Seeing that most of the "$288 Billion" in western assets have already been seized by Russia already in order to further enrich Putin's cronies -- the threat to seize western assets for using $330 Billion in frozen Russia cash to fund Ukraine is nearly meaningless. The other laughable part is where Putin gets the "$288 Billion" figure from -- reminds of the term "cop math". Russia threatens the West with $288 billion in losses in retaliation for freezing Russian assets https://news.yahoo.com/russia-threatens-west-288-billion-135526319.html Russia is threatening to retaliate against the West in equal measure if it confiscates Moscow's frozen assets to help Ukraine https://www.businessinsider.com/rus...t-investment-russia-retaliates-seizure-2024-1
An in-depth interesting article on the evolution military technology and approach in the Ukraine war. Bind Ukraine’s Military-Technology Revolution to Rapid Capability Development https://warontherocks.com/2024/01/b...y-revolution-to-rapid-capability-development/ The political heat around Gen. Valery Zaluzhny’s comments last fall should not obscure the insight they offer into a shift in his approach to force design. A year earlier, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief expressed requirements in terms of platforms: “I need 300 tanks, 600–700 infantry fighting vehicles, 500 howitzers.” Now, he talks about capabilities: air superiority, counter-battery, electronic warfare, and mine breaching — to be developed using “new technological solutions and innovative approaches.” To a degree, the accent on innovation reflects the obsolescence of some of the older donated systems. More importantly, it conveys a growing confidence in Ukraine’s native ability to develop and integrate new technologies to deliver lethal capability to its troops. As many have noted, Ukraine is surfing the wave of a military-technological revolution, exploiting the diffusion of dual-use technologies through close collaboration between civilian developers and military end-users. What fewer may realize, however, is the extent to which Ukraine’s grass-roots model of defense innovation has relied on the initiative of volunteers and private donors. Approaching the third year of all-out war, the government has initiated several programs to cut red tape and support local industry but has yet to embrace the agile and mission-focused approach pioneered by civil society. To reach this objective, Ukraine should establish a defense-led, end-to-end process that binds the mil-tech revolution to rapid capability development. Towards this end, Ukraine should establish a capability accelerator that runs a process of mission integration tailored to leverage emerging and disruptive technologies. Building on the success of grass-roots efforts, the accelerator would provide much-needed guidance and open a new channel for structured security cooperation. Instead of merely sharing intelligence from the world’s leading test ground for new approaches to warfare, Ukraine and its partners would reap greater rewards through the joint development of solutions. (Much more at above url)
Other than this, how is your day going Vlad? Turkey votes in favor of Sweden’s NATO membership after months of delay Turkey votes in favor of Sweden’s NATO membership after months of delay (msn.com)
Shitstorm for Kremlin's war aim Millions of Russians can only dream of flush toilets Are Russian soldiers dying in the fight against unisex toilets in Ukraine? Disturbing statements from the Russian leadership have the population shaking their heads. Because millions of people in Russia can only dream of a flush toilet. Some people don't even seem to know what it is. The “special military operation” is going according to plan, the goals remain unchanged and will be achieved, the Russian leadership repeats again and again like a mantra. "Denazification" and "demilitarization" of Ukraine are the terms used to explain to Russians why, without considering the hundreds of thousands of victims, they are doing everything in their own ranks to reduce the neighboring country to rubble and ashes. The governor of Saint Petersburg tried to make it clear that these sacrifices are not in vain after a visit to injured “heroes” of the “special operation” in mid-January. The soldiers wounded in Ukraine “understand very well what we are fighting for,” wrote Alexander