Ukraine hit an oil terminal in Feodosia in eastern Crimea. It initially turned the very expensive contents of two oil tanks into worthless black smoke and according to reports the fire has now spread to other tanks.
The infamous DesertCross "golf carts" are disappearing from the front for some reason. While there were usually around 70 videos of destroyed carts per month last summer, it's been dropping fast and last month there was only 4. They bought a thousand last winter - I don't think they were all blown up. But who knows.
The Russian coal industry is nearing collapse.They can't compete internationally because of sanctions and shipping costs. Most importantly, China has an import duty on Russian coal while they have free-trade agreements with Australia and other exporting nations. https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2024/10/...ossii-nachala-rushitsya-dobicha-uglya-a144209 But internal use can't make up for external losses, and in fact will have to go down as well, as I will summarize from a Twitter thread on the subject: Basically, the Russian railroad system, a government controlled monopoly, has been poorly run even before the invasion and had severely cut investing in maintenance and new equipment. Every year they carry less and less stuff, and the war just accelerated the problems. Coal is only economically viable if carried by train overland, and if there are not enough trains the mines have to shut down, which they are doing now. So even if there is demand and there is supply, the two can't meet and everyone suffers. But next year's federal budget depends on the amount of coal being mined to go up. They also want to tax coal more, and the railroad has already said their prices are going up. Looks like everyone is going to be disappointed.
Also impacting Russia's budget.. In order to pay for the budget last year, the Russian government seized all of the profits from the agriculture industry. As spejic noted previously, this year has been a bad year for Russian agriculture and they are not only not going to turn a profit, but are going to lose money. As a result, the government won't be able to seize any money from the agriculture industry like last year.
According to this thread, Ukraine needs to start assassinating as many battalion chief of staffs as possible. According to the thread (and the sources on Telegram), the battalion chief of staff is responsible for processing the battalion's losses and requesting replacement material. This is all done by hand, first by the highest ranking non-commissioned officer who is responsible for documenting the equipment usage in any assaults, and then by the battalion chief of staff that compiles all of the non-comms reports into a single report that is sent up the chain and used to record losses and what needs to be replaced. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1843714193800999386.html
S. Korean officials have confirmed that N. Korean soldiers are in Ukraine assisting the Russians and that there have been casualties. They obviously aren't in large numbers, but that it is highly likely that additional N. Korean troops will be deployed to Ukraine. https://www.politico.eu/article/nor...ting-in-ukraine-seouls-defense-minister-says/
South Koreans may yet turn out to be strong allies in terms of intelligence for Ukrainians as far as North Korean aid to Russia is concerned. And it goes beyond linguistic familiarity but also better knowledge of north Korean military and command structure, etc.
And that might not be the worst of it. From the way Russia is aiming their tariffs, they seem to expect shortages. The bad weather hasn't lessened either. There is a drought going on now, right when winter wheat is supposed to be planted. The farmers are saying they are throwing the seeds onto bone dry fields and hoping rains come later.
Someone did a documentary on Russia's terror attacks in Kherson where they are using FPVs to target civilians. Not only are they indiscriminately killing people going about their business outdoors, but they are killing them inside their apartments where they'll use one FPV to blow a hole in the apartment wall, then use a second to kill the people inside the apartment. Kherson is a living NIGHTMARE I just went to a city in Ukraine where the Russians have been killing civilians with POV drones constantly and it’s getting worseWhat I saw was shocking. The locals told me the only thing protecting them is the leaves 🍃 on the trees and now, the… pic.twitter.com/v7H6ZGmJOt— Caolan (@CaolanRob) October 8, 2024
Early in the morning, Ukrainian drone was dutifully shot down by Russian AA and ignited an entire ammo dump in Karachev (Bryansk Oblast) It was bound to happen and now it did. The 67th GRAU arsenal in Karachev, Bryansk region, in Russia has been struck. Countless of secondary explosions can be heard.This major Russian ammunition site is only around 120 km (70 miles) from the Ukrainian border. pic.twitter.com/ZSn5WiJms4— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) October 9, 2024
This is how you have to handle world fascists. Ridicule, marginalize, kick em in the balls. Props to the German guy here I told Viktor Orbán that he is the useful idiot of Russia and China. He was not amused: pic.twitter.com/bGiJGoiQPI— Moritz Körner (@moritzkoerner) October 9, 2024
More nut kicking of this louse who's loved by Putey & Donnie Another European Parliament member calls for the arrest of Putin's dog, Victor Orban. pic.twitter.com/1xxD3AfCUU— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) October 9, 2024
The Ukrainian Navy (that means Neptune missiles) destroyed a store site for Shaheed drones in Yeysk in Krasnodar oblast. They said there were around 400 drones in there.
A tick list of a few of the things that the world has learned about the reality of Russian hardware and Western intelligence on that hardware. The mighty Russia and its WunderwaffeSince February 2022, the world has learned/watched:🤷🏼♂️T-14 Armata MBT essentially canceled after failing extremely limited combat testing 🤷🏼♂️Ratnik-3 Combat Protection Suit doesn't exist and never will🤷🏼♂️Su-57 is not stealth and production…— Malcontent News (@MalcontentmentT) October 9, 2024
Russia released a video of what it claims is an Iskander attack on a Patriot battery. The battery is pretty spread out, so it looks like only one component was potentially hit by the missile. There also isn't a secondary explosion or cook-offs, so if something was hit, it likely wasn't a launcher. Russian MoD video showing Iskander-M strikes on a Ukrainian air defense system (Patriot as claimed by Russia). Unclear how much damage was caused. https://t.co/1Kh1rSPzPM pic.twitter.com/MPTM6OWvZb— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 9, 2024
Reliable sources say it was a Patriot battery and that a radar was damaged, but no casualties among the crew, but definitely no absolute confirmation.
Russia banned Discord earlier today and it is being wildly panned by Russian milbloggers. Much in the way that Russian soldiers were using Telegram to coordinate attacks and communicate, they were using Discord fir the same purpose since Telegram was banned. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1844095103608160318.html
Gsus, September deadliest month for Russia in the war with 1271 casualties and wounded soldiers A DAY Since the war started Russia lost over 650,000 soldiers according to the British MoD. That means about a million babies less in a society with already devastating birth numbers compared to the west.
Russian natural gas still flows through Ukraine to Europe, mostly Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria. There is a contract in place, and contracts are more powerful than war. But the contract is up at the end of 2024, and Ukraine has just said they will let it lapse and not sign a new one. Austria has lots of reserves and the ability and willingness to get gas from other places. The Russian-leaning governments of Hungary and Slovakia are going to suffer, however. I should say people - the governments are going to be fine.
The D-74 is a 122mm field gun that was designed in the Soviet Union in the late 1940's and entered service in the mid 1950's. It had very good range, but was bettered by the equally new 130mm M-46 and the subsequent switch to base most Soviet artillery on the 152mm standard meant the D-74 didn't stay in service long. It was exported heavily, and there were probably zero of these anywhere in Russia at the start of the Ukraine invasion. So why are videos of Russians using the D-74 starting to appear? The best guess is they were bought from North Korea who have a large number of the unique shells these guns use. Russia has to use what North Korea has in stock, and beggars can't be choosers.