Low tech, low cost, highly effective

 

UPDATE 06:46 pm:

Ukraine executed a brilliant attack inside Russia that was over a year in the planning, destroying a big chunk of the bombers used to launch cruise missiles at civilian population centers in Ukraine. Financial Times: “Ukraine's security service estimated that its attack caused more than $7 billion in damage, claiming 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers were hit.”

[...]

“Ukraine has long struggled to target the Russian bombers used to launch mass missile targets against Ukrainian cities, as Moscow has kept them out of range of weapons Kyiv has developed itself as well as those supplied by its Western allies. The use of FPV drones in such a way would mark just the latest stage in the ever-evolving and still relatively fledgling world on drone warfare. The attack was also likely highly cost effective — FPV drones can be bought for a just a few hundred dollars each but the cost of 41 heavy bombers runs into the billions.”

[...]

Zelensky: “Today, a brilliant operation was carried out — on enemy territory, targeting only military objectives, specifically the equipment used to strike Ukraine. Russia suffered significant losses — entirely justified and deserved. The preparation took over a year and a half. Planning, organisation, every detail was perfectly executed. It can be said with confidence that this was an absolutely unique operation. What’s most interesting, and this can now be stated publicly, is that the “office” of our operation on Russian territory was located directly next to FSB headquarters in one of their regions.”

“Not for a single second did we want this war. We offered the Russians a ceasefire. Since March 11, the US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire has been on the table. It was the Russians who chose to continue the war – even under conditions where the entire world is calling for an end to the killing. Pressure is truly needed, pressure on Russia that should bring it back to reality. Pressure through sanctions. Pressure from our forces. Pressure through diplomacy. All of it must work together.”

Two bridges were also reportedly blown up in the middle of the night inside Russia which caused two trains and several heavy trucks to crash. Russia called both of the incidents “terrorist attacks.”

  Meidas Touch

Terrorist attacks. What do they call Russia's attacks on Ukraine?

The Russian delegation arrived tonight in Turkey to resume peace negotiations with Ukraine tomorrow.

I wouldn't trust them even if they agree to something.

Multiple media outlets reported that Ukraine did not notify the US about the attack. Given the fact that this extremely high risk operation required the element of surprise with operatives behind enemy lines, there is simply no way that Ukraine can trust the people in the Trump admin to keep something like that a secret from Russia given the fact that this govt at the highest levels is populated by Putin apologists, appeasers, and outright fans.

Heads will roll

A Russian warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, the Russian defence ministry said.

  Guardian

I'm surprised they admitted it.

Russian pro-war commentators initially blamed Ukraine for the blast and questioned why Kyiv was able to launch an attack on the centre of Belgorod.

[...]

“As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition,” the defence ministry said, according to the Russian state-owned news agency Tass.

[Regional governor Vyacheslav] Gladkov, announcing a state of emergency, said on Telegram there was a crater measuring 20 metres (65ft) across on one of the main streets. Four cars and four blocks of flats were damaged, he added. “Thank God there are no dead,” he said.

[...]

The Belgorod region is one of several parts of southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian jets fly frequently over the city on their way to Ukraine.

[...]

Last October, a Russian military jet crashed into a residential building shortly after taking off near the border with Ukraine, causing a major fire that killed 15 people. In total, at least 10 Russian military jets have crashed after malfunctioning since Moscow launched its invasion in February, according to the Bell, a Russian media outlet.

Russian oil depots on fire

Large fires broke out early on Monday at two oil depots in the Russian city of Bryansk, less than 100 miles from the border with Ukraine, in a potential act of sabotage by Kyiv.

[...]

Bryansk, which is less than 100 miles north-east of the Ukrainian border, serves as a logistics base for Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

  Guardian

What makes them think it wasn't a Russian act of sabotage?

Military analyst Rob Lee said that the footage suggested the fire was “probably” caused by Ukrainian sabotage. “It sounds like something is flying through the air before the explosion. I think it was probably a Ukrainian attack, but we cannot be certain,” Lee said.

“The fact that it was two separate sites not far from the border is important,” Lee said, adding that the fires may have been caused by a Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile, which he said had the range to reach both targets if deployed near the Russian-Ukrainian border.

[...]

According to Baza, a Telegram news channel with links to Russian security services, the fires were caused by Ukrainian drones.

