Ukraine 4

[Smokin Joe]

Depleted uranium is generally not significantly radioactive.  It's about 40% less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium.

The sergeant who handed it to me had it on his mantel on base, so he wasn't very worried about it. The health problems come from inhaling the dust, which is a combination heavy metal toxin and a radiation hazard once inhaled or ingested.

[Kamaji]

The sergeant who handed it to me had it on his mantel on base, so he wasn't very worried about it. The health problems come from inhaling the dust, which is a combination heavy metal toxin and a radiation hazard once inhaled or ingested.

[Elderberry]

https://hps.org/documents/uranium_fact_sheet.pdf

In general, natural uranium and DU are considered to be a chemical hazard to the kidney instead of a radiation hazard. Therefore, inhalation and/or ingestion of these materials should be minimized.” Despite the prevalence of uranium production and use in the United States, there has never been a documented death or permanent injury to a human from uranium poisoning. Additionally, possible health effects in populations living near uranium mines, mills, and nuclear power plants have been well studied. “No human cancer of any type has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium” (ATSDR 2013).

[Elderberry]

Ukraine Drone Hits Russian Fab

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog 9/8/2023

I missed this bit of news from late August.

A Russian microchip factory likely producing technology for sophisticated weapons has been targeted in a significant strike, Daily Express US has heard.

A drone downed over the Bryansk region in Russia this week fell on the Kremny EL factory, dubbed “Silicon El”, according to the Mash Telegram channel.

Military blogger Romanov Light said a fire broke out at the plant’s 16th building and was extinguished around an hour later – at 1.50am local time. Staggering footage shared online shows the shocking moment the plant was struck.

How long will the strike set Russia back? Hard to say, but the contamination means the entire fab will need to be decontaminated before they can process wafers again. Maybe a month. Debris may have damaged some of the machines, though the tech is so old that there are probably lots of spare parts for things that can be had despite sanctions. If they hit the power center, the air-handling system, or the DI water system, that could take a while to repair, especially if they need modern western parts. And if they took out the power, all the wafer processing machines will have to be requalified, which is a gigantic pain in the ass and quite time-consuming. But most of the in-process wafers will be safe inside FOUPs, and can probably continue processing, once the fab is up and running again.

Still, it will be a setback for Russia. It’s just unclear how large a setback.

More: https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=55805

[Maj. Bill Martin]

It's pretty frustrating right now that Russia has no incentive to end this war because they're waiting to see if Trump gets elected.

[PeteS in CA]

...
How long will the strike set Russia back? Hard to say, but the contamination means the entire fab will need to be decontaminated before they can process wafers again. Maybe a month. Debris may have damaged some of the machines, though the tech is so old that there are probably lots of spare parts for things that can be had despite sanctions. If they hit the power center, the air-handling system, or the DI water system, that could take a while to repair, especially if they need modern western parts. And if they took out the power, all the wafer processing machines will have to be requalified, which is a gigantic pain in the ass and quite time-consuming. But most of the in-process wafers will be safe inside FOUPs, and can probably continue processing, once the fab is up and running again.

Still, it will be a setback for Russia. It’s just unclear how large a setback.

Some background information .. ca. 1990 I was tasked with researching particle counters. Particle counters were used to monitor air quality in semiconductor fab clean rooms. A "Class 10 Clean Room" meant that particle counters circulating and monitoring the air had detected a maximum of 10 particles per hour. Air particles would become contaminants that could ruin sections of wafers if they landed on the wafers being processed. At the time, ~1990, there were Class 1 Cleanrooms in operation. I would not be surprised if the current standard for semiconductor fab lines is 1 or 2 orders of magnitude less in particles per hour.

In this context, depending on the location and extent of the damage, that fab line could be down for weeks or months. Or maybe compromises will be made to bring the line back online a bit quicker ... at the risk of Russian military personnel lives.

[sneakypete]

In this context, depending on the location and extent of the damage, that fab line could be down for weeks or months. Or maybe compromises will be made to bring the line back online a bit quicker ... at the risk of Russian military personnel lives.

@PeteS in CA

Since WHEN has ANY Communist ruler given a squat about how many peons have to die to keep him living a life of luxury  and power?

