Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

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Abominable

Major
Registered Member
Kich said:
The steel plant in Mariupol has lots of underground networks meant to withstand nuclear blast so Putin has ordered the military not to storm it. They will wait them out.
He called the assault unreasonable and that they will either surrender or starve to death.
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It would be crazy to assault it. Why risk the life of a single soldier? Just seal off the exits and flood the place.
 
FairAndUnbiased

FairAndUnbiased

Brigadier
Registered Member
Maikeru said:
In fact 2 fires in a day. Not necessarily related, but quite a coincidence.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1517172233629626368

On top of giving up on actually capturing Mariupol after 7 weeks of trying:

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Mariupol, the city, is already captured. Storming the tunnels under Azovstal is unnecessary when they can be starved out.

It is like saying Nazi Germany never occupied Warsaw because Polish resistance was still hiding in the sewers. And indeed, the Polish resistance was never starved out.
 
FairAndUnbiased

FairAndUