War Invasion of Ukraine News Megathread - Thread is only for articles and discussion of articles, general discussion thread is still in Happenings.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that the United States will impose sanctions “far beyond” the ones that the United States imposed in 2014 following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said in a White House speech, signaling a shift in his administration’s position. “We will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates,” he added.

Russian elites and their family members will also soon face sanctions, Biden said, adding that “Russia will pay an even steeper price” if Moscow decides to push forward into Ukraine. Two Russian banks and Russian sovereign debt will also be sanctioned, he said.

Also in his speech, Biden said he would send more U.S. troops to the Baltic states as a defensive measure to strengthen NATO’s position in the area.

Russia shares a border with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to go into the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine after a lengthy speech in which he recognized the two regions’ independence.

Western powers decried the move and began to slap sanctions on certain Russian individuals, while Germany announced it would halt plans to go ahead with the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

At home, Biden is facing bipartisan pressure to take more extensive actions against Russia following Putin’s decision. However, a recent poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that sending troops to Ukraine is a “bad idea,” and a slim minority believes it’s a good one.

All 27 European Union countries unanimously agreed on an initial list of sanctions targeting Russian authorities, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and EU foreign affairs head Josep Borell claimed the package “will hurt Russia … a lot.”

Earlier Tuesday, Borell asserted that Russian troops have already entered the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Lugansk, which are under the control of pro-Russia groups since 2014.

And on Tuesday, the Russian Parliament approved a Putin-back plan to use military force outside of Russia’s borders as Putin further said that Russia confirmed it would recognize the expanded borders of Lugansk and Donetsk.

“We recognized the states,” the Russian president said. “That means we recognized all of their fundamental documents, including the constitution, where it is written that their [borders] are the territories at the time the two regions were part of Ukraine.”

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Putin said that Ukraine is “not interested in peaceful solutions” and that “every day, they are amassing troops in the Donbas.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday morning again downplayed the prospect of a Russian invasion and proclaimed: “There will be no war.”

“There will not be an all-out war against Ukraine, and there will not be a broad escalation from Russia. If there is, then we will put Ukraine on a war footing,” he said in a televised address.

The White House began to signal that they would shift their own position on whether it’s the start of an invasion.

“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, the White House deputy national security adviser in public remarks. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.”

For weeks, Western governments have been claiming Moscow would invade its neighbor after Russia gathered some 150,000 troops along the countries’ borders. They alleged that the Kremlin would attempt to come up with a pretext to attack, while some officials on Monday said Putin’s speech recognizing the two regions was just that.

But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Tuesday that Russia’s “latest invasion” of Ukraine is threatening stability in the region, but he asserted that Putin can “still avoid a full blown, tragic war of choice.”

Article

 

[Foltest]

kursk was an impossible situation for the german army to begin with, the overmatch in manpower and materiel was absurdly large
like, just look at this shit
View attachment 4361384

the entire eastern front illustrates that there's a hard limit to how far the "quality over quantity" approach can be taken before collapsing under the sheer weight of numbers disadvantage

German quality was never that far above the USSR and the western allies. It was in how they used it. Also in Kursk, Russia knew that Germany was going to attack there for weeks, even months. They had all the time in the world to prepare themselves.

 

[Snekposter]

German quality was never that far above the USSR and the western allies. It was in how they used it. Also in Kursk, Russia knew that Germany was going to attack there for weeks, even months. They had all the time in the world to prepare themselves.

Terrible logistics, the Pz IV was at best ever a wash with the Sherman in terms of pure firepower/armor, never mind the ergonomics or the utility of the stabilizer (even if it was used infrequently), over-heavy vehicles with constant breakdowns, and that's not getting into things like the Nashorn and Marders that are literally just "We need a big gun on tracks, now!"

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

Eh not really. IIRC Abrams tankers are trained to set their elevation to 1km when firing at tanks since the drop is pretty much non-existent out to that distance due to velocity. That same reason is why all modern armor simulations use that 1km metric since that's considered knife fight range for modern armor due to a combination of cannon and ammunition performance and optics and FCS.