[Cyber Liberty]

@PeteS in CA

Since WHEN has ANY Communist ruler given a squat about how many peons have to die to keep him living a life of luxury  and power?

@sneakypete

They will when the people dying are the Engineers they need to get these Fabs up and running.

This is in my wheelhouse, I worked in that industry for 35 years.  The contamination question looms larger than most people think.  There are a lot of dangerous chemicals used in making semiconductors, like Boron and Gallium.  If there was a breach in the stores of these kind of chemicals the entire Fab may need to be cleaned up before they can even think of rebuilding and qualifying the Fab.

[mystery-ak]

US likely to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine for the first time: Officials

"They are coming," one U.S. official told ABC News.
ByMatt Seyler
September 8, 2023, 4:34 PM

The Biden administration is likely to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to help in its fight to repel the Russian invasion of its territory, according to U.S. officials.

"They are coming," said one official who had access to security assistance plans. The official noted that, as always, such plans are subject to change until officially announced.

A second official said the missiles are "on the table" and likely to be included in an upcoming security assistance package, adding that a final decision has not been made. It could be months before Ukraine receives the missiles, according to the official.

With a range of up to 190 miles, depending on the version, deploying ATACMS could allow Ukraine to reach targets nearly four times further away than with the currently-provided rockets for its U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and M270 multiple-launch rocket systems.

more
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-send-long-range-atacms-missiles-ukraine-time/story?id=103031722

[Hoodat]

from r/UkraineWarVideoReport

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/16db690/russian_units_tasked_with_defending_verbove_have/

[PeteS in CA]

@sneakypete

They will when the people dying are the Engineers they need to get these Fabs up and running.

This is in my wheelhouse, I worked in that industry for 35 years.  The contamination question looms larger than most people think.  There are a lot of dangerous chemicals used in making semiconductors, like Boron and Gallium.  If there was a breach in the stores of these kind of chemicals the entire Fab may need to be cleaned up before they can even think of rebuilding and qualifying the Fab.

 

I think they'll notice when multi-million-ruble planes and helicopters crash due to avionics failures, taking multi-million-ruble (in training) pilots and crew members to their deaths.

Back in ancient times, I worked for an avionics company on a project for the new, not yet in service, F/A-18 Hornet. Our project used semiconductors fabbed and tested to the most stringent level of Mil spec (JANTXV and JM38510, IIRC). Our documentation control was a major PITA. That system also meant that a binder with every document pertaining to build, testing, reworking, and ATP went with each HUD or panel indicator wherever in the world those instruments and their planes went. The USAF did not want to lose multi-million-$$ planes and pilots/crew to a bad batch of opamp, comparator, or flip-flop ICs.

[Cyber Liberty]

I think they'll notice when multi-million-ruble planes and helicopters crash due to avionics failures, taking multi-million-ruble (in training) pilots and crew members to their deaths.

Back in ancient times, I worked for an avionics company on a project for the new, not yet in service, F/A-18 Hornet. Our project used semiconductors fabbed and tested to the most stringent level of Mil spec (JANTXV and JM38510, IIRC). Our documentation control was a major PITA. That system also meant that a binder with every document pertaining to build, testing, reworking, and ATP went with each HUD or panel indicator wherever in the world those instruments and their planes went. The USAF did not want to lose multi-million-$$ planes and pilots/crew to a bad batch of opamp, comparator, or flip-flop ICs.

For a short period, I worked for a Military Products Group, and what you say about stringent testing of those parts is 100% true.  They even used secret device codes to mark the packaged chips, so nobody at our level even know what they worked on, or did.

[PeteS in CA]

For a short period, I worked for a Military Products Group, and what you say about stringent testing of those parts is 100% true.  They even used secret device codes to mark the packaged chips, so nobody at our level even know what they worked on, or did.

Commercial dice I looked at, under magnification, had both the company logo and base part number (e.g. LM324 or LM339) on the die, along with the actual workings. In "JANTXV" (e.g. JANTXV2N2222A or JANTXV1N4454) the "V" meant the the wafer from which the dice had been cut had bee visually inspected during processing. The devices also had been actively tested for several thousand hours (another tech in our group joked that half the life of the devices had been consumed in testing).

