Ukraine 5

[Canuck Conservative]

Russians are doing a great job of completely destroying Kursk!

(Maybe someone should tell them that's their own country? ... lol)

[240B]

NATO fighter jets scrambled as Putin kamikaze drones hit port by Romanian border

Daily Mail
By WILL STEWART
17 January 2025

NATO warplanes were scrambled today after a suspected Russian drone crashed following an encroachment of Romanian airspace.

Footage showed a dramatic explosion believed to be at a port on the Ukrainian side of the River Danube, which forms the frontier with Romania.

But reports in Bucharest said the same wave of attacks that a Putin drone had crashed near Tulcea county on the Romanian side of the border.

The Russian incursion triggered the response by NATO fighters, and an air raid warning to residents close to the Danube in Romania.

Residents were told to take shelter in safe areas for 90 minutes during an alert warning that objects could still be falling from the sky.

The Romanian defence ministry said: 'At 1:35 a.m., two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, part of the Air Police Combat Service, took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea to monitor the air situation.



'The aircraft returned to base around 3:48 a.m.'

NATO structures were kept fully abreast of the suspected illegal incursion by Russia, said Romanian officials.

'The Ministry of National Defence sends a firm message of condemnation of these attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian civilian objects and infrastructure elements, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law,' said a Romanian statement.

Several Russian drones were said to have been launched from Crimea, hitting the port of Chilia Nouă, near the town of Chilia Veche.

(more)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14295693/NATO-fighter-jets-scrambled-Putin-kamikaze-drones-hit-port-Romanian-border.html

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1880158027484921874

[240B]

The Russian Military Is No Longer a ‘Conventional’ Military Threat to NATO [video]

19fortyfive.com
By Kris Osborn
16 January 2025

Key Points and Summary: The Ukraine war has dramatically diminished Russia’s conventional military threat to NATO. Reports indicate that Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks—its entire active-duty tank force—and faces significant manpower and economic challenges.

-Despite claims of advanced technologies like hypersonics and Su-57s, Russia’s limited production capacity restricts their impact, especially compared to NATO’s hundreds of F-35s.

-Precision ammunition shortages and reliance on outdated equipment further highlight Russia’s struggles.

-While nuclear threats remain a concern, the depletion of conventional forces suggests that Russia’s ability to wage large-scale land war has been significantly undermined, reshaping NATO’s strategic outlook.

(more)
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/the-russian-military-is-no-longer-a-conventional-military-threat-to-nato

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1880188906018398233

It's hard to keep track of all the ruzzian petroleum infrastructure that is burning.

[PeteS in CA]

Quote from: FtrPilot on January 16, 2025, 03:24:30 pm
MAKS 24 🇺🇦👀
@Maks_NAFO_FELLA
🇺🇦🇺🇸 Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary Scott Bessent calls for tightening sanctions on Russian oil companies to levels that will force Moscow to negotiate on Ukraine.

About time.

IKR? Why make Ukraine do all the work against orcish oil with their drones?

[PeteS in CA]

Destroyed S-400 launcher near Bolshoye Soldatskoye.

It "intercepted" "debris"!

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1880147927940927665

[PeteS in CA]

The Russian Military Is No Longer a ‘Conventional’ Military Threat to NATO [video]

19fortyfive.com
By Kris Osborn
16 January 2025

Key Points and Summary: The Ukraine war has dramatically diminished Russia’s conventional military threat to NATO. Reports indicate that Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks—its entire active-duty tank force—and faces significant manpower and economic challenges.

-Despite claims of advanced technologies like hypersonics and Su-57s, Russia’s limited production capacity restricts their impact, especially compared to NATO’s hundreds of F-35s.

-Precision ammunition shortages and reliance on outdated equipment further highlight Russia’s struggles.

-While nuclear threats remain a concern, the depletion of conventional forces suggests that Russia’s ability to wage large-scale land war has been significantly undermined, reshaping NATO’s strategic outlook.

(more)
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/the-russian-military-is-no-longer-a-conventional-military-threat-to-nato

A new tank or Sukhoi can be built in a matter of weeks. "Replacing" an experienced army or air force non-com or officer takes 30 or 40 years. The hardware losses are very important; the "software" losses, human beings, have much greater impact. Both countries will suffer for this war, for decades, but only Putin had imperialistic plans. Putin's reconquest plans probably got pushed out so far in time that he might not be alive to try his next reconquest.

