Ukraine and Only Ukraine. If it isn't about Ukraine then fuck off

[spankoka]

That fire could be just a coincidence. There is apt to be aluminum wiring, assorted vintages of security equipment, the original wire from the early days of electrification, etc., up there in that attic. The White House apparently has the same issue, so it's not some specific Russian issue. I have seen in it Edwarian-era homes in Canada-the wiring is FUBAR from just fishing in new wiring in over the years without any removal of old wires. The original wiring is still there, with some sort of current in it from somewhere. This why there is such a thing as a "Cone of Silence".

 

[Rain Man]

It has been a while since the AFU came up with something creative. I'm betting they will have another go at the Kerch bridge soon - it must be almost repaired by now. Or stick a HIMARS on a barge and blow up the fleet in Sevastopol.

 

[ShortForBob]

That fire could be just a coincidence. There is apt to be aluminum wiring, assorted vintages of security equipment, the original wire from the early days of electrification, etc., up there in that attic. The White House apparently has the same issue, so it's not some specific Russian issue. I have seen in it Edwarian-era homes in Canada-the wiring is FUBAR from just fishing in new wiring in over the years without any removal of old wires. The original wiring is still there, with some sort of current in it from somewhere. This why there is such a thing as a "Cone of Silence".

There's no suggestion it's war related in the news.

"The building - known as the Lopukhin estate - is currently being used by the Pushkin State Museum.

The two-story old manor house dates back to the late 17th century.

Officials revealed that the man was hospitalised after a ceiling collapsed onto him on the second floor of the building.

It is thought that the ceilings between floors caught fire."

I just think it's sad that someone on twerper thought it was worth a thumbs up.

 

[LeoV]

Informative and realistic opinions. Arty Green again.
If on twitter, @YaKiss7 ,retweet or like it, he does not seem to attract a lot of views.

 

[spankoka]

It has been a while since the AFU came up with something creative. I'm betting they will have another go at the Kerch bridge soon - it must be almost repaired by now. Or stick a HIMARS on a barge and blow up the fleet in Sevastopol.

As I understand it-it is mostly repaired. The road sections were modular to begin with, and easily replaced. The railbed awaits summer for repair, because of the burning train on it. From what I understand-fire can destroy the strength of cement.

Russian broad gauge rail may explain why China is not so keen on this war. The Chinese dream of rail all the way from China to Europe is gone now. One thing the Ukrainians were remiss about, was not using rail rooters as they retreated last winter.

 

[hobie1616]

Russia Is Using Old Ukrainian Missiles Against Ukraine, General Says

Shortly after a large wave of Russian missiles slammed into targets across the country in October, Ukraine’s intelligence officials noticed something strange in the rubble.

It was the wreckage of a Kh-55 subsonic cruise missile designed in the 1970s to carry a nuclear warhead. The warhead had been removed and ballast added to disguise the fact that it was not carrying a payload, said Gen. Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy intelligence chief — an assertion now backed by the Pentagon and British military intelligence.

But that was not all the intelligence officials found. The missile had been built in a Ukrainian weapons factory.

The missile, and the bomber that most likely delivered it, was part of a cache of weaponry handed over to Russia by Ukraine in the 1990s as part of an international agreement aimed at assuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, General Skibitsky said.

In November, Ukrainian forces found the remnants of two more Kh-55 missiles, also with their warheads removed, and part of the same tranche of weapons that Ukraine had sent to Russia under the agreement.

Russia was using Ukraine’s own armaments as decoys against it. They served a strategic goal: Sending up the missiles would force Ukraine to mobilize its air-defense system against them.

“First, the Kh-55 missile is launched; we react to it,” General Skibitsky said, speaking in a lengthy interview at military intelligence headquarters in Kyiv last week, before the latest missile strikes across the country. “It’s like a false target.”

After the Ukrainian air defenses are engaged, he said, Russian bombers launch the more modern missiles, with destructive warheads.

The three missiles are part of a larger number of retrofitted older missiles used in strikes, some as decoys and some modernized with warheads.

The use of old cruise missiles — including ones built in Ukraine decades ago — is just one element in a complex and deadly conflict in which deception plays a role, along with fighting on the battleground.

As part of the 1990s agreement, known as the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to relinquish its nuclear arsenal — the world’s third-largest at the time, inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union — and transfer all nuclear warheads to Russia for decommissioning in return for security assurances.

“All ballistic missiles, Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers were also handed over,” said General Skibitsky. “Now, they are using Kh-55 missiles against us with these bombers. It would be better if we handed them over to the U.S.A.”

The general also offered a detailed assessment of current Russian capabilities and Ukraine’s ability to counter the threat.

His account corresponds generally with public statements from other Ukrainian military officials, the British Ministry of Defense, the Pentagon and military analysts.

“According to our calculations, they have missiles for another three to five waves of attacks,” he said. “This is if there are 80 to 90 rockets in one wave.”

Last Monday, Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine after Ukraine struck two military installations deep inside Russia.

While Russia’s stockpiles of its most modern, precision missiles are widely believed to be running low, General Skibitsky said that Russian arms factories had been able to build 240 precision Kh-101 cruise missiles and about 120 of the sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles since the start of the war, which works out to about 40 new missiles per month. Those numbers could not be independently confirmed.

