Vuhlehirsk 20:35Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Reports about possible GRAD MRLS worked.
If GRADS have been fired the we are seeing a full scale Russian offensive in the making......
Heavy battle not ending in the #Debaltseve area. Flashes all over the sky in #Svitlodarsk direction locals report.
Russian proxies mortar-shelled Ukrainian troops’ positions near Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka and Luhanske, - Staff
http://dlvr.it/MxDzT7
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-21-2016 at 07:15 PM.
WE are now in a full scale Russo Ukrainian war
Battle of Svitlodarsk: full scale war underway by Russia against Ukraine. Volunteers report 19 Europe defenders KIA.
http://liveuamap.com
Pro Russian sources describe battle in #Debaltseve area as all out war with all kind of weapons used, including MLRS
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-21-2016 at 07:32 PM.
UN officially recognized #Crimea, #Ukraine as illegally #Russia-occupied. NOT 'disputed' territory
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=facebook.com#
Serbia is playing 'a game of high-stakes poker' with its relationship to Russia — via @RFERL
http://read.bi/2hdplrM
Serbia playing EU/NATO off against Putin....EU/NATO have indicated to Serbia that they understand the game and at some point Serbia needs to make a decision....
Russia-held #Luhansk shows its losses &Ukrainians(GRAPHIC)#Svitlodarsk #Debaltseve #Ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80n4A7wYziw#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4_GaoKw-tU#
Battle Near Debaltsevo Enters Fourth Day With Casualties Continuing To Mount
http://www.interpretermag.com/day-1038/#15800
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-21-2016 at 07:31 PM.
Excellent on the extent and scope of #ISIS attacks around the world since 2015.
Heavy outgoing artillery from #Donetsk, incoming fire in #Avdeevka
Heavy outgoing fire from #Horlivka now.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-21-2016 at 08:11 PM.
.@PaulGoble1: Western defeatism is unjustified. Putin's victories are Pyrrhic. Russia has deep & abiding problems.
http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/12/2...79/#arvlbdata#
Azor....another one for you...confirms the Putin aggression that is building....
Russians "urge" Canada 2 keep troops out of Latvia. Must be the same in the UK and GER re Estonia and Lithiuania.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/pb/ne.../?arc404=true#
Russia criticizes Dutch over U.S. tanks, Crimean treasure
http://reut.rs/2igo27t
Putin's friend Prigozhin, sanctioned by US yesterday was behind one of Russia's first private military companies
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-impo...in-1482281679#
FULL WAR is currently ongoing...Russian mercenaries and Russian troops triggered a full ground offensive blaming it on the UAF and then UAF counterattacked taking ground....WHICH actually is Ukrainian based even on Minsk 2 ceasefire maps....Donetsk: Heavy fighting is ongoing. #Ukraine army has captured new positions southeast of #Svitlodarsk.
In Battle of Svitlodarsk, Russia is throwing men against fortified Ukrainian positions in bloody frontal assaults.
http://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news/28189229.html#
Last edited by davidbfpo; 12-21-2016 at 08:42 PM.
More open source excellence from the ground-breaking @bellingcat team. Russian artillery attacks of summer 2014 caused massive loss of life
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us..._medium=Social
Exclusive: U.S.-supplied drones disappoint Ukraine at the front lines
By Phil Stewart | WASHINGTON
Millions of dollars' worth of U.S.-supplied drones that Kiev had hoped would help in its war against Russian-backed separatists have proven ineffective against jamming and hacking, Ukrainian officials say.
The 72 Raven RQ-11B Analog mini-drones were so disappointing following their arrival this summer that Natan Chazin, an advisor to Ukraine's military with deep knowledge of the country's drone program, said if it were up to him, he would return them.
"From the beginning, it was the wrong decision to use these drones in our (conflict)," Chazin, an advisor to the chief of the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces, told Reuters.
The hand-launched Ravens were one of the recent highlights of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, aiming to give Kiev's military portable, light-weight, unarmed surveillance drones that were small enough to be used widely in the field. They are made by AeroVironment, a privately held U.S. company.
But they appear to have fallen short in a battle against the separatists, who benefit from far more sophisticated military technology than insurgencies the West has contended with in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.
Whether President-elect Donald Trump's administration might seek to provide Kiev anything more robust, however, is unclear, given his stated desire to improve ties with Russia and prioritize the fight against Islamic militants. U.S. restrictions on technology exports could also limit new aid.
The Air Force command of Ukraine's armed forces acknowledged to Reuters that the Ravens supplied by the United States had a fundamental drawback: Russia and the separatist forces it supports can intercept and jam their video feeds and data.
"The complex is analog, therefore command channels and data are not protected from interception and suppression by modern means of electronic warfare," it said.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Russia's electronic warfare capabilities were far more sophisticated than thought when the conflict began and that both the U.S. and Ukrainian militaries were adapting.
