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Thursday, May 16, 2024

Cargo ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse had power blackouts hours before leaving port

LEA SKENE and DENISE LAVOIE
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024 









APTOPIX Maryland Bridge Collapse
A bird flies past the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge resting on the container ship Dali on Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Baltimore, as seen from Riviera Beach, Md. An effort to remove sections of the collapsed bridge resting on the Dali was postponed on Sunday.
 (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)


BALTIMORE (AP) — The cargo ship Dali experienced electrical blackouts about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and yet again shortly before it slammed into the Francis Key Bridge and killed six construction workers, federal investigators said Tuesday, providing the most detailed account yet of the tragedy.

The first power outage occurred after a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper while conducting maintenance, causing one of the ship’s diesel engines to stall, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said in their preliminary report. Shortly after leaving Baltimore early on March 26, the ship crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns because another power outage caused it to lose steering and propulsion at the exact worst moment.

The report provides new details about how the ship’s crew addressed the power issues it experienced while still docked in Baltimore. A full investigation could take a year or more, according to the safety board.


Testing of the ship’s fuel did not reveal any concerns related to its quality, according to the report.

The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, laden with shipping containers and enough supplies for a monthlong voyage.

After the initial blackout caused by the closed exhaust damper, investigators say a backup generator automatically came on. It continued to run for a short period — until insufficient fuel pressure caused it to kick off again, resulting in a second blackout. That’s when crew members made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from one transformer and breaker system that had been in use for several months to another that was active upon its departure, according to the report.

Investigators stopped short of drawing a direct line between those earlier power issues and the blackout that ultimately caused the bridge collapse.

“The NTSB is still investigating the electrical configuration following the first in-port blackout and potential impacts on the events during the accident voyage,” investigators wrote.

The safety board launched its investigation almost immediately after the collapse, which sent six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths. Investigators boarded the ship to document the scene and collect evidence, including the vessel’s data recorder and information from its engine room, according to board chair Jennifer Homendy. Investigators also interviewed the captain and crew members.

“Our mission is to determine why something happened, how it happened and to prevent it from recurring,” Homendy said at a news conference days after the disaster.

The preliminary report details the chaotic moments prior to the bridge collapse while crew members scrambled to address a series of electrical failures that came in quick succession as disaster loomed.

At 1:25 a.m. on March 26, when the Dali was a little over half a mile away from the bridge, electrical breakers that fed most of the ship’s equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing a power loss. The main propulsion diesel engine automatically shut down after its cooling pumps lost power, and the ship lost steering.

Crew members were able to momentarily restore electricity by manually closing the tripped breakers, the report says.

Around that time, the ship’s pilots called for tugboats to come help guide the wayward vessel. The tugboats that guided it out of the port had peeled off earlier per normal practice, according to the report. Crew members also started the process of dropping anchor, and the pilots’ dispatcher called the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and relayed that the ship had lost power. The pilots’ dispatcher notified the Coast Guard.

The ship was less than a quarter of a mile from the bridge when it experienced a second power blackout because of more tripped breakers, according to the report. The crew again restored power, but it was too late to avoid striking the bridge.

One of the pilots ordered the rudder turned at the last minute, but since the main engine remained shut down, there was no propulsion to assist with steering, the report says. They also made a mayday call that allowed police to stop traffic to the bridge.

At 1:29 a.m., the 1.6-mile steel span came crashing down into the Patapsco River. The construction workers were sitting in their vehicles during a break when disaster struck.

The last of the victims’ bodies was recovered last week.

One member of the seven-person roadwork crew survived the collapse by somehow freeing himself from his work truck. He was rescued from the water later that morning. A road maintenance inspector also survived by running to safety in the moments before the bridge fell.

On Monday, crews conducted a controlled demolition to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed bridge, which landed draped across the Dali’s bow, pinning the grounded ship amid the wreckage. The ship is expected to be refloated and guided back to the Port of Baltimore in the coming days.

It arrived in the U.S. from Singapore on March 19, a week before the crash, according to the report. It made stops in Newark, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, before coming to Baltimore. Investigators said they were not aware of any other power outages occurring in those ports.

They said they’re working with Hyundai, the manufacturer of the ship’s electrical system, to “identify the cause(s) of the breakers unexpectedly opening while approaching the Key Bridge and the subsequent blackouts.”

The board’s preliminary report released Tuesday likely includes a fraction of the findings that will be presented in its final report, which is expected to take more than a year.

The FBI has also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse.




Ship lost power twice before striking Baltimore bridge: probe

AFP
Tue, May 14, 2024 

Crews conduct a controlled demolition of a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resting on the Dali container ship, in Baltimore on May 13, 2024 (ROBERTO SCHMIDT)


The container ship that collided with a major bridge in Baltimore, collapsing it within seconds, suffered two electricity blackouts in the moments before the disaster, a preliminary report by federal investigators released Tuesday said.

The Singapore-flagged Dali also lost power during maintenance twice on the previous day, though the report by the National Transportation Safety Board said it was still probing what impact that may have had.

It had been clear that the ship had lost power in the seconds before the stunning collapse.

But the report is the first detailed examination of the events leading up to the disaster, which killed six construction workers who were making repairs on the bridge, and blocked the busy Port of Baltimore, a key US hub.

In a timeline of the accident, it said the Dali was just 0.6 miles from the bridge when the electrical breakers that fed most of the ship's equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing the first blackout.

The ship lost propulsion and steering and began to drift off course. The crew managed to restore power briefly, but with the Dali just 0.2 miles from the bridge the lights went out again.

