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95th Airmobile brigade artillerymen - still using D-30s. The guns are probably older than their parents, but I guess they can still sort of do the job. Two years ago all the 2S1 Gvozdikas were removed from the army, due to being in very poor condition and obsolete. I think the idea was to standardize on 152mm 2S3 and MSTA systems as more modern, but as most Ukrainian army modernization plans I don't think it got very far. The latest word is that they are overhauling 2S1s and first batches are back in service.

 

 

 

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Level III will stop M80. It will largely defeat M855 but it will not defeat METAK.

 

Kind of depends which "metak" and which Level III it is. Some LIII plates, especially if they are just Dyneema, will not stop M855 rounds. Pretty much all of them will stop M43. Given that US servicemen wear SAPIs, the scenario where LIII plates are faced with enhanced penetrator rounds like 7N10 / 7N22 is probably not considered or tested against.

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Seems like English-speaking guy in Mariupol video appear to be Swedish right-wing activist

Ukraine conflict: 'White power' warrior from Sweden

By Dina Newman BBC News

 

Hmmm....

 

The article is just as "scare mongering" as many of those from Kiev.

 

I think it is too easy to overstate this angle.

I recall similar attempts during the wars in the breakup of Yugoslavia, particularly pertaining to Croatia.

 

Whilst guys like this exist clearly, they exist in all wars such as this, and indeed are attracted to such situations.

 

I would posit the vast majority of fighting men are a bit different than the exceptions above that the press love to dig up.

Edited by wilhelm
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The article is just as "scare mongering" as many of those from Kiev.

 

 

Journalists (and audience) enjoy “fried news”, so not surprising this kind of guys attract press attention.Still, it is a curious fact.

Meanwhile Strelkov reported pro-Ukrainians continuing to rain shells and rockets on Marinovka, Stepanovka and hills blocking south pocket – pro-Russians taking heavy casualties but hold positions. Ukrainian troops from the pocket report critical condition. Locals say small groups of pro-Ukrainian soldiers (or deserters) are trying to escape on foot and bagging for food in the villages. Russian officials reported 16 injured Ukrainian soldiers in Russian hospitals after crossing the border into Russia, and there are some reports about growing number of Ukrainian military personnel asking for refugee status in Russia.

 

Strelkov reported pro-Russian artillery destroying Ukrainian pontoon-bridge over Mius river (providing additional obstacle for Ukrainian units blocked inside the pocket)

Edited by Roman Alymov
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Journalists (and audience) enjoy “fried news”, so not surprising this kind of guys attract press attention.

 

 

 

Agreed.

 

This clip from Ukrainian TV shows the refurbing of various old vehicles for use in operations.

 

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Will someone tell me how to get to a PutinMart which sells Grad rockets and do they take VISA?

First, you'll need to download a Tor client. Second, due to US sanctions VISA is no longer accepted. Please pay in Bitcoins. :)

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In a group of about 10 persons who had crossed the border to Ukraine and were fired killed 2 have been confirmed to be Russian soldiers.

Active servicemen or formers soldiers? Because in this context the difference seems pretty significant.

 

Active. Their families received letters "..in a line of duty" styled.

Besides Ukrainian sources at least one Russian paper ran a story of their death yesterday - of course they were helping refugees in Ukraine....

Today the story has been censored away in Russian paper (http://m.kp.ru/daily/26256/3135812/), but the google cache still allows you to read it here:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NeitHFF-_-QJ:m.kp.ru/daily/26256/3135812/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ee

 

EDIT: it seems it starts to disappear from there as well - here is a link to pdf I took from an google cache:

https://www.upload.ee/download/4161054/00d4ff006261c4e2c56/_________________________________________________________.pdf

Edited by carrierlost
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Another video of Ukrainian military families demanding their loved ones back home or at least rotated (Nikolaev). Pro-Ukrainian activists try arguing with them, but seems like families do not really care much about pro-Ukrainian agenda: in the end woman say “I do not care what we will have here, just need him back home”.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7VR5Pas5u0#t=56

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Reloading Grad BM-21 only takes 7 minutes for the crew of 6, without any additional equipment. What is the reasons to drive 140 km across enemy-controlled territory to do it? I see no reason for taking such a risk.

