NATO - The Ukraine

[Pelican]

TODAY'S MOD INTEL. UPDATE

Ukrainian Troops Just Hoisted Their Flag On Snake Island—Then Speeded Away As Russian Missiles Rained Down

A team of Ukrainian troops riding in at least one machine-gun-armed small boat landed on Snake Island around dawn on Thursday, officially reclaiming the tiny, rocky islet 80 miles south of Odesa in the western Black Sea.

The operation took place eight days after Russian forces abandoned the 42-acre island while under heavy fire from Ukrainian artillery lobbing shells across the 20 miles of water separating the island from Ukraine’s southwestern coast.

The Thursday landing was fleeting and symbolic—but potentially morale-boosting as Ukrainian brigades complete their fighting retreat from Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and re-establish defensive lines around Siversk, Sloviansk and Bakhmut.

Continues at - https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2 ... a7f38e5c1f

[Pelican]

UNVERIFIED:

Russian MoD claims to have "destroyed 2 coastal Harpoon missile systems supplied to Ukraine by England" near Odesa
See - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 5531569152

And - Russia: We hit 2 Harpoon coastal systems sent by Britain
At - https://www.trthaber.com/haber/dunya/ru ... 93693.html

Navy Lookout - "Possibly systems supplied by Denmark. Seems unlikely UK has given Ukraine Harpoon from its limited and semi-obsolete stocks."
See - https://www.navylookout.com/can-the-uk- ... o-ukraine/

[Pelican]

FOR GREENDRAGON:

Squadron of British tanks arrive in Poland to deter Russia

British tanks have arrived in Poland, their aim is to deter Russian aggression and to fill in for tanks Poland has donated to Ukraine.

14 Challenger 2 tanks assigned to ‘A’ Squadron of the Queen’s Royal Hussars arrived in Poland today.

The British tanks will be integrated into the Polish 21st Podhale Rifles Brigade, 18th Mechanized Division for six months as part of Britain’s growing military presence in eastern Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The below tweet, translated, says:
“The transfer of the British Challenger tank company to south-eastern Poland is coming to an end. The last tanks and accompanying vehicles will arrive within the next dozen or so hours. Tankers from will train with sub-units of the Iron Division.“

Continues at - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/squadro ... -g0MQAgJY0

[Pelican]

Russia Salvages Landing Ship Sunk by Ukraine Missiles

In March, we posted about the sinking of a Russian Alligator Class landing ship by a Ukrainian ballistic missile strike in the Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk, which Russia captured in late February.

The Russians are now salvaging the landing ship. At the time of the attack, the Ukrainians identified the ship as the Orsk. It now appears that the ship being salvaged is a sister ship, the Saratov.

The 58-year-old Saratov joined the Soviet navy in 1964. It can carry up to 20 tanks, or 45 armored personnel carriers, or 50 trucks, as well as up to 400 marines. The ship is 113m (371ft) long and can carry a load of up to 1,500 tonnes.

Berdyansk lies on the Sea of Azov, between the port city of Mariupol and Crimea. Capturing Mariupol, now in ruins after months of bombardment, was a key strategic goal for the Russian military.

See - http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2022/07/russ ... more-59410 - Which has embedded links.


Ukraine's drones are becoming increasingly ineffective as Russia ramps up its electronic warfare and air defenses

Drones were hailed as a wonder weapon for Ukrainian forces in the early stages of Russia's invasion.
But experts told Insider that drones are becoming increasingly ineffective as Russia has improved its defense systems.
Russia is jamming and shooting downing Ukrainian drones, while developing its own capabilities.

Continues at - https://www.businessinsider.com/drones- ... ?r=US&IR=T


Four More HIMARS Launchers Heading To Ukraine Bringing Total To 12

This latest round of weapons deliveries from the U.S. to Ukraine will also include 1,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery shells.

See - https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/f ... rL7ax_XR-k

[greendragon]

Couple of months ago during his visit to Poland Mr Wallace the Def Sec said that " Poland and UK are like an old marriage. A lot of common and mutual understanding" (or something close to it).
So I am not surprised that the British tanks have came here in order to provide better support to the Eastern flank and Poland in particular.

