Ukraine War Watch Thread

[ibm9000]

One army at war building defences!

That certainly deserves the headlines.

Let's see...
First providing the ammo, then sending advisors and then... But, this is not Vietnam, this war is completely different. So different that SKorea is "lending" ammo to US, because it is illegal under SK law to provide ammunition to a country at war, so "that" ammo is not used and that is completely different... for a seventh grader or you have to go to a kindergarten?

An U. prisoner has been (not confirmed) beheaded and a R. farm has been (not confirmed) shelled... worth considering for the next offensive.

[weatheriscool]

China vows not to sell arms to any party in Ukraine war
Source: NBC News

China won’t sell weapons to either side in the war in Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister said Friday, responding to Western concerns that Beijing could provide military assistance to Russia.

China has maintained that it is neutral in the conflict, while backing Russia politically, rhetorically and economically at a time when Western nations have imposed punishing sanctions and sought to isolate Moscow for its invasion of its neighbor.

Qin Gang is the highest-level Chinese official to make such an explicit statement about arms sales to Russia. He added that China would also regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use.

“Regarding the export of military items, China adopts a prudent and responsible attitude,” Qin said at a news conference alongside visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. “China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict, and manage and control the exports of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chin ... _nn_tw_mtp

[weatheriscool]

Russia races to pass tough new military draft rules, banning conscripts from leaving
Source: NPR

Lawmakers rushed the legislation through both houses of parliament this week. It could have big implications for the government's war plans in Ukraine, especially as it tries to bolster its forces in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Until now, military recruitment officers have had to go in person to deliver a paper summons to a draftee's home or workplace.

That system will now be supplanted by electronic notifications — i.e. emails — issued through systems including the web portals that Russians use to pay their utility bills, taxes and other services.

And with the new law, draftees are immediately banned from leaving the country.

Read more:

[weatheriscool]

A Disaster': Putin Has Suffered 181,000 Casualties in Ukraine
Ukraine War Update: On day 415 of the war in Ukraine, Russian forces are pouring more men and resources into the Donbas in an attempt to capture the town of Bakhmut.

Russian Casualties in Ukraine

Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Friday, Ukrainian forces have killed and wounded approximately 181,090 Russian troops.

Destroyed equipment includes: 307 fighter, attack, bomber, and transport jets, 293 attack and transport helicopters, 3,650 tanks, 2,784 artillery pieces, 7,069 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 535 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 18 boats and cutters, 5,640 vehicles and fuel tanks, 283 anti-aircraft batteries, 2,239 tactical unmanned aerial systems, 321 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, and four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems, and 911 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a- ... r-AA19TPMZ

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Slovakia gives Ukraine remaining 9 of 13 promised warplanes
Source: AP

an hour ago

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia has delivered the remaining nine of the 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that it promised to Ukraine, the Slovak Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said the warplanes were transported overland for security reasons in a “complicated logistics operation.” The first four were flown from Slovakia to Ukraine by Ukrainian pilots on March 23.

“We are doing the right thing,” Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said in a statement

On March 17, the Slovak government approved a plan to give Ukraine its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 planes, becoming the second NATO member to answer Ukraine’s plea for warplanes to help defend against Russia’s invasion.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/slovakia-ukr ... dfcbe06358

[weatheriscool]

US-made Patriot guided missile systems arrive in Ukraine
Source: AP

By ADAM PEMBLE 36 minutes ago

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s defense minister said Wednesday his country has received the U.S-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile systems it has long craved and which Kyiv hopes will help shield it from Russian airstrikes during the war.

“Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of Patriot systems, which Washington agreed to send last October, would be a major boost and a milestone in the war against Moscow’s full-scale invasion. It’s the latest contribution from Kyiv’s Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

China, on the other hand, insists it won’t help arm Russia, one of its key allies, and on Wednesday denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 2d1f328179

[weatheriscool]

US to begin training Ukrainian forces on Abrams tanks next month
Source: CNN Politics

CNN — The US will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate Abrams tanks next month as it seeks to get them on to the battlefield against Russia before the end of the summer. Thirty-one US M1A1 Abrams tanks – the size of a Ukrainian tank battalion – will be sent by mid-May to Grafenwoehr, Germany, where roughly 250 Ukrainians will undergo a 10-week training course with US troops, a US official told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The tanks are a long-awaited capability for Ukraine, which has been battling Russia for more than a year. Though the US had originally said it would send the newer M1A2 versions of the tanks, officials said in March that the Ukrainians would instead get the M1A1, dramatically accelerating the timeline for delivering the tanks.

Austin said Friday at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, that in total the group of allies and partners has provided more than $55 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including “more than 230 tanks and more than 1,550 armored vehicles and other equipment and munitions.”

