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Re: Ukraine Situation Report: U.S. Sending 'Hundreds Of Thousands' Of Cluster Munitions
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Biden Bungles
Jul 8, 2023, 4:50:46 AM7/8/23
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Molly Bolt <mollyth...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:f4f73382-70ba-4595...@googlegroups.com:
> Biden is a mass murderer.
With Ukraine’s counteroffensive going “a little slower than some had
thought,” a top Pentagon official on Friday said that the U.S. will
provide Ukraine with “hundreds of thousands” of rounds of controversial
cluster munitions known as Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions
(DPICMs). They are part of an $800 million aid package to boost Ukraine's
chances of victory that also includes 32 more Bradley Infantry Fighting
Vehicles, 32 more Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, as well as a range
of other weapons and munitions which you can read more about later in this
story.
The counteroffensive, now into its second month, has been “hard sledding,
because the Russians had six months to dig in,” Under Secretary of Defense
for Policy Dr. Colin H. Kahl told reporters, including from The War Zone,
Friday. “And so those defensive belts that the Russians have put in place
in the east in the south are hard. They'd be hard for any military to
function.”
As a result, “we want to make sure that the Ukrainians have sufficient
artillery to keep them in the fight in the context of the current
counteroffensive,” he said. “And because things are going a little slower
than some had hoped, there are very high expenditures of artillery.”
The DPICMs are being provided for two main reasons, Kahl explained. The
U.S. has a large stock of them and giving some to Ukraine won’t have the
same effect on supplies as the donation 155mm unitary rounds. The U.S.
alone has donated more than two million of those to Ukraine.
The other main reason Kahl stated is that the rounds contain many
individual submunitions or bomblets that scatter over a wide area. That
will help Ukraine defeat the massive amount of fortifications Russia has
built up, especially trenches.
A US Army briefing slide discussing the functioning of a more modern
DPICM-XL projectile. <em>US Army</em>
A US Army briefing slide discussing the functioning of a more modern
DPICM-XL projectile. US Army
“I think they will help in some of these security belts that the
Ukrainians are pushing against - some of the dug-in formations that that
the Russians have,” said Kahl. “I think they will also be useful for troop
concentrations and concentrations of armored vehicles and lighter-skinned
vehicles.”
You can read our complete profile on the capabilities, availability, and
controversy in regards to DPICMs and Ukraine here.
DPICMs, however, are no “silver bullet,” said Kahl, adding that they will
join Ukraine’s stable of other donated munitions like unitary high
explosive rounds, M982 Excalibur guided rounds and Guided Multiple Launch
Rocket System (GMLRS) rounds for U.S.-donated M142 High Mobility Artillery
Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. “No one thing is gonna make a difference, but I
think this gives them an extra arrow in their quiver."
Beyond these reasons, sending DPICMs to Ukraine will send a message to the
Russians that “the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game.”
The U.S. has “substantially increased the production of unitary 155mm
rounds and the Europeans and others are also investing in their defense
industrial base,” said Kahl. “That's good news, and it's starting to pay
dividends. But the reality is we're going to need to build a bridge to the
point at which that capacity is sufficient on a month-to-month basis to
keep the Ukrainians in the artillery fight.”
That’s important, said Kahl, because “Vladimir Putin has a theory of
victory. His theory of victory is that he will outlast everybody. He’ll
outlast the Ukrainians. He’ll outlast the United States. He’ll outlast the
Europeans. He’ll outlast the international community. He will simply
brute-force his way through. Having failed achieving a lightning victory.
he's now going to play a long game. That's why President Biden has been
clear that we're going to be with Ukraine as long as it takes.”
Cluster munitions are so controversial because, in the past, many of the
submunitions have failed to explode, thus becoming a threat to civilians
during and after a conflict.
Kahl said the U.S. is providing newer DPICMs that have a dud rate of less
than 2.35%.
