Russia has begun a full-scale invasion in Ukraine [READ STAFF POSTS]

Fxp · Apr 25, 2024

BringBackSonics said:
man the Poland news about sending back Ukranian men back to Ukraine, is generating some interesting discussion

Yeah, those brave Ukrainian men man who escaped from conscription to EU and singing "PUTIN HUILO" when attending local football matches :)

Greenpaint · Apr 25, 2024

The thing about Russia's soldiers is that Russia isn't only sourcing soldiers from their own population, but from foreign sources too.

Cuba exposes Russian human trafficking ring for military recruitment

Traffickers target Cuban citizens to recruit them for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

www.politico.eu

The Cuban government has exposed a Russian trafficking operation used to lure Cubans into the war against Ukraine, Cuban authorities announced Monday.

"The Ministry of the Interior has detected and is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network operating from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine," the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/10/asia/nepal-fighters-russia-ukraine-families-intl-cmd/index.html

He is one of as many as 15,000 Nepali men to have joined the Russian military, multiple sources have told CNN, after the Russian government last year announced a lucrative package for foreign fighters to join the country's military.

The package included at least $2,000 salary a month and a fast-tracked process to obtain a Russian passport. Nepal's passport is ranked one of the worst in the world for global mobility, below North Korea, according to an index created by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, and the Himalayan nation is among the world's poorest, with a per capita GDP of $1,336 for 2022, according to World Bank data.

They were promised jobs in Russia. They ended up fighting in Ukraine.

Frustrated families of Indian migrant workers forced to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine say they feel they have no choice but to travel there to get their loved ones back.

www.nbcnews.com

SRINAGAR, India — Across India, families are hearing similar stories from men who went abroad in search of work: They were lured to Russia with promises of jobs as cooks or housekeepers, only to find themselves forced to fight alongside the Russian military in its war against Ukraine.

These are just some of the stories I've found. We shouldn't assume Russia is going to run out of manpower, because poor and unprivileged people from around the world are being fed to fight in the war on Russia's side. 15 000 soldiers from Nepal, that alone is 10% of a "150 000 person mobilization". With this forced drafting of foreigners, Russia has potential pool of soldiers in the millions, assuming equipment for them is found.

maabus1999 · Apr 25, 2024

Greenpaint said:
The thing about Russia's soldiers is that Russia isn't only sourcing soldiers from their own population, but from foreign sources too.

Cuba exposes Russian human trafficking ring for military recruitment

Traffickers target Cuban citizens to recruit them for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

www.politico.eu

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/10/asia/nepal-fighters-russia-ukraine-families-intl-cmd/index.html

They were promised jobs in Russia. They ended up fighting in Ukraine.

Frustrated families of Indian migrant workers forced to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine say they feel they have no choice but to travel there to get their loved ones back.

www.nbcnews.com

These are just some of the stories I've found. We shouldn't assume Russia is going to run out of manpower, because poor and unprivileged people from around the world are being fed to fight in the war on Russia's side. 15 000 soldiers from Nepal, that alone is 10% of a "150 000 person mobilization".

Should be important to keep pointing out a lot of foreign fighter conscription can be considered human trafficking as well, as some are forced into service under false pretenses of getting work in Russia as the article mentions. Just another war crime to add to the pile.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

Long video of a Russian armored assault on Krasnohorivka. The lead tank with the large shelter was left behind after its mine-roller reportedly got stuck but the other tanks and BMP/MT-LB continued the assault.

It looks as though some of the other tanks/vehicles may have been lost but others continued despite strikes by mines, FPVs, or other munitions.

View: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1783548394260111412

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

Two Russian servicemen have been detained in the occupied Kherson Region: they killed 5 people

Among those killed were two Russian military officers, two civilians and a collaborator Lyubov Tymchak, who headed the village of Abrikosovka under the Russian occupation. It is assumed that the occupiers could have committed the mass murder in a state of alcoholic intoxication.

