Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (Official Thread)

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At least 20 killed in synagogue, church attacks in Russia’s Dagestan

Civilians, including a priest, among dead as gunmen attack religious buildings in Derbent and a Makhachkala police post.

www.aljazeera.com

Guess this explains the special flight from Russia to Israel within the last day or so

 

[bnew]

Ukraine's sea drones display new capability to shoot down helicopters

Ukraine's military adapts drone technology to tackle Russian forces in the Black Sea and target helicopters

inews.co.uk

Ukraine’s sea drones display new capability to shoot down helicopters​

Ukraine's military adapts drone technology to tackle Russian forces in the Black Sea and target helicopters​

A Ukrainian-made sea drone, Magura V5, among other types of drones during the presentation of the newly created Unmanned Systems Forces in Kyiv earlier this month (Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

By Caolan Magee

June 26, 2024 6:00 am(Updated 9:08 am)

Ukraine has been showcasing its navy’s growing capabilities with a fleet of sea drones that is playing a key role in the latest phase of its war with Russia.

The maritime drones have allowed Kyiv to tackle Russia in the Black Sea around Crimea, with less risk to its troops, according to experts.

The drones have now been spotted with anti-helicopter missiles, offering a new method of warfare that saw Russian forces lose a naval helicopter late last week.

The Russian navy Ka-29 Helix-B assault helicopter was shot down near the city of Anapa along the Black Sea, during what Russian and Ukrainian military officials say was a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Friday night.

It remains unclear if the helicopter was shot down by the Ukrainian drones or by Russia’s own air defences, but the attack marks a fresh blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s diminishing fleet of aircraft and warships along the Black Sea.

“Since February 2022, Ukraine has successfully denied Russia dominance of the Black Sea,” Olena Borodyna, a senior geopolitical transition risk adviser at think-tank ODI, told i. “Sea drones have been playing a key role in Ukraine’s operations, with some of the main benefits being that it allows Ukraine reach into Russian-controlled territorial waters around the peninsula while putting fewer army personnel at risk.”

Russia was able to successfully control the Black Sea and block vital exports of Ukrainian grain at the beginning of the war, before Ukraine launched its first successful naval drone attack in October 2022, when its armed forces damaged three ships and port facilities in the north-western part of the Black Sea.

Explosion on what Ukrainian military intelligence said is the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov that was damaged by Ukrainian sea drones, at a location given as off the coast of Crimea, in March (Photo: Reuters)

The Russian defence ministry said seven USVs (unmanned surface vehicles) were involved in the attack with support of eight UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), while the US Naval Institute reported that for the first time, the Russian navy became aware of its vulnerability along the Black Sea, “causing it to retreat further into its shell, increasing defences and reducing activity outside”.

This came after five sea drones were used in the audacious attack on the Crimean bridge, attacking the critical infrastructure that severed the region’s links to Russia, while another USV attack occurred in mid-November 2022 in Novorossiysk that took out a Russian warship.

According to UK intelligence, Mr Putin has lost 25 per cent of Russia’s vessels in the Black Sea, while Ukraine puts that number even higher as the president has been forced into retreating some of Russia’s ships from the port of Sevastopol in southern Crimea.

The architect of Ukraine’s adaptable sea drone technology is Brig-Gen Ivan Lukashevych of the Security Service, the country’s main internal security and intelligence agency.

Under his watch, Ukraine adapted their drone technology after the country was left without a conventional navy when Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

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In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he laid out details of Ukrainian operations and plans to develop the boats that have diminished Russia’s expansive military with cheap but hard to detect drones.

This includes the use of explosive-packed “suicide” undersea marine drones, which destroyed a Russian missile ship in February.

Ukraine has made extensive use of the experimental weapons, producing several canoe-shaped iterations including the “Toloka” and the “Marichka”, said to be around six metres long with a range of 600 miles.

New versions of the crafts have the capability to fire seaborne missiles, which Ukraine has also developed over the course of the war, as well as crash into enemy ships.

Last month, the Security Service of Ukraine’s Sea Baby naval drones were equipped with Grad multiple launch rocket systems. On Monday, they struck Russian positions on the Kinburn Spit in occupied Mykolaiv region, an official said.

According to Brig-Gen Lukashevych, Ukraine is now seeking to create squads of 10 to 20 drones with separate functions that combine to replicate the capabilities of a single warship. “We are doing many things that no one in the world has done,” he said.

Ms Borodyna said: “The success of the Ukrainian navy has spotlighted Russia’s naval vulnerabilities.

“Ukraine’s successful use of sea drones and innovation in military technologies also helps to showcase the country’s prowess and position as a worldwide defence tech hub.”

