How far up shit creek is the russian army in 2023?
Well volunteers are having to manufacture Kontakt-1 analogues to supply to russian tankers.
A short thread 👇
I've come across two russian channels/volunteer groups who have been manufacturing and supplying ERA to russian tankers since at least February of this year.
The first was "¡No Pasaràn!" run by an guy in Kaluga who does the best fascist Santa Claus impression I've ever seen.
The second is Andrey Anatolyevich, admin of "In Light of Events" and "Politics without Pictures" on Telegram and VK.
Note the Russian Tank Troops flag center and the so-called DPR flag on the right.
Definitely-not-a-fascist owner of the No Pasaràn org can be seen here celebrating a birthday in uniform, though I haven't worked out if is he's still serving.
Andrey claims to be a member of a tank battalion fighting in Ukraine that previously received ERA from No Pasaràn.
Kontakt-1 is a type of Explosive Reactive Armor that you can Google if you really want to get into the details. It's used to counter things like RPGs on armored vehicles.
It's a fairly simple piece of kit; some metal plates in a metal box and explosive compounds.
Yet, there's enough of a shortage at the front that individuals are having to scavenge for metal sheets on Telegram and VK to manufacture replacements.
Either through shortages, corruption, logistics issues or general incompetence, there are T-72 tankers crying out for ERA.
In one post last week, No Pasaràn explains that they sent 600 pieces to a unit fighting in Marinka; enough for 2 tanks.
They were planning to equip 8 more (a full tank company) if they can raise the funds, but claim that demand is about 50x greater than even this.
Andrey, for his part, plans to start manufacturing similar pieces shortly and started to raise money this week for steel and paint.
It isn't even clear if either group are even including the critical explosive elements as part of their manufacuring process.
Whatever the reason russia tankers are having to resort to improvisations like this, it bodes well for the quality of armor that Ukraine is going to come up against as they continue to degrade the more modern russian tank fleet.
Prigozhin just published a report and images of the mining of their exit route from Bakhmut and subsequent attack on them by the 🇷🇺 72nd Brigade. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
In the aftermath of the drone strikes on Moscow, Wagner-linked GREYZONE posted such a rant against Ru MoD, that many of their followers started calling them Khokhols and suggested they had been hacked.
Some highlights. It gets better as it goes on👇
Right out the gate admitting stories about strikes on “decision making centres” yesterday are absolute fantasy by Shoigu and part of a predictable and ongoing PR campaign to distract from continued attacks in Belgorod
Ukrainian air defence is much stronger than russian officials will admit. Zero evidence of any breakthroughs yesterday.
“Shoigu and his department of degenerates” couldn’t even list what targets were supposedly struck.
Fascinating interview with Ukrainian Air Force Brigader General, Serhii Golubtsov.
Covers F-16s, JDAMS, Storm Shadows and everything in between. Worth a full read but some highlights below;
1.
The F-16 meets Ukraine's strategic requirements; Multi-role and capable of using a wide array of NATO country weapons. AIM-120 air to air missiles will be enough of a threat to force russian fighters and bombers much further back from the border.
2.
3 or 4 squadrons (48-64 F-16s) will be enough to cause russia to abandon its current air strike campaign in one given area.
Occupied Luhansk is burning for the first time in a long time.
Milbloggers seem convinced Storm Shadow is already at play.
Additional images
Some Ukrainian and Russian channels are stating there were two impacts - one at a fuel tank farm in the South of the city, and one at the Poly-Pak factory that the Russian army was using to store/repair equipment.
Ru milblogger Yuri Kotenok has made a lengthy post this morning discussing localised Ukrainian successes recently, Wagner vs Army units and the failures of ru forces in general
Short 🧵👇
1/6
He begins by discussing difference in Wagner vs regular Army. Wagner and regular units are both employing “meat wave” tactics, but only Wagner capitalises on such assaults to bring success.
Combat capability/experience of Wagner is decreasing as losses mount however.
2/6
Ru forces have pushed out of Bakhmut exposing their flanks.
UA is using reconnaissance in force tactics to probe the entire line and then breaching weak points to find tactical successes, with the localised goal to cut off Ru troops in that area.