Blood for the Baron!

Baltic Sea. Su-27 vs. P3 Orion.



Turns out it's a Portuguese Orion from 601 'Lobos' Squadron and footage from November 2014.

Battle for Mariupol beginning. Russian artillery accompanied by Grad rockets attacks this morning on the eastern outskirts. 10 civilians dead so far.

The Russian Army vs. European civilisation on a Saturday morning.

Heavy fighting continues, Moscow seems to have cooled on the Mariupol assault, to the north Ukraine took heavy losses when Krasny Partisan was overrun.

Russian forces in Bryanka



Russian intermediate range SAMs deployed in Shakhtarsk, Pantsir S1 and SA22 Greyhound



Russians in Luhansk centre two days ago - no effort to use deniable older vehicles (these are armoured cabin versions made at the Kamaz-Ford plant somewhere past Volgograd).



This video is interesting in so far as the cameraman deliberately dips the camera but raises it too quickly as a new Russian 2B26 Grad K launcher drives off first from the line of older BM21 Grad launchers.



Vid was from Russian post-terminal capture operations outside Donetsk.

Nerve agent! Are NATO sleeping!!!!!!!!!!!

paul463 wrote:Nerve agent! Are NATO sleeping!!!!!!!!!!!

Hard to tell what they are or are not doing. Denial and inertia abound. Have tried to ask (politely).

So, don't grow a beard and keep that NBC kit close to hand ....

Was probably similar stuff to that used at the Nord Ost siege a decade ago, proscribed by various chemical weapons conventions, Moscow keeps odourless nerve agents on the shelf for various operations.

50 KIA were recovered from the airport in the same time period so they should be checked for traces too.

No evidence anyone is doing anything. Even though there was an instance of attempted chemical weapon use at the airport before.

There's a Radio 4 documentary about 'Maskirovka', the Russian military's use of deception, on tonight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050674y

Also, if it's still available, there was a in depth current affairs report on the Russians who are volunteering to go & fight in the Ukraine broadcast not so long ago...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v59h7

paul463 wrote:Nerve agent! Are NATO sleeping!!!!!!!!!!!

NATO HQ is at FPCON BRAVO for the foreseeable due to the whole Chechen international 'we are all Kouachi' business. And the suits getting unfamiliarly tremulant at the whiff of incoming cordite (as they probably think such things constitute the sharp end).



Conveniently the Chechen 'Death' battalion currently guards Donetsk Republic PM Zakharchenko as he doesn't trust regulars



When Belgium banjoed the ISIS returnees in Verviers what was not mentioned was that Verviers is ... full of Chechens. You can get AKs and RPGs for chicken feed in Charleroi so paranoia reigns.

SACEUR apparently wants something more proactive done to clarify NBC use but noone has teams to send out (or saying no money to send them *sniff - capitalism is broken, I want my mom* or politically sensitive, as in, we won't send more token troops to Kurdistan to protect civilians because I want to get reelected this year and tell radio phone-in shows how I cry on the school run)

At least they can try and blame the red-brown coalition in Greece for selling IFF keys to Russia (rather than the Ottomans or Israelites wot might have already dun it allegedly innit, Romans tried but Russians already had them).

Holdouts on Donetsk airport perimeter at least five days ago, possibly around the time the now-captured radar tower was under heavy attack by Russian forces



Belated video with Russian 9A52-2 Смерч Smerch (Tornado or Whirlwhind) MLRS in Makeevka c. 22nd.



The heaviest fighting is in the Debaltseve hexenkessel right now, Ukrainians aren't cut off just yet but limited comms as under severe pressure.

Some new footage of the remains of Luhansk airport where surrounded Ukrainian paras fought to the last man in the summer.