SPOILER

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 01:33 schreef inslagenreuring het volgende:

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Het is helemaal niet om te stoken. Het is gewoon veelal gelul wat ver losgeslagen is van de realiteit wat hier langskomt.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 00:24 schreef inslagenreuring het volgende:

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Ja prigho was nog 'maar'800 kilometer van Moskou verwijderd toen zijn wagner troepen door de luchtmacht werden gedecimeerd.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 00:56 schreef inslagenreuring het volgende:

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Om een voorbeeld te noemen. Jouw grote vriend Andrew Perpetua identificeert altijd de verliezen. Maar let er eens op, als er een Oekraïnse tank sneuvelt kan hij het type amper achterhalen. Hoe kan dat? Want dat willen we niet lezen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:51 schreef MaxMark het volgende:
LaPo uit vorige topic:
[ afbeelding ] Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:13 schreef polderturk het volgende:
[ x ]

Mooie biems.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:55 schreef speknek het volgende:
Eergisteren:
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Gisteren:

[ x ]

Dat zijn heel wat S300/400s kwijt in twee dagen. Weer ongeveer een miljardje in kosten, en meer vrij baan voor de F16s.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 10:45 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Ook goed om te weten dat je probleemloos een drone boven zo'n installatie kan laten vliegen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 11:13 schreef Ulx het volgende:
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11:23
"Poetin bereid om oorlog in Oekraïne te beëindigen met een staakt-het-vuren"

De Russische president Vladimir Poetin is volgens vier anonieme Russische bronnen bereid om een staakt-het-vuren te aanvaarden op de huidige frontlinies in Oekraïne. Dat schrijft het persbureau Reuters. Tegelijkertijd wil Poetin verder vechten indien Kiev of het Westen daar niet op zouden willen ingaan.

Volgens drie van de anonieme bronnen is Poetin "gefrustreerd" dat noch Oekraïne noch het Westen gesprekken wil aangaan over een staakt-het-vuren. "Poetin kan vechten zo lang als nodig, maar is ook klaar voor een staakt-het-vuren, om de oorlog te bevriezen", aldus een van de vier gesprekspartners van Reuters in Moskou.

De gebieden die Rusland op dit moment bezet, zouden voor Poetin volstaan om de oorlog in Moskou als een overwinning te kunnen verkopen. De Russische president zou beseffen dat er een nieuwe nationale mobilisatie nodig is om nog enige significante terreinwinst te kunnen boeken, en zou daar niet toe bereid zijn.

Kremlin-woordvoerder Dmitri Peskov zegt - naar aanleiding van de geruchten - dat "Poetin in het verleden al herhaaldelijk duidelijk heeft gemaakt dat Rusland openstaat voor dialoog en dat het land geen eeuwige oorlog wil". Oekraïne heeft nog niet gereageerd op de berichtgeving.

De Verenigde Staten zeggen dat "Rusland de oorlog op elk moment kan beëindigen door zijn leger terug te trekken, in plaats van brutale aanvallen te lanceren tegen de Oekraïense steden, havens en bevolking".

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:37 schreef Idisrom het volgende:

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Bron: HLN van vandaag.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:37 schreef Idisrom het volgende:

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Bron: HLN van vandaag.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:37 schreef Idisrom het volgende:

[..]
Bron: HLN van vandaag.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 10:12 schreef Perrin het volgende:
[ x ]

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:59 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

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Poetin heeft tijd nodig om zijn leger aan te sterken.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:51 schreef MaxMark het volgende:
LaPo uit vorige topic:
[ afbeelding ] Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:13 schreef polderturk het volgende:
[ x ]

Mooie biems.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:14 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

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Zijn die ATACMS nou zo goed of is de S-400 zo waardeloos?

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:37 schreef Idisrom het volgende:

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Bron: HLN van vandaag.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:13 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Dat is precies waarvoor hij de wapenstilstand zou gebruiken idd. Klaarmaken voor de volgende hap nemen uit Oekraine.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:16 schreef over_hedge het volgende:

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s400 zijn zeker niet waardeloos.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:27 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ x ]

Turkije zal ook blij zijn met deze beelden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:51 schreef MaxMark het volgende:
LaPo uit vorige topic:
[ afbeelding ] Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:13 schreef polderturk het volgende:
[ x ]

Mooie biems.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:37 schreef Idisrom het volgende:

[..]
Bron: HLN van vandaag.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:23 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

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Volgens mij was dit systeem juist ontwikkeld om dergelijke raketten te kunnen onderscheppen. Dus de beste Ru luchtafweer kan niet eens verouderde raketten neerhalen terwijl de 33 jaar oude Patriots wel de meest moderne Ru hypersonische raketten kunnen neerhalen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:41 schreef Idisrom het volgende:
Het blijkt de laatste maand dat de Russen gewoon te weinig echte manschappen en wapens hebben om ergens een echte doorbraak te forceren.
Vovtsjansk ten noordoosten van Charkiv gaat ook voor geen meter. En dat noordelijke offensief heeft er ook niet voor gezorgd dat er elders aan het oostfront een doorbraak gemaakt kon worden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:23 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

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Volgens mij was dit systeem juist ontwikkeld om dergelijke raketten te kunnen onderscheppen. Dus de beste Ru luchtafweer kan niet eens verouderde raketten neerhalen terwijl de 33 jaar oude Patriots wel de meest moderne Ru hypersonische raketten kunnen neerhalen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:41 schreef Idisrom het volgende:
Het blijkt de laatste maand dat de Russen gewoon te weinig echte manschappen en wapens hebben om ergens een echte doorbraak te forceren.
Vovtsjansk ten noordoosten van Charkiv gaat ook voor geen meter. En dat noordelijke offensief heeft er ook niet voor gezorgd dat er elders aan het oostfront een doorbraak gemaakt kon worden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 15:28 schreef Glazenmaker het volgende:

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Wat is het toch een lieve vredesduif die Poetin.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 19:39 schreef skysherrif het volgende:
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doei

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 19:43 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

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Wie is dat dan?

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 19:43 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

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Wie is dat dan?

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Russian jamming leaves some high-tech U.S. weapons ineffective in Ukraine

Confidential Ukrainian assessments obtained by The Washington Post show how accuracy rates of some Western weapons fell after Russian jamming disrupted guidance systems.

KYIV — Many U.S.-made satellite-guided ammunitions in Ukraine have failed to withstand Russian jamming technology, prompting Kyiv to stop using certain types of Western-provided armaments after effectiveness rates plummeted, according to senior Ukrainian military officials and confidential internal Ukrainian assessments obtained by The Washington Post.

Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons, including Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which can fire some U.S.-made rockets with a range of up to 50 miles, has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers.

Russia’s ability to combat the high-tech munitions has far-reaching implications for Ukraine and its Western supporters — potentially providing a blueprint for adversaries such as China and Iran — and it is a key reason Moscow’s forces have regained the initiative and are advancing on the battlefield.

The success rate for the U.S.-designed Excalibur shells, for example, fell sharply over a period of months — to less than 10 percent hitting their targets — before Ukraine’s military abandoned them last year, according to the confidential Ukrainian assessments.

While other news accounts have described Russia’s superior electronic warfare capabilities, the documents obtained by The Post include previously unreported details on the extent to which Russian jamming has thwarted Western weaponry.

“The Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential,” the assessments found, adding that battlefield experience in Ukraine had disproved its reputation as a “one shot, one target” weapon — at least until the Pentagon and U.S. manufacturers address the issue.

Six months ago, after Ukrainians reported the issue, Washington simply stopped providing Excalibur shells because of the high failure rate, the Ukrainian officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter. In other cases, such as aircraft-dropped bombs called JDAMs, the manufacturer provided a patch and Ukraine continues to use them.

Ukraine’s military command prepared the reports between fall 2023 and April 2024 and shared them with the U.S. and other supporters, hoping to develop solutions and open up direct contact with weapons manufacturers. In interviews, Ukrainian officials described an overly bureaucratic process that they said had complicated a path toward urgently needed adjustments to improve the failing weaponry.

The officials agreed to answer questions about the assessments in hopes of drawing attention to the Ukrainian military’s needs. Several Ukrainian and U.S. officials interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Pentagon anticipated that some precision-guided munitions would be defeated by Russian electronic warfare and has worked with Ukraine to hone tactics and techniques, a senior U.S. defense official said.

Russia “has continued to expand their use of electronic warfare,” the senior U.S. official said. “And we continue to evolve and make sure that Ukraine has the capabilities they need to be effective.”

The U.S. defense official rejected claims that bureaucracy has slowed the response. The Pentagon and weapons manufacturers have provided solutions sometimes within hours or days, the official said, but did not provide examples.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, in a statement, said that it cooperates regularly with the Pentagon and also communicates directly with weapons manufacturers.

“We work closely with the Pentagon on such matters. In the event of technical problems, we promptly inform our partners to take the necessary measures to solve them in a timely manner,” the ministry said. “Our partners from the USA and other Western countries provide constant support for our requests. In particular, we regularly receive recommendations to improve the equipment.”

U.S.-made guided munitions provided to Ukraine typically were successful when introduced, but often became less so as Russian forces adapted. Now, some arms once considered potent tools no longer provide an edge.

In a conventional war, the U.S. military might not face the same difficulties as Ukraine because it has a more advanced air force and robust electronic countermeasures, but Russia’s capabilities nonetheless put heavy pressure on Washington and its NATO allies to continue innovating.

“I’m not saying no one was worried about it before, but now they’re starting to worry,” one senior Ukrainian military official said.

“As we share information with our partners and our partners share with us, the Russians definitely also share with China,” the official added. “And even if they don’t share with China … China monitors events in Ukraine.”

Failing to strike targets

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created a modern testing ground for Western arms that had never been used against a foe with Moscow’s ability to jam GPS navigation.

Innovation is a feature of virtually every conflict, including the war in Ukraine, where each side deploys technology and novel changes to outfox the other and exploit vulnerabilities. The Russian military has been adept at electronic warfare for years, analysts and officials said, investing in systems that can overwhelm the signals and frequency of electronic components, such as GPS navigation, which helps guide some precision munitions to their targets.

Ukrainians initially found success using Excalibur 155mm rounds, with more than 50 percent accurately hitting their targets early last year, according to the confidential assessment, which was based on direct visual observations. Over the next several months, that dropped below 10 percent, with the assessment pointing to Russian GPS jamming as the culprit.

The study cautioned that far fewer shells were fired later in the research period, and many were not observed, leaving the precise success rate unclear.

But even before the United States ceased deliveries, Ukrainian artillerymen had largely stopped using Excalibur, the assessments said, because the shells are harder to use compared with standard howitzer rounds, requiring time-consuming special calculations and programming. Now they are shunned altogether, military personnel in the field said.

The senior Ukrainian official said Kyiv shared this feedback with Washington but got no response. The Ukrainians have faced a similar challenge with guided 155mm shells provided by other Western countries. Some employ guidance other than GPS, and it is unclear why they also became less effective. U.S. defense officials declined to address the Ukrainian assertion.

The Excalibur precision artillery round typifies many U.S. weapons: pricey and sophisticated but accurate. Ukraine has used the rounds, fired by U.S. artillery systems such as the M777, to destroy targets, like enemy artillery and armored vehicles, from about 15 to 24 miles away.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based research group, said that Russia’s use of electronic warfare to combat guided munitions was an important battlefield development in the past year. Many weapons are potent when they’re introduced, but they lose effectiveness over time, Lee said, part of a nonstop game of cat-and-mouse between adversaries who constantly adapt and innovate.

The involvement of defense companies is crucial to overcoming Russian defenses such as jamming, Lee said.

“The problem with a lot of Western defense companies,” Lee said, compared with Russian manufacturers, is that “there is not the same sense of urgency.”

Dense web of jamming

A web of Russian electronic warfare systems and air defenses menace Ukrainian pilots, the documents said, adding that some Russian jammers also scramble the navigation system of planes. The Russian defense is so dense, the assessment found, that there are “no open windows for the Ukrainian pilots where they feel that they are not at gunpoint.”

Despite some effort to thwart the jamming, potential fixes seem limited until the West delivers F-16 fighter jets, the assessment found. Such modern planes would allow Ukraine’s air force to push Russian pilots back, enabling the use of different kinds of weapons with greater range and ability to avoid some electronic warfare systems.

The aircraft-dropped JDAMs provide another example of declining effectiveness of weaponry.

Their introduction, in February 2023, was a surprise to Russia. But within weeks, success rates dropped after “non resistance” to jamming was revealed, according to the assessment. In that period, bombs missed their targets from as little as 65 feet to about three-quarters of a mile.

Ukraine provided feedback about the jamming problem, and the U.S. and weapons manufacturers delivered improved systems in May, the documents said. Since then, JDAMs have proved more resistant to jamming than other GPS-guided weapons, the assessment found, and accuracy improved to a hit rate above 60 percent over nine months in 2023.

HIMARS were celebrated during the first year of Russia’s invasion for their success in striking ammunition depots and command points behind enemy lines.

But by the second year, “everything ended: the Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective,” a second senior Ukrainian military official said. “This ineffectiveness led to the point where a very expensive shell was used” increasingly to strike lower-priority targets.

The Ukrainian military documents did not assess guided M30 or M31 munitions, which are fired from HIMARS launchers. But in January, Ukraine’s military command wrote a policy paper urging Western supporters to provide an alternative: M26 cluster munitions that also could be launched from multiple-launch rocket systems. These low-tech, unguided rockets are resistant to jamming, and the cluster submunitions can still hit targets in a wide area even if the shot is imprecise.

Kyiv still considers its HIMARS rockets effective, but Russian jamming can cause them to miss a target by 50 feet or more.

“When it’s, for example, a pontoon bridge … but there’s a 10-meter deviation, it ends up in the water,” the first Ukrainian official said.

Russian jamming signals are sent up from the ground and form a cone-shaped area. Any guided munition — or aircraft — passing through is at risk of interference.

A battalion commander, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do so publicly, described flying a reconnaissance drone in foggy conditions last year in Bakhmut to track a HIMARS strike on a Russian position. On his screen, the commander watched in dismay as each rocket missed.

Countermeasures

One way the Ukrainians counter Russia’s jamming is by targeting known electronic warfare systems with drones before using HIMARS. This has proved effective in some cases.

“Initially, there were no problems,” the first senior official added. “It was simple: the machine arrived. The button was pressed and there was a precise hit. Now, it’s more complicated.”

The official added, “The Americans are equipping HIMARS with additional equipment to ensure good geolocation.”

One U.S. weapon used by aircraft, the GBU-39 small-diameter bomb, has proved resilient to jamming, according to the confidential documents. Nearly 90 percent of dropped bombs struck their target, the assessment found.

Its smaller surface area makes it more difficult for Russian systems to detect and intercept, the documents said. Ukraine first received the aerial weapons, which has not been previously disclosed by the Pentagon, in November 2023.

The GBU-39 was also adapted for land use in HIMARS systems, a development that Pentagon officials said would increase the range of rocket artillery. But the modified weapons, known as Ground-Launched Small Diameter bombs, or GLSDB, proved ineffective compared to those launched from airplanes, Ukrainian officials said. The ground versions were tested in Ukraine, one official said, and the Americans are working on adjustments before providing them anew.

William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, said last month that an adapted weapon “didn’t work for multiple reasons,” including jamming and other tactical and logistical issues. LaPlante did not disclose which weapon he was referring to, but other experts said that he was describing the GLSDB.

“When you send something to people in the fight of their lives,” LaPlante said, “they’ll try it three times and then they just throw it aside.”

Senior Ukrainian military officials said Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles, provided by Britain, are less susceptible to Russian jamming because they do not rely solely on GPS but two other navigation systems, including an internal map that matches the terrain of its intended flight path. Russian air defenses nonetheless have had some success intercepting them.

The Ukrainians have also had success so far with U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile System long-range missiles, which have a range of up to 190 miles, but they, too, can be targeted by Russian air defenses.

The Ukrainian officials said they expect that weapons effective on the battlefield now will similarly slump within a year.

“The Russians will learn how to fight it,” the second Ukrainian official said. “That’s how the arms race works.”

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 17:07 schreef AgLarrr het volgende:

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Dat icm het feit dat de remmen er in het westen steeds meer afgaan: F16's, gebruik van wapens op Russische bodem, openlijke overweging om zoetjes aan troepen te gaan sturen. En daarbij: de voorraden zijn ook weer aangevuld.

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US jamming technology is significantly worse than Russia's, ex-Pentagon officials warn

The US has been outclassed by its rivals, such as Russia, in its capacity to remotely take out enemy weapons using jamming technology, according to former US military officials.

Mike Nagata, a retired US Army lieutenant general who led special operations in the Middle East, said that the US is "still falling behind" in its electronic warfare capabilities, reported Defense One.

Electronic warfare units, which use electronic signals to remotely scramble the GPS coordinates used to guide weapons, have played a key role in Russia's war in Ukraine.

"The gap between where the United States should be and where we are, in my judgment, continues to expand not everywhere, but in far too many places," Nagata reportedly said at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida. He called on the US to get more creative to regain its dominance in electronic warfare.

Two retired special operations personnel singled out Russia in remarks to the publication. They said that one reason the Kremlin's technology is significantly better, is because it ignored international laws designed to stop jamming of civilian telecommunications.

It had also invested in electromagnetic innovation for decades while the US had focused its jamming technology on gathering intelligence in areas such as the Middle, according to the publication.

Russia has repeatedly used its electronic warfare units to disable expensive precision-guided weapons that the US has given its ally Ukraine in its battle against Russia.

According to reports, they've proven effective in sending GPS-guided Excalibur artillery rounds off course. They have also been effective against the JDAM US-made missiles used by Ukraine's air force, as well as the rockets fired by US-made Himars missile systems.

Last year, Ukraine's outgoing senior commander, Valery Zaluzhnyi, in an interview with The Economist, said Russia's electronic warfare capability had given it an important edge.

The US is closely studying the conflict for information on how to improve its electronic warfare systems. In May, Defense News that the Pentagon is spending millions on developing new electronic warfare systems and technology to evade GPS jamming.

Mark Cancian, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently told BI that the Department of Defense had been looking at options such as using narrower signal bands or the generation of stronger signals that are able to burn through jamming attempts.

The threats, nevertheless, "remind us to be careful about expecting 'game changers,'" he said. "The other side always develops countermeasures that reduce effectiveness."

In recent months, there have been concerns that Russia's electronic warfare units are scrambling GPS systems used by civilian planes in northern and eastern Europe, with a plane carrying the UK's defense secretary, Grant Shapps, impacted by one suspected attack in March.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:09 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Business Insider

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 18:23 schreef ipa84 het volgende:

Over de omgeving Charkiv waar eerst veel paniek over was vond ik podcast van Veldheren wel interessant. Daar hadden ze het er over dat het logisch was dat Rusland in het begin veel meters zou maken aangezien je verdedigingslijn niet meteen tegen de grens aan zet maar verder van de grens weg zet zodat Rusland daar geen zich op heeft. Hun hadden het er al dat we sowieso een paar weken moest wachten tot er echt duidelijkheid is en dat Rusland tot nu toe vooral grensdorpen heeft ingenomen en die plaats Vovtsjansk was ook niet zo belangrijk in hun visie. Sowieso is die podcast veldheren interessant als je wat meer zeg maar neutralere beeld wilt hebben. Die podcast is van Mart de Kruif en Peter van Uhm.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:13 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Ja dat is wel een dingetje. Best effectief namelijk.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 12:48 schreef zuchtje het volgende:
"praat alstublieft met ons want we houden dit niet vol!"

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:09 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Business Insider

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:22 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Dat zie ik toch echt wel anders, Putin weet donders goed dat Zelensky hier nooit mee akkoord zal gaan en vervolgens gaat hij vrolijk verder met zijn SMO. Ondertussen kan hij dan richting het westen communiceren dat hij het toch echt geprobeerd heeft maar dat Zelensky dwars lag, ergo, eigen schuld.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:09 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Business Insider

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:25 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Tja, als je je wapens zo levert dat ze maar beperkt inzetbaar zijn krijgt een vijand genoeg tijd en mogelijkheden om tegenmaatregelen te verzinnen. Had Oekraïne direct heel veel en heel hard kunnen toeslaan waren er minder beschietingen om te analyseren overgebleven. Schiet je op één dag honderd raketten op honderd doelen heeft Rusland 1 dag aan data als ze geluk hebben. Schiet je honderd dagen lang één raket per keer heb je veel meer vergelijkingsmateriaal.

Nu zijn die van westerse leger ook minder effectief. Dan had het westen maar niet met dat idiote "niet te ver schieten hoor" gelul moeten aankomen.

Het is een keuze geweest. En niet de slimste.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:22 schreef AchJa het volgende:
Putin weet donders goed dat Zelensky hier nooit mee akkoord zal gaan en vervolgens gaat hij vrolijk verder met zijn SMO.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:28 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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En het is ook niet allemaal het meest geavanceerde spul natuurlijk dat we daarheen sturen. Maar nog die elektronische oorlogvoering wordt alleen maar belangrijker.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:25 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Tja, als je je wapens zo levert dat ze maar beperkt inzetbaar zijn krijgt een vijand genoeg tijd en mogelijkheden om tegenmaatregelen te verzinnen. Had Oekraïne direct heel veel en heel hard kunnen toeslaan waren er minder beschietingen om te analyseren overgebleven. Schiet je op één dag honderd raketten op honderd doelen heeft Rusland 1 dag aan data als ze geluk hebben. Schiet je honderd dagen lang één raket per keer heb je veel meer vergelijkingsmateriaal.

Nu zijn die van westerse leger ook minder effectief. Dan had het westen maar niet met dat idiote "niet te ver schieten hoor" gelul moeten aankomen.

Het is een keuze geweest. En niet de slimste.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:28 schreef ExTec het volgende:
Hier noemen we dat gewoon 'zijn oorlog'.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:32 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Dat niet alleen, er wordt al meer dan tien jaar gewaarschuwd voor het te afhankelijk worden van GPS maar toch is daar nul komma nul mee gedaan. In een eoa knakenland een Taliban van de brommer bombarderen gaat natuurlijk prima maar nu werkt dat allemaal een stuk minder.

Vraag voor de grap de gemiddelde Nederlander eens om naar een onbekende locatie te rijden zonder tomtom met een papieren kaart, ik denk dat 80% verdwaalt.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:38 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
Er is toch ook die Europese variant van GPS?

Hoe zit het daarmee?

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:35 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Whatever floats your boat.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:44 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Dat werkt in ongeveer dezelfde frequentiebanden. Het maakt natuurlijk niet heel veel uit wat voor onderliggend systeem je gebruikt als je de drager (radiogolf/frequentie) volledig de ruis in stoort.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:48 schreef Pleun2011 het volgende:
Hier noemen we dat gewoon: wat jij wil

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:51 schreef BEFEM het volgende:

Kan je die dingen niet op internet aansluiten en daarmee laten geleiden of werkt dat niet?

Zullen ze vast zelf ook over nagedacht hebben maar nu is er wel beter internet overal.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:57 schreef AchJa het volgende:

Zou je eea al via internet willen doen dan hoop ik dat Musk mee gaat werken met circus Starlink aangezien de 3g masten niet ergens op 25 kilometer hoogte zweven. En je moet zelf ook gaan zenden dat maakt je meteen zichtbaar.

