They Decided To Live ...

 ... in Konstantinovka. Surrendering in hundreds is reported. 

These morons, commanded by morons from UK military, still think that they can stop Russian swell around Zaporozhie. FAFO in progress. 

The result is always the same. 

The end of 35th and 39th motor rifle brigades of VSU. NATO wanted war--it got one. 

They Will Live ...

 ... they now know it. UAVs taking POWs are not that rare anymore. Surrendering from VSU to Russians is a hell of a risky business to VSU personnel. Their own will kill them if they learn about it. 

A Bit Of VSU ...

 ... reality. 

Animals, pure and simple. As this POW admits to murdering Russian civilians under orders given.

Many of them do not need orders--they did it and do it with pleasure. That's European "values". Here is a very good sarcastic piece in Ria. About Denmark. 

The Danish authorities will avoid punishment for Russophobia. Everyone knows the reason. 

Those who listened to Randy's broadcast with Dmitry Polyansky, Roger Waters, Larry and me, listen again what Dmitry explains about Europe. 

His admission on "utility" of OSCE is also revealing. You cannot negotiate with fanatics. 

Why The Interrogation Of This ...

 ... 404 POW is important in operational sense. 

It is obviously in Russian, but if anyone wants to listen to the whole thing you can follow this link to Russian MoD TG channel. But why it is interesting. It is interesting due to this and many other 404 POWs testimonies of the dominance of Russian artillery on the battlefield. This is for those who still continue to masturbate to UAVs not understanding that Fire and Strike impact on the battlefield is called "complex" because of its heterogeneous nature, meaning the use of a variety of means and artillery (both "barrel" and rocket, aka MLRS) remains a decisive factor on the battlefield providing proper fire productivity. 

Here is one of many videos of Russians tankers (this one is T-80BM) explaining how they work from both ZOP (Enclosed Firing Positions) and directly. 

Here the guys explain how they finished off one of the Leopards which was "de-tracked" by Russian infantry using Kornet and then T-80BM crew destroyed it through UAV's fire correction at the distance of 9.5 kilometers. Everything works as a system, and this is just the part, in this particular case, of ROK--Recon Fire Complex. To those who still don't get it--a reminder from Colonel Jacques Baud. 

And then there is a lot to be said about Joint Force, a REAL one. 

Now About "Swedish" Case.

I mentioned it in my today's video. Yes, this is 100% confirmed info by people who command the Russian formation which did this. How do I know? Well, I know many things which sometimes are not for public disclosure until they are mentioned by "holders of information". So, on one operational axis Russians took this Swedish Commander (an equivalent of Lieutenant-Colonel) POW. He was guarded by one of the Baltic states security detail--easy-peasy for the level of Russian guys who disposed of them. So, this officer, staff officer for VSU (AFU) exhibited a level of tactical and operational "ability" which, for the lack of a better word, is not even rudimentary--it is fairy taleish. He really believed that if his formation attacked in a designated sector Russians were supposed to retreat, nay, run and that this guy's troops would reach objective no problem. Ooops, but for some unknown, incomprehensible reasons, not only Russians defended their objective, but, damn, they unloaded a firestorm and then, would you believe it, they counterattacked. This is not what they teach them in NATO's military academies. 

When I say that NATO officer corps is utterly unprepared for modern war, I mean it. Remarkably, you can sort of address this on a tactical level in a sense that you can teach them to maneuver and consider the opponent--and even that is useless under modern conditions. But the problem is both on tactical and operational level is that Russians outrange and outfire ANYTHING NATO can bring to bear. I am on record--Iraq War experience counts for nothing and, in fact, is a huge obstacle. This also explains a bunch of the American loser generals (like Ben Hodges) suffering form an acute case of butthurt and professional envy. It is now a confirmed fact--NATO doesn't understand the role of air defense in modern war. In their mind it was supposed to to be always this: 

When comparing our ability to find the enemy against a near-peer threat such as Russia (or an increasingly capable China), significant friendly capability disadvantages immediately become apparent and must be offset. FM 3-0 defines reconnaissance as “a mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or adversary, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or geographic characteristics of a particular area.”4 By this definition, we must look at every capability, across all domains, to understand the existing disparities in our ability to collect information against current threats. 

