The 20+ most underappreciated/unrecognized power centers (literally) for the prosecution of Russia's war on Ukraine.
These are the workhorses of 🇷🇺🚊logistics & enable the delivery of more death to Ukraine than airbases in Engels or Kursh.
We'll never see 🛰️ images posted. 😤
/2 Each Traction Station has at least two (2) high voltage step down transformers about the size of a Russian tank or MLRS, which go figure can't move or be hidden.
The giant tank full of oil mounted above them guarantees a destructive fire, more certain than oil/fuel tanks.
/3 TBH I deprioritized the southern Luhansk route, given the route via Luhansk (city) is not electric rail & crossings of the Siever Donetsk River are compromised.
However, everything, incl heavy Dragon's Teeth & shells enter via Likhovskoy - Ivanivka route.
These will be added
/4 On the Rostov - Taganrog - Donetsk route, AFU recently #HIMARSTime'd the traction station at Ilovaisk.
Good chances Mandrikine & Krynychna traction stations were torched prior, but I have no confirmation of any🇺🇦🚀💥
IMHO this was a good sign AFU now appreciates their value.
/5 On the southern axis, the rail connection from Kerch is not electrified, however Sebastopol to Melitopol/Novo Bohdanivka is.
We know Orcs use rail heavily to steal🇺🇦grains & Ag equip
There's little indication RuAF is using limited diesel electrics from Dzhankoi to Melitopol.
/6 In the northeast, the value of the Belgorad link is of historical note.
Arguably Valuyki is a "has been" also.
I repeatedly see the non-electrified Valuyki - Starobilsk line pushed as some "darkhorse" 🇷🇺 logistics superweapon bc somebody looked at rail maps.
IMHO it is not.
7/ Then there is the Liski - Rossosh - Millerovo realignment completed in 2016 as a major priority from Putin & The Kremlin to get around previous transits of Ukrainian territory near Chertkovo.
Frankly, I'm tired of beating the AFU Must Absolutely Disable These Assets Drum.
8/ Finally, there's none of my skin in this game. I'm safe in America and this war has no impact on me whatsoever, while I could give 2 f*cks about military warporn.
It's not for me to decide what is💥but it is clear assets I OSINT/identify enable untold misery upon Ukrainians.
9/ These traction stations & electric transformers in 🇷🇺 I beat the drum endlessly, need to be addressed, taken seriously & prioritized above all others in Russia.
I have no reach, so please copy link to the 1st tweet & share 🧵widely with UA influencers. tinyurl.com/RuPwrGrid
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I have no reservations for scorched earth in 🇷🇺out 250km from 🇺🇦, w/ systematic destruction of 🇷🇺grid the backbone to this ‘drone sanctions’ enforced DMZ.
Value of this approach has been dismissed by so called ‘experts’ since day 1, unless it was explicitly military or fuel🎯
It is also dismissed by those claiming russia’s massive strikes on the🇺🇦grid was a ‘failure’ bc 🇷🇺 had no ‘military victories’. Apparently loss of industrial capacity and civilians is not ‘military victory’ enough for the western jarhead?
How big & how much power do LPTs "transform" in large transmission hubs found in Russia?
Enough that you need 3 massive single phase LPTs, plus a redundant set to convert 750kv to 500kV or 500kV to 330kV or 220kV.
You can build to do "3x" through a pair of 3-phase for 220->110.
What is a "phase"? Those are the 3 big bundles of cables you see on transmission towers, each carrying a third of the AC power as it cycles 180 degrees from the others. R/G/W above.
Most 0rc 500/220kV stations have at least 1 additional 1-phase LPT on site, some 2. BLACK wire.
What are these?
Reactive Compensation, either 500kV or 750kV.
They don't convert voltages & are used for long distance transmission. They are single phase (RGW) & cost several million dollars each.
They are found in almost all 0rc stations, often equal to number of circuits.
It is still not clear that Ukrainian leaders understand that russia's electric network is primarily there to support its oil & gas production, with civilian use low on the list of priorities.
Major grid hub transformers are infinitely more valuable than 10-40k barrel fuel tanks.
So much for claims 0rcs can't produce transformers for their export nuclear power plants.
To date, ~3 transformers of the size made at Siemens Voronezh have burned by UA, while none of largest size made at Toshiba Power Machines in St. Petersburg.
What lead me down this pathway... a post regarding a meeting of @interrao CEO Boris Kovalchuk and Putin, highlighting non-events & trivialities occurring in Europe, missing InterRao's place in supporting the occupation since 2014 & war machine currently.
Our Responsibility🧵
It was never my position to criticize the emotional feelings & outrage of Ukrainians, of whom I have 0 personal experience of my country being destroyed or my people being genocided, let alone direct connection to Ukraine prior to the full-scale invasion. 1/x
I only wish I was better at channeling these justified & purely human outbursts for vengeance into a narrative Ukrainians could use to mobilize support from those outside Ukraine. 2/x
To demand our leaders, give AFU everything it needs, including the permission to use weapons we supply against targets they deem threats to Ukraine on russian soil. 3/x
🧵My prediction on impacts of General Zaluzhnyi's @CinC_AFU statements in @washingtonpost regarding US/UK lead Rules of Engagement for supplied weapon systems use/prohibition against any/all targets on/over Russian soil ...
1/12
tldr: Western Influencers & Experts -
"Ukrainians are proven to be unbreakable, there's nothing for us to do here, and they've got this one too!"
2/12
Sad Reality - Western Experts & Influencers will read Zaluzhni's very clear statements as...
"If the West refuses to untie our hands [change its Rules of Engagement], then we will produce our own advanced weapons to strike targets inside russia we deem as threats to us."
3/12