lenaitch
Senior Member
Interesting to see the rails deformed simply due to the weight of the wheels.
Interesting to see the rails deformed simply due to the weight of the wheels.
No doubt. I tend to creep TSB investigation reports (a little weird I will admit) and I don't think I've ever seen something similar. I imagine in this case it was a flammable product release caused by shrapnel but the cars staying upright on the rails, which is not typical in most rail incidents.I think the hour or more of high temperature fuel fires applied to them might have something to do with it too...
Ukrainian Intelligence claims these strikes were planned weeks ago in response to territorial losses. So this is not actually the response to the bridge. That may, or may not, come later.
We've seen this sort of thing before, sic Moskva. It's really weak - reprisal attacks on clearly, and solely civilian targets in response to having their strategic link damaged - it meant that they had nothing. And if he think he will rattle the Ukrainians with that, he'd be out to lunch.
AoD
It really is baffling. Up there with the German's decision to blitz London, yet somehow even worse.You know what I find odd...........
To expend that much military capital (over 80 missiles) , on a large number on targets that don't help you in the theatre of war.
The Russians have been pushed back aggressively by the Ukrainians (yay), but if you were the Russians, and you have missile power to spare........would it not be logical to do
to the Ukrainians what they are doing to you? ie. target their logistics, their fuel supplies, their food supplies, their ammo supplies, and their ability to reinforce their front lines?
Wasting finite resources on killing a few dozen civilians isn't merely morally suspect, its strategically absurd.
I mean great, that the Russians are hastening their own demise............but what a bizarre way to fight a war.
It really is baffling. Up there with the German's decision to blitz London, yet somehow even worse.
Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, has told CNN that Russian missiles have hit roughly 30% of the country’s energy infrastructure since Monday.
Indeed. The US government doesn't take too kindly to defence contractors admitting to being swayed by and publicly lobbying for foreign leaders, especially those who are American adversaries.Musk finding himself in a bit of an uncomfortable position right now.
I take these reports with many grains of salt, but I think the possibility of an attempted coup d'etat in the next 6 months in Russia has increased from a very tiny percentage to a small percentage. Say from 1%, to now at 5%.Putin is now trapped by an event that was supposed to be televisual and about a faraway place, but which has taken on an immediate political form inside Russia. Two prominent Russian political figures, Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, have criticized the Russian high command quite brutally. Given that everyone knows that Putin is doing the actual commanding, this has to be divisive. The Kremlin responded to Kadyrov directly, and army propaganda has been showing a criticized commander with his troops in the field. By what I take to be no coincidence, both Kadyrov and Prigozhin control something like a private armed force.
Kadyrov, the de facto dictator of Russia's Chechnya region, has his own militia. It was deployed to Ukraine, where it seemed to specialize in terrorizing civilians and instagramming itself. After pushing for mobilization in Russia last month, Kadyrov then announced that no one from Chechnya would be mobilized. One might conclude that he is saving his men for something else.
Prigozhin is the leader of the murky mercenary entity Wagner, and has been making himself more visible in that capacity. Right now Wagner is leading the daily Russian attempts at offensives in the Bakhmut area of Donetsk region, which are not actually going anywhere. Wagner does not seem to be very active where the Ukrainians are advancing, which is rather more important. Yesterday Gulagu.net reported that a Wagner fighter shot a Russian army officer, which would seem to indicate that all is not well on that part of the front. Is it a stretch to suppose that Prigozhin is sparing whatever valuable men and material he has left? He has been openly recruiting Russian prisoners to fight for Wagner in Ukraine; I would venture the supposition that he is sending them to die and [he is] keeping back the men and equipment who might have a future in some other endeavor.
I am happy with Canada's level of support. We need to be doing more to build up our own military however.The above got me wondering where the overall levels of foreign support for Ukraine are currently.
The most recent tracking list I can find is current to October 3rd, so would not include the above announcement, obviously.
View attachment 432218
What's interesting here is there is another graph that shows money out of the door vs announced and Canada's rank is higher:
View attachment 432219
Of note, as measured by % GDP Canada has given the amount as the U.S. at 0.2%
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Ukraine Support Tracker - A Database of Military, Financial and Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine
The Ukraine Support Tracker lists and quantifies military, financial and humanitarian aid promised by governments to Ukraine.www.ifw-kiel.de