Russian Gas ban - A problem for Europe or suicide for Russia?

[pooya87]

I don't research too much about the military equipment of other countries, but I am also very interested in the war between Ukraine and Russia but have never heard of this news. Ukraine is begging for more, and the weapons they have against Russia are American and Western, they have almost no weapons of their own making or their own. Even with the weapons provided, they haven't been able to use them ideally yet, so focusing on weapon development at this point is not a smart idea.

I've gathered some information so feel free to correct any part that is wrong:
Ukraine used to be a major arms producer back in the Soviet era, so much so that about a quarter of Soviet weapons were made in Ukraine. After the separation from union in the 90's, Ukraine was practically disarmed and the industry was dismantled. Worst part is that they celebrated being disarmed and giving up their nuclear ICBMs!

In the following years in early 90's Ukrainian arms industry turned into mostly maintenance and sale of the Soviet era weapons and didn't have that much advancement in any serious area that matters (or maybe we should say neither US nor Russia allowed them to make any advance).

However, there has been small advances in some areas such as production of short range rockets and artillery, some improvements in some of the soviet tanks and armored vehicles, "shoulder launched" anti tank guided missiles, manufacturing parts such as UAV engines/ship parts/etc, and of course wide-wing transport aircrafts.
In other areas such as missiles (specifically medium and long range), air defense, radars, fighter jets, navy, modern tanks, etc. Ukraine depends fully on imports.

[panganib999]

As for oil, it doesn't even matter, all that Europe has to do is outbid others, let's see who can afford gas at 3 euros, the EU or Africa or South Asia.

That's what I am saying. China will milk them like a cow. Russia has made its economy hugely dependent on Gas & oil and if they make another mistake and make their gas sells dependent on China, it's a double loss. China may open roads for Russia but that's where they will be milked. Either way, Russia will have to sell it very cheap, and their income will be lower while resources for China will be cheap. Win for China, loss for Russia.

And India? It's a poor country too that won't be able to offer them the prices that Europeans were paying.

Also, there is one thing: Who wants to strengthen the relationship with Russia but destroy with Western countries? Anyone sees the logical reasons why would someone do that and commit suicide? This war was a very wrong move, Putin probably thought that he would conquer Donbas and Lugansk and the West would close its eyes as they did on Georgia (2008) and Crimea (2014). But he failed, failed very hard.

This guy's a prophet or something lmao. Really nailed it right where it happened. As it stands today Russia's acting pretty submissive and is taking the offensive against the sanctions that the whole western world imposed upon them, and with nothing but China to ally themselves with things will not go well with them. In other news I just found out that the US expressed its support regarding China exerting force upon Taiwan, with some US spokesperson saying something along the lines of "The US recognizes the Chinese efforts and recognizes Taiwan as part of China" or something, can't really remember it but I saw it in this forum. It's like things are going down the shitter here and you'd hope it's only going bad for Russia but as it stands today it seems as if things aren't looking so great for US too. Makes me think that we're really about to be in one of the biggest recessions to date.

[be.open]

Please tell me if I missed anything but it seems like Ukraine's reach has always been kept very limited. To be honest I don't see how there can be a leap from subsonic 300 km range to supersonic 3000 km range. Developing the engine alone is a massive and impossible leap.

You missed that fast and far are different things. The Iranian Shaheed-136 flies slowly, but its flight range is well over 300 kilometers. Ukraine does not have long-range missiles, but it has its own developments in the field of aircraft-type kamikaze drones.

[coupable]

In other news I just found out that the US expressed its support regarding China exerting force upon Taiwan, with some US spokesperson saying something along the lines of "The US recognizes the Chinese efforts and recognizes Taiwan as part of China" or something, can't really remember it but I saw it in this forum. It's like things are going down the shitter here and you'd hope it's only going bad for Russia but as it stands today it seems as if things aren't looking so great for US too. Makes me think that we're really about to be in one of the biggest recessions to date.

