Bulletpoint

CNN claims Russian recruited 15 000 Nepalians to Russian army: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/10/asia/nepal-fighters-russia-ukraine-families-intl-cmd
The package included at least $2,000 salary a month and a fast-tracked process to obtain a Russian passport. 
After analyzing the TikTok profiles of 10 Nepali men who travelled to Russia to join the army, CNN used satellite imagery to geolocate them to the Avangard training center, a military academy outside of Moscow.
The soldier described his fellow academy cadets as coming from across the global south. He cited Afghan, Indian, Congolese and Egyptian classmates, among others. Class photos from Avangard posted on social media show dozens of what appear to be South Asian soldiers with native Russian instructors.
And here is likely "classmate" of Nepalians - the mercenery from Sierra-Leone was captured by UKR soldiers of 46th air-assault brigade on Maryinka direction
Except countries named above there were spotted a precense or were captured merceneries from next countries Somalia, Syria, Palestine, Myanma, Lybia, China, N.Korea (though they could be confused with other S.Asian nationality) 
 
 

I completely agree, but I think this was essentially what got Zeluzhny fired.
Now, with the new general, I expect to see a new and more brutal offensive by Ukraine in the spring. And this time, they won't call it off even when the casualties really start to mount.

1. WWI: was NOT just a war where armies slaughtered other armies from their trenches. This is a very simplistic, , western-front-centered  oversimplification. WWI was much more than the Western Front. In fact it was won by the Allies OUTSIDE the Western Front, by collapsing all other enemy fronts. It was also a war of movement indeed.
In 1914 it was a war of movement in the east and west. Russians broke the A-H front and took most of Galitzia in the East.Germans annihilated two Russian armies in East Prussia and Poland. It was also a war of movement in the west until the front got stabilized after the race to the sea. In 1915 Germans and Austrian broke the East Front in Gorlitze-Tarnow then advanced hundred of kilometers. Bulgaria entered the war, so Serbia was defeated and occupied. Turkey invaded the Sinai. In 1916, Russians launched the Brusilov offensive. In the best Russian tradition it was a incredible carnage, but there were larger advances and Austria-Hungary was on the verge of colapse. Romania entered the war on the Allied side. It was attacked and mostly occupied in a lighting campaign by the Central Powers.  In 1917 Russia collapsed and the Central Power armies advanced hundreds of kilometers inside Russia. The Caporetto offensive almost crushed the Italian Front, so Italy was on the verge of colapse. The Allied offensive captured Sinai and started the campaign which ended with the capture of Palestine and the final Turkish defeat. In 1918 the Italians won Vittorio Venetto battle, a general Allied advance in Italy started and A-H began its process to colapse. The Salonica front also collapsed leaving Bulgaria out of the war. Austria-Hungary had NO forces to cover the new fronts and the collapsing Italian front so eventually it surrendered. Then Germany, after Bulgaria, Turkey and A-H surrenders, had no forces to cover the Western Front and the whole Italian+Balkan front. 
In WWI case it was not exhaustion which made Germany surrender. All belligerent countries were as exhausted as Germany. Germany realized it was going to be check mated in three movements, so rather to fight to the grim end conceded defeat and signed an armistice. ALL countries were exhausted, including France, which had some mutinies in 1917, Italy and UK, not only Germany. 

2. At this point in the war I don't believe in a Russian colapse. Perhaps in three of four years, but I am not sure Ukraine will be able to wait for it and avoid collapsing itself. I am afraid that at present, time is more on the Russian side than the Ukrainian one. BTW I support Ukraine with no reservations. 

3. South Korea was a stalemate, not a South Korea-NATO victory indeed. SK survived, but North Korea survived too. Did both sides win? Did both sides lose? The fact is both countries are not even in peace yet. They have just signed an armistice.

4. Do are Stalingrad, Gettysburg and Waterloo examples of winning a campaign by just defending? First of all. They were BATTLES, no campaigns. The whole campaign including maneuvers where the side which took the offensive finally lost. If after those victories the defender had sit in his/her butt, doing nothing, but defending their defensive positions, there had been no results. In fact, in Gettysburg case there were no results. Meade didn't advance for weeks. Then finally, when it finally did it, it was too late, so it was defeated by Lee.