I was referring to the Russian documents that you were replying to, I just couldn’t quote them directly.

ahh yes, you are correct. I was missremember things, as I forgot that Crimea happend in early 2014 and right after Euromaiden.
2013 make more sense.

It feels like an eternity ago. I remember when it happened because I had a roommate who did a study abroad in Ukraine and got to visit Crimea a year before Euromaiden.

Another thing that may or may not matter.

This is the war that the Abrams was designed for, in the terrain it was designed for, against the enemy it was designed for.

And don't pay attention to Stoneheart. He's probably never seen an M1 in real life.

Unfortunately for the Russians you are correct. A lot of our stuff was designed to counter them. In some ways this is like a dry run for nato in terms of logistics but also testing their gear in the field.

 

[DumbDude43]

German quality was never that far above the USSR and the western allies.

i dont mean quality of the equipment, not trying to make some "glorious tiger tank amor folded 9000 times can deflect any bullet" argument
i mean overall quality of the army in general, in terms of combat effectiveness, organisation, discipline, etc. they outclassed the reds in pretty much every aspect, but at the end of the day that's not enough to prevail when the odds were stacked against them this heavily.

 

[teriyakiburns]

Unfortunately for the Russians you are correct. A lot of our stuff was designed to counters them. In some ways this is like a dry run for nato in terms of logistics but also testing their gear in the field.

In a way, it's a win-win for the MIC. If the Ukranians ride to an easy victory, then it's the weapons supplied by the west that propelled them to it. If they lose, then it's lack of training and discipline that prevented the equipment being used to its full potential. Either way, everyone should buy more guns.

 

[Ghostse]

The chances of a ricochet being both intact enough and possessing enough energy to penetrate are statistically zero unless we're talking about something parked flat on hard terrain like concrete where it just becomes highly unlikely, especially since those were just steel-cored rounds with a lead jacket. Just because something was done doesn't mean it actually worked. After all, the sandbags on the fronts of Shermans did jack and squat besides add weight on the front of it. And the Avenger's ammo is more likely to bury itself in the dirt from their sheer mass. You're not getting its AP round to ricochet off dirt either on account of it being HVAP with a DU subcaliber inside of an aluminum sabot.

I watch a documentary with a P-51 pilot talking about how around D-day there was cat-and-mouse with german tanks. They'd see Panzers and would try to stop them. If they were out of rockets as they often were, and this guy was saying naturally the first thing you looked for was tanks hauling a fuel trailer and try to get your tracers to make those explode, so the german tankers learned that if you heard planes to just drop the trailer or to move without them, so the P-51 pilots figured out if you came in low and aimed 50 yards (maybe 25) in front of the tank it'd cause the rounds to skip off the road and hit the underside.
It didnt make the panzers explode or soup the crew, but it was be at least a (temporary) mobility kill; tank would stop and you'd sometimes get a nice cloud of black smoke. Narrator explained the .50s would enter the tank and then ricochet around inside the crew compartment.
I imagine what little armor NVA had in vietnam was also susceptible to that trick, and Vietnam pilots probably learned it from WWII pilots.

Yeah, I forgot to add that it was improbable/impossibile to pull that trick off with 30mm. But as you said the line between gallows humor and reality is thin in the military, and that's probably why it was written - "We've previously had CAS success with skipping rounds off ground" was put in earnestly based on WWII/Vietnam (and I'd imagine Korea) and then the A-10 flyers left in as a shitpost.

Please provide a definition of what you mean by that if you can. About 300-340 tanks of various models have already been declared, at least over 120 are Western models and most of the rest are Soviet-era T-72s. The third source will be heavily modified Soviet-era tanks such as the PT-91.

When they started the fishing expedition for leopards back in December, one of the Ukrainian generals estimated they needed an additional 300 MBTs to mount,sustain, and hold gains from a spring offensive, and that number was agreed with by the journo's favorite Unnamed NATO Source Familiar with The Situation. (As well as a couple hundren IFVs, I want to say it was 500). this was their justification for cbting Germany into suspending export agreements, the Leopard II was the only tank in theater in sufficient numbers to help bridge the gap.

