Ukraine war mega thread

[bsnub]

The paved T-506 Highway into Bahkmut is wide open and basically uncontested....

https://twitter.com/MalcontentmentT/...94608339619842

Where are the ruzzians?



It ain't looking good for the TD dims. Shilling is hard work and all.

[OhOh]

what did everyone do

[Hugh Cow]

Hopefully reinforced commitments to Ukraine. Which they did.

Russia is getting its shit packed in. This shit is happening on a daily basis...

https://twitter.com/SerDer_Daniels/s...53073799053319

Quite sad really. Like lambs to the slaughter. They even obliged by staying in place long enough for the artillery to pin point their range. One wonders what the NCOs were thinking... Not a lot. How the Russian army took Crimea really shows the state of the Ukrainian army in 2014 and how far it has come and how far the Russian field command is behind the West.

[bsnub]

One wonders what the NCOs were thinking... Not a lot.

Russia does not employ NCO's they way western armies do, they are stuck with shit Soviet doctrine which has a top-down command structure. A big reason why they are getting shredded on the battlefield.

[bsnub]

How the Russian army took Crimea

They were unopposed for the most part.

the state of the Ukrainian army in 2014 and how far it has come

Since 2014 the Ukrainians have been converting to NATO doctrine which means they have developed strong NCO's cores which make a massive difference on the battlefield.

how far the Russian field command is behind the West.

They are so far removed from western capabilities it is utterly laughable. They are closer to Saddam's old Iraqi army than to a NATO force. It should be reminded that the Chinese have the same shit soviet command structure.

[HermantheGerman]

So Finland is in Nato now. They have been preparing.

Finland announces decision to buy David's Sling system from Israel

Finland's announcement came immediately after admission to NATO was granted.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Published: APRIL 6, 2023 09:28



Finland announces decision to buy David's Sling system from Israel - The Jerusalem Post

[bsnub]

Great analysis here...

[panama hat]

Great analysis here...

Credit where credit is due, one managed to accidentally crash into a drone

[bsnub]

one managed to accidentally crash into a drone

Drunken incompetence, no doubt.

[bsnub]

Ukraine is one step closer to having at least some parts of its skies protected by Patriot air defense systems.After a little more than three months, the first cadre of 65 Ukrainian air defense troops arrived back in Europe this week after training on Patriot air defense systems at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to the Pentagon. Those troops began training on Jan. 15.

“They're integrating with other Ukrainian Air defenders along with donated Patriot air defense equipment from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, told reporters Thursday. “Once in Ukraine, the Patriot air defense system will add to Ukraine's layered air defenses to provide protection and shield from Russia's wanton, brutal attacks on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

The training at Fort Sill went "faster than expected," Ryder told reporters earlier this month.

Those troops will then move on to Europe for additional training on the two Patriot systems – one American and one donated by the Germans and Dutch – that will be deployed to Ukraine in the coming weeks, U.S. defense officials told reporters at Fort Sill last week.

Germany had initially promised Ukraine a Patriot system, but both CNN and Politico reported Tuesday that it will consist of components from German and Dutch systems.

Ryder didn’t offer any timeline on when the U.S.-promised MIM-104 Patriot air defense system will arrive in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, he told reporters at the Pentagon that delivery of the Patriot battery will be “expedited.”

But he did not offer specifics.

“So for operations security reasons, I'm not going to get into delivery timelines other than to say we're confident that we'll be able to get the Patriots there on an expedited timeline,” Ryder said. “I'll just leave it at that."

During an interview published by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said none of the promised systems have yet been delivered.

“We have great decisions about Patriots, but we don’t have them for real,” he told AP.

Ukraine needs 20 Patriot batteries to protect against Russian missiles, and even that may not be enough “as no country in the world was attacked with so many ballistic rockets,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that a European nation sent another air defense system to Ukraine, but it didn’t work and they “had to change it again and again.” He did not name the country.

Though Patriots are “capable of intercepting cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft, it's important to put the Patriot battery in context," a senior U.S. defense official told reporters, including from The War Zone on Dec. 21, the day Zelensky was in Washington D.C. to hear from U.S. President Joe Biden that the Patriots were officially promised to Ukraine.

“For air defense, there is no silver bullet. Our goal is to help Ukraine strengthen a layered integrated approach to air defense that will include Ukraine's own legacy capabilities as well as NATO standard systems. Patriot will complement a range of medium- and short-range air defense capabilities that we have provided and the allies have provided in prior donation packages.”

In addition to the Patriot training, more than 7,000 Ukrainian troops have been trained by U.S. European Command, U.S. Army Europe and the Security Assistance Group Ukraine since Russia launched its all-out war, Ryder said.

By the end of this month, Ryder added, more than 4,000 Ukrainian troops who have been training in two brigades - one on Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the other on Stryker armored vehicles - will have returned to Ukraine after completing combined arms training in Germany.

Additional combined arms training is currently underway at the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas in Germany, with two motorized infantry battalions consisting of 1,200 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, said Ryder.

Operator and maintenance training on donated platforms is also ongoing, he said, “with more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers having completed platform training in 40 different programs of instruction on more than 20 systems since April of 2022.”

