Russia v Ukraine

[TheHowieLama]

No peace. No peace I find.

[Red Phoenix]

10 minutes ago, SasaS said:

So, tell us, what keeps Georgia on your mind?

 

Nothing is keeping it on my mind, I saw news of it earlier that's all. Hopefully it doesn't end up wrecked like Ukraine currently is, that's all I'll say.

[SasaS]

 

Or someone isn't checking the inbox regularly.

 

For the first time since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion, no Ukrainian brigades have reported a lack of artillery shells, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on May 16.

"And this has been happening for the past two months," he said, but added: "Everyone still has a lot of work to do."

 

https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-progress-made-on-artillery-shortage/

[Red Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Or someone isn't checking the inbox regularly.

 

Have you seen much on this lately? Wondering what happened and if it's been talked about in many other places :

 

Quote

Denys wants to know what happened to Ukraine’s defences.

“There was no first line of defence. We saw it. The Russians just walked in. They just walked in, without any mined fields” he says.

He shows me video from a drone feed taken a few days ago of small columns of Russian troops simply walking across the border, unopposed.

He says officials had claimed that defences were being built at huge cost, but in his view, those defences simply weren’t there. “Either it was an act of negligence, or corruption. It wasn’t a failure. It was a betrayal”.

 

The Russians simply walked in, Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv tell BBC

[DJLJ]

42 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

Have you seen much on this lately? Wondering what happened and if it's been talked about in many other places :

 

 

The Russians simply walked in, Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv tell BBC

Tom has some info on it here: https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/dons-weekly-13-may-2024-part-1?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

 

At the beginning of the piece.

[SasaS]

37 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

Have you seen much on this lately? Wondering what happened and if it's been talked about in many other places :

 

 

The Russians simply walked in, Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv tell BBC

 

There are various conflicting reports, one theory is that they were unprepared (despite everyone knowing Russians will attack), another they put territorial defense units there and that fortifications were not what the authorities were led to believe was constructed. Local area CO was removed and some well regarded general put in his place.

 

Another theory is that it is basically a grey zone along the border and that first line of actual defense is some ten kilometers from the border. Also that it's either a diversionary attack that isn't going deep towards Kharkiv, but spreads along the border in a buffer zone, from which they intend to shell the town. Both sides are apparently using much smaller forces than in the east.

 

Last what I read from Butusov is that there is considerable firepower and glide bombs but also drone number advantage on the Russian side. Although the terrain favours defense.

 

Truth probably somewhere in beetween.

 

[Red Phoenix]

13 minutes ago, SasaS said:

 

There are various conflicting reports, one theory is that they were unprepared (despite everyone knowing Russians will attack), another they put territorial defense units there and that fortifications were not what the authorities were led to believe was constructed. Local area CO was removed and some well regarded general put in his place.

 

Another theory is that it is basically a grey zone along the border and that first line of actual defense is some ten kilometers from the border. Also that it's either a diversionary attack that isn't going deep towards Kharkiv, but spreads along the border in a buffer zone, from which they intend to shell the town. Both sides are apparently using much smaller forces than in the east.

 

Last what I read from Butusov is that there is considerable firepower and glide bombs but also drone number advantage on the Russian side. Although the terrain favours defense.

 

Truth probably somewhere in beetween.

 

 

I'd read the grey area bit too but forgot that, probably played a part in them taking areas so quickly. Agreed that it's probably right about the truth being somewhere between some of the reports too and that it's partly a distraction from Donbas. I'm guessing Chasiv Yar might still be part of the main focus for both sides as well with Russians never having taken it even though they've tried more than once now.

[Red Phoenix]

16 minutes ago, DJLJ said:

Tom has some info on it here: https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/dons-weekly-13-may-2024-part-1?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

 

At the beginning of the piece.

 

Thanks, will have a read in a bit.

[SasaS]

10 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

I'd read the grey area bit too but forgot that, probably played a part in them taking areas so quickly. Agreed that it's probably right about the truth being somewhere between some of the reports too and that it's partly a distraction from Donbas. I'm guessing Chasiv Yar might still be part of the main focus for both sides as well with Russians never having taken it even though they've tried more than once now.

 

It's still mainly survival mode for Ukraine. This summer in particular.

[Anubis]

Zelensky crying about troop shortages again.

 

So, Mykolenko and Zinchenko, over to you two….

[TheHowieLama]

Musked again:

 

The Ukrainian military's Starlink terminals went down on the first day of the Russian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast on 10 May. They were jammed by Russian electronic warfare systems. 

