War Reports - 2023-12-10
Sounds like strategic disinformation, but significant nonetheless. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to launch another major offensive until 2025, indicating the length of the conflict.
https://t.me/infantmilitario/114743
I would not say that this is disinformation. On the contrary, it says that the West is preparing not for peace with Russia in Ukraine, but for war. He just needs time to prepare and launch a new attack on Russia. The question is: will Russia give the West this time to prepare an attack?


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Kupiansk
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 49.7484833, 37.6595848
📝 Description: A Russian drone caused damage to a Leopard tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupiansk area.
🖥 id: 08122023.1837
✉️source: https://t.me/zhizn_fm/3509


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Novoprokopivka
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 47.4228817, 35.8259393
📝 Description: A Russian drone destroys a Ukrainian Armed Forces fortification in the Novoprokopivka area.
🖥 id: 08122023.1933
✉️source: https://t.me/BOBRMORF/405


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #MalaTokmachka
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 1st 47.527800, 35.908700
2nd 47.531800, 35.909600
📝 Description: Russian FABs are covering the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Mala Tokmachka.
🖥 id: 09122023.0847
✉️source: https://t.me/frontbird/4968


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Molodizhne
🕰 Date: ~2023
📌 Coordinates: Launcher location: 46.729155, 32.689871
Hit at: 46.711699, 32.714038
📝 Description: The Russian military attacked HIMARS of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Molodizhne.
🖥 id: 09122023.0849
✉️source: https://t.me/Zavas26/125


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Bohdanivka
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 48.6170723, 37.8966835
📝 Description: The Russian Lancet hit the BMP1 of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Bohdanivka.
🖥 id: 09122023.0819
✉️source: https://t.me/RVvoenkor/57908


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Robotyne
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 47.4365846, 35.8232772
📝 Description: The Russian military stopped a counterattack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Robotyne.
🖥 id: 08122023.1856
✉️source: https://t.me/russia_crew/16246


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Zmiivka
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 46.864300, 33.568200
📝 Description: The Russian LMUR attacked the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Zmiivka.
🖥 id: 09122023.0829
✉️source: https://t.me/warhistoryalconafter/135961


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Pryiutne
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 47.7495934, 36.6584305
📝 Description: The Russian infantry fighting vehicle worked on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and calmly rolled away near Pryiutne.
🖥 id: 09122023.0853
✉️source: https://t.me/Yakutsk_V/344


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Kreminna
🕰 Date: ~08.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 48.959500, 38.198000
📝 Description: The Russian military is attacking the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the forest belt near Kreminna.
🖥 id: 09122023.0834
✉️source: https://t.me/VIP_VIP_204/141


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Avdiivka
🕰 Date: ~09.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 48.125500, 37.798200
📝 Description: The Russian military is attacking the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Avdiivka area.
🖥 id: 09122023.1429
✉️source: https://t.me/negumanitarnaya_pomosch_Z/12995