The marriage has survived - from the British side - even the Cold War times in material form which is the 7 Tank Transportation Regiment British Army has been named " Polish"; its badge since today has been Polish National emblem - White Eagle on white and red plate (Polish National colors).
Wiki gives wrong information : the unit was created in 1945/46 not in 1961 and initially except its CO and EXO who were British officers all were Polish low bed tractor drivers.
Nothing was changed by the Brits during the Cold War times, the Polish tradition was maintained proudly and strongly by the British soldiers including the unit Colors which one side is dark blue RLC Colors pattern and the other typically Polish with Polish words "God, Honor, Homeland". And many more stuff which reminds the unit Polish background.
I know the 7th history very well, wrote an article about the 7th to Polish press and was in touch couple of times with its personnel.

gd

[Pelican]

Today's intel. update.

[Pelican]

The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 11 July 2022

[Pelican]

See Tweets and photos here - https://twitter.com/i/events/1546421015110107136 - unconfirmed as yet.

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout

Experts agree that it could take years to clear the Black Sea of mines. Any attempt to do so would be the most extensive since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
Ukraine's outline de-mining plan envisages the use of uncrewed systems (robots).

Sea mines: the deadly danger lurking in Ukraine’s waters

As floating explosives claim lives of bathers, experts agree it will take years to de-mine the Black Sea

See - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -black-sea

[emason]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... ong-range/

Russia suffers ‘wild shell hunger’ as Ukraine hits arms depots with long-range Western rockets

Vladimir Putin’s forces face ‘out of the blue’ ammunition shortages as warehouses destroyed ‘one by one’ using Himar and MLRS weapons

Ukraine has been targeting Russian ammunition depots with Western long-range weapons, such as this one on a logistics target near the railway station in Donetsk Credit: EyePress News/Shutterstock

Russia is running short of ammunition for its armies fighting in Donbas after Ukraine hit several arms depots with new Western long-range artillery, a pro-Russia blogger has said.

The hits on at least five depots lying miles behind the frontline between Donetsk and Luhansk began on Friday and set off explosions at each site that lasted several hours.

Bloggers reported seeing fires burning for hours and Russian state media said that debris from the sites had been catapulted up to three miles away. Local authorities closed roads and evacuated civilians.

In his blog, Fighting Cat Murtz, a pro-Russia former rebel fighter, blamed Russian commanders who knew that Britain and the US were supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles but still stored ammunition within their range.
Russian air defences 'ineffective' against Himars

"Now we've lost these warehouses one by one," he wrote. "Instead, out of the blue, a wild 'shell hunger' has just been created by the enemy who has mastered new foreign artillery systems and MLRS." MLRS are British long-range artillery systems.

Fighting Cat Murtz is a supporter of the pro-Russia Donetsk People's Republic, but is scathing of the Russian military leadership. In his latest blog, he called them "vile, petty and thieving".

Igor Strelkov, a former commander of rebel forces in the Donetsk People's Republic, who had strong links to Russia's FSB, confirmed Fighting Cat Murz's information. He said that 10 ammunition dumps had been hit over the past week by Ukrainian missiles, and that several oil depots and a dozen command posts had been destroyed.

"The Russian air defence system … turned out to be ineffective against massive strikes by Himar missiles," he said on his Telegram channel, which has 400,000 followers. "There have been big losses in personnel and equipment."

Ukraine's strike against Russian command posts and ammunition supplies came after further US deliveries took the total number of Himars on the battlefield to nine.

Ukrainian forces had been begging for long-range artillery to even up the massive imbalance of weapons in the main Donbas war zone, where Russian forces have conquered town after town - mainly by bombing them into submission.

Kyiv has not attributed specific strikes to receiving US Himars, British M270 MLRS and French Caesar howitzers. However Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk region, has said that the campaign had succeeded in slowing Russian offensive operations.

On Twitter, Ukrainian supporters were celebrating. "How can you sleep when it is so beautiful," one Twitter user wrote against a video from Donetsk of several explosions.

'Losses are very serious'

Russia's Ministry of Defence has said that it has destroyed two Himars systems, although Ukraine denied this claim.

Unofficial Russian military propaganda channels urged them to intensify their hunt for the Western weapon systems or face "serious losses".

"Himars are working. Very accurate work on command posts. Losses are very serious,” one used on the Telegram social messaging app. The post was shared by Military Informer, a generally reliable pro-Russian propaganda channel.

Starshe Eddie, a Telegram channel run by an author who often reports from Russian frontline forces, said on Friday that Western weapons should "neither be underestimated nor a reason for panic". However, it urged Russian commanders to disperse and camouflage high-value targets, like command posts and ammunition depots.

“A number of systems supplied by Nato enable high-precision strikes far in the rear, especially with Nato satellite intelligence,” the author wrote in a post shared widely on pro-Russian war channels.