#зсу

[tomorrowusa]

Ukrainians are making good use of those F-16s. A Ukrainian pilot flying one set a new record for shooting down cruise missiles.

For the first time in the history of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a Ukrainian-operated jet shot down six Russian cruise missiles during a single mission in December, including two with the aircraft cannon, the Air Force claimed on Jan. 7. The interception reportedly took place during a mass Russian aerial strike on the morning of Dec. 13, 2024, which saw Russia deploy almost 200 drones and 94 missiles. "For the first time in the history of the Fighting Falcon, an F-16 fighter jet destroyed six Russian cruise missiles in one combat mission," the Air Force Command said on social media. Ukraine has received a number of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands and Denmark, deploying them multiple times in air defense roles during Russian mass strikes on cities and infrastructure. "They say that even Americans couldn't believe you did it," Air Force Command spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said in an interview with the pilot, whose identity was not revealed.

While F-16s are not practical for shooting down smaller drones, Ukraine has displayed skill at neutralizing larger missiles launched by Russia.

Real life in Ukraine makes Top Gun seem lame.

The aviator said that he approached a group of cruise missiles and, despite their electronic warfare countermeasures, managed to lock on to targets. The F-16 reportedly shot down one pair of Russian projectiles with medium-range missiles and then another pair with short-range missiles. Ukrainian F-16s are equipped with four air-to-air medium-range and short-range missiles. Without missiles and low on fuel, the pilot was then recalled from the area but spotted another missile heading toward Kyiv. He moved to intercept it and opened fire from his aircraft cannon against the projectile, which was flying over 650 kilometers per hour, a difficult and risky maneuver, the Air Force said. "A few bursts from the cannon — and an explosion... then another one! 'A secondary detonation,' I thought, but, as it turned out, there were two missiles," the pilot said, adding he did everything as taught by U.S. instructors. According to the Air Force Command, Ukrainian pilots have learned how to shoot down missiles with aircraft cannons in simulators in the U.S. but have never attempted it during actual combat before.

When a malicious dictator is trying to erase your country, you have incentive to get things right the first time.

[anastasiamaru]

Ukraine.Real-life story fragment

Oksana Chorna Ukrainian Armed Forces

"Spoiler: I'm fine"

...Have you ever washed blood off a car seat?Your own blood? There's a reason they say, 'You won't hear your own mortar whistling'... And I didn’t hear it either... Neither the whistle of the shell, nor the buzzing of the drone, nor even the sound of the launch. I remember smth(blood) pouring into my eye. I raised my left hand to wipe my cheek...

There was no pain at all. I ran to the car. Surprisingly, it was intact. I got in and drove away. The most horrifying injuries I saw at the stabilization point were cranio-cerebral injuries

When a pink mess that used to be responsible for thoughts, feelings, and memories spills from a hole in the head onto a white sheet.

Severed arms and legs, intestines neatly folded into a T-shirt, holes in the chest from which air escapes with a whistling sound—these can all be repaired. The essence of a person will live on, love, dream.

But the empty gaze of those who have lost themselves due to a traumatic brain injury scares me more than anything else...

...With my right hand, I steered the wheel, while with my left hand, I tried to feel my head to see if any foreign "artifacts of war" were sticking out of it. I even took a selfie to assess the extent of the damage to the "decision-making center" (my head).

Only after 10 minutes did I notice that blood was also flowing from my hand. I thought I needed to bandage it... At the next crossroads, I suddenly forgot where to go. It felt like I was here for the first time. Although I had already driven through the village twenty times.

A jeep drove by. I thought I should probably ask for help. But if they transferred me and took me to the stabilization point, I would have to leave my "Discovery" here, and then those bastards(russian soldiers) would definitely wreck it.

I didn't leave it either at the crossing in Bakhmut or in Avdiyivka, and I absolutely refuse to leave it here. I’m just obligated to get to the stabilization point by myself.

What scared me was that my wounds didn’t hurt. Just a dull noise in my head, like a severe migraine.

Closer to Konstantynivka, I started to recognize the road. When I arrived at the stabilization point, I even parked the car by a tree and locked it...

[greenpostua]

🙏 Перед Новим роком Україна повернула ще 189 наших захисників.

За допомогою ОАЕ вдалось визволити із полону деяких з оборонців "Азовсталі" та Маріуполя, ЧАЕС, острова Зміїного та з інших напрямків фронту.

📹: Омбудсман України | 📸: 5 канал

[thelittleukrainianwell-armedgirl]

(c) Nikita Titov

[katiagray]

З Різдвом Христовим! Merry Christmas!

Дякуємо ЗСУ за такий день!!!

We all thank Armed Forces of Ukraine for such a day!

[demiurgeua]

ЗСУ знищили вже понад 35100 одиниць автомобільної техніки та 830000 рашистів

Століття протистояння з поріддям Золотої Орди. “Криваве багно монгольського рабства, а не груба слава норманської епохи, є колискою Московії, сучасна ж Росія є лише метаморфозою Московії”. Стадо убивць, ґвалтівників, руйнівників, крадіїв і збоченців, яке наразі називає себе прикметником “русскіє”, розуміє лише силу та зупиняється тоді, коли добряче “отримає по рогах”. Одинадцятий рік…

[that-is-who-you-are]

«Another exchange of prisoners took place: Ukraine returned 100 people from russian captivity»— Head of the Office of the President.

Among them also Valeriia Karpylenko from "Azovstal",whose husband, Andrii Subotin, unfortunately was killed just three days after their wedding:

The Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that 80 men and 20 women were released. Nine are officers, all the rest are privates and sergeants.

