Russian special military operation in Ukraine #61

I highly doubt that Elensky and critical members of his retinue are in Khuyiv. I do not think that Russia would take them out on NATzO territory.
Maybe off them later as revenge but no missile strikes or Israeli type action on them is coming soon. They also do not matter, it is the USA
that is making all the decisions, including all the "insane" ones.

Ok so now Zelenski denies that they are making a nuclear bomb!? Looks like his big mate Boris Johnson could not deliver on his promise once again...tsk...tsk.

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (as of October 18, 2024)

From October 12 to 18, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 36 group strikes with precision weapons, as well as with unmanned aerial vehicles, as a result of which: enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, energy facilities that provided their work, the infrastructure of military airfields, production workshops and storage sites of unmanned aerial vehicles were hit. In addition, ammunition depots and military-technical equipment were hit, as well as temporary locations of AFU units, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries.

During the week, the units of the North group of forces continued to carry out an operation to destroy the AFU formations in the Kursk region. Air strikes, unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery fire defeated units of the tank, six mechanized, three airborne assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade, five air defense brigades and two National Guard brigades. Units of the motorized infantry, Jaeger, airborne assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two air defense brigades and a National Guard brigade were defeated in the Volchansk and Liptsovsky directions. During the week in the area of responsibility of the North group of forces, enemy losses amounted to over 2,745 servicemen, 23 tanks, including two Leopard tanks manufactured by Germany, 69 armored combat vehicles, including a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle manufactured by the United States, a CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle manufactured by Sweden, a Stryker armored personnel carrier manufactured by the United States, four launchers multiple rocket launchers, 75 vehicles and 29 field artillery guns. Five field ammunition depots were destroyed.

During the week, units of the Zapad group of forces continued to advance into the depth of the enemy's defense and liberated the settlement of Nevskoye in the Luhansk People's Republic. They defeated formations of a tank, five mechanized brigades, an assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, three air defense brigades and two National Guard brigades. 25 counterattacks of the AFU assault groups were repelled. The enemy lost up to 3,150 troops, three tanks, nine armored combat vehicles, including four M113 armored personnel carriers manufactured by the United States, 38 vehicles and 21 field artillery guns, of which five self-propelled artillery units and 155-mm howitzers of foreign manufacture. In addition, five electronic warfare and counter-battery warfare stations were destroyed, as well as 21 field ammunition depots.

As a result of the actions of the units of the Southern Group of Troops, the settlement of Maksimilianovka of the Donetsk People's Republic was liberated. The manpower and equipment of seven mechanized, motorized infantry, two infantry, assault, amphibious assault, two airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two air defense brigades were defeated. 23 counterattacks of the assault units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were reflected. The enemy's losses amounted to 5,080 troops, four armored combat vehicles, 24 vehicles and 22 field artillery guns, of which 11 were supplied to the Armed Forces by NATO countries. Four electronic warfare stations and 14 field ammunition depots were destroyed.

The units of the Center group of forces liberated the settlements of Mikhaylovka and Krasny Yar of the Donetsk People's Republic. The formations of seven mechanized, motorized infantry, two infantry, amphibious assault, airborne brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade, two air defense brigades and two National Guard brigades were defeated. 59 counterattacks of enemy assault groups were repelled. During the week, the losses of Ukrainian formations in this direction amounted to 3,350 soldiers, 13 armored combat vehicles, of which two VAB armored personnel carriers made in France, three HMMWV armored combat vehicles made in the United States and two Kirpi Turkish-made. 27 vehicles and 18 field artillery pieces were destroyed.

As a result of the actions of the units of the Vostok group of forces, the settlement of Levadnoye in the Zaporozhye region was liberated. The manpower and equipment of the mechanized, motorized infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, four air defense brigades and a National Guard brigade were defeated. Seven counterattacks of the assault units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were reflected. The enemy lost up to 790 troops, five armored combat vehicles, including the M113 armored personnel carrier made in the United States and 33 vehicles. Three 155-mm Caesar self-propelled artillery units made in France and three Krab made in Poland were destroyed.

Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of three mechanized, infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade and three air defense brigades. The losses of the Armed Forces amounted to 380 soldiers, 40 vehicles and seven field artillery pieces. Two electronic warfare and counter-battery warfare stations were destroyed, as well as eight field ammunition depots.

Air defense means shot down two long-range guided missiles "Neptune", two guided aircraft bombs Hammer made in France, 29 HIMARS rockets made in the United States, as well as 374 unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type.

