Russian special military operation in Ukraine #12

Today's war report. Perhaps the beginning of the offensive.

https://guerraenucrania.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/parte-de-guerra-18-04-2022/

After a long struggle I was able to add an archive menu so you can read older entries, those of previous years have only historical interest but it might come handy now to check last month entries.

Another movie with Calibers hitting targets in Lviv
https://t.me/voenkorKotenok/34840

Arrow wrote:Another movie with Calibers hitting targets in Lviv
https://t.me/voenkorKotenok/34840

Filmer sounds to be western. Hope he enjoys liberation.

Meanwhile in Genichesk the order has been restored; nazis dismantled the monument of Lenin years ago but now it is standing again. Together with appropriate flags in the background.

Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

On the morning of April 18, high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit the 124th Joint Support Centre of the Logistics Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Lvov. The logistics centre and the large shipments of foreign weapons that have arrived in Ukraine from the US and European countries over the last six days were destroyed.

In addition, a large ammunition depot near Vasilkov in Kiev Region was destroyed.

During the day, 16 military assets of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Among them: 2 command posts, 2 strong points of Ukrainian troops, as well as areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment in Popasnaya, Barvenkovo and Krasniy Liman.

Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 84 military assets of Ukraine. Destroyed:

plant to repair Tochka-U tactical missile warheads in Dnepropetrovsk;

command post of the territorial defence battalion near Zelenoe Pole;

2 ammunition depots and 1 fuel storage facility near Chervonaya Polyana.

47 areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment and 22 artillery positions of Ukrainian troops were also destroyed.

Missile troops and artillery hit 331 military assets. 9 command posts, 1 missile and artillery weapons depot, as well as 315 areas of enemy manpower concentration were destroyed near Popasnaya and Novomaiorskoe.

Up to 120 nationalists and 9 units of military equipment were destroyed near Novotoshkovskaya as a result of the strike.

In total, 139 aircraft, 483 unmanned aerial vehicles, 250 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,337 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,009 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,196 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.

PapaDragon wrote:

franco wrote:11 thousand military personnel will take part in the military parade in honor of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow this year. This was announced on Monday, April 18, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation....

They are in the middle of a war and they waste time with theatrics

Get some military academy cadets to prance around in Moscow and send those 11k grunts an 77 aircraft to help out in Ukraine

As I can remember, they have never stopped with military parades, even in 2nd WW, when Germans were 20 km from Moscow.

It is obvious they had to go through with this, but I believe it will be a bit different than usual...and with some special messages. It should be interesting.

ALAMO wrote:And one more interesting note for memory.

When Pushilin was talking to Mariupol residents about the economical future of the city, he said something quite interesting.
That Azovstal factory was the main polluter of the whole area, making it impossible to create touristic hubs there.
"Kurorty".
So for me, the fate of the Azovstal is already resolved. It will be erased to the ground.

I've lived near steelworks. They only produced steam. I supposed it depends what exactly they are doing. ANd what the environmental aspect is.

There was another article saying how important Mariupol steel plants could be to Eurasia as a whole.
So who knows? I know parts of Azovstal are quite dated.

One thing is tho, if Russia can clear the Black Sea coast of the Bandera-vermin, it could be a fantastic tourist area from Odessa all the way to Abkhazia. And the oligarchs yachts would be safe there... assuming they didn't sell out to the Americans.

littlerabbit wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

franco wrote:11 thousand military personnel will take part in the military parade in honor of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow this year. This was announced on Monday, April 18, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation....

They are in the middle of a war and they waste time with theatrics

Get some military academy cadets to prance around in Moscow and send those 11k grunts an 77 aircraft to help out in Ukraine

As I can remember, they have never stopped with military parades, even in 2nd WW, when Germans were 20 km from Moscow.

It is obvious they had to go through with this, but I believe it will be a bit different than usual...and with some special messages. It should be interesting

There was one parade during WW2 and those troops went straight to the frontline

Only thing that would justify this one would be if the haul every single​ Ukrainian POW to Moscow and get them to do walk of shame with name tags in full UHD 8k streaming for posterity

ALAMO wrote:And one more interesting note for memory.