It is not in the interest of the United States to open two fronts of conflict, especially since its allies are affected economically and logistically by the sanctions they themselves imposed on Russia to isolate it internationally and from the sanctions that Russia imposed on them. The Chinese-American rapprochement proves the weakness of the American position, and behind it the countries of the alliance supporting Ukraine.
Also, this rapprochement does not mean at all that China has stopped supporting its ally Russia, or that it has succeeded in overcoming the differences with the United States over trade exchanges that were raised during the Trump era. It's basically a strategic move.

[Sithara007]

It is not in the interest of the United States to open two fronts of conflict, especially since its allies are affected economically and logistically by the sanctions they themselves imposed on Russia to isolate it internationally and from the sanctions that Russia imposed on them. The Chinese-American rapprochement proves the weakness of the American position, and behind it the countries of the alliance supporting Ukraine.
Also, this rapprochement does not mean at all that China has stopped supporting its ally Russia, or that it has succeeded in overcoming the differences with the United States over trade exchanges that were raised during the Trump era. It's basically a strategic move.

Anyway it is good news that the possibility of a war between China and United States over Taiwan is avoided (at least for now). Only a few months back, US tried to provoke China by flying Nancy Pelosi to the island. So what suddenly changed in a few months? Perhaps the American politicians have now realized that the BRICS grouping is getting stronger and the idea of a common BRICS currency would destroy their own national currency (USD). Even staunch US allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have taken a neutral stance in the Russo-Ukrainian war, unlike the American vassal sates such as Germany, Japan and Korea.

[DrBeer]

....
But Ukraine itself is now developing many types of weapons that can reach the most remote corners of the European part of Russia. So expect a lot of fiery greetings from Ukraine in the near future.

There are a few points to add here. In a very short time and under difficult conditions of military aggression by Russia, Ukraine has developed, created and is industrially producing:

- The Stugna-P - developed by KB "Luch", Kiev. It destroys SAU and helicopters. Easily destroys all "unparalleled" armored vehicles of the Russian Federation - tanks, APCs,...

- Neptun anti-ship system. The most famous use of "Neptun" is the destruction of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moscow".

- BM "Bulat" tank, with dynamic protection "Knife". A tank with excellent characteristics and the highest level of "survival"

- Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-4. Used along all front lines. During the defense of Mariupol, the city defenders destroyed both terrorist manpower as well as tanks and BMPs using the BTR-4.

- The PD-2 unmanned system was developed by Ukrspecsystems. "Eyes" of Ukrainian artillery ! The multi-purpose drone is designed for reconnaissance and can also carry a bomb load up to 3 kg. It can be delivered with a vertical takeoff and landing system.

- Alligator sniper rifle - 14.5x114 mm caliber rifle intended for attacking moving and immovable targets, fortified positions and bunkers, as well as armored vehicles (APC, BMP, BRDM).

- The Bureviy MLRS is a significantly superior system to the Uragan MLRS developed in the USSR.

- The missile system "Olkha". Smerch" class weapons, but with much better characteristics, including range - from 70 to 200 km

...as well as many more new and unique things, such as surface drones, which are wildly feared by the Black Sea fleet of the terrorist country, long-range UAVs, which are already effectively tested in combat, striking deep into the territory of the aggressor, with a distance of 600 km from the borders, and much more !

[Wend]

....
But Ukraine itself is now developing many types of weapons that can reach the most remote corners of the European part of Russia. So expect a lot of fiery greetings from Ukraine in the near future.

There are a few points to add here. In a very short time and under difficult conditions of military aggression by Russia, Ukraine has developed, created and is industrially producing:

- The Stugna-P - developed by KB "Luch", Kiev. It destroys SAU and helicopters. Easily destroys all "unparalleled" armored vehicles of the Russian Federation - tanks, APCs,...

- Neptun anti-ship system. The most famous use of "Neptun" is the destruction of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moscow".

- BM "Bulat" tank, with dynamic protection "Knife". A tank with excellent characteristics and the highest level of "survival"

- Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-4. Used along all front lines. During the defense of Mariupol, the city defenders destroyed both terrorist manpower as well as tanks and BMPs using the BTR-4.

