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On September 17 2022 01:19 Magic Powers wrote: A mass grave was discovered in a forest near Izyum, allegedly not an uncommon sighting in liberated areas. It is currently unclear what happened or what the identity of the bodies is.
Finnish paper, Helsigin Sanomat, was referring to Reuters reporting bodies with hand tied behind their backs and ropes around necks. I'm sure more will come in the next days/weeks. Edit: Confirmed also by HS's reporter on the ground in Ukraine.
Apparently UN wants to send a team to investigate as well.
On September 16 2022 08:57 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: A Podcast talked with retired US General Hertling about the Ukraine/Russia War and the state of both armies. As well how Ukraine basically rebuilt it's entire armed forces starting from 2014 to now.
Yeah this is key to understanding how Ukraine has been able to successfully resist.
They were HUMILIATED in 2014 by the Russian military. The separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk were on the ropes, yelled for Russia to come save them, Russia came and pushed the Ukrainian army's face in within a few days. Kiev got its nose rubbed in how inadequate its armed forces were to resist regular forces from Russia. Aside from recognizing they had to get their shit together to keep Russia from gobbling up the country if it wanted to, they were super pissed at how easily Russia was able to smack them around.
They've spent a lot of money and effort over the last 8 years getting themselves ready to fight a big war with Russia.
I guess that explains part of why dingo and not marder, rolling substitution with greece has been worked out. They get some marder tanks and deliver BMPs to ukraine in return. www.sueddeutsche.de
I am not sure if at this point its still better to get them some BMPs rather than marder, but its something. Marder IFVs for greece will come from industrial supplies, not bundeswehr stocks.
On September 17 2022 04:23 Artesimo wrote: I guess that explains part of why dingo and not marder, rolling substitution with greece has been worked out. They get some marder tanks and deliver BMPs to ukraine in return. www.sueddeutsche.de
I am not sure if at this point its still better to get them some BMPs rather than marder, but its something. Marder IFVs for greece will come from industrial supplies, not bundeswehr stocks.
Marder would definetly be better, especially fresh ones. Greek BMPs are BMP-1 from GDR stocks, so they are like 40-45 years old already, their condition leaves much to be desired I believe, and Marder 1A3 is definetly more capable in combat. The only good thing is that BMPs are easier to repair/supply.
On September 17 2022 04:23 Artesimo wrote: I guess that explains part of why dingo and not marder, rolling substitution with greece has been worked out. They get some marder tanks and deliver BMPs to ukraine in return. www.sueddeutsche.de
I am not sure if at this point its still better to get them some BMPs rather than marder, but its something. Marder IFVs for greece will come from industrial supplies, not bundeswehr stocks.
Marder would definetly be better, especially fresh ones. Greek BMPs are BMP-1 from GDR stocks, so they are like 40-45 years old already, their condition leaves much to be desired I believe, and Marder 1A3 is definetly more capable in combat. The only good thing is that BMPs are easier to repair/supply.
Yeah I was wondering how much of a strain a marder would put on ukraines infrastructure / logistics, but from what I gathered they are not very complicated to maintain or to operate. I think this trade was set up a while back, but it is a bit weird to stick with it unless germany had already entered a binding agreement with greece and it was just details that held this up.
On September 17 2022 12:07 Magic Powers wrote: Does anyone have an update on the blackout situation? Is it still affecting some areas? I can't find any new information.
In good news: about 5 million Ukrainians have returned home.
Lots of soviet era equipment was damaged and lost at the second largest Ukrainian electric plant. Turns out those can be easily replaced by the modern equipment. Big props to our specialists
In Kharkiv area everything is okay by now. Most of the critical things were (electricity, water) fixed on the next day. And during the next day electric transport in the city was also wokring (trams, subway etc).
So in the end the local population kremlin was trying to "protect" gets even angrier towards kremlin :D And this attempt to wreck havoc on our civilian population won't stop UAF from advancing further, quite opposite, just provide Ukraine with more modern weapon systems (tanks, airdefence, jets and long range missiles) and kremlin will collapse on itself by the end of this year
On September 17 2022 12:07 Magic Powers wrote: Does anyone have an update on the blackout situation? Is it still affecting some areas? I can't find any new information.
In good news: about 5 million Ukrainians have returned home.
Lots of soviet era equipment was damaged and lost at the second largest Ukrainian electric plant. Turns out those can be easily replaced by the modern equipment. Big props to our specialists
In Kharkiv area everything is okay by now. Most of the critical things were (electricity, water) fixed on the next day. And during the next day electric transport in the city was also wokring (trams, subway etc).
So in the end the local population kremlin was trying to "protect" gets even angrier towards kremlin :D And this attempt to wreck havoc on our civilian population won't stop UAF from advancing further, quite opposite, just provide Ukraine with more modern weapon systems (tanks, airdefence, jets and long range missiles) and kremlin will collapse on itself by the end of this year
I'm glad to hear that, was worried because it sounded like a very big problem. Well I guess it was, but great job of your countrymen fixing things so quickly. Since the successful Kherson offensive I saw an increasing number of reports of sirens going off all over Ukraine far from the front lines. Stay safe! I also believe Ukraine is going win this war, it looks inevitable.
So does this mean Russia's CSTO alliance is basically over? Ukraine has essentially proved that Russia is an empty shell of a military power without full mobilization. Which they can't afford to do. Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a full fledged war, Russia sends observers.
Now Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are going at it, again. But this time it doesn't appear to be border skirmishes... surely someone is telling Putin what is in danger of happening. Iran, Turkey, and China are going to move in and expand their spheres of influence while they bleed out in Ukraine rather than withdraw to the pre 2014 borders.
