Ukraine - Russia Conflict
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Looks like Wagner is done in Ukraine/Bakhmut they had less than 2 miles to go in taking all of urban Bakhmut.
Wagner was Russia's star player which isn't saying much and now its getting replaced by admiral-akbars/second string players... this will end well.
They took a beating in Bakhmut and now it's over. This is the end of Russian offensives in Ukraine they have now become a defensive military inside Ukraine.
Wagner was Russia's star player which isn't saying much and now its getting replaced by admiral-akbars/second string players... this will end well.
They took a beating in Bakhmut and now it's over. This is the end of Russian offensives in Ukraine they have now become a defensive military inside Ukraine.
There's too much death, so they're sending in the ethnic minorities.
They haven't moved in Bakhmut for near 2 weeks now and are suffering an unparalleled rate of demise.
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Gas prices continue to fall:
Gas prices continued to fall on Friday 5 May, reaching their lowest level in almost two years due to high storage levels and the arrival of milder temperatures. According to the International Energy Agency, Europe is not expected to run out of gas this winter.
The Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, fell on Friday 5 May to €35.125 per megawatt-hour (MWh), a new low since July 2021.
Since the beginning of the year, European natural gas has fallen by more than 52%, far from its all-time high reached in March 2022 at €345 per MWh at the start of the war in Ukraine, but still at high levels compared to previous years. In 2020, gas was fluctuating around €15 per MWh.
Gas prices continued to fall on Friday 5 May, reaching their lowest level in almost two years due to high storage levels and the arrival of milder temperatures. According to the International Energy Agency, Europe is not expected to run out of gas this winter.
The Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, fell on Friday 5 May to €35.125 per megawatt-hour (MWh), a new low since July 2021.
Since the beginning of the year, European natural gas has fallen by more than 52%, far from its all-time high reached in March 2022 at €345 per MWh at the start of the war in Ukraine, but still at high levels compared to previous years. In 2020, gas was fluctuating around €15 per MWh.
There are unconfirmed reports from Melitopol of the Russian passport office being shut down, Russian soldiers discarding their uniforms and changing into civilian clothes.
There are crazy queues on the road from Melitopol to Crimea, says Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol. And what kind of panic? Where are we in a hurry?
Prigozhin stated that he has ordered his mercenaries to start swapping positions immediately to Kadyrov troops because by May 10, at 00.00, acc to his calculations he will have lost combat capability of his fighters.
There are crazy queues on the road from Melitopol to Crimea, says Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol. And what kind of panic? Where are we in a hurry?
Prigozhin stated that he has ordered his mercenaries to start swapping positions immediately to Kadyrov troops because by May 10, at 00.00, acc to his calculations he will have lost combat capability of his fighters.
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US finally confirms
Ukraine Claims It Shot Down Russia’s Most Sophisticated Missile for First Time
The air force said it intercepted the hypersonic missile with a newly delivered U.S.-made Patriot air-defense battery. U.S. officials confirmed the strikeAn American-made Patriot air-defense missile successfully intercepted one of the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Russia’s arsenal for the first time over Kyiv on Thursday night, the Ukrainian air force claimed on Saturday.
The downing of a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile by a Patriot missile, confirmed by three senior U.S. officials, appeared to offer the first proof that Russia’s hypersonic missiles — presented as invulnerable by President Vladimir V. Putin — could be defeated by current Western missile defense systems.
“I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event,” Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian air force, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. “Yes, we have shot down the ‘unparalleled’ ‘Kinzhal.’”
The U.S. officials said that they had received information about the strike from the Ukrainian military through classified channels. One official added that U.S. military analysts were able to verify the claim using technical means. Nevertheless, independent analysts were reluctant to confirm the interception until more information was available about the type of missile Russia fired and whether it was hit by a Patriot.
The Patriot is by far the most expensive single weapon system that the United States has supplied to Ukraine, at a total cost of about $1.1 billion: $400 million for the system and $690 million for the missiles.
It was only last month that the first Patriot systems arrived in Ukraine, even though Kyiv had been pleading with the Pentagon for the weapons since the start of the war. For more than a year, Ukraine has had no air-defense system that could counter Russia’s arsenal of ballistic or hypersonic missiles like the Kinzhal.
Hypersonic missiles are long-range munitions capable of reaching speeds of at least Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound, or more than a mile a second. That speed was thought by many experts to render traditional air defense systems essentially useless, because by the time they can be detected on radars, they are already nearly at their target.
