Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Come on, man.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Bark louder, little dog.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans in disarray!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

One way or another, he’s a liar.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 505: Russia Bombards Kyiv Again

War for Ukraine Day 505: Russia Bombards Kyiv Again

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

Six states have already joined the G7 countries with which we agreed on security guarantees for Ukraine yesterday – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

13 July 2023 – 22:32

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

A brief report on this day.

First. A meeting with Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Malyuk. A meeting with the heads of intelligence: Main Intelligence Directorate – Budanov, foreign intelligence – Lytvynenko. We analyze the situation very carefully – everything related to the war and everything important for internal security.

Second. A meeting with the international relations experts. The Government, the Office. We are already starting to prepare for the next NATO Summit in Washington. At the Vilnius Summit, we have reached good agreements for Ukraine with almost all partners. We had a very good meeting with President Biden and his team: Secretary of Defense Austin and National Security Advisor Sullivan.

With everyone in the G7, and we managed to meet with many partners in NATO. Now it is time to turn each such agreement into a concrete result. We have the NATO-Ukraine Council, and this format should work in a meaningful way. We are preparing proposals for our partners. There are new agreements on weapons, on equipment, on aviation, and we are now specifying them. Today we also discussed the preparation of the Crimea Platform.

We continue our very successful agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine on its way to NATO by preparing treaties with countries. Bilateral treaties. Only a day after Vilnius, six countries have already joined the seven largest democracies of the world with which we agreed on security guarantees yesterday: the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Thank you! I am confident that the number of guarantors will increase. Ukraine and the United States will keep a list of states that will join our joint declaration with the G7 on security guarantees on the path to NATO.

During the time period before the Washington Summit, we have to elaborate with our partners everything we discussed in Vilnius and form new common positions that Ukraine and our warriors clearly deserve.

I spoke today with President of the Republic of South Africa Ramaphosa. We do not lose focus on the Peace Formula and everything that is needed to implement the Formula for a single day. I invited Mr. President to join our “Grain from Ukraine” humanitarian initiative.

We equally see the need to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative. It is very important that there are no threats to food security anywhere in the world. And Russia must clearly realize that anyone who increases the threat of famine, particularly in critical regions of Africa, is terrorizing the whole world with hunger, not just a single nation.

Recently, representatives of presidents and foreign policy and national security advisors met in the Danish capital. Different countries. The meeting was dedicated to the Peace Formula and the preparation of the Global Peace Summit. I am grateful that the meeting was attended by a representative of the Republic of South Africa. We are already preparing for the next such meeting.

And, of course, I would like to thank each and every one of our warriors, all Ukrainian defenders. These days in Vilnius, at the NATO Summit, in the margins of the NATO Summit, at all the meetings, Ukraine enjoyed – and still enjoys – the greatest respect and support from our partners in all the years of our independence. Respect is always a derivative of courage, and attention to any country is always a consequence of the capabilities of that country. Ukraine is in the center of our partners’ attention. No longer Russia, as it was decades ago. And when we put an end to this war by establishing Russia’s defeat, respect and attention to Ukraine will be forever established in history – for all future generations of our people. But this is being achieved now, in battles for Ukraine, in offense and defense.

I thank everyone who is in combat, at combat posts and on combat missions! I thank everyone who defends our skies and who moves our positions on the ground forward. I thank everyone who works to ensure that our warriors have everything they need!

Glory to Ukraine!

🚀 Ukraine will receive over €1.5 billion in military aid from its international partners.

✳️ Long-range SCALP missiles, Leopard tanks, additional Patriots, F-16 pilot training are just some of the things that can be announced publicly.

We can mention at least seven packages of military aid:

🇩🇪 Germany: new €700 million aid package includes 25 Leopard 1A5 tanks, 40 Marder 1A3 IFVs, 2 Patriot air defense systems, 5 Bergepanzer 2 SAMs, 20,000 155-mm artillery shells, 5,000 smoke shells;

🇦🇺 Australia: new defense package includes 30 Bushmaster APCs;

🇳🇴 Norway: 1,000 Black Hornet micro-drones, NASAMS support package (2 additional fire control centers, two launchers and spare parts); Norway also increased the size of the military aid budget to Ukraine from $240 to $930 million; there are agreements on strengthening air defense and artillery capabilities;

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: more than 70 combat vehicles, thousands of ammunition for tanks, a $64.7 million package of military aid for the repair of equipment;

🇫🇷 France: SCALP missiles and additional engineering equipment for demining;

🇳🇱 the Netherlands: agreement to start pilot training in August, contribution to strengthening Ukrainian air defense and artillery capabilities;

🇨🇦 Canada: $410 million in new funding and projects to support Ukraine and strengthen transatlantic security; reinforcement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with armored vehicles.