- The PD-2 unmanned system was developed by Ukrspecsystems. "Eyes" of Ukrainian artillery ! The multi-purpose drone is designed for reconnaissance and can also carry a bomb load up to 3 kg. It can be delivered with a vertical takeoff and landing system.

- Alligator sniper rifle - 14.5x114 mm caliber rifle intended for attacking moving and immovable targets, fortified positions and bunkers, as well as armored vehicles (APC, BMP, BRDM).

- The Bureviy MLRS is a significantly superior system to the Uragan MLRS developed in the USSR.

- The missile system "Olkha". Smerch" class weapons, but with much better characteristics, including range - from 70 to 200 km

...as well as many more new and unique things, such as surface drones, which are wildly feared by the Black Sea fleet of the terrorist country, long-range UAVs, which are already effectively tested in combat, striking deep into the territory of the aggressor, with a distance of 600 km from the borders, and much more !

Sounds very rich and varied, Ukraine is doing very well, according to what you say. But the question is why they are still pressing the US and the West to supply them with more weapons, even as they are begging for massive arms aid to fight Russia. Even if they received modern American and European weapons, they could not improve the battlefield situation. Their most anticipated counterattack is also facing many difficulties and has not made any significant progress. I seriously doubt the capabilities of foreign weapons, let alone self-produced ones.

[Ozero]

....
But Ukraine itself is now developing many types of weapons that can reach the most remote corners of the European part of Russia. So expect a lot of fiery greetings from Ukraine in the near future.

There are a few points to add here. In a very short time and under difficult conditions of military aggression by Russia, Ukraine has developed, created and is industrially producing:

- The Stugna-P - developed by KB "Luch", Kiev. It destroys SAU and helicopters. Easily destroys all "unparalleled" armored vehicles of the Russian Federation - tanks, APCs,...

- Neptun anti-ship system. The most famous use of "Neptun" is the destruction of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moscow".

- BM "Bulat" tank, with dynamic protection "Knife". A tank with excellent characteristics and the highest level of "survival"

- Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-4. Used along all front lines. During the defense of Mariupol, the city defenders destroyed both terrorist manpower as well as tanks and BMPs using the BTR-4.

- The PD-2 unmanned system was developed by Ukrspecsystems. "Eyes" of Ukrainian artillery ! The multi-purpose drone is designed for reconnaissance and can also carry a bomb load up to 3 kg. It can be delivered with a vertical takeoff and landing system.

- Alligator sniper rifle - 14.5x114 mm caliber rifle intended for attacking moving and immovable targets, fortified positions and bunkers, as well as armored vehicles (APC, BMP, BRDM).

- The Bureviy MLRS is a significantly superior system to the Uragan MLRS developed in the USSR.

- The missile system "Olkha". Smerch" class weapons, but with much better characteristics, including range - from 70 to 200 km

...as well as many more new and unique things, such as surface drones, which are wildly feared by the Black Sea fleet of the terrorist country, long-range UAVs, which are already effectively tested in combat, striking deep into the territory of the aggressor, with a distance of 600 km from the borders, and much more !

Sounds very rich and varied, Ukraine is doing very well, according to what you say. But the question is why they are still pressing the US and the West to supply them with more weapons, even as they are begging for massive arms aid to fight Russia. Even if they received modern American and European weapons, they could not improve the battlefield situation. Their most anticipated counterattack is also facing many difficulties and has not made any significant progress. I seriously doubt the capabilities of foreign weapons, let alone self-produced ones.

Ukraine has a lot of its own developments of various types of weapons, and to the above, we can add the Sapsan missile system with a ballistic missile firing range of up to 500 kilometers. During the period of independence (after 1991), various troubles in the country and numerous Russian agents prevented the completion of its production, although units of such a missile system may already be at the front and strike at Russian invaders.