 

 

 

Unless there's a Grad rocket factory in Eastern Ukraine we don't know about, it's not a question of load time as it is a question of getting reloads after firing.

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Unless there's a Grad rocket factory in Eastern Ukraine we don't know about, it's not a question of load time as it is a question of getting reloads after firing.

 

Most Grad missiles around former USSR are actually of old Soviet issue, decades old – not even sure they are still produced in Russia since Cold War stocks are huge and there is hardly any need for new production. And since pro-Russians reportedly captured some military ammo stocks it is quite possible they have some rockets locally plus they (I hope) have supply from Russia over safe part of the border. So there is hardly any need to dance Grad dances around border line – if Russia really feel like firing into Ukraine, it is to be done from good position miles from the border.

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When you get down to it though, if they are shipping ammunition, how hard would it be to do it covertly? You stick it in a freight container, you throw a layer or vegetables or whatever on top, and drive it across the border. I cant imagine border control is too fussed at the moment what they let through.

 

BTW, worrying about he SU25. Has that been confirmed?

There is no need to cover it at all since border is not controlled and even not existing on the ground. Which of Su-25? Pro-Russians reported two Su-25 down yesterday.

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This is unusual.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10957438/Russia-charges-female-Ukrainian-pilot-over-journalists-deaths.html

Russian prosecutors have charged a Ukrainian air force pilot with abetting the killing of two Russian journalists after she was allegedly captured by pro-Russian rebels during the civil war in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s Investigative Committee accused Nadezhda Savchenko, 31, a Ukrainian helicopter pilot, of tipping off Ukrainian forces about the location of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, employees of a Russian state-owned TV channel, who died last month when they were hit by mortar fire while working in the Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

Miss Savchenko, a Mi-24 pilot by profession, was reportedly fighting in the Ukrainian Aydar volunteer battalion when captured by pro-Russia rebels last month. A video of her being interrogated was circulated online. She is now reported to be in a detention centre in the southern Russian city of Voronezh.

 

Soooo . . . Russia claims that Russian law applies in Ukraine. Interesting. When is Russia going to start arresting separatist fighters for crimes committed in Ukraine? After all, if Russian criminal law applies on the territory of Ukraine, they're undoubtedly guilty of crimes under Russian law..

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Soooo . . . Russia claims that Russian law applies in Ukraine. Interesting. When is Russia going to start arresting separatist fighters for crimes committed in Ukraine? After all, if Russian criminal law applies on the territory of Ukraine, they're undoubtedly guilty of crimes under Russian law..

 

 

Officially she was arrested on Russian soil for crimes against Russian citizens.

Unfortunately Russia falls short of international standards of abductions, secret jails and planes transporting prisoners to some nasty places for torture….

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Its a strange story from all angles. She is on the other side of the Russian border for no understandable reason. She flies Mil24s, yet is fighting in a ground role, independently of her armed forces. None of it, least of all the charges, seem to make much sense.

 

She is actually not a pilot but weapons operator (since she failed to qualify for pilot), and according to some Ukrainian reports she was always a pain in the ass for commanders due to pretending to be a kind of “GI Jane” and using journalists attention to get what she wanted (and was nicknamed “stray bullet” – Russian analog for “loose cannon”). According to this Ukrainian article, while being a platoon commander in volunteer battalion (during her vacation from regular military service) she somehow initiated battalion attack on pro-Russians positions without order, resulting in getting into ambush and loosing armor and some KIA (and also some prisoners, including herself). Two Russian journalists were killed by mortar fire before or in process of this attack. I think it is better for Russia to hand her back to Ukrainians – she will do more damage to them.

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Wait in line Comrade. Ive been waiting for a T64B, ever since they came out

 

:D since early 80s, now that is a long wait!

Edited by alejandro_
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