Running Newsticker for the War in Ukraine

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 30, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• Western, Ukrainian, and Russian sources continue to indicate that Russia is preparing for an imminent offensive, supporting ISW’s assessment that an offensive in the coming months is the most likely course of action (MLCOA).
• Iranian state media reported that Iran and Russia established direct financial communication channels between Iranian banks and more than 800 Russian banks on January 29.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks to regain lost positions west of Kreminna as Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations northwest of Svatove.
• Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian force concentrations in rear areas in Luhansk Oblast.
• Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks across the Donetsk Oblast front line.
• Russian forces continued to make marginal territorial gains near Bakhmut.
• Russian forces did not conduct any confirmed ground attacks in Zaporizhia Oblast.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continued measures to professionalize the Russian military as it faces continued backlash against these measures.
• Russian forces and occupation authorities continue to target Crimean Tatars in an effort to associate anti-Russia sentiment with extremist or terrorist activity. . . . .

Ukrainian forces continue targeting Russian concentration areas in the rear of Luhansk Oblast. Geolocated footage posted on January 29 shows the aftermath of a purported Ukrainian HIMARS strike on a hospital in Novoaidar (55km east of Kreminna along the H21 Starobilsk-Luhansk City highway) in Luhansk Oblast.[21] The LNR People’s Militia claimed on January 30 that Ukrainian forces used HIMARS to strike Alchevsk (38km west of Luhansk City).[22] Ukrainian forces reportedly struck Kadiivka (48km west of Luhansk City) with HIMARS on the night of January 29 to January 30.[23] . . . .

Ukrainian forces continued to target Russian logistics lines in rear areas of Zaporizhia Oblast. Ukrainian forces conducted a HIMARS strike against a rail bridge in Svitlodolynske on the T0401 Melitopol-Tokmak highway on January 29.[43] A Russian milblogger claimed that the strike killed workers who had been repairing the damage on the bridge from prior Ukrainian strikes and that the rail bridge supplies Russian forces closer to the front line. [44] . . . .

 

....this sort of caught my interest but only from a speculative "conspiracy theory" type angle...

...years ago in the UK there was a perception issue which was dogging the left wing of the Labour party, they were getting branded as being un-electable as they were too militant....too left winger and in the pocket of the unions and would cause mayhem if elected. So they came up with this ploy that the best way to get elected was to propose a moderate candidate acceptable to all so as to present a fluffy face to the labour party. The idea being that they get in and then trash the manifesto...trash the leader and vote in their own ultra-lefty and then hey-ho they revert to type...

Makes you wonder at the real intent here as the Russians have spent a truck load of cash in the past on buying their way into the governments of various nations in order to gain subtle influence....I wonder what they have on this guy? I mean any ratification of business in the EU needs all the nations to agree so if Russia is able to start tinkering with idiots in the smaller countries...well...who knows just what they can do when critical decisions need to be made...Likewise at the moment in the UK just when the country is adjusting to the new fuel costs and the inflation rates we have half the militant trades unions taking their members out on strike......I'm seeing reds under the bed...

Fun though.....

 

...one of the quintessentially British additions to a main battle tank....

...I think they will also be supplied with the teabags....

 

World
CBS
Ukraine's drones watch as Russia throws waves of men at battle for Bakhmut

 

Talk about a meat grinder.....

 

If there's arms and legs missing they'll bleed to death....no big losses.

 

Russian tankers are probably crapping bricks privately.

 

Why should they....China's looking at new real estate in Siberia.

 

China and Russia had fought skirmishes over parts of Siberia. If there was no such thing such as nuclear weapons China likely would have instigated a war with Russia over Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula by now.

 

Regardless was the US Republicans say Russia has a lot of influence on Trump.

 

First batch of Wagner criminals who were pardoned returned to Russia...

https://news.yahoo.com/chief-wagner-pmc-releases-first-075359358.html

Have fun with that, Russia!

 

absolutely agree....without doubt....it's just to obvious

 

Could be....there's tons of Chinese migrants though in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk....they'll just claim it in 10 yrs or so.

 

I bet that's a pile of crap....just a made up fantasy....of course its fantasy...

