Russia v Ukraine

[Section_31]

[SasaS]

How important was he? Driving around in a Golf.

 

Meanwhile, we are back to record Russian confirmed KIA in Ukraine, plus 2,880 for the past 14 days, total is now 104,763. My very conservative estimate of this being 70 percent makes it almost 150k. Or almost 175k if it's a realistic 60 percent. For comparison, nine years of Afghanistan war resulted in about 14,500 officially recognized USSR fatalities. 

 

https://zona.media/casualties

[Section_31]

23 minutes ago, SasaS said:

How important was he? Driving around in a Golf.

 

Meanwhile, we are back to record Russian confirmed KIA in Ukraine, plus 2,880 for the past 14 days, total is now 104,763. My very conservative estimate of this being 70 percent makes it almost 150k. Or almost 175k if it's a realistic 60 percent. For comparison, nine years of Afghanistan war resulted in about 14,500 officially recognized USSR fatalities. 

 

https://zona.media/casualties

 

Probably wiped his ass bare handed til he came to this country. 

[SasaS]

4 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

 

Probably wiped his ass bare handed til he came to this country. 

 

Apologies, Golf was the weapon.

[SasaS]

Bump. 

 

In honour of the Moscow parade (nice of Lula to attend, great move) an update with 2,857 new names on Mediazona's list of named Russian KIA in Ukraine for the past 14 days, total is now 107,620.

 

Number of names of officers KIA has crossed the 5,000 mark.

 

https://en.zona.media/article/2025/04/25/casualties_eng-trl

[Anubis]

The Ukrainians say they’ve uncovered a Hungarian spy ring gathering information for a land grab of Western Ukraine.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

Mad bastards.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/12/poland-to-close-russian-consulate-krakow-warsaw-shopping-centre-fire

[SasaS]

Istanbul talks a great success, with Russia preparing for a big summer offensive, it is really surprising they keep rejecting a truce. 

[SasaS]

And now it seems to be perfect time to hit Russia with the toughest sanctions yet, Q1 GDP was barely positive (1.4%), federal budget in Q1 doubled the deficit, inflation is in double digits for the third month in a row, despite the currency rate to dollar being the best in over two years. Oil price is just about right for it, national wealth fund is apparently all but empty.

 

But no, there will now be a meeting between Putin and Trump sometime in the future which will somehow solve all problems, despite Russia clearly showing again and again and again no intention to end this war before they destroy Ukraine, Europe will continue talking, talking, talking and Russia will proceed with the summer offensive, because, well, there is nothing that can be done here. 

[SasaS]

Bump.

 

Mediazona plus 2,009 for 14 days to 109,625 Russians KIA in Ukraine.

 

https://en.zona.media/article/2025/04/25/casualties_eng-trl

[Section_31]

Do the Russians breed in some kind of hatchery? This is why the Germans came a cropper, to quote that Chinese lad in return of the Jedi. There's, too many of them.

[SasaS]

2 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

Do the Russians breed in some kind of hatchery? This is why the Germans came a cropper, to quote that Chinese lad in return of the Jedi. There's, too many of them.

 

I think it's the opposite, they have a dwindling population.

[M_B]

Not really made headlines today, but the US, Britain, France, and Germany have now all lifted range restrictions on their weapons. Anything inside Russia is now a target.

[SasaS]

Number of tanks Russia lost according to Oryx has crossed the 4,000 milestone  for the first time - 4,029 visually confirmed losses. 

 

It took a while, since Russians are now mainly doing Mad Max style motorcycle charges, but we got there. 

 

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html

[SasaS]

There seems to be some proper Hollywood shit Ukraine is trying to pull with drone attacks in Russia right now.

[SasaS]

It looks like a proper "spectacular", akin to drowning of the Moskva destroyer, apparently trucks were used to transport remotely launched drones to attack airbases from within Russia. Hopefully it is confirmed and something comes out of it.

 

https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1929141463394254868

 

https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1929158841926623382

 

[Strontium]

It does look quite a lot like Ukraine has taken out a big chunk of Russia's nuclear capable heavy bombers with $200 off-the-shelf drones. 

[Vector Sigma]

Proper chutzpah.

[Jairzinho]

Russia will be disappointed when they look back on this.

[polymerpunkah]

So is this an indication that air power is increasingly irrelevant in warfare?

 

Ie are air defenses so good now that Russia's best/only viable means of attacking Ukraine is drones?

 

Or are they not quite ready yet to carpet bomb?

 

And the interwebs tells me it's more the former than the latter.

 

Another sign of Russia being a paper tiger.

 

Cunts.

 

 

[Vector Sigma]

Drones more valuable than troops and tanks?

 

The latest Russian drone tech is fibre optic, spools of up to 10km of cable so cannot be jammed. Susceptible to snagging though.

 

Saw a video of one lingering as an APC ramp came down, then it hurtled into the 8-10 troops inside. Brutal but clinical, not in an admirable way.

[SasaS]

Tom from Facebook couldn't wait to Pearce this.

 

I knew the ZSU was - heavily - targeting the Russian IADS, the last 7-10 days, but this is getting really big...

(That said; the mass of the aircraft in question aren't of much use for Russia. Not only 'almost flown to death', but the Russians have lately deployed relatively few bomber-released cruise missiles.)

[redinblack]

There isn't much good coming out of this conflict but through my lifetime Russia ( and the USSR) were the big bad wolf. From the looks of it now if they tried any serious shit on NATO they would get their arses handed to them. 

[SasaS]

Less spectacular, but potentially more important, Russia's economy.

 

Indicators - shmindicators, as long as Nabiullina is governor of the central bank, there is control. If she is removed, that would be the sign they are starting to wobble and may then move towards some kind of realistic attempt of negotiates settlement.

 

KI quoting Bloomberg quoting (unnamed) sources:

 

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Russian central bank, is facing government pressure to reduce the high key interest rate imposed amid skyrocketing wartime inflation, Bloomberg reported on June 2, citing undisclosed sources.

The reason is the growing toll on the federal budget and civilian industries, three officials told Bloomberg, with some calling for the decision to be made at the bank's meeting on June 6.

 

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-central-bank-head-under-pressure-to-slash-key-interest-rate-bloomberg-reports/

[polymerpunkah]

The drones were placed in mobile wooden sheds, and hidden under the roofs of the structures. They were then placed on trucks and driven by unwitting Russians to the perimeter of four air bases. The roof panels of the sheds were lifted off by a remotely activated mechanism, which allowed a cloud of drones to fly out and begin their attack.