“It is invincible against all existing and prospective missile defense and counter-air defense systems,” Mr. Putin claimed in 2018. But Western analysts have remained skeptical, calling the missiles, modified versions of existing conventional munitions, “new wine in old bottles.”
Nevertheless, China and the United States are racing to develop and deploy hypersonic missiles, and numerous other countries are experimenting with the technology.
The powerful explosion that officials said was the destruction of the Kinzhal missile above central Kyiv rattled windows and jolted people out of bed. Fragments from the explosion littered the streets not far from the government quarter in the heart of the city and were collected by teams of forensic experts.
General Oleshchuk said the military waited to report the destruction of the hypersonic missile to protect operational security. He urged the public not to share information about air defenses as they work to counter Russian missiles and drones.
“We will definitely report what, where, with what, and when it was shot down,” he said. “All in its own time.”
The Patriot air defense system can fire three different types of missiles called interceptors, each designed to destroy different kinds of threats like warplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, drones and even ballistic missiles. One, called PAC-3, can knock down enemy planes at a range of about 40 miles, and ballistic missiles at approximately 20 miles.
According to a classified document from the batch a Massachusetts airman is accused of leaking, the United States is sending the PAC-3 version to Ukraine. Germany and the Netherlands have teamed up to send a second PAC-3 version, the document indicated.
Under the right conditions, a Patriot might be capable of taking down one of the fast-moving Kinzhal missiles, according to Ian Williams, deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“Hitting a Russian Kinzhal with a Patriot missile would be tough but not impossible,” Mr. Williams said. “There are a lot of factors, such as where the Patriot is, where that Kinzhal was headed and whether or not it was maneuvering.”
While Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine have been bombarded with missiles, rockets, drones and bombs for more than a year, killing thousands of civilians, repeated attacks on Kyiv by Russian drones over the past two weeks have put many in the city on edge.
Ukraine has become adept at shooting down Russian cruise missiles and drones, often knocking 70 to 80 percent of them out of the sky in any particular attack. But those that penetrate the complex air defense network can do tremendous damage.
The Kinzhal, or Dagger, is a modified version of the Russian Army’s Iskander short-range ballistic missile, which is designed to be fired from truck-mounted launchers on the ground. Launching the missile from a warplane at high altitude, instead of from the ground, leaves it with more fuel to use to reach higher speeds.
Ukraine’s air force has said that Russia has used around 50 Kinzhals over the course of the war, including during the sustained assault on the Ukrainian energy grid in the fall and winter.
The Patriot system works most effectively as part of what the American military calls a “layered defense,” which includes systems used to down or thwart drones and warplanes, as well as a range of cruise and ballistic missiles, U.S. officials say. Previously, its general ability to counter weapons like Russia’s Kinzhal was unknown.
Following the U.S. pledge to provide the Patriot systems, Ukrainian soldiers were dispatched to Fort Sill, Okla., for a 10-week crash course in how to use them. They completed the training at the end of March and are now training others in Ukraine.
General Oleshchuk said that the use of Patriots as part of a layered air defense network should give the 3.6 million people living in Kyiv and people in other cities comfort.
“When loud explosions are heard in the air, my daughter reassures the neighbors every time with the words: calm down, our air defense system is working!” he said.
Ukraine Claims It Shot Down Russia’s Most Sophisticated Missile for First Time (Published 2023)
The air force said it intercepted the hypersonic missile with a newly delivered U.S.-made Patriot air-defense battery. U.S. officials confirmed the strike.
‘Slap in the face’: Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot
Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.
And we choose that shit over patriot & THAAD.
@Rajput Lion
S-400 is way better than Patriot. Got to trust GOI and IAF in their decision.‘Slap in the face’: Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot
Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.www.indiatoday.in
And we choose that shit over patriot & THAAD.
@Rajput Lion
Anyways, intecepting Kinzhal, an aero-ballistic missile is much different from intercepting Avanguard and Zircon.
Given the way US keeps protesting S400 sales they obviously must be better.
@Hydra patriot deployed in Saudi has done a commendable job, houthis liked it so much that they kept sending iranian drones after drones. At nearly a $3 million per piece its a good way to get bankrupted.
