OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

A bit more on Russia-Ukraine:

"Progress markers: Analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War continue diligently plotting Ukraine's confirmed and suspected advances in their daily reports, including atop their latest report Sunday evening. 

At least three significant "roadblocks" are stifling Ukraine's progress: (1) Ukraine lacks air power and enough air defense systems; (2) Ukraine's allies remain either too timid or unable to arm it as comprehensively as is needed to eject Russian occupation forces; and (3) prospects of negotiations with Russia seem especially dim, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un heads to Russia for a “full-blown” visit with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday. Putin is turning to North Korea to replenish ammunition stockpiles, while North Korea may try to secure food aid and advanced weapons technology. Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Catherine Belton reports for the Washington Post. 

The Biden administration is nearing a final decision on delivering longer-range missiles filled with cluster bombs to Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials. The administration has been slow to give Ukraine long-range capabilities in case it would be seen as an overly aggressive move against Russia. However, Ukraine’s recent success with U.S. cluster munitions has prompted the Biden administration to attempt to boost Ukrainian gains. Mike Stone reports for Reuters.

Russia targeted a civilian cargo vessel with multiple cruise missiles in the Ukrainian port of Odesa in August, the U.K. has alleged. Ukrainian air defenses thwarted the attack, the U.K.’s foreign office said. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said the attempted attack demonstrated “just how desperate Putin is.” Matt Murphy reports for BBC News. 

Ukraine has retaken control of several oil and gas platforms in the Black Sea after clashes with Russian aerial and maritime forces, a video released by Ukrainian military intelligence shows. Russia used the platforms as forward deployment bases and helicopter landing sites in the Black Sea, crucial for strangling Ukraine’s economy and exacerbating global food shortages. Marc Santora reports for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Neither funny or cool so this lands here: What next...?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/12/the-us-has-such-a-love-affair-with-laxatives-that-there-is-now-a-national-shortage-this-is-not-normal?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome today. Putin offered to help North Korea build satellites. “We will prioritize the North Korea-Russia relationship and put it as the number one priority of our foreign policy from now on,” Kim said. BBC News reports. 

Russia has managed to expand its missile production beyond prewar levels, overcoming sanctions and export controls imposed by the West, according to Western officials. Russia has used its intelligence services and foreign intermediaries to smuggle key components into Russia. Russian missile stocks may prove particularly effective in targeting the Ukrainian power grid as winter approaches. Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Thomas Gibbons-Neff for the New York Times. 

Twenty-four people have been injured, and two Russian ships were damaged by a Ukrainian aerial attack on a shipyard in Russian-annexed Crimea yesterday that set facilities ablaze. The attack on the port city of Sevastopol targeted the main base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. At the same time, Russia launched drones against southern Ukraine, damaging port and civilian infrastructure and wounding seven people. AP News reports. 

Russia is changing strategies to exploit Ukrainian shortcomings, including its limited air defense systems, by increasing the use of drones and guided bombs. Together with the defensive lines still held by Russia, these aerial attacks are intended to thwart Ukraine’s counter-offensive. Alex Horton and Serhii Korolchuk report for the Washington Post. "

Edit to add the below:

"The White House is considering sending Ukraine long-range missiles called ATACMS,Reuters reported Monday, which would mark a reversal of the Biden administration's refusal to send the ground-launched munitions. The missiles have a range of about 190 miles, and could threaten Russian supply lines as Ukrainian ground forces continue the slow, complex work of advancing through dense minefields.

The U.S. might also send 45-mile range missiles, known as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System munitions, that are "packed with cluster bombs," four U.S. officials told Reuters. Regardless of which is chosen, "either option would be available for rapid shipment to Kyiv," Mike Stone of Reuters writes. However, the officials cautioned, the deal "is not final and could still fall through," at least partly because some observers fear a nuclear-armed Russian military could be angered by the transfer and choose to escalate its brutal war further."

lousubcap

"Romney calls for generational change in retirement announcement

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee and a vocal critic of former President Trump, is not seeking a second term in the Senate.   In a video Wednesday, Romney, 76, said, "At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-eighties. Frankly, it's time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in." Romney criticized both President Biden and former President Trump in his announcement, saying neither was leading their parties to address the challenges of "mounting national debt, climate change and the ambitious authoritarians of Russia and China." The senator told The Washington Post that the potential for a less productive second term, both due to House dynamics and likely either a President Trump or Biden, influenced his decision to retire.  The Hill's Al Weaver noted Romney's "single term in the upper chamber will be widely remembered for his votes to convict Trump in both of his impeachments — the only Senate Republican to have that distinction." "  Would be much better than any on the stage for the R's today!