When Pushilin was talking to Mariupol residents about the economical future of the city, he said something quite interesting.
That Azovstal factory was the main polluter of the whole area, making it impossible to create touristic hubs there.
"Kurorty".
So for me, the fate of the Azovstal is already resolved. It will be erased to the ground.

Hopefully not. It's a lot of lost jobs and expertise

It needs to be rebuilt and modernized. Maybe a little further away from the city. The Donbass is a metallurgical hub in its own right. Coal mines, and steel production of various kinds. And then the port in Mariupol to export it. Other local industries that use the steel.

I was wondering about the Soviet flags appearing recently.

Of course there is a link to the Great Patriotic War and liberation from Nazism.

But I was wondering too... the name Soviet, whilst associated with Communism doesn't actually mean Communism. "Soviet" simply means "council". Likewise China is "Communist" but also free market.

The Russian World underwent a "rebranding" perhaps partly to make itself look more "agreeable" to NATO powers. What happened? NATO "rewarded" the Russian World ie CIS with a load of murderous Nazi scum and Islamist scum all using NATO weapons, trainers, intel etc etc.

So the question now presents itself. Instead of a Eurasian Union... what about a New Soviet Union?
After all, if not for crooked alcoholic Yeltsin and halfwits like Kuchma, the Soviet Union would have survived... just with free market politicals and a myriad of political parties.

Is there any reason why there can't be a New Soviet Union once the Ukraine matter is resolved?
Its only a name. But its a way of ensuring the Eurasian/East Slavic/greater Russian world acknowledges its background rather than dissolves it. It would stop American warmongers lame comments about "we defeated the Soviet Union" too.

Plus it would really piss off vermin like Shitlary Clinton and Skankface Nuland !

PS interesting article on the history of the word "Soviet".
Far older word than most would think.
https://www.rbth.com/history/334064-what-does-word-soviet-mean

ALAMO wrote:

The cruise missile attacks are being performed in a way that proves a lack of any organized resistance.
Let's be serious: a cruise missile is an easy target. Slow, low flying, not armored, loud. It can be spotted by a blind eye, it'd course can be determined. Tons of footages when they know where it flies, and we see an officer, police who comments on that - they have communication tools to push that up.
How many CMs have you seen downed?
Meeeh, me too.
Close to none.
So a/ either the Russkies missiles are some kind of wunderwaffe or b/ or the functioning AD at a very tactical level is gone in Ukr either.
They can't put a truck with ZU-23-2 on a route. Or a team with Iglas.
They lack the men, gear, comm, and command.
I suppose that the only salvo that would gain some attention, would be the one targeting a cocaine supply for Mr. Z.

Good observation all in all, though these hits on Lvov today specifically seem to be from air launched ditto, and a Tu-95 was spotted earlier in flight over western Russia.

Could actually be that the Kh-101 that Tu-95 ususally carries these days is not only advertised as being stealthy but indeed is, so that useful advanced warnings of where they're going just aren't there. I mean, not even from NATO AWACS etc.

In that case they'd have to try to rapidly sift through visual reports across their territory in as close to real time as possible to guesstimate its trajectory and prepare AD along the way. A daunting task.

Without advanced warning of any kind, the super short window you have to spot it, prepare AD and shoot it down makes it difficult even if it's a subsonic target. They are small and fly low, and are gone from your FOV in less than a min unless you're at an elevated position.

Of course, if everyone's literally on their toes all the time, with all available AD on high alert constantly it could work. But that tough to maintain too for any length of time.

Azovstal. Burn, baby, burn.

The target in Lviv was a depot where all the western weapons from the last days were gathered. No new toys for the Nazi boys.

Dr.Snufflebug wrote:

ALAMO wrote:

The cruise missile attacks are being performed in a way that proves a lack of any organized resistance.
Let's be serious: a cruise missile is an easy target. Slow, low flying, not armored, loud. It can be spotted by a blind eye, it'd course can be determined. Tons of footages when they know where it flies, and we see an officer, police who comments on that - they have communication tools to push that up.
How many CMs have you seen downed?
Meeeh, me too.
Close to none.
So a/ either the Russkies missiles are some kind of wunderwaffe or b/ or the functioning AD at a very tactical level is gone in Ukr either.
They can't put a truck with ZU-23-2 on a route. Or a team with Iglas.
They lack the men, gear, comm, and command.
I suppose that the only salvo that would gain some attention, would be the one targeting a cocaine supply for Mr. Z.