Meetings in Vilnius were very productive 💪

Stay tuned.

Apparently Presidently Zelenskyy’s predictable anger over the initial statements, as well as the communique language regarding Ukraine’s potential future ascension into NATO created a fair amount of unhappiness among President Biden’s senior national security appointees. And, as one could predict, they went running to The Washington Post to vent. Anonymously.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s confrontational tweet this week challenging NATO leaders on the glacial pace of his war-torn country’s admission into the alliance so roiled the White House that U.S. officials involved with the process considered scaling back the “invitation” for Kyiv to join, according to six people familiar with the matter.

Ultimately, the United States and its allies agreed they would preserve the declaration’s language as eventually presented Tuesday at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The declaration lacks a timeline for Ukraine’s accession into the bloc but was the product of hard-won efforts to move the Biden administration and other European leaders to grant more-specific offers to Kyiv amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

The incident illustrates the frustration inside NATO with Zelensky’s pressure tactics, where even some of his strongest backers questioned this week whether he was serving Ukraine’s interests with his outburst. At the same time, the backroom scramble it set off shows how little the alliance can do about it: NATO nations are all-in on the war effort, and many member states remain deeply sympathetic to Zelensky’s demands for a greater level of support. And while many officials expressed annoyance with the tweet, there was an understanding that the leader of an embattled nation must demonstrate he will do anything to extract the maximum on behalf of his people.

Zelensky’s missive, launched as NATO leaders were gathering for the two-day summit, denounced as “unprecedented and absurd” what was then a draft of the membership language.

The Ukrainian leader’s public rebuke of the alliance stunned those assembled in the summit venue, an exposition hall on the outskirts of the Lithuanian capital, leaving the U.S. delegation “furious,” according to one official familiar with the situation. Like others, the person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

Ambassadors, ministers and other senior policymakers held informal talks about how the alliance should respond. U.S. officials raised the possibility of revisiting or striking the passage to which Zelensky had so forcefully objected: “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met,” according to European officials involved in the negotiations.

Although Washington has given Kyiv billions of dollars worth of military aid and other support since the war began early last year, President Biden has favored a cautious approach, fearful that doing too much too quickly could risk escalating the crisis and drawing NATO into direct conflict with Russia. Biden attended the Vilnius summit with his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who has traveled on to Jakarta, Indonesia, for a meeting of foreign ministers from Southeast Asia.

A U.S. official familiar with the conversations acknowledged that revisions to the declaration had been considered, saying the Biden administration was sensitive to Zelensky’s concerns and had hoped they might address them somehow.

Three other senior policymakers, however, two of whom were direct participants in the talks, said their strong perception was that the United States was getting ready to water down the document’s language — to make it less welcoming to a speedy Ukrainian accession to the alliance.

“Some wanted to withdraw the reference to ‘invitation,’” or find another place to put that word, said one of the senior policymakers, a NATO diplomat who took part in the talks.

Spokespeople for the White House and the Ukrainian presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Another senior NATO diplomat who took part in the frantic negotiations said that, although “several people” supported removing the phrasing that had upset Zelensky, the U.S. delegation “did not specifically want to take that promise” of an invitation out of the declaration. There was a consensus that reworking the document would delay its release and, “in the end, those most concerned about the Ukrainian reaction came to the conclusion that it would be better to stick with the text” as drafted.

“It sends a very clear and strong message,” this person said, “both to Ukraine and Russia.”

The Associated Press brings us a deep dive into how Ukrainian civilians are being forcibly removed to Russia and placed in prisons there. This is, of course, both a war crime and a clear indicator of genocide.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian civilians woke long before dawn in the bitter cold, lined up for the single toilet and were loaded at gunpoint into the livestock trailer. They spent the next 12 hours or more digging trenches on the front lines for Russian soldiers.

Many were forced to wear overlarge Russian military uniforms that could make them a target, and a former city administrator trudged around in boots five sizes too big. By the end of the day, their hands curled into icy claws.

