Russian special military operation in Ukraine #52

Wrong pile again

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/markets/russia-has-burned-through-almost-half-of-the-liquid-reserves-in-its-national-wealth-fund-as-it-bleeds-money-amid-the-war-in-ukraine/ar-AA1n9SdM

Burning around 5-6B USD every month. Its even more important than the liquid assets evaporation. Not at all sustainable in the long term.

Lets see how it all goes in 2024.

The fortification equipment of lines, positions and areas made it possible to increase the survivability of groups of Russian troops and the effectiveness of the use of weapons and military equipment by five to six times, Lieutenant General Yuri Stavitsky, chief of the engineering troops of the Russian Armed Forces, said on January 19.

According to him, for the start of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), a deeply echeloned system of defensive lines, positions and areas with a depth of up to 120 km or more was prepared along the entire line of combat contact.

“For comparison, I’ll give an example: the “Mannerheim Line” with a length of 135 km was prepared within 10 years, the “Maginot Line” with a front length of 400 km - within 12 years. More than 3,600 km of trenches and communication passages and over 150 thousand trenches and shelters for equipment were opened by the beginning of the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, over 45 thousand dugouts and more than 12 thousand prefabricated reinforced concrete structures were equipped,” he said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper "

Stavitsky explained that in difficult weather and climatic conditions, with continuous hostilities, over 400 battalion defense areas were equipped in eight months in the zones of responsibility of groupings of troops (forces). At the same time, the system of defensive lines, positions and areas included two or three defensive lines.

In order to increase the stability of defense and limit the mobility of enemy troops in all directions, the engineering troops quickly prepared a highly effective system of engineering barriers.

“The enemy’s losses on the created system of engineering barriers, according to confirmed data alone, amounted to over 500 units of military and special equipment, of which during the counteroffensive - more than 180 units, including Leopard tanks, Bradlye infantry fighting vehicles and other models supplied by the West.” , he emphasized.

On January 9, Izvestia military correspondent Dmitry Zimenkin showed how soldiers of the Karbyshev engineer battalion work in the special military operation (SVO) zone. The servicemen also showed the correspondent “military trophies” that they come across during the battalion’s work.

Earlier, on December 18, Izvestia correspondent Dmitry Astrakhan showed the work of a sapper group of Russian fighters in the Donetsk direction , who told him about the details of their work. As noted by a sapper engineer named Sergei, the Russian military is trying to destroy Western mines on the spot, since among them there are those that self-destruct over time, but such are not always found.

The special operation to protect Donbass , the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.

https://iz-ru.translate.goog/1636597/2024-01-19/v-vs-rf-raskryli-prichinu-shestikratnogo-povysheniia-zhivuchesti-boitcov-v-zone-svo?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Thank you auntie but no.

When the western coalition to murder as many Ukrainians and Russians as they can breaks down I rather suspect it will be every country for itself.

Poland is not moving and will remain where it is so giving them a piece of land seems to be tradition... after WWI, before WWII... it seems to be something they respond to... and something they can cling to and claim a victory over... even if it is a poisoned gift.

Poland will complain about the poor Polish nationals in those western areas oppressed under Russian or neutral (ukrainian) occupation, so why not offer them parts of the most virulent nutters... make them a similar offer that Hitler made to Stalin... Hitler didn't want the Soviet bits of Poland so he offered them to Stalin as a sort of peace offering to ensure they would not help the Poles in the territory they did want to take.

Would essentially work the same really.

There is never enough nazis killed

Have to agree there.

And I would agree that you probably don't want those Orcs in your country... but your country has seriously been driving this anti Russian bullshit for a very long time so perhaps you don't want it but it is what your leaders deserve.

( 1 ) Russia having ability to completely defeat Ukrs , occupying the entire territory

When their military collapses there is not going to be much they can do in terms of organised resistance.

.( 2 ) Russia having resources to fight the inevitable long term insurgency in Ukrs .

Current insurgents don't give a shit about the south and west of the country and its destruction in conflict, but I would say as the battle shifts to the west and the north their local support might increase but their resources will also diminish as various European countries and the US are going to have elections this year and the support for Ukraine is really not popular because even a fool knows they have other problems and many of their most serious problems stem from their support for Ukraine which come down to the US MIC making enormous profits which western voters wont care about.

Needless to say German Farmers losing their diesel fuel subsidies is going to make food even more expensive with imports replacing domestic production... what is that going to do to the German economy. We sacrificed cheap energy and our chemical industry and food production to help Kiev who demand even more money and weapons and support.

( 3 ) Russia having resources to fund reconstruction .

Reconstruction of the west and south of Ukraine will start delivering income pretty fast and will pay for itself soon enough... when there is rather less corruption things go faster and easier and cheaper.

( 4) NATO , withdrawing any and all support for insurgency . In my view , none of the above are easy or guaranteed .

