The latest Russian military equipment is being rolled out in Ukraine
The Federation Council has approved a law on the abolition of the upper age limit for Russians and foreigners to conclude the first contract for military service. Earlier, on Wednesday, the State Duma adopted the relevant bill in the first reading and immediately as a whole. The authors of the draft law – the head of the Duma Committee on Defense Andrey Kartapolov and his first deputy Andrey Krasov – believe that the abolition of the upper age limit will be able to attract specialists of sought-after specialties, including in the fields of medical support, engineering and communications, to the army for contract service. The explanatory note to the law says that currently the first contract for military service "is concluded by citizens aged 18 to 40 years and foreigners aged 18 to 30 years." Now these frames have been removed.
At the same time, a few weeks ago, the State Duma rejected a bill on volunteers, which actually made mercenary work legal. On the eve of its consideration, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that at least 20 thousand Russian citizens expressed a desire to go to Donbass. The federal authorities did not agree with the appearance of the document. Most likely, the government considered the creation of a volunteer army an expensive and dangerous idea. Meanwhile, there is a Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya, described as an "International Training Center for special Forces." Telegram channels have repeatedly hosted a video about sending its graduates to Ukraine. Most of the ranks were Slavs.
Meanwhile, the adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Oleksiy Arestovich, said that Ukraine would give the United States an "exemplary tantrum" if the Joseph Biden administration did not provide it with multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). We are talking about HIMARS installations. The peculiarity of the system is that it can fire rockets at a distance of up to 70 km, and if an MGM-140 ATACMS tactical missile is installed on it, then for several hundred kilometers. According to the statement of the American president, "the United States is not going to supply such weapons to Ukraine," since it can be used for strikes on Russian territory. Knowing the mentality of the Ukrainian military, such a scenario does not seem improbable.
Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called Joseph Biden's decision reasonable. However, Poland also requested HIMARS from Washington. The closest US partner in Europe will most likely be able to get similar installations. If this happens, it is possible that they will end up in Ukraine after all - but America will no longer have anything to do with this.
However, getting a technique is one thing, but using it is quite another. The Russian Defense Ministry has already reported that the M-777 howitzers delivered as part of the US humanitarian aid were destroyed with high-precision weapons. The next batch of Western weapons is next in line – Polish self-propelled artillery guns (ACS) AHS Krab and Norwegian M109 A3GN. The head of the Artillery and Air Defense department of the Norwegian Land Warfare Center, Christian Lien, says that "this is the heaviest artillery available in the country." Earlier, Oslo provided Ukraine with anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft missiles.
It's funny, but the Norwegian military claims that the supply of weapons and equipment to Kiev is not at their will. They say that the US is putting pressure on the government of the country. Whatever it was, Russia will have to dispose of the military aid provided to Ukraine.
A new scandal is developing in Ukraine itself. Former Secretary of State (1973-1977) and National Security Adviser to the US President (1969-1975) Henry Kissinger got into the database of the scandalous Ukrainian resource "Peacemaker". Kissinger is charged with "participation in the information special operation of Russia against Ukraine." The reasons also include the spread of "propaganda, blackmail and encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine." The authors of the Peacemaker website ask the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine to consider listing as a statement about a person committing "deliberate acts against national security." A century-old veteran of geopolitics called on Ukraine to make concessions in negotiations with Russia. That is, in fact, merge. Otherwise, according to Kissinger, ignoring Russia's role in the European scenario can lead to disastrous consequences.
Against this background, it was announced the development of a land-based version of the hypersonic missile "Zircon". The car will enter service this year. Currently, hypersonic ammunition is launched from ships and submarines.
There is an opinion that the new version is a further development of the Onyx supersonic anti–ship missile program. The other day it was tested on the coastal objects of the military infrastructure of Ukraine near Odessa. The Bal mobile complexes from the Crimea successfully hit the residence base of foreign mercenaries and a warehouse with Western weapons and equipment received under the American lend-Lease. "Zircon" has a flight range of 1 thousand km. "Onyx" flies only 500 km. The distance from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, the car is able to overcome in just five minutes.
Another novelty of the Russian Army, which was noted during the special operation, is the Terminator tank support combat vehicles (BMPT). In the army they are called death harvesters. The vehicles are based on the T-72 tank. In the arsenal of the BMPT are two paired 30-millimeter automatic guns and anti-tank missile systems (ATGM) "Attack". They allow you to destroy a wide range of targets – from conventional pickups to modern tanks.
Also, the BMPT weapons system is very effective against enemy manpower. For action in urban conditions, the Terminator arsenal has anti-tank missiles with thermobaric warheads, automatic grenade launchers and a large-caliber machine gun. Pictures of cars in Ukraine got into Telegram channels. As the commentators note, they were made in the area of Severodonetsk. H
