TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
As Russia Attacks Northern Kharkiv Region, Ukrainian Troops In The East Are Stretched Thin - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Russian forces opened a new front in the war with an invasion of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine's northeast last week. That has not meant a letup in the fighting in the east, where troops in the Donetsk region say they're short on munitions and manpower as they await fresh military aid.
💥American Ammunition has Reached Ukrainian Brigades—and now those Brigades are Blasting Russian Assault Groups
In early April, Ukrainian forces were in crisis. The U.S. Congress still hadn’t approved $61 billion in long-stalled funding for the Ukrainian war effort. Likewise, an urgent mobilization law—meant to raise tens of thousands of new troops for the Ukrainian armed forces—had stalled in Kyiv.
Understaffed and starved of ammunition they used to get from the United States, Ukrainian brigades were at their weakest. And the Kremlin knew it. At several points along the 600-mile front line of Russia’s 27-month wider war on Ukraine, the Russians attacked.
A month later, American aid to Ukraine is flowing again. The mobilization law is in effect, fresh Ukrainian troops are undergoing training and new brigades are forming.
Ukraine’s fortunes are improving. Nowhere is this more evident than in Chasiv Yar, the industrial town west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine that’s the main objective of the Russian offensive in the area.
In the early days of the Russian attack, Russian armored units were steadily advancing north and south of Chasiv Yar while Russian infantry probed the town’s most vulnerable district—its canal district, which lies on the exposed far side of the canal that threads north to south along the eastern edge of Chasiv Yar.
At the time, Ukrainian defenses in Chasiv Yar were thin—and getting thinner. In mid-April, the defense ministry in Kyiv dissolved the Ukrainian army brigade defending the canal district, the 67th Mechanized Brigade, after an official investigation confirmed allegations of deep incompetence in the brigade’s command staff.
Elements of the Ukrainian army’s 56th and 41st Mechanized Brigades and 5th Assault Brigade scrambled to fill the gap in the defensive line left by the dissolution of the 67th Mechanized Brigade. Kyiv rushed more drones to Chasiv Yar.
But in the meantime, Russian Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets roamed directly over the front line, firing rockets at Ukrainian troops who had run out of air-defense missiles. Russian paratroopers advanced north and south of Chasiv Yar, threatening to surround the town’s garrison.
The race was on—between Russian forces trying to capture Chasiv Yar and Ukrainian and allied logisticians rushing American-supplied ammunition to the embattled town.
The good news, for friends of a free Ukraine, is that the Ukrainians seem to have won the race. The garrison in Chasiv Yar is now flush with ammo, apparently—and wreaking havoc on Russian assault groups.
On Friday, a battalion of around 20 Russian armored vehicles emerged from Donetsk and rolled toward Chasiv Yar. As recently as a few weeks ago, a Russian assault group might’ve traveled much of the three-mile distance from Donetsk to Chasiv Yar relatively unmolested by Ukrainian attacks.
With precious few anti-tank missiles and artillery shells, the Ukrainians relied on first-person-view drones to bombard the Russian. But those two-pound drones range just two miles or so, and pack just a pound of explosives—too little to pierce the layers of do-it-yourself armor the Russians have been adding to their vehicles.
By mid-May, the Ukrainians were much better-armed. So when that assault group tried to cross miles of open fields on Friday, it got hit the whole way —with 100-pound shells, 50-pound missiles and two-pound drones. The few Russians who reached the canal district didn’t last long.
“Despite rapid successes in the initial weeks of the assault against Chasiv Yar, including reaching the canal and, in some instances, crossing it with small groups, the Russians have ultimately failed to establish a foothold on the other side and advance further,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight reported on Friday.
The garrison in Chasiv Yar isn’t the only one benefiting from the influx of ammunition. “For the first time during the war, none of the brigades complained that there were no artillery shells,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Thursday.
Zelensky might be overstating the abundance of ammo. But it’s evident that, when the Russians attacked Chasiv Yar on Friday, the Ukrainians had plenty of firepower to hurl at them.
- David Axe, Forbes
⚡️Two More Darwin Award Candidates.
Two Russians sadly survived a botched disarming of an OZM-72 AP mine.
After removing the detonator plug for the main charge, the MUV-4 fuze detonated during removal, apparently igniting the much smaller charge that lifts the mine before it explodes.
The MUV-4 is a mechanical fuze usually tripwired as in this video.
It does not detonate the main charge in the powerful OZM-72, but first ignites an expelling charge that shoots the mine up in the air.
When a 0.9m tether tautens, it initiates detonation of the main charge.
Resting after encountering a rock about 18 inches across. But it has a serious crack. After drinking a diet Bang energy drink I will pound the sharp end of my San Angelo bar into that Crack until it separates.
San Angelo must have been a heck of a priest. A San Angelo bar is 6 feet long and weighs 50 pounds.
Time to go dig holes for dahlias. They are a root cluster that requires a 12 inch hole free of rocks. The soil in that garden has 6 inches free of rocks. But the bottom six inches is original and mostly rock. Dahlias are worth the effort.
Russia, acting childishly, expelled him after their own diplomat was caught spying and expelled.
Maxar published new satellite images of the Belbek airfield in temporarily occupied Crimea after a series of missile strikes.