I was just thinking....can anyone think of any country in the world that so soon after the start of a conflict has had to empty it's prisons in order to be able to man its army?

 

Well technically it was Wagner...but ya. It is what it be.

 

Ukrainians love their tea at least those of my parents age. That is a habit they brought here from “the old country” they called “home” for a long time until they became grandparents. Finally America was home for them.

 

Then the Chinese should invade to protect the Chinese language and deNAZIfy Sabir.

 

Great article.

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 31, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• The introduction of Russian conventional forces to the Bakhmut frontline has offset the culmination of the Wagner Group’s offensive and retained the initiative for Russian operations around the city. ISW's December 27 forecast that the Russian offensive against Bakhmut was culminating was inaccurate.
• ISW does not forecast the imminent fall of Bakhmut, and it is extraordinarily unlikely that Russian forces will be able to conduct a surprise encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut.
• Russian military command is overestimating Russian military capabilities to advance rapidly in Donetsk Oblast and in the theater.
• Russian conventional forces may be replacing expended Wagner PMC forces by relocating them from Bakhmut to the Zaporizhia Oblast front line.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) may be attempting to fully supplant Wagner forces near Bakhmut to frame the traditional Russian military command structure as the sole victor around Bakhmut, assuming Russian forces take the city.
• Ukrainian officials continue to support ISW’s assessment that an imminent Russian offensive in the coming months is the most likely course of action (MLCOA) and further suggested that Ukrainian forces plan to launch a larger counteroffensive.
• Prominent Russian milbloggers continue to expose Russian military failures in Ukraine through increasingly public and elevated platforms.
• Russia continues to weaponize counterterrorism laws to justify domestic repressions.
• Russian forces continued limited ground attacks to regain lost positions along the Svatove-Kreminna line on January 31.
• Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Donetsk Oblast front line.
• Russian forces are unlikely to benefit significantly elsewhere in eastern Ukraine from their localized offensive around Vuhledar.
• Russian forces are likely prioritizing sabotage and reconnaissance activities over territorial gains in southern Ukraine.
• Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov acknowledged Russian mobilization failures in an attempt to frame implementation failures and policy violations as resolved.
• Russian occupation authorities continue to use youth engagement and education programs to consolidate social control of occupied territories. . . . .

Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian concentration areas in occupied Luhansk Oblast. Geolocated photos posted on January 31 confirm claims made by the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) that Ukrainian troops struck Kadiivka (48km west of Luhansk City on the T0504 Lysychansk-Luhansk City highway) with HIMARS.[39] . . . .

Ukrainian forces conducted a raid against the east (left) bank of the Dnipro River on January 31. Geolocated imagery from January 31 shows two boats on the Dnipro River near the delta islands southwest of Kherson City.[63] Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces briefly landed near and established positions in a residential area on the riverbank before Russian artillery fire forced Ukrainian forces to leave the east bank.[64] One Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces were reconnoitering Russian positions and may be attempting to fix Russian forces in Kherson Oblast but do not intend to establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro River.[65] Intermittent Ukrainian raids against east bank Kherson Oblast continue to demonstrate that Russian forces likely lack full control over the eastern shoreline of the Dnipro River, as ISW has previously reported.[66] . . . .

 

Russia was making a fortune out being the petro-products dealer of choice to Europe. Pipelines and infrastructure and contracts all pouring money into Russia the future for them was boundless.....now Russia is heading for one huge mother of an economic depression a massive downturn in its economy and practically no tourism, NATO borders now even closer to Russia and the likelihood of Ukraine entering into NATO and the EU within the next 10 years and alienating the members of the Russian Federation. Not even mentioning the existential damage to it's military and it's military commanders and doctrine and reputation as an arms manufacturer....

Was your fantasy worth it Mr. Putin?

 

All the fruits of Putin's massive blunder.

 

Ahhh...yes...OTOH....it's a way of getting rid of vermin that you would need to feed,clothe,house for the next 20+ yrs.....send them to a meat grinder....problem solved.

 

"I remain master strategist"??....LOL.

 

World
The Daily Beast
Inmate Humiliates Russia’s Shadow Army by Casually Taking Cab Home