Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The lights are all blinking red.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

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

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 748: Russia Attacks Civilian Targets in Kryvyi Rih

War for Ukraine Day 748: Russia Attacks Civilian Targets in Kryvyi Rih

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Screen shot of new artwork by NEIVANMADE. The background is black. In the bottom foreground are grey Ukrainian homes and apartment buildings being bombarded by red Russian missiles with the Special Military Operation "Z" symbol on them. Above the missiles, written in red is the word "Ruzzians". Below the buildings being attacked is the statement "Turns Homes Into Graves".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A rescue operation is underway in Kryvyi Rih following Russia’s missile attack. A nine-story residential building was damaged.

There are many wounded, some of whom are in critical condition. There is also one injured child. As of now, two people have been reported dead. My condolences to their loved ones.

People are being searched for beneath the rubble. The operation will continue as long as necessary. I am grateful to each and every person who is working there, rescuing and providing medical assistance. I gave instructions to provide immediate assistance to everyone in need of it.

 

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

The Kremlin must get used to the fact that terror does not go unpunished for them – address by the President of Ukraine

12 March 2024 – 21:21

Dear Ukrainians!

The rescue operation after the Russian missile strike is still underway in Kryvyi Rih. A part of a nine-story apartment building was destroyed, as well as the ceiling between floors. There was a fire. Many people were injured – over 30. There are severely wounded. Everyone is being provided with the necessary assistance. Unfortunately, there are fatalities. My condolences to all family members and friends.

We will inflict losses on the Russian state in response – quite rightly. They in the Kremlin must get used to the fact that terror does not go unpunished for them. Nothing will cure these sick men of their evil, but they will feel the losses. The Russian state will lose, and only this can make it safe for its neighbors. Not only for Ukraine. For different nations, our actions are now life-saving.

Today, Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi made a report about our actions on the battlefield, the actions of our reconnaissance officers, and the performance of our drones. The Commander-in-Chief is now at the front. And there is a necessary dynamic of actions for Ukraine. Today, I also received preliminary results on the use of our drones from the Armed Forces, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine. I think everyone can see our drones in action. Particularly in a long-range action. I am grateful to everyone who makes this possible. Our long-range capabilities are a real step closer to safety for everyone.

I held several important meetings throughout the day. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Interior Minister Klymenko, and other government officials. I agreed on further steps in the development of our State Border Guard Service and, accordingly, our border guard forces.

I am proud of every Ukrainian who serves in the border guard forces and protects the interests of our country and our national independence. We will increase the number of border guard forces, in view of both the current tasks of countering aggression and the long-term protection of our country’s borders after this war.

In addition, today I would like to recognize the units and warriors of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine who have been particularly effective in these weeks and months. In particular, the border guards of the Sumy Detachment who counter Russian subversive groups and strengthen our defensive positions on the border. I am grateful to all of you, warriors! Sergeants Artem Pedora and Oleksandr Poroskun deserve special gratitude. Chernihiv Border Guard Detachment: Master Sergeant Serhiy Khomenko and Senior Sergeant Serhiy Shvets. Thank you! Kharkiv Border Guard Detachment: Senior Soldier Valekh Zarbaliyev and Chief Sergeant Andriy Syzonov. Thank you, guys, for destroying Russian equipment and clearing the area of Russian mines! Of course, I am also grateful to everyone who is fighting at the front along with all units of our Defense Forces. The warriors of the Rapid Response Border Commandant’s Service of the Volyn Border Guard Detachment, the “Revenge” and “Steel Border” brigades, as well as the warriors of the special unit DOZOR. Well done to all of you.

The Minister of Internal Affairs reported on the key current security issues within the state, including the work of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on demining. It is extremely important for saving the lives of our people – for protecting them from Russian mines and unexploded ordnance. I am grateful to each and every person involved in this work of clearing Ukrainian land.

There was an important economic report on our resource and energy sectors. We are making good progress. Various assets that have not been working for our country for decades are now producing the necessary results for the budget. And this gives everyone in our country more power.

And a few other things.

