US officials also confirming.

⚡️Kirby: Ukraine is using cluster munitions 'effectively.'

Ukraine has started to use cluster munitions within the last week and is using them "effectively," US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters. https://t.co/VimTZ5bLp8

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 20, 2023

Someone might be getting in trouble over this.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has Confirmed that its Consulate General in the Ukrainian City of Odesa was Damaged last night by a Russian Missile Attack with the Building reportedly suffering Damage to a Wall and Window, however the Foreign Ministry has stated that Chinese Staff… pic.twitter.com/iSpendU8SQ

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 20, 2023

US cluster rounds hit the battlefield.

Today's SITREP.

Interesting independent analysis of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The reason for the slowness? Not so much the shortage of Western weapons.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/a-sobering-analysis-of-ukraines-counteroffensive-from-the-front

Bulldog73 said:

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Interesting independent analysis of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The reason for the slowness? Not so much the shortage of Western weapons.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/a-sobering-analysis-of-ukraines-counteroffensive-from-the-front

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Reading that tells me it's not going too fast as they hoped, Ukraine doesn't have all the weapons that a NATO army would have .. without air superiority they can't just use aircraft to bomb the Russian ground installations into submission .. this would be totally different if it was the US or NATO with all the jets that would be available.. they are basically fighting a war with their hands tied to the equipment the west gives them .. maybe that's the west plans .. keep Russia In a long war so they use up a large supply of their weapons stockpiles

It tells me they haven't completely shaken the top down approach of the soviets either. They will need a lot more training and experience to get good at large scale combined arms and break away from the soviet way of fighting wars bureaucratically.

JFABNRGR said:

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LMCane said:

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JFABNRGR said:

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For anyone interested in INF ops this 12 minute vid of very difficult raid on orc trench is outstanding. Well executed OP Order. Has it all: preplanning, rehearsal, leadership, violence of action, real time intel, coms, coordination's, resupply, SSSSS, AAR....even fear/ hesitation overcome by leadership.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/153r3o3/english_subtitles_soldiers_from_the_3rd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

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That demonstrates a very high proficiency in combat arms. Good tactics, communication, and training.

The ultimate problem however, is that there is no way that Ukraine can replicate the same thing for the OTHER 500 similar entrenchments along the front.

It's never a great idea to have a numerically inferior force involved in man to man trench fighting against a numerically superior force.

the Ukes have got to figure out a way to get mobile armored warfare working in their favor- or this war is going to remain stagnant ad infinitum.

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Well the mines are problematic and getting worse as they rake back more of their land. Heres 5 more lost in the last days same spot. Loss of life unknown.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/154l6zx/ukrainian_armor_under_attack_in_the_ugledar/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1

As Rumsfeld said you go to war with what you have and this what the Ukes are doing and if appears they intend to keep liberating land by any means for as long as it takes.

On the flip side we know russia is hurting both economically and the destruction of their military. As the Ukes are storming trenches they are also destroying assets. I think 5 T90s destroyed in the last fee days. 78% loss of wagner probably same or worse across regular orc units. This is not sustainable.

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I agree with the logic- but in reality how long is the United States able to send billions worth of weaponry and ammunition when we have to face the Chinese and the Iranians and the North Koreans?

it's not like only the Russkies are having supply problems-

They are having supply problems/issues .. they are using much much less artillery because they spent a large portion of their stockpiles ..

Waffledynamics said:

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Quote:

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Igor Strelkov, former Russian military commander, found guilty for MH17 shotdown, was arrested in Moscow on charges of extremism(critics of Russian government)

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/21-july-igor-strelkov-former-russian-military-commander-found

It was only a matter of time.

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I legitimately thought he was in another country. Self Exiled in all but name. Surprised he lasted this long. In an era of people getting snatched off the street for even asking why Russia was in Ukraine, he was an outright dissident in comparison. Charged under extremism. Though I guess the facade of Putin having near Stalin-esque levels of power and fear is pretty much pierced through now thanks to Pringles.

Either way interesting development. ******* got away clean after murdering MH17 and nice to see him finally in custody, no matter the reason for that happening.

Very interesting to see where Girkin's arrest will go. Nothing says he won't be released, but if he is arrested and sentenced for a while, I'll be curious to know if any rashists will properly stand behind him.

After all, Girkin had a major beef with Prigozhin, but it was…

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) July 21, 2023

Very interesting to see where Girkin's arrest will go. Nothing says he won't be released, but if he is arrested and sentenced for a while, I'll be curious to know if any rashists will properly stand behind him.

After all, Girkin had a major beef with Prigozhin, but it was Prigozhin who marched to Moscow and is now free to roam. On the opposite, Girkin backed Shoygu and Gerasimov during that time. And he's the one in handcuffs.

Not a healthy situation for the Kremlin Ripper regardless.

Girkin was arrested too?

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Girkin was arrested too?

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https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/21/russia-arrests-pro-war-putin-critic-igor-girkin-reports

Girkin is Strelkov. Same guy

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Girkin was arrested too?

