Ukraine War, 19 April 2024 (Air/Missile War)

Hello everybody!

Told myself I must sit down and put together an update on what‘s up in Ukraine the last few days… and that ‘despite’ the Israeli ‘counterstrike’ on Iran: this was of such significance, it only - even if indirectly - resulted in me over-spilling my morning mug of cappuccino….

Yup, again.

Ha-ha…

When it comes to that, I’m meanwhile firmly convinced: it’s a conspiracy!

Arguably, it wasn’t the Israeli counterstrike that made me overspill, but commentary by two anchors and their expert on the CNN. No, no, don’t worry: I didn’t re-start watching TV news: it was early in the morning, I just went online and the first thing I saw was a message from a mate who drew my attention at a CNN-post on the Youtube, with commentary about the last night’s strike by Israeli UAVs on something near Esfahan, in central Iran.

And what I’ve got to see? ‘She’ (female anchor) was looking like about to fall asleep any second; ‘he’ (male anchor) was babbling incomprehensible nonsense, and their ‘expert’ – a retired ex-US Army officer – was talking about ‘Republican Guards’ in Iran…

….sigh…. sigh… and sigh…

I know, I know… I’m a nerd and a weirdo, and the mass of US-Americans…and not only US-Americans - are never going to get the point, but: if the proud US Army can’t tell the difference between

-          Republican Guards (of Iraq, and from back in 1966-2003), and

-          ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS CORPS (of Iran, and that in Anno Domini 2024)…

….then… sigh… no wonder there’re still experts wholeheartedly supporting Israeli genocide on Palestinians, and not complaining when Biden ships another load of artillery ammo calibre 155mm made for Ukraine – to Israel – and that without any kind of consultations with the US Congress….

They all simply do not know what are they talking about.

….and, considering our politicians here in the EU are only a notch… (*giggles*) ‘better’ we all better start digging some very deep shelters, with some very thick walls too, and that right away. And so… before I go to pick my shovel, permit me to distract myself with a topic that’s – by all the resulting suffering and pain - always (and FAR) more promising than the US (and EU) politics, -oligarchy, and the -media (and their experts)...

***

Two days ago, early on 17 April, the glorious Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (VSRF) have smashed an eight-storey apartment building in Chernihiv by a single missile. At least 60 were injured, the number of dead was at 18 as of yesterday afternoon – and they still haven’t cleared all the resulting rubble. The local air defences couldn’t do much, because both the ZSU (Ukrainian ground forces) and the PSU (air force and air defence force) are still critically short on surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)…

I can only wonder what kind of ‘lessons’ is this going to teach the Ukrainians, as so many Russians say it will… Perhaps that the Russians are really, and intentionally targeting Ukrainian civilians, with intention of killing anybody feeling as a member of the Ukrainian nation?

Oh yes, sure: that’s going to break the Ukrainian will to resist… indeed: that’s as sure as that 100+ years of Zionist terror have broken the Palestinian will to resist…

Yes… I’m digressing…

…and then people wonder ‘how comes Tom is supporting Ukraine, but not Israel...?’ It’s plain simple, ladies and gentlemen: at least somebody there is still fighting a war, not babbling about one while intentionally massacring civilians at every opportunity…

…yes, I’m digressing…again…

On the same day, the Keystone Cops in Moscow also claimed the destruction of three MiG-29s and one Su-25 of the PSU. According to them, all were knocked out on the ground, at the Aviatorski Airport, outside Dnipro. This time, they’ve even released a video confirming this, and here are two stills from the same:

Just, when checking that video, can’t help it: 3 Ukrainian MiG-29s (two are visible on stills above) at one spot? And then at an airport less than 100km from the frontline? Thus within (easy) reach of stuff like Orlan-10s and BM-30 Uragan multiple rocket launchers? And then, not one of MiGs is ‘blowing up’ when, actually, the bomblets from the cluster bomb unit deployed by BM-30 are exploding all around, but not on top of them?

With other words: I think the Keystone Cops are happy about destroying some decoys.

