Some info from the Ukraine

[Tx Redneck]

http://www.igorsushko.com/

[68RR]

Latest from John:

Monday Morning Update:
Ukraine:
1. For the last 3 days, there have been little to no offensive operations northwest and west of Kyiv. The Russians are likely trying to square away their logistics mess.
2, There were no offensive operations northeast of Kyiv either during the same period. Again, the Russians seem to be concentrating on securing their lines of communications.
3. Limited attacks took place around Mariupol that succeeded in capturing a few villages.
4. The Russians killed 35 in a long-range missile attack on a Ukrainian training base near the Polish border. I've seen reports that stated this facility was being used as a conduit for Western aid, as well as a training base for some 1,000 international volunteers.
5. Putin has reportedly asked the Chinese for military equipment. This makes sense as the Russians have lost close to 2,500 vehicles of all kinds since the war started, plus an estimated 170 drones, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
6. Ukrainians are estimating the Russians have lost over 12,000 men. The Open Source Intelligence community has flooded the net over the last 48 hours with photos of Russian soldiers killed in action in Ukraine, complete with biographical sketches. In a few cases, they are also posting photos of the funeral services back in their hometowns, which suggests the mobile crematorium stories were overblown.
7. A Russian convoy was reportedly destroyed outside of Melitopol in the southeastern part of Ukraine, apparently by a combined artillery bombardment and surprise ground assault that surrounded it. Ukrainians are claiming 200 vehicles destroyed.
8. Russian heavy bombers were employed in launching high-altitude attacks on Ukrainian cities last night.
9. Russians are now moving ammunition and supplies forward in marked ambulances. The Ukrainians have been finding them abandoned, full of weapons & ammo. Flip side: Ukrainians are moving Western aid in civilian vehicles. Both sides are shooting at these vehicles now.
10. Civilian protests erupted in several captured Ukrainian cities, including Kherson and Melitopol. In some cases, unarmed civilians confronted Russian soldiers and armored vehicles, often carrying Ukrainian flags.
11. Putin has reportedly sacked 8 generals. Russian news reports and interviews with officials now admit the "special military action" has not gone according to their timetable.
12. Russian attacks on civilian targets in Mariupol have killed 2,500 civilians according to Ukrainian sources.
13. Most analysts I've been reading have concluded that a revolution or coup in Russian is virtually impossible. A few believe Putin's grip on power is slipping, but the majority believe the chances of either a coup or popular uprising are slim.
14. Open Source Intelligence groups have discovered sat imagery that shows electronic interference from ground radar systems used by Ukrainian, US and NATO surface to air missile batteries. This was used by one Israeli analyst to document the locations of US Patriot missile batteries throughout the Middle East. Others have been watching the Ukrainian SAM radar systems as well as the recently deployed Patriot systems in Poland.
More later today.

[BLAKE]

Thanks for continuing to post these updates.

[Rick Modena]

Yes, Thank you. I do not watch the local news or International shit like CNN because of all the lies and same shots of shit over and over again.

[bird_dog0347]

agreed, thanks for continuing to do this.

[68RR]

Just trying to keep you guys informed from a good source. Here's more:

