[Deleted]

93rd Brigade in Bakhmut
Urban combat, notice Ukrainians destroyed walls between houses to allow a safe passage when moving from a building to another.#Ukraine #Russia #UkraineRussianWar pic.twitter.com/pv75yAEk27

— @PStyleOne1 (@PStyle0ne1) February 5, 2023

#Ukraine/#Russia \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6\uD83C\uDDF7\uD83C\uDDFA:

Another video of a \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6#Ukrainian T-72EA tank, delivered from \uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDFF#Czechia and upgraded by @excaliburarmycz. At one point the T-72EA can be seen towing an IMR-2 combat engineering vehicle.

Several T-72EA’s were transferred to \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6#Ukraine already during summer. pic.twitter.com/y2g7opM2x1

— \uD835\uDD7B\uD835\uDD97\uD835\uDD86\uD835\uDD8E\uD835\uDD98\uD835\uDD8A \uD835\uDD7F\uD835\uDD8D\uD835\uDD8A \uD835\uDD7E\uD835\uDD99\uD835\uDD8A\uD835\uDD95\uD835\uDD8D (@praisethesteph) February 5, 2023

#Ukraine/#Russia \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6\uD83C\uDDF7\uD83C\uDDFA:

\uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6#Ukrainian T-72EA tank delivered from the \uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDFF#Czechia and upgraded by @excaliburarmycz

Source: https://t.co/WdrEVrHnAL@Rebel44CZ  @oryxspioenkop pic.twitter.com/Ic2CRJ3xwq

— \uD835\uDD7B\uD835\uDD97\uD835\uDD86\uD835\uDD8E\uD835\uDD98\uD835\uDD8A \uD835\uDD7F\uD835\uDD8D\uD835\uDD8A \uD835\uDD7E\uD835\uDD99\uD835\uDD8A\uD835\uDD95\uD835\uDD8D (@praisethesteph) February 5, 2023

Good article about “Bratstvo”, the unofficial unit that had four KIA posted in Russian TG a while back.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/04/ukraine-special-forces-russia-border

Just in case this comes in handy for some….headshakingly stupid reason.  

“Putin promised not to kill Zelensky,” the ex-Prime Minister of Israel said that in March 2022 he “saved” our president.

Like, he received a “word of honor” from the bunker and called Zelensky, after which he came out of hiding and wrote down an appeal. But this is a lie: he shot the first video on Bankova Street on February 25th.
https://t.me/ragnarockkyiv/45272

Lotta Ruskies scurrying about

I follow a dude on twitter who is working to remove mines.
Tip of the Spear Landmine Removal
Ryan Hendrickson @tipofthespear42
Check him out

"Expert says Ukraine must cross Putin's 'red line' to win"

View Quote

I was really surprised by the numbers when I saw a video on this. You spend years and years building up piles of eqipment worth millions or billions then when the fighting starts the equipment goes down the toilet like it never had any value in the first place. It was pretty shocking how fast equipment is just consumed.

Pentagon saying longer range fires, supporting retaking Crimea…



Ah, the gif won’t play…

"This is how Ukrainian fighters get Russian 'rats' out of basement --- The refuse to surrender

View Quote

It's concerning seeing them reinforcing certain areas. I really hope there is a push to the Sea of Azov. I think splitting that land bridge would be a good way to divide and conquer, and reclaim some territory.

On a positive note, It has been really interesting how every major moment is immortalized in so many ways. Vodka bottles with names of weapons, clothing shops with shirts and other souvenirs, songs and videos, billboards all over town, and of course military morale patches. Staying positive with the jokes has been a much needed relief for everyone.

Don't touch the raccoon and Sperate Tractor brigade came in the other day.
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Damn I’m glad you’re back!

BTW, got my Patch and Decals, they are awesome.

Just think if they had been given the green light back in April when they were first offered.

Does the SDB fit within the payload envelope of a GMLRS launch tube? (227mm). If not, it just doesn't fit.

There has been talk, for GMLRS-ER, of expanding the launcher tube diameter to 254mm, so it may even just be a question of making new pods with large enough launch tubes to fit the GLSDB and fairing within a pod.

I believe her choice of garments was intended to convey a political statement.

I don't think this has been posted to the thread. Apologies if it has and I missed it.


China Aids Russia's War in Ukraine, Trade Data Shows

February 4, 2023

China is providing technology that Moscow’s military needs to prosecute the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine despite an international cordon of sanctions and export controls, according to a Wall Street Journal review of Russian customs data.

The customs records show Chinese state-owned defense companies shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology, and fighter-jet parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies.

Those are but a handful of tens of thousands of shipments of dual-use goods—products that have both commercial and military applications—that Russia imported following its invasion last year, according to the customs records provided to the Journal by C4ADS, a Washington-based nonprofit that specializes in identifying national-security threats. Most of the dual-use shipments were from China, the records show.

China’s backing for Russia while it wages war on Ukraine was supposed to be on the agenda for discussion during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s travels to Beijing this weekend. That trip was indefinitely postponed Friday after the Pentagon said that it had tracked a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the continental U.S. earlier in the week.