This middle segment "Conduct large-scale ground combat" disappears. Technically, the US could (not will) "find the enemy", but that's about it, the doctrinal pivot of the US Armed Forces of bringing the long-range fires to bear disappears also. No, the US still has the lead in terms of satellite-based ISR (Russia is catching up), per pure signal recon--well, that's complicated. Russians jam better than anyone in the world and then there is this teeny-weeny detail of pre-positioning. So, you see-this Swedish commander was thinking that he would be facing those peasant Ivans with pitch-forks and hiding behind piles of Russian corpses and running away at the first glance of NATO equipment guided to battle with NATO (his) tactical and operational brilliance. But, but ... well, you know the story now. Doctrinal catastrophe is not visible to the average Joe, but it is the most profound catastrophe NATO faces when they have to understand how amateurish and militarily impotent they are. The cognitive dissonance is a bitch. 

So, somebody in the US Army (not Ben Hodges let alone Kellog) was thinking in the right direction in 2019. 

Russian integrated air defense systems (IADS) make sustained air superiority questionable, especially at the beginning of operations when geographical proximity to positioned Russian forces enables their deliberate emplacement. With our current systems, we will only be able to create temporary windows of superiority with great effort. The Russians employ IADS at every tactical level, from battalion to division, with a focus on finding and destroying U.S. fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. They are also steadily working toward overmatch in the field of counterfire radar, fielding a variety of systems across the depths of their formations and with varying levels of capability. This might enable the Russian fires complex to “out attrite” our own counterfire capabilities, leaving them with the only systems on the battlefield. 

Too bad, they didn't recognize the scale of the NATO tactical and operational rut which prevents the most important thing--internalization of the issue--guiding you to correct decisions. They wanted to try, they did. Somebody tell Trump--the US Army didn't produce a general the scale of Erich von Manstein or Georgi Zhukov, or Konstantin Rokossovsky in the last 80 years. Russia did, and that's what makes the world of difference. 

They Are Getting The Message, 2.0.

 Once the snowball started to roll downhill... Well...

BREAKING: Ukrainian soldiers are resigning en masse & refusing to fight. We are now witnessing the breakdown of Ukrainian forces in the Donbas. 

Right. As Larry noted today:

Scott Ritter created a bit of a stir over the weekend with a comment suggesting the Russians have fumbled the ball and set themselves up for Stalingrad like victory (i.e., a long and bloody struggle). I think Scott is wicked smart and we played golf together–he treated me and another who shall remain nameless at the Army Navy Club course in Virginia a few years ago. I disagree with this bit of Scott’s analysis. 

As I am on record, combined arms warfare of a scale is a very different thing from what NATO people ever encountered. There are some excellent comments at The Saker's blog on this issue, including people who understand how Field and Combat Manuals are written, but even this important knowledge means very little when shit begins to explode around you. Not to mention the issue of other "wonderful" things related to continental warfare, like the enemy driving into your village (hamlet), disembarking and beginning to rape women, shoot children and elders and other wonderful things of this nature which Pentagon and UK people "taught" others but never experienced themselves--that is how they "teach" humanities in Ivy League and in Oxford, a bunch of former hippies explaining and describing what unicorns are.   

So, when people begin to express their will to survive, for any creep in State Department or Pentagon this is so unusual, they got used to throw other people's lives under the armor and artillery, precisely because they never experienced that. Most US generals (albeit I would have the issue of immediate impotence when forced to screw Paula Broadwell, obviously, Petraeaus is a "bigger" man than me, wink, wink) have no idea what modern warfare is and in any practical term they would have huge issues understanding what is going on around them when fighting a real enemy. This brings us to a completely other plane (conscience-wise) and this one requires a bit more than just sappy-sentimental stories about PTSD (it is a real deal, believe me) but a serious foray into the enemy's capability, which in the US in the last 30 years has become a purely ideological issue. Akin to famous Soviet anecdote about Red Army machine gunner who runs out of bullets. Then the political commissar comes to the machine gunner and asks him:

--Are you a communist, comrade machine gunner?