“Compare that to Russia, which has been using closed cluster munitions
across Ukraine, with dud rates of between 30% and 40%. During the first
year of the conflict alone, Russia fired cluster munitions deployed from a
range of weapon systems and likely expended tens of millions of
submunitions or bomblets across Ukraine.”
Kahl said that the 2.35% dud rate figure was “demonstrated through five
comprehensive tests conducted by the Department of Defense between 1998
and 2020.” He declined to provide copies of those tests because they are
currently classified.
The Biden administration only signed off on providing Ukraine with the
DPICMs after Kyiv promised in writing about how it will use the munitions.
“The Ukrainian government has offered us assurances in writing on the
responsible use of DPICMs, including that they will not use the rounds in
civilian populated urban environments, and that they will record where
they use these rounds.” That, said Kahl, will allow Kyiv to know where to
concentrate future demining efforts, which Ukraine agreed to conduct “to
mitigate any potential harm to civilians.”
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677371657214914561
In addition to providing the rounds themselves, the U.S. will train, coach
and mentor the Ukrainians on how to best use them, said Kahl. As for
concerns that Ukraine might not abide by the U.S. restrictions, Kahl said
they deserve “the benefit of the doubt.”
“In the past when we have asked the Ukrainians to offer us explicit
assurances they've stuck by those assurances,” he said. “We will, of
course, be watching how Ukrainians use these systems. They will be
reporting their usage back to us. And so we can always make judgments
later if you feel like those assurances are happy or not being done. But
I'm confident that the Ukrainians will be true to their word.”
While acknowledging the DPICMs do present a risk to Ukrainian troops, Kahl
said that the greater concern “is that they wander into a Russian
minefield, or areas where the Russians have expended weapons with a much
higher dud rate.”
https://twitter.com/Hardisohi/status/1676052782577602560
As for potential harm to civilians, ”none of us should minimize this
issue,” said Kahl. “This is an issue Ukrainians are gonna have to grapple
with regardless. If we had never made a decision on DPICMs, the Ukrainians
would be demining. It's going to be a generational effort because of the
amount of landmines, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and cluster
munitions that the Russians have been using. So this is an issue we have
to tackle.”
The U.S. he said has pledged $95 million to those efforts and will provide
more in the future.
While U.S. law prohibits providing cluster munitions with more than a 1%
dud rate, a president can waive that restriction, as Biden has, said Kahl.
Kahl declined to offer a public timeline for when the munitions will be
delivered or exactly how many out of “operational security concerns.”
But, given the rampant use of social media in this war, we will no doubt
see evidence of their use in fairly quick order once they hit the
battlefield.
Before we head into the latest from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can
catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.
The Latest
In addition to the aforementioned DPICMs, Bradleys (of which the U.S. has
now provided 190 to Ukraine) and Strykers (now totaling 157), this 42nd
Presidential Drawdown Authority Package includes:
• Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;
• AIM-7 missiles for air defense;
• Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems
(HIMARS);
• 31 155mm Howitzers;
• 155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM, and 105mm artillery
rounds;
• Mine clearing equipment;
• Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets;
• Precision aerial munitions;
• Penguin Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 27 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
• 10 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
• Demolitions munitions and systems for obstacle clearing;
• Small arms and over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and
grenades;
• Spare parts and other field equipment.
On the battlefield, Russian troops are “trapped” in the city of Bakhmut,
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Friday on her Telegram
channel.
“Our troops made the movement of the enemy as difficult as possible and
made it impossible to get out,” she said. “Shelling continues from both
sides.”
Ukrainian forces have advanced more than a kilometer on the southern flank
of the city, Maliar claimed, while battles rage on the northern flank
“without changing positions.”
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1677410908149096448
The Russians, meanwhile, are continuing offensive actions in the Donbas,
around Avdiivka, Kupiansk, Lyman and other areas, she said.
They are “trying to break through our defenses. Unsuccessfully. Fierce
battles continue everywhere without a change in positions.”
