Running Newsticker for the War in Ukraine

Russia has a low birth rate. I have read that when parents only have one son they are much less willing to risk him in a dubious endeavor, and that this is the reason Russia finally gave up in its war in Afghanistan.

 

First time I have come across it so was wondering about the source.

If what has previously been reported about the Orcs are NOT recovering bodies that would be a MAGNET for rodents.

 

...absolutely!
i mean....it's also got to be significant in that medically and logistically Russia Commanders take no real/very little interest in the heath and welfare of their troops and with can you imagine.....with regard to the storm-z units..... its already an absolute disregard for their lives when throwing them against UAF; I can imagine there is no provision for winter clothing/equipment or any rotation whatsoever so they must be in a pretty crusty state! I can imagine that life for a storm squaddie in a trench.... in winter must be squalid. No wonder alcoholism is an issue for them.
You can get an idea when you see the way they maintain their trench systems....when one sees the videos of UAF assaults on Russian trenches they look like midden heaps then fighting positions with all manner of garbage and boxes just strewn around.....

 

Those drone strikes over the Orc trenches are beginning to look like "mercy" killings to put them out of their misery.

My concern is the UAF troops who also occupy trenches equally vulnerable to rodents. What measures, if any, are being taken for their health and welfare?

 

discipline......better officers and NCO's.....

 

Also the UAF rotate their front line troops which means they are more alert to threats than the Orcs just trying to survive under intolerable conditions.

 

Indeed.

 

That is one reason. The ethnic Russians were only about 53% of the population of the USSR. Non Russian minorities p such as Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Uzbecks, Buryats, etc were fighting and dying at a higher rate than the percentage of their ethnic group in the USSR. Dissidents spread the word and the non Russian population knew that. Then of course Saint Ronnie Reagan single handily made the USSR collapse just by saying. “Mr. Gorbachov tear down this wall. So it was done as it was writteń

 

3 problems of trench warfare and all caused by rodents.
1. Hunta virus, respetory disease cause by the droppings of mice, can be deadly
2. Ratbite, the wound gets infected and can cause loss of limbs, the tissue just rots away.
3 Plague, which does not have to be deadly, if diagnosed fast, it can easily be treated with antibiotics.
But one has only 3-4 days for diagnose. Rodent fleas transmit the disease.

I have no doubt, that Russian and Ukraine troops have a problem with that.

 

This from a pretty good source for USG activity:
Radio Free Europe
Ukraine Awaits Delivery Of First F-16 Jets In Coming Days As Kyiv Seeks To Counter Russian Air Superiority
Ukraine will likely receive it first shipment of advanced F-16s in the next few days, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in...
.
5 hours ago
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-awaits-f-16s-kyiv-russia/32744692.html

 

Better logistics support.

More progress:
The Guardian
Polish farmers end blockade of Ukraine border crossing
Ukraine says movement of lorries restored after suspension of protest, but truckers' blockades of three other crossings continue.
.
1 hour ago

POLITICO.eu
Polish truckers halt blockade at Ukraine border crossing
Protests blockading a key border crossing between Ukraine and Poland have halted, officials in Kyiv said Sunday, amid a long-running standoff with Polish...
.
3 hours ago

Radio Free Europe
Ukraine Says Blockade Ends At Poland Border Point
Polish haulers have blocked crossing points since early November to protest what they say is unfair competition from Ukrainian truckers. Polish truckers on...
.
2 hours ago

 

Happy Christmas guys hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow!

 

I'm not sure this is still the case, though.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

What is not still the case?

 

That UAF still have enough people to rotate them as before.

 

What is your CREDIBLE source for that allegation?

 

Ukrainian troops will probably remain in entrenched defensive positions where rotation is far more practical until more logistical support becomes available.
More troops may be needed to sustain a new offensive, but for the moment there is no apparent shortage.

Beyond that Ukraine's draft has yet to tap the primary military aged male population. The UAF has been able to rely on older men between 27 and 60.
So far it is 'not a war for young men' -- unless they choose to volunteer.

The European Conservative
Ukraine Plans to Mobilise 500,000 More Troops The ...
At present, only Ukrainian men aged between 27 and 60 can be mobilised by draft officers. Men aged between 18 and 26 can't be drafted, though they can enlist...
5 days ago
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/ukraine-plans-to-mobilise-500000-more-troops/

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 24, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways:

