Now on to surround Bakhmut from the south and the north

Quote:

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Death toll of Russian airstrike in Kupiansk increased to 6, the bridge over Oskil river destroyed

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/19-september-death-toll-of-russian-airstrike-in-kupiansk

That's gonna hurt

Norway donates tracked cargo carriers to Ukraine. Should be particularly useful in fall mud and winter snow.

FIFTY

Russian war propaganda targeting the youth is going into overdrive.

“We will win,” - the young Putin-patriots sing
pic.twitter.com/Ptg3nQI6j8

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 19, 2023

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Tehran today to beg Iranian officials to send more weapons to Russia.

Iran and North Korea are the only 2 countries sending direct military aid to Russia. pic.twitter.com/XBKTJcnPsB

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 19, 2023

Russian forces made marginal advances along the Avdiivka-#Donetsk City line and reportedly advanced near #Bakhmut & in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia border area on Sept. 18. Russian forces also continued limited ground attacks along the #Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line but did not make… https://t.co/BU8RrS62bX pic.twitter.com/FMoVjoSZyp

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) September 19, 2023

Gotta love Russian corruption.

1/ A Russian colonel arrested earlier this year for stealing seven T-90 tank engines appears to have been even more industrious than first realised: investigators have now reportedly linked him to the theft of 21 tank engines, worth tens of millions of rubles. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/98dicz3KRX

— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) September 19, 2023

Rybar’s so-called “high resolution map” sucks. Attached.

I feel like they’re being premature in calling it for Bakhmut. Ukraine has maybe 1-2 months left to do this (weather-wise), and there’s still a grind through cities like zaitseve, and a few more river crossings to go… pic.twitter.com/d35RuxCzVM

— Oleg Kostour 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@OlegKostour) September 19, 2023

Rybar:

" While the main attention of all media has shifted to the zone of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict , heavy fighting continues near Bakhmut in several areas. Despite statements by some Ukrainian sources about the capture of the village of Kleshcheevka , as well as the complete destruction of several brigades of the Russian Armed Forces, including the 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade, in reality this is not the case .

Fighting in the village continues, and most of it is in the gray zone. Yesterday, two assault groups of the 28th mechanized brigade again attacked the positions, trying to break through to the railway, but to no avail.

At the same time, west of Kleshcheevka, as well as south of Andreevka, there is a concentration of new assault units. Three detachments of the 3rd assault brigade have taken up positions and are preparing for a new attack.

Similar preparations are observed in the north at the Berkhovskoye Reservoir . The other day, tank units of the 17th brigade arrived in Bogdanovka , which had been being re-equipped for several months.

Judging by the simultaneous activation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the offensive on the flanks of Bakhmut will be coordinated in time, and the goal is to cover the city from both sides and cut off the supply routes of the Russian Armed Forces group in order to force them to resign."

Rossticus said:

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Gotta love Russian corruption.

1/ A Russian colonel arrested earlier this year for stealing seven T-90 tank engines appears to have been even more industrious than first realised: investigators have now reportedly linked him to the theft of 21 tank engines, worth tens of millions of rubles. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/98dicz3KRX

— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) September 19, 2023

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So 50 cents?

What does one do with a tank engine?

Sell it to Ukraine to fix damaged equipment

Sell them to other Colonels who did the same thing but have an inspection or deployment coming up

Sell them to Ukrainian Colonels if the price is higher

Belorussian sales are also acceptable

Could've sold to Wagner in the past but prob not so much anymore

Powers all manner of custom heavy equipment, I'd guess.

Nagler said:

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What does one do with a tank engine?

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well george parr used to use them to power his ranch off of stolen tapped gas lines from nearby operators.

I do think it's a bit comical, the Russian/Soviet history of tanks and their engines/corruption up to and including...the T-14.

Miscellaneous notes.

UPDATES

Rossticus said:

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Gotta love Russian corruption.

1/ A Russian colonel arrested earlier this year for stealing seven T-90 tank engines appears to have been even more industrious than first realised: investigators have now reportedly linked him to the theft of 21 tank engines, worth tens of millions of rubles. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/98dicz3KRX

— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) September 19, 2023

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Colonel, is that a T90 Engine in your pocket or are you happy to see me?

Thanks for the post. Makes it clear why they haven't tried it now.

txags92 said:

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benchmark said:

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nortex97 said:

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Russians aren't attempting to advance, and replicate Stalin's mistakes from WW2:

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Russian's aren't attempting to advance because it's intuitively obvious it would be suicidal. Apparently, even anoymous bloggers also agree.

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Their ability to advance would seem to have departed with the Wagner troops. Wagner seemed to be the only marginally effective force they had at trying to advance since the initial invasion was stopped. And they were mostly only successful because they had a bunch of prison conscripts to throw at battles like Iranian human wave attacks.

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Not to derail the thread. I met someone who was conscripted into the Iranian army the day he graduated in high school. They held the 25 male seniors in the cafeteria, would not let them speak with their families. He and one other person are the only survivors.

I cannot imagine the horrors he saw when taking on the Iraqi army which was better equipped and supplied. It was a slaughter.

He is always smiling, always has nice things to say, I have the deepest respect for this gentleman.

Quote:

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Ukrainian Military intelligence says 2 planes and a helicopter were damaged at Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow as result of saboteur attack

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/20-september-ukrainian-military-intelligence-says-2-planes

More explosions reported in Sevastopol, wonder what was hit this time

Nice damage assessment of the cruise missile attack on the Russian sub Rostov-on-Don.

GONE

74OA said:

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Nice damage assessment of the cruise missile attack on the Russian sub Rostov-on-Don.

GONE

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that's been known and confirmed for a few days now.

the bigger question is was the Landing Ship destroyed

and more importantly were the dry docks made ineffective for a long period of time.

I believe there's been pretty conclusive evidence that the ship in the dry dock is also a total loss. As for the dry docks themselves, I don't see how they could be used for anything for at least a period of several months because of the destroyed ship and sub that would have to be cut up and removed first.

Both are total losses. The only question is if they can weld enough plate steel on the wrecked hulls to make them floatable long enough to flood the docks and tow them out of the way, or if they'll have to be cut apart and removed by cranes.

LMCane said:

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74OA said:

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Nice damage assessment of the cruise missile attack on the Russian sub Rostov-on-Don.

GONE

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that's been known and confirmed for a few days now.

the bigger question is was the Landing Ship destroyed

and more importantly were the dry docks made ineffective for a long period of time.

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Yes, the basic fact of the sub's destruction is well known, but the article is the most detailed breakdown I've come across of how the Storm Shadow likely created the damage we see in photos.

Since Storm Shadow/Scalp is playing an important role in the war, I suggest the added detail is useful to inform our discussion following future strikes. <shrug>

🇩🇪 #Germany announced a new military aid package for #Ukraine

It includes:

◾ 30,000 155-mm shells
◾ 3,800 155 mm DM125 smoke shells
◾ 105,000 120-mm shells
◾ 480 M26 (AT2) rockets
◾ 200 MRAP armored vehicles.
◾ demining systems
◾ Dachs armored engineering vehicles.
◾… pic.twitter.com/TSMaOYuSNB

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 19, 2023

Nagler said:

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What does one do with a tank engine?

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Build a monster truck around it and take it to a tractor pull

Waffledynamics said:

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Quote:

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Ukrainian Military intelligence says 2 planes and a helicopter were damaged at Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow as result of saboteur attack

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/20-september-ukrainian-military-intelligence-says-2-planes

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Two very specialized aircraft destroyed in the raid DETAILS

Denys was discussing this yesterday:

South Korea to send two mine clearing "tanks" to Ukraine