About all those additional conscripts . . . Apparently, Russia is running out of male volunteers for fighting in Ukraine. They are starting to recruit women to fight in Ukraine. Some of them look like they would rather be shopping (I'm not sure if that is a sexist statement or not). Anyway, not that much enthusiasm as far as I can tell. They may just need some vodka. Women will be used for drones and sniper work. As much as male Russian soldiers are raping everything that moves in Ukraine, I can't help but think that Russian women will be a distraction on or near the battlefield. There may be some battles between the sexes within the Russian lines. Russian Defence Ministry starts to recruit women for war in Ukraine
without these counterbattery systems, the russian artillery becomes much less effective at targeting ukranian artillery as it moves forward. assuming that ukraine has counterbattery radar, this could really help eliminate the remaining russian artillery if ukranian artillery can move forward with less chance of being located and targeted by counterbattery systems Russia's Valuable Zoopark Radar Destroyed in East Ukraine: Kyiv (msn.com) Ukraine destroyed one of Russia's prized counterbattery radar systems in fighting along the eastern front in the war-torn country, Kyiv's military said. "We have successfully eliminated the valuable Russian Zoopark system, which is valued at over 10 million dollars," Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Tavria group of forces, said in remarks carried by Ukrainian media outlet RBC on Sunday. Russia's Zoopark counterbattery radar systems are an important target for Ukraine, as they help Moscow's troops search out and destroy the artillery systems that are crucial to Ukraine's success. The conflict, on the cusp of hitting the 20-month mark, has been deemed an "artillery war," in which firepower is critical for both sides. In late March, Ukraine's special operations forces said they had taken out a Zoopark-2 system, and shared footage appearing to show the strike. Shortly after, the British defense ministry described these systems as "relatively few in number," but as a "significant" piece of equipment on the battlefield. At the time, Ukraine had destroyed at least six of the systems, and Russia "likely only has a very limited number left" in the war-torn country, the U.K. government said in an intelligence update published on social media.
Why the new ATACMs is such a threat to Russia's invasion. Basically, the range of the missiles allows Ukraine to cut off supply routes along the Sea of Azov, as well as take out the bridge in Crimea. This may be the reason that Putin is having heart attacks. Army Tactical Missile System could finally break Russia's spine
How long before the tantrum caucus et al echo this? MSN Russian lawmaker wants to move the statue of liberty to Russia
Looks like the Russian population is headed towards extinction, even without the war. Russian women do not want to have children while living in an authoritarian and autocratic communist regime that is hell bent on military conquest (sounds like China!). Russian statisticians are predicting the Russian population will decline by 700,000 per year by 2027, and that's without counting the people lost in the war. Apparently the event that kicked off the baby banishment was the 2014 invasion of Crimea. The only thing that is propping up the numbers partially is the immigration of 200,000 people per year. Once immigrants get wise to how willing Putin is to send them to the front, they may change their minds about going to Russia. That Putin is quite the leader. Breaking new ground with this new extinction pathway to global domination. Russian Statistics Service forecasts extinction of Russian population at speed of up to 700,000 people a year
I've said it here a few times, one of the biggest things Russia wants from Ukraine is its population.
More on the Russian economy. Almost half of Russians say their salary does not cover basic spending needs. Almost half of Russians say salary does not cover basic spending -survey
I know some are coming from Cuba, as Russia has been offering them money to fight in the war. I imagine that others are coming from the poorest of the Stan countries, looking for a better economic life, to replace many of the Russians who left Russian jobs to escape conscription. There may be a few coming from Hungary and Belarus, and other countries sympathetic to Putin's dreams of conquest. Some are probably Russians in Ukraine, living too close to the war zone. Russia gets a few college students from Africa, but I expect that to slow down once the word gets out that Putin has been forcing them into military service.
Russian troops have been reduced to digging tunnels in Avdiivka to get closer to Ukraine's troops without being seen by drones. I wonder if the tunnels are shallow enough (and poorly reinforced) that driving a tank over them would cause them to collapse. Things are getting desperate for the Russians there. Russian soldiers are digging tunnels to sneak up on Ukrainian positions without being seen by their lethal drones, Kyiv says
Interesting thread stating what others have stated earlier in this thread about the massive losses from the latest Russian offensive and how it played right into Ukraine's hands. Of course, the very knowledgeable people for War on the Rocks are still very worried about long-term trends
with the destruction of the counter battery radar systems, the ukrainians may be more likely to move the atacms closer to the line knowing that they could get rockets off and launcher mobilized with less fear of russian artillery finding them. at least for a special target or two. more on the damage done by the helicopter shot. seems that many that didn't burn were take out of commission by cluster projectiles Photos Reveal Devastating Impact of ATACMS Bomblets on Russian Helicopters (msn.com) United States-provided cluster variants of ATACMS missiles may have damaged more than three dozen Russian helicopters, new photographs indicate, in what could be a more significant victory for Kyiv than previously thought. Images and footage circulating online appear to show the impact of bomblets, or submunitions, from M39 missiles thought to have been used in Ukraine's recent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) strikes on a Russian military base in Moscow-controlled Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine. ................. #Ukraine's Oct 17 attack on 2 occupied airfields was beyond successful. It likely disabled & destroyed an incredible 21 Russian helicopters. Although satellite images show distinct burning of helicopters, many more would have looked untouched, but in fact will have suffered severe damage due to bomblet punctures. Damage which will see them having to be scrapped or transported back to Russia for repair.