PAC 3 downing kinzal is indeed a rare event , what makes it special is its a direct hit to kill missile which does not use explosive fragments to cover the error probability . It may or may not happen next time given the circumstances . The performance of pac3 was nt impressive in saudi arabia by the way , One ballistic missile Burquan 2 flied over Riyadh with out any trouble PAC 3 was fired 5 times .
Though i do agree s400 is over hyped , whatever India buys , be it from whichever nations it becomes overnight wonder weapon by mass media and social media . I had witnessed to hype such as , Pakistan wont be able to take off its fighter jets , IAF do not need more fighter jets as s400 ll be used as offensive , China is over active in LAC because after India buys S400 it wont be able to match us as tibet is at higher altitude etc . No missile defence might be a wonder weapon in era of hyper sonic , supersonic , manuverable missiles , swarm drones , low flying stealth missiles etc . In case of a war in himalays personally i ll bet more on short range quickly deployable air defence system with easy availability of parts .
Though i do agree s400 is over hyped , whatever India buys , be it from whichever nations it becomes overnight wonder weapon by mass media and social media . I had witnessed to hype such as , Pakistan wont be able to take off its fighter jets , IAF do not need more fighter jets as s400 ll be used as offensive , China is over active in LAC because after India buys S400 it wont be able to match us as tibet is at higher altitude etc
. No missile defence might be a wonder weapon in era of hyper sonic , supersonic , manuverable missiles , swarm drones , low flying stealth missiles etc . In case of a war in himalays personally i ll bet more on short range quickly deployable air defence system with easy availability of parts .
PAC 3 downing kinzal is indeed a rare event , what makes it special is its a direct hit to kill missile which does not use explosive fragments to cover the error probability . It may or may not happen next time given the circumstances . The performance of pac3 was nt impressive in saudi arabia by the way , One ballistic missile Burquan 2 flied over Riyadh with out any trouble PAC 3 was fired 5 times .
Though i do agree s400 is over hyped , whatever India buys , be it from whichever nations it becomes overnight wonder weapon by mass media and social media . I had witnessed to hype such as , Pakistan wont be able to take off its fighter jets , IAF do not need more fighter jets as s400 ll be used as offensive , China is over active in LAC because after India buys S400 it wont be able to match us as tibet is at higher altitude etc
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has come under intensive attacks by ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones for the past few weeks in an apparent attempt by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen to force the kingdom to concede to their demands to end the six-year-long Yemeni War. However, robust Saudi air defenses have negated these attacks by intercepting the majority of the incoming projectiles.
“The accomplishments of the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF) are impressive… The RSADF is now the global leader in (ballistic) missile intercepts,” said David DesRoches, a professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University in Washington DC.
DesRoches pointed out that the RSADF “has in effect modernized itself while at war. There is no evidence that any Houthi ballistic missile fired into the interior of Saudi Arabia. This is an amazing achievement.”
In a press briefing in the Saudi capital Riyadh on March 8 the spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen, Col. Turki al-Malki, said the coalition has destroyed most of the 350 ballistic missiles and 550 explosive-laden drones fired by the Houthis. “No country in the world has been able to confront these drones the way Saudi Arabia has,” he stressed.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab coalition to restore the internationally-recognized Yemeni government that was deposed by the Houthi militias that took control of large parts of the country in 2015.
The staggering number of ballistic missiles and drones fired at Saudi Arabia does place it on the top of the list of countries targeted by such weapons.
“Most missiles and drones hit nothing, even if not intercepted. Most drones have tiny payloads that are not designed to causes personnel losses,” said Michael Knights, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We also let a lot of missiles and rockets go because we can tell them are not hitting
The Saudi Air Force has been using the Patriot PAC-3 as its main ballistic missiles defense system. It is also equipped with a variety of short- and medium-range surface-to-air missiles such as the Improved Hawk, Shahine and Mistral.
The Royal Saudi Air Force is the only one in the Middle East that operates the Boeing E-3A Sentry commonly known as AWACS, which along with 2 SAAB-2000 Erieye planes, helps provide a strong early warning capability that is crucial for an effective air defense.
Separate inspection teams by the United Nations and other Western powers have concluded that all the ballistic missiles and drones fired by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia came from Iran. It is believed that most of them were smuggled in pieces to Yemen and were assembled by the Houthi militias.
Al-Maliki pointed out that the ballistic missiles and armed drones that have been launched by the Houthi militias in Yemen were manufactured by Iran.
