Russia on Monday said that it launched more attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as Kyiv came under bombardment by Russian kamikaze drones.
“In the past 24 hours, the Russian Armed Forces continued delivering strikes by long-range air-and sea-based high-precision weapons against Ukrainian military command centers and energy infrastructure facilities. All the designated targets were struck,” a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Russian kamikaze drones struck energy infrastructure in Kyiv and rocket attacks were launched in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy oblasts. “Hundreds of residential areas have lost power as a result of the attack,” Shmyhal said.
According to South Front, Russian kamikaze drones also struck an energy facility in Odesa. In Kyiv, authorities said a Russian drone hit an apartment building, and that four civilians were killed in the strike.
The drones used in the strikes were Russian Geranium-2 UAVs, which the US and Ukraine allege are the same as the Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones. For their part, Iran denies that they’ve provided Russia with arms that can be used in Ukraine.
Monday’s attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure appear to be the most intense since Russia launched large-scale missile strikes across Ukraine early last week after the truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland.
The drone attacks came after an uptick in Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod oblast, a region that borders Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously warned Russia would step up strikes across Ukraine in response to more Ukrainian “terror attacks” on Russian territory.
If Russia is planning a serios offensive, and it is clear that Russia is doing this, the damage to Ukrainian energy and logistic infrastructure should be inflicted as much as possible. It looks, the big offensive will start in December, or may be, even earlier.
Russia planning a serious offensive? So it took them 7 months to get serious? If they couldn’t take Ukraine in February with a fresh Army, what makes you think they will do it now that they are reduced to WWII tactics and equipment?
You are right, it took them 7 months to get serious. Putin used exactly those words a couple of weeks ago: “We never yet started seriously”. Why? Probably they had a hope in Kremlin to find someone in Ukraine with whom they could negotiate and have a deal despite the fact that Ukraine is not an independent country. Putin hoped he could reproduce his Chechnya success in Ukraine. The difference between Chechnya 1999 and Ukraine 2022 is that there was a strong religious component in Chechnya. So, Chechen religious leader Kadyrov was a serious man with whom one could have a deal. In Ukraine, one can have a deal with no one.
For eight months now, the Russian regime’s line has continuously been similar to the guy who’s always tripping over stuff and explaining “I meant to do that.” Every time the Russian invasion gets a bloody nose, it’s “oh, we aren’t really trying.”
There is no question Ukraine casualties are much higher. Its strategy from day one has been to throw bodies at the Russians. Russia from day one has backed off whenever faced with a casualty situation. It is the entire reason the war has gone as it has.
“Bloody nose” is the number of the dead. Ukraine had 4 mobilizations. At the moment about 50% of Ukrainian troops at front are foreigners. For one killed Russian soldier, Ukrainians are losing no less than 10.
Russia started the first partial mobilization (less than 2% of Russian reservists are mobilized) less than a month ago. It is expected, they will arrive at the front about middle November.
It is an exclusively American idea that Putin is interested to finish the war as soon as possible. The reality is different: the time is working for Russia. While NATO’s (particular the European part of it) economy is degrading, Russian economy is doing very well.
The second two sentences of the first paragraph really should have the words “in my imagination” at the beginning.
It is clear that your imagination is detached from the reality.
I don’t know where you got your figures from but man, are you way off!
If you were right about the casualty numbers, Ukraine wouldn’t have bodies left to fight.
But let’s assume you are right, still, that small Ukraine Army minus is making Russia regret their failed invasion.
Here’s another embarrassing point. Have you wondered what the Russia – Ukraine Solider surrendering ratio is?
You’ll be surprised and disappointed.
Quality of soldiers with will to fight will always give a tough fight to the quantity of soldiers unwilling to fight.
When your own Army is poorly equipped, starving, lied to, not paid, extended indefinitely in the war, when your Army has people in the rear waiting to shoot you if you retreat, when you are told you cannot surrender and if you do so, you’ll be jailed when you are repatriated… This is recipe for mass surrendering and/or mass internal shootouts.