Good observation all in all, though these hits on Lvov today specifically seem to be from air launched ditto, and a Tu-95 was spotted earlier in flight over western Russia.

Could actually be that the Kh-101 that Tu-95 ususally carries these days is not only advertised as being stealthy but indeed is, so that useful advanced warnings of where they're going just aren't there. I mean, not even from NATO AWACS etc.

In that case they'd have to try to rapidly sift through visual reports across their territory in as close to real time as possible to guesstimate its trajectory and prepare AD along the way. A daunting task.

Without advanced warning of any kind, the super short window you have to spot it, prepare AD and shoot it down makes it difficult even if it's a subsonic target. They are small and fly low, and are gone from your FOV in less than a min unless you're at an elevated position.

Of course, if everyone's literally on their toes all the time, with all available AD on high alert constantly it could work. But that tough to maintain too for any length of time.

Well that's do-able if we go back to the time of WW2 and the perimeter aircraft spotters you had for example in the British isles.

But ultimately a little futile. You can work out the direction its going and when it will get there, but you don't know what exactly it will hit. And the cruise missile can and probably does change course.

PapaDragon wrote:

franco wrote:11 thousand military personnel will take part in the military parade in honor of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow this year. This was announced on Monday, April 18, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation....

They are in the middle of a war and they waste time with theatrics

Get some military academy cadets to prance around in Moscow and send those 11k grunts an 77 aircraft to help out in Ukraine

They already make up a large percentage of this.

04/18/2022 18:58 (updated: 04/18/2022 19:52)

The commander of the ship "Tsezar Kunikov" Chirva died in a special operation in Ukraine
The Governor of Sevastopol Razvozhaev announced the death of the commander of the large landing craft "Tsezar Kunikov" Chirva




SIMFEROPOL, April 18 - RIA Novosti. The commander of the large landing ship "Tsezar Kunikov" of the Black Sea Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank Alexander Chirva died due to a wound received during a special operation in Ukraine, said the governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev.
"We said goodbye to Alexander Grigorievich Chirva from Sevastopol. Commander of the large landing ship "Tsezar Kunikov" of the 197th brigade of landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank," he wrote on the Telegram channel.
The governor noted that the captain was wounded during the battle with the neo-Nazis, but his courage, experience and professional actions helped save the lives of the crew members.

Chirva was born in Sevastopol, graduated from the Naval Academy branch of the VUNTS of the Navy "Naval Academy" of the Naval Institute of Radio Electronics. A.S. Popova. In 2015 and 2016 he participated in a special operation in Syria.

https://ria.ru/20220418/komandir-1784175006.html

Podlodka77 wrote:12:56 04/18/2022 (updated: 13:23 04/18/2022)


British prisoners turned to Johnson with a request to exchange them for Medvedchuk

The captured British turned to Johnson with a request to exchange them for Medvedchuk

MOSCOW, April 18 - RIA Novosti. Two British citizens who surrendered in Ukraine turned to Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a request to assist in their exchange for opposition Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

"Mr. Boris Johnson, my name is Sean Pinner. As far as I know, Viktor Medvedchuk is being held in custody and Aiden Aslin and I would like to be exchanged for him. We would be grateful for your help in this matter. I am being treated well, I I understand the situation I am in. We are being fed and given water. I ask you, on my own behalf and on behalf of Aiden Aslin, to facilitate the exchange for Medvedchuk," the captive Pinner said on air on the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

For his part, Aslin added that he considers it important that the British prime minister heed the call of Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko to exchange them for her husband.

"If Boris Johnson really cares about British citizens, as he says he does, then he will help put pressure on (Vladimir) Zelensky to do the right thing and get Viktor back to his family and us back to our families," he said.
Earlier, the wife of the Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, Oksana Marchenko, appealed to the relatives of British citizens who were captured by the military of the DPR and the Russian Federation with a call to turn to London and exchange them for her husband.

https://ria.ru/20220418/plennye-1784076544.html

Dear Mr. Pinner, I am afraid upon considering your request the Home Office has assessed you and Mr. Aslins value at less then 2 bob. As such we cannot suggest such a trade. Once we find a high value trade opportunity,  we shall endeavor to include the two of you as a "bundle" as such. It would be helpful if the two of you can obtain via trade, a few bottles of Russian vodka for the next garden party as it is no longer available in the UK due to sanctions. This would greatly enhance your value to the Home Office in such a trade.

