Russian special military operation in Ukraine #54

More video footage from Skrydstrup airbase in Denmark, where Ukrainian pilots and technicians are trained on the F-16.

Two training two-seat F-16s provided by the Belgian Air Force are also deployed here.

The military undergo a six-month training course on them, which began in November; the first pilots are due to return to Ukraine in May of this year.

https://t.me/milinfolive/118628

Putin spoke about the Belgorod region:

– I admire the courage of the residents of the Belgorod region and other regions bordering Ukraine

– We will work to ensure their safety

– Russia could respond in kind to the enemy who attacks civilian infrastructure, but we have our own plans

– There are different ways to ensure the security of the Belgorod region, we will do it

Key points from the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's statement:

The Ukrainian losses during attacks on the border points of the Belgorod and Kursk regions over 8 days amounted to more than 3.5 thousand people, of which 790 were irretrievable losses.

Russian troops destroyed 23 tanks, 34 armored vehicles, including 11 Bradleys, five Vampire MLRS launchers, and an Mi-8 helicopter.

Since the beginning of the year, four Abrams tanks, five Leopard tanks, 27 Bradley IFVs, six Himars missile launchers, and 11 air defense missile launchers, including five Patriots, have been destroyed.

It seems that we have missed somehow something really big.

Not that I am surprised - I have already painted this picture several times on different occasions and posts.

Yet now we have it from the US ...

On March 1st, Wall Street Journal revealed and published a detailed elements of Russian-Ukrainian peace agreement from April 2022.

The document was dated April 14th, so is supposed to be one of the latest discussed versions.

What is important here is the background.

Both sides started negotiations already in February (!), in Belarus (!!), and it was Polish Air Force helicopters that delivered the Ukrainian delegation to Belarus (!!!).

Sounds crazy enough already, but it only starts here ...

Th core of agreement was that Ukraine remains a permanent neutrality, and decline all military equipment and assistance provided by the west.

In reverse, Russia don't care about Ukrainian membership in the European Union.

Crimea was supposed to get a frozen (Russian de facto) status for 99 years period.

All the other territories' status - LDNR including - was supposed to be discussed as a matter of bilateral agreements after ceasefire.


Russian was supposed to retain official language status on the all Ukrainian territory.

The treaty was to be guaranteed by the US, UK, France, Russia and China, with additional clause that all military agreements that affect neutrality status are to be terminated.

Only Crimea and Sevastopol were excluded from these guarantees, which can be considered as a unilateral declaration of Russia that those territories' status is out of discussion.

What was still under dispute, was additional guarantors - Ukraine insisted on Turkey, while Russia on Belarus.

Ukraine was supposed to demilitarize, with numbers still under dispute - Moscow proposed a 85k strong army with 350 tanks and 500 artillery systems, while Ukraine insisted on 250k army with 800 tanks and 1900 artillery pieces.

What is crucial to the whole situation is the fact, that WSJ revelations correspond fully with Putin's presentation made for an African delegation in June 2023.

Furthermore, WSJ openly claims that in general, the agreement was based on the one signed to make the Soviets get out of the East Germany in 1990.

WSJ claims that Johnsons' direct involvement caused the negotiations to fail.

The thing is widely acclaimed, by both the Ukrainian negotiators and Erdogan ...

Last but not least, WSJ confirms that Ukraine was just a step away from signing this agreement and ending the hostilities.

This war could have ended in April 2022, with almost no material and human losses other than military.
Ukraine was supposed to retain not only the left bank of Dnepr but with an open door to get back to the Minsk Accords.

The ones that are de facto a UN Council resolution, and where Ukraine retains all of Lugansk and Donbass, under conditions of bigger autonomy ...

So the general conclusion is as follows :
Russians never lied about the matter.
They were not supposed to get any territorial gains, other than accepting a de facto existing status of Crimea.
Ukraine was supposed to retain territorial integrity.
And a clear road for EU membership, under a clause that it will be fully neutral country, with international and formal guarantees.

Cracking open the Abrams: What Russia can learn by studying knocked out M1

Russia's Defense Ministry has released footage of special forces scouts inspecting a knocked out Ukrainian Abrams abandoned in no man’s land in the settlement of Berdychi, about 3 km northeast of Avdeyevka. Sputnik asked veteran military observer Alexey Leonkov what Russia could get out inspecting the vaunted American main battle tank more closely:

🟥 "We can study its hull, the turret, all these systems," Leonkov said.

🟥 "We can identify its vulnerabilities. We will be able to understand how the fire control system and gun ensure firing. That is, we can figure out all these mechanical [details]. And of course, having identified its vulnerabilities, we will make the necessary adjustments so that the tank can be destroyed using all types of anti-tank weapons."

🟥 These and other parameters will be recorded, a virtual, ‘digital twin’ of the MBT can be created, "so that later this information can, for example, be entered into our reconnaissance systems” and used to detect the MBTs on the battlefield automatically, Leonkov explained.

