The massive mushroom cloud explosion near Moscow took place at or near a factory that primarily produces electro-optical equipment. Russia claims that the explosion came from an adjacent warehouse used by an explosives manufacturer.

BLAST

B-1 83 said:

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Something man portable would be cool, but the system to shoot such a round and the size of the rounds would make that pretty much impossible.

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Handheld anti-drone "guns" are commonplace. They electronically jam the drone's command link.

DRONE

Latest war assessment from ISW. Scroll to bullet points at bottom.

UPDATES

74OA said:

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The massive mushroom cloud explosion near Moscow took place at or near a factory that primarily produces electro-optical equipment. Russia claims that the explosion came from an adjacent warehouse used by an explosives manufacturer.

BLAST

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I just read an article on WSJ about Russia finally getting over the optics bottle neck to modernize tanks. Wonder if this is that plant?

The article brought up Wagner in Africa, wonder what kind of equipment they are using there. I know Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Sudan are Russia's main importers and Russia supplies over half of Africa with weapon systems. Russia was mainly supplying the sub-Sahara region but recently has been accused of providing weapons to South Africa.

From what I saw it was T72 era type equipment but if they are pulling T64s out of storage for use in Ukraine I wonder what the African countries are getting. I know its mainly Wagner supplying the weapons so it would not be a real shock if the Africans get better equipment than the normal Russian troops.

Germany has delivered two more Patriots to Ukraine.

SAM

2 patriot launchers
1 patriot system

P.U.T.U said:

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The article brought up Wagner in Africa, wonder what kind of equipment they are using there. I know Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Sudan are Russia's main importers and Russia supplies over half of Africa with weapon systems. Russia was mainly supplying the sub-Sahara region but recently has been accused of providing weapons to South Africa.

From what I saw it was T72 era type equipment but if they are pulling T64s out of storage for use in Ukraine I wonder what the African countries are getting. I know its mainly Wagner supplying the weapons so it would not be a real shock if the Africans get better equipment than the normal Russian troops.

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They're not getting anything new that's been made public but there are some 72s and BMPs floating around out there but I'm not sure Niger has any. Niger has some armored cars, armored cars pretending to be light tanks, technicals, MRAP style trucks. I think they have maybe a couple of fighters and helos and some civilian planes that have been converted (pretty common in Africa). These are the kind of countries that you'd have seen taken over by American corporations or 'adventurers' in the late 1800s early 1900s. Pretty sure Jeff Bezos could hire a more competent and well equipped group with what he made by lunch today.

P.U.T.U said:

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The article brought up Wagner in Africa, wonder what kind of equipment they are using there. I know Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Sudan are Russia's main importers and Russia supplies over half of Africa with weapon systems. Russia was mainly supplying the sub-Sahara region but recently has been accused of providing weapons to South Africa.

From what I saw it was T72 era type equipment but if they are pulling T64s out of storage for use in Ukraine I wonder what the African countries are getting. I know its mainly Wagner supplying the weapons so it would not be a real shock if the Africans get better equipment than the normal Russian troops.

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Rumor today that Wagner just got kicked out of their new home country. Maybe Niger will be their new home.

Not confirmed, at least as far as I can tell, from any sort of reputable source but a lot of chatter from different sides of the conflict saying the same thing.

2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that Wagner fighters are being taken by bus from their camps in Belarus in batches of 500-600 to Voronezh, Rostov and Krasnodar in Russia. The first stage of the withdrawal has already taken place and a second will begin after 13 August. pic.twitter.com/Wst4G1qT2x

— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) August 9, 2023

Russian officer "Colonel Shuvalov" described on Telegram how it is encouraged to fabricate reports about destroyed Ukrainian equipment by filming strikes on different days using various weapons and equipment. This is done to please the upper leadership since everyone benefits… pic.twitter.com/F0GCzeqd6Z

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 9, 2023

NM.

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Mayor of Moscow Sobyanin: Air defense shot down 2 combat drones flying towards Moscow, one in the Kaluga region, the other in the Central Ring Road area

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/10-august-mayor-of-moscow-sobyanin-air-defense-shot-down

#Ukraine: For the first time, ammo produced by the DPRK was spotted in the hands of the Russian military- North Korean 🇰🇵 R-122 122mm rockets recently started to be issued to Russian BM-21 Grad crews.

