I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas. Your editor managed to unplug for the entire day and caught up on his reading. Unfortunately, it seems a lot happened during that time.
We’ll start in Crimea, the port of Fedosia specifically. Fedosia is the only port in Crimea that still hosts Russian Naval vessels, as it had been deemed too far from Ukrainian held territory to be struck effectively. That myth was forcefully put to rest last night. At approximately 2:30 a.m. local time, Ukrainian air-launched (either French SCALP-EG or British Storm Shadow) cruise missiles struck the Ropucha class LST Novocherkassk, sinking her at moorings. Watch:
It is being reported that she was being used as a storage facility for Iranian Shaheed drones. Debris from the strike was found in a supermarket parking lot several hundred meters from the blast. Imagery coming from Russia shows the ship nearly completely submerged. The colored rectangles in both images correspond.
This was not Novocherkassk’s first go-round. She was damaged by a Ukrainian Tochka U ballistic missile in March of last year. I don’t think she can be saved at this point. . .
The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Sayyed Reza Mousavi, was killed in a missile strike near Damascus Syria yesterday. While the IDF is refusing to comment, it is believed to be an Israeli operation. Mousavi was a protegee of Qasim Solemani, who you’ll remember got sliced and diced by the Hellfire with Swords a few years back.
Iran backed Kaitib Hezbollah militias in Iraq launched rockets at Erbil airport early yesterday, injuring three US service members, one critically. POTATUS waited until 1700 EDT to authorize strikes against them and other affiliated militias in Iraq. The strikes hit storage facilities. The administration stressed the response was proportional. Frankly, the group running our National defense team are unserious fools. They need to read a book or three. We need to replay operation Praying Mantis. For those of you unaware, The Fat Electrician explains it better than I can:
Remember the Chinese spy balloon? Yeah, the Biden administration wanted to keep it from everyone it seems, even Congress. According to new reporting based on statements from senior Pentagon officials, the administration wanted to keep the whole thing quiet for unknown reasons. Then someone spotted the balloon over Montana. The balloon was first detected somewhere over the Pacific before making landfall in Alaska 27 January.
Staying Stateside, there’s yet another large migrant caravan headed to the southern border. This one left the city of Tapachula, Mexico, near the border with Guatemala with around 7,000 people. The southern border isn’t alone, the northern border is also seeing an unsustainable spike in illegal crossings.
I dunno, maybe some minefields or strafing runs might help. . .
The price of a first class stamp will go up come 21 January. The USPS announced the cost of a stamp will go up two cents from 66 to 68. Shipping rates will go up too, an estimated 6%. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t used the USPS much over the past few years. I doubt the increase will affect me much.
Got a story to share? Some commentary on the stories above? Drop it in the comments below.