Flightradar shows 2 USAF Awacs jets currently circling right on the Poland-Ukraine border. I'm guessing that there are a LOT of NATO combat aircraft currently on flying around on full alert in Poland too with their transponders off.
I would love to see the US diplomatic communications to Russia this morning. Probably something along the lines of "Don't. Even. Think. About. It."
Amazing documentary on Channel 4 last night
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/ukraine-from-above-secrets-from-the-frontline
Trent has another logistics thread for the transport nerds (of which Im one)
https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1627471413589286914?t=WLDZaZyLycsboMSiqdnwSw&s=19
https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1627611746591440899?t=joftbPbxi3PLwM6wwW9DJw&s=19
Looks like he's definitely there!
Where’s Boris? He must be livid, some upstart ‘Murican going over there and stealing his limelight? 😜
...and Putin is in his armoured train perma circling Russia, Snowpiercer style.lol
There's some serious messaging from Team_Ukraine and allies at the moment. The steady stream of foreign leaders, seen strolling in daylight next to Zelensky, is massively at odds with PooTin's behaviour. Over the next few days I expect even more, in all sorts of ways.
I would suspect the private messages are even stronger.
Of course while this gives succour to the Ukrainian's, Russia will of course frame it very differently.
I would hope that the US warning about China was more for the home crowd & Republican controlled House of Representatives to ensure continued support for Ukraine rather than any specific intelligence.
That is as strong a full commitment message as it is possible to give. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to arrange and keep secret
I would love to see the US diplomatic communications to Russia this morning. Probably something along the lines of “Don’t. Even. Think. About. It.”
It's noticeable how much Putin and his senior officials have dialed back their nuclear rhetoric since the Summer. Rumor was that some US back channels made it perfectly clear to Putin that him and his family would face direct consequences if he did press the button.
He travelled by train from Poland.
I would love to see the logistics that went into Bidens trip. Some say train (sounds a long trip for a US president to be sat in a train) while others say plane, protected by US fighters (in Ukrainian airspace?). Some are saying he was protected by the Ukrainian forces while others are saying there may of been US troops on the ground in Ukraine to protect him? And apparently they told Moscow about the trip, now I would like to of been a fly on the wall for that call and reply.
It wasn’t that long ago that Russia capturing Kyiv looked more likely than not.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ukraine/2023/0220/1357807-biden-ukraine-trip/
Another take on Bidens travel itinerary? Who knows?
It wasn’t that long ago that Russia capturing Kyiv looked more likely than not.
Indeed, just watching Ukraine from above with Russian army just 6 miles outside Kyiv, before school boys with drones gave AFU accurate coordinates to bomb them.
Also a stark contrast to Trump blackmailing Ukraine for dirt on Hunter Biden.
Not even Russia is daft enough to try anything with the US President in Ukraine, the whole world turns against them then.
It's just depressing that it's a year on and still no end in sight, the hope of some type of face saving way to let Putin end his 'special military operation' is looking less likely, and the higher the losses for Russia, the more risk they'll escalate even more.
Fascinating stuff! I love finding out the details of large events
the hope of some type of face saving way to let Putin end his ‘special military operation’ is looking less likely
It’s been impossible since he tried to take the capital city of Ukraine, and cities in the South West, and failed. That told his own people, and the world, that he was trying to subjugate the whole or the majority of Ukraine, and that anything less is a loss. The war can only end in failure now… which sadly means that it will not end. Not in the short term. This will now take years, and the suffering that the people of Ukraine have to endure in that time is directly proportional to the assistance we give their leaders (local and national) to defend them, supply them, house them, feed them, care for them… and we need to embrace them politically, economically, artistically, socially… they need to know we are with them. Biden and other world leaders (including UK PMs that I otherwise disagree with) have been doing the right thing putting themselves personally in the heart of Kyiv with their leaders. Physically there. With them. It’s important symbolism.
leaving reporters like me, who thought they were travelling with the president tonight, making a trip on an aircraft that will not be called Air Force On
I would have been shitting myself on that flight, you're perhaps one itchy trigger finger by a Western hating Wagner employee away from death...
How exactly they made the journey remains under wraps.
Pretty sure Biden was seen entering a DC pizzeria on Sunday ... then he pops up in Ukraine. Thus foolishly revealing that the world elite do indeed have a network of underground tunnels through which they travel.
