[Werthead]

The Russian southwards counterattack in the Koronevo area of Kursk seems to have made some ground, but at the rather dubious expense of placing the Russians at extreme risk of being encircled as Ukrainian counterattacking thrusts to the NW and NW have started swinging towards one another. Possibly thousands of Russian soldiers are at risk of encirclement. Impressively dumb positioning.

Insanely Meta has only just agreed to block the activities of Russian state media, including RT, on all its platforms.

Russian forces on the ground have acknowledged the counter-offensive in Kursk has shifted from its objective of retaking lost ground to stopping the Ukrainians taking more ground, and the prospects for doing that are not good, especially in the Glushkovo area.

The months-long battle for northern Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast seems to be drawing to a close. Russian forces have withdrawn from the industrial plant that they had turned into a fortress and now their own artillery is levelling the plant to try to stop it being used as a defensive redoubt or base by Ukrainian forces. Russia has spent months building a new defensive line further north, so Russian forces may retreat to that line to create a new stable (?) front inside the borders of Kharkiv Oblast. Although given this is only a few kilometres inside the border (less than 5km along much of its length, maybe closer to 2km in places), the Russian military may ask if this adventure was really worth the lives of thousands of Russian troops. However, to the west the Russians have managed to retake parts of Hlyboke.

Russia has also redoubled efforts to attack Chasiv Yar, at least their third major attack this year. They managed to briefly cross the canal zone to the south-east of the city but were repulsed. The Russians claim they have established a bridgehead on the west side of the canal zone, which would be a significant move if so.

The Wall Street Journal estimates that casualties in the war have reached 1 million. They believe 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed (which would be at the high end of most estimates), 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been wounded, over 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and around 400,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded. They seem to be hesitant about the numbers of Ukrainian civilians killed, which some estimates believe exceeds 50,000.

Engles Airbase has been hit by Ukrainian damage. Significant fires and explosions, full extent of the damage unclear.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Azath Vitr (D, on 16 September 2024 - 01:33 PM, said:

I'm a bit surprised the Kremlin isn't trying to claim he was a Ukrainian agent, or that Ukraine is trying to assassinate Trump. Wonder if anyone's been saying that on Russian state television or social media...

Here we go:

Quote

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev tweeted Monday morning, "I wonder what would happen if it turned out that the failed new Trump shooter Routh, who recruited mercenaries for the Ukrainian army, was himself hired by the neo-nazi regime in Kiev for this assassination attempt?"

[...] "This guy used to hang around St. Michael's Square in front of the Intercontinental, where all the reporters stayed in Kyiv. So, a lot of reporters interviewed him. He made himself distinctive by wearing a bandanna with an American flag on it. He put up a sign saying 'Join the International Legion.'

Spoiler

But he had nothing to do with the legion." [... "]He was promising people to put them in the legion, but there's no way he could have recruited them."

[...] The legion was set up and run by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. "Vetting was very elaborate, [...] You needed to have military experience [..."] The process was tight[...] "because there was a lot of concern about Russian infiltration."

[...] Edward Snowden, [...] who fled to Moscow after leaking extremely classified documents, tweeted, "We know little so far, but w[ith] alleged Trump shooter's personal and public participation in military activity in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine this White House's agencies can claim zero contact—'clean hands.' Something of [a Lee Harvey] Oswald vibe here. Congress should get answers."

No, Trump's Would-Be Assassin Is Not an Agent for Ukraine ... was considered a "crazy crusader" and a crank by those who knew him in Kyiv

Seems like Trump/MAGA (and Alex Jones) would rather try to blame the Democrats / US "deep state" (Alex Jones claiming he was a "NATO/CIA asset")...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 17 September 2024 - 08:58 PM

[worry]

Werthead, on 17 September 2024 - 07:43 PM, said:

The Wall Street Journal estimates that casualties in the war have reached 1 million. They believe 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed (which would be at the high end of most estimates), 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been wounded, over 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and around 400,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded. They seem to be hesitant about the numbers of Ukrainian civilians killed, which some estimates believe exceeds 50,000.

Jeeeeez that is grim. I know it's over-simple to chalk it up to 'one man's ego' but to a certain degree at least it kind of is.

[Werthead]

Ukrainina drones have hit a major Russian ammunition storage facility in Toropets, west of Moscow. The resulting explosion might be the single biggest blast of the war to date. Hours later, ammunition is still detonating. International earthquake monitoring stations initially reported an earthquake in the area. Potentially 30,000 tons of explosives, missiles and ammunition were destroyed, or roughly twice as much explosive as that used on Hiroshima. However, these explosives were spread out over a much bigger area and did not all go up at once.

S-300, S-400 and Iskander missiles were all destroyed in the explosion. It's unknown if any launch systems were stored there.

France has agreed to deliver Mirage-2000 jets, with the first potentially to arrive in Ukraine later this year.

Armenia has said that continued membership of the CSTO creates existential threats to Armenia's sovreignty. It will instead seek closer cooperation with the EU, USA and Georgia, and improve relations with Turkey.

Russian advances in Kursk have apparently halted due to the risk of encirclement by Ukrainian forces.

[Werthead]

In the single greatest sentence written to date about the conflict:

Kadyrov says Musk deactivated his Cybertruck.

I have broken out a violin which is exactly 1 Planck unit in length.

Russia has a bombed a nursing home for the elderly in Sumy. It is unclear why.

Ukraine is using ground drones which have the capability to run over mines without setting them off, painting their location for other Ukrainian forces to destroy them.

Ukraine is improving its telemetry to control drones, and can now operate them through fairly dense tree cover, relying on their AI to take over if the signal gets spotty.

Residents in the Kursk region can still get Russian TV and are agog at suggestions that the Russian military should obliterate every town and village captured by Ukraine. "They know we're still living here?"

Analysis of the Toropets explosion suggests 40 buildings have been levelled, between 15 and 25 of the 42 storage bunkers have been obliterated, and roughly 80% of the facility is out of commission. Even in the bits still standing, the temperatures and blast damage have likely rendered remaining explosive material unstable and dangerous.

European countries have been buying Indian artillery rounds for over a year and then immediately sending on the shells to Ukraine. According to India, what customers do with their shells after they buy them is not their concern.

Unconfirmed report that an ICOM V82 radio identical to the ones that exploded in Lebanon blew up in Moscow yesterday, suggesting at least one sabotaged communications device made its way into Russia.