An emergency generator gave the crew some steering and they made a hard turn to port -- but without propulsion, the bridge's fate was sealed.

The report also detailed two blackouts about ten hours before leaving Baltimore.

"The first in-port blackout was caused by the mechanical blocking of the online generator's exhaust gas stack. The second blackout in port was related to insufficient fuel pressure for the online generator," it said.

It also said the crew had been tested multiple times, before and after the disaster, for drugs and alcohol, and that none had showed.

In April, the FBI launched a criminal probe targeting the ship, with its agents boarding the Dali as part of the investigation.

President Joe Biden promised last month to "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge, pledging federal funds and saying a new channel for shipping traffic would open by the end of May.

On Monday, crews demolished part of the bridge in a bid to free the Dali, which has been pinned beneath the wreckage since the collapse.

bur-st/md

Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Cargo ship that caused disaster had 2 power failures before departure

Bradford Betz
Tue, May 14, 2024 a

A crewmember’s mistake caused a Singapore-flagged cargo ship to blackout a day before it crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March, causing it to collapse, according to a preliminary report from federal investigators.

The report, from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), determined that a crewmember of the Dali was responsible for accidentally disabling the vessel’s equipment during in-port maintenance while moored at the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore on March 25. Crewmembers experienced a second blackout due to insufficient fuel pressure for the online generator.

It is still unclear what role these earlier technical malfunctions may have played in the vessel’s loss of power before it hit the bridge.

When the Dali was a little more than half a mile from the bridge in the early hours of March 26, a primary electrical breaker that fed most of the ship's equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing the ship to lose electrical power and experience another blackout.

FLORIDA BUS CARRYING FARM WORKER CRASHES, KILLING AT LEAST 8 AND INJURING DOZENS MORE: OFFICIALS

The main propulsion diesel engine shut down after the pumps lost electrical power. The ship's crew was able to restore power, then called for an assist from tug boats and the senior pilot ordered the ship's anchor to be dropped.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

A second blackout then happened, and a marine radio call was made to warn waterborne traffic. The ship then struck a main support pier on the bridge, causing it to collapse within seconds.

The ship, which was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, issued a mayday alert with just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save the bridge workers who plunged to their deaths.

52 CONFIRMED DEAD, 20 MISSING AFTER FLASH FLOODS DEVASTATE INDONESIA'S SUMATRA ISLAND

The board launched its investigation almost immediately after the collapse. Investigators boarded the ship to document the scene and collect evidence, including the vessel's data recorder and information from its engine room, according to board chair Jennifer Homendy. Investigators also interviewed the captain and crew members. The FBI has also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse.

Investigators also planned to review policies, training practices and other factors that could be relevant. And the design, engineering and condition of the bridge would be studied, she said.

On Monday, crews conducted a controlled demolition to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, a major step in freeing the grounded Dali container ship.

A full investigation could take a year or more, the NTSB said. The board's preliminary report likely includes a fraction of the findings that will be presented in its final report.

Original article source: Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Cargo ship that caused disaster 

5 takeaways from congressional hearing on Key Bridge collapse, response

Darcy Costello and Alex Mann, The Baltimore Sun
Wed, May 15, 2024 



BALTIMORE — A day after a preliminary report revealed new details about what happened in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after a vessel strike, members of Congress peppered officials behind the federal response with questions about the ship’s power outage, the safety of other bridges and how to pay for a new bridge.

How might the ship’s power problems have been avoided? How prepared for massive ships was this bridge and others across the country? How should the federal government recoup costs for a new bridge?

In the early morning of March 26, a huge container ship left the Port of Baltimore on a voyage to Sri Lanka, but didn’t make it very far. The 984-foot Dali lost power twice within about half a mile of the Key Bridge and it drifted into one of the bridge’s support piers around 1:30 a.m., collapsing the span and killing six construction workers.

A Coast Guard official said Tuesday that response officials in Baltimore believe the Dali will be refloated and removed from the middle of the waterway “early next week.” The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to reopen the federal channel by the end of May, if not sooner.

Meanwhile, other work remains ongoing. The National Transportation Safety Board, which released its preliminary report Tuesday, continues to investigate the cause of the vessel’s strike. The FBI has a criminal investigation. Transportation officials are planning for a new bridge.

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure convened Tuesday’s hearing to explore the federal response. Here are five takeaways:
Dali’s power losses were distinct

About 10 hours before it left port, the Dali experienced a pair of blackouts, or complete losses of power, while the crew undertook engine maintenance, the NTSB’s preliminary report revealed.

The power losses in port, originally triggered by a mechanical problem caused by crewmember’s mistake, led the crew to switch the ship’s power supply to a different electrical transformer and circuit breakers, the report said. Those breakers tripped twice as the ship approached the bridge, rendering it mostly rudderless and without propulsion as it plowed into the support pier.

During her testimony, Homendy distinguished the Dali’s four power outages.

“Preliminary information indicates that the March 25 blackouts were mechanically distinct from those that occurred on March 26,” Homendy told lawmakers. “Two were related to routine maintenance in port. Two were unexpected tripping of circuit breakers on the accident voyage.”

Figuring out what caused the breakers to trip as the Dali approached the bridge is at the center of what Homendy described as an investigation of “unprecedented” scale for her agency, which probes transportation disasters with the goal of preventing future tragedies, not holding anyone accountable.

“Switching breakers is not unusual but may have affected operations the very next day on the accident voyage,” Homendy testified. “So the configuration of the breakers remains under investigation.”
Coast Guard to assess major ports

The Key Bridge collapse spawned numerous questions about the safety of maritime operations around American ports and infrastructure.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Gautier said Wednesday that those questions warrant immediate attention, and that officials can’t wait until the conclusion of federal investigations into the disaster in Baltimore for answers.