#UkraineRussiaWar
🌐 Place: #Lviv
🕰 Date: ~09.12.2023
📌 Coordinates: 48.26000, 22.49300
📝 Description: Armed military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are mobilizing adult men right in the sanatorium.
🖥 id: 09122023.1248
✉️source: https://t.me/zloy_zhurnalist/10236
This is War Report #883. We need 5 new paid subscribers (or Tip Jar donations) to help out here. Your help will be much appreciated. We need help covering our Subscriptions, VPNs, Translation fees, a weekend editor, and some minor gear.
For those wishing to support us, but not wishing to subscribe, you can use the Tip Jar. It sends a one time payment.
If your email in the tip matches, we’ll upgrade your free subscription to full paid status. Each Coffee counts as a month. 5 coffees = 6 months paid subscription.
The work of Russian drones on the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Artemovsk area
The professionals from the 58th DPR special forces battalion distinguished themselves by accurately bombing the enemy in his own trenches.
@Slavyangrad
Russia is transferring additional forces to Kupyansk
The Ukrainian head of the public relations service of the ground forces command complained about this. According to him, Russian fighters are trying to take control of Sinkovka in the Kharkov region.
@Slavyangrad
The IDF releases footage of the Border Defense Corps' 636th Combat Intelligence Squadron identifying a group of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade fighters with RPGs approaching members of the 1st Golani Infantry Brigade in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to the IDF, the unit called in an airstrike that killed the group.
@Slavyangrad
Unique footage of the Russian military testing FPV - kamikazes to destroy surface targets (unmanned boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as an option).
The launch is made from the deck of a warship. The UAV is armed with two RPG rounds with a cumulative warhead.
@Slavyangrad
The al-Qassam Brigades showed a video of an Israeli Merkava 4 tank being hit on the side. The tank was not covered by anyone, which allowed the grenade launcher to approach it. Noteworthy is the huge crater left by a large-caliber aerial bomb.
So far, 176 Merkava 3/4 tanks have been destroyed or damaged by Gaza factions, and 22 Merkava 4 tanks have been disabled by Hezbollah.
The total number of tank losses reached 198.
@Slavyangrad
[ Album ]
🇺🇸 "Nuclear bomb” and a disaster for the US president”: Hunter Biden spent $872,000 on prostitutes, sex club memberships, porn, and drugs, - an accusation
He also withdrew $1.6 million from ATMs during a spending boom, according to the indictment for tax evasion by the president's son, writes the Daily Mail.
Federal prosecutors say Biden Jr. spent nearly $5 million on a lavish lifestyle between 2016 and 2019 while failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes in a case in which he faces a maximum of 17 years in prison.
“The indictment would be catastrophic for his father, who is running for president in 2024. It alleges that he “spent the money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other personal items.” in short, everything except his taxes.”
@Slavyangrad
A failed assault by the third assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
#source (https://t.me/rezervsvo/40552)
(https://t.me/yurist_yug/622)@Slavyangrad
Meanwhile, the IDF responds to Hezbollah with strikes on Lebanese territory
@Slavyangrad
Artemovsk
@Slavyangrad
The “counterattack” - went “according to plan.” ✔️
"Psyop" in the Zaporozhye direction - went “according to plan.” ✔️
Ukraine is winning - went “according to plan.” ✔️
@Slavyangrad
The Russian army entered Avdeevka from another direction, capturing part of the northeastern dacha zone, - Bild
This is evidenced by the video of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was shown by the head of Zelensky’s Office, Ermak.
The footage shows a battle where Russian soldiers had to leave one of the buildings under tank fire. Bild military observer Julian Repke determined that the battle took place in the area of dachas south of Russian Armed Forces-controlled Krasnogorovka.
"This does not necessarily mean that the city will fall shortly. The battle lasted only 2 months. Bakhmut lasted 8 months," writes Repke.
Earlier it became known that the Russian army entered Avdeevka in the southeast and occupied the industrial zone.
@Slavyangrad
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (9 December 2023)
▫️The Russian Armed Forces delivered long-range air-launched precision-guided group strikes on AFU Olkha and Grad MLRS ammunition depots, as well as Grom operational-tactical missiles. The goal of the strikes have been achieved. All the assigned targets have been engaged.
▫️ In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces supported by helicopters and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of the AFU 43rd Mechanised Brigade and 113th Territorial Defence brigade near Kurilovka and Petropavlovka (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 105 servicemen, three motor vehicles, as well as one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.
▫️ In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces repelled one attack launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 1st Ukrainian National Guard Brigade near Serebryansky forestry.
In addition, strikes were delivered at clusters of AFU manpower near Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses in this direction amounted to up to 155 servicemen, as well as two armoured fighting vehicles and three motor vehicles.
