Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
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Russia has figured out how to stop Ukraine’s most powerful cruise missile
The Flamingo cruise missile is Ukraine’s hardest-hitting deep strike munition. But what good is it if Russia usually shoots it down?
By David Axe
August 12, 2026
• Russia has found a way to defeat Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles
• Russian air force A-50U radar planes see the missiles coming
• One mapper counts 10 of the last 11 Flamingos shot down
Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/12/fp-5s-shot-down/
The story above is 5 days old.
Despite the Flamingo being easy for Russia to shoot down, Ukraine keeps firing them in this story from today:
Ukraine dramatically steps up Flamingo missile strikes on Russia
Data from the enemy's Ministry of Defense indicates the intensification of strikes with these missiles
Mon, August 17, 2026 - 02:50
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-dramatically-steps-up-flamingo
-missile-1786920790.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia Is Paying Five Times More for Every Dollar Ukraine Spends on Strikes
By Vlad Litnarovych | Aug 17, 2026 12:54
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russia-is-paying-five-times-m
ore-for-every-dollar-ukraine-spends-on-strikes-21755
Ukraine’s Armed Forces are inflicting losses on Russia worth several times more than the cost of the weapons used to cause them, according to data tracked by the Mission Control module of Ukraine’s DELTA battlefield management system, the Ministry of Defense reported on August 17.
The numbers offer a detailed look at the economics of Ukraine’s battlefield strikes.
According to Mission Control data for June, every $1 Ukraine spent on engaging Russian targets produced approximately $5 in estimated losses for Russia.
Mission Control was launched six months ago and has rapidly become a major source of battlefield data for Ukrainian commanders.
The system now processes around 50,000 combat missions every week, along with more than 230,000 reports documenting their results.
Every mission is recorded, allowing Ukrainian units to examine whether an operation succeeded, identify what worked and what failed, determine why, and adjust tactics for future missions.
The system also calculates how much Ukraine spends, on average, to engage different types of targets.
In June, the average cost was approximately $3,032 per Russian servicemember targeted, $2,674 per piece of military equipment, and $1,487 per infrastructure target, according to the Defense Ministry.
For comparison, Mission Control estimates that sustaining a single Russian servicemember costs Moscow approximately $65,000.
That cost disparity is particularly important for Ukraine, which is increasingly trying to maximize the battlefield effect of relatively inexpensive drones, precision weapons, and other strike systems against higher-value Russian personnel, equipment, and infrastructure.
Mission Control does more than calculate the cost of individual strikes.
The system categorizes missions by purpose, including reconnaissance, strikes, logistics, and evacuation. It also tracks how deep units operate, including missions conducted beyond 20 kilometers and 50 kilometers from the front.
Commanders can examine which weapons and systems individual units are using, how effectively they are employing them, and how much each successful engagement costs.
The platform separately records Ukrainian equipment losses, allowing military planners to determine the conditions and distances at which vehicles, drones, and other systems are most likely to be lost.
That creates a feedback loop in which battlefield performance can be measured not only by whether a target was hit, but by how much it cost, which weapon worked best, how far from the front it was used, and what Ukraine lost in the process.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says the growing pool of data allows units to adapt faster as battlefield conditions change and improve the efficiency of future combat missions.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russia suffered nearly 43,000 battlefield casualties in July 2026, making it the Russian military’s highest monthly loss figure since January 2025, while Ukrainian forces recorded their largest territorial gains in more than a year.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The Ukrainian offensive that wasn't.
Kiev released a bunch of Ukie flag- planting videos in Zaparhozia region about a week ago. Close examination showed that at least some of the videos weren't current.
Russia just released videos ALSO showing flag planting, in the same places that Ukraine supposedly captured. The Russian explanation is that Ukrainian soldiers were allowed to sneak into what effectively is a cauldron.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
What the fuck do you know? You were completely coned by Trump. You still claim Russia is a democracy. Holy shit comrade. Fooled by Trump and again, fooled by Putin. This doesn't make you wrong. Nope, it makes you a moron. You know, like a flat earther type moron.
"On paper, Russia is a federal democratic state. In practice, it functions as a highly centralized system dominated by President Vladimir Putin, who has held power in the Russian Federation in various roles since 2000. While Russia maintains formal democratic institutions, many analysts argue that these structures have been reshaped to strengthen executive authority and limit political competition. As a result, experts widely characterize modern Russia as an authoritarian regime in which power is concentrated around Putin and a close circle of allies."
