Re: The Invasion of Ukraine
Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:08 pm
More evidence of Russians using teargas grenades against Ukrainian defensive positions, which is a war crime.
A consortium of media outlets have published a bombshell investigation about Russia’s cyber-capabilities, based on a rare leak of documents. The files come from NTC Vulkan, a cybersecurity firm in Moscow that doubles as a contractor to Russian military and intelligence agencies.
Russia’s army and its secret police did not just hate each other; they viewed the world through different lenses. Putin’s era brought about new rules and a new mentality, as the Vulkan files make clear.
The journalist, John Sweeney who now lives in Kyiv, suspects Putin.Martin Y wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2023 8:54 pmMakes you wonder who Tatarsky upset; the method suggests an insider rather than anything the Ukrainians might have done. I gather the attack happened at an event in a restaurant which used to belong to Prigozyn and you can't help wondering if that has any significance.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-pledge ... 023-04-04/The weapons aid package was comprised of $2.1 billion from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding which allows President Joe Biden's administration to buy weapons from industry rather than from U.S. weapons stocks.
The USAI package included additional munitions for NASAMS air defenses that the U.S. and allies have given to Kyiv, precision aerial munitions, Soviet-era GRAD rockets, anti-tank rockets, armored bridging systems used in assaults, and 105 fuel trailers, along with funding for training and maintenance.
The remaining $500 million came from Presidential Drawdown Authority funds, which allows the president to take from current U.S. stocks in an emergency.
That segment of the package included a half a dozen types of munitions, including munitions for Patriot air defense systems, tank munitions, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The cynic inside me makes me think the defence industry must be hoping for only limited success, and a long offensive to come.Woodchopper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 7:57 amLatest US military aid package.
The weapons aid package was comprised of $2.1 billion from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding which allows President Joe Biden's administration to buy weapons from industry rather than from U.S. weapons stocks.
...
Finally, a package with a longer term focus is another indication that the long awaited Ukrainian offensive is coming soon.
Yes, some companies will make higher profits.Gfamily wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 8:15 amThe cynic inside me makes me think the defence industry must be hoping for only limited success, and a long offensive to come.Woodchopper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 7:57 amLatest US military aid package.
The weapons aid package was comprised of $2.1 billion from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding which allows President Joe Biden's administration to buy weapons from industry rather than from U.S. weapons stocks.
...
Finally, a package with a longer term focus is another indication that the long awaited Ukrainian offensive is coming soon.
https://www.ft.com/content/d68b4007-4dd ... eee2662d6eKyiv is willing to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if its forces reach the border of the Russian-occupied peninsula, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the Financial Times.
The comments by Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, are the most explicit statement of Ukraine’s interest in negotiations since it cut off peace talks with the Kremlin last April.
“If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” Sybiha said, referring to Kyiv’s long-planned counteroffensive.
He added: “It doesn’t mean that we exclude the way of liberation [of Crimea] by our army.”
[…]
To date Zelenskyy has ruled out peace talks until Russian forces leave all of Ukraine, including Crimea.
Sybiha is a veteran diplomat who focuses on foreign policy in the president’s office and has been at Zelenskyy’s side at key moments in the war.
[…]
He said the president and his aides were now talking specifically about Crimea, as Ukraine’s army gets closer to launching its counteroffensive to regain territory.
[…]
In the early days of the war, Ukraine was willing to negotiate with Moscow over the future of Crimea rather than insisting on regaining it militarily at all costs.
[…]
Ukraine’s president has repeatedly made clear his ultimate goal of bringing all his country’s land, including Crimea, under Kyiv’s control.
But in May last year he indicated Ukraine could consider a peace deal if Russian forces returned to positions in eastern Ukraine predating last year’s invasion and suggested the issue of Crimea would be resolved later through diplomacy.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-plan ... kyy-putin/Two weeks after the EU announced a historic agreement to give Ukraine piles of ammunition, the bloc is still sorting out the legal specifics of how to actually implement it.
The squabble has stalled a first-of-its-kind plan to jointly buy ammunition for Ukraine. EU ambassadors met Wednesday to discuss the issue but were unable to make significant progress on one of the key issues, according to several diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations.
The bone of contention remains whether these arms contracts will go exclusively to EU companies (and how to legally define them), or also be open to outside manufacturers. France is pushing for the money to stay within EU borders, several diplomats said. Greece and Cyprus have also backed Paris — a move some of the diplomats said is linked to their desire to avoid contracts going to Turkish manufacturers.
Two diplomats added that the European Commission, the EU’s executive, also needs to do more work to map the capacity of EU companies before a final deal can be reached.
With the issue stalled, ambassadors on Wednesday instead focused on finalizing a less-controversial part of the agreement: A deal to donate large swaths of ammunition to Kyiv. The diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said ambassadors completed a deal on the donation plan during the meeting, adding that the legal text is expected to be officially published next week.
