Meanwhile in the Land of the Free, Biden is also having trouble finding an opponent as he’s trying his best to jail his most feared opponent.
Russia’s biggest advantage is Chinese support at the present. One only needs to ask themself what China has told Russia about using nuclear weapons and what China would do if Russia actually used one.
Looks like Russia just lost a $200 million one-of-a-kind radar station. That's enough cash to (under)pay the signing bonus for 5 million recruits. Russia had a top secret radar station with over-the-horizon detection capability called Predel-E in Kherson Oblast. It was guarded by a Leyer-2 electronic warfare system. Ukrainian military destroy unique Russian radar station worth $200 million in Kherson Oblast It's almost like Ukraine is targeting Russia's air defenses intentionally for some reason.
No question. Note Russia laid the groundwork for the no limits partnership with China before the ‘special military operation’ commenced. They’ve been planning for a life with Western sanctions for years. What Russia can’t produce on its own, China backfills. When it comes to mass product output, the Chinese own that sector. Not a bad partner to have.
I did not get a chance to comment on the nuclear weapons mention. My instincts tell me Russia won't use nukes in Ukraine. For one, they're attempting to annex portions of Ukraine under the premise these parts have historically been part of Russia and there is a large pro-Russian population in these regions. If they drop a tactical nuke in Ukraine, it's going to be difficult for them to live that down with the population of Ukraine, even the pro-Russian population. It would be counterproductive to the narrative that Ukraine is Russian soil. (ie why would you drop a nuke on your own people, on your own turf?). Further, Russia doesn't need to use tactical nukes in Ukraine to succeed unless NATO boots hit the ground. Even then, I don't think Russia would nuke their own backyard. That would simply not age well on so many fronts and the Russians know it would inevitably snowball to all out nuclear world war very quickly. Russia is very content with the current status of things. A trench warfare, where the numbers are heavily in their favor. That being said, if the war widens, I could see an axis alliance of sorts developing between Russia and China. But even then, both Russia and China will wait until there are simply no other options left on the table before they use nukes. Once the nuclear cherry is popped, it will be MAD. All sides know this. So the Russians and Chinese will fight a modern warfare on the ground and in the air. Chemical and bio weapons, for sure. But not nukes. That's why I'd say it's virtually impossible Russia doesn't have a large reserve army inside of Russia that is not being deployed, at the moment. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the number is higher than 400,000 tbh. Because if they're crazy enough to commit their last reservist to Ukraine, then nuclear war is very close and Russia doesn't want MAD any more than we do. They would retreat from Ukrainian soil before they committed the last vestiges of their reservists, because the only option left at that point would be nukes. Nobody wants that.
if nothing else, it should help the success rate of the drones. This latest one that took out an over the horizon station will hopefully help with the targeting of equipment and logistics with long range guided bombs russia has been using. that and the repeated attacks on their air force wherever they store them. those long range guided bombs are doing some damage to the Ukraines. Maybe eliminating the air defense will allow Ukraine to push these bombers off.
A total of 66 out of 71 Leopard 2 tanks are still in action for Ukraine. It is believed that no soldiers in the tanks were killed when the five tanks were disabled. Ukraine only lost 5 out of 71 Leopard 2 tanks during summer in counteroffensive – Forbes
another 4 planes taken out on the ground and destruction at key production facilities. destroying their capacity to produce critical components for drones/missiles is more effective than defending against drones or missiles. smart.. eliminating or disrupting these planes launching the long range guided bombs also seems to be mission critical as those are causing problems for Ukranian logistics and command and control centers Largest attack on Russian territory: Ukraine destroys Putin’s “Blinder” (msn.com) “The largest attack on Russian territory: damaged IL-76 aircraft in Pskov and a microelectronics factory in Bryansk that manufactures components for “Iskander” missiles.” The Il-76 is called by its full name Ilyushin Il-76 and is a heavy transport aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. To this day, it is manufactured in Russia. The Iskander missiles are also of Russian production. They are used in the war against Ukraine. Noelreports also reports via Network X that one of Putin’s “blinder” bombers may have been damaged or destroyed. “The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations admitted that two Il-76 military transport planes caught fire in Pskov. But updated data circulating in Russian media suggest that 6 aircraft were damaged/destroyed. Among them is said to be a Tu-22 bomber.” The Tu-22 bomber (Tupolev Tu-22, also called “Blinder” by NATO), is a Soviet medium-range bomber. This information has not yet been independently verified and for this reason should be evaluated with reservations.
