Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[ixcuincle]

 

[Gurgeh]

17 hours ago, China said:

Russian T-90 Tank From Ukraine Mysteriously Appears At U.S. Truck Stop

 

The folks at Peto’s Travel Center and Casino in Roanoke, Louisiana see all kinds of vehicles pull up, but Tuesday night was different. What ended up in their parking is certainly something of a mystery, to say the least.

 

Someone left a Russian T-90A tank, which open source intelligence (OSINT) trackers say was captured by Ukraine last fall, on a trailer after the truck hauling it broke down and pulled into this truck stop off U.S. Interstate 10. An employee at Peto's and the individual who first posted the images on Reddit shared them with The War Zone.

 

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

While you'd think the Ukrainians would want every modern-ish tank they could get their hands on, they probably don't have many parts for T-90As (they had none before the war AFAIK, and have "captured or destroyed" fifty of them from the Russians). I would imagine the US has been given access to T90As in better shape than this one, so it's probably been sold and the cash put towards buying artillery shells.

 

Early on in the war the Ukrainians captured several intact and up to date air defence command and control vehicles. You can bet those won't have been left at any truck stops.

 

[China]

Russia Sent 70-Year-old T-55 Tanks To Ukraine Without Even Upgrading Them

 

The first of potentially two or three hundred 70-year-old T-55 tanks that the Kremlin has been pulling out of long-term storage finally have arrived in Ukraine.

 

 

A photo that appeared online on Friday depicts a T-55 reportedly somewhere in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine.

 

The photo confirms what some observers grimly predicted: the Kremlin is shipping T-55s to Ukraine without upgrading them. The tank in the photo has the same active infrared optics the T-55 had in the late 1950s.

 

And there’s no evidence the Russians have added blocks of explosive reactive armor in order to reinforce the T-55’s original—and thin—steel armor.

 

In other words, the T-55s really are 1950s technology. And hopelessly obsolete compared to even the oldest tank in the Ukrainian inventory.

 

The mismatch could have profound implications in the coming weeks and months, as Russia’s failed winter offensive peters out and Ukraine moves to seize the initiative with its own, long-planned offensive.

 

“The Ukrainians, with the infusion of Western aid, have improved the quality of their tanks and other vehicles,” Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army general, wrote in his newsletter.

 

“The Russians, having lost much of their best kit in the first year of the war, are turning to much older tanks and armored vehicles drawn from Cold War stores.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

[Larry]

I'm assuming these dinosaurs can be taken out with a bazooka?  Or LAW?  We got any of them that still work?  

[dfitzo53]

2 hours ago, Larry said:

I'm assuming these dinosaurs can be taken out with a bazooka?  Or LAW?  We got any of them that still work?  

They are absolute death traps if they actually roll them out onto a modern battlefield. 

[Going Commando]

The picture I'm getting from Emmanuel Macron's faithless, cowardly, idiotic pro-China postering + the information leaked in those Pentagon documents about needing to bully the likes of South Korea into supporting Ukraine is that most of the rest of the free world are a bunch of feckless, hypocritical ******* who wouldn't lift a finger to defend Democracy if the Anglosphere didn't constantly force them to do the right thing.  The United States is the only nation even remotely fit to lead this ****ty world.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

49 minutes ago, Going Commando said:

The picture I'm getting from Emmanuel Macron's faithless, cowardly, idiotic pro-China postering + the information leaked in those Pentagon documents about needing to bully the likes of South Korea into supporting Ukraine is that most of the rest of the free world are a bunch of feckless, hypocritical ******* who wouldn't lift a finger to defend Democracy if the Anglosphere didn't constantly force them to do the right thing.  The United States is the only nation even remotely fit to lead this ****ty world.

I don’t really think this is fair. Europe will probably pay a much higher cost than us if China decided to invade taiwan and NATO got involved directly to stop it. I assume that China would be allowed to attack Europe from Russia, which would be much easier to do than attacking the United States. Obviously the United States needs to do a better job explaining why defending Taiwan is important to the world, the tired “defending democracy” cause has been badly abused by us…. 

Edited April 16, 2023 by CousinsCowgirl84

[The Sisko]

38 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I don’t really think this is fair. Europe will probably pay a much higher cost than us if China decided to invade taiwan and NATO got involved directly to stop it. I assume that China would be allowed to attack Europe from Russia, which would be much easier to do than attacking the United States. Obviously the United States needs to do a better job explaining why defending Taiwan is important to the world, the tired “defending democracy” cause has been badly abused by us…. 

Because microchips. You won’t be scrolling Insta if Taiwan gets jacked. Muricuns don’t know or care much about democracy but don’t get in the way of their social media. Besides, it’s Jyna. They’re always on board to oppose Jyna. 

[Wildbunny]

4 hours ago, dfitzo53 said:

They are absolute death traps if they actually roll them out onto a modern battlefield. 

For sure they are.

But 300 of them is still a lot and they can do damage as well.

Russia has always been counting on numbers to make it work at war, because otherwise they've been kinda bad at it for centuries as they have lost so many wars. (And they wouldn't have won anything against the germans if the Brits and US didn't feed them with ammo and stuff in the beginning of the war).