Ukraine asks for weapons from Western partners, since they are needed at the front today, and its own formidable weapon is still being finalized or in single copies.

https://ru.slovoidilo.ua/2023/03/10/statja/bezopasnost/tochka-u-borisfen-sapsan-i-grom-dlinnaya-ruka-ukrainy

https://war.obozrevatel.com/raketnyij-kompleks-s-dalnostyu-porazheniya-do-500-km-chto-izvestno-ob-ukrainskom-grome-kotorogo-boyatsya-v-moskve.htm

https://ru.krymr.com/a/krym-vzryv-raketa-grom-pvo/32357500.html

https://itc.ua/articles/bfrk-sapsan-slozhnaya-ystoryya-ukraynskogo-yskandera/

[Sithara007]

We are two weeks in to the so called "summer offensive" from Ukraine. They have captured some 100 sq.km or so during the last three weeks in three sectors - Orekhov, Soledar and Lobkove. Meanwhile Russia is reported to be just 2km away from the outskirts of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast. After thousands of deaths and loss of hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, they just recaptured around 0.15% of the territory that is under Russian control. And before the offensive, they were making big claims of reconquering Crimea and Donbass.

[DrBeer]

....
Sounds very rich and varied, Ukraine is doing very well, according to what you say. But the question is why they are still pressing the US and the West to supply them with more weapons, even as they are begging for massive arms aid to fight Russia. Even if they received modern American and European weapons, they could not improve the battlefield situation. Their most anticipated counterattack is also facing many difficulties and has not made any significant progress. I seriously doubt the capabilities of foreign weapons, let alone self-produced ones.

To answer this question clearly, I will go back a few years. More precisely, to the period of 2010-2014.
The military-industrial complex of the USSR and then Ukraine was one of the most competitive in the USSR. Just to remind you that the whole system of the USSR/Russian Strategic Rocket Forces (SS-19/SS-24) is the "fruits" of Ukrainian science and production - Yuzhnoye KB, Luch KB and many other companies.
But back to your question. The mentioned period remained in the history of Ukraine as the period of DIRECT sabotage and DESTROYING of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We can argue a lot about the reasons, but the fact is that at the highest level of the state, a program of real "demilitarization" of Ukraine was launched. Most likely - to please Russia, because at that time, the pro-Russian President Yanukovych, was preparing Ukraine for "strong friendship", where Ukraine would become a production site for the RF Armed Forces, and on the other hand became a consumer of these forces as a "unified union security system". Now russia has almost realized this within the CSTo. A return to the "USSR" has been planned for a long time, and an army that supports the people would be a very big problem. Bottom line: by 2014, when russia launched the first terrorist attack on Ukraine, regular units in Ukraine were... up to 15,000 people, all over Ukraine !!!! The military-industrial complex was almost completely shut down, and many enterprises were deliberately driven into bankruptcy. At the same time, russia, for the last 10 years, has been stockpiling weapons, building up structural units... That is why there is now a huge imbalance in the forces. If Ukraine has a great advantage in manpower due to experience and motivation, then in equipment we are far behind. That is why Ukraine needs such support and that is why our friends help us with "iron", ammunition...

[pooya87]

You missed that fast and far are different things. The Iranian Shaheed-136 flies slowly, but its flight range is well over 300 kilometers. Ukraine does not have long-range missiles, but it has its own developments in the field of aircraft-type kamikaze drones.

In the context of missiles, they need to be fast to reach far and pass air defenses and avoid detection.

But you have a good point in the UAV scene, however the same thing I said above applies here: lack of technology. It's one thing to produce drone parts (like the engine for TB2 drones), it's another thing to manufacture a whole loitering munition with long range.
Something like Shahed-136 sounds simple on paper, but it is very complicated. For example ~3 months ago Turkey released their "copy" of Shahed-136 called Azab which looks more like a Chinese ripoff. Even though I haven't seen any videos of it to see if it can even flying, from the pictures we can clearly see that it lacks many of the Shahed-136 characteristics specially in guidance system and the launch system and possibly the landing gear.
This is while Turkey has a more advanced drone industry compared to Ukraine and is not at war.

We are talking about an aircraft that has to (1) fly on its own for a long time and in a long distance to reach its target thousands of kilometers far (2) avoid detection by radars, electro-optical and optical detection apart from on the ground observers (3) not be shot down easily by enemy defenses (4) and not be jammed by electronic/cyber warfare defenses in the enemy territory (5) reach its destination then choose the target on its own (hint mandatory A.I.) then dive in to (6) hit the bullseye because these loitering munitions don't carry big warheads they must be extremely accurate otherwise it's gonna miss making the whole thing useless.
These are some of the serious challenges off the top of my head. It requires a leap in technology of what I know Ukraine already has.

