>

Air raid alert over Ukraine right now. Possibly another missile attack
New post can be found here >

They absolutely should. Making Europe militarily less dependent on the US is a project mostly driven by France, so they shouldn't hide behind Abrams, even if Germany does. >

Yes but it's not easy. Out of 200 tanks, some are in maintenance and 70 are out of service to be upgraded to XLR standard this year. That doesn't leave many >

Similar to the Challenger numbers.  226 total and many of those not close to combat ready and yet UK still sent a full squadron.  I know it;s slightly easier for an island to give up its tanks but realistically what other land war are France expecting to fight in the next ten years? 
Leclerc's use standard NATO ammo as well which makes for easy resupply. >


but realistically what other land war are France expecting to fight in the next ten years? 

To be fair, they do border Spain, and as we all know, no one expects the Spanish inquisition. >

Or as I once joked as Santander bought out the company I was working for...
​
"no one expects the Spanish Acquisition."  
I thought I was really funny at the time.  
No one I worked with had watched Monty Python so 20 years later I'm determined to get a positive response on the best joke I ever came up with. >

Those glorious Viking bastards. >

important article
upvoted, thanks for posting >

Sweden just announced that it is transferring 50 Combat Vehicle 90 to Ukraine.
CV90 is a really good IFV. It has a 40 mm autocannon  and can carry 7-8 soldiers.
Sweden will also send artillery system Archer (unspecified amount), more NLAWs and AT-systems (presumably more AT4s), mine clearing equipment and automatic rifles.
Source is press conference with Swedish Prime Minister. >

Good news! >

Holy shit CV-90 is amazing news!
Ukraine now has like a lot of good armor. Like 400+
Thats great. In the beginning of the war, our defenders did marlvels and inflicted heavy damage upon Russians using our domestic BTR-4E. We lost a lot of them defending our land. This type of tech, its such an improvement! I hope it will help us free our land! >

So now that russia has captured Soledar, they feel obligated to hold on to it at all costs.
Meanwhile Ukraine has parked themselves next to the town while russia has no strength to secure a perimeter around it. Drones, artillery and recon forces on the ground hitting russians in the town pretty much 24/7. 
No matter how many losses they take, Soledar must'nt fall. So we can be sure russia doubles down. 
Sounds like a honey trap to me. But surely Prigozhin is a master strategist and I simply fail to see the big picture. >

I wonder if this is where the massive KIA numbers are coming from. >

That’s awesome! >

1% of GDP, damn. Heroes >

Previous post
Day 329-330 of my updates from Kharkiv.
It was relatively quiet during the last 2 days, we had no missile or drone strikes in Kharkiv, but they continue to shell and send S-300 missiles at Kupiansk every day. Just a couple of hours ago, at around 10pm, there was an air raid alert and people living in Kupiansk reported that center of the town was hit yet again. Also, the tragedy that happened near Kyiv yesterday can’t really be called quiet either, a helicopter crash is just horrible, hopefully something like that won’t happen again.
All those new announcements about more military aid are really exciting, but I wonder why do them right before the next Ramstein meeting starts instead of during it? I guess everything that is getting announced right now is already approved and doesn’t have to be discussed with anyone. It will be interesting to see what we will get out of the meeting, most likely more new tanks will be approved, but I wonder what else could also be announced.
The new US military package that was just announced seems amazing, that’s almost 1000 vehicles in just the last 2 packages, it’s an enormous amount of armor to get in a single month. Well, obviously we’re not getting them all immediately, but the amount is still staggering. I hope the rumors about us getting GLSDBs are not just rumors, because the 160km range would be really helpful. They are HIMARS ammo, so technically they still might be included in this package, but in that case, we won’t know about it until later. >

You've been a constant in many of our lives this past year and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I can't wait for the day where your daily update is that you went out with your friends for a night on the town. >

