re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

LINK

If nothing else, watch the last 3 minutes. Russian talking head is reduced to bragging that they don't have to pay for Netflix anymore.

Russian night attack with Oniks, Kalibr and Iskander missiles: air defence systems destroy 18 targets out of 38

Iryna Balachuk — Thursday, 20 July 2023, 08:54

Ukraine's air defence forces destroyed 18 air targets out of the 38 that the Russian invaders launched over Ukraine on the night of 19-20 July.

Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Quote: "The occupiers attacked the southern oblasts of Ukraine again on the night of 19-20 July! In this attack, Russian missiles hit Odesa and Mykolaiv. In total, the enemy fired 38 projectiles: 19 cruise missiles and 19 kamikaze drones."

Details: In particular, they launched:

7 Oniks cruise missiles from the Bastion coastal missile system (Crimea);
4 Kh-22 air-based cruise missiles, launched from eight Tu-22M3 aircraft (Black Sea area);
3 Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles, presumably from a submarine (Black Sea area);
5 Iskander-K land-based cruise missiles (Crimea);
19 Shahed-136/131 attack drones from two directions - from the south (Cape Chauda, Crimea) and from the north-east (Kursk, Russia).

Ports, wharves, residential buildings and commercial facilities in Ukraine's south were hit by Russian missiles.

The Air Force managed to destroy 18 air targets:

2 Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles;
3 Iskander-K land-launched cruise missiles;
13 Shahed-136/131 attack drones.

Ukrainska Pravda

The Swedish names sound way cooler, though for comms reasons, aren't the most efficient

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The Kremlin has stated today that the recent decision by the Polish Military to Buildup its Forces near the Border with Belarus due to the Deployment of Wagner PMC Trainers onto Belarusian Territory is a “Major Cause for Concern” that they are Closely Observing.

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At the Brestsky training ground, joint training sessions were held between the fighters of the Wagner PMC and the military personnel of the SOF of the Republic of Belarus.

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?? Training of Ukrainian troops can gradually be transferred from Europe to Ukraine.

This is reported by Sueddeutsche Zeitung with reference to the statement of the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell.

According to the publication, this will probably happen only after the end of the war.

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In the battles near #Krasnohorivka, a #Russian military man, Z-volunteer and author of the channel "Misha in Donbass", Mikhail Luchin, was eliminated. He became famous after being hacked by #Ukrainian hackers, who used the money he raised for drones for the Russian army to order dildos for him.

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Ukrainian Air Force Speaker Yurii Ihnat explained why the air defense failed to destroy any of the 7 "Onyx" missiles.

According to him, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have not yet been able to shoot them down. "Onyx" missile flies at a speed of more than 3000 km per hour. When entering the target missile can fly at an altitude of 10-15 m above water. It is difficult to fight with such missiles.

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As a result of the russian night attack on Odesa, the building of the Consulate General of China was damaged.

Oleh Kiper, the head of Odesa RMA, announced this.

"The aggressor is deliberately hitting the port infrastructure - the surrounding administrative and residential buildings were damaged," Kiper writes.

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The #UnitedStates may impose sanctions against #Kyrgyzstan in order to stop the supply of sub-sanctioned goods to #Russia. The restrictions could be adopted as early as this week.

Kyrgyzstan's special services have promised to conduct a check:

"The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan admits the possible involvement of private companies and firms, which as part of their business and production activities may have been involved in violations of the sanctions restrictions, possibly without knowing who may actually be the end consumer," an official statement said.

Since the beginning of the war, Kyrgyzstan, despite its ostensible neutrality, has been providing serious support to Russia, including in circumventing sanctions. Dual-use goods and other sanctioned goods are smuggled into Russia through this country, which are then used for the needs of the Russian military industry.

Kyrgyzstan also prosecutes and extradites anti-war activists who left Russia, and President Sadyr #Zhaparov visited #Putin for a parade.

According to public documents, exports from Kyrgyzstan to Russia increased 250% in 2022 compared to the previous year. The country's authorities cannot explain what such an impressive growth is related to.

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It's gone midnight in Moscow. Russia have claimed they will now treat any ship approaching Ukrainian ports as potentially supplying weapons. A Cameroonian flagged vessel is still heading towards Ukraine.

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The Russian statement to attack civilian shipping going to any Ukrainian port can be add to the long list of poorly thought out Russian plans.

Ships going to the port of Izmail, Ukraine have to sail up through the Danube River on the border with Romania.

So either Russia starts attacking shipping mixed in with shipping going to Gala?i, Romania while also risking attacking ships in Romanian waters

Or

They again have to move their “Red Line” and say that it is in fact all Ukrainian ports except Izmail.

As the bad excuse for their statement was that they would consider all ships to be “potential carriers of military cargo”, this means Russia is only scared of military cargo being unloaded specifically at the grain terminal in Odesa and not just down the road in Izmail.

While Izmail is a small port and can’t take over Odesa’s grain transport, I don’t think Russia has the balls to attack a port less than 300m from the border to a NATO country.