Training for Ukrainian forces “is an international effort being conducted in partnership with our coalition partners, who are currently training another 11,000 Ukrainian soldiers across 26 different nations,” Ryder said.

Though the training was designed to help Ukrainians become proficient at combined arms maneuvers, Ryder declined to say whether it is geared toward a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“I'm not going to talk about potential future operations,” he said. “I'm not gonna talk about timelines.”

Before we dive into the latest updates from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can get caught up on our previous rolling coverage here.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...val-draws-near

[Backspin]

American M113's boinked



https://twitter.com/mdfzeh/status/16...274371584?s=20

[bsnub]

American M113's boinked

Did you wet yourself? An M113 is an ancient piece of kit, you moron. We can do this all day, but I can find more ruzzian carnage than you can find Ukrainian...

[David48atTD]

If you like the Anti-Tank gear ...

[misskit]

Russian Draftees Sold Like Cattle to Wagner Group, Families Say

Dozens of Russian draftees were reportedly rounded up in the middle of the night on Russian territory and driven across the border to Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where they say they were locked in an old factory and “sold” like cattle to the notorious Wagner Group.


That’s according to a new report from Astra, which spoke with family members and reviewed text and audio messages from some of the men. All in all, more than 100 draftees were allegedly scooped up in the bizarre bait and switch.

The troops were reportedly told they would be going to the Rostov region for training to serve in territorial defenses, but were instead packed into vehicles and dumped in a railway car repair plant in Stakhanov last week.


“They’re already herding us around at gunpoint, that’s it, the turning of the screws has started. Representatives of Wagner arrived with weapons, there are about 30 of them,” one of the soldiers was quoted telling his family by phone.


He went on to warn that “people with weapons” were about to take the draftees’ phones away.

Some of the draftees were forced to sign contracts with Wagner, but told they would be forming their own private military group called the “Wolves,” according to the report.


“We don’t have a choice. Those who said ‘no’ – they’ve already been taken away and I don’t know what is happening to them now. Wagner arrived. You see, they don’t give a fuck, they’ll kill us and dump us in the field and that’s it,” another soldier reportedly told relatives.


Bizarrely, the former president of the Russian-backed “republic” of South Ossetia allegedly arrived to help break the resistance of those who refused to sign contracts. Widely circulated video purportedly shows Anatoly Bibilov cursing out the dissenters.


“You need to think with your fucking heads, guys! … We will not disgrace those who remain on the battlefield! We will win this fucking war! And what will you have to be proud of? What will you say? How will you justify yourselves? … Who will protect the country?” reportedly Bibilov said, calling one soldier who spoke up a “coward” before challenging him to fight.


Fifty seven out of 170 draftees agreed to sign contracts with Wagner and then left the plant, Astra reports, while 113 stood their ground and were subsequently transported elsewhere in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Their phones were reportedly confiscated and family members have no idea what happened to them.


https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...s-say?ref=home

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Ukraine war: Leak shows Western special forces on the ground
"The UK is among a number of countries with military special forces operating inside Ukraine, according to one of dozens of documents leaked online.It confirms what has been the subject of quiet speculation for over a year "
Ukraine war: Leak shows Western special forces on the ground - BBC News

[panama hat]

Dozens of Russian draftees were reportedly rounded up in the middle of the night on Russian territory and driven across the border to Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where they say they were locked in an old factory and “sold” like cattle to the notorious Wagner Group.

How utterly despicable . . .

[Troy]

^^ TBH, I was surprised how few were reported in the leaked documents. Only 50 special forces from UK and 14 from US with a total of around 90 from NATO countries.

I would have expected greater numbers, acting as military advisors.

[Switch]

Any SF involvement will not be made public.

[David48atTD]

Former top Kremlin economic advisor Sergei Guriev says Western sanctions are working but warned that the billions Putin still gets will be used to kill Ukrainians.
The Russian economist, who fled Moscow in 2013, says the price cap on Russian oil appears to be working, meaning less money for the Kremlin to buy military technology from third countries like India, China and Turkey.

But while Russian technocrats are working to keep the economy afloat, “they help Putin to continue destroying Russia's future.”
Asked about whether Putin has changed his long-term goals, Guriev, now a professor at Sciences Po in Paris, says the president has always been corrupt: “He's not an empire builder - he's more of a palace builder.”

[NamPikToot]

Former top Kremlin economic advisor Sergei Guriev says Western sanctions are working

most of their oil still finds its way to market having been washed through middlemen and third party suppliers.

[bsnub]

most of their oil still finds its way to market having been washed through middlemen and third party suppliers.

They will soon have problems with extraction. Most of the oil in ruzzia is not easy to extract, and every major oil and gas company has left the country. So as more time passes, more and more we will see how fucked ruzzia is.

The useful idiots will be in soon to say that ruzzia has the strongest economy in the world, of course.

[bsnub]

On this day last year, April 14th, Ukrainian Neptune missiles sank the ruzzian warship Moskva.

[panama hat]

A nice memory

[bsnub]

A nice memory

Enjoy this recently released vid of the actual launch and the end result, I think you will find it most enjoyable, especially the last part...

https://twitter.com/Teoyaomiquu/stat...45907364626432

[bsnub]