“While we look forward to the results of these investigations, it is evident, looking more broadly, that the size and complexity of ships has grown over the years, placing greater demands on our marine transportation infrastructure that may not have kept pace with the increased risk that these vessels pose,” Gautier testified. “It’s time for us to more broadly understand these risks.”

Gautier told lawmakers he was convening a “nationwide Board of Inquiry” to evaluate the efficacy of the Coast Guard’s risk management resources and how they’re being put to use in major ports.

Describing the probe as a critical step to ensure “safe and secure flow of commerce on our waterways,” Gautier said it would “establish a holistic national level approach to develop risk profiles, identify ways to address vulnerabilities and propose actions to reduce the risk of major incidents.”

Homendy said she was “very encouraged” to hear the Coast Guard’s plan for a board of inquiry for ports across the country.
Questions over funding bridge reconstruction

President Joe Biden has pledged that the federal government would pay entirely to rebuild the bridge. But if Congress is fronting the cost of a new bridge, anticipated to approach a price tag of $2 billion, committee members asked Tuesday, how can it expect to get some money back?

Shailen Bhatt, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, told lawmakers that under existing rules, any insurance funds recovered after an “emergency relief” event go back into the emergency relief fund. That program covers most of the costs of repairs to damaged roads and bridges following natural disasters and external catastrophic failures.

The roughly $1.7 to $1.9 billion emergency relief request related to the Key Bridge collapse is the second-largest ever received by the Federal Highway Administration, according to Bhatt. It is second to a $2.2 billion request made following Hurricane Katrina, he said Wednesday.

Bhatt also acknowledged, in response to lawmakers’ questions, that the Key Bridge had been redesignated following the collapse as part of the interstate highway system, rather than a state facility. That redesignation means it will be eligible for 90% or more of the costs to be covered by the federal program, rather than the 80% it would have qualified for without the designation.

The Federal Highway Administration has told Maryland officials that they “believe” emergency relief funding will be available, which Bhatt said helps to relieve some “uncertainty.”

“I can pretty much with certainty guarantee this will not be 100% federally funded eventually, because we will recoup all of the insurance payments … and they will go back into the [emergency relief] funds,” Bhatt said. “But as the ranking member mentioned, we don’t want to wait through all of the litigation and the NTSB investigations, insurance issues, for that.”
Questions linger about pier protection — for Key Bridge and others

The NTSB’s preliminary report noted that the Key Bridge had four dolphins, or island-like structures in the water, designed to protect its piers — two on each side of the bridge.

But those devices didn’t stop the drifting Dali from striking one of the bridge piers, which was surrounded by timber, concrete and steel. The surrounding protection remained relatively tight to the pier itself, Homendy said Wednesday, and the dolphins were “rather small.”

She said the NTSB has been comparing the Key Bridge to others that “have pier protection that comes out farther, so that a vessel can’t get to the column” and larger dolphins.

“In this situation, you have a bridge that began operations in 1977. If it was built today, it would be built differently,” Homendy said. “That has to be taken into consideration.”

She urged other bridge owners to conduct risk assessments of their own bridges with this in mind, alongside the growing size of containerships. It’s not necessary to wait until the NTSB investigation is complete to evaluate how protected a bridge is, she said.

“From a risk assessment standpoint, what is now going through? What is the vessel traffic? And how is our infrastructure protected?” Homendy suggested bridge owners ask.
Ancient law used by companies behind Dali may get fresh look

Less than a week after the Dali crashed into the bridge, the Singaporean companies that own and manage the ship cited a pre-Civil War law enacted more than a century ago to llimit or eliminate their liability in the disaster.

On April 1, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner, and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which manages the 984-foot cargo ship, asked a federal judge in Maryland to clear them from liability or limit damages to the salvage value of the ship plus the revenue it stood to make from its cargo, which they estimated at $43.7 million.

In order to be successful, the companies have to prove they did nothing wrong. The City of Baltimore and a group of businesses argued in lawsuits they were negligent in allowing an allegedly unseaworthy vessel to sail.

No matter how the case plays out, one lawmaker said Wednesday, the law, designed to protect the maritime industry, needs to be reevaluated.

The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 “really has to change,” said U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat from California.

He told fellow lawmakers he intended to introduce legislation that would ensure “the owners of these vessels would be held responsible for the costs of their mistakes.”

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Power outages and an urgent warning: NTSB details Dali crew’s scramble before Key Bridge collapse

Darcy Costello, Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun
Wed, May 15, 2024 



Two electrical blackouts on the Dali freighter sent members of its crew and the pilots on board scrambling to control the vessel as it approached the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning hours of March 26.

Their efforts — which would prove unsuccessful — are laid out in detail in a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The 984-foot container ship struck the bridge just before 1:30 a.m. March 26, collapsing much of the 1.6-mile span into the Patapsco River and killing six construction workers who were repairing potholes.

The preliminary report offers no conclusions or likely causes, but does present a minute-by-minute — sometimes second-by-second — account, including key radio broadcasts and actions like the Maryland Transportation Authority Police swiftly shutting down bridge traffic.

Here’s how federal investigators say things played out:

Afternoon, March 25: About 10 hours before its departure from the Port of Baltimore, the Dali experiences two electrical blackouts during in-port maintenance. In the first, a crew member mistakenly closes an exhaust damper, stalling the engine. A second blackout occurs when insufficient fuel pressure slows a generator.