HATO countries have their own problems, which is going to take money and attention to solve... the US is not expanding its gas supply capacity and rather than supplying Europe might actually struggle to meet its own energy needs over the next few years. Liquification facilities were supposed to be built in the 2026-2027 period and if they don't find a lot more sources they might not bother because domestic demand might mean liquifying gas and shipping anywhere just does not make sense.

It is only a matter of time before the US does an Afghanistan and we will hear Europe claim it will continue anyway... and then fold under the pressure... at which point I rather suspect many of the super hard core nazies in the Ukraine might turn their anger towards the west...

NATO can cause trouble in the Black Sea region , through it's various minions . It does not need Ukraine for this . Occupation of all littoral regions , may guarantee no hostile vessels , but attacks can take place from positions further inland , including Ukraine . The more efficient way , to ensure security , is to take each threat and deal with it . Turkey or Romania interference in navigation or trade , can be dealt with individually .

Again, I disagree, I don't think any HATO bitches will want to take on the Russian Navy for real... they still have Kinzhal and if they want to test their ships defences against such missiles they can try. Turkey has been honest and impartial and I really don't expect that to change.

If Russia occupies the entire Black Sea coast Russia is going to be their Danube buddy with rights to sail the length of that river...

I highly suggest Russia not do something as foolish as to directly intervene in our affairs. We sympathize with Russia but do not mistake that as hating our once blessed republic.

I suspect Russia has had it pandering to the west hoping for scraps or credit or respect. Russia has been rather restrained all this time but equally why should they tolerate this bullshit that the US has inflicted on Russia and her neighbour for fun and for profit to try to weaken its strategic rivals?

Are you expecting Russia to just forget you killed tens of thousands of her young men for nothing?

It has confirmed for Russia that they made the right choice turning away from the west and towards BRICS.

I always knew the Russian collusion nonsense was just that. Please Russia do not make it a reality.

Putin wont stoop to election interference, but I rather doubt he would help you with it either. It is funny you fear what Russia might do when China and Israel have been interfering for quite some time...

Do not become subverters and regime changers like the neocons/neolibs.

They don't need to, your rotten system is destroying itself with its ridiculous actions destroying the US dollar and the US economy and also the EU economy too, the inflation that is created is going to hurt those who haven't balanced a budget in the last 30 years... you can work that out.

Russia has never tried to destroy the west, but they are not going to actively try to save you either.... you are doing this to yourselves but of course Putin and Russia will get the blame anyway.

Burning around 5-6B USD every month. Its even more important than the liquid assets evaporation. Not at all sustainable in the long term.

Lets see how it all goes in 2024.

It is a rainy day fund and it is raining. They are funding Russian production of foreign products that will mean saving an enormous amount of money because western products were expensive to buy and expensive in terms of support contracts, but equally should be a good earner in third countries that the west sells these products to because I am sure with their cheap energy the Russians can make a better product cheaper.

For the western parts, Mercouris mentioned two important pieces of information yesterday.
During the Mongol visits to Russia the area of Galicia was called a Russian Kingdom. Something like Galicia Rus or so.
Also some austrian author in the 1870´s refered to the people living around Lemberg (today Lviv) simply as Russians.
The roots of the people living there are clear, even if most of them don´t like it.

The thing is that the roots of the people don't matter squat, it will be decided by referendum no doubt but Putin will take pains to ensure there are no voters moving into regions to effect the vote and certainly no imposters sent to skew the results.

The road to Russian victory is still very long.

It certainly could be but I think Biden is going to lose the next election and that will be the end of US interest in this conflict, which would be catastrophic for Kiev and for EU and HATO support too. Look at how they folded in Afghanistan.

Would be interesting if someone tries to murder Trump and they trace it back to Zelensky... or even a Nazi group tries to change the results of a few EU elections by knocking off the potential winners if they pledge to stop funding Ukraine...

It is funny when goons turn on their masters... the masters get really upset when the staff do that to them... don't they know their place?

Of course they don't realise they are playing with fire till it starts to burn them.

US civil war or collapse of the EU or HATO or all three would be a fitting end for these monsters.

Would be sad for the innocents in those three blocks, but as those people haven't said a word till now in any significant numbers I wonder if Russian people did worse than they did to have their soldiers murdered... their stated goal was collapse of the Russian economy and the overthrow of Putin, which would be a civil war.

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Turkish paper BirGün writes:

Since the huge losses in Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia are considered a "state secret", the official death toll is not disclosed by Ukrainian officials.

One of the most direct ways to verify the accuracy of the actual death toll from the war, which will soon be in its second year in Ukraine, is to look at cemeteries. Almost all over the country, the cemetery areas reserved for martyrs have already increased severalfold, without exaggeration.

Two satellite images, taken a year apart, of the Goloskovsky Cemetery, near the city of Lvov (Lviv), where the dead soldiers are buried, were recently published for the first time in some sources. From these images, it can be clearly seen that the area of the cemetery has roughly doubled in just one year

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/85537

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (for the period from January 13 to January 19, 2024)

In the period from January 13 to January 19, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 17 group strikes with high-precision weapons, including hypersonic Dagger aviation missile systems, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, as a result of which enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine that carried out repairs of weapons and equipment, manufacture of ammunition, gunpowder were hit and reconnaissance and attack UAVs.

