Ukraine war mega thread

[bsnub]

Captured Russian documents reveal Moscow's 10-day plan to take over the country and kill its leaders

Just like that, another one of sabangs lies gets blown up.

[sabang]

What a hoot. No ten day plan is required if joe falls up the stairs again.

[sabang]

Kitty et al, there is a thing known as simple battlefield maths. The Russian column was less than 30% the size of an Army required to storm a city the size of Kiev (even ignoring it's status as the Capitol). That is not why they were there.

[bsnub]

What a bunch of nonsense.

[bsnub]

The Russian column was less than 30% the size of an Army required to storm a city the size of Kiev

Do you have any credible sources to back that nonsense up? A forty-mile convoy is not enough? Ya right. You have proven to be clueless about all things military over the years, so I would have to say you have no idea what you are talking about and are probably quoting some ridiculous propaganda source.

That is not why they were there.

BS. They were there to take Kyiv and the VDV was the lead force who was going to storm the presidential palace, arrest Zelensky and seize control of the country. That is a well documented reality.

You are really pumping out the lies today.

[sabang]

That is a well documented reality.

Really? Then of course you will be able to back up this 'well documented reality' from a Russian source- over to you. Meanwhile, the simple battlefield maths still applies- and people like Scott Ritter explained it ages ago. But of course child, you are just trying to divert from the awkward fact that Russia is winning this war, and all of your predictions and war porn turned out for shit.


FAIL.

[sabang]

So, back to the meat of the matter. Any comment on this article, from the Financial Times of London?:-


By Henry Foy,

Henry Foy


Add to myFT
EUROPEAN DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

Henry Foy is the FT's European Diplomatic Correspondent, based in Brussels. He reports on the EU's foreign policy, relations between Brussels and other world powers, and the diplomatic intrigues between member states.


Henry is also the lead writer of Europe Express, the FT’s agenda-setting weekday newsletter on European affairs. Sign up here
Previously he was Moscow Bureau Chief, where he interviewed president Vladimir Putin and charted his regime's descent into repression. He has also been posted in Warsaw and London. Henry joined the FT in 2013 from Reuters, where he was a correspondent in India.

https://www.ft.com/henry-foy
15/2/23-


A Year of War has left Europe's Armouries Dry
________________________
Jens Stoltenberg chooses his words carefully. The strait-laced Norwegian secretary-general of Nato is famous for his ability to stick rigidly to talking points. So when he warned this week that the west’s “under strain” defence sector had “a problem”, he meant it.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is almost a year old. Tens of thousands have been killed. Western governments have provided more than $110bn worth of support to Kyiv, according to the Kiel Institute, with $38bn in the form of weapons.

But in many capitals, defence ministers are being informed by their generals that there is precious little left to give. Warehouses and dumps are bare. Denmark has given Ukraine every single one of its Caesar howitzers. Estonia has provided so many 155mm artillery guns it has none left.

As such, the conversations between western defence ministers who met at Nato’s headquarters this week and who will congregate at the Munich Security Conference this weekend are littered with furrowed brows and anxious looks: how long can we sustain this level of support, and with what?

Looming over them is Russia’s spring offensive, which Stoltenberg said had already begun. It is expected to involve a mass wave of newly mobilised troops, a level of air power not yet deployed by Moscow, and the daily firing of as many artillery shells as Europe manufacturers in a month.

“It is worrying what is coming,” admitted Kajsa Ollongren, the Netherlands’ defence minister.

She described “a sense of urgency” among her fellow Nato ministers this week. “[It is] a critical moment because of what we see happening on the ground and what we expect to be happening in the next few months.”

“Also, thinking a little bit ahead, a serious scenario is of course that this war will drag on for a long time,” she added.

Europe responded to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion with initial disbelief. Capitals that had previously declared he had no plans to do so then duly predicted Kyiv would fall in days.

But that rapidly gave way to a level of unity and support that defied both expectations and past form. Armies starved of funding by governments that had long dismissed the notion of war in Europe dug deep, and within weeks arms were flowing east across the Polish-Ukrainian border (as refugees flowed the other way).

But almost 12 months of gruelling war, in which Putin’s troops have targeted both civilian infrastructure and military targets, has placed immense pressure on Europe’s ill-prepared defence sector.

Europe’s factories are barely able to make enough shells to supply a week’s worth of Ukraine’s needs. Waiting times for some munitions have more than doubled.

Stocks of Soviet equipment held by eastern Nato states, which Ukraine’s soldiers know how to use, have been exhausted. Decisions to send new types of western-made weapons — such as armoured vehicles — are met with fanfare but are followed by weeks and months of delays as armies realise how much refurbishment they require.

“It’s not going well for the Ukrainians. They are short of everything,” said Judy Dempsey, non-resident senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. “Ukraine really needs the means [to fight back], but they aren’t getting it.”

