Katherine Hersch Profile picture
Apr 25, 2022 26 tweets 25 min read Read on X
One or more fuel depots in #Bryansk, #Russia are on #fire after residents in the area reported hearing explosions. Bryansk is in the area of Russia near both the Belarus & Ukrainian borders (about 100 km from both). Will post more as furter info comes in.
The fires currently burning in #Bryansk, #Russia. 2/
Video of the fire in #Bryansk, #Russia 3/
The Russian newswire TASS is confirming the fire in #Bryansk, #Russia, saying it started at 2:00 a.m. Moscow time Monday. No cause of the fire is given in the article, and it only mentions one fire, not two.
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
Work already has been done on geolocating the two fires in #Bryansk, #Ukraine. These images show the fires to be at two rather sizable fuel depots.
One of the best photos I've seen thus far in terms of giving a sense of how immense the fuel depot fires in #Bryansk, #Russia are. 6/
Potential causes of the #fires in #Bryansk, #Russia:
1. Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles (120 km range, so they could make it, but that would be a sad commentary on the state of Russia's air defense)
2. Sabotage by Ukrainian special forces or agents
3. Russian false flag operation. 7/
More on #sabotage (not missiles) as possible cause of the #fires in #Bryansk, #Russia: sabotage could be via:
1. Explosives (directly cause fire, or interrupt depot processes, leading to fire)
2. Hacking of depot control systems (disrupt operations in way that causes fires). 8/
Most of the reports related to the #Bryansk, #Russia #fires also mention large #explosions having been heard. I have not seen anything definitive indicating whether the explosions occurred prior to the fires, or simply as a result of the fires. 9/
More on potential causes of #Bryansk fuel depot #fires in #Russia: Obviously, Ukrainian fighter jets or attack helicopters could be the cause.
Recall that Ukrainian helicopters likely caused the fuel depot fires in Belgorod, Russia early this month.
Map showing location of #Bryansk, #Russia, where there were two major fuel depot #fires overnight. 11/
The sun is rising over #Bryansk, #Russia. Here is a photo showing the city in the early morning hours after the fuel depot #fires overnight.
#Drones also have to be included as a potential way Ukraine could have attacked the fuel depots that exploded / caught #fire in #Bryansk, #Russia. (Thank you, @Mina65543669, for mentioning that; I apreciate everyone's patience as I think through all this in real time!) 13/
Another photo of #Bryansk, #Russia in the early morning hours. The fuel depot #fires that started overnight are still burning in the background.
Two things about the #Bryansk, #Russia #fires that I am seeing mentioned but am still researching:
1. One of the fuel facilities that was hit plays a key role in the export of oil from Russia to western Europe.
2. A military base / ammunition depot in Bryansk also was hit. /15
(Note: About 30% of Russian natural #gas sent to Western Europe flows through pumps & pipes in #Ukraine. And it's still flowing even though Ukraine could shut it off if it wanted to. Keep that in mind when thinking about what may have been hit in the #Bryansk, #Russia fires.) 16/
So one of the facilities that experienced #fires & #explosions in #Bryansk, #Russia overnight appears to be a military depot that stores oil in above ground tanks as well as what looks like ammunition. Location: 53.21318610737469, 34.44644440035686 17/
The 2nd major facility that had #fires & #explosions in #Bryansk, #Russia overnight seems to be an oil storage depot & (perhaps) pumping station. This could be a facility involved in pumping oil to W. Europe. (Still checking on that.)
53.225216461390076, 34.45842757716536 18/
The two locations where major #fires appear to have taken place in #Bryansk, #Russia are just 1-2 km from one another (see image below, which includes a scale at the bottom: 1000 feet = 305 meters). 19/
The audio in this video -- ostensibly from #Bryansk, #Russia -- may shed light on what caused one or both major #fires in that city overnight. To my untrained ear, it sounds like something was "incoming" prior to the #explosion and fire. 20/
Here is what Russian TV is saying about the #fires in #Bryansk. (For the Russian speakers among you: is there anything noteworthy being reported in the video?) 21/
It appears that neither #fire in #Bryansk, #Russia at a pumping station for the main Russian oil pipeline to Western Europe, #Druzhba. The Druzhba pipeline passes about 30 km south of Bryansk city (red circle in image below) (image via @DonaldSprunk). 22/
The Russian wire service TASS has updated its article about the #Bryansk #fires to include a photo from the fire. It's certainly not as dramatic as some of the photos and videos of the fires that are available. But it's also far from tame. 23/
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
To me, this analysis of the video I posted earlier from one of the #Bryansk, #Russia fires suggests it resulted from something hitting the area, such as a missile, drone, or rocket fired from an aircraft. 24/
This analysis concludes that the #explosions and #fires in #Bryansk, #Russia were most likely the result of #Bayraktar #TB2 #drone attacks by #Ukraine. 25/
The Russian news service TASS put out some photos a few hours ago of the #fires in #Bryansk, #Russia still burning. This one almost looks like a dystopic science fiction poster.