 

Still numbers works, always have, and always will. KIA will be high against more advanced foes, but if you can manage the death, it's still a powerful strategy that can do much harm to the ennemy.

 

And Russian have proven they' don't give a crap about people being killed in combat.

 

3 hours ago, Going Commando said:

The picture I'm getting from Emmanuel Macron's faithless, cowardly, idiotic pro-China postering + the information leaked in those Pentagon documents about needing to bully the likes of South Korea into supporting Ukraine is that most of the rest of the free world are a bunch of feckless, hypocritical ******* who wouldn't lift a finger to defend Democracy if the Anglosphere didn't constantly force them to do the right thing.  The United States is the only nation even remotely fit to lead this ****ty world.

I sincerely agree about your take on our president. But honestly, he's mostly hypocrite and will tell what the other part wants to listen.

I have absolutely no doubt he'll change his version if China invade Taiwan or any stupid stuff happening there.

 

In case he's not aware, I'm expecting our generals to remind him, that France has a ****ing long range of sea that is our property in the Pacific, so we'll have to defend that.

 

Problem, you can be sure that up until then, he's not gonna do **** about it and get ready for anything. So he'll be taken with his pants down once again because he's got no clue and no sense of geopolitical stuff.

 

2 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I don’t really think this is fair. Europe will probably pay a much higher cost than us if China decided to invade taiwan and NATO got involved directly to stop it. I assume that China would be allowed to attack Europe from Russia, which would be much easier to do than attacking the United States. Obviously the United States needs to do a better job explaining why defending Taiwan is important to the world, the tired “defending democracy” cause has been badly abused by us…. 

Everyone in the Democacry department has made mistakes, from Irak II, to Lybia (hello Nicolas!), going through Kosovo, those have been ****ing mistakes.

 

It doesn't mean we have to stop because we made them. Nope we have to learn from them and come back better. So acting cowardly will help for the time being, until you are the one that gets invaded. Which is what many of those western europe countries are not getting and countries like Latvia, Estonia, and moreso Poland know all to well. If you just shut up, then you're asking to get spanked next time.

 

And as of now, I'm not getting the impression that Europe is getting itself ready for it by reindustrialising the countries, invest in those technologies to be less dependant from China. Nope we're going business as usual hoping those diplomats will get back Xi Jinping to reason. But you just can't convince a man that don't want it.

[Larry]

2 hours ago, Wildbunny said:

For sure they are.

But 300 of them is still a lot and they can do damage as well

Saw a video by "Howdy Internet people, it's Beau again". 
 

Said the thought is that Russia's not planning on fighting other tanks with them, they might use them as self propelled artillery. 
 

I'm not really sure how well suited the things are, for indirect fire. But maybe they'd be less useless, in that role?  

[The Sisko]

2 hours ago, Larry said:

Saw a video by "Howdy Internet people, it's Beau again". 
 

Said the thought is that Russia's not planning on fighting other tanks with them, they might use them as self propelled artillery. 
 

I'm not really sure how well suited the things are, for indirect fire. But maybe they'd be less useless, in that role?  

I've seen this too. They're probably about as accurate as their Grad systems.🤣 However, the numbers won't help much when the drones show up, or even infantry with rudimentary anti-armor weapons. They'll either be forced to move back or be quickly destroyed.

[Larry]

I'm also wondering if this is a sign that Russia is assuming they're about to be playing defense. If they're thinking that dug in infantry backed up by dug in obsolete tanks is better than dug in infantry without tanks or artillery. 
 

(I wouldn't be surprised if their assumption is correct.)

[Wildbunny]

3 hours ago, Larry said:

I'm also wondering if this is a sign that Russia is assuming they're about to be playing defense. If they're thinking that dug in infantry backed up by dug in obsolete tanks is better than dug in infantry without tanks or artillery. 
 

(I wouldn't be surprised if their assumption is correct.)

Well they're obviously going defensive right now. Trying to protect whatever small gain they got.

 

But their rush of unequipped infantry failed miserably... So they don't have much other option.

 

Ukraine will have a one shot offensive to make, so they better not fail it. And I suspect NATO is gonna do its best to make it sure this succeed above expectations.

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

[Cooked Crack]

Quote

A social-media account overseen by a former U.S. Navy noncommissioned officer—a prominent online voice supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine—played a key role in the spread of intelligence documents allegedly leaked by Airman First Class Jack Teixeira, reposting files from obscure online chat rooms. 

 

A purported Russian blogger known as Donbass Devushka, which translates as Donbas Girl, is the face of a network of pro-Kremlin social-media, podcasting, merchandise and fundraising accounts. But the person who hosted podcasts as Donbass Devushka and oversees these accounts is a Washington-state-based former U.S. enlisted aviation electronics technician whose real name is Sarah Bils.

 

[Long n Left]

10 hours ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

Well, if she isn’t a traitor to this country, and should be immediately incarcerated to stand trail on like charges, then I don’t know who is.