Yesterday I signed the law on lobbying. This was one of the prerequisites for further progress in relations with the European Union – we have fulfilled everything. And, as agreed with the President of the European Commission, today the Negotiating Framework for Ukraine was approved. We are one step closer to the European Union. The decision now rests with EU member states. We continue to prepare for the accession negotiations.

Today, I also want to thank the United States and all Americans who value freedom for the U.S. defense assistance to Ukraine. I am looking forward to our country receiving the new military aid package.

We are making every effort to strengthen Ukraine and Ukrainians while inflicting maximum losses on the occupiers.

Glory to everyone who is in Ukraine and with Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

My Stupid Wild Ass Guess (SWAG) is that today’s strike on civilian targets in President Zelenskyy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih are reprisals for the recent spate of successful attacks in Russia that have been attributed to Ukraine. Such as last night’s strikes:

Reuters article regarding the attack on Nizhny Novgorod oil facility:

Industry sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the main crude distillation unit (AVT-6) at NORSI was damaged in the attack, which means that at least half of the refinery’s production is halted. Lukoil declined to comment.

NORSI refines about 15.8 million tonnes of Russian crude a year, or 5.8% of total refined crude, according to industry sources.

It also refines about 4.9 million tonnes of gasoline, 11% of Russia’s total, 6.4% of diesel fuel, 5.6% of fuel oil and 7.4% of the country’s aviation fuel, according to industry sources.

https://reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-launches-drones-oryol-fuel-facility-other-regions-russia-says-2024-03-12/

Reuters has more details:

MOSCOW, March 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine pounded targets in Russia on Tuesday with dozens of drones and rockets in an attack that inflicted serious damage on a major oil refinery and sought to pierce the land borders of the world’s biggest nuclear power with armed proxies.

Russia and Ukraine have both used drones to strike critical infrastructure, military installations and troop concentrations in their more than two-year war, with Kyiv hitting Russian refineries and energy facilities in recent months.

In one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia to date, Moscow said it downed 25 Ukrainian drones over regions including Moscow, Leningrad, Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Tula and Oryol. Waves of drone attacks continued through the day, the defence ministry said.

Russian officials reported attacks on energy facilities, including a fire at Lukoil’s (LKOH.MM), opens new tab NORSI refinery and a drone destroyed on the outskirts of the town of Kirishi, home to Russia’s second largest oil refinery.

Gleb Nikitin, governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, posted a picture of a fire truck beside the NORSI refinery and said emergency services were working to put out a blaze there.

“A fuel and energy complex facility was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles,” Nikitin said on Telegram.Striking Russian oil facilities is a problem for President Vladimir Putin as he faces off against the West over Ukraine, with domestic gasoline prices sensitive ahead of a March 15-17 presidential election.

Russia imposed a six-month ban on gasoline exports on March 1.

Along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S., Russia has vast energy reserves but has, since oil was discovered in the wilds of Western Siberia in the 1960s, often relied on Western technology to exploit and refine its crude.

The Kremlin said the Russian military was doing everything necessary and that what it calls its military operation in Ukraine would continue.

Russia says it has destroyed more than 15,000 Ukrainian-launched drones since the start of the war.

The Biden administration. First tweet from the thread, the rest from the Thread Reader App:

This is possible because of unanticipated cost savings in contracts that DOD negotiated to replace equipment we’ve already sent to Ukraine through previous drawdowns. 
We’re able to use these cost savings to make this modest amount of new security assistance available. 
Right now without impacting U.S. military readiness. And the President has directed his team to use these cost savings. This emergency package that we’re announcing contains a large tranche of artillery rounds and (inaudible) for the Himars. 
It is assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks, and to push back against the continuing Russian onslaught in the Eastern and other parts of Ukraine. 
This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period it is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the weeks to come. 
It goes without saying this package does not displace and should not delay the critical need to pass the bipartisan national security bill. 
As you all know, …& President Biden said it to the entire nation in the State of the Union last week that we cannot provide ongoing assistance to Ukraine without significantly impacting our military readiness, absent congressional action. 

That remains the case, despite this modest amount of cost savings that we are putting to use on an urgent basis.

Congress must act. The House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental as soon as possible. 

