🧵/ link in the last tweet. During the two raids on the gas rig(s) in the Black Sea, Ukrainian SOF may have captured one of the components of the Russian R-330M1P 'Diabazol' automated jamming complex.
This is the screengrab from the @DI_Ukraine video of the raid, which was made public today. The consignee of the box is Unit 60135, which is the 475th Separate Electronic Warfare Center in Sevastopol.
But what's even more interesting here is the consignor. It's 'Protek' JSC, which manufactures just one but vital thing for the Russian army: the components of the 'Diabazol' automated jamming complex.
This includes the R-330Zh Zhitel electronic warfare jamming communication station, R-934UM and 'Altayets-AM' stations.
Most of the time, we see them truck-mounted, but I'm pretty sure they can also be mounted on platforms like this.
According to @oryxspioenkop, Russia lost at least 13 R-330Zh and one R-934UM systems in this war, all of which were destroyed. Whatever component is in the box, it should be brand new.
Now 'Neva' radars. Here's my previous thread from 2022 about the Neva-BS Land Surface Surveillance Radars, which Russia installed on the rigs to enhance control over this part of the Black Sea, as we found out together with @pustota.
Based on what I've seen today in the HUR photos (), I can confirm that the raid was conducted at the 'Crimea-2' rig (formerly known as 'Petr Godovanets' before the annexation of Crimea). t.me/DIUkraine/2836
One photo published by HUR shows a boat with the name of another platform, 'Crimea-1' (formerly known as 'Independence'). I cannot confirm whether the photo was taken at the 'Crimea-1' platform, though.
It's visible in the video that 'Crimea-2' had two radars on top of the tower: Neva-BS and [most probably] Neva-B. Both were removed and taken by the HUR team. mcs.ru/wp-content/upl…
I'm not sure if HUR actually 'regained control' over the four rigs, or even one of them, as doing so would require them to keep people there, making them extremely vulnerable.
At the same time, the new HUR video provides evidence that the Russian MoD's claims about destroying Ukrainian boats near the rigs on August 22 and August 30 were likely false (though to be honest, we already suspected this).
What's actually interesting, the photo of the wellhead with a burning gas torch hints that the HUR team probably paid a visit to yet another rig, Tavrida (image by @planet taken on the 1st of Aug.)
1/3 Finally, our investigation, together with @pustota, revealing several participants of the recent far-right and fascist organizations forum in St. Petersburg who did not want to be identified – including Hamburg Bürgerschaft MP Robert Risch from the AfD svoboda.org/a/rossiyskaya-…
2/3 Special thanks to @MackjackMaier for quickly revealing Risch’s identity, and kudos to the Belgian nationalists of 'Nation,' who accidentally shared his unblurred photo.
🧵/ link in the last post. Have you ever wanted to know where the infamous Russian 'Rubicon' drone center is based – and who commands it? Thanks to my colleagues @pustota, @legal0ve, and open sources (including Russian Tsar-Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov), we now know.
First of all, 'Rubicon' is not technically a military unit; it isn’t associated with any, has no publicly known registered entity, and its head’s name has never been disclosed.
Luckily, I found two letters of gratitude that 'Rubicon' sent to the Bratskoye Serdtse ('Brotherly Heart') charity, which is run by former members of the FSB and SVR. In them, you can see the surname and initials of Rubicon’s commander – S.V. Budnikov. фонд-братское-сердце.рф/upload/iblock/…
1/5 One of the Geran-2/Shahed-136 drones downed in Kyiv today had a catapult mount supplied by Chinese company less than 2 months ago, on 23rd of May. 46 days earlier, on April 9-11, the company, Suzhou Ecod Precision Manufacturing, took part in the St. Petersburg Technical fair.
3/5 Suzhou Ecod Precision Manufacturing was one of only two Chinese companies that took part in the St. Petersburg fair. The other one, Suzhou Hongyishan, specializes on 'standard and non-standard industrial parts, pneumatic and hydraulic components'. Neither of the 2 sanctioned.
Israel is really lucky that the Iranian rockets mostly hit modern apartment blocks for now. Bat Yam is something of an exception – that’s why there were so many casualties. But believe me, there are far more rundown apartment blocks in Bat Yam compared to the ones that were hit.
The pin marks where the modern apartment complex was hit in Petah Tikva last night. If the missiles had landed in the large red circle, it would have been a disaster. Around 50% of the buildings in such areas were built before the 1980s, with no protected rooms, thin walls, etc.
Just tap a random Street View to see for yourself. On the left: a building in Petah Tikva located a few kilometers from the modern one that was hit last night (on the right).
🧵Recently, Yandex blurred some additional military-related facilities on its satellite maps. It hasn't revealed any major surprises (yet), but it did lead me to yet another 'Pantsir' system installed in Moscow Oblast after Ukrainian drone attacks.
Some examples of the newly blurred objects (mostly military complex plants): x.com/wartranslated/… (source t.me/sotaproject/98…). I already found many more, but they're mostly well-known sites.
One well-known site that is now blurred is the missile storage facility for the A-135 (ABM-4 Gorgon), a Russian anti-ballistic missile system deployed around Moscow to intercept incoming warheads targeting the city and its surrounding areas. 55.625, 37.387 wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=5…
🧵1/6 As after every Ukrainian drone attack, my dynamic map of air defense systems installed in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast gains a few new entries, thanks to multiple enthusiasts like @jembobineuse and @Dmojavensis. The most recent addition is particularly interesting. 🔽
2/6 The 'Flakturm', identical to the one we saw earlier (that the shorter and taller sections are swapped), was constructed in Bulatnikovo near Moscow 1.5 years ago, in September 2023. 55.557090, 37.664654