By the time Americans woke up to the news, Mr Biden, now expected to resurface in Poland for the pre-announced part of his trip, was already tweeting: "Kyiv has captured a part of my heart."
Aha!
Aha!
Busted! Lol
It’s just depressing that it’s a year on and still no end in sight, the hope of some type of face saving way to let Putin end his ‘special military operation’
That was always a myth, the only way putin would end it is by declaring victory and that means capturing & overthrowning Kyiv at a minimum
the higher the losses for Russia, the more risk they’ll escalate even more.
Russia have dialled back the escalation rhetoric even as they lose several 1000s of soldiers weekly
pizzeria
I suppose he was attending a children's party, right ?
Makes me think
That was always a myth, the only way putin would end it is by declaring victory and that means capturing & overthrowning Kyiv at a minimum
Exactly. Putin has no interest in a peace deal. He breaks any agreement as soon as it suits his purposes. We've had 20 years to see exactly how unconcerned he is about human life and how totally untrustworthy he is, yet people still cling to the fantasy that he might call off the war if only he could "save some face." The war is continuing because he has no interest in ending it and living in peace with the rest of the world. Why should other countries be called on to make concessions to him when he could call his army home anytime it pleased him?
I think its Putins "speech" day, and what comes with that.
Expect large missile wave to Ukrainian cities & the odd crazy suicidal offensive attack to gain 3m2 of bog.
What to make of prigohrzins rant about the regular army denying him ammo?
And that he's apparently now finding it harder recruiting from prisons?
Maybe those sledgehammer executions weren't the morale booster he thought they were
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1627623134382768128?t=XW_H00CCHpcyQay7-SOH5Q&s=19
What to make of prigohrzins rant about the regular army denying him ammo?
What to make of prigohrzins rant about the regular army denying him ammo?
If I was him I’d be making sure that spending time in buildings with lots of windows is entirely off the itinerary!
Interesting though. The only units who seem to have been making any kind of advance (albeit at huge and unsustainable cost) are Wagner ones. If they are cut off from logistics, what do the Russians have left?
The only units who seem to have been making any kind of advance (albeit at huge and unsustainable cost) are Wagner ones.
And they were doing that by basically shoveling thousands of prison convicts into the teeth of the Ukranian guns, which, apart from being horrific on every conceivable human level, was never going to be sustainable and would eventually generate some kind of backlash back home even in Russia in 2023.
I guess Wagner's command expected to have made a major breakthrough by now, making them instant heroes to he Russian public and deflecting any potential criticism of their methods. As it is they still haven't even taken Bakhmut and the Kremlin have clearly decided to clip their wings.
Prigozhin's clear attempts to position himself as an independent centre of power and to contrast his approach to Putin's by being regularly seen near the front and with is troops seem to be catching up with him, rule number 1 of being a thug for hire in an autocratic system... don't show up the boss.
As it is they still haven’t even taken Bakhmut and the Kremlin have clearly decided to clip their wings.
It's also possible that they genuinely can't supply them with the quantities of ammo that they are demanding.
Putins is going on a bit isn’t he…
Has Medvedev passed out drunk again?
Putins is going on a bit isn’t he…
Is he naming all the people who have died for his stupidity?
Good summary of the last 12 months.
And, allegedly, another take on Bidens travel in Ukraine
https://twitter.com/AKamyshin/status/1627957152408125440?t=oNJrOEARm_CkKjZbwXVT9A&s=19
(Actually doesnt say much tbf)
Like the comment about having to hold up other trains for "Rail Force One" so they only had 90% of journeys on time. Southern Rail can only dream about that level of service and they don't have a madman bombing their infrastructure.
Like the comment about having to hold up other trains for “Rail Force One” so they only had 90% of journeys on time. Southern Rail can only dream about that level of service and they don’t have a madman bombing their infrastructure.
Haha! Good point!
FB-ATB
Full Member
Like the comment about having to hold up other trains for “Rail Force One” so they only had 90% of journeys on time. Southern Rail can only dream about that level of service and they don’t have a madman bombing their infrastructure.
The 'Beast From The East' apparently brought every single London bus to a stop.
Not even the Luftwaffe ever managed that!
https://ig.ft.com/russias-war-in-ukraine
Interesting analysis by FT of Russia’s resources to continue fighting. Bottom line - they are facing difficulties now but they aren’t finished yet.