Sanctions against Russia

[willedoo]

Patron the bomb dog got a bit excited at the awarding of his medal. He's a big hit in Ukraine via all the media attention he's had. One thing about Zelensky & Co., they know how to win the media/PR/propaganda war. Patron (pronounced Patron ) means cartridge, as in bullet, in Ukrainian and Russian.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1523641886774525954?cxt=HHwWhIDQoaaOiKUqAAAA

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

OME, what possible harm can come from a gorget? 😁

 

Here I am, trying to make a serious statement and you go all Spelling Police on me.

[willedoo]

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

Here I am, trying to make a serious statement and you go all Spelling Police on me.

Don't worry ome, by tomorrow we'll have gorgotten you did it.

[old man emu]

How can it be forgotten. It's on the Interwebby.

[kgwilson]

Here is an analysis of the state of the Russian Military first published by the Ecomomist. Basically it is a complete basket case & recovery will be slow and painful.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/economist/300584653/russias-army-is-in-a-woeful-state

[onetrack]

From my perceptions, the largest proportion of the damage done in the Ukraine has been by Russian artillery. I have seen little of Ukrainian artillery in action - but hopefully, that will change with the transfer of a large number of 155mm howitzers (with 90 coming from the U.S. and quite few from other countries), along with other rocketry and missile equipment from the West.

Whacking your enemy from afar is a good way to cause massive damage to them and really affect their morale.

 

https://www.firstpost.com/world/watch-video-ukrainian-artillery-in-action-in-the-mykolayiv-region-10649201.html

 

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3015463/m777-artillery-deliveries-should-help-ukraine-in-the-donbas-says-official/#:~:text=Shipments of U.S.-made M777,along with 155 mm rounds.

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by onetrack

[willedoo]

Another one bites the dust. Mil Mi-28N Havoc RF-13654 downed near Kharkiv.

 

[willedoo]

7 minutes ago, onetrack said:

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3015463/m777-artillery-deliveries-should-help-ukraine-in-the-donbas-says-official/#:~:text=Shipments of U.S.-made M777,along with 155 mm rounds.

The journalist must have thought totally irrelevant photos of US Hornets and Abrams tanks would spruce the page up a bit.

[onetrack]

More on the Ukrainian artillery ability in the article below. It has never been previously revealed, but Ukrainian artillery has been responsible for a lot of damage to Russian equipment - particularly tanks.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/155mm-howitzers-ukraine-military-gets-boost-from-old-fashioned-artillery

[onetrack]

I personally believe that Putin is stupid enough to ramp up the war effort against the Ukraine with a full on war declaration, and a large increase in troop numbers. And I believe it is highly likely he will resort to murderous, illegal use of chemical weapons against Ukraine, if he sees no major war gains, and considers chemical weapons necessary to gain the upper hand.

[willedoo]

16 minutes ago, onetrack said:

I personally believe that Putin is stupid enough to ramp up the war effort against the Ukraine with a full on war declaration, and a large increase in troop numbers. And I believe it is highly likely he will resort to murderous, illegal use of chemical weapons against Ukraine, if he sees no major war gains, and considers chemical weapons necessary to gain the upper hand.

It could happen. He must be getting very close to crunch time, where he has to decide whether to cut his losses, or go for broke. If it keeps dragging on like it is, the Russian assault will grind to a near halt. sooner or later. Putin will have to eat humble pie or resort to desperate measures.

 

There's been a lot of speculation about whether he knows the full extent of his losses. It's been said that he doesn't go much on the internet and relies on his advisors for briefings. Those sycophants probably aren't game to tell him the truth.

[willedoo]

This photo is of Russian paratroopers from 45th Spetsnaz Brigade and 31st Air Assault Brigade with Mi-8AMTSh helicopters, staged in Belarus on February 24 before the air assault operation on Hostomel airport near Kiev. It was at this stage they thought they'd all roll over the border and Ukraine would capitulate in two to three days. It almost beggars belief what happened after this photo was taken. A big surprise in store for them.

 

 

[onetrack]

Here's a good, very recent video of the Ukrainian artillerymen giving the Russians a dose of their own medicine.

 

It's interesting to hear the Ukrainian commanders comments on the Russian soldiers often being drunk, and having little motivation.

 

 

[willedoo]

Things continue to go bad for the Orcs. They tried a pontoon bridge river crossing of the Siverskyi Donets River near Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast. The Ukrainians waited till they'd crossed over then destroyed the bridge, trapping the Russians on their side. They reportedly wiped out around 40 armoured fighting vehicles.