[Larry]

4 minutes ago, Long n Left said:

Well, if she isn’t a traitor to this country, and should be immediately incarcerated to stand trail on like charges, then I don’t know who is.

You obviously do not understand. 
 

When Russia literally intervened in our election, to help Donald Trump, around half the country decided that Russia was The Good Guys now. In fact, they became gooder than the US. 
 

You thought Putin bought himself one agent?  He bought thousands. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

It’s not so much that Putin “purchased” the loyalties of certain Americans, it’s that our existing Nazi/Neo-Confederate shadow government fully allied itself with Russia, among others, to overthrow the existing USA.  Russia merely supplied capital and propaganda resources.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Larry]

28 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

It’s not so much that Putin “purchased” the loyalties of certain Americans ....

I'm referring to his "return on investment" by intervening for Trump. 
 

A move which I'd be willing to bet, he didn't expect to pay off the way it did. My (admittedly completely ignorant) opinion is that what Putin expected to get was President Hillary, but with a dysfunctional government. 

[Gurgeh]

On 4/16/2023 at 12:22 PM, Larry said:

Saw a video by "Howdy Internet people, it's Beau again". 
 

Said the thought is that Russia's not planning on fighting other tanks with them, they might use them as self propelled artillery. 
 

I'm not really sure how well suited the things are, for indirect fire. But maybe they'd be less useless, in that role?  

 

Both sides have been using tanks as artillery in the war, and yes tanks aren't really meant for that. IIRC the biggest issue is tank barrels wear out much faster than barrels specifically designed for artillery - I think they might get only a couple of hundred rounds from a tank compared to a couple thousand for an artillery barrel. Replacing barrels is one of those under-reported problems that both sides have. but especially the Russians because of their heavy use of artillery.

 

[Larry]

1 hour ago, Gurgeh said:

 

Both sides have been using tanks as artillery in the war, and yes tanks aren't really meant for that. IIRC the biggest issue is tank barrels wear out much faster than barrels specifically designed for artillery - I think they might get only a couple of hundred rounds from a tank compared to a couple thousand for an artillery barrel. Replacing barrels is one of those under-reported problems that both sides have. but especially the Russians because of their heavy use of artillery.

 

 

Odds any of these last long enough to need new barrels?  

 

Next you'll be talking about the costs of training the crew.   

Edited April 18, 2023 by Larry

[Riggo-toni]

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiLmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC1ldXJvcGUtNjUzMDk2ODfSATJodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYmMuY29tL25ld3Mvd29ybGQtZXVyb3BlLTY1MzA5Njg3LmFtcA?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

 

Ukraine war: The Russian ships accused of North Sea sabotage

 

Danish counter-intelligence officer says the sabotage plans are being prepared in case of a full conflict with the West while the head of Norwegian intelligence told the broadcasters the programme was considered highly important for Russia and controlled directly from Moscow.

 

The broadcasters say they have analysed intercepted Russian communications which indicate so-called ghost ships sailing in Nordic waters which have turned off the transmitters so as not to reveal their locations.

 

The report focuses on a Russian vessel called the Admiral Vladimirsky. Officially, this is an Expeditionary Oceanographic Ship, or underwater research vessel. But the report alleges that it is in fact a Russian spy ship.

 

The documentary uses an anonymous former UK Royal Navy expert to track the movements of the vessel in the vicinity of seven wind farms off the coast of the UK and the Netherlands on one mission

[Switchgear]

Ukranian soldier on the front lines, appreciating life

https://i.imgur.com/tUmgn96.mp4

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Switchgear

[China]

What’s Perfectly Round, Made Of Metal, And Keeping Russia From Replacing the 2,000 Tanks It’s Lost In Ukraine?

 

A shortage of modern optics is throttling Russia’s ability to manufacture new T-72BM3 and T-90M tanks, and restore older T-72s, T-80s and T-90s, to make good the thousands of tanks it’s lost its wider war on Ukraine.

 

But optics aren’t the only thing in short supply in the Russian armored vehicle industry. The Russians also are desperately short of ball-bearings, which they used to get from the United States and Europe before the United States and Europe tightened their sanctions on Russian industry.

 

A new study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. confirmed what independent analysts have been saying for months. Tanks and other modern armored vehicles need a lot of ball-bearings. And Russia doesn’t have enough bearings to maintain steady production of new vehicles.

 

Especially considering that the Russian war effort—indeed, the whole Russian economy—utterly depends on trains for transportation. And trains also need a lot of ball-bearings. The Russians have a choice. Build more tanks and let the rail system fall apart. Or keep the trains moving, and slow tank-production.

 

“Historically, Russia has imported most of its high-quality bearings from Western manufacturers,” CSIS analysts Max Bergmann, Maria Snegovaya, Tina Dolbaia, Nick Fenton and Samuel Bendett noted. “In 2020, for instance, Russia imported over $419 million worth of ball bearings, around 55 percent of which originated in Europe and North America; Germany was Russia’s largest trading partner, taking up 17 percent of its total imports that year.”

 

Click on the link for the full article