[NY Post] Russia accused Ukraine of firing a barrage of US-made long-range missiles for the first time to attack its Bryansk region Tuesday — in a major escalation on the 1,000th day of war.
Russian air defense systems intercepted five of the missiles and damaged one in the early morning attack, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
The debris from one missile fell on a military facility in the region, causing a fire but no widespread damage or casualties, the ministry added.
It comes after Ukraine confirmed it had struck a large Russian weapons facility near the town of Karachev, around 70 miles from its border, but stopped short of specifying what missile was used.
However, an unidentified defense source told RBC-Ukraine that it was a US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which lame-duck President Biden recently gave Ukraine permission to use, sparking threats of World War III.
"Indeed, for the first time, we used ATACMS to strike Russian territory," the source said.
"The strike was carried out against a facility in the Bryansk region, and it was successfully hit."
Footage posted online showed the fiery explosion closely followed by a huge plume of smoke.
The attack was followed by 12 secondary explosions and detonations in the area of the strike, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said in a statement on the Telegram app.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/19/2024 11:05 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
"The new document, which replaces the previous iteration outlined in 2020, allows Putin's strategic forces to deploy their devastating weapons if Russia or Belarus is threatened by a non-nuclear nation supported by a nuclear power."
#3
Putin is ready to start a nuclear war.
Pulverize Russia if they so much as breathe a nuke.
Send 300 megatons of love back to them and make Chernobyl look like a picnic.
[JustTheNews] Vladimir Putin has cut off exports of Russian uranium to the United States, exploiting a dangerous dependence cemented by Obama-era deals.
The U.S. nuclear energy sector’s dependence on Russian uranium created during a failed Obama-era reset with Moscow is coming back to bite Americans as the Kremlin moves to block future exports of the vital fuel.
Vladimir Putin’s new restrictions on uranium exports to the U.S., announced last week, come as the country’s war in Ukraine continues to heighten tensions with the United States and the West. His announcement created an immediate impact, as uranium prices soared and worries grew that American utilities might have trouble meeting electric demand next year.
It's the latest fallout from a series of foreign policy decisions crafted by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton that inexplicably strengthened Putin's ability to wage economic warfare with energy supplies such as natural gas and uranium.
"Everything the Democrats have done has emboldened Russia and their ability to actually leverage their dirty gas production," Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Monday night. Tenney's House district is home to New York's remaining nuclear power reactors.
Enriched uranium is a vital component of nuclear power plants in the United States, which account for a fifth of electricity production across the nation. The United States is also almost entirely dependent on imports to acquire enriched uranium. Last year, the United States imported more than a quarter of its enriched fuel from Russia even as relations have deteriorated during the Ukraine war.
But the current dependence on Russia was a long time in the making, cemented by several deals signed by the Clinton and Obama administrations that hooked the United States on Moscow's uranium supply, according to the 2020 book “Fallout: Nuclear Bribes, Russian Spies, and the Washington Lies that Enriched the Clinton and Biden Dynasties.”
“[The] United States used to produce its own nuclear materials for bombs and then for nuclear energy, and it was the Clinton administration they made this deal with the Russians way back in the 90s to purchase all of this down blended material from, you know, the decommission nuclear warheads from Russia,” Seamus Bruner, co-author of the book, told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Monday. “That got us addicted to Russia's supply,” he said, explaining that it led to a cratering of domestic supply.
Two deals, which took place during Obama’s vaunted "Russian Reset" that began in 2009, cemented the United States’ dependence on Russia nuclear fuel, Bruner said.
“[The] Obama administration certainly wasn't friendly. They made the famous deals with Russia, the [123 Agreement]; everybody remembers the uranium one deal, which was about nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons,” Bruner said.
“And so now we're in this tough spot. Now we do have domestic producers, who are, you know, producing uranium for our energy needs, but there are no way, there's no way they're going to catch up.”
As part of the flurry of diplomacy between the former Cold War rivals, the Obama administration penned the new 123 Agreement with the Kremlin, which was designed to increase cooperation on civil nuclear energy and further commercial opportunities between the two economies. The administration also signed new arms control and technology cooperation agreements as part of the diplomatic push.
