Ukrainian Defensive War against the Russian Invasion - Mark IV: The Partitioning of Discussion

Pocket Dragoon said:
A Russian BMP hull with a mock-up T-14 Armata turret, for some reason:
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My guess is it's intended for use as a decoy, maybe to get some Ukrainian drone-operators salivating at the sight of a true & honest T-14, so they can eventually be hunted down later. But it's still funny that the only part of a T-14 that's actually going to see combat is a pretend turret.
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What? All I see is the fully functional version of the T-15 Armata IFV. Some things might have gotten... confused on the way from prototype to functional production model.

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Brain Problems said:
With the recent advancements in drone tech and missiles, is there a reason the Ukes aren't smashing the Shahed factory over-and-over like the like button on a YouTube video?
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Mostly because they can't. The factory is a long fucking way from Ukraine, and even Russia isn't dumb enough to leave it unprotected:
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Ukraine has tried hitting it a couple of times, most recently about this time last year IIRC, but the attacks have largely been a failure with only a couple of drones making it through, not nearly enough to do the damage needed.

Speaking of, there's an interesting article up here: https://defence-blog.com/russian-shahed-drones-begin-falling-apart-in-the-air-as-quality-worsens/ detailing some of the manufacturing issues Russian shaheds have been observed with recently. One of the Ukrainian drone interceptor units put out a video of some of their hits and the Shaheds are visibly fucked up even before being hit. Vid in question:


Screengrabs of some of the drones:

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We're at the point in history where we get to see the issuing of last-ditch suicide drones instead of last-ditch rifles. Fingers crossed we get to see the russians fielding their own Ohka at the end of the year.
 
Brain Problems said:
With the recent advancements in drone tech and missiles, is there a reason the Ukes aren't smashing the Shahed factory over-and-over like the like button on a YouTube video? Just seems like there'd be time for hitting giant, stationary factories if they're in range as well as refineries and oil infrastructure at the same time.
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East_Clintwood said:
Mostly because they can't. The factory is a long fucking way from Ukraine, and even Russia isn't dumb enough to leave it unprotected:
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Ukraine has tried hitting it a couple of times, most recently about this time last year IIRC, but the attacks have largely been a failure with only a couple of drones making it through, not nearly enough to do the damage needed.
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That one time when Russian zoomer workers watched in terror as their Shahed factory got ACK'd back in 2024 is a classic:
Fuck It We'll Do It Live said:
Shahed drone factory gets ack'd; Tatarstan, the city of Yelabuga, 1200 km from the border with Ukraine:
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Nizhnekamsk refinery (1100km away from Ukraine) also got droned:
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Ukrainian Yak-52 of the 11th Separate Army Aviation Brigade, taking down Shaheds with shotguns;
 
Pocket Dragoon said:
Ukrainian Yak-52 of the 11th Separate Army Aviation Brigade, taking down Shaheds with shotguns;
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It's both incredible and funny at the same time. It's a cheap (and probably effective) solution to a pervasive problem, but stark contrast of using WWII-era (if not WWI) means against modern weapons such as long range drones is just inherently comical. It could only be better if they were using grandpa's shotgun.
 
Fatsuit Shinji said:
That wasn't suppose to mean also needing to create entirely new tool sets for the all new fasteners, nuts & bolts and the other widgets and doodads.
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When Putin said brand new, he meant it.

After all, how are his buddies going to get contracts supplying new tooling and parts if they can just reuse everything?
 
No. 7 cat said:
Hitting this oil terminal shows that Ukraine is determined that the Kremlin midget not benefit from the Iran War. His shills claim loudly that that he is, but that in itself suggests not. At best it probably has restored a slight balance to the Russian fiscal outlook.
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Oil zizters...

Pocket Dragoon said:
A Russian BMP hull with a mock-up T-14 Armata turret, for some reason:
View attachment 8868588
My guess is it's intended for use as a decoy, maybe to get some Ukrainian drone-operators salivating at the sight of a true & honest T-14, so they can eventually be hunted down later. But it's still funny that the only part of a T-14 that's actually going to see combat is a pretend turret.
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I'd say decoy, propaganda, or training.
A lot of the T-55s that have been restored to service were used in training or by attaching them to units so the mobliks would feel safer; "its ok, we have a tank to back us up"

Fatsuit Shinji said:
One would think the Russians by now would've gone over the T-14 and salvage the parts and systems that do work. And or yank out the T-14 parts & systems that don't work and replace them with those that do.
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MG-34 said:
I think it's worse than that. They might be looking for anything with armor and tracks that is drivable to send in. Kind of like WW2 when the Germans were taking captured display tanks in Berlin and pressing them into service. They've already sent in captured M113s that they claim are inferior to their own designs.
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They already sent BMP-T's into combat and they got absolutely rocked.

