"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (3 Viewers)

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President Vladimir Putin has ditched his annual marathon news conference following a series of battlefield setbacks in Ukraine — a tacit acknowledgment that the Russian leader's war has gone badly wrong.

Putin typically uses the year-end ritual to polish his image, answering a wide range of questions on domestic and foreign policy to demonstrate his grip on details and give the semblance of openness even though the event is tightly stage-managed.

But this year, with his troops on the back foot in Ukraine, it could be impossible to avoid uncomfortable questions about the Russian military's blunders even at a highly choreographed event. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Putin wouldn't hold the news conference this month without explaining why.

[...]

Putin also has canceled another annual fixture this year, a televised call-in show in which he takes questions from the public to nurture his father-of-the-nation image.

And he has so far failed to deliver the annual televised state-of-the-nation address to parliament, a constitutional obligation. No date has been set for Putin's address.

Cornered in Ukraine, Putin ditches annual news conference

The Kremlin says that President Vladimir Putin has ditched his annual marathon news conference following a series of battlefield setbacks in Ukraine.
apnews.com


... and from ISW ...


Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that Ukraine intends to continue counteroffensives in winter 2022–2023 after the hard freeze enables maneuver warfare, supporting an ISW assessment.[24] Reznikov stated on December 11 that Ukraine will resume counteroffensives after the "ground is firmer" during the winter when responding to a question about US Director for National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines's forecast that Ukraine is likely to conduct counteroffensives in the spring rather than the winter.[25] Reznikov previously stated on December 6 that Ukraine needs artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, tanks, and combat aircraft to support Ukrainian counteroffensives.[26]

Senior US government officials may be correcting their assessments about Ukraine's ability and intent to conduct counteroffensive operations this winter. Voice of America National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin reported that an unnamed senior US military official stated that, "We know the Ukrainians can fight and fight well under these [winter] conditions" on December 12.[27] DNI Haines previously mistakenly identified the optimal window of opportunity for Ukraine to conduct more counteroffensives as the spring rather than winter on December 3.[28] ISW previously assessed that Ukraine likely seeks to conduct successive operations through the winter of 2022–2023.[29]

Institute for the Study of War

This page collects ISW and CTP's updates on the conflict in Ukraine. In late February 2022, ISW began publishing daily synthetic products covering key events related to renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine.
www.understandingwar.org
 
Last edited:
GTX said:
Even the Nobel Peace Prize winners are against a settlement that doesn't have Russia totally out
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Far as I remember, when I said offensive action into Russia, I meant actions that would involve either destroying targets in Russia that would demand a retaliatory response from Russia, or taking land from Russia. The Ukranian people should push out Russians from the territory they took.
 
GTX said:
What will also be interesting in the future once Ukraine rids itself of the Russian invaders will be what the Ukrainian Armed Forces look like post war.
Click to expand...
If funding can be had they'll want to swap out the hodgepodge of everything and go to standardized systems.

Imagine the AFU with the new Panther MBT.

Rheinmetall predicts NATO demand for hundreds of Panther KF51 tanks | Shephard

Germany's Rheinmetall has identified opportunities to sell 500 to 800 KF51 Panther MBTs to NATO members through to the mid-2030s.
www.shephardmedia.com
 
A bunch of news.

- Rusia relaying in unreliable artillerie shells (and an ukrainian T-64 blast a russian T-72 and Santa delivers a present to russian troops through the chimney and the ukrainians lost some western supplied hardware and more problems for russian mobiks):

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Relying On 'Degraded' Ammo Says Pentagon

Russia, which is running out of fresh ammunition, is increasingly relying on rockets and artillery shells made 40 years ago, the Pentagon says.
www.thedrive.com

- A new interview with ukrainian pilot "Juice":

Inside Ukraine's Desperate Fight Against Drones With MiG-29 Pilot “Juice”

After months of fighting off the Russian Air Force, Ukraine has had to get very creative to confront a new menace, Iranian-made drones.
www.thedrive.com
 
Santa came early! Great stuff.
 
The drone hitting that stovepipe was just WOW
 
Totally relate to the weather statements. As a maintainer of haul roads, late fall/early winter suck. Two weeks ago in the -20°Cs, the roads were a dream. This tour, the first three days were a constant -4°C and the roads started to thaw and turn to potholes and mud; trucks slipping, skidding and hitting berms. The last four days were -teens and the roads were back to normal. Give me -8° to -30° anytime in the winter. Don't get me started on spring thaw
 
What is the world going to do about Iran and their supplying Russia with missiles and drones intended to kill civilians? The Israelis give some ideas...

Israel bombed Iranian drone factory in Syria: report - AeroTime

A manufacturing site that produces Iranian-designed drones in Syria has been struck by Israeli airstrikes, the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) reports. According to SOHR, which refers to unnamed sources close to the matter, the attack struck and destroyed equipment for manufacturing...
www.aerotime.aero

Satellite images show alleged Iranian missile factory seriously damaged in blast

Private Israeli intelligence firm releases photographs of facility outside Tehran, where at least two members of the Iranian military were killed earlier this week
www.timesofisrael.com
 
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