I’ll start today’s review with Ukraine’s hybrid war counter-offensive against Russia.
Today the Interfax news agency Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) along with the SBU ran another press conference with Russian Federation (RF) prisoners of war. There were six of them, and to a man they said they had been well-treated, fed well, received medical care, that they were angry at Vladimir Putin for sending them to invade Ukraine to destroy Nazis that weren’t there, that the Ukrainian people are peaceful, and that the war needs to stop now. All said they were very sorry - albeit several said that they only found out they were invading Ukraine once they started seeing Ukrainian signs, during what they thought was a training exercise. This was, to my count, the third such POW presser in two weeks of war. Plenty of foreign reporters.
This is what countering a false narrative effectively looks like. During Georgia, Crimea and Donbass - and I was there for two of those - the RF very successfully muddied the waters so that those who wanted an excuse not to call the RF an aggressor, could. That in turn weakened sanctions and, in hindsight, emboldened the Kremlin to attack someone else later, using the same tactics. The Ukrainians however clearly have done their homework, and understand it is difficult to claim you are, for instance, killing Nazis to the applause of a friendly neighbor nation, when your own soldiers are telling the world press the invasion pretext was a lie and their commander in chief is a liar.
I would add, at the risk of belaboring a point - had the UAF not fought, there would not have been POWs, and the Kremlin lie would have almost certainly worked once more. This is another reason why, if I have to pick one thing, UAF willingness to fight hard is the key to how this war has played out, and will play out.
Parallel to that, widely reported in Ukrainian media, and originating with the news feed Guildhall, the first resignations of RF contract soldiers from the RF army, specifically 41Army, have made their way to the public. The images are handwritten resignation letters. The justifications are, basically, “I quit because I don’t want to be cannon fodder and because the RF army behaved stupidly.” The fact soldiers and officers are resigning is not surprising - but what is, I think, is that official Russian Army handwritten resignation letters made their way to the free Ukrainian internet - assuming of course this isn't faked. Assuming the letters are real, and they look pretty real to me, this is an indicator of extremely good Ukrainian spy craft or angry and possibly seditious Russian citizens working in the 41st Army personnel system. Or both.
Either way, going forward, one has to assume whatever the RF attempts, will be with a military lacking a good chunk of its most experienced manpower, because besides those that are quitting, there are the ones that are in hospital, and too injured to participate in any offensive any time soon.
As far as the Ukraine General Staff is concerned, as of the 1800 sitrep on the 19th, major RF offensives are no longer possible, and local offensives might just be possible, but they will strain RF resources.
Across the front, the sitrep says, almost all RF forces are fully halted, digging in, and shooting artillery from time to time. In the Volyn sector, reportedly, RF forces aren’t even trying to engage UAF forces.
North of Kyiv RF forces are still stalled, roughly along the Irpen’ River, centered on the villages Irpen’ and Bucha. The sitrep, Ukrainian media and even a local source inform me that the UAF defenses there are intact, and waiting for more armored columns to drive out into the open.
The commander of Kyiv defenses, MG Mykola Zhynov, gave a long interview to Novoe Vremya magazine today, in which he said that Kyiv was flat out secure from the forces the RF has arrayed against it. His argument came down to numbers: Kyiv is huge city, it took more than two million men to capture Berlin, the whole RF army in Ukraine is about 200,000 men, and only a portion of that is deployed against Kyiv, that portion is already beaten up, and the UAF forces around Kyiv by most accounts are more numerous and better skilled than RF forces, and the Ukrainians are dug in. All probably true, but also probable is that General Zhynov’s ulterior goal was to calm panicky Kyivites, and hopefully coax some of them back to work.
Zhynov’s assurances notwithstanding, during the day cruise missiles hit Kyiv’s Antonov aviation plant, and an apparently long-range shell hit the Lavina shopping mall. A shot down missile crashed into the Kurinovsky district. Both strike locations are within city limits but some distance from the city center.
Oleksay Arestovych, a Zelenskyy spokesman, made the interesting comment today that UAF intelligence has observed RF forces shifting east and south, away from Kyiv. Yes, away. No confirmation on that.
Arestovych also said the UAF today knocked down 4 RF combat jets, 2 helicopters, and at least one cruise missile. Valery Zaluzhny, the UAF commander, claimed the UAF over the course of the war has shot down 77 combat jets and 90 helicopters. MG Zhynov claimed the airspace over Kyiv was particularly dangerous and RF pilots were avoiding it.
Razman Kadyrov, Chechnya’s strongman, surfaced in the social media today and said he was in Ukraine and would bring fire and sword to the enemy. Arestovych said that Kyiv defenders were waiting for him.
In the Kharkiv sector, according to the UGS, the UAF inflicted a "decisive repulse" (i.e., almost certainly, shot up another armored column, assuming it happened); and near Izium there was a UAF counterattack. Results weren’t reported. Again, today, RF artillery hit Kharkiv, including the university. Also bombarded were Chernihiv and Nezhin, the latter with Uragan rocket artillery, a powerful weapon similar to the US MLRS.
As for the past two days, the most RF pressure was in the east (Donetsk) and Tavriya (Krivoi Rih) directions, where according to the GS the Russians are still pressing, in some cases successfully. The GS this is in part due to RF numerical superiority, but a better description would be limited UAF numbers. RF forces opposite Mykolaiv are still stopped. Mykolaiv regional head Valery Kim posted images of a message sent by RF forces to him by the WhatsAp communications ap suggesting he surrender the city, and his answer, suggesting they surrender themselves and their weapons instead. His photograph of the exchange should be below this text.
In Mariupol, according an unconfirmed news report, a small relief convoy entered the city. For now take that with a big grain of salt. It’s not clear to me whether there’s still fighting, but what is clear is that the Marines and Azov Regiment are still in the city and saying they don’t plan to give up.
Finally, the ceasefire talks. According to both RF and UA spokesmen, they are progressing, there are points of agreement, and that there is a lot more to discuss. According to Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, one of the topics is prisoner exchange.