▫️ In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery repelled five enemy attacks near Belogorovka, Krasnoye, and Shumy and inflicted fire damage on manpower of the AFU 22nd, 93rd mechanised brigades and 79th Air Assault Brigade close to Mariynka, Kurdyumovka, Andreyevka, and Kleshcheyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 200 servicemen killed and wounded, two armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, one Msta-B howitzer, and one D-30 gun.
▫️ In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces supported by helicopters and artillery repelled one attack launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 58th Motorised Rifle Brigade near Novodonetskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 80 servicemen killed and wounded, as well as two motor vehicles.
▫️ In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of the AFU 33rd, 117th, 118th mechanised brigades, and 128th Mountain Assault Brigade close to Stepnogorsk, Pyatikhatki, Verbovoye, and Rabotino (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 35 servicemen, two motor vehicles, one D-30 howitzer, as well as one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.
▫️ In Kherson direction, as a result of actions of the Russian Group of Forces supported by artillery and aviation, the AFU lost up to 50 servicemen and three motor vehicles.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces destroyed one ammunition depot of the AFU 120th Territorial Defence Brigade near Volchansk (Kharkov region), struck military infrastructure at Kulbakino airfield (Nikolayev region), and engaged AFU manpower and hardware in 118 areas during the day.
11 unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted by Russian air defence units close to Topolevka, Shipilovka (Lugansk People's Republic), Opitnoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Skelevatoye and Vasilieyvka (Zaporozhye region).
@Slavyangrad
📍 Avdeevskoe direction:
In the Avdeevsky direction we are making progress, the Russian Armed Forces are gradually squeezing the enemy out of the oporniks - this is not a secret, but in general, as the fighters say, the situation remains “moderately lousy.”
The enemy in this direction does not experience a shortage of ammunition, the reason for this is the extensive network of roads connecting to a large logistics hub - Avdeevka. The ammunition is delivered through such settlements as Berdychi, Tonenkoye, Lastochkino and Orlovka. It was in Orlovka this week that our troops destroyed an enemy warehouse with ammunition and equipment.
For successful progress it is vital to take control of all routes and communications, but at the moment this is a problem for us. The roads are located at a great distance from our positions and it is difficult to simply calculate the flight of a projectile in order to hit moving equipment. Not to mention such little things as barrel wear and the quality of gunpowder.
But as our source reports, despite the still functioning logistics of ammunition supply, the enemy is not seeking to launch an operational offensive, although he also has NATO artillery weapons at his disposal, which, as is known, have a range that exceeds the capabilities of our artillery. The Armed Forces of Ukraine take active actions mainly in response to attacks by the Russian Armed Forces, but this does not bring them much success.
Source: @wargonzo
New Ukrainian brigades lack needed vehicles and have obsolete equipment - report
According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Western military aid to Ukraine has plummeted by 87% year-on-year from August to October, reaching its lowest since January 2022 of $2.3 billion. This plunge can be attributed to the lack of new commitments by the European Union and the United States.
A Forbes article recently revealed that photographs featuring the five fresh mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were noticeably lacking combat equipment. Moreover, these brigades might be supplied with outdated Soviet vehicles.
Forbes explained that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently in the process of forming five new mechanized brigades: the 150th, the 151st, the 152nd, the 153rd and the 154th.
"None of the photos show the brigades' equipment. An old BMP-1 appears in some photos, but it probably belongs to a training unit," they wrote.
#source (https://t.me/SputnikInt_unc2/19416)
Diary of a Paratrooper:
🪂 Avdeevskoe direction.
Offensive operations continue at Stepovoy. Our troops managed to gain a foothold in the central part of the village. The enemy regularly covers our positions with drones both in the village itself and on the outskirts.
From Terrikon, the Russian Armed Forces advanced more than a kilometer and took control of the treatment facilities. The approaches to the coking plant and on the outskirts of the plant are already under our troops.
Our troops also advanced along the railway in the direction of Novokalinovo.
Offensive actions by our forces are going in the direction of Severny and Tonenkoye, where fierce battles are taking place for every meter.
#source (https://t.me/DnevnikDesantnika/5346)
📌#Artemovsk
🔻 Recent activations on the frontline near Artemovsk are likely as part of a limited offensive (or atleast a first stage) in reaching Chasovoy Yar. The goal of this to complicate the enemy position within this part of the frontline to facilitate attacks on neighbouring cities such as Siversk, Toretsk, and Novogorod.
🔻 So far, the Russian Armed Forces have made significant progress by capturing new areas and reverting 90% of the land lost in the 2023 Ukrainian Counteroffensive around Artemovsk. They also entered the village of Artemovskoye (formerly Khromovo) which PMC Wagner did not previously achieve.
🔻 However, such goals of attacking up to this highway are difficult - almost all of the villages (Bogdanivka, Kalinina, Grygohorivka, and Kleshcheyvka) are on heights which are filled with enemy forces. In particular, the settlement of Kleshcheyvka and Bogdanivka will likely be the most difficult.