In the southern portion of the front, Ukraine is continuing offensive
operations toward Melitopol and Berdyansk.
“Ours are entrenched at the reached borders, take measures against battery
fighting.
In addition, our defenders are actually crushing the enemy's equipment and
weapons there, destroying weapons depots, striking the locations of the
Russian military's compact locations - significantly reducing the enemy's
offensive and defensive capabilities.”
The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) has a different take, saying that it’s
repulsed attacks in the Donbas, incurring heavy losses on Ukrainian forces
while striking targets in the south.
https://twitter.com/MeridionaliAura/status/1677323334319583234
And in Kherson Oblast, the battle for the Antonovksy Bridge continues. The
video below shows a Russian First Person Video (FPV) drone striking a
Ukrainian boat on the Dnipro River.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1677319605511921665?s=20
The Kursk region of Russia was “massively attacked” by Ukrainian drones
Thursday, the Russian Baza news agency reported Friday on its Telegram
channel.
“Around 5 a.m., a Ukrainian UAV dropped two rounds of ammunition on an
electrical substation in the village of Lyubimovka,” Baza reported.
“Closer to 11 a.m., a drone that arrived from Ukraine dropped ammunition
near the Medvezhiy farm, 700 meters from the border.”
There were four similar attacks that followed, Baza reported, including
another attack on the electric substation at 9 p.m.
“No one was injured in the explosion,” Baza said.
The outlet did not offer a damage assessment, but the video below,
apparently from one of the attacks, does not appear to show much
destruction as a result of the attack.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1677359205450149888?s=20
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have received additional
access at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP),
without – so far – observing any visible indications of mines or
explosives, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.
Those experts had wider access yesterday, but want to inspect more of the
nuclear plant, Europe's largest.
https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1677289752209367040
“Following our requests, our experts have gained some additional access at
the site. So far, they have not seen any mines or explosives. But they
still need more access, including to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4
and parts of the turbine halls. I remain hopeful that this access will be
granted soon. I will continue to report about developments in this
regard,” Director General Grossi said.
Ukraine's Energoatom agency said Wednesday that Russians have placed
machine gun nests atop some of the reactors (something Russia has
apparently done before) and Kyiv's spy boss Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov
recently told us that Russia has put in place a way to create a disaster
at the plant.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1677281861628833792?s=20
But the American Nuclear Society (ANS) is downplaying concerns.
"Our experts have carefully considered ‘worst case scenarios,’ including
bombardment and deliberate sabotage of the reactors and spent fuel storage
canisters. They cannot foresee a situation that would result in radiation-
related health consequences to the public," ANS said in a press release
Wednesday.
ZNPP’s six reactors have been shut down for over 10 months and are no
longer making enough heat to cause a prompt radiological release, ANS
noted.
"ZNPP is designed to withstand natural and man-made hazards. Thick, steel-
reinforced concrete containment buildings protect the reactor cores and
are designed to keep any radioactive materials isolated from the
environment."
Should one ore more of the structures be breached, "any potential release
of radiological material would be restricted to the immediate area
surrounding the reactors. In this regard, any comparison between ZNPP and
'Chernobyl' or 'Fukushima' is both inaccurate and misleading.
https://twitter.com/ANS_org/status/1676673522020786176
More Iranian-made munitions are showing up on the battlefield for Ukraine,
in this case 152mm howitzer ammunition. The appearance of these munitions
from time to time has raised the question of whether the U.S. has
transferred any of the weapons and munitions seized from interdictions to
Ukraine. In the past, the Pentagon has declined to answer our questions
about whether that has happened. We reached out again today and will
update this story if any answers are provided.
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677265868848345089?s=12\u0026t
=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Yesterday, we wrote about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's
complaint that the slow provision of arms from allies has negatively
affected his country's ongoing counteroffensive. Today, a new report was
releasing saying that the actual deliveries of arms to Ukraine have been
well below pledges.