5. I already said an old Spanish saying "Quién no se consuela, es porque no quiere". which could be translated as "The person who does not console himself is because he does not want to do so". If there is no total, decisive victory, each side may claim they won in some degree. If Russia and Ukraine signed an armistice today,  Ukraine would survive as a nation. That would be a victory. However 20% of their territory and perhaps more population (including people who left the country and will not return) would be lost. That would be a defeat, wouldn't it?. Would it be 20% victory and 80% defeat, 80 victory and 20% defeat, or something in the middle?  I left it up to you. 
 

Isn’t the completely failed strategy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023 grounds for the dismissal of the commander-in-chief?
Let's look at 2023 from the perspective of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The loss of Bakhmut, the failure of the offensive in the Zaporozhye region. Underestimation of Russia's mobilization and industrial capabilities and, as a result, the encirclement and probable loss of the large fortified hub of Avdeevka.
To be honest, I don’t quite understand why Ukrainians idolize Zaluzhny so much? Although perhaps this is understandable. This is exactly the image of the victorious general in 2022 that was painted by Ukrainian and foreign media. Well, how can you not fall in love?
Let's look at Zelensky's culpability in the loss of foreign (American) support. Do you really think that Zelensky’s personality was the reason for blocking Ukrainian aid in the House of Representatives?
 
I believe this is just part of the Republicans' plan to take power. And it doesn’t matter who would be the current president of Ukraine: Poroshenko, Zaluzhny or Stepan Bandera, aid to Ukraine would still be blocked.
Perhaps you think that this influenced the blocking of borders by Polish or Slovak farmers? But I think that this also has nothing to do with Zelensky’s personality or politics

Once upon a time, they wasted infantry brigades all the way to Berlin.
in a war of attrition, and with little or no aid from the USA, the fog of war here is thick and heavy.

This is a misunderstanding of russia.
He was pulled *exactly* because everyone should see that putin is the big dog who can make people dissapear in foreign countries, remove them from ballots, or drop them out of windows. There was and is never any attempt at being subtle when you suicide reporters with several shots to the back of the head.
Making it fail because not reaching pathetic number of signatures just to drive home the point

Several days ago UKR social media shared scandal video, where servicemen of Dnipro city special purpose police regiment (former riot police "Berkut") rejected to execute an order, transferring them to National Police brigade "Liut' " ("Rage")
Moreover, personnel of the regiment became to speak typical pro-Russian stamps and insult the chief deputy of Dnipro police directorate, who came to them with the order, naming him "Maidan scum". Policemen cried "You have no right to dispose our lives!", "The law doesn't say we have to go at the war!", "We reject to execute this criminal order", We paid our debt to our state, when we defended it on Maidan under Molotov coctails!", "You can go at the war yourself!"
Acording to the law any force structure during martial law is a part of Defense Forces and have to execute orders as well participate in combat if this need. 
The video caused the tsunamy of the hate - police, like courts and prosecutors considered by Ukranian society as more corrupted structures, which defends not a law, but thoise who have a money.  By the way many servicemen in these special purpose police units (from 50-70 in the company to about 250-300 in regiment) are former "Berkut" servicemen, which were restored by court in service with support of former minister of internal affairs Arsen Avakov. Most of these units continue to be a carriers of anti-Maidan moods. Also there are many conflicts between them and AFU servicemen on checkpoints in the rear. You can see on the photo - the servicemen are very tough bulls, not 50 y.o. tired riflemen in trenches. They in perfect physical conditions, but for them easily to show own strenght and power defending interersts of corrupted system and to chase granmas, trading apples near transport stops, than go at the war. Many of them consider themselves as untouched caste and many of new guys, who came to these units quicly become the same dumb buffalos. So, society returns them the same hate, like in 2014.   
Despite many policemen and retired policemen enlisted to volunteer police battalions and regimnets, which in 2023 were united in "Liut' " assault brigade, police have a reservation from sending to frontline to AFU. But they can be transferred to this brigade, subordinated to National Police.
Today leadership of National Police issued a reaction - Dnipro special purpose police regiment will be disbanded. All staff wiil be moved to "Liut' " brigade. Who will reject to transfer will be fired from police service and will receive mobilization summon to AFU. Let see how this ends. Many people believe these pro-Russian scum just will pay money to military medical commitee in order they "found" many deceases and recognized them unfit for service
  

