Doc7505
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Russia's Black Sea Fleet Headquarters Demolished and Commanding Admiral Presumed Dead
22 Sep 2023 ~~ By StreiffA volley of Ukrainian cruise missiles demolished the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, in Occupied Crimea. The strategic communications directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the attack that took place around noon Sevastopol time this way on social media:
The Black Sea Fleet headquarters controls Russian naval operations in the Black Sea. It used to be a sleepy backwater but now with Putin's War in Ukraine, it is at the center of action. Ships from the Black Sea Fleet, particularly its main base in Sevastopol, are actively involved in attempting to enforce Russia's porous naval blockade of Ukrainian grain shipments as well as launching cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine.
There are reports of several high-ranking officers killed or injured in the attack. Unofficially, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, was among the dead.
To understand how we got here, you need to look at Ukrainian military operations over the last two or three weeks. A little over a week ago, Ukrainian cruise missiles and unmanned surface vehicles destroyed two Russian warships, a submarine and a landing ship, and an antiaircraft patrol vessel was damaged while underway (see Ukrainian Attack on Russian Fleet Leaves One Ship and One Sub Destroyed With No Nuclear War and Putin's War, Week 82. Russia Dissed at the UN and the War Moves Toward Rasputitsa). That attack had been set up by a commando raid on a radar and antiaircraft site in Crimea that punched a hole in the air defense belt surrounding Sevastopol. Other antiaircraft sites have been hit in the last two weeks;
Commentary:
These to bombings indicate that the Ukraine forces have been able to overcome and defeat the radar anti aircraft ring around important sites in Russian held territory.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government is now substantially if not totally dependent on Western funding. Federal spending was $35 billion in 2021 and $61 billion in 2022. A substantial portion of US aid was to prop up the government.
Even if spending falls from war-level peaks, Ukraine’s fall in GDP (estimated at 25%, which seems low) in combination with not just an aged population, but now a large number of war disabled, including many amputees, means an increased social burden with greatly diminished productive capacity.
Meanwhile, I don`t believe that our Pentagon planners have factored in what happens if Russia eventually marches up to the Dnieper, getting even more of Ukraine’s most productive farm land, and/or takes the Black Sea coast, turning Ukraine into an even poorer landlocked rump state. The fact that the US is unwilling to make any concession to the key Russian demand of no Ukraine ever in NATO means Russia will prosecute the war until it has subjugated Ukraine, by whatever combination of conquest, installation of a captive government, and economic destruction needs to happen. That means the possibility of WWIII and nuclear war.
Is the Biden administration and Europe ready to go that far?
There is no right side to this. Its just the New World Order exercise to bring Eastern Europe to heel. We've already gathered the data about thei Russian weapon system performance and tactics.