For example there are loads of quad-copters in Ukraine army. That tech is not extrapolatable!
There is AeroDrone that used to manufacture crop-dusting drones that can travel far and carry heavy loads and they have been cooperating with the army but their products were not built as a munition so they lack features number 2, 3, specially 4 and 5 and 6.
All the other drones I could find that were indigenously manufactured in Ukraine (Leleka, Punisher , Spectator-M1, ...) are all very short range drones (50 to 200 km) and are mostly for reconnaissance.

Considering that all the drones West has sold Ukraine also fall under the same short range category (Warmate-200 km, Switchblade-10 km, Phoenix Ghost-40 km, ...) I don't think West is going to sell the technology to Ukraine either.

long-range UAVs, which are already effectively tested in combat, striking deep into the territory of the aggressor, with a distance of 600 km from the borders, and much more !

600 km is categorized as medium range and it is not "deep". Long range which is "deep" starts basically at a thousand kilometers and above (usually around 10 km though).
But could you tell us the name of this "long-range" UAV so we can research it?

[Ozero]

We are two weeks in to the so called "summer offensive" from Ukraine. They have captured some 100 sq.km or so during the last three weeks in three sectors - Orekhov, Soledar and Lobkove. Meanwhile Russia is reported to be just 2km away from the outskirts of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast. After thousands of deaths and loss of hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, they just recaptured around 0.15% of the territory that is under Russian control. And before the offensive, they were making big claims of reconquering Crimea and Donbass.

No one said that the Ukrainians would go head-on to storm the well-fortified positions of the Russians until they were pierced, and at any cost. This is a stupid Russian tactic. Ukraine is fighting with intelligence and ingenuity. On the southern front, the heavy equipment of the enemy and their artillery are now methodically knocked out. About 30 armored vehicles and about 20 artillery systems are destroyed every day.
  The Russians are already feeling the shortage of them, but to make this problem even more acute for them, at about five o'clock in the morning, several through-holes were made by rocket strikes in two Chongarsky road bridges that connect southern Ukraine with the Crimean peninsula. Therefore, now the movement along them has been suspended and the occupiers are forced to supply quickly destroyed military equipment around the bypass through the city of Armyansk, and this is an extra one and a half hundred kilometers.

But the Armed Forces of Ukraine are systematically advancing in the south to the rear of the occupying Russian troops. Recently, the head of the Cheka, Prigozhin, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had deepened 23 kilometers behind Russian lines in the Zaporozhye direction.

[pooya87]

we can add the Sapsan missile system with a ballistic missile firing range of up to 500 kilometers.

There are three problems with Sapsan/Hrim-2.

• First is the range which is short¹ which makes it very challenging to hit deep inside Russian territory.
  
• Second is the very limited warhead weight which is 500 kg (another limit set by MTCR) which accompanied with the lack of accuracy reduces the effectiveness ergo Ukraine would need to launch very large numbers of them for a single target; see Russian attack on Chuhuiv air base on 24 February 2022 to see what I mean (large number of inaccurate missiles all missing their targets resulting in minimal damage).
• And finally is the speed and most importantly the projectile path. There isn't any specifics about the speed on the internet but based on the design and the single stage rocket engine I'd say this is a very slow. But most importantly because this is using a very simple projectile path (without any maneuverability) this makes it a very easy thing to shoot down by any basic missile defense system.

¹ I mentioned this missile in my previous post but with the range up to 280 km. interestingly enough although Russia obviously loved this limit but it was actually enforced by Western powers specifically G-7 through what's called the Missile Technology Control Regime or MTCR. Admittedly it could have been increased slightly to 500 km in the past year.

[serveria.com]

- Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-4. Used along all front lines. During the defense of Mariupol, the city defenders destroyed both terrorist manpower as well as tanks and BMPs using the BTR-4.