The British Foreign Secretary commented on the Houthi attacks on the kingdom by saying on March 29 that “It’s unacceptable that Iranian missiles are being used against Saudi Arabia and we wish to see an end to that.”
Iranian officials have denied supplying the Houthis with missiles and drones.
The most damaging attack against Saudi oil facilities was in 2019 when swarms of drones and cruise missiles fired from the northwest hit the Abqaiq oil fields in northern Saudi Arabia.
DesRoches said that the Iranians have been developing their tactics in the missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, and have been looking for “a seam in the air coverage” to exploit it.
“The Saudis are adapting to this by shifting their sensor packages, relocating and enhancing their interceptors, and it appears to be they are conducting better vulnerability analysis of their defended asset list to ensure they protect things that are truly critical,” DesRoches said.
Kinghts agreed: “Saudi air defense against ballistic missiles has been decent and improving.”
He noted that attempts by the Houthis to hit targets deep into Saudi Arabia have failed because “drones are proving susceptible to interception when they travel long distances.”
However, the Yemen conflict has proved to be a costly war of attrition to the Saudis who are forced to allocate a lot of much needed funds to consolidate their air defense capabilities, in addition to the military operations in Yemen.
“The Saudi Patriot missiles cost about $4.3M each – they fire at least two at each incoming target. The price of each Iranian missile cost a fraction of that,” DesRoches said.
“Ultimately, the fact that so many missiles are being intercepted in the Kingdom means that the Kingdom has been unsuccessful in deterring those who would attack it” Des Roches added. “It is very difficult to determine and interdict missile points of launch.”
Saudi Arabia has announced on March 23 an initiative to reach a cease fire in Yemen to pave the way for efforts by the United Nations to broker a political settlement to the Yemeni conflict. However, the Houthi militia leaders have rejected the initiative and pressed on with their missile and drone attacks that seem to have intensified ever since President Joe Biden’s administration removed on February 12 the group from list of terrorist organizations.
Saudi Air Defense Stops Most Houthi Strikes - Breaking Defense
A record number of ballistic missile and drone attacks have tested Saudi air defense capabilities. They've succeeded admirably but at a high cost.
The same goi purchased mig29 in past & stop follow on purchase mirage, the same goi pushed insas towards army, the same goi purchased t90,same goi purchased gorshkov... I have numerous reasons to disbelieve goi.
Pakistan is not houthis, they will not send drones like them.
Mig-29s proved extremely effective during Kargil war, when they locked F-16s from far and kept them on bay. It allowed Mirage-2000 to bomb the Pakistanis to smithereens unabashed.
Both were needed to counter F-16s of PAF.
INSAS was our desi rifle??
A very good decision. No matter what one says, but our T-90s are major part of our Army's offensive arm.
Did we have a better choice then? Yes, the Russians extorted us, but we had no option then. Now we have our own Swadeshi AC and that's what matter.
We already have S-400 and now very soon our own desi S-400 aka XRSAM. Patriot is not needed, thank you very much.
They will know in the next war.
Mig29 had lock on f16,that doesn't means that it superior. An aircraft with radar can have lock on another one depending upon the Radar range, what making difference is the kill it achieved.
Mirage, yea. Mig29 no.
Now INSAS, showing goi will purchase mediocre or even horrible weapons for our military on basis of vested interest. S400 too could be a such purchase
T90 become a major part of IA because we purchased it in large numbers. Had we purchased lecrec or challenger or Abram or leopards, then those tank would have become oir mainstay offensive platform.
You have the example of what Chinese had done. Purchasing Varyag and converting it in to a formidable aircraft carrier on home port.
Do u have any comprehension issues? Where did i said to go patriot now? What i said is we choose a shitty air defence like s400 over patriot & THAAD.
Again, comprehensive issue from your side.
I see no evidence to back up that belief. Patriot has performed the fastest ever wartime intercept.
Zircon will be no different. As for Avangard, Patriot is not aimed at those systems, it is battlefield defence only. GPI will target Avangard. Although it must be remembered that manoeuvrability is only useful if you know when to manoeuvre, a HGV has no way of knowing this for sure, and the more it manoeuvres, the more it slows.
Idiotic statement. Patriot obviously isn't aimed at drones. And same argument applies to S-400.
Operator ever, Burquan 2 is slower and easier intercept than Kinzhal, it's basically a Scud.
How so? Zircon is a Cruise missile, while Kinzhal a aero-ballistic one.
Time to intercept is going to be very less.