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Victory no longer possible for Putin, Dmitry Muratov tells Steve Rosenberg | BBC News
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Whaddayathink comrade?
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Russian Infrastructure Collapses
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Analysis: Russia doubles down, setting stage for new phase of total war
By Francis Farrell | August 17, 2026 7:53 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/analysis-russia-doubles-down-in-ukraine-se
tting-stage-for-total-war/
Two large and heavily armed states locked in an existential armed struggle. Hundreds of thousands of casualties. Mass mobilization. Systematic long-range strike campaigns against the enemy's economy and infrastructure. Defense budgets swallowing huge proportions of state spending.
All these factors evoke an image of "total war" — the kind of interstate conflict where state, society, and economy are all not only an active part of the war effort but also a target of enemy strikes.
Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine is now one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century and one of the most brutal, drawn-out interstate wars since 1945.
Yet the term "total war" has barely been raised in the otherwise lively intellectual discourse.
"Total war is a synonym for a complete national effort, employing all the elements of national power in your war effort."
For as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to refrain from announcing sustained forced mobilization in Russia, and for as long as economic activity in both countries continued in a somewhat normal pattern, it didn't always feel like both sides were all in.
But many of the restraints that have kept it from becoming total war are beginning to disappear.
For Kyiv, the fifth year of the full-scale war has undeniably seen many positives, especially compared to the same period last year.
Back then, Ukraine was in survival mode, reeling from the prospect of being abandoned, or even pressured into capitulation, by the Trump administration, riding a fraught diplomatic rollercoaster while Russian forces maintained pressure and advanced across the front line.
Most crucially, while Russian battlefield casualties have largely stayed steady, territorial gains on the front line have been miserly.
Now, Ukraine's scaled-up strike campaign in the Russian rear has brought strategic offensive pressure on Moscow for the first time, both at "middle-strike" range (50-200 kilometers) on Ukraine's occupied territories and with longer-range attacks on oil refineries, energy export facilities, and warehouses.
"It's already a kind of boxing match with no fixed number of rounds," said Mykola Bielieskov, Research Fellow at Ukraine's National Institute for Security Studies and Senior Analyst at the Come Back Alive foundation.
"Each side frames its victory as the ability to stay on their feet till the last round hoping that the opponent would crumble given sheer destruction and accumulated social, economic, political problems."
What is total war?
Total war lacks an agreed-upon academic definition.
While some draw links all the way back to Prussian officer Carl von Clausewitz’s idea of "absolute war," the term itself was first popularized by WWI general Erich Ludendorff in his 1935 book Der totale Krieg (The Total War).
Ludendorff's work, while reflecting on aspects of Germany's war effort on the battlefield and at home, did not attempt to create a new theory of war.
In the decades following, the modern idea of total war took shape, based on the experience of the world wars of the 20th century.
Total war implies a conflict in which belligerents focus not only on battlefield success but also on the degradation and destruction of the enemy state's warfighting capacity in the rear, from military production and sources of revenue to infrastructure and, in turn, society's will to fight.
"Total war is a synonym for a complete national effort, employing all the elements of national power in your war effort," retired Australian Army Major-General Mick Ryan told the Kyiv Independent.
"It means you are utilizing every element of your nation to fight this war, either in the defensive or offensive
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Signym, comrade, more propaganda oh no...
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RUSSIAN ECONOMIST TURNS ON PUTIN: STUNNING CRITICISM ON LIVE TV Vlog 1504: War in Ukraine
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Ukraine War Damage Rises to $197.5B, KSE Institute Says
In brief: KSE Institute estimates direct damage to Ukraine at $197.5 billion as of February 2026, up 16% from November 2024. Housing remains the hardest-hit sector at $65.9 billion, followed by transport at $42 billion. Energy-sector damage rose 25% to $18.3 billion.
By Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute | Aug. 17, 2026, 5:01 pm
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/82522
The full report can be found here:
https://institute.kse.ua/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/kse_institute_dama
ges_report_2026_eng_august_2026.pdf
Damages to Ukraine’s infrastructure from the war have risen to $197.5 billion, KSE Institute estimated as of February 2026.