“[The Europeans] are fully behind the Ukrainians. But it’s not enough,” said Dempsey. “You don’t question the political will to support Ukraine, but the actual ability to deliver enough, and quick enough.”

The answer, according to most officials, is large, long-term contracts with defence manufacturers, initially for the war effort but with pledges from European governments to keep buying even when peace comes to Ukraine. Such conversations will dominate Munich, too.

Estonia’s defence minister proposed to his counterparts this week that donor countries combine to sign a €‎4bn contract to procure 1mn artillery rounds, as a test case for joint purchases that give defence contractors the security to invest in new capacities.

Seven European countries, including the UK, Norway and Denmark, announced on Wednesday a jointly funded £200mn package of direct contracts between Ukraine and western defence manufacturers for supplies, including artillery ammunition and spare parts for tanks.

Nato, for its part, late last year ordered all its members to perform a snap check of their inventories. It is now using the results to target individual governments and push them to sign new production contracts.

“We’re not just sitting there idle and watching this happening,” said Stoltenberg this week, suggesting that factories add shifts and “even work during weekends”.

The problem, of course, is that Russia’s war economy has been running for at least a year. Europe, meanwhile, is just getting into gear.

***
Henry Foy is the FT’s European Diplomatic Correspondent, based in Brussels. He reports on the EU’s foreign policy, relations between Brussels and other world powers, and the diplomatic intrigues between member states.

Henry is also the lead writer of Europe Express, the FT’s agenda-setting weekday newsletter on European affairs. Sign up here

Previously he was Moscow Bureau Chief, where he interviewed president Vladimir Putin and charted his regime’s descent into repression. He has also been posted in Warsaw and London. Henry joined the FT in 2013 from Reuters, where he was a correspondent in India.



There is an old saying you know:-

The people who administer the country read the Guardian
The people who run the country, The Times.
The people who own the country, read the FT.

[bsnub]

Then of course you will be able to back up this 'well documented reality' from a Russian source- over to you.

Right after you reveal your "source" for shit bullshit claim...

Meanwhile, the simple battlefield maths still applies

Scott Ritter

Ah know we see. The pedophile again.

you are just trying to divert from the awkward fact that Russia is winning this war

Look, you are really looking bad in this thread today. Honestly, I feel sorry for you (not). I rattled off a long list of major Ukrainian victories in the war, and you struggled to come up with but a few for the ruzzians. All of them happened in the first few months of the war.

Over the last nine months, all ruzzia has done is lose and give up ground. Yet you claim they are winning. You are really entertaining, for a circus monkey.

[bsnub]

So, back to the meat of the matter. Any comment on this article, from the Financial Times of London

Oh my, now you are reposting the shit opinion piece the mods already deleted, a jailable offense on TD. Let me give you a hint, it is complete shit. The article never mentions the US. The Arsenal of Democracy was omitted from your shit opinion piece.

The US will never let Ukraine run out of weapons and ammunition. Your meltdown today continues.

[sabang]

It is from the Financial Times of London, FFS. That makes the WSJ look junior, junior. I realise the average TD reader does not read the FT (or WSJ).
Do not mistake it for propaganda.

So- do you have a pertinent comment, or just more kiddy stuff?


(P.s:- The Financial Times (est. 1888) is not prone to Meltdown.)

[bsnub]

It is an opinion piece. It is not news, and it was already deleted by the mods.

Opinion

Global Insight

A year of war in Ukraine has left Europe’s armouries dry

It is not Europe's armories that will be supplying 95% of Ukraine's armaments, it is the Arsenal of Democracy that will be doing that. A point that was skipped over in your shit opinion piece.

Once again, you are having an epic meltdown today trying to deflect from the reality that ruzzia is losing the war.

[sabang]

So, the august Financial Times of London publishes the news that Europe's armouries are running dry- and snubski is butthurt.
(P.S:- I cannot actually remember when Arsenal FC last won a Premiership, or when the Arsenal of Democracy last won a war.)

[sabang]

^ Excuse me, but seeing as I have just had a piece from the FT of London (one of the World's most respected journalistic sources) thrown into the Megathread, how on earth can this be purported to be News?

Is it OK then if I paste a piece informing you that the Russian MS400 anti-missile system has a range considerably longer than the US Patriot system? Is that OK for the News thread?

Please advise Mods, because I am genuinely confused here.

[bsnub]

he august Financial Times of London publishes the news that Europe's armouries are running dry

You really are a loathsome troll. It has been pointed out that you are posting an opinion piece in the news. Furthermore, it was already deleted by the mods.

and snubski is butthurt.

Far from it. You have been the source of many LOL's today. I witnessed an epic meltdown on your part in which you posted a ton of bullshit and lies. Utterly laughable and pathetic.

You have been on a bender, of which I am sure and now almost 11pm where you are, so you are deep in the cheap vino, but I have a hunch you have been drunk all day as it is the only way to justify the epic level of shitposting you have been doing over the last 24 hours.