Gulfcoastguy

Agreed.

lousubcap

A link to Romney's announcement:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4202800-mcconnell-didnt-reply-to-romneys-text-warning-about-jan-6-book/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec00c7f611bf9388f76bb2324d6ca5f3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=09.13.23 Defense & National Security JB 

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia continued its attacks on the Reni and Izmail ports in Ukraine’s Odesa region, damaging infrastructure and injuring seven people, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence. It added that Russia had launched “more than 2,000 Shaheds against Ukraine” in the past year.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said more than 100 port infrastructure facilities had been damaged in Russian attacks since July 18. Kubrakov said Ukrainian grain exports had also fallen by almost three million tonnes a month since Russia quit the UN-backed Black Sea grain deal that allowed safe passage to such exports.

Romania, a member of NATO, found new fragments of a drone deemed similar to those used by the Russian army near its border with Ukraine, in the third such finding in a week, defence and NATO officials said. Romania lies just across the river from the Ukrainian grain ports.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said Russia was rushing units into action partly because its front-line forces are overstretched. Members of the 25th Combined Arms Army (25 CAA), formed a year ago, had been deployed to Ukraine three months earlier than planned, it said."

lousubcap

A bit of recent Romney history:

Linked here:

https://post.news/@/davepell/2VMNvZyQQsN3YbCpr82GCMa8o0E?utm_

lousubcap

A bit more on Russia-Ukraine today:

"UKRAINE SMASH: Today was a big day for Ukraine destroying a bunch of Russia’s stuff.

Kyiv confirmed that it wrecked a Russian submarine, the Rostov-on-Don, during a missile attack on the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, our own VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA reports. A senior Ukrainian military official confirmed that Ukrainian pilots used Britain’s Storm Shadow cruise missile for the strike that also damaged Russia’s Minsk warship.

Ukraine also demolished one of Russia’s most advanced air-defense systems in Ukraine, per The Wall Street Journal’s JAMES MARSON. That strike “used drones and Ukrainian-made cruise missiles to target the S-400 missile system near Yevpatoriya in western Crimea,” he wrote, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official. Russia’s defense ministry, while not commenting on its own force’s damages, said it destroyed 11 Ukrainian aerial drones.

It’s the first officially confirmed use of Ukraine’s Neptune ground-launched anti-ship missile to hit a ground-based target."

Botch

lousubcap said:

A bit of recent Romney history:

Linked here:

https://post.news/@/davepell/2VMNvZyQQsN3YbCpr82GCMa8o0E?utm_

If someone would have told me, ten years ago, that the three most-honorable members of my own party would be Romney, Cheney, and Christie in 2023, I would've laughed in their face.  
But, here we are.    

fishlessman

Botch said:

lousubcap said:

A bit of recent Romney history:

Linked here:

https://post.news/@/davepell/2VMNvZyQQsN3YbCpr82GCMa8o0E?utm_

If someone would have told me, ten years ago, that the three most-honorable members of my own party would be Romney, Cheney, and Christie in 2023, I would've laughed in their face.  
But, here we are.    

still not putting mittens on that list. here in mass he was tarred feathered, and sent west

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Senior Russian officials have been meeting with Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar in a bid to secure naval access to a port in the Mediterranean. Russia has requested access to ports a mere 400 miles from Greece and Italy. The move is part of Russia’s larger push to gain influence in Africa. Benoit Faucon reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukrainian cruise missiles and drones destroyed a sophisticated Russian air defense system in occupied Crimea, a Ukrainian intelligence source said. “After disabling the radar stations, the navy units hit the S300 and S400 Triumph systems, worth $1.2bn, by two Neptune cruise missiles,” the source said. Ece Goksedef and Vitalii Chervonenko report for BBC News. 

Ukrainian troops recaptured a village near the eastern city of Bakhmut under Russian control. Despite the slow progress, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made steady progress against entrenched Russian positions, retaking a string of villages and advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut. Reuters reports. "

JohnInCarolina

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/GOP4Ukraine/status/1702744089123496335?s=20

lousubcap

^^^^ Too bad he takes a reasoned approach as the wing nuts won't accept it.  But then again, that is a big driver in him walking away at the end of his term. 

lousubcap

Interesting youtube commentary on the Russian Black Sea Fleet recently getting pounded by Ukraine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28-JOPfvQQo 

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian infantry have made incursions into Russia’s defensive structures along the southern front as they fight to sever Russia’s supply lines that connect the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to Crimea. No Ukrainian armored columns have breached Russia’s defenses. Russia is relocating reinforcements in a bid to reverse Ukraine’s gains. Frank Gardner reports for BBC News. 

