There are unconfirmed attacks in Kharkiv tonight. I first mapped them, but I decided to delete them, which you’ll notice by the numbers.
Ukraine confirmed strikes near Kupyansk (1) and Semenivka (2). Many focused on Kupyansk, Ukraine claims 100 casualties and two destroyed vehicles, but remember that Semenivka important. It, along with Balaklyia (3), forms the backbone of the Russian defense in this area.
In the Siversk area, there is weak evidence that Ukraine could control Brusivka (4). I marked Ozerne (5) because I needed a 5th thing to label. Russia attacked Hryhorivka (6) two times today without success. They also attacked Bilohorivka (7) without success.
Yesterday, Zelensky mentioned that Ukrainian forces are climbing the hills in the direction of Lysychansk. There is one hill north of Verhnokamyanske, and the peak is just west of Zolotarivka.
There is a second hill south of Verkhnokamyanske, and the peak is just south of the Verkhnokamyanka oil refinery. Ukraine controlling either height would be a significant development.
In the Bakhmut area, the Ukrainian General Staff claims there is fighting near Pokrovske (10), and Ukrainian soldiers claim to control the heights around Bakhmut.
There are two notable high points around Bakhmut: One is near the gas station at the intersection of M03 and T1202; the other is just southwest of Pokrovske. The latter, of course, corresponds with the statement of the General Staff.
I have drawn the Ukrainian line about halfway between these two high points. There is still fighting in Soledar (8) and Bakhmutske (9). Keep in mind that while Ukraine appears to be having a lot of success in the Bakhmut area, the soldiers report high casualties.
South of Bakhmut, there is fighting in Vesela Dolyna (11), Zaitseve (12), and Kodema (13,14). The Ukrainian General Staff claims there is fighting in Semyhirja (13).
Perhaps Ukraine counterattacked, pushing Russia back a few hundred meters into the outskirts of that town, or maybe it is a pass-aggressive jab at Russia’s anemic offensive.
In the Donetsk area, Russia is trying to push north from Spartak (15), but they are attacking a Cold War-era airbase, complete with nuclear bomb shelters. It is one of the most heavily fortified areas in Ukraine.
Russia claims Ukraine withdrew from its positions to the west of the airfield after a heavy artillery bombardment, and Russia is trying to push through this area to attack Vodyane (16).
After a week of shelling, Russia assaulted the Ukrainian fortifications south of Pervomaiske today (17). The results of this attack are unknown to me, but I suspect it failed. Similarly, Russia failed to advance toward Nevelske (18) and north from Lozove (19).
I decided to post some images from Zaporizhzhia. The gray area substantially increased because Russia is shelling areas further south, but without corresponding confirmations of Ukrainian captures of the towns further north. Draw your own conclusions.
Finally, in the area north of Kherson, in the direction of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine captured Vysokopillya yesterday, confirmed by both Ukraine and Russia. Russia claims to be repeatedly counterattacking the town, each attack leading to a failure (20).
Similarly, Russia claims to contest both Olhyne and Arkhanhelske, and their attempt to take control over Olhyne (21) ended in failure. According to them, anyhow. We are only getting one side of the story here.
Furthermore, due to uncertainty, I have increased the gray area around various other settlements substantially.
I want to start by saying I don’t have access to official documents or meetings, so I’m piecing together their motivations based on what I observe and logical reasoning. Keep that in mind as you read on.
This year, Russia's goals are threefold. First, to capture the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Second, to capture Kostyantynivka. Third, to capture Slovyansk.
Each of these goals has necessary steps. To capture the bank in Zaporizhzhia, you must first capture Orikhiv. To capture Slovyansk, you must first capture Lyman. You could argue that to capture Kostyantynivka, you must first capture Chasiv Yar.
These goals are very ambitious and, honestly, impossible to fully achieve. So let’s think of them as aspirations and focus instead on how close Russia might get to reaching them.