Nearby, in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, other Ukrainian civilians dug mass graves into the frozen ground for fellow prisoners who had not survived. One man who refused to dig was shot on the spot — yet another body for the grave.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being detained across Russia and the Ukrainian territories it occupies, in centers ranging from brand-new wings in Russian prisons to clammy basements. Most have no status under Russian law.

And Russia is planning to hold possibly thousands more. A Russian government document obtained by The Associated Press dating to January outlined plans to create 25 new prison colonies and six other detention centers in occupied Ukraine by 2026.

In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May allowing Russia to send people from territories with martial law, which includes all of occupied Ukraine, to those without, such as Russia. This makes it easier to deport Ukrainians who resist Russian occupation deep into Russia indefinitely, which has happened in multiple cases documented by the AP.

Many civilians are picked up for alleged transgressions as minor as speaking Ukrainian or simply being a young man in an occupied region, and are often held without charge. Others are charged as terrorists, combatants, or people who “resist the special military operation.” Hundreds are used for slave labor by Russia’s military, for digging trenches and other fortifications, as well as mass graves.

Torture is routine, including repeated electrical shocks, beatings that crack skulls and fracture ribs, and simulated suffocation. Many former prisoners told the AP they witnessed deaths. A United Nations report from late June documented 77 summary executions of civilian captives and the death of one man due to torture.

Russia does not acknowledge holding civilians at all, let alone its reasons for doing so. But the prisoners serve as future bargaining chips in exchanges for Russian soldiers, and the U.N. has said there is evidence of civilians being used as human shields near the front lines.

The AP spoke with dozens of people, including 20 former detainees, along with ex-prisoners of war, the families of more than a dozen civilians in detention, two Ukrainian intelligence officials and a government negotiator. Their accounts, as well as satellite imagery, social media, government documents and copies of letters delivered by the Red Cross, confirm a widescale Russian system of detention and abuse of civilians that stands in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Some civilians were held for days or weeks, while others have vanished for well over a year. Nearly everyone freed said they experienced or witnessed torture, and most described being shifted from one place to another without explanation.

“It’s a business of human trafficking,” said Olena Yahupova, the city administrator who was forced to dig trenches for the Russians in Zaporizhzhia. “If we don’t talk about it and keep silent, then tomorrow anyone can be there — my neighbor, acquaintance, child.”

INVISIBLE PRISONERS

The new building in the compound of Prison Colony No. 2 is at least two stories tall, separated from the main prison by a thick wall.

This facility in Russia’s eastern Rostov region has gone up since the war started in February 2022, according to satellite imagery analyzed by the AP. It could easily house the hundreds of Ukrainian civilians who are believed detained there, according to former captives, families of the missing, human rights activists and Russian lawyers. Two exiled Russian human rights advocates said it is heavily guarded by soldiers and armored vehicles.

The building in Rostov is among at least 40 detention facilities in Russia and Belarus, and there are 63 makeshift and formal ones in occupied Ukrainian territory where Ukrainian civilians are held, according to an AP map built on data from former captives, the Ukrainian Media Initiative for Human Rights, and the Russian human rights group Gulagu.net. The recent U.N. report counted a total of 37 facilities in Russia and Belarus and 125 in occupied Ukraine.

There is much, much, much more at the link including photojournalism.

I have something of a sub-specialty in Russian prison culture. The conditions are brutal and the prisons are controlled not just by Russian officials, but also by the criminal hierarchy of the vory, the thiefs in law. Many, if not most of the Ukrainian civilians that go in will not come out. Those that do will never be what they were before the Russians illegally incarcerated them.

Zaporizhzhia:

Orikhiv:

ORIKHIV AXIS / 1645 UTC 13 APL/ ON 12 JUL, RU forces launched a series of offensive operations against the UKR salient: these attacks failed. Ukrainian forces are consolidating their positions and conducting counter-battery fire on RU artillery and striking command posts and air defense systems.

Bakhmut:

BAKHMUT AXIS /1900 UTC 13 JUL/ Gen’l Staff reports that under heavy artillery fire, UKR forces repelled numerous combined arms RU attacks in the vicinity of Bakhmut. Points of contact were not disclosed, though the usual threat axes are Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hyrhorivka, Bohdanivka, Khromove, and Ivanivske.