The locations of units of the armed forces of Ukraine, formations of foreign mercenaries and nationalists were also affected.

The targets of the strikes have been achieved. All assigned objects are hit.

In the Kupyansk direction, units of the "Western" grouping of troops continued to improve the position along the front edge in certain areas.

During the week, 25 attacks by assault groups of the 32nd, 115th mechanized, 57th motorized Infantry, 25th Airborne, 95th airborne assault brigades and the 103rd air Defense Brigade were repelled in the areas of the settlements of Sinkovka, Peschanoe and Tabaevka in the Kharkiv region.

The enemy's losses during the week amounted to over 560 soldiers, 10 tanks, eight armored combat vehicles, 26 vehicles and eight field artillery guns.

In addition, two field ammunition depots were destroyed.

In the Krasnolimansk direction, units of the Center group of forces, with the support of aviation and artillery fire, repelled 17 enemy attacks and defeated concentrations of manpower of the 24th, 66th mechanized brigades, 125th Air Defense Brigade and the 5th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Chervonaya Dibrova of the Luhansk People's Republic, Yampolovka of the Donetsk People's Republic The Republic, as well as the Serebryansk forestry.

Enemy losses during the specified period amounted to up to 1,520 soldiers killed and wounded, a tank, 21 armored combat vehicles, 34 vehicles, as well as eight field artillery guns.

In the Donetsk direction, units of the "Southern" group of troops, supported by aviation and artillery fire, repelled 15 enemy attacks during the week.

In addition, fire damage was inflicted on units of the 22nd, 28th and 93rd mechanized, 5th and 92nd assault brigades, as well as the 112th air defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Kurdyumovka, Antonovka, Bogdanovka, Kleshcheyevka and Andreevka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

The enemy's losses amounted to more than 1,880 soldiers killed and wounded, 17 tanks, 27 armored combat vehicles, two launchers of the Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile system, 86 vehicles and 28 field artillery guns.

In the South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok group of forces repelled an attack by the 79th airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Novomikhailovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

In addition, air strikes and artillery fire inflicted fire damage on Ukrainian units in the areas of the settlements of Paraskovievka and Pavlovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

The losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to up to 965 servicemen killed and wounded, two tanks, six armored combat vehicles, a launcher of the Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile system, 24 vehicles and 15 field artillery guns.

In the Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian troops inflicted fire damage on the manpower and equipment of the 65th, 118th mechanized, 128th mountain assault brigades, as well as the 15th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Verbovoye, Malaya Tokmachka and Rabodino in the Zaporozhye region.

The enemy's losses in this direction amounted to up to 395 soldiers, a tank, nine armored combat vehicles, 16 vehicles and 10 field artillery guns.

In the Kherson direction, the preemptive actions of Russian troops and the complex fire defeat of the enemy defeated the manpower and equipment of the 35th and 38th Marine brigades, as well as the 121st air Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Mikhaylovka, Tyaginka and Ivanovka of the Kherson region.

As a result of the actions of Russian troops, the enemy lost up to 325 soldiers, three tanks, 29 vehicles and 25 field artillery pieces killed and wounded.

During the week, 21 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered. Of these, 14 people are in the South Donetsk direction.

During the week, the Aerospace Forces and air defense systems shot down: six Tochka-U tactical missiles, a JDAM guided aerial bomb, 11 Alder rocket launchers, 62 HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, as well as 274 unmanned aerial vehicles.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 567 aircraft, 265 helicopters, 10,894 unmanned aerial vehicles, 450 anti-aircraft missile systems, 14,686 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1202 multiple rocket launchers, 7,788 field artillery and mortars, as well as 17,617 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12496615@egNews

Arkanghelsk wrote:In case you were not aware, this fund was tapped for the construction of 1000 civilian airliners through 2030
So the article is wrong fundamentally, Russia is not burning reserves, but is tapping the fund to open up production lines of new aircraft which will replace western aircraft
Thats the entire point of a fund, to invest into the country's infrastructure

Yeah that is right. The National Wealth Fund money is going to be used to fund the purchase of new Russian aircraft for Russian airlines. These funds will then be paid back by the airlines in due time.

It is fairly well known that Russia has been funding the 2% government deficit with just borrowing. The Russian government has managed to do bond sales successfully which cover the deficit.

How many so called developed countries would celebrate if they had just 2% deficit. Yet they manage to fund these deficits for decades.

Hole wrote:

NATO , withdrawing any and all support for insurgency .

The west never withdrew its support for the "Chechen" insurgence/terrorists.
Nevertheless they lost.

I guess the Boston marathon bombing was payback. I wonder how many Ukranians will radicalize once they realize how they have been sacrificed by the USA, and conduct acts of terror.