“In general, only slightly more than half of the heavy weapons committed
have been delivered,” the Keil Institute For The World Economy said in its
latest Ukraine Support Tracker report released Friday.
Western partners the U.S., Germany, and the United Kingdom “were fast to
increase their committed sums, but deliveries remain well below promises,”
the report noted. “In contrast, Eastern European countries like the Czech
Republic, Slovenia, Poland, and Slovakia, have delivered upwards of 80% of
their promised heavy weapons.”
In addition to slow deliveries, new promises have fallen off as well, the
organization said.
"After a spike in new pledges before the anniversary of the start of the
war, the overall level of new commitments from Ukraine supporters has
trended downward again. Military pledges gain in importance with the
duration of the war and Ukraine's offensive plans. But the gap between
promised and delivered military aid is wide. This is especially true for
EU countries and the United States," says Christoph Trebesch, head of the
team producing the Ukraine Support Tracker and director of a research
center at Kiel Institute.
https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1677249207483215873?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNa
kUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Ahead of next week's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Secretary General
Jens Stoltenberger told reporters on Friday that Ukraine will one day join
the alliance, but nothing is imminent, nor is there a specific timeline.
"We agree that NATO’s door is open," Stoltenberg said at a press
conference. "We agree that that Ukraine will become a member, which is an
important message. And then we agree that it's for the NATO allies and
Ukraine to decide when the time is right, and not for Russia to have a
veto."
Stoltenberg added that additional aid is on the way as well.
"The most urgent task and all analysts agree on that is that we will stand
by Ukraine, we will provide support for it to Ukraine for as long as it
takes, because unless Ukraine win this war, there is no membership issue
to be discussed at all. And that's reason why allies are stepping up and
providing donations of military support in an unprecedented way."
https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1677279465469034496?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNa
kUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Czech Republic
Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed he promised Ukraine "more attack
helicopters to Ukraine and hundreds of thousands more pieces of large-
calibre ammunition in the coming months," Fiala said in a Tweet. "We will
also help Ukraine with pilot training, including training for F-16
aircraft, and we will deliver flight simulators to Ukraine so that
training can take place not only in the West but also in Ukraine."
Fiala did not specify the type or number of helicopters.
https://twitter.com/p_fiala/status/1677228363637747713?s=46\u0026t=cbCZ6V6
4euYCCy5V9r9oiQ
In a new report, the KSE Institute, a Ukrainian think tank, estimated that
the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River last month
caused $2 billion in direct economic losses and $1.5 billion in direct
environmental losses.
Direct damages are concentrated in the residential, communal, and energy
sectors, with indirect losses to agriculture resulting from the loss of
irrigation, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of
Economics.
https://twitter.com/mylovanov/status/1677264605775634436?s=12\u0026t=BQRSN
akUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
But while there are still promises yet fulfilled, Ukraine's allies have
also provided a lot of heavy weaponry, like the Swedish-donated CV-90
Infantry Fighting Vehicle, considered one of the best in Europe. You can
read more about it in our coverage here.
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677358971517018113?s=12\u0026t
=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
The Ukrainian crew of a German-supplied Leopard 2A6 main battle tank
recently videotaped itself cruising at a pretty good clip somewhere in
country.
https://twitter.com/osinttechnical/status/1677294219340271618?s=12\u0026t=
BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Another Russian soldier has apparently surrendered by drone to Ukrainian
forces. In the video below, you can see the soldier look up and follow the
unseen drone through a crater-pocked field until he comes to a Ukrainian
position.
https://twitter.com/noelreports/status/1677294753539317760?s=12\u0026t=BQR
SNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Another Russian soldier was captured in drone video surrendering, this one
looking a little bit like Forrest Gump as he ran down a cratered road to a
Ukrainian position.
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1677287582600683520?s=20
Ukrainian forces are seen in the video below taking over a position from
Russian troops, who were apparently killed in the battle.
https://twitter.com/region776/status/1677290996227514369?s=20
That's it for now. We'll update this story when there's more news to
report about Ukraine.