Estimated Russian losses from 24.02.2022 to 19.01.2023 (Day 330):
|Category              |Change*|Total     |
|:---|:---|:---|
|Personnel             |+760      |118530    |
|Tanks                 |+6      |3136      |
|APVs                  |+10     |6235      |
|Artillery             |+14     |2122      |
|MLRS                  |-      |442       |
|Anti-aircraft Systems |-      |220       |
|Aircraft              |-      |287       |
|Helicopters           |+1      |277       |
|UAVs                  |+6    |1882      |
|Missiles              |-      |749       |
|Warships / Boats      |-      |17        |
|Other Vehicles        |+7      |4896      |
|Special Equipment     |-      |190       |
*Change since the previous day.
Source: The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine >

After the ruzzians took Soledar, their casualties only increased. Keeping that city might not go as planned, it seems! >

For anyone deciding whether to watch the video, please do. I am in awe at how this masterpiece works. >

Saab makes incredible tech. Their cars from back in the day were loaded with wicked cool technology too. >

Denmark is sending all 19 of their CAESARS. >

Respect to Denmark. >

Before this all started I (an American) thought Europe would be cowed by Russian threats. I thought we would see some condemnations and some furrowed brows but nothing more. Needless to say, I was pleasantly and happily surprised. The Baltic states in particularly have absolutely channeled the spirit of Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-dûm. >

I’m swedish and i NEVER thought our government would aid Ukraine with weapons. We have been neutral for two hundred years and been firmly in the don’t provoke anyone camp and here we are handing out shipment after shipment of things that do real damage to the russian army. It’s like i ended up in a parallel universe.
I love it. Fuck the russian government.
Slava ukraini >

Yeah, you know Russia fucked up pretty bad when Sweden abandons neutrality. Glad to have you on board! >

The Tallinn Pledge: nine nations commit to equip Ukraine to push Russia out of its territory.
Signed by Estonia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Slovakia, along with a long list of the latest hardware going to the war and an intention to push other allied nations at Ramstein to do the same. >

You love to see it.
Send to theater area. Shortens logistics, keeps em guessing, bolsters defenses. >

Challenger 1 are a surprise.  
But if even the Bundeswehr hardly has to give up anything, I'm definitely in favor of it. >

Good to see. Hopefully this will be the making of Kazakstan. >

Spot on, Ukraine needs to reach a point where they are fucking the Russian raw on the battlefield.
They need Russians to be thinking "but sending me to the frontline is imminent death". >

Abrams in 3-2-1... >

Strykers and Bradleys are much more useful in this conflict and don't require extreme logistics to support, like Abrams, that takes 10 gallons of high grade jet fuel to start the engine. >

If it takes Abrams to finally push Scholz to release Leopards then I hope it happens. Announcing maybe 10 Abrams to open up the floodgates wouldn't hurt. >

Vladimir Milow on Foreign Affairs

The Sanctions on Russia Are Working! Slowly but Surely, They Are Weakening Putin 
The assertion that the Russian economy has shown remarkable resilience to sanctions hinges on misleading macroeconomic indicators. Specifically, critics of sanctions point to the strengthened ruble, the modest contraction of Russian GDP, and low unemployment. But these figures do not in fact reflect the situation on the ground. >

No trial or anything, just murdered. Disgusting behaviour from the SBU. >

It's being investigated by Governmental Bureau of Investigations at the moment. >

Leopards gonna be eating Russian faces >

r/aleopardtankatemyface >

I'm not a fan of our government but at least they've been handling supply and funding of weapons for Ukraine quite well. >

No one wants to recognize annexation like that as legitimate >

Plus the fact that Iran has had border problems in its own history, with the Iraq/Iran war being a recent example. >

Precisely >

Boris Pistorius has now been officially appointed as the new defense minister of Germany.  At around 9:40 a.m., Pistorius will be received by the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, Eberhard Zorn, with military honors and a short press statement is also planned.  At around 11 a.m. the minister will receive his first foreign guest, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Edit: At CET Time. >

