33 Comments

Thanks for the update!

Regarding Khomutovka: I'm not really convinced yet. In case of the Kursk axis the delay between the initial raids and the actual, serious strike was quite long: so just the raid does not indicate the immediate commitment.

Also, just to have the Russians on edge on a border that long is already quite a result for a raid. There is no actual necessity for a following invasion.

We'll see. Would be ... nice.

Especially, since a new incursion would mean Ukraine still has adequate reserves left...

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Dear Tom. May be Do You have more info about result of attack on airbase in Engelsk?

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Finally the ZSU ejected the Russians from the Aggregate works in Voschank, Kharkiv. Thanks for the update Tom.

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I don’t say it nearly enough, but thanks for these updates, most appreciated!

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Thank you very much for your update. Is there more information on Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian forces ? For the latest exchange the Ukrainians forced the Russians to release some Azovfighters of the special brigade who fought in Mariupol. --- And a second question. Are the Russians meanwhile capable to produce their own drones in such numbers that they no longer need to import them ? --- And thoughts to you and yours forr the flooding catastrophy

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Thank you. Could the evacuation of residents mean preparations for the creation of a strike force to invade Sumy?

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Today (according to Ukrainian media) Pentagon declared the shortage of weapons and therefore further help to Ukraine must be diminished. I really wonder that the cause is not poor knowledge of English language of Ukrainian soldiers or the like.

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At least since March, USA and EU are demanding Zelensky to end this war. Secretly, of course.

....because they are stupid enough to think he can end it.

Of course, he could: if Ukraine capitulates....

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I suspect that termination of active hostilities is what they actually want. War fighting to cease. Both sides to lick their wounds and re-build. Russia to demand of Ukraine war reparations [a redux of the Winter War of 1940]. In American terms, let some future Presidential administration deal with a renewed aggressive Russia. It's called political expediency to gain short term political benefits to satisfy the electorate while Russia (Putin) continues the goal of restoring the historic Kievan Rus.

If this were to happen, then Xi Jinping will learn a lesson that the United States or even the entire West doesn't want him to learn.

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Loving the Pentagon's latest "oh, but readiness!" excuses. As if the USA is going to need Abrams or Bradleys to fight China...

As for myself, I'm holding my prospective vote in the US elections hostage. Fully outfit another dozen brigades by November, "allies," or at least one voter in this swing district is going to burn his ballot along with a russian flag in protest.

American leaders - eternally proving this place to be a land of cowards built by slaves on the bones of indigenous peoples.

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I can see you are frustrated and its no wonder why, but you simply must avoid the trap of political apathy. To do so lends support to Vance's post-democratic vision for the world. We must retain the ability to sack our leaders!

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This isn't political apathy, this is warfare :)

The Dems know they're in deep trouble anyway since they have no answer to the threat of the Supreme Court throwing the election to the House. Best not to let them pretend otherwise, as they'll try to, and wind up hanging Ukraine out to dry as they go down.

Vance has no vision, he just shills for the highest bidder. There'll be a drone somewhere with his name written on it if he actually ever does get real power.

His type ever sees their dream become reality, the country splits. West Coast is already its own country for all intents and purposes. I've got a few boatloads of nukes and mountains to hide behind.

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The U.S. Supreme Court does not throw a Presidential election into the House of Representatives. The 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides for the election of the President and the Vice President should neither candidate (or any of the candidates) achieve a minimum of 270 electoral votes. BTW, the Senate in this situation would vote for the Vice President as the House of Representatives votes for the President.

There are officially 3 candidates for President. RFK Jr., although throwing his support to Trump, has not withdrawn officially from the race. Wouldn't it be something if his continuing non-withdrawal would result in none of the 3 candidates winning a majority of the Electoral Collage votes come this November? Theoretically--actually more than theoretically if I understand the provisions of the 12th Amendment correctly--the wacky House of Representatives could vote-in RFK, Jr. for President. Imagine that! What a nightmare! He is a loony toon, even more so IMHO than the Orange Haired Misfit.

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And if that's the case, then Ukraine has done well to give them the one-finger salute and force them to at least keep it in the fight

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You are quite right. But they must somehow hide the baseness of their propositions therefore they talk in public about shortage of weapons and so on.