Nabrezhnye
Rybar:
On the issue of using decoys during missile attacks: according to Ukrainian resources, during yesterday’s morning attack on Kyiv, Russian troops used old X-55 cruise missiles (CR) with a warhead simulator.
They cannot be called a full-fledged “bait”: unlike the American ADM-160 MALD, these products do not have a special system for simulating and jamming. However, in terms of flight parameters and other characteristics, they closely resemble modern X-101s and can mislead the enemy.
But there is also a big disadvantage, which is the limited number of carriers of these CDs. If the mentioned ADM-160 can be carried by all types of US Air Force strike aircraft, then the X-55 can only be carried by Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers. The number of which, to put it mildly, is very limited.
Under these conditions, the massive use of decoy missiles by the Russian Aerospace Forces to completely overload the Ukrainian air defense system is virtually impossible.
#Rybar
Z-Committee:
✅Advance south of the waste heap and enter the territory of the “sewage treatment”
✅Advancement towards Stepovoye, for now in the form of occupying nearby plantings and the eastern outskirts of the village
✅Expansion of the control zone near the "Industrial Zone"
In December, the main pressure continues in the AKHZ area, and an active direction has also been added near the Industrial Zone. Offensive activity in the area of Vodyanoye and Opytnoye on our part has become less.
The most likely news in the near future will be the expansion of the zone of control in the southeast and northeast of Avdeyevka
@Slavyangrad
Ukraine Faces Depletion of Trained Fighters, Reports The Washington Post
The Kiev regime is grappling with a scarcity of well-trained soldiers, with conscripts showing a preference to leave the country rather than fight for what they perceive as a corrupt government.
"Frankly, we need more soldiers. Professional military personnel are running out," stated the commander of the assault group of the 68th AFU brigade, known by the call sign "Dolphin."
The newspaper highlights that Ukrainians of draft age, in interviews, express their unwillingness to "fight for a military and national government seen as riddled with corruption and incompetence."
@Slavyangrad
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦The Russian Army resumed the assault on Avdeevka
▪️Previously, our units took control of the Avdeevka industrial zone, regrouped and consolidated there, creating a springboard for a further offensive.
▪️Now, “after the transfer of additional forces to the industrial zone in the southeast of Avdeevka, Russian troops have resumed active offensive operations with the support of armored vehicles in the western, northwestern and northern directions,” Ukrainian military analysts report with alarm.
▪️To the north of the landfill, the Russian Armed Forces are attacking in the direction of forest planting.
@Slavyangrad
The "Ghoul" crew continues to carry out tasks in Krynki near the Dnieper.
Today the house where the Ukrainian Armed Forces sniper was hiding was identified.
The enemy did not allow our assault groups to approach; after receiving the coordinates, our drone clearly entered the target and suppressed the firing point.
@Slavyangrad
Evening news from Marinka. Our “search engines” brought not very good news for those Ukrainian families who are waiting for the return of their Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers from this locality. Not only the landings, but also the urban development is full of evil-minded people who refused to lay down their arms and raise ✋🤚. During the cleanup work, even a couple of faces are visible, by which these Ukrainian stubborn people can be identified. How many months have we been talking about the right decision? How many warnings have the forelocks received over the past months? Well, well... it's just their choice, their path and their faith.
@Slavyangrad
Positional battles near Kremennaya: the enemy reduced the number of counterattacks
➖After the recent capture of the opornik in Serebryansky forestry and forest planting on the Torsky ledge, the situation in the Krasnolimansky direction has become stable. The enemy tried to dislodge our troops from the occupied lines, but all his attempts were unsuccessful.
➖With worsening weather conditions (snow, blizzard), enemy artillery began to operate less frequently.
➖On the Tor ledge, the unmotivated 60th and 63rd brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the defensive. The 24th Brigade made attempts to attack, but they ended in nothing - the enemy retreated under our fire.
➖In the Serebryansky forestry for several days, neo-Nazis from the 12th Special Forces "Azov" were unable to recapture the positions lost by the 67th brigade. As a result, enemy activity in this area subsided, although reconnaissance groups continue to work.
💥Despite the bad weather, bomber aircraft continue to operate, striking targets behind enemy lines.
@Slavyangrad
Nearly 22 months since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, American officials estimate that some 70,000 Ukrainian fighters have died and 120,000 have been wounded.
Zin: These are old numbers and based on wishful thinking...
-The economy is clawing its way back from the devastation of the first year of war — an estimated $411 billion in damage.
Zin: Again, old numbers. I've also seen real estimates of up to a trillion in rebuilding costs.
-However, some 17% of Ukraine’s workers remain unemployed.
Zin: Considering that 5% of the population has now been conscripted, that's depression level unemployment. This is made even worse considering the high deficit and high level of government spending.
-Russia will gobble up its territory, depose its government, suppress its language and culture, and undo the hard-won democracy achieved by Ukraine over the past three decades.