Usually I ignore most of articles in WP/ NT about Ukraine, because many of them had been written by authors, who worked in Russia or had any relations with Russia and this is not journalistic, but sort of influence on public opinion and to sow scepticism. 
But this is article, despite had been written by "anonimous sources among UKR battalion and company commanders" (if I see "anononimous source", this is 50/50 BS) in whole reflects probably more significant problem, than artillery sjells shortage - the crictical lack of pesonnel in "line units" - those who hold positions and should go forward. Problems with mobilisation and failed information policy of the state in this sector led to army receive too few replenishment. And many of infantry, who come from Ukrainian tarining centers have very weak training. (My addition - existing 151st training center, established by volunteers and saved in endless wars with old soviet dumbs top brass from GS anD MoD gives very food training, but can't reterain more that 2-3 batatlions for one cycle)
In conditions, when units have 30-40 % of personnel, which have no normal rest, we can't think about any offensives, And if this not be solved in short perspective, this with addition of probable US aid termination can lead to very bad consequences
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/ukraine-soldiers-shortage-infantry-russia/

This is very sad, but looks like Avdiivka battle comes to the end and, alas, not in our favor (not counting about two divisional vehicle sets, which Russians lost here). 
During last three days Russians captured quarry area on the NE of the town and gained foothold in dachas and first streets of northern part of Avdiivka. Yesterday they broke through overpass bridge in front of coke plant. Also reportedly for last two days Russians dropped on Avdiivka about week amout of gliding bombs. 
110th mech.brigade, defending the town itself is completely exhausted, drone operators almost don't sleep by days - FPV attacks and Mavicks maintaining resistance in conditions of artillery shells shortage. But bad weather in last days limited their flights and this immediately gave opportunity to the enemy, having overhelming advantage in manpower. Russians continuously replenish own troops with fresh meat, they go forward, die and next meat come behind of them, death conveyor is working, but Russians achive own goals in this way. 
Our artillery near Avdiivka keep almost full silence already four days - no shells. So 110th brigade command moved to positions as riflemen almost all rear services soldiers, because no more opportunity except FPVs and contact clashes to hold this horde. 
But not only ammunition shortage led to this situation. 
- OTUV "Tavria" command (gen.Tarnavskyi) again repeated all mistakes of Bakhmut defense. Expecting that Russians will assault stronpoints (like factories in Bakhmut and coke plant in Avdiivka) directly, when they use enough flexible tactic and after first fails attacked on flanks, made many bogus small assaults to confuse about real attack directions
- passivity of OTUV "Tavria" comamnd, as far as before October, when Russians recently captured Krasnohorivka and began to fill this northern "balcony" above Avdiivka with troops. 
- no reserve fortifications on flanks of Avdiivka. Only when Russians crossed railways, we started to establish some positions, but in conditions of unstable weather when frosts change themeselves with rains and mud it was belated idea
- manpower lack and fatigue. 110th brigade two years fights in this place and never was rotated for rest in full composition. Other units, who were moved here from Zaporizhzhia front also weren't rested and replenished after summer clashes, when Russians continously were replenishing own units. 
- weak air defense capabilities. For whole Avdiivka battle Russians lost only one aircraft. 
The map of northern part of Avdiivka for 5-6th of Feb. Avdiivka is on 90 % is private 1-2 storey cottages, only on the south east from coke plant there is small "Khimic" ("Chemestrian") micro-district with multistorey urban type buildings for coke plant employees. These are so-called "Old Avdiivka" and "New Avdiivka"
 

Honestly, I don't know if I would call it "anxiety" but I have had nights where for hours I have been awake thinking about this war.
I understand how important this war is for the direction this world can go, and I will keep following it until it is finished and will keep supporting the good guys in this war no matter how long it takes.
Personally I do recommend once in a while disconnecting from the internet and spending some time with family, go on a hike in the woods or something.
But ultimately compared to Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines, I really have nothing to be anxious about.
 

Today we had next missile strike.
Kyiv form 6:00 to 7:30 of morning was under attack too. about 20 missiles were shot down over the city and on approaches. Alas, fragments of one missile hit residental buulding, causing death of four people and wounding of 36.
Two more were wounded in other place, where allegedly newest 3M22 "Zirkon" hypersonic missile hit the ground between two malls. This is in 5 km from my house. In result power lines was damaged, and part of our district was cut off from electricity and heating for several hours (but not our residental area)
The palce of "Zirkon" (ot its fragments) impact - Air Force Command didn't claim intercepted ballistic missiles today, but also didn't mean about "Zirkon" strike.