View: https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1783551693730316419

Pankratous · Apr 25, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
View: https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1783551693730316419

Good news about the dead officers and collaborator.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1783559787914866883

I know people are laughing at this, but I don't think it is a crazy adaptation. The Russians are adapting to the particular conditions of the battlefield in which Ukraine has a lot of FPVs, but not enough ATGMs, anti-tank mines, and artillery. So sacrificing observation and the ability to rotate the turret on one tank per platoon that can jam many FPVs frequencies at once makes sense. The priority is to get infantry assault groups across open fields to buildings or defensive positions.

Same with the use of motorcycles or ATVs. Both sides always have Mavic or similar UAVs scanning the horizon. They will notice dust clouds first. That means they are more likely to identify a tracked armored vehicle on the the move sooner. Using a motorcycle or ATV means you can get to the FLOT faster before FPVs or artillery can be called in, which could compensate for the lack of protection. It doesn't mean these are safe options, just that they may be comparatively less risky than the alternatives.

View: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1783572459037319536

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/x1skv/status/1783571390630670599

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

unsolvable puzzle

Putin said that Russia's labor shortage should not be solved via migrant work but via other means. Which is weird given how it has historically been solved exactly via migrant workers.

https://twitter.com/delfoo/status/1783571137156280694

oibboddl · Apr 25, 2024

maabus1999 said:
I personally think analysis like this isn't super helpful, especially in trying to compare. Things that drastically change any of these numbers is:

...

4.) Not all total aid values are probably accurate due to a variety of reasons

Especially when considering the reports of recent days and weeks, according to which some countries, for strategic reasons, do not even make the delivered systems public or do not specify them in more detail, as the USA has done with the long range ATACMS or as is rumored about some deliveries by the French.

For me personally, the lack of clarity is simply far too great for any meaningful comparison to be made.

Everyday Math · Apr 25, 2024

View: https://x.com/laraseligman/status/1783601050613670362?s=46&t=zmlNC97WauosZt7jmwO0Ag

The package, which could be finalized and announced as soon as Friday, will dip into the $61 billion in Ukraine funding signed into law by President Joe Biden on Wednesday. It would include Patriot air defense systems, artillery ammunition, drones, counter-drone weapons, and air-to-air missiles to be fitted on fighter planes, according to one of the officials and a third person familiar with the planning.

The equipment likely won't arrive in Ukraine for several years, as the money is being allocated under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which issues contracts to American defense firms to build new equipment for Ukraine, as opposed to drawing from current U.S. stocks.

Baobab · Apr 25, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
View: https://twitter.com/x1skv/status/1783571390630670599

I hope those Indian companies get cut from the financial markets In USA and EU.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

Back in Stock? The State of Russia's Defense Industry after Two Years of the War

Two years into the war, Russia’s prospects have improved. By tapping into its Cold War–era stockpiles, Russia has ramped up domestic arms production. It has also solidified ties with China, Iran, and North Korea, importing dual-use goods and weapons from these countries.

www.csis.org

https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2024-04/240419_Snegovaya_Backin_Stock.pdf

While Russia has also invested in the production of modern tanks, ammunition, and EW systems, CSIS research has revealed Moscow is not self-sufficient and relies on partners such as Iran and North Korea to field enough of these weapons on the battlefield. The analysis has also shown that while Russia indeed improved its domestic arms production capacity in 2023 compared to 2022, it has nonetheless continued to tap into its Soviet-era stockpiles by, for instance, refurbishing and sending its 60- and 70-year-old tanks to Ukraine. Overall, last year saw Russia transition into a long war of attrition while increasingly shifting to low-cost and lower-quality weapons systems.

By the Russian military's own assessments, one in five of Russia's munitions stocks are unsafe due to their age and poor condition despite being routinely fired at Ukraine.

