Don's Weekly, 10 March 2025: Part 1

by Donald Hill (intro and some commentary by Tom Cooper)

Hello everybody!

Biggest news of the day: because the trollia acuta continues spreading through the depths of the social media, this blog is written by ChatGPT, you know…

(...and people then wonder why am I so inpatient with trolls, or explain my allergies to fake news with my overblown ego…)

But, hand on heart: that would instantly explain all of my mistakes in grammar and syntax…

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Anyway… while the WSJ (a US newspaper) is claiming that the Astra-30/SAMP-T surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) delivered to Ukraine by Italy are ‘malfunctioning’, PSU gunners using them are praising the system for its precision and reliability. With other words: Dumpf’s war on former US allies is already in full swing. Moreover, Ukrainian Ministry of Defence just signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with DIEHL Defence to threefold the production of IRIS-T SAMs.

For the records: between 3 March and 9 March this year alone, the Ukrainian Air Force & Air Defence Force claimed to have shot down over 700 Russian missiles and UAVs, including:

• 25 Kh-101

• 8 Kalibrs

• 1 Iskander-K

• 1 Kh-59

• 520 Shaheds

• 39 different reconnaissance UAVs

• 106 other attack UAVs.

It appears that Portugal is in the process of delivering some eight Aérospatiale SA.330 Puma helicopters to Ukraine.

Neutral Ireland is to follow with deliveries of Giraffe Mk.IV air defence radars.

Meanwhile, the commercial leadership of the similarly neutral Switzerland is still busy with crawling up Dumpf’s after. And that at the time when, interestingly, nearly all of that country’s top military commanders - the people that obviously forged the contest for a new ‘interceptor’ in favour of the US-made bombtruck named F-35 - have announced they’re about to quit. Of course, that’s in no way connected to some of lower ranks demanding a review of that decision (hint: the air force insisted on Rafale, and this ‘won’ - hands down - the testing… two times)…

And in the light of the US Government banning the use of Maxar satellite imagery by Ukraine, the French corporation Safran is going to take over, and not only supply satellite imagery but also analysis of the same.

Ah well… lets get over to Don’s review of developments on the battlefield of the last week.

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Kursk

The Russian forces re-initiated their offensive and took Lebedevka, placing them within 6 km of the main road to Sudzha. Since four days, they’re assaulting from the north-east in direction of Sudzha, too. Within frame of this effort, on 8 March the Ukrainian reports have it that the Russians attempted to use an underground portion of the local gas-pipeline (east of Bohdanivka) to infiltrate troops into the town: Ukrainians claim these were detected (apparently by the 95th Airborne) and an entire unit of the Russian DShV (1st Volunteer Expeditionary Assault Corps) - some 80 troops - killed.

At the same time, North Koreans took the ZSU by surprise, crossed the Psel River in the south-east and drove about 4,000 metres (4 kilometres) deep into the Ukrainian rear, almost reaching the international border and threatening the Ukrainian secondary supply route. The ZSU claimed to have hit them hard with cluster ammunition, and stopped this advance cold. But, there’s no denial: this accelerated the Ukrainian withdrawals from Pogrebki and Cherkasskoe Porechnoe….

With limited space to evacuate casualties and bring in replacements, ammo and food, it became extremely difficult to supply the Ukrainian forces. Russia is also constantly bombing and shelling positions and supply routes inside Ukraine. They’re even trying to secure positions in Ukraine at the border villages of Veselivka, Shuravka and Novenke. This is why the ZSU has evacuated some of units out of the bulge, and then withdrawn others to the railway line north/north-east of the town.

The GenStab-U stressed, ‘Ukraine will not abandon its gains in Kurks’, but the fact is that by withdrawing from the northern side of the bulge and consolidating its positions closer to Sudzha, the ZSU reduced the threat of getting cut off, and the pressure upon its logistical system. Sure, it would be very useful if it could counterattack and secure Kurilovka once again, though.

The Ukrainian EuromaidanPress is claiming that the ‘US provided all the intelligence information to Russia on the Kursk region. Logistics, location of warehouses and strongholds, and movements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were provided to the russians. Which explains the instant and stunning success of the Russians in the Kursk direction.’

The Rubican Center of Advanced Unmanned Systems is an effective Russian drone unit that operates in Velyka Novosilka and Pokrovsk but is most heavily involved in Kursk. Their drones are not the cumbersome fiber optic drones but are extremely hard to jam. They’ve taken a heavy toil on Ukrainian logistics and directly contributed to the current situation. Rubicon hasn’t released new videos so Ukraine may or may not have adjusted.

Russians enter a village 500 meters north of Malaya Loknya.

Russians enter Novaya Sorochina, south of Pogrebki.

Russians enter Cherkasskoe Porechnoe.

Russians entered a gas pipeline north of Martynovka and traveled 7 km inside to exit 2 km north of Mirnyi. Some took a cigarette break inside. When they exited, 80-100 Russians were killed by artillery bombardments. There is a report that Ukraine had knowledge of the event.

Russia occupies Kurilovka.

A Bradley is hit by a drone in Sudzha.

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(…to be continued…)