Asked about Ukraine's reaction to the Ravens, one official said it took a considerable amount of time for the drones to reach Ukraine and that by then "they were much less effective than they would have liked, than we would have liked."
The U.S. Army told Reuters it still uses Ravens but has upgraded to digital versions.
"STONE AGE"
Some 38 Ukrainian students were trained at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama on how to operate the drones between March and July this year, a U.S. Army spokesman said.
Ukraine said it distributed the Ravens across the services and gave one batch to the Zhytomry Military Institute for training purposes.
There were mixed accounts on how much the Ravens were being used in Ukraine, which saw Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014 and which has been fighting Russian-backed separatist forces in the east. Nearly 10,000 people have died in the conflict.
The Air Force command of Ukraine's armed forces said they were being used in the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" zone, including in combat situations.
One Ukrainian official, however, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that although drones were being used in the zone, they were not employed on the front lines.
Chazin said they were largely in storage and called them a vulnerability, allowing the enemy to see Ukrainian military positions and, when it wanted, easily take them down. They had short battery life and were unable to reliably fulfill the key mission of gaining intelligence on artillery positions, he said.
"(Analog) basically puts you back in the stone age of the UAVs," said James Lewis, director of the strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, using an acronym for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones.
"I'm not being critical of the Raven. I love the Raven ... But it's a cheap, disposable UAV. And for more intense conflict, that may not cut the ice anymore."
The drones, along with other U.S.-supplied items like radar, first-aid kits, night vision and communications gear, fit into President Barack Obama's strategy of providing non-lethal military assistance while focusing on sanctions and diplomacy to end the war.
Within that context, the miniature drones, even though small, were a noteworthy element of the more than $600 million in training and equipment that the United States has provided Ukraine so far. Ukraine pegged the Raven program's value at over $12 million.
How Trump might alter U.S. support remains unclear, particularly given cabinet picks that include retired Marine General James Mattis, who has been vocal about his concerns about Russia and was nominated to become U.S. defense secretary.
Some of the most prominent Republican lawmakers in Congress have called for Ukraine to receive lethal arms.
"If anything, it creates a new opportunity," said Luke Coffey at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank.
Ukrainian officials have sought to put a brave face on Trump's election, downplaying comments on the campaign trail that included appearing to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and contemplating an end to U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Topping Ukraine's wish list are Javelin anti-tank missiles made by made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The top U.S. military officer in Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, told a Senate hearing this year "there's a requirement for an anti-tank weapon, like Javelin."
One of the U.S. officials cautioned about limitations on America's ability to export drones that can evade Russia's electronic warfare capabilities.
That could leave Ukraine's military to continue building drones from commercially available technology. It now assembles them from components supplied by firms in countries such as Australia, China and the Czech Republic for only $20,000 to $25,000 apiece, Chazin said, and they are more advanced than the more pricey Ravens, which are often funded from private donations.
Jakub Janda @_JakubJanda
We measured impact of pro-Kremlin disinformation in the Czech Republic.
Here is my op-ed for @observer:
http://bit.ly/2hsaoy6
You know my view on how the Clinton and Bush administrations stupidly contributed to these rising tensions. You also know that I believe Putin is predictable and not spontaneous, and that he is well aware of the difference between annexing Crimea and annexing Narva.
Having said that, irrespective of whether my understanding of Russian intentions and calculations is correct or not, NATO as an organization should have concluded that Russia was a greater threat after the Crimean invasion. Whether that threat level rose from 1 to 2, 2 to 4 or 4 to 8 out of 10, is up for debate.
Although I am opposed to the EPAA (Aegis Ashore) because I find it strategically de-stabilizing, I see none of NATO’s other initiatives as provocative, and I believe that the reinforcement of the eastern flank has been incredibly slow.
As far as Russia’s Western Military District is concerned, how would it not be bristling? It contains Russia’s two largest cities, including its capital. Any defenses around Saint Petersburg would threaten the Baltic republics and Finland due to the city’s proximity to the border.
Putin did give NATO a shot in the arm, and it is time to make sure that the Baltic Republics and Poland bristle with ATGMs, AShMs, SAMs and mines while there is still political will to do so.
Azor....this is my concern for the countless Russian snap exercises carried out over the last three years....they are getting bigger......more complex and now cover the use of CW and nuclear...they have exercised ...calling up reservists...mobilizing the general public and industries...all ADs and all nuclear forces and their tank/infantry professional divisions....ALL the elements needed to be tested if in fact going to war was their aim....
AND NATO nowhere close to these levels of exercises....
"Sudden checks of combat readiness confirmed the possibility of troops transfers over long distances in a short time"
This was exactly what we watched for intently in the Cold War Soviet exercises which they would tend to try and hide from us and the intel collectors....