Ukrainian forces retook Klishchiivka, a village south of the eastern city of Bakhmut, over the weekend. Ukrainian gains may now allow Ukrainian troops to attempt to seize control of Bakhmut itself. Siobhán O’Grady, Kostiantyn Khudov, Jennifer Hassan, Bryan Pietsch and Ben Brasch reports for the Washington Post. 

South Korea’s arms industry has become the world’s fastest-growing arms exporter, with sales more than doubling in 2022. While South Korea does not send weapons to active war zones, it has been replenishing the supplies of the United States and its allies faster and cheaper than many Western competitors. Dasl Yoon reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Two cargo ships have, for the first time since the Black Sea grain deal collapsed, reached a Ukrainian port after taking a new route, Ukrainian port authorities said. The ships are due to load 20,000 tonnes of wheat bound for global markets. Kathryn Armstrong reports for BBC News."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukraine is suing Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia at the World Trade Organization over their decision to ban Ukrainian grain imports. “It is fundamentally important for us to prove that individual member states cannot ban the import of Ukrainian goods. That is why we are filing lawsuits against them in the WTO,” First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliya Svyridenko said. The bans could indicate fraying E.U. solidarity with Ukraine. The legal action could also signal future difficulty for Ukraine’s E.U. membership bid. Paula Andrés reports for POLITICO.  

Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted “closeness” in their positions on “U.S. actions … of an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese nature.” Both agreed that any effort to resolve the Ukraine crisis would have to include Russia. Reuters reports. 

Coal extracted in Russia-annexed Ukrainian territory has been exported to Turkey, a NATO member. At least $14.3 million worth of coal has arrived in Turkey from those regions so far this year. Filipp Lebedev and Gleb Stolyarov reports for Reuters. 

The missile that killed 15 civilians and injured over 30 others in eastern Ukraine on Sep. 6, which Ukraine blamed on Russian “terrorists,” may have been a failing Ukrainian missile, investigations suggest. The strike appears to be a tragic accident, as missiles can veer off course for multiple reasons. John Ismay, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Haley Willis, Malachy Browne, Christoph Koettl, and Alexander Cardia report for the New York Times.

Ukraine said its air defence systems brought down a swarm of Russian attack drones and cruise missiles. “A total of 24 strike UAVs were recorded around the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. Eighteen attack drones were shot down by air defence units along the tracking route,” the Ukrainian Air Force said on social media, adding, “All 17 missiles were shot down.”

Oleh Kiper, Odesa’s regional governor, said 11 drones were destroyed in another Russian attack on the Izmail port district on the Danube River that Ukraine uses to export grain. A small fire was extinguished and there were no reports of casualties.

In its latest intelligence update on the fighting, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said Russia appeared to be using airborne units to reinforce under-pressure ground forces on the Zaporizhia front around Orikhiv and Robotyne."

lousubcap

Wednesday Ruiisa-Ukraine update:

"President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world to unite to end Russian aggression against Ukraine, telling the U.N. General Assembly that “evil cannot be trusted.” “While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after the Russian aggression, no one in the world will dare to attack any nation,” Zelenskyy said. He also accused Russia of “genocide” by abducting Ukrainian children. James Landale and Jaroslav Lukiv report for BBC News. 

Ukraine’s use of domestically-produced sea drones has allowed Ukraine to erode much of Russia’s naval superiority, reopening the Black Sea to commercial shipping. Commercial vessels have entered Ukraine’s main port of Odesa without seeking Russia’s permission for the first time since the full-scale invasion began. Yaroslav Trofimov reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russia has been in the International Court of Justice this week following Ukraine’s claim the full-scale invasion violates the Genocide Convention of 1948. Russia has argued that its “special military operation” is not covered by the Genocide Convention. “The legality of these actions [falls] under the U.N. Charter and customary international law,” Alfredo Crosato, a lawyer for Russia, said. The United States sought to intervene to support Ukraine, but the court ruled it was ineligible because it was not bound by the Genocide Convention. Jess Bravin reports for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

And this take on the UN show-

"LAVROV AND ZELENSKYY TAKE UNSC: Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY surprised observers at today’s special meeting of the U.N. Security Council, assailing the U.N. for its ineffectiveness in combating Russian aggression toward Ukraine, as our own NAHAL TOOSI, Eric and MONA ZHANG report.