During the week, 48 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of contact.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 646 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 33793 unmanned aerial vehicles, 582 anti-aircraft missile systems, 18735 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,476 multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles, 16363 field artillery and mortar guns, 27392 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12533559@egNews

Russian MoD reporting 15,495 Ukrainian casualties over the past 7 days.

Summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the progress of repelling the attempted invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the territory of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region (as of October 18, 2024)

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue their actions to defeat the enemy group that has entered the territory of the Kursk region.

The units of the North group of forces continued to conduct offensive operations, during which they defeated the formations of the 22nd, 47th and 115th mechanized, 82nd and 95th airborne assault brigades, the 36th Marine Brigade, as well as the 103rd and 129th territorial brigades The defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Lyubimovka, Sverdlikovo, Malaya Loknya, Novy Put and Plekhovo.

In addition, over the past day, the units of the group reflected two enemy counterattacks in the direction of the settlements of Zeleny Shlyakh and Lyubimovka.

As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 20 people killed and wounded, two armored combat vehicles were destroyed.

Army aviation strikes and artillery fire defeated concentrations of manpower and equipment of the 17th Tank, 41st, 47th and 61st mechanized, 80th and 95th airborne assault brigades, the 1st National Guard Brigade, as well as the 103rd and 129th territorial brigades defense in the areas of the settlements of Bogdanovka, Bondarevka, Guevo, Darino, Kubatkin, Kolmakov, Lyubimovka, Novy Put, Plekhovo, Nizhny Klin, Nikolaevo-Darino, Novoivanovka, Sverdlikovo, Sudzha and Tolstoy Meadow.

Tactical aviation and missile forces attacked the areas of concentration in the Sumy region and the reserves of the 21st and 115th mechanized, 95th airborne assault brigades, as well as the 101st and 129th brigades of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Basovka, Belovody, Belokopytovo, Vodolagi, Pavlovka, Revyakino and Studenok.

During the day, the losses of the Armed Forces amounted to more than 505 people, 15 armored vehicles were destroyed, including two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, an armored personnel carrier, ten armored combat vehicles, as well as seven guns, including an American-made M198 howitzer and eight cars.

In total, during the fighting in the Kursk direction, the enemy lost more than 24,367 servicemen, 167 tanks, 79 infantry fighting vehicles, 101 armored personnel carriers, 952 armored combat vehicles, 651 vehicles, 200 artillery pieces, 38 multiple rocket launchers, including nine HIMARS and six MLRS manufactured by the United States, nine anti-aircraft launchers missile systems, five transport-loading vehicles, 48 electronic warfare stations, nine counter-battery radars, three air defense radars, 22 units of engineering and other equipment, of which 13 engineering barrier vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearance unit, as well as three armored recovery vehicles.

The operation to destroy the AFU formations continues.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12533564@egNews

ucmvulcan wrote:

Arrow wrote:Zelensky threatens to develop nuclear weapons.

The only result of such a promise is that Kiev loses its nuclear reactors.  If the little terrorist launches so much as one, everything west of the Dniepr becomes glass

Without nukes , death determines your fate , with nukes fear determines your fate , but your fate shall not change .

kvs wrote:I highly doubt that Elensky and critical members of his retinue are in Khuyiv.   I do not think that Russia would take them out on NATzO territory.
Maybe off them later as revenge but no missile strikes or Israeli type action on them is coming soon. They also do not matter, it is the USA that is making all the decisions, including all the "insane" ones.

Zelensky of course makes no decisions in this war, his only purpose is to lead Ukrainians to slaughter like sheep for the benefit of NATO and subhumans like Lindsay Graham. Personally, I wish a long (but not happy) life on Zelensky so the Hohols and Hoholinas can look at the man responsible for the destruction of the Ukraine and their dead fathers, brothers and sons living lavishly in Europe, America and of course his true homeland, Israel. They willingly followed a clown to war against the best land force on the planet and Russia dragged them by their feet to attend remedial classes.

So the west and south Korea have given their take on the North Korean troop deployment. See below the key points I have included from the western mouth piece that is British bias corporation BBC. One thing the so called expert stating that North Korean troops have no combat experience yesterday they maybe be true but NK troops carry out far more training and drills than any other armed forces around the world which must count for something. I agree that they will most likely be used to free up Russian troops elsewhere on quite fronts, or maybe be used in artillery units as NK have vast experience in this field. Also I feel it's very likely that NK will be sending troops from it's better units or special forces rather than regular troops. And the point on NK language barrier what they fail to understand NK at school learn an additional language mostly Chinese, Russian due to trade relations with both countries but they also learn some European languages, also they completely forget the history between the two countries which is decades long and as far military issues they have been using soviet era systems for decades as well and therefore Russin language has been in the NK system for decades it's not something new to them. So the language barrier aspect is null and void.