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Thanks for keeping us up to date Tom

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Refutation of information about the aggregate plant in Volchansk.

https://24tv.ua/agregatniy-zavod-vovchansku-okupovaniy-rosiyanami-shho-kazhut_n2643374

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Oh, thx!

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Hi, I note you mainly report dispositions of brigades. Are Russians still using divisional command structures or have they given up on these?

(Obviously Ukrainians never bothered with them in first place).

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Yes, there are few cases where the Russians are still using divisional commands.

That said, most of the times they're as 'flexible' in this regards as the ZSU: essentially, whatever brigade-HQ is successful is becoming the 'HQ of the OMG', and receiving command over elements from other divisions and brigades sent to bolster its success.

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Thanks. Seems like a very uncoordinated approach.

But then command and control in this war seems near non existent at times on both sides which is ironic given Soviets had a very structured approach to war.

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That's something that has been niggling at me as well. Where is the C&C structure? For Ukraine i can kind of understand as they move more towards NATO thinking but Russia? Are they just not paying attention in their military academies? I thought 'always has a plan' was a soviet thing?

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I think any kind of real structure in the Russia Army went out in 1991 when the USSR died and the Russian army struggled under near 20 years of lack of investment.

So whilst the academies focused on theory, the real command structure was defined by corruption and nepotism.

Ukraine's in a similar boat, hence why its leader's often struggle (as Tom has often discussed).

You'd think 3 years of full scale conventional war would have ironed out command kinks. Instead both sides continue blundering on.

Much like Ethiopia-Eritrea or arguably Iran-Iraq - the command structure is too corrupted for even full scale crisis to change it.

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Thanks Tom, any word on how many POW's they bag in the pockets?

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Will the Aggregate Works become a second Azov? Only this time in reverse, with the Russians as the victims... I believe that the only reason the trapped Russians are holding out there for so long is because they only have two options. They surrender voluntarily, are captured by the Ukrainians and, after a prisoner exchange, are shot by the Akhmat idiots for desertion. Or they surrender and are immediately shot by Akhmat...

Do you choose Gate 1 or Gate 2? Decide now...

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Tom....be easy on yourself. So the 151st update is late. Chill man. It's not like Pluto will stop being a planet or anything serious like that.

BTW: what about that mastermind BIBI escalating everything in the Middle East by blowing up thousands of Hezbollah pagers. Wow!!! Nothing terroristic about that is there...and I am sure the IRGC will not mind a bit.

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Both Anastasiia and me are feeling very responsible for every donated cent, and want to make sure we're not misaprorpriating anything. Thus, an 'ultimo' is simply due: we want to show how much have we achieved by now, and thank everybody for help.

Re. Bibi: the only way out for him and such like him is to keep this a never-ending war. Thus, we can be sure, he's not going to miss any opportunity to escalate.

....and in turn, he's training the IRGC (nowadays including Hezbollah) ever better and better...

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A few days ago Haaretz reported that Hezbollah 'benefiting' from the advances being made in drone tech in Ukraine is now using FPV drones to attack Israel making them harder to counter and more accurate than the previous 'dumb' rockets.

As to the 'never-ending war' - last week's 'For Heaven's Sake' podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute (an ongoing discussion of current events and other topics of interest) had the participants discussing the presence and influence of the Ultra-nationalist, Ultra-Zionist parties in Netanyahu's governing coalition. And what their calls for 'otal Victory' meant.

Their conclusion was that there was a Messianic vision of creating a regional conflict that would bring G-d to intervene to give Israel victory - in the view of the podcast 'forcing G_d's Hand.'

While the podcasters are solid Zionists in most other respects, this has even them appalled...

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Sadly....I could not agree with you more....and the world will be a worse place because of it all. :o(

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French newspapers claiming Mirage jets will be delivered to Ukraine before year end.

All new weapons are a benefit but how much a benefit is a system technically different from existing plus the need for technical infrastructure, trained engineers, pilots &&&

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Quite possibly France will be much more able and willing to train Mirage pilots, than the US to train F-16 pilots…

I guess it’s another way for EU to support, noting that the US cannot be expected to really help Ukraine these days…

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Good work Tom, as always 👍.

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Good Lord! No apologies required. I feel blessed that you are out there helping have some sense of what the hell is going on in this monstrous obscenity that I feel is only still going on due to Biden and DOD.

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