Ukraine receives its first Luna drone from Germany

What is a Luna drone, you ask.  Well, the article sums it up quite nicely.  Seriously, I wish American media was as concise yet informative and digestible by the average person.  Yet another reason why I usually link Ukrainian media - obviously, they have the scoop first - but also because they're actually pretty good at what they do.

But in case of link rot, here's my summary: the Luna drone is a top-tier reconnaissance drone.  Stays in the air up to 12 hours.  Works even in adverse weather conditions.  If that isn't enough, it can be fitted with electronic warfare.  And another version is more combat-oriented, able to launch its own drones (we're not legally allowed to call them Fangs), which I assume would be small kamikaze drones.  So good luck trying to get that convoy through Avdiivka.

Speaking of Avdiivka, Russians use infantry against tanks

I guess The Art of War never got a Russian translation, because that sure ain't using your strengths against your opponents weaknesses.  It's more like trying to punch a door in and being unsuccessful and then punching it harder and harder.  It *might* work, maybe.  You also might break your fist.  Or you might get your arm stuck in the resulting hole.  But it's technically "productive" so I guess that's enough to please the dictator.

I'm making light, but the situation is actually quite dire there for both sides.  The map in particular is quite scary and appears like a second Bakhmut.  It's also dragging on and on, which generally does not favor the attacker.  Will Ukraine ultimately hold on?  I dunno.  Hopefully.

The Russians have been varying their tactics a lot, which is abnormally clever for them.  Like the Ukrainians, they figured out that huge armored convoys are sitting ducks and opted more for dismounted infantry backed up by drones, artillery, and anti-tank guns.  Unlike the Ukrainians, they can't quite get it to gel together properly and end up getting killed in droves.

QuoteAccording to the U.K. Defense Ministry, the Kremlin's decision to make a go at Avdiivka resulted in a 90-percent increase in Russian losses across the 600-mile front line.

But "Russian forces may be suffering losses along the entire front in Ukraine at a rate close to the rate at which Russia is currently generating new forces," the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. concluded.

Losing nearly as many troops as you recruit is an absolutely insane strategy for like a dozen different reasons.  Jeez, no wonder their morale is in the toilet and they can't rotate troops.  And it gives the Ukrainian soldiers a ton of battlefield experience and simultaneously deprives Russian forces of it.  Dead men can't learn, after all.  Have fun trading in moderately skilled/experienced troops for FNGs who have to trained up from complete newbie status up to reasonably competent assault forces only to feed them to the Ukrainian woodchipper and repeat the whole process over again and again.  Exhausting!

Massive fire breaks out in Russian-occupied Makiivka after explosion  There are secondary fires as well.

This is reminiscent of the strike about 5 months ago that reportedly killed over a hundred Russian troops.

Russian forces tried to assault the Ukrainian positions just south of the Dniper river

They failed, spectacularly.

There's a lot of footage of burning Russian tanks and APCs.  One Russian soldier - the sole survivor of his unit - managed to film the carnage.  Another Russian soldier filmed his trench and very few of its inhabitants were alive.

It appears that Ukraine once again inflicted crushing losses on the Russians to maintain its own positions.

Turncloak Con: Orban and Republicans to have closed door meeting on how to best ensure Russian victory

Three guesses as to why they want to keep you in the dark about what they're scheming to do.

Quote from: Hydra009 on December 10, 2023, 02:21:05 PMTurncloak Con: Orban and Republicans to have closed door meeting on how to best ensure Russian victory

Three guesses as to why they want to keep you in the dark about what they're scheming to do.

They want to treat us like mushrooms - keep us in the dark and feed us shit.

Polish border partially unblocked

One border station out of four which have been blocked.

UK and Norway to work to improve Ukraine's naval ability

Norway tranferred two mineclearing vessels to Ukraine.

Update: Polish border blocked again

About 4 hours after the border station was unblocked, it got blocked again by a truck which "suffered malfunction" in such a way as to (in)conveniently block all lanes.

People in Ukraine are dying because of this.

Zelenskyy and Orban having a frank discussion in Argentina (they were both there to welcome the incoming President, a "colorful" political personality who nonetheless has pledged to support Ukraine)

And Putin/Orban/GQP says Zelenskyy isn't a man of peace.  Orban left unharmed after all the shit he's been pulling.  Zelenskyy is a much more peaceful and diplomatic person than most people would be in his shoes.

"Give me one reason why Ukraine shouldn't be in the EU"

After an entirely unnecessary amount of drama, the blocked Ukraine-Polish border station has once again become unblocked and this time, it seems like it's staying open, though it'll take about 32 hours to finally clear all the traffic that has built up while it was blocked.

Norway announces $1.8 billion aid package for Ukraine

QuoteStoere added that Norway is trying to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure by providing air defense equipment and is increasing funding for the defense industry with European partners to produce more ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Denmark announces $1 billion aid package for Ukraine

The package will reportedly include ammunition, tanks and drones, but the specifics will be posted tomorrow.