Despite Western sanctions, Russia has continued to produce new precision missiles, as recently as October, according to a report released last week by Conflict Armament Research, an independent group based in Britain that identifies and tracks weapons and ammunition used in wars.

Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, said that after the latest assault, investigators found many fragments that indicated the precision cruise missiles used in the attack had been made in recent weeks.

“Russia is using newly manufactured missiles,” he told Ukrainian radio on Thursday.

As the Russians seek to bolster their arsenal, Ukrainian officials say they are getting better at shooting down many types of missiles and drones fired their way.

Over the course of November, Brig. Gen. Oleksiy Hromov, a deputy chief on the Ukrainian General Staff, said that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 72 percent of the 239 Russian cruise missiles and 80 percent of the 80 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. They claim to have shot down 60 of the 70 missiles on Monday, or 85 percent.

But the missiles and drones that get through can still do widespread damage, depending on what they hit. On Saturday, Ukraine shot down 10 of 15 attack drones, but several hit critical infrastructure in Odesa, leaving 1.5 million people without power.

Leaning over the table and drawing a map of Ukraine, General Skibitsky outlined the four general directions from which Moscow is trying to penetrate Ukraine’s skies — sending missiles flying into Ukraine from the Black Sea in the south, from the area around the Caspian Sea to the southeast, from Russia in the east and from Belarus to the north.

During large-scale attacks, which have featured up to about 100 missiles launched within minutes of one another, they fly in from all directions at the same time.

Since October, the general said, the flight patterns of the Russian bombers have been changing, taking circuitous routes to avoid air defenses. But they do not enter Ukrainian air space, limiting their effectiveness.

Typically, Ukrainian intelligence has about an hour after Russian bombers take off from a base to track the flights before pilots reach the “fire zone” and launch missiles.

 

[hobie1616]

Russia Is Running Out of Fresh Ammo and May Need to Use 40-Year-Old Shells

Moscow is faced with relying more heavily on degraded rockets and shells, which could ratchet up risks to its own troops and leave unexploded ordnance strewn across Ukraine.

news.yahoo.com

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Masterpieces.

Never capitalized unless in a title, like "Masterpiece Theatre".

Just read one fifth grade grammar book. Just one!

 

[hobie1616]

CNN reports that the US will send Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine.

 

[spankoka]

The US is actually putting a lot of pressure on Japan and the Netherlands, to not sell advanced chip making machines into the PRC market. This is a real conundrum for Japan, but maybe not so much for NATO Netherlands.

 

[d'ranger]

Something to cheer up the Russkies - when firing old ammo and one doesn't fire a % of those have a delayed primer and will fire. So when ejecting it just remember what might happen. Cheers! In other mostly unreported news a number of targets around Melitopol have been hit including a critical bridge.

 

[LeoV]

It is not clear how many missile launchers will be sent but a typical Patriot battery includes a radar set that detects and tracks targets, computers, power generating equipment, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each holding four ready to fire missiles.

 

[LeoV]

Epic fail on Russian TV: channel interviewed a man who returned from Ukrainian capture, to talk about "horrors of Ukrainian captivity". The man goes on to tell they were treated well, fed 3 times a day, rights read out in full, the Geneva Convention properly followed.

 

[Zonker]

The pro-Russian trolls are up in arms about supplying Patriot missiles. "Its a massive escalation" etc. It's a defensive missile, just like the other SAM NATO countries have been supplying.

But it would be good if the Ukrainians set one battery up near their border and picked off Russian planes that launch cruise missiles from outside Ukraine's borders.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

CNN reports that the US will send Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine.

Yup. Sorry about that, Pootsuckers.

Exclusive: US finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine | CNN Politics

The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

www.cnn.com

 

[d'ranger]

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-at...-fire-to-russian-base-in-occupied-crimea.html

Partisan movement "ATESH" (movement of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars) announced that its activists were involved in setting fire to the barracks with Russian soldiers in the village of Radianskyi in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"The base of the mobilized Russian army in the village of Radianskyi in Ukrainian Crimea is on fire. Our agents worked accurately. We worked on this project for a long time and, of course, we made it. We will continue to destroy the Russian army from the inside," the movement posted on its Telegram channel.
They also reported casualties among Russian personnel and promised to reveal more information soon.

and the proper response:
MP of Ukraine Refat Chubarov wrote on his Telegram channel that Russian mobilized personnel mainly from the Altai Territory and Buryatia lived there.
They were drunk and then smoked in the right place, causing the fire.
ol

 

[hobie1616]

Exclusive: US finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine | CNN Politics

The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

www.cnn.com

 

[spankoka]

This is huge, because one Russian strategy is to send huge numbers of refugees into Germany and so on. If Ukraine has good air defense, then life in Ukraine goes on.

 

[Go Left]

It's a sad thing if anyone rejoices in the destruction of Masterpieces.

The Pushkin holds iconic work from European painters such as Rembrandt, Cezanne, Degas and Vincent Van Gogh.

In March 2022, the museum's deputy director Vladimir Opredelenov resigned to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine

We can only hope that they also have a couple of well-charred, beyond restoration Renoirs to offset those true loses.

 

[spankoka]

The real stuff is never hung anyways. Somebody might throw maple syrup on it, and then glue themselves to the wall. This is why the Nazis never looted the Louvre, they knew it was all fake.