 

The Russians didn't expect to find a well trained, well disciplined army when they went into Ukraine; they were expecting a rag tag, inferior militia. What they met was what they thought they were themselves, and what they turned out to be themselves is what they originally thought they'd meet in Ukraine. When it all started, I bet a lot of them didn't realise Putin had bought them a one way ticket to Ukraine.

 

The whole Russian plan is dumb; it's hillbilly warfare. The front that Putin wants to keep is huge and not easy to defend. I can't see how he expects to hold it in the long term.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by willedoo

[Marty_d]

We should all show our support for Ukraine by watching Eurovision this weekend!  Ukrainian rap band Kalush Orchestra is widely tipped to win, which will be a huge shock for people who think that politics plays no part in Eurovision voting...

 

Good to see that most of the group is ready to get back into it and possibly form a sniper team, but I reckon the bloke with bare mesh is going to get a wee bit cold at night.

 

 

[rgmwa]

Much as I’m keen to support Ukraine, that’s a very big ask Marty. I’m not sure I’m up to it. 
 

[kgwilson]

Latest reports say that Russian troops have been forced into defence mode and some have had to retreat back across the border in to Russia after Ukraine launched counter attacks around Kharkiv and Izium to the South East.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300586548/russian-troops-forced-to-retreat-back-across-the-border-in-fierce-ukrainian-counterattack

 

Buoyed by recent successes Kyiv has now seemingly upgraded its ambitions to push Russia completely out of Ukraine, including the Crimea. The flow of western weapons needs to continue to grow with ever larger and more deadly capacity and this could be achievable but I imagine it would have to go hand in hand with the fall of Putins regime.

[onetrack]

Putin has no personal military training or experience, and that is now showing. He's reliant on a small circle of close, trusted aides. None of those aides have been picked because of their military and strategic skills - they've been picked because they're Yes-men, and because they're loyal to Putin, and he thinks he can trust them.

 

Putin is a trained spy, that's all. He studied and qualified in Law. He's a master of deceit and psychological underhand warfare - but that's about all.

He attained the rank of Lt Colonel in the KGB - but that rank only imitates real military rank. A proper Lt Colonel in the military has training in a multitude of warfare tactics, strategy, and soldier-management.

 

Putin lacks that ability to understand how a military force operates, and what strategies are needed to win. He (or his "trusted" underlings) failed to ensure the logistics of the Russian military were up to speed.

To keep 1 soldier in the field, you need about 7 soldiers behind him - supplying fuel, food, ammunition, spare parts, ordnance of every type - from clothing to tents - in a timely and adequate manner.

We saw how the Russians ran out of fuel, ran out of food, ran low on ammunition, ran out of tyres, ran out of mechanical repair backup.

 

Military Engineers are crucial to an Army's operation. They are the ones working alongside the infantry - not only fighting, but doing pioneering and engineering work - de-mining and laying mines - carrying out demolition that destroys the enemys ability to move, or gain access to supplies - carrying out rapid replacement of destroyed infrastructure, such as bridges and other vital infrastructure that keeps an Army moving. I haven't seen Russian military engineers out and about, in the level of force they should be in.

 

In WW2, Allied Engineers landed on enemy held territory, at the front, alongside the Infantry, with their engineer and construction equipment. In Italy in WW2, U.S. Engineers built an airstrip capable of taking B-17's within 3 days of the landing in Italy. I have seen nothing that shows me Russian military engineers carrying out repair work to damaged infrastructure that is stopping Russian military movement.

In one action, the Ukrainians waited until all the Russians had crossed a vital bridge, then blew it up, trapping the Russians - which they then massacred. A good Engineer force would have been right there with the Infantry, and either rapidly repairing the bridge, to enable a retreat - or pontooning equipment back across the waterway.

 

The Russian military has reportedly reduced the number of NCO's in their Army. NCO's are your corporals and sergeants that train the bottom-rung soldier - and lead them and guide them when the fighting starts. As a result, it appears basic soldier training in the Russian Army is not up to the level of other military forces. The Russians deluded themselves that it was, and that they had a world-class fighting force. The evidence has shown otherwise.

 

Even more importantly, it appears no-one has placed any importance on troop morale in the Russian Army. Soldier morale is crucial to the success of a fighting force. In every war fought by the Allies, huge importance was placed on sustaining and raising troop morale - particularly when the troops are a long way from home, and are not sure when they will see loved ones again - if ever.

 

But most importantly, Putin has no understanding of co-ordinating the three forces - the Army, the Air Force and the Navy, to work together to achieve a clearly-defined set of objectives.

