Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-26

[Valmy]

So fuck you and suck it up seems to be the Russian President's message to his people.

[viper37]

So fuck you and suck it up seems to be the Russian President's message to his people.

It seems to work very well in America, so why not for Russia when they are used to a much harder life?

[Tonitrus]

Trump talked some pretty positive things about Ukraine from this NATO summit...so we should expect a flurry of phone calls from Putin any time now.

[Razgovory]

Trump likes a winner, and it seems the war is shifting in Ukraine's favor.  He's probably angling to for a way to claim a Ukrainian victory as his own.

[crazy canuck]

I love the response Zelensky gave to Trump when asked whether he would go to Moscow.  He said something along the like it's difficult to go to Moscow now because there are many Ukrainian drones making it unsafe.

[Sophie Scholl]

I love the response Zelensky gave to Trump when asked whether he would go to Moscow.  He said something along the like it's difficult to go to Moscow now because there are many Ukrainian drones making it unsafe.

[jimmy olsen]

The Ukranians have hit like 90 ships in the Sea of Azov in the last week

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/12/ukrainian-drone-strikes-force-russia-to-suspend-shipping-in-sea-of-azov

Ukrainian drone strikes force Russia to suspend shipping in Sea of Azov

Vital maritime corridor closes after 90 vessels – including shadow fleet oil tankers – are attacked in under a week

Russia has been forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week.

Ukraine's drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in the city of Syzran. There had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea, he added.

"The technological humiliation of the (Russian) empire continues. It will fall because of Crimea," Brovdi wrote on social media. He said Moscow's shadow fleet, which transports sanctioned oil products around the world, was "noticeably shrinking" and could no longer use the Kerch strait, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea.

The Sea of Azov is a vital waterway that connects Russia with eastern Europe. It is of crucial economic and military importance to Moscow, which uses it to ship oil, grain and other products such as steel to international markets.

Russia suspended shipping through the Don-Azov canal on Friday, Reuters reported. The canal connects with a Russian river network and the Caspian Sea. This export route via Kerch and the Bosphorus strait in Turkey is effectively shut down.

Ukraine's former defence minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, said the Kremlin had lost control of a "critical" maritime corridor. He said the blockade affected military vessels and shipping transporting grain stolen from occupied southern Ukraine and moved through the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol.

"The Caspian Sea doesn't have any connection to the world's oceans. It has turned into a lake. All of its products – agricultural, fertiliser, whatever – go through this channel and river," Zagorodnyuk said.

Russia's small flotilla in the Caspian was likewise trapped, he added, predicting further strikes on Russian ships in and around the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Ukraine has been systematically destroying much of Russia's radar and anti-aircraft defences. This has enabled it to carry out a series of devastating long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries, including one last week in the Siberian city of Omsk, 2,700km (1,700 miles) from Ukrainian territory.

Residents in Syzran reported the sound of drones at 5am on Sunday followed by loud explosions. Photographs and videos showed a large fire at the oil refinery, with thick columns of black smoke rising above an industrial area. The complex supplies the Russian military and sends fuel abroad via the Azov-Kerch canal.

Kyiv has also launched a wave of mid-range strikes on land and sea supply routes into occupied Crimea, hitting lorries, ships and crossing points. One tanker caught fire overnight as it entered the Azov-Black Sea canal, Russian officials said. On Sunday, local channels reported two large oil spills off the coast of Taganrog.

Yevgeniya Gaber, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council thinktank, said the attacks were part of a much broader strategy that included isolating Crimea and "turning it into an island".

The overall goal was "to progressively degrade Russia's ability to sustain offensive operations by disrupting logistics, fuel supplies and transport infrastructure, and cutting off military units in the south of Ukraine", she said.

Gaber added: "There is not a single oil refinery that is unhit now. Maritime logistics in the Sea of Azov, all of this fits into the same strategy and operational concept, which is a strategic neutralisation of Russia. I'm sure we will see more deep strikes on Russian territory."

Video released by Brovdi's unmanned strike aviation brigade, Magyar's Birds, shows Russian tankers fitted with protective cages and ropes. These have not prevented night-time Ukrainian drone strikes and crews have abandoned some damaged and burnt-out vessels, leaving them adrift.

Repeated Ukrainian attacks have forced the authorities in Crimea to declare a state of emergency. Widespread electricity blackouts and acute petrol shortages have been reported and the peninsula's tourist industry has collapsed. Car drivers have been forced to travel to Russia in search of fuel, with long queues outside petrol stations in many regions.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, has described the strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure as part of Kyiv's campaign of "long-range sanctions" carried out in response to Moscow's refusal to end its war. Vladimir Putin insists his original military goals – to seize the eastern Donbas and other Ukrainian regions – are unchanged.

Overnight, three people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, including two in a bombing of an industrial facility in Zelenskyy's home city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said. A separate drone attack on the southern city of Kherson killed a 48-year-old, reported its mayor, Yaroslav Shanko.

[Habbaku]

So fuck you and suck it up seems to be the Russian President's message to his people.

A pro-Putin guy pulls into a gas station and asks: How much for gasoline?

The attendant answers: 200 rubles a liter.

What do you mean, 200?! Yesterday it was 100!

That's right: 100 rubles is for the gasoline, and another 100 goes toward building a multipolar world.