Velyka Novosila:

The Dnipro River:

Time to buy more Frito-Lays stock!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

@patron__dsns

У мене для вас сюрприз! Вирішив подарувати нові іграшки з мультику за три найкращі історії про мої пригоди (пишіть їх у коментарях на YouTube). Тому мерщій вигадувати, а я вже через тиждень особисто оберу трьох переможців💛

♬ оригінальний звук – Patron_official

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

I have a surprise for you! I’ve decided to give away new cartoon toys for the three best stories about my adventures (write them in the comments on YouTube). So get to writing, and in a week I will personally select three winners 💛

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    I seem to recall, right as I was nodding off last night, that someone had a question for me in the comments. The good news is I was able to fully reclaim control of the gmail address Alain set up as my Balloon Juice account, which is where the emails get forwarded/sent if you use the contact a front pager tool. So if you remember your question, please just email it to me and since I can now access those emails on my MacBook Pro, which is what I do these updates on, I’ll try to answer it tomorrow night.

    It turns out that to actually force Google to allow you to reclaim your account if you’ve switched your cell phone number and can’t get the confirmation code as the old number is gone, that you have to do it on the device you are still logged in on. I kept trying it on the MacBook Pro or my iPhone and after 24 hours I wouldn’t get the code at the alternate gmail address. Rather, I’d get a cancellation because I was still logged in on another device. For whatever reason, last weekend I just tried it from my iPad and it worked. Within 24 hours I had the code, was able to get in, updated my account with the current cell #, and set up an authenticator app for my account so I won’t have this problem again in the future.

    Who knew?

  2. 2.

    japa21

    As usual, thanks for the work you put in.

    I know people would love to see Ukraine’s counteroffensive be faster with lots of area liberated quickly.  But it is obvious, at least to me who has no military training, that their plan is three fold.

    1.  Keep probing looking for weaknesses to exploit.
    2. Let the Russians come at them (which the Russians appear to be foolishly doing) and reduce the number of the enemy.
    3.  Go after behind the lines targets, particularly supply depots of all kinds, artillery and, perhaps most crippling of all, leadership of the Russian forces.

    Regarding number 2, I wonder if the fact that the Russians appear to be attacking Ukrainian forces, even when the attack is by necessity over open ground, is because they really don’t have much faith in their defensive positions.

  5. 5.

    Anonymous At Work

    Adam,

    I know this gets a “Nothing is true, everything is possible” response but any thoughts on the speculation about the Putin-Wagner meeting being faked?

    And the news about the RU 58th Combined, they lose their commander and deputy commander in the same week?  Strike anyone as odd?  Or just “life can be weird”?

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’m going to go do a quick workout, get cleaned up, and racked out. I may or may not be back.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    I have something of a sub-specialty in Russian prison culture

    Welcome to BJ after dark, everyone.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    so roiled the White House that U.S. officials involved with the process considered scaling back the “invitation” for Kyiv to join

    What a bunch of babies. “Daddy, he was mean to us! We’re gonna take our toys and go home!” And the abject condescension in finger-wagging and tone-policing Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials is repugnant. Do these people not fucking understand WHY there is a demand for urgency from Ukraine? Turn on your damn TVs, you ninnies. I’d love to take every one of these anonymous whiners and drop them off near Bakhmut or ZNPP and see how they feel after a few hours.

    Better late than never! “Today, State Inspection of Architecture and Urban Planning issued a permit to replace the coat of arms of the USSR on the shield of the Motherland Monument with the Ukrainian trident.”

    Thank you as always, Adam. Congrats on being reunited with your email.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus

    @Anonymous At Work:

    The way russia military is structured is different from say ours. Their military is run from the top down, ours has a middle force, the people that make stuff work, repair it and operate it. I was one of those when I was in and ran a department on a USN ship. Those above me knew what the equipment did, but operating or repairing it was not in their gig in any way, shape or form. We depend on senior enlisted to do the heavy lifting to allow those above them the  ability to command and understand what bits and pieces are needed to get the job done. It is a far more effective process but it means trust has to go both ways, and that isn’t a russian style – they are top down only, no one trusts anyone else.

  11. 11.

    HinTN

    @japa21:

    Let the Russians come at them (which the Russians appear to be foolishly doing) and reduce the number of the enemy.

    Grant employed this strategy to very good effect against some Southern generals.

    As always, Adam, thanks for this work and your insight.

  12. 12.