Sadly, much more realistic was their Iskander strike on one of Ukrainian S-300 batteries (or division), they’ve claimed on the same day. Here we can see the command post and three launchers, and secondaries, too…

Meanwhile… that is: yesterday, early in the morning, the ZSU hit back. But the way an armed force should: by striking the enemy armed force. It deployed two M39 missiles of the ATACMs system to strike the Russian air defences of the Dzhankoi AB, on the occupied Crimea.

….and these two hit so hard, the Russians ‘saw stars’, literally. Their PRBS-industrialists have counted a total of ’12 ATACMS’.

Haha! These simpletons: as if Biden would ever send as many to Ukraine!

….anyway… Ukrainian missiles have destroyed a fire-control radar and three launchers of S-400 SAM-system, and two launchers of S-300 SAM-system (it’s not entirely clear yet if the latter were actually assigned to the S-400 SAM-site, or ‘grouped together’ while undergoing some sort of maintenance). Immediately after, Dzahnkoi was also hit by multiple drones, making the actual purpose of the ATACMS-strike clear: paving the way for UAVs.

Smouldering wreckage of two S-300 or S-400 launchers of the Russian SAM-site at Dzhankoi.

With other words: at least at the ‘Arrivals’ terminal of Dzhankoi ‘airport’, it was a night of ‘parties and fireworks’. Indeed, it was such a successful party that, reportedly, some 15 Russians were de-militarised on the spot, about 22 are still missing, and another 18 or so were hospitalised.

BTW, one of Russian ‘200s’ (Russian- and Ukrainian military jargon for ‘killed in action/KIA’), was Colonel Alexey Olegovich Utochkin. The Russians claim he was in command of a Buk M3 SAM-site and exceptionally successful. Should’ve shot down 3 PSU aircraft, 9 UAVs, 1 Tochka, 3 helicopters….and, and, and… 42 ‘HIMARS’ rockets… Certainly a claim worth further checks.

Finally, this morning, the VKS hit back in… ‘full force’ (as of April 2024): its Tu-95s and Tu-22s, Su-30s and Su-34 have released:

-          2 Kh-101/555 cruise missiles (both were shot down)

-          6 Kh-22 (from a station above the Azov Sea)

-          12 Kh-59/69 PGMs (at the Kursk area)

Additionally, the Russians have released 14 Shahed, and fired two Iskanders (both from Crimea).

Interestingly, Ukrainians claimed two Kh-22s shot down – in addition to all the Kh-101/555s, 14 Shaheds, and 11 Kh-59/69s. This with Kh-22s is really big news, because in more than two years of this war, only one is known to have been ‘hit’ so far. Tragically, one of missiles in question hit another multi-storey apartment building, this time in Dnipro: 10 killed and 29 wounded…

Which is making it hard to understand what have the Russians targeted (at least for me: as a nerd, I can’t understand the purpose of squandering arms, time, and efforts by targeting civilians). This even more so because it was already back in March that they have knocked out, de-facto, all of thermal power plants in Ukraine…

Ah yes… almost forgot to add this: except for downing the two Kh-22s, the GUR and the PSU also went as far as to hit one of attacking Tu-22M3s. By what and how: that’s better left for some other time.

The bomber crashed in the Stavropol oblast: the pilot was killed, the other three crewmembers recovered safely.

Guess, the characters serving with the VKS are now going to stop for a few days and think about how could this happen. Those Russians not serving with the VKS already know better: it was a ‘technical malfunction’… and ‘own goal’… and ‘smoking accident’…

***

And that’s it, at least for this update. I must get back to the developments on the ground, too, but there’s too many news and too little time, right now.

Let me end this one with the observation that at least some help is, finally, underway to Ukraine. Germans have shipped another – third in total – IRIS-T SAM-system, and this is already in service with the PSU. The fourth is to follow ‘in a matter of few weeks’. Hopefully, their donors and makers aren’t going to forget to add a few shiploads of missiles for them: not much use of empty SAM-systems…