[MeganC]

A new tank or Sukhoi can be built in a matter of weeks.

Not by Russia.

Russia can only make about 200~ new tanks per year.

https://en.defence-ua.com/industries/analyzing_russian_report_of_2100_tanks_produced_in_2023_and_wheres_the_catch_in_these_data-8511.html

At that rate it will take Russia thirty years to replace what it has lost in the past three.

[Canuck Conservative]

Putin's reconquest plans probably got pushed out so far in time that he might not be alive to try his next reconquest.

Gotta strongly disagree here, Pete

That's why Putin is rejecting all of Trump's peace proposals, because they all give Ukraine some sort of security guarantee

Putin wants Ukraine naked and helpless, so he can roll back in as soon as Trump's term is finished ... maybe even sooner ...

[Hoodat]

Russians are doing a great job of completely destroying Kursk!

(Maybe someone should tell them that's their own country? ... lol)

They consider Ukraine to be their own country, yet they've worked overtime in destroying it.  Putin doesn't care.

[PeteS in CA]

Not by Russia.

Russia can only make about 200~ new tanks per year.

https://en.defence-ua.com/industries/analyzing_russian_report_of_2100_tanks_produced_in_2023_and_wheres_the_catch_in_these_data-8511.html

At that rate it will take Russia thirty years to replace what it has lost in the past three.

200 tanks a year, 52 weeks in a year means almost 4 tanks a week. I underestimated Russia's capacity for building tanks.

[PeteS in CA]

Gotta strongly disagree here, Pete

That's why Putin is rejecting all of Trump's peace proposals, because they all give Ukraine some sort of security guarantee

Putin wants Ukraine naked and helpless, so he can roll back in as soon as Trump's term is finished ... maybe even sooner ...

With what will Putin "roll back in"? Ukraine has heavily damaged Russia's military. With 800 new-build T-80s or T-90s plus whatever he has left after 3 years of war? And in 4 years he could train 800 new tank crews? And how many planes, SAM systems would he be able to get produced and train new crews? Putin is 72YO. By the time the Russian military gets rebuilt, even if in half of MeganC's estimate, there'll probably be a new sheriff in Moscow, possibly with entirely different goals.

[DB]

Russia isn't coming back from this as a world power anytime soon. They committed suicide.

[Canuck Conservative]

By the time the Russian military gets rebuilt, even if in half of MeganC's estimate, there'll probably be a new sheriff in Moscow, possibly with entirely different goals.

You make strong points, but for Putin it's spring 1945 and he still wants to keep going, no matter what.

Obviously, Trump won't be able "to end this on Day 1", the first few weeks/months of his term will probably need him focussing on the CA disaster, before doing anything else, plus there's still a LOT of issues sort out ... IOW, several more months of war before any "peace".

All the while, Russia keeps drawing down its National Wealth Fund to make up for revenue shortfalls caused by the lost Euro energy markets.

Which will come first ... a Trump peace deal, or Russia runs out of money?

[mountaineer]

https://twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1879835140207341750

Carpe diem.

[SZonian]

https://twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1879835140207341750

Carpe diem.

[Hoodat]

Fake about the First Lady’s ski resort vacation

15.01.2025



A fake about First Lady Olena Zelenska allegedly vacationing at the St. Moritz ski resort is circulating online.

▫️ This claim, along with a video, was spread by a former Ukrainian MP.

The former MP provided no evidence to support his claim. The video he shared only shows a few unidentified individuals getting into a motorcade, with no clear indications that the First Lady or her entourage are present.

▫️ Additionally, the author of the post himself admits that this is merely an assumption.  .  .  .

https://cpd.gov.ua/en/international-threats-en/europe/fake-about-the-first-ladys-ski-resort-vacation/

[Hoodat]

Even the Russian propaganda outlets admit this is speculation:

The Parliament announced the departure of Elena Zelenskaya from Ukraine


Yesterday, 01:21

MOSCOW, January 16 — RIA Novosti. Elena, the wife of the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, was spotted at one of the Swiss ski resorts of St. Moritz, ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Igor Mosiychuk made this statement on the Telegram channel.