[68RR]

Ukraines pounding Russian armor

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1503357465701855235?t=ou0IEH9waAM2qwEx9FTq7g&s=19&fbclid=IwAR3iGxKGR9LkgGLpDvept5nWEu5QBw3h6BDtNkrT55D_bnluUrDG_T4QRxs

[68RR]

BMW new use

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1503365400939147273?t=xHJ8ddq3LhL8TPZ3K92aMA&s=19&fbclid=IwAR2zfcONBYoikURCNL1q-sTv5BHMBHJZP3mtbsgkBqEr8BvdlvkEXbGAHGs

[68RR]

This morning:

Morning Update:
Strategic:
1. Putin has signed a law that makes it legal for Russian airlines to seize aircraft that they have leased from Western corporations. There are hundreds of aircraft representing billions of dollars involved with this, as much of Russia's commercial aircraft fleet was leased to the airlines.
2. According to today's Wall Street Journal, the Russians intend on seizing trademarks and assets of Western companies in Russia should their personnel speak out against the war. Additionally, letters and "visits" to these companies' Russian headquarters threatened any corporate officer or leader with arrest if they speak out against the war. This has triggered a sharp reduction in corporate communication between the branches of such businesses as Yum in Russia with corporate offices in the West out of fear the Russian government is reading emails and has tapped their phones.
Putin has made it clear he supports nationalizing any business that adheres to the Western sanctions. From 2008 to 2020, the GDP per capita in Russia has fallen 13% at the same time the US's has grown 31%. Nationalizing these company's assets is essentially theft.
3. These developments, especially the seizure of aircraft, will have dire long-term consequences for the Russian economy. Even if the war ends tomorrow and sanctions are lifted, foreign investment in the Russian economy is not going to return, at least not from the West. This represents a long-term, massive shift from the post-Cold War policies and trade connections to Russia.
4. The Russians have asked for economic and military assistance from the Chinese. The U.S. is in serious negotiations with the Chinese at the moment re: Ukraine and Russia, but the Chinese have indicated they'll be willing to help Russia. Lots of speculation on whether the Chinese will help defuse the situation, or take advantage of it by making Russia almost totally reliant on Chinese aid and trade. In theory, the Russians cannot sustain the war much longer without material and financial assistance. In practice, nation-states always find a way to continue to finance and sustain military operations once they've begun, no matter the long term consequences to their economy and society. A good example is the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. But, lots of commentary right now stemming from a retired US general's comment that the Russians are approaching the point at which they will run out of ammunition, supplies and funds to sustain the war. The Russians will find a way to continue it.
5. The UN Secretary General said yesterday that nuclear war is in the "realm of possibility" as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
6. Nearly every European nation has dramatically increased their defense budgets in the wake of the invasion. This includes Germany which has doubled its defense spending.
7. In the middle of all the chaos, there are early signs of a spring pandemic resurgence. Germany's numbers went from about 50k/day at the start of the month to 200k this week. Over the past two years, surges like this usually hit the U.S. about a month to six weeks later.
Ukraine:
1. Heavy air and artillery attacks continued through the night in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Large missile strikes rocked downtown Kyiv, and more cluster munitions were used on Kharkiv.
2. The Ukrainian Air Force has stated it has shot down 19 aircraft, 20 helicopters, 5 UAVs, and 1 cruise missile since the start of the war. The Ukrainians are claiming almost 200 aircraft and drones total.
3. ISW reports the Russian advances in the NW and NE of Kyiv have been "rolled back" several miles. Whether that is from the Russians falling back to consolidate further, or ISW miscalculated the extend of the Russian advances is not clear.
4. A live news broadcast in the studio of one of Russia's state-controlled tv stations was interrupted when one of its reporters protested the war on-air.
https://twitter.com/KevinRo.../statu...44144206888962...
Interview with the woman who did this:
https://twitter.com/PaulSonne/status...57196641853447...
5. Russian artillery and air attacks have started against Ukrainian military/industrial targets, including the Antonov aircraft factory in Kyiv.
6. A Russian drone crashed in Romania over the weekend.
7. Ukrainian refugee numbers are approaching 3 million people. Poland's been overwhelmed by the influx.