Ukraine launched several counterattacks in the Verbove and Ternove areas of Zaporizhzhia. They were quite successful, pushing Russia out of several settlements and possibly capturing some. This also threatened Russia’s main supply route to the west. Because of this, Russia has to do two things: divert resources from their main attack to stabilize the area and try to recapture this ground to keep pushing west toward Orikhiv. Meanwhile, Ukraine gains time to strengthen defenses, plan their strategy, and prepare for more counterattacks, something Russia worries about given their timeline.
This has already delayed Russia’s offensive by months, and it will take many more weeks for them to regain their previous position.
Recently, Russia tried an armored assault on Orikhiv, which failed badly (A). They also tried to advance through Mala Tokmachka (B) before, but that failed too. A direct attack on Orikhiv is unlikely to succeed without heavy losses, so Russia wants to avoid it unless they have no choice. Still, based on past experience, they might end up having to take the town this way.
The military analysis of Iran has been the absolute worst military analysis I have ever seen in my entire life.
There have been times where I listen to some "expert" where almost every word they say in the entire interview is factually wrong. Some of these people are so wrong that I feel like you could have a big box of words and reach in and draw them randomly and it be more factual.
To prove my point, I just asked a LLM to analyze the form of a normal military interview on cable news and using strictly randomly generated words and no access to the actual news please give me a report on what's going on in Ian (unironically, this is what LLMs are good at, probably, just lying about shit):::
From an operational standpoint, the expanding American strike corridor may complicate Iran’s layered coastal defenses, which could scatter missile batteries inland.
At the tactical level, the Iranian drone screen might disrupt a forward U.S. maneuver package, which could stall momentum along the maritime axis.
From the broader battlefield geometry, the concentrated American carrier posture may pressure Iran’s southern command network, which could trigger rapid repositioning of defensive units.
Right now on the ground, the reinforced Iranian coastal belt might absorb the initial U.S. probing attacks, which could slow the opening phase of the campaign.
The main thing that any educated person needs to keep in mind at all times is that realpolitik is fake and everyone who believes in it is typically universally wrong on every single word they ever say.
It is especially funny because realpolitik people are almost never experts in any domain, and they get their info from aggregators. And those aggregators know the realpolitik people use them, and as such present info in a way most likely to influence the realpolitik.
They end up just being unwitting amplifiers of misinformation.
Frankly I think the fastest way to end the war in Ukraine is not by sending tanks or by idiotic peace proposals. The fastest way is to set up factories across europe to produce 1000-2000 long range strike drones per day, and launch hundreds if not thousands of drones into Russia every single day until the country collapses. If they think sending 500 drones into Ukraine is a threat, see how they respond when 3000 drones fly into Russia.
With this many drones you can hammer every single factory, powerplant, substation, oil refinery, and mine in russia relentlessly.
Europe had a million drone program, to supply 1 million fpv drones. Fuck fpv drones. Have a 1 million drone program to supply 1 million strike drones. That's your million drones.
The "stupid westerners, sanctions do not work, we smuggle goods in illegally. muahaha, Russia unstoppable" people tickle me. Sanctions are not for stopping goods entirely, they are for increasing friction because the resources you spend smuggling are resources not spent growing
People fundamentally don't understand the purpose of a sanction. Sanctions are not to stop the war now, although they do damage Russia, the real goal of a sanction is long term economic damage to permanently shrink their economic growth on the timescale of decades.
The sanction is basically saying "okay, you're a threat to me today, and maybe I can't do much about it now, but I will shrink you and outgrow you so in 50-100 years you are no longer a threat to me at all". It is a long term play.
The Russians claim they shoot down Ukrainian aircraft the moment the missile leaves the tube, but we're supposed to believe they shot down two Black Hawks on Tuesday and only announced it after Ukraine leaked Black Hawk footage on Friday. These Black Hawks join the 650 F-16s and 450,000 M777s Russia has 'destroyed.'
GUYS. I AM GOING TO POST A VIDEO WHERE I WILL BLUR THE UNIT LOGOS TO SHIT SO NOBODY CAN TELL I STOLE THE VIDEOS FROM THE ARCHIVE AND THEN POST IT TO THE INTERNET SAYING I KILLED ALL THE SPECIAL FORCES
And then media outlets and super smart think tank people all over the world will believe me for some reason and then everyone will be like omg all the special forces died.