    Martin

    I remain impressed that Russias missile industry isn’t able to kill Ukrainian civilians as quickly as our home-grown recreational firearms industry kills American civilians. <waves foam finger>

    Every day I look forward to Adams update hoping it brings news of a Ukrainian breakthrough. Maybe tomorrow.

  13. 13.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Also, download some google/gmail access codes. These are 8 digit codes that can be used to log in in a pinch. (Also, add a recovery email address, if one is willing to let google know of the linkage to another email address.)

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    Turkish President Erdogan held a presser in Vilnius Tuesday, and he shed some (but not much) light on the return of the 5 Azov commanders to Ukraine. Ukrainian commentator Maria Drutske reported:

       Erdogan stated that he did not deceive anyone [about] the Azov commanders because he did not make a deal with anyone.

    …he handed over the commanders after a personal request from Zelensky. According to [Erdogan], the agreements that the military commanders stay in Turkey were between Ukraine and Russia.

    Turkish journalist and Middle East Eye Istanbul bureau chief Rahip Soylu reported:

        Erdogan says Russia stopped criticizing Turkey for releasing the Azov leaders after Moscow realized there was a reason.

    I wonder what’s the reason?

    The coy Erdogan did not say.

  15. 15.

    Bill Arnold

    @Geminid:

    …Moscow realized there was a reason.
    I wonder what’s the reason?

    The coy Erdogan did not say.

    LOL. I loath Erdoğan’s messianic authoritarianism approach to staying in power, but that (at least as reported) looks well done.

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    Whitehouse.gov:

    JULY 13, 2023

    Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Members of the Individual Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 121 and 12304 of title 10, United States Code, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility. In furtherance of this operation, under the stated authority, I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, not to exceed 3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve, as they deem necessary, and to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.

    This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
    July 13, 2023.

    Interesting.

    I assume this is meant to send VVP (and Xi) a message (about the US being willing to do the readiness / exercises stuff to call up people when needed).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    @Bill Arnold: Many Westerners are very critical of Erdogan, and there are good reasons to be.

    One criticism- that Erdogan pursues a foreign policy that does not align with that of the US- did not resonate with Turkish voters. They rather took that as a good reason to vote for him.

  19. 19.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    Since this is, kind of, an open thread, I have to ask here. Adam, what do you think of this whole Tuberville situation? Even I know that this is a disaster for the US military. Who/what can be done to get this arsehole to STFU already?

    Thanks as always for these vital updates. Don’t work too hard!

  21. 21.

    Chetan Murthy

    I’d be interested in what (ex-)military folks think of this: https://nitter.net/WT3ll/status/1679198812483514396#m

    The thrust is: NATO trainers are great and all, but they simply don’t understand the modern battlefield, and specifically the pervasive presence of:

    cheap COTS drones
    cheap COTS tablets
    connectivity as a basis for apps that improve the lethality of soldiers

    I’m a civilian: can neither opine nor judge.  But this seems really important if true.  Or as Trent Telenko (again: I am aware he’s not exactly the most reliable of folks) puts it: after this war is over, it’ll be *Ukraine* who is sending trainers all over Europe and the West, to train soldiers.

    Anyway, I’d be curious what (ex-)military folks think.

    P.S, Oops, it’s in Ukrainian.  I used Google Translate in Chrome to convert to English.   I’ll see if I can find the English version of the thread.

  23. 23.

    Sebastian

    The cynical calculation of some European states makes me sick to my stomach. They know Russia has to first conquer Ukraine before it can threaten them and they see that Ukraine can hold Russia at bay, at immense cost to their population and industry. But that’s a price they are willing to pay, because it’s not their population and industry.

  24. 24.

    Sebastian

    @Origuy:

    Pretty much standard. Serbian artillery was high on meth so they could shell Sarajevo (and other cities) for days at end.

  25. 25.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    @Origuy: So were German soldiers during the blitzkrieg on France & the Low Countries. They were all hopped up on methamphetamine tablets. That’s how they could attack for 3 days straight.

  26. 26.

    Feathers

    @Origuy: @Sebastian: @Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:

    There’s an episode on the use of methamphetamines in WWII in the PBS series Secrets of the Dead – World War Speed. I found it fascinating, especially how it had been developed before the war and sold as pep pills before the war, so soldiers didn’t really question its use.