Ukraine was trying to sell these to Iraq, but only managed to produce and send to the buyer 100 vehicles out of 420. The Iraqi military were not very happy with the APCs they received, claiming that the vehicles they received were "very old, rusty and generally unusable". 42 units were returned to Ukraine as they had cracked hulls!!!    Out of another batch of 88 APCs the Iraqis managed to start only 56 vehicles and only 34 were able to move. I really hope the Ukrainian military uses as few of these as possible as it's not safe to drive a rusty cracked APC along the frontlines. 

All in all, all of these mentioned arms are very rare. We get to hear names like Bayraktar, HIMARS, Leopard etc all the time but none of these Ukrainian arms.

[be.open]

You missed that fast and far are different things. The Iranian Shaheed-136 flies slowly, but its flight range is well over 300 kilometers. Ukraine does not have long-range missiles, but it has its own developments in the field of aircraft-type kamikaze drones.

In the context of missiles, they need to be fast to reach far and pass air defenses and avoid detection.

But you have a good point in the UAV scene, however the same thing I said above applies here: lack of technology. It's one thing to produce drone parts (like the engine for TB2 drones), it's another thing to manufacture a whole loitering munition with long range.
Something like Shahed-136 sounds simple on paper, but it is very complicated. For example ~3 months ago Turkey released their "copy" of Shahed-136 called Azab which looks more like a Chinese ripoff. Even though I haven't seen any videos of it to see if it can even flying, from the pictures we can clearly see that it lacks many of the Shahed-136 characteristics specially in guidance system and the launch system and possibly the landing gear.
This is while Turkey has a more advanced drone industry compared to Ukraine and is not at war.

We are talking about an aircraft that has to (1) fly on its own for a long time and in a long distance to reach its target thousands of kilometers far (2) avoid detection by radars, electro-optical and optical detection apart from on the ground observers (3) not be shot down easily by enemy defenses (4) and not be jammed by electronic/cyber warfare defenses in the enemy territory (5) reach its destination then choose the target on its own (hint mandatory A.I.) then dive in to (6) hit the bullseye because these loitering munitions don't carry big warheads they must be extremely accurate otherwise it's gonna miss making the whole thing useless.
These are some of the serious challenges off the top of my head. It requires a leap in technology of what I know Ukraine already has.

For example there are loads of quad-copters in Ukraine army. That tech is not extrapolatable!
There is AeroDrone that used to manufacture crop-dusting drones that can travel far and carry heavy loads and they have been cooperating with the army but their products were not built as a munition so they lack features number 2, 3, specially 4 and 5 and 6.
All the other drones I could find that were indigenously manufactured in Ukraine (Leleka, Punisher , Spectator-M1, ...) are all very short range drones (50 to 200 km) and are mostly for reconnaissance.

Considering that all the drones West has sold Ukraine also fall under the same short range category (Warmate-200 km, Switchblade-10 km, Phoenix Ghost-40 km, ...) I don't think West is going to sell the technology to Ukraine either.

long-range UAVs, which are already effectively tested in combat, striking deep into the territory of the aggressor, with a distance of 600 km from the borders, and much more !

600 km is categorized as medium range and it is not "deep". Long range which is "deep" starts basically at a thousand kilometers and above (usually around 10 km though).
But could you tell us the name of this "long-range" UAV so we can research it?

As an example of a Ukrainian-made long-range aircraft-type drone, I can cite the Ukrjet's UJ-22 Airborne, which, in a strike version with two 82-mm mines, has a range of 800 kilometers. There is also a Skyeton ACS-3 drone with a 5kg payload and a maximum range of 1000km. For Kyiv, the issue of having sufficiently long-range attack drones of its own production is of fundamental importance, because Western sponsors do not allow the use of weapons supplied by them on the "mainland" of Russia.

[Sithara007]

✂
But the Armed Forces of Ukraine are systematically advancing in the south to the rear of the occupying Russian troops. Recently, the head of the Cheka, Prigozhin, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had deepened 23 kilometers behind Russian lines in the Zaporozhye direction.

