Russo-Ukrainian War Thread - Page 135

The British military announced on Monday that it would send its most sophisticated multiple-launch rocket system to Ukraine, joining the United States in providing critically-needed long-range artillery at a moment when Russia is using its vast armaments to pummel Ukrainian positions across the eastern front.

The announcement came days after the Biden administration said that it would provide Ukraine with its most advanced multiple-launch rocket system and munitions in the hope of giving the country an edge over Russia.

“As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine,” said Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have pleaded for such weapons for months, but it could be weeks longer before they make an impact on the battlefield. Ukrainian soldiers must be trained to use the systems, which are far more advanced than anything currently in Kyiv’s arsenal.

The use of overwhelming and often indiscriminate force has allowed the Russians to make limited gains in eastern Ukraine. Moscow’s forces on Monday pounded targets across the 75-mile eastern front line, according to the Ukrainian military.

At the moment, Russian artillery can reach further than the weapons that the Ukrainians have at their disposal, allowing Russian forces to rain down rounds day and night, without the Ukrainians being able to effectively strike back. The barrages have exacted a heavy toll on the Ukrainian army: the Ukrainian government has said that as many as 100 soldiers are dying every day.

The decisions by the United States and Britain mark the latest escalation in a steadily increasing flow of weapons from the West to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in late February.

The United States began sending heavy artillery to Ukraine in April. As of May 26, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said that it had delivered 85 M777 howitzers to Ukraine, as well as 190,000 projectiles for use in those weapons systems.

The multiple-rocket launch systems being supplied by the United States and Britain offer Ukraine the opportunity to strike Russian targets from a far greater distance, and with greater precision.

The American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, can hit targets nearly 50 miles away and is capable of firing satellite-guided rockets that carry roughly the same explosive power as a 500-pound bomb dropped from the air. .

The British M270 multiple-launch rocket system offers similar capabilities, Mr. Wallace said, adding that they “will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities.”

Before supplying the weapons, the United States was promised by the Ukrainians that they would not use the long-range rockets to go after targets inside Russia. The BBC reported that the British government received similar assurances.

In remarks aired by Russian state media on Sunday, Mr. Putin was dismissive of the U.S. weapons, saying they are “nothing new,” but at the same time warned that if Russia felt threatened, it would “strike those facilities that we are not attacking so far.”

This time it has directed its fury at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR). And in what is seen as a slap on Russia's supposed prowess in the cyber warfare space, the collective has managed to — yet again — intrude into the bank's cyber innards.

CBR, whose primary responsibility is to protect the stability of Russia's national currency, the ruble, has taken cyber damage courtesy of the hacktivist Rootkit_sec. Unlike previous attacks, the Anonymous operative's latest exploit allowed them to gain control of the "Russian software system" used in running the CBR.

In addition to taking control of the system, the hacktivist also leaked some data that belongs to the central bank. This is not the first time that Anonymous launched an attack against the CBR, but that previous experience has not helped the bank stop this latest incursion.

That hack gave TheBlackRabbitWorld, a group of hackers operating under the Anonymous' banner and responsible for a previous attack on CBR on March 24, the chance to obtain confidential files including what they claimed to be "secret agreements." At the time the actors leaked 28 GB, or around 35,000 files, belonging to the bank.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for State Assets Jacek Sasin and National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said this during a joint press conference at the Huta Stalowa Wola steel mill on Tuesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Right now we are signing one of the largest, if not the largest, export defense contract in the last 30 years. This is the sale of weapons to Ukrainians, to Ukraine," Morawiecki said.

He stressed that these weapons will be "very important" on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.

He noted that Ukraine receives funds for the purchase of these weapons partly from the EU and partly from its own budget.

Sasin, in turn, noted that the contract is a "record" one for Poland as its value exceeds PLN 2.7 billion.

"There has been no such contract in the Polish defense industry for the last 30 years," Sasin said.

Blaszczak said that the war in Ukraine is not what many imagined in the 21st century, but a war as in photos and stories from World War II.

According to him, artillery plays a key role in Russia's war against Ukraine. Therefore, Poland will rely on the development of artillery.

Asked whether Ukraine does not intend to buy additional batches of Piorun MANPADS from Poland, Blaszczak said that "Ukrainians highly praise these weapons." However, he confirmed the possible new deliveries of these missile systems to Ukraine, noting that the Polish Ministry of Defense will order these MANPADS for its own army.

On June 09 2022 06:20 Vivax wrote:
This war is just weird. Hey we‘ll promise not to strike too far into Russia if you just give us the long range artillery mmkay, it‘s not like we are dying here or anything. Or maybe it‘s the info that‘s weird, cause that doesn‘t seem likely.