“All of this is huge progress,” Austin said alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. “And I am confident that this equipment and the training that accompanies it will put Ukraine’s forces in a position to continue to succeed on the battlefield.” In addition to tanks being provided by the US, Ukraine will also be receiving German Leopard 2 tanks and British Challengers.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/politics ... index.html

[ibm9000]

So...
One SAM system for one country.
Non combat-ready tanks for maintenance-training, the crews will train half the time than an US crew; that would mean that the under-armoured tanks are going to be less than half-effective to begin with.
Also: "Those saying, 'Just give them the damned tanks!' have likely never seen the choreography to making this work on the battlefield".

I wonder why they keep calling it "counter-offensive". Where is the "offensive"? Those combats around Bakhmut? How long ago was the Russian offensive?

[Xyls]

Ukraine has apparently captured territory across the Dnipro in Kherson.

This is quite surprising. I wonder if the counteroffensive is going to come in Kherson again?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... own-forces

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

Harkening back to:


War. War never changes.

[caltrek]

Ukraine Situation Report: Explosive Drones Are Getting Very Close to Moscow
by Howard Altman
April 24, 2023

(The Drive) Several locations in Russia, including near Moscow - as well as Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula it has occupied since 2014 - were reportedly hit by Ukrainian drone attacks Sunday and Monday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD), local government officials and various media accounts.

A Ukrainian UJ-22 drone packed with explosives was found near Moscow, in what appears to be the closest discovery of a weaponized Ukrainian drone near Russia’s capital. However, there was a discrepancy in reporting about exactly where it landed.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/u ... -to-moscow

[ibm9000]

The extent and intent of these Ukrainian positions remain unclear, as does Ukraine’s ability and willingness to maintain sustained positions in this area. ISW is recoding territory on the east bank of the Dnipro River to Ukrainian-held only now because this is the first time ISW has observed reliable geolocated imagery of Ukrainian positions on the east bank along with multi-sourced Russian reports of an enduring Ukrainian presence there

.
(No amount of troops mentioned).

Maybe, a bit, just a bit, too soon to cry offensive.

[weatheriscool]

Xi Jinping to send Chinese peace talks delegation to Ukraine
Source: The Guardian

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict there, after his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Xi also appeared to pledge China would remain neutral in the conflict, saying Beijing “will neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit”, according to CCTV.

Zelenskiy described the phone call, said by aides to be almost an hour, as “long and meaningful” and said the two had discussed “possible cooperation to reach a fair and sustainable peace”.

But he insisted Ukraine would not give up on lost territory: “There can be no peace at the expense of territorial compromises. The territorial integrity of Ukraine must be restored within the 1991 borders,” he said in readout of the call on Telegram.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... to-ukraine

[wjfox]

[ibm9000]

"We calculated the amount of equipment and the various types of things required, and we have fulfilled that. We have nearly gotten everything into Ukraine. And I'm confident they have what they need for the offensive that we have planned with them". U.S. European Command Gen. Christopher Cavoli.

I may be wrong, but that is US/NATO implication in this war. Maybe Russia is not that wrong saying that it is facing NATO. What is wrong with us facing Iran, NK, China and anyone else?

Both sides continue to fight along the Dnipro River, where Ukrainian forces managed to push Russian forces across back in the fall at the culmination of the Kherson counteroffensive.

No, they didn't and it was an "offensive", a Dudchani offensive at that.

(Both thedrive).

[weatheriscool]

Russia launches deadly wave of missile attacks on Ukraine cities
Source: The Guardian

Russian cruise missiles have killed at least 12 people in the central Ukrainian cities of Uman and Dnipro, days after Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, begged his allies for more air defence supplies.

The attacks were part of a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes in the early hours of Friday morning, the most intense bombing to hit the country in weeks.

Footage from Uman, where at least 10 people were killed, showed a building in flames and partially reduced to rubble. One missile hit a building in Dnipro, killing a woman and a child, the city’s mayor said.

Most of Russia’s attacks were intercepted, with 21 out of 23 missiles shot down by the Ukrainian military. The missiles that got through were a grim reminder of why the country is so vulnerable when Moscow aims its weapons at civilian targets.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ine-cities

[weatheriscool]

CNN: Children among at least 23 killed in early-morning Russian strike on Ukrainian apartment block
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/28/europe/r ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 8ce4820cc8

Russian official: Ukrainian drones strike Crimea oil depot
By DAVID RISING

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two of Ukraine’s drones, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.

Razvozhayev said the fire at the city’s harbor was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.

Razvozhayev said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview this week that his country will seeking to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.