Overall, the stress on Russian defense industrial enterprises is starting to become public, even as the Kremlin tries to put the most positive spin on the country's economic performance. In a February 2024 communication intercepted by anti-Russian hackers, Dmitry Fadeev, CEO of the Murom Machine-Building Plant, complained that inflation and the shortcomings of Russia's bureaucratic approach prevent plants that form the country's military industrial complex from fulfilling government orders. Further, he said that plants are forced to sell their goods at prices set in 2019 but are at the same time expected to purchase inputs at market prices and in advance. He added that the money received from the government was not enough to cover the interest on the credit his firm would need to take out to pay its suppliers, and this money is tied up until the completion of the government contracts, which normally last three to five years.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine reinforced the preexisting long-term demographic crisis in Russia. The total number of emigrants since 2022 is estimated at between 817,000 and 922,000 individuals, many of whom are young, well educated, and working in key industries like the information technology sector. Adding to this number are the 300,000 men who were mobilized into the armed forces, plus the 540,000 who, according to official reports, volunteered under contract in 2023. Overall, due to a combination of coronavirus-linked deaths, mobilization, and war-related casualties from 2020 to 2023, Russia's labor pool lost about 1.9–2.8 million people.

This dynamic has negatively affected Russia's dependency ratio (the ratio of pensioners to the overall population), placing further strain on the government budget. It has also contributed to an acute labor deficit. In July 2023, 42 percent of Russian industrial enterprises reported labor shortages. This issue also came up in Fadeev's leaked interview, in which he complained of a shortage of staff at the plants due to war-related mass mobilization and a lack of accommodation in the area.

Russia's economic adjustment has become possible due to consistently high oil revenues. The main way to seriously undermine Russia's capacity to increase spending on its defense industrial sector is by targeting its oil revenues, which constitute the major income source for the government's budget. The main economic crises the Soviet Union and Russia experienced since the 1980s were all driven by low oil prices.

gozu · Apr 25, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:

Two things jump out at me:

1. Russia's western and northern neighbors are serious about it being defeated in Ukraine.

2. Do not fuck with The Netherlands. Either they are making Russia pay for downing Flight 17 or they are uniquely conscious of the seriousness of the threat. The aggressive imperialist Russian threat. Can't fucking believe I'm writing the bolded in 2024. feels like it belongs to 1824 instead...

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 25, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/Jonpy99/status/1783556507407151579

full thread ↓

Thread by @Jonpy99 on Thread Reader App

@Jonpy99: 1/ It's finally time to publish some actual figures from the updated AFV count made by @HighMarsed and myself. First thread is on MT-LBs, the humble workhorse of the Russian military, and how it's close to...…

threadreaderapp.com

Темпи розконсервації ББМ падають: що відбувається на російських базах зберігання

Після великого дослідження танкового потенціалу РФ варто поглянути також і на бойові броньовані машини, роль яких значно зросла в тактиці російського наступу.У цьому дослідженні ми більше сфокусуємось на процесах, які відбуваються на найбільших базах зберігання, адже у нашому розпорядженні немає...

www.vishchun.com

NetMapel · Apr 25, 2024

BringBackSonics said:
man the Poland news about sending back Ukranian men back to Ukraine, is generating some interesting discussion

It is an entirely horrific situation that has no good solution nor moral answer. I have a lot of issues in both that thread and other threads where some people argue their strong opinion like they are facts (aka TikTok thread). I am sympathetic to Ukraine's causes and it's disheartening to see people argue in such a way to score "moral points" or "moral superiority" by saying let Ukraine crumble under the guise of anti-war. To me, anti-war is about strongly and decisively stopping evil governments from waging wars and committing war crimes. At the same time, there are Starship Troopers-like bravados about earning your citizenship by fighting or else that gets some side eye-ing from me. The only way out of all of this misery is to stop Putin, his allies and his regime. They are to be blamed for all of this.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

Ukraine pulls US-provided Abrams tanks from the front lines over Russian drone threats

Two U.S. officials say Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia.

apnews.com

Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia, in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack, two U.S. military officials told The Associated Press

The U.S. agreed to send 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks, which cost about $10 million apiece, were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.

Five of the 31 tanks have already been lost to Russian attacks.

