TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

While the Russians abandon their soldiers on the battlefield, the Ukrainians save their comrades-in-arms from the most challenging situations.

The miraculous rescue of a Ukrainian serviceman by fighters from the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Dmytro was ambushed and received five bullet wounds, but thanks to the decisive actions of his comrades he survived.

During an aerial reconnaissance, he was discovered by a drone. Dmytro was not sure whether it was ours or an enemy drone, but he remained confident and, at his own risk, began signaling that he urgently needed help.

First he showed the tourniquet and the watch - time was running out, and then he pulled out his military ID. Soon enough, medics from the 47th SMB evacuated him in an American Bradley IFV.

📹: 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade

From "The analyst":

LARGE SCALE STRIKES SMASH RUSSIAN FORCES

The big news, clearly is the story of the massive and coordinated Ukraine missile raid on Russian bases and positions once permission to strike had been given on Russia itself.
This followed a Russian decision to do what they always do to try and push large amounts of infantry into the Kharkiv front, in an effort to restore their flagging fortunes.
As the war has progressed systems like the various GPS dependent missiles used by MLRS/HIMARS systems have become less effective at distance, as the Russians work out how to jam or spoof the signals, greatly reducing their accuracy. Then the Americans work out a fix, which eventually the Russians learn to block again and it becomes a perpetual game of cat and mouse. However to stop HIMARS/MLRS missiles you need the jamming equipment, radars and possibly the air defences - although they’re of limited use against a group of incoming.
To start the offensive against the Russian bases and troop concentrations the Ukrainians had to find and destroy the primary Russian air search radar in the region, a Castor 2E2, which was located by a Ukrainian developed loitering drone, the Ram-2, and destroyed by a pair of them, one taking out the radar emitter and the other the support vehicle.
Without the radars the Russians were unawares of the incoming multiple HIMARS launches that devastated their S-300/400 sites, leaving nothing but flaming melted scrap in their wake.
Without the threat of the air defence missile batteries the Ukrainians could risk sending in strike aircraft and helicopters to assist their ground forces.
The Ukrainian use of precision glide bombs, some of the Paveway family, was critical to preventing the Russians exploiting their hold in Vovchansk by destroying their positions in high rise buildings they had captured. This halted the Russian advance and allowed the Ukrainians to begin their counter attacks in the town, largely driving the Russians out of much of what they’d previously gained. These had to be precision strikes - a mistake could have been fatal to their own side in such close proximity.
Even the Russians commented on the scale of the missile raids raining down on their bases and military infrastructure- claiming that at least 12 MLRS systems were in use against them - oddly in a way that sounded like ‘that’s just not fair’. Ukraine then published a photo of dozens of the six missile canister systems piled up with no missiles in them, suggesting that as many as 308 missiles had been used so far.
The Russians of course made all of this worse for themselves. The system of central direction with its limited capacity - or willingness - go communicate vital information, an endemic problem in an authoritarian society where information is tightly controlled to frame the required ‘message’, resulted in a massacre at the front.
Any sensible higher military authority would have predicted that if the west gave permission to fire on Russian soil, it would be obvious what the targets would be. You’d order their rapid redeployment and relocation in the time you had available, or at least put some defensive measures in place.
But this is Russia. Admitting reality is way too hard to do, especially if it’s bad news, so they did absolutely nothing. Partly out of disbelief that the west would never do such a thing because it was too scared. The arrogance of assumption cost them dearly.
If I could have a motto tattooed on every officers hand it would always be ‘assume nothing’. The biggest military sin - and it should apply in life generally! Never ever assume everything will go as planned. Always have a Plan-B, always take precautions to have a way out, a way round or an alternative if things don’t go as you expect. It’s true that nobody can plan for every eventuality, but it’s never that difficult to identify a sensible alternative that’s easy to implement and make viable. But that takes initiative and in Russia, initiative is rarely rewarded or even considered a positive trait.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!

🐍 In Indonesia, a giant snake has swallowed a woman. The body of the 45-year-old mother of four was found in the stomach of the five-meter-long reticulated python, village chief Suardi Rosi announced on Saturday.

45-year-old Farida did not return home on Thursday evening and has been missing since then. Her husband and other residents of the village of Kalempang in the province of South Sulawesi started a search and discovered the missing woman's personal belongings on Friday.