Nog even los van het feit dat ik betwijfel of met dat soort snelheden je een goeie connectie met draadloos internet blijft houden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 21:09 schreef ExTec het volgende:
Maar ook starlink signaal is zeer zwak, net als GPS, dus zelfde problematiek. Niet voor niets dat rus dat nu soms ook al stoort.

Tenzij je zo'n type satelliet hebt met een mini-kernreactor levert zonnepanelen gewoon nooit genoeg vermogen op om een sterk signaal te verzenden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:51 schreef MaxMark het volgende:
LaPo uit vorige topic:
[ afbeelding ] Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 09:13 schreef polderturk het volgende:
[ x ]

Mooie biems.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 21:17 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Gewoon weer terug naar de basis en vertrouwen op traagheidsnavigatie en niet afhankelijk zijn van externe factoren. En ja dat is minder nauwkeurig maar is in conflicten als deze geen issue. Bewaar je GPS zut maar voor COIN etc.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 21:34 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Ik vraag me af of hier programmatisch nog een slag te winnen is?

Als je boordcomputer ziet dat GPS ineens radicaal afwijkt, zou ik die feed gewoon diskwalificeren, als je gaat middelen tussen die 2 weet je idd zeker dat je instant een zeer dikke afwijking hebt. Rus spul doet dat wel, dus kan me eigenlijk ook niet voorstellen dat westers spul dat ook niet doet.

En/of weer meer gaan leunen op ingebouwde kaart navigatie, wat overigens ook al poep oud is, deze clip geeft een leuk idee hoe dat werkt. Eigenlijk gewoon: bij de kerk linksaf. Zie ik de kerk? Ok, dan nu linksaf.

The GENIUS of Inertial Navigation Systems Explained

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 21:34 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Ik vraag me af of hier programmatisch nog een slag te winnen is?

Als je boordcomputer ziet dat GPS ineens radicaal afwijkt, zou ik die feed gewoon diskwalificeren, als je gaat middelen tussen die 2 weet je idd zeker dat je instant een zeer dikke afwijking hebt. Rus spul doet dat wel, dus kan me eigenlijk ook niet voorstellen dat westers spul dat ook niet doet.

quote:

En/of weer meer gaan leunen op ingebouwde kaart navigatie, wat overigens ook al poep oud is, deze clip geeft een leuk idee hoe dat werkt. Eigenlijk gewoon: bij de kerk linksaf. Zie ik de kerk? Ok, dan nu linksaf.

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Biden likely to miss Global Peace Summit due to charity event in California – Bloomberg
The Global Peace Summit will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland

US President Joe Biden is likely to miss the Global Peace Summit on the settlement of the war in Ukraine, as he will be heading to a campaign fundraiser in California, reported Bloomberg with reference to unnamed sources familiar with the plans of the American leader.

Biden will attend the charity event along with George Clooney, Julia Roberts and other celebrities.

Ukraine, together with Switzerland, will hold the first Global Peace Summit on June 15-16. It is expected to be attended by several leaders of the G7 countries, who will fly there after the summit in Italy. However, according to Bloomberg sources, neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris will be present.

According to Biden's schedule, he will fly from the G7 meeting in southern Italy to Los Angeles for a June 15 fundraiser. He may also be joined there by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and TV host Jimmy Kimmel.

This shows that Biden has switched to the mode of the election campaign and is trying to overcome the advantage of his competitor from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, the journalists noted.

On April 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia wants to disrupt the Peace Summit and has a plan to do it.

As of May 15, 50 countries out of 160 invited have confirmed that they will participate in the Global Peace Summit.

On May 14, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the end of the war in Ukraine will not be discussed at the event in Switzerland.

On May 21, Zelenskyy named three main points that will be on the agenda at the Peace Summit: energy, food security, free navigation and the release of prisoners.

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Another provocation on the Belarusian-Polish border

Migrants again tried to set fire to the Polish border post. According to the data of the Polish Border Service, from May 17 to 19, 729 attempts to cross the Belarusian-Polish border by migrants were recorded.

Migrants threw stones and branches at Polish border guards. In the area of ​​Dubychiv-Tserkevnyh, they tried to set fire to the Polish border post, and in the area of ​​responsibility of the outpost in Białowieża, they tried to cross the rivers Przewloka and Prava Lisova.

Who is behind this?

The answer is obvious. Strictly speaking, all activities and coordination of special actions, actions and provocations go through the Operational Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus. This body is implicitly filled with all the powers for such actions.

Specifically, in this situation, it can be assumed that the OSAM (Separate Service for Active Measures) of the Border Committee of the Republic of Moldova - a special unit of border guards - is also involved. In addition, the preparation of sabotage actions, as well as the ammunition for conducting them, takes place at the base of the 38th separate amphibious assault "Brest" brigade of the SSO. Such an advantageous location several tens of kilometers from the border makes it possible to indulge in such provocations.

The only question that remains is how far Lukashenko is willing to go, maneuvering between the Kremlin's appetites for the opening of a new front and his own chair, which has long been shaken.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 21:46 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Misschien is dit een wat betere clip:

The GENIUS of Inertial Navigation Systems Explained

SPOILER

Zeker daar optisch makkelijk te counteren valt met.... rook. Of een wolk.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 22:11 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
Wat volgens mij betekend dat Nederland dit ook zal toelaten met het materieel wat wij leveren (mag ik hopen in elk geval, anders zou het een rare motie zijn).

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Russian bartender handed 25-year jail sentence for railway arson
A court in Moscow has sentenced a bartender from the Moscow region to 25 years in prison after finding him guilty of sabotage, participation in a terrorist organisation, and treason for setting fire to a railway equipment case, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Thursday.

Vladimir Malina, 36, is to spend the first five years of his sentence in prison and the next 20 in a high-security penal colony. The prosecution had asked for a sentence of 28 years. Malina’s lawyer left the Moscow court before the sentence was announced.

According to the prosecution, Malina set fire to a railway equipment case near Naro-Fominsk, in the Moscow region, in April last year. Nobody was injured in the incident. Malina told investigators that he acted on his own initiative, but they alleged he underwent training in “sabotage and terrorist activities” and received instructions from a handler.

In November, independent news outlet Vot Tak, quoting a source in the Interior Ministry, said Malina was being prosecuted for involvement with the Freedom of Russia Legion, which Russia declared a terrorist organisation in March last year.

While still at liberty, Malina attempted to set fire to several other relay boxes and a police station until he was apprehended by law enforcement in June, Mediazona reported.

In January, a St. Petersburg court sentenced a teenager to eight years in prison for setting fire to a railway equipment case with the intention of “undermining Russia’s economic security and defence capability”.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 22:16 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Ook spul van andere landen (Scalp, Stormshadow) mag van de VS niet gebruikt worden in rus, op straffe van geen leveringen meer.

Zoveel is de afgelopen weken duidelijk geworden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 22:26 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

Sterker nog Blinken en Austin hebben beide laten weten dat het aan Oekraïne is hoe zij de door Amerika geleverde wapens gebruiken.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:22 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Dan verwacht ik dat de VS er binnen een paar maanden weer ettelijke miljarden tegenaan zal knallen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:08 schreef Discombobulate het volgende:

[..]
Gaan we weer een patstelling in. En als het spul weer op is weer even wat erbij. En dan weer een patstelling in.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:22 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Dan verwacht ik dat de VS er binnen een paar maanden weer ettelijke miljarden tegenaan zal knallen.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:44 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Dat werkt in ongeveer dezelfde frequentiebanden. Het maakt natuurlijk niet heel veel uit wat voor onderliggend systeem je gebruikt als je de drager (radiogolf/frequentie) volledig de ruis in stoort.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:57 schreef AchJa het volgende:
Nog even los van het feit dat ik betwijfel of met dat soort snelheden je een goeie connectie met draadloos internet blijft houden.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 22:40 schreef ExTec het volgende:
Neem deze VS senator ook even mee in je mail, want blijkbaar zit die man er ook falikant naast.

[ x ]

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 22:58 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
Maar hoe meer mensen druk zetten op Biden en zijn administratie om deze restricties geheel te schrappen

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 23:06 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Welke restricties?

Die er volgens jou niet zijn?

Luister anders even naar wat Blinken in dat filmpje zegt.

Ook hier geeft Blinken dus aan dat de beslissing bij Oekraïne zelf ligt.

Blinken: Minister van buitenlandse zaken
Austin: Minister van defensie

Geven dus beide aan dat Oekraïne hier zelf over moet beslissen.

Can you make up your mind?

Die restricties die zijn er, of die zijn er niet, dus wat is het nou?

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 23:10 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

Wat dus kan duiden op een verhulde toestemming, terwijl Biden en zijn administratie dit altijd kunnen blijven ontkennen omdat volgens de papieren dit dus niet mag.

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Rear support of the troops in Belarus: old equipment, modern corruption

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus announced the start of a two-day training with the participation of military command bodies and military units of rear support. The purpose of the event is to work out the issues of management of rear support, dispersal of stockpiles of material resources and increase the survivability of facilities of military units and rear organizations.

Under the leadership of the deputy minister of defense and the head of the rear of the Armed Forces of Belarus, more than 100 conscripts from the reserve gathered for training. These exercises are taking place against the background of serious problems faced by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. The main ones are the low morale of the military personnel caused by poor leadership, limited opportunities, constant poor logistical support and problems with pay.

Despite the promises of generals and ministers, the real state of affairs leaves much to be desired. The armed forces of Belarus still largely rely on outdated equipment from the times of the Soviet Union.

SPOILER

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Constant lack of fuel and food, dry rations, the expiration date of which expired five years ago, lack of reliable communication and even a shortage of normal clothes - all this significantly complicates the life of Belarusian soldiers. Many units of military equipment used in the Belarusian army were produced back in the Soviet Union. Because of this, they often break down and require constant repair, which increases costs and reduces combat readiness.

Rations with an expired shelf life are another indicator of a lack of quality provision. This can cause diseases among military personnel, which further complicates an already difficult situation. Reliable communication is a key element in keeping soldiers safe. However, the Belarusian army has serious problems with this aspect, which reduces the overall effectiveness of the troops.

Military personnel often face a shortage of high-quality and modern uniforms, which creates additional inconveniences and reduces the level of comfort during service.

And finally, total corruption. Appropriation of state funds allocated for the support of the army. Corruption undermines the confidence of military personnel in the leadership and contributes to the deterioration of all aspects of their service - from security to living and dining conditions.

Thus, the Belarusian army - everything also remains an army of one day or an army of parades. The model built by Lukashenko only leads to degradation and failure. And it is not only about the army, in all spheres of life, whether it is the economy or the same notorious agriculture.

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How Many S-400 Missile Systems Does Russia Have?
Russia has invested heavily in the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile system to bolster its integrated air defense capabilities.

While the exact current number is not definitively stated by the Kremlin, the available information suggests Russia likely had around 16 to 18 battalions, or 56 full S-400 systems, deployed by the early 2020s. However, Russia has suffered notable losses of these prized systems in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. This makes it difficult to establish how many are currently operational.

SPOILER

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Deployment and Composition
The S-400 entered Russian service in 2007, replacing older S-300 systems. By late 2015, Russia had 11 missile regiments armed with the S-400 and planned an increase to 16 regiments by end of 2016, according to reports from the Russian state news agency TASS. A 2018 analysis by international current-affairs magazine The Diplomat suggested long-term plans called for 56 S-400 battalions by 2020 as the backbone of Russia's surface-to-air missile capabilities.

The Pravda state newspaper says a regular S-400 battalion consists of 8 launchers with 32 missiles and costs around $200 million.

^{Russian S-400 Triumf missile systems during the Victory Day parade at Red Square, May 9, 2024, in Moscow, Russia. Multiple S-400s have been destroyed in Ukraine.}

Each launcher can carry different missile types with ranges from 40 to 400 kilometers and includes truck-mounted radars, a mobile command post, and multiple launch platforms.

Losses in Ukraine Conflict
Despite its sophisticated capabilities, the S-400 has proven vulnerable in Ukraine. According to UK intelligence, Ukraine likely destroyed at least four Russian long-range S-400 systems in late October 2023, including three in Luhansk region.

These losses will strain Russia's remaining air defenses and could weaken coverage in other operational areas as systems are redeployed.

Beyond the confirmed losses, there are reports of additional S-400 systems being damaged or destroyed by Ukraine. In September 2023, Ukraine claimed striking two S-400s in Crimea using modified Neptune anti-ship missiles. An S-400 was also reportedly damaged within Russia by a drone attack that month.

Other successful Ukrainian strikes appeared to have used Western-supplied precision long-range weapons such as the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

Known or claimed losses so far include:
• Ukraine claimed to have destroyed two S-400 batteries in Crimea in September 2022, out of five that were initially deployed there.
• In April 2023, Ukraine said it destroyed or critically damaged four S-400 launchers in Crimea.
• In October 2023, Ukraine launched ATACMS missiles that destroyed an S-400 system in Luhansk Oblast.
• In November 2023, a UK intelligence update stated that Ukraine likely destroyed at least four Russian S-400 systems in a week.
• On April 19, 2024, Ukraine launched ATACMS missiles at a Russian airfield in Crimea, destroying S-400 launchers, three radars, and a Fundament-M air surveillance system.
• On April 23, 2024, Ukraine destroyed a 92N2 radar and a 96L6 high-altitude radar of an S-400 system.
• On April 28, 2024, Ukraine launched multiple ATACMS missiles in Crimea, destroying more S-400 air defense systems.
• On May 6, 2024, Ukrainian forces destroyed a tracked version of a Russian S-400 missile launcher in Zaporizhzhia region.
• On May 22, 2024, Ukraine's General Staff reported hitting another Russian S-400 air defense system, without providing further details.

This would suggest at least a dozen have been lost in the conflict, according to Ukraine's claim, but the numbers cannot be independently verified.

Strategic Importance
The losses are significant setbacks for Russia's "premier" air defense system. Military experts previously told Newsweek that their destruction punches holes in Russia's integrated air defense network that Ukraine can exploit.

While the S-400 initially performed well in Ukraine, its recent vulnerabilities could provide potential lessons for Western militaries on ways to counter it.

The system has been a critical component of Russia's defense strategy, particularly in regions like Crimea, where it has been deployed to control airspace over significant areas such as the western half of the Black Sea.​

The S-400 has been exported to several countries, including China and Turkey, despite opposition from the United States and NATO due to concerns about interoperability with NATO defense systems and potential sanctions.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 23:14 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
The purpose of the event is to work out the issues of management of rear support, dispersal of stockpiles of material resources and increase the survivability of facilities of military units and rear organizations.

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The photos of the consequences of a strike to the Voronezh-DM over-the-horizon radar in the Krasnodar Krai have appeared on the internet

^{A damaged building with an antenna array of the Voronezh-DM radar. Photo from open sources}

The network published a photo with the consequences of a drone strike on the Voronezh-DM over-the-horizon radar near the village of Gluboky in the Krasnodar Krai.

Militarnyi reported about this.

In the published photos there are two damaged buildings on the territory of military military unit #41003, where 818th Separate Radio Engineering Center is located.

Two buildings were damaged, as well as antenna webs with active electronically scanned array (AESA).

SPOILER

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^{A damaged building with an antenna array of the Voronezh-DM radar. Photo from open sources}

The damaged radar is located at the coordinates 44.925245,40.984025 and is part of the unified missile defense system of the Russian Federation.

One station offers a detection range of up to 6000 km across the horizon and 7000 km in altitude, while simultaneously tracking up to 500 targets.

In the first turn, the radar station provides detection of intercontinental ballistic missiles that fly in near space.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that the strike had been carried out on the morning of May 23, 2024. Then the fire started. Nothing was reported about dead and wounded people.

^{Voronezh-DM radar near the settlement of Gluboky, Krasnodar Krai. Photo credits: Google maps}
Such strikes demonstrate a strong spraying of the Russian air defense.

It is also a demonstration of their insufficient number, which is why Ukrainian attack drones have the ability to strike Russian radar stations deep into the country.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that as a result of a missile strike on May 13 on a “secret” air defense base of the Russian Federation in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, the unit commander had been killed.

The fact of his death is the confirmation that the attack on the enemy’s radio engineering complex was successful, as well as certain damage to stationary systems was inflicted.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:32 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Vraag voor de grap de gemiddelde Nederlander eens om naar een onbekende locatie te rijden zonder tomtom met een papieren kaart, ik denk dat 80% verdwaalt.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 23:47 schreef Dubbelzuurrr het volgende:

[..]
En daar weten ze dan 100 man voor op de been te krijgen in een land van 10 miljoen. Met het (huidige) bezoek van Putin aan Belarus in het achterhoofd, zou je bijna denken dat het een signaalfunctie heeft.

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Hungary looking to redefine its NATO membership
Orbán seeks to ensure non-participation in missions outside of the defense alliance’s territory.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday his country was looking to redefine its membership in NATO to ensure the country cannot be involved in operations outside of the military alliance's territory.

"Now a new term has been invented to describe the Hungarian position in NATO, it is called non-participation. We are not a participant now," Orbán said in an interview with Kossuth Radio, according to a report by Hungarian news portal Telex.

"There is the term opt-out ... If we were opt-outs, our participation in NATO's military structure, our position, would change,” Orbán was quoted as saying.

The Hungarian leader said lawyers are working on how Hungary can exist as a member of NATO and not participate in the alliance’s action outside NATO territory, according to the report.

"There's no question of NATO getting involved in wars outside its territory, with non-NATO countries," Orbán was quoted as saying.

SPOILER

quote:

Orbán — who has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin even after Moscow ordered an all-out invasion of Ukraine — has also said Russia cannot win the war against Ukraine. "If the Russians were strong enough to defeat the Ukrainians in one go, they would have been defeated; but that's not what we are seeing," he said.

The Hungarian prime minister added that Russia won’t attack the West. "NATO's strength is not comparable to Ukraine's. It's a hundred times, maybe a thousand times, so I don't think it's logical to assume that Russia, which can't even deal with Ukraine, would suddenly come in and take on the whole Western world," Orbán was quoted as saying.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Hungary’s persistent reluctance to support Ukraine has slowed down several EU decisions on supporting Kyiv, as they often require the consensus of the bloc’s 27 countries.

"How many more weapons will we send? How much more money will we send?" Orbán asked in the interview. "This gives rise to the darkest visions,” he said.

"What is happening today in Brussels and Washington — perhaps more in Brussels than in Washington — is a kind of mood of preparation for a possible direct military conflict; we can safely call it: preparation for Europe to go to war," Orbán warned in the interview.

Hungary’s leader has also cheered former U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid for reelection. Some other EU capitals fear that if Trump wins a second term, Orbán could welcome a potential Trump initiative to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end by striking a peace deal with Moscow and ceding territory that the Kremlin has claimed.

A senior official of a NATO country, granted anonymity to speak freely, said: “It’s not a surprise given his close ties with Trump and Putin. Let’s wait and see what Szijjártó tells us in Prague next week,” referring to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

In July, Hungary takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU, which gives Budapest an influence on the agenda-setting.

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A spy was detained in Romania, who transmitted data through the Russian embassy in Bucharest
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) has detained a Romanian citizen suspected of treason and spying for Russia.

The Romanian publication Digi24 reported on this.

Since 2022, he has reportedly been photographing military convoys and important Romanian and NATO facilities in the municipality of Tulcea, and then sending the information through diplomats at the Russian embassy in Bucharest.

During searches of the detainee’s house, evidence of espionage in favor of Russia was found and seized.

The detention took place with the support of Romanian intelligence, the General Directorate for Defense Intelligence and the Special Intervention Brigade of the Jandarmerie.

SPOILER

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Detention of Russian spies in Europe
On May 21, Militarnyi reported that nine people had been arrested in Poland on suspicion of working for Russian special services and committing a series of sabotage acts in the country.

Nine suspects have been arrested and charged with directly participating in sabotage on the territory of Poland on the instructions of Russian services.

The Polish Prime Minister emphasized that the case concerned several European countries – Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. The Polish Prime Minister added that such signals were also coming from Sweden.

On April 30, it was reported that a German officer accused of spying for Russia had explained his actions by fear of nuclear war.

At the trial in Düsseldorf, the 54-year-old Bundeswehr captain admitted that he had passed military information to the Russians.

German media do not name the soldier, but note that the captain was responsible for electronic warfare systems.

The federal prosecutor’s office, while reading out the indictment, said that the officer’s goal had been to “give the Russian armed forces an advantage against the background of the current political situation.”

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Over 1 million Ukrainians liable for military service update their information using Reserve+ app
Reserve+ is currently the easiest way to update information and is available in 176 countries

More than 1 million Ukrainians liable for military service have updated their information through the Reserve+ mobile app, which will soon include a military registration document with the same legal validity as the paper version, according to the Ministry of Defense press service.

The Ministry of Defense provided a comparison of the number of reservists who updated their information through:

→ Administrative service centers – 40,865;
→ Territorial recruitment centers – 21,735.

Reserve+ is currently the easiest way to update information and is already available in 176 countries.

"It would take the territorial recruitment centers about a year to process one million applications," said Deputy Defense Minister Kateryna Chernohorenko.

Besides Ukraine, the app is most often used in:

→ Poland;
→ Germany;
→ Canada;
→ USA;
→ Czech Republic.

On May 23, the Ministry of Defense recommended that those liable for military service contact territorial recruitment and social support centers if they are marked as wanted in the "Reserve+" mobile application.

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What must happen for Territorial Recruitment Centers to stop catching conscripts on the street?
If all eligible men register for military service, Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs) will stop apprehending potential conscripts on the street, 3rd Separate Assault Brigade deputy commander, Maxym Zhorin, said.

If all eligible men register for military service, Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs) will stop apprehending potential conscripts on the street, 3rd Separate Assault Brigade deputy commander, Maxym Zhorin, told LIGA.net.

"In fact, if we had a proper military registry for all eligible men, we wouldn't have to deal with this process of catching and searching for conscripts," he said.

A comprehensive database of all men who are required to serve would allow the military to efficiently manage conscription.

"We would know each individual's specialty, profession, health status, age, and other relevant information,” he said.

“Based on this data, the army could request the exact number of personnel needed and only conscript those who are necessary, rather than indiscriminately drafting everyone regardless of their condition.”

“Therefore, we are partly to blame for the current situation," Zhorin said.

Once all eligible men are registered, the need to chase and apprehend conscripts will disappear.

"We would be able to directly enlist only those who are needed and in the required numbers," he said.

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Russians evacuate Dzhankoi air base and rebuild airfields deep in Crimea
Russians evacuate some personnel from the Dzhankoi military air base and rebuild airfields deep in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

The ATESH movement reported on this.

Agents of the movement among the Russian Armed Forces report that the evacuation of some personnel from the airfield in Dzhankoi to other facilities deep in the occupied territory has begun.

In addition, active work is underway to restore and possibly modernize old airfields, such as Kirovske (near Feodosia) and Bagerove (near Kerch).

SPOILER

quote:

“However, despite all their efforts, they will not be able to build closed shelters for their aircraft in the near future. The reason is complex technological processes, high construction costs, and significant time costs,” the ATESH movement reported.

The movement adds that the invaders’ actions indicate a desire to disperse their troops and equipment in Crimea before new successful attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Strikes on Dzhankoi
Ukrainian troops regularly carry out missile and drone strikes on the Russian airfields in Crimea, but Dzhankoi is one of the closest to Ukrainian-controlled territory, so it is under constant threat.

Militarnyi reported that on the night of April 17, a military airfield of the 39th Helicopter Regiment of the 4th Guards Army of the Air Force and Air Defense near the city of Dzhankoi in temporarily occupied Crimea had been attacked.