He should have studied up on Gen. John Monash, not Law. General Monash was the first to understand the crucial importance of smooth co-ordination of all arms of the military - the timing of artillery strikes, the co-ordination of infantry and armour - the co-ordination of airstrikes to aid infantry - and the importance of solid lines of rapid, secure, unobstructed communication.

 

Gen. Monash understood this in 1917, and won every battle action he led, from the Battle of Hamel in July 1917, right through to the end of WW1. It's been said that WW1 would have shortened to a couple of years if Gen Monash had been placed in overall charge from Day One.

The Battle of Hamel is called "the textbook victory". It was run like clockwork and timed to perfection. Monash timed the action to take 90 minutes to achieve its objectives - the Battle achieved all objectives with stunning success, and low Allied losses - and it took 93 minutes.

 

Russia failed from the word go, to achieve air superiority, and to neutralise the Ukrainian Air Force. It failed to ensure logistics were up to the needs and speed of its military, it failed to properly co-ordinate all the arms of the military to ensure an effective multi-pronged assault.

 

Russian forces obviously thought they could copy Hitlers "Blitzkreig", and use speed and awe and weaponry to overrun a weak, disjointed nation. The Russians stretched their supply lines too long, a fatal mistake - and whereas Hitler could pilfer fuel supplies and food on a large scale to continue from Germany to the coast of France - the Russians seem to have failed to grasp the vast distances in the Ukraine, failed to understand that the Ukrainian nation was capable of huge resistance, and effective fightback - and there were no easy pickings in the Ukraine, as regards logistical supplies to keep going.

Modern warfare technology has handed the advantage to small nimble forces armed with modern technology. Guerrilla warfare has always been a satisfactory way to beat a larger force, but the Ukrainians have taken it to a new level. And of course, the Russians failed to appreciate the level of assistance the Ukrainians would get, and are getting, from the West and NATO nations.

 

https://www.salon.com/2022/05/10/has-been-beaten-this-military-expert-says-that-moment-is-coming-soon/

 

 

[willedoo]

Another drone photo of the Russian's failed attempt at crossing the Siverskyi Donets River. It looks like a few tanks were lost as well as the AFV's. Putler will run out of tanks soon, for sure.

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

[Jerry_Atrick]

I am not sure I entoirely agree with his line of questioning, but it is an interesting interview.

 

[onetrack]

It's a very interesting and good interview. They're hammering him on the morality behind his actions of bombing and shooting up civilians in a foreign sovereign country - without a declaration of War.

 

He follows the old hoary argument line, when war crimes are exposed - "I was just following orders". The Ukrainians are really winning the psychological upper hand, against this criminal action by Putin.

 

I find it interesting that the identity of the anonymous second interviewer is not revealed - possibly because he's military, and because of the need to keep his identity secret.

 

I didn't realise the Ukrainians are offering big dollars for Russian equipment turned in to the Ukrainians, that's clever.

 

It must be a bastard being on the receiving end of military hardware and munitions that your country designed and built, to kill enemy forces!

[Old Koreelah]

15 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Latest reports say that Russian troops have been forced into defence mode and some have had to retreat back across the border in to Russia after Ukraine launched counter attacks around Kharkiv and Izium to the South East.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300586548/russian-troops-forced-to-retreat-back-across-the-border-in-fierce-ukrainian-counterattack

 

Buoyed by recent successes Kyiv has now seemingly upgraded its ambitions to push Russia completely out of Ukraine, including the Crimea. The flow of western weapons needs to continue to grow with ever larger and more deadly capacity and this could be achievable but I imagine it would have to go hand in hand with the fall of Putins regime.

The West, and the US in particular, should heed the lessons of history. They are currently in a similar position to 1950 in Korea, when McArthur ignored President Truman’s orders and pushed the invading North Koreans across the Yalu River. This triggered a massive influx of Chinese troops, leading to a larger bloodbath. The numbskull couldn’t get it into his head that his actions would widen the war, leading to a generations-long stalemate.

 

Ukraine might push the invaders out their country, but the Russians will never accept total defeat. They still have lots of nukes.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Finland is no seeking to aplly for membership to NATO, which is probably something they would have probably only been contemplating but wary of before Putin decided to invade the Ukaine. Naturally, he isn't too happy with the move, and I understand Sweden is also contemplating as well. If Finland do become NATO members (and I recall, when I was in the Czech Republic, how happy the average person was that they had joined NATO), then he knows he has a much more formidable enemy than just that country. He didn't want NATO to "close in" around him, but it appears that is what he will get.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61420185

 

[Old Koreelah]

Unfortunaley I doubt Russia will play nice and join the west, although many of her smartest people do. The Russian mafia is well entrenched and will never give up their power.