New joke: Putin wakes up in the middle of the night and becomes aware of a ghostly presence in the room, which he recognizes as the ghost of Joseph Stalin who addresses him: "so, my heir, how are things going? Is Mother Russia building its glory?" "Sadly no" Putin answers. "The Nazis are in front of Kursk again and I don't know what to do. I could do with some advice." "Isn't it obvious?" says Stalin. "Send our Ukrainian divisions to the front and demand more weapons and ammunitions from the Americas."
Ukraine is hitting airfields all over Russia. If Ukraine can achieve air parity or (we can dream) superiority it will be a tremendous success. Meanwhile some analysts point out that the new offensive was mostly because the West did not allow long range missile attacks in to Russian territory. "Ukraine has launched what it described as the war’s largest drone attack on Russian airfields as Kyiv’s forces are facing increased resistance nine days into their daring incursion into Russia."LINK:https://t.co/1C87xooG11 pic.twitter.com/ET6KiBE2nD— Jeff P 🇺🇦 (@JP1958S) August 14, 2024
This was not in my bingo card but here we are. Ukraine deploying British-made robot dogs. Modern warfare Ukraine 2024 pic.twitter.com/PEP1nGipn0— WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@WarMonitor3) August 14, 2024
Very informative interview of exiled Russian analyst and youtuber Konstantin Samoilov In a nutshell he says that handing control of the Kursk defense to the FSB is an indicator that Putin is huge political danger. Meanwhile military commentators are saying that FSB is not prepared at all to handle Kursk operations given that they are pulling inexperienced units from multiple units and fronts.
Just a rumor at this point, but a very juicy one. The Ukrainian offensive was approaching the town of Lgov, but the Russian 138th Brigade were deployed to defend it. The 138th is now reporting on Telegram that Ukraine has conducted a large-scale helicopter landing behind the lines, bringing a brigade with special forces.
That would mean Ukraine controls two of the main roads directly leading to Kursk and are less than 100km from Kursk city centre...that seems implausible (or at least, the name of the town is wrong).
if they are really trying to develop a mobile breakout i hope Joe sends whatever he has. put 100s of bradley on a ship today please. and a shit tonne of missiles.
Some Ukrainian lads went for a stroll in Kursk and cams across this poor, abandoned creature in a lane, completely forgotten about by its owners. Still, we can be sure the Ukrainians will give it a loving forever home. Some fuel and ammo - I'm sorry, food and water - and he'll be back on his feet in no time Just a few Ukrainian lads on a walk in Kursk, stumbling across a lonely T-80 MBT abandoned by its previous owners and then rehoming it pic.twitter.com/qpT7gnwtbi— Artoir (@ItsArtoir) August 15, 2024 Sarcasm aside, this isn't the first T-80 to have been captured, completely intact, in this operation and there's also photographic evidence of a captured T-90 M (uparmoured, new fire control system, upgraded engine and transmission, etc.) in operation the distinctive white triangle Ukrainian tactical marking. Russia can only produce those in artisanal numbers of a half-dozen per month for $4.5 million each at pre-war prices. With sanctions and inflation, it's probably closer to $5.5 million now, unless they compromise on the fire control system. Unit cohesion has never been a Russian strength, but this is astonishingly bad. The Ukrainians wouldn't be able to hold Kursk city - the logistics lines would be too long and too exposed to bombing anyway - but if this is anyway reflective of the overall state of Russian forces, I think they might actually be able to take the damned place.
Ukraine has captured Sudzha https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-...rsk-incursion-war-putin-live-updates-12541713
I'm seeing multiple sources saying that the Russian railway system is showing signs of stress and even collapsing around the Ukrainian border. Leaked audio from Russian Railways 🚨 Russia: Leaked audio of Russian Railways Deputy Managing Director Sergey Kobzev in a meeting with his subordinates in which he threatens them with execution by firing squad if they fail him.He says the Russian rail network is on the precipice of total collapse - 4 days away. https://t.co/UFvrKS2Fxf pic.twitter.com/uStPQitIUN— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) August 6, 2024 , comments in Belarus Railways Workers Community Russian Railways have faced a transport collapse in regions bordering Ukraine and Belarus following Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk region 🙌🏼 https://t.co/CPhGIU8tqd— Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 (@OlgaNYC1211) August 14, 2024 and Interesting: https://t.co/zSuywtqZqB pic.twitter.com/xgJhf5YfN4— Thord Are Iversen (@The_Lookout_N) August 14, 2024
There are a lot of signs that the Russian defense is not going well. A full company captured at their own outpost. Very well fortified with expansive underground section. The underground part of where Ukraine 🇺🇦 captured 102 Russian soldiers inside of Kursk, Russia.👉 Russia is abandoning very well fortified structures…. Morale must be in the gutter. pic.twitter.com/b1ywXb1L05— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) August 15, 2024
Ukraine is trying to derail Russia. That shouldn't be in question. The question is how successful are they. The Community of Railway Workers of Belarus is an actual X account and website so that much rings true. That said, Russia has a reputation for top-notch railway logistics, repairs and management.
Don't get me wrong I want it to be true, and the best logistics team in the world isnt worth shit if all the engineers are dead in a hole in Avdiivka. But I very much doubt the system will collapse before other transit modes do.
I think the extant of the debunk was that probably the entire system wasn't collapsing and probably they weren't going to execute struggling workers. What is probably accurate is that the system in struggling in areas bordering Belarus and Ukraine.
Yeah, actually they are forbidden to participate in war.... that is why Russia is making them sign contracts so they can participate .
This was an FSB base, although I don't know who was using it at the time of capture. Further investigation of it led to a section with rooms containing piles of dead Russian soldiers. Speaking of capture, Ukraine is going house-to-house in Sudzha and they found three Kadyrovites bravely hiding in a basement.
A Russian Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in Russia. Going by the massive explosion, it was carrying missiles meant for Ukraine at the time.