I don’t think even the Russians trust their own PGM enough for that.

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Pictured: Cargo vessels flying the flags of Vanuatu, Panama, and Togo entering the Danube river on the border of Ukraine and Romania en-route to the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Russian threats of assuming they're transporting weapons working well obviously.

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Washington Post:

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ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine — The Ukrainian commander of the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle was unloading troops at the front and then planned to transport three injured soldiers back to a field hospital. “But in that one minute, you suddenly have 30, 40, 50 shells flying in — everything explodes, soil is flying around, everything lights up,” said the commander, who asked to be identified by his call sign, CZ, in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol.

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CZ’s vehicle is now nestled in a wooded area in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, one of several secret locations near the front line where the 47th Mechanized Brigade rushes to repair its new Western weaponry.

The 47th Brigade, the only unit known to have received the Bradleys, was set to get 99 before the start of the counteroffensive, according to leaked U.S. intelligence documents. The United States has committed 190 Bradleys overall, with more than half delivered to operational units in Ukraine, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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Personnel from Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade prepare to change wheels and tracks of a damaged Bradley Fighting Vehicle at the Zaporizhzhia workshop.



Troops from the 47th have a lunch of borscht after working on Bradley Fighting Vehicles at the Zaporizhzhia workshop.

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In some cases, Ukrainian units are “just not using them to their fullest potential with all their other assets that they have available,” the official said. It could be that some commanders feel more comfortable with how they were originally taught and fall back on that experience, the official said.

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Some Bradley repairs can take just a few hours. Others need a few days. Some vehicles are labeled “donors,” meaning the Ukrainians will strip out the usable parts to install in other, less-damaged Bradleys and then fill the donor vehicle with the broken bits before shipping it off for a larger-scale repair at the facility in Poland. One early limitation for how quickly the Ukrainians can fix the Bradleys and get them back on the battlefield: not enough spare parts, military personnel said.

Any request for spare parts has to be made formally to a senior commander, who has a limited reserve and multiple units that need them. An American M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer is currently not in use by the 47th Brigade because of a mechanical issue that the soldiers do not yet have the parts to fix.

The U.S. official was unaware of issues that affected the delivery of parts from U.S. stocks and suggested bottlenecks could exist within the Ukrainian supply chain.

“When the first Bradleys came in for repairs, the decision of, ‘Is this one a donor or not’ wasn’t being made yet,” said the chief of staff for the 47th Brigade’s repair and recovery battalion, whose call sign is Maz. “So where do we get the spare parts from? When the donors started appearing from which we could take the spare parts, then we started fully repairing them. But before donors, we were just doing minimal repairs and waiting for others to be damaged.”

The fewer vehicles that have to be sent to Poland for major repairs, the “more lives saved,” Maz said, because troops cannot afford to wait weeks for a Bradley to return to the front line. Training at a U.S. base in Germany earlier this year taught Maz and others from the 47th not just how to operate the Bradleys but also how to fix them.

“When I chose my crew, I made sure that the ones I picked loved technical equipment,” Maz said. “A tractor driver who has worked on the fields, or a trucker, who lives this stuff. I sometimes give them so much s--- for their work. I tell them, ‘This is like your house, you should be able to sit there in slippers.’”

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Fewer than a dozen Bradleys have been sent to Poland for repair, the U.S. defense official said, and in some cases fresh vehicles were sent to replace those shipped out instead of waiting on repairs.

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A mechanic from the 47th takes a lunchtime nap on tracks alongside a damaged Bradley.

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Pictured: Cargo vessels flying the flags of Vanuatu, Panama, and Togo entering the Danube river on the border of Ukraine and Romania en-route to the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Russian threats of assuming they're transporting weapons working well obviously.

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When I looked at a satellite view of the port and river, no grain elevators there. There are rafts of river barges like we see on the Missisippi River so any grain is likely loaded via barge midstream loading operation. Most ships are not what is normal size for transocean voyage, but small and general type for Black Sea trade. This makes me think of the miniship shipping which the Greeks had hundreds of. Two cargo holds, two hatches. Twin screw diesel engines without need for an tug boat assist in port. 12 foot draft so popular for bulk cargo going up South American and some African rivers. They traveled at under 10 knots. The crews were 5 men so captain also functioned as chief mate.

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Putin listed the conditions for the return of Russia to the "grain agreement".

All obstacles to Russian banks and financial institutions serving food and fertilizer supplies should be removed;

Immediate Connection to the International Bank Payment System SWIFT

Withdrawing from the sanctions the supply of Russian grain, fertilizer to world markets, as well as the resumption of supplies of spare parts and components for agricultural machinery and fertilizer industry to Russia;

Solving all issues with insurance of Russian ships and export deliveries of the Russian Federation, restoration of all logistics of food supplies, provision of unobstructed supply of fertilizers from Russia and raw materials for their production.

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That's an interesting set of conditions if true.

I was surprised to hear about the idea of Turkey escorting ships. Sounds out of character for them.