7 Aug, 2023 02:47

France supplies long range missiles to Ukraine

Ukrainian forces apparently already used SCALP-EGs in strikes on civilian infrastructure in Crimea

President Emmanuel Macron has delivered on his promise to supply Kiev with the French variant of Storm Shadow missile, according to footage by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in which President Vladimir Zelensky is seen posing for a photo op with a rocket marked as SCALP-EG.

Macron initially announced his decision to provide Ukraine with “long-range missiles” in May, and doubled down on the promise at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, but until now it was unknown when they would be delivered.

In an undated video shared by Ukrainian authorities on Sunday, Zelensky is seen signing a missile attached to a Su-24 jet. The projectile was marked as SCALP-EG in French flag colors and a mix of Ukrainian coat of arms with the Eiffel Tower inside. It remains unclear how many French missiles were delivered and when.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry called the missiles by its British name Storm Shadow as it hinted that theZelensky-signed projectile was used in a recent strike on two bridgesconnecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia’s Kherson Region.

The British-French Storm Shadow / SCALP-EG is a long-range air-launched cruise missile with a firing range of around 250 kilometers (155 miles). It was developed in the 1990s and used in a number of Western military operations, including the NATO intervention in Libya and strike in Syria that the US, the UK and France conducted jointly in 2018.

Kiev has repeatedly used the missiles to target civilian facilities, since receiving an unspecified number of Storm Shadows from the UK. According to Russian officials, they were fired at two civilian plants in the Russian city of Lugansk in May, injuring several people, including six children.

On Saturday, Ukraine launched some 12 Storm Shadows / SCALP-EGs at bridges connecting Crimea to the Kherson Region. At least three missiles made it through Russian-air defenses, according to local authorities, damaging two bridges across the Strait of Chongar and the Tonkiy Strait.

The attack also damaged a rural school and ruptured a local gas pipeline, leaving the nearby town of Genichesk without supply, according to Kherson regions’ acting governor, Vladimir Saldo. The damaged bridges have also hardly been used for military needs and are purely civilian infrastructure installations, he stressed.

(Pretty sure the gloves are off now)

https://www.rt.com/news/580923-frensh-scalpeg-missiles-ukraine/

6 Aug, 2023 08:21

Germany reveals extent of military aid to Ukraine

Berlin has doubled the amount of funding under NATO’s military assistance program

The German government updated its list of military supplies given to Ukraine on Friday, with the latest batch including mine clearing tanks, reconnaissance systems, and howitzers. Berlin has also vowed to send an additional 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to Kiev.

The statement said Ukraine received five autonomous mobile surveillance SurveilSPIRE platforms from Germany. According to its manufacturer, the Estonian company DefSecIntel, the trailer-based complexes are equipped with a drone nest and “built-in AI detection software,” and supposedly do not require field operators. Additionally, Berlin has provided Kiev with long-range Vector reconnaissance drones.

The latest military assistance batch includes two Wisent 1 mine-clearing tanks, and 11 mine plows for the Soviet-made T-72 tanks. Germany has also supplied two Slovakian-made Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers, as part of a project jointly financed by Denmark and Norway.

According to the government report, Berlin plans to more than double its funding for the NATO Security Capacity Building Initiative, compared to 2022. The program is designed to “provide support” for the military bloc’s “partners”. Last year, Germany spent €2 billion ($2.21 billion) on the scheme. In 2023, it has allocated €5.4 billion ($5.95 billion) for the project.

“These funds are to be used primarily for military assistance to Ukraine,” the government report said, adding that “additional authorizations” had been made for commitments amounting to €10.5 billion ($11.58 billion) over “the following years.”

The list of Germany’s planned military aid for Ukraine includes a total of 60 Marder IFVs, as well as 100 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, together with ammunition for the respective heavy equipment. Berlin also seeks to send 25,500 155mm artillery projectiles and 18,000 man-portable anti-tank weapons to Kiev.

Germany had already supplied the Ukrainian forces with 10 Leopard 1A5 tanks and 18 more modern Leopard 2A6 tanks, as well as 40 Marder IFVs as part of a massive Western military aid campaign ahead of Kiev’s much-touted offensive. Some of the German-made heavy equipment, including Leopard tanks, has since been either destroyed or captured by Russian troops following the start of the Ukrainian operation.

Kiev’s offensive has so far failed to bring any tangible results or significantly change the situation on the frontlines, some two months after it was launched in early June. On Friday, just as Berlin was updating its military assistance list for Kiev, Moscow issued an update on estimated Ukrainian casualties.

Ukraine has lost more than 43,000 servicemen during the offensive, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Over 4,900 pieces of Ukrainian heavy weaponry have been destroyed since early June, including 25 German-made Leopard main battle tanks, seven French-made AMX-10 RC ‘wheeled tanks’ and 21 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, it added.

Russia has repeatedly warned that continued arms supplies to Ukraine will only extend the conflict and prolong human suffering. It has also accused Washington, and its allies in Europe and elsewhere, of showing a disregard for the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

https://www.rt.com/news/580894-germany-extent-military-aid-ukraine/

Remember this headline earlier today, they were lying

6 Aug, 2023 15:39

Ukraine warns of ‘significant weapons shortage’

Exclusive – Trump in Long-Form Video Special: Former President Lays Out Policy Vision for Country Upon Return to Office

Matthew Boyle6 Aug 2023

34:41

https://rumble.com/embed/v32oeay/?pub=4