The point of all this reminiscing is that devices used in US military electronics are rigorously monitored and tested for reliability (there were also mil specs for passive components like resistors and capacitors). What might have been done in the USSR and more recently in Russia, I can't guess, but the damage done to this fab line is far greater than to the roof, wall, and mechanical damage to machines.

[Cyber Liberty]

Commercial dice I looked at, under magnification, had both the company logo and base part number (e.g. LM324 or LM339) on the die, along with the actual workings. In "JANTXV" (e.g. JANTXV2N2222A or JANTXV1N4454) the "V" meant the the wafer from which the dice had been cut had bee visually inspected during processing. The devices also had been actively tested for several thousand hours (another tech in our group joked that half the life of the devices had been consumed in testing).

The point of all this reminiscing is that devices used in US military electronics are rigorously monitored and tested for reliability (there were also mil specs for passive components like resistors and capacitors). What might have been done in the USSR and more recently in Russia, I can't guess, but the damage done to this fab line is far greater than to the roof, wall, and mechanical damage to machines.

Again, all true.  If a box of mil spec packaged circuits wait in inventory for 6 months we trotted it out and did full testing screenings on them.  Simply put, we tested the crap out of them.  Constantly.  Paperwork was a nightmare at times.

[Timber Rattler]

Weak.

Inside the G20’s scramble to get consensus on the war in Ukraine

https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-the-g20s-scramble-to-get-consensus-on-the-war-in-ukraine/

A last-minute agreement on the Ukraine portion of the G20’s summit statement kept the entire document from the trash heap — but it took dropping a reference to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to do it.

All the members of the group of top world economies spent weeks in fierce negotiations over every element of the 35-page communiqué. The greatest sticking point was what to say about the war raging in Eastern Europe, not least because Russia, a member of the bloc, would oppose condemnations of Moscow and shows of support for Kyiv.

What ultimately led to an agreement in the dark, early hours of Saturday morning was new language drafted by officials from India, the host nation, and delegates from Brazil and South Africa.

Russia, which spent weeks offering alternatives that wouldn’t leave it isolated in the G20 club, relented after key developing countries presented the formulation: All countries should “refrain from action against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.” That phrasing was not included in the G20’s Bali declaration nearly a year ago.

But the final text was also acceptable to the Kremlin because it didn’t “deplore” or condemn “the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” as the Bali statement did. Language about there being a “war in Ukraine,” without specifically blaming Moscow for the conflict, is in both the Bali and the New Delhi declarations. “There were different views and assessments of the situation,” the new communiqué reads.

In effect, the G20 dropped its accusations against Russia in order to maintain unity on broader concepts of war and peace —concepts that were not so explicitly endorsed last November in Bali.

“The fact that we have consensus around the document was far from clear until the very last moment,” explained a senior EU official who, like four others from the Biden administration and European governments, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic dealings.

EXCERPT

[Kamaji]

Ukraine makes ‘further advances’ to take back more land amid worry over fighting near nuke plant

By Jacob Geanous
Published Sep. 9, 2023

The Ukrainian counteroffensive continued to make gains Saturday, but an uptick in fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant again raised concerns for the United Nations atomic watchdog.

Geolocated footage shows that Kyiv’s forces made “further advances” in several towns in the western section of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Russia in the first months of the war and is home to a nuclear power plant that has been a main point of concern for months, according to the US-based  Institute for the Study of War.

To the east, the village of Robotyne was recently recaptured by Ukraine, one of the biggest victories in their four-month offensive.

Footage also shows Ukraine made “marginal gains” near Klishchiivka, a village to the southwest of Bakhmut, a city that has seen some of the war’s most intense and long-lasting battles and was captured by Russia in May.

As Ukraine advanced, the ramped-up fighting near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant also sparked fear over a potential nuclear disaster.

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/09/09/ukraine-takes-back-more-land-worries-over-nuke-plant-mount/

[Hoodat]

from r/UkraineWarVideoReport

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/16fd30z/russian_telegram_channel_reports_that_the/

[Hoodat]

[mystery-ak]

Zelensky: Counteroffensive started too late, there will be no happy end
Jamie McIntyre

September 11, 2023 07:12 AM

‘VICTORY IS NOT HAPPINESS’: In a wide-ranging interview in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the late start of the summer counteroffensive, which he blamed on the delay in providing critical weapons systems, and said there will be no “happy end” to the war because of the widespread death and destruction inflicted by the Russian invasion.