I haven't seen any evidence for this claim. At the most, the Ukrainians might have penetrated the frontline by 3-4 km in a few locations. The claim that they have penetrated as much as 23 km is quite hard to believe. And no proof has been given for this in the social media as well. On the other hand, Russian social media is full of videos from villages such as Piatijatky showing destroyed Ukrainian armored vehicles. And also Russians seems to be advancing along the Kreminna front and were reported to be very close to Kupyansk.

[coupable]

It is not in the interest of the United States to open two fronts of conflict, especially since its allies are affected economically and logistically by the sanctions they themselves imposed on Russia to isolate it internationally and from the sanctions that Russia imposed on them. The Chinese-American rapprochement proves the weakness of the American position, and behind it the countries of the alliance supporting Ukraine.
Also, this rapprochement does not mean at all that China has stopped supporting its ally Russia, or that it has succeeded in overcoming the differences with the United States over trade exchanges that were raised during the Trump era. It's basically a strategic move.

Anyway it is good news that the possibility of a war between China and United States over Taiwan is avoided (at least for now). Only a few months back, US tried to provoke China by flying Nancy Pelosi to the island. So what suddenly changed in a few months? Perhaps the American politicians have now realized that the BRICS grouping is getting stronger and the idea of a common BRICS currency would destroy their own national currency (USD). Even staunch US allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have taken a neutral stance in the Russo-Ukrainian war, unlike the American vassal sates such as Germany, Japan and Korea.

First, I would like to point out that the idea of destroying the dollar is a utopian idea and difficult to verify during any period that you can imagine that this conflict will last. I mean, at least within the next 100 years, regimes and governments may change in each of the parties to the conflict, and the dollar will remain in circulation due to many reasons that are long explained here, so as not to deviate from the main topic here.
Secondly, America is really aware of the weakness of its position in this particular conflict because its allies are going through very difficult internal economic conditions and it is unable to support them all since it is also going through its worst periods. There is no explanation for the sudden rapprochement with China, at the same time that it is conducting secret talks with Iran to renew the nuclear agreement with making more concessions in the enrichment rate proposed in the previous agreement in 2015, at the same time that it announces its willingness to provide military, economic and technological support to India. .
Perhaps it is permissible to say that the United States stands alone today, or that it is actually unable to keep pace with the course of events due to its internal crises and the weakness of the Biden administration.

[fruktik]

It is not in the interest of the United States to open two fronts of conflict, especially since its allies are affected economically and logistically by the sanctions they themselves imposed on Russia to isolate it internationally and from the sanctions that Russia imposed on them. The Chinese-American rapprochement proves the weakness of the American position, and behind it the countries of the alliance supporting Ukraine.
Also, this rapprochement does not mean at all that China has stopped supporting its ally Russia, or that it has succeeded in overcoming the differences with the United States over trade exchanges that were raised during the Trump era. It's basically a strategic move.

          If the US is the biggest and most important player in the political arena, then they don't make mistakes? This, most likely, can be attributed to a rhetorical question. Yes, everyone is wrong. The most important thing is to learn from your mistakes. Not everyone is capable of this. Often, because Man is an emotional being, it is in this state that responsible decisions are often made. This is a minus for everyone due to the fact that people occupy the highest positions in the country. The fate of hundreds of millions depends on them, and here we are seeing this.
         It is not beneficial for China to start a conflict with the states. They are far from being idiots and weigh their final decision and conclusion many times over.

[DrBeer]

We are two weeks in to the so called "summer offensive" from Ukraine. They have captured some 100 sq.km or so during the last three weeks in three sectors - Orekhov, Soledar and Lobkove. Meanwhile Russia is reported to be just 2km away from the outskirts of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast. After thousands of deaths and loss of hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, they just recaptured around 0.15% of the territory that is under Russian control. And before the offensive, they were making big claims of reconquering Crimea and Donbass.