The deal led to billions of dollars in contracts for U.S. utilities to buy Russian uranium to power their nuclear reactors.
Around the same time the agreements were taking shape, however, Putin’s state-controlled nuclear company, Rosatom, was making moves to corner the global supply.
The Russian company’s efforts to acquire a Canadian company, Uranium One, became a scandal for the Obama administration because it saw the virtual elimination of U.S. domestic production of uranium and raised corruption concerns about some of its chief officials.
“The the Uranium One deal was about shuttering our domestic mines, we had all of these uranium mines across…the Rocky Mountains…and closer towards the west, Midwest, that shut down the domestic production there, which was a boon to Putin, who had purchased, in addition to the mines in the United States, a bunch of mines in Kazakhstan,” Bruner said.
“And those are where he's able to pull out a ton of uranium and enrich it for civilian purposes, ostensibly, and and then sell it back to us at a premium.”
Before the Russian takeover, Uranium One was a Canadian company that mined Uranium around the world, with assets in Eurasia, Africa, and North America. Its facilities in Wyoming, Utah, and other states accounted for approximately 20% of U.S. uranium capacity at the time, necessitating a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to approve an acquisition by the Russia state-backed company.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat on that committee and had a prominent role in shaping the administration’s foreign policy. The acquisition became a scandal that plagued her 2016 presidential campaign after investigative author Peter Schweizer and his Government Accountability Institute found nine Uranium One shareholders funneled $145 million into the Clinton Foundation before the deal was set to be considered.
The acquisition was subsequently approved, though Clinton’s team has repeatedly denied that the secretary had a major role in approving the sale.
Both Congress and President Biden, who had a front row seat to the reset, at least appeared to recognize the danger caused by the past missteps, but could do little to wean the U.S. off Russia’s supply before now.
Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Congress passed and Biden signed the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act ostensibly to free the U.S. nuclear industry from dependence on Russia. Yet, the law only requires an end to U.S. imports of nuclear fuel from Russia completely by 2028, providing a waiver system in the intervening years.
“It was a terrible decision to make us dependent on on imports of uranium from Russia,” former Trump National Security Council Chief of Staff Fred Fleitz told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Fleitz said the waiver system established by the law revealed how underdeveloped the United States’ domestic uranium production is, something Putin eagerly exploited last week.
“But utilities could ask for waivers, with the understanding it will take a long time for us to establish domestic sources of your reactor grade uranium,” Fleitz said. “The Russians knew that, and they're going to cut this off, and our reactors will have no where to go to get uranium.”
#1
India: 'Massive' uranium find in Indian state
BBC ^ | July 19 2011 | BBC
India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh may have one of the largest reserves of uranium in the world, the country's chief nuclear officer says.
Studies show Tummalapalle in Kadapa district has a reserve of 150,000 tonnes of the mineral, Atomic Energy Commission chief S Banerjee said.
India has estimated reserves of about 175,000 tonnes of uranium. ... Mr Banerjee said that studies at Tummalapalle have shown that the area "had a confirmed reserve of 49,000 tonnes and recent surveys indicate that this figure could go up even threefold" and become one of the world's largest uranium reserves.
And then silence.
Posted by: Albert Pelosi3459 ||
11/19/2024 10:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The Market for the One Energy Source That’s a Menace to Civilization Is Absolutely Mind-Boggling
By Armin Rosen, November 08, 2015
Also published by Business Insider
"Uranium isn’t like other commodities for one very simple reason: It’s impossible to vaporize an entire city with a single petroleum- or coal-based weapon that’s smaller than a two-seat car.
What makes uranium so promising as a source of energy is also what makes it a potential menace to civilization.
Uranium is compact, easy to transport, inexpensive [!!], plentiful, and radioactive. A few hundred pounds of uranium can cleanly and cheaply power a civilian nuclear reactor — or it can be used to create an unimaginably powerful weapon.
