Ukraine Always Get What You Want

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/brittney-griner-appeal-rejected-russian-court/

The White House condemned the court’s decision Tuesday. “We are aware of the news out of Russia that Brittney Griner will continue to be wrongfully detained under intolerable circumstances after having to undergo another sham judicial proceeding today,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. “President Biden has been very clear that Brittney should be released immediately.”

 

jfc

Progressive Democrats retract Biden Ukraine letter after furious debate

 

Fucking morons. The whole caucus.

 

Democrats Are Bad At Politics, Season 54, Episode 474848

 

Why would the Russians say this? Are they trying to justify a nuclear attack? Also I wouldn't trust any Russian military statements at this point.

 

That's not the Russians saying it, it's the British government. They've been putting out those quick daily briefs for the entire war.
Also, there are several independent groups like Oryx and the Ukraine Weapons Tracker that are confirming Russian and Ukrainian losses. They use open source materials like social media posts and news photos to verify losses, right down to unit markings, serial numbers and unique battle damage on various pieces of destroyed equipment. They're probably the most reliable sources for documenting equipment losses on both sides because they only log into their databases what they can visually confirm.

Here is the current Oryx list of Russian losses: Attack On Europe: Documenting Russian Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine - Oryx

Here is Oryx's list of Ukrainian losses: Attack On Europe: Documenting Ukrainian Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine - Oryx

 

So Ukrainians are posting photos of captured/destroyed Russian equipment on the Insta, and it's being data-mined for updated war intelligence? That's awesome.

 

Rough back of the napkin math: That's $3.2 billion in aircraft alone - roughly four percent of the yearly Russian defense budget.

 

Pretty much, except the Russians and whoever else happens to be in the country are posting photos as well. On those links, there are other links that will take you to the photos and videos (from Twitter, Instagram and various other sources) that they confirmed the losses from. It's an incredible bit of detective work.
The way they can find tiny details to trace the equipment throughout its journey to destruction is remarkable. Something as simple as a dent or the way a piece of improvised armor is arranged, for example, lets them track these things to different locations along the front and confirm that it's not an old photo or doctored. There might be photos of a specific Russian T-72 tank heading west on a train, then it shows up in a Russian video on Twitter a few weeks later in a different part of the country, then it finally shows up as a smoking wreck on a Ukrainian Instagram feed from another area.

 

It's a whole new world for Open Source Intelligence ...

 

And even at a conservative $100,000 per tank, that's another $142.5 million right there.
And that's just the stuff that's been destroyed or captured, not the cost to maintain what's still running and getting worn to the nub after eight months. Or the cost to repair the stuff that hasn't sustained catastrophic damage.

 

A T-72 is about half a million. So another half a billion just in T-72s ...

The Russian defense budget is about $77 billion a year. It will take years to recoup all this equipment.