--Yes, I am!

--Then, why your machine gun fell silent?

--Because I have no more bullets, comrade commissar!   

--But you are a communist, comrade machine gunner!

And the machine gun started to shoot again!

So, basically, this is a modern Western military "science" and it works in a fantastical way. Just like Hollywood. You know, "dream factory", "tinsel town", shit like that... That is why they are always unprepared to face the reality...

Charlatans From Economics.

Generally speaking, what passes in the West and, by default, many other places globally for "economic science" is almost a complete BS, a pseudo-science, a euphemism for fraud and snake oil peddling. Long ago economics in the West has become nothing more than just another political and ideological tool in the arsenal of means which serve only one end--the recycling of Western political "elites" at the top while selling an illusion of a democratic choice to plebes. But sometimes the reality breaks through seemingly impenetrable barriers of BS, demagoguery, gaslighting and beaten to death economic tropes (how about the US economy being "first in the world") and even fraudsters cannot continue to deny it. 

FRANKFURT/LEUNA, Germany, May 16 (Reuters) - RWE (RWEG.DE) has opened an account in Russia to pay for gas in euros, a spokesperson for Germany's largest power producer said, preparing to meet Moscow's demands for a new payment scheme ahead of a closely-watched deadline later this month. Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck also sounded an optimistic note, saying the new method, which has led to confusion among European gas buyers and raised concerns about possible supply disruptions, would not cause any problems.

This is yet another one who did so and the list of EU "customers" opening those accounts is growing. Now even complete morons from European Commission, who helped to ruin European economy, cannot deny reality.

The country’s export earnings are expected to surge thanks to high prices and strong demand for commodities. “This will enable the government to support the ruble, vulnerable groups and the economy, limiting the decline in real GDP to 10.4% in 2022,” the report says. The EC predicts the Russian economy to stabilize as soon as in 2023, as the country is expected to adjust to the new reality. At the same time, GDP growth is projected to remain restrained next year, amounting to 1.5%, since the ongoing import substitution evoked by the departure of foreign businesses will not be effective enough.

Truth is, ANY, I underscore it--ANY info and conclusions on Russian economy from Western rating agencies, economic forecast and accounting firms, international banks and orgs are absolutely worthless, because the framework within which this whole well oiled machine of selling economic BS to Wall Street operates is totally removed from the economic reality on the ground which is much more complex than just debit-credit ledger or reports (always wrong and under reporting) on inflation. 

Yet, this news is as important, if not more, than any events on the ground in Russian SMO in Ukraine, because it is this geopolitical and geoeconomic background against which the war progresses in 404. For dopamine-dependent armchair "strategists", gamers and military porn masturbators, who need their daily doze of destruction, death and combat observed from afar, this news, same as such as news as Kherson Oblast already confirming its intent to become Russia's region (in Russian), same goes for Zaporzhskaya Oblast and other regions of primarily Southern Ukraine and this time, in 2022, not least through a windfall of cash due to dramatic rise in prices of resources, even against the background of overall combined West's economic decline. In the end, one may live just fine without new (and overpriced) junk of iPhone or new, also overpriced, brand hand bag, one cannot live without heat, electricity and food, despite Western economists trying to convince other people that one can. But even they now surrendered to a grim reality of doing as Russia tells them to do and it really hurts the pitiful remains of their self-respect. 

Plus, of course, the beginning of the process of surrender of Nazis, mercenaries and VSU blocked before that for month at the Azov Steel (recall how many "analysts" were crying foul when Putin ordered to simply seal off this plant?) does not add to already grim mood in the West (not to mention the remnants of 404) and even regurgitating military fakes from 404 does nothing to improve it. As you all know, I am not really interested in all this "tactical" minutiae of SMO (I leave that and deriving BS conclusions from it to all those Podolyaka, Kotenok, Cassad and other benefactors of monetization of their militarily illiterate crap) but insights, especially through VSU foreign mercenaries and Nazi POWs, provide a glimpse into the kitchen of Ukie resistance. Here is one (in Russian) among many thousands of other POWs. 