12 a.m. March 26: Seven construction workers, accompanied by one inspector, repair potholes in the southbound lanes of the Key Bridge. Maryland Transportation Authority Police units are stationed at either end of the bridge.

12:05 a.m. A senior pilot and an apprentice pilot, both with the Association of Maryland Pilots, board the Dali. The captain reports to the pilot that the ship is in “good working order,” according to NTSB investigators.

12:36 a.m. The Dali is pulled away from a dock in the Port of Baltimore by two tugboats, the Bridget McAllister and the Eric McAllister.

1:07 a.m. The Dali enters the Fort McHenry Channel and, around the same time, the senior pilot gives orders for the tugboats to depart, as is “normal practice,” according to the NTSB. The senior pilot turns over control to the apprentice pilot.

1:09 a.m. The vessel’s speed is increased from “dead slow ahead” to “slow ahead.”

1:25 a.m. The first blackout occurs, about 0.6 miles away from the Key Bridge — or, as the NTSB noted, three ship lengths. The Dali experiences a loss of electrical power to its lighting and most equipment, resulting in its propeller stopping along with its three steering pumps, which means the rudder cannot be moved.

1:26 a.m. The apprentice pilot calls the pilot dispatcher by cellphone as the senior pilot takes control. The pilots call for assistance from a tugboat; the Eric McAllister, 3 miles away, immediately heads that way, but doesn’t reach the Dali in time. After an emergency generator starts, restoring partial power to the rudder, the senior pilot orders the vessel turned 20 degrees to the left.

1:27:01 a.m. The pilot dispatcher tells the Maryland Transportation Authority Police’s duty officer that the ship lost power, and then informs the Coast Guard. At the same time, the senior pilot orders an anchor to be dropped and the crew begins to do so. The Dali suffers a second electrical blackout, this time about 0.2 miles from the bridge.
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1:27:23 a.m. The pilot orders a sharper turn to the left, but the main engine is shut down and there is no propulsion to power the maneuver.

1:27:25 a.m. A pilot issues a warning to other boats over a very high frequency (VHF) marine radio.

1:27:32 a.m. The crew manually closes breakers, regaining electrical power for the ship but not propulsion.

1:27:53 a.m. The duty officer with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police orders the police officers at either end of the Key Bridge to close it to traffic.

1:29:10 a.m. The Dali strikes the southern pier supporting the central span of the Key Bridge, sending it tumbling into the Patapsco River along with seven construction workers. A Dali crew member told investigators that the ship struck the bridge as he was releasing the brake on the port anchor, and he had to run to escape pieces of the bridge falling on the bow. Another crew member is injured escaping debris. A road maintenance inspector on the bridge is able to run to safety by reaching a span of the bridge that didn’t collapse.

1:34 a.m. The Coast Guard issues urgent notice, requesting assistance.

1:51 a.m. The first Coast Guard boats arrive on the scene.

1:55 a.m. A construction worker, who fell from the bridge in his truck but escaped the vehicle, is rescued by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police boat.

The search for the other workers continued through the day before efforts shifted to recovery. All six bodies have now been recovered with the last found last week.

Authorities also have been removing the bridge wreckage from the shipping channel and, on Monday, used explosives to cut the bridge trestle draped across the bow of the Dali as part of the effort to refloat the grounded ship.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

 

Video: Last Baltimore Bridge Section Removed With Explosives

Baltimore bridge demolition in progress
C-Span / public domain

PUBLISHED MAY 13, 2024 4:14 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

On Monday afternoon, after several days of delay due to weather, contractors used an explosive "precision" cutting process to remove a large section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapsed truss from the bow of the boxship Dali. The kinetic operation unfolded almost exactly as predicted by USACE in an earlier explanation of the plan: the charges cut the bridge into multiple pieces, and the structure fell away from the ship and into the water. 

The explosive clearance operation will take the last section of the bridge truss off the bow of the Dali at 1500 hours on Monday. The crew remained belowdecks aft, Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath (USCG) explained, protected by thousands of containers and the hull's steel. As an additional precautionary measure, the command had firefighters on board, and set up a "water curtain" on the bow to reduce the (already slim) odds of a fire. 

Contractors place charges for the precision cutting operation aboard the Dali (USACE)

"It's not what you envision," clarified Colonel Estee S. Pinchasin (USACE) at a press conference Monday. "It's very small, linear charges placed into cuts. They will separate the metal with precision. It will be more like small puffs of smoke [than a Hollywood explosion]."

Once the wreckage comes down into the water in small pieces, it will be removed by the crane and grab in the same way as the rest of the bridge, she said. 

Contractors are making fast progress towards reopening the Baltimore shipping channel and removing the grounded boxship Dali.Since the start of operations in late March, commercial contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy Supervisor of Diving and Salvage have removed almost all of the visible bridge wreckage above the water's surface, and are making tangible progress below the waterline. Using a grab claw on a giant crane, the contracting teams are pulling tangled pieces of the steel bridge truss out of the water, bit by bit. 

So far, they have cleared a temporary channel measuring 48 feet deep by 350 feet wide, and - once Dali is removed - they will swiftly restore the full federal channel of 50 feet by 700 feet, according to Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath. 

The response process has moved with deliberate speed, putting safety first, Gov. Wes Moore said at the press conference. There have been no injuries reported on the project, and the command plans to keep it that way.  

"Some people said that this would take months, but we've done it in weeks," said Moore.  

Monday, May 13, 2024

Israel advances into Rafah in Gaza’s south while battling regrouped Hamas in the north



By —Wafaa Shurafa, Associated Press
By —Joseph Krauss, Associated Press
By —Samy Magdy, Associated Press


May 12, 2024 

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped.

