston. Time to get a new account. You've fricked this one all up.

I wonder if Russia feels that despite the west showering ukraine in equipment, there is hardly any, if any at all, appetite for actual bodies from those countries getting involved. So this is a test to see how low that appetite is.

Ukraine can't stop them from attacking these ships no matter how much equipment the west is willing to give. If the west doesn't want to get directly involved, Russia can blockade with impunity.

It's not our place to negotiate a peace when Ukraine only wants Russia out first. So early on chance never happened unless we go back to 2014.

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That’s the key question. Logic would dictate Russia would avoid pulling NATO into this war at all costs. They already have their hands full dealing with just Ukraine. If NATO joined the war, short of full mobilization, Russia would have zero hope of winning the war. And even with mobilization, their outlook would not be good. And therein lies the rub. Putin knows the Russian people have little stomach for full mobilization, septic it’s obvious he causes the need for it by attacking a NATO ship.

So my gut says, if we were to escort ships to Ukrainian ports, Russia would blink. But there is no guarantee. If that did happen, it’s WWIII. So, needless to say, the stakes are very high.

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I think that this all depends on whether it is deemed that we chop ties between Russia and countries dependent on the grain. To my knowledge, only Turkey has ships which would be considered NATO in the Black Sea. Now if Turkey allows a few US frigates to enter the Black Sea, game on.

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Consider the possibility that NATO says it will provide escort to grain ships transiting the black sea to Odesa. This would give Turkey some political and military cover, they wouldn't have to participate, and they would only have to allow NATO ships to transit through.

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I think it’s a bit more complicated because while the treaty gives Turkey control over access to the Black Sea, it also imposes fairly strict limitations on passage of military vessels - particularly from non-Black Sea nations. The treaty doesn’t give Turkey free rein to open/close the Black Sea to whomever; it makes them responsible for enforcing the treaty provisions.

The treaty spells out specific tonnage limits for military vessels (from non-Black Sea nations) allowed to be present in the Black Sea at any given time. It also limits visiting military vessels to 21 days in the Black Sea IIRC.

The entire point of the treaty is to keep other nations from sending warships into the Black Sea to wage war with the 6 Black Sea nations (Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria). If Turkey looks the other way and allows a bunch of NATO vessels to enter, I think that would be seen as a pretty significant escalation/violation of the treaty. At that point it would probably be less escalatory for them to escort the civilian vessels with their own ships.

Enough bullshite, we have weapon systems in orbit that can eliminate the entire Russian Black Sea fleet overnight. And there isn’t a GD MF thing they can do about it.

Enough already just take the mfers out