Russia’s foreign, defense and economic ministries didn’t respond to requests for comment. “Russia has enough technological potential to ensure its security and conduct the special military operation. This potential is constantly being improved,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

While Russia has the capability to produce much of its basic military needs domestically, it relies heavily on imports for dual-use technology, such as semiconductors, that is essential for modern warfare.

Western officials said their economic pressure campaign launched last February would cripple Moscow’s war machine by targeting those exports to Russia, including computer chips, infrared cameras and radar equipment.

But customs and corporate records show Russia is still able to import that technology through countries that haven’t joined the U.S.-led efforts to cut off Moscow from global markets. Many of the export-controlled products are still flowing through nations such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, whose governments are accused by Western officials of flouting the sanctions and controls. Turkish officials have said the sanctions are ineffective and that Ankara is playing an important role as an interlocutor with Russia. Under pressure from the U.S., Turkey has moved to halt some financial and business ties.

The U.A.E. embassy in Washington, D.C. didn’t comment.

The records reviewed by the Journal, however, show Chinese companies—both state-owned and private—as the dominant exporters of dual-use goods that U.S. officials say are of particular concern.

The Journal analyzed more than 84,000 shipments recorded by Russia’s customs office in the period after the West launched the economic pressure campaign that focused on commodities the Biden administration red-flagged as critical to the Russian military. The official Russian customs records, which C4ADS said might not include all records, detail each shipment into the country, providing dates, shippers, recipients, purchasers, addresses and product descriptions.

The Journal also identified from the records more than a dozen Russian and Chinese companies targeted by the U.S. under the Russia pressure campaign, as well as all other sanctions programs.

Industry and government officials said the data offers substantial evidence of how Russia is able to sidestep the centerpiece of the West’s response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“Despite international scrutiny and sanctions protocols, reliable global trade data shows that Chinese state-owned defense companies continue to send military-applicable parts to sanctioned Russian defense companies,” said Naomi Garcia, an analyst at C4ADS. “These Russian companies have been recorded using these same types of parts directly in Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

To tighten the enforcement of the international pressure campaign, U.S. officials have said they are investigating the export of banned products and business dealings, trying to wrangle compliance through diplomatic outreach around the world, and have said they are preparing sanctions against new targets thought to be facilitating the Kremlin’s war.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department added to its sanction rolls nearly two dozen individuals and the companies they are allegedly using to procure weapons and other goods for Russian state defense firms.

Just before Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine last February, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” partnership aimed at countering the U.S. Since the invasion, Beijing has attempted to strike a cautious balance, saying it is opposed to the war in Ukraine while keeping its diplomatic, financial and trade ties open to Russia.

“The allegation that China provides ‘aid’ to Russia has no factual basis, but is purely speculative and deliberately hyped up,” Liu Pengyu, China’s spokesman at its Washington embassy told the Journal. Mr. Liu reiterated the long-held view by Beijing that China opposes what it calls unilateral sanctions that have no basis under international law.

The customs records include examples of exports of parts for the type of weapons used by Russian forces in Ukraine.

China’s state-owned defense company Poly Technologies on Aug. 31, 2022, shipped navigation equipment to Russia’s state-owned military export firm JSC Rosoboronexport for M-17 military transport helicopters. Earlier that month, Chinese electronics firm Fujian Nanan Baofeng Electronic Co. supplied to Rosoboronexport—through an Uzbek state-owned defense firm—a telescoping antenna for the RB-531BE military vehicle, which is used for communications jamming. On Oct. 24, Chinese state-owned aircraft firm AVIC International Holding Corp. shipped to AO Kret, a subsidiary of sanctioned government-owned defense giant Rostec, $1.2 million worth of parts for Su-35 jet fighters.

Wang Shaofeng, general manager of Fujian Baofeng Electronics Co., Ltd., said in an emailed response that a third party may be illegally using his firm’s name, and that it doesn’t include “Nanan.” He also said his company doesn’t produce telescoping antennas and doesn’t have a record of shipping to any Uzbek state-owned defense firm. “This report lacks factual basis and is inconsistent with the facts,” Mr. Wang said.

U.S. Federal Communications Commission documents filed by Fujian Nanan Baofeng Electronic Co. for U.S. sales of two-way radios records matching contact details and is signed by a “Wang Shao Feng.”

The other Chinese and Russian firms didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In the past, Russian officials have said they would adapt to the Western sanctions campaign by turning to Asia, including China.

Other foreign-government suppliers found in the customs data include China Taly Aviation Technologies Corp., a procurement unit of China’s Air Force Equipment Department. The Chinese aviation company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Among that firm’s shipments were parts sent on Oct. 4 to Russia’s sanctioned state-owned missile-manufacturer Almaz Antey for use on the 96L6E mobile radar unit. Russia uses the radar to detect enemy jet fighter, missiles and drones as part of its S-400 antiaircraft missile system being used in Ukraine, according to arms analysts. The Russian firm didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Kret and a host of other Russian companies that contract with the government’s intelligence, military and security services also used privately held Chinese firms. Sinno Electronics, sanctioned late last year by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly procuring banned goods for Russia’s defense sector, was one of the most prolific exporters of dual-use goods, sending more than 1,300 shipments between April and October worth more than $2 million, according to customs data. Neither Kret nor Sinno Electronics responded to requests for comment.