I'd imagine modernized T-72s count, but I would suspect the modernized T-55s from Slovakia don't. That's also an additional 300 tanks, so I imagine any combat losses would make that number grow but that's speculation.

 

[Michael Wade]

Kurst didn't succeed for the Germans because they bled all their energy busting though the Russian defenses. Never should have tried it.

the moment they got bogged down the Russians unleashed their reserves and destroyed them. There's a pretty good russian movie on the subject that's surprisingly even handed.

https://youtu.be/9ZraM-TvRXA

It doesn't shy away from the implication that the Russians used the first wave of defenders as sacrificial pawns.

 

[Blatant hypocrite]

You people are so distracted with German tank sperging that you nobody has posted the Perun

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

You just don't have any idea what you're talking about, do you?

He's the Krautoid equivalent of a Vatnik.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Estonians build Finnish saunas for Ukrainian defenders.

Meanwhile, on the same tip:

Plot twist, he's their chef

 

[AgendaPoster]

Ukraine war: How hidden landmines, tripwires and booby traps pose lethal danger for years to come​

More than 40% of Ukraine is now mined, according to one estimate. Sky News speaks to an expert about why landmines are used and how difficult they are to clean up.
After years of bloody conflict the scarred Ukrainian landscape is riddled with landmines, posing a deadly threat to civilians that will persist long after the war ends.
With more than 40% of the country contaminated with mines by one estimate, Ukraine is believed to now be the most mined country in the world.
Newly-liberated towns can remain dangerous long after the last Russian forces have been forced out, with Ukrainian defenders discovering tripwires and booby traps as well as anti-tank explosives ready to detonate.
"Contamination is massive," Kateryna Templeton from the Mines Advisory Group tells Sky News.
"It's not even comparable, I would say, to Syria or Afghanistan. It's really massive."
International law prohibits and restricts the use of various mines, particularly those designed to target people.
Russian forces have been accused by Human Rights Watch of using banned anti-personnel mines in the eastern Kharkiv region.
A broad spectrum of mines have been deployed in Ukraine including some that had never been seen in combat before.
Ms Templeton continued: "You will see anti-tank mines, anti-personnel mines, booby traps, you will see lots of unexploded ordnance, you will see cluster munitions.
"Everything you can think of you will see in Ukraine."
Huge rise in mine-related casualties since February 2022 invasion
Some landmines in Ukraine pre-date February 2022, with Russian-backed forces in Donetsk and Luhansk using various devices in 2014-2015 and sporadically in the following years, according to Human Rights Watch.
More recently, Russian forces have placed victim-activated booby traps as they retreated from towns they had occupied during the early weeks of the full-scale invasion.
According to MAG, in the six years between 2014 and 2020 there were 1,190 mine-related casualties in Ukraine.
Between 24 February, 2022 and 10 January, 2023 - less than one year - there have been 611 known mine-related casualties.
Following one incident, two Ukrainian soldiers who had amputations were fitted with state-of-the-art bionic arms made in the UK.
As well as directly causing injury and death, mines can render swathes of land inaccessible or more dangerous.
Agricultural production is reportedly being affected by the use of landmines in fields and on rural paths and roads.
Post-war clean-up to take years
Ms Templeton says that MAG do not focus on investigating which side is placing the mines, instead they try to make sure parties are not using banned anti-personnel mines and look for opportunities to clear contaminated land so that people can live safer lives.
The organisation started their response by sending in a team in April 2022 and began working with local partners.
Ukrainians will be trained on how to clean up mined areas, supervised by experts from MAG.
But with the conflict having gone on for nearly a decade in some areas, it will be a painstaking and deadly process taking many years to decontaminate every inch of Ukrainian soil.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Ukraine's Zelenskiy presses drive to keep Russia out of 2024 Olympics​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday (Jan 29) that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Paris Games was tantamount to showing that "terror is somehow acceptable".

Zelenskiy said he had sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron as part of his campaign to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games.

"Attempts by the International Olympic Committee to bring Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"As if you could shut your eyes to what Russia is doing in Kherson, Kharkiv, Bakhmut and Avdiivka," he said, referring to areas that have been under fire from Russian forces.

Russia, he said, must not be allowed to "use (the Games) or any other sport event as propaganda for its aggression or its state chauvinism".