🟥 "Any tank, any trophy is always studied. I think that sooner or later it will be dragged to a testing ground, where testing of new guns for our main battle tanks as well as anti-tank guns will take place. It will make a good target, because it will no longer be suitable for anything else," the observer said.

Rogov: The Russian army ousted the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the center of Rabotino, by Alex Degtyarev for VZGLYAD. 03.20.2024.

The Ukrainian military was forced out of the central part of the village of Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region, said the head of the “We are together with Russia” movement, Vladimir Rogov.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been forced out of the central part of the village, the Russian military has advanced north from the center, Rogov told RIA Novosti .

The Russian army in this sector of the front has begun to dominate the counter-battery fight, and the Ukrainian military is trying to compensate for the lack of artillery with the massive use of drones.

Also, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have sharply reduced the use of heavy equipment; they are “throwing infantry to slaughter.”

Earlier in March, Rogov reported that the Russian Armed Forces took control of the central part of Rabotino.

https://vz.ru/news/2024/3/20/1259147.html

Why Europe took up arms against the Pope, by Sergey Khudiev, publicist, theologian, for VZGLYAD. 03.20.2024.

Responsible government leaders must be guided by reality, not their own propaganda. Courage does not consist in sending people to their deaths while sitting in your garden, but in ending a lost war with the least possible losses.

Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy, said not too diplomatically that with his call for negotiations on Ukraine, Pope Francis “climbed into the garden” where “nobody invited him.”

We are talking about a statement made by the Roman Pontiff in an interview with the Swiss television and radio company RSI : “I believe that the one who sees the situation, who thinks about the people, who has the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate is stronger. And today it is possible to negotiate with the help of international powers. <...> When you see that you are defeated, that things are going wrong, you need to have the courage to negotiate... Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse. <...> Negotiations are never capitulation. This is the courage not to bring the country to suicide.”

These words caused a wave of attacks, sometimes striking in their outrageous rudeness - which Borrell decided to join. However, Pope Francis - for better or worse - heads the institution that, as one can say without exaggeration, created Western civilization. The only institution that has existed continuously since antiquity to this day. It was the Church that for centuries was the main “gardener” in that “garden” that Borrell now boasts of as his own. You can agree with the pope or not, but the streams of boorish insults that have rained down on him in recent days indicate that many Western figures not only do not recognize their roots, but also actively reject them.

The call to “think about people,” about those unfortunate Ukrainians who are grabbed on the streets and forcibly driven to the front, was received with indignation by figures who are certainly not in danger of being sent to the trenches.

In English there is an expression “the elephant in the room” - something that is impossible not to notice, but that everyone tries point-blank not to see. This “elephant” is the fact that military operations are developing unfavorably for Ukraine. There is no reason to expect a reversal of this trend - and the sooner the losing side negotiates, the better terms it will be able to make peace. Some Western publications write about this quite openly - but Western politicians are determined to fight until the last Ukrainian.

Why? First of all, of course, because any outcome other than a clear defeat for Russia would be a grave humiliation for the West, which would reveal its inability to be the sole and undisputed center of power in the world. But here it can be noted that the later peace is concluded, the more severe this humiliation will be. It was possible to reach an agreement before February 24, when it would be enough to abandon NATO’s advance into Ukraine. An agreement could have been reached in March 2022, when Boris Johnson told the Ukrainians to “just fight.”

The more opportunities for peace are missed, the worse the situation becomes. But another reason why the proposal for negotiations causes such irritation is the inertia of propaganda. Politicians and media figures find themselves prisoners of their own militant speeches.

Any negotiations presuppose that Russia is simply one of the states in the world that has its own interests, which it can negotiate with other states. But propaganda speaks, naturally, not about interests (who would be interested in dying for the interests of the United States, NATO or the European Union), but about a cosmic battle of good and evil, in which the forces of good, light, freedom and dignity confront absolute evil in the person of Russia.

“Good” and “Evil” cannot make peace taking into account mutual interests. “Good” must inflict a crushing defeat on “Evil.”

And so the Pope says out loud something that doesn’t fit in with this propaganda picture. It does not seem at all like things are heading towards Russia's defeat. Sooner or later peace will have to be made. It's better to do it sooner rather than later. Responsible government leaders must be guided by reality, not their own propaganda. Courage does not consist in sending people to their deaths while sitting in your garden, but in ending a lost war with the least possible losses.

This is not the only – but the most visible – voice of humanity and common sense in the West. And if we compare Europe with a garden, then the gardener in it is clearly not Borrell.

https://vz.ru/opinions/2024/3/20/1258823.html

Walther von Oldenburg wrote:

mnztr wrote:

Walther von Oldenburg wrote:IMO China and Russia should both pressure Kim to enact economic reforms.

you cannot really reform an economy that is heavily sanctioned as the laws of economics are too distorted by sanctions

NK could do business with just the friendly countries - Russia, China and the Global South in general.

Nope these are UNSC sanctions not unilateral. Even Russia agreed to them at the time so its difficult.

Maybe he requires additional instruction on how to use it.
You know, "Citation for dummies" series.
Dude, is that a case?

