As I know you are well aware: Contrast Ukranian conduct in Kursk to Russian conduct since they started the "Special Police Action". During the initial phase of the offensive, tens of THOUSANDS of Ukranian citizens and CHILDREN, (that were not murdered) placed on buses and sent ??? Where exactly??? Hey Duggar - How many Ukrainian TV's and appliances were sent east, courtesy of the invasion. Look what they do, they FLATTEN every city, town and settlement. Rapes / torture - PLENTY of documentaries out there about that TYPICAL trait of the Russian soldiery. Is it all peaches and cream in Kursk for Russian civilians?, NO, of course not, but compared to ski behavior, it's not even close when one considers %'s or proportions.
Kursk looking more and more like a suicidal psyop https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ukraine-is-playing-with-fire-in-kursk/
Weeb reporting Ukraine have moved 1/3rd of their entire Army in the Kursk direction and moved most, if not all of their HIMARs and highly specialized weapons in the Kursk direction. Based on that, it sounds like Ukraine will take some more land in the Kursk region, but the question is what happens in the southeast?
Well, it’s a principle of war to reinforce success. The Ukrainian campaign in Kursk appears to be the only thing going on that either side can reasonably call a “success” at the moment. Will it work? Time will tell. I would not have advised this operation in the first place, but for the moment that just looks I had not learned my lesson about betting against Ukraine. If Ukraine’s strategy is to force Russia into a decisive battle (or series of them) to undermine Putin’s domestic support and shorten the war, then this is probably the play. But, yeah, it’s risky. If you are Ukrainian, then the risk you are taking is that the situation in the SE will not change much. The Russians will continue to take a little land here and there but at terrible human costs and without the ability to effect a breakthrough. What we only suspected to be true but have learned clearly from Ukraine’s operation in Kursk is that Russia does not have a big, mobile reserve that could expoit success in the SE. If they did, it would have been the Kursk area within 48 to 72 hours. We have also learned that Putin is not as powerful as he led us to believe. For one reason or another, he is not able to either conduct a higher level of mobilization or to bring down the conscript army to repel the invasion. Nor is he able to use nuclear weapons. If he believed he could do any of these things without an existential threat to his regime, then he would. But we will see.
Airplanes go Boom at Marinkova airfield. SW Russia. It’s Glorious. Russian media report a drone attack on Marinovka airfield, Volgograd region of Russia. Locals report that a detonation of ammunition is taking place at the airfield. ASTRA media writes that the Marinovka airfield is home to Su-24MR frontline reconnaissance aircraft of the 2nd separate reconnaissance aviation squadron (military unit 77978) of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Command. Video shows Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airbase Marinovka There it is flying by, f--k. F---ing flying over again... It’s a serious tragedy, folks. This is serious stuff. It’s all fu---ng on fire," he says. "That’s really something else. And all the new hangars, it’s all blown up in the air, f--k.” Slava Ukraini
From a strategic military standpoint, if you're Ukraine, don't you want to be throwing your might at something that may yield as large or larger strategic military payoff than what you're risking from a strategic military standpoint? The whole risk-reward trade off. If occupying the border regions of Kursk served the same benefit militarily as holding serve in the southeast, then it's understandable. But I don't think that's the case here. From a military planning standpoint, I don't think you can risk losing more than what you would gain and pin your hopes on how a populace might react. Especially when you have very little evidence said populace is on the cusp of reacting the way you hope they will. There has to be at least an equal military advantage as what you may lose by pulling your best units off of the southeastern front.
Earlier a ferry with a full tank of gas near the Kerch bridge began burning and will probably burn to the water line from what it looked like. edit: sadly, it sank Crimean Bridge, get ready! The ferry Conro Trader that was hit in the port of Kavkaz was the last one that was sailing across the Kerch Strait and could transport railway cars. The only way of transportation between the peninsula and Russia remains the Crimean
biden and blinken waited too long to give ukraine pilot training, long range missiles, and ability to strike russian military targets in russia. jmo
Putin pretends that the Ukraine invasion is no big deal. It's the "new normal". Happens all the time. We've got them right where we want them. In our back yard, causing holy terror. All Putin seems to have left is his propaganda, and even the quality of that isn't what it used to be. Putin launches propaganda campaign calling Ukraine troops in Kursk ‘new normal’ In other words, there is nothing Russia can do about the invasion from Ukraine, so just buckle up and enjoy the ride. "Move along! Nothing to see here!"
There is one problem with Russia's plan to run a natural gas pipeline to China: Mongolia refused to fund construction through its country for the next four years. Ouch. One key country is holding up a natural-gas pipeline that would deepen ties between Russia and China
It wasn't just one full tank of gas, it was 30 full gas tanks. Ferry loaded with fuel sinks at Russian port after Ukrainian attack
Ah. I still put the whole thing on Jake Sullivan. We need a serious National Security Advisor in there.
Ukraine destroyed some glide bombs in a warehouse in Volgograd. Ukraine says it destroyed glide bombs at a Russian air base that aircraft fly out of to bomb the front lines
U.S. sending $125 million of weapons to Ukraine. The US is sending $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, officials say
one wonders if certain electronics that they need to build the missiles "slipped through" the sanctions but were imbedded with tracking devices to help pinpoint missile storage locations