• European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs High Representative Josep Borrell stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in a limited territorial victory in Ukraine and will continue the war “until the final victory.”
• Russian forces are reportedly decreasing aviation activity and their use of glide bombs in Ukraine after Ukrainian forces shot down three Russian Su-34s in southern Ukraine between December 21 and 22.
• Russian forces conducted a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine on the night of December 23 to 24.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov further detailed Ukraine’s efforts to establish a sustainable wartime force-generation apparatus and an effective defense industrial base (DIB) during an interview published on December 24.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to portray himself as a gracious leader who cares about the well-being of Russian military personnel, while also presenting himself as an effective Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armed forces.
• Russia appears to be continuing its efforts to build out a military occupation force in Ukraine separate from its frontline units through the use of its newly formed Rosgvardia units.
• The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s 810th Naval Infantry Brigade edited its acknowledgement that its personnel are deliberately using chemical weapons in Ukraine in a likely effort to hide what could be evidence of an apparent violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia is party.
• Russia’s labor shortage, which is partially a result of the war in Ukraine, reportedly amounted to about 4.8 million people in 2023 and will likely continue to exacerbate struggling Kremlin efforts aimed at increasing Russian economic capacity.
• Russian forces made confirmed advances near Kreminna and near Avdiivka as positional engagements continue along the entire line of contact.
• The newly formed 337th Airborne (VDV) Regiment (104th VDV Division) operating in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast near Krynky is continuing to suffer losses.
• Russian officials claimed that Russia’s handling of the situation at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is sufficient, despite recent unsafe incidents during Russian occupation of the plant. . . . .

Ukrainian forces reportedly made recent gains near Bakhmut, although there were no confirmed changes to the frontline in the area. A Russian milblogger claimed on December 24 that Ukrainian forces advanced southwest of Verkhnokamianske (30km northeast of Bakhmut) and in the vicinity of Bakhmut near Khromove and Klishchiivka.[47] Russian and Ukrainian sources stated that positional fighting occurred northwest of Bakhmut near Bohdanivka and Vasyukivka; west of Bakhmut near Ivanivske; and southwest of Bakhmut near Klishchiivka, Andriivka, and Pivdenne.[48] Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets stated that the Russian command is deploying elements of the 177th Naval Infantry Regiment (Caspian Flotilla) near Kurdyumivka (southwest of Bakhmut) after withdrawing these elements from fighting near Krynky and Pidstepne in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast for reconstitution and replenishment over an unspecified period of time.[49] . . . .

 

Ukraine shoots down multiple Russian jets (youtube.com)

 

REUTERS
Ukraine strikes Russian naval landing warship, Moscow admits damage
By Andrew Osborn and Max Hunder
December 26, 20239:58 AM ESTUpdated 18 min ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...air-assault-crimeas-port-feodosia-2023-12-26/

 

Ukraine destroys ANOTHER Russian Warship! (youtube.com)

 

CBS News
Ukraine snubs Russia, celebrates Christmas on Dec. 25 for first time

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 26, 2023

Click here to read the full report
Key Takeaways:

• The New York Times (NYT) - citing former and current senior Russian, US, and international officials - reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using back channels and intermediaries to signal his interest in a ceasefire, despite Putin’s recent public statements to the contrary.
• The timing of Putin’s reported interest in a ceasefire is more consistent with Russia’s ongoing efforts to delay and discourage further Western military assistance to Ukraine, than with a serious interest in ending the war other than with a full Russian victory.
• Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) Commander Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky obliquely indicated that VDV forces are under significant pressure to conduct rapid offensive operations near Bakhmut and repel Ukrainian attacks on the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast.
• Teplinsky also implied that the Russian military command is deploying new VDV officers and troops promptly to the frontlines without having them complete pre-combat training.
• Russia's Black Sea Fleet's 810th Naval Infantry Brigade confirmed that it is deliberately using chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces in an apparent violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia is a party.
• Recent analysis by OSINT analyst MT Anderson confirms that while Russian forces have moved the bulk of Black Sea Fleet (BSF) assets away from occupied Sevastopol, the BSF maintains a limited naval presence in Sevastopol.
• The Russian information space exploited news of a Ukrainian journalist’s decision not to return to Ukraine after an assignment abroad to amplify ongoing Russian information operations about resistance to full mobilization efforts in Ukraine that purposefully ignore the much more substantial Russian resistance to Russia’s partial mobilization of reservists in September 2022.
• Russian milbloggers used the granting of Russian citizenship to Palestinian refugees on December 23 to promote the idea of Russia’s “compatriots abroad” - an oft-used Kremlin justification for its war in Ukraine.
• Russian forces made recent confirmed advances near Kupyansk and Kreminna, northeast of Bakhmut, southwest of Donetsk City, and in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast and continued positional engagements along the entire line of contact.
• Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec subsidiary United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Head Yuri Slyusar stated during a television interview on December 19 that UAC will increase its production of combat aircraft in 2024 and 2025, including its production of new types of aircraft.
• Russian occupation authorities are building out electoral infrastructure in occupied Ukraine to set conditions for the upcoming presidential election. . . . .

 

Ukrainian pilots have completed F16 training in the UK and other countries must within the last several days.