[bsnub]

how on earth can this be purported to be News?

It is news you epic fuckwit it is reporting on new arms that are being sent to Ukraine.

Russian MS400 anti-missile system has a range considerably longer than the US Patriot system?

That would be horseshit and not factual, so ya, not a valid comparison. The S-400 has proven to be complete shit and can not even intercept HIMARS missiles.

Please advise Mods, because I am genuinely confused here.

No you are just a drunk moron having an epic meltdown.

[sabang]

Oh, so now quoting the Financial Times of London (est. 1888) is shitposting. EPIC FAIL.
Most of their stuff the great unwashed do not get to see, because it is hidden behind a not cheap paywall.

You can be in denial, and as bitterly abusive for as long as you like child- it only exposes your butthurt and paucity of rational argument. Ukraine is losing this war, and the West is running short of ammo and munitions.

[misskit]

Read it yourself, sabang. It is an editorial on the opinion page.

The FT View | Financial Times

[sabang]

Challenges From Ukraine’s Shift to NATO Artillery: British Army Out of Serviceable Mobile Guns After Donating All


The British Army no longer fields any serviceable AS-90 self-propelled artillery guns, after all units were donated to the Ukrainian Military, leaving the future of the service’s artillery regiments in question.

The local paper The Sun was among several sources to highlight regarding the consequences: “The decision to give them away has stripped two Royal Artillery regiments, based on Salisbury Plain, Wilts, of all their working weapons... If gunners don’t have guns we can’t fight, we can’t train.” Produced from 1992-1995, the Vickers AS-90 was operated solely by two Royal Artillery Regiments before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian War, and saw combat solely in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent occupation.

The 155mm guns were produced on a small scale, and have very mediocre ranges, but are compatible with ammunition from across other NATO members. Ukraine by contrast primarily operated 152mm artillery before receiving a wide range of Western guns as aid. Supplies of Western artillery have had only a limited impact due to the massive scale that Ukraine already fielded these assets before the war began, in far greater numbers than any other European country, with the Ukrainians deploying one gun for every 85 troops compared to one for every 235 troops the much smaller British Army.

FULL- https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/british-army-out-of-serviceable-mobile-artillery-after-donating-all-to-ukraine-challenges-from-ukraine-s-shift-to-nato-gun-calibers

[sabang]

I can deal with that- albeit an authoritative opinion that gives us News such as the fact Denmark has now donated all of it's Caesar Howitzers, and Estonia all of it's 155mm artillery. That is not Opinion.

But how then does some piece of warporn compliments of snubski, that some donated munition has a range of 50km behind enemy lines, qualify as 'News' if this doesn't? I am genuinely, really confused.

[misskit]

Also from the Financial Times.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in maps — latest updates | Financial Times

[sabang]

^ That's good- and no paywall. The owners of the country don't want bullshit- that is for Sun readers.

[Troy]

I would advise that you take this video with a large grain of salt. Radar detection and fire control, together with ECM and ECCM, is a lot more complicated than this simplified description. All surface to air weapon systems are treated with a great deal of respect by all air forces. Actual combat is not the time to Burn & Learn!

[bsnub]

I would advise that you take this video with a large grain of salt.

Point taken, but it should be noted that Ukraine has captured intact S-400 systems. When sensitive weapons systems are captured, the Ukrainians always share them with the US, so you can bet that the US has taken this system apart so that it will be able to create countermeasures.

Reddit - Dive into anything

[bsnub]

militarywatchmagazine.com

Another BS propaganda site.

How credible or non-credible is Military Watch Magazine?

There's no editorial review and much of what they publish is filled with errors. I believe it's some Indian guy's blog presented as a "magazine"

This makes a lot of sense. Some stuff is coming word for word from Russia Today. They have lots if stuff that has said Ukraine was going to surrender in a week and how the F35 is being outperformed by both Russian and Chinese warplanes. It basically is an Indian guy making some wishful thinking about their ally Russia because they don’t like how we are arming Pakistan and the superior stuff Pakistan has is outperforming India (think of how their migs got wrecked by f16s). It also makes sense with how badly run the page is and the graphics and organization is. It’s basically a badly run Russian troll farm that people can “cite to” on twitter.

Well - indeed - I just stumbled into the militarywatch site and my first though was this must be getting run the Russians - but then I though its perhaps a tiny bit subtle for those lumbering fools - So hearing its the rabid imaginings of a depressed Indian kind of makes sense .

Reddit - Dive into anything

QUESTIONABLE SOURCE

A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing of credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.

• Overall, we rate Military Watch Magazine Right-Center Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of pro-Russian propaganda and a complete lack of transparency regarding who is in charge of the website and where they originate.

Military Watch Magazine - Media Bias/Fact Check

[sabang]

What sort of questionable sources were saying that Ukraine would take the whole of 'Ukraine' including Crimea by last Christmas? I go by results, not perceived political affiliation.