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More from @ThatKHersch

Sep 14, 2022
1/ The leading German newsweekly, Der Spiegel, is reporting that the Biden administration is "quite sympathetic" to the idea of #Germany being the first country to provide #Ukraine with modern, western-designed #tanks and other armored vehicles.
spiegel.de/politik/deutsc…
2/ Spiegel: "US diplomats recently signaled to the German government on several occasions that Washington was quite sympathetic to an explosive idea: that Germany would be the first country to announce tank deliveries and thus possibly involve other EU partners." Image
3/ The Spiegel report, which notes that Washington itself is still undecided about whether or not to supply Ukraine with western-designed tanks, dovetails with reporting by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier this week.
Read 7 tweets
Sep 13, 2022
1/ I like a lot about the analyses @MarkHertling shares on this site. But he has some explaining to do about a point in his latest thread where he suggests that there is something unexpected and potentially really bad about Ukraine wanting to recover Crimea.

Huh? Image
2/ Hertling includes "Will UKR attempt to recover Crimea?" in his list of "black swans" that could occur in the war in Ukraine. He defines "black swans" as "unpredictable" events that often have "severe consequences."
3/ So, for Hertling, Ukraine wanting to recover Crimea falls into the same category of events such as
- Russia continuing to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, or
- Russia resorting to weapons of mass destruction
(which are some of the other "black swans" in his list).
Read 11 tweets
Jun 29, 2022
1/ Two major U.S. media outlets have recently reported that officials in the Biden administration are starting to doubt whether #Ukraine can regain Ukrainian territory currently occupied by #Russia.
2/ In a report early yesterday, CNN said "White House officials are losing confidence that Ukraine will ever be able to take back all of the land it has lost to Russia over the past four months of war ..."
cnn.com/2022/06/28/pol…
3/ "Advisers to President Joe Biden," CNN's report continued, "have begun debating internally how and whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should shift his definition of a Ukrainian "victory" – adjusting for the possibility that his country has shrunk irreversibly."
Read 10 tweets
Jun 28, 2022
1/ A neglected aspect of yesterday's "G7 Statement of Support for Ukraine" is how it talks about #Ukraine's #borders. The language is a positive development for those who (like me) believe the #war should end with #Russia gone from every square inch of Ukrainian territory. 🧵 Image
2/ Many past statements by allied leaders have been notable for not even mentioning Ukraine's borders. President Biden's essay in the New York Times a month ago, outlining U.S. goals for its support of Ukraine, is a notable (and notorious) example.
3/ Yet yesterday's G7 statement on Ukraine addresses the issue of Ukraine's borders at least three times, all of them early in the statement. I quote each of those instances below (with added highlighting via capitalization).
g7germany.de/resource/blob/…
Read 6 tweets
Jun 27, 2022
1/ The first of the German-supplied PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers are now in action in eastern #Ukraine. The German newspaper Bild has a report and photos of the howitzer in action.
bild.de/politik/auslan…
2/ One of the co-authors of the Bild report about the PzH 2000's being in Ukraine, @ronzheimer, also is sharing photos and video of the howitzer in action.
Read 5 tweets
Jun 20, 2022
1/ There have been reports today that Russian installations on occupied Snake Island have come under heavy bombardment by Ukrainian forces. There also is speculation the attack may have been carried out using HIMARS rocket launchers.

Would this be possible?

Yes.

A short 🧵. Image
2/ 70 km (43.5 miles) is the most commonly reported range of HIMARS launchers using the GMLRS munitions Ukraine's allies will be providing. That would put Snake Island within range of Ukrainian coastal areas under Ukrainian control. Image
3/ A closer look of the Ukraine coast within 70 km of Snake Island reveals that there are many locations where HIMARS launchers could be set up for an attack on Snake Island. Image
Read 7 tweets

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