The International Olympic Committee said last week that it welcomed a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia for Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia.

Zelenskiy spoke to Macron last week and has since launched a "marathon of honesty" to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games. On Saturday, he said there could be no neutrality in sports at a time when his country's athletes fight and die in war.

In his latest comments, Zelenskiy said the 20th century had seen too many mistakes that led to frightful tragedies.

"And there was a major Olympic mistake," he said, referring to the staging of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin when the Nazis were in power. "The Olympic movement and terrorist states definitely should not cross paths."

Ukraine's Zelenskiy presses drive to keep Russia out of 2024 Olympics, World News - AsiaOne | Ghostarchive

ghostarchive.org

Missile hits Kharkiv apartment block, killing at least one​

Three people were injured in the raid, and rescue teams are searching for an elderly woman thought to be trapped under the rubble.

A missile has hit an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing one, injuring at least three others and causing widespread damage, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Pictures from the scene showed fire engulfing part of a residential building in the country’s second-biggest city.

Syniehubov said on Sunday the attack took place in the city’s central Kyiv district.

“Three people were slightly injured. Unfortunately, an elderly woman was killed,” Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. “Her husband was nearby when the strike occurred and by a miracle suffered no serious injuries.”

Syniehubov told the Suspilne media outlet that rescue teams were searching for another missing elderly woman who could be trapped under the rubble.

“The fourth floor has been destroyed. This is an old building,” he was quoted as saying. “We understand that the second and third floors were heavily damaged. The entire section of the building is no longer fit for habitation.”


Anatoly Torianyk, deputy head of Kharkiv rescue services, said the building was made of wood. He said that there was no indication of further casualties.

Missile hits Kharkiv apartment block, killing at least one | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera | Ghostarchive

ghostarchive.org

 

[Raoul_Duke]

Ukraine's Zelenskiy presses drive to keep Russia out of 2024 Olympics​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday (Jan 29) that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Paris Games was tantamount to showing that "terror is somehow acceptable".

Zelenskiy said he had sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron as part of his campaign to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games.

"Attempts by the International Olympic Committee to bring Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"As if you could shut your eyes to what Russia is doing in Kherson, Kharkiv, Bakhmut and Avdiivka," he said, referring to areas that have been under fire from Russian forces.

Russia, he said, must not be allowed to "use (the Games) or any other sport event as propaganda for its aggression or its state chauvinism".

The International Olympic Committee said last week that it welcomed a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia for Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia.

Zelenskiy spoke to Macron last week and has since launched a "marathon of honesty" to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games. On Saturday, he said there could be no neutrality in sports at a time when his country's athletes fight and die in war.

In his latest comments, Zelenskiy said the 20th century had seen too many mistakes that led to frightful tragedies.

"And there was a major Olympic mistake," he said, referring to the staging of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin when the Nazis were in power. "The Olympic movement and terrorist states definitely should not cross paths."

Ukraine's Zelenskiy presses drive to keep Russia out of 2024 Olympics, World News - AsiaOne | Ghostarchive

ghostarchive.org

Missile hits Kharkiv apartment block, killing at least one​

Three people were injured in the raid, and rescue teams are searching for an elderly woman thought to be trapped under the rubble.

A missile has hit an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing one, injuring at least three others and causing widespread damage, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Pictures from the scene showed fire engulfing part of a residential building in the country’s second-biggest city.

Syniehubov said on Sunday the attack took place in the city’s central Kyiv district.

“Three people were slightly injured. Unfortunately, an elderly woman was killed,” Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. “Her husband was nearby when the strike occurred and by a miracle suffered no serious injuries.”

Syniehubov told the Suspilne media outlet that rescue teams were searching for another missing elderly woman who could be trapped under the rubble.

“The fourth floor has been destroyed. This is an old building,” he was quoted as saying. “We understand that the second and third floors were heavily damaged. The entire section of the building is no longer fit for habitation.”


Anatoly Torianyk, deputy head of Kharkiv rescue services, said the building was made of wood. He said that there was no indication of further casualties.

