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Confirmation. Now the only question what kind of drones, and where were they launched from.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two of Ukraine’s drones, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.
Razvozhayev said the fire at the city’s harbor was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.
Razvozhayev said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview this week that his country will seeking to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea last month to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine. Putin’s visit took place the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.
The attack reported in Sevastopol comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city of Uman, located in central Ukraine.
Six children were among the dead, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Saturday, adding that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered have been identified. Two women remained missing, Klymenko said.
Russian forces launched more drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said two Iranian-made self-exploding Shahed drones were intercepted, and a reconnaissance drone was shot down on Saturday morning.
Razvozhayev said the oil depot fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol. The city has been subject to regular attack attempts with drones, especially in recent weeks.
Been looking at a lot of trench-clearing videos lately. Whilst I can appreciate that this isn't Call of Duty, both sides still show a remarkable lack of discipline, training or both in these close quarters. They're so eager to throw grenades they aren't covering themselves or each other at all. In the video above, one of them even walks towards the hole he knows there's someone in, with his rifle held in his left hand as he approaches with a grenade in his right, his teammate far behind completely unable to cover if the Russian had popped his head out at the right time. A video I watched yesterday shows a Ukrainian so eager to get his 40mm off, at a range so short it won't even detonate, he practically jumps out of the trench and into the firing line of a Russian hiding inside a trench, which brought about a rather unfortunate but unsurprising result.
Supposedly Russians were digging new trenches in an area that was previously used as burial grounds for diseased cattle and a whole detachment contracted anthrax.
I don't know what's with the Russians and trenches... First they dig in Chernobyl and get irradiated, now this.
On May 02 2023 17:22 Manit0u wrote: Supposedly Russians were digging new trenches in an area that was previously used as burial grounds for diseased cattle and a whole detachment contracted anthrax.
I don't know what's with the Russians and trenches... First they dig in Chernobyl and get irradiated, now this.
It's probably a case of "Either get shot now or die mabye later" in which case 99,9% would chose the latter. Or they are just misinformed as was often the case so far
On May 02 2023 17:22 Manit0u wrote: Supposedly Russians were digging new trenches in an area that was previously used as burial grounds for diseased cattle and a whole detachment contracted anthrax.
I don't know what's with the Russians and trenches... First they dig in Chernobyl and get irradiated, now this.
It's probably a case of "Either get shot now or die mabye later" in which case 99,9% would chose the latter. Or they are just misinformed as was often the case so far
Exactly. Some officer says "There need to be trenches there". Then some corporal tells the conscripts on the ground to start digging, and if you don't dig, you probably get shot. And no point does anyone really take a look at what dangers digging in that area might lead to, and those who could do something are not the ones noticing nor the ones suffering the consequences.
The US believes that since December Russia has lost over 20k killed, part of 100k in casualties.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in November that Russia had suffered well over 100,000 killed or wounded in the first eight months of the war. The new figures suggest that Russian losses have dramatically accelerated in recent months.
Troops from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group and other forces are fighting Ukrainian troops house-to-house to try to gain control of what has become known as the “road of life” — the last remaining road west still in Ukrainian hands, which makes it critical for supplies and fresh troops. Both sides have cited gains in recent days.
Kirby said nearly half those killed since December are Wagner forces, many of them convicts who were released from prison to join Russia’s fight. He said the Wagner forces were “thrown into combat and without sufficient combat or combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control.”
The White House has repeatedly sought to highlight the cost — both human and weaponry — to Russia of Bakhmut, which it argues has limited strategic importance to the overall trajectory of the war. Some analysts, however, note that taking control Bakhmut could be helpful to Russian efforts to advance on the larger cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region
Kirby said the Russian casualty count for “this little town of Bakhmut” was in line with some of the fiercest periods of fighting during World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front, and the Guadalcanal campaign, the first major Allied offensive against Japan.
”It’s three times the number of killed in action that the United States faced on the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II and that was over the course of five months,” Kirby said.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukrainian ground forces, said Russia continued to exert “maximum effort” to take Bakhmut but that it so far had failed.
“In some parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions,” he said.
Kirby declined to say how many Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded in the fighting. Milley said in November that Ukrainian casualties were probably also about 100,000.
It would be nice if Ukraine was lower in casualties than Russia, but the war's been attritional with neither side making significant gains. Without a severe equipment advantage, the chances of one side having significantly lower losses is pretty low.
Ukraine might have lower KIA rates due to better medical care, and that's about the most positive thing I can say.
The western equipment (body armour, uniforms etc.) might help to reduce some casualties, but it'll probably be a improvement to survivability, not casualty rates.
On May 03 2023 03:06 Lmui wrote: It would be nice if Ukraine was lower in casualties than Russia, but the war's been attritional with neither side making significant gains. Without a severe equipment advantage, the chances of one side having significantly lower losses is pretty low.
Ukraine might have lower KIA rates due to better medical care, and that's about the most positive thing I can say.
The western equipment (body armour, uniforms etc.) might help to reduce some casualties, but it'll probably be a improvement to survivability, not casualty rates.
The casualty rate is lower as well, by every estimate out there. Remember, the above article states Ukraine's losses were 100k in November, while Russia's losses have been 100k since December. These two numbers aren't in a comparable timeframe
This wikipedia page has a bunch of varying estimates from various sources. They seem to all hover around Russia's casualty number being 50% higher (or 3 to 2, if you want), however the really staggering part is that Russia's kia numbers are 5-6x as high. So while the numbers might look close at first glance, many in the casualty column will return to combat after treatment, but there is none in the KIA column that can do that. The numbers for Ukraine are unfortunately high too, but the numbers for Russia really is indicative of a straight up meat grinder
So... were to believe that Ukraine somehow managed to launch drones that not only aimed to attack Moscow but also got past the entirety of air defenses in Russia before being disabled over the capital?
I would think this would have the opposite effect if Ukraine can easily "attack" a major city without being detected. One would wonder why they are fighting in Ukraine if they can do that and we have no way to stop it.
On May 03 2023 21:59 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: So... were to believe that Ukraine somehow managed to launch drones that not only aimed to attack Moscow but also got past the entirety of air defenses in Russia before being disabled over the capital?
As we can see from the footage, that drone didn't exactly have a gigantic payload. We're talking switchblade 300 levels here. Which are practically handheld, and with a range of 10km. Air defence isn't going to stop someone with a DJI-esque drone flying up to Kremlin from within or right outside the city
This attack wasn't meant to do damage. This was the equivalent og tying a brick to a note and throwing it through the window. It was a message
EPT![[image loading]](https://c.ndtvimg.com/2023-04/lbh29274_crimea-fire-650_625x300_29_April_23.jpg?ver-20230421.111)
![[image loading]](https://new-media.dhakatribune.com/en/uploads/2023/04/30/2023-04-29t040636z-1983206486-rc23o0acalbn-rtrmadp-3-ukraine-crisis-sevastopol.jpeg)