[...]

The Russian defence ministry has promised to bomb targets in Kyiv in response to what it said were “terrorist and sabotage” attacks on its territory carried out by Ukraine’s “nationalist regime”.

Russia has suffered a series of major fires at state facilities across the country in recent weeks.

On Friday, 17 people were killed after a huge fire broke out at a key Russian defence research institute in Tver, north-west of Moscow. On the same day, a major chemical plant not far from Moscow caught fire. Russia, where accidental fires are common due to dilapidated infrastructure, has blamed the fire in Tver on ageing wiring.

Or possibly Russian protest.

Or possibly Ukrainian protest.

It's Sunday

ooops.

Was.

What to say?

It must have been a fake?

I hope it was in a rust-proof box?

How do you combat propaganda?

Yuriy Bova, the mayor of Trostianets, said it was too early to give a reliable estimate of how many civilians the Russians had killed. It was “definitely more than 50, but probably not hundreds”, he said.

[...]

Over the weekend, residents wheeled bicycles to the points across town where parcels of food aid were available: cartons of eggs, jars of pickled cucumbers and plastic bags bulging with potatoes, sent by volunteer groups in other parts of Ukraine. In the orderly but irritable queue to receive them, people embraced acquaintances who they were happy to see still alive, and swapped horror stories from the past month.

[...]

Spotting a journalist, ever more people joined in, shouting over each other. “They smashed my place up.” “They stole everything, even my underwear.” “They killed a guy on my street.” “The fuckers stole my laptop and my aftershave.” A symphony of stories, some of them personal, some of them second-hand, all of them awful.

[...]

On a two-day visit to the town, the Guardian found evidence of summary executions, torture and systematic looting during the month of occupation, but it will a take a long time to catalogue all the crimes the Russians committed in places like Trostianets.

  Guardian

This is an amazing report. Right down to the part where people in Trostianets call their friends and family in Moscow to tell them about what is happening, and they are not believed. I recommend reading the whole thing.

Harsh

Ukraine’s intelligence agency on Saturday said that two Russian soldiers have died and 28 others were placed in intensive care after being poisoned by Ukrainian civilians.

The Ministry of Defense’s intelligence unit said in a Facebook post on Saturday that civilians in Kharkiv baked poisoned cakes for troops from Russia’s 3rd Motor Rifle Division. Two Russian soldiers died after eating the food and 28 others were taken to intensive care, the agency said.

The condition of the hospitalized soldiers remains unclear.

“Ukrainians are resisting the occupiers by all available means,” the agency said.

  The Hill

I keep hearing analysis that Russia will never be able to occupy Ukraine because of the population's resistance, and I suppose this is just one point in confirmation.

The reported poisonings come after Ukrainian officials said civilians were executed and buried in mass graves in Bucha, officials said.

[...]

The agency also claimed that about 500 more soldiers are in hospital suffering from heavy alcohol poisoning “of unknown origin,” and that the Russian command is writing off these cases as “not combat losses.”

Harsh if true

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

[W]hile there was some evidence to corroborate the claim that the commander had been run over, it was less clear whether, as the western officials claimed, the colonel had died. On Friday night, they partially retracted the claim in the light of conflicting evidence on social media. They said they were seeking to clarify whether he was alive or dead – and said that the key point was that he was a victim of a mutiny, not whether he had been killed or not.

The original report of the mutiny was made on Wednesday on Facebook by a Ukrainian journalist, Roman Tsymbaliuk, who said that it occurred after the unit, which had been fighting in Makariv, west of Kyiv, had lost “about 50% of their personnel”.

“After choosing a convenient moment, during the fight, he ran over the commander standing next to him, injuring both his legs,” the journalist wrote. The colonel was then moved to a hospital in Belarus.

A separate film released by the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, showed the commander, Yuri Medvedev, being transported by medical troops, in which he is clearly alive.

[...]

Western officials believe that about one-sixth or maybe one-fifth of Russia’s original invasion force, which comprised an estimated 20 battalion tactical groups, is “no longer combat-effective” – a high degree of losses, reflecting the botched invasion and fierce Ukrainian fightback.

Seven Russian generals have been killed in the fighting, which has also led to several thousand Ukrainian military fatalities and civilian casualties.

  Guardian