poesel

One, German industry is not built on Russian gas. It is built on cheap energy which is often gas, which often came from Russia.
Now we import 0% Russian gas and the industry is still working.
Then, Russian gas was out on February 25th. That was a political decision and there is no way back. Except maybe to pay for Russian reparations to Ukraine when the war is over.
The most convincing theory is IMO that Putin burned the bridges behind him with that. To kill any chance of disposing of him, retreating from Ukraine and buying the way out with gas.

One, German industry is not built on Russian gas. It is built on cheap energy which is often gas, which often came from Russia.
Now we import 0% Russian gas and the industry is still working.
Then, Russian gas was out on February 25th. That was a political decision and there is no way back. Except maybe to pay for Russian reparations to Ukraine when the war is over.
The most convincing theory is IMO that Putin burned the bridges behind him with that. To kill any chance of disposing of him, retreating from Ukraine and buying the way out with gas.

One, German industry is not built on Russian gas. It is built on cheap energy which is often gas, which often came from Russia.
Now we import 0% Russian gas and the industry is still working.
Then, Russian gas was out on February 25th. That was a political decision and there is no way back. Except maybe to pay for Russian reparations to Ukraine when the war is over.
The most convincing theory is IMO that Putin burned the bridges behind him with that. To kill any chance of disposing of him, retreating from Ukraine and buying the way out with gas.

3️⃣In the Melitopol direction, the enemy continues to strengthen his group of troops. During the last 2 days, there was a movement through Melitopol towards Tokmak and Vasilyevka of a tank company (8 units of tanks) of a 122-mm howitzer battery on the D-30 and a Grad battery (6 units of 122-mm MLRS BM-21 "Grad" ). In the area of Vasilievka itself, 2 motorized rifle companies on BMP-1,2 were noted moving in a northeast direction.
In the area of Energodar - Bolshaya and Malaya Belozerka - Tokmak - Vasilievka - Dneprorudnoye, the enemy is strengthening the filtration regime. After several fairly successful remote defeats of enemy targets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions with appropriate means in the tactical and operational-tactical rear of the enemy force group (control points, ammunition storage sites and weapons and military equipment), the command of the enemy troops came to the conclusion that there was a place to be " guidance and adjustment of the means of destruction of the enemy (i.e., the Armed Forces of Ukraine) by the Ukrainian terrorist-nationalist bandit underground.
According to this "bright opinion", the enemy decided in the areas of all more or less large settlements (Tokmak, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Energodar, Dneprorudnoye, Vasilyevka, Chernigovka, Primorskoye) to carry out "filtration and barrage measures in an enhanced mode", as well as to use additional measures to camouflage and conceal important objects and locations of their units and subunits.
4️⃣ As of December 21, 2022, the territory of Belarus:
🔺 On December 22, a temporary restriction on entry, temporary stay and movement in the border zone within the Loevsky, Braginsky and Khoiniki districts of the Gomel region is introduced.
In this regard, it should be noted that from open sources it became known about the arrival in this area of the mercenaries of PMC "Liga", which is part of the PMC "Wagner". It is obvious that this Prigozhin "special forces" ended up here quite by accident.
They are divided into two groups of 80-90 people and arrived in the area of the village of Krupiyki (Loevsky district, Gomel region) to perform tasks within the framework of "Russian-Belarusian cooperation in the defense sphere" (but why exactly in the border area of Ukraine). They have lightly armored vehicles and tilting trucks at their disposal. These groups are also reinforced by engineering units.
Therefore, the likelihood of provocations and the organization of "aggressive acts by Ukraine" in the border zone has clearly increased dramatically.
 
🔺December 20 at 06:20 in the Vitebsk region at the railway station "Zaslonovo" was noticed the departure of a train of military equipment from Russia. The equipment was previously located at the Lepelsky training ground. The echelon consisted of 51 cars, including 46 platform cars with equipment: 31 T-72B3 and T-80 tanks, 13 Urals, 1 BTR-80 and 1 tracked engineering vehicle. Also, 3 freight wagons (with equipment and ammunition) and 2 passenger wagons were also attached, in which about 100 personnel were transported. At 05:30 on December 21, this echelon arrived at the Polonka railway station. It is likely that the equipment will be moved to the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground, where the military from Russia is stationed.
It is obvious that the Russian command is gradually completing its units from the so-called regional joint Russian-Belarusian group of forces with regular military equipment and is gradually pulling it into the areas of concentration and deployment of units and subunits of the 1st Guards TA on the territory of Belarus.
 

New post Mashovets.
 