"North Korea has started sending troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine, South Korea's spy agency has said as Seoul warned of a "grave security threat".

The allegation comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believed 10,000 North Korean soldiers could join the war, based on intelligence information.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a security meeting on Friday and said the international community must respond with "all available means".

According to the spy agency, 1,500 troops have already arrived in Russia - with anonymous sources telling South Korean media the final figure could be closer to 12,000.

This comes as evidence mounts that North Korea is supplying Russia with ammunition, as recently demonstrated by the recovery of a missile in Ukraine’s Poltava region."

Earlier this week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify a military pact he made with Kim, which pledges that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country

South Korea's spy agency, the NIS, said North Korean troops are training in Russian bases in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Vlagoveshensk.

This appears to confirm information from a military source in Russia’s Far East, who told BBC Russian this week that “a number of North Koreans have arrived” and were stationed in one of the military bases near Ussuriysk.

Seoul's spy agency also released aerial photographs of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk, where they say hundreds of North Korean troops have gathered, and another photo of North Korea's Chongjin port, where a Russian ship was reportedly shown carrying North Korean soldiers.

The NIS said it found that since August, North Korea has sent 13,000 shipping containers carrying shells, missiles, and anti-armour rockets to Russia.

As many as eight million 122-mm and 152-mm shells have been supplied to Russia, it said.

However, some military experts believe the Russian military units will have difficulties incorporating North Korean troops into their frontlines.

Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent experience of combat operations, they said.

“They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free Russian units for fighting elsewhere,” said Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express.

“I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vkqwe9wwdo.amp

Much more serious stuff on this train than the last one.

I'm still skeptical about the NK news but I do hope it's true

Russia doesn't really need additional front-line units with which it doesn't share common training or a common language running around a fluid battlefield but certainly specialized troops such as North Korean divisional artillery or missile regiments can be integrated more quickly as these units aside from logistics are largely self-contained, and sit far from the front-line. They can be passed orders to take this or that target out or conduct a fire mission at X co-ordinates, and that's all that will be expected of them.

With some more work North Korean air defense regiments can be integrated into the Russian air defense network too, provided that they are of the type that can operate more autonomously and of course not chiefly responsible for a certain section of airspace but rather providing redundancy to Russian air defense units.
The same sort of thing goes for North Korean fighter and tactical bomber air regiments; it's doable with some extra planning and training.

Another possibility is North Korean UAV regiments conducting reconnaissance or attack missions. There will have to be some co-ordination here but again such formations can largely operate autonomously without active co-ordination with all sorts of Russian units.

As for everyone else - infantry, tank crews, FPV drone operators, EW specialists, etc... well basically there is room for everyone but they will have to know the Russian language at a sufficient level and be integrated straight into Russian units and commanded by Russian officers, and pass all the tests for knowledge and competency needed for operating Russian equipment under a Russian command structure, else be re-trained to the level at which that they can. No other scheme will do.

Ultimately I think this would be a great opportunity for North Korean personnel and officers to gain invaluable combat experience in 21st century warfare, and for Russia to gain experience in inter-operating with the North Korean military.

The BBC is a propaganda orifice and as such you should consider the context for this article.   According to the Khuyiv regime, Russia is losing 10 times
more men than Ukria all in human wave attacks or some other shit story.   The BBC is padding this intellectual excrement with the insinuation that
Russia needs NK soldiers to fill in the losses.   This is just the same drivel used for weapons but now applied to soldiers.  Supposedly Russia cannot
supply its own and is running out...blah, blah.

kvs wrote:The BBC is a propaganda orifice and as such you should consider the context for this article.   According to the Khuyiv regime, Russia is losing 10 times
more men than Ukria all in human wave attacks or some other shit story.   The BBC is padding this intellectual excrement with the insinuation that
Russia needs NK soldiers to fill in the losses.   This is just the same drivel used for weapons but now applied to soldiers.  Supposedly Russia cannot
supply its own and is running out...blah, blah.

If saw I mentioned British bias corporation lol.

The article of once didn't mention or use the excuse that Russians were wanting to use NK troops due to loses but rather to relieve Russian troops on quiet fronts so they could be used elsewhere. Maybe even BBC noe realise Ukraine is a sinking ship and it's days are numbered.

