Closely Watched Trains The RF advance shown in this map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine.svg has been a source of puzzlement to me. Look at the thin finger sticking up north of Kherson. Why leave Odessa unguarded to the rear and wander off into the wilderness to the north? I believe the answer is revealed in the Ukraine railway system map found here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Ukrainian_Railways_(subdivisions).png Starting at Kiev, it is clear the main route from Lvov to the eastern oblasts must pass through Kiev. The RF encirclement of Kiev blocks the ability of the regime to reinforce Kiev with war materials. Look again at the rail map. You will observe a junction between Kiev and Vinnytsia. This junction is located in the town of Fastiv which is presently contested by UAF and RF. You cannot move trains through a conflict zone so this alternate route to the eastern oblasts is also now blocked. Below Vinnytsia there is a railway line leading to Odessa. But a connection to the eastern oblasts requires going north from Odessa on the rail line to Cherkasy. About 85 miles north of Odessa there is another rail junction. This is the town of Voznesensk which according to the first map in this series, is presently occupied by RF forces. What does this mean? It means all of the NATO armaments presently accumulating in Lvov have no satisfactory means of reaching the present AO around Donetsk, or any other portion of Eastern Ukraine. The RF has severed all rail connections between east and west Ukraine. The fighting force in the east has no practical means of resupply for equipment, armaments, ammunition, or anything else, including the 16,000 military adventurers reported to be filling the bars of Lvov. There are further tactical implications. Some observers, notably strelkovii and Saker, have expressed concern over the apparent failure of the RF to close the kessel behind the LOC. There is no need for the RF to hurry. By severing the rail connection between east and west Ukraine the forces on the LOC cannot run, and cannot re-equip themselves if they do elect to run. The best they can do is sit tight in their concrete bunkers and shell the Donbass. They are, for all practical purposes, dead men walking. Remember all of those shiny NATO supplied armaments presently accumulating in Lvov? Ammunition is heavy. Light arms are heavy. MANPADS are heavy. ATMs are heavy. You cannot move significant quantities of this materials by car. A single truck load will not be of military significance. Some 40 planes are reported to have disgorged cargo in Poland for transshipment to Lvov. By rough estimate that is some 320 rail-cars of material than cannot now reach the Ukrainian forces in the east. I suggest to you that the RF has won the battle as decisively as did the Wehrmacht on reaching Abbeville in the spring of 1940. All those MSM reporters and military talking heads breathlessly announcing Russia has lost, or Russia is bogged down, are incapable of reading a map. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/the-sanction-backlash-will-push-the-west-to-accept-russias-demands.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0278807011fb200d#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef0278807011fb200d
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The Russian factory that produces Lada cars, the iconic Russian vehicle, stopped all production today.
I hear the credit rating companies are changing their scales to include the Z rating - that they will reserve for Russia.
Russian war ship told ‘go f*** yourself’ by Ukrainian guards on Snake Island ‘destroyed’ in firefight AAPReuters March 9, 2022 A Russian war ship told to “go f*** yourself” by a small group of Ukrainian soldiers during the initial stages of hostilities has been destroyed, according to reports. The Vasily Bykov is understood to have been taken out by a rocket during a firefight on Tuesday. “Ship was destroyed, it is confirmed,” a source told The Times. The Kremlin corvette was one of two hostile vessels that shelled Zmiinyi or Snake Island in late February after Ukrainian soldiers refused to surrender on the tiny outpost in the Black Sea. Ukrainians had circulated online a recording of a Russian warship ordering the Snake Island-based soldiers to lay down arms. The Ukrainians replied: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said the 13 guards would receive posthumous honours, believing they had been killed by a Russian strike. However it was later revealed they had been taken captive by Russian forces and were being held. Zmiinyi, also known as Snake Island, in Ukraine. Credit: Supplied/Supplied Meanwhile Ukrainian state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom says it will pay $A1.4 million to anyone who captures a combat-ready Russian military aircraft - an offer it says is open to Russian pilots wanting to switch sides. The firm will also pay $US500,000 for every operational military helicopter seized from Russia. “To the pilots of the Russian Federation ready to participate in the program, we guarantee the issuance of citizenship of a free country,” it says. Ukroboronprom will pay $US500,000 for every operational military helicopter seized from Russia. Credit: AP
Kremlin struggling to figure out how to market this shit-show on the home front. Looks to me like their script needs more work. Probably the average Ruskie is thinking the same thing. Russian economy in 'shock' from unprecedented economic war - Kremlin March 10 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia's economy was experiencing a shock and that measures were being taken to soften the impact of what it described as an "absolutely unprecedented" economic war being waged against Moscow. The West has imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. "Our economy is experiencing a shock impact now and there are negative consequences, they will be minimised," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. He described the situation as turbulent, but said that measures to calm and stabilise it were already being taken. "This is absolutely unprecedented. The economic war that has started against our country has never taken place before. So it is very hard to forecast anything." https://www.reuters.com/markets/asi...nprecedented-economic-war-kremlin-2022-03-10/
If Putin is shocked when he was told there would be unprecedented measures to bury the Russian economy the problem is with his analysts. Turns out becoming North Korea overnight isn’t so fun when your military campaign is going like shit.