He complains that Polish and American mercenaries treated VSU badly, ate and drunk much better than VSU regulars, never sharing really, and, in general, used VSU personnel as their maids. Ladi-fucking-da, and what did they expect? For NATO people VSU are subhumans given only enough equipment and training to kill Russians (civilians primarily). No wonder all those NATO "heroes" evaporate once they smell the start of the real battle, not the safari-type hunting on Rooskies. Indeed, those damn Rooskies have tanks, artillery and high precision weapons--not a TOE all those NATO people used to facing in war. 

While I radically disagree with Rostislav Ischenko that Russia didn't expect 404 resistance--this is not how military planning on a strategic and operational level works and how decision trees are acted upon--but even he, and he surely knows 404 orders of magnitude better than me, had to admit (in Russian) that disintegration of VSU has begun, and even the latest about the removal of Ukies' big honcho of Territorial Defense (battalions) which continue to sustain appalling losses on the front, is another indication of the ongoing implosion. Again, Austin didn't call Shoigu to talk pleasantries, he demanded the immediate "cease fire". I also radically disagree with Ischenko on his interpretation of the American aims in 404, but Ischenko is not a military man and he doesn't know the US that well. So, here is your primer for Monday and we need to be patient.

The Saker Notes...

About this British dude, a soldier of (mis)fortune who watched too much Hollywood and was in a position to shoot at people with almost impunity. As was stated by many already on many occasions, war with Russian forces is different. 

What needs to be understood is that there are consequences for all our decisions. And as Andrei Raevsky correctly notes, and I quote:

His family, meanwhile, begs for him to be treated kindly (read: opposite to how Russian POWs are treated)

I understand their purely human concerns, but, frankly, this is not how it works, not to mention the fact that he does not qualify to be an enemy combatant. 

His parents could be 100% sure that he will not have his throat slit or joints blown by point blank shots from AK-74, nor that he will be tortured, as Russian POWs are in the captivity of the regime this British dude decided to support, but he is still a mercenary. Of course, now he begins to sing this oh so familiar song which now thousands of VSU and Nazi POWs sing. It is the same across the board: I didn't do actual fighting, I am a cook, I am just a driver, I am whatever is not getting me court martialled for war crimes. Well, they are not the first, nor they are the last ones to sing such a song. 

Now some sitrepish clarification. There was a number of strikes today on Kiev (some of them rather dramatic) but make no mistake--it has nothing to do with the sinking of RKR Moskva, but everything to do with the warning Russia issued couple of days ago when the damage to railway in Orel Oblast was detected, obviously by VSU diversionary group. It was stated that this type of activity on Russian territory will be punished. A day later two VSU helis attacked township of Kilimovo in Bryanks Oblast of Russia and destroyed some civilian property and 8 civilians got wounded. 

Here is Klimovo on the map:  
  

It is around 11 kilometers from Russian-Ukrainian border and is surrounded by forests and ravines which make approaches by low flying helis extremely difficult to control by Air Defense and this is the terrain which VSU wants to use to attack Russian border towns and villages. This is a second such attack, the last one was against civilian gasoline facility in Belgorod region, so the response will be on Ukraine's government facilities, which have been for now not on the list of the targets. Our very own Larch already compiled such a list: 

Military decision centers:

1) Ministry of Defense of Ukraine - Povitroflotsky prospect, house No. 6;

2) General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Povitroflotsky prospect, house No. 6;

3) Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine - st. Elektrikov, house No. 33 (earlier strikes had already been made in that area);

4) Headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - st. Degtyarevskaya, house number 19;

5) Security Service of Ukraine - st. Vladimirskaya, house number 33;

6) Ministry of Internal Affairs - st. Academician Bogomolets, house number 10;

7) State Border Service - st. Vladimirskaya, house number 26;8) Main Directorate of the National Guard of Ukraine - st. Svyatoslav the Brave, house number 9A.