BUT now they do it openly and aggressively AND to not even register them as required with OSCE nor do they allow observers as required by OSCE...
Shoygu: British Army using Russian-made tanks as “enemy" in Salisbury Plain exercises is like Nazi drills in WWII
http://www.bbc.com/russian/news-38401927#
STILL the ongoing Russian propaganda that the problem lies with NATO not Russia.....
Yesterday 11 Ukrainian soldiers got wounded in #Svitlodarsk battles, no KIA's reported by the ATO HQ.
Russian ground offensive is winding down..only 24 attacks were recorded yesterday...
Robert M. Lee
✔
@RobertMLee
I was interviewed for a CBS piece on the 2015 Ukraine power grid attack a few months ago; it aired last night:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-...ings-to-come/#
Interesting to say the least....
Belarusian MFA summoned Russian representative because of the statement that Belarus can't be the independent (from Russia) state
Kommersant: Sergei Shoigu considers the anti-Russian direction of military exercises by NATO member countries unacceptable.
But practicing nuking militarily unallied nations like Sweden/Finland is totally OK.
Cybersecurity firm finds evidence that #Russia|n #military unit was behind #DNC #hack
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world....6c18a07900ab#
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/...ref=world&_r=0
Lithuania Said Found Russian Spyware on Its Government Computers
By REUTERSDEC. 22, 2016, 7:30 A.M. E.S.T.
VILNIUS — The Baltic state of Lithuania, on the frontline of growing tensions between the West and Russia, says the Kremlin is responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers over the last two years.
The head of cyber security told Reuters three cases of Russian spyware on its government computers had been discovered since 2015, and there had been 20 attempts to infect them this year
"The spyware we found was operating for at least half a year before it was detected – similar to how it was in the USA," Rimtautas Cerniauskas, head of Lithuanian Cyber Security Centre said.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a Reuters written request for comments over the Lithuanian claims. But Russia has in the past denied accusations of hacking Western institutions.
Fears of cyber attacks have come to the fore since the U.S. election campaign when hacking of Democratic Party emails led to allegations from U.S. intelligence that Russia was involved.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, all ruled by Moscow in communist times, have been alarmed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In what Baltic officials say was a wake-up call, Estonia was hit by cyber attacks on extensive private and government Internet sites in 2007. State websites were brought to a crawl and an online banking site was closed.
Lithuanian intelligence services, in their annual report, say cyber attacks have moved from being mainly targeted at financial crimes to more political spying on state institutions.
Russian spyware was transferring all documents it could find, as well as all passwords entered on websites such as GMail or Facebook, to an internet address commonly used by Russian spy agencies, Cerniaukas said.
"This only confirms that attempts are made to infiltrate our political sphere," said Cerniaukas.
PREPARATIONS
Germany's domestic intelligence agency reported earlier this month a striking increase in Russian targeted cyber attacks against political parties and propaganda and disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilising German society.
The domestic intelligence chief said Russia may seek to interfere in its national elections next year.
Although no Russian cyber meddling was detected in the run up and during the Lithuanian general election in October, Cerniauskas said his country needs to understand it is vulnerable to such meddling.
"Russians are really quite good in this area. They have been using information warfare since the old times. Cyberspace is part of that, only more frowned upon by law than simple propaganda", he said.
"They have capacity, they have the attitude, they are interested, and they will get to it – so we need to prepare for it and we need to apply countermeasures."
Lithuanian officials targeted by the Russian spyware held mid-to-low ranking positions at the government, but their computers contained a stream of drafts for government decisions of its positions on various matters, said Cerniauskas.
The head of the Lithuanian counter-intelligence agency Darius Jauniskis said Russia tried to sow chaos in Lithuania by orchestrating a cyber attack in 2012 against the Lithuanian central bank and its top online news website.
"It is all part of psychological warfare," he told Reuters earlier this month.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-22-2016 at 02:48 PM.
Reports that Russian Hybrid Army started two breakthrough attempts in the #Svetlodarsk_Bulge today, both repelled
Video from Russian side near #Svitlodarsk today, heavy incoming fire:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sWPJF2llXyA#
UK citizen Graham Phillips correcting fire of Russian forces near Svitlodars'k today
http://liveuamap.com/en/2016/22-dece...cting-fire-of#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWPJF2llXyA#
Phillips has been working as a UK citzen for the Russian military news agency and has been decorated by the FSB for his reporting as a UK citizen in eastern Ukraine....
Miroslav Gai: Russian forces executed 2 of the 3 Ukr servicemen they captured 3 days ago at the #Svitlodarsk_bulge
https://inforesist.org/gay-naemniki-...darskoy-duge/#
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 12-22-2016 at 06:48 PM.
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