Best
BOJO.

PapaDragon wrote:

franco wrote:11 thousand military personnel will take part in the military parade in honor of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow this year. This was announced on Monday, April 18, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation....

They are in the middle of a war and they waste time with theatrics

Get some military academy cadets to prance around in Moscow and send those 11k grunts an 77 aircraft to help out in Ukraine

I think you don't understand the psychological impact to Ukraine, Russians are kicking their ass, tearing the country apart, crushing their GDP by 50% and STILL have resources to have a parade and 77 planes (almost the size of the prewar Uke airforce) just to do a flypast. If those planes are needed (they are not) they can be back bombing in no time. It would be so cool if the heavies can actually launch live cruise missiles towards Ukraine targets as part of the fly past. Man that would be something. They easily have the range and it would be a crushing psychological blow to Kiev as well as a HUGE boost to Russians who are stressed by this war.

franco wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

franco wrote:11 thousand military personnel will take part in the military parade in honor of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow this year. This was announced on Monday, April 18, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation....

They are in the middle of a war and they waste time with theatrics

Get some military academy cadets to prance around in Moscow and send those 11k grunts an 77 aircraft to help out in Ukraine

They already make up a large percentage of this.

I was about to say, most parade participants each year look like cadets or fresh conscripts.

Personally I'm not particularly fond of the "parade cult". IMO they should just hold it every 5 years or so, ie on the 80th anniversary next. Other years, mark May 9th with a more solemn ceremony, but do keep the "immortal regiment" march annual.

But that's just my opinion, and this is not the thread for it so if anyone wants to comment and flame me for it, feel free to quote it elsewhere.

JohninMK wrote:Railways are important in Russia's logistics tail.

Def Mon
@DefMon3
·
1h
Battle of the railways. Small thread with me guessing and trying to predict the future (most likely without success) This is roughly what we have now in the eastern part of Ukraine (i know its a mess, but need railways and rivers)

https://twitter.com/DefMon3/status/1516047571264937990




Whilst on the other side, big problems

Tony
@Cyberspec1
·
4h
#RussiaUkraine
The head of the #Dnepropetrovsk regional administration, Valentin Reznichenko, said that as a result of today's missile strikes, the railway infrastructure was damaged.

Maurice Schleepen
@MauriceSchleepe
·
4h
Novorosinform REPORTED:Military Aid From #Europe is Destroyed,The Former Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada announced that an arsenal of Weapons and ammunition Delivered By the West to #Ukraine was destroyed by #Russian Missile strikes last night at the #Lviv Railstation.



GEROMAN -- -
@GeromanAT
·
3h
Over the past 24h, Russian troops have launched a series of attacks on Ukrainian railway junctions in Lozovaya, Pavlograd and Sinelnikovo.

Recall that these stations are the key hubs for supplying the grouping of forces of the Kiev regime in the Donbass.

War is becoming increasingly expensive for Western sponsors. The cost and speed of destruction is infinitely less than that of construction and transport. With time passing and at this level of damage, Ukraine is becoming a bigger and bigger black hole, in material and financial terms. Nothing you send will be enough.

Hole wrote:

The target in Lviv was a depot where all the western weapons from the last days were gathered. No new toys for the Nazi boys.  

Indeed, it's a storage facility northwest of the Lvov station. Has rails from the Polish direction going straight into it.

I suppose that the Pentagon assessment that they're "burning through a week's worth of AT weapons per day" is partially explained by these strikes.

But it is clearly also partially explained by crappy training and/or crap weapons, because while there is plenty of evidence of them having made it to the front, evidence of successful use seems to be exceedingly rare. Most just end up abandoned, unused, as trophies for LDNR it seems like.

What a debacle, really. Of course, there is alway the possibility that the information we're getting is skewed as hell, but I doubt it's 180 degrees off and we're kept completely in the dark about hundreds of destroyed tanks a day.