""War, blood, deaths... rocket attacks on Ukraine one after another… Zelensky is giving out interviews left and right in which he tells how his children, wife and family are experiencing the war in Ukraine with him," he wrote.

The video posted by Mosiychuk allegedly shows a group of people at the airport getting into a car and driving away.

Despite the fact that the Ukrainian authorities denied this information, stating that Zelensky's wife was not there, Mosiychuk promised to provide more information about the whereabouts of Elena Zelenskaya.

"Tomorrow I will tell you about the hotel and the rooms where the most magnificent stayed," he promised.  .  .  .

https://switzerland.news-pravda.com/en/switzerland/2025/01/16/977.html


Promises, promises.

[Hoodat]

Chay Bowes

Chay Bowes is an Irish businessperson, journalist and internet personality. He was a co-founder of The Ditch website. He often writes about his pro-Russian and anti-West views on his social media pages, mainly Twitter.  .  .  .

.  .  . Bowes has worked for the Russian state media network RT, and portrays the West as the antagonist in Russia's war on Ukraine. His views, aligned with Kremlin viewpoints, positions him as a key figure in disseminating pro-Russian narratives.  .  .  .

.  .  .  Bowes lives in Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chay_Bowes

[Hoodat]

More Russian lies.  Hate to see them posted here.

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1880342765663580395

Kaluga Oblast, Russia on Google Maps

Overhead image of the oil depot.

[PeteS in CA]

More Russian lies.  Hate to see them posted here.

Confirmation bias makes people credulous.

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1880399388532748293

[SZonian]

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1880399388532748293

If true, the only thing they're entitled to is a summary execution.

[Hoodat]

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1880398197413318964

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/evgen1232007/status/1880418517092298937

[Canuck Conservative]

"4 Oil depots are currently on fire"

Great air defenses you got there, Russia

/sarc

[Hoodat]

from r/UkraineWarVideoReport

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1i3vmfe/debris_of_2_russian_shahed_drones_were_found_on/

[Hoodat]

Lyudinovo

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1880387021732192757

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1880539721803219175


For those who are x.com (formerly twitter) challenged, here's the full list:


❗️After the New Year, 🇺🇦 Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones attacked an incredible number of 🇷🇺 Russian targets on the territory of the Russian Federation:

▪️ The largest Russian sea trade port in Ust-Luga, Leningrad region.
▪️ The Taneko oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Russia.
▪️ Bryansk Chemical Plant
▪️ The Saratov oil refinery.
▪️ The Russian oil depot in Engels.
▪️ Russian oil depot in Liski, Voronezh region
▪️ The Russian oil depot in Lyudinovo, Kaluga region
▪️ The Russian oil depot near Dedilovo station in the Tula region

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1880547058656202865

[Smokin Joe]

"4 Oil depots are currently on fire"

Great air defenses you got there, Russia

/sarc

I have been in the oil industry for many decades. Nothing about our production or refining infrastructure is 'hardened' for combat conditions.  It's pretty much the same everywhere, and always has been.
Think Kuwait during the Gulf War.




Even the refinery complex at Ploesti was not a hardened target--if you could get bombs on it you'd do damage. Getting them there was the trick, as the area had more 88s than Berlin for air defense. The five refineries were also joined by pipelines which could bypass one or more of the others so product would still get through as long as one complex was capable of operating.

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1880385645497270667

...the government's ban on gasoline exports...

The ruzzian government bans export of gasoline because it cannot meet internal demands.

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1880656546591559841

[FtrPilot]

[PeteS in CA]

"Ardent Russophobia"? The Holodomor and decades of culture-cide by Russia are bearing bitter fruit.

Ukraine could "cease to exist" in 2025? Doubtful. Ukrainians seem strangely determined not to be enslaved again by Russia. Putin thought he would celebrate Easter 2022 in Kyiv. 2025 looks likely to be another year he won't.

[FtrPilot]

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1880710633995542531

[Timber Rattler]

That's why Putin is having a nationwide call-up for "training" for all reserve services and auxiliaries...they won't be going home if they show up.