Russian planes keep getting blown up in airfields hundreds of miles from the fighting, exposing embarrassing gaps in its defenses (msn.com) Military analysts told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has likely disabled more Russian aircraft while they were sitting in bases than it had in live combat. It is a situation that will likely prove embarrassing for one of the world's foremost military powers. The latest damaged aircraft are four transport planes damaged in a drone attack at an airport in the city of Pskov in north-west Russia, including two that were on fire, according to state media outlet TASS. It is around 450 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Explains some posters here: The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that the Kremlin is currently focused on promoting five main information operations against Ukraine, all of which ISW has observed. The GUR reported on August 29 that the Russian Presidential Administration held a meeting on August 25 to approve the specific narratives that Russian media should promote in the information space.[33] The Russian narratives include claims that Ukraine is conducting mass mobilization regardless of age, gender, or health; claims that Ukraine’s Western partners are disappointed in Ukraine‘s prospects for victory; claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is failing; claims that the Ukrainian government is completely corrupt and is not fighting corruption and; claims that Russian authorities provide good living standards and conditions in occupied Ukraine.[34] Russian First Deputy Presidential Chief of Staff Sergey Kiriyenko and Russian media representatives reportedly attended the meeting. ISW has observed all five false narratives in the Russian information space.[35] Institute for the Study of War
Picking up on your sarcasm, but there’s actually nothing shocking about it. The information campaign is and has been an essential element of Russia’s whole-of-government approach to fighting the war. The truth is the war is not going well for Russia militarily or domestically. Now, folks like chemgator are a little too sanguine about that, and folks like okee are a little too dismissive of the poor state of Russia’s fighting ability in Ukraine or the decaying state of its domestic situation. One example that comes to mind is the actual Russian casualty count. Russian political leadership is very alarmed at the casualties they have taken, and we know this based on the measures they have taken to hide the true figures from their people. When those U.S. classified documents went public via Discord earlier this year it included our classified assessment (which I won’t repeat here, but is a lot closer than our public estimates). Note that the Russian government edited those before republishing the documents. That’s how terrified they are of the actual figures. And that’s the real reason they have not been able (key word) to take any meaningful offensive action. The local commanders appear to be sitting on a volcano of discontent in the ranks, and it is much easier to get them to hold ground than to advance. Of course, the Ukrainian offensives have been targeted against maximizing casualties instead of gaining ground (effectively, as far as I can tell). So what do you do if you’re Russia, you can’t afford the casualty rate, you can’t take the offensive for fear of rebellion in the ranks, and you can’t sit still indefinitely either? Why, first, you lie, hide, and minimize said casualties; you exaggerate the human damage you’ve done to Ukraine and act as if you have unlimited capacity to turn up the pain; and you act as if the reason you’re holding back is because of some greater existential threat (NATO, in this case). So who is the target audience for this information campaign? It’s not Ukraine. You aren’t convincing them to quit, which is weird if they really have taken 400K military casualties as Russia likes to report. It’s not the NATO governments or militaries. They know how bad things are going for Russia; they know there is no intent whatsoever to intervene in Ukraine, and they know Russia is not really holding back an operational reserve in Ukraine that could smack away these Ukrainian offensives like mosquitos but just doesn’t feel like it. Why, the target audience is you, the average Western civilian. They need you to believe the “only way” to stop the killing, stop the madness, prevent Russia from completely destroying Ukraine for all time, is to stop arming them and get them to accept an unequal peace with Russia right now, before Russia really gets mad. And given the way some people on here have parroted the Russian talking points, even the laughably inaccurate ones, you can’t say the information campaign isn’t somewhat effective.
How is it going for Ukraine militarily and domestically? War is rarely a pretty sight. No one is doubting Russia have taken lots of casualties. Domestically, this is a breeze for the Kremlin compared to past struggles in Russian lore. When is this epiphany going to take place within the Russian people? You've been saying it for over a year now, but there is nothing brewing there. Prigozhin? Yeah, he just got turned into a firework. The Russian people have seen coups, they have seen famine, they have been invaded, held as prisoners, sent to Siberian labor camps, seen millions upon millions of casualties. This thing with Ukraine isn't going to be the iceberg that finally sank them.