I still love that the inspector general is called Zorn, meaning anger/wrath in German. >

.
@BWallaceMP
 has announced the UK is sending 600 Brimstone radar-guided missiles to Ukraine. 
The British-made Challenger 2 tanks will be delivered “in the coming weeks.” >

Swedish Archer system in action >

Now I just hope we Finns try to outdo the Swedes and give the Patria AMOS to Ukraine. That thing is the best mortar system in the world. >

time for Dark Brandon to just show up with Abrams. >

It is kind of wild that we don't have a stock of older tanks in the U.S. without such unique maintenance and fuel needs.
I guess it would be a challenge to keep them maintained if they're using obsolete parts. >

Why maintain old tanks when you can just military industrial complex yourself a whole armada of new ones >

At this point, it seems possible, perhaps even likely that Ukraine will eventually get the 700 IFVs requested by Zaluzhnyi. The 300 MBTs, on the other hand.... Let's just see what happens in Ramstein tomorrow. Fingers crossed. >

Going from the latest info from German minister of Defence, the rhetorical change in Polands communication and the more or less promise of several other states to send tanks, we will see approved Leopards shortly. >

I think it’s hilarious that we’ve basically dumped something like a thousand humvees in Ukraine and have a endless supply to go, they’re gonna be literally everywhere there for the next three decades lmao >

From 3 day millitary operation to this... They're probably expecting strikes on Moscow after their next big escalation. >

Gotta keep the population scared. 
"Oh we HAVE to continue fighting Ukraine because they are going to kill you all if we dont. Didnt you see the air defense systems we set up. Clearly Ukraine is an enormous threat" >

Ramstein is the airbase, Rammstein is the band. >

It should be 50 CV90 from Sweden and 100 Stryker plus 50 Bradley from the US (100 total with the previous 50) >

Lol... they set the entire truck on the roof.
That actually kinda explains why they thought 'HIMARS on the third floor of the building' might have sounded plausible not that long ago. >

What you wanna bet the roof ain't exactly engineered to carry a load like that? >

The load plus the structural deflection and rebound when the thing is fired would be concerning. I imagine they know that, but they're definitely going to have to fire off a few shots at something when the locals realize that UA will not be attacking Moscow. Got get their fearmonger on. >


Make this make sense, please.

I'll take a shot:

"We are taking Kyiv in 3 days because evil Nazi Ukrainians and their Western handlers pose an existential threat to the brave Russian Federation. The enemy is both weak and strong."

 

"We are installing a [Pantsir air defense system] on [the roof] of our own Ministry of Defense [building] in Moscow" because the people we're trying to recruit didn't buy the nonsense of the former statement. So we're conducting some performative bullshit to hammer home the notion that the Russian motherland is under attack, and it's really important that you sign up to die in a ditch. 
The enemy is both weaker and stronger than we thought. >

Russian telegrams were squealing over the last couple of days something about the end of the "special military operation", with speculation here and probably other places that that would end up being a legal conversion to a "war".
Did anything come of that or was it nothing as suspected?
I've been out of the loop today but a search of the now-locked day's thread shows nothing as well as all the usual places. Just Russian telegram having a tantrum again? >

It was a whole lot of nothing, afaik. >

Sorry, can you explain this reference >

The ex-prime minister is known to pepper his speech with literary references, here citing a servant character in Charles Dickens’ novel, The Pickwick Papers, known as the fat boy, who tells an old lady “I wants to make your flesh creep” with a shocking revelation. >

Cant wait for the Crimea Boogaloo 2.0 to begin. Hopefully it will give Putin a heart attack which he dies from >

implying he even has a heart >

Objective: "demilitarize" Ukraine
Progress: Ukraine turns into most widely scoped military in the world
Title: In praise of folly - russian revision >

Nearly all Putins plans blew up in his face.
Split and weaken NATO
Use energy to blackmail the west
3 day invasion
Topple Kyiv
And on, and on. >