We all know that if it came up for a vote, it would pass on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, just as it did in the Senate.

And there is no other way around this. 

The House has got to pass the supplemental as soon as possible to allow us to continue the flow of vital security…assistance to Ukraine to replenish the US military’s munitions stocks, to invest in our industrial base and to support jobs in 40 states across the United States. 
The clock is ticking and we need to see action as rapidly as possible, even as we do everything in our power to get Ukraine what it needs in its hour of need.

William Burns, Director of the CIA, about providing aid to Ukraine:

“With this supplemental assistance, Ukraine can put itself in a position… to achieve an outcome in which Putin’s goal which was to subjugate Ukraine and to control its choices would be denied.

Without supplemental assistance…lies a much grimmer future…you’re going to see more Avdiivkas, and that, it seems to me, would be a massive and historic mistake for the United States.”

About damn time!

The EU and Washington DC:

The Financial Times has details:

EU countries are set to agree a new €5bn top-up to a fund used to finance military shipments to Ukraine, as the US managed to scrape together $300mn more in ammunition and artillery for Kyiv.

The EU deal, which needs formal approval at a meeting of member states on Wednesday, unlocks fresh cash for the reimbursement of arms supplies to Kyiv by countries in the bloc as a $60bn package is being held up by US Congress at a critical time for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

“[The] Ukrainians are struggling without ammunition,” a senior US defence official said in reference to recent advances by Russia and warnings from the Ukrainian military that it is rationing shells. “There was an imperative to act.”

The EU fund, known as the European Peace Facility, will prioritise weapons manufactured inside the bloc but not exclude those from non-EU countries if they are the only option, officials familiar with the matter told the Financial Times said.

The fund been a critical part of European military supplies to Ukraine since February 2022, but has been depleted and talks about a top-up have been ongoing for the past three months. One official said the agreement was about “flexibility by need and not by design. Driven by Ukrainian needs.”

The US has also run out of money to replenish the weapons sent to Ukraine and needs about $10bn in funds from Congress to replace weapons it has already sent, senior officials said. But recent savings from army contracts have allowed the US to cobble together about $300mn in additional assistance, they said.

“We do have funds . . . that can cover the cost of one more package, but this is a bit of an ad hoc or one time shot. We don’t know if or when future savings will come in, and we certainly can’t count on this as a way of doing business,” the senior US defence official said.

In the past the US was sending much larger packages about every two weeks or so to sustain Ukraine’s fight. Before Tuesday’s announcement, the US had provided $44.2bn in military assistance since Russia’s full-blown invasion in February 2022.

It has not sent any new assistance since December and the Biden administration is still hoping Congress will act to pass some $60bn in new assistance for Ukraine.

Some Republican and Democratic House lawmakers are working to force a vote on the $60bn package this week, which has passed the Senate but has been stalled in the House.

While Europe can plug some of the gaps the lack of US assistance leaves, ultimately it cannot provide what the US can, said Radosław Sikorski, foreign minister of Poland, in Washington on Tuesday.

He said: “We physically don’t have the weapons that are needed at the front. You have the weapons, so on Europe is crucial on the financial side. The United States is crucial on the military side.”

More at the link.

Poland:

I hope President Duda gave them an earful! Like this:

 

Denmark:

I am grateful to Minister @troelslundp and all the people of Denmark for the new sizeable military aid package for Ukraine valued at 2,3 billion DKK ($337 million).

Denmark will co-finance additional CAESAR artillery systems in cooperation with France and 155-mm ammunition with Estonia and the Czech Republic. The package also includes 120-mm self-propelled mortars.

Thank you for strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

Russia has posted it’s high value target list:

While I don’t think he’s on the list above, Leonid Volkov, the Chief of Staff for the late Alexey Navalny, was violently attacked earlier today.

Leonid Volkov @leonidvolkov – my dear colleague and a member of Alexei Navalny’s team – has just been attacked outside his house in Europe.

Someone broke a car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker started hitting Leonid with a hammer.

Leonid is now at home, police and ambulance are on their way to him.