[scootro]

This ain't war! everyone is kissing China's ass. Putin showing a little power for his political needs. Ukraine is full of extremists assholes trying to play tough. Biden needs the political football really bad because he sucks! An the democrats gotta steal the most money they can get before the year is out.

This so called war is built upon greed and lies.


this professor predicted this in 2015

37:58 What should be done
39:50 Consequences
44:02 Ukraine
1:07 Germany

[Gasser64]

[scootro]

he knows! i don't disagree

[68RR]

John R Bruning
Stefan Korshak
Shane Glasspool
Roy's notes:this is, some really good insight from John, into the morale of the RT forces at present. I'm going to be including Shane,in these posts from now on(and sharing his stuff too).Shane is ex PWRR(sniper)and on the front line in Kyiv/Irpin.
Evening Update:
1. There is some sort of Ukrainian counter-offensive underway. Very sketchy information at the moment, but some sources are saying the Russians have been pushed out of Irpin to the West of Kyiv. The Russians had apparently secured about 30% of the city. There have been gains made to the east of Kyiv as well. In the south, Ukrainian forces overran a Russian artillery battery at Mykolaiv on the Black Sea.
If this is true, the timing is perfect. The Russians are in consolidation mode in the northwest and northeast, morale low and their supplies still depleted.
Additionally, there is footage of a Ukrainian airborne unit advancing past burnt out Russian tanks in the contested breakaway region of Luhansk.
There's a media black out right now. Should be more news later tonight.
2. Russian heavy bombers are up once again, targeting Ukrainian cities.
3. The Ukrainians killed another Russian general. This makes 4 Russian and 1 Chechen general in 20 days. Major General Oleg Mityaev commanded the 150th Motor Rifle Division, which is currently involved in the siege at Mariupol on the southern coast. He was the deputy commander of all Russian forces in Syria last year, and a former airborne brigade commander earlier in his career. The Azov Battalion, the far-right militia that has been operating in the Donbas break away region, has claimed credit for killing him. The Azov Battalion is part of the defense of Mariupol.
4. I'm including a photo of General Mityaev and apparently one of the honor guard at his funeral composed of airborne troops from his old brigade. Take a close look at the honor guard and let me know what it says to you.
5. US and Chinese officials met in Rome today and had what was apparently a seven hour blunt-fest over Ukraine and the Chinese sending military aid/economic aid to the Russians. The Chinese released a statement that did not condemn the Russians, but did say they respected the international order and international boundaries. Off the record, they made it clear they are not happy with what the Russians are doing. The officials on each side were: U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi. No real details on what emerged from the talks, but apparently the U.S. took a very hard line and threatened the Chinese with consequences if they sent aid to Russia.
6. The Russians may be planning to execute an amphibious landing along the Black Sea Coast near Odesa. They have some naval infantry and ships off shore, and earlier today ham radio operators allegedly heard the Black Sea Fleet HQ at Sevastopol send a priority flash codeword in Morse Code.
If this is the execute order for an amphibious landing is not known, but it engendered a lot of speculation that it may be. The amphibious task force has been tracked on open source sat imagery for several days. There are roughly 4,000 Russian naval infantry aboard that task force.
7. Forte 11, a US intelligence gathering drone which has been operating in theater since before the invasion, is orbiting south of the Russian amphibious task force over the Black Sea tonight.