Almost half of them are seriously injured, sick or have been tortured. The youngest is 19 years old.

[kimasov]

Вечереет ...

ЗСУ 2К22 "Тунгуска".

[killthemuggers]

Продовжуємо збір на 3 чотирьохдіапазонних РЕБи на Запоріжський напрямок! Безмежно дякуємо усім, хто долучається!

[nelligekata]

10 лют. 2020 р. Маруся Звіробій

10 лют. 2020 р.Військова Олена Біленька, відома як Маруся Звіробій, заявила у суді, що не змовлялася з Софією Фединою погрожувати президенту Володимиру Зеленському, що вони закликали його бути обачним: "У ваших документах я прочитала: злочинний умисел і попередня змова. Ви довели, що він злочинний? Ви довели попередню змову, в чому попередня змова? Ви нічого цього не довели. Ці два слова означають "шить справу". Ми з Софією не домовлялися попередньо погрожувати президенту. Те, що зараз відбувається, означає, що той, хто попередньо домовиться зробити стрім на будь-яку тему, має зважати, що він уже ходить під статтею. Вибір теми відповідав часу, в який ми це записували… Пан Рябошапка, генпрокурор наш драгоценний, заявив, що ми небезпечні тим, що нас багато людей слухають і дивляться… Тобто кожен блогер, якого дивиться багато людей, уже підпадає під справу. Коли нашого теперішнього президента дивилися мільйони, а не як мене десятки тисяч, – і він то хоронив Порошенка, то розстрілював Верховну Раду – у нас була демократія і свобода слова, і на цій свободі слова цей Зеленський став президентом. А тепер за такі саме дії – і поменше: я не погрожувала нікому! – він хоче вкрутити гайки військовослужбовцям. Він думає, що він хамить буде – хрін!"

[tomorrowusa]

Ukrainian drones blew up a large Russian arms depot west of Moscow. The blast was large enough to have been detected by earthquake sensors.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a large Russian weapons depot caused a blast that was picked up by earthquake monitoring stations, in one of the biggest strikes on Moscow’s military arsenal since the war began. Pro-Russian military bloggers said Ukraine struck an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a historic town more than 300 miles north of Ukraine and about 230 miles west of Moscow. Videos and images on social media showed a huge ball of flame rising high into the night sky and detonations thundering across a lake, in a region not far from the border with Belarus. The strike was part of a broader Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, power plants, airfields and military factories, and highlights Kyiv’s enhanced long-range drone capabilities. Earthquake monitoring stations registered what sensors thought was a minor earthquake in the area.

The blast was so big that in the first couple of seconds it appears to be during daytime.

The Kyiv Independent has additional details.

Arms depot in Russia's Tver Oblast built to withstand nuclear explosion heavily damaged by Ukrainian drones

Back in 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry bragged that this facility would be prepared to withstand even a nuclear explosion. Six years later, the claim was proven to be false. According to the SBU, the arsenal stored ballistic missiles, including Iskanders, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery ammunition, and KAB guided bombs. The attack "literally wiped off the face of the earth a large warehouse of the main missile and artillery department of the Russian Defense Ministry," the SBU source said. The construction of the arsenal, controlled by the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate, began in 2015 in the town of Toropets, located 480 kilometers north of Ukraine. The construction was part of a 2012 government program set to improve Russia's storage of missiles, ammunition, and explosives. According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the program, worth 90 billion rubles (nearly $980 million), called for 13 modern arms depots to be built. [ ... ] Yet the source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent that a "very powerful detonation" occurred, and the affected area was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) wide. NASA satellites also recorded a surge in thermal activity in Tver Oblast, where the 107th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate is located. "The arsenal seems to have been built correctly, with bunkered storage facilities that can hold up to 240 tons of ammunition each," Serhiy Zgurets, military expert and CEO of the Ukrainian media Defense Express, told the Kyiv Independent.

As Joe Biden might put it, this is "a big fucking deal". Months worth of ammunition, missiles, and other ordnance which was waiting to be used against Ukrainians has been eliminated.

In total, about 30,000 tons of ammunition were stored in the arsenal in Toropets, which could have been enough to conduct attacks for months, according to the expert. Russia most likely stored 122 mm Grad ammunition, 82 mm mines, and missiles for Buk medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, among other munitions, according to Zgurets.

Ukraine apparently destroyed 30,000 tons (i.e. 30 kilotons) of ammo. For comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was the equivalent of 15 kilotons.

Ukrainians are intelligent and resourceful. They are now building drones which cannot be jammed by electronic warfare. They may have used those to get to Toropets.

And it seems a bit weird that Russia would build a gigantic arsenal just 4.51 km (less than 3 miles) from downtown Toropets – a scenic town and local administrative center.

So Ukraine has now penetrated and destroyed an impenetrable arms depot. Previously, Ukraine has stopped unstoppable Kinzhal Russian missiles. This war is unwinnable for Russia but the country continues to humiliate itself with its unmistakable military ineptitude.

[anastasiamaru]

Ukrainian Armed Forces with their fluffy assistants😺

Separate Brigade of Territorial Defense of Kharkiv City

As we can see from the chevrons, it's not necessary to be Ukrainian to defend Ukraine

Your assistance in defending Ukraine is an important component of our COLLECTIVE victory over pervasive evil.

[greenpostua]

🪿 Покинутий господарями кульґавий гусак Сєня став частиною 122 бригади ТрО.

📹: 122 бригада

[thelittleukrainianwell-armedgirl]

(c) @ iamsimonovdima