The photos show two destroyed MiG-31s, a destroyed and damaged Su-27, a destroyed MiG-29, and a destroyed fuel and lubricants storage facility.
📷: Maxar Technologies
📸 Smoke rises from the Ukranian border city of Vovchansk, which is bombarded daily by heavy artillery on May 17, 2024.
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Russian forces use border-town captives as ‘human shields,’ Ukrainian officials say
Russian forces have captured dozens of civilians in the border town of Vovchansk, a Ukrainian official has said, with a top regional police officer accusing them of using the captives as “human shields.”
Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the Kharkiv regional police, told public broadcaster Suspilne News on Friday that Russian soldiers had kept about 40 civilians in a basement, near their “command headquarters.”
The people are being interrogated, and “those conducting the interrogations call themselves FSB employees,” Bolvinov said, referring to Russia’s domestic security agency, adding that the captives are being used as “human shields.”
Read more
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i think this is Hamas style.. a new low for Putin..
@Ukraine_Report
🇺🇦🤝🇮🇩 Blue
Kharkiv Region.
Peeking out from under a hat and with his face covered, the Russian fighting for Kyiv described unrelenting battles in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv where Moscow's forces opened a new front last week.
"The situation is difficult, the intensity is very high, there is fighting almost every ten minutes," said the mortarman, who identified himself only by his callsign, Winnie.
The soldier is part of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin who are fighting for Ukraine.
Ukraine has sent reinforcements, including the legion and two other units made up of Russian nationals, to shore up its defence against a Russian ground incursion into the northern reaches of Kharkiv region that began nearly a week ago.
"It's an unbelievable meat grinder that they're still (sending) their people into," Winnie said, describing Russian losses as Moscow's infantry tries to storm deeper into Ukraine.
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz
🔱 Operational information as of 7:30 p.m. 18/05/2024 regarding the Russian invasion
❗️ The main summary:
🔥 Since the beginning of the current day, Ukrainian aviation has struck 18 areas of concentration of enemy personnel and two of their anti-aircraft missile complexes. Our rocket launchers and gunners struck three more enemy concentration areas and one radar station.
🔵 In general, out of 77 military clashes during this day, seven are still ongoing. At the same time, Ukrainian soldiers carried out assaults four times with the aim of knocking out the enemy from the occupied positions.
🔵 In the Kharkiv direction, 10 clashes took place during the day. Russian terrorists again carried out an air strike on the city of Kharkiv, using two guided aerial bombs. Assault actions were carried out in the directions of Hlyboke-Lukkyantsi, Lukyantsi-Vesele, Bugruvatka-Staritsa.
🔵 In the Kupyansk direction, the number of battles per day increased to nine, and in the Lymansk - to seven.
🔵 In the Kramatorsk direction, the occupiers are carrying out assaults in the directions of the settlements of Ivanovske and Kalynyvka. The total number of Russian attacks in the direction increased to 14.
🟠 The Pokrovsky direction remains the hottest on the map of hostilities. Out of 23 military clashes since the beginning of the day, four are still ongoing. Netaylové was added to the list of settlements where the enemy is directing its attacks.
🔵 In the Kurakhiv direction, the aggressor made ten attempts to overcome our defenses. The battle continues near Krasnohorivka.
🔵 In the Dnieper direction, the number of Russian assaults stopped by Ukrainian defenders on bridgeheads on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region increased to four today.
Support the Defense Forces of Ukraine! We will win!✊
Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦
AFU report.
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz
🔥🥊 Usyk defeated Tyson Fury in a fight for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Usyk on his victory.
"Ukrainians hit hard!
And in the end, all our opponents will be overcome.
Oleksandr Usyk is the absolute world champion!
A tough battle that proves:
Ukrainian endurance and strength give birth to Ukrainian victory.
Congratulations, champion!
Greetings, country!
Glory to Ukraine!" the president wrote in Telegram.
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz
Taurus. Would a German missile become a "game changer" in the war against the Russian Federation ?
A year ago, Ukraine officially requested long-range Taurus missiles from Germany to fight the Russian invaders. For German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the transfer of these missiles is still a red line that he does not want to cross.
However, Kyiv does not lose hope and periodically raises the topic of the Taurus program.
The issue of the transfer of German cruise missiles to Ukraine is periodically raised by both Kyiv and its allies. In March 2024, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that the supply of Taurus with a range of 500 km would have a "significant impact on Ukraine's ability to defend itself."
"Thanks to the cruise missiles of other countries, the Ukrainians have already convinced the Russians to move their logistics bases, such as ammunition depots, far beyond the front line.
No matter how much the German government itself pushed Scholz to supply missiles, the chancellor is not ready to change his decision.
"This also applies to the Taurus issue. Along with strong support for Ukraine, one thing remains important to me: we will do everything possible to prevent the escalation of the war - in other words, to prevent a war between Russia and NATO," the German head of government said.
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz
Ukraine took out another small Russian ship.
https://mil.in.ua/en/news/ukrainian-troops-hit-black-sea-fleet-minesweeper-in-crimea/
Good morning Resisters everywhere Sunny and 63⁰ here. My cat, Leonardo. He went away Friday. He was very old and I would have to lift him into my lap. He never tried to drive. But this was a favorite place.
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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