Been just chatting with Leonid like 30 minutes ago and WTF WTF WTF

HITTING WITH A HAMMER WTF
PUTIN IS A KILLER

 

Ivanovo Oblast, Russia:

Here’s the full image of the meme above.

Kursk Oblast, Russia:

Reuters has reporting on the cross border incursion by these Ukrainian aligned Russian militias.

Russia said Ukrainian proxies had sought to cross the Russian border in at least seven attacks that Russian forces had repelled. The Russian-speaking Ukrainian proxies said they had breached the border, a claim denied by Russia.

Russia said its forces prevented incursions from Ukraine in the western Belgorod and Kursk regions and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, after Ukraine-based armed groups said they had launched cross-border raids.

“Ukrainian terrorist formations, supported by tanks and armoured combat vehicles, attempted to invade the territory of the Russian Federation simultaneously,” the Russian defence ministry said.

At least two Ukraine-based armed groups purporting to be made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin said they had launched an incursion across Russia’s western border on Tuesday.

Russia denied that the groups, which Moscow casts as puppets of the Ukrainian military and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, had penetrated its territory, but said the border had come under attack in several places.

The TASS news agency cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying Russian forces had killed 100 people and destroyed multiple armoured vehicles when fighting off attempted incursions.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had fired eight RM-70 rockets and one Tochka-U missile at the Belgorod region.

That’s enough for tonight.

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Open thread!

Reader Interactions

38Comments

  6. 6.

    TeezySkeezy

    Russia is a monster. And most of the people composing that monster are in one place. Ho hum, fucking deterrence.

  7. 7.

    Yutsano

    Wow…I knew Russian aerospace was getting dangerous but I didn’t think it was getting that bad! It definitely looks more like a mechanical failure than a deliberate attack. Still, it’s one more Russian air asset that won’t be easily replaced.

    Also: it’s getting close to inauguration of a new Russian submarine time!

  9. 9.

    TeezySkeezy

    The formatting and display for mobile is getting unconscionably terrible, fyi.  As usual, seems to be my problem only.

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    As some guy I know put it on Xitter “Drones are more effective than sanctions.”

  11. 11.

    Will

    I’m glad to hear they found a way to get $300 million more aid out. I used to think that somehow Ukraine aid would get a vote in the House, but at this point because it is paired with aid for Israel, Biden has boxed himself into a bad corner if Israel crosses the red line. I imagine this will give great joy to the GOP that can then say well the Democrats wouldn’t provide enough votes to pass it.

  12. 12.

    Gin & Tonic

    I hate that meaningless phrase used by Reuters: “Russian-speaking Ukrainian proxies.” Everyone who lives in eastern Ukraine can speak Russian, this is devoid of information. And it plays into the well-worn propaganda that people who speak russian should (or do) naturally support Russia. What’s worse is that I may know the guy who wrote the story, and he has no excuse.

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    @Alison Rose: OT: Folks downstairs, and elsewhere, have been wondering recently how you’re doing.

    We hope that you’re doing well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    NutmegAgain

    Here’s a short film worth watching. It’s a message from the future, from Sarajevo to Ukraine. I found it both moving and hopeful, the latter being something we need at the moment.

    Link here

  15. 15.

    Jay

    In other EU/Ukraine news,

    The EU is adding criminal penalties for sanctions violations,

    and are trying to claw back the subsidies to Hungary.

  17. 17.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:
    This post is OK on my android tablet (Kindle Fire, with google play store installed) both in desktop mode and mobile mode.
    (Using a browser (Kiwi) that supports this, and also supports (many) chrome extensions.)

  19. 19.

    Carlo Graziani

    I’m starting to think that the most effective way to send aid to Ukraine is tech transfer to Ukrainian weapons industry. By 2025, they could be producing their own cruise and ballistic missiles in quantities sufficient to duel with Russia, and start creating the basis for a deterrence regime.

  20. 20.

    Jay

    @Carlo Graziani:

    there are “joint” manufacture projects going forward, in addition to the training programs on repairing Western tech, and of course, Ukraine adapting Western weapons to their own programs.

    At issue of course, is that Ukraine can’t match ruZZia economically, and of course, the lead time and material issues of starting high technology manufacturing from scratch.