According to the images, nearly all markings on the rockets were sanitized. pic.twitter.com/ZVsaJixRfm

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 9, 2023

The validity of the claims and the future of the #WagnerGroup remain unclear at the time of publication. ISW offers the following assessments and hypotheses for the potential implications of these claims, if true, on the Russian power composition, #Putin’s regime, and the Russian… https://t.co/yUwhLZhBiQ

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) August 10, 2023

Wagner and Putin may be on another collision course as it appears elements of the Wagner deal with Belarus may be collapsing.

Russia will either impress them into their own regular Military or send them to third world locations to relieve any special units they can bring home. I doubt they disband them and send them home.

This can't be good.

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Mandatory evacuation declared in Kupiansk district of Kharkiv region

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/10-august-mandatory-evacuation-declared-in-kupiansk-district

Explain? I can't make out anything from the post

B-1 83 said:

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Explain? I can't make out anything from the post

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Here you go. Today's SITREP.

Looks like Russia launched an offensive in the area and Kuiansk is close to the front lines.

B-1 83 said:

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Explain? I can't make out anything from the post

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Reports of heavy shelling in several villages of the Kupyansk area, along with offensive actions/threats. Ukraine may also want to clear the area of saboteurs, and I've seen one Russian milblogger suggest that Ukraine may be retreating in order to do a flanking maneuver on the advancing Russians.

Either way, Russia has stepped things up in that area.

They've been pushing here for a few weeks. This is where Ukraine reported 100k Russians amassed a little while back.

sclaff said:

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74OA said:

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China says it will be "impartial" about Ukraine, peace talks in Saudi a slap to Putin and other miscellaneous notes.

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russian "Tornado-S", unboxing and discovering it was produced in 2023 with Chinese microchip inside. pic.twitter.com/M9r4jbr4PZ

— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) August 7, 2023

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The global sanctions regime is porous and unfortunately there are plenty of Western microchips and other products similarly being passed to Russia by unscrupulous vendors, but rarely by the OEM.

CHIPS

SmallBusiness said:

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2 patriot launchers
1 patriot system

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Additional Patriots for Ukraine and other notes.

UPDATES

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Ukrainian Defence Forces continue offensive operations at Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdyansk directions, have partial success towards Urozhayne and south and south-east to Staromayorske, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/10-august-ukrainian-defence-forces-continue-offensive-operations

The German government wants to announce the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine in the near future. The Chancellery is currently working on a solution with the US which could lead to a double delivery of Taurus cruise missiles and ATACMS. https://t.co/VSsR86hBXU

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) August 10, 2023

I'm guessing it's because there is a finite aid budget. So the administration is using those limited resources for things that they think will deliver the most ROI and may avoid big ticket items that would kill the budget

It's been an open question which of Patriot's many missile variants have been given to Ukraine. This clears it up.

FIVE

Massive fire reported in Odintsovo, just outside Moscow, Russia. pic.twitter.com/ObxqQ0WKtS

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) August 10, 2023

PJYoung said:

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Massive fire reported in Odintsovo, just outside Moscow, Russia. pic.twitter.com/ObxqQ0WKtS

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) August 10, 2023

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Another fireworks plant have a smoking incident? That looks pretty big.

PJYoung said:

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Massive fire reported in Odintsovo, just outside Moscow, Russia. pic.twitter.com/ObxqQ0WKtS

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) August 10, 2023

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Good.

First good look at the hole blown into the side of that Russian tanker.

ATTACK

Have the Ukes expends all of the Javelins we gave them? I haven't seen any recent reports of their use and I know they were going through them as fast as we could supply them 6 months ago.

bonfarr said:

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Have the Ukes expends all of the Javelins we gave them? I haven't seen any recent reports of their use and I know they were going through them as fast as we could supply them 6 months ago.

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The orcs have none done much advancing with armored vehicles lately, which was when the Ukes were lighting them up with the Javelins.