(June 20, 2024 at 6:58 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: The us is floating a test bubble about holding all existing patriot battery orders to other customers until ukraine is sorted.

Quote:Russia accidentally downed its own Ka-29 helicopter with its air defense systems over Anapa, a town in Russia's Krasnodar Krai on the northern coast of the Black Sea, according to local reports.

"In Anapa, our own air defense shot down our own helicopter," Egor Guzenko, a Russian soldier who runs a Telegram channel under the call sign "Thirteenth,” wrote on Friday.

Quote:KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Weeks after the decision allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons for limited strikes in Russian territory, the country is having some success in halting Russia’s new push along the northeast front, but military commanders are clamoring for restrictions on long-range missiles to be lifted.

Deteriorating battlefield conditions forced the U.S. to permit Ukraine to use Western-supplied artillery and rocket systems to defend the eastern city of Kharkiv by targeting border regions where the Kremlin’s forces assemble and launch attacks. The impact was swift: Ukrainian forces pushed Russian positions back, won time to better fortify their own positions and even mounted small offensive actions.

But commanders said that without the ability to use long-range guided missiles, such as ATACMS, their hands are tied.

“We could target (Russian) brigade command points and the entire northern grouping, because they are located 100 to 150 kilometers from the front line,” said Hefastus, an artillery commander in the Kharkiv region who goes by his callsign. “Normal ammunition can’t get at them. With this kind, we can do a lot to destroy their centers of command.”

The Ukrainian commanders interviewed spoke on condition that their callsigns be used, in line with brigade rules.

The U.S. expanded the scope of its policy to allow counterstrikes across a wider region Friday. But the Biden administration has not lifted restrictions on Ukraine that prohibit the use of U.S.-provided ATACMS to strike inside Russian territory, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The U.S. began providing Ukraine with long-range ATACMS earlier this year, but with rules, including that they cannot be used to strike inside Russia and must be used within sovereign territory, which includes land seized by the Russians.

That prevents attacks on airfields and military infrastructure in Russia’s deep rear, underscoring a common Ukrainian complaint that Western allies anxious about potentially provoking Russia are undermining Ukraine’s ability to fight effectively.

Quote:North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine would be 'cannon fodder,' Pentagon says

"I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine," Ryder said.

Ryder said that the accelerating military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including the possible deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine, is "something to keep an eye on."

https://kyivindependent.com/north-korean...agon-says/