Sanctions against Russia

[willedoo]

The Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol has copped a missile strike.

 

[willedoo]

Another photo from across the bay.

 

[willedoo]

The Black Sea Fleet has a second back-up headquarters near Sevastopol that was hit earlier in the week. The satellite photos from that strike showed half the building totally destroyed. The admirals will have to camp out.

[willedoo]

I did a Google Maps screen grab to show the location of the fleet headquarters in relation to the shipyard where the landing ship and submarine were destroyed recently. The headquarters building is circled in red, the dry dock in yellow. Things are getting a bit hot in that area.

 

[willedoo]

Some new video has emerged today of a second missile hitting the fleet HQ. The building is built in a U shape, like three sides of a rectangle. The first missile totally destroyed the middle section of the west wing. The second missile appears in the video to have struck the rear of the front section (the bit with the big columns). It looks like the whole headquarters were gutted by the fire. It hasn't been confirmed by Russia, but it's being reported that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was killed. The strike was in daylight working hours, so there is a possibility of more casualties among the command structure.

[willedoo]

Press reports are saying that Biden has now finally agreed to send a small number of ATACMS to Ukraine. The question now will be whether they will be the anti personnel cluster variant as reported by some sources. I can't see the use in sending those variants; what the Ukrainians need is the unitary payload version to have a long range strike capability on critical infrastructure.

 

[willedoo]

Chief of Ukrainian military intelligence Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov accompanied President Zelensky to the U.S. and had this interesting interview with The War Zone journalist Howard Altman.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/exclusive-interview-with-ukraines-spy-boss-from-his-dc-hotel-room

[willedoo]

Ukrainian military intelligence chief, General Budanov, has claimed that the missile strike on fleet HQ in Sevastopol has also severely wounded the commander of Russian forces in southern Ukraine, Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk, as well as a Lieutenant General brigade commander.

[red750]

A giant plane ‘linked to Wagner’ has crashed in Mali just a month after the mutinous mercenary group’s leader met a similar fate a month ago.

 

The Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-76 burst into flames Saturday morning near Gao International Airport, Malijet reported.

 

A witness told the local news website: ‘A white plane missed its landing around 10am and crashed near the airport. Shortly, it caught fire.’

 

Photographs from the crash site show thick black smoke billowing from the military transport plane which reportedly crashed after the fuel tank malfunctioned.

 

The craft was ‘damaged beyond repair’, the Aviation Safety Network said, as firefighters worked to battle the blaze.

 

Malian journalist Serge Daniel said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the plane had been transporting equipment and a number of people were on board.

 

The number of people on board injured or killed in the crash, however, remains unclear.

 

A patchwork of reports and sources have suggested that Wagner was behind the controls of the plane, said to have been registered ‘TZ98’.

 

[willedoo]

On 25/09/2023 at 7:53 PM, red750 said:

A giant plane ‘linked to Wagner’ has crashed in Mali just a month after the mutinous mercenary group’s leader met a similar fate a month ago.

 

The Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-76 burst into flames Saturday morning near Gao International Airport, Malijet reported.

 

A witness told the local news website: ‘A white plane missed its landing around 10am and crashed near the airport. Shortly, it caught fire.’

 

Photographs from the crash site show thick black smoke billowing from the military transport plane which reportedly crashed after the fuel tank malfunctioned.

 

The craft was ‘damaged beyond repair’, the Aviation Safety Network said, as firefighters worked to battle the blaze.

 

Malian journalist Serge Daniel said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the plane had been transporting equipment and a number of people were on board.

 

The number of people on board injured or killed in the crash, however, remains unclear.

 

A patchwork of reports and sources have suggested that Wagner was behind the controls of the plane, said to have been registered ‘TZ98’.

 

The reports that the crash was caused by a malfunction of the fuel tank seem a bit off. Looking at the video, the plane has touched down too late, run off the end of the runway and down an embankment. The only fuel tank malfunction I can see is that it ruptured and exploded after crashing over the bank.

 

 

[willedoo]

The consequences of not doing some proper research. Ukrainian president Zelensky visited the Canadian parliament after his visit to the U.N. General Assembly. Also present as an invited guest was a 98 year old Ukrainian born immigrant who was a resident of the Canadian speaker of parliament's electorate. The speaker praised him for fighting for Ukrainian freedom against the Soviets and the old bloke received a standing ovation from the parliament. It turns out that he served in a German Waffen SS unit that was involved in war crimes against Poles and Jews. Now the Canadian speaker of parliament has resigned and Poland has launched an extradition bid for the old bloke for war crimes committed. One of those awkward moments.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Karma is a bitch, sometimes, I guess.

