Southlander

🇿🇦

[Kyle Glen @KyleJGlen]

Ukraine captured approx. 250 Russian soldiers in the Lyman direction as part of the counter offensive. Very promising news.

[TH101UK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @Truthhurts101UK]

BREAKING: This appears to be the first image to emerge of the suspects following today’s major incident.

Sent to me by a local resident, the image appears to show five suspects detained on the ground in handcuffs, surrounded by armed officers.

The photo was taken from a neighbouring property.

More updates from the scene as we get them.

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

Cockpit footage from a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum as it shoots down a Russian drone using an R-60M AAM.

[B-AREV @trip_to_valkiri]

A very rare picture of British SA80 5.56mm assault rifles used in Mozambique. It is reported that SA80s were sold to Mozambique as part of British Military aid sometime in the 1990s. I am taking a guess they were unpopular in Mozambique service.

[Southlander @south_lander_]

@trip_to_valkiri I have seen these pop up on the civilian market in ZA. Usually incredibly expensive.

[Southlander @south_lander_]

@IanECox Hilarious!

[Global Statistics Wire @stats_wire]

The 🇿🇦 South African Civil Aviation Authority reports 40 years of zero commercial airline fatal accidents. With an ICAO safety compliance score of 95.12%, SA ranks 1st in Africa and 8th globally ahead of the USA, proving its airline infrastructure rivals the world's most advanced networks.

[MiniArmsDealer @AdeptusArkain]

MT-LB with 100mm MT-12 Rapira

Welcome back Marder III

[Afrigermaans @afrigermaans]

Die ou Natal provinsie het sy naam gekry van die Portugese seevaarder Vasco de Gama, wat op Kersdag in 1497 aan die kus van die hedendaagse Durban geland het.

Hy het dit Terra Natal genoem, wat Kersfeesland beteken.

Jan van Riebeeck het in sy dagboek na die gebied oos van Tafelbaai as "Terri di Natal" verwys.

Tarentale, wat nie in Europa voorkom nie en dus onbekend was, het bekend gestaan as "Terra-Natal vogels" of "Ternataalse hoenders", wat later verander het in Tarentaal.

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

A Ukrainian Air Force F-16 was downed near the frontline today.

The pilot successfully ejected and has already been recovered by friendly forces.

[AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 @AMK_Mapping_]

Ukrainian journalist Yuliya Kyriyenko also reports that the true casualty numbers are higher than 10, with a lot of the people killed likely torn apart into molecules, which explains why dogs are working at the scene to identify fragments and DNA.

She also reported that the number of injured is more than 100, even when not including local residents living nearby.

[AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 @AMK_Mapping_]

Regarding yesterday's Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile strike on arms exhibition for the "ARMADA" company in Kyiv.

I've been told that the total number of people attending the event was between 200 and 1,000, and that Ukrainian authorities are downplaying the true number of casualties. To quote the source directly, "everything was covered in corpses", with the true casualty count potentially being up to 5-10 times higher than officially stated (which would be between 50-100 dead in total).

As of now, this information is unconfirmed, but it came from a source who has been consistently accurate in the past.

[Faytuks Network @FaytuksNetwork]

Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian Su-35 in air-to-air combat, CJCS Gen. Dan Caine confirms, marking the first confirmed air-to-air kill by a Ukrainian F-16

[Rob Lee @RALee85]

Video showing FP-1 / FP-2 strikes on another 7 ships in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea by @usf_army.
https://t.co/oEJ5erfmdp

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

Ukrainian attack drones successfully destroyed an increasingly rare Russian Tu-95 heavy bomber at Engels airbase earlier this week.

The Tu-95’s tail section has been completely separated.

[Woofers @NotWoofers]

Finally some good imagery sourced from @avivector confirms that a Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber was destroyed.

[Status-6 (War & Military News) @Archer83Able]

The Russians installed a compass on a Molniya-type low-cost strike drone so that the operator could point a camera onto it from time to time and control the flight direction.

The device was attached to the drone's body with screw nails.

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

Ukrainian attack drones successfully hit a Russian naval aviation Su-24 tactical bomber at Saki Airbase in Crimea.