The pro-Putin character sighs, but proudly hands over 200 rubles.

The attendant takes the money, hands back 100, and says: There's no gasoline.

[jimmy olsen]

Is this considered a credible source in Germany? Because these are some incredible numbers.

Tranlsated with google
https://www.fr.de/politik/geheim-operation-auchan-ukrainische-drohnen-zerstoeren-russische-artillerie-94391717.html

Secret Operation "Auchan": Ukrainian civilian unit becomes a nightmare for Russian artillery
Status:July 11, 2026, 4:00 PM
From: Tim Krüger

A special unit of the Ukrainian National Guard has neutralized Russian artillery on an unprecedented scale in just two days.

Within just two days in June 2026, an elite Ukrainian unit attacked more than 230 Russian artillery systems, destroying 171 of them. The operation, now publicly known as "Auchan," marks one of the most concentrated drone attacks on Russian weapons systems since the start of the war. The operation was made possible by specially developed munitions, the technical details of which the Ukrainian side is deliberately withholding.


The attack was carried out by Lazar's Group , a special unit of the Ukrainian National Guard founded in 2022 by Pavlo Yelizarov, a former television producer and businessman. According to the unit, more than 98 percent of its personnel are civilians, and it relies on industrialized drone operations rather than traditional military structures. Kyiv authorities have so far attributed the destruction of approximately $15 billion worth of Russian military equipment to the group.

How Lazar's Group targeted Russian artillery

For the second phase of Operation Auchan, more than 800 drones were deployed on the eastern and southern fronts. The targets were deliberately chosen: Analysts from Lazar's Group had previously evaluated large amounts of collected intelligence and coordinated the operational planning with several other units, including the 412th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade NEMESIS. The result: 231 enemy artillery systems were hit, 171 of them completely destroyed according to Ukrainian figures – which, in their own estimation, corresponds to the equivalent of ten to fourteen artillery battalions, or about three artillery brigades.

A newly developed special munition played a crucial role. The warhead was designed by engineers at Lazar's Group specifically for this purpose and aims to permanently disable howitzers by selectively destroying the gun barrel. Published drone footage shows quadcopters operating over camouflaged artillery positions before explosions occur. Independent verification of the footage by external parties has not yet been possible. When asked, the National Guard of Ukraine stated only that all publishable information had already been released.


Operation Auchan: Two phases, 1,180 targets hit
The second phase of the operation, now revealed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense , followed an initial phase in 2025. At that time, Ukrainian drone units attacked 949 Russian targets within three days, with the stated aim of forcing Moscow to withdraw heavy armored vehicles from a mechanized offensive. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that this strategy halted the Russian offensive for six months. Across both phases, according to official Ukrainian figures, a total of 1,180 targets were hit over five days.

Fedorov emphasized the military significance of counter-artillery fire: according to him, ten to twenty percent of all Ukrainian casualties on the front are attributable to Russian artillery fire. Disabling Russian artillery systems is therefore not only tactically important, but also directly life-saving for Ukrainian troops. The sheer numbers also illustrate the speed of the attack: in June alone, Ukraine's unmanned systems forces destroyed 417 howitzers and 57 other artillery systems with sixteen of their best units – Lazar's Group achieved comparable figures in just two days.

Drone warfare as a strategic core element of Ukrainian defense

This operation exemplifies a fundamental transformation of Ukrainian warfare. While Ukraine initially had to contend with the enemy's massive artillery superiority at the start of the Russian war of aggression, it has gradually compensated for this structural disadvantage through the targeted development of drone capabilities.


The Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian drone pilots recorded attacks on over 800,000 Russian targets in the first half of 2026 – almost twice as many as in the same period of the previous year.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in June that Ukraine aims to produce ten million drones domestically by the end of 2026, compared to four million in 2025.

Targeted drone strikes were essential for success in attacks on the Russian shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov , further increasing the pressure on occupied Crimea.

Russia's large territory is increasingly becoming a problem when it comes to defending against Ukraine's drone swarms.

The Lazar's Group represents a model that is increasingly being discussed as a blueprint: civilian expertise, industrialized production, and data-driven target acquisition as the basis for military effectiveness. Whether the novel special munition used in the second phase of Operation Auchan will be produced and deployed on a larger scale in the future remains to be seen. The Ukrainian side is keeping quiet on the matter – an indication that the system continues to be classified as operationally sensitive. Meanwhile, several techniques have also been developed to circumvent Russian defenses in particularly ingenious ways .

[Zoupa]

I think I've said this before, but Ukraine wins by staying in the fight. It's not going to win by maneuver warfare or a brilliant new weapon system, not against the biggest country on earth with 5 times its population.

They win by making the russian army collapse, either because the center is so corrupt and unstable that they leave Ukraine, or their logistics are so degraded that they needto leave Ukraine. That's why Kursk is important and why hitting refineries and factories 1000 km deep into russia matters.

[Syt]

Frankfurter Rundschau is credible, yes.

[jimmy olsen]

Frankfurter Rundschau is credible, yes.

Damn good news then. Ukraine just seems to be making too many drones for Russia to cope lately.


https://en.defence-ua.com/news/ukraines_81st_brigade_destroys_60_russian_vehicles_disrupting_enemy_logistics-19118.html