Dressed in his usual green military fatigues, Zelenskyy urged the Security Council to suspend Russia’s veto power as a permanent member of the body in light of Moscow’s actions and bashed the U.N.’s failures to uphold its values amid the war.

“Ukrainian soldiers now are doing at the expense of their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its voting. They’re stopping aggression and upholding the principles of the U.N. Charter,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader also voiced his support for reforms to the Security Council that would make the body “fully accountable to the nations of the world.”

Russian Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV countered that the U.N. has been applying its charter "on a case-by-case basis" and accused Ukraine of committing human rights violations against the country’s Russian ethnic minority. Lavrov further claimed the West was to blame for its support of a “Nazi regime” in Ukraine.

The showdown in the Security Council chamber occurred against the backdrop of a busy day at the U.N. General Assembly. The EU is expected to ask China to push Russia toward a “just peace” in Ukraine, as Reuters’ GABRIELA BACZYNSKA reported."

lousubcap

An article about our nuclear weapons warheads-

https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-warheads-military-bomb-plutonium-6b86198def4516cebe496c9f5fbfbb75?utm_ 

I will leave any comments to filed experts. 

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieck said Poland will stop supplying weapons to Ukraine as a diplomatic dispute over grain escalates. Until now, Poland had been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, having already sent 320 Soviet-era tanks and 14 MiG-29 fighter jets. Morawieck said Poland will now focus on defending itself with more modern weapons. Antoinette Radford and Adam Easton report for BBC News. 

Robert Fico, the frontrunner in Slovakia’s Sep. 30 election, has said, “We are a peaceful country. We will not send a single round to Ukraine.” “Russia will never leave Crimea, never leave the territories that it controls,” he added. Slovakia has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began. Jan Lopatka and Radovan Stoklasa report for Reuters.

Russia and Iran “are aiming at an entire range of planned activities, despite opposition from the United States and its Western allies,” as their relations reach a new level, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said while in Tehran yesterday. Reuters reports. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council yesterday that “Ukrainian soldiers are doing with their blood what [it] should do by its voting” but that the “veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.” Zelenskyy has pushed to change U.N. rules to allow the General Assembly to override a Security Council veto by a two-thirds vote. However, such a change would itself be vetoed. Richard Pérez-Peña, Farnaz Fassihi, and Michael Crowley report for the New York Times. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the Pentagon today, his first since the full-scale invasion. He will meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley, as well as other senior military leaders. Lara Seligman reports for POLITICO. 

At least seven people were wounded after Russia launched airstrikes on cities across Ukraine today, including Kyiv. Fires broke, and some energy infrastructure was damaged in the missile strike. Victoria Kim and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

An interesting and likely reasonably accurate perspective here:

US and Russia-Ukraine;

"If the U.S. doesn’t help Ukraine decisively win its war against Russia, Washington’s adversaries are likely to feel emboldened to challenge its military dominance, a prominent Kremlin dissident tells NatSec Daily.

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, exiled Russian oligarch and vocal critic of Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, is on a campaign to keep aid flowing to Ukraine, arguing that pursuing negotiations with Putin would harm Kyiv.

For the moment, the U.S. is still seen as maintaining the global order, “and that order is propped up by the public perception that the U.S. is a fairly tough guy," Khodorkovsky said in an interview in our office Wednesday afternoon.

But he argued that’s changing.

Washington has suffered significant losses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria in the past two decades, proving that the U.S. military can be successfully fought, Khodorkovsky said. If Ukraine fails against Russia after receiving more than $100 billion in aid from Washington, that “tough guy” image could shatter, he said.

“A loss in the Ukraine — or an unimpressive win — would immediately, not in the mid- or long-term, but immediately, right away — result in a whole bunch of problems for the U.S.,” Khodorkovsky said through a translator. “My fear is that there will be a great deal of others who would actually want to find out just how tough America is,” he said, calling out China by name."

Edit to add the following:

"Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who was once Russia’s richest citizen, spent a decade in jail before being pardoned by Putin. He maintains contacts with activists and people who work in Russia, he said later in our conversation.

“There is a consensus opinion among the elites that starting the war was a mistake,” he said. But, he added, many of them feel they now have no choice but to back it: “At this point, there's no alternative to it. It's a war that we have to win. Otherwise the country will fall apart. Propaganda has been very effective.”