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Girkin, who also goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov

richardag said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Girkin was arrested too?

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Girkin, who also goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov

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Ah got it. It is hard to keep up sometimes

Russians are odd when it comes to names. If they are a soldier sometimes they go by something else. Sometimes they do what muslim families do and they either go by the father's last name or they go by the fathers first name (long form would be son of Igor or whatever).

There was an incident during the cold war when the USA let go of a Russian agent since he was going by a different last name, turns out the guy was using his father's first name as his last name.

For the most part order of words in a sentence don't matter either, freaking confusing. They go by context instead of sentence structure.

Quote:

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For the most part order of words in a sentence don't matter either, freaking confusing. They go by context instead of sentence structure.

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Arabic does this, too. I learned to say things how I learned to say things, then when I first went out into "the wild", it took me about 10 seconds to process sentences as they were essentially scrambled groupings of words to my mind.

In Slavic languages, tense and other things are implied by context and vocal inflection. They can be difficult for someone used to romance or Germanic languages. Throw in the Cyrillic alphabet derived from Greek and it gets really confusing.

Interestingly Ukrainian and Russian dialects in this war aren't that different and many of the combatants know both. That's a bit unusual in a major land war between two nations outside of Arabic nations. Usually the combatants speak a different language primarily if it isn't an internal civil war.

Russians sink ex-Ukrainian corvette captured early in the war to demonstrate anti-ship missile capability in the Black Sea.

WARNING

74OA said:

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Russians sink ex-Ukrainian corvette captured early in the war to demonstrate anti-ship missile capability in the Black Sea.

WARNING

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It would have been karma, though, if Ukrainian forces at the same time launched an anti-ship missile at the Russian ship while it was conducting the exercise.

Russian forces painted newly constructed areas of Yeysk air base to resemble military aircraft.

These apparent decoys were created over the past few months at the base, which is one of several used by Russian aircraft operating in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/QLyGLMJ7A1

— Brady Africk (@bradyafr) July 21, 2023

Not too convincing. Better luck next time

Blackbeard94 said:

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Not too convincing. Better luck next time

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They lack shadows. They should have made flat wooden cutouts and painted those would have been more convincing.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-u-s-now-pushing-to-deliver-f-16s-as-fast-as-possible

"We've mentioned Igor Girkin a bunch of times over the past year. He's a prominent Russian nationalist who was in favor of the war in Ukraine but who has become an outspoken critic of the military leadership and, more recently, of Putin himself.

In some ways, Girkin has a lot in common with Yevgeny Prigozhin. Like Prigozhin he has a following and has gone from supporter to critic. Today, Girkin was arrested for extremist activities.

Russian security services have detained Igor Girkin a supporter of the war against Ukraine who has become a vocal critic of how the Kremlin has handled the invasion and accused him of extremism.

Girkin, a prominent nationalist and former FSB intelligence officer who led Russia's covert invasion under the guise of support for separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, became increasingly scathing in his criticism of Moscow's handling of the full-scale campaign launched nearly 17 months ago, and has called for Vladimir Putin to step down as Russian president.

Russian state media on Friday showed pictures of Girkin in a Moscow courtroom behind a glass wall. It said the state was accusing Girkin of "public calls to carry out extremist activities on the internet"

www.hotair.com

LMCane said:

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"We've mentioned Igor Girkin a bunch of times over the past year. He's a prominent Russian nationalist who was in favor of the war in Ukraine but who has become an outspoken critic of the military leadership and, more recently, of Putin himself.

In some ways, Girkin has a lot in common with Yevgeny Prigozhin. Like Prigozhin he has a following and has gone from supporter to critic. Today, Girkin was arrested for extremist activities.

Russian security services have detained Igor Girkin a supporter of the war against Ukraine who has become a vocal critic of how the Kremlin has handled the invasion and accused him of extremism.

Girkin, a prominent nationalist and former FSB intelligence officer who led Russia's covert invasion under the guise of support for separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, became increasingly scathing in his criticism of Moscow's handling of the full-scale campaign launched nearly 17 months ago, and has called for Vladimir Putin to step down as Russian president.

Russian state media on Friday showed pictures of Girkin in a Moscow courtroom behind a glass wall. It said the state was accusing Girkin of "public calls to carry out extremist activities on the internet"

www.hotair.com

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At least he limited it to the internet.

Except for when he was responsible for shooting down a civilian 777.

docb said:

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Link

Quote:

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National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday the U.S. is "moving rapidly" to get F-16s to Ukraine.

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So, after months and months of footdragging ... the US is now moving rapidly to get F16's to Ukraine. What's changed since 6 months ago?

No idea. I'll believe it when I see it.

benchmark said:

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docb said:

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Link

Quote:

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National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday the U.S. is "moving rapidly" to get F-16s to Ukraine.

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So, after months and months of footdragging ... the US is now moving rapidly to get F16's to Ukraine. What's changed since 6 months ago?

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The offensive has stalled. F16 Air support is needed if it will have any chance at resuming.