1️⃣ In the area northeast of Soledar, along the Bakhmut-Lysichansk road, intense battles continue. The enemy is clearly trying by this method to provide a more or less reliable supply and delivery route for his forward units, which are entrenched in the Yakovlevka area ... After all, the village, in fact, is located on the T1302 Bakhmut-Lysichansk highway, there are no other paved roads around it. Therefore, in the conditions of winter warming, it is simply impossible to bring anything significant, or even transfer equipment to this site, in another way, for example, through Vladimirovka, or Trypillya.
Accordingly, the enemy is constantly attacking in the area of Berestovoye and Belogorovka, trying to take under reliable control a section of the T1302 highway northeast of Yakovlevka in order to be able to carry their belongings to Yakovlevka by the northern route. If the enemy fails, those Wagnerites who broke through to Yakovlevka will obviously be doomed ... this breakthrough will become for them a kind of gateway to hell.
2️⃣In the area of the southeastern and eastern outskirts of Bakhmut, fierce close infantry battles continue. After the enemy reached the quarters of the private sector of Bakhmut, the pace of his advancement dropped significantly, and in some areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine they were generally able to push the enemy back with counterattacks.
As it turned out, "Wagner" and Donetsk-Luhansk "mobiks" are not very suitable for high-intensity battles in urban areas ... Especially when they have to attack ... They do it rather clumsily, again relying on "mass" and continuity, almost just like in open areas.
3️⃣ On the site from the village Pisky to the village of Kashtanovo (area south of Avdiivka) units of the 1st AK are trying to attack, in particular:
🔺11th SMRR(1st and 2nd MRBn's)
🔺 separate assault battalion "Somalia"
🔺1st brigade (2nd and 3rd MRBn's, 1st - transferred to the Svatovo direction)
🔺185th separate motorized rifle battalion
🔺 International Brigade "Pyatnashka"
 
🔺 2nd RBn Territorial Troops
🔺9th MRR
🔺The 3rd separate special forces regiment, the separate reconnaissance battalion "Sparta" and the detachment "Storm" are assigned for resupply and rest after fierce battles in the area of Opytne and Vodyane.
The 1117th and 1539th separate rifle battalions of the mobilization reserve of the 1st Army Corps are deployed in the second echelon.
The offensive operations of the enemy in this direction are supported by artillery fire from units of 238 ABR. It should be noted that all the units represented, although formally "considered" battalions, are really significantly understaffed. As a result of losses and numerical failures of l / s to carry out a combat mission, these units correspond more closely to units of the company level.
The enemy units available in this sector are only enough for defense, and in order to conduct offensive operations, the enemy command is forced to form so-called consolidated groups from the most combat-ready remnants of these "battalions". Thus, subunits are forced to constantly move part of their personnel to neighboring flanks in order to strengthen offensive operations, as a result of which their own combat potential is constantly decreasing.
 
Obviously, if this trend continues, the moment of exhausting the offensive capabilities of these units is clearly not far off. AK does not have significant reserve capabilities of its own for this. In fact, there is simply no trained personnel capable of conducting high-intensity combat operations for a long time in the corps.
In turn, the Russian command also has certain limitations in this regard, because it cannot stretch its forces and means indefinitely and in this respect also block the areas of responsibility of the "allied corps."
Therefore, in the near future, of course, a certain strengthening of the advancing enemy tactical groups along the Donetsk direction is quite possible, but it is unlikely to be of any cardinal nature.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

That is about 0 °C in non-retarded units.

Yes, they were, and some still cannot force themselves to reciprocate it- for example TV anchors here simply couldn't spell second part "glory to the heroes" for first months when interviewing their Ukrainian guests, who were probably blisfully unaware of the slogan's origin and what it means for Poles. Many here still can't, especially that ethnonationalistic cancer is unfortunatelly real, alive and growing among population of Western Ukraine. A lot of work need to be done on Ukrainian historical identity, and I am not sure if our current strategy of "leave it for later, now they suffer because of war and have other things than discussion about a past" is actually right one, given that this war is formative period for Ukraine state and society.
Still, some symbols change their meaning in time. People do not associate "heroiom slava" slogan with genocidal nationalisms anymore (usually narration of slogan as associated with Sicz's Rifles comes in handy), and they can even tolerate these "Blood and Soil" black-red flags if going to Ukraine with help. However, you can agree that supplying people at your own expense who venerate absolutelly genocidal morons who barely 80 years earlier would cut their throats for just being Poles (or Jews, Hungarians or any other) resonates with very strange vibes among people doing charity work?
Yup, some of historians here associate it with "Sicz Rifles" (not exactly correctly, but that is minor issue), just as famous Chervona Kalyna, which Russian trolls here also tried to sell as "UPA song", fortunatelly ineffectively.
Ok Haiduk it is not against you or other folks here, just a food for thought about future of your country and national identity. I am fully aware of many wrongdoings on Polish side in the past as well, I really attended several dozens conferences on these topics in my 12-year long historical career and heard zilion of arguments from both Polish and Ukrainian historians of the topic (even stopped two who wanted to smash each other faces in my student's years...), so believe me- I get basic facts around Ukrainian nationalism and there are probably not many things you can surprise me on it.
The question is if collectivelly Ukrainians really want this kind of hatred to be cherished for another generations- because that will be effect of tolerating OUN/UPA heritage in your public spaces. There will be some day when society will need to grasp bull by the horns and stand in truth about genocidal past of this organization (and large part of population in Western Ukraine, who were forced or otherwise encouraged by UPA to participate in it), without whitewashing, victim-blaming and doing endless circles around basic obvious facts (mirroring what Russians do with their own narrations), which is sadly situation now among many Ukrainian historians, with several exceptions (perhaps ironically- mostly from Eastern Ukraine, where they can approach topic without bias). And facts are indeed brutal- probably 50-80 k innocent people were ruthlessly murdered in one of worst cases of targeted genocide, in already harsh times of WWII. Rwanda style, with machette, axe and scythe- not some impersonal "industry of death" like projected by Germans for Jews. It was personal, it was long-planned, targeted and executed by the same people who are now fast becoming symbols of Ukrainian statehood. I really don't care what UPA become in Ukrainian national mythology after these events, because it will always inherently be bases on false premises. There is no place among civilized people for narrations supporting such guys.
I would even say in the future your attitude to OUN/UPA will be a major test if you really want to collectivelly be part of Western hemisphere or prefer to stay inside never-ending cycle of lies like Russians. We did our job on many unpleasant and shameful episodes from our collective past, still not enough of it, but I can wholeheartadly say it is always beneficial for society in long run. Germans serve great example here.