Two US-made MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles reportedly carried out the strike.

Satellite images by Planet Labs show the remains of four S-400 launchers.

In addition, the OSINT community has spotted a vehicle that looked like a 92N6E radar of the S-400 system.

There are also traces of a fire near the ammunition depot at the Russian-held airfield.

quote:

Ukrainian Defenders Destroy Russian Aleut Swamp Buggy

The military of the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed the Russian GAZ-3344-20 Aleut arctic swamp buggy.

Militarnyi reported about this.

Footage of the invaders’ vehicle engulfed in flames was published in a video by the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Russian rover was hit on one of the sections of the front or in the near rear of the enemy.

SPOILER

quote:

Ukrainian special forces do not disclose details of where and when the Aleut was destroyed.

It is also unclear from the SOF video exactly what kind of weapon hit the vehicle.

The footage only shows the vehicle in an open area near forest plantations. The next frame shows the vehicle burning.

Presumably, Aleut was hit by an FPV drone, but this is not known for certain.

Militarnyi reported another case of the destruction of a Russian GAZ-3344-20 vehicle, in March 2022.

The Ukrainian artillery then defeated the position of the Russian invasion forces that were disguised among the trees.

Aleut

GAZ-3344-20 Aleut is a tracked arctic two-lane rover (swamp buggy), capable of performing a wide range of tasks in low temperatures and impassable terrain. The vehicle can be used as a transport vehicle and as a platform for various special equipment. Its release was established in 2012. The swamp buggy can be converted into a command post, medevac, etc. It is mass-produced in limited quantities.

The Russian army uses all-terrain vehicles Aleut to transport personnel in difficult areas. In this case, the front link can carry up to 5 people or 500 kg of cargo. The rear link is made as a 15-seat van. At the same time, its payload reaches 2500 kg.

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Putin hijacked Austria’s spy service. Now he's going after its government
Intelligence officials suspect Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek of colluding with the far-right Freedom Party on Moscow’s behalf.

VIENNA — The coup began with the sound of a doorbell.

Just after 8 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2018, Austrian police Commander Wolfgang Preiszler pressed the buzzer at the headquarters of the country’s domestic intelligence service and held his ID up to the security camera.

Within minutes, dozens of his colleagues armed with Glock pistols and a battering ram fanned out through the building in bullet-proof vests and balaclavas, seizing confidential data stored on the agency’s servers and sensitive documents lying on desks.

The incursion — pitting the police against the spy service, known as the BVT — unleashed a firestorm that shattered Austria’s reputation in the intelligence world and led to the agency’s closure.

More than six years later, the true scope of what transpired that day is only now coming into focus. Intelligence officials tell POLITICO that new evidence suggests the raid was part of a Moscow-led operation to discredit Austria’s spy services in order to rebuild them with new leadership under the Kremlin’s influence. Crucial to that effort, they say, was the junior partner in the government coalition at the time: the far-right, pro-Russia Freedom Party (FPÖ), which today is the most popular party in the country.

Last month, Austrian prosecutors revealed that the men believed to have laid the groundwork for the action were Russian agents directed by Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former chief operating officer of the collapsed payment processing firm Wirecard, who authorities say works for Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

The suggestion of a Moscow-led conspiracy is explosive for a number of reasons. For one, it appears to have nearly succeeded. Were it not for the so-called Ibiza scandal in 2019 (in which the FPÖ’s then-leader was caught on video trying to sell political influence to a woman he believed to be the niece of a Russian oligarch), there may have been nothing to stop the plan from coming to fruition. Instead, the Ibiza affair triggered the government’s collapse, pushing the FPÖ into opposition where it has remained since.

Most worrying, however, is that the man ultimately responsible for the BVT raid, then-Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, now heads the FPÖ — which makes him a leading candidate to become Austria’s next chancellor after elections later this year. Though seasoned political observers insist Austria won’t become a Russian vassal under the FPÖ, a Kickl chancellorship would still play into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands, allowing the Kremlin to exert more influence over the country behind the scenes, and echoing its success in co-opting the likes of Hungary and Serbia.

“Putin would naturally be pleased by the ambiguity about Austria’s position on Ukraine and the EU that Kickl would bring,” said Christian Rainer, a veteran Austrian publisher and commentator. “The danger for Austria is that it would be completely isolated.”

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The honeytrap: How Russia recruited Jan Marsalek
In Marsalek, a well-spoken polyglot who had a taste for adventure and didn’t mind getting his hands dirty, the Russians found a perfect vehicle to infiltrate Austria’s security establishment.

The Vienna-born executive had an unorthodox CV for the No. 2 position in a blue-chip company. After leaving home and ditching school at 19, he joined Wirecard as its chief technology officer in 2000, when the firm’s core business was processing payments for online gambling and pornography.

^{Jan Marsalek | PP Munich}

Like many an espionage career, Marsalek’s began with what is known in the trade as a “honeytrap.” A lifelong bachelor with a reputation as a thrill seeker (one of his Russian handlers later took him to Palmyra in Syria to see the war there up close), Marsalek, then in his mid-30s, was ripe for the taking.

Her name was “Natasha.” An erotic model who had once played a Russian agent in a vampire B-movie called “Red Lips II-Blood Lust,” Natasha, aka Natalia Zlobina, met Marsalek in 2013.

Wirecard’s CEO had dispatched Marsalek to Moscow to drum up business, and he traveled there frequently. A Russian business contact suggested Natasha could help him, and the two hit it off. Investigators suspect that Natasha, with whom Marsalek enjoyed a jet-set life traveling around Europe from St. Tropez to Santorini, played a central role in his recruitment.

At first, Russian intelligence was primarily interested in Marsalek for his connection to Wirecard. Investigators believe the Russians used the firm to launder money, pay off mercenaries and fund other illicit activities. Over time, however, they began to grasp the value of Marsalek’s Austrian connections.

As the capital of a neutral country at the crossroads between East and West, and one that hosts important branches of the United Nations, OPEC and other international organizations, Vienna had long been a hotbed for global espionage. That explains why Russia has more accredited diplomats and Russian support staff in the city — 258 — than almost anywhere else in the world. About one-third, intelligence experts say, are likely spies.

Moreover, Russia likely wanted to spy not just in Austria, but on Austria, for a simple reason: Despite its lack of political clout on the world stage, the country belongs to the EU and has long been within the Western fold (while not a member of NATO, Austria collaborates with the alliance), giving it access to the kind of information Moscow covets.

“Austria is interesting for the Russians because they can use it as a platform for spying operations against other European countries,” said Thomas Riegler, a Vienna-based historian who has written extensively on Austrian intelligence.

Marsalek quickly proved himself willing and able to deliver just what the Russians wanted.

The infiltration of Austria’s spy service
The Vienna-born executive was officially based at Wirecard’s offices in Munich, but from his shadow headquarters — a 19th-century, neo-baroque villa that once belonged to a Bavarian prince — he maintained close ties to his homeland and its political elite.

The villa, situated across the street from the Russian consulate, helped burnish Marsalek’s reputation as a serious player. After meetings there he liked to treat his guests to a meal at nearby Käfer, an exclusive Munich eatery. At one such gathering Marsalek brought together ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel’s former top security adviser, Erich Vad, and Wolfgang Schüssel, the former chancellor of Austria.

By 2015 Marsalek’s connections had led to Martin Weiss, then head of operations for BVT, the domestic intelligence agency. Exactly when and where they met isn’t clear (Weiss claims he first encountered Marsalek in 2015 at a conference organized by the interior ministry), but the relationship would prove fateful for both.

As the head of the agency’s “Section 2,” its operations arm and largest and most important division, Weiss was arguably the best-informed intelligence official in Austria. He and another senior official at the agency, Egisto Ott, would eventually be accused by investigators of funneling information to Marsalek and onward to Moscow.

Ott was arrested on Good Friday this year on suspicion of spying for Russia at Marsalek’s behest. Weiss, Ott’s ex-boss, remains at large in Dubai, where he fled in 2021 with Marsalek’s help. Ott, who is being held in preventive custody, denies any wrongdoing. Weiss could not be reached for comment.

Like most officials at the BVT, Weiss and Ott had a background in law enforcement. Housed within the interior ministry, the BVT’s primary mission was to protect Austria’s constitutional authorities and identify terror threats (hence its unwieldy name: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combatting Terrorism).

Both men began their careers as uniformed policemen in the 1980s and worked their way up the ranks, each joining a special anti-terror unit in the 1990s, where they met. Both came from humble beginnings.

Named for the Greek mythological figure Aegisthus (a notorious schemer), Ott was born to an Italian mother and an Austrian father. Though well-liked among his foreign counterparts, who readily shared confidential information with him, he was less popular within the BVT. Former colleagues describe him as abrasive and a “know-it-all.”

Weiss, meanwhile, was regarded as a shrewd analyst but a distant figure driven by his ambition to reach the top of the agency. Why he decided to collaborate with Marsalek, as authorities allege, remains a mystery.

What is known is that in 2015, Ott, who reported directly to Weiss, began making unauthorized queries in police computers, often inventing fake case numbers to hide his tracks, according to Austrian investigators. The searches typically involved the location of exiled Russians, especially those who had fallen out of favor with the Kremlin.

Weiss would receive requests from Marsalek and pass them on to Ott, who would report back to Weiss, according to investigative files seen by POLITICO. In one case described by investigators, Ott used his network to track down a Russian intelligence officer who defected by circulating his fingerprints and claiming the man was a terror suspect. Though Ott ultimately discovered the former Russian agent’s fake identity, the man managed to avoid assassination.

According to texts he exchanged with Weiss, Ott needed money. Over the years he received hundreds of thousands of euros for providing information, authorities believe. Ott denies this.

Marsalek’s Austro-Russian network and a secret dossier
In late 2015 Weiss went on sick leave after injuring his back. Though he was out of commission for more than a year, during which he had to relinquish control of Section 2, the flow of information continued, with Ott making hundreds of unauthorized queries for Marsalek via Weiss, according to the authorities.

In 2017, after Weiss returned to BVT in a different senior role, the two men undertook a more complicated mission for Marsalek, authorities allege.

^{Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz | Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images}

It was a delicate moment in Austrian politics. The country was in the middle of an election season that promised to remake its political landscape.

After years of a grand coalition led by the Social Democrats, the center-right People’s Party, under a charismatic young leader named Sebastian Kurz, was favored to win the October ballot. Kurz’s likely coalition partner, the far-right FPÖ, was keen to take control of the interior ministry and, with it, the BVT.

For Marsalek, the power shift represented a chance to deepen Russia’s influence at the agency. And he knew just which buttons to push.

Founded in the 1950s by SS veterans, the FPÖ has always deeply resented the political establishment. If Marsalek wanted the FPÖ to go after the BVT, then, all he had to do was convince the party’s leadership that the intelligence deep state was out to get them.

Ott and Weiss, both with their own gripes against the BVT and its leaders, were perfect for the job. In April 2017 an anonymous dossier, which investigators believe was compiled by one or both of the men, began landing in the mailboxes of journalists and prosecutors in installments. The anonymous authors accused the agency’s leadership of corruption on a grand scale, including the mishandling of privileged data and the misuse of public funds for sex parties and other unorthodox pursuits.

Laced with authentic insider details about BVT operations and naming dozens of agency personnel, the dossier seemed credible at first glance, but the accusations didn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Michael Nikbakhsh, one of Austria’s top investigative journalists and a recipient of the dossier, spent weeks probing it only to reach a sobering conclusion. “It was bullshit,” he said. “It all sounded plausible, but it was a mix of fact and fiction.”

For Marsalek, “plausible” was good enough. He had just the vehicle to promote the dossier’s conclusions: the Austro-Russian Friendship Society, of which he was a prominent member.

Founded in the late 1990s to promote closer ties between the two countries, the Friendship Society’s membership included the CEOs of some of Austria’s biggest companies, including oil and gas conglomerate OMV, as well as prominent lawyers, lobbyists, at least one Habsburg, and senior politicians from the country’s major parties, including the FPÖ.

The main target of Marsalek’s campaign was the leader of the FPÖ’s parliamentary group, Johann Gudenus, an impressionable Russophile close to Heinz-Christian Strache, then the party’s leader.

As coalition talks between the People’s Party and the FPÖ were underway, Marsalek peppered Gudenus with negative information about the BVT’s leadership, warning his friend that powerful forces within the security service and aligned with Kurz’s party were trying to undermine the far-right group. To keep his communications secret, Marsalek sent Gudenus messages via one of the founders of the Friendship Society, Florian Stermann.

The FPÖ, Gudenus and Stermann did not respond to requests for comment.

Austria’s far-right vs. the deep state
Marsalek had good reason to undermine the BVT. Ott, his trusty source within the agency, had just been suspended, following a tip from the CIA that he had forwarded work emails to his private account. The authorities had yet to find a smoking gun, but they were closing in.

With the clock ticking, Marsalek made a risky move. In November 2017 he forwarded Gudenus a confidential BVT case number, encouraging him to get his hands on the file and falsely claiming it held sensitive information the agency had collected on the FPÖ.

By the time the FPÖ took control of the interior ministry at the end of 2017, the party’s leadership was convinced the BVT was actively trying to undermine it.

In January 2018, Peter Goldgruber, the newly installed No. 2 official at the interior ministry who reported directly to Kickl, told a prosecutor who handled corruption cases that he had been ordered to “clean up” the ministry, according to notes the prosecutor took on the meeting. His first target: the BVT.

Goldgruber encouraged the prosecutor to pursue a case against the agency’s leaders on the basis of the information contained in Marsalek’s dossier. Though the accusations were vague, a key witness had come forward: Martin Weiss. Ultimately, the prosecutor signed off on a raid.

The next task was to find police officers to carry out the operation. All of the country’s elite units had ties to the BVT leadership, meaning there was a great risk the agency would catch wind of the raid before it happened. Goldgruber settled on Commander Preiszler, a local FPÖ politician who ran a special street-crime unit.

“Good morning, comrade, we’re here for a meeting,” Preiszler told the BVT security guard after he rang the bell. Once inside the first gate, Preiszler’s tone turned less friendly, according to eyewitness accounts, and he ordered the guards to hand over a master key and electronic pass for the premises.

Preiszler knew his destination: “Where is the entrance to Section 2?” he barked at the guards. Once there, he and his officers made a beeline for the unit that investigates right-wing extremism, including organizations with strong ties to the FPÖ, such as the so-called identitarian movement.

The officers didn’t know what to look for, so they grabbed everything they could find, from printed documents to servers and thumb drives. A printout on the desk of the unit’s director was likely of particular interest to Preiszler — an invitation to an event sent by convicted Austrian neo-Nazi Gottfried Küssel, with Preiszler among the invitees. (A former head of the BVT unit described the document, which has gone missing, during a recent parliamentary hearing.)

^{Herbert Kickl was interior minister at the time of the BVT raid | Christian Bruna/Getty Images}

No shots were fired, but by the time Preiszler’s team finished its work that evening, the real target of the operation — the BVT — had been neutralized.

The trouble was that Preiszler’s unit, which spent most of its time chasing drug dealers, was ill-prepared for a search that involved highly classified information.

Among the 40,000 gigabytes of data seized by police during the BVT raid was a copy of the “Neptune Databank,” a hard drive containing years of top-secret information shared with the Austrians by other Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, MI5 and Mossad. (Whether the Russians managed to make a copy of the drive in the chaos that followed the raid isn’t clear.)

If the cloud of suspicion unleashed by the action wasn’t bad enough, the seizure of a top-secret hard drive with information from partner services was crippling. In the fraternity of global intelligence, such an indiscretion, regardless of the circumstances, was unforgivable. The Austrians were soon cut off by their partners.

Marsalek’s plan to remake Austria’s spy services
Marsalek had every reason to be pleased with himself.

The agency was discredited. Its director, Peter Gridling, had been suspended amid the investigation, and Weiss had left the BVT and gone to work for Marsalek directly in Munich out of his villa. Finally, in an unrelated decision, an Austrian court had lifted Ott’s suspension.

Though Ott had been reassigned to another corner of the interior ministry, he still had access to the information Marsalek wanted, and the relationship between the two men continued to pay high dividends.

In the wake of the Salisbury poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal, a former military intelligence officer, and his daughter by a nerve agent known as Novichok, the Hague-based Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons commissioned an analysis.

The Russians were eager to know what the OPCW knew about Novichok. Moscow dispatched several agents to The Hague in early October 2018, according to Dutch authorities. They tried to hack into the OPCW’s computer system but failed.

Ott had more luck. Shortly after the failed Russian effort, he secured a copy of the report, which included the OPCW’s breakdown of the formula for Novichok. Authorities believe Ott handed the report, a copy of which was found on his phone, to Marsalek.

^{Authorities in Austria didn’t move to shut down Marsalek’s network until 2021, and even then didn’t understand its full scope | Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images}

Amid the chaos at the BVT, Moscow moved to fully infiltrate Austria’s security services, the intelligence sources say. Whether the sources based their conclusion on hard evidence or inference isn’t clear. What is clear is that Marsalek was working behind the scenes to reconfigure Austria’s intelligence services under a single “national secret services coordinator.”

In messages to the FPÖ’s Gudenus, Marsalek offered his views on how a new intelligence service should be structured. He even proposed a candidate to lead the new service: the Vienna attorney who had accompanied Weiss when he offered himself up as a witness to the abuses alleged in the dossier.

In addition to “trying to undermine the senior leadership of the BVT, there was an attempt to influence a reform of the BVT in terms of its personnel and organizational structure,” investigators concluded in a summary shared with POLITICO.

At the same time, Ott was working on a blueprint for a new secret service within the foreign ministry, where he would play a central role. “You will definitely be a part of this,” a senior FPÖ MP close to Kickl told Ott in a text exchange recovered by investigators. “We’re going to find a good solution for everyone who has helped here.”

Austria’s foreign minister at the time was Karin Kneissl, a politician known for her friendly stance toward Russia. That summer, in August 2018, her wedding made global headlines after Putin showed up and waltzed with the bride.

The most memorable moment came at the end of the dance, when Kneissl stepped back and bowed before the Russian president.

Vienna tries, and fails, to shut Marsalek down
Before Marsalek could complete his grand plan to rebuild Austria’s intelligence service around his agents, however, Ibiza got in the way.

A private detective released a video showing Strache, then FPÖ leader, offering lucrative government contracts in exchange for campaign help from a woman he believed was the niece of a Russian oligarch.

The hours-long, alcohol-fueled encounter at a finca on the Spanish island had been filmed two years earlier in 2017. But the ensuing scandal enveloped the FPÖ like a wildfire, triggering the government’s collapse and forcing the party from power. With his political allies out of office, Marsalek’s operation collapsed.

By then the Wirecard COO also had bigger worries. The Financial Times had published a series of articles pointing to grave irregularities in the firm’s accounting; the authorities were circling, and investors were fleeing. On June 18, 2020 Wirecard acknowledged that nearly ¤2 billion, one-quarter of its assets, were missing from its accounts.

^{Heinz-Christian Strache was caught on camera offering lucrative government contracts in exchange for campaign help from a woman he believed was the niece of a Russian oligarch | Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images}

Later that day, Marsalek met Weiss at an Italian restaurant for dinner, then quietly left Munich headed for Austria. In Vienna the following evening he took a taxi to an airfield outside the city, where Weiss had arranged for a Cessna to fly Marsalek to Belarus. He has yet to return; investigators believe he went from Minsk to Russia, where he remains.

In most spy tales, that would be the end of the story. Marsalek, however, was far from done. He continued to run both his Austrian cell and a separate London-based ring of Bulgarians, authorities say.

In December 2020 Weiss sent Ott a text message asking him to dig up the address of Christo Grozev, the Bulgarian-born investigative reporter who had helped expose the Novichok poisoning. Ott delivered the info, as well as photos from Grozev’s residence; Marsalek’s Bulgarian team subsequently broke into Grozev’s apartment, stealing thumb drives and a computer.

U.S. intelligence didn’t know about the break-in but had other indications that Grozev was in danger and recommended that he leave Austria, where he had lived with his family for 20 years. He now resides in the U.S.

Authorities in Austria didn’t move to shut down Marsalek’s network until 2021, and even then didn’t understand its full scope. After investigators pieced together his escape and discovered that Weiss, with the help of a former FPÖ politician, had arranged the private flight to Minsk, police arrested the former BVT official on Jan. 22 of that year.

Weiss defended his role in helping Marsalek, arguing there wasn’t an arrest warrant out for his boss at the time. He admitted to engaging Ott to dig up information on dozens of names but downplayed the significance.

After keeping him in custody for two days, the authorities, who didn’t have enough to charge him, let Weiss go under the condition that he cooperate with the investigation. Instead, with Marsalek’s help, he jumped on the next flight to Dubai.

“I just managed to evacuate my Austrian guy to Dubai,” Marsalek wrote to one of his Bulgarian agents that day. “That was quite an adventure as well. We were worried they’d arrest him again at the airport.”

Some in the BVT speculate that Weiss turned against the agency out of anger because he wasn’t promoted to deputy director. But Gridling, the agency’s former chief, says Weiss didn’t even apply for that position. Running Section 2 was the job Weiss spent years trying to land, he said.

“I find it difficult to explain his actions,” Gridling added. “If he had been patient, he could have been director one day.”

Shortly after Weiss was arrested in early 2021, the police also took Ott into custody. After officers broke through the door Ott tried unsuccessfully to destroy his phone, according to police. After six weeks in detention he, too, was released pending an investigation.

^{Putin has never made his interest in Austria a secret | Gavrill Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images}

Though authorities suspected the Russians had had a hand in Weiss and Ott’s dealings, it wasn’t until late last year that they discovered the depth of Moscow’s involvement. In September, British counterintelligence broke up an alleged U.K.-based spy ring of six Bulgarians that authorities say worked for Marsalek.

As part of the U.K. probe, investigators stumbled on chat communications between the ring’s alleged leader, Orlin Roussev, and Marsalek that pointed to intensive engagement by Moscow.

Most surprising was that Ott appeared to have continued to work for Marsalek unabated even after his 2021 arrest. In June 2022, for example, he allegedly handed over three mobile phones that had belonged to senior Austrian officials to Marsalek’s Bulgarian crew. Ott acquired the phones from a former colleague in the BVT, according to Austrian law enforcement.

According to the chat communications recovered by British authorities, Marsalek was in constant contact with his agents during their Austria visit, even asking one to purchase two Sachertorte, the Viennese chocolate cake, on their way home.

A few months later, Ott delivered a so-called SINA laptop, a highly encrypted computer used by German intelligence, to Marsalek’s helpers in return for ¤20,000, authorities say. Police discovered two more of the laptops during a search of Ott’s home.

What an FPÖ government would mean for Europe
Ott, whose latest arrest came as a result of the information U.K. authorities provided to the Austrians, is unlikely to be released from prison soon, Austrian officials say.

That might be wishful thinking.

Kickl, who was interior minister at the time of the BVT raid, now leads the FPÖ; with a national election due before the end of the year, the party has a comfortable lead in the polls.

If the FPÖ wins and forms a government, both Ott and Weiss, who remains in Dubai (which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Austria), may yet get a reprieve.

The bigger question for Europe is what an FPÖ-led government would mean for Vienna and its broader relationship with Moscow. Austria’s critics argue that the country is already dangerously dependent on Russia. The center-right government might take a tough line on Moscow in public, they say, but has dragged its feet when it comes to disentangling Austria’s economy from Russia.