The material’s trade is governed under a unique international regulatory system, as well as through stringent country-level controls."
Posted by: Albert Pelosi3459 ||
11/19/2024 10:38 Comments ||
Top||
[RailFreight] The challenges on the Russian railway network keep growing bigger. A toxic mix of trade reorientation, staff and locomotive shortages, and network cluttering have strained Russian Railways’ (RZD) operations, and now it is putting a hold on container traffic to Moscow.
RZD has introduced a ban on container traffic destined for terminals in the Moscow region, which will be in force from 12 to 21 November. The measure concerns the Selyatino and Elektrougli terminals, where there is an overflow of containers, according to the Moscow Times citing RZD documents. Trains are now waiting approximately one thousand kilometres away, between the cities of Perm and Kirov.
Much like the freight terminals, the railway network in the Moscow region is also overloaded. As a result, delays in container deliveries have been growing bigger and have become increasingly common. A month-long waiting time is now considered good, and a two-month delay is no longer considered to be an exception.
EVER-GROWING PROBLEMS
Russia has been struggling with an ever-increasing amount of problems on its railway network. Above all, RZD has a locomotive shortage as a result of a lack of maintenance capacities. There are not enough spare parts due to sanctions, but there is also insufficient qualified personnel to provide maintenance services. Another persistent problem is the driver shortage, which has now run in the thousands: according to RZD itself, it needs 2,500 more drivers to meet its demand. The shortages are taking a toll on RZD’s ability to transport freight around the country.
Those issues are amplified by Russia’s trade reorientation towards the east. It now seeks to export and import more goods to and from China, for which it needs to cover much larger distances, and therefore more locomotives and staff. There is also a commodity type imbalance, with containers coming into the country and raw materials leaving it.
As a consequence, containers are accumulating around the country. They are not being sent back with Russian products for Chinese customers, because China does not buy enough Russian products typically carried in containers. Now, there are so many stranded containers that the Selyatino and Elektrougli terminals cannot accept more. Similarly, Russia’s Far East is riddled with empty wagons that were used to carry raw materials to China for exports.
100,000 WAGONS OFF THE RUSSIAN RAILWAYS
In order to declutter the railway network, RZD wants to remove hindering empty wagons. It announced that it wants to take no less than 100,000 wagons off the railways. Shippers do not seem to be amused by that measure, because, they more and more often run into a deficit of wagons to load their products, according to the Moscow Times. Supposedly, 35 to 40 per cent of all freight in west Siberia (Russia’s main coal mining region) remained unloaded by the middle of October, if destined for central Russia.
Operators complain that RZD is intentionally reducing loading plans by a quarter and is introducing unprecedented limitations on returning empty wagons to the Far East.
#1
if anyone is asking whether Russia could solve their problem by sending more freight by truck, the answer is
not enough drivers, not enough trucks, not enough cargo handling capacity and the roads aren't very good either
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/19/2024 9:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Between the need to increase freight movement to support the military, and damage to the lines, and decreased capacity relating Ukraine ops., Russian rail has moved into the red zone.
The Russian rail system never had much slack in the the operation. It now has less than zero.
Empty cars are piling up, not being sent back, so the notional return with load won't happen. This is what happened in California a few years ago.
Good pile up at ports of entry, but can't go anywhere, because there's no way to load them all.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/19/2024 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The Russian invaders are most actively advancing in the Kurakhovsky direction. Currently, 17 battles are ongoing there.
Since the beginning of the current day, 87 combat clashes have occurred on the front in nine directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a report as of 16:00 on Monday, November 18.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the Russians carried out three assaults in the Volchansk area.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy attacked seven times in the areas of Kruglyakovka and Lozovoye. Two combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the invading army carried out two attacks near Novolyubovka and Belogorovka. One combat clash continues.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attempted to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defense in the Toretsk area.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the Russians carried out 17 assaults in the areas of Mirolyubovka, Promenya, Lisovka, Petrovka, Pustynka and Novoalekseyevka. The defense forces repelled 10 enemy attacks, seven combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kurakhovsky direction, the enemy advanced 23 times near the settlements of Berestki, Solntsevka, Voznesenka, Dalnee, Elizavetovka, Yekaterinovka and Antonovka. Six attempts by the occupiers to advance have already been repelled.