Yup, except there is way too much of this stuff to be just a trolling. Also Ukrainians, especially in their situation, should acknowledge the fact that such nazi jokes may not be considered jokes by anyone around, especially Germans. A lot of unpleasant things can be said about behaviour of our western neighbours, but they did really good job on getiing to the root of the problem with their own past, compared to other actors, and are deadly serious about the subject. There was a reason why Myelnik became informal persona non grata in Berlin.
With all due respect Haiduk, I completelly disagree. Not only I have no reason not to criticize others' past (or my own, so to speak), but as historian I would say it is my job, if based on right methodology and facts. Chmielnicki lived in XVII cent., so it is long forgotten past barely anybody relate to- I doubt there is anyone who lost relatives in his massacres...
While people who were personally touched by UPA made genocide  at Wołyń/East Małopolska are still living, or their direct children. Just several days ago passed away gen. Mirosław Hermaszewski, only guy from here ever flying space, who as 2-year boy barely managed  to survive Wołyń genocide. There are more such people. So sorry, it has nothing to do with Chmielnicki.
I am not fan of Piłsudski personally (he supressed nascent Polish democracy and blocked reforms of the military in 30's), but whatever you can blame on pre-WWII Polish state - and there is a lot, it was by no means perfect place to live for many people-it all pales in comparision to what ethnonationalistic butchers from OUN/UPA complex did by a absolutelly wide margin, and is gross misunderstanding of Ukrainian past. And Polish one too. Or basically any kind regional history, in which entire Ukrainian nationalistic movement stands out as particulary, almost inhumanly brutal one. Perhaps only Jasenovec camp on Balkans in WWII can be compared to UPA's "work" in sheer scale of cruel barbarity.
https://nawolyniu.pl/english.htm
Crucial problem is that young Ukrainians do not learn about this at schools and universities, and if so, at most somewhere in the footnotes. So large swaths of population on Westen Ukraine still think that OUN/UPA were some kind of edgy proto-patriots that  fought the Soviets, not genocidal ethnonationalistic movement on the level of Croatian Ustashe or Hungarian Arrowcrossers. Ofc. raging antisemitism and collaboration with Nazi Germany goes without saying (Melnyk faction specifically, UPA much less; however Shuhevycz himself was member of Nachtigal batalion).
The problem is, it is also Polish history, as well as Jewish, Hungarian, German and Russian. Should Croatians and Bosniaks tolerate their neighbours freely venerating Milosevic, Mladić or Karadzić, because "it is not their history"? Or Israelis be silent about rising neo-nazi movements in Europe? And Jugoslavian wars murderers were almost gentle teddybears compared to folks like Bandera, Schuchevycz or Klaczkivsky, both in scale and "qulity" of their work. Quote you several sources from victims of Wołyń massacres or share personal stories about "brave Ukrainian patriots" specifically targeting minors and children by thousands? Almost all their "honest job" (direct quote) was made by axe, scythe or falx, to spare the ammo.
If I would be young Ukrainian cautious of my own past, I would not like to touch OUN/UPA symbolic even with a stick. Level of self-induced ignorance to one's own genocidal past among some Ukrainians (by no means all, of course)  is sickening, frankly speaking- there is really a lot of work to be done in order to OUN/UPA become taboo as similar movements in other civilized countries are.
Because from all I hear from your leaders, you are aspiring to become part of civilized, democratic Western world, right? If so, then a lot of unpleasant truths about own history awaits you folks.
OK, sorry for offtopic.

Just a bit... Since the Pumas won't be repaired until April '23, we will have to use Marders for our NATO obligations. Now you know why we don't give them to Ukraine.
If you needed to know how ****ed up the Bundeswehr is - now you do.