Don's Weekly, 17 June 2024: Part 4

(….continued from Part 3…)

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Crimea

An S-400 and two S-300 air defense systems were reportedly attacked…https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-hit-russian-air-defence-systems-occupied-crimea-2024-06-10/

In addition to those three systems, another S-400 system was attacked, resulting in the damage or destruction of a launcher and a radar component…https://x.com/UAControlMap/status/1801263884101091839

Russia generally stopped using the Kerch bridge to transport military supplies and reduced oil shipments across the bridge to one every three months or so. Since the May 30th attack damaged the two large rail ferries, Russian trains began to regularly carry oil over the bridge…https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russia-starts-transporting-explosive-cargo-across-the-crimean-bridge-after-the-destruction-of-railway-ferries/

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Russia

Russia can no longer trade dollars and euros on the Moscow central exchange but they can still do so on the interbank market. The exchange rate had been 90 rubles to the dollar and rose to 200 rubles to the dollar before the central bank set the rate at 88:1. The likely result of these sanctions is higher costs to import goods. Secondary sanctions were also extended to companies that do business with Russian companies in an effort to prevent Russia from obtaining electronics from third party companies. To offset lower oil revenues, income and corporate taxes were increased.

….wars are very expensive affairs…

Russia claims the Su-34 base of Morozovsk was attacked by 70 drones…https://mil.in.ua/en/news/drones-attacked-morozovsk-russia-where-a-military-air-base-is-located/

Images ten days apart, before and after an attack on an Su-34 base. There is no information on the five aircraft parked outside, but there seems to be two aircraft still inside the damaged hangar…https://x.com/Mavic0474/status/1801643128622842151

The before and after images of the other part of the air base…https://x.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1801711150075085252/photo/1

A more detailed report on the Su-57 that was riddled with shrapnel by a nearby drone impact, during attack on the Akhtubinsk AB, a week ago. There is also more calls for aircraft shelters…https://www.twz.com/air/su-57-felon-targeted-in-ukraine-strike-seen-in-new-higher-resolution-satellite-images

A Russian warblogger says that an Su-57 prototype was heavily damaged and is not worth repairing, and that another was slightly damaged and will be repaired. He says three drones attacked, none were shot down, and that none of the images of painted planes on the ground were damaged…https://t.me/fighter_bomber/17015

A gas storage facility in Saratov, 500 km away, burned for some reason…https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1801974220445954531

A Russian jet supposedly fired on a drone and missed…https://x.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1801718234506531271

A Russian repair base that’s 90 km from the front lines…https://x.com/EjShahid/status/1800448076643180691

An anti-submarine ship’s engines caught fire after a malfunction. Located in the Barents Sea, several hundred men were in a struggle for survival. The ships engines were built in Mykoliav, Ukraine, and have not been serviced in at least ten years…https://kyivindependent.com/russian-ship-admiral-levchenko-on-fire-in-barents-sea-ukrainian-official-claims/

A frigate, a sub, an oil tanker and a rescue tug is in Cuba, displaying Russia’s ability to project power across the globe. Fortunately, none of their engines caught fire…https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg66g0neweko

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Ukraine

During the last week, the population of Kyiv went through its 1101st air raid alert…https://x.com/aborealis940/status/1800707895971000810

Since independence, Ukrainian had been the country’s only official language, although the Russian language was widely used domestically, in schools, and culture, and most government officials could use it during the course of international relations. The Ukrainian parliament just passed a bill that established English as the language of international communication, a symbolic and practical piece of legislation. Certain government officials will now be expected to develop a level of English language proficiency, there will be more opportunities to learn English, and there will be greater cultural support for English, such as encouraging English-language movies to use subtitles instead of dubbing.