Shortly afterwards, "they discovered a python with a big belly," reported the village chief. "They agreed to cut open the python's stomach." The missing woman's head was immediately visible. The snake swallowed the woman fully clothed.

Reticulated pythons mainly eat smaller animals and birds, only very rarely they kill people. However, there have been a few deaths in Indonesia in recent years:
▪️Last year, villagers in Southeast Sulawesi killed an eight-meter-long python that had swallowed a farmer.
▪️In 2018, a 54-year-old woman was found dead in the stomach of a seven-meter-long python in Southeast Sulawesi.
▪️In 2017, a man was devoured by a four-meter-long python on a palm oil plantation in West Sulawesi.

@ukrainejournal

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@ukrainejournal

Another banzai attack by invaders on a motorcycle at the position of the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces . The attack was stopped by barbed wire and drones waiting at the appropriate location. If you tighten everything with a thorn, then this will simply nullify any banzai attacks not only on motorcycles, but also on buggies.

Another result by 79th!!
@ukrainejournal

❗️The Russian AWACS A-50 was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in January 2024 with the help of the Patriot air defense system

This was stated by the Assistant Chief of Staff of the 10th US Army, Colonel Rosanna Clemente.

According to her, some complexes are used to protect static objects, others are moved and do “truly historical things.” One of them is “SAMbush” - “aerial ambush”, when air defense systems are moved to the very front line (!). This is how the first A-50 AWACS was hit in January. This is the first official confirmation. The russians then said that it was friendly fire. A SU-27 was similarly shot down near the russian border during one of the first “SAMbush” operations.

For this purpose, Ukrainian air defense troops were first trained. "German instructors woke up the battery in the middle of the night, gave the order to move to a firing position, conduct an air battle, and then move away again," Clemente explained.

Another interesting thing is that the officer who shot down the first russian Kinzhal was 23 years old.

@ukrainejournal

🫡 We serve the Ukrainian people!

▫️ President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Decree on awarding "For Courage" orders to soldiers of the special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine "Artan".

▫️ The awards were presented to the scouts by the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov.

▫️ Fighters awarded with orders took part in daring and effective missions in the Black Sea and in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea!

⚔️ Thanks to operations that at first might have seemed impossible, Ukraine managed to change the balance of forces in the Black Sea and unblock the grain corridor, which now has virtually the same capacity as before the full-scale invasion.

👤 The commander of the special unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine "Artan" with the call sign "Titan" became a full knight of the Order "For Courage"!

▫️ According to intelligence officers, this honorary award became an additional motivation to continue working until the complete liberation of Ukraine from the invaders.

🤝 Let's create victory together!

🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine!

- GUR

@ukrainejournal

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/another-blow-to-donald-trump/56530/

I remember when Biden did it and Republicans tried their best to stop it.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/donald-trumps-blood-sugar-problem/56529/

Good morning Resisters everywhere. It's another sunny day here in the Ozarks. No rain until Friday. The sun just popped up and I was not in the shade. Musical chair where I take my chair with me.

💥  Ukrainian FPV drone against a barn tank of the Russian Armed Forces

A wounded soldier of the 🐉 47th Brigade saved his life by showing his military ID to a Ukrainian drone

🫡 A Bradley IFV arrived within an hour and successfully evacuated the wounded soldier

🇺🇸🇹🇼 The U.S. military plans a "Hellscape" to deter China from attacking Taiwan, — The Washington Post

The U.S. strategy, codenamed "Hellscape", hinges on quickly building and deploying thousands of new drones that would swarm the Taiwan Strait and keep China’s military busy until more help can arrive

⏺ As soon as China’s invasion fleet begins moving across the 100-mile waterway that separates China and Taiwan, the U.S. military would deploy thousands of unmanned submarines, unmanned surface ships and aerial drones to flood the area and give Taiwanese, U.S. and partner forces time to mount a full response

🇨🇳🇨🇳  Xi Jinping has called on China’s People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take Taiwan by force by 2027. The United States, together with regional partners, must ensure a Chinese invasion can’t succeed

🗣 Russia has started releasing female prison inmates to join the war in Ukraine, — The New York Times

⏺ Russia released a group of women from a prison in late May to join the fighting in Ukraine, according to two former inmates who maintain contact with those still there, potentially signaling a new phase in the Kremlin’s use of criminals in its war effort

They are offered a salary of $2,000 and a one-year contract. Among the specialties: a sapper, a combat medic, and a front-line radio operator. In only one of the prisons of St. Petersburg, 40 women out of 400 agreed to go to the front