One side will have to make more concessions than they‘d have to in order to avoid a worldwide disaster.

Ukrainian troops are suffering massive losses as they are outgunned 20 to one in artillery and 40 to one in ammunition by Russian forces, according to new intelligence painting a bleak picture of the conflict on the frontline.

A report by Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials also reveals that the Ukrainians are facing huge difficulties responding to Russians shelling with their artillery restricted to a range of 25 kilometres, while the enemy can strike from 12 times that distance.

For the first time since the war began, there is now concern over desertion. The report, seen by The Independent, says the worsening situation in the Donbas, with up to a hundred soldiers being killed a day, is having “a seriously demoralising effect on Ukrainian forces as well as a very real material effect; cases of desertion are growing every week”.

At the same time, as the Russians capture territories in the east, and consolidate their control over the seized cities of Mariupol and Kherson, the bargaining position of the Ukrainian government is being weakened by acute disparity in the numbers of prisoners being held by each side.

The total number of Russian soldiers being held by Ukraine has fallen to 550 from 900 in April after a series of exchanges. Moscow meanwhile has more than 5,600 Ukrainian troops in captivity, the figure enlarged by the surrender of 2,500, including members of the Azov Battalion, in Mariupol.

(...)

The assessment was compiled before the announcement by the British government that it will supply a small number of M270 multiple-launch rocket systems, but after the reported US supply of Himars truck-based mobility rocket systems.

Britain is sending only three of the systems for the time being, and Washington has sent four. Ukrainian officials say they need much more to halt the Russian advance, let alone reclaim lost territory, and that it will take time to deploy the systems to the frontline while the Kremlin continues its fierce offensive in the Donbas.

“We are, of course, very grateful to our allies for their support,” said one Ukrainian official. “The new weapons are welcome, but when they announce they are sending military aid to Ukraine, the Western government should perhaps clarify to their public the quantities involved.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-war-intelligence-russia-kyiv-military-b2096715.html?amp

On June 10 2022 07:37 plasmidghost wrote:

I honestly don't have faith in Biden to do anything meaningful to change the war between now and Election Day. Things are going to get really bad in the short-term

On June 10 2022 11:11 Sermokala wrote:

That goes both ways though. He would need to threaten a full scale nato intervention to force Russia back to their pre 2014 borders for the coming famine to not happen. I don't think biden will do that but I also do not believe that he is gone enough to think that a negotiated peace that forces Ukraine to give up donbass luhansk and the southern coast to kherson will result in anything but the worst losses a political party has ever gotten in American political history. I'm talking supermajority for republicans bad.

If Ukraine gets encircled in the donbass it would make the situation that bad for Ukraine but I still don't see Ukraine surrendering then. Russia just cannot have enough troops left to continue an offensive west after all this. Ukraine can tell the world that Russia is continuing the blockade that is causing the famin that's coming. We are getting nearer everyday to where we need to start planning for how to get Egypt and the middle east fed in a world that doesn't include Ukrainian crops.

DONETSK, June 9. /TASS/. The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Thursday sentenced to death two British nationals, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Saadoun Brahim for participating in hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces in the capacity of mercenaries, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.

In the light of the crimes committed Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saadun Brahim are sentenced to death, the verdict reads. The accused pleaded guilty to all charges.

The DPR Supreme court began to consider the cases of the two British citizens and one Moroccan on the merits on June 6.

The DPR Prosecutor General's Office earlier said that the defendants’ testimony confirmed their complicity in crimes as defined in part 2 of article 34 (crimes committed by a group of persons), article 323 (forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power) and article 430 (mercenarism) of the DPR Criminal Code. The PGO also stressed that the mercenaries might face the death penalty.

On June 13 2022 03:41 FiWiFaKi wrote:


As someone born in Slovakia and living in Canada... Following this conflict is depressing.

Especially reddit likes to live in some fake bubble that Putin has dementia, and all their equipment is disassembled and rusting in storage. And that if Russia doesn't take their objective in 1 week that Ukraine is winning. Russia is determined, they are 100x more efficient than the West in anything they do.

And Biden is talking about how the oil and gas companies aren't drilling and they shouldn't take too much profit. Like it's so hypocritical, he's been trying to get them all shut down for years and now he's expecting them to be an ally? And trying to blame inflation on Russia, like what? Of course I want Ukraine to succeed, but the good thing coming out if this invasion is that when people's survival is a stake, we might cut down some bureaucracy and special snowflakes and bring back a get shit type of attitude done to the world.