[Hoodat]

Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings |
@ChuckPfarrer
DEATH FOR THE WOUNDED:  @PStyle0ne1 posted a video of a wounded Russian, on crutches, sent to assault a Ukrainian position. 

Sounds like something nazis would do.  Oh wait, .  .  .

[Hoodat]

Volodymyr Tretyak 🇺🇦
@VolodyaTretyak
"Putin is the new Hitler" - Russian historian and dissident Alexander Skobov said his final words in the trial today, and I can't agree more.

Full speech:

"I was raised in the Soviet Union with the conviction that when a malicious and cruel aggressor attacks peaceful people, one must take up arms and fight. And if you cannot hold a weapon yourself, you must help those who fight and encourage others to do so.

All my publicistic activity is a call to fight the aggressor who attacked Ukraine, to support Ukraine with weapons and ammunition. I consider myself a participant in the armed resistance against the aggressor. In the missiles and shells that destroy the invaders, there is a small contribution from me. And I take responsibility for every eliminated occupier.

No one attacked Russia, no one threatened it.
It is Putin’s Nazi regime that attacked Ukraine, driven solely by the delusions of grandeur of its leaders and their inhuman lust for power over everyone around them.

They assert themselves by killing hundreds of thousands of people. They are degenerates, scum, Nazi filth.

The guilt of Putin's Nazi dictatorship in preparing, unleashing, and waging an aggressive war is obvious and needs no proof. Likewise, our right to armed resistance against the aggressor on the battlefield and in the aggressor's rear needs no justification. Indeed, it would be laughable to expect such acknowledgment from a regime that imprisons people merely for verbally condemning its aggression. All possibilities for legal protest against Putin's aggression have been eradicated.

My calls for armed resistance against the aggressor’s regime are classified under terrorism charges. I will not argue with the aggressor's authorities, even if they decide to classify my actions under charges of pedophilia. The court in Russia has long proven itself to be an appendage of Nazi tyranny, and seeking justice there is meaningless. I will never bow before these people – accomplices of murderers and scoundrels. I have nothing to discuss with them. Let the cannons speak for me.

I see no point in arguing with the dictatorship’s puppets about how faithfully they apply their laws. These are, in any case, the laws of a totalitarian state aimed at suppressing dissent. I do not recognize these laws and will not obey them.

I also will not appeal against any decisions or actions of the representatives of the Nazi regime. I do not seek mercy from my armed enemy.

The Putin dictatorship may kill me, but it cannot force me to abandon my fight against it. Wherever I may be, I will continue to call on honest Russians to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I will continue to advocate for strikes on military targets deep within Russian territory. I will call on the civilized world to inflict a strategic defeat on Nazi Russia. I will argue for the necessity of the military destruction of the regime of the new Hitler.

Putin is the new Hitler, intoxicated by impunity, a ghoul drunk on blood. And I will not tire of repeating: “Crush the serpent!”

Death to Putin, the murderer, tyrant, and scoundrel!
Death to the Russian-fascist invaders!
Glory to Ukraine!"

https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1879957734453571643

Слава Україні

[MeganC]

That's why Putin is having a nationwide call-up for "training" for all reserve services and auxiliaries...they won't be going home if they show up.

Putin is likely planning a February offensive. It's a Russian tradition.

[MeganC]

Volodymyr Tretyak 🇺🇦
@VolodyaTretyak
"Putin is the new Hitler" - Russian historian and dissident Alexander Skobov said his final words in the trial today, and I can't agree more.

Full speech:

"I was raised in the Soviet Union with the conviction that when a malicious and cruel aggressor attacks peaceful people, one must take up arms and fight. And if you cannot hold a weapon yourself, you must help those who fight and encourage others to do so.

All my publicistic activity is a call to fight the aggressor who attacked Ukraine, to support Ukraine with weapons and ammunition. I consider myself a participant in the armed resistance against the aggressor. In the missiles and shells that destroy the invaders, there is a small contribution from me. And I take responsibility for every eliminated occupier.

No one attacked Russia, no one threatened it.
It is Putin’s Nazi regime that attacked Ukraine, driven solely by the delusions of grandeur of its leaders and their inhuman lust for power over everyone around them.