The proliferation of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield means "there isn't open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection," a senior defense official told reporters Thursday.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

Suddenly, it is no longer so clear that Putin has time on his side. If this war has taught us anything so far, it is that defense is easier than offense. In the middle to longer-term, the production of artillery shells in Europe and the United States will most likely rival, if not surpass, that of Russia, which has had to rely on ammunition from North Korea

Trump Is Putin’s Only Hope Now | by Carl Bildt - Project Syndicate

Carl Bildt considers the implications of Ukraine finally receiving the Western military aid it has been waiting for.

www.project-syndicate.org

Binabik15 · Apr 26, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
Ukraine pulls US-provided Abrams tanks from the front lines over Russian drone threats

Two U.S. officials say Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia.

apnews.com

Anti-drone (and anti-ATGM, those are still more dangerous according to many analysts and fighters, just way harder to get) systems on board have to be a top priority for all upgrade packages and new tank designs. Without the West dragging their feet after two years we could have newly built tanks with trophy or similiar system and remote weapon stations (.50 or 40mm with airburst) for anti-drone work.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1783754179187544401

https://nytimes.com/2024/04/23/us/politics/ukraine-new-american-technology.html

Erpy · Apr 26, 2024

gozu said:
2. Do not fuck with The Netherlands. Either they are making Russia pay for downing Flight 17 or they are uniquely conscious of the seriousness of the threat. The aggressive imperialist Russian threat. Can't fucking believe I'm writing the bolded in 2024. feels like it belongs to 1824 instead...

There's another possibility: the outgoing government has been trying to front-load a lot of aid in before a new government in which populist Geert Wilders would hold a lot of influence gets formed and seated. The majority of the senate still supports Ukraine aid, but Wilders himself is known to have Putin sympathies.

Steeven · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1783535889861230654

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
View: https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1783520300274987273

It reads like – outside of Donbass no new big offensive without mass mobilisation.

"If the Kremlin has ambitions for Kharkiv, or something even more difficult like southern Ukraine, then they will need to generate a very large force, probably well over 100,000 for both, plus the equipment," Massicot said

View: https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1783747410444824708

https://www.ft.com/content/1e7204cf-ebb0-443d-9c67-84cba2332391

The officials said they expected Russia to launch a new large-scale offensive in late May or June.

But with US aid finally on the way, Ukraine could expose the flaws inherent in Russia's attempts to overwhelm it with low-quality munitions and a large but poorly trained army, according to western defence officials and analysts.

One western official said that while Russia might make some tactical breakthroughs at the frontline, it remained an ineffective army characterised by old equipment and poorly trained soldiers and would not "overrun" Ukraine, they added.

"In February 2022, Russia had a far better equipped and trained army," the official said, referring to Russia's initial invasion and subsequent rout in northern Ukraine. "I simply can't see that it is better now."

"The aid won't cancel out Russian advantages this year, but it will allow Ukrainian forces to defend their positions with counter-battery fires and can be used to slow or halt Russian advances," Massicot said.

Sergei Chemezov, head of Rostec, the state defence conglomerate, last November said Russia is making 2.5 times more artillery and multiple launch systems as before, while increasing production of some types of ammunition by more than 60 times.

Those sheer numbers, however, mask Moscow's inability to turn that firepower into a significant breakthrough — something Russian experts say it could only do with more advanced weaponry. ... Despite Moscow's larger arsenal, its army "doesn't have a radical advantage over Ukraine in artillery and munitions", he added. "At least, the people fighting on the Russian side don't see it."

Instead, the Kremlin is deploying more low-tech weaponry such as highly destructive glide bombs and refurbished Soviet weaponry while deploying troops using motorcycles and off-road vehicles.

Even that, however, is not enough to sustain the enormous rates of fire Russia rained down on Ukraine in the first six months of the war, according to Pavel Luzin, non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, based in Washington. Russia fired up to 60,000 shells a day before autumn 2022 — an amount that has dropped to about 10,000 a day and which includes supplies from North Korea and Iran.

Russia would need to produce 3.6mn shells a year to sustain the current rate of fire, according to a report published this week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The defence ministry has admitted, however, it can only produce at most half of the 4mn 152mm-caliber shells and 1.6mn 122mm-caliber shells Putin's military estimates it needs to break through.

another important thing

And as Russia keeps firing more shells, it wears down its artillery barrels faster than it can produce new ones — forcing it to replace them with Soviet-era barrels instead.

Military briefing: Russia’s narrowing advantage in Ukraine

archived 26 Apr 2024 04:10:19 UTC

archive.ph

Christopher Cavoli, Nato's supreme allied commander for Europe, told lawmakers in a Senate armed services committee hearing in April that Russia is recruiting 30,000 soldiers per month, taking its frontline troops from 360,000 a year ago to 470,000.