I remain a master strategist >

I don't know what made Western countries open the flood gates, but I'm all for it.
Ukraine is basically getting a new modern army. >

Likely planned escalations with the seasons + intelligence pointing to another Russian mobilization. >

Those mine rollers will come in handy. Especially if they're pushing South by Zap. >

Russia is about to have another batch of bad weeks. Sucks to suck… >


590 TOWs

Hoping to see a lot of Russian scrap metal in the coming year! >

Keep 20 in reserve for t-14s only. >

Been listening to the hardcore histories podcast about wwii and it describes how the Germans would leave massive stockpiles of alcohol for Soviets as they retreated west on the Eastern front. Wonder if the Ukrainians have left similar in the cellars of Soledar... >

The ruzzians would be exemplary stupid if they touched that alcohol.
There have been plenty of examples of ruzzians drinking alcohol they looted that ended up being poisoned. But they've been also shown to be resistant to learning. >


The ruzzians would be exemplary stupid if they touched that alcohol.

Indeed. So it would probably work. Best plan would be to lace it with something that didn't kill them immediately but instead made them seriously ill in a week or so. >

There's been a dramatic uptick in heavy weapons pledges since December. Is there an expectation that Russia will do something massive soon, or do they just hope Ukraine wraps this up in spring/summer? >

Making the decision to send another 500k+ to the meatgrinder more painful. Deterrence with conventional weapons. >

For those who know epic poetry, I feel like we have entered the catalogue of arms phase here. >

Now drunken sleep had seal’d each bloodshot eye,  
Stretch’d in the shit the cursed mobiks lie. >

*snaps fingers repeatedly >

Tonight, perusing the preposterous Russian delusions online, I was reminded of an absolutely incredible story I read a month ago that I didn’t post.
An 80year old man is fighting.  Why?  Bc as a child, the Russians ripped his Ukrainian family apart, imprisoning, splitting from each other, deporting deep into Russia, into Siberia.  Why? Because the Russians learned his father was УПА. He was five, sister was ten in 1947:

“When my parents were taken away, my sister and I were sneaked out the window and hidden with relatives, then at my grandmother's. But at the beginning of the fall of 1952, two men in blue pants [most likely from the NKVD) came and took my sister and me to the district center. In Vysotsk, we were kept in some kind of cells, and for some reason our clothes were steamed.” Then they took him to Rivne. “I remembered how the column was led to the train, how the dogs barked. I was wearing a very long coat, because my sister had put on our mother's coat, which was left over, and I was wearing my sister's coat. I got caught and fell... Then in Kyiv, we were stuffed into prison wagons.”
They traveled in these cages almost across the country. “We were dropped off in Chelyabinsk or Sverdlovsk. There we washed in a cold bath together with the women [prisoners]. From there to Omsk, where we were first put in a local prison. When I was taken to the cell, I cried because my sister and I were separated for the first time. It was very scary. Some man picked me up by the arms, took me to the bunk beds and showed me a spot: ‘You will be here with me.’ As it turned out later, he was a thief. He took good care of me. When we were taken out for a walk in the bitter cold, he took a hat and felt boots from someone and dressed me. I walked in grown men's clothes with him holding his hand, and armed guards walked along the towers.
Soon an incredible meeting happened. “Later, we were sent from the prison to the settlement in the district of the 6th brick factory, where we later lived, there were many people on the bus. The bus left. And suddenly everyone heard a woman's voice: ‘Hey! Excuse me, turn around!’ Someone was calling my sister. As soon as she turned around, a shout rang out: ‘My daughter!’  It was our mother. She recognized my sister by the fur collar of her coat.”

They stayed in Omsk.  He learned Russian, then actually went into the military (initially, something similar to the Army Corps of Engineers), joined the Communist Party, changed his surname (which had precluded acceptance into the prestigious military schools) and went into aviation, after being accepted Kharkiv’s Aviation Institute.