In the last big exchange of the prisoners of war, they exchanged in proportion: one Russian soldier to 4 Ukrainian Azov regiment neo-Nazis. A lot of people in Donbass was discontent about that. They expected Ukrainian neo-Nazis would be executed. In the barging they also set free some English mercenaries.
That goes to show how dangerous the Neo Nazis of Azov were.
But let me give you a bit of info you won’t like: Many more Russian soldiers have surrendered than Ukrainians and that number will go up. This is not something I celebrate, it’s just the reality on the ground. I got friends in the Russian Army that I don’t know if are dead or alive right now. Similarly, I have couple friends in the Ukraine Army I lost contact with but one was recently reported KIA.
“When your own Army is poorly equipped, starving, lied to, not paid, extended indefinitely in the war, when your Army has people in the rear waiting to shoot you if you retreat, when you are told you cannot surrender and if you do so, you’ll be jailed when you are repatriated… This is recipe for mass surrendering and/or mass internal shootouts.”
You didn’t know where he got his info, but I know where you got yours.
You work for NPR by any chance?
Such beautiful words. Isn’t Putin a nice and peaceful guy?
And Kadyrov, super religious guy who loves everyone, especially his Gay Chechen brothers and sisters. Gotta love him.
Islam, the same as Christianity, is incompatible with LGBT. The nature itself is incompatible with LGBT. It doesn’t mean Christians should persecute and punish LGBT, but it means the people, particular the children should be protected from LGBT.
The “solution” to the LGBT “problem” is simple:
1) If you don’t want a romantic/sexual relationship with someone of the same sex, don’t have one.
2) If you’re not uncomfortable expressing Gender Identity A, don’t switch to expressing Gender Identity B.
3) Don’t try to make those decisions for other people.
“Problem” solved.
American problem is the institutionalized perversion of the kids and the destruction of the traditional family.
At the moment we have a religious confrontation. The people of God against the people of Satan.
And you’re simping for Satan.
What about us neithers? Can we be mercs?
If you are looking for the truth, you are not neither. If you are supporting the lies and the crimes, you are serving for the evil. It is simple enough to understand what is good and what is evil.
“It is simple enough to understand what is good and what is evil.”
True. Here’s a cheat sheet for visual learners.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/855a981da3a4d424758419674441618652599916b2a69e4bda98ffbcff4d9b62.jpg
There is no such thing as “evil”. The word implies a demonic presence and there are no demons nor devils; they’re manufactured entities to keep humans in line.
There is no “good” nor “evil”; there are simply right and wrong.
Sure I am. I don’t believe in a god or a devil no matter how hard you want to categorize everyone into one of two groups.
Don’t you see the difference between the lie and the truth?
And what about the justice?
Sure I do. But I don’t think that makes me a DeFacto believer in the sky fairy.
My sister is gay and she is one of the best people I know. She is a person of faith as well. If I May, I would like to suggest that you find the true spirit in the teachings of Christ….
Atheist here, but I agree Donna.
I enjoy the company a plenty of atheists…
We are all sinful. The important is not to confuse the sins with the virtues and not to force upon the children the sinful behavior. The West is dominated by the lies and the greed. It is time to stop this until too late.
I LOVE gay men , Donna. They’re so much more sensitive and empathetic than straight men.
Only problem is that they don’t like us…not in “that way”, anyways 😉
My nephew is gay and he’s wonderful.
And here I was under the impression the moderator would step in on bigoted characterizations….
Then you were under a mistaken impression. What Antiwar.com’s guidelines prohibit are:
“Slurs or supremacist claims based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
If you think I’m missing something, feel free to let me know or to flag the comment you think violates those guidelines.
Around 44% of Ukrainian railroads are electric so knock out the grid and that changes logistics. Ukraine purchased 30 freight diesel locomotives so they have limited alternatives to their electric locomotives.
When the ground freezes and the newly mobilized Russian forces are in position standby for an offensive directed by General Armageddon.
With over 100,000 Ukrainian casualties thus far, Ukraine will be in on the verge of collapse soon enough.
Without massive support from NATO, Ukraine would collapse 4 months ago.
