“Ukraine – Russia”

Going underground in the Ukraine conflict is still as vital tactically as in the First World War

Many people are surprised to see the images from the war in Ukraine of soldiers on both sides living and fighting in trenches. We think of trench warfare as uniquely associated with the horrors of Flanders and Gallipoli in the First World War. Surely modern war is all about cyberattacks and missiles?

But a hole in the ground is as fundamentally important to success or failure in war today as it has been for hundreds of years.

Russian tank destroyed by soldiers of the 72nd brigade from Sugna-P ATGM. Donetsk region. pic.twitter.com/WCPkghZBeL

— Paul Jawin (@PaulJawin) November 29, 2022

Eighteen Ukrainian diplomatic missions in 12 countries have received bloody packages in what Ukraine has described as a “campaign of terror and intimidation”. Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesperson from Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said the packages were simultaneously sent from one European country, which he could not disclose while the investigation was ongoing.

As of Friday, Ukraine said 17 embassies had been targeted, indicating that another was delivered on Saturday.

#Ukraine: A Russian Ural-4320 cargo truck and a Scooby Doo van (UAZ 452) were destroyed by indirect fire of the Ukrainian 54th Mechanized Brigade in Zolotarivka, #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/fONsVc0p6I

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) December 3, 2022

Parcels containing animal eyes have been sent to six Ukrainian embassies in Europe, its foreign ministry says.

Spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said the “blood-soaked” packages were found in Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, and Austria.

It is not clear who sent the packages to the embassies and consulates.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes a “well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates” is taking place.

#Ukraine: In the East, the Ukrainian 66th Mechanized Brigade struck a Russian tank with an ATGM, damaging it.

Another Russian armoured vehicle and transport truck were also hit and destroyed. pic.twitter.com/ZZkQ4ZU3ZR

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 30, 2022

After nine months of war in Ukraine, all Nato countries are short of shells — but thanks to cuts and complacency the situation is particularly acute in Germany

In the basement of an east Berlin hotel, a couple of curious punters eye up a rocket-powered spy plane designed to hurtle through the lower reaches of space at more than five times the speed of sound.

Nearby, a suited man with an expression of childlike absorption pilots a tiny swarm drone with minute precision through the keyboard of a MacBook Air.

A colonel from the Mongolian army, decked out in a sky-blue dress uniform with magnificent golden braids, looks a little lost next to a Lockheed Martin stand bristling with swishy avionics.

I suggest they fall back to the Reichs Chancellery.

Despite Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 83 percent approval rating, his deceptions about losses in Ukraine and gradual increases in the costs of sanctions make him vulnerable to a Western campaign of information warfare. Putin must now deliver victory or face being removed. Skeptics warn that any perceived foreign interference in Russian society will trigger a defensive nationalism that neutralizes any of the effects of Western-influenced agitation. They will highlight the consistent failure of contemporary psychological warfare units in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, and will point to NATO’s collective indifference toward learning about Islamic political culture as a cause that led to those failures.

TikTok is hosting dozens of videos that glorify violence by Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries and they have been viewed more than a billion times, according to a new report.

Wagner has sent mercenaries into Ukraine in big numbers.

US-based NewsGuard, which focuses on online misinformation, says some of the videos appear to show the execution of a former Russian mercenary.

TikTok has said it will act against any content violating its policies.

The number of Russians in favour of continuing the war in Ukraine has fallen dramatically, with just one in four now supporting the conflict, according to leaked Kremlin opinion polls.

In July, 57 per cent of respondents said they wanted to see Russian troops remain in Ukraine. That figure has fallen to 25 per cent. Support for negotiations to end the nine-month conflict has risen from 32 per cent to 55 per cent.

#Ukraine: A Russian T-80BV was destroyed by Ukrainian forces, presumably in the East. pic.twitter.com/CckdDXMJ8h

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 28, 2022

The Ukrainian government has said a scheme it created for Russian soldiers to surrender is getting up to 100 enquiries a day.

The “I Want To Live” project was started in September.

By calling a hotline or entering details through messenger apps, Russian troops can arrange the best way to surrender to Ukrainian forces.

Officials in Kyiv say they’ve had more than 3,500 contacts from invading personnel, as well as their families.

#Ukraine: In the East, the Ukrainian 66th Mechanized Brigade struck a Russian tank with an ATGM, damaging it.

Another Russian armoured vehicle and transport truck were also hit and destroyed. pic.twitter.com/ZZkQ4ZU3ZR

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 30, 2022

The man-made famine has been buried from the beginning — and not just by its perpetrators.

Maria Katchmar was 7 when the troops came to her farm.

The soldiers entered her home in Cherkasy Oblast — a region of Ukraine along the Dnieper River — and immediately began to break everything. Windows and doors. Paintings and linens. Even pots for cooking. Her father was ordered to drown his livestock. When he refused, he was sent to Siberia — and the Soviet troops confiscated the animals anyway.

With the family’s two cows, chickens, and pigs gone, Maria’s mother left to find food, leaving her 10 children to fend for themselves for nearly a month.

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Russia is firing unarmed cruise missiles that were designed to carry nuclear warheads at targets in Ukraine to try to deplete Kyiv’s stocks of air defenses, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday.

The official, who declined to be named, was asked about a Nov. 26 assessment by Britain’s military intelligence which said that Russia was “likely” removing nuclear warheads from cruise missiles and firing the unarmed munitions into Ukraine.

#Ukraine: Ukrainian Artillery fire knocked out two Russian tanks and a BMP-1/2 infantry fighting vehicle in the East. pic.twitter.com/XiEVqObh8q

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 29, 2022

Fighting around the key eastern Ukraine town of Bakhmut has descended into a bloody morass with hundreds of dead and injured reported daily, as neither Russian or Ukrainian forces were able to make a significant breakthrough after months of fighting.

As Russia moved fresh formations to the area in recent weeks, including reinforcements previously in the Kherson region, the fighting in the Bakhmut sector has descended into trench warfare reminiscent of the first world war.

Over the weekend, images emerged of Ukrainian soldiers in flooded, muddy trenches and battlefields dotted with the stumps of trees cut down by withering artillery barrages.

#Ukraine: The first footage of a 105mm M101 howitzer, supplied by 🇱🇹 Lithuania to Ukraine earlier this year, in action with the AFU. Although these are older designs, more artillery is always useful-which is why Soviet WW2-era 85mm D-44 guns still make appearances. pic.twitter.com/2tQvMQ5Lkd

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) November 27, 2022

Two-thirds of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have depleted their stockpiles by sending weapons to Kiev, according to an alliance official. Even larger NATO states are struggling to meet the demands of Ukraine’s war effort.

The New York Times reported on Sunday the North Atlantic alliance is struggling to meet Kiev’s battlefield needs. According to one NATO official, 20 out of 30 members are “pretty tapped out” regarding their ability to supply Ukraine with additional weapons. While larger states like the US, France, Germany, and Italy have the ability to arm Ukraine, those governments have also resisted sending specific weapons systems requested by Kiev.