The total amount of direct damage inflicted on Ukraine’s real estate, other infrastructure, vehicles, and inventories as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion has risen to $197.5 billion. Compared with the previous estimate of $169.8 billion as of the end of 2024, the total damage has increased by 16%.
The research was published on August 17, 2026.
The housing stock has sustained the greatest damage, estimated at $65.9 billion. Nearly 416,000 residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Damage to transport infrastructure is estimated at $42 billion, while damage to the assets of enterprises in industry, construction, and the services sector amounts to $18.4 billion, and damage to the energy sector totals $18.3 billion. A further $12.2 billion accounts for damage to educational infrastructure, and $12.1 billion for damage to the agricultural sector and land resources.
In absolute terms, the largest increase was recorded in the estimated damage to the housing stock, which rose by $5.9 billion. Damage to the energy sector increased by 25% compared with the previous estimate. More than 29,000 km of national, local, and municipal roads have been damaged or destroyed.
Damage incurred after February 2026, including as a result of intensified Russian missile attacks during the summer months, is not included in this estimate. KSE Institute continues to refine its assessment of direct damage, working on additional categories as well as scenario-based estimates of the potential scale of further destruction.
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Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute
KSE Institute is an analytical center at the Kyiv School of Economics. In 2005, KSE / EERC and the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) established the Kyiv Economics Institute (KEI) to provide scientific economic facts for economic policy-making and changing the policy-making process based on data and facts.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, KSE Institute analysts have focused on key wartime projects (LeaveRussia, participation in the Yermak-McFaul International Sanctions Group, Reconstruction projects), actively cooperating with the Ukrainian government in assessing damages, the effectiveness of sanctions against the aggressor and the development of scenarios for the recovery of Ukraine’s economy after the war.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Book review for The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World by Bojan Pancevski
Download the book for free from https://z-lib.gl/s/Bojan%20Pancevski or https://annas-archive.gl/search?q=Bojan+Pancevski&check=1
The Audacious Plot to Blow Up the Nord Stream Pipelines
By Malcolm Forbes | Aug. 18, 2026, 11:23 a.m. ET
https://www.csmonitor.com/Arts-Culture/Books/2026/0818/nord-stream-con
spiracy-bojan-pancevski
In September 2022, seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a series of explosions in the Baltic Sea alarmed seismologists across Europe. The blasts destroyed Nord Stream 1 and 2, the world’s largest offshore pipeline system, which transported gas from Russia to Germany. Great geysers almost a kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter erupted, unleashing methane. The cost of the leaked gas amounted to almost $2 billion dollars. Experts determined that the damage was not caused by an underwater earthquake. NATO then declared that the pipelines had been deliberately targeted.
So began a blame game, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin accusing the CIA of terrorism and Western intelligence officials branding Russia the culprit. Who was responsible for one of the biggest and most audacious acts of sabotage in modern history?
Bojan Pancevski, the chief European political correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, embarked on a mission to unravel the mystery. His book, “The Nord Stream Conspiracy,” is a compelling account of his detective work. Drawing on years of interviews with a range of individuals, Pancevski tells an in-depth, multistranded story about a daring operation that rocked lives, destabilized economies, and shook the world order.
Why We Wrote This
Shadowy figures, deep-sea sabotage, and geopolitical skulduggery come together in a fascinating exposé by Wall Street Journal reporter Bojan Pancevski. His depiction of both the preparation of the mission and its execution keeps readers hooked.
The book opens with the German response to the pipeline attack. Aware that this could be the biggest case of his career, Dieter Romann, head of the Germany’s Federal Police, puts his best man on the job. An officer referred to only as The Chief Investigator assembles a team. Two theories emerge: First, that the pipelines were destroyed by a minisubmarine or drone; the second, more fanciful, hypothesis was that a small team of professional divers was involved. As the investigators probe further, they discover that some countries – supposedly Germany’s allies – are proving secretive and obstructive.
From here, Pancevski turns his focus on Ukraine and introduces a different set of protagonists. We meet a man called The Colonel, whose career as a law enforcement, intelligence, and military officer has involved everything from fighting corruption and organized crime to battling pro-Russian warlords. We also encounter his compatriot and brother-in-arms, The General, “another mastermind of crazy clandestine operations,” including a notorious plot that infiltrated Russia’s security apparatus. Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the two men formed an elite combat group they named The Startup. “You could say we became a tiny little deep state,” The General tells Pancevski.