He served in various aviation units. He started as an aviation technician. In 1981, he became the deputy chief engineer of the Central Asian District. The last position before Ukraine gained independence was Dep Chief Engineer for aviation equipment and armament of the Western operational-strategic group of troops [East Germany]. While in Germany, he finally left the party [Communist Party]. He went to the commander and put the report on the table. It was like a bolt of lightning for him—in the evening, they held a meeting. “The punishment was returning me to the Union within 24 hours.” In response, he demanded: "I will only go to Ukraine" and announced a hunger strike. “Starved for two days. In the end, I was offered to go to Lviv as the commander of a transport aviation regiment. It was a demotion, because I was already a colonel then.” But he agreed. “Our regiment was one of the first to swear allegiance to the Ukrainian people.”
After that, he worked in the [Ukrainian] Ministry of Defense. ...He made his way from the senior officer of the aviation equipment operation department ... to the head of the central administration of aviation equipment and armaments. This is the position of Lieutenant General.

Obviously, he eventually retired. But hardly.

“. . . I became a participant in hostilities during the Revolution of Dignity.” On January 19, 2014, he received two gunshot wounds, which is why he was included in the lists of victims who, according to the law, were given the status of combatants. “I got it in 2018. But it did not satisfy me. How could I say that I was a combatant if I was not at the front? I am an officer. Boys are dying, and why should I protect my life? I would never go to a staff job. Therefore, I decided that I should be where I can be useful.”

Since he is still able to hold a weapon in his hands, he joined the ranks. But it was not so easy either. He turned to Right Sector and Svoboda, and to friends and acquaintances. “I heard everywhere: ‘How old are you??’”
In 2018, he told Stepan Khmara he wanted to fight but no one would accept him due to his age.  "Go to the OUN battalion," he was told. 

“After a month of training in Pavlograd, I proved for another month in Yuryivka near Mariupol that I could be a useful fighter. In the end, at a meeting of the chiefs of staff, I was allowed to go directly to the ATO zone.” For three months, he took part in hostilities in Vodyan. 

He’s seen combat in this war, too—he serves as a regular volunteer, a soldier, not as a Lt General.

“At first we fought in Kharkiv Oblast, near Izyum.” They crossed the Siversky Donets in rubber boats. There they spent five days in the trenches, then back. Mines and rockets were constantly flying overhead. As volunteers, the unit could abandon, but there was no one who was afraid.
“After the deoccupation of Izyum, we were transferred to Soledar... 
“Our battalion has now been taken out for re-formation, why? Because we suffered big losses in two months. Five were killed, 10-15 were wounded of various degrees and 15 were contused. All were sent for treatment. There are 20 combat-ready fighters left out of 60.”

He’s now asking to go back to the front, to help bring down “the empire.” >

That's a wild story, thanks for posting. What a hero he is. >

19 Caesars, that's awesome. So Europe has made the decision that enough is enough and Russia must be defeated this year. Good. >

Yes. They see that Putin now wants a long war and the only way to end it is to make Russia lose definitively. You do that by giving decisive support to Ukraine. Anything they ask for. >

The first killed one is going to be famous >

Can't wait for tomorrows meeting, hopefully Ukraine get's decent amount of weapons which will help them offensively. >

It sounds like Russia has move on to step three of their usual playbook whenever Ukraine gets cool new toys. For those unaware:
Step 1: Sending X will be an unprovoked escalation of the conflict. We have nukes and aren’t afraid to use them. 
Step 2: Well, X will be meaningless on the battlefield anyway. X is an overrated piece of trash. 
Step 3: We’ll send our own version of X to the frontlines. It’s like X with hookers, blackjack, a ball pit, etc. 
Step 4: Complete silence on the matter of X for the rest of the war. 
Sometimes there is a step 1A of a missile tantrum, but those have gotten sparser and tend to just encourage other countries to give Y on top of X. On a side note, this is basically a guarantee that Ukraine is about to get Western tanks once the diplomatic theatrics are over. >

Step 1 was recently changed and now they destroy whatever was announced even before it reaches Ukraine. >