Political decision-making centers:

1) The Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, presumably, is located in the bunkers of the office of the President of Ukraine in Kyiv on the street. Bankova, house number 11. Another bunker may be located in the plane of the Arsenalnaya metro station - this is the deepest station in Europe;

2) Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine - st. Grushevsky, house number 5;

3) Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine - st. Grushevsky, house number 12/2.

So, we will see later today the results of such retaliation. Obviously the story with bioweapons is getting bigger and bigger with each day and we may only speculate what kind of nervous reaction it creates in D.C. and Brussels.  But that is a separate topic, many names in the US and Europe tied to this program are already known, including experiments with infecting the patients of Ukraine's mental facilities with different strains of illnesses developed in those labs. Hm, it reminds me of something, I can not put the finger on it somehow, my memory is a bit fuzzy... Unit 731... maybe it is because I didn't get enough sleep... Dr. Mengele... Nah, cannot recall what it reminds me of...

Andrei Raevsky With A Broadside.

The Saker also had it with BS which passes for "military analysis" in the US and fired a broadside both military and metaphysical. 

I bumped into a Foxnews propaganda piece featuring a clown which, apparently, in some very distant past was a US Lt. General in the USA military, his last name is Kellogg.  I decided to give it a try and I have to say that I sat absolutely *transfixed* listening to him: according to him, Russia has already suffered a huge defeat at the hands of the Ukronazis and with NATO’s help the Ukraine can, and probably will, win this war. And both that “general” and the presstitute “interviewing” him delivered that crock of shit with great gravitas and appropriate facial expressions (angled eyebrows, the way the journos try to look very sincere).  I was expecting at least one of them to burst out laughing but, no, of course not. These two simply lack both the brain and the humor to realize how terminally stupid and ridiculous they both sound. As I have written many times in the past, US generals are much more “corporate CEO in combat fatigues” than real combat officers.  By Russian standards this guy would not even be allowed to clean latrines in a construction battalion.  A man who says with a straight face that delivering 20 Soviet era aircraft or S-300 to the Ukrainians will make a difference in this war is either a clueless civilian or a deliberate liar prostituting his (putative and now former) officer’s honor for a few bucks.

Read the whole piece, albeit I have a little disagreement with Voloshin's (I love Russian Symbolism poetry, Alexander Blok being my most favorite) poem application here because as I am on record (and not me only) for a long time--the bacilli of Nazism and exceptionalism spread widely in Ukraine and I, personally, will have any pity towards Ukrainian POWs only after they are cleared of war crimes. While there is no doubt that the bulk of those has been committed by Nazi and Territorial formations, VSU are by no means angels. There is an extensive record of them committing a variety of atrocities ranging from simple robbery to shelling Donbass civilians WITHOUT any coercion from Nazi element. Let SK, FSB and LDNR security deal with them first. 

But most importantly, it may take generation if not many generations to deal with fanatical Russophobia widely present among many Ukrainians who are not even from original Banderistan in Western Ukraine but many were and are regular 404 civilians, who will continue to be the bearers of the most extreme nationalistic views and will continue to hate. Hence second political objective of the Special Military Operation--denazification. That will require more than just demolishing Nazi infrastructure in Ukraine, it requires a complete rethinking and even reconstituting of Ukraine before long term treatment could be applied. Overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian youth NOT from Donbass has been brought up as radical fanatics and sympathizers of Nazi ideas. Regular POW grunts of VSU are already treated under Geneva convention, they are well fed, provided with medical help, have places to sleep and are working already on clearing Donbass and Southern Ukraine's liberated towns and cities. 

This massive magnificent building in Baku, known as Government House was finished after the WW II and everyone in Baku knew that it was finished by German POWs who worked in construction. It is a good example of how POWs can contribute to what they destroy. Not in Baku's case, of course, since Wehrmacht never made it to Baku, but many objects in the Soviet Union after the war have been restored by POWs. This is what takes place now in liberated territories in Ukraine. Those ukie POWs who will be cleared will be let go home, to their families. The rest, will see... 

 

My talking head today:

Also touches on similar topics.