Apparently passing through a minecraft server at one point, which at least makes a change from the War Thunder forums.Woodchopper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:52 amAnon on 4Chan posted classified documents to win an argument about Ukrainian and Russian casualties: https://twitter.com/arictoler/status/16 ... 1zY-PW4R9w
Logistically cutting off Crimea is certainly the best chance for Ukraine to reclaim it, and with the fewest casualties. I suspect the bulk of the new tanks and APC's will drive south from Zaphorzhzhia to cut the land bridge.Woodchopper wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 8:15 amMark Galeotti on the calculations around Crimea: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/kyi ... ld-crimea/
Looks like it was part of something bigger:Woodchopper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:52 amAnon on 4Chan posted classified documents to win an argument about Ukrainian and Russian casualties: https://twitter.com/arictoler/status/16 ... 1zY-PW4R9w
https://news.yahoo.com/tranche-of-purpo ... 37286.htmlTranche of purported U.S. and allied military secrets leaked online in possible major intelligence breach
Thread on what looks like a major intelligence leak: https://twitter.com/ridt/status/1645048 ... 1zY-PW4R9wWoodchopper wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 7:07 pmLooks like it was part of something bigger:Woodchopper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:52 amAnon on 4Chan posted classified documents to win an argument about Ukrainian and Russian casualties: https://twitter.com/arictoler/status/16 ... 1zY-PW4R9w
https://news.yahoo.com/tranche-of-purpo ... 37286.htmlTranche of purported U.S. and allied military secrets leaked online in possible major intelligence breach
Gets bigger day by dayWoodchopper wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 5:44 pmThread on what looks like a major intelligence leak: https://twitter.com/ridt/status/1645048 ... 1zY-PW4R9wWoodchopper wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 7:07 pmLooks like it was part of something bigger:Woodchopper wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:52 amAnon on 4Chan posted classified documents to win an argument about Ukrainian and Russian casualties: https://twitter.com/arictoler/status/16 ... 1zY-PW4R9w
https://news.yahoo.com/tranche-of-purpo ... 37286.htmlTranche of purported U.S. and allied military secrets leaked online in possible major intelligence breach
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-detail ... lewebshareOne of the most significant leaks of highly classified U.S. documents in recent history began among a small group of posters on a messaging channel that trafficked in memes, jokes and racist talk.
Sometime in January, seemingly unnoticed by the outside world, an anonymous member of a group numbering just over a dozen began to post files—many labeled as top secret—providing details about the war in Ukraine, intercepted communications about U.S. allies, such as Israel and South Korea, and details of American penetration of Russian military plans, among other topics.
The documents, which appear to have numbered in the hundreds, stayed among the members of the tiny group on the Discord messaging platform until early March, when another user reposted several dozen of them to another group with a larger audience. From there, at least 10 files migrated to a much bigger community focused on the Minecraft computer game.
On Wednesday, with the U.S. government apparently still unaware, a Russian propaganda account on Telegram posted a crudely doctored version of one of the documents, alongside a few unedited ones.
[...]
The intelligence leak is shaping up to be one of the most damaging in decades, officials said. The disclosure complicates Ukraine’s spring offensive. It will likely inhibit the readiness of foreign allies to share sensitive information with the U.S. government. And it potentially exposes America’s intelligence sources within Russia and other hostile nations.
[...]
In total, just over 50 documents with Secret and Top Secret classification markings have surfaced so far, and have been viewed by the Journal and a variety of independent intelligence analysts. A critical question is who had access, and when, to the hundreds of others that were posted in the original group between January and March, and how significant are the secrets that these files contain.
[...]
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a Telegram post that it was unlikely that Russia was behind the original intelligence breach.
“If you have an operating channel to obtain intelligence from the Pentagon, you don’t burn it for a one-day publicity drive,” he wrote. By publicizing the leak, he added, Russia aimed to distract attention from Ukraine’s preparations for the offensive, and to “sow certain doubts and mutual suspicions” between Kyiv and its partners.
[...]
The most damaging files, security analysts say, are the roundups of vetted intelligence material compiled in the Central Intelligence Agency’s operations center intelligence update. They include information on conversations that the U.S. had intercepted within allied governments, such as communications of the leaders of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and discussions among members of South Korea’s national security council on whether to sell ammunition that could end up in Ukraine.
Even more sensitive is the information that appears derived from the U.S. penetration of the Russian government, such as details on how a Russian hacker shared screenshots with the FSB security service on accessing Canada’s natural-gas infrastructure, internal Russian ministry of defense deliberations on supplying ammunition to the Wagner paramilitary group, and plans by Russian military intelligence to foment an anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian campaign in Africa.
Aric Toler, head of research and training at the Bellingcat investigative consortium, which has carried out several probes of Russian intelligence operations, said that he has been in touch with three original members of the Discord group.
The group’s members saw hundreds of classified files before the channel was wiped clean, he said. Most members are based in the U.S. The identity of the original poster remains unknown.