Thanks to Ukrainian drones, the Russian guided missile corvette Ivanovets is now sleeping with the fishes. BTW, great vid above! 🇺🇦❤️
Ukraine thought to have sunk Russian warship near occupied Crimea
Ukrainian forces are believed to have sunk the Russian Ivanovets warship near occupied Crimea in a sophisticated overnight attack by multiple sea drones, demonstrating Kyiv’s expanding power in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s military intelligence published a grainy video showing several sea drones attacking the Russian corvette, ending with three dramatic images showing it listing, exploding and sinking into the water.
Ukraine said the boat had been sunk, as did leading Russian military bloggers. Hours later, western officials said they believed the warship had been destroyed in an attack that used long range uncrewed drones.
[ ... ]
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident, but a number of pro-Kremlin military bloggers close to Moscow confirmed that the Ivanovets warship was hit.
[ ... ]
Although Ukraine began the war with no navy, scuttling its only frigate to prevent it from falling into Russian hands, Kyiv has gradually pushed back on Moscow’s early dominance of the Black Sea through long range missile attacks and the innovative use of sea drones.
Considering that the Vermont National Guard probably has more military ships than Ukraine, the Ukrainian Navy now terrifies the Russian Black Sea fleet. There's little Russian presence in the western part of the sea these days.
The Ivanovets probably thought it was safe where it was anchored. It was in a body of water called Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea. Though it is more like a bay with a narrow opening to the Black Sea.
^^^ That opening is just 435 meters wide, a little over 4.5 US football fields. But Ukrainian sea drone pilots managed to navigate several of their kamikaze vessels into the bay without being detected up to that point.
The sinking of the Ivanovets is just one of several bits of good news for Ukraine in the past few days.
Putin toady Viktor Orbán, the homophobic leader of Turkey Hungary, was forced to back down from his threat to block €50 billion in aid to Ukraine.
EU agrees €50bn package for Ukraine as Viktor Orbán bows to pressure
A robust and united position among EU member states convinced Viktor Orbán to end his “blackmail” and support a €50bn (£43bn) funding package for Ukraine, European prime ministers have said.
The Hungarian prime minister, who had been vowing to block the funds since December, performed one of the fastest U-turns seen at a leaders’ summit after six weeks of brinkmanship.
There was relief that the deal was finally done but also a sense of fury among leaders who had been dragged to Brussels for the second time in as many months to try to get the package over the line after Orbán blocked the aid in December.
The Finnish prime minister, Petteri Orpo, said: “Nobody can blackmail 26 countries of the EU. Our values were not for sale.”
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, who said he had “nothing nice” to say to the Hungarian prime minister, warned there would be no reward for Orbán or anyone who had tried to solicit “rotten compromises”.
Also, Dark Brandon strikes again! President Biden is using his discretionary powers as commander-in-chief to get some military aid to Ukraine while the House Putin Caucus at the direction of sex offender Donald Trump continues to block Biden's $61 billion aid package.
First Ecuador, Now Greece: Joe Biden Is Finding More And More Countries To Help Him Arm Ukraine
“Ring-trade.” Remember that term. Increasingly, it’s how U.S. president Joe Biden is arming Ukraine.
He did it with Ecuador. Now he’s doing it with Greece, too.
A ring-trade is, in essence, a circular swap. One country pays or arms a second country so the second country can arm a third country.
Germany pioneered the ring-trade—Ringtausch—for supporting Ukraine, most notably giving to...
The Czech Republic: 14 Leopard 2 tanks and an engineering vehicle in exchange for the Czech Republic having given to Ukraine potentially dozens of T-72 tanks;
Greece: 40 Marder fighting vehicles so that Greece could donate to Ukraine 40 BMP-1 fighting vehicles;
Slovakia: 15 Leopard 2A4s to compensate for 30 BVP-1 fighting vehicles Slovakia donated to Ukraine.
Slovenia: 45 military-grade heavy trucks so that Slovenia would give to Ukraine 28 M-55S tanks.
The United States with its greater stocks of old weapons eventually could surpass Germany as a ring-trader. And it has every reason to do so. For four months now, a small contingent of pro-Russia Republican lawmakers, led by the extremist speaker of the U.S. House Mike Johnson, has blocked $61 billion in new U.S. government funding for Ukraine’s war effort.
In early January, Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa revealed in a radio interview that Ecuador would give to the United States “scrap” weapons in exchange for new weapons—worth $200 million—that the United States would provide at a later date.
The United States then would donate the “scrap” to Ukraine. Some of that old hardware apparently shipped aboard an Antonov An-124 airlifter on Jan. 25.
[ ... ]
According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini and other media, the Biden administration offered the government in Athens three 87-foot Protector-class patrol boats, two Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters, 10 Allison T56 turboprop engines for Lockheed P-3 patrol planes plus 60 M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and a consignment of transport trucks.
In exchange for this largess, the Americans want the Greeks to donate more weapons to the Ukrainians. “We continue to be interested in the defense capabilities that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine,” Blinken wrote. The Greek government reportedly already has earmarked old weapons for onward transfer to the government in Kyiv.
As with Ecuador, the trade could involve air-defense equipment: S-300 and Hawk long-range missiles and launchers and Tor and Osa short-range missiles and launchers.
This indirect U.S. support of Ukraine via ring-trades is necessary because, starting in October, Republicans in the U.S. Congress made it clear they probably never will approve additional direct military aid to Ukraine.
[ ... ]
[L]ook for Biden to get more creative as Republican intransigence persists. The president even could donate excess defense articles directly to Ukraine, and in large quantities, assuming Ukraine or some other country pays for shipping.