Contact the author: how...@thewarzone.com
https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-situation-report-u-sending-231603183.html
news:f4f73382-70ba-4595...@googlegroups.com:
> Biden is a mass murderer.
With Ukraine’s counteroffensive going “a little slower than some had
thought,” a top Pentagon official on Friday said that the U.S. will
provide Ukraine with “hundreds of thousands” of rounds of controversial
cluster munitions known as Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions
(DPICMs). They are part of an $800 million aid package to boost Ukraine's
chances of victory that also includes 32 more Bradley Infantry Fighting
Vehicles, 32 more Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, as well as a range
of other weapons and munitions which you can read more about later in this
story.
The counteroffensive, now into its second month, has been “hard sledding,
because the Russians had six months to dig in,” Under Secretary of Defense
for Policy Dr. Colin H. Kahl told reporters, including from The War Zone,
Friday. “And so those defensive belts that the Russians have put in place
in the east in the south are hard. They'd be hard for any military to
function.”
As a result, “we want to make sure that the Ukrainians have sufficient
artillery to keep them in the fight in the context of the current
counteroffensive,” he said. “And because things are going a little slower
than some had hoped, there are very high expenditures of artillery.”
The DPICMs are being provided for two main reasons, Kahl explained. The
U.S. has a large stock of them and giving some to Ukraine won’t have the
same effect on supplies as the donation 155mm unitary rounds. The U.S.
alone has donated more than two million of those to Ukraine.
The other main reason Kahl stated is that the rounds contain many
individual submunitions or bomblets that scatter over a wide area. That
will help Ukraine defeat the massive amount of fortifications Russia has
built up, especially trenches.
A US Army briefing slide discussing the functioning of a more modern
DPICM-XL projectile. <em>US Army</em>
A US Army briefing slide discussing the functioning of a more modern
DPICM-XL projectile. US Army
“I think they will help in some of these security belts that the
Ukrainians are pushing against - some of the dug-in formations that that
the Russians have,” said Kahl. “I think they will also be useful for troop
concentrations and concentrations of armored vehicles and lighter-skinned
vehicles.”
You can read our complete profile on the capabilities, availability, and
controversy in regards to DPICMs and Ukraine here.
DPICMs, however, are no “silver bullet,” said Kahl, adding that they will
join Ukraine’s stable of other donated munitions like unitary high
explosive rounds, M982 Excalibur guided rounds and Guided Multiple Launch
Rocket System (GMLRS) rounds for U.S.-donated M142 High Mobility Artillery
Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. “No one thing is gonna make a difference, but I
think this gives them an extra arrow in their quiver."
Beyond these reasons, sending DPICMs to Ukraine will send a message to the
Russians that “the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game.”
The U.S. has “substantially increased the production of unitary 155mm
rounds and the Europeans and others are also investing in their defense
industrial base,” said Kahl. “That's good news, and it's starting to pay
dividends. But the reality is we're going to need to build a bridge to the
point at which that capacity is sufficient on a month-to-month basis to
keep the Ukrainians in the artillery fight.”
That’s important, said Kahl, because “Vladimir Putin has a theory of
victory. His theory of victory is that he will outlast everybody. He’ll
outlast the Ukrainians. He’ll outlast the United States. He’ll outlast the
Europeans. He’ll outlast the international community. He will simply
brute-force his way through. Having failed achieving a lightning victory.
he's now going to play a long game. That's why President Biden has been
clear that we're going to be with Ukraine as long as it takes.”
Cluster munitions are so controversial because, in the past, many of the
submunitions have failed to explode, thus becoming a threat to civilians
during and after a conflict.
Kahl said the U.S. is providing newer DPICMs that have a dud rate of less
than 2.35%.
“Compare that to Russia, which has been using closed cluster munitions
across Ukraine, with dud rates of between 30% and 40%. During the first
year of the conflict alone, Russia fired cluster munitions deployed from a
range of weapon systems and likely expended tens of millions of
submunitions or bomblets across Ukraine.”