….and of course: the air force and air defence force will have to hurry and learn English, too…

Since Russia’s open invasion, there has been an increase in the demand for English as Ukraine integrates with the west militarily and diplomatically, and there was a requirement for Ukrainian pilots to understand English to be eligible to train on western aircraft. Government and aid workers use English to coordinate activities and the English ability of so many Ukrainians allows their western partners to gain a greater understanding of Ukrainian military experiences and lessons learned…https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-officially-embraces-english-as-historic-westward-pivot-continues/

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Diplomacy

How you respond to a bully that possesses nuclear weapons has been discussed many times before. This three minute video explains the same thing with slightly different words and the same conclusion…https://x.com/sumlenny/status/1800621546290941957

Argentina already sent two MiG-17s to Ukraine and will send gunpowder. They are considering sending five Super Etendard fighter aircraft to Ukraine, which it bought in 2017 but never put into operational status due to a UK embargo. The new Argentine government also joined the Ukrainian Contact Group, a departure from the last government that was considering joining the Russian and Chinese BRICS group…https://mil.in.ua/en/news/argentina-becomes-a-new-member-of-the-ukraine-defense-contact-group/#:~:text=Argentina%20became%20a%20new%20member,the%20Ukraine%20Defense%20Contact%20Group.

Ukraine will receive $50 billion in loans from the interest off the $325 billion in frozen Russian assets…https://x.com/rshereme/status/1801407451129897304

US allies and some Democrats want Biden to remove all restrictions on US-provided weapons…https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/14/europe-presses-us-to-lift-ukraine-weapons-limits-00163443

Hungary stopped blocking talks on Ukraine’s EU accession because there is now a document that says Ukraine must restore the rights it took from Hungarians. In 2017, Kyiv passed a law that required Ukrainian to be the language of instruction past the fifth grade. Last December they rescinded the law…https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1801973440376717540

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Equipment

There’s a report that North Korea sent 10,000 shipping containers that could hold up to 5 million shells…https://time.com/6988568/north-korea-russia-artillery-shell-south-korea-defense-minister/

An EU spokesman said that Europe produced shells of all calibers at the rate of 500,000 shells per year in March, 2023, and one million per year in January, and plan to increase that to 1.7 million shells by the end of 2024 and 2.5 million shells in 2025. Not all of those shells are being shipped to Ukraine. Some are refilling NATO stores and some are going to customers. A shortage of explosives is the largest hurdle to increased production. Many raw materials, such as guncotton, come from China and nations are looking for alternative sources. A French company that is Europe’s largest manufacturer of explosives is investing €500 million to increase its output. Finland is also building a TNT plant as a joint project with allies…https://mil.in.ua/en/news/by-the-end-of-the-year-the-eu-will-produce-1-7-million-shells-per-year/

In December, 2023, Rheinmetall set the goal of producing the Fuchs APC in six months and the Lynx in 12-13 months. Rheinmetall says ten Lynx’s have already been produced in Germany and Hungary. Ukraine says they will produce their first Lynx this year. There is a much higher demand for IFVs than tanks. Someone pointed out that first production of vehicles often begin with the workers assembling parts created elsewhere in order to gain experience before beginning their own production…https://x.com/waffentraeger/status/1730699905528635640

A Russian report that their glide bombs are generally less accurate due to electronic warfare. Tom reports that at least 25% of the glide bombs are malfunctioning on release. Russians claim the launch 4-500 a day and Ukraine claims that 150 hit their territory…https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1800086234187935944

For those wondering about the percentage of destroyed Russian tanks that lose their turrets, this thread is for you…https://x.com/WarSpotting/status/1801338042688700891

At the beginning of the year, Russia had 1,200 BMPs in storage that were in good condition, and 2,700 BMPs in storage that were in poor condition or had already been stripped for parts. A lot of BMP-1’s are being scrapped for parts in order to make BMP-2’s operational. 1341 BMP-2’s have been verified as lost, and over 4,100 IFV’s of all types have been lost since the beginning of the invasion…https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1801507911585214911

There is not enough information to determine if MT-LB’s are being produced or just refurbished.