Meanwhile, Putin is banking on the 2024 presidential election turning the tide in Moscow’s favor, Khodorkovsky said, adding that the Kremlin head wants former President DONALD TRUMP CHEETO (personal edit) to win and pull U.S. support from Ukraine.

“This is being discussed there right now, along the lines of we just have to wait it out until Trump is elected, and it will be a much easier situation for us to deal with,” the exiled businessman said. “Putin has very high expectations regarding Trump.”

That’s because of Trump’s view of the war in Ukraine: “The expectation is that … Putin will be able to accomplish the goals that he set out to from the beginning,” Khodorkovsky said. Trump hasn’t said he would entirely end aid to Ukraine, but he has been critical of the amount being sent."

lousubcap

Tom Nichols from The Atlantic and an article regarding Mark Milley CJCS and his time with CHEETO:

Definitely worth a read and yet will not see the cold light of day for those who need to most read it: Sobering-

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/09/mark-milley-trump-administration-profile/675407/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20230921&lctg=6192c0582e7f6c5a53038c30&utm_term=The Atlantic Daily

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Canada for the first time since the full-scale invasion. Zelenskyy made the journey as international support for Ukraine appears to wane following rising tensions with Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Antoinette Radford reports for BBC News. 

The Biden administration yesterday announced another military aid package for Ukraine worth $325 million. Andrew deGrandpre reports for the Washington Post. 

The first U.S. Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine next week, President Biden confirmed during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Brett Samuels reports for The Hill. 

The potential government shutdown will not disrupt critical training and other activities in support of Ukraine, Chris Sherwood, a Defense Department spokesperson, said yesterday. “Operation Atlantic Resolve [which responds to the Russian invasion] is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said. Lara Seligman reports for POLITICO. 

Ukrainian forces sent their first armored vehicles through Russia’s main defensive line in the southeast of the country, marking significant progress as they overcame antitank obstacles. Ukraine seeks to establish a firm foothold, to bring more armored vehicles through the breach and access less heavily fortified areas. James Marson reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

As winter sets in, Ukraine expects Russia to target critical power stations and other infrastructure used to provide heat and water to homes across the country. Matthew Luxmoore and Thomas Grove report for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

More Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

Ukraine's military appears to have hit Russia's Black Sea Fleet in occupied Crimea on Friday, one day after the U.S. announced another $325 million in more weapons for Kyiv. Russia's defense ministry confirmed the attack on Telegram, noting "the historical headquarters building of the Black Sea Fleet was damaged" and at least one soldier was missing after the strikes. 

That strike followed an earlier Ukrainian attack targeting occupied Crimea that involved at least one "Ukrainian guided missile and two aircraft-type UAVs," Moscow said, and claimed all three of those munitions were shot down by air defense systems in the region. 

Regional reax: According to Russia-watcher Dmitri Alperovitch, writing on social media. "Russian telegram sources are claiming that there were [seven] Storm Shadow [cruise missiles] launched at Crimea, along with one land-attack Neptune [missile] and several drones" in Friday's attacks. "Some Storm Shadows are claimed to have been shot down, but at least one got through and hit Black Sea Fleet HQs," Alperovitch said. The Associated Press has a bit more.

Ukrainian ground troops, meanwhile, are reportedly advancing through what's been described as "the second Russian line of defense" (also referred to as the "Surovikin line"), Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted on social media after a Ukrainian soldier detailed some of the recent battlefield movements. George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War called it "the third layer within the tri-layered belt of field fortifications."

The new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine includes "a second HAWK air defense battery with steady deliveries of additional HAWK and other systems each month through the winter," President Joe Biden said Thursday while standing beside Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy at the White House. The U.S. is also sending a batch of Avenger air defense systems to defend "Ukraine's grain silos, hospitals, schools, and power plants… [and] to protect the critical infrastructure that provides heat and light during the coldest and darkest days of the year," he said. "

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

Rare Sunday Russia-Ukraine update:

"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Saturday morning launched another missile attack on Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean Peninsula, a Russian-installed official said, a day after an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet that left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering.

Sevastopol was put under an air raid alert for about an hour after debris from intercepted missiles fell near a pier, Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He later added that another missile fragment fell in a park in northern Sevastopol, parts of which had to be cordoned off. Ferry traffic in the area was also halted and later resumed.

Loud blasts were also heard near Vilne in northern Crimea, followed by rising clouds of smoke, according to a pro-Ukraine Telegram news channel that reports on developments on the peninsula. Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target for Ukrainian forces since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022."

lousubcap

Washington Post on retiring CJCS Mark Milley-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/24/mark-milley-trump-biden/?utm_