@flamming P

I agree artillery, including missile are largely independent just need grid references related to them and coure we would probably find a russian officer attached to them just to supervise. And as U mentioned drones etc are independent as well.

Quiet fronts and releasing of russian troops is a fairly plausible idea. Maybe special forces doing some recon missions or targeting missions. Another key area where NK troops can be useful is engineering such as bridge building, road repairs, energy infrastructure repairs, de-mining. Also logistics troops including rail network. Could also include medical troops. This would give NK troops experience in all fields while giving additional support to Russian troops this in turn can help save more lives due to having more medical staff. Help repair infrastructure quicker, de-mine quicker, build new bridges quicker, so I would say we might find it's more specialised troops that we could see coming from NK rather than infantry support elements as Russia has plenty of that through mobilization. What you cant do is train in specialist roles within a few months unlike basic mobilization infantry standards.

Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner exchange in the 95-for-95 format. This was reported on October 18 by the Ministry of Defense.

“On October 18 of this year, as a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” the department’s statement reads.

The exchange took place according to the formula “95 for 95”.

Now all Russian servicemen are on the territory of Belarus, where they are provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance. They can also contact their relatives.

The Ministry of Defense added that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided humanitarian mediation efforts during the return of Russian servicemen from captivity.

https://iz-ru.translate.goog/1776919/2024-10-18/minoborony-soobshchilo-ob-obmene-plennymi-rf-i-ukrainy-v-formate-95-na-95?main_click&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Somehow I missed the information about a third ship being hit and destroyed—a ship carrying ammunition and missiles. The ship successfully intercepted Iskanders during unloading. I'll try to find links if you need them.

By the way, Gerans visited the port on the Danube yesterday as well.

Many and very important breakthroughs today, like the one in Chasov Yar, and more than 2600 casualties for 404.

The snowball is picking up speed...

Can't be;ief that they have only just noticed

Ukrainian resources claim that the Russian army has begun using new decoy drones to overload Ukrainian air defense systems.

Structurally, these are small devices without a warhead, and the payload is a small emitter-simulator of a large air target (missile or fighter).

Such devices are used both in missile strikes and in raids by loitering munitions, which forces the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use expensive anti-aircraft missiles against them.

Two Majors

They had a lot of Indian nationals in support roles hired through private companies AFAIK with a bit of dodgy goings on... likely the organisers made a lot of easy cash and lots of Indians looking for work were a bit shocked to find themselves going to an active war zone.

Perhaps these NK troops are just training, or perhaps they will be sent to support roles delivering goods from the rear to near the front line where they will be distributed to troops.

Or maybe they want some combat experience in a real war against a HATO supported opponent.

The standard of NK soldiers is probably about to be raised... I hope they are also taking officers and showing them how to manage and plan such operations so their soldiers wont end up wasted like the Orcs are by hairbrained HATO mission planning and control.

GarryB wrote:They had a lot of Indian nationals in support roles hired through private companies AFAIK with a bit of dodgy goings on... likely the organisers made a lot of easy cash and lots of Indians looking for work were a bit shocked to find themselves going to an active war zone.

Dodgy things like lying to the Russians that they can fight in combat. Casualty among Hindus were extremely high despite Russia providing a lot of artillery support. Couldn't capture a single major town in Ukraine. Those Hindus captured revealed key information to the Ukros during interrogation.  But were eventually executed by Ukros - serves them right.

It makes sense for Russia to be offering field experience opportunities to its allies. So the North Koreans and Indians should be participating but cannot be
considered to be essential. The same goes for weapons systems from NK and Iran. They are not propping Russia up, they are being subjected to field testing
which is extremely valuable for their developers.

I have not seen much evidence that the above is undermining Russian efforts. As usual with things Russian, the sky is always falling and the end is always nigh.

Russian MoD reporting 2130 Ukrainian casualties over the past 24 hours including in Kursk;

During the day, the losses of the Armed Forces amounted to more than 270 people, 9 armored vehicles were destroyed, including three infantry fighting vehicles, an armored personnel carrier, five armored combat vehicles, as well as four guns and three cars.

In total, during the fighting in the Kursk direction, the enemy lost more than 24,740 servicemen, 167 tanks, 82 infantry fighting vehicles, 102 armored personnel carriers, 957 armored combat vehicles, 654 vehicles, 204 artillery pieces, 38 multiple rocket launchers, including nine HIMARS and six MLRS manufactured by the United States, nine anti-aircraft launchers missile systems, five transport-loading vehicles, 48 electronic warfare stations, ten counter-battery radars, three air defense radars, 22 units of engineering and other equipment, of which 13 engineering barrier vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearance unit, as well as three armored recovery vehicles.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12533677@egNews

kvs wrote:It makes sense for Russia to be offering field experience opportunities to its allies.   So the North Koreans and Indians should be participating but cannot be
considered to be essential.   The same goes for weapons systems from NK and Iran.  They are not propping Russia up, they are being subjected to field testing
which is extremely valuable for their developers.  