That is true, but they did receive NATO, support.
With NATO support they would last several months longer, but the result would be much worse than without the support. When they negotiated the peace deal in April, Russia wanted Ukraine to recognize the independence of Donbass republics, recognize Crimea as part of Russia and agree to the neutral status. Half year later Ukraine lost 2 regions more. If it last longer, Ukraine will lose more territories. Not counting the huge number of the dead.
“When they negotiated the peace deal in April, Russia wanted Ukraine to recognize the independence of Donbass republics, recognize Crimea as part of Russia and agree to the neutral status” In other words they wanted Ukraine to surrender to get peace. And how long would the peace last? Remember the Munich agreement. At the Munich agreement, Britain, France and Italy agreed, to give part of Czechoslovakia to Germany on the condition that this would be Germany’s final claim for territory in Europe. 18 months later WW2 started.
Poor analogy. The driving force has been NATO’s deliberate advance to the Russian border. The content of Putin’s speeches at the Munich Security Conference for many years was precisely on this issue. The issue of the status of the Russian-speaking people in the East became a relevant part of the mess in 2014 and beyond. I don’t find it at all difficult to believe that the way Russian speakers in the eastern Oblasts were being treated by Petro Poroshenko’s government and later Zelensky’s, did and does not sit well with the Russians.
“When the ground freezes and the newly mobilized Russian forces are in position standby for an offensive directed by General Armageddon.” The questions become (1) will it work and (2) will NATO let it work. NATO has more cards to play.
Do you mean NATO would start full scale invasion?
First NATO will not invade Russia proper. There is no advantage to that. Second there is more things that USA can do to prevent an Ukraine defeat. Ukraine is fighting for its existence and history shows that counts for a lot in a war.
“What is our kids learning?”
Remember him?
In other news, Zelenski plans to publish a book with his war time speeches. Cannot make this stuff up.
And since all the proceeds will go to support Ukraine’s demining, rebuild, and care for the victims of Putin, I’m buying a copy.
Putin should have his own book to help pay salaries of his soldiers.
Oh, and it will no doubt be a best-seller, V, further lining ZelBoy’s pockets.
General Sergey Surovikin said on state television. “We just want one thing, for Ukraine to be independent of the West and NATO and be friendly to the Russian state.”
How does bombing of their cities, killings Ukraine citizens, taking 20 % of their country make friends? Make no mistake about it, the Ukrainians will hate Russians for a long time to come.
What about 8 years of the regular Ukrainian artillery attacks against Russian civilians in Donbass?
Did you ever hear that the current Kiev far-right regime was established as the result of the criminal coup, and it was Russo-phobic from the beginning?
You missed the point. Sergey “just one thing” goal is unattainable because of the Russian tactics. Had Russian concentrated on defeating Ukraine’s arm forces his goal was possible. But not now. One can justify Russian invasion of Ukraine, but one can not justify their actions. You don’t win the heart and minds of a people by attacking bomb shelters containing children.
No, you keep missing the point. Putin isn’t attempting to conquer Ukraine. You could try to educate yourself as to the underlying causes of what’s happening there this year.
But you do well in repeating what the western press feeds you.
do you have a source for these “regular artillery attacks against Russian civilians?’ Because I’ve asked repeatedly and no one has yet provided me with one.
Try Wikipedia.
Oh, I have. I can’t find anything there that corroborates this version of events. But I’ve seen it cited here so often that I figured y’all MUST have a reliable source.
Most of the video evidence are in Russian language. It is not only the videos made by the locals of Donbass, but also the videos made by Kiev regime itself. They never made a secret of their intention to terrorize the civilians as much as they could. Poroshenko, for example, while he was the president of Ukraine, said in his address to Ukrainian people: “Your children will go to the schools and their children will sit in the cellars”. That’s how he boasted of his military achievements in Donbass. Turchinov, who became the head of Kiev regime just after the coup in 2014, ordered to use the aviation against the civilian people of Donbass. Many civilians were killed. It happened in the spring 2014. The artillery attacks against the civilian targets in Donbass never stopped during the last 8 years.