8. Russian violence toward unarmed civilians seems to be growing. A drunk Russian soldier murdered a 10 year old girl in front of her uncle in a village about 40 miles outside of Kyiv. Additionally, I am posting this link to show an outrageous example of this uptick in direct violence, not just artillery and aerial bombing, against civilians. It is graphic and horrible. A Russian tank crew uses a main gun round to literally murders a civilian walking on the street in front of their position. As far as I can tell, he posed zero threat to them.
https://twitter.com/Ukraine.../statu...23350979833859...
9. There is an audio recording that has been released by the Ukrainians allegedly from an intercepted cell phone call of a Russian soldier calling home. He was drunk and spoke of seeing two trainloads of dead Russian troops being hauled home (another possible data point on the mobile crematorium stories). He said there were Russian generals who have committed suicide, stories of self-inflicted wounds to get out of combat, He said he was ordered to shoot Ukrainian civilians. This is all unverified.
Photos: Russian Major General Oleg Mityaev and what apparently was his honor guard from the elite Russian 11th Airborne Brigade during his memorial service.
Last thing: Thank you all for the kind words regarding these posts. They're deeply appreciated.
Ukraine Liberation Front �� on Twitter
TWITTER.COM
Ukraine Liberation Front �� on Twitter
“#Mariupol / #UkraineUnderAttack Russian Army Tanker Murders

[68RR]

Paul Varga
The one thing i find a little puzzling is that back in January the consensus among the military analysis community was that Ukraine had a standing army of about 290000 before they impressed all eligible males and added foreign volunteers and even women and teenagers that want to fight. The immediate prewar estimates of total Russian personnel at about 180k spread over the length of their border from Belarus to the Black Sea. All the news reports seem to indicate Russian losses in the tens of thousands, thousands of vehicles. The Russians have been static it seems for almost two weeks. We have by all accounts provided at least 17000 Javelins which without any other weapons would be enough to destroy every vehicle in the Russian mechanized brigades which under normal warfare situations leave their infantry and heavy weapons and rear echelon forces open to attack. My question is if the Russian logistics is bad, they are picking off armor and apcs like flies and they have enough anti tank weapons, why is it that the Ukrainians have not closed with the enemy and forced them to withdraw??? I see all these posts about how bad the Russians are losing and being killed, yet i have not heard one iota about any sort of an advance to the east forcing the Russians back to their own borders??? If the Ukrainian military losses have not as been severe, i would think they have enough men to rally and start a push back but all i have seen is plea for more and more weapons?? And the truth is once the steppes dry out and harden from the late winter rains and snow, Russian armor will more likely disperse and not remain as juicy targets on roads and main highways. Basically an endless defense never wins a war. As long as they don't start a concerted and broad front counteroffensive driving back the Russians in a sweeping advance, all i see happening is either the use of bigger and more destructive stand off weapons by the Russians to pulverize the cities into dust or they will keep throwing expendable men in ground units into the breach to replace men killed but whose units as a whole have not been forced to withdraw.
Reply9h
John R Bruning
Paul Varga I think the Ukrainians have been hit very hard too, but their reserves are now mobilized with gave them an extra 200,000 men. And what looks to be a large counter-offensive is now underway. The timing for that could not be better with how dire the Russian supply situation seems to be