Ah. I consider that part of step 2. Russia claims to have destroyed 100+% of X sent to Ukraine as proof of it being trash. >

the CV90 looks very cool >

Pretty substantial coming from a small country like Sweden. 👍 Lets see if others will follow up. >

Himars Man >

As much as there are still glaring omissions from what’s been announced (tanks, jets), damn it looks like Ukraine is getting some juicy kit. >

M2 Bradley, Strykers, and HMMWVs. No tanks but USA's contribution is incredibly practical and arguably more important than tanks. >

The only way in which USA sending Abrams could possibly be more impactful than sending larger numbers of other stuff that USA has plenty of (such as Bradleys) is if it is really the one and only thing that will open the spigot for Leopard 2 tanks.
Which really illustrates why it's not beneficial to Ukraine to make such a condition (if that source wasn't BSing). Pulling numbers completely out of my ass just to illustrate, if the choice were between 14 Abrams and 50 leopard 2's, or 50 more Bradleys and 50 leopard 2's, it seems to me the latter would be preferable.
Speaking as an only-slightly-less-than-completely-ignorant civilian. >

In case anyone disagrees, remember the Bradley’s are a fantastic companion vehicle to tank cause they see everything. They see the enemies before the enemy tank even knows someone is coming. Their ability to see and then coordinate an armored attack will make them crucial in the battle field. >

German defense minister: "US-Tanks not a condition" and "expect a decision tomorrow morning"
​
Article in german >

Sure hope the decision is a resounding ''yes''. >

I hope it’s “Psych! They’re already on the train” >

Ukraine war: Ukraine admits retreat from front line town of Soledar
There's an interesting comment near the end of this BBC story.  The Ukrainian air force is flying sorties over Bakhmut.  It's amazing that the UAF can attack targets in the most hotly contested theatre, eleven months into this war.
The UAF surviving the early phase of the war and then carrying out missions to this point & beyond is an incredible story.  I hope we see the pilots in F16s at some point. >

The army may have retreated from Soledar but the UA is still actively hitting Russian targets in the city and defenses outside of it have been prepared for when this withdrawal was going to happen. The Russians have gained nothing and the UA can still target them from a distance. >

The Russians have won themselves a death pit >

The American defense secretary is an absolute unit. >

He IS the defense. >

A new Kings and Generals dropped this morning 
Battle of Kyiv - Russian Invasion of Ukraine >


Battle of Kyiv - Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Incredibly informative. Thank you for sharing. >

I'm almost confident these will be the m1128 gun versions. The US army has around 72 according to Wikipedia and have no use or want of them. >

Holy crap those things look insanely cool >

In real life they look very confused >

Reading the wikipedia article on them, they sound very confused.  Good opportunity to get them out in the field one final time, since they will be retired anyway. >

Can we sell them the Littoral Combat Ships when this is all over? They'd probably be of much more use in the Black Sea than they are in the US Navy. They have been a total headache to the US Navy as they don't perform the way they were meant to perform in blue water operations, but I could see them working just fine patrolling the coast of Ukraine. >

Ukraine is getting Patriots, but it's going to be months before a viable line of defense is established. The US could send Abrams, but that takes (what I have been led to believe) 5 or 6 months worth of training. Is there anything, aside from more HIMARS, that America could send that would be of immediate use? >

Long range missiles are badly needed. >

Thoughts and prayers >

arrogance ----> bigotry ----> illusions of grandeur ---> russia
progression of a deluded mind >

With all the announcements I wonder if Rammstein will have anything left to above after that meeting is done. >

Well, I know Lindemann is 60, and that they've put out 8 albums already, but their last one just came out in 2022.  Given how active they still seems to be, I doubt they're done making new music any time soon. >

I hast you >

The German quote is actually more definitive than that, he directly said that US tanks would not be a condition for sending German tanks and that he did not know where such reporting came from because this was not something Scholz said. >

ooopsie!