Please cite these Russian sources then. Google translate does an excellent job nowadays.
Look in YouTube for Порошенко: “Их дети будут сидеть в подвалах” (Одесса, 27.10.14). You will find those his words on minutes 2:45-2:49.
A video of Poroshenko speaking doesn’t prove 14,000 were killed over 7 years, especially when it’s from 2014. You’re also taking the quote out of context. The full relevant part is this: “And we win together by means of peace! Because we have jobs, and they have not. We have pensions, and they have not. We have support of children and pensioners, they have not. Our children would go to kindergartens and schools, theirs would be sitting in cellars. Because they do not know anything how to do! That’s how we are going to win this war. Because wars are won in minds, and not on the combat fields! They do not know this, but I know. And I have your support, I need it very much in order we win this war without perished Ukrainians, without perished inhabitants of Odesa.”
It was a Russian supported insurrection – and the shelling most certainly went both ways – the current Kyiv government is not far right, the far right lost their last seat in parliament in 2019, so while the far right had a significant presence in parliament in 2014 they no longer hold that position.
The Ukrainians were to quite a large extent more unhappy about the Russians exactly because the Russians annexed Crimea and fermented and supported an insurrection in the Donbas – but as the Russians have found out to their cost the people that they were supposed to liberate i.e. the Russian speakers in the Donbas do not see them as liberators and fight for their liberty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYlY9PND4dE
So are you now proposing that the Russian speakers in the Donbas have to be liberated from themselves? I’ll give you a hint that seems to be what the actual Russians want to do.
Elementary reply: Because the UKrainian Dictator (ala Saddam) was killing his own people.
Why negotiate when we can have 💯 % of the grid destroyed? Love how that tactic is going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U5fCtVMJUc&ab_channel=TheDuran
Major Shift in Putin’s Stance on Ukraine.
Whether one thinks Russia will absorb the whole enchilada (Ukraine) may be dependent on budgetary constraints as well as the imminent global financial crisis. It’s doomed to increase the number of Ukrainians to peasant status as it will elsewhere.
The next few months may see Russia primarily conduct artillery, drone, and missile operations with minimal infantry troops doing mop-up work.
If Kiev wants the bulk of Ukraine to remain intact minus 4-6 former oblasts now in or soon to be, under Russian sovereignity, the time for negotiations in now. Unfortunately, Zelensky is under multiple, negative influences.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/10/17/on-ukraine-the-us-is-on-the-hook-to-find-a-way-out/
Why the US must press for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Jack F. Matlock Jr.
What are the odds?
Those two Greek experts are very good. Particular Mercouris. He is not a military expert, but he is very substantial and very clever.
After listening to their podcast dated yesterday, I sense they’re walking a fine line with YouTube regarding perceived Russian advocacy.
I couldn’t work in journalism or commentary as I wouldn’t peddle the Zionist-US fiction.
They are just trying to be honest. By the way, Mercouris is living in London. I like them both.
The idea of a ceasefire seems to be that Russia stop fighting long enough to let NATO rebuild Ukraine’s forces to NATO standard for more fighting to follow.
Putin is not that stupid.
You are right. By the ceasefire they mean exactly this.
Zelensky is not an innocent in this matter. He has played a major role in bringing it to Ukraine.
Zelensky is easily replaceable. His job is to do what his sponsors order him to do. After the successful coup 2014, the destiny of Ukraine was sealed.
I’m assuming he’s done financially quite well throughout this morass he willingly participated in.
If he wants to committ suicide, who would stop him?
Time for another coup in Ukraine, installing a president who isn’t afraid to negotiate no matter how the United Snakes and not-so-Great Britain feel about it.
Unitl recently, Russia held off on attacking critical infrastructure unlike the U.S. when they attacked Iraq, but Putin seems to have adjusted his strategy and has upped the attacks to paralyze Ukraine in the coming winter. War is hell, unless you’re the U.S. Offense Industry in which war is very profitable.
Putin abandoned the hope to force Ukraine to neutrality.
The gloves are off.