Allegedly "Zirkon" fragment with 3M22 marking, fouded near the crater. But this marking made like by hand and we have too few information about "Zirkon", so nobody now can't say for shure what type of missile it was. "Zirkon" is newest Russian sea-launched hypersonic missile with probable range 1000-1500 km and 400 kg warheed. It's not adopted yet, but reportedly first usage in Ukriane was on 29th Dec 2023, when it hit Zaporizhzhia. Some later the similar missile hit Dnipro. Curerently unknown what Russian ship on balcj sea or submarine could launch it. Russians tested it with new frigades pr. 22530M "Admiral Grigorovich" and nuclear submarine "Perm' ", but this vessels are from Northern Fleet. Allegedly "Zirkon" can be launched from upgraded launchers for "Onyx" and "Kalibr". Probably it was launced from the ground. 

 Kharkiv also was under attack. Initially all five missiles were claimed as S-300, but later two of them were identified as N.Korean KN-23. 

Mykolaiv. Kh-22 missile hit on the street of private houses. In result of impact 70 houses were damaged, 2 killed, 20 wounded.
 
Result of AD work today (morning info, while weren't clarifications of N.Korean missiles and allegedle "Zirkon"):
20 Shaheds - 15 shot down
29 Kh-101 - 26 shot down
3 Kalibr - 3 shot down
4 Kh-22 - no interceptions
3 Iskander-M - no interceptions
5 S-300 - no interceptions

Exactly one year after the first announcement, the project is now finished. In order to avoid
misunderstandings on the part of the company Battlefront.com, I chose the name CampaignPack 😎.
The pack (as described in former threads) consists of 5 campaigns in which the player is thrown
into the events of the summer of 1944 in the sector of the German Army Group Center.
In total you will play minium 52 single missions, maximum 55 single missions (depending on one
branch). To avoid technical problems, I didn't add any mods to the campaigns. But I can, for example,
highly recommend the excellent work of @JM Stuff, especially his extraordinary mod collection of vehicles
and wrecks 👍
I recently visited the forum regularly to stay in touch with people who wanted to register. However, I have
asked the people at Battlefront.com several times to delete my profile.  This request has not yet been
granted to me, so as a quasi "undead" I will always stop by - but I will no longer take part in any discussions
or answer any questions in the forum. To get in touch with me, please write to me at:
E-Mail: f-s-zbg@web.de.😎
Of course, I can still send the campaign pack to anyone interested.
 
So all I can say is:
It was a great pleasure for me to finish this project and share it with many people.
I hope you have as much fun playing as I did creating it 🙏
 
Best regards
Mr.X 

And if it gets shot down on the way, it will double as a coffin.
A big part of why drones are so successful is that they are so small that they are almost impossible to spot and hit at range. This one, not so much.

Thank you for the well thought out reply. 
#1 As your map suggests. Avdiivka is the closest and it's not out of the question to fire a shell or two into Donetsk. Being that close allows for shorter range to guns or drones to conduct fire missions.
#2 Doesn't matter whether they are new or not. Currently Ukraine can tie up a much greater percentage of Russian manpower with comparatively fewer forces. The question is how dense are the fortifications behind it. If there are none or few behind Avdiivka then Ukraine now has a section of the front that must be much more heavily manned. 
#3 Here's a few examples. These were from a quick google search. 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/21/ukrainian-shelling-donetsk-shopping-area
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/21/russia-says-at-least-25-killed-in-blast-at-donetsk-market#:~:text=At least 27 people have,Tekstilshchik on the Ukrainian military.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Donetsk,_Russia
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-shelling-russian-controlled-donetsk/32676019.html
#4 Even the US argued that Ukraine should leave Bakhmut. Multiple Ukrainian officials have lamented that Bakhmut should have been given up earlier to spare manpower.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/ukraine-shift-tactics-bakhmut/index.html
I don't bring these up to celebrate one side or the other just to challenge viewpoints here. I've enjoyed reading the responses even with the insults. 

And if it gets shot down on the way, it will double as a coffin.
A big part of why drones are so successful is that they are so small that they are almost impossible to spot and hit at range. This one, not so much.

And if it gets shot down on the way, it will double as a coffin.
A big part of why drones are so successful is that they are so small that they are almost impossible to spot and hit at range. This one, not so much.