The Washington Post reported that the 125th Territorial Defence Brigade was defending an approximately 40-kilometre stretch of the border between Russia and Kharkiv Oblast. It used reconnaissance drones on a daily basis to monitor how Russia was building up its forces for a possible attack. 

 

But on the morning of 10 May, the brigade lost all of its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming. Starlink satellite internet terminals, which provide basic communications for the Ukrainian military, also failed. This situation first occurred during the Russian invasion in February 2022.

[SasaS]

More like new Russian EW capabilities.

 

Which is where you would expect Ukraine to profit the most from being backed by the biggest and most technologically advanced military in the world.

[TheHowieLama]

More like new Russian EW capabilities.

 

[SasaS]

And I hope this jam is not gonna last.

[SasaS]

Zelensky's comment on sufficient artillery shells supply didn't go down too well with some Ukrainian observers BTW. And there is a big argument still over Kharkiv fortifications. 

[Red Phoenix]

I've got no issue with him saying whatever he wants but it's mad how he's able to regularly with the ties to the US gov that he has.

 

The Putin ready to end the war thing is here, Russia supporting accounts are already saying it's bullshit though so maybe it is, not sure : Exclusive: Putin wants Ukraine ceasefire on current frontlines

[SasaS]

Russian casualties up some 30 percent in Mediazona count for the past two weeks, back to Avdivka offensive levels. Plus 1,396 to the new total of 54,185 confirmed names of KIA in the invasion of Ukraine.

 

https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/11/casualties_eng

[polymerpunkah]

Putin's killed almost as many of his own people in the Ukraine as the US did in Vietnam. 

 

And three times as many as Brezhnev did in Afghanistan in one quarter the time. 

 

The stupid fucking cunt.

[SasaS]

4 minutes ago, polymerpunkah said:

Putin's killed almost as many of his own people in the Ukraine as the US did in Vietnam. 

 

And three times as many as Brezhnev did in Afghanistan in one quarter the time. 

 

The stupid fucking cunt.

 

Probably three times as many as Vietnam, since this number is no more than 2/3 of the actual number and Vietnam total includes all the PTSD suicides and such like. About five to six times as Afghanistan if you include the separatists.

 

[TheHowieLama]

The important number is how many of the Ukrainian Nazis did he do?

 

[TheSire]

On 17/05/2024 at 11:59, Red Phoenix said:

 

Have you seen much on this lately? Wondering what happened and if it's been talked about in many other places :

 

 

The Russians simply walked in, Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv tell BBC

They built fortifications AWAY from the border or they'd just get shelled and bombed to fuck. Defences are about 10km south where the terrain is better.

[Red Phoenix]

3 hours ago, TheSire said:

They built fortifications AWAY from the border or they'd just get shelled and bombed to fuck. Defences are about 10km south where the terrain is better.

 

It looks like something still went wrong, this is from the Kyiv Independent : Ukraine opens investigation into improper organization of defenses in Kharkiv Oblast

 

[TheSire]

2 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

It looks like something still went wrong, this is from the Kyiv Independent : Ukraine opens investigation into improper organization of defenses in Kharkiv Oblast

 

Unfortunately they're kind of forced into giving up some of these positions. A lack of sufficient air defence coverage at the front lines is allowing the Russians to hit front line positions with guided bombs, something like 150 per day are hitting for months.

 

The blasts are huge, about 1500kg of explosives per bomb (enough to flatten a street of houses) so this just totally destroys defensive fortifications and they can't do anything to defend against it due to a massive lack of air defense systems (the Americans seem more than happy to supply Israel with stuff they don't need, we can see where their priorities lie).

 

Must be horrible just having to hold the line and getting hammered with air strikes, artillery and drones. Despite this, Russia still can't make meaningful gains on a large scale. Pure attrition.

[TheSire]

2 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

It looks like something still went wrong, this is from the Kyiv Independent : Ukraine opens investigation into improper organization of defenses in Kharkiv Oblast

 

I had heard about complaints about poor leadership early during the Kharkiv offensive, I think a load of commanders were sacked? Hard to tell if it's finger pointing etc.

[Section_31]

I've no proof of this but I reckon Ukraine's success ebs and flows depending on the support they get from the yanks in terms of intel and strategic advice. If the yanks want an end to the war and want them to do a deal with putin and Ukraine don't want to, you could see that being the punishment.

 

If you think earlier in the war they were putting missiles through bathroom windows while senior Russian generals just happened to be taking a shit, now they're all holed up in ditches hiding from drones. Quite the turnaround, and it's not simply about numbers, because the Ukrainian early successes weren't achieved with just troops.