Missile hits Kharkiv apartment block, killing at least one | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera | Ghostarchive

ghostarchive.org

Why would you deny the Russians the opportunity to be on the world stage? It only just makes them upset and a little more stung pride. Oh, and of course they must cite the ever present, ever ebil Nahzis. Good God! I swear, I don't like either side all that much, but I like the Ukrainians just that tiny bit less with dumb shit like this.

 

[Elämällä on väliä]

Why would you deny the Russians the opportunity to be on the world stage?

Mostly to protect ruzzkies. They are really not welcomed in EU and this plot is to don't have a incident against them due to they behavior.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Why would you deny the Russians the opportunity to be on the world stage? It only just makes them upset and a little more stung pride. Oh, and of course they must cite the ever present, ever ebil Nahzis. Good God! I swear, I don't like either side all that much, but I like the Ukrainians just that tiny bit less with dumb shit like this.

The Russians have already been banned from the Olympics on account of doping. They should be used to being told to fuck off. In any case, with a major war going on right now, it just wouldn't be good to allow the Russians to participate regardless, especially since the next two games are in Paris and Los Angeles. If the Russians had any balls they'd boycott the Olympics like the Soviets did.

Edit: Spelling

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

The Russians have already been banned from the Olympics on account of doping. They should be used to being told to fuck off. In any case, with a major war going on right not, it just wouldn't be good to allow the Russians to participate regardless, especially since the next two games are in Paris and Los Angeles. If the Russians had any balls they'd boycott the Olympics like the Soviets did.

Instead, you'll get the usual "muh russophobia". Funny how they claim to not give a fuck about what anyone thinks about them, but at the same time still get immensely butthurt over shit like this.
Speaks of their profound collective insecurity and the resulting need to prove something to everyone.

 

[Elämällä on väliä]

Speaks of their profound collective insecurity and the resulting need to prove something to everyone.

This is their typical rhetoric.

Step one: we didn't give a fuck what you think/sanctions didn't work/we have no need to go to western gayland.

Step two: why you are banning us from olympics/why you are forcing us to cannibal our civil planes to have at least some of them operating/why you are not letting Soloviov go to his former casa in Italy.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Upstart Indian Shipper Helps Get Russian Oil to Market​

Gatik Ship Management, which took control of 25 tankers after the invasion of Ukraine, now shuttles Russian crude along new trade routes​

Russia has managed to keep its oil moving to world markets, defying fears that sanctions imposed last month would lead to a plunge in exports.

A small office in a suburb of Mumbai helps explain how Russian crude continues to flow. The address is home to an Indian shipping company that didn’t manage a single ship until 2022. It took control of two dozen tankers after the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and has put them to work shuttling Russian crude along newly established trade routes to the Mediterranean, Turkey and India, vessel-ownership and tracking data show.

Gatik Ship Management is among the most active of the upstart companies that have snapped up aging oil tankers to replace Western-owned ships no longer dealing with Russia. That parallel fleet is helping Moscow get crude to buyers in Asia, according to shipping executives, brokers and vessel-tracking, ownership and insurance data.

A person who answered the phone at Gatik’s office confirmed that the company managed about 25 tankers. He said he was an employee of a company that is part of the same corporate group as Gatik.

“The shipping market has always been able to adapt to political change,” said Lars Barstad, chief executive officer of tanker owner Frontline Ltd.

A European Union oil embargo and a U.S.-led price cap have upended how Russia gets its oil to market. The price cap forbids Western shippers and insurers from dealing with Russian crude that trades above a $60 a barrel. Many tanker owners have opted to stay away from the Russian market completely. Russian oil now sells mostly to buyers in Asia, requiring much longer sailings compared with Europe.

The resiliency of Russian oil exports indicates that the price cap is working as intended, preventing a surge in oil prices from the European embargo while complicating Moscow’s ability to make top dollar on its exports.

“There is no real indication that there is a shortage of vessels to transport the oil,” said David Wech, chief economist at Vortexa, though he said problems could emerge down the line.

Global benchmark Brent is trading at around $87 a barrel, not far above where it was when the sanctions took effect on Dec. 5.