[68RR]

March 16 - Day 21 - The UAF strikes back
Hi FB,
I think the most important thing that happened today was “limited” counterattacks to the north of Kyiv. The important part is what “limited” actually means here.
According to UAF official sources they made a concerted but limited porthward push to the west of Kyiv, vicinity of Makarivka, the main element of which was a lot of artillery. It’s not clear how much or if the Ukrainians advanced in this area, but according to the Ukrainians the Russian Federation (RF) units took some punishment. In Brovary, I am told, there was a big artillery shoot during the night, and then things have been quiet. Later in the day the UAF reported it turned back a big column at Vishneve and put in a counter-attack, again with lots of artillery. In Irpen’, I am told, the village is fully under UAF control and yet another big RF vehicle column was smashed. None of this is confirmed, but I am confident in these sources. A Radio Liberty reporter posted images of a smashed tank and said saw UAF forces captured a village, and five RF combat vehicles. This engagement was reportedly to the north of Kyiv, but no more specifics.
Taken together, all this leads me to guess that the UAF tried to push forward to the north of Kyiv and where it came into contact with RF forces it stopped, engaged with all weapons, and afterwards probably consolidated.
This push, or pushes, was almost certainly linked to the first shelling of Kyiv proper, which took place yesterday, albeit by this war’s standards it wasn’t too much, some hits to a shopping mall and an apartment building with two people killed. This morning, another shell hit another Kyiv apartment building, injuring two. I know it sounds horrible and flippant to reduce smashed homes and dead people to “not too much”. But given the scale of this war, RF strikes like that aren’t even pin pricks. Still, throughout the war the national leadership has been super sensitive about any threat to the capital. What this looks like to me is the start of a careful, casualty-avoiding, but nonetheless systemic attempt to push the RF back.
Let that sink in a little: Three weeks into the war, and the Ukrainians are counterattacking. For real.
General Zaluzhny, UAF commander, today said there were counterattacks at “several other locations”. No more details. Most likely these attacks - assuming they happened - were purely local and the main goals were local as well: improve the terrain the UAF holds, or damage and destroy the enemy.
A counter strike we speculated about yesterday was confirmed today: Indeed, the Ukrainians did hit Kherson airfield, yes, the airfield had a couple of dozen RF helicopters on it, and you don’t have to guess, NASA released satellite pix showing at least six and probably eight or more RF choppers burning, and pock marks all over the tarmac. I’m not clear whether the UAF air force or artillery did the work. Maybe both.
Then there was this upbeat item: Remember the mayor of Melitpool, Ivan Fedorov, whom the Russian arrested and hauled away, because they captured his town and he refused to collaborate? Details are thin, but, it appears the Ukrainian special forces in a raid of some kind freed him from Russian detention, and he’s back in UAF hands. A video appeared of Zelenskyy taking to Federov, who had been held and according to news reports tortured, for nearly a week.
It doesn’t look good when the scary country that invented the KGB and the Great Purges, loses prisoners to Ukrainian special operations teams.
News reports in Odessa were scrambling all over each other over the last 24 hours to report on six RF warships, led by the cruiser Moskva, followed by landing ships potentially carrying 4,000 RF Marines, that had sortied the day before from Sevastopol, and now were sailing back and forth north of Odessa region. At one point, according to the reports, the RF ships bombarded a village called Novoselivka, reportedly 900 rounds fired. Base on previous news reports, the UAF has an installation in the vicinity.No information on damage or casualties.