    #Free the Taurus.

  21. 21.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Seems an equally urgent issue for Ukraine is resolved the stalled additional mobilizations, otherwise there is a manpower shortage on the frontlines in addition to a munitions famine.

  22. 22.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Jay: Everything you write is correct, but in my view misses the essential point: the war is not going to be resolved for years, because our hopes for a rapid defeat of Russia turned out to be bad bets (marking beliefs to market here).  Ukraine, and its Western partners, must resign themselves to a longer game, analogous—though not closely equivalent—to the Afghan war that wrecked Soviet military power.

    This being the case, it is time to start viewing the problem not so much in terms of short-horizon supply, so much as in terms of overt and covert investments that make the Ukrainian war effort self-sustaining and capable of imposing its own costs and terms on Russia.

    This, it seems to me, is the real way to force the Russians to come to terms with the failure of this imperial project. Not through the lens of fallible Western support, but rather through that of Ukrainian growing military power, and its potential to exact increasingly symmetric costs on Russia. It’s a longer-term project, but perhaps with greater promise of success.

  23. 23.

    Carlo Graziani

    @YY_Sima Qian: Yes.

    However, I remain skeptical of the view that Russian manpower is effectively inexhaustible, whereas Ukraine’s is finite. Even setting aside Russia’s wasteful employment of its manpower, Russia necessarily incur costs measured in political fragility for the deaths that they so readily spend to obtain their meager territorial gains. I believe that it is a mistake to regard Putin’s regime as invulnerable to such costs because of the facade of resolve presented by the regime.

    There are a lot of people unhappy with the war in Russia today, including, necessarily, many in positions of power. Sometimes, political dam-breaks occur without forewarning due to these kinds of pressures. Reportedly,  Putin thinks that time is on his side. But what if it isn’t?

  24. 24.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    Word up is that ATTACMS are included in the new American aid package. If true, that means the UK, France & now the USA are sending long range missiles to Ukraine. I hope Scholz is sweating. I am so not in a forgiving mood.

    Can anyone translate that list? I am genuinely curious as to  who is on it.

    Adam, Alison, this is a personal question, & I am fine if you choose not to answer it or comment. What do the 2 of you think of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech? Despite being Jewish himself, he’s received an incredible amount of criticism for it. There’s been some praise too, but it doesn’t balance out.

    Thank you as always Adam.

  26. 26.

    Jay

    @Carlo Graziani:

    Ukraine has been very skillful at creating their own weapons and adapting Western weapons. They said it would be a year before  Ukrainian MIG’s could fire Stormshadow and SCALP missiles. They did it in 2 months.

    The Ukrainian arms industry is running as fast at it can.

    Right now, Ukraine needs short term help, and summer is coming.

    Yes, in the longer term, technology transfers and licensing deals would be good, but right now, giving them AATACM’s beats giving them plans for AATACM’s.

  27. 27.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Carlo Graziani: Long term, I think you are right to question just how long Russia can absorb such appallingly high casualty rates, especially concentrated among the confederated peoples. However, in Spring – Fall 2024, there seems to be a window of danger for Ukraine & a window of opportunity for Russia on the battlefield, due to the manpower shortage & the munitions famine on the Ukrainian side.

    Long term, if Putin tries only to hold on to his current gains, then he does not need nearly as much manpower to fight from prepared defenses in depth, & Ukraine would need a lot more men to defeat such defenses. That kind of stalemated outcome would be a tragic loss for Ukraine.

    I think Ukraine needs to up the intensity of insurgencies in occupied territories, & improve the ability to strike at Russian MIC targets deeper w/in the Russian Federation, to dramatically increase the cost of occupation. OTOH, Putin probably would not shy from going “Genghis Khan” (taking inspiration from Chechnya, Syria & Gaza) in response to heightened insurgency that might threaten Russia’s hold on the occupied territories, w/ the Ukrainian civilian population under occupation bearing the brunt of the retribution, so tough call for Kyiv.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    I think Ukraine needs to up the intensity of insurgencies in occupied territories, & improve the ability to strike at Russian MIC targets deeper w/in the Russian Federation, to dramatically increase the cost of occupation.