Rafah is considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as Hamas’ last stronghold. Some 300,000 people have fled the city following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that sparked the war.

Neighboring Egypt issued its strongest objection yet to the Rafah offensive, saying it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel rejects. The foreign ministry statement cited “the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians.”

READ MORE: South Africa again requests emergency measures from world court to restrain Israel’s assault on Gaza

“A full-scale offensive on Rafah cannot take place,” United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, adding he cannot see how it can be reconciled with international humanitarian law.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, and told CBS that Israel would “be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.

Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas’ armed wing to reconstitute itself in even the hardest-hit areas. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the enclave of about 2.3 million Palestinians.

Internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appeared to be at a standstill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech vowed to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war.

Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu’s government opposes.

The Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Militants still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30.

Israel’s air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Heavy bombardment in the north

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a “full-blown famine” there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. “This is madness.”

First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which were heavily bombed in the war’s opening days.

“Hamas’ regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel’s Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war. “The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.”
Civilians flee in the south

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a coastal tent camp where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

READ MORE: Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee chaos in Rafah after Israel’s seizure of border crossing

Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, which had been sheltering some 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere. The U.N. has warned that a planned full-scale invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths.

The main aid entry points near Rafah are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the delivery of aid though the crossing because of “the unacceptable Israeli escalation,” the state-owned Al Qahera News channel reported.

A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive has put its decades-old peace treaty with Israel — a cornerstone of regional stability — at high risk. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he won’t provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and his administration says there is “reasonable” evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians.

Israel rejects those allegations, saying it tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants fight in dense, residential areas.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where deadly violence has increased since the war began, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a man was shot dead by Israeli forces in Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The army said its forces responded with live fire after being shot at by militants in the camp.

Krauss reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

 

Philippine Admiral Goes on Leave After Chinese Claims of a Secret Deal

A China Coast Guard vessel water-cannons a Philippine government vessel. The Chinese government claims it reached a secret deal for a "new model" for these interactions (PCG file image)
A China Coast Guard vessel water-cannons a Philippine government vessel. The Chinese government claims it reached a secret deal for a "new model" for these interactions (PCG file image)

PUBLISHED MAY 9, 2024 7:56 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Days after China's foreign ministry claimed that Philippine defense officials had agreed to a secret deal to reduce tensions at a South China Sea flashpoint, the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Western Command filed for personal leave. 

This week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that Beijing had agreed on a "new model" with the AFP's Western Command in order to manage the frequent confrontations at Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippine military maintains a small garrison on a deteriorating shipwreck.

The China Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia regularly interfere with the Philippine supply convoys that keep this outpost running, even though the reef is located within the Philippine exclusive economic zone. China claims a large swath of the Spratly Islands and the western Philippine EEZ as its own, even though an international tribunal has ruled against its claims.

Shortly after Lin announced that Manila had agreed to a "new model," AFP Western Command chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos filed to take personal leave. His command is currently in the middle of a large multilateral exercise with key foreign partners, including the United States.

The administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has fervently denied any agreement on a "new model," and one senior official called the claim a "devious machination of China."

"As far as the Philippine government is concerned, no such document, record or deal exists, as purported by the Chinese Embassy," the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said this week. 

A spokesperson for the administration raised questions about the specifics of Vice Admiral Carlos' involvement. The admiral personally sustained injuries after a China Coast Guard water cannon attack during a trip to Second Thomas Shoal earlier this year. "If Vice Admiral Carlos entered into some sort of arrangement, why would he be water cannoned and injured? When you put the story together, it unravels," Philippine security council official Jonathan Malaya told local outlet PTV.

A spokesperson for the AFP denied that Vice Adm. Carlos' leave request was in any way connected to the "new model" controversy, and she asked reporters to respect his privacy. 

"He applied for personal reasons, let's respect his decision to file [for leave], it's an inherent right of every individual to go on leave, for whatever reasons," AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said. 

Friday, May 03, 2024

Crimea Bridge Explosion Caused by Equivalent to 10 Tons of TNT: Russia

Story by Isabel van Brugen • 12h • 2 min read

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, after a truck exploded, near Kerch, on October 8, 2022. The structure was blown up in October 2022 using an improvised explosive device with a power equivalent to 10 Tons of TNT, a Russian newspaper has reported.© -/AFP/Getty Images

The main bridge linking the Russian mainland to annexed Crimea was blown up in October 2022 using an improvised explosive device with a power equivalent to 10 tons of TNT, a Russian newspaper has reported.

Ukraine struck the 19-kilometer (nearly 12-mile) road and rail bridge on October 8, 2022 and again in July 2023. The bridge is crucial to sustaining Moscow's military offensives in southern Ukraine, and Kyiv has vowed future strikes on the structure as it seeks to recapture the peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Newsweek
Crimea Rocked By Explosions As Bridge Shut: Reports
Duration 1:06  View on Watch

Russian newspaper Kommersant said an investigation found that solid rocket fuel was concealed in reels of polyethylene film, which was detonated on the Kerch Strait Bridge.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed a group, led by Vasyl Maliuk, the head of Ukraine's SBU security service, to destroy the bridge, the investigation found.

"The group members, at an unspecified time, but no later than August 2022, presumably, on the territory of Ukraine, 'using industrially produced components, manufactured a high-explosive improvised explosive device (IED) with a capacity of about 10 tons of TNT'," Kommersant reported.

A hidden detonator was triggered by a GPS signal "at the moment of passing a predetermined route point."

The explosion caused two spans of the bridge to collapse, and resulted in damage to 17 freight-train tank wagons.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment by email. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for strikes on the Crimean bridge.