Beglov in his Telegram channel. "These boys" who have seen toilets in schools in Donbass "in which instead of two rooms - for girls and boys - there are three rooms - for girls, boys and gender neutrals, it is not necessary to explain what values we are fighting for," wrote the governor. So the Russian army is fighting against unisex toilets in Ukraine? When asked by ntv.de, the Ukrainian journalist Denis Trubetskoy explained that they don't exist in schools in Donbass: "I can't imagine that at all," he said. Apart from that, one might think that the St. Petersburg governor was simply expressing himself unhappily. But just a few days later, none other than Vladimir Putin reiterated the local politician's words. 17 percent of Russians used cesspools as toilets Addressing heads of Russian local governments at the beginning of last week, the Kremlin chief claimed that more and more Russians were returning home from the West because they were put off by the all-gender toilets there. “It is very difficult for people with normal human values to live in such conditions,” Putin said, sparking much malice among Russians. While unisex toilets are now part of everyday life in the West, according to Putin, millions of people in Russia can only dream of having access to a toilet at all. According to official data from the Russian statistics agency, more than 22 percent of Russians live without a connection to the sewage network. Almost 17 percent use cesspools as toilets, and in rural areas the figure is even 48 percent. Almost 6 percent of people in Russia have no access to any kind of toilet. Flushing toilet, what is it? Against this background, numerous reports about Russian looters who are said to have stolen, among other things, toilets in Ukraine in the first months of the invasion appear credible. After the liberation of the Kharkiv region in September 2022, the Ukrainian postal company "Nova Post" published a photo showing what the sanitary facilities in one of the branches looked like after the Russian withdrawal. There was a hole in the ground where a toilet was supposed to have once stood. It was said ironically that the occupiers had taken “the greatest treasure” with them. It is noteworthy that the looters left the cistern behind. A possible explanation for why he was "spared" is provided by a video from the Ukrainian news agency Unian from April 2022. In it, two women who survived the occupation in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine report that they met some Russians in their village, have to explain what a flushing toilet is and how it works. Some soldiers were also surprised that they could relieve themselves directly in the house. “What, can you go to the toilet inside the house?” a soldier asked her, a woman says in the video. Another added that some of the soldiers placed a bowl on top of the existing toilet bowl and relieved themselves in it. "Then they carried this bowl out of the house. I'm at a loss for words," she says. Toilet cleaner competition exposes "Putin's true greatness" Whether such reports are accurate cannot be independently verified. How bad the toilet situation is in Russia is illustrated by a bizarre competition that the household cleaning brand Domestos has been running in Russia since 2019. Unilever, the British company behind Domestos, continues to be active in Russia despite the war. Every year the manufacturer "cultivates" the five worst school toilets in Russia, which are then renovated in the media at the company's expense. Dozens of schools apply every year with photos that reveal the horrors faced by many students, especially in remote regions of Russia. The images showed "Putin's true greatness," as a journalist wrote in a Facebook post. You can see rotting drain pipes, dirty and broken toilets, and often simply holes in the floor - so-called squat toilets. Privacy is a priority - in many cases there are no doors, sometimes even partitions. Some of the toilets have not been renovated for decades, the schools themselves write in their applications. While the toilets look like something out of a horror movie and the schools are forced to beg for help from a company from hostile Britain, the Russian government is spending billions on the "denazification" of Ukraine. The main thing is that the "special operation" against unisex toilets goes according to plan.