I think someone in the Russian chain of command knows that if the T-14 went into Ukraine it'd be a PR disaster. Any hope of foreign sales is kaput once their APS is shown to be vaporwear and the armor protection insuffient. and god forbid the Ukrainians capture one and give it to the Yanks.

Snekposter said:
That's what happens when everything you have is a T-72 or BMP hull and word comes down to create a completely new tank from the ground up.
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Optimus Prime said:
If I understood the whole 'family' that the T-14 was part of, the intention was for the tank chassis itself to be a modular 'base' system for AFV, supporting fire, and other such vehicles.

It just never crossed the finish line since we are talking about a 'cutting edge' tank that rather ingloriously broke the fuck down during a goddamn parade and needed proper recovery vehicles because they couldn't use the other T-14s for the job.

The fact the T-14 never showed up for the party during the early days of the war was just emphasizing that it was never anything more than a paper tiger II because IIRC, it's engine is directly descended from Soviets reverse engineering the Nazi machine.
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Point of order, the T-14 was in theater in the first year of the war, once Kharkiv had stablized, but was just doing firesupport missions. That was before of deep hunting FPVs and when the charge was more of a mobility kill than a total kill.

Fatsuit Shinji said:
That wasn't suppose to mean also needing to create entirely new tool sets for the all new fasteners, nuts & bolts and the other widgets and doodads.
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Well, you saw how the T-72 and T-90s were tossing their turrets. You don't want to inherit that legacy of failure on you new wunderwaffen do you?

Brain Problems said:
Can see the design philosophy in action. "It's meant to go one way and blow up. Is it good enough to go one way and blow up? Da? Okay, send anyway."
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Smekalka, comrade.
 
Brain Problems said:
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I didn't like the lifeline it gave the Russians but at least the sanctions actually went back up, from the looks of things.
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No. 7 cat said:
I suspect it was an expression of displeasure at Russian help to Iran in targeting US forces and partners.
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It appears the sanctions exemptions are back on:

US extends waiver on Russian oil sanctions to ease Iran war shortages despite Bessent denial​


WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments to ease shortages from the Iran war, days after Secretary Scott Bessent ruled out such a move.

The so-called general license means U.S. sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day license issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. The extension underscores how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained since the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Bessent ruled out extending the license. “We will not be renewing the general license on Russian oil, and we will not be renewing the general license on Iranian oil,” he said. The administration did not immediately explain the reversal.
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Trump throws another lifeline to Russia and Bessent under the bus.
 
On one hand it is to keep oil prices from going up more than it already is worldwide. On the other it is a FU to Europe and leftist Ukrainian supporters in the United States. Frankly if Zelensky and Ukraine really want to get off of Trump's shit list. They need to start with delivering the heads of Hunter Biden and the people in charge of Burisma, while Hunter was on the board to Trump.
 
Fatsuit Shinji said:
On one hand it is to keep oil prices from going up more than it already is worldwide. On the other it is a FU to Europe and leftist Ukrainian supporters in the United States. Frankly if Zelensky and Ukraine really want to get off of Trump's shit list. They need to start with delivering the heads of Hunter Biden and the people in charge of Burisma, while Hunter was on the board to Trump.
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I'm beginning to think that there really isn't anything Zelenskyi can personally do to win Trump over, and it's simply because Trump just adores Putin, views him as a strongman, and that position has never changed despite how hard Putin has been trying to provoke Trump (helping Iran for an example). Zelenskyi could deliver Hunter Biden, tell he's never working with Democrats again, and literally blow off Trump, and it still matters fuck all because "I have a good relationship with Putin, I trust him".

It's best for Zelenskyi to just not piss Trump off at this point, but it's futile to expect a sudden change in his or his admins view of the war in Ukraine. It is what it is. For Trump, the war in Ukraine is simply an annoying obstacle between him and Russia doing business. It matters fuck all what Ukraine's fate is, or how the security climate of Europe will be defined for years and decades to come. As soon as he gets his hand on Russian resources and Americans business back into Russia, that's the #1 priority for him.
 
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The king of Sweden visited Ukraine:

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Carl XVI Gustaf, king of Sweden, and Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard arrived in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 17.

Carl Gustaf met President Volodymyr Zelensky, and they laid flowers at the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

This is the Swedish king's first visit to Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion.

On March 12, Swedish authorities boarded a tanker in the country's territorial waters suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
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The king and Z men putting down laurals in Lviv.

And him visting a building that has been hit by the russian scum.
 
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