Fears are growing among Russian military bloggers that Ukrainian forces are preparing to attack the Kerch Strait Bridge again.

The Rybar Telegram channel, which has links to Russia's Defense Ministry, said last week that Kyiv may have used U.S.-made ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) missiles to detect air defense systems and radars in preparation for another attack on the Black Sea peninsula.

The missiles, which are designed to distract and confuse enemy air defenses, are capable of mimicking a number of aircraft on radar screens.

Rybar said an attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge could happen before President Vladimir Putin's inauguration on May 7. The Russian leader secured his fifth term in office in March.

"Considering the love of the Ukrainian authorities and their curators for symbolism, the target once again may be the Crimean Bridge, the attention to which is very high," Rybar said.

In November, Maliuk said that Kyiv has "plenty of surprises" in store for the Kerch Strait Bridge.


Tuesday, April 30, 2024

PDQ

Salvors May Remove Baltimore Container Ship in Less Than Two Weeks

Salvors use a diamond wire-cutting rig to remove bridge wreckage from Dali's starboard side, April 25 (USACE)
Salvors use a diamond-wire cutting rig to remove bridge wreckage from Dali's starboard side, April 25 (USACE)

PUBLISHED APR 30, 2024 9:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

On Tuesday, Maryland's governor said that responders at the site of Baltimore's Key Bridge are making progress on clearing the shipping channel and freeing the container ship Dali, which struck a pier and collapsed the structure in seconds on March 26. Officials think that the boxship could be removed by May 10, according to a statement from the Port of Baltimore. 

Since the cleanup began in earnest, responders have pulled more than 3,300 tons of steel out of the channel, including several 300-500 ton sections of the main span. The East Coast's largest floating crane is on scene to handle these gigantic lifts, and the unified command is moving at a deliberate pace to ensure safety. 

One of the hardest lifts, the section that is trapping the container ship Dali, is next up on the list. The temporary shipping channel next to Dali will be closed for the next 10 days as salvors prepare to pull this twisted segment off the ship's bow. The contractors will make a series of precise cuts all at once to remove the section without collapsing it further, Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, contractors are using a massive 1,000-ton hydraulic claw to grab tangled piles of steel girders off the bottom, without the risk of sending down divers to rig every lift. 

When the channel reopens on May 10, the unified command believes that it will have a control depth of 45 feet - nearly as deep as it was before the accident. The previous "limited access channel" was deep enough to move ro/ros and one sub-Panamax boxship, but 45 feet should be enough to begin moving larger container ships in and out of the port - with a two-tug escort. The timeline is still subject to the uncertainties of salvage work. 

"There's a lot of factors that play in to that, both the engineering, the salvage operations themselves, and weather," said Rear Adm. Gilreath. "We're going to continue to move to do this safely and as fast as possible."

While the operation in the main ship channel is under way, three temporary shallow channels will remain open for tug and barge traffic. Full 50-foot channel restoration is still expected by the end of May. 

The bodies of two construction workers who were lost in the bridge collapse are still missing, and the Maryland State Police hopes that it will be possible to find them to bring closure to their loved ones. Four deceased workers have been recovered to date, but wreckage and zero-visibility conditions on the river bottom have made dive operations challenging. Police divers have "areas of interest" within the debris field, and are on standby for opportunities to access these sites. 

Maryland is still seeking the support of Congress to fund the eventual reconstruction of the Key Bridge, a project which will likely take several years and several billion dollars. Gov. Wes Moore said that multiple members of Congress have come to see the site, and he expects the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee to visit soon. In addition to rebuilding the Key Bridge, Maryland's transportation department is also considering upgrades to protect the giant Chesapeake Bay Bridge, another older bridge that lacks heavy protective structures.

Saturday, April 27, 2024

 

China Builds Up its Presence Ahead of Historic U.S.-Philippine Exercise

Chinese maritime militia
Chinese maritime militia trawlers in a typical mooring arrangement (Philippine Coast Guard file image)

PUBLISHED APR 23, 2024 9:58 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

China has doubled the presence of maritime militia and military vessels in and around the Philippine exclusive economic zone in advance of major U.S.-Philippine naval drills, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 124 Chinese vessels are in the area, with the largest concentrations found near three strategic locations: Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal and Pag-asa Island. 

"This upsurge is out of the normal," Philippine Navy spokesman Commodore Roy Trinidad told GMA. For the last two months, the Chinese maritime presence has ranged from 33-69 vessels, he said, with an average of 60. 

China's coast guard has attacked Philippine supply boats near Second Thomas Shoal in the recent past, and the maritime militia has played a key role in Chinese blockades. Though the uptick in presence is concerning, Trinidad said that the AFP expects Chinese forces to "behave" during the exercises because the U.S. Navy will be there. 

"I don’t expect them to do anything illegal because of the presence of foreign warships," Trinidad told Rappler. "Historically, the illegal, unprovoked, uncalled-for actions of China will only be [towards the Philippines]."

Beijing's English-language opinion outlet, Global Times, has expressed outrage that the Philippines will be using an aging Chinese-built product tanker for a sinking exercise as part of the Balikitan 2024 maneuvers. The BRP Lake Caliraya - a decommissioned Philippine Navy oiler - will be targeted with U.S. Navy and Philippine Navy missiles until sunk. Lake Caliraya once belonged to the Philippine National Oil Company, and it was built to merchant tanker specifications by a Chinese shipyard.

"It is a ludicrous performance by Manila . . . showing clear provocative intent," complained Global Times. "We hope that the Philippines will not allow the 'spiritual victory' of sinking target ships to make them too excited, leading to the illusion that they can take on real ships."