I have not seen much evidence that the above is undermining Russian efforts.   As usual with things Russian, the sky is always falling and the end is always nigh.

It seems that North Korea is expecting war against the South? They are blowing up roads leading to the South and Kim just said he is prepared to declare war! China has surrounded Taiwan and Hamas has bombed Netti's house, whilst Zelenski is searching the internet for a crash coarse on how to make a nuclear bomb in ONE WEEK.

Note the NATzO MSM orchestration.

kvs wrote:It makes sense for Russia to be offering field experience opportunities to its allies.   So the North Koreans and Indians should be participating but cannot be
considered to be essential.   The same goes for weapons systems from NK and Iran.  They are not propping Russia up, they are being subjected to field testing
which is extremely valuable for their developers.  

I have not seen much evidence that the above is undermining Russian efforts.   As usual with things Russian, the sky is always falling and the end is always nigh.

Russia has never cared about winning propaganda wars, and so Moscow gladly concedes that front to the west. Seriously, some great propaganda posters aside, how many Soviet movies made during the GPW can you think of? Dark is the Night and a couple other Boris Andreyev films, but not that many. Hollyweird was cranking out 5 to 10 propaganda films a month in that war. Stalin was more insistent on creating dead fritzes. Nothing has changed. In this war everything Russia does will be seen as a defeat for Russia by the west. Its why VOA has footage of every single alleged and real drone strike or missile strike and RT and TASS don't show nearly as much. The ordinance mounted camera is only for propaganda. Western, especially American, audiences have to see everything like its a movie or video game because they have the attention span of a gnat. If they can't see something go kaboom then its not happening. So the west has sunk billions of dollars into marketing the war. So of course Indians and Koreans, and Africans of various nationalities will be depicted as Russia has no more men available, and Indian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean weapons being used -with various degrees of success - will be portrayed as Russia has no more missiles. If people in the west saw how futile this war was for NATO and Ukraine they would demand a stop to it. However, they will never be allowed to see this. Since Walter Cronkite told the truth, that the US was losing in Vietnam, the Pentagon and MIC have made sure that they control the narrative and so no pesky journalist like Cronkite will ever be allowed to say the war is lost. Dan Rather questions Bush's military record? Gone. Journalist points out US did war crimes in Afghanistan? Prison for rape allegations, but extradition to the US (not Sweden where the alleged crime was supposed to have happened). Question the war? You are fired from your network and called a Russian agent and racist (Tucker). You are systemically and completely deplatformed and all your work is deleted (Jimmy Dore, Rachel Blevins, Lee Camp) from Youtube, Spotify, and you are smeared by the New York Times and CNN. You are RT or Sputnik, PressTv, Telesur you get smeared with the "state owned media label" and are canceled by the United States and the EU and your journalists are arrested. So yeah, Putin doesn't really care about the Propaganda War. He does, however, care about prosecuting the land war on his terms, and so if Iran has a cheap drone and its battle tested and shown to be effective in combat against game changing NATO wonderwaffles you damn right he is going to adopt that weapons system and build it under license. He has allies that need to see how to fight against NATO trained forces to see what a war against NATO resembles, he is going to let allies share the expeirence. The west knows it can only win the propaganda war because the west is only interested in rape, pillage, plunder, and making an incredible amount of money. Russia is interested in winning the war and shattering the imperialist and exploitative "rules based world order." As the kids say, "the revolution [in international relations that Putin has launched] will not be televised.

Mir wrote:It seems that North Korea is expecting war against the South? They are blowing up roads leading to the South and Kim just said he is prepared to declare war! China has surrounded Taiwan and Hamas has bombed Netti's house, whilst Zelenski is searching the internet for a crash coarse on how to make a nuclear bomb in ONE WEEK.

but from this link, Pyongyang had caught several UAVs flying from Seoul to the north, and they deemed the threat from Seoul is enough to significantly increase alertness.

https://www.facebook.com/K01Archive/posts/pfbid02S1Y5na68whZTSsWpkhmZX9f214iHEEMZLiv1UERZGuJjzcANCaG1H1BVkCAAu8U5l