Russia’s oil industry, the lifeblood of its economy, still faces stiff challenges. Chief among them is the large discount it offers on its crude to lure buyers. Another round of sanctions will hit vital exports of refined fuels such as diesel next month.

Russia is on track to export 158 million barrels of crude by sea this month, according to commodities-data firm Kpler. That would be one of the top five months on record but is partly a rebound from a drop in shipments after the sanctions took effect in December.

The availability of tankers isn’t posing a problem, Russian shipping executives said.

Also doing heavy lifting: A Dubai-based subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned shipping giant PAO Sovcomflot. Some major Western shipping firms, including one of Greece’s largest, are moving Russian crude, too, trading oil under the price cap.

A Sovcomflot spokesperson didn’t respond to queries.

Among those providing tankers is Gatik. Since June it has taken 25 ships under its wing, according to a European Union shipping database. Their average age is 17, when tanker owners typically consider sending ships to scrap.

Gatik is the manager of the ships, not the owner, according to the EU database. The registered owners of 20 of the tankers—many of which are named after Greek mythological figures such as Electra, Odysseus and Hector—have the same Mumbai address as Gatik. The company that owns a Gatik tanker called Buena Vista, which delivered Russian crude to India this month, is Social Club Inc.

Corporate structures in which individual tankers are owned by distinct shell companies are common in the shipping industry.

In mid-January, Gatik’s 249-meter Atalanta loaded up on Russia’s Urals crude at Primorsk on the Baltic Sea. From there the St. Kitts & Nevis-flagged tanker sailed toward Vadinar on India’s West coast, Refinitiv and MarineTraffic data show.

Six other Gatik tankers loaded up on Russian crude between Dec. 5 and Jan. 14, including one that made the trip twice, vessel-tracking data show.

Gatik ships have sailed from Russia’s Baltic Sea and Black Sea ports where crude trades beneath the cap.

The U.S. designed the sanctions so Western and Japanese insurance clubs—associations that provide coverage against accidents such as oil spills—would underwrite tankers. Gatik took out this cover, called protection-and-indemnity insurance, from the American Club, according to an insurance database and a senior manager at the club.

Insurers require tanker operators that move Russian crude to give a written assurance that the price will be below the cap to abide by the sanctions.

Other ships carrying Moscow’s oil are doing so outside the mechanism specified by the cap. More than 75 loadings of Russian crude from Dec. 5 through Jan. 14 were onto tankers that lacked insurance from Western and Japanese clubs, which dominate shipping insurance, insurance data show.

Tankers run by Sun Ship Management, Sovcomflot’s Dubai subsidiary, accounted for 46 of the 160-plus loadings of Russian crude in that period.

All told, tankers controlled by companies in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, India and Russia shipped more than 60% of Russian crude since the price cap took effect, according to Yen Ling Song, analyst at S&P Global Commodities at Sea, while 29% moved on European-controlled ships, mostly from Greece and Turkey. In contrast, European and American operators accounted for more than 90% of Kazakh oil shipments from Russian ports, showing how Western shippers are avoiding Moscow’s crude. Ships carrying Russian oil were on average six years older.

Some mainstream tanker operators are making use of the price cap. Among the most active is Greece’s TMS Tankers Ltd., founded by shipping tycoon George Economou and part of TMS Group. TMS-managed tankers loaded Russian crude 14 times between Dec. 5 and Jan. 14, shipping data show.

A TMS spokeswoman didn’t respond to requests for comment. TMS tankers including Lipari, Stamos and Lovina picked up Russian crude from the Baltic and Murmansk in January, people familiar with the shipments said.

The TMS tankers were insured by Norway’s Gard P. & I. (Bermuda) Ltd. according to a spokeswoman for the insurance association. “Nobody wants an uninsured tanker grounding on their shores,” she said.

—Caitlin Ostroff contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Wallace at joe.wallace@wsj.com, Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com and Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/KMRri

Appeared in the January 30, 2023, print edition as 'Upstarts Help Ship Russian Oil.'

Edit:

Deficit in Ukraine's power system "significant," with all regions subject to outages, national energy company says​

The deficit in Ukraine's power system is "significant" and all regions will be subject to outages throughout the day due to damage caused by Russian missile attacks, Ukraine's national energy company said in a statement Monday.