[Omar Alhariri @omar_alharir]

كمية درونات وصواريخ وقذائف كبيرة تم ضبطها ومصادرتها خلال إحباط عملية تهريب السلاح من العراق لصالح ميليشيات حزب الله الإرهابي

[Rob Lee @RALee85]

Fedorov said he identified 11 major problems after his first month as minister of defense:

"1. Ukraine's Armed Forces are fighting at the tactical level, although increasingly at the operational level too. Still, fundamentally, "we are still fighting tactically".

2. The corps system has not yet fully taken shape. "We have corps that are successful, that advance every month and do not lose territory. And we have corps where the commander is replaced every month. There are corps that have developed their own school of thought and philosophy, and there are corps where we do not even know how many brigades they have or what is happening inside them. Everything depends on organization, but there are corps that do not distribute all their resources internally," Fedorov said.

3. Brigades and corps have been fragmented. "There are brigades that cannot even determine how many battalions they have. A battalion is pulled out of one brigade and thrown into another. It is impossible to build a management system under conditions like these," the defense minister said.

4. No one is held accountable for anything. "Responsibility is always pushed down the chain. Someone else is always made to carry the blame, there is always talk of an investigation and of 'finding out who is guilty'," Fedorov said.

5. Supplies are not routed through the corps. Fedorov said the supply problem is "fundamental": "Over the past five months, we have bought more drones than in the whole of last year, but most units have not felt the impact, because everything is distributed manually: if you are loyal, you get something, if you are not, you don't... That is why we launched this system. It was four months of hell, because it took us four months to agree on a simple project for baseline drone provision to brigades."

6. Constant replacement of commanders.

7. Isolation and toxic treatment of those who deliver results. "If you succeed, you become a star, and then you hit a dead end. [General Mykhailo] Drapatyi received his third reprimand, goodbye. Sorry, Drapatyi, I think after this speech there will be a fourth reprimand for you. I wouldn't want that to happen, but we have no choice left but to talk about it," Fedorov said.

8. It is impossible to carry out any systemic project. "Because you constantly run into the same questions: 'But why?' and 'But how?'" the acting defense minister explained.

9. Human capital is being worn down without proper analysis. Fedorov said they had carried out "a great deal of work", including analyzing losses. "But decisions about who should be supported, who should not, who should be reinforced and who should not are not based on data. They are based on loyalty," he said.

10. The blocking of initiatives and the "bureaucratic crossfire". "In six months at the Defense Ministry, we have not been able to change the organizational structure because the General Staff refuses to approve it: the name is supposedly wrong, something else is not right, or there is allegedly no need to bring in new people," Fedorov explained.

11. Constant dishonesty. "This applies to me too: claims that I ordered the investigation into Skelia, that I launched a media campaign, that I did this or that," the acting defense minister said. [The Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal probe into the Skelia unit – 425th Separate Assault Regiment – following reports of at least 26 noncombat deaths, physical abuse, and inadequate medical care for recruits. The unit's commander was suspended, and authorities are currently investigating allegations of systemic abuse – ed.]

He added that he had proposed changes on all points.

"What solutions were proposed at the time? Radical personnel decisions. That meant changing both the Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of the General Staff… It meant creating an environment where strong leaders could develop instead of being held back or constantly reprimanded. It meant working with IT specialists and smart people. It meant a different management approach. It meant appointing strong corps commanders. Drone-assault units are a fundamental change in the way we think about deploying infantry: technology must be at the forefront of combat. We should lose drones, not people, and only then should infantry move in," Fedorov said.

He also proposed "levelling out" the front line and implementing a doctrine based on the principle of "not losing personnel where it can be avoided", while taking the terrain and the situation into account.

"The allocation of all resources through corps – that means personnel, drones, artillery, training… Because there are situations where, ultimately, no one is responsible for a section of the front line," said the acting minister.

He also said he had proposed establishing an Academy of Modern Warfare to train new leaders capable of commanding headquarters and units, creating a consortium of Ballistics and Anti-Ballistics units, closing the skies, achieving victory in the economic war and, more broadly, transforming the defence forces and rooting out corruption in procurement.
https://t.co/fk3wrPHY6U