Hinex1988 wrote:Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

On the morning of April 18, high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit the 124th Joint Support Centre of the Logistics Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Lvov. The logistics centre and the large shipments of foreign weapons that have arrived in Ukraine from the US and European countries over the last six days were destroyed.

In addition, a large ammunition depot near Vasilkov in Kiev Region was destroyed.

During the day, 16 military assets of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Among them: 2 command posts, 2 strong points of Ukrainian troops, as well as areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment in Popasnaya, Barvenkovo and Krasniy Liman.

Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 84 military assets of Ukraine. Destroyed:

plant to repair Tochka-U tactical missile warheads in Dnepropetrovsk;

command post of the territorial defence battalion near Zelenoe Pole;

2 ammunition depots and 1 fuel storage facility near Chervonaya Polyana.

47 areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment and 22 artillery positions of Ukrainian troops were also destroyed.

Missile troops and artillery hit 331 military assets. 9 command posts, 1 missile and artillery weapons depot, as well as 315 areas of enemy manpower concentration were destroyed near Popasnaya and Novomaiorskoe.

Up to 120 nationalists and 9 units of military equipment were destroyed near Novotoshkovskaya as a result of the strike.

In total, 139 aircraft, 483 unmanned aerial vehicles, 250 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,337 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,009 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,196 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.

Seeing the amount of targets that are destroyed daily, I am impressed by the size of the Ukrainian military structure. A fight against NATO would be really difficult in conventional terms, although most alliance countries do not have significant military power.

ludovicense wrote:

Hinex1988 wrote:Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

On the morning of April 18, high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit the 124th Joint Support Centre of the Logistics Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Lvov. The logistics centre and the large shipments of foreign weapons that have arrived in Ukraine from the US and European countries over the last six days were destroyed.

In addition, a large ammunition depot near Vasilkov in Kiev Region was destroyed.

During the day, 16 military assets of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Among them: 2 command posts, 2 strong points of Ukrainian troops, as well as areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment in Popasnaya, Barvenkovo and Krasniy Liman.

Operational-tactical aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 84 military assets of Ukraine. Destroyed:

plant to repair Tochka-U tactical missile warheads in Dnepropetrovsk;

command post of the territorial defence battalion near Zelenoe Pole;

2 ammunition depots and 1 fuel storage facility near Chervonaya Polyana.

47 areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment and 22 artillery positions of Ukrainian troops were also destroyed.

Missile troops and artillery hit 331 military assets. 9 command posts, 1 missile and artillery weapons depot, as well as 315 areas of enemy manpower concentration were destroyed near Popasnaya and Novomaiorskoe.

Up to 120 nationalists and 9 units of military equipment were destroyed near Novotoshkovskaya as a result of the strike.

In total, 139 aircraft, 483 unmanned aerial vehicles, 250 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,337 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,009 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,196 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.

Seeing the amount of targets that are destroyed daily, I am impressed by the size of the Ukrainian military structure. A fight against NATO would be really difficult in conventional terms, although most alliance countries do not have significant military power.

The USSR was militarized to a ridiculous degree, anticipating a NATO attack. Countless arms depots, airfields, repair facilities etc, all over the place. And hoarding, oh the hoarding of arms and vehicles.

Dr.Snufflebug wrote:

Hole wrote:

The target in Lviv was a depot where all the western weapons from the last days were gathered. No new toys for the Nazi boys.  

Indeed, it's a storage facility northwest of the Lvov station. Has rails from the Polish direction going straight into it.

I suppose that the Pentagon assessment that they're "burning through a week's worth of AT weapons per day" is partially explained by these strikes.

But it is clearly also partially explained by crappy training and/or crap weapons, because while there is plenty of evidence of them having made it to the front, evidence of successful use seems to be exceedingly rare. Most just end up abandoned, unused, as trophies for LDNR it seems like.

What a debacle, really. Of course, there is alway the possibility that the information we're getting is skewed as hell, but I doubt it's 180 degrees off.

Certainly the attacks on the logistic centers are the biggest cause of the "consumption" of the missiles. I can't imagine large batches being among the front lines. There may also be a waste of training, but we must also take into account that the effectiveness of these weapons may not be as good as shown in the manufacturers' advertisements.