Let's catch up with the latest info regarding the most recent Russian fiasco. Another mysterious Russian plane crash raises more questions than answers https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/europe/plane-crash-belgorod-analysis-intl/index.html It’s still unclear why a Russian military transport aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region near the Ukraine border on Wednesday, whether because it was brought down by a missile or suffered some catastrophic technical failure. But all 74 people on board were killed, according to Russian authorities. The first images of the wreckage on the ground are inconclusive; one video shows the last seconds of the plane as it hurtles towards earth before a large fireball erupts. But the Russian authorities have claimed that Ukrainian missiles were responsible – and that they killed 65 of their own prisoners of war, along with six crew members and three Russian personnel, who were on board the Ilyushin Il-76. The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile system deployed in the area of Liptsy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from where the plane came down. It said radar equipment had detected the launches. The Defense Ministry also claimed that “the Ukrainian leadership knew very well that, according to established practice, today Ukrainian military personnel would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield for exchange” at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian border with the Ukrainian region of Sumy. In response, Ukraine’s military command said it regarded Russian military aircraft approaching Belgorod as legitimate targets but stopped short of acknowledging it fired at a Russian transport plane. The 50-mile distance from Liptsy to the crash site would be beyond most Ukrainian ground-to-air missile systems. A Ukrainian defense intelligence official did confirm that a prisoner exchange had been due to happen on Wednesday, but did not acknowledge knowing the logistical details of the Russian side of the swap. Another Ukrainian military source was quoted as claiming that the plane was carrying Russian missiles, not prisoners. So one question is whether the Ukrainians were indeed aware of the timing and route of the aircraft that the Russians say was bringing prisoners to the site of the exchange, and additionally whether that information would have been conveyed to front-line units across the border from Belgorod. But there are already other ramifications from this disaster. Andrey Kartapolov, who is chairman of the Duma Defense Committee in Moscow, made a significant allegation in claiming that the missiles fired were from US-made Patriot or German-made IRIS-T systems that have been supplied to Ukraine, without offering any evidence. Ukraine has pledged not to use foreign-donated weapons to attack Russian territory and this would have been a highly significant departure from that policy. In any case, the IRIS-T would not have had the range to hit the Ilyushin from the nearest Ukrainian-held territory. A Patriot deployed (at considerable risk) so close to the border with Russia would have been within range of the plane. Some observers are also pointing out that Russian missile defenses in the area were on high alert Wednesday, and that a Ukrainian drone had been brought down shortly before the plane crashed. However, the governor of Belgorod said that had happened in a location to the west of the city, which would put it at least 37 miles (60 kilometers) from the site where the Ilyushin crashed. Another puzzling elementis that according to the Russian version of events, the Ukrainian PoWs were guarded by just three Russian personnel on board the plane (besides the crew.) A former Ukrainian PoW, Maksym Kolesnikov, said Wednesday in a post on X that when he had been transported by plane from Bryansk to Belgorod, there were about 20 military police for 50 prisoners. So this disaster already has multiple political dimensions and as yet a lot of unanswered questions. It has quickly become another episode in the information war that has been a constant in this conflict. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said Wednesday that “information warfare is no less important than fighting at the front… The enemy is insidious. We all know what terrible methods Russia can use to destabilize Ukrainian society.” Indeed the Russian Defense Ministry in its statement said that “by committing this terrorist attack, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true colors – it neglected the lives of its citizens.“ It’s worth recalling that Russia alleged that Ukraine killed its own prisoners of war in a strike on a camp in Olenivka in Donetsk 18 months ago, a claim that after extensive forensic investigation looked extremely dubious. Then, as most likely in this instance, no independent on-the-ground analysis was possible. But a large Russian military aircraft without anti-missile defenses approaching Belgorod – itself a frequent target of Ukrainian drones – would have been a tempting and valuable target for Ukraine. It would therefore have been a flight of considerable risk –unless the Ukrainians had been notified of its purpose, as the Russians have claimed. On the whole, Russian Il-76 aircraft stay well beyond the range of Ukrainian missiles; this would be the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago that one of them has been shot down. But the Ukrainians have extended the range and frequency of their attacks into Russia, using drones, missiles and sabotage. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian military claimed to have shot down one of the Russians’ most advanced early detection aircraft, the A-50, over the Sea of Azov. There’s been no visual evidence of the wreckage, and the Russian Defense Ministry has not responded to the claim. Some analysts believe that the Ukrainians may have repurposed a Patriot battery to carry out that attack, but there has been no confirmation. Patriot missiles generally have a range of just under 100 miles. For Ukraine, at a time when the battlefield is in stalemate and there are few victories to celebrate, attacking Russian bases, ships, aircraft and infrastructure well beyond the border has become a different way to disrupt the enemy’s military machine. But if evidence emerges to confirm the version of events being offered up by the Russian Defense Ministry and others in Moscow, what would have been a coup for Ukrainian air defenses may instead have been a horrendous mistake.