^{Herbert Kickl (right) and Peter Goldgruber arrive for an EU-Interior Ministers Conference on Security and Migration | Hans Punz/AFP via Getty Images}

The country has been slow to wean itself off Russian energy despite persistent pressure from Brussels and Washington, for example. In the financial sector, Austrian-owned Raiffeisen Bank International continues to operate one of the largest retail banks in Russia, despite a longstanding pledge to withdraw.

If Moscow really was behind the effort to take over Austria’s spy service, as Western intelligence officials claim, it’s clear that the Russians regard the country as an important prize and are willing to go to great lengths to influence its politics.

In the Kremlin’s effort, Kickl and the FPÖ proved at worst eager accomplices and at best useful idiots. Though Kickl hasn’t been as overtly pro-Russian as some of his colleagues, he has been a vocal opponent of European sanctions against Moscow and critical of Western military support for Ukraine.

With Kickl as chancellor, it’s a safe bet that Vienna would pursue even closer economic ties with Moscow. And with both Slovakia and Hungary already leaning toward Russia, Austria’s entry into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence would create a Putin-friendly bloc stretching from the Carpathians to the Eastern Alps, posing a fundamental challenge to European security.

If the rest of Europe is surprised by the Austrian turn, it shouldn’t be: Putin has never made his interest in the country a secret. In 2018, just months after the BVT raid, he accepted an invitation from the Austro-Russian Friendship Society to celebrate 50 years of Russian gas deliveries to the country. Several weeks later, he returned for Kneissl’s wedding. (Describing herself as a “political refugee,” the former foreign minister has since left Austria and now runs a think tank in St. Petersburg.)

“We’ve had very good and close relations with Austria for a long time,” Putin told Austrian television just months after the raid on the BVT. “Austria has traditionally been a reliable partner for us in Europe.”

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Partisans Uncover Russian T-72 Tanks and Infantry Fighting Vehicles in Occupied Crimea Freight Station
Recently, Atesh partisans have frequently observed Russian military equipment in Crimea, including tampering with tanks stationed at the Yevpatoria railway station.

The Atesh partisan movement reported on Telegram the unloading of a train carrying Russian military equipment at a freight station in Yevpatoria, occupied Crimea, including a platoon of T-72 tanks.

A new T-72 tank ranges from $3-4 million, depending on the configuration, while an older Soviet T-72 can cost as little as half a million dollars.

The partisans published photos also showing BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. This equipment was discovered by an Atesh agent during reconnaissance.

The guerillas also spotted the unloading of wagons with ammunition.

“The occupiers are hiding behind civilian infrastructure, but we are monitoring the movements of the Russian military,” the partisans said. “We know exactly where to strike, and we share this information with the right people.”

In recent times, the Atesh partisans have frequently observed Russian military equipment in Crimea. Earlier instances include their tampering with Russian tanks stationed at the Yevpatoria railway station.

In late February the partisans documented the arrival of a significant fleet of Russian tanks at the Yevpatoria railway station. Atesh closely monitored the unloading process at Yevpatoria's Tovarna station, identifying more than 30 T-62 tanks. These Soviet-era models, produced before 1975, are now considered decommissioned in Russia.

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The Russian military dropped four more bombs on the Belgorod region in two days

Russian military aviation dropped four more high-explosive aerial bombs (FAB) on the Belgorod region in two days, sources in the region’s emergency services told the Astra telegram channel .

According to them, on May 22, a FAB-250 was found near a residential building on Lesnaya Street in the village of Yasnye Zori, Belgorod District. Residents of the street were evacuated.

The next day, May 23, FAB-250 fell on the territory of a hunting farm in the village of Polyana in the Shebekinsky urban district. On the same day, two more FAB-500s were discovered near the village of Pristen in the same district. There were no casualties in any case.

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Before this, Russian bombs fell on the suburbs of Belgorod on the day of the collapse of a high-rise building - May 12. Two FAB-500s fell on the village of Razumnoye-54 eight hours apart. The place where the bombs fell was located less than 8 km from the house on Shchorsa Street, 55A, where the entrance collapsed on the same day as a result of an ammunition hit. Both FABs buried themselves in the ground and did not explode.

On May 4, a Russian plane dropped a FAB-500 on Belgorod, as a result of which 7 people were injured, 31 households and 10 cars were damaged. The authorities hid the reason for the bomb's fall and did not admit that it was Russian.

According to The Insider's calculations , in 2024, abnormal falls of Russian aircraft ammunition were recorded in the Belgorod region 39 times: 38 different modifications of the FAB and one X-59 missile. FABs fell at least twice in Belgorod.

In total, according to Astra’s calculations, Russia has dropped 59 FABs on its regions and the occupied territories of Ukraine over the past three months.

“It is impossible to confirm whether such incidents occur due to poor procedures in arming the aircraft before departure or improper crew actions during missions. It’s probably a combination of both,” noted the UK Ministry of Defense. They also admitted that the increase in the frequency of such cases may indicate fatigue of Russian air and ground personnel and their insufficient

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In Buryatia, police killers were released to fight in the war with Ukraine a year after the verdict
Former police officers from Buryatia Evgeny Inkin and Dmitry Istomin, who received 17 and 18 years in prison for the rape and murder of two girls, signed contracts with the Russian army and went to war in Ukraine, People of Baikal report .

The release of Istomin and Inkin became known at the meeting of the Eighth Court of Cassation on May 22, at which the appeal against the verdict was considered. The convicts were not present at the trial, since by this time they had already been sent to the front. At the same time, the court upheld the guilty verdict for both.

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The murder of the girls, for which the police were accused, occurred 22 years ago in the village of Klyukvennaya Pad in Buryatia. The victims of Istomin and Inkin were 17-year-old Zhenya Shekunova and 18-year-old Katya Pateyuk. According to local residents, the girls communicated with the police. Before their disappearance, they were seen near the police station in the village of Selenginsk.

Immediately after the girls disappeared, fishermen noticed a police UAZ near Klyukvennaya Padya. Later, local residents discovered the corpses of girls there, and next to the pit in which they lay, traces of a car of the same make.

According to investigators, two police officers and another man, whose identity could not be established, were drinking with the girls. A quarrel ensued between them, during which the security forces hacked the girls to death with an ax.

The criminal case was suspended several times due to the lack of suspects. In 2002, Inkin and operative of the Selenga police department Alexander Popov kidnapped witness Ekaterina Ponomareva and tried to drown her. The investigation was resumed only in 2019: then Inkin and Istomin were arrested in connection with the case.

In March 2022, the Kabansky District Court acquitted the security forces based on the jury’s verdict. The state prosecution and the relatives of the victims filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of the republic, which overturned the decision of the district court and sent the case for a new trial. In 2023, the Sovetsky District Court of Ulan-Ude sentenced Inkin to 17 years, and Istomin to 18 years in a maximum security colony. Popov was given 5 years, but was released from punishment after the statute of limitations had expired.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 03:04 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.moscowtimes.e(...)-za-dva-dnya-a131742
[..]

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 07:51 schreef Ulx het volgende:

Hebben die gasten geen GPS of z....oh wacht....

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 09:08 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
De Russen hebben natuurlijk GLONASS...

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 09:08 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
De Russen hebben natuurlijk GLONASS...

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Oekraïener (33) die Thierry Baudet sloeg met paraplu in Gent, hoeft niet voor rechter te verschijnen

GENT - De man die Thierry Baudet (FvD) vorig jaar tijdens een lezing in het Belgische Gent aanviel met een paraplu, hoeft niet voor de rechter te verschijnen.
De 33-jarige Oekraïener komt er vanaf met een waarschuwing en strikte voorwaarden.

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hij had met een hamer moeten slaan

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 10:08 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ x ]

De jammers werken niet overal even goed.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 12:09 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

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Dat is dan heel jammer voor ze

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 12:18 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Jammers sturen ook straling uit (duh). Het is dus ook mogelijk om daar weer maatregelen tegen te nemen. Het zal wel neerkomen op radarzoekers als die in de HARM zitten aan te passen en in een GLSDB te zetten. Staat er een jammer bij het doel gaat die als eerste de lucht in. Pakken de gewone het doel wel. Kost je een of twee extra raketjes, maar het zij zo.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 09:22 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Blijkbaar levert die dan niet altijd de juiste coördinaten.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 20:08 schreef Discombobulate het volgende:

[..]
Gaan we weer een patstelling in. En als het spul weer op is weer even wat erbij. En dan weer een patstelling in.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 12:18 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Kost je een of twee extra raketjes, maar het zij zo.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 12:18 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Jammers sturen ook straling uit (duh). Het is dus ook mogelijk om daar weer maatregelen tegen te nemen. Het zal wel neerkomen op radarzoekers als die in de HARM zitten aan te passen en in een GLSDB te zetten. Staat er een jammer bij het doel gaat die als eerste de lucht in. Pakken de gewone het doel wel. Kost je een of twee extra raketjes, maar het zij zo.

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Special JDAM-ER with Anti-EW Homing Head are Prepared to Transfer from U.S. to Ukraine

With the update from May 3rd, 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a $23.5 million contract awarded to Scientific Applications and Research Associates (SARA) company for "the acquisition of Home-on GPS Jam seekers" and the "integration of the extended range seekers into existing Joint Direct Attack Munition wing kits," The Drive reports with reference to the official release.

Such an enhanced weapon not only will be resistant to electronic warfare devices but also able to use the jamming signals against them by locking on the source of emissions as the target. The terms of the contract provide, in particular, that part of the ordered kits will be supplied to Ukraine, however, without detailing the exact quantity and delivery deadlines.

As noted by The Drive journalists, there is little public data about the Home-on GPS (or HOJ) kits. The first public appearance dates to 2018, when the SARA company announced the creation of kits for countering and defeating enemy electronic warfare equipment and its readiness to supply the product. The manufacturer revealed only the following details: the HOJ is compact enough, costs 10 times cheaper than its predecessors, and its component base allows for easy integration into guidance systems of any available precision-guided weapons for aircraft.

Importantly, such a technological innovation was at least tested under proving ground conditions. In December 2020, the U.S. Air Force conducted tests as part of the Golden Horde smart munitions program, during the trials the U.S. military practiced dropping a "swarm" of GBU-39/B guided aerial bombs, each of the munitions was equipped with a HOJ sensor by SARA. The results of these tests were considered successful.

The journalists note that the Pentagon awarded the contract for Home-on GPS anti-missile defense kits shortly after U.S. Under Secretary of Defense William LaPlante admitted that GLSDB bombs proved ineffective on the battlefield in Ukraine, precisely because of radio-electronic countermeasures deployed by russian forces.

At the same time, interestingly, the authors of this website don't rule out the possibility that the HOJ kits for the Ukrainian Armed Forces may in the future be integrated into AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 19:39 schreef skysherrif het volgende:
[ x ]

doei

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:21 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
SARA HOJ Subsystem.
[..]

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Op vrijdag 24 mei 2024 14:23 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

Volgens mij was dit systeem juist ontwikkeld om dergelijke raketten te kunnen onderscheppen. Dus de beste Ru luchtafweer kan niet eens verouderde raketten neerhalen terwijl de 33 jaar oude Patriots wel de meest moderne Ru hypersonische raketten kunnen neerhalen.

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In general, I received comprehensive information on this incident ; in fact, it differs from what I assumed only in small details, and not in essence. Publicly, I can only add that the entire S-400 crew is alive due to the fact that the time has already been calculated when it is already pointless to fight against the ATACMS of its target and there is time for the personnel to take cover. There were officially 7 missiles, 5 of them were shot down, 1 worked.

Well, the most important thing is that this bug will be fixed in the very near future. And besides, the list of air defense systems capable of working with such ballistics will expand significantly.

Once again, I cannot help but note the legion of stubborn domestic idiots who are experts in fake videos, correct starts, splices and other revelations. They really are already doing more harm than crests.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:36 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Ik zag op het filmpje ook maar een inslag en er zijn voor zover ik kan beoordelen zes S400 missiles verschoten, er zullen gerust meer ATACMS die kant zijn opgegaan natuurlijk.

Fighterbomber heeft het volgende te melden iig:
[..]
Of die aantallen kloppen weet je natuurlijk ook niet maar als er zes missiles verschoten worden dan kun je er wel vanuit gaan dat er meerdere ATACMS onderweg waren.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:36 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Ik zag op het filmpje ook maar een inslag en er zijn voor zover ik kan beoordelen zes S400 missiles verschoten, er zullen gerust meer ATACMS die kant zijn opgegaan natuurlijk.

Fighterbomber heeft het volgende te melden iig:
[..]
Of die aantallen kloppen weet je natuurlijk ook niet maar als er zes missiles verschoten worden dan kun je er wel vanuit gaan dat er meerdere ATACMS onderweg waren.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:58 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ x ]

T-90 """breakthrough"""

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 12:06 schreef TLC het volgende:
https://nos.nl/collectie/(...)-ii-niet-meer-gezien

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Terugkerende Russische soldaten zijn een bom onder bewind van Poetin: zorgen zij dat de oorlog stopt?

RUSLAND - Er komen steeds vaker signalen uit het Kremlin dat president Vladimir Poetin bereid zou zijn de oorlog in Oekraïne te bevriezen. Hij is hoogst onbetrouwbaar, maar de president heeft redenen genoeg om de strijd te willen staken.

SPOILER

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Heeft Poetin niet als einddoel heel Oekraïne te „bevrijden”?

Natuurlijk wilde hij oorspronkelijk heel Oekraïne onder de voet lopen en in Kiev zoals vanouds een pro-Kremlinregime installeren. Zelfs in het Kremlin beseft men dat dat nu onrealistisch is. Er is maar één manier om te proberen Oekraïne in te nemen en dat is door een algemene mobilisatie, zoals milbloggers al lang zeggen. Maar dat durft Poetin niet, uit angst voor mogelijke sociale onrust. Volgens meerdere hooggeplaatste anonieme bronnen in het Kremlin zou de president bereid zijn de huidige frontlijnen te bevriezen. Het is geen spontane biecht, maar een signaal. Net zoals president Poetin eerder deze week er zelf een gaf. Hij benadrukte dat er al een kader bestaat waarop kan worden verder gewerkt, de Istanboel-akkoorden.

Wat houden die Istanboel-akkoorden in?


Een Russische en Oekraïense delegatie zaten in april 2022 al – na niet eens twee maanden oorlog – dicht bij een staakt-het-vuren. Oekraïne zou niet toetreden tot de NAVO, geen buitenlandse militaire basissen toelaten en geen kernwapens mogen bezitten. Tegen het EU-lidmaatschap was geen bezwaar. Loehansk en Donetsk zouden binnen Oekraïne een speciaal statuut met grote autonomie krijgen. Over de Krim zou in de komende tien tot vijftien jaar een onderhandeld akkoord komen.

Cruciaal in het plan was dat de veiligheid van Oekraïne zou worden gegarandeerd door een aantal permanente leden van de VN-Veiligheidsraad waaronder de VS, Frankrijk en het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Die zouden militair tussenbeide moeten komen als de Russische beer nog eens klauwde. Het akkoord kapseisde na de volkswoede over de massamoord op burgers in het Oekraïense Boetsja. Toen Moskou ook de aftocht blies aan Kiev, groeide het gevoel bij Volodimir Zelenski en het Westen dat Oekraïne toch niet kansloos was.

Waarom komt het Kremlin net nu met de vredesboodschap?

De internationale druk op Rusland dreigt groter te worden. In juni is er in Zwitserland een bijeenkomst van vijftig landen waarbij zal worden geprobeerd de contouren van vredesgesprekken te schetsen. De coalitie rond Oekraïne kan zo groter worden en bestaat dan uit meer dan westerse landen.

Moskou wil die top beïnvloeden. Omdat het zelf niet is uitgenodigd, stuurt het eigen voorstellen de wereld in. In het Westen gelooft niemand nog dat Kiev alle Russen uit het land zal krijgen. Woensdag nog zei de Bulgaarse premier – een trouwe bondgenoot – dat Oekraïne de strijd op het terrein onmogelijk kan winnen. Dat het iets zal moeten opofferen, wordt in de coulissen in de westerse hoofdsteden ook vaker gefluisterd.
De signalen moeten ook werken als een tijdbom. In het Kremlin zet men al het geld in op een verkiezingsoverwinning van Donald Trump. Zelenski zal dan onder druk worden gezet om gebied prijs te geven in ruil voor vrede. Toen de Britse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken David Cameron in maart Trump opzocht, zei hij tegen Trump volgens zakenkrant The Times: „De beste omstandigheid waarin jij als president een deal kan sluiten, is om ervoor te zorgen dat beide partijen erin slagen hun posities te behouden en daar een zware prijs voor betalen.” Wat de bronnen in het Kremlin fluisteren, ligt dan ook niet zo ver van wat Cameron suggereerde.

Het moment is toch vreemd. Rusland boekt al een tijd terreinwinst?

Die terreinwinst komt goed van pas om zich nu als de vredesduif te presenteren. Zelenski staat onder druk, de twijfel bij het Westen over de overlevingskansen groeit. Maar de terreinwinst blijft ook bescheiden en kost Rusland veel. Er zijn grote kopzorgen in het Kremlin. Daar heeft men ook gemerkt dat Kiev zo langzaam krijgt wat het wil. Er worden nu geregeld Amerikaanse Atacms-raketten gebruikt om belangrijke strategische doelwitten achter de linies te raken. Kiev heeft niet alleen de langeafstandversie gekregen, maar ook die met de zwaarste explosieve lading. Een soort bunkerbuster, zorgde voor het zinken aan de Krim maandag van de Russische Tsiklon, een korvet met kruisraketten.

Steeds meer Westerse landen gaan ermee akkoord dat hun wapens tegen doelen in Rusland worden gebruikt. Bovendien stemmen steeds meer westerse landen in met het sturen van manschappen naar Oekraïne, weliswaar ver van het front. Dat verhoogt de kans op een escalatie.
Stel dat het ondenkbare toch gebeurt en er komt een treffen met de NAVO, dan is Rusland in een conventionele oorlog kansloos. Het zit door zijn beste manschappen heen, het materiaal wordt elke dag verder gesloopt en de superieure wapens blijken toch niet zo goed. Rusland zou volgens Londen bijvoorbeeld elke maand 120 tanks verliezen. Ze sturen er elke dag nog een 100-tal naar het front. Echter zijn dat geen nieuwe, maar opgelapte of oude exemplaren. Poetin zal tijd nodig hebben om zijn leger weer op het niveau van voor 2022 te brengen.

Poetin koos toch voor de uitputtingsslag die Oekraïne uiteindelijk op de knieën moet krijgen?

Met de komst van de nieuwe minister van Defensie Andrej Belooesov, een econoom, zit er een cijferaar aan zijn zijde. Die weet dat deze oorlog niet eeuwig te betalen is. Het internationaal agentschap voor energie schat dat de olie-inkomsten binnen vijf tot zeven jaar zullen halveren wegens gebrek aan innovatie en herstellingen. Oekraïne is die infrastructuur ook systematisch aan het slopen. De oorlogseconomie waaraan wordt gebouwd, mag dan goed zijn voor de groeicijfers, ze zuigt ook alle energie en geld weg van de reguliere economie én de maatschappij.
telegraaf.nl

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 14:41 schreef MaxMark het volgende:

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Het "break" gedeelte hebben ze al onder de knie.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 14:56 schreef RamboDirk het volgende:

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SPOILER

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:49 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
Het is een bug 😂 Goede copium weer.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 13:41 schreef MaxMark het volgende:

Hoeveel missiles schiet men "doorgaans" af op één doel? Kan het bv. zijn dat ze 2-3 missiles per inkomende ATACMS afvuren?

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METHODS OF FIRE

2-32. The operational environment, level of protection required, and time considerations determine the
method of fire used by ADA units during engagements. Methods of fire are the firing options for air
defense artillery interceptors employed against aerial threats. There are four methods of fire: shoot-new
target-shoot, shoot-look-shoot, ripple, and salvo. The method of fire selected provides the statistical
probability of achieving the defense design goals, such as achieving less than 10-percent leakage,

-Shoot-new target-shoot. A shot (missile launched or volley of gun rounds fired) is taken against
one threat, and the shooter immediately is assigned to a different target without consideration of
the effect of the preceding shot. This method of fire primarily applies to fire-and-forget weapons
(such as Stinger) in heavy saturating attacks or when the engagement timeline does not permit a
re-engagement of the threat just engaged.

-Shoot-look-shoot. After the first shot has been fired, the operator/gunner/system evaluates the
engagement. If the target is not destroyed and the operational environment and time permits,
another shot is fired.

-Ripple. Two or more missiles or volleys of gun rounds are fired in predetermined intervals from
the same or multiple launchers or guns based upon the threat. This method of fire is used to achieve
a desired probability of engagement effectiveness or to negate threat tactics (for example, one shot
fired against a ballistic missile at relatively high altitudes before aerodynamic maneuvers are likely
and one fired at medium altitudes after aerodynamic maneuvers have likely been completed).

-Salvo. Two missiles or volleys of gun rounds are fired near-simultaneously from different
launchers or guns. This method is used if there is insufficient time for a shoot-look-shoot or ripple
engagement and when multiple engagements are necessary to achieve the desired probability of
engagement effectiveness

FIRING DOCTRINE

2-33. Firing doctrine is the application of the methods of fire to achieve the required level of
engagement effectiveness. It is implemented in accordance with the priority of the defended assets and the
number of available interceptors relative to the number of attackers. It may have situational variations from
the method of fire selected.

2-34. Patriot, for example, may select ripple fire against a ballistic missile that is part of a massed raid. The
first shot of the ripple will occur in accordance with the selected method of fire. The second shot may be
preempted by the need to shoot higher priority threats. THAAD may use a shoot-look-shoot, but may conduct
the first or the last shot as a ripple fire or salvo fire depending upon engagement timelines and supporting
ballistic missile defense fires.

quote:

The common SHOOT–LOOK–SHOOT method, in which a second round of defenders is launched based on the kill assessment of the first round of defenders, is usually efficient in defending strategic or tactical targets against a salvo attack. However, using this method is not always practical due to time constraints. In the presented study, the alternative SHOOT–SHOOT–LOOK method is investigated, and an algorithm for its implementation is derived. Solutions to three main problems that arise while applying this method are presented: finding the optimal locations of the defending missiles for the second SHOOT stage, updating the locations of the defenders during the LOOK stage, and deriving the optimal allocation plan of the defending missiles to the attacking missiles. The solutions are based on a probabilistic analysis of the expected miss distance, between each pair of defender and attacker, which is dependent on the guidance law of the defender and geometry of the engagement. The results show that the algorithm can increase the probability of the defended target surviving the salvo attack, or alternatively, it can reduce the number of defenders needed to reach a given level of protection.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 16:09 schreef TwenteFC het volgende:
Rusland is FAB bommen aan het gooien op meerdere burgerdoelen door Kharkiv heen. Sowieso al meerdere bommen op een grote supermarkt maar er worden meerdere explosies gehoord.

En het westen gaat moeilijk doen of Oekraïne al dan niet een militair vliegveld van ze mag bestoken met Taurus oid

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 16:50 schreef polderturk het volgende:
Oekraïners hebben ook glidebommen.

[ x ]

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 17:12 schreef Discombobulate het volgende:

[..]
Helaas worden die makkelijk ge-jammed en zijn ze een stuk minder waard: https://nos.nl/collectie/(...)ssische-verstoringen

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 17:20 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Dus je beweert dat Rusland dit soort doelen met opzet kiest.

