Yes, odd that a drone is just kicking around filming the radar emplacement for the top notch widely deployed SAM system and they seemed either oblivious to it or complacent about it. Surely the SA-400 set could detect the drone. Maybe they thought it wasn't worth a missile, or maybe they were filtering out small/slow moving returns like we were with the Chinese spy balloons, at first.

I just assumed they would've either not picked up such a small object, or thought it was a buzzard or something.

MouthBQ98 said:

---

Maybe they thought it wasn't worth a missile, or maybe they were filtering out small/slow moving returns like we were with the Chinese spy balloons, at first.

---

Good point. It is sort of a catch-22.

If you shoot a several hundred thousand dollar missile at a $500 drone, you lose over time. If you don't shoot down drones and they spot you...

At 120km and that kind of clarity from that kind of altitude, something tells me it wasn't a cheap or small drone.

AgLA06 said:

---

At 120km and that kind of clarity from that kind of altitude, something tells me it wasn't a cheap or small drone.

---

It was 120km from the front lines, but the operator was likely a lot closer. The Russians have the problem of operating in an area where many of the locals absolutely despise them, so saboteurs and partisans running recon with cheap drones can be anywhere and everywhere.

That did not look like a high flying drone like a Predator, more like a quadcopter so without repeaters the operator was less than a mile away.

The US has the capability to track down something the size of a bee within a 50 mile radius, appears the Russian technology advantage they touted for years was a farce. You would think they would invest in better defense of one of their $500+ million systems.

They may have known it was there, but the trick is doing something about it. They would have needed some kind of short range weapon to engage it because they're not going to be able to fire an S-400 at every off the shelf quadcopter that comes around. Even a short range SAM or MANPADS is overkill and too expensive to be sustainable. Looking at the site didn't kill it though. I think their real concern is what that site got hit with and why they didn't see that coming.

Will Wagner boss's death affect the battle? Will his troops remain loyal to Russia?

Posted without reference to prior posts on this subject.

Zaporizhzhia Region

First part Russian special forces, probably UAV pilots were destroyed by 155mm present.

Second part Russian positions also was shelled.

A few days ago we destroyed the Russian headquarters, the Russians are now panicking, there are dead officers.

📍|… pic.twitter.com/rwcApuEG71

— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) August 24, 2023

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

---

Will Wagner boss's death affect the battle? Will his troops remain loyal to Russia?

Posted without reference to prior posts on this subject.

---

I doubt it will affect the battle. Wagner kinda got subsumed and became a non-factor after the whole charge to Moscow thing.

I was wondering how long it would take them ...

Lots of rumors of 80+ Ukrainian vehicles pushing south from robotyne. This would be the largest attack to date if it's confirmed.

Pro-Russian sources are reporting a very significant accumulation of Ukrainian military personnel and hardware around Rabotino. Monitoring. https://t.co/1enA3MDss6

— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) August 24, 2023

benchmark said:

---

I was wondering how long it would take them ...

---

I can't fathom taking a grinder to cut open a 155mm artillery shell filled with cluster munitions and then playing with them to figure out how to drop them from a drone.

💭🇺🇦Ukrainian journalist Butusov writes: The Russian S-400 air defense system was destroyed yesterday in Crimea with the help of a modified Ukrainian R-360 Neptune cruise missile.

With the help of an anti-ship missile, an extremely important part of the S-400 complex was also… pic.twitter.com/5cmXJiUcxF

— 🇺🇦Ukrainian Front (@front_ukrainian) August 24, 2023

That was my exact thought. The whole thing would scare the ....

BREAKING:

First reports of the Ukrainian Army having entered Novoprokopivka

🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/mLIOAZjhmv

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 24, 2023

Seen this multiple places fwiw

Russia might be headed out of there, back to the defense line South of the town.

Defmon's Map (see the orange lines for trench/fortifications. The red broken line is the Russian forward line (this is likely outdated by now).

https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Operational%20Map%20Ukraine/nBT8ffpeGH

AgLA06 said:

---

I can't fathom taking a grinder to cut open a 155mm artillery shell filled with cluster munitions and then playing with them to figure out how to drop them from a drone.

---

Shorts, crocs, cigarettes, cut-off grinder, and 155mm cluster munitions ... only thing missing is beer.

lots going on: Special Ops raid, S-400 site taken out and now a massing of armor

Long video (15 min) of a compilation of battles from both sides. Some of them have been seen before, but most were new to me.

Just a little more elbow room around Robotyne and Ukraine should be able to bring arty up… and make it rain on Tokmak.

Accurate artillery and lots of it will eventually lead to the demise of the Russians in Ukraine. It's just not as glorious of an advance, but effective.

This assault happened here. pic.twitter.com/h0dAgEKJ89

— Andrew Perpetua (@AndrewPerpetua) August 24, 2023

⚡️Zelensky: Portugal to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.

Portugal has confirmed that it will join international efforts to train Ukrainian pilots and technicians on F-16 fighter jets, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Aug. 24, as reported by Interfax Ukraine.

Photo:… pic.twitter.com/LgPMXyg7V2

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 24, 2023

Something I've been wondering.

Whether it's patriotic bias or whatever, I'm sure a lot are like me assume the US has the best fighter pilots and training programs. How do these other countries training Uke F16 pilots stack up?

The last time US forces executed a mechanized assault on a line of fixed fortifications, we conducted a 6 week air campaign with over 100,000 sorties first. Then had copious air support to interdict enemy movement & generally support ground forces during the operation.

UAF has… https://t.co/exnjBfNB7y

— Patrick Fox (@RealCynicalFox) August 24, 2023

(August 24, 2023) U.S. Plans To Train Ukrainian Pilots On F-16s In Arizona Starting In October.

The United States said it will begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes in October, joining a Western coalition that is helping to prepare Kyiv’s fliers on the sophisticated… pic.twitter.com/mNrTdz69X2

— 🅱🅸🆃 🅾🅵 🅲🅾🅽🆃🅴🆇🆃 (@TheSDPadresFan) August 24, 2023

Waffledynamics said:

---

This assault happened here. pic.twitter.com/h0dAgEKJ89

— Andrew Perpetua (@AndrewPerpetua) August 24, 2023

---

🚨🚨

There is unconfirmed reports of Ukrainian forces entering the town of Novoprokopivka.

👀👀

Follow for more pic.twitter.com/HQHWe1TYEx

— WarFrontline (@WarFrontline) August 24, 2023

Russia can't pull up enough trained and equipped reserves on exterior lines to adequately cover all potential breakthrough points if they haven't truly completed their defense in depth to the degree that their forward lines of defense were prepared.

If the second lines or more aren't mined, covered with artillery, and manned by the same density of soldiers, Ukraine will be able to push through them and engage in mobile warfare beyond them, and threaten to cut them off or encircle the defenders that don't withdraw. This will all depend on if Russian artillery remains adequate and if they deployed huge minefields like they did on the first main line of defense.

Several Russian sources are highlighting a dangerous situation that is developing on the "island(s)" of the Dnieper river, where recon companies of the Russian 205th Brigade are ordered forward without any artillery support, resulting in their destruction by Ukrainians.

First… pic.twitter.com/kJQJnHCJns

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 25, 2023

Ukrainian mechanized forces clear a Russian-held treeline south of Bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/YmcNSfw1GO

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 25, 2023