When Russian forces finally invaded in 2022, The Startup offered effective resistance. But trading blow for blow wasn’t enough: To protect their homeland, the men knew they needed to hit the aggressor where it hurt the most, and that meant attacking the economy. A plan was devised and a target decided upon. “Nord Stream was Putin’s perfidious tentacle,” The Colonel says, “and it was wrapped around Europe’s neck.” Destroying the pipeline network would force the extrication of Europe from Putin’s stranglehold and, in the process, eliminate a critical source of Russia’s revenue. But Operation Diameter, as it was called, would be dangerous. It would involve a team
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Putin Knows More Than We Realize
By David Averre | Aug 18, 2026 at 10:21 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-knows-kremlin-economy-failing-klepach-e
conomist-warning-12335948
"I am almost certain we’ll come to a social crisis…under the current macroeconomic policy being pursued, the economy will stop, and society is unlikely to accept it."
These are the words of Andrei Klepach, the chief economist of Russia’s state development bank (VEB), at a Moscow meeting of top economists and scientists in May. There, he delivered a scathing report on the Kremlin’s monetary policy, predicted Moscow will be more dependent on Beijing than it ever was on Europe, and openly admitted Russia is losing the technological and economic battle to Ukraine.
And nothing happened. For three months, Klepach continued his work at VEB undisturbed—until Russian media got a hold of the contents of his report last week. By Sunday, he was gone.
A common Western assumption is that Vladimir Putin is shielded from bad news by subordinates too afraid to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear. But the Russian president was clearly aware of this dire prognosis, fielded by one of the nation’s leading economists, before the media cottoned on.
That Klepach was abruptly removed only after his findings went public means something different. Putin knows he’s running his country into the ground; with elections around the corner, he just needs to make sure the people don’t.
The Future According to Klepach
Andrei Klepach was hardly a fringe economist preaching Russia’s downfall. He was among Moscow’s most reputable experts, a man who’d served 10 years in Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development as a forecasting director and then deputy minister before joining VEB as chief economist in 2014.
During his glittering career, for which he was awarded the Order of Honor, he also held positions on the boards of Russia’s largest scientific and military-technical state companies, including Rosatom, the United Shipbuilding Corporation and the United Aircraft Corporation.
This made him uniquely qualified to deliver his assessment of Russia’s technological and economic future; and what an assessment it was. In his report entitled "The Russian Economy and Geopolitical Challenges," he delivered four bleak conclusions, the last of which will have set alarm bells ringing in the Kremlin.
...
First: Russia’s current economic model cannot sustain a long confrontation with the West.
Moscow, he argued, is trying to fight a costly war while simultaneously throttling the civilian economy with punishing interest rates and tighter budgets.
"Under the macroeconomic policy being pursued…we will not withstand the confrontation," he said. "The economy will stop, and society is unlikely to accept it."
VEB’s own forecast put Russian growth at just 0.3 percent in 2026—in line with Central Bank forecasts of between 0 percent and 1 percent growth—with investment falling 2.5 percent.
Second: Putin’s war is handing Beijing huge influence over Moscow.
Klepach openly wondered whether Russia could even remain a sovereign power, or become a country with a "non-sovereign economy, overwhelmingly dependent on China."
Its trade structure, he said, already showed an "extremely high degree of dependence" on Beijing; "in many respects higher" than Russia’s former reliance on the European Union.
"The only question is how far we will comply with various Chinese regulatory requirements and allow Chinese business to control different sectors of the Russian economy," he concluded.
Third: The war in Ukraine is killing Russia’s broader technological and economic progress—as much as the economist didn’t want to admit it.
"We are losing both the technological and the economic competition in the world," Klepach said, "not only to China and the United States, but in some respects even to Ukraine, however unpleasant that may be even for me personally."
His fourth
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Ukraine said its June data shows it costs about $3,000 to take out a Russian soldier. In 2024, Ukrainian troops said they spent about $20,000 on drones to kill one Russian soldier, highlighting the improving cost-effectiveness of Ukrainian drone operations...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/general/taking-out-a-russian-sold
ier-costs-twice-as-much-as-hitting-the-kremlin-s-infrastructure-ukraine-says/ar-AA2alof4
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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