A Ukrainian artillery officer commanding two of its HIMARS launchers confirms that this footage from Izyum was the aftermath of a HIMARS strike. wsj.com/amp/articles/n…
"HIMARS hit a Russian military barracks where new recruits were sleeping, inflicting heavy losses, Lt. Koval said. In a 3rd attack he described, the Ukrainians directed all 4 HIMARS at Russian positions in one Ukrainian town, sending 24 rockets against targets in the same area."
Six 200-pound rockets slammed into the Russian position, largely destroying it, said Lt. Koval, who commands 2 HIMARS batteries (launchers). The Russian base was one of about 10 high-value positions Lt. Koval says Ukraine has hit in the 2 weeks since taking charge of the systems
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Good thread by Sergey. The Russian military has demonstrated a number of weaknesses (mostly vis-a-vis NATO members), but I don't think any country could successfully occupy all of Ukraine, especially with significant arms and intelligence support from NATO.
There was a clear disconnect between the unrealistic political goals Putin assigned and the military capabilities Russia dedicated to this war. That says more about the utility of military force than about Russia' status as a great power. 2/
The irony is that Russian officials watched the US invasion of Iraq and correctly thought it was crazy. Then Putin decided to repeat many of the same mistakes, because he bizarrely thought there would be minimal resistance from Ukrainians. 3/
Russian MoD spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Russia has withdrawn its forces from Snake Island. t.me/rian_ru/169294
He claims this is a gesture of goodwill (similar to claims by Russian officials about why they retreated from Kyiv). In reality, Ukraine's receipt of Harpoon anti-ship missiles and HIMARS put Russian forces on the island at increasing risk. 2/ ria.ru/20220630/zmein…
The most significant aspect is that this could open the door to Ukrainian grain exports from Odesa, which is critical for Ukraine's economy and for the global food supply. 3/
Video of the Russian Kh-22 missile strike on the shopping mall in Kremenchuk yesterday from a nearby park. t.me/truexanewsua/5…
It appears the two (or more) missile strikes were almost 500 meters apart. One struck the mall and the other appears to hit the factory by the park (marked in yellow). 2/
Footage reportedly from the second missile strike that hit the Kredmash factory in Kremenchuk. 3/ t.me/suspilnenews/1…
Thread: over the past two days the Russian MoD appears to have confirmed the Russian military's command structure in Ukraine:
Commander of Russian forces: Gennady Zhidko
Commander of Central grouping: Alexander Lapin
Commander of Southern grouping: Sergey Surovikin
During Shoigu's visit today, he sat next to Deputy Defense Minister Gennady Zhidko. This seems to confirm that he is the commander. Zhidko replaced Andrey Kartapolov (now a Duma MP) as head of the MoD's Main Military-Political Directorate in the fall. 2/
Zhidko previously served as the commander of the Eastern Military District and as Deputy Chief of the General Staff. He also served as the Chief of Staff of Russian forces in Syria in 2016, though I believe he was never the commander unlike most other district commanders. 3/