They assert themselves by killing hundreds of thousands of people. They are degenerates, scum, Nazi filth.

The guilt of Putin's Nazi dictatorship in preparing, unleashing, and waging an aggressive war is obvious and needs no proof. Likewise, our right to armed resistance against the aggressor on the battlefield and in the aggressor's rear needs no justification. Indeed, it would be laughable to expect such acknowledgment from a regime that imprisons people merely for verbally condemning its aggression. All possibilities for legal protest against Putin's aggression have been eradicated.

My calls for armed resistance against the aggressor’s regime are classified under terrorism charges. I will not argue with the aggressor's authorities, even if they decide to classify my actions under charges of pedophilia. The court in Russia has long proven itself to be an appendage of Nazi tyranny, and seeking justice there is meaningless. I will never bow before these people – accomplices of murderers and scoundrels. I have nothing to discuss with them. Let the cannons speak for me.

I see no point in arguing with the dictatorship’s puppets about how faithfully they apply their laws. These are, in any case, the laws of a totalitarian state aimed at suppressing dissent. I do not recognize these laws and will not obey them.

I also will not appeal against any decisions or actions of the representatives of the Nazi regime. I do not seek mercy from my armed enemy.

The Putin dictatorship may kill me, but it cannot force me to abandon my fight against it. Wherever I may be, I will continue to call on honest Russians to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I will continue to advocate for strikes on military targets deep within Russian territory. I will call on the civilized world to inflict a strategic defeat on Nazi Russia. I will argue for the necessity of the military destruction of the regime of the new Hitler.

Putin is the new Hitler, intoxicated by impunity, a ghoul drunk on blood. And I will not tire of repeating: “Crush the serpent!”

Death to Putin, the murderer, tyrant, and scoundrel!
Death to the Russian-fascist invaders!
Glory to Ukraine!"

https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/1879957734453571643

Слава Україні

This is what courage looks like. 

[Hoodat]

African troops 'forced to Ukraine frontlines' while Russians stay in camp

A large number of Africans have joined the Russian army since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While some have voluntarily taken up arms via private companies under contract with the Kremlin, others were lured by false promises. One Cameroonian, who thought he was going to Russia to work as a caretaker, reveals the extent of this human trafficking.

17/01/2025 - 18:17

"Tomorrow, they want us to go on a suicide mission. I'm going to drop the gun so I don't have to go. I'll probably be tortured and sent to prison, but I'd rather save my life."

This was one of the last messages Samuel (first name changed) sent RFI, in mid-December.

A few weeks earlier, when we first made contact with him, he was in the infirmary of his unit's camp in a region of eastern Ukraine, which we will not specify for security reasons. He was suffering yet another injury, having recently also been treated in a military hospital for a serious arm wound, following a drone attack.

But, Samuel told us: "Here, as soon as we can walk, they send us to the front. And the Africans are on the front line. The Russians stay in the camp, sending the blacks and internationals to the front to occupy and advance. But every time we win, there's a cost, especially the mines, which decimate us."

‘A trip to the valley of the shadow of death'

Samuel's story began in May 2024. Trained as a scientist and having worked for the Ministry of Lands, Cadastre and Land Affairs in Cameroon, he received a call from one of his friends  .  .  .

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250117-african-troops-forced-to-ukraine-frontlines-while-russians-stay-in-camp

[Hoodat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-91cOA7OU

[Canuck Conservative]

Putin is the new Hitler, intoxicated by impunity, a ghoul drunk on blood.

Great post Megan, thanks

I suspect a LOT of Russians would love to see Putin gone ... hey, only takes "one good guy with a gun", right?

[MeganC]

I suspect a LOT of Russians would love to see Putin gone ... hey, only takes "one good guy with a gun", right?

There will need to be a lot of good guys in Russia to kill all the bad guys who need killing.

Forgive me if I believe the number of good Russian men could be numbered only in double digits.

[DB]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-91cOA7OU

Really scary future arriving very fast.

[jafo2010]

Trump will become POTUS in just over one day.

HE WILL NOT END THIS WAR IN 24 HOURS AS PROMISED.  2025 maybe, but I doubt that.  Something not right about Putin mentally.  Makes it hard for Trump to negotiate with a man not all there.