To raise those men, the army is offering financial incentives including salaries starting at Rbs200,000 — five times the average wage in some of Russia's poorer regions — and bonuses ranging between Rbs300,000 and Rbs1mn, according to a report by Estonia's foreign intelligence service.

A summer offensive, however, would require Putin to declare another round of mobilisation, said Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

NetMapel · Apr 26, 2024

Erpy said:
There's another possibility: the outgoing government has been trying to front-load a lot of aid in before a new government in which populist Geert Wilders would hold a lot of influence gets formed and seated. The majority of the senate still supports Ukraine aid, but Wilders himself is known to have Putin sympathies.

Huh, how did a Putin sympathizer got voted in like that in the country of flight 17? 😱

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1783762047919907139

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder Holds a Press Briefing

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder held a press briefing.

www.defense.gov

BlackLagoon · Apr 26, 2024

NetMapel said:
Huh, how did a Putin sympathizer got voted in like that in the country of flight 17? 😱

The Netherlands has a million smaller parties due to its voting system, so being the largest doesn't really mean that much - Wilders still need to find a consensus of support among the majority of the the representatives in the parliament to actually govern. And given that we're half a year past the election and he still hasn't been able to form a government shows there's not exactly a lot of love for his bullshit.

Carn · Apr 26, 2024

NetMapel said:
Huh, how did a Putin sympathizer got voted in like that in the country of flight 17? 😱

As mentioned, we (Netherlands) need to form a cabinet through coalitions (unless a single party gets so many votes that they can fill a cabinet themselves, which is practically impossible given the amount of parties we have you can vote on). So a guy like Wilders (from the PVV, who are pretty much an extreme right wing 'we hate Muslims and immigrants are to blame for everything' party) still needs to make a coalition with other parties; and pretty much all of those other parties are Pro-Ukraine. So even IF he manages a coalition; he will be stuck in a cabinet that most likely will want to continue support for Ukraine.

Greenpaint · Apr 26, 2024

NetMapel said:
Huh, how did a Putin sympathizer got voted in like that in the country of flight 17? 😱

For context, his party seems to have won 23.5% of the vote. But there are enough political parties around that 23.5% puts you at #1.

Quick math says 15 different political parties got seats in the latest election.

Amroth · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://www.threads.net/@kyivindependent_official/post/C6Nz6cUojii

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
unsolvable puzzle

Putin said that Russia's labor shortage should not be solved via migrant work but via other means. Which is weird given how it has historically been solved exactly via migrant workers.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

https://twitter.com/delfoo/status/1783571137156280694

Patrushev as well:

Patrushev says Russia threatens to disintegrate because of migrants

Патрушев заявил об угрозе распада России из-за мигрантов - Русская служба The Moscow Times

Нелегальная миграция является источником крупных рисков и создает условия для развала страны, заявил секретарь Совбеза России Николай Патрушев на XII Международной встрече высоких представителей по вопросам безопасности в Санкт-Петербурге.По словам Патрушева, потоки мигрантов создают...

www.moscowtimes.ru

After the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, in which law enforcers blamed migrants from Tajikistan, the Russian authorities announced plans to sharply tighten control over migrants: the police conducted a series of raids in places where migrants congregate, after which several thousand people were expelled from Russia. A bill was introduced in the State Duma to strip migrants of citizenship for violating their oaths, and the Interior Ministry proposed to reduce the period of temporary stay in the country to 90 days and create a "digital profile" of migrants entering Russia.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
Krasnoyarsk official urged students to prepare for new mobilization

Красноярский чиновник призвал студентов готовиться к новой мобилизации - Русская служба The Moscow Times

Глава Тасеевского района Красноярского края Константин Дизендорф призвал учащихся готовиться к новой мобилизации на войну в Украине, пишет «Сирена».

www.moscowtimes.ru

↑ video as well

View: https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1783777046709059717

Moreover, the official said that "we won't be able to get by with the current forces, there will be a second mobilisation", so apparently it's better to sign up in now. T

The official has already declared that he was "misunderstood".