[ x ]

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 17:28 schreef oheng het volgende:
Chinese PLA huurling vertelt over zijn ervaring in het russische leger.

A former PLA soldier hired by Russians gives a reality check on Russia-Ukraine war

quote:

Spinning Turret Syndrome: The Disastrous Bug In Russia’s Most Modern Tank

^{Russian T-90M "Breakthrough" parading through Red Square in Moscow. The tanks have been less impressive in action in Ukraine due to a problem with uncontrolled turret rotation.AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES}

The T-90M "Breakthrough" is Russia’s most modern, most advanced battle tank, and, according to Vladimir Putin at least, "the best tank in the world."

It has the latest version of a 125mm gun with stabilization and a ballistics computer, sophisticated multilayered compound armor with additional explosive reactive armor and an advanced electronic suite with panoramic sights, thermal imaging and encrypted digital communications.

It looks great, but in action the T-90M has a flaw not seen in earlier Russian tanks: even minor damage causes the turret to start spinning uncontrollably, making it incapable of further combat. This embarrassing bug, 'spinning turret syndrome' might help explain the numerous combat losses, as well as why there are so many abandoned T-90Ms which are demolished by drone bombs dropped through open hatches.

SPOILER

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“Breakthrough” Versus Bradley
The most famous case of turret spin happened in a famous duel between a T-90M and a pair of Ukrainian M2 Bradleys. The Bradleys hit the Russian tank with rapid 25mm cannon fire in a bold but, in theory, hopeless move: the T-90M’s heavy frontal armor ought to shrug off small-caliber threats. However, after a few hits the tank’s turret started rotating in a clockwise direction and kept going (from 0:37 in the video below).

The turret rotation meant the Russians had no chance of accurately returning fire; their vehicle was simply a target. The turret kept spinning until the gun barrel impacted a tree which physically stopped it. The tank was later destroyed by a drone.

US Bradley IFV Destroy Russian T-90M tank. The Most Intense Tank Battle in Avdiivka #warinukraine

There are a number of other examples — this one , from May 10th in which a T-90M is struck by a series of FPV kamikazes. When the second one hits, the turret starts going round clockwise. It pauses briefly, presumably as the crew try to get it under control, but starts again and keeps going until the tank has halted and it looks like the engine is off.

In another case from December, an FPV strike on the turret of a T-90M causes what looks like superficial damage, bringing down the roof screen — and setting the turret rotating in a clockwise direction. The crew quickly abandon their vehicle which is destroyed soon after by another drone.

In yet another example, also from December, another T-90M driving down a road comes under FPV attack. The first strike has no effect, after the second the turret again starts turning clockwise. After a cut in the video the tank is seen abandoned.

This syndrome does not seem to affect other Russian tank types. So what is putting T-90Ms in a spin?

Dead Man Turning?

^{Some suggest that a crew member falling on this control causes turret rotation WIKIMEDIA COMMONS}

One theory is that minor hits are actually penetrating the turret and killing or injuring a crew member who slumps forward over the controls. This theory says the position of the levers to control the turret mean that someone pitching on to them always causes clockwise rotation.

The idea prompted some online discussion about the exact layout of T-90M controls. We do know that even small FPVs can punch holes in tank turrets and injure the crew without destroying the tank. So the idea is theoretically feasible, except for one significant piece in evidence.

In all of the examples above, all three crew members can later be seen getting out of the tank, all seemingly uninjured. This is a testimony to how survivable the T-90M is, and show that nobody has been left dead or unconscious in the turret.

A second explanation, put forward by a now-deleted Reddit contributor, is that the problem is related to the fire control system. Like other modern tanks, the T-90M’s gun has automated aiming which rotates the turret to keep the gun locked on to a designated target. The theory says that damage to the optics sends a false signal to the fire control system, causing the turret to spin uncontrollably.

^{An external component of the Shtora-1 laser protection system. BOEVAYA MASHINA}

A third, similar explanation relates to the tank’s defensive suite. As with some other advanced tanks, the T-90M has a laser warning receiver, adapted from earlier Shtora system. This gives an alarm when the tank is illuminated by a laser, for example the targeting laser that guides a Hellfire missile. In addition to the warning, the system automatically slews the turret around so the gun is facing the threat, and fires off special flares to confuse laser guidance. Again, the sensors are external, so any damage might cause a false signal leading to turret rotation.

Unlike previous Russian tanks, the T-90M has an electrical turret traverse rather than a hydraulic one. This is similar to the system in modern tanks like the U.S. Abrams, and is significantly faster than the older hydraulic setup. But others have suggested the electrical circuit is the cause of the problem, if a certain level of shock causes a short and sends it haywire.

An Expensive Glitch

^{This T-90M was abandoned with no sign of external damage, until a drone from Shadow Division dropped a grenade into it. SHADOW UNIT}

In recent weeks alone we have seen several abandoned T-90Ms destroyed by grenades dropped from Ukrainian drones. The hatches had been left open and the crew apparently left in good order. These tanks do not appear to have had their tracks destroyed by anti-tank mines, one of the commonest causes of immobilization. Some appear to be stuck in craters or ditches but others are in the open. Given that they were within drone range, they would also be within range of FPV strikes and may have suffered rotation-inducing strikes which effectively disabled them.

^{Turtle tanks like this T-62 conversion cannot rotate their turrets so uncontrolled spin is not an issue THE ARMOURER'S BENCH}

An obvious way to stop turret spin would be to convert the T-90Ms into ‘turtle tanks.’ These are field improvisations which add an armored superstructure which covers the entire vehicle, giving it the appearance of a mobile shed. The additional armor is intended to mitigate the effect of FPV attacks. It also adds weight, reduces visibility — and prevents the turret rotating. This modification has been seen on T-72s, T-80s and T-62s. Adding turtle shells to T-90Ms would certainly end the turret spin problem, at the cost of turning the T-90M into an assault shed rather than a tank capable of fighting other vehicles.

The exact price of a T-90M is not known; one commonly-quoted figure puts them at around $4.5m, but in Russia’s distorted economy, estimating actual cost is not simple. Certainly they are only being made in small numbers, perhaps as low as 5-10 a month, at Russia’s only tank factory. Each time this little bug occurs, it costs the Russians millions of dollars of their best hardware. Sometimes more sophisticated is not better.

quote:

Hopes grow of G7 deal to support Ukraine with $300bn in frozen Russian assets
Foreign ministers confident of agreement to use bank assets as security for Ukraine reconstruction loan

Hopes of a multi-country deal to use $300bn of Russian state assets frozen in the European banking system to support Ukraine have grown after it emerged that G7 ministers were confident of overcoming technical and political obstacles at a meeting in northern Italy on Saturday.

The Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, said she was optimistic that G7 leaders would reach an agreement, as support coalesced around a plan to use frozen Russian central bank assets as security for a $50bn (£39bn) loan.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations gathered in Stresa, Italy, have been in discussions to thrash out a plan to present to national leaders for final agreement at a summit in mid-June.

About $300bn (£235bn) belonging to the Russian central bank has been frozen in the west, largely in foreign currency, gold and government bonds. About 70% of this is held in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, which is holding the equivalent of £162bn.

The US is estimated to have $40bn-$60bn worth of Russian assets, and the UK closer to £25bn, but no official figure has been disclosed.

SPOILER

quote:

Ukraine has been pushing for access to the funds to help finance the reconstruction of its battered infrastructure, freeing up other loans and grants to buy extra weaponry in the war with Russia. Russia recently opened a new front north of Kharkiv and consolidated its position in the south, thwarting Ukrainian advances.

The British foreign secretary, David Cameron, has previously said the UK was in favour of lending Ukraine the entire sum on the basis that Russia will be forced to pay reparations at the end of the war.

Freeland said the group was working on a “collaborative approach” where all partners could find agreement.

Her comments came after the World Bank president, Ajay Banga, said he was “absolutely” open to the idea of managing a G7 loan fund for Ukraine backed by the earnings from frozen Russian sovereign assets.

Speaking at the finance ministers’ meeting, Banga said the World Bank had ample experience in managing similar non-military donor fund facilities, including one for Afghanistan. It could “replicate” that work for a Ukraine loan, he said.

The Italian finance minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, struck a similarly positive note, saying he was “optimistic” on this “key issue” and that the hope was to present the G7 leaders with a plan.

However, Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, a centre-right member of the Berlin coalition government, was more equivocal: “There are many unresolved issues, many unanswered questions here. I don’t expect any decisions to be made; the matter is too complex for that. There are still far too many questions open.”

Campaigners say all of the funds should be confiscated in order to send a message to Moscow that its war would be met with overwhelming support for Ukraine.

However, European governments, including the UK, have balked at the plan, initially arguing that they could only justify using the interest generated by the Russian assets, amounting to about ¤2.5bn-¤3bn (£2.1bn-£2.6bn) a year.

Under an agreement reached last week by EU member states, 90% of the interest proceeds would go into an EU-run fund to be spent supporting Ukraine’s military, with the other 10% going to other forms of support. The EU expects the assets to yield about ¤15bn-¤20bn in profits by 2027. Ukraine is expected to receive the first tranche in July, EU diplomats have said.

A US plan to leverage all the funds to support a loan has gained traction, though many of the technical issues, including how the loan’s sponsoring countries would allocate funds for projects, had yet to be resolved before the finance ministers’ meeting.

A group of international lawyers has given an opinion that confiscation could be carried out within existing legal frameworks, arguing that Russia’s attack was a breach of international law and justified reparations worth at least the cost of the damage inflicted on Ukraine, which according to World Bank estimates is $480bn (£377bn).

The US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has suggested that a $50bn loan is possible using Russia’s funds as collateral, in addition to the EU plan, giving Ukraine a generous lifeline that would take effect regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election later this year.

“Our hope would be to show that those assets do provide a viable stream of support in the years to come,” she said. “This is an assured source of financing and it’s important that Russia realise that we will not be deterred from supporting Ukraine for lack of resources.”

Ukraine has a team of officials at the meeting acting as advisers. It is also hoping to secure funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will be sending a mission to Poland on Monday for week-long talks with Ukrainian finance officials.

Kyiv must convince the IMF that all the conditions of its previous loans have been met. It should receive another $2.2bn before a further review in the autumn.

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Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 18:46 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.theguardian.c(...)rozen-russian-assets
[..]

SPOILER

[..]

Hopelijk komen zij snel tot een gunstige beslissing voor Oekraïne. Hierbij maakt het niet zo veel uit in welke vorm dit zal gebeuren. Geld is geld tenslotte, en Oekraïne kan alle hulp goed gebruiken.

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 18:51 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Oekraïne kan dat geld idd goed gebruiken.

Het is ook in te zetten als pressie middel voor de Ruzzen.
Willen jullie die 300 miljard terug?
Prima, maar wel eerst volledig terugtrekken uit héél Oekraïne, dus ook de Krim
En graag alle gedeporteerde burgers en kinderen terug

En daarna rap een VN macht langs de grenzen stationeren tot Oekraïne lid is van de Navo.

quote:

As Russian losses in Ukraine hit 500,000, Putin buries future demographic risks at home
Behind the figure lies a potential demographic and economic time bomb that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not be able to ignore so easily.

^{A man digs a grave near tombs of Russian soldiers at a cemetery in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region on March 23, 2023. (For illustrative purposes) (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)}

According to Ukraine's General Staff, over half a million Russian soldiers were either killed or wounded in Ukraine during the 27-month-long full-scale war.

The staggering number is in line with the estimates of the U.K. and France, which said earlier in May that the overall Russian losses are set to be around 500,000.

"We estimate Russian military losses at 500,000, including 150,000 deaths," French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on May 3.

Russia's aggression with little regard for the lives of its own soldiers is likely to continue, but behind the figure lies a potential demographic and economic time bomb that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not be able to ignore so easily.

SPOILER

quote:

What are the latest figures?
According to Ukrainian figures, as of May 25, Russia has lost 500,080 troops. The figures from the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces do not specify killed or wounded.

The overall consensus is that it includes dead, wounded, missing and captured.

In February, Zelensky said that 180,000 Russian troops had been killed since the start of the all-out war. The president said that over 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed during the same time.

Western officials gave similar estimates about Russian battlefield losses.

Speaking to Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe, Sejourne said: "Russia's military failure is already apparent."

Leo Docherty, British minister of state for the Armed Forces, said in late April the U.K estimates Russian losses to be over 450,000.

“We estimate that approximately 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded, and tens of thousands more have already deserted since the start of the conflict," Docherty said in parliament.

^{The list of the most significant single-day Russian losses since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.Eight out of 10 Russia's largest losses, recorded by Ukraine's General Staff, were in May 2024. (Lisa Kukharska/The Kyiv Independent)}

"The number of personnel killed serving in Russian private military companies (PMCs) is not clear," he added.

A U.S. estimate reported on Dec. 12 put the total at 315,000. On the same day, the Ukrainian figure was 340,650.

How accurate are the figures?
Ukraine has published daily estimates of the number of killed and wounded Russian soldiers since the early days of the launch of the full-scale invasion.

Initially there was some skepticism about how accurate the numbers were, reflected in the fact Western nations were at first reluctant to publish their own numbers.

"At the start of the war when I was in Moscow we didn't speculate on numbers because there was a lot of propaganda flying around," John Foreman CBE, the U.K.'s former defense attache in Moscow from 2019 to 2022, told the Kyiv Independent.

"But it seems to me that over the last year and a half or so the British, American and Ukrainian estimates have all come together."

Over the course of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine's Western allies did begin to publicly release their own estimates of Russian losses and they are broadly in line with those coming out of Kyiv.

^{Rosgvardia servicemembers stand guard at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, where Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was buried in August 2023. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)}

An ongoing open source investigation by Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, put the number of confirmed dead Russian soldiers at 52,789.

The authors note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities.

Russia has not disclosed the losses of its Armed Forces in Ukraine since September 2022, meaning the official Kremlin death toll still stands at just 5,937. Even then, the number was brushed off as a severe under-report.

Just how big are 500,000 losses?
"Half a million killed and wounded is a huge figure," says Foreman.

​​If confirmed, France's 150,000 figure of Russian troops killed is around 10 times higher than that suffered by the Soviet army during the decade-long war it fought in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989.

For comparison, the U.S. military lost around 102,000 soldiers killed in all the wars it fought since the end of World War II, including 58,220 during the Vietnam War.

The U.K. suffered 750,000 military casualties during the six years of the Second World War.

And Russia's losses show no signs of slowing – in fact, they've reached record levels in recent weeks.

Moscow lost the most number of soldiers in a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion – 1,740 – on May 12, according to Ukraine's General Staff.

According to an analysis on the Ukrainian figures by analyst Ragnar Gudmundsson, eight of the top ten bloodiest days for Moscow's forces since the launch of the full-scale invasion all occurred this month.

"The army that went into Ukraine has been totally hollowed out," says Foreman. "So it's had the effect of changing a professional army into a semi-professional, conscript army and you've seen decreasing quality as the number of deaths has gone up."

Does the Kremlin care?
Earlier this month, Putin appointed a new defense minister, with Andrei Belousov replacing the long-standing Sergei Shoigu.

In a speech laying out his priorities for his new role, economist Belousov said his "key task, of course, remains achieving victory."

"At the same time - I want to specifically emphasize this - with minimal human losses," he added.

According to the Financial Times, Russia may be forced to launch a new mobilization wave by the end of 2024.

Foreman also suspects there is a far more callous calculation behind Belousov's statement.

"I don't think he's a particularly altruistic guy, he's not doing it for the lives of the soldiers," he says, adding: "I think what he's indicating there is that the cost to the Russian government of all these killed and wounded is colossal."

In December 2023, Putin signed a decree promising to pay 5 million rubles ($55,450) to the families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, and 3 million rubles ($33,270) to those wounded.

And at the start of the full-scale invasion, Putin said the families of those killed would be paid a "statutory insurance coverage and a lump sum payment of 7,421,000 rubles ($82,298)," as well as "a monthly compensation will be paid to every family member of the dead."

While the exact amount paid out is not known, Bloomberg estimated in a piece about soldier compensation payments last year that "outlays for people in the military, including volunteers and those who were mobilized, may total around 1.1 trillion rubles ($12 billion) per year."

And then there are the social costs – rates of PTSD and alcohol and drug addiction among Russian soldiers returning home have surged, as well as murder and violent crime incidents involving veterans.

"It's a balance sheet calculation," Foreman says in reference to Belousov's comments.

"Obviously now there are things like casualty compensation payments to families of dead and injured, the murder rate increase and increase in PTSD, alcoholism, domestic violence, which are all linked to lots of people coming back wounded or traumatized from the front."

Added to this are the inevitable labor shortages caused by men either fleeing the country to avoid serving in the army, or being killed or wounded when they do.

"It all adds up to another demographic time bomb which I think is going to blow its way through Russia in the next 10-20 years," says Foreman.

Will it affect the war in Ukraine?
Despite the horrific death toll, Russia appears to be still attracting recruits eager to sign up.

According to the country's defense ministry, more than 100,000 men signed contracts to serve during the first three months of the year.

Politically, Putin is fresh from another dubious election victory and shows no signs of abandoning his aims in Ukraine.

But the longer term picture for Russia is far from rosy, Foreman says.

"Putin's mortgaging his entire country's future for his war in Ukraine," he says. "I think long-term calculations about Russia's long-term health and viability have been completely sacrificed.

"It doesn't matter bizarrely how much he's gone through, maybe half of all the military's materiel or 500,000 people, or all the long-term macroeconomic problems that have been sown, you've got the situation now where he has to win this. Russian leaders who lose wars end up faring badly, so he's all in," Foreman says.

"Now if Ukraine can hang on after all the dithering and delay in Washington, deal with mobilization, sort out its training, and continue to bleed the Russian army, then I think there's a chance to bring the problem home to Russians."

quote:

Polish foreign minister calls for long-term rearmament of Europe
Exclusive: Radoslaw Sikorski also says he favours deepest possible inclusion of UK in EU defence structures

A long-term rearmament of Europe, in which the UK can play the closest possible role, is necessary to defeat Russian imperial ambitions, Poland's foreign minister has said.

Radoslaw Sikorski also called for majority voting for EU sanctions and a 5,000-strong EU mechanised brigade, and said Poland was willing to back an EU-wide scheme to incentivise Ukrainian draft dodgers to return to their homeland.

In an interview with the Guardian, Sikorski said Poland backed the right of Ukraine to strike at military targets inside Russia, arguing that the west had to stop constantly limiting itself in what it does to support Ukraine. The US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been holding out against Ukraine using US weapons on Russian territory.

SPOILER

quote:

Sikorski, educated at the University of Oxford alongside David Cameron, was in London for a bilateral meeting with the foreign secretary. Sikorski has been a critical figure in taking Poland back to the mainstream of European foreign policy since elections last October led to a new coalition government and an end to eight years of rule by the rightwing nationalist Law and Justice party.

He had just come from a meeting in Berlin with the foreign ministers of France and Germany in the so-called Weimar triangle format, a grouping now seen as the new political powerhouse of the EU.

Although he said Russia was winning mainly small pyrrhic victories, the Weimar group backed a broadly drawn attempt to fill big gaps in EU defence capabilities formed at the end of the cold war.

Poland is spending 4% of its GDP on defence and Sikorski said other countries had catching up to do. He said this required a military reorientation, adding that during the period of the "peace dividend and expeditionary warfare, we focused on high-value, hi-tech platforms and weapons. We are only now rediscovering that actually you just need millions of shells. You need large volumes of low-tech stuff as well."

He said: "We have allowed all those production facilities to be closed down after the end of the cold war. It costs money to persuade companies to keep production lines in reserve. We just didn't pay the money. That was part of the peace dividend. And with hindsight it looks like a mistake. It is obvious that Europe is lagging behind, and the EU's defence and technological and industrial base suffers from years of underinvestment."

He admitted European defence manufacturers still did not feel that the process of rearmament was permanent, and said Vladimir Putin was spending 40% of GDP on defence and would eventually bankrupt his country by making the military so resource hungry. Russia has 3.5 million people in the military industrial complex. By contrast, "Europe didn't just disarm, it deindustrialised in the defence field," Sikorski said.

He said: "Companies were telling me, 'We read in the newspapers that there is all this demand for armaments but we are not getting the long-term contracts. And if we don't have a 10-year contract, we are responsible to our shareholders. We can't make the investments.' So it's about guaranteeing them that this is not just for tomorrow, but this is a long-term rearmament and change in security."

On setting sanctions, he said the Weimar meeting had agreed to advocate for the EU to take on a fuller coordination role. "We should drop the principle of unanimity in sanctions. Some of them have been delayed by one member state blocking them. And also it should be an EU crime to breach EU sanctions and therefore prosecutable by the European prosecution service."

Sikorski, a long-term student of Russian methods, warned that Putin was trying to woo the right in Europe and the US by weaponising traditionalism. "He is an absurd leader of the international conservatism. We are talking about a KGB colonel, for Christ's sake. I think the Russians about 15 years ago did some polling, or maybe they just noticed that on some issues like attitudes to homosexuality, gender, to all kinds of identities, you can drive wedges in our societies. On that, for example, central Europe was 10, 15 years behind western Europe in attitudes."

Although he said the Weimar triangle would have expanded to a quartet but for Brexit, Sikorski said Poland favoured "the deepest possible inclusion of the United Kingdom in the EU security and defence structures, if you so wish".

He said: "You are an island, but you are a European island. You may have affairs elsewhere, but to us you are married. The EU-UK security defence cooperation must be revitalised and underpinned by a more methodical framework.

"I could imagine Britain being a permanent guest at the foreign affairs council. I mean, I can imagine it. Yes. Whether Britain would want to is another matter."

On the idea of a full foreign and defence treaty, he said: "Your government has to decide what you want. I think the initiative has to come from you, and you can count on Poland being very receptive to those ideas." Areas of cooperation he later listed included structured dialogue on the Euro-Atlantic dimension of military capability development, on rapid reaction forces, on resilience, on hybrid cyber and disinformation countermeasures, as well as European defence industry cooperation.

On the issue of Ukrainians avoiding conscription, Sikorski said: "Ukraine has to tell us what she wants us to do about their citizens. What I certainly don't believe is that there is a human right to be paid social security for being a draft dodger. Those people fighting at the front also have human rights."

He said any scheme to restrict benefits had to be on a European-wide basis or else those avoiding the draft would start benefit shopping across Europe.

He said Europe had to learn to play the escalation game better by keeping Putin guessing about its intentions. Asked whether it was permissible for Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia, he said: "The Russians are hitting the Ukrainian's electricity grid and their grain terminals and gas storage capacity, civilian infrastructure. The Russian operation is conducted from the HQ at Rostov-on-Don. Apart from not using nuclear weapons, Russia does not limit itself much."

More broadly, he argued: "Always declaring what our own red line is only invites Moscow to tailor its hostile actions to our constantly changing self-imposed limitations."

He was sceptical about Russian threats to use nuclear weapons, saying: "The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn't kill anybody, we will hit all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we'll destroy all of them.

"I think that's a credible threat. Also, the Chinese and the Indians have read Russia the riot act. And it's no child's play because if that taboo were also to be breached, like the taboo of not changing borders by force, China knows that Japan and Korea would go nuclear, and presumably they don't want that."