BISHKEK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan reported "intense battles" with Central Asian neighbour Tajikistan on Friday and said 24 people had been killed in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the former Soviet Union.
Both of the small impoverished landlocked nations have accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area, despite a ceasefire deal.
In a statement, the Kyrgyz border service said its forces were continuing to repel Tajik attacks.
"From the Tajik side, shelling of the positions of the Kyrgyz side continues, and in some areas intense battles are going on," it said.
The Kyrgyz health ministry later said 24 citizens had been killed and 87 wounded, Russia's Interfax news agency said. It did not say how many of the victims were from the military.
Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of the Kyrgyz state committee on national security, was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying military casualties had been high.
"The situation is difficult and as for what will happen tomorrow - no one can give any guarantees," he said.
The Kyrgyz ministry of emergency situations said more than 136,000 civilians had been evacuated from the conflict zone, Interfax said.
On September 17 2022 23:44 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: So does this mean Russia's CSTO alliance is basically over? Ukraine has essentially proved that Russia is an empty shell of a military power without full mobilization. Which they can't afford to do. Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a full fledged war, Russia sends observers.
Now Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are going at it, again. But this time it doesn't appear to be border skirmishes... surely someone is telling Putin what is in danger of happening. Iran, Turkey, and China are going to move in and expand their spheres of influence while they bleed out in Ukraine rather than withdraw to the pre 2014 borders.
BISHKEK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan reported "intense battles" with Central Asian neighbour Tajikistan on Friday and said 24 people had been killed in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the former Soviet Union.
Both of the small impoverished landlocked nations have accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area, despite a ceasefire deal.
In a statement, the Kyrgyz border service said its forces were continuing to repel Tajik attacks.
"From the Tajik side, shelling of the positions of the Kyrgyz side continues, and in some areas intense battles are going on," it said.
The Kyrgyz health ministry later said 24 citizens had been killed and 87 wounded, Russia's Interfax news agency said. It did not say how many of the victims were from the military.
Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of the Kyrgyz state committee on national security, was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying military casualties had been high.
"The situation is difficult and as for what will happen tomorrow - no one can give any guarantees," he said.
The Kyrgyz ministry of emergency situations said more than 136,000 civilians had been evacuated from the conflict zone, Interfax said.
China is already moving in. A very subtle, not, message ahead of the meeting between Xi and Putin that China would not allow anyone to interfere with Kazakhstan.
But yes, the CSTO died the moment Russia said no to Armenia invoking the mutual defence clause.
There is a report in a german newspaper saying that the german government has given the green light for delivering 18 RCH 155 howitzers (the latest version of PzH 2000) to Ukraine. But they are expected to arrive no sooner than 2025 and there hasn't been an official confirmation from our MoD yet.
On September 18 2022 01:29 mcxds wrote:But they are expected to arrive no sooner than 2025
That's a joke right? What is the point of promising weapons that you have not even started building yet to a nation currently at war that needs weapons today, not 2 years from now.
On September 18 2022 01:29 mcxds wrote:But they are expected to arrive no sooner than 2025
That's a joke right? What is the point of promising weapons that you have not even started building yet to a nation currently at war that needs weapons today, not 2 years from now.
Its the next iteration of the PzH 2000 and ukraine could be the first nation to actually field them. It was demonstrated last year and the swiss are considering to buy it for their army, but afaik no military has it in active service as of now. Germany gave the okay for ukraine to buy them from the manufacturer, this is not germany promising to deliver them from what I read, but rather giving the stamp on the export request that was made in july according to the article.
On September 18 2022 01:29 mcxds wrote:But they are expected to arrive no sooner than 2025
That's a joke right? What is the point of promising weapons that you have not even started building yet to a nation currently at war that needs weapons today, not 2 years from now.
I'd assume this won't replace earlier shipments of existing hardware, it sounds more like a plan for the late future. Good thinking imo, as we don't know what the situation on the ground will be in 2 years, but we do know what Russia's stance towards Ukraine is right now.
On September 18 2022 01:29 mcxds wrote:But they are expected to arrive no sooner than 2025
That's a joke right? What is the point of promising weapons that you have not even started building yet to a nation currently at war that needs weapons today, not 2 years from now.
Its the next iteration of the PzH 2000 and ukraine could be the first nation to actually field them. It was demonstrated last year and the swiss are considering to buy it for their army, but afaik no military has it in active service as of now. Germany gave the okay for ukraine to buy them from the manufacturer, this is not germany promising to deliver them from what I read, but rather giving the stamp on the export request that was made in july according to the article.
Yes, thank you for this clarification! Because of the article being in german I should have been a bit more detailed in my post. From what I understand only demonstrators of this weapon system exist and Ukraine might be able get one of those according to another german newspaper.
According to the New York Times Ukraine is trying to get ATACMS (missiles with maximum range of 190 miles for HIMARS and MLRS) from the US. Zelensky himself pressing Biden on this issue. But Biden is refusing because of concerns of escalating the conflict further.
Great thread by a general, summarizing recent developments and outlining what Ukraine needs: - air and missile defences to ‘close the sky’; - more tanks and armoured vehicles (in battalion sets, not in small numbers); - long range fires; and - soldier personal equipment
Useful thread for keeping in mind the probable directions of the UA counter-offensive, predicated on the idea that RU is particularly dependent on rail lines to move equipment and supplies, and the sparsely inhabited and poorly defensible northern Luhansk oblast can be used to cut or disrupt most supply lines currently in use.