In the Vremivsky direction, 12 attacks occurred near Trudovoye, Razdolnoye, Makarovka, Rivne and Novodarovka. Seven clashes are ongoing.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy attacked unsuccessfully six times.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are also conducting an operation in the Kursk region. Since the beginning of the day, Russian aircraft have carried out 15 strikes (21 UAB) on their own territory. 10 enemy attacks have been repelled. The fighting continues.
Let us recall that on November 18, more than 1,500 Russians were "minused" at the front in one day . The total losses of the aggressor country Russia since the beginning of the war have exceeded 720 thousand people killed and wounded.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Intense military action by Russian armed forces has forced the Ukrainian government to evacuate thousands of people from frontline areas.
In October, the Russian military significantly increased its use of loitering munitions and long-range drones, carrying out more than 1,900 strikes.
At least 183 civilians, including nine children, were killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine in October this year. Another 903 people were injured. About 45% of those killed were over 60 years old, according to a report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).
According to the HRMMU, from the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022) to the end of October 2024, 12,162 civilians were killed and 26,919 were injured.
"The overall number of civilian casualties is likely underestimated in cities where there was prolonged, intense fighting at the start of the Russian armed attack in 2022, such as Mariupol, Lysychansk, Popasna and Severodonetsk," the report notes.
In addition, in October, the Russian military significantly increased its use of loitering munitions and long-range drones, carrying out more than 1,900 strikes.
"As a result of the strikes or falling debris, six civilians were killed and 21 people were injured," the document says.
The UN notes that 80% of civilian casualties in October occurred in areas close to the front line due to shelling, airstrikes, MLRS attacks and short-range drones. The Kherson, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions suffered the most.
The report also notes that 94% of all casualties and 96% of destruction of educational and medical institutions occurred in territories controlled by the Ukrainian government.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine operates on the basis of an agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the OHCHR dated 31 July 2014.
Let us recall that in the summer of 2024, 45% more civilians were injured (2,685 people) than in the spring of the same year.
Let us add that on November 18, Russia launched a ballistic attack on Odessa from the temporarily occupied Crimea. The aftermath of the enemy strike is currently being eliminated, and the fight for the lives of the wounded continues in hospitals.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, the units of the Sever Group of Forces have defeated units of the AFU 57th Mechanised Infantry Brigade and the 5th Border Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine near Volchansk, Basovo, and Kazachya Lopan (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses were up to 50 troops and two motor vehicles.
-- The units of the Zapad Group of Forces have improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of 28th, 60th, 63rd, 67th, 116th Mechanised brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 119th Territorial Defence Brigade near Zagryzovo, Kupyansk, Glushkovka (Kharkov region), Krasny Liman and Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
Three counterattacks launched by assault detachments of the 14th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU and the 1st National Guard Brigade have been repelled.
The AFU losses were up to 450 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, six motor vehicles, one Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, one Bogdana 155mm self-propelled artillery system, one U.S.-made 155mm M-198 howitzer, two U.S.-made 105mm M-119 guns, one Gvozdika 2S1 122mm self-propelled artillery system, and one D-30 122mm howitzer. Two Anklav-N electronic warfare stations and two field ammunition depots have been eliminated.
The units of the Yug Group of Forces have improved the situation along the front line, defeated units of the 54th Mechanised Brigade, the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, the 81st Airmobile Brigade, the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the 124th Territorial Defence Brigade near Seversk, Dronovka, Andreyevka, Annovka, Dachnoye, and Kurakhovo (Donetsk People's Republic).
Two counterattacks of the AFU 46th Airmobile Brigade's assault detachments have been repelled.
The AFU losses were up to 695 troops, two tanks, two armoured personnel carriers, one armoured fighting vehicle, 12 motor vehicles, one 152mm Msta-B howitzer, four 152mm D-20 guns, one 122mm D-30 howitzer, and two 105mm U.S.-made M-119 guns. Two electronic warfare stations and six field ammunition depots have been eliminated.