In Kharkov, after the Russian strike on a drone factory, GUR reconnaissance officers and Ukrainian Armed Forces mercenaries were killed, 03.20.2024.

In the morning, Russian troops attacked a drone production plant in Kharkov, in which at that time there were military personnel of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine , who participated in attacks on the Belgorod region. The coordinator of the Nikolaev underground, Sergei Lebedev, announced this on March 20.

“It arrived very high quality. There were a lot of dead - there was a location of personal forces there, military men from the Main Intelligence Directorate recently arrived, the same ones who are trying to storm the Belgorod region,” he told RIA Novosti , citing his Kharkov colleagues.

According to the underground, the strike also killed workers assembling drones from Western Ukraine, who were recruited after local residents were fired, and foreign specialists involved in equipping these drones.

Lebedev clarified that the destroyed workshop produced Vampire hexacopters, also called Baba Yaga, and shells for them. After the attack, the area where the plant is located was cordoned off by the Ukrainian military and members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

In recent days, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have made a number of attempts to break through the Russian border. In particular, on March 18, an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to penetrate across the Russian border into the village of Kozinka, Belgorod Region, was stopped. The saboteurs lost up to 150 militants killed and wounded. Russian fighters also destroyed various equipment, including the Czech-made Vampire multiple launch rocket system.

A day earlier, the Russian Armed Forces also stopped the DRG’s attempts to penetrate into the Belgorod region in the Kozinka area. To achieve this, Russia used aviation, drones and artillery. Ukraine lost up to 65 militants, a Vampire MLRS combat vehicle and a D-20 gun.

In addition, on March 16, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a video of the destruction of Ukrainian DRGs near Kozinka. The footage shows how the militants were hiding in the building, but the Russian army attacked them. The survivors tried to escape to the Sumy region of Ukraine, from where they initially wanted to break through the border, but during their escape they were overtaken by drones of the Russian Armed Forces.

The special operation to protect Donbass , the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.

https://iz.ru/1668870/2024-03-20/v-kharkove-posle-udara-rf-po-zavodu-dronov-ubity-razvedchiki-gur-i-naemniki-vsu

Big_Gazza wrote:...
What exactly will the French teach the Ukrops?  Novel use of hand-gathered herbs in a field kitchen?...

You just reminded me of this epic depiction of French Military  

We can identify its vulnerabilities.

He means the hull, the turret, the engine... 

In my opinion a waste of time. All you need is a Kornet. Or Lancet. Or Vikhr. Or...

Hope it was more French

It seems like a "retaliatory" strike is underway, after Putin expressed his mild disgust at the Ukrainian attempts to terrorize the border zones. Both CMs and ballistics are currently raining down in quite significant numbers all over UA, bigger than the everyday strikes, anyway.

both CMs and ballistics are currently raining down 

Sumy region was greeted with 200+ glide bombs in the last couple of days.
Something is brewing...

Missile strike on Kyiv. What is known at the moment.

This is the first massive attack on the capital of Ukraine after a break of 44 days.

The first wave of strikes began around 06:00 Moscow time.

Several dozen X-101 missiles were used from strategic missile carriers.

The arrivals of X-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles are also reported.

Presumably, military facilities were hit in the Podolsky district of Kyiv (location of personnel and two industrial enterprises), Shevchenkovsky (near the Chaika airfield), as well as Svyatoshinsky (location of personnel) district of the city.

Reports of arrivals in the area of the Darnitsa railway junction have not yet been confirmed.

The Ukrainian Air Force claims to have shot down 31 missiles, but this does not mean that that many were actually destroyed.

Arrivals in Kiev.

https://t.me/intelslava/56195

Today, Russian troops launched a massive attack on enemy decision-making centers and infrastructure facilities in the rear regions of Ukraine. The main blow was delivered to Kiev . Strategic cruise missiles and Kinzal hypersonic missiles were used.

By analyzing the data obtained, as well as using OSINT/GEOINT tools, it was established that one of the affected objects was the largest pharmaceutical enterprise in Ukraine, the Farmak plant .

Coordinates: 50.4756537, 30.4919133

— As a result of the attack , the equipment maintenance workshop was damaged. Farmak has multiple contracts for the supply of products to Ukrainian armed forces. Among them are contracts for the provision of medical supplies to the paramilitary and security forces of Ukraine, as well as contracts for the supply, diagnostics and repair of military medical equipment.

— Thus, the Farmak plant , having a close relationship with the Ukrainian military-defense complex, becomes a legal target for attacks by Russian weapons.

— According to primary information, which requires additional verification, a Western weapons warehouse in the Boyarsky district was hit by several strikes; if the defeat is confirmed and accurate results are obtained, an additional analytical review will be prepared.

— The Ukrainian authorities expectedly announced the downing of all missiles, indicating only damage to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure by fragments. However, nothing unusual; based on the results of almost all previous successful attacks, they “reported” in exactly the same way.

Don_partizan

Russian aviation and artillery struck concentrations of Ukrainian militants on the Belgorod border

Powerful strikes destroyed the manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian DRGs, as well as their temporary deployment points.

https://t.me/intelslava/56202