Kahl said that the 2.35% dud rate figure was “demonstrated through five
comprehensive tests conducted by the Department of Defense between 1998
and 2020.” He declined to provide copies of those tests because they are
currently classified.
The Biden administration only signed off on providing Ukraine with the
DPICMs after Kyiv promised in writing about how it will use the munitions.
“The Ukrainian government has offered us assurances in writing on the
responsible use of DPICMs, including that they will not use the rounds in
civilian populated urban environments, and that they will record where
they use these rounds.” That, said Kahl, will allow Kyiv to know where to
concentrate future demining efforts, which Ukraine agreed to conduct “to
mitigate any potential harm to civilians.”
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677371657214914561
In addition to providing the rounds themselves, the U.S. will train, coach
and mentor the Ukrainians on how to best use them, said Kahl. As for
concerns that Ukraine might not abide by the U.S. restrictions, Kahl said
they deserve “the benefit of the doubt.”
“In the past when we have asked the Ukrainians to offer us explicit
assurances they've stuck by those assurances,” he said. “We will, of
course, be watching how Ukrainians use these systems. They will be
reporting their usage back to us. And so we can always make judgments
later if you feel like those assurances are happy or not being done. But
I'm confident that the Ukrainians will be true to their word.”
While acknowledging the DPICMs do present a risk to Ukrainian troops, Kahl
said that the greater concern “is that they wander into a Russian
minefield, or areas where the Russians have expended weapons with a much
higher dud rate.”
https://twitter.com/Hardisohi/status/1676052782577602560
As for potential harm to civilians, ”none of us should minimize this
issue,” said Kahl. “This is an issue Ukrainians are gonna have to grapple
with regardless. If we had never made a decision on DPICMs, the Ukrainians
would be demining. It's going to be a generational effort because of the
amount of landmines, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and cluster
munitions that the Russians have been using. So this is an issue we have
to tackle.”
The U.S. he said has pledged $95 million to those efforts and will provide
more in the future.
While U.S. law prohibits providing cluster munitions with more than a 1%
dud rate, a president can waive that restriction, as Biden has, said Kahl.
Kahl declined to offer a public timeline for when the munitions will be
delivered or exactly how many out of “operational security concerns.”
But, given the rampant use of social media in this war, we will no doubt
see evidence of their use in fairly quick order once they hit the
battlefield.
Before we head into the latest from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can
catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.
The Latest
In addition to the aforementioned DPICMs, Bradleys (of which the U.S. has
now provided 190 to Ukraine) and Strykers (now totaling 157), this 42nd
Presidential Drawdown Authority Package includes:
• Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;
• AIM-7 missiles for air defense;
• Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems
(HIMARS);
• 31 155mm Howitzers;
• 155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM, and 105mm artillery
rounds;
• Mine clearing equipment;
• Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets;
• Precision aerial munitions;
• Penguin Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 27 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
• 10 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
• Demolitions munitions and systems for obstacle clearing;
• Small arms and over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and
grenades;
• Spare parts and other field equipment.
On the battlefield, Russian troops are “trapped” in the city of Bakhmut,
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Friday on her Telegram
channel.
“Our troops made the movement of the enemy as difficult as possible and
made it impossible to get out,” she said. “Shelling continues from both
sides.”
Ukrainian forces have advanced more than a kilometer on the southern flank
of the city, Maliar claimed, while battles rage on the northern flank
“without changing positions.”
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1677410908149096448
The Russians, meanwhile, are continuing offensive actions in the Donbas,
around Avdiivka, Kupiansk, Lyman and other areas, she said.
They are “trying to break through our defenses. Unsuccessfully. Fierce
battles continue everywhere without a change in positions.”
In the southern portion of the front, Ukraine is continuing offensive
operations toward Melitopol and Berdyansk.
“Ours are entrenched at the reached borders, take measures against battery
fighting.