 

[88m3]

 

[Orbital-Fetus]

WW3 yall...

 

[Spidey Man]

Pyongyang Says It Will Send Troops to Ukraine Within a Month

The June 19 defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea included a promise to provide military assistance to one another – within days Pyongyang said it was sending troops to Ukraine.

www.kyivpost.com

NORTH KOREA DONETSK RAMSTEIN

Pyongyang Says It Will Send Troops to Ukraine Within a Month​

The June 19 defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea included a promise to provide military assistance to one another – within days Pyongyang said it was sending troops to Ukraine.

by Kyiv Post | June 26, 2024, 2:57 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (R) after signing a defense treaty on June 19. Photo: Kristina Kormilitsyna / AFP

RELATED TOPICS

• China
• Russia

Last week, President Vladimir Putin made an official state visit to the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) – North Korea, his first for almost a quarter of a century. As part of that visit Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a so-called defense pact in the North Korean capital on June 19.

The military treaty states: “In the event that any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”

In response to that Pyongyang announced early this week that it will be sending troops in the form of a military engineering unit to support Russian forces on the ground in the Donetsk region. The troops are expected to arrive on the battlefield as soon as next month.

The DPRK has already supplied almost two million rounds of artillery ammunition, rockets for Russian multiple launch rocket systems and, it is alleged, ballistic missiles to support Putin’s forces since the two leaders met in Russia in September. The active participation of North Korean combat troops raises the specter of escalation to the conflict, especially as commentators think it will not go well for Pyongyang’s sappers on the battlefield.

Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said during a briefing on June 25 that North Korean troops were effectively being sent to their slaughter and questioned the wisdom of the deployment. He said, “I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine – we’ve seen the kinds of casualties that Russian forces [have been taking].”




OTHER TOPICS OF INTEREST

Eurotopics: Pyongyang Summit - What are Putin and Kim Planning?​

The Russian president Putin visited the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday. In Pyongyang they signed a "partnership deal" on close cooperation and pledging mutual defense assistance.

He added that the US was monitoring what appeared to be ever-deepening military ties between the two countries.

Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian member of parliament told the UK’s Daily Express that North Korea has become an important bridge between the Kremlin and China. Beijing can indirectly transfer military equipment to Moscow through Pyongyang without falling foul of Western sanctions.

As he explained: “North Korea is one of key Russian partners and the meaning of the rationale behind them becoming such a partner is because they are acting as a bridge between China and Russia.

“Essentially all the military equipment that is delivered from North Korea was developed for the North Koreans by the Chinese.

“China is cautious not to fall foul of secondary sanctions by the US, but North Korea is not in danger.

“So, there is no problem for the Chinese to assist North Koreans and then North Koreans to make trade with Russia and benefit from this both financially and in terms of military development.”

Michael Carpenter, a member of the US National Security Council commented, the day after Putin and Kim signed their defense treaty, that the coalition that Putin was building between Russia, North Korea, Iran and Syria stood in stark contrast to the group of 50 nations standing beside Ukraine in the “ Ramstein” Defense Contact Group and the approximately 100 countries that supported the UN Charter principles in the Global Peace Summit held in Switzerland on June 15 and 16.

I'd rather have South Korea as an ally than North Korea. Seoul gonna start sending advanced weapons now

 

[88m3]

NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@noelreports@mstdn.social)

Attached: 1 image Chasiv Yar.. Yet another Popasna, Bakhmut and many other destroyed front line cities.

mstdn.social

terrible

 

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Spoiler: full text

1/1
Russian Z-blogger Alexander Kots admits the tactical failures of the Russian army in Kharkiv region.


To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

 

[Toussaint]

Coli Tankies “a little Lebensraum never hurt anyone”

 

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The Russians May Have Lost An Entire Airborne Brigade In Vovchansk

Russia’s Victory Day offensive is turning into a bloodbath ... for Russian troops.

www.forbes.com

FORBES BUSINESS AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

The Russians May Have Lost An Entire Airborne Brigade In Vovchansk​

Russia’s Victory Day offensive is turning into a bloodbath ... for Russian troops.

David Axe

Forbes Staff

David Axe writes about ships, planes, tanks, drones and missiles.

Follow

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davida...ire-airborne-brigade-in-vovchansk/#open-web-0

Jun 27, 2024,04:41pm EDT

83rd Airborne Brigade troopers in happier times.

VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

Russia’s Victory Day offensive across Ukraine’s northern border with Russia may have aimed to capture a wide, deep swathe of territory to bring heavy artillery closer to the city of Kharkiv, 25 miles to the south. More ambitiously, Russian commanders may have hoped to march on Kharkiv itself.

