Russian artillery fire down nearly 75%, US officials say, in latest sign of struggles for Moscow
CNN skrev:Last month, a senior US military official said that Russia has had to resort to 40-year-old artillery shells as their supply of new ammo dwindled. To the US, the use of degraded ammunition, as well as the Kremlin’s outreach to countries like North Korea and Iran, was a sign of Russia’s diminished stocks of weaponry.
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US and Ukrainian officials have offered widely different estimates of Russian fire, with US officials saying the rate has dropped from 20,000 rounds per day to around 5,000 per day on average. Ukraine estimates that the rate has dropped from 60,000 to 20,000 per day.
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While Russia still has more artillery ammunition available than Ukraine does, early US assessments vastly overestimated the amount that Russia had its disposal, a US military official said, and underestimated how well the Ukrainians would do at hitting Russian logistics sites.
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“This year we will win! But first we will conquer our internal bureaucracy and corruption,” he says in the clip. “Once we conquer our internal bureaucracy and corruption, then we will conquer the Ukrainians and NATO, and then the whole world. The problem now is that the bureaucrats and those engaging in corruption won’t listen to us now because for New Year’s they are all drinking champagne.”
Enligt USA har Ukraina redan ett artilleriövertag. Gagnar det Ukrainas sak att överdriva problemet?
Putin ally fighting to control salt and gypsum mines near Ukraine city of Bakhmut, says US
The Guardian skrev:There were indications that monetary motives were driving Russia’s and Prigozhin’s “obsession” with Bakhmut, the US official said.
The United States has previously accused Russian mercenaries of exploiting natural resources in Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan and elsewhere to help fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine – a charge Russia rejected as “anti-Russian rage”.
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Out of its force of nearly 50,000 mercenaries, Wagner has sustained more than 4,100 deaths and 10,000 wounded, including over 1,000 killed between late November and early December near Bakhmut, the US official said on Thursday.
Rysslands fångar gör en stor uppoffring för landets oligarker. Vad händer med de överlevande fångarna?
Enceladus skrev: ↑fredag 06 januari 2023 13:31
Har Ryssland blivit en kollapsad stat?
Jag citerar ett stycke ur artikeln från den länkade kommentaren:
Reuters skrev:Prigozhin, who has been sanctioned by Western countries for his role in Wagner bade farewell on Thursday to former convicts who had served out their contracts in Ukraine and urged them to avoid the temptation to kill when back in civilian life.
Russia at risk of becoming failed state, say foreign policy experts
Financial Times skrev:Nearly half of top foreign policy experts think Russia will become a failed state or break up by 2033, while a large majority expects China to try to take Taiwan by force, according to a new survey by the Atlantic Council that points to a decade of global tumult ahead.
Forty-six per cent of the 167 experts responding to the think-tank said Russia’s failure or break-up could happen in the next 10 years. In a separate question, 40 per cent pointed to Russia as a country they expected to break up for reasons including “revolution, civil war or political disintegration” over that time.
Ryssland har länge varit ett laglöst land, men nu verkar principen om lagstyre ha övergetts helt. Kanske stundar en kollaps av den ryska staten.
Italy says "technical issues" delay supply of air defence system to Ukraine
Reuters skrev:Italy intends to supply Ukraine with a missile defence system to help protect it against Russia attacks but must deal with technical issues before it can be dispatched, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.
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Tajani said Italy was working with the French to resolve issues prior to deployment of the SAMP/T.
Italien har tydligen tekniska problem med leveransen av luftvärnssystemet SAMP/T. Politiska spänningar kan också ligga bakom förseningen.
German minister promises Ukraine weapons, EU accession help on surprise trip
Reuters skrev:Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a surprise visit to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border on Tuesday, promising more weapons as well as "concrete offers" to help Ukraine join the European Union.
Samtidigt gör Tysklands utrikesminister ett överraskningsbesök i den krigsdrabbade staden Charkiv.