Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[martinuzz]

The Kremlin presented a new school history book, in which the war in Ukraine is romanticized and condoned.
Children will  learn that Russia sent a peacekeeping mission to Crimea in 2014, with as goal denazification an demilitarization of Ukraine.

[Loud Whispers]

The Kremlin presented a new school history book, in which the war in Ukraine is romanticized and condoned.
Children will  learn that Russia sent a peacekeeping mission to Crimea in 2014, with as goal denazification an demilitarization of Ukraine.

A is for Ah fuck we can't do anything right
B is for blyat Putin
C is for Crimea is Ukraine

[martinuzz]

Very nice!!! Just 70km from Moscow, a large explosion completely destroyed the oldest still working factory (since 1935) of Russia.
The factory produced optical equipment like night vision goggles and binoculars. 34 people were injured in the explosion.

No more night vision gear for the Zombies! Fear the night!

[Lord Shonus]

Unconfirmed reports are claiming that the optics factory was producing artillery ammunition.

[Starver]

I had heard that a "fireworks factory" in the optics-factory's grounds was hit, according to certain Kremlin-aligned sources.

Which does sound a bit like "we need an excuse for a lot more explosions than a drone alone could produce". Also, there seems to be disagreement in Russian officialdom about whether a drone did hit it.

I suppose both drone and no-drone initiation of such an incident could be seen as differently bad (NPI!) optics in various native-aimed press releasing circles. Whatever happened, they clearly haven't properly negotiated between themselves how much to reveal/obfuscate the incident.

[Lord Shonus]

There's footage of locals finding pieces of tank and artillery ammunition that was thrown at their homes.


It is entirely possible that this was a genuine accident - an optics plant would not have the proper construction and safety procedures to handle explosives - but it certainly wasn't fireworks.

[Strongpoint]

From what I have seen on numerous videos, it wasn't fireworks or shells, both of those produce secondary detonations.

It was a one-time explosion of a large amount of explosives. One theory I think is plausible is that they were removing explosives from old shells and storing those in one place. And that could explode from a small drone, sabotage or simple neglect of safety.

___________

In other news, something was burning at or near Domodevo airport at Moscow. Making air traffic in and out of Moscow impossible would be quite damaging for the Russian economy but it is quite a puzzle of how to do it without civilian casualties

[hector13]

Flying drones would do it. Gatwick in London got shut down for a day by one person flying a drone near the airport, to the point the mikitary were called in to get an anti-drone shield type thing in.

[King Zultan]

Why's an optics factory handling explosives anyway, you'd think they'd want to keep that place making optics.

[Duuvian]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-9-2023

That suggests it was a 2nd corporation leasing space from the optics company.

[martinuzz]

I'd say the optical factory was the intended target if it was an attack. Night vision goggles are really important in the trench battles.

[Strongpoint]

Flying drones would do it. Gatwick in London got shut down for a day by one person flying a drone near the airport, to the point the mikitary were called in to get an anti-drone shield type thing in.

We are talking about Russia here, they are more... resistant to that kind of disruption. After all, a midair collision between a Ukrainian drone and a passenger jet would be a huge win for their propaganda

____________

Meanwhile, I lost all hope for meaningful achievements in the Ukrainian offensive this year. Something will be liberated (for a great cost) but I fail to see a decisive blow to Russian ability to wage war.

Also, Kupyansk is about to get Bakhmuted with Russians advancing closer to it in their offensive on the northern front.

What is most concerning: Ukraine is running out of motivated potential recruits. It shows in a far more substantial effort of finding and getting mobilization dodgers and those are... not gonna be good fighters.

______________
And Russia doesn't need motivated people, they can force enough obedient citizens:

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1684283287898935297 -  It is how Russia manufactures Shahed drones using an almost free workforce. Being able to act like this is its strength, in the short run. (Note that this must be taken with a grain of salt because there is no truly reliable sources, but knowing modern Russia I expect something like this)

[martinuzz]

Russia bombed a hotel in Zaporizja that is used to accomodate UN personell.
As far as the UN can tell, no UN staff were injured.

[Duuvian]

Kremlin wants to nationalise Yandex in preparation for presidential elections – ISW
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/11/7415112/

It may not be a bad idea to consider this if you operate a website with a Yandex script on it

[Flying Teasets]

Kremlin wants to nationalise Yandex in preparation for presidential elections – ISW
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/11/7415112/

It may not be a bad idea to consider this if you operate a website with a Yandex script on it

Reminder that Yandex was a major provider of search results to DuckDuckGo.