Let's take a look at the typical Russian soldier criminal that Putin sends to Ukraine. Putin pardons rapist who brutally slaughtered mother of two in exchange for 3-month tour of duty in Ukraine https://nypost.com/2024/01/24/news/...apist and killer,on the frontlines of Ukraine. A convicted rapist and killer who brutally slaughtered a young mother on her way to work was back on the streets in Russia after receiving a pardon from President Vladimir Putin in exchange for serving 3 months on the frontlines of Ukraine. Grigoriy Povilaiko, 31, has recently returned to his hometown of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, where those who knew him were left wondering how it was possible that the felon sentenced in 2022 to decades in prison for a brutal crime has already regained his freedom. A source told the local Telegram news channel VL.ru that Povilaiko had signed a military contract in October 2023 to fight in the war. Typically, contracts offered to Russian prison inmates require them to serve in Ukraine for at least 6 months before being eligible or a pardon. “Who the hell knows how he left after three,” the source told the publication. “He may have gotten injured, of course.” In August 2021, Povilaiko ambushed 37-year-old Anna Koshulko, a married mom-of-two, in her garage as she was getting read to go to work, and savagely slaughtered her. Grigoriy Povilaiko, 31, a convicted Russian murderer and rapist, has been freed after agreeing to serve in the war in Ukraine. Anna Koshulko, 37, a married mom-of-two, was savagely raped, stabbed and beaten to death by Povilaiko in 2021. “He didn’t just kill her. He attacked her with a knife. He raped her, killed her, raped her, and killed her,” the victim’s outraged husband, Alexander Koshulko, told the independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta. “He didn’t just take her and strangle her. She was covered in bruises, totally beaten up, bleeding, all blue. Just a nightmare. And she screamed — no one came out to help. No one…” the grieving husband added. Koshulko described the harrowing moment he opened the garage door to find his wife covered in blood, with her underwear missing. “It was clear that she had been anally raped. There were feces, everything covered in blood. She was covered in hematomas, bruises, her hair torn out,” Koshulko told the news outlet Baza in November. Povilaiko was arrested just hours after stealing the murdered woman’s car and heading with pals to the beach. After killing the woman, Povilaiko stole Koshulko’s blue Hyundai Creta, drove home to change his blood-soaked t-shirt, and then picked up his pals and headed to the beach to drink beers. He was arrested hours later, after ramming a police car and putting up a fight. In April 2022, Povilaiko was found guilty on five counts of murder, rape, sexual assault, theft and use of violence against a government official, and sentenced to 24 years in prison. But after serving just a year behind bars, Povilaiko accepted an offer from the Russian Ministry of Defense to join the war effort, following in the footsteps of what is believed to be thousands of inmates who have agreed to fight on the front lines for the prospect of securing their freedom, should they survive. When Alexander Koshulko learned of his wife’s killer’s early release, he frantically wrote to multiple military officials, including Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, demanding that he be thrown back in prison. “I’ve started sounding the alarm everywhere I can,” he recounted to Novaya Gazeta last month. “If he dies like a dog, fine. To hell with him — nobody will miss him. But if he comes back? God forbid, Povilaiko gets some kind of injury. They’ll discharge him in two months.” To Koshulko’s dismay, that is exactly what happened. “He has to be locked in prison half his life but he comes home, as a hero of the special military operation, and receives all the benefits and disability [payments],” the widower said. “I just don’t have words, I am hysterical. How is this possible? My wife is not alive, but this creature lives.” This is not the first time that a violent criminal has been pardoned by Putin for fighting in Ukraine. It was reported in November that Denis Gorin, 44, a serial killer and cannibal, was back on the streets in the remote Sakhalin region, despite being sentenced to 22 years in prison for stabbing a man to death and eating his flesh. Gorin, who killed at least four people — but possibly as many as 13 — returned home after apparently being wounded during his tour of duty in Ukraine. News of Gorin’s release came just days after it was revealed Putin had pardoned 33-year-old Nikolai Ogolobyak, 33, a self-confessed Satanist who took part in the ritual killings of four teenagers — two of whom were beheaded and partially cannibalized.