The Philippine Navy had planned to use Lake Caliraya as a target ship at least as early as July 2023. The first attempt failed when the derelict tanker drifted aground in a storm. It has since been refloated and prepped for Balikatan 2024. 

"The vessel has been used in the Philippines for a very long, long time," Philippine Navy Vice Adm. Toribio Adaci told 24 Oras. "Just like in any sinking exercise around the world, they use old vessels as the target of the exercise and the same thing we are doing with Lake Caliraya." 

 

Illusion helps demystify the way vision works


Experiments imply brightness perception occurs deeper in the brain than thought

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO





For the first time, research shows that a certain kind of visual illusion, neon color spreading, works on mice. The study is also the first to combine the use of two investigative techniques called electrophysiology and optogenetics to study this illusion. Results from experiments on mice settle a long-standing debate in neuroscience about which levels of neurons within the brain are responsible for the perception of brightness.

We’re all familiar with optical illusions; some are novelties, while some are all around us. Even as you look at the screen in front you, you are being fooled into thinking that you’re seeing the color white. What you’re really seeing is lots of red, green and blue elements packed so tightly together it gives the impression of being white. Another example is a fast rotating wheel or propeller, which can briefly look like it’s reversing direction while it’s accelerating to full speed. In any case, it might be surprising to know that optical illusions are not just fun to look at but can also be a useful tool to learn more about eyes, nerves, minds and brains.

Associate Professor Masataka Watanabe from the Department of Systems Innovation at the University of Tokyo is on a mission to understand more about the nature of consciousness. It’s a vast subject area so naturally there are many ways to explore it, and amongst other things, he uses optical illusions. His most recent research looked at whether a certain kind of illusion that works on humans would also work on mice. And it turns out, it does. But why is this significant?

“Knowing this kind of illusion, called a neon-color-spreading illusion, works on mice as well as humans, is useful for neuroscientists like myself, as it means that mice can serve as useful test subjects for cases where humans cannot,” said Watanabe. “To really understand what goes on inside the brain during perceptual experiences, we need to use certain methods that we cannot use on people. These include electrophysiology, the recording of neural activity with electrodes, and optogenetics, where light pulses enable or disable firing of specific neurons in a living brain.”

Watanabe’s experiment was the first of its kind to make use of both electrophysiology and optogenetics at the same time in animal test subjects exposed to the neon-color-spreading illusion, which allowed his team to see precisely what structures within the brain are responsible for processing the illusion.

“After a visual stimulus lands on the eye, it’s carried to the brain by nerves and is then received by a series of layers of neurons called V1, V2 and so on, where V1 is the first and most basic layer, and V2 and above are considered higher layers,” said Watanabe. “There is a long-standing debate in neuroscience about the role higher levels play in the perception of brightness and it was not an easy thing to study. Our experiment on mice has shown us that neurons in V1 responded not just to the illusion, but also to a nonillusory version of the same kind of pattern shown. But only when the illusory version was shown to the mice did neurons in V2 also play a crucial role: that of modulating the activity of neurons in V1, thus proving that V2 neurons do in fact play a role in the perception of brightness.”

This experiment has shown that mice models can be effective in this area of neuroscience. Watanabe hopes this is just the beginning and that such experiments will help toward his grand aim of clarifying the neural mechanism of consciousness.

###

Journal article: Alireza Saeedi, Kun Wang, Ghazaleh Nikpourian, Andreas Bartels, Nikos K. Logothetis, Nelson K. Totah, Masataka Watanabe, “Brightness illusions drive a neuronal response in the primary visual cortex under top down modulation”, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46885-6

Funding:
This work was funded by the Max Planck Society and the Helsinki Institute of Life Science at the University of Helsinki (NT).

Useful links:
Watanabe Laboratory https://www.bc2ac.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Department of Systems Innovation https://www.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/?lang=en  
Graduate School of Engineering https://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/soe  

Research contact:
Associate Professor Masataka Watanabe

Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8654, Japan

watanabe@sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Press contact:
Mr. Rohan Mehra
Public Relations Group, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8654, Japan
press-releases.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

About The University of Tokyo:

The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @UTokyo_News_en.

Friday, April 26, 2024

 

Cheap Russian drones overwhelm US-made Abrams tanks, taken out of action

Cheap Russian drones overwhelm US-made Abrams tanks, taken out of action
Ukraine has taken the US-made Abrams main battle tank out of action as they have proven to be too vulnerable to swarms of Russian drone attacks. / bne IntelliNews
By bne IntelliNews April 26, 2024

Ukrainian forces are withdrawing US-provided Abrams M1A1 main battle tanks from the front lines after at least five have been destroyed by cheap Russian drones, according to the AP.

A loud cheer went up amongst Ukraine’s support when the US announced in January 2023 it would deliver a battalion of Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The hope was that 31 US made tanks, which are far superior to the Russian T-72 tank that is in wide use by Russia’s forces, would be a game changer.

The Abrams has better front armour and a more powerful gun that can penetrate the Russian tanks armour. By October 2023, all 31 tanks had been successfully delivered, as confirmed by officials.

However, the evolving dynamics of warfare, particularly the proliferation of Russian surveillance and hunter-killer drones, have dramatically altered the operational landscape. It turned out that the Abrams were more vulnerable to Russian attacks than previously believed.