“All of us want to have success and a happy end,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, saying that victory will mean an end to Russian occupation but won’t bring back the estimated 200,000 Ukrainians killed or grievously wounded in the war. “It's about counteroffensive. It's not a movie with the happy end,” he said, speaking English. “We will not have a happy end. We lost a lot of people. No happy end. That we have to recognize it … victory is not happiness.”

‘WE WAITED TOO LONG’: While expressing deep gratitude for support from the U.S. and NATO, Zelensky blamed delays in providing F-16s and longer-range missiles for heavy casualties suffered in the early stages of the counteroffensive, when Ukrainian forces attempted to breach the most heavily mined defenses in the world, without air support against Russia’s attack helicopters armed with long-range anti-tank missiles.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/zelensky-counteroffensive-started-too-late-there-will-be-no-happy-end

[Kamaji]

Zelensky: Counteroffensive started too late, there will be no happy end
Jamie McIntyre

September 11, 2023 07:12 AM

‘VICTORY IS NOT HAPPINESS’: In a wide-ranging interview in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the late start of the summer counteroffensive, which he blamed on the delay in providing critical weapons systems, and said there will be no “happy end” to the war because of the widespread death and destruction inflicted by the Russian invasion.

“All of us want to have success and a happy end,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, saying that victory will mean an end to Russian occupation but won’t bring back the estimated 200,000 Ukrainians killed or grievously wounded in the war. “It's about counteroffensive. It's not a movie with the happy end,” he said, speaking English. “We will not have a happy end. We lost a lot of people. No happy end. That we have to recognize it … victory is not happiness.”

‘WE WAITED TOO LONG’: While expressing deep gratitude for support from the U.S. and NATO, Zelensky blamed delays in providing F-16s and longer-range missiles for heavy casualties suffered in the early stages of the counteroffensive, when Ukrainian forces attempted to breach the most heavily mined defenses in the world, without air support against Russia’s attack helicopters armed with long-range anti-tank missiles.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/zelensky-counteroffensive-started-too-late-there-will-be-no-happy-end

Once again, Biden has effed things up.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

He's right.  But the truth is that there were a lot of Nervous Nancys scared to death of "escalation" if we provided the Ukrainians with too much offensive equipment.  So no tanks, no long-distance artillery or missiles, no aircraft, etc..

Now, I think it was Biden's responsibility as President to take the lead on this, tell the whiners to go screw themselves, and start providing the Ukrainians with offensive weaponry from day one.  Whether he would have gotten pushback on that, or whether it would have been unpopular, doesn't make it any less his responsibility to make that decision. In that sense, it's the same way I view Trump and COVID.  It's their freaking job to make the tough decisions without worrying about the backlash.

That being said, we shouldn't forget how commonly accepted it was among most Americans to avoid escalation, and not provide weaponry that could strike within Russia.

[PeteS in CA]

from r/UkraineWarVideoReport

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/16fd30z/russian_telegram_channel_reports_that_the/

Optyne is about 2 miles from Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport, which is on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk. It's funny how Ukraine persists in obstinately refusing to cooperate with the Ukraine's Offensive Is Failing some folks want to believe.

BTW, this is an entirely different front from the fighting around Robotyne, which threatens to cut Russian road communication to Crimea. The distance between Robotyne and Donetsk is something like 120-140 miles.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

He's right.  But the truth is that there were a lot of Nervous Nancys scared to death of "escalation" if we provided the Ukrainians with too much offensive equipment.  So no tanks, no long-distance artillery or missiles, no aircraft, etc..

Now, I think it was Biden's responsibility as President to take the lead on this, tell the whiners to go screw themselves, and start providing the Ukrainians with offensive weaponry from day one.  Whether he would have gotten pushback on that, or whether it would have been unpopular, doesn't make it any less his responsibility to make that decision. In that sense, it's the same way I view Trump and COVID.  It's their freaking job to make the tough decisions without worrying about the backlash.

That being said, we shouldn't forget how commonly accepted it was among most Americans to avoid escalation, and not provide weaponry that could strike within Russia.

Well if the Russians were more competent then it'd be a very bad idea to escalate, perhaps we overestimated them.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KePbmgOLoA

 

[Kamaji]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KePbmgOLoA