As a result of active and decisive actions, the units of the Tsentr Group of Forces have liberated Novoalekseyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian troops have launched strikes on manpower and hardware of AFU 54th, 100th mechanised brigades, the 142nd Infantry Brigade, the 116th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Dzerzhinsk, Voznesenka, and Ukrainka (Donetsk People's Republic).
In addition, 11 counterattacks of AFU 23rd, 51st mechanised brigades, 71st, 152nd Jaeger brigades, and the Lyut Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine have been repelled.
The AFU losses were more than 500 troops, one M-113 armoured personnel carrier, one U.S.-made 155mm M-777 howitzer, one pick-up truck, one Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, and two 100mm Rapira anti-tank guns.
The units of the Vostok Group of Forces have occupied more advantageous lines and positions, defeated the units of the 33rd Mechanised Brigade, the 37th Naval Infantry Brigade, 123rd and 129th Territorial Defence brigades close to Zelyonoye Pole, Ulakly, Konstantinopol, and Velikaya Novosyolka (Donetsk People's Republic).
One counter-attack launched by the units of the AFU 32nd Mechanised Brigade has been repelled. The AFU losses were up to 135 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, one 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one 155mm M-777 howitzer, and one U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS launcher.
The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces have engaged manpower and hardware of 31st, 110th, 118th Mechanised brigades, 103rd, and 126th Territorial Defence brigades close to Malaya Tokmachka, Novodanilovka (Zaporozhye region), Blakitnoye, Olgovka, and Nikolskoye (Kherson region).
The AFU losses were up to 70 troops, four motor vehicles, six electronic warfare stations, and one U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar. One field ammunition depot has been destroyed.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have delivered strikes at infrastructure of military airfields, power objects ensuring operation of the Ukrainian defence industry, unmanned aerial vehicle operator training areas and storage facilities as well as engaged manpower clusters and military hardware in 135 areas.
-- Air defence facilities have shot down four French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, four U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, and 106 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
-- In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 648 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 36,174 unmanned aerial vehicles, 586 anti-aircraft missile systems, 19,369 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,490 MLRS combat vehicles, 18,125 field artillery guns and mortars, and 28,492 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region.
The units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of 41st, 47th, 115th Mechanised brigades, 82nd, 95th Air Assault brigades, the 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 117th, 129th Territorial Defence brigades of the AFU near Aleksandriya, Daryino, Leonidovo, Novaya Sorochina, Novoivanovka, Plyokhovo, and Sverdlikovo.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery inflicted fire damage on AFU manpower and hardware close to Bogdanovka, Guyevo, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Loknya, Martynovka, Mikhaylovka, Nizhny Klin, Nikolayevka, Nikolsky, Orlovka, Pogrebki, Russkoye Porechnoye, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, Basovka, and Zhuravka (Sumy region).
During the day, the AFU losses were 420 troops, two U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, one German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicle, four armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one German-made 155mm PzH-2000 self-propelled artillery system, one 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one 152mm D-20 gun, and three 122 mm D-30 howitzers. In addition, 24 AFU servicemen surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses were more than 33,670 troops, 213 tanks, 140 infantry fighting vehicles, 115 armoured personnel carriers, 1,175 armoured fighting vehicles, 958 motor vehicles, 291 artillery guns, 40 MLRS launchers, including 11 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 13 anti-aircraft missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 66 EW stations, 13 counter-battery warfare radars, four air defence radars, 27 units of engineering and other materiel, including 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, six armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 11/18/2024 to 00:00 11/19/2024.
A total of 9 cases of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
There were reports of ten civilians being injured.
DAMAGED:
One minibus,
Three civil infrastructure facilities.
Nine artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 33 units of various ammunition were fired.
21:41 Filigree precision: Airborne anti-tank crew destroyed UAV control center.