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 19:03 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
[ x ]
Niet alleen Russische doelen in Oekraïne mag ik hopen. Dat zou een slappe response zijn. Ook militaire doelen in Rusland zelf zouden met de grond gelijk gemaakt moeten worden.

quote:

If Ukraine had nuclear weapons, would we be attacked?
The Russian breakthrough on Kharkiv ended in military casualties 1 in 8. One Ukrainian for eight Russians – Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The main thing from the interview with the President of Ukraine:

🔹 Under attack first, the Baltic countries are Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. In these countries, we can try to test NATO’s reaction to an invasion by Russia.

🔹 I asked Biden and the EU to impose sanctions against the Kremlin, Putin, his entourage, and Russia’s energy industry before the invasion, so he knows it will hurt. But no one heard us.

🔹 Regarding the alliance – military and strategic—with Russia, there is no way any of your countries can have a strategic alliance with Putin.

🔹 China has to protect Ukraine and promised independent Ukraine security in the Budapest Memorandum based on Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons.

🔹 If Ukraine had nuclear weapons, would Russia attack us? No. So why talk about the balance between our countries?

🔹 The peace summit will have three items out of 10: nuclear energy security, food security and an all-for-all swap with the return of Ukrainian children.

🔹 Russia has always wanted a divided world. And this is the only way Putin can get away from the political and economic isolation of his country.

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 18:40 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.forbes.com/si(...)as-most-modern-tank/
[..]

SPOILER

[..]

Daar hebben wij inderdaad al een aantal voorbeelden van gezien. Inclusief het filmpje die eerder vandaag gepost was. Een duur foutje dus, die de gehele tank zo goed als onbruikbaar maakt..

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry to prevent drafted citizens from renewing their passports abroad
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has published a draft law on the procedure for issuing passports, which will prohibit Russian consulates abroad from issuing documents to Russian citizens who have been sent digital draft notices.

According to the legislative proposal put forward by the Foreign Ministry, consular officials can decline to issue a new passport to any Russian citizen to anyone who has received a “summons from the military enlistment office”, noting that once a Russian citizen is sent draft papers, they are automatically banned from leaving the country.

While the Foreign Ministry plans to stop issuing foreign passports to Russian men called up to perform their one-year compulsory military service or its civil equivalent, it’s not clear whether the rule would apply to reservists who have been called up as part of mobilisation.

Russians abroad who have been drafted are to remain unable to renew their passports abroad “until the obligation to report to the military draft office has been met”, the Foreign Ministry document said.

Alexey Tabalov, founder of NGO Conscript School, which campaigns for an all professional Russian military, suggested in a conversation with Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit, that one way to get around the restrictions would simply be for Russians to deregister from the military enlistment office.

Lawyer Anastasia Burakova advised Russian men who could be subject to the proposed restrictions to apply for a 10-year passport before the draft legislation becomes law.

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Baltics, Poland, other countries agree to create 'drone wall'
A group of countries, including the Baltic states, Poland, Norway, and Finland, have agreed to create a "drone wall" to help defend their collective borders, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said in an interview with the Lithuanian media outlet BNS published on May 24.

The announcement comes after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier in May that Poland had signed a contract to join the European Sky Shield Initiative, which currently includes 21 countries. The initiative aims to create an Iron Dome-style air defense system covering NATO members across Europe.

As Lithuania was a founding member of the initiative, which was formed in October 2022, the suggested "drone wall" is a different proposal.

"This is a completely new thing—a drone border from Norway to Poland, the purpose of which would be to protect our border with the help of drones and other technologies," Bilotaite said.

"Not only physical infrastructure, surveillance systems, but also using drones and other technologies that would allow us to also protect ourselves from provocations by unfriendly countries, and prevent contraband."

The proposal would utilize both its own drones and anti-drone systems, Bilotaite said.

The plan is still in its formative stages, she said, and there is no concrete timeline when it will be implemented.

"It is clear that if we agree on common solutions, we could apply for European funds, if we present (the) need as a region, there is a high probability that we will receive funding from the European Commission," Bilotaite said.

Amid Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine and its widespread usage of drones and missiles to strike civilian targets, countries on NATO's eastern flank have sought to improve their air defense capabilities against potential Russian threats.

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Russia and China are trying to disrupt the Peace Summit in Switzerland
Clash of summits. Russia plans to hold a BRICS meeting around the same time that Switzerland planned a peace conference on Ukraine. Source: Politico

Read also: China provides Russia with intelligence information from satellites

According to diplomatic sources, the meeting in Moscow will be held at the level of foreign ministers.

This means China will not send its top envoy, Wang Yi, to the Swiss meeting.

Beijing has previously told EU diplomats that they are not inclined to send senior representatives to the Swiss event unless Russia is invited.

In addition to Russia and China, the alliance also includes Brazil, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Let us recall that across Europe there is an active sabotage campaign organized by Russia as part of President Vladimir Putin’s growing efforts to undermine Western support for Ukraine. American and European officials have reported attempts to damage railroads, military bases and other facilities used to supply weapons to Ukraine.

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Hungary slows down EU arms initiative for Ukraine funded by frozen Russian assets – the FT
Hungary has blocked the European Union's approval of the allocation of proceeds from frozen Russian assets to purchase weapons for Ukraine.

Source: Financial Times, citing five people who attended a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Following months of debate, the EU countries agreed to use the proceeds from about ¤190 billion stuck in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear to purchase weapons for Ukraine.

However, the Hungarian ambassador opposed the acceleration of payments, making it impossible to ensure that the principle of unanimity in making such decisions is respected.

"For the time being they are blocking everything connected to the military support to Ukraine," said one source, suggesting that Budapest's reservations will remain at least until next month's European elections.

SPOILER

quote:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long argued that the West cannot win the war in Ukraine, and Hungary has stalled numerous European decisions related to the war. However, Budapest eventually relented under diplomatic pressure from the EU and Washington, including with regard to a ¤50 billion aid package for Kyiv.

The second source said that in order to reach an agreement on using the profits from the frozen Russian assets, EU officials proposed a deal to Hungary under which their share of the funds allocated by Brussels would not be used to buy weapons for Ukraine.

This persuaded Budapest not to veto the scheme, but it is delaying the implementation of the conditions by not supporting the necessary legislation. Budapest is not against it in principle but has concerns about making payments automatic, people familiar with its stance said.

Diplomats hope to find a way to resolve these issues before the July payment is due. Hungary declined to comment.

Background: On Saturday, it was reported that the G7 finance ministers supported the idea of granting Ukraine a loan secured by the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to provide Kyiv with financing after 2024.

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Putin's dream fails
After decoupling from the European gas market, Vladimir Putin wanted to sell his raw materials to Asia. But the plan did not work - and Gazprom is in a serious crisis. This has consequences for the Russian war chest.

"Dreams come true." That is the corporate slogan of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. You might not be able to call it a dream, but Russian President Vladimir Putin at least had a clear idea of ​​what would happen after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and a large part of the European states disconnected from the Russian gas market: While exploding gas prices in Europe were supposed to trigger revolts in the Kremlin's interests, Putin wanted to sell his gas to Asia and especially to China . In the end, the Europeans would beg him to get Russia to resume supplying raw materials.

This dream did not come true. Two years ago, former President and Putin confidant Dmitry Medvedev predicted an explosion in gas prices in Europe - they were expected to rise by about fifty times their pre-war average. For a short time, prices did indeed skyrocket. But now the price in Germany is currently 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour. That is as low as it was in October 2021, four months before Putin's invasion of Ukraine began.

While Europe can currently breathe a sigh of relief, at least on the gas front, and oil prices are also falling again, the former Russian flagship company Gazprom is hanging on the ropes. At the beginning of May, the state-owned company reported a net loss of 629 billion rubles (almost 6.4 billion euros) for 2023 - it is the highest net loss that Gazprom has recorded since 1999. The reason: The development of new markets is not going well, and cooperation with China is also stalling in many areas.

Putin has miscalculated, and alarm bells are ringing in the Kremlin. If he does not get the problem under control, the lack of profits from commodity trading could significantly affect the financing of his war starting next year.

SPOILER

quote:

Commodity sales are the Achilles heel of the Russian economy
This development is also interesting because Russian gas deals are not affected by EU sanctions. Rather, the Russian leadership stopped gas deliveries in 2022 in order to put pressure on Germany and other countries. At that time, the Russian president wanted to show who had the upper hand and take advantage of the dependencies that the German economy had by becoming accustomed to cheap Russian raw materials.

But Gazprom was not just Putin's weapon in the raw materials war against the West. Without dividends, the company transferred at least 40 billion US dollars to the Russian treasury in 2022 - either for the state budget or the National Welfare Fund (NWF). This is no small sum, after all, two years ago Gazprom was responsible for ten percent of the Russian state budget's revenues. These revenues filled Putin's war chest.

Wars are expensive – and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is going on much longer than the Kremlin had originally planned. That is why Putin needs money, and the Kremlin has asked Gazprom to pay a monthly contribution of 500 million US dollars to the state until 2025. But it is currently completely unclear whether the company can afford this share of the NWF.

How long will Putin’s war chest last?
This is becoming a problem for the Russian leadership. The Russian economy is currently doing so well because the state is massively subsidizing the expanding arms sector: tanks, missiles, soldiers' salaries and those of their dependents should they die in Ukraine. Workers in arms factories produce arms around the clock, in three shifts. This has the side effect that part of Russian society has significantly more money than before the war. Nevertheless, it is primarily the Russian state that is paying for all of this.

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 20:19 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.reddit.com/r/(...)o_storm_across_open/
Russians training(seriously) to storm across open fields to trenches using "combat" motocross vehicles
Ik heb volgens mij nog geen succesvolle aanval gezien door Rusland op motors.

quote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/(...)of_the_30th_brigade/
Ukrainian 2nd battalion of the 30th brigade violently remove Russian MT-LB and its infantry from their land

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 20:42 schreef oheng het volgende:

[..]
Ik heb ze weleens succesvol naar een lege loopgraaf zien racen, om er vervolgens in te springen. Maar ik betwijfel hoe effectief 1 eenzame rus in een loopgraaf is.
[..]
Typisch weer he.

AT mijn -> AP mijn -> FPV drone -> bommenwerper drone

En het geheel is gefilmd met een observatie drone

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 21:37 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

[..]
Wat een kutmuziek.

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 14:48 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Mooi, nog eens 500k en dan begint dat volk hopelijk eens achter de oren te krabben dat het niet zo slim is, deze militaire operatie.

quote:

Op zaterdag 25 mei 2024 21:37 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

[..]
Wat een kutmuziek.

quote:

Kuleba calls for more Patriots, support for striking military targets in Russia after 'barbaric' attack on Kharkiv

After a Russian attack killed at least four and injured at least 38, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Ukraine's partners to "provide Ukraine with additional air defense and support for Ukrainian strikes on military targets in Russia" in a post on X on May 25.

The missile strike earlier in the day hit a building materials hypermarket. In a post on Telegram, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said two Russian guided bombs had hit the hypermarket, causing a fire covering 15,000 square meters.

Mere hours later, a second strike on Kharkiv's city center injured at least 14 more.

Additional air defense, and the ability to shoot down Russia's military aircraft before they drop bombs is the only way to prevent such "barbaric war crimes against civilians," Kuleba wrote in his post.

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they do not support or encourage Kyiv's strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia, while Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift this ban.

According to the New York Times, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken began to support lifting the ban on striking targets in Russia after his visit to Kyiv earlier in May.

Zelensky also called for additional air defense systems from world leaders after the deadly strike.

Kyiv has ramped up its calls on allies to provide Ukraine with more air defenses, in particular, with U.S.-made Patriot systems that can intercept ballistic missiles.

Earlier in the week, Kuleba wrote on X, "We are very grateful to Germany for announcing one additional (Patriot) system. But getting six more as soon as possible remains critical not only for Ukraine’s survival but for peace in Europe."

quote:

Ukrainian border guards destroy Russians' satellite communication facilities in Donetsk region
Ukrainian border guards from the Revenge Brigade have destroyed satellite communication facilities of the Russian military at the Vuhlehirska thermal power plant in the Donetsk region.
That's according to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, Ukrinform reports.

"The Phoenix unit of the Revenge Brigade blinded the occupiers by hitting the satellite communication facilities at the Vuhlehirska TPP with drones," the report reads.

Прикордонники знищили за�оби зв’�зку і БТРпротивника

A BTR 82A armored personnel carrier, which the Russians camouflaged in a forest, was also destroyed.

Russia's overall combat losses in Ukraine between February 24, 2022 and May 25, 2024 have reached about 500,080.

quote:

Lithuania deported a Russian citizen due to a threat to state security
Russian citizen Vladimir Vodo was deported from Lithuania. The Lithuanian Department of State Security reported that Vodo poses a threat to state security as he expresses disloyal views towards Lithuania and disseminates propaganda information on social networks in accordance with the Kremlin information policy. Source: LRT

Due to this, his residence permit in Lithuania was revoked and the Migration Department decided to deport him.

Vodo tried to appeal this decision, arguing that he is caring for his sick mother, has strong ties to Lithuania, speaks the Lithuanian language and has completely severed all ties with Russia, but the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania on May 15 made a final decision on Vodo’s deportation to Russia.

The Russian was detained in Vilnius on the eve of the deportation and spent the night at the Foreigners Registration Center in Pabrade. He was taken to the Kibartai border checkpoint and, after completing all the necessary formalities, was sent to Russia.

Representative of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service Giedrius Misutis noted that the process took place without incidents, problems or unplanned situations. Vodo has lived in Lithuania since 1989 and received his first permanent residence permit in 1993.

quote:

Sudanese General Says Russia Seeks Red Sea Fuel Station In Swap For Weapons
A top Sudanese general, Yasser al-Atta, said on May 25 that Russia had asked for a fueling station on the Red Sea in exchange for weapons and ammunition, and that agreements with Russia would be signed soon. The two countries signed a naval base deal under former President Omar Al-Bashir, but army leaders later said that plan was under review and it never materialized. Russia has previously developed ties with the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which is the army’s foe in a year-old war and which Western diplomats say has also had ties with Russia's Wagner private military group.

quote:

Musk: SpaceX spending 'significant resources combating Russian jamming' of Starlink in Ukraine
After the New York Times reported that Russia has been increasingly disrupting Ukraine's Starlink service, Elon Musk said that SpaceX is spending "significant resources combating Russian jamming efforts," in a May 24 post on X.

Elon Musk's SpaceX company began providing the Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022. Last year, Ukraine said that approximately 42,000 terminals were in operation across the military, hospitals, businesses, and aid organizations.

Starlink, recognized for its superior security compared to cellular or radio signals, is deemed crucial for Ukrainian operations. The Pentagon reached an agreement last year with SpaceX to financially support access for the Ukrainian military.

According to the New York Times, Russians have caused widespread outages of Ukraine's Starlink use during its offensive near Kharkiv, disrupting soldiers' abilities to communicate, conduct intelligence, and carry out drone attacks.

The U.S. Pentagon is preventing the Russian military from using Starlink internet terminals operated on the battlefield in Ukraine, John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, said in an interview with Bloomberg on May 9, though he did not specify how.

quote:

Kadyrov’s ‘attack dog’ Magomed Daudov appointed Chechnya’s new prime minister

The former speaker of the Chechen parliament Magomed Daudov has been appointed the new premier of Chechnya, Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov announced on Friday evening.

“I have introduced my dear brother Magomed Daudov to the post of chairman of the government of the Chechen Republic,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel, “Given his extensive experience and high professionalism, I am sure that deputies will fully support Magomed Khozhakhmedovich’s candidacy.”

While Kadyrov added that it was up to the regional parliament to approve Daudov for the post, he nevertheless congratulated him in advance.

Daudov, who is often referred to as Kadyrov’s “attack dog”, resigned as chairman of the Chechen parliament on 15 May, having held the position since 2015. Known for both his brutality, Daudov also enjoys a reputation for efficiency and has in the past been tasked by Kadyrov to lead the republic’s Covid response strategy as well as to organise the conscription of Chechen fighters to serve in Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, Kadyrov announced that Chechnya’s former prime minister Muslim Khuchiev, who resigned unexpectedly on Tuesday, had been appointed an aide to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

“I am glad that Muslim Khuchiev’s experience and talent, which he has successfully applied in our republic, are in demand at the federal level,” Kadyrov said after announcing the appointment, adding: “The trust placed in him is a good incentive for even better work to be done for the benefit of our great state."

Since Kadyrov’s diagnosis with a terminal disease became public knowledge last month, changes to the republic’s government are being scrutinised even more closely than usual as various contenders position themselves to replace the long-serving autocrat.

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NATO summit to be held in The Hague in 2025
Next year’s NATO Summit will be held in The Hague from June 24 to June 26. The leaders of all 32 member states of the Atlantic alliance will gather at the World Forum, outgoing Foreign Affairs minister Hanke Bruins Slot announced on Friday.

The Summit will be held in the Netherlands for the first time. The three cities eliminated from the race to host the event include Rotterdam, Apeldoorn, and Maastricht. The minister said that The Hague has substantial experience hosting this type of large event. It was judged to have the best facilities and locations.

The meeting will ask a great deal of the residents in the city, Mayor Jan van Zanen acknowledged. The area surrounding the World Forum will be a “hermetically sealed international zone,” he said. He promised the city’s residents that he would promptly inform them of the necessary measures.

A total of 45 government and state leaders will be present, as well as leaders of countries working closely with NATO, like Australia and New Zealand. The president of Ukraine is also scheduled to appear. Around 6,000 delegations and 2,000 journalists are expected to attend the summit.

Organizing the Summit will cost at least 95 million euros. The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) held in the city in 2014 cost around 50 million euros. This Summit will cost much more because more safety measures are needed, many more delegations are present, and because of inflation over the past decade.

This year, the Summit will be held at the beginning of July in Washington D.C. in the United States, when NATO turns 75 years old. It is possible that the decision of whether Mark Rutte will be the new NATO secretary-general will be announced by then.

Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania are still resisting his appointment. Romania has its own candidate for the position.

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Large number of Russian experts enter N. Korea to help spy satellite launch efforts: source
SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- A large number of Russian experts have entered North Korea to support its spy satellite launch efforts, and Pyongyang has staged more engine tests than expected to likely meet their "high" standards, a senior South Korean defense official said Sunday.

Speculation has persisted over the timing of the North's highly anticipated launch as it vowed last December to place three more military spy satellites in orbit this year, a month after successfully launching its first one.

On Friday, South Korea's military said it had detected apparent signs of preparations for a new launch after previously stating that there were no indications of an imminent one.

"North Korea has very carefully conducted (rocket) engine tests much more than expected," the official told Yonhap News Agency. "Looking at North Korea's activities last year, it should have already staged a (launch)."

The November launch of the Malligyong-1 satellite took place after two failed attempts in May and August, respectively.

The official said many Russian technicians have entered North Korea after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to support the North's satellite program last year, and they likely have "high" standards, prompting the delay.

SPOILER

quote:

"North Korea might have been brave enough to stage launches when it didn't know much, but the (Russian) experts likely told them not to," the official said.

Last September, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met Putin for a summit at a spaceport in Russia's Far East, where the Russian leader said he would help the North build satellites.

Compared to last year, North Korea likely faces more pressure to stage a successful launch for its next attempt, the official said, with both the space rocket and the satellite said to have issues.

The North's three-stage space rocket is said to have problems in its second and third stage engines, and the tests could be aimed at addressing the issues, and possibly lead to improvements to the North's engines.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told reporters in February that the Malligyong-1 appears to be orbiting Earth without activity, suggesting the satellite is not functioning properly.

The South's military has recently strengthened monitoring of Tongchang-ri in the North's northwestern coast, where its satellite launch site is located, after detecting signs of launch preparations.

Equipment used to measure and assess the launch trajectory of a space rocket is said to have been detected at the site, indicating that the North's launch could take place soon.

The suspected preparations come ahead of major diplomatic events involving South Korea, raising concern the North may time the launch to coincide with one of them to maximize its political impact.

The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan will meet for a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday, while the defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold trilateral talks during a security forum in Singapore set to take place from May 31-June 2.

South Korea, the United States and others have condemned the North's space rocket launches, calling them violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning it from any launches using ballistic missile technology.

SPOILER

quote:

Russian SU-type aircraft were on the territory of the Kushchevsk airfield in the Krasnodar region of Russia on the night of May 19, when Ukraine struck them with drones. A Planet Labs satellite recorded the damage.

Ukrainian UAVs were able to damage at least two Russian fighters, Su-27 and Su-34, according to aviation expert Anatoly Khrapchynskyi, who analyzed satellite images at the request of "Scheme" and the Russian service of Radio Liberty.

"We see that there is an Su-34 with damaged or removed wings, and a clearly damaged Su-27 in another part of the airfield. The Su-30, which has hardly changed its position since May 11 and is next to the damaged Su-27, could also have been damaged," Khrapchynskyi says.

The aviation expert added that the Kushchevsk airfield is the training base of the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School, where Russia trained future pilots. However, Russia is now using this airfield for attacks on Ukrainian positions.

The satellite images also show that after the strikes by the Ukrainian UAVs, most of the Russian fighter jets were removed from this airfield.

Citing a source in the Security Service, "Ukrainian Pravda" reported that on the night of May 19, 2024, drones of the special service attacked a number of targets on the territory of Russia, in particular the Kushchevsk military airfield. Officially, the SBU did not comment on this attack.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation only stated that 57 UAVs were shot down that night over the territory of the Krasnodar Territory.

quote:

He is just narrating what’s being shown: „We sawed it off, now you need a basin like that one, filled with water, water is necessary, that is a prerequisite. Next we will saw it lengthways along the whole projectile, carefully, don’t rush. Periodically we let the projectile cool down. After cutting from both sides, you keep it in the basin and with a chisel and hammer, with careful strokes you break the projectile in half.“

quote:

Translation?: Rest in peace, BMP 3 (he indicates the model of the vehicle), lovely car. I hope you now go to the best tankodromes (testing ground for vehicles), and only to them

quote:

Russia launches overnight attacks across Ukraine

[img]An apartment building damaged by Russian drones on May 26, 2024, in Vinnytsia Oblast. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine / Telegram) [/img]
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Russian forces launched a large-scale aerial attack against Ukraine the night of May 26, causing explosions in multiple regions and injuring at least three people.

The Air Force announced an aerial alert throughout the country, including the far-western oblasts, in the early hours of May 26, citing the threat of Russian missiles, drones, Tu-95MS bombers, and later, Kinzhal ballistic missiles.

Russian forces attacked Vinnytsia Oblast in the early hours of May 25, hitting residential buildings and injuring three people, Governor Serhii Borzov reported.

The attack struck an apartment building, Borzov reported at 4:23 a.m. local time. Three people were injured and residents were evacuated from the building. The State Emergency Service said the attack targeted the town of Zhmerynka, and that several buildings sustained damage.

In Mykolaiv Oblast, Governor Vitalii Kim reported that Russian drones damaged the windows of a preschool building. He also said air defense units destroyed three drones over the region.

Explosions were heard in Khmelnytskyi Oblast at around 3:30 a.m. local time, according to a correspondent from the news outlet Suspilne. Shortly thereafter, explosions were reported in Zhytomyr and Kyiv oblasts.

Residents of Starokostiantyniv in Khmelnytskyi Oblast also reported power outages, according to Suspilne.

Poland announced that it had scrambled military jets in order to ensure the safety of Polish airspace amid Russia's attack against Ukraine.