"The power grid is still recovering from the previous series of hostile missile attacks that damaged power plant units. As a result, electricity production at the operating power plants cannot fully cover consumption," Ukrenergo said.

The company said the power grid has suffered 13 missile and 15 drone attacks, which have caused significant damage to high-voltage network facilities and power plants.

"All regional power distribution companies have been notified of consumption limits that act throughout the day. As a reminder, each regional power distribution company draws up schedules of planned hourly outages to ensure that the consumption of the region is within the approved limit," Ukrenergo said.

As of Monday morning, no emergency outages caused by exceeding the limits have been applied yet, but if the limits are exceeded in some regions, outages may be applied, the company said.

Restoration of energy infrastructure damaged during the massive attack on January 26 continues, Ukrenergo said. "However, after each subsequent Russian attack on the energy infrastructure, the restoration becomes more difficult and takes longer," it said.

The company reiterated that a number of power plants, including the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, remains under Russian control.

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/yeEIw

 

[Trig.Point]

Terrible logistics, the Pz IV was at best ever a wash with the Sherman in terms of pure firepower/armor, never mind the ergonomics or the utility of the stabilizer (even if it was used infrequently), over-heavy vehicles with constant breakdowns, and that's not getting into things like the Nashorn and Marders that are literally just "We need a big gun on tracks, now!"

Gun Stabilisers are scary. Even ones that just stabilise in elevation, the breech of a gun moving up and down or worse the turret rotating back and forth, while a vehicle is going cross country makes even experienced tank crews nervous. I suspect it's one of the reasons the Loader on a Challenger 2 is the second most senior crew member.

If I was commanding a Sherman in WWII and I wasn't complete confidant in the tank and crew, I'd be tempted to just disconnect it.

Also in fairness to the Germans they did actually have a logistical strategy when it came to maintaining their armoured vehicles, ie vehicles requiring extensive maintenance would be loaded on flatbeds and shipped back to the depot.

If German armoured units hadn't actually tried to sabotage the system, ie by dragging out backloading vehicles, and constantly cannibalising the ones that were sent back for spare parts, this could have worked.

During the battle of Arnhem, Germans deployed a company of Tiger II's from Hohne. Several were knocked out by British Anti Tank guns or broke down on the road march from the rail head to the Bridge, but they were all recovered and back in Hohne within a week. Which is how it should have worked, and how the Tigers should always have been used.

 

[AgendaPoster]

​

Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine - Croatian president​

Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, will never again be part of Ukraine, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday in remarks detailing his objection to Zagreb providing military aid to Kyiv.
In December, Croatian lawmakers rejected a proposal that the country join a European Union mission in support of the Ukrainian military, reflecting deep divisions between Milanovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
A vocal critic of Western policy in Ukraine, Milanovic has said he does not want his country, the EU's newest member state, to face what he has called potentially disastrous consequences over the 11-month-old war in Ukraine.
What the West is doing about Ukraine "is deeply immoral because there is no solution (to the war)," Milanovic told reporters during a visit to military barracks in the eastern town of Petrinja, referring to Western military support for Kyiv.
He added that the arrival of German tanks in Ukraine would only serve to drive Russia closer to China.
"It is clear that Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine," Milanovic added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to restore Ukrainian rule over Crimea, seized and annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move not recognised by most other countries.
Russia says a referendum held after Russian forces seized the peninsula showed Crimeans genuinely want to be part of Russia. The referendum is not recognised by most countries.
Milanovic criticised Western countries for using double standards in international politics, saying Russia would invoke what he called the international community's "annexation of Kosovo" as an excuse for taking parts of Ukraine.
Milanovic was referring to Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 following a 1998-1999 war in which NATO countries bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.
"We recognised Kosovo against the will of a state (Serbia) to which Kosovo belonged," he said, cautioning that he was not questioning Kosovo's independence but the concept of Western double standards.
Milanovic, a Croatian former premier from the Social Democratic party (SDP), has embraced an anti-EU stance since he took the mostly ceremonial job of president, aligning his policies with those of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Bosnian Serb secessionist leader Milorad Dodik.