A Kornet ATGM crew from the airborne artillery unit of the Dnepr group of forces destroyed an enemy UAV control point on the coast of the Dnieper estuary in the Ochakov area by launching a guided missile from the coast of the Kinburn Spit.
20:35 As a result of successful actions by the units of the Center group of forces released the settlement of Novoalekseevka in the Donetsk People's Republic.
19:51 Destruction of Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower by an FPV drone crew of the North troop group in the border area of the Kursk region –video.
18:38 "Thirty" destroyed enemy mortar.
Kakhovka direction. During another flight over the right bank of the Dnieper, the UAV operator identified the position of an enemy mortar, the coordinates were immediately transmitted to the artillerymen. With well-aimed shots, the D-30 howitzer crew destroyed the identified mortar crew.
17:43 Su-35S crews provided air cover for bomber and attack aircraft, as well as army aviation helicopters, during air strikes against armored vehicles and personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border areas of the Kursk region –video.
16:42 Destruction of a Ukrainian Armed Forces pickup truck.
The military personnel of the reconnaissance unit of the North group of troops in the Khar'kov region used UAVs revealed a pickup truck of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a wooded area. The detected target was quickly destroyed by the FPV drone crew of the North Forces Group.
12:41 220mm BM-21 "Hurricane" at enemy positions.
Crews of the Uragan MLRS of the Vostok group of forces destroyed accumulation of Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment in the South Donetsk direction of the Northern Military District.
Reconnaissance of enemy targets and adjustment of rocket artillery fire is carried out using Orlan unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with modern optics, thermal imagers and cameras with infrared illumination.
11:35 Calculations of the Testing Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies of the Russian Ministry of Defense "Rubicon" struck using FPV drones, armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk direction.
10:54 Mi-28NM crews as part of a mixed tactical group carried out an air strike with air missiles against armored vehicles and enemy personnel in the border area of the Kursk region –video.
09:52 Improving skills: pontoon bridge unit conducted river crossing installation training
While fulfilling the standards for equipping a crossing in the rear area of the special operation, servicemen of the "West" troop group repelled an attack by simulated sabotage and reconnaissance groups that were trying to disrupt the movement of a column of military equipment.
The equipment, having arrived at the place of the ferry installation, dropped the pontoon links into the water. The servicemen quickly assembled the ferry and connected the pontoons together, which allowed the transfer of automobile equipment.
09:23 Footage from the enemy side.
Another destroyed Ukrainian self-propelled gun 2S22 "Bogdana" on the Tatra T815-7 base somewhere on the front —video.
08:51 Telegram channel «WarGonzo»:
Frontline report for the morning of 11/18/2024
- Zaporizhzhya Front. The fighting continues to be mostly positional in nature, however, increased activity of the RF Armed Forces is noted in several areas.
- Donetsk Front. Russian troops continue to develop the offensive in several directions. Fighting continues in the eastern part of Kurakhovo. Also, Russian troops continue to take the city in a semi-ring, advancing from the north and south of the settlement. There are more tactical successes. In the Pokrovsk direction, there are also more advances in the area of ??the settlement of Grigorovka.
- Chasov-Yar direction. Fighting continues within the city limits of Chasov-Yar, as well as on the flanks, where the Russian Armed Forces are trying to improve their positions.
- Kursk region. Without any major changes. Heavy head-on combat continues with active use of long-range weapons.
08:00 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Chronicle of the special military operation for November 16-17, 2024
– Russian troops have launched a combined attack on Ukrainian Armed Forces facilities in almost all regions of the so-called Ukraine. Power outages are occurring in the Rivne, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with the most widespread problems being reported in the Odessa region. The enemy has struck an industrial enterprise in Izhevsk with a drone for the first time.– In the Kursk direction, Russian troops are fighting in the Korenevsky and Sudzhansky districts. In the latter, according to some reports, Ukrainian formations are surrounded in a forest area.
– In the Pokrovsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces have consolidated their position in Yuryevka and are advancing on Petrovka from neighboring Grigorovka.
– In the Kurakhovsky direction, Russian troops have liberated Voznesenka, are fighting in Berestki, and have also gained a foothold in the center of Trudovoye.