Russia's FSB Increasingly 'Sabotaging' Putin's Orders: Report (newsweek.com) Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a self-exiled Russian tycoon, told Newsweek in July that less than a third of the FSB would be prepared to back Putin should a mutiny take place in the future. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man before he spoke out against the Russian leader, said he is often contacted by members of the FSB who are disillusioned with Putin's regime and offer him "information." He said the loyalty level of people serving the president is "rather low." "I think if there were a different mutiny tomorrow, and FSB officers were called on to protect Putin from that mutiny, I reckon maybe only 30 percent would be ready to do that," Khodorkovsky said, referring to an advance on Moscow by the late Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who announced a "march of justice" against the country's military leadership on June 24. In April, Khodorkovsky's investigative website Dossier Center, which tracks alleged criminal activity by various people associated with the Kremlin, published an interview with Gleb Karakulov, a defector of the Federal Guard Service, and a former protection officer for Putin.
Actually, I think tunneling was occasionally tried in the Civil War, during at least one of the static battlefields towards the end of the war. The Union dug a tunnel towards a Confederate position in a smaller city (Petersburg) east of Richmond, filled the end of the tunnel with massive amounts of explosives, and lit the fuse. Everyone was deaf and stunned for a few seconds, and then Union troops (who knew what was happening, rushed into the giant crater to attack the Confederates, thinking that the crater rim would provide cover to let them shoot over it at the Confederates. They couldn't climb up the steep walls of the crater, and the Confederates quickly recovered and used the crater rim as protection to shoot the Federals (like fish in a barrel). It was called the Battle of the Crater. It cost General Ambrose Burnside (famous for his sideburns) his job as a field general. Battle of the Crater - Wikipedia
someone sent a shot across the bow of the opposing powers. this is not a small fish and I am sure he had multiple levels of security. at least this was a heart attack. I wonder if it was before or after the threw him off a balcony. Russian Oil Magnate Found Dead as Spate of Mysterious Deaths Continues (msn.com) The head of one of Russia's largest oil companies has died, Russian state media reported on Tuesday, marking the latest in a string of deaths among the country's top oil executives. Vladimir Nekrasov, the head of the board of directors at Lukoil, died after what initial medical reports suggest was "acute heart failure," state-run news agency Tass reported on Tuesday, citing the company. He spent almost 50 years in the oil and gas industry, Russian media reported. He is the third of Lukoil's senior executives to die since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine 20 months ago. In September 2022, Lukoil chairman Ravil Maganov died after reportedly falling from a window in a Moscow hospital. However, the oil company said Maganov had "passed away following a severe illness." ..................... Alexander Subbotin, a former top manager at Lukoil, was discovered dead in the home of a shaman in May 2022 in Mytishchi, to the northeast of Moscow. His body was found in a basement in a "room used for Jamaican voodoo rituals," Tass reported at the time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/24/russia-ukraine-kharkiv-donetsk-northeast/ KUPYANSK, Ukraine — With the world focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, Russia has launched ferocious attacks in eastern Ukraine, simultaneously ramping up its efforts to encircle the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and pummeling the area around the formerly occupied cities of Kupyansk and Lyman. Moscow’s reinforced positions and renewed attacks at these strategic points on the eastern front are forcing Ukraine to defend swaths ofterritory that were occupied for months after Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and then liberated roughly a year ago. Some of the most intense fighting is taking place near Kupyansk, a city on the Oskil River, just 25 miles from the border with Russia. Ukrainian commanders and officials stationed along the eastern front said in interviews that Russia had noticeably bolstered its forces in recent weeks by creating new, fresh brigades — including elite forces and “Storm Z” units made up of prisoner battalions. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said the situation had “worsened significantly” and that Russia was aiming to encircle Kupyansk and to reach the river, which cuts through the city.
more smoke Vladimir Putin's Allies Form 'Knightly Round Table' After Russian Leader, 71, Suffers Suspected Heart Attack: Report (msn.com) Sources familiar with the situation told Daily Star that Putin’s allies formed a “knightly round table” to run the country and that the “knightly round table” would be headed by top security advisor Nikolai Patrushev and a Putin body double. “People privy to the current situation from the president’s inner circle held consultations on Monday with representatives of several elite groups, trying to determine the possibility of consolidating into the prototype of a certain 'Politburo' headed by the current Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev and control over Putin’s double, who will 'temporarily' represent the president,” one source told the outlet. “The structure of the supposed compromise between the main elite groups looks very shaky since everyone sees the possibilities of implementing this idea in their own way,” another Kremlin insider added. “Now a group of representatives of the leadership of the security bloc, led by Nikolai Patrushev, is generously making promises to organize almost a kind of knightly round table, where everyone will have the opportunity to strengthen their positions in governing the country, and all decisions will be made on the basis of consensus.”