The Air Force reported the morning of May 26 that over the course of the night, Ukrainian air defense units intercepted 31 Shahed drones and 12 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles over Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia and Chernihiv oblasts.

Russia's massive aerial assault follows the deadly bombing of a busy shopping center in Kharkiv in the middle of the day on May 25. The attack killed at least 12 people and injured 43. Hours later, a second Russian attack injured 25 people.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 00:15 schreef oheng het volgende:

[..]
Ok, maar beeld je eensch het volgende in: je bent net in je museum stuk op een AT mijn gereden, daarna zijn je beentjes eraf geblazen door een AP mijn, je hoort het gezoem van meedere drones. En dan hoor je ook nog eens deze muziek,

Hoe kut is dat dan?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 12:39 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ x ]

Jezus...

quote:

Dus wat is het standpunt van Zweden? Kan Oekraïne de wapens die we hebben ingeleverd gebruiken om doelen op Russisch grondgebied aan te vallen? Ik stel de vraag aan minister van Defensie Pål Jonson en krijg dit schriftelijke antwoord: "Oekraïne wordt blootgesteld aan een niet-uitgelokte en illegale aanvalsoorlog door Rusland. Volgens het internationaal recht heeft Oekraïne het recht zich te verdedigen door middel van vijandelijkheden gericht tegen het grondgebied van de vijand, zolang de vijandelijkheden in overeenstemming zijn met het oorlogsrecht. Zweden staat achter het internationaal recht en het recht van Oekraïne om zichzelf te verdedigen.

quote:

Een derde reden kan een besef zijn van de kant van de leiders in de Verenigde Staten dat hun gezag over deze kwesties niet meer is wat het nog maar een jaar geleden was. De vertraging van de grote hulppot aan Oekraïne door het Huis van Afgevaardigden heeft het voor de Verenigde Staten moeilijker gemaakt om controversiële standpunten in te nemen. De Oekraïners hebben dan ook de Amerikaanse oproepen genegeerd om Russische olieraffinaderijen niet aan te vallen met Oekraïense drones.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 15:52 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ x ]


[ afbeelding ]


De IKEA zal er ook wel aangaan.

quote:

Russia Plans New Offensive in Ukraine’s Northeast, Zelensky Says

Moscow is again amassing forces near the border, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. His comments came as officials said that a Russian strike had killed at least 14 people in Kharkiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Sunday that Moscow’s forces were massing for a new ground offensive on the northeast of his country, a day after a Russian missile strike on a hardware superstore in the city of Kharkiv killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, according to Ukrainian officials.

“Russia is the only source of aggression and constantly tries to expand the war,” Mr. Zelensky said in a speech delivered in Englishinside the ruins of a publishing house in Kharkiv that was destroyed last week in a Russian strike.

“Russia is preparing for offensive actions” around 60 miles northwest of Kharkiv, he said, adding that Moscow is gathering “another group of troops near our border.” Mr. Zelensky gave no further details about the potential attack.

Moscow surprised Ukraine on May 10 when its troops poured across the northeastern border, punching through Ukrainian defenses and seizing villages close to the frontier. That forced the government in Kyiv to rush in reinforcements in a bid to halt the Russian advance.

One target for an assault, based on Mr. Zelensky’s comments, could be the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, which has seen frequent cross-border fire but no ground attacks since Russian forces attempted to seize its main city, also called Sumy, at the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. They were later forced to withdraw after fierce fighting. Ukraine’s military has previously warned of another Russian border assault in the northeast.

The May incursion was the most significant in months of fighting, and military experts say that a key Russian objective was to expand the length of the battlefield, which already stretches hundreds of miles, and in that way force Ukraine to spread its troops more thinly. In doing so, Moscow apparently hoped to extend its existing advantage in terms of the size of its military, the experts say.

The war has ebbed and flowed since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia launched the invasion, with Ukrainian forces now defending against Russian advances in the eastern region of Donetsk, in the northeast and in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.

One immediate casualty has been Kharkiv, which has seen a sharp escalation in the ferocity of Russian aerial attacks this month, forcing many to flee. On Sunday, the death toll from the attack on the hardware superstore rose to 14, with another 43 people wounded, according to a social media post from Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the region’s military administration.

Fire fighters extinguished the flames at the superstore, the local authorities said, and 200 emergency workers were dealing with the aftermath of the attack, according to Mr. Syniehubov.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the strike had been conducted to ensure maximum civilian casualties. “He can’t occupy Kharkiv, hence he tries to kill it,” Mr. Kuleba wrote on social media, referring to Mr. Putin.

The Telegram social media channel of the Russian Defense Ministry has made extensive comments about fighting in recent days but made no comment about the Kharkiv strike or about others reported by Ukrainian officials, in keeping with its general practice.

Mr. Kuleba called on Ukraine’s allies in NATO to supply his country with more Patriot missiles and other systems that can defend against missile strikes.

A multibillion-dollar military aid package was stalled for months in the U.S. Congress, leaving Ukraine short of ammunition and increasingly exposed to Russian missile and drone attacks. The package finally passed last month, but much of the hardware has yet to reach Ukraine.

In a sign of Kharkiv’s vulnerability, Mr. Syniehubov reported on a second strike on Saturday, which he said hit civilian commercial infrastructure in the center of the city just hours after the attack on the superstore. At least 25 people were wounded, including a 14-year-old boy who was hospitalized, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. There was no comment from the Russian authorities.

Russia also conducted attacks beyond the usual recent battlegrounds. Gov. Vitaliy Kim, head of the military administration in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, said that exploding drones had damaged a preschool building there, while the Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne reported explosions in ​Khmelnytskyi, a central region.

In his speech from Kharkiv, Mr. Zelensky appealed to President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China to attend a peace summit on Ukraine in Switzerland next month. Kyiv has attempted to rally global support for a framework that would involve the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from all of Ukraine’s territory and an end to attacks on Ukrainian soil.

quote:

Russia is producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine's Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost

Sky News visited a group of new recruits who were learning how to use an N-LAW anti-tank missile, first provided to the Ukrainian military by the UK.

Russia is producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine's Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost, according to an analysis shared with Sky News.

The figures, produced by the management consulting firm Bain & Company, underline a major challenge faced by the Ukrainian armed forces as they rely on supplies of ammunition from the United States and Europe to battle Russia's full-scale invasion.

The war has been described from the start as a "battle of fires" because of the volume of artillery rounds used.

It prompted the US, the UK and other European allies to seek to ramp up production in their respective factories, but their ability to manufacture artillery rounds still lags behind Russia's despite a combined economic strength that far outmatches Moscow's.

As a result, Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline say for every one round they fire against Russian positions, the invading troops can launch around five shells back.

Battling against the odds, the Ukrainians say they have become skilled at trying to make every round count.

"Often, with just one, two or three shells, we can completely destroy a target," said Senior Lieutenant Kostiantin, an artillery battery commander with the 57th Brigade, which is fighting against a new Russian invasion into the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of Ukraine.

But the commander said Ukrainian troops still need more supplies.

"We have to keep holding the Russians back… and make every metre of land they try to take cost them hundreds of lives."

Shortages force defenders to pretend in training

The research on artillery rounds by Bain & Company, which drew on publicly available information, found that Russian factories were forecast to manufacture or refurbish about 4.5 million artillery shells this year compared with a combined production of about 1.3 million rounds across European nations and the US.

On cost, it said the average production cost per 155 mm shell - the type produced by NATO countries - was about $4,000 (£3,160) per unit, though it varied significantly between countries. This is compared with a reported Russian production cost of around $1,000 (£790) per 152 mm shell that the Russian armed forces use.

Artillery is only one of many munition shortfalls faced by Ukraine.

Sky News visited a group of new recruits in the east of the country who were learning how to use an N-LAW anti-tank missile, first provided to the Ukrainian military by the UK.

They said a shortage of supplies means they just pretend to fire the weapon in training and would only use it for real when in battle - and only then when there are any stocks.

"We have a lack of N-LAWs and we need more," said a soldier with the callsign "Bolt", who was giving the training to the new soldiers in a reconnaissance battalion of 5th Brigade.

Asked whether he had a message for the factory workers in the UK who assembled the weapon, Bolt said: "We'd like to thank our Western partners for their help. But, if possible, we would be very grateful if they could provide more NATO munitions."

Factories could win the war on frontlines

The importance of producing weapons and ammunition is why many experts say factory production lines - rather than the frontline - could be where the war in Ukraine is won.

Sky News visited a factory in Belfast in April where the N-LAW missile is assembled by Thales, a global defence company. The weapon is designed by the Swedish firm Saab.

The assembly takes place inside a large hall containing a mixture of machines grinding metal and desks where delicate work takes place on tiny but vital components.

Working hours on the production line at the time were only four days a week from 7am until 4pm, though they were believed to be increasing.

Thales manufactures its own weapons here as well, including Starstreak, a short-range, surface-to-air missile that can take out aircraft, and the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM). Both of these systems are also used in Ukraine.

The key to ramping up production in UK

Philip McBride, the managing director of Thales Belfast, said N-LAW production capacity had doubled since the start of the year and there was scope to double it again.

Asked why the expansion only began then, when Russia's full-scale war erupted in February 2022, he explained it was because of a number of factors.

Firstly, the UK Ministry of Defence supplies Ukraine with N-LAWs, rather than Thales directly. The missiles initially given to the Ukrainian military were those that the British armed forces already had in their own stockpiles.

"They've granted that and then they go through their own procurement process, agree what their actual requirement is in the UK… and once they've decided that, then they'll place orders allowing us to ramp up," Mr McBride said.

Another factor is that it can take up to two years to source the parts that are required for the N-LAW.

However, asked if production at the factory would have been expanded sooner had the Ministry of Defence put in orders earlier, the managing director said: "The earlier an order comes, the sooner we can ramp up production."

A lot of work is going on at the plant to modernise the equipment and enable a further expansion of production lines.

The number of employees has also grown, with around 900 people now working at the site and at a second facility in Belfast, compared with just 500 a few years ago.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 17:33 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Sky News

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 18:00 schreef ExTec het volgende:
Ik zeg: doen.

[ x ]

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 18:47 schreef polderturk het volgende:
Russian soldier finishes off his comrade who was wounded by FPV drone strike.

Video in link.

https://x.com/clashreport(...)odZjroARMlBnCIg&s=19

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 18:52 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Al is het maar om bepaalde taken van het Oekraïnse leger over te nemen, zodat de vrijgemaakte Oekraïnse troepen kunnen vechten.

Actief deelnemen aan het front zie ik ze niet doen.
Als Macron dan ook de daad bij het woord voegt.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 19:05 schreef AFA2022 het volgende:
Ben er ff tussenuit geweest.
Kan iemand mij in het kort de situatie schetsen wat betreft terreinwinst/front etc...
Lees namelijk op andere sites dat de Russen veel terreinwinst boeken.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 19:05 schreef AFA2022 het volgende:
Ben er ff tussenuit geweest.
Kan iemand mij in het kort de situatie schetsen wat betreft terreinwinst/front etc...
Lees namelijk op andere sites dat de Russen veel terreinwinst boeken.

quote:

47th Mechanized Brigade destroys Russian Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in Avdiivka

Soldiers of the 47th Mechanized Brigade destroyed a Russian 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in the Donetsk region.

The brigade’s press service released a video capturing the defeat of the Russian self-propelled howitzers.

A Russian self-propelled howitzer was discovered and destroyed in temporarily occupied Avdiivka.

SPOILER

quote:

Soldiers of a reconnaissance company of the 47th Mechanized Brigade discovered an enemy self-propelled howitzer near the Avdiivka Coke Plant.

The Russian 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer was in a firing position in the deployed position.

The brigade stated that due to successful fire adjustment, Strike Drones Company operators hit the Russian equipment.

An FPV drone hit the Russian self-propelled howitzer. After that, it burst into flames from the inside. The metal powder charges presumably caught fire.

Soldiers of the 47th Mechanized Brigade previously destroyed an armored assault group of the Russian invaders in the Pokrovsk sector.

Initially, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance detected the movement of enemy armored vehicles towards the destroyed settlement in the Donetsk region.

Next, Ukrainian artillerymen, in cooperation with FPV drone operators, stopped the attack and destroyed Russian equipment.

FPV drones have become an important technological solution in military operations, providing new opportunities to defeat the enemy, adjust accurate artillery fire, or perform reconnaissance and other tasks on the battlefield.

In the Russian-Ukrainian war, such drones have been used in various versions for several years.

quote:

Argentina to join coalition for the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children
Argentina plans to join the international coalition for the return of Ukrainian children forcibly deported from Russia, the President's Office announced on May 25.

At least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and less than 400 have been returned home, according to the Ukrainian government's Children of War database.

A Ukrainian delegation, headed by presidential adviser Daria Herasymchuk, visited Argentina as part of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Bring Kids Back UA project. The visit was organized by Ukraine's foreign ministry.

Herasymchuk was joined by Ukraine's Ambassador to Argentina Yurii Klymenko. The delegation met with representatives from the Argentine government and National Congress, along with representatives from EU member states, the local Ukrainian community, educators, experts, and journalists.

"Argentina's voice must sound confidently in the coalition of countries, because you have your own traumatic memories and lost childhood destinies," Herasymchuk said.

"By joining efforts to save kidnapped Ukrainian children in order to fulfill the 4th point of the Peace Formula proposed by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the countries of the world will be able to create a new, effective system for protecting children around the world together."

Argentina said it hopes to join the international coalition for the return of Ukrainian children in the near future, and that legislators have already submitted a draft declaration to parliament regarding membership in the coalition.

In March, it was reported that Argentina's president, Javier Milei, may visit Kyiv in June, making it the first visit by a South American leader to Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale war.

quote:

Russia’s own Mohajer-6 drone spotted crashed in Kursk region

A downed Mohajer-6 drone, exported to Russia from Iran, was spotted in the Kursk region.

The Russian media reported on this.

A local resident spotted the drone and decided to inspect it in detail.

The close-up footage shows the drone’s armament, which consists of two Ghaem-5 guided bombs.

SPOILER

quote:

The video also captured the drone’s tail number, ER-858. This alphabetic system of tail numbers indicates that the drone was exported from Iran to Russia.

It should be noted that the Russians started using Mohajer-6 drones back in 2022, as they did not have its own long-range unmanned aerial systems.

Currently, drones of this type are not actively used, as their weapons are designed to be used from relatively long distances to the target.

Although it was primarily designed for intelligence operations, surveillance, reconnaissance, and firepower (it carries up to four rounds of ammunition).

This is not the first time a Mohajer-6 drone has been lost to Russian air defense and electronic warfare.

In June 2023, the wreckage of a Mohajer-6 drone was found on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, which fell due to its jamming by electronic warfare.

The Mohajer-6 drone has a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kg, a payload of 100 kg, and a range of 200 km. Its maximum speed is 200 km/h, its flight duration is 12 hours, and its maximum flight altitude is 5400 meters.

The drone’s hardware is mostly foreign. The drone has Japanese, Chinese, and American cameras and a laser rangefinder. These are mostly civilian components and are not considered military goods.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 19:05 schreef AFA2022 het volgende:
Ben er ff tussenuit geweest.
Kan iemand mij in het kort de situatie schetsen wat betreft terreinwinst/front etc...
Lees namelijk op andere sites dat de Russen veel terreinwinst boeken.

quote:

Ukrainian Crews Got Tired Of Asking The Americans For Extra Armor For Their M-1 Tanks. They Installed Their Own Armor, Instead.
Surviving Ukrainian M-1s are beginning to sport anti-drone cage armor

The United States gave Ukraine 31 M-1A1 Abrams tanks. They equip a single battalion in the Ukrainian army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade, which has been fighting a defensive campaign west of the ruins of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.

In several months of hard fighting, the 47th Mechanized Brigade has lost as many as eight of the 69-ton, four-person M-1s—to Russian drones, mostly. The brigade is finally doing something about its drone problem: adding cage armor that can help detonate incoming explosive drones at a safe distance.

A photo that appeared online on Friday depicts the add-on armor on at least one Ukrainian M-1.

SPOILER

quote:

The losses around Avdiivka compelled the brigade to withdraw its surviving tanks in late April, the Associated Press claimed in late April, quoting—among others—U.S. Navy admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But one Ukrainian M-1 crewman told Ukraine’s Army T.V. two weeks later that wasn’t not true. “Full of lies,” the tanker said.

Instead, the 47th Mechanized Brigade is being careful with how it deploys its undamaged M-1s, the tanker explained. “The situation is very difficult, because the Russians are superior in terms of personnel, equipment and everything, so we have to adjust our actions.

The 47th Mechanized Brigade sends out M-1s only when there’s an opportunity to “go out and destroy the opponent’s vehicles,” the crewman said. The implication is that M-1s aren’t sitting in some revetment among the outermost trenches, waiting for the Russians to attack; rather, they form a kind of reaction force that normally waits behind the front line.

The Ukrainian tanker conceded that the brigade might deploy the M-1s differently if they were better protected against Russia’s explosive drones—something that’s finally happening, if that one application of anti-drone armor is any indication.

But the locally installed cage armor wasn’t the only option. There was a bespoke American option, too. While Ukraine’s M-1A1s wear the standard M-19 Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles along the sides of their otherwise thinly-protected hulls, they don’t wear reactive armor on their turrets.

Reactive armor contains small explosive plates that explode outward when struck, partially deflecting an incoming munition.

“We as a crew and as a battalion in general would like from our American partners to provide us with dynamic armor,” the tanker said, “so that we have not only the flanks protected, but also the turret.”

The U.S. Army remedied this problem with their latest M-1A2s by adding extra “passive”—that is, non-reactive—armor to their turret faces. But this armor likely includes depleted uranium, which the United States doesn’t export, as a matter of policy. Before shipping M-1A1s to Ukraine, the Pentagon paid contractors to open up the tanks’ turrets, remove the uranium and replace it with tungsten.

It’s not impossible to hang ARAT armor on an Abrams’ turret. California-based Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Defense, which manufactures the ARAT bricks, specifically described the bricks as “hull, skirt or turret armor.”

But the bricks attach to racks that tank maker General Dynamics welds onto the M-1. It’s unclear what it would take for contractors to modify Ukraine’s surviving Abrams with the racks, and for the Pentagon to ship reactive armor kits.

At the very least, it would take time—perhaps months. And the 47th Mechanized Brigade surely can’t spare its tanks for that long. The brigade apparently got tired of asking and waiting—and welded on cage armor, instead.

quote:

German Chancellor opposes using Western weapons to strike Russia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out against Ukraine using weapons provided by Western allies to strike Russia.

Source: German Chancellor's statement as quoted by Tagesschau, European Pravda report

Details: Scholz noted that he currently sees no reason to expand the area of use of Western weapons in the war in Ukraine.

There are "clear rules for the supply of German weapons that have been agreed with Ukraine and that work," Scholz said.

"At least this is my position," he added.

The aim of his policy towards Ukraine is "to prevent the conflict from escalating into a major war," Scholz added, noting that Germany has so far made the supply of weapons to Ukraine conditional on them not being used on Russian territory.

Background:
• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes it is high time for some allies to reconsider restrictions on the use of weapons provided to Ukraine against targets in Russia.
• Recently, the New York Times reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to ensure that Ukraine is allowed to strike Russian territory with US weapons. He wants to convince President Joe Biden to lift the restrictions.

quote:

Defense Minister Umerov: Russia attacked Ukraine with 10,000 guided bombs this year
Russia has dropped nearly 10,000 guided bombs in Ukraine since the start of the year, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on March 25.

Umerov called for more air defense and said that Kyiv is discussing this with allies “every day and at every opportunity.”

He expressed condolences to the families of the dead and wounded following Russia’s attack with two guided bombs on a hypermarket in Kharkiv on May 25, which killed at least 16 and injured over 40 people.

“This is a deliberate killing of the civilian population,” Umerov wrote on Facebook, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “another act of genocide.”

Russia typically uses laser-guided or satellite-guided KAB bombs, with payloads ranging from 250 to 1,500 kilograms, against Ukrainian military and civilian targets.

Soviet-era dumb bombs are fitted with cheap gliding kits, allowing them to fly much further and more accurately.

Kharkiv and the surrounding oblast have suffered particularly heavy attacks from guided bombs in recent months. At least 15 people were injured on Orthodox Easter Sunday after a bomb hit a residential area in downtown Kharkiv.

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the May 25 attack on Kharkiv emphasizes Ukraine's urgent need for additional air defense systems and called on European countries to provide assistance.

Borrell's plea echoes that of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who asked allies to send Patriot air defense systems following news of Russia's attack.

President Volodymyr Zelensky also reiterated the importance of air defense weapons in the aftermath of the hypermarket bombing.

quote:

Russia sends airships to patrol border with Finland
Russian state media says that the balloons tethered to the ground will be used to monitor illegal immigration into Finland.

Russia has sent airships to monitor its border with Finland, according to the Russian state TV channel Rossiya 1.

A video published by the channel shows the airships tethered to the ground.

According to the government broadcaster, the purpose of the airships is to monitor illegal immigration trying to enter Finland from Russia, among other things.

Southeast Finland Border Guard Director Kimmo Gromoff told Yle that Finnish border guards have not yet detected any surveillance balloons near the eastern border.

Russian authorities have also not provided the Finnish border guards with any information about activities near the border.

"Russia is under no obligation to inform Finland about events within its own borders. Nor is Finland under any such obligation," Gromoff said.

According to Gromoff, the Finnish Border Guard currently has a large number of staff monitoring the border area, though it is unrelated to the airships. He could not say what the real purpose of the allegedly deployed airships on the border is, or what Russia might be trying to achieve with them in the first place.

The airships were also reported by the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta and several other Russian media, among others. In Finland, Ilta-Sanomat previously reported on the matter.

quote:

Fixed-Wing Drones Spotted Over Russian Orenburg Oblast

Drones were spotted over the Orenburg oblast of the Russian Federation, the probable target of which could be the Voronezh-M over-the-horizon radar.

Relevant reports appeared in local media.

Local media reported that one drone fell 30 kilometers from Orsk in the Novoorsky district, approximately 1,600 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

At the same time, local residents from different parts of the oblast reported seeing fixed-wing drones, so it can be assumed that a group of drones flew to the Orenburg oblast.

SPOILER

quote:

On the territory of the Novoorsky district, near the village of Gorkovskoye, according to the coordinates 51°16″25″N 58°57″32″E there is an over-horizon radar station of the Voronezh-M meter range, which detects space and aerodynamic objects, in particular ballistic and cruise missiles.

It is not yet known whether the drones hit the military facility or whether it was their target.

Recall that recently the photos with the consequences of a drone strike on the Voronezh-DM over-the-horizon radar near the village of Gluboky in the Krasnodar Krai were published on the web.

In the published photos, two damaged buildings can be seen on the territory of military unit #41003, where the 818th Separate Radio Engineering Center is located.

Two buildings were damaged, as well as antenna webs with active electronically scanned array (AESA).

Voronezh-M in the Orenburg region
The Voronezh-M meter range of wavelengths radar is part of the Russian 77Ya6 Voronezh family over-the-horizon radars.

The radar in the Orenburg oblast controls the sector from the Taklamakan Desert to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, its viewing range is 6,000 kilometers.

Since 2015, the radar has been operating in a test mode for tracking ballistic targets, in 2017 it was put into operation.

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:08 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://yle.fi/a/74-20090614
[..]
Het tegen houden van Russen die illegaal de grens over willen steken, en het helpen van de door Rusland geïmporteerde immigranten om de grens over te steken zeker.

quote:

According to the government broadcaster, the purpose of the airships is to monitor illegal immigration trying to enter Finland from Russia, among other things.