In addition, our defenders are actually crushing the enemy's equipment and
weapons there, destroying weapons depots, striking the locations of the
Russian military's compact locations - significantly reducing the enemy's
offensive and defensive capabilities.”
The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) has a different take, saying that it’s
repulsed attacks in the Donbas, incurring heavy losses on Ukrainian forces
while striking targets in the south.
https://twitter.com/MeridionaliAura/status/1677323334319583234
And in Kherson Oblast, the battle for the Antonovksy Bridge continues. The
video below shows a Russian First Person Video (FPV) drone striking a
Ukrainian boat on the Dnipro River.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1677319605511921665?s=20
The Kursk region of Russia was “massively attacked” by Ukrainian drones
Thursday, the Russian Baza news agency reported Friday on its Telegram
channel.
“Around 5 a.m., a Ukrainian UAV dropped two rounds of ammunition on an
electrical substation in the village of Lyubimovka,” Baza reported.
“Closer to 11 a.m., a drone that arrived from Ukraine dropped ammunition
near the Medvezhiy farm, 700 meters from the border.”
There were four similar attacks that followed, Baza reported, including
another attack on the electric substation at 9 p.m.
“No one was injured in the explosion,” Baza said.
The outlet did not offer a damage assessment, but the video below,
apparently from one of the attacks, does not appear to show much
destruction as a result of the attack.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1677359205450149888?s=20
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have received additional
access at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP),
without – so far – observing any visible indications of mines or
explosives, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.
Those experts had wider access yesterday, but want to inspect more of the
nuclear plant, Europe's largest.
https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1677289752209367040
“Following our requests, our experts have gained some additional access at
the site. So far, they have not seen any mines or explosives. But they
still need more access, including to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4
and parts of the turbine halls. I remain hopeful that this access will be
granted soon. I will continue to report about developments in this
regard,” Director General Grossi said.
Ukraine's Energoatom agency said Wednesday that Russians have placed
machine gun nests atop some of the reactors (something Russia has
apparently done before) and Kyiv's spy boss Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov
recently told us that Russia has put in place a way to create a disaster
at the plant.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1677281861628833792?s=20
But the American Nuclear Society (ANS) is downplaying concerns.
"Our experts have carefully considered ‘worst case scenarios,’ including
bombardment and deliberate sabotage of the reactors and spent fuel storage
canisters. They cannot foresee a situation that would result in radiation-
related health consequences to the public," ANS said in a press release
Wednesday.
ZNPP’s six reactors have been shut down for over 10 months and are no
longer making enough heat to cause a prompt radiological release, ANS
noted.
"ZNPP is designed to withstand natural and man-made hazards. Thick, steel-
reinforced concrete containment buildings protect the reactor cores and
are designed to keep any radioactive materials isolated from the
environment."
Should one ore more of the structures be breached, "any potential release
of radiological material would be restricted to the immediate area
surrounding the reactors. In this regard, any comparison between ZNPP and
'Chernobyl' or 'Fukushima' is both inaccurate and misleading.
https://twitter.com/ANS_org/status/1676673522020786176
More Iranian-made munitions are showing up on the battlefield for Ukraine,
in this case 152mm howitzer ammunition. The appearance of these munitions
from time to time has raised the question of whether the U.S. has
transferred any of the weapons and munitions seized from interdictions to
Ukraine. In the past, the Pentagon has declined to answer our questions
about whether that has happened. We reached out again today and will
update this story if any answers are provided.
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677265868848345089?s=12\u0026t
=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Yesterday, we wrote about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's
complaint that the slow provision of arms from allies has negatively
affected his country's ongoing counteroffensive. Today, a new report was
releasing saying that the actual deliveries of arms to Ukraine have been
well below pledges.
“In general, only slightly more than half of the heavy weapons committed
have been delivered,” the Keil Institute For The World Economy said in its
latest Ukraine Support Tracker report released Friday.