AzorAhai · Apr 26, 2024

KastuśKalinoŭski said:
View: https://twitter.com/Ch_Trebesch/status/1783424384511656231

View: https://twitter.com/Ch_Trebesch/status/1783424390245274080

View: https://twitter.com/Ch_Trebesch/status/1783424396138360959

View: https://twitter.com/Ch_Trebesch/status/1783424402480107796

Macron acting like the savior of Europe is even more ridiculous when you look at these graphs. What a clown.

CrazyIvan1978 · Apr 26, 2024

AzorAhai said:
Macron acting like the savior of Europe is even more ridiculous when you look at these graphs. What a clown.

Sure everyone should be doing more, but these graphs are not the barometer of aid you think it is.

TheGummyBear · Apr 26, 2024

CrazyIvan1978 said:
Sure everyone should be doing more, but these graphs are not the barometer of aid you think it is.

Even if they aren't, Macron was the man advocating for the golden bridge for putin to retreat across.

If French aid to Ukraine is low in any metric, after suddenly suggesting boots on ground, and surprising allies in the process, that's not a good look. It makes France look insincere for one thing.

Pankratous · Apr 26, 2024

British men charged with helping Russia under new security law

It comes after a Ukraine-linked business in London was targeted in a suspected arson attack.

www.bbc.co.uk

Two British men have been charged with helping Russian intelligence after a suspected arson attack on a Ukraine-linked business.

Dylan Earl, 20, from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire, and Jake Reeves, 22, from Croydon, were investigated following a fire at a warehouse in east London in March.

They are the first people charged under the new National Security Act 2023.

Lard · Apr 26, 2024

Pankratous said:
British men charged with helping Russia under new security law

It comes after a Ukraine-linked business in London was targeted in a suspected arson attack.

www.bbc.co.uk

This keeps happening. Has anyone kept a list of where there has been actual arrests(not just speculation)? On the top of my head there's been arrests in Germany and Poland as well.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1783832248632152485

Blinken meets Xi in Beijing to ease escalating tensions | Semafor

China and the US have become locked in a trade war in recent months.

www.semafor.com

"Xi Jinping will never agree to putting a stop to supplying dual-use or even semi-lethal weapons to Russia," Willy Lam, a senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, told Nikkei Asia. Xi is a "very ideological person," he said, and despite China's flagging economic growth is "still somehow very convinced that at the end of the day, the East is really rising and the West is declining."

Blinken spars with China on Russia support, industrial overcapacity

Secretary of state meets President Xi after over 5 hours with top diplomat Wang Yi

asia.nikkei.com

Regarding Russia, in an editorial published Thursday, the state-run China Daily said that "the world can see clearly that the Ukraine issue is not an issue between China and the U.S., and the U.S. side should not turn it into one." But that came the same day that Reuters reported that a Russian cargo ship allegedly linked to North Korean arms transfers to Russia had been moored in China's Zhejiang province since February.

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/ABarbashin/status/1783810749082517918

An inconvenient case of Shoigu’s Deputy – Riddle Russia

Andrey Pertsev sums up the week (22−26 April)

ridl.io

The main enemies of Sergei Shoigu and his group are believed to be the clan of Viktor Zolotov, the head of Rosgvardiya, who wants to extend his sphere of influence and control to the army. For a long time, Shoigu's enemies have been trying to publicly undermine his reputation, using Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the «Wagner» PMC, as their main battering ram.

However, the blitzkrieg undertaken by Shoigu's opponents has left the system at a loss as to how to respond to these developments. Arrests of officials, even at lower levels of the power vertical, typically take a long time to be approved and coordinated; the top brass knows how and when to comment on them. In addition, the authorities try to reap PR benefits from such arrests. Television channels and other the media loyal to the authorities tend to portray the officials that have messed up with bundles of money, luxury goods, expensive cars and mansions. So far we've seen nothing of the sort pertaining to Timur Ivanov's arrest, at least not yet.

View: https://twitter.com/NoYardstick/status/1783806132479303887

EagleClaw · Apr 26, 2024

No new long-range air defense for Ukraine in sight.

The Netherlands is allocating €150 million to contribute to the German 'Immediate Action for Air Defense' initiative.
Spain might offer a small number of Patriot missiles, but rules out Patriot system components.
Poland and Greece say that they aren't able to provide any help regarding Patriot systems.

Let's hope that the US will deliver some Patriot systems and missiles, or that the UK, France and Italy step up with some SAMP-T systems.

maabus1999 · Apr 26, 2024

Speaking of air defense, looks like even Russia is getting light at the front as these SU-25's are getting pretty close to the action to nearly direct fire. They'll always have manpads to remain a threat for these engagements, but seemingly worth the risk.

View: https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1783726270993285299

maabus1999 · Apr 26, 2024

Some deep sabotage at an airport near Moscow:

View: https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1783834353610674417

BringBackSonics · Apr 26, 2024

maabus1999 said:
Some deep sabotage at an airport near Moscow:

View: https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1783834353610674417

What airport security doing

BringBackSonics · Apr 26, 2024

Europe needs to figure this out

View: https://x.com/kasparov63/status/1783875016100094185?s=46&t=k-p3IFGuNJl6IL9qeh-mQA

Maquiladora · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1783876228409348169?t=YXQrz4M4p1Shf4YyLYCQqQ&s=19

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1783897562451464698

KastuśKalinoŭski · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://twitter.com/ojblanchard1/status/1783889791387353449

On Russian reserves. To answer some of the reasonable objections:
I am not very worried about precedent. I think the contingency is well defined. If you engage in physical war, then you are at risk.
Holding dollar or euro reserves does not imply holding them in the US or in Europe. Countries can hold them in friendly countries.
Were some countries to reduce their dollar or their euro holdings, it would indeed have some effect on the dollar. This does not strike me as catastrophic.
If you worry about tit for tat, the tit has already happened, even before the tat. Many foreign companies have had to sell their Russian operations at basement prices.

View: https://twitter.com/lugaricano/status/1783891949755179344

meanwhile

Nabiullina urged not to be afraid of confiscation of the Central Bank's reserves

Набиуллина призвала не бояться конфискации резервов ЦБ РФ - Русская служба The Moscow Times

Конфискация золотовалютных резервов Центрального банка, которая начнется в США в рамках закона о помощи Украине, не окажет влияния на финансовую стабильность в России, заявила в пятницу глава ЦБ Эльвира Набиуллина.

www.moscowtimes.ru

Arilian · Apr 26, 2024

EagleClaw said:
France and Italy step up with some SAMP-T systems.

I didn't read anything on the subject and it's just a guess on my part: with the Olympic Games, I think France is more likely to keep its (5 or 6 I think, not counting the one deployed in Romania) SAMP-T systems to protect the places where the games will take place than giving one or more of them to Ukraine.

Xando · Apr 26, 2024

View: https://x.com/RALee85/status/1783926909316878763

The DoD Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package includes:
-Patriot and NASAMS missiles
-Equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's air defense systems
-Counter-UAS equipment and systems
-Munitions for laser-guided rocket systems
-Multi-mission radars
-Counter-artillery radars
-Additional HIMARS ammunition
-155mm and 152mm artillery rounds
Precision aerial munitions
-Switchblade and Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems
-Precision aerial munitions

BringBackSonics · Apr 26, 2024

Man fuck Belarus govt . I hope Sviatlana becomes president one day

View: https://x.com/kyivindependent/status/1783924318285480228?s=46&t=k-p3IFGuNJl6IL9qeh-mQA

EagleClaw · Apr 26, 2024

Arilian said:
I didn't read anything on the subject and it's just a guess on my part: with the Olympic Games, I think France is more likely to keep its (5 or 6 I think, not counting the one deployed in Romania) SAMP-T systems to protect the places where the games will take place than giving one or more of them to Ukraine.

1 SAMP-T battery should be enough to secure the Olympic Games in Paris.

Of course every excuse has a right to exists, Poland is a neighbouring country to Ukraine, Greece has problems with Turkye,
and even an excuse like every delivered long-range air defense battery to Ukraine would weaken NATO would make sense, i would have hoped Europe would be able to provide maybe atleast another long-range air defense battery.