    Ukraine is better off using the 3 Russian Legions in ruZZia.

    The ruZZian’s will react to any serious insurgency by flattening cities and killing the population, so why not their own cities?

  29. 29.

    bookworm1398

    @ Adam. The right wing blogs I visit are full of speculation about the resignation of Victoria Nuland and what it might mean for the administration’s Ukraine policy. So I was just wondering, is it significant? Does it mean anything?

  31. 31.

    AlaskaReader

    @Carlo Graziani: There is something to be said about, for now, placing new, or keeping old, weapons manufacturing facilities outside of Ukrainian borders.

    If Ukraine was to build up new weapons facilities now and begin to be reliant on them to any great extent, you can be sure they would just as quickly be targeted and soon damaged or destroyed.

    It may be better the supply continues to come from outside of the theater, if you will.

    I feel manufacturing capacity is less of a problem than is the reticence to supply Ukraine with the weapons necessary for its defense.

  32. 32.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Jay: I am not optimistic that the Russian Legions will prove anything more than a nuisance around Belgorod. They can serve to distract & stretch Russian resources, as a small part of a larger Ukrainian offensive, that’s about it.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    When the re-invasion started, there were no Russian Legions.

    There was a Georgian Legion, and a motley group of Chechens from 2013-2014.

    Then there was a brigade sized Russian Legion about 5 months after the re-invasion, not greatly trained or equipped.

    Now, there are 3, (the Siberian Legion is the latest). They have tanks, IFV’s, APC’s and everything up to light arty, are highly motivated and well trained. In this latest incursion, despite vastly different political views, (Nazi, Democratic, Siberian former cannon fodder), they are working well together and mutually supporting each other. Cross border fires from Ukraine arn’t hurting any.

    Yeah, there are not enough of them to topple Putin, but should they choose to, there are enough of them, (and more coming), that they will be able, in the future, to take and hold villages and small cities in ruZZia’s border zones, and force ruZZia to Grodzy their own areas.

    For ruZZia, they started out as being a Tik Tok agitprop, they have now graduated to being a PITA, a year or two from now,?????

  34. 34.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Jay: The equipment & supplies for these Russian Legions are still coming from the Ukrainian Army, especially the heavy weapons & associated munitions. In that sense, they are fungible wrt Ukrainian units (and supplying them cannibalizes supply to Ukrainian units).

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Some of it comes from UA stocks, some of it comes from RU stocks.

    The first raid by the Legion raided in with 7 MRAP’s and some pick up trucks. They lost a couple of MRAP’s, ( later used in ruZZian propaganda) and some pick up trucks, but they returned with 6 TIGAR’s, 2 BMP2’s and a T-64, and a small ton of ammo.

    Not to mention intel and prisoners.

    On this raid, they have drone footage of ruZZians abandoning weapons, vehicles and ammo and running for the hills.

    They have dug in to one of the villages and are fighting through the night.

    We will see what they can do in the future.

  36. 36.

    Manyakitty

    @Carlo Graziani: not to mention the economic benefits. At the end of this, making the rash assumption that Ukraine survives, they could be the world’s armory.

  37. 37.

    daveNYC

    @YY_Sima Qian: In the long term Russia won’t be able to sustain the manpower losses, but looking at the losses in WWI, I don’t think it’s reasonable to hope that at some point Putin will decide to cut his losses.

    The only way this ends well for Ukraine is if Putin dies and the next guy blames him for everything and pulls out, or if Ukraine manages to push Russia out on their own.  Maybe the ongoing bloodbath will become to much for the Russian population and they rise up to demand a stop to the war, but I don’t think that’s a smart goal to plan your strategy around.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    @AlaskaReader: +1

    When Ukraine has air superiority and nearly impenetrable air defenses, then having huge production sites in-country makes sense.  Until then, building things up slowly (like the German joint venture for tank production/repairs, everyone assembling small drones in their kitchens, etc., while importing mountains of stuff via the railroads) makes sense.

    Slava Ukraini!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

Comments are closed.