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:21 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Wel goed lezen hè. Er staat:
[..]
Zouden ze het zelf ook geloven trouwens?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:48 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
[ x ]

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:59 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Ik raak de weg af en toe wel kwijt met wat nu de situatie is, aan de ene kant hoor ik dat Rusland 10x meer drones heeft dan UKR, dan weer dat UKR de overhand heeft qua drones. Dan zijn er weer genoeg granaten, dan is het wer zo dat Rusland er 5x meer produceert dan het westen.

Rusland schijnt op 3 plekken een offensief voor te bereiden, maar het offensief bij Kharkiv komt nog amper voorbij een paar grensdorpen.

Is er nu een tekort aan nieuws dat er van alles wordt bij verzonnen de laatste weken?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:48 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
[ x ]

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 17:33 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Sky News

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:59 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Ik raak de weg af en toe wel kwijt met wat nu de situatie is, aan de ene kant hoor ik dat Rusland 10x meer drones heeft dan UKR, dan weer dat UKR de overhand heeft qua drones. Dan zijn er weer genoeg granaten, dan is het wer zo dat Rusland er 5x meer produceert dan het westen.

Rusland schijnt op 3 plekken een offensief voor te bereiden, maar het offensief bij Kharkiv komt nog amper voorbij een paar grensdorpen.

Is er nu een tekort aan nieuws dat er van alles wordt bij verzonnen de laatste weken?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 21:07 schreef oheng het volgende:

[..]
Kijk maar eens de video van Perun hierboven voor een goed beeld.
En je moet in je achterhoofd houden dat de situatie van eenheid tot eenheid enorm kan verschillen. De ene brigade heeft moderne wapens, tactieken, en heeft een goede aanvoer, terwijl een paar kilometer verderop een brigade zit aan te kloten met Soviet spul en werkwijze.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:59 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Ik raak de weg af en toe wel kwijt met wat nu de situatie is, aan de ene kant hoor ik dat Rusland 10x meer drones heeft dan UKR, dan weer dat UKR de overhand heeft qua drones. Dan zijn er weer genoeg granaten, dan is het wer zo dat Rusland er 5x meer produceert dan het westen.

Rusland schijnt op 3 plekken een offensief voor te bereiden, maar het offensief bij Kharkiv komt nog amper voorbij een paar grensdorpen.

Is er nu een tekort aan nieuws dat er van alles wordt bij verzonnen de laatste weken?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 21:15 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Rusland had een overwicht van 10 artillerie granaten tegenover de ongeveer 1 van Oekraïne. Maar door leveringen van de afgelopen maand/2 maand is dit terug gelopen naar ongeveer 5 tegen over 1 a 2. (Dit is vanuit voorraden volgens mij, niet nieuwe productie). Dit is dus stukken beter geworden voor Oekraïne. Maar Rusland produceert inderdaad veel meer, het westen moet hierin nog op gang komen. (al gaat dat langzaam aan de goede kant op).

Kwa drones weet ik niet precies hoe het zit. Daar ik vooral beelden van Oekraïense successen bekijk. Maar volgens mij gaat dat ongeveer gelijk op wanneer het over FPV en granaat droppende drones gaat, en heeft Oekraïne zelfs een klein overwicht hierin. En wanneer het aankomt op verkenningsdrones zijn die van Oekraïne veel beter. Vandaar ook dat er veel betere beelden zijn vanuit Oekraïne. Ook kwa langeafstand drones doet Oekraïne het heel erg goed op het ogenblik, de afstanden worden steeds groter. En Rusland is gewoon niet in staat om zijn eigen grondgebied te beveiligen met luchtafweer en jammers op het ogenblik.

Het Russisch offensief in Kharkiv is grotendeels gestopt nu na grote verliezen van Rusland. En Oekraine is zelfs al bezig met enkele kleine counter offensieven.

Het ziet er inderdaad uit dat Rusland bezig is met een aanval voor te bereiden op Sumy. Maar andere offensieven zijn al langer bezig (kan mij niet herinneren dat ik gelezen heb over andere opstaande offensieven). Zij zijn al een tijd bezig met een offensief op Kupiansk en Chasiv Yar. Maar ook zijn er dagelijks aanvallen op robotyne en Krynky.

En ik vergeet vast nog wel wat.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 21:15 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Kwa drones weet ik niet precies hoe het zit. Daar ik vooral beelden van Oekraïense successen bekijk. Maar volgens mij gaat dat ongeveer gelijk op wanneer het over FPV en granaat droppende drones gaat, en heeft Oekraïne zelfs een klein overwicht hierin. En wanneer het aankomt op verkenningsdrones zijn die van Oekraïne veel beter. Vandaar ook dat er veel betere beelden zijn vanuit Oekraïne. Ook kwa langeafstand drones doet Oekraïne het heel erg goed op het ogenblik, de afstanden worden steeds groter. En Rusland is gewoon niet in staat om zijn eigen grondgebied te beveiligen met luchtafweer en jammers op het ogenblik.

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 21:12 schreef BEFEM het volgende:

[..]
En dat laatste is vooral belangrijk om in je achterhoofd te houden en daarom zeggen die berichten niet zo heel veel. Plus dat het nooit goed is voor een soldaat. Als je 10 granaten per dag kan afvuren dan wil je er 50, als je er 50 hebt wil je er 100, als je er 100 hebt wil je er 200.

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 21:25 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Bedankt voor je uitgebreide antwoord, waardeer ik!

Het nadeel wat ik heb is dat het moment weer aankomt om een tijdje het nieuws niet meer te volgen en afstand te nemen. Ik heb niet meer de mentale energie om uit de informatiefuiken te blijven.

Als je de pessimistische stromen volgt staat Europa op de rand om in een kleine burgeroorlog te belanden door migratie en is Rusland aan alle kanten zich aan het voorbereiden om Rotterdam in te nemen tegen de kerstvakantie.

De positieve stromen doen net of er niks aan de hand is en we voor de zomer wereldvrede kunnen hebben en goedkopere benzine.

Vooralsnog lijkt het erop dat het Russische leger op het gebied van pantser, luchtafweer en personeel uitdagingen heeft. Maar ook dat ze nog lang niet het land gaan verlaten.

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 20:02 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/05/26/7457734/
[..]
Uiteraard is hij weer bang voor escalatie.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:14 schreef spicymchaggis het volgende:

[..]
Scholz Chamberlaint liever tot Russische troepen aan de Oekraïns/Poolse grens staan...

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:18 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Levert Duitsland eigenlijk wapens die doelen ver in Rusland kunnen beschieten? Met artillerie heb je het wel gehad volgens mij.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:38 schreef LethalNinja het volgende:

Scott Ritter: Ukraine's Army is being DECIMATED as Russia Prepares Finishing Blow to NATO

Nieuw filmpje van Scot Ritter. Wat denken jullie? Ik denk dat hij in sommige punten wel gelijk heeft maar dat hij het te somber schetst voor Oekraïne.

Tegelijkertijd denk ik dat veel westerse media weer in het andere uiterste zitten. Die denken dat Rusland 500k+ verloren heeft en Oekraine wellicht maximaal 30k-50k troepen.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:38 schreef LethalNinja het volgende:

Scott Ritter: Ukraine's Army is being DECIMATED as Russia Prepares Finishing Blow to NATO

Nieuw filmpje van Scot Ritter. Wat denken jullie? Ik denk dat hij in sommige punten wel gelijk heeft maar dat hij het te somber schetst voor Oekraïne.

Tegelijkertijd denk ik dat veel westerse media weer in het andere uiterste zitten. Die denken dat Rusland 500k+ verloren heeft en Oekraine wellicht maximaal 30k-50k troepen.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:48 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Er is volgens mij geen mainstream westerse media die claimt dat er maar 50k UKR doden zijn. Maar je stelt dat er velen zijn, dus ga je gang ze aan te wijzen.

Verder is Scot Ritter een klein beetje op de hand van de Russen, ik dacht dat hij er nu woonde en betaald wordt om dit soort verhalen de wereld in te helpen. Dat hij aan kinderen heet gezeten zou er niks mee te maken hoeven hebben, maar hij kan een beetje gecompromitteerd zijn

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:38 schreef LethalNinja het volgende:

Scott Ritter: Ukraine's Army is being DECIMATED as Russia Prepares Finishing Blow to NATO

Nieuw filmpje van Scot Ritter. Wat denken jullie?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:35 schreef DrMarten het volgende:

[..]
Duitsland heeft een aantal MARS II (M270) MLRS naar Ukraine gestuurd.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:48 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Verder is Scot Ritter een klein beetje op de hand van de Russen, ik dacht dat hij er nu woonde en betaald wordt om dit soort verhalen de wereld in te helpen.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:40 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ x ]

pffff

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:38 schreef LethalNinja het volgende:

Scott Ritter: Ukraine's Army is being DECIMATED as Russia Prepares Finishing Blow to NATO

Nieuw filmpje van Scot Ritter. Wat denken jullie? Ik denk dat hij in sommige punten wel gelijk heeft maar dat hij het te somber schetst voor Oekraïne.

Tegelijkertijd denk ik dat veel westerse media weer in het andere uiterste zitten. Die denken dat Rusland 500k+ verloren heeft en Oekraine wellicht maximaal 30k-50k troepen.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:39 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Nou we het toch over Scott Ritter hebben, hier een draad over iets dat wel in zijn straatje past. Een Russische soldaat vraagt om advies. Ik ben benieuwd of dit tot gedonderjaag achter de linies gaat leiden. Russen die Afrikanen gaan afschieten en zo.

[ x ]

[ x ]

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:48 schreef oheng het volgende:

[..]
Wat is dit nou weer voor gezeik. Passen die Afrikanen zich eens een keer aan, is het wéér niet goed!

Btw, sommige van de nieuwe drone video's van de Oekrainsche 54e Mech Brigade, K-2 eenheid, zijn extreem NSFL.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:53 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Die van die indier soms?

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:53 schreef ExTec het volgende:

[..]
Die van die indier soms?

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 18:52 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Al is het maar om bepaalde taken van het Oekraïnse leger over te nemen, zodat de vrijgemaakte Oekraïnse troepen kunnen vechten.

Actief deelnemen aan het front zie ik ze niet doen.
Als Macron dan ook de daad bij het woord voegt.

quote:

Op maandag 27 mei 2024 00:03 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Nou ben ik benieuwd

quote:

Nieuw filmpje van Scot Ritter. Wat denken jullie? Ik denk dat hij in sommige punten wel gelijk heeft maar dat hij het te somber schetst voor Oekraïne.

Tegelijkertijd denk ik dat veel westerse media weer in het andere uiterste zitten. Die denken dat Rusland 500k+ verloren heeft en Oekraine wellicht maximaal 30k-50k troepen.

quote:

Kharkiv. The price is too high 🕯️🕯️🕯️
Author Yan Dobronosov

quote:

Op maandag 27 mei 2024 01:57 schreef polderturk het volgende:
Stel dat een Nederlands staatsburger als huursoldaat voor Rusland gaat vechten.

Is hij dan strafbaar in Nederland?

quote:

Ukraine sets new distance record with 1,520 km UAV strike on Russian territory
A Ukrainian UAV fell at a record distance from the front line, setting a new milestone. The drone crashed in the vicinity of the Russian city of Orsk, according to reports from ORSK.RU and Ural56.ru, citing sources. Orsk is 140 km further from the front line than Salavat in Bashkortostan, which previously held the record for the furthest drone strike from Ukrainian positions.

This marks the first time a Ukrainian drone has covered a distance of 1,520 kilometres.

ORSK.RU was the first to report the drone's crash. The target might have been a military facility, stated Ural56.ru, citing law enforcement sources. Regional authorities stated that there is no confirmed information about the drone crash, according to Ural56.ru.

The farthest attack prior to this targeted the Gazprom Neftekhim refinery in Salavat on May 9. Salavat is 1,380 kilometres in a straight line from Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The distance from Kramatorsk to Orsk is 1,520 kilometres. The actual distance the drone must travel to Orsk is even greater as it needs to navigate around northern Kazakhstan territories.

Orsk houses the NEFTEORGSINTEZ refinery and the Orsk Mechanical Plant, which produces artillery shells.

On the morning of April 21, several Ukrainian drones attacked a factory in Elabuga , Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.

quote:

Op zondag 26 mei 2024 23:45 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Scott Ritter is niet alleen een veroordeelde pedofiel. Hij zit ook in de zak van het Kremlin. Ik neem geen woord serieus van hem. En ik zal geen seconde steken in het kijken van het filmpje.

- Hij heeft de schuld van Bucha in de schoenen van de nationale politie van Oekraine geschoven.
- Hij noemde Biden een oorlogscrimineel omdat hij de schuld bij Rusland legde
- Hij draagt bij aan de propaganda zenders RT en Sputnik
- Dit jaar heeft hij Tsjetsjenië bezocht om een toespraak te houden voor hun soldaten, zogenaamd om de relatie tussen dit land en Amerika te verbeteren.
- Hij praat het Kremlin grotendeels na.

quote:

27 May declared day of mourning in Kharkiv

A day of mourning was declared in Kharkiv on Monday, 27 May due to the massive casualties caused by Russian strikes on 25 May.

Source: Kharkiv City Council

Quote: "27 May is declared a Day of Mourning in the city of Kharkiv. The relevant decree was signed by Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

As a sign of mourning for those killed on 25 May in the enemy strike on a civilian infrastructure facility, the national flag with a black ribbon will be at half-mast on buildings and structures of local self-government, enterprises, institutions and organisations.

Entertainment music will also be banned in markets, trade and catering establishments, etc."

Background: The attack on the Epicentre home improvement hypermarket in Kharkiv on 25 May killed 16 people and injured 43, the Oblast Military Administration said. The local prosecutor's office reported 14 dead and 44 wounded.

In addition, 25 people were injured in a strike in the centre of Kharkiv on the same day.

quote:

Putin arrives in Uzbekistan, marking third international visit of his new term
Russian leader Vladimir Putin arrived in Uzbekistan's capital on May 26 to hold discussions with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, focusing on strengthening bilateral relations.

Putin paid his respects by laying a wreath at the Monument of Independence in Tashkent and engaged in what the Kremlin described as informal talks with Mirziyoyev. The formal meeting between the two leaders is scheduled for May 27.

This visit marks Putin's third international trip since his inauguration for the fifth presidential term, secured in the March election broadly seen as rigged.

His first trip was to China, where he praised China's "active efforts to find a political solution" to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war and claimed that Moscow is seeking a "settlement of this conflict through peaceful means." Putin then went to Belarus where
he reportedly planned to discuss the possible involvement of the Belarusian military in Russia's non-strategic nuclear drills.

Belarus has been a key ally to Moscow and supported Russian aggression against Ukraine, though it has not committed its own forces directly to hostilities. The country is also reportedly hosting Russian tactical nuclear arms on its territory.

In preparation for the Uzbekistan visit, Putin and Mirziyoyev discussed a range of bilateral cooperation topics, including trade and economic relations, according to the Kremlin.

quote:

Lithuanian President Nauseda re-elected in vote held amid security fears over Russia
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda won re-election on Sunday in a vote marked by defence concerns over neighbouring Russia, official results showed.

The count published by the electoral commission showed that Nauseda won 76 percent of votes with 80 percent of ballots counted after polls closed in the second-round vote.

Voters "have handed me a great mandate of trust and I am well aware that I will have to cherish this," Nauseda, 60, told journalists in Vilnius.

"Now that I have five years of experience, I believe that I will certainly be able to use this jewel properly, first of all to achieve the goals of welfare for all the people of Lithuania," he said.

His opponent, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, conceded defeat in comments to reporters and congratulated Nauseda.

The Lithuanian president steers defence and foreign policy, attending EU and NATO summits, but must consult with the government and parliament on appointing the most senior officials.

While the candidates agree on defence, they share diverging views on Lithuania's relations with China, which have been strained for years over Taiwan.

Both candidates agree that the NATO and EU member of 2.8 million people should boost defence spending to counter the perceived threat from Russia, and to that end the government recently proposed a tax increase.

SPOILER

quote:

'Threat of war'
Vilnius fears it could be next in the crosshairs if Moscow were to win its war against Ukraine.

Lithuania is a significant donor to Ukraine, which has been battling Russia since the 2022 invasion. It is already a big defence spender, with a military budget equal to 2.75 percent of GDP.

It intends to purchase tanks and additional air defence systems, and to host a German brigade, as Berlin plans to complete the stationing of around 5,000 troops by 2027.

Pensioner Ausra Vysniauskiene said she voted for Nauseda.

"He's an intelligent man, he speaks many languages, he's educated, he's a banker," the 67-year-old told AFP.

"I want men to lead, especially when the threat of war is so big."

Tension over Taiwan
Simonyte, the 49-year-old candidate of the ruling conservatives, was running for president again after losing to Nauseda in the last presidential ballot.

The uneasy relationship between Nauseda and Simonyte's conservatives has at times triggered foreign policy debates, most notably on Lithuania's relations with China.

Bilateral ties turned tense in 2021, when Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy under the island's name -- a departure from the common diplomatic practice of using the name of the capital Taipei to avoid angering Beijing.

China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of its territory, downgraded diplomatic relations with Vilnius and blocked its exports, leading some Lithuanian politicians to urge a restoration of relations for the sake of the economy.

Nauseda sees the need to change the name of the representative office, while Simonyte pushed back against it.

Gay rights
But voters also cited personal differences between the candidates, as well as economic policy and human rights.

Simonyte drew support from liberal voters in bigger cities and traditional conservative voters.

A fiscal conservative with liberal views on social issues, she notably supports same-sex partnerships, a controversial issue in the predominantly Catholic country.

"I would like to see faster progress, more openness... more tolerance for people who are different from us," she said when casting an early vote.

Nauseda, who maintains a moderate stance on nearly all issues, has established himself as a promoter of the welfare state, with conservative views on gay rights.

quote:

Two drones crash into Russian oil depot in Oryol region
Two drones crashed into the territory of an oil depot in the city of Livny, Oryol region, Russia.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Governor of the Oryol region, Andrey Klitschkov, on Telegram.

"This morning, during another massive attack on the Oryol region, a UAV crashed into the territory of a petrol station in Livny. Part of the facade of the administrative building was damaged, and emergency services and the city administration immediately arrived to localise and eliminate the consequences. While they were working on the territory of the petrol station, another UAV crashed," the statement said.

According to preliminary data, a fire department driver was killed in the incident. Three other employees were injured.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on 21 May, a drone attacked an oil depot in the village of Prokhorovka, Belgorod region of Russia.

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Meloni opposed Ukraine's strikes on Russian territory with weapons from partners
On Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni again spoke out against Ukraine's use of weapons provided by its partners to strike at Russian territory after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's statement.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Barron's with reference to AFP.

"I don't know why Stoltenberg said such a thing, I think we have to be very careful," Meloni said in an interview with Italian radio.

She added that she agrees that "I agree that NATO must remain firm, not give the signal that it is giving in".

As Ukrinform reported, during an interview with The Economist, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the allies to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons to strike military targets in Russia. He argued that depriving Ukraine of the ability to use these weapons against legitimate military targets in Russia "makes it very difficult for it to defend itself", especially when the fighting continues in the Kharkiv region.

At the same time, on Sunday, 26 May, Sweden allowed the use of weapons supplied to Ukraine to strike military targets in Russia.

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ISW reports on concentration of Russians at border and prospects of future offensives
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has identified three locations within Russia where the Russian army is concentrated. Experts believe the number of forces present is limited; however, even this number could compel Ukraine to redeploy and stretch its troops along the state border in the event of the onset of offensive actions, according to the ISW report.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has assessed that Russian forces are concentrating in the Grayvoron-Borisovka-Proletarsky area in the western part of the Belgorod region.

Satellite images suggest that Russian troops have expanded activities at bases and storage facilities in these settlements in recent weeks. However, the current size of this possible concentration remains unclear, according to ISW experts.

SPOILER

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The Grayvoron-Borisovka-Proletarsky area would provide Russian forces with the capability to launch offensive operations southward towards Zolochiv and Bohodukhiv, two Ukrainian towns northwest of Kharkiv within 25 kilometers of the international border, or westward towards settlements along the R-45 highway, which connects Bohodukhiv with Sumy, the report states.

ISW suggests that the Russian army could conduct offensive operations in one or both directions simultaneously, and the concentration of Russians here could force Ukrainian forces to redeploy troops across a larger section of the border in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

Russian forces are also concentrating limited forces in Kursk and Bryansk regions near the border with the Sumy region.

The Institute's analysts believe that even a limited concentration in these areas could achieve the probable desired effect of further drawing and tying down Ukrainian forces along the international border.

The Russian armed forces are currently bringing the Northern Group of Forces near the border to its planned final strength and are likely to conduct only limited offensive actions in the Sumy-Kharkiv direction until the Northern Group approaches its final strength, ISW predicts.

"Even limited Russian offensive operations in these areas will add pressure that stretches Ukrainian manpower and materiel along a wider front and possibly allow Russian forces to establish tactical footholds to support subsequent operations either northwest of Kharkiv city or in the direction of Sumy city," the report states.

However, the Northern Group of Forces, even reaching the upper limit of its declared final strength, will not have the necessary manpower required to conduct a successful encirclement or capture operation of Kharkiv or Sumy, ISW believes.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated yesterday, May 26, that Russia is assembling another group of forces near the border with Ukraine. The Russian army is preparing an offensive 90 kilometers northwest of Kharkiv.

The State Border Service stated that the Russian army is maintaining its units near the border with the Sumy region, but these forces are insufficient for a successful offensive, while the Ukrainian Defense Forces are ready for any scenario.

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 10:03 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:
Komen hier users serieus met Scott Ritter aanzetten ja?

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 08:29 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

Update from Ukraine | Poland and Baltics may enter Ukraine | A new Front Against Ruzzia?

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Op zondag 26 mei 2024 22:48 schreef zalkc het volgende:
Er is volgens mij geen mainstream westerse media die claimt dat er maar 50k UKR doden zijn. Maar je stelt dat er velen zijn, dus ga je gang ze aan te wijzen.

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 09:01 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.reddit.com/r/(...)ders_getting_gunned/
Longer video of motorbike riders getting gunned down and its dumber and more suicidal than first thought
Wat een gestuntel.

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 09:38 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Reznikov zegt dat buitenlandse piloten de F16's ook mogen vliegen. Prima plan.

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 11:18 schreef Starhopper het volgende:

[..]
Ja. Ze hadden vorig jaar toch een wervingscampagne gericht op ex-F16 piloten en onderhoudspersoneel?

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 11:17 schreef oheng het volgende:

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Op een slakkegangetje, over een bekende aanvalsvector, in het daglicht, op je luidruchtige, knaloranje brommert richting de vijand rijden.

Ik snap niet hoe die brommert aanvallen nou mis kunnen lopen.
Maar als ik het goed heb, is een flink deel van de huurlingen uit India, Nepal, Afrika, etc allemaal ingezet in het Kharkiv offensief. Dus rusland verliest hier mogelijk niet zoveel aan.

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 11:34 schreef Ulx het volgende:
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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 12:51 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 13:06 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
Zou toch mooi zijn als ie drone op schoot krijgt, net zoals die sjeik in de rolstoel destijds, die in een raket in zijn schoot kreeg

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Op maandag 27 mei 2024 12:51 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
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