The Russian forces avoided head-to-head clashes between tanks that they were likely to lose and instead adopted a new tactic: attacking the Abrams with swarms of drones that targeted tanks weak points: typically the point where the turret meets the body, the rear covering of the engine and the top of the tank where the armour is thinnest.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) played on these weaknesses in the early days of the war, using US-supplied Javelin missiles that swoop upwards before reaching their target before dropping down on the roof of the Russian tanks. As Soviet designers had chosen to store all the tank’s rounds in the turret, these would then explode and cause the Russian tanks to “pop their tops” killing everyone inside.

When hit by a US-made Javelin missile, shells stored in the turret of Russian tanks tend to explode causing the tank to "pop its top." 

According to the US officials speaking to AP, the Russian drones have been very effective and led to the loss of five Abrams tanks on the battlefield, prompting a reassessment of their deployment.

One senior military official, speaking anonymously, said another problem was the Russian forces usually had plenty of warning when an Abrams tank was on the way thanks to extensive drone surveillance. "There isn't open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection."

While Ukraine led in the use and development of drones in the first year of the war, Russia has been pouring money into its military industrial complex and has now overtaken Ukraine in terms of both the quantity and quality of drones that it is producing, as well as all its munition supplies in general.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on TV on April 25 that the heavy state investment into the military industrial complex and conversion of civilian production to military has resulted in Russia producing more arms than it needs, with the surplus heading to warehouses rather than the front line. Pistorius suggested that Russia is preparing for a long war or could be thinking about expanding the conflict to include other countries.

“Now you can be naïve and say he (President Vladimir Putin) is doing it just out of caution,” Pistorius stressed. “As a sceptical person, I would say in this case that he’s doing it because he has [other] plans…”

This investment is also altering the balance of power for tanks. Earlier this year, the Russian defence ministry announced that it had inducted over 1,500 new main battle tanks in 2023 to support its war campaign, whereas Forbes reported in December that Ukraine is down to 350, most of which are the Soviet warhorse, a modified T-72 tank.

New US materiel

The failure of the Abrams to make a difference is a costly miscalculation. The export cost of an Abrams tank can be around $10mn, while Col. Markus Reisner, an Austrian military trainer who follows the weapons being used in Ukraine, told the Euromaidan Press that the Russian suicide drones being used to destroy them can be as cheap as $500 each (a ratio of 20,000:1).

And money is increasingly an issue. US funding for Ukraine began to dry up last summer, and the US ran out of money for Ukraine completely in January. After four months of dithering, Congress finally voted through a $61bn aid package on April 20 that will allow military supplies to resume.

However, while the list of weapons to be sent to Ukraine includes Bradley APC and more Javelins, notably there is no mention of any more tanks.

The Abrams had previously been seen as “one of the world’s mightiest” battle tanks, according to Col. Reisner commenting on the effectiveness of the Russian drones. “Welcome to the 21st century — it’s unbelievable, actually,” he said of the changing nature of warfare.

The Abrams tanks have been temporarily removed from the front lines, with plans underway for the US and Ukraine to have a rethink and collaborate on adapting tactics to the evolving threat environment, according to US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Adm. Christopher Grady.

"When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armour in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk," Grady said, as cited by Euromaidan Press.

The US had previously provided training to Ukrainian forces on tank operation and combined arms warfare tactics at the Grafenwoehr Army base in Germany in spring 2023. However, officials noted that since then, Ukrainian forces have not fully utilised the Abrams tanks or implemented combined arms warfare strategies effectively.

Likewise, Germany sent about five squadrons of its equally powerful Leopard main battle tanks that have been equally disappointing. At least 11 of the 21 sent have been destroyed or damaged and taken out of action, Forbes reported in December. The majority of the Leopard 2A6 tanks sent to Ukraine by Germany are no longer functioning, a senior politician for the German Greens said in January.

A leopard tank on its way to Ukraine

The discussion around the status of US weapons in Ukraine comes ahead of the April 26 Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, marking the coalition's two-year anniversary. It is unclear what is wrong with all the tanks, but they are notoriously difficult to maintain on the battlefield and need constant attention from mechanics and a support crew.

Now it’s the Russians turn to cheer, as fears of the US supplying game changing armament to Ukraine are fading. In an apparent mockery of US military aid to Ukraine, bakeries in Moscow have started selling chocolate cakes in the form of destroyed Abrams tanks for RUB759 ($8), Sputnik posted on its X channel.

And tanks are not the only powerful US-made weapon to have fallen off the docket for delivery to Ukraine. Ukraine is also running very low on ammunition for the Patriot air defence system that has prevented Russia from bombing Ukraine’s cities and power infrastructure for most of the last year.

Russia launched an intense barrage in January designed to run down Ukraine’s stocks of these missiles, before further intensifying the barrage in March when it appeared the tactic was working. In the last month Ukraine lost 7 GW of power generation and the country’s two biggest power plants – Trypilska that serves Kyiv and the Dnipro Hydropower plant – have been destroyed and won’t be repaired this year. Ukrainians are facing a cold and dark winter this year as a result.

Germany has sent Ukraine two more Patriot batteries and promised one more, but Patriots are also missing from the US list of new materiel on its way to Ukraine.

Berlin is leading the effort to scrounge up more Patriot missiles for Ukraine, but all the other European countries that have them (Spain, France, Poland, Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Greece) have refused to part with the system, afraid of undermining their own security.

The exception was Greece which promised to give one battery to Ukraine on April 24. However, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis changed his mind and announced the very next day that Athens would not send Patriots to Ukraine after all.

Amidst these developments, the US is poised to announce a new $6bn weapons contract for Ukraine, which will include Patriot air defence systems, artillery, drones, counter-drone weapons, and air-to-air missiles, potentially finalising the deal as soon as April 26, according to officials.