Putin concerned about western anti-tank ammo
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Putin portrayed the Western provision of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine as a significant escalation in order to bolster information operations aiming to deter Western security assistance to Ukraine and to place the onus for negotiations on the West. Putin claimed on March 21, while discussing the Chinese peace plan, that the West is beginning to use weapons with a “nuclear” component in a response to the UK’s announcement that it would provide Ukraine with shells with depleted uranium.[11] Putin claimed that the UK’s provision of depleted uranium shells indicated that the West is not ready for a “peaceful settlement."[12] Anti-tank munitions in the West are commonly made of depleted uranium—that is, uranium that is less radioactive than natural uranium—due to its high density and the penetrative effect it generates. Such munitions cannot be used to produce either nuclear or radiological weapons. Putin seeks to portray the provision of depleted uranium shells as escalatory in order to deter Western security assistance despite the shells not containing any fissile or radiological material.
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This is not a new form of ammo. It has been in the western arsenals for some time. It is clearly not a nuclear weapon. I suspect Putin's problem is that it has been very effective against Russian armor and destroyed much of his mechanized forces in Ukraine. The ammo has been effective against Russia's most modern tanks as well as some of the older models they have been forced to use because of losses in the war.
See, also:
The Pentagon is speeding up its delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, opting to send a refurbished older model that can be ready faster, with the aim of getting the 70-ton battle powerhouses to the war zone by the fall, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
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The Biden administration announced in January that it would send the tanks to Ukraine — after insisting for months that they were too complicated and too hard to maintain and repair. The decision was part of a broader political maneuver that opened the door for Germany to announce it would send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow Poland and other allies to do the same.
Speaking at a Pentagon press conference, Ryder said the tanks will be refurbished and refitted to make them combat ready for Ukraine. He declined to say where that work will be done.
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And:
‘Absolutely a quick study’: Ukrainians master Patriot system faster than expected
A Ukrainian soldier runs across the field, shielding his face from the Oklahoma wind with one hand and dragging a long, fiber-optic cable with the other. He hooks the cable into another cord, linking the control station with the five Patriot launchers that fan out 90 meters apart across the grass, all pointed due north.
The soldier is one of 65 Ukrainians, mostly men but a few women as well, who are wrapping up training here to operate the Patriot missile defense system, considered one of the most advanced in the world at shooting down threats such as missiles and aircraft.
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And:
Explosions destroy Russian cruise missile shipment in Crimea
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Ukrainian military waiting for final Russian suicidal assault in Bakhmut, says officer
And:
Russia criminalises wilful surrender: soldiers face ten years in prison
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It is reported that the wilful surrender sanction provides 3 to 10 years of imprisonment. If a soldier later defected to the enemy's side, they would be tried under the article "treason", which provides for up to 20 years in a penal colony.
It will be difficult for those captured for the first time to avoid punishment because they need to return to the unit by any means and prove that they "did not commit other crimes in captivity".
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Russia has a problem getting military-aged men into the fight. In the early days of the war, as many as 700,000 men left the country to avoid service and they have also had a problem with troops surrendering.
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After Putin's decree on mobilisation, 250 doctors left Russia on charter flight
When Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced the start of mobilisation in September 2022, 250 doctors, afraid of being conscripted, left Russia on a charter flight; the flight was paid for by a Forbes list billionaire.
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It is reported that the so-called "medical aircraft", filled only by doctors, flew from Moscow on 27 September. This charter flight was organised by a famous doctor and paid for by a Russian billionaire from the Forbes list, which invests in the field of digital technologies. They do not name their names.
Doctors paid RUB 40,000 for a flight [just over USD 500 – ed.], and the rest of the money needed to pay for the charter flight was provided by the billionaire.
As a reason for the mass departure of doctors abroad, the organisers of the "medical plane" invented a "Medical Congress in Yerevan" [Armenia]. All passengers of the flight were handed beautiful invitations to a fictional event and provided souvenir products with the logo of this non-existent scientific forum.
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