I don't really buy this narrative.
1. It's close enough to the heart of Donetsk to shell/send drones from. This restricts the Russians ability to move and transport supplies up and down the line.
2. The most heavily fortified part of the entire line. You won't find such a large concentration of concrete bunkers after this until you reach the new line they're building farther to the west.
3. The Ukrainians have shelled civilian areas regularly from Avdiivka. As long as it stands the DPR and the civilian population will question Russians commitment to their cause.
Finally, I have a hard time believing Russia is the only one suffering during this battle. It's pretty easy to geolocate equipment losses but what about infantry hit farther behind the line with artillery, thermobarics, glide bombs, FPV drones. This is a fire sac surrounded on three sides.
Whether it's worth it I don't know but we have to stop assuming Russians are stupid. It's counterproductive. If they are spending this much blood and treasure and we don't understand why then there must be something they know that we don't.
 

Brother try to kill brother we live in crazy world . This war have to finish asap 

I have some thoughts about this news, but you'll have to wait a few months until I post them.

We should all be hopeful russia manages to scale up their failing, not just in Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the last stronghold in Donetsk, but failing beyond - that will win the war.
Maybe after losing the battle for Avdiivka, they should lose the battle for operationally insignificant Kupyansk, its only 5km until russia can fail there too.

Despite massive casualties, the Russians keep inching closer to encircling Avdiivka. They are now less than 1 km away from the main road into the city.
To my eyes, the situation doesn't look good. Not sure how the Ukrainians can keep supplying their positions in the fields east of Avdiivka even now.
Time to pull back, or am I overlooking something important here? Apart from the huge Russian losses.

Unfortunately I think it’s further confirmation Avdiivka will eventually be lost. It’s Bakhmut all over again, the Russian advance is slow, and their losses heavy, but they’re consistently gaining a little more ground day by day, and unless Ukraine launches counterattacks to retake lost ground (likely a costly strategy given their materiel inferiority) then the result is inevitable.
It’s honestly painful to watch. The Ukrainians are fighting like lions to defend their country, but unfortunately we happen to live in a time where courage is about as important as the supply of 155mm artillery ammunition. And somehow North Korea is better at helping out the Russians in this way than Ukraine’s western allies…

I am also a bit underwhelmed.
I use CM to experiment with the engine, explore game mechanics and use it as a TO&E reference. As such scenario packs are useless to me.
The new expansion is very close to a scenario pack with how little units it adds.

To be honest, I find myself somewhat underwhelmed by this expansion. The content I have tried so far is fine, but it falls short of expectations in terms of scale.
What it is missing is that "big thing" that gets you excited about it. In Fire and Rubble that was the Volkssturm stuff, which was completely new to CM and really unique. Downfall is a big content upgrade to Final Blitzkrieg, but in terms of the Combat Mission series as a whole, it does not actually add that much new stuff, with most of the formations and assets being ported over from other game families. Sure, the Volkssturm guys are still cool, but certainly not new anymore and frankly, I find it a bit weird that Downfall leans so heavily on those scenario and campaign wise, considering that they tended to surrender or go home on the western front, compared to the east.
Obviously there is not much new stuff you can realistically do with the Germans, but if you had asked me about this module before it came out, I would have bet that the new "big thing" was amphibious vehicles and river crossings, the capability of which exists in the engine, with various LVTs, maybe footbridges and campaigns at Walcheren and during Operation Varsity to use these new systems. That would have been cool and exciting and, at least to me, the obvious direction for the game to take. All of this is completely absent though. I guess the Schwimmwagen was added, but no allied amphibious gear? This timeframe would also be perfect for adding Commandos and Rangers (which already exist in Italy BTW).
There are the new super late war vehicles and weapons like the Pershing and Comet, but even in that area there is lots of unused potential that would have made the module feel way more unique and interesting. Just from the top of my head: Sherman Tulips, Sherman Crocodiles with fuel trailers (used at Juelich, another river crossing), Super Pershing... personally I am more of an infantry guy, so for those few of us: Why not add M1 Carbines modified for full auto capability, a common field modification, with kits being shipped officially?
I could even think of some more German stuff that could be used to spice those up a bit, like the PAW-600 AT gun that was actually used at the Aller against British forces. In a similar vain, heavy AA gun formations that the allies overran (anti bomber positions), 10.5cm, 12.8cm AA guns... Maybe the 8.8cm improvised AT guns made from unused Jagdpanther guns, used at the "Düren belt"? And of course, since the MP40 was being phased out of production, some Beretta M38/42 for the Volksgrenadiers.
Anyway, my point is, the module feels light on exciting new content and like more could have been done with the scenario.

Forbs article claims Russian Lancets attacks were significantly reduced since September 2023, presumably because of August explosion on Zagorovskiy optic&mechanical factory, which produced cameras for Lancets.