According to a pair of Odessa officials, sunrise brought a pair of RF Su-34 fighter-bombers quite close to the city itself. UAF air defense, according pretty much every Ukrainan news agency today, shot both of them down, supposedly within view of early-rising Odessite on the shore. The pilots reportedly catapulted successfully but, given the near freezing temperatures in the Black Sea, there was little chance they survived, the reports said.
In Mariupol,during the day a report came in that the commander of Azov Regiment, Mykola “Hook” Kravchenko, died in combat.The Regimental statement said his father died two weeks ago, in Kharkiv, and that Azov would fight on.Later in the day shocking reports came in that the RF dropped a bomb on the Drama Theater in which - I hope this isn’t true - were sheltering more than 1,000 people whose homes elsewhre had been destroyed. Fighting is continuing. I have no information on whether a relief convoy got in or out.
The second half of the day, news wise, was pretty much overwhelmed with reports of progress in the peace talks, which according to participants have been going fairly well. The key points were that the Ukrainians generally agree to give up on NATO and be neutral, and to keep “certain” weapon systems out of Ukrainian territory. The Russians, for their part, will go back to the pre-February 24 start lines, and give up on their condition that Ukraine recognize Russian ownership of Crimea and the “independence” of the DLPR.
The sticking point, and it’s a big one, is how Ukraine guarantees it security against Russia in the future. Several Ukrainian officials have said this would be impossible without a third party nation with nukes being obliged by treaty to step in and fight with Ukraine, if Ukraine is invaded again. There aren’t that many nuclear states and I’m not sure India or Pakistan would agree to the role. The implication - and this is why Ukraine’s status gets attention in Beijing and Washington, is that if Ukraine can’t get a guarantee like that, then the war goes on, and Ukraine will have every incentive to develop nuclear weapons of its own. If they haven’t started already. In any case, by evening Kyiv had come out with a formal statement that it’s way too early to discuss ceasefire terms, all that can be said is the talks are ongoing.
Here is one possible reason why the Ukrainians might not be in a hurry: Today the Americans did what they do best, they threw overwhelming resources at a problem. Following a Zelenskyy Zoom speech to Congress, Washington approved a one billion dollar military aid package to Ukraine. Among the weapons are 800 more Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 9,000 anti-tank missiles (among that 2,000 more javelins and 6,000 AT4 rockets), 5,000 rifles, grenade launchers, machine guns, (i.e, enough to equip Ukraine’s special forces command about twice, or an expanded special forces command once) and 20 million rounds of ammunition. Plus 25,000 sets of body armor and helmets.This is all infantry firepower, and as the war has shown, well-armed Ukrainian infantry stops Russian attacks cold.
Beyond that, the Americans are sending 100 kamikaze UAVs, called Switchblade. Each has a range of about 50 km, it’s faster than a Bayraktar, and it’s almost cheaper than a vanilla artillery shell. So you can have lots of them. The small one kills people, the big version destroys vehicles. This is a top-of-the-line, cutting-edge weapon that, in the hands of soldiers who know how to use it, make it close to impossible for an opponent to move in the open. Once these weapons get into Ukrainian hands, they will have the ability to drop a smart munition onto, well, anything. 100 l assume is a sample - these things are supposed to be really cheap. So later lots of them.
Late addition: I see now the British are sending their hand-held anti-aircraft missiles, and the Slovakians are thinking about sending big S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.
I won’t say game over Russia, but I will say all this weaponry is a very good reason for the Ukrainians to drag out the negotiations. The writing is on the wall. Not only will the sanctions bite, but, over time, what with all the material in the pipeline for the Ukrainians, the RF’s already badly beaten-up invasion force will get whittled down to very little. From where I sit the Ukrainians are now clearly winning, and every day a ceasefire is delayed, the scale of their victory is going to get bigger.