– In the Vrem'yevsk direction, fighting continues on the northern outskirts of Makarovka, which Ukrainian formations are trying to cling to.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russian diplomats presented materials with evidence of Ukraine’s genocide in Donbass to the International Court of Justice. This was reported on November 18 on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The corresponding statement was made as part of an interstate investigation initiated by Kiev in February 2022 with the intention of accusing Russia of “abusing” the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and demanding that the special operation be stopped.
The document has 522 pages.
"Kiev's plans failed - the International Court of Justice rejected the accusations concerning Russia's alleged violation of the Convention. As a result, only the question of whether there is evidence of genocide committed by Ukraine itself remains under consideration," the media release said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and national battalions under the leadership of the Kyiv regime show signs of genocidal intent - the intention, under the pretext of fighting "terrorism" and "separatism", to liquidate the Russian and Russian-speaking population of Donbass, civilians of the DPR and LPR, parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and, in general, the inhabitants of the region as a national group.
The neo-Nazi nature of the Ukrainian authorities, their reliance on the criminal ideology of bloody Ukrainian nationalist movements and the Third Reich, has also been revealed.
Taking into account the evidence, Moscow submitted a counter-memorandum to the court, which contains evidence of more than 140 episodes of deliberate destruction of the civilian population of Donbass by the Kyiv regime.
The Russian side also made claims against the Kyiv regime related to such violations of the Convention as complicity, incitement to genocide and failure to take measures to prevent and punish it.
Ukraine will have to respond to the counter-memorandum. The final decision will be made upon completion of all procedures and after oral hearings in The Hague, the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Kiev is openly recruiting mercenaries from terrorist organizations, without hiding its ties to them, said Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Zubov on October 14 at the 12th session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in Vienna.
Political scientist, member of the board of the Russian Association of Political Science, head of EISI projects Vladimir Shapovalov emphasized that the genocide of the Soviet people is the largest crime in the history of mankind, and the West is trying to rewrite history. Russia is facing a large-scale campaign to falsify history and distort historical truth, which is actively carried out by Western countries, he recalled.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] 1. As I wrote at the beginning of the SVO, we cannot avoid a remake of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2. I have also written and continue to write since the beginning of the war - anything that lies below the threshold of using nuclear weapons can and will be used in Ukraine.
3. Warmongers do not accept their defeat so easily. Both in the war in Ukraine and in the recent elections in the USA.
So nothing unexpected is happening.
It would be surprising if this did not happen before the end of the war.
We are simply waiting to see what the response will be. And we are studying civil defense measures. Cruise and ballistic missiles have already flown in to our Sevastopol more than once.
The United States has given the Kiev regime permission to strike 300 km deep into Russian territory, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on November 18.
"The US administration has authorized the use of its missiles up to 300 km deep into Russian territory. This is not very far, but this is the decision of the US administration. Why they made this decision now and not earlier, I do not know," Borrell said at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
He also stated that the heads of the foreign ministries of the EU countries have not made a decision to lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons to strike deep into Russian territory and that each EU member country can make such a decision independently.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on November 17, the American newspaper The New York Times, citing informed sources, reported that outgoing US President Joseph Biden had for the first time authorized Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. Following this, the French newspaper Le Figaro wrote that the French and British authorities had made a similar decision.
On September 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the discussions on allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use precision weapons for strikes deep into Russia a substitution of concepts. In reality, NATO countries are discussing whether they will directly participate in a conflict with Russia, the president emphasized. He noted that Russia will make decisions based on the threats that will arise for it.
On November 18, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that Russia's response to the Kiev regime's use of long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory would be adequate and tangible. The use of long-range missiles by Kiev would mean direct participation in the conflict by the United States and its satellites and would change the very essence of the conflict, Zakharova emphasized.
The situation remains in limbo for now, there is no official confirmation of Biden's decision, officials are holding a pause, apparently in order to see Moscow's reaction and make a decision, Regnum News Agency columnist Mikhail Zakharov noted earlier in his article.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
