Ukraine Crisis

[Alan C]

Reportedly a Kursk resident speaking his mind, for what it is worth;

https://mstdn.social/@Free_Press/112979362266410144

[Alan C]

An analysis of the attack on ordinance storage at Toropets



Many of the hardened bunkers possibly ok but pretty much everything else got plastered.

[Rumraket]

It can't keep going.

[Tortured_Genius]

Looks like it's about to kick-off bigtime in Russia: Biden allows Ukraine to strike inside Russia with US missiles (BBC Live feed)

Given the comments Zelensky has been making recently and Trump's win in the US elections I'm guessing this has been in the works a while and has just been triggered by events in Kursk (by all accounts Kim is not happy with his troops being fed into the meatgrinder along with the rest of the cannon fodder).

[Rumraket]

Way, way, way too fucking late. 2 months left? Fucking spineless cowards.

[Rumraket]

Who in their right mind would consider the USA a reliable, dependable ally, now? The current administration would abandon the Afghans to the soviets.

[Alan C]

Who in their right mind would consider the USA a reliable, dependable ally, now? The current administration would abandon the Afghans to the soviets.

Aye. Even if the fascists get kicked out somehow such that there is a nominally democratic US government, there will rightly be an enormous ask to win back any trust from the rest of the democratic world. Or will it be, to paraphrase, still the case where a bunch of voters in rural Wisconsin decide whether the US has a functional government.

[Tortured_Genius]

Now Putin is bragging about Russia having wunderwaffe, which more than ever resembles the final days of the Nazi regime.

The fact that said weapons were used on a sprawling target several kilometres across is telling to say the least.

[Rumraket]

"Long range" missile with a range 1/15th of what the Russians are using against Ukraine.

[Tortured_Genius]

"Long range" missile with a range 1/15th of what the Russians are using against Ukraine.

I think he (along with most of the press and politicians) have missed/ignored the biggest point about ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP which is that they are accurate to the point where they can (and have) hit a particular submarine, ship or room in a building at range, which the Russian weapons and regular artillery or munitions just can't do. The weapons initially supplied to Ukraine were also old 1990's vintage stocks otherwise earmarked for disposal. ATACMS is over 30 years old and due for replacement.

The concept of Ukraine being able to lob a missile through Putin's office window is the thing that really has him wetting his pants.

Edit: Further reading indicates that ATACMS is already being replaced in the US by the "Precision Strike Missile" (Prsm), a name which emphasises its major strength.