🛩 The largest Russian channel regarding military aviation writes that two Su-57s were damaged at the Akhtubinsk airfield

📰 The second Su-57 received minor damage, which will be repaired on site. Regarding the first, the authorities will think it would be advisable to restore it

Of the three UAVs that attacked the airfield, all three reached their destination

Two grumpy old men.

https://open.substack.com/pub/twogrumpyoldmenonukraine/p/western-and-ukrainian-failings-8?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Open letter by Rebekah Jones

https://open.substack.com/pub/rebekahjones/p/a-letter-to-the-newest-member-of?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Putin admits Crimea is not really part of Russia

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/vladimir-putin-just-tacitly-admitted-crimea-is-not-really-part-of-russia/

CONTINUES…
I’m still very much of the view that this is one of the most important battles of the war and signals a turning point in its overall direction.
Russia failed to break Ukraine when it was probably at its weakest since the war started. Now it has broken itself trying to defeat Ukraine over the past nine months - when things have been touch and go at times - I hope, I think, Russia may have worn itself out. It’s just exhausted on the ground even while it makes small gains they don’t last like they did.
Add to that the mayhem and distrust of military purges and leadership changes - there’s no trust, no communication and no strategic thinking.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!

From "The Analyst":

CHASIV YAR: UKRAINE HOLDS THE LINE

The focus over the last couple of day has suddenly shifted to what had become a very slow, grinding, expensive, Russian advance loosing large numbers of men for every dacha they took in the canal district east of the canal itself.
Most of these assaults were repelled by forces of the Kraken Regiment and lately, the International Legion.
Always controversial, international legions have been present in many wars over the last 100 years. Most famously the International brigade fought against the forces of Fascism
in the Spanish Civil War 1936-39, largely and perhaps ironically now, with the support of Russia.
These days they consist of technically private citizens who have retired from their own country’s military. Most are from the US, UK, France but there are many others. Usually their motivation is to do the right thing, and for many they find it difficult returning to civilian life. For most it’s about doing the right thing and being able to use the skills and knowledge they acquired in their career service. Legally they tread an often fine line - if it suits western governments to support such actions, they are fine, but they tread the line of being close to mercenaries. It is the cause and motivation that defines their acceptability. In this case they are widely admired and respected- not least by people like me too old to join them and lacking field combat experience.
The fact is that the international legion has such wide experience and knowledge they are one of Ukraine’s best military units.
One of their advantages is that the US and UK especially trust them with some of the most sophisticated equipment because they have the training to use it properly and have done so for most of their careers. From Marines and infantry to special forces they’re verging on an elite force. Your average Russian soldier isn’t going to want to find themselves up against this lot!
The International force counter attacked the Russians in the houses they had captured, clearing each set building by building, in a systematic and deliberate but highly coordinated way.
Small groups of four methodically eradicated the orcs from their positions until they were all eliminated.
The International forces are up against some really poorly trained Russians. One video shows how poor comms led an MTLB to drop of Russians right in the wrong place, panic and then try to drive back, only to literally run over and kill other troops following on behind.
The quality of the Ukrainian side against the poorly trained and largely miserable orc army, can be demonstrated by the fact Russia has approximately 80,000 troops on this sector of the front in total. Ukraine has around 15,000.
Yet again the Russians suffer from low levels of mechanised forces and poor equipment. Many units are literally meat-assault canon fodder designed to attrit Ukraine’s forces. The reality is they don’t even manage to do that.
The annoying aspect is that if Ukraine had the manpower and machinery Chasiv Yar would be a prime candidate for a major armoured counter attack - the Russians aren’t well fortified or equipped here. It pains me to lose such an opportunity but that’s the way things are.
The defence continues, the line holds.
Meanwhile in Kharkiv the Ukrainian forces are believed to have taken back the key village of Hilgade north of Liptsy. They’re also believed to have around 90% control of Vovchansk. Despite the Russians supposedly reinforcing their forces with more infantry, my understanding is that by being abe to fire into Russia the result has been that reserves are being wiped out in transit.
This whole operation is looking progressively worse for the Russians. They just don’t seem to understand that it’s a failure and they won’t withdraw. It’s almost like the reverse of some kind of mini-Stalingrad. Barred from retreat by a megalomaniac leader and yet certain defeat looming the longer they stay. CONTINUES…./