This would be fascinating, assuming it’s true. Of course, Russia’s alleged demands are ridiculous and unacceptable, but it is intriguing that they are not looking for a freezing of the current lines.
Perhaps Russia sees the writing on the wall with US aid to Ukraine resuming shortly.
3/#Russia's new "concession" is that the occupied parts of #Kherson and #Zaporizhzhia become "autonomous" (where have we heard that before) with absolute rights to block #Ukraine legislation in the areas.Moscow pretends these regions could eventually return naturally to Ukraine.
4/But #Russia demands ALL of #Donetsk, #Luhansk and a fair chunk of #Kharkiv region to be taken into the Russian Federation.#Putin knows this is unacceptable to #Ukraine and the #USA but banks on tRUmp riding to his rescue. The Kremlin war crim knows he needs a quick result.
I hope Turner’s right. But don’t hold your breath.
As the saying goes, money talks and bullshit walks.
The Boulevard of Tossed Turrets
Drones are having to be used to try to fill the gaps from a shortage of artillery shells.
So this is good news, but you can’t fight a war with drones alone. Ukraine also needs shells, shells and more shells. If this war has taught the west anything, it’s that there is a woefully inadequate capacity to produce the artillery ammunition that would be needed to counter a Russian invasion.
Speaking of drones, this is an interesting video on the development of “Flying Claymore” drones against Russian infantry.
A Russian soldier describes the horror of the war for Russia at Robotyne.
Once again we are driving with one of the commanders along front-line roads to the positions of the soldiers. The sounds of heavy artillery fighting can be heard everywhere. The earth is literally shaking beneath us.
We're not eating, we're flying... at any moment an enemy missile or FPV drone could arrive. The enemy is shelling all roads, reaching everywhere.
On the roadsides there are crosses and monuments to heroically fallen warriors... The commander says: "this is the cross of the Grad MLRS crew, very young guys, the FVP-drone got them, and they had full ammunition, they set out to work... This is a monument... the HIMARS flew to their positions and all died ..." And so the whole front road is like that.
These stories bring a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes... young guys, our guys... You no longer hear explosions nearby, but the whole horror of this war is before your eyes... everywhere there are fragments of missiles, lonely burnt trees like ghosts near crosses…
With a heavy heart we move on... they are waiting for us in the trenches, they need our help. Our soldiers heroically continue to fight. it's hard .. everyone is tired ... they are advancing centimeter by centimeter in bloody battles. Only when you are there with them you understand how difficult it is for them...
In the evening, the earth began to shake again, the cats all huddled close to their beds... 5 km from us, heavy fighting began. We hear "exits and arrivals", endless flashes and roars, the artillery duel continued until the morning...
Having arrived back home, we turned on the TV and there they told us that the "Little Russians" are exhausted, they had nothing to fight with and that their capitulation would soon be... no.. unfortunately, everything is not like that in reality! They have everything! And missiles! And swarms of drones! Both technology and communications! Drones do not allow you to raise your head, walk, drive, or just breathe! Missiles fly like drones in flocks! Baba Yaga is a serious problem, she destroys combat crews, equipment... Fighters with shovels, their hands bleeding, dig in vehicles to save equipment from mines being dropped from this flying creature.
A good analysis of where most Russian losses come from.
The assault operations don’t have nearly the casualties as you may expect. And this is what you hear from Ukrainian assaults as well, where you see Ukrainians say they captured a trench without casualties, but took heavy casualties in the subsequent artillery barrages.
Ukraine doesn’t really have the ammo to perform such huge barrages on Russian forces, but they do have drones which probably inflict similar casualties. And we often see this as well, with large numbers of Ukrainian drones attacking Russian trenches.
So, piecing it together and using basic logic: most Russian casualties probably come during the force accumulation phase. Few during the assault phase, and then more again during the post assault bombardment. The bombardment likely being primarily via drones.
This is all exacerbated by Ukraine’s lack of infantry, forcing them to more readily abandon positions due to lack of manpower. And also its lack of ammo. Mortar ammo in particular, which is most effective against this sort of infantry assault.
Meanwhile, in the flooded Orenburg/Orsk/Kurgan region …
Nobody puts Baby in the corner.
Yana Stepanenko, 12, ran the Boston Marathon on Saturday with the prosthetic legs she received after losing her legs in a Russian shelling attack.
Rex was rescued after his house was hit by a drone and then reunited with his family.
You can take away electricity and make life tenuous, but you can’t take away music.
The war in photographs.