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The Russian Army is conducting an organized withdrawal from the western side of the Dnipro River to eastern side and likely farther east toward the Russian border. This will cede the river port city of Kherson back to Ukrainian control. Reports indicate that transport of small amounts of military equipment and personnel started as early as the first week of October with large increases lately and at the same time as the overall Russian Armed forces commander stated, "hard decisions will have to be made."
There's a serious problem, though. To cover the Russian withdrawal and prevent Ukrainian pursuit as Russian forces are most vulnerable, the Russians plan to blow up a large hydroelectric plant and it's damn bridging the Dnipro River that holds billions of gallons of water behind it. They will then very publicly blame Ukraine for destroying it. This will cause flooding downstream and inundate the city of Kherson. There is no escaping the military significance afforded to the Russians doing this. It prevents pursuit as the Russians conduct a tactical withdrawal or at the least makes pursuit more difficult. The downside is that it complicates the supply of water getting to Crimea so, this is a double edged sword for the Russians.
The Russians reportedly concentrated 45 BTGs in the eastern side of the Kherson province. If the BTGs were fully formed, that would be about 45,000 soldiers and associated armor defending a small area. These BTGs however are severely degraded. Can they defend territory already occupied as well as protect approaches to Crimea? To be determined.
It can't be overstated how strategically significant regaining control of Kherson is for the Ukrainians. First, it is another blow to Putin which could be made much worse if Ukrainian forces mount a pursuit and the planned organized withdrawal turns into a rout back across Russian borders. By retreating from the western side of the Dnipro, the Russians cede a tactical advantage to the Ukrainian forces. While the river is a natural barrier supporting Russian defenses on the other side of it, the approaches to the river on the western side will be given away to Ukrainian artillery with the river now serving as a natural barrier to the Russians preventing them from getting their artillery close enough to fire on Ukrainian troop and artillery concentrations moving eastward and in pursuit.
Second, the loss of Kherson invites a ground assault into Crimea who will be cut off from a natural water supply and could be isolated from sufficient resupply if the Kirsh Straits bridge remains crippled.
Third, with Russia no longer controlling the Kherson Oblast, they cannot feed their military operations in the Donetsk Oblast to the East. That threatens the occupation of this region of the Donbas - a key goal since Russian proxy forces occupied in 2014 then claimed the Donetsk Oblast an independent, sovereign entity a few months ago.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.
As The Chairman continues to empty the Stategic Petroleium Reserve in a desperate effort to stave of election disaster, it's nice to recall that in 2020 DJT's Department of Energy proposed to max out the SPR capacity by purchasing 77m barrels at.....$24/barrell. The Congressional Ds removed that provision (costing $3B) from the March 2020 covid relief shit. It was, afterall, a huge bailout for the oil companies.
That's D energy policy in a fucking nutshell.
Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]? Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.
That goes back to the Carter Doctrine as well. These are not new revelations.
Yep. And Carter created the force that eventually became CENTCOM (I forget its name off the top of my head).
Kuwait was the only Gulf country that had normal diplomatic relations with both the US and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. And they played us off each other.
She's a total loco now. I don't like picking on her though because of what happened to her in Egypt a decade ago. I'm pretty sure that permanently changed her.
Trump classified document collection at Mar a Lago included detailed information about Iran's missile program and intelligence work (aka spies) in China. Per "sources"
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