The data also shows shipments of Chinese DJI quadcopters to Russia after the sanctions and export controls were imposed. Military analysts say the drones are being used by the Russian forces to locate and surveil Ukrainian forces, then target them with artillery.

Some of these drones are delivered directly by a Chinese retailer to Russian distributors, according to customs records, but other DJI quadcopters transit through the United Arab Emirates. The emirates’ embassy in Washington, D.C., didn’t respond to requests for comment.

DJI said the company opposes military use of its drones, suspended its operations in Russia in April and requires global agents to comply. The company added, however, “We cannot stop users or organizations from buying in countries or regions other than Russia and Ukraine, and then transporting or giving them to Russia and Ukraine.”

Among the supplies critical to Moscow’s war efforts, U.S. officials say, are the computer chips that are used in weapons that target Ukrainian forces and infrastructure, and in electronic circuitry that makes possible satellite geolocating, radio communication, surveillance and navigation systems.

Exports of such chips and associated components were more than cut in half after the U.S. and its allies first imposed strict export restrictions, according to the customs records. But those levels quickly began to rise, and by October hit nearly $33 million, just shy of the $35 million monthly level Russia averaged since the U.S. started targeting Russia with sanctions in 2014 after Putin’s army occupied Crimea, according to the Journal’s analysis of the Russian custom records and the United Nations’ Comtrade database.

Unlike previous export-control regimes that banned the direct provision of certain dual use goods, Western authorities in February said they were targeting the entire supply chain. That means transshipments—goods produced in third countries using U.S. dual-use items, such as chips, that are then shipped to Russia—are also targeted.

Silverado Policy Accelerator, a Washington-based think tank that seeks to bolster U.S. competitiveness, said in a report published this month that Russia is increasingly relying on transshipments of dual-use goods through China, and especially Hong Kong, to meet its military needs.

“These measures have had a pretty significant impact on Russia’s capabilities,” said Sarah Stewart, chief executive of Silverado, referring to the allied sanctions and export controls, “but they have not yet delivered a death blow.”

Camels have large canine teeth for crunching wood, hard foods, and fighting. https://t.co/TaYk4HHg7q pic.twitter.com/8pOLOSJ6fu

— \uD835\uDD17\uD835\uDD25\uD835\uDD22 \uD835\uDD07\uD835\uDD22\uD835\uDD1E\uD835\uDD21 \uD835\uDD07\uD835\uDD26\uD835\uDD30\uD835\uDD31\uD835\uDD2F\uD835\uDD26\uD835\uDD20\uD835\uDD31 (@TheDeadDistrict) February 5, 2023

Ouch.

Disguising a valuable asset as a garbage dump seems like a poor decision, since garbage dumps are more or less what UA recon is looking for.

Huh. Up until now I was not aware I need a camel to guard my property. I guess I'm now shopping for camels.
Are they good with other house pets and children?

The car that drove up to the scene was like…
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Marjorie Taylor Greene: “Becoming a member of Congress has made my life miserable. I made a lot more money before I got here. I’ve lost money since I’ve gotten here. …It’s not a life that I think is like something that I enjoy because I don’t enjoy it.” pic.twitter.com/p3w23vF48h

— PatriotTakes \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8 (@patriottakes) February 3, 2023

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No, some are trolls. That's it. Hopefully this trash heap has been taken to the curb in this thread by now.

Someday they're going to make movies about Bakhmut and Mariupol.

Russians are going to replace Nazis as “the default bad guys” for the next 50 years.  Their behavior is just as odious if not more so, and they aren’t done yet.  There is definitely a ton of movie material out there - the Battle of Kyiv probably foremost.

Reports said that some portion of the 300K mobiks went to the front to fill holes and die, and some other portion stayed back for more effective training. It's brutal, but it was necessary to keep things running as a meat grinder rather than a route like Kharkiv was. What those proportions were, I have never seen reported.

Geese are your front line defense.  Mount them on camels for longer detection ranges.

Polish authorities having a stand off with migrants at the boarder.

\uD83D\uDD0A pic.twitter.com/CiWHstlDcj

Wall Street Silver  (@WallStreetSilv) February 5, 2023

It's going to be a pretty cold night if you're soaking wet.

Poland and Germany don't play with illegals...The only two places I've had my passport checked multiple times while in country.

This is very true. My metric on this has always been the B-17. (Numbers approximate, I looked this up a long time ago).

- 12,500 produced.
- 10,000 lost (50/50 combat/operational)
- 2,500 flyable/repairable on VE Day

That’s horrific when you stop and think about it. And that is not out of line with a lot of other weapons . The numbers in this war will be similar for a lot of equipment.