    It’s on YouTube:

    https://youtu.be/Te8B9lvAZRo

    My recollection is that they fill time with an attempt to recreate some of the German marches to see if they’d be possible without drugs. You won’t lose much by skipping this.

  27. 27.

    General Obvious

    I don’t know why you continue to refer to Pfarrer. He has been demonstrably wrong in the past and never copped to it.  Claimed UAF were east of Donetsk during the Kharkiv offensive; pinned the tweet for a day or two and never retracted the claim. Insisted that the Kerch bridge attack was ATACMS and for all I know still does– I unfollowed him after that. No credible Ukraine observer refers to his Twitter; in fact, I don’t think anyone at all does.

  30. 30.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Interesting Twitter thread from Samuel Bennett at CNAS, partially translation a thread of a Ukrainian reconnaissance soldier, describing his recent training w/ US Army Rangers in Germany.

    1/ This is an interesting thread from a Ukrainian soldiers going through Western military training in Germany. Key points that stand out: “They do not rely on electronic devices at all, and the fact that we go on missions with Chinese smartphones and tablets was wild for them.”

    2/ “But after “Kropyva”, I don’t want to go back to paper docs at all. The same for quadcopters – the concept of DJI Mavics and the use of civilian copters is simply not even in their plans. Of course, they study our war, but they are still surprised that we use it (quadcopters) like that.”

    3/ (For the record, “Kropyva” is a Ukrainian proprietary intelligence mapping software developed for planning, calculations, and orientation that is used by hundreds of units throughout Ukraine).

    4/ More from the Ukrainian soldier: “For a week, we were taught to read maps, take the azimuth, transfer the azimuth from the compass to the map and vice versa. When we told them that we use electronic cards on tablets and phones, they did not take us seriously.”

    5/ “They have different drone types, but this is purely brigade level. This shows that in addition to the war with the aborigines in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Americans have not participated in a serious war for a long time. Their army does not have an analogue of the Chinese Mavic 3, it was a shock for us.”

    6/ The points about Western militaries not having the equivalents of cheap, commercial-type drones for tactical ISR is a major topic of deliberation in the US military today.

    What the information suggestions:

    1. Unsurprisingly, the Ukrainian Army specifically is most experienced & knowledgeable military organization in the world right now wrt high intensity peer level land warfare (as would the Russian Army if it is a more effective learning organization), & it has a lot of insights & best practices to share to anyone interested
    2. The digitized way of warfare that the Ukrainian Army has kluged into, using civilian consumer electronics, probably presages the future of warfare, period; past reporting have already noted the Ukrainians’ innovative & bold use of drones in warfare, & the Russians too to a lesser extent
    3. Use of civilian consumer electronics would, on 1st glance, be a very risky operating procedure on the battlefield, but the Russian military seems to have been less effective than the Ukrainian in exploiting the vulnerabilities here (even though both sides’ troops routinely use civilian ware, approved or not, out of necessity), despite its vaunted reputation as a cyber/electronic warfare superpower
    4. It is especially notable that the Ukrainians, both at the organization level & at the individual level, seem to remain comfortable in using civilian consumer electronics, despite the large majority of them are either off the shelf Chinese ware, or devices loaded w/ Chinese components; this is contrast to the level of concern, veering into paranoia in the West, especially the US
    5. It could be that the civilian consumer electronics are not quite as easy to hack en masse, even by China, despite them being made in China; or that China has not passed on any known exploits to Russia; or that China has not shared intelligence gleamed from these devices w/ Russia; or that the Russian military is too incompetent to take advantage of any information shared
  31. 31.

    The Pale Scot

    The only way to deal with this kidnapping shit is to round up ALL Russians in every Western country and put them in a similar facility for their own “protection”. They can be “filtered” to sort it out.

    Damn waking up to get this pissed off so early sucks

  32. 32.

    Carlo Graziani

    @YY_Sima Qian: The Ukrainian military’s IT op seems pretty sophisticated. It seems likely to me that a high priority for them would be a hardened version of Android for soldier smartphones, with locked down permissions, minimal services, and intrusion detection, as well as continuous penetration testing and patching. Not foolproof, but a much harder target.

  34. 34.

    Sebastian

    @Carlo Graziani:

    A while ago I saw a report about an artillery app the UA is using. The soldiers can select a target and it will show all available artillery (howitzer, missiles, mortars) within range and it allows them to hit the target from multiple directions.

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