going to supply the 83 mile version. that is still 2x + the range of the biggest artillery we have provided The Pentagon reportedly plans to send the shorter-range missiles, but these are still longer than what the Ukrainians are currently using to fend off Russia’s military. The new HIMARS, expected to be announced tomorrow, fires at a range of about twice that of the current M777 Howitzer.
According to Mark Herteling, HIMARS is by far the better weapon. In any event, it feels like the public pronouncements were statecraft to avoid direct confrontation, or the perception of it in a way that might force hands
That whole, "don't want missiles that will hit Russia" just doesn't make sense to me. If you have something with a 10 mile range and you are 5 miles from the border, you can hit Russia. The same with a 500 mile range that is 300 miles from the border.
AWOL, removed from command, dead, wounded or ?? Russia's top commander in Ukraine hasn't been seen in two weeks: Report (msn.com) en. Aleksandr Dvornikov, picked by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month to take over the invasion of Ukraine, has disappeared, according to a new report. The so-called Butcher of Syria has not been seen in two weeks, leading officials to speculate that he is no longer in command of the campaign, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Dvornikov, who was given command of Russia's Southern Military District after achieving infamy for his brutal campaigns in Syria, was tasked in early April with conquering Ukraine's eastern Donbas region after a large-scale attack on Ukraine floundered in the face of heavy resistance led by President Volodymyr Zelensky and backed by much of the West.
more dire reports on Putin's health. losing sight, trembling..not seen recently. Sad to say but I hope he is suffering after all the suffering he is causing. Putin out of power, Russia out of Crimea and all of Ukraine, reparations paid to Ukraine...then sanctions can be lifted and Russia allowed back into the banking system. Putin’s exit ‘being discussed’ in Kremlin as elites and allies turn on him - Daily Record Russian President Vladimir Putin’s removal from being a dictator is reportedly being discussed by the Russian elite, according to an incriminating new report. Meduza, a news website based in Latvia, has reported that sources close to the Kremlin have talked of Putin being the source of dissatisfaction among those both for and against the war he launched in Ukraine. Sources close to the Kremlin reportedly said a future without the president is “increasingly being discussed” and talks about his successor are taking place “behind the scenes in the Kremlin.” Meduza cites senior business figures and politicians from Russia as being unhappy with Putin’s decision to carry on with the bloody war in Ukraine, as well as the resulting scale of sanctions from the west to Russians. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, former president Dmitry Medvedev and first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko are all favourites, and allies of Putin, to replace the current Kremlin head, according to Mirror Online. The report says that while the discussions do not involve efforts to overthrow Putin “right now and a conspiracy.... being prepared”, there is a desire, that in a “fairly foreseeable future he will not govern the state”. Meduza reports that one source says everyone in power knows that the only way Putin will depart his premiership is “only if his health deteriorates seriously.” Thus, currently “the dissatisfaction of high-ranking officials is not manifested in anything - except for talking with each other”.
BREAKING NEWS: Russian airstrike hits chemical plant in Severodonetsk, Ukraine "On Tuesday, May, 31, a Russian airstrike reportedly hit a chemical plant causing a huge explosion according to the Ukraine Military. “During an air strike on Severodonetsk, the Russians hit a tank with nitric acid at a chemical plant, – the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration Serhii Haidai says,” stated one tweet showing images of the airstrike." Edit- no clue why it says breaking with yesterday's date. Not my headline
In case you can't see - Switzerland blocking Denmark and others from sending arms to Ukraine made in Switzerland. Apparently part of the purchase agreement is they have to approve where Swiss weapons go.
In case it doesn't show "Lavrov: Putin, Erdogan tentatively agree on unblocking Ukrainian ports. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the two leaders agreed during a phone call on May 30 that as soon as Turkey clears the Ukrainian ports of mines, cargo ships will be able to leave."
I don’t have a problem with the Swiss logic in principle. They have been consistently neutral for hundreds of years, and that includes not selling weapons to countries currently at war or allowing their weapons to be resold to countries currently at war.
I get that. Part of my small surprise is they'd supposedly let go of their neutrality here, but old habits die hard I guess. Maybe they'd agreed to the smaller stuff and not larger weapons (the ones here seem to be larger type weapons, not ammo/vests, etc)?
"Russian troops dress in Ukrainian army uniform to hunt for activists in largely-occupied Kherson Oblast. According to Ukraine’s military, Russians visit Ukrainian civilians and if they provide information about the positions of the Russian forces, the invaders kidnap them."
I think the concern is hitting Russian population centers, and Belgorod is about 50 kms from the Ukrainian border. This sounds really stupid. Why even get weapons that can't be used in a conflict zone?
I wonder if we track weapons we give them. Especially long range missile systems. Wouldn’t be difficult to incorporate a gps in them.
The Swiss POV is that they are selling you weapons for the defense of your own country. If your country later becomes a conflict zone, then that’s one matter. If you turn around and sell (or donate in this case) those weapons to a third-party who is already at war, then Switzerland views that as indirectly supporting one side, a violation of their long-held and sacred neutrality.