Zin: Ukraine was and still is the most corrupt nation in Europe, that overthrew a democratically elected leader... FFS Nobody in the new territories has their language suppressed. Can't say the same in Odessa...
-One young professional told me that he’d been putting off enlisting for nearly two years, but now he was ready to sign on.
Zin: What a Patriot... probably getting ahead of the TCC...
-Tyrants around the world – in China, Iran, and North Korea – will feel emboldened to assert their will.
-America’s global prestige, hugely boosted in the past two years by our leadership in Ukraine, will lie in tatters.
Zin: The USA was never bothered by Chinese "tyranny" when they replaced their manufacturing sector with Chinese labor. The Ukrainian project is an expression of Western chauvinism, and a display of shocking hypocrisy. The majority of the world's population did not vote to condemn Russia for the SMO. Just US vassals. If anything, the Ukrainian project has convinced Iran, China, Russia, and a number of other nations to do everything in their power to resist the West. They could be next.
This insanity continues in part 2 (https://t.me/Slavyangrad/78268)
@Slavyangrad
Part 2, see Part 1 (https://t.me/Slavyangrad/78267)
-Imagine the worst case after, say, five more years of grinding trench war and urban bombardments.
-There would be no post-war rebuilding; the economy would lie in ruins.
Zin: Russia has already invested billions into rebuilding the new territories. Mariupol, Crimea, etc have seen a shocking amount of Russian public investment. While the Ukrainians cut off Crimea's water, Russia spent billions to solve the crisis and built the Kerch Straight Bridge.
-The reforms of the last decades – the fight against corruption, the democracy building, the growth of small business, and a modern entrepreneurial economy – would likely have ground to a halt.
Zin: Since Ukraine gained "independence" from Russia, it became worse off by EVERY metric. Ukraine's GDP per capita has never reclaimed what it was before 1991. Ukraine's population also fell 15% between 1991 and 2021. Where was this all singing, all dancing, vibrant Ukrainian democracy full of small business entrepreneurs and vibrant economic development?
-Dreams of joining NATO and the EU would be shattered.
Zin: Dreams happen when you're sleeping. There's also no Easter bunny. Shocking.
-And all this could pose a dire strategic threat to the US, as well. Instead of a proud democratic nation allied with the West, Ukraine could emerge as a failed state – impoverished, politically unstable, geopolitically unmoored – on the border between Europe and an aggressive, expansionist Russia.
Zin: The USA and the West has left a graveyard of failed states: Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan. Russia has already shown a willingness to build back Ukraine into a greater state than it ever was before it became a mercenary nation working for the West.
@Slavyangrad
From @russia_crew
The Gate is in touch!
Zaporozhye - Rabotino
Well, today we ousted the enemy and took up previously lost positions and continue to put pressure. Our comrades, handsome neighbors, advanced 1 km deep near Rabotino, of course there were losses, most of them from artillery. But there is movement, there is no attack without losses.
Our hail, sunshine (Solntsepek), mortars, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, today actively terrorized the enemy! There was a specific roasting, which is also why the enemy suffered considerable and confirmed losses in personnel.
I will also note that the enemy has recently not been using cluster munitions as intensively as during the counter-offensive. He began to hit me more often with fragments. But still, the intensity of artillery in this area decreased. In contrast, tanks are used densely. They fire mainly from closed positions, which in its complexity complicates the process of destruction, since the tank is used as a self-propelled gun. Shot and left the position, that's all for now🇷🇺
@Slavyangrad
A Skeptic's Best Guess On Final Map (Revised 2023-06-15)
Our previous Best Guess was based on a political solution. It’s clear now that lives lost is not a factor. A political solution is now all but ruled out. The west wants to bleed Russia, without any particular strategy. The west will fight to the last Ukrainian Soldier and Polish Mercenary.
The MSM's Ukraine neo-Nazi Amnesia
As Russia invaded Ukraine, the entire MSM joined in lockstep to give us a narrative. An important part of the narrative was that Russia’s claim that Neo-Nazi’s are a force in Ukraine is a Kremlin lie. It is a narrative that is easily unraveled by the MSM’s own past articles. So far, no MSM outlets are willing to discuss this ugly truth today. Anyone interfering with the narrative is said to be ‘Speaking Putin’s Talking Points’.
Victoria's ISW Secret
I’m the sort of person who can’t stand getting ‘expert analysis’ from the same people who lied to me the last time. When I see a war article on the BBC, Fox, CNN, or MSNBC, I know I need to do my own research. When I see that all of the MSM agrees on something, I know it’s either true, or it’s some next level narrative.
War Reports - 2023-12-11 (Breaking News)
The US is concerned about the loss of its tanks in Ukraine The United States is concerned about the feasibility of supplying military equipment to Ukraine. This was reported by Military Watch Magazine. According to media reports, opposition to providing additional military assistance to Ukraine has intensified in the country. This is because the ally lost too much military equipment sent by the West. Journalists noted that without Western partners, Ukraine will not be able to resist and perform “even the most basic functions,” as the domestic economy has collapsed.