Neither happened. Within a couple of weeks of the offensive kicking off on May 9—the day Russia celebrates its defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II—the force of 30,000 or so Russian troops got bogged down in the town of Vovchansk, just a few miles south of the border.

And now the defenders of Vovchansk, including some or part of several Ukrainian mechanized, marine and airborne brigades, have reportedly defeated an elite Russian airborne brigade.

According to a well-regarded Ukrainian correspondent who writes under the pseudonym “Nikolaev Vanek,” the 83rd Airborne Brigade has retreated from Vovchansk after a costly three-week deployment.

“The entire 83rd Airborne Brigade is urgently withdrawn to the rear to restore combat capability,” Vanek wrote. “There are too many casualties, they can't fight, there are too many 500s.”

In Russian military parlance, a “code 500” is a soldier who refuses to fight.

If confirmed, it’s a stinging loss for the new Russian northern grouping of forces, which includes around seven regiments and brigades. And Russian losses in Vovchansk could get a lot worse, as the survivors of an entire battalion—that’s hundreds of troops— have been trapped in a chemical plant in central Vovchansk for two weeks.

The trapped soldiers might not last much longer. The Ukrainian air force has been lobbing precision glide bombs at the chemical plant, gradually reducing it to rubble.

Spoiler: full text

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"We can't take it anymore! Three days without food and water. No support. I don't know what to do next..."

Russian soldier Oleg Vesnin, call sign "Fiksa", a serviceman from the 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, recorded an appeal in which he said that he is very thirsty and "can't take it anymore".

His comrades next to him are "Butcher" and "Fara", but the latter "is probably dead and no one will look for anybody."

Fiksa's legs have failed, but he "really wants to live", so he decided to surrender. He also advised other Russians to never sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry.

The 83rd Airborne Brigade is, or was, an elite force—one of a dozen or so brigade-sized formations in the 40,000-person pre-war airborne corps. As recently as 2019, the brigade practiced parachuting into combat with their lightweight armored vehicles.

In Ukraine, the 83rd Airborne Brigade ditched its parachutes and fought as a mechanized force in its tracked BMD and wheeled BTR vehicles. Redeploying hundreds of miles at a time to respond to Ukrainian attacks and opportunities for Russian attacks, the brigade fought in the south in 2023 and, this spring, took part in the Russian siege of the eastern town of Chasiv Yar.

As the Victory Day offensive ground to a halt in Vovchansk, Russian commanders ordered the 83rd Airborne Brigade to head north and get the northern grouping of forces moving again.

The first 83rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers appeared along the front line in Vovchansk before June 12. On or around June 16, the Russian northern grouping of forces “used 17 paratroopers from the 83rd Brigade,” recalled a Ukrainian drone operator with the call sign “Kriegsforscher.”

The Ukrainian 82nd Air Assault Brigade targeted the Russian paratroopers with mortars, killing four and wounding 10, according to Kriegsforscher.

It was a disastrous start for the 83rd Airborne Brigade in Vovchansk. Incredibly, the brigade doubled down. “Firstly, they deployed one assault battalion from the 83rd Brigade,” Kriegsforscher noted. “It suffered losses and they deployed the rest of the brigade.”

Conditions were brutal for the Russian paratroopers. “We can't take it anymore!” a paratrooper reportedly named Oleg Vesnin moaned in a video he recorded on his phone around June 12. “Three days without food and water. No support. I don't know what to do next.” Two of his fellow troopers lay wounded, if not dead, behind him.

Two weeks later, the 83rd Airborne Brigade had suffered so many losses among its approximately 2,000 pre-war personnel—including troopers who allegedly refused to fight—that it was no longer capable of major combat, if Vanek’s reporting is accurate.

The unit had no choice but to withdraw from the battlefield. “Bye bye,” Vanek quipped. He wrote that he expected a similar fate for whichever Russian unit replaces the 83rd Airborne Brigade in a battle that is rapidly becoming a trap for Russian infantry.

Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here. Send me a secure tip.