Western partners the U.S., Germany, and the United Kingdom “were fast to
increase their committed sums, but deliveries remain well below promises,”
the report noted. “In contrast, Eastern European countries like the Czech
Republic, Slovenia, Poland, and Slovakia, have delivered upwards of 80% of
their promised heavy weapons.”
In addition to slow deliveries, new promises have fallen off as well, the
organization said.
"After a spike in new pledges before the anniversary of the start of the
war, the overall level of new commitments from Ukraine supporters has
trended downward again. Military pledges gain in importance with the
duration of the war and Ukraine's offensive plans. But the gap between
promised and delivered military aid is wide. This is especially true for
EU countries and the United States," says Christoph Trebesch, head of the
team producing the Ukraine Support Tracker and director of a research
center at Kiel Institute.
https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1677249207483215873?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNa
kUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Ahead of next week's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Secretary General
Jens Stoltenberger told reporters on Friday that Ukraine will one day join
the alliance, but nothing is imminent, nor is there a specific timeline.
"We agree that NATO’s door is open," Stoltenberg said at a press
conference. "We agree that that Ukraine will become a member, which is an
important message. And then we agree that it's for the NATO allies and
Ukraine to decide when the time is right, and not for Russia to have a
veto."
Stoltenberg added that additional aid is on the way as well.
"The most urgent task and all analysts agree on that is that we will stand
by Ukraine, we will provide support for it to Ukraine for as long as it
takes, because unless Ukraine win this war, there is no membership issue
to be discussed at all. And that's reason why allies are stepping up and
providing donations of military support in an unprecedented way."
https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1677279465469034496?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNa
kUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Czech Republic
Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed he promised Ukraine "more attack
helicopters to Ukraine and hundreds of thousands more pieces of large-
calibre ammunition in the coming months," Fiala said in a Tweet. "We will
also help Ukraine with pilot training, including training for F-16
aircraft, and we will deliver flight simulators to Ukraine so that
training can take place not only in the West but also in Ukraine."
Fiala did not specify the type or number of helicopters.
https://twitter.com/p_fiala/status/1677228363637747713?s=46\u0026t=cbCZ6V6
4euYCCy5V9r9oiQ
In a new report, the KSE Institute, a Ukrainian think tank, estimated that
the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River last month
caused $2 billion in direct economic losses and $1.5 billion in direct
environmental losses.
Direct damages are concentrated in the residential, communal, and energy
sectors, with indirect losses to agriculture resulting from the loss of
irrigation, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of
Economics.
https://twitter.com/mylovanov/status/1677264605775634436?s=12\u0026t=BQRSN
akUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
But while there are still promises yet fulfilled, Ukraine's allies have
also provided a lot of heavy weaponry, like the Swedish-donated CV-90
Infantry Fighting Vehicle, considered one of the best in Europe. You can
read more about it in our coverage here.
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1677358971517018113?s=12\u0026t
=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
The Ukrainian crew of a German-supplied Leopard 2A6 main battle tank
recently videotaped itself cruising at a pretty good clip somewhere in
country.
https://twitter.com/osinttechnical/status/1677294219340271618?s=12\u0026t=
BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Another Russian soldier has apparently surrendered by drone to Ukrainian
forces. In the video below, you can see the soldier look up and follow the
unseen drone through a crater-pocked field until he comes to a Ukrainian
position.
https://twitter.com/noelreports/status/1677294753539317760?s=12\u0026t=BQR
SNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A
Another Russian soldier was captured in drone video surrendering, this one
looking a little bit like Forrest Gump as he ran down a cratered road to a
Ukrainian position.
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1677287582600683520?s=20
Ukrainian forces are seen in the video below taking over a position from
Russian troops, who were apparently killed in the battle.
https://twitter.com/region776/status/1677290996227514369?s=20
That's it for now. We'll update this story when there's more news to
report about Ukraine.
Contact the author: how...@thewarzone.com
https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-situation-report-u-sending-231603183.html
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