That is, you state this, without giving any specific "promises" (which, by the way, did not happen), but selectively forgot about:
- Russia was launching the NWO as a 2-3 week "victorious" operation, the outcome of which would be a complete takeover of Ukraine and a change of government in Kiev. The 2-3 weeks have been going on for 14 months now
- Have you forgotten how the "second world army" fled from near Kharkov, leaving behind hundreds of pieces of equipment, squealing and shrieking?
- Have you forgotten how the representatives of the terrorist army went to the bottom of the Dnieper River, fleeing from Kherson, where in a few days about 20,000 of their soldiers and hundreds of units of equipment were destroyed !
- You forgot how for 12 months Russia, with the help of the regular army, the army of criminals (PMC WAGNER), mobilized, pelted with corpses and destroyed Bakhmut. For 12 MONTHS, killing up to 100,000 of its citizens. And this is only 40 square kilometers !
PS About "hundreds of tanks" - this nonsense you heard from that grandfather, who on the ECONOMIC FORUM, in each answer to any question, inserted a new number of allegedly "destroyed" Abrams, Leopards and Petriots Not forgetting to constantly remind us that Zelensky was a Jew This is a very serious source of information!

Getting back to the main topic - I want to thank the people of India who have given up their "neutral status" and stand, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for respecting international law, agreements and sovereignty ! India has realized that any support for an international terrorist is not her choice, her choice is development, progress and full partnership with an adequate world !

And in the meantime a new story about how "russia has switched to trade in local currencies" and does not see the Indian rupee as...a currency ! That's the kind of partner Russia is !

"Russia wants to be paid in Chinese yuan or any other currency, but not in rupees. Russia has failed to agree on a currency for which India could buy cheap oil from the aggressor.
According to Reuters, Moscow has refused to accept payment in rupees. For now, India and Russia have suspended efforts to resolve the situation.
Indian importers of cheap oil and coal from Russia had expected a permanent payment mechanism in rupees to reduce currency conversion costs."

Would you like to pay in rubles?

[DrBeer]

- Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-4. Used along all front lines. During the defense of Mariupol, the city defenders destroyed both terrorist manpower as well as tanks and BMPs using the BTR-4.

Ukraine was trying to sell these to Iraq, but only managed to produce and send to the buyer 100 vehicles out of 420. The Iraqi military were not very happy with the APCs they received, claiming that the vehicles they received were "very old, rusty and generally unusable". 42 units were returned to Ukraine as they had cracked hulls!!!    Out of another batch of 88 APCs the Iraqis managed to start only 56 vehicles and only 34 were able to move. I really hope the Ukrainian military uses as few of these as possible as it's not safe to drive a rusty cracked APC along the frontlines. 

All in all, all of these mentioned arms are very rare. We get to hear names like Bayraktar, HIMARS, Leopard etc all the time but none of these Ukrainian arms.

What's wrong here? You probably did not understand the point, but as always read the headlines, wrote a banner and ran "to bring the wild secret to the masses" ))

In fact, thank you, you confirmed my words
What you have described is exactly what I was talking about - deliberate sabotage (from R&D to production) of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. Since the first ascension of the Party of Regions, which has always been openly pro-Russian and just as openly anti-Ukrainian. Yes, there was such a period in Ukriane, it is silly to deny it!  Any pro-Russian power - be it politicians, businessmen, teachers, ...  - it will always be deception, lies, theft ...
It was this pro-Russian government that the people of Ukraine threw out of Ukraine in 2013\2014, which was the main reason for Russia's terrorist attack on Ukraine, which exemplified the overthrow of an anti-people, totalitarian government. From that point on, russia has FOREVER lost influence in Ukraine. And attempts to create quasi-republics, or, frankly, CLOACs, like the DNR/LNR/PMR...  - These are attempts to maintain influence in the territories that have gone out of the Kremlin's control and slavery forever!
And yes, back to your post - it is true - some related enterprises that still remained in the hands of pro-Russian oligarchs, after 2017, also sabotaged all the processes, from the supply of low-quality rolled steel to the factories producing armored vehicles, to directly disrupt the supply of other components, and even sabotaged the supply of fuel to the troops. Yes, this is all true, these are the FACTS. Unpleasant, but FACTS. And it is these pro-Russian metastases that we are actively and qualitatively destroying in Ukraine!

Thank you again, you raised a very good point !