Sources:

1. Nikolaev Vanek: https://t.me/vanek_nikolaev/24657

2. Rob Lee: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1109529451577135105

3. Ukraine Control Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1xPxgT8LtUjuspSOGHJc2VzA5O5jWMTE&ll=50.3303843629436%2C36.91383643398026&z=13

4. Kriegsforscher: https://twitter.com/OSINTua/status/1803094835290578964

5. Anton Gerashchenko: https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1800832716062986645

 

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Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in its relentless 'meat grinder' tactics against Ukraine: report

Russian troops are being used in head-on assaults on Ukrainian positions.

www.businessinsider.com

Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in its relentless 'meat grinder' tactics against Ukraine: report​

Tom Porter

Jun 28, 2024, 7:39 AM EDT

- Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces, on the side of a road in Lugansk region. ANATOLII STEPANOV via Getty Images

• Russia is sustaining high casualties in attacks in Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
• Around 1,000 Russian troops a day were killed or wounded, officials told the publication.
• But Russia is able to recruit new troops to replace the casualties, according to the Times.

An average of 1,000 Russian troops a day were killed or wounded in Ukraine in May amid waves of head-on attacks on Ukrainian defenses, US, UK, and other Western intelligence agencies said, according to The New York Times.

UK military intelligence has put the casualty rate at 1,200 a day in May, which it said was the highest reported since the start of the war. It said Russia's total number of killed or wounded since it launched the invasion in February 2022 now stood at around 500,000.

It's unclear how many of these troops were killed and how many were wounded. Business Insider has contacted The Ministry of Defence for comment.

Related stories


A Russian soldier's killing of a wounded comrade highlights the 'brutal culture' rampant inside Russia's military, war analysts say

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in June put the figure of the total number killed or wounded at around 350,000.

The reported casualty increase in May came as Russia intensified its attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia in northern Ukraine.

Russia is sending troops into head-on high-casualty attacks, known as human wave or "meat grinder" attacks. The attacks were used by Russia in brutal battles to seize control of the towns of Avdiikva and Bakhmut last year, but US officials told the Times they are proving less successful now.

However, US officials told the Times that Russia has been able to replenish its troop numbers, recruiting around 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers a month, while Ukraine is struggling to find new recruits.

Ukraine said in February that it believes 31,000 of its troops have been killed since the start of the war, but Western intelligence officials told The Washington Postthe number is likely much higher.

Russia has offered relatively lucrative contracts to new recruits, has drafted thousands of prisoners into the military, and has contracted foreign mercenaries to replace its losses.

In September 2022, Russia drafted 300,000 civilians into the military, but it's unlikely that the Kremlin will need to launch another draft in the near future, US officials told the Times.

 

[bnew]

Video from a subscriber.

Quote: "A Russian soldier,

at the request of his colleague, finishes him off with a shot to the head after he was wounded by an FPV drone."

We have an exact geolocation, but at the moment we have asked not to disclose it. However, they are fleeing towards Ukrainian positions.

(Similar episode - )

Coordinates: 47.45879, 35.85104

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

Ukraine's Zelenskiy: 10 civilians released from captivity in Russia and Belarus — Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that 10 people, all civilians, were handed back to Ukraine as part of an exchange of detainees after several years of captivity in Russia and its ally Belarus.

apple.news

 

[bnew]

Ukraine May Have Hit Russia's $600 Million S-500 SAM System With ATACMS

Rumors began to circulate on social media on Friday afternoon that, a Ukrainian ATACMS strike had destroyed elements of the S-500 battery in an unidentified location.

www.kyivpost.com

Ukraine May Have Hit Russia's $600 Million S-500 SAM System With ATACMS​

Rumors began to circulate on social media on Friday afternoon that, a Ukrainian ATACMS strike had destroyed elements of the S-500 battery in an unidentified location.

by Kyiv Post | June 28, 2024, 10:16 pm

S-500 77P6 anti-missile launch vehicles. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defence

Posts began to appear on pro-Ukraine Telegram and X accounts on the afternoon of Friday, June 28 that an S-500 anti-missile complex had been hit with cluster-munition filled ATACMS missiles.

The bloggers couldn’t agree whether one or more elements of the system such as its missiles, a launcher an associated radar were hit.

The Ukrainian milblogger “Military News claimed on X that the whole complex worth $600 million was destroyed in the attack, as did NOELREPORTS citing a claim by Ukraine’s TIVAZ artillery formation.

The Ukrainian Telegram channels Tsapilenko-Ukraine Fights and Bayraktar also made reference to reports that the system was destroyed but the latter said confirmation was still awaited.

Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, also reported the destruction on Telegram but prefaced his comments by saying “We are waiting for pictures from the satellite... because certain parts of the S-500 and S-400 are similar. But, even if it's the S-400, it's also awesome!”

It is noted that the Armed Forces destroyed the new Russian S-500 air defence system. The cost of one of these reaches $600 million.

By early evening international mainstream media had picked up on the reports. Newsweek cited Tsapilenko’s social media post but said it could not independently verify the claim but had contacted Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment – none had been received at the time of publication.