 

 

[willedoo]

Here's a photo of the Il-76 that was transporting Wagners in Mali. It looks like it's lost part of the undercarriage before it went over the embankment, with more undercarriage sections scattered around the crash site. On the left is an armoured vehicle they've dragged out of the wreck, and what looks like an armoured infantry fighting vehicle still in the burnt out wreck. The aircraft was reported to be registered in Belarus.

 

[onetrack]

I'd like to see how the insurance claim form is filled out, on this one!

[red750]

Putin's ruthless scorched earth war tactics revealed

 

Story and pictures here.

[willedoo]

13 hours ago, red750 said:

Putin's ruthless scorched earth war tactics revealed

 

Story and pictures here.

Just to clarify something in the article that could be confusing - the article is about the capture of the small town of Klishchiivka but the first two aerial photos are of the nearby city of Bakhmut. Klishchiivka is the last two aerial photos further down the page.

[willedoo]

This is reportedly the Russian Su-35 that was shot down in a friendly fire incident a couple of days ago near Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhya region. It was hit by a missile from a Russian S-300 air defence system. It looks like it's come down relatively intact in a flat spin.

 

 

[onetrack]

Bit of a shame the Su-35 didn't mistake the S-300 for Ukrainian weaponry, and take it out, too!

[red750]

Grim message from Russia

 

The front lines in Ukraine have been relatively stagnant for a while. Recently, Ukrainians have managed to reclaim smaller villages near the city of Bakhmut, but progress is slow.

 

According to the British intelligence service, Russia is preparing for a more protracted conflict than initially anticipated.

 

The British Ministry of Defence has reported this based on leaked documents from the Russian Finance Ministry.

 

Russia is expected to significantly increase its military budget next year. According to British estimates, the defense budget will rise to a staggering 10.8 trillion rubles (approximately $113 billion ) in 2024.

This marks a 68% increase compared to this year and accounts for six percent of Russia's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

 

These revelations about increased funding for the military come after Sergei Shoigu, the head of Russia's Ministry of Defence, recently stated that the conflict could continue until 2025.

 

Estimates suggest that the war in Ukraine is costing Russia between $500 million and $1 billion per day.

[red750]

Putin pardons convicted murderer: The act he did is beyond human understanding.

 

Dmitry Zelensky, a Russian man convicted of a heinous crime against his girlfriend, has been released from prison after serving less than half of his 11-year sentence.

 

The reason for his early release is as shocking as the crime itself: he was pardoned for agreeing to fight against Ukraine.

 

In 2018, Zelensky was convicted for the murder of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Tatiana Melekhina.

The details of the crime are deeply disturbing, involving the use of a meat grinder in a manner that shocked the nation. This led to an 11-year prison sentence for Zelensky in 2019.

 

According to 59.ru, Zelensky's mother, Galina Zelenskaya, revealed that her son was released last November to fight in Ukraine. He had signed a six-month agreement with the Wagner Group, a private military company. After serving on the front lines, he was pardoned by the Russian government in June of this year.

 

Zelensky is now residing with his aunt in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine and plans to work as a builder. He is also making reparations to the family of his late girlfriend.

 

The case raises ethical questions about the Russian government's willingness to pardon violent criminals in exchange for military service.

[pmccarthy]

It’s not the only ethical question for the Russian government.

[pmccarthy]

There are dashcam videos showing fatal Russian car accidents. I am starting to enjoy them.

[willedoo]

This Ukrainian Tesla owner wrote an apology on the back of their car, translated as "Sorry! bought a Tesla before I knew Elon Musk was an a**hole”. They probably thought there would be less chance of the Tesla getting vandalised with the apology on it. Comrade Musk is not very popular in Ukraine at the moment.

 

[willedoo]

This is Musk's latest Tweet on Twitter (now Xcrement) that has stirred the Ukrainians up yet again. It's a bit rich ridiculing Ukraine for seeking aid when Musk is where he is thanks to billions of dollars in U.S. government subsidies to his companies.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by willedoo

[willedoo]

putler's world is shrinking. The Armenian parliament has ratified the ICC's Rome Statute. Armenia is now obligated to arrest him if he sets foot in Armenia. It looks like the honeymoon is definitely over between Armenia and Russia.

 

Armenia signed the statute in 1998 but hadn't ratified it.

Edited October 4, 2023 by willedoo