Putin, arse, elbow

Looks like Russia is heading for Slovyansk and then maybe Kramatorsk. The 2 remaining sizeable place in the Donetsk area. Populations ~20,000 and ~150,000. Maybe they will try and cut the bigger place off.

Shelling as usual first so evacuations started from Slovyansk. Sound like shelling may be heavier than usual.
 
It seems Putin has announced the end of his pause. More missile strikes and some signs of what Ukraine are doing with western weapons. There actions in the south mentioned in the following sound to be a good chance of reporting a success - it mentions the missile accuracy issues though. They may state say 5m but that is expected for one of them out of 10. Same with shells etc.

His rambling run down is worth listening too - were things are generally.

Some poly's have been sacked. Zelenskyy says he found 650 instances of treason. A problem I have sort of expected as there is a significant minority of Russian supporters. They have done their best to clear cities of them. It can't be easy to find all of them and early reports suggested rather a lot of them.

His earlier videos mention the destruction of a few western weapons - I didn't note details. The range of M777 depends on the shells used. He may have ignored that. Looks to me like the tow vehicle can carry shells to me. What a surprise. Shown on BBC in action also mentioning fire a few and then move to avoid counterstrikes. That has cropped up before.

One of Zelenskyy's worries was Ukraine dropping out of western news. It still crops up at times but not as much as it did.
 
Guterres has finally sorted grain a fertiliser shipments from Ukraine and Russia. About time but seems it will take a couple of months to clear Ukraine's backlog and nothing is expected for a few weeks - ships have to pass through channels in mine fields. No mention of clearing only that Ukraine knows where they are. USA is saying what's going on as there has never been any attempt to block Russian food exports which may have included fertiliser as very related.

There is a feeling that the mention of channels may put shippers off but Greece did say earlier that they would provide ships. Might rest on what insurers feel.

I'm saying nothing about what has been holding this area up other than it's very similar to what Russia suggested ages ago other than Turkey monitoring.
 
To see how serious Putin is to restore the shipment of Ukraine grain, the UN should sponsor western minesweeper vessels to sweep safe channels. Royal Navy sweepers could do the job in a matter of days. once on station. Putin would not threaten any vessel operating under the UN flag......would he?
 
Ukraine doesn't want much swept. Minesweepers as escorts might make sense but Russia wouldn't allow it.

The grain agreement is meaningless paper. The port of Odessa was struck with multiple missiles just hours after it was agreed.
 
More Russian missile attacks on Odessa this morning

That agreement not to attack the port did not last long

All very predictable tbh ( Russians )

Spit in the face for the UN Secretary General
 
Doug99 said:
To see how serious Putin is to restore the shipment of Ukraine grain, the UN should sponsor western minesweeper vessels to sweep safe channels. Royal Navy sweepers could do the job in a matter of days. once on station. Putin would not threaten any vessel operating under the UN flag......would he?
Click to expand...
Ukraine wasn't happy about mine sweeping as they feel Russia would use the channel to attack. As set up if anyone did it Turkey would be involved.

The BBC report on the deal ended by showing a mine that had washed up on a Ukraine beach.:eek:

The serious reporters are a bit mystified by the missile strikes. Russia is saying they will investigate - a rather unusual response from them.
 
The Russians will attempt to blame some one else

Agreement is pretty much down the toilet

Putin does not want this wheat on the market

If it go’s ahead he will create a bottle neck making it extremley difficult to get large quantities out

And than blame others
 
The Russians have admitted it. Aimed at a naval vessel. Reports say not much damage.

Maybe strong words will be directed at some one. I have thought all along that Russia wont have much interest in starving millions in areas where they still have some influence. Maybe that view is too logical but Ukraine has been making use of Russia preventing grain shipments which they have but if grain is shipped they can no longer say that. Zelenskyy - go away Russia and grain will ship when the UN said they were going to try and sort shipping out. There is no way that could be a solution.

So Ukraine and the west can now say can't trust Russia so in my view a pretty stupid thing for them to do.
 
Ukraine is starting to go on the offensive in Kherson. HIMARS is being used to take out Russian amunition depots and other high value targets.

The Russians are relatively light there but have been digging in so it'll be interesting seeing how the offensive goes.
 
Going on critical threats Ukraine is not going to be releasing much info on what is happening ~Kherson
Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Administration Adviser Serhiy Khlan stated on July 23 that Ukrainian forces have seized unspecified settlements in Kherson Oblast but called on Ukrainian civilians to remain silent on the progress of the counteroffensive until Ukrainian authorities release official statements.

War In Ukraine is more revealing and some has been backed up in the news. They are using HIMARS to take out bridges that Russia needs to use to supply their front line troops in this area. There were reports that Russia was well dug in there a while ago. The bridges are damaged but usable to some extent. He did report that they were working on repairing them. He now reckons that Russia will fall back behind the main waterway in the area, maybe blowing these bridges up completely. That then leaves a dam. Bit of a tidal wave if that is blown up and it may be easy to defend. Tidal wave thought to cause casualties.

As the USA doesn't follow the cluster munitions use conventions many of the HIMAR rockets available carry them. There are also HE variants. I can't find any info on their speed and wondered how Russian antimissile stuff would cope. The HIMARS sound like they have similar guidance to the type that GRAV's can have.

Russia is expected to do something or the other in a couple of weeks.
 
Seen the aftermath of an attack on a bridge using HIMARS, i think it was more of a show of accuracy, and a warning for russia to retreat across the river, as the 7 missiles went straight through the bridge, but in a perfect line and evenly spread out, from more than 30 miles away, and the GRADS are not comparable to HIMARS as they are not guided.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1550941994591068160
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

JohnD
Putin's war
2 3 4
Replies
55
Views
5K
transam
T
JohnD
Another critic of Mr Putin shot dead
Replies
11
Views
2K
mark vincent
M
Odds
1,300 Days
2
Replies
27
Views
899
Knave of Hearts
K
Odds
War Machine
20 21 22
Replies
328
Views
20K
Odds
Odds
fillyboy
UK to the rescue again
Replies
14
Views
1K
sxturbo
S
Back
Top