Moscow’s Foreign Ministry accuses US of “waging a hybrid war against Russia” after Ukrainian ATACMS strike while the Pentagon says Kyiv makes its own targeting decisions.

The Ukrainian news site Ukrainian National News (UNN) reported a serioius fire at a possible Russian air defense position on the airfield in Dzhankoy, in occupied Crimea, citing the Crimean Wind monitoring group who had published a satellite image of the fire. It suggested this could possibly be related to the S-500 attack as it occurred near locations where an S-400 system had previously been destroyed.




Satellite image taken on June 28 shared by the Crimean Wind monitoring group showing a fire at the Dzhankoy airfield in occupied Crimea

The head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence directorate (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, had said on June 15 that Russian forces had deployed at least part of its latest S-500 anti-missile system to Crimea to compensate for the number of S-300 and S-400 systems that had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces.

According to Budanov, the S-500 was likely stationed in Russian-occupied Crimea to safeguard the Kerch Bridge that links the peninsula to mainland Russia. Not only does the bridge provide a key supply route it also has a high prestige value to President Vladimir Putin.

The S-500 anti-missile complex, also known as the Prometey (Prometheus) or 55R6M Triumfator-M, is a next-generation Russian surface-to-air missile system that has taken more than a decade to bring into service. It is designed to protect critical infrastructure and military assets from a wide range of aerial threats, including aircraft, drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.

It is claimed to have a response time of less than 4 seconds, more than half that of the S-400 Triumf, with a range of 600 kilometers (370 miles) against ballistic missiles and 500 kilometers (310 miles) for air defense. The manufacturer, Almaz-Antey, says it was designed to detect and simultaneously engage up to 10 ballistic hypersonic targets at velocities of 7,000 meters (4.3 miles) a second at altitudes of more than 180 kilometers (110 miles). They also say it could engage low Earth orbit satellites and weapons platforms with.

The S-500 consists of several separate but linked components including: 77P6 launch vehicles, 55K6MA and 85Zh6-2 command posts, the 91N6A(M) acquisition and battle management radar, the 96L6-TsP acquisition radar, the 76T6 multimode and 77T6 ABM engagement radars. The elements are all mounted on BAZ multi-wheeled trucks or trailers.

If destruction is confirmed this will represent yet another major blow to Russia’s military prestige and capability.

 

[bnew]

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in its relentless 'meat grinder' tactics against Ukraine: report

Russian troops are being used in head-on assaults on Ukrainian positions.

www.businessinsider.com

Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in its relentless 'meat grinder' tactics against Ukraine: report​

Tom Porter

Jun 28, 2024, 7:39 AM EDT

- Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces, on the side of a road in Lugansk region. ANATOLII STEPANOV via Getty Images

• Russia is sustaining high casualties in attacks in Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
• Around 1,000 Russian troops a day were killed or wounded, officials told the publication.
• But Russia is able to recruit new troops to replace the casualties, according to the Times.

An average of 1,000 Russian troops a day were killed or wounded in Ukraine in May amid waves of head-on attacks on Ukrainian defenses, US, UK, and other Western intelligence agencies said, according to The New York Times.

UK military intelligence has put the casualty rate at 1,200 a day in May, which it said was the highest reported since the start of the war. It said Russia's total number of killed or wounded since it launched the invasion in February 2022 now stood at around 500,000.

It's unclear how many of these troops were killed and how many were wounded. Business Insider has contacted The Ministry of Defence for comment.

Related stories


A Russian soldier's killing of a wounded comrade highlights the 'brutal culture' rampant inside Russia's military, war analysts say

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in June put the figure of the total number killed or wounded at around 350,000.

The reported casualty increase in May came as Russia intensified its attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia in northern Ukraine.

Russia is sending troops into head-on high-casualty attacks, known as human wave or "meat grinder" attacks. The attacks were used by Russia in brutal battles to seize control of the towns of Avdiikva and Bakhmut last year, but US officials told the Times they are proving less successful now.

However, US officials told the Times that Russia has been able to replenish its troop numbers, recruiting around 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers a month, while Ukraine is struggling to find new recruits.

Ukraine said in February that it believes 31,000 of its troops have been killed since the start of the war, but Western intelligence officials told The Washington Postthe number is likely much higher.

Russia has offered relatively lucrative contracts to new recruits, has drafted thousands of prisoners into the military, and has contracted foreign mercenaries to replace its losses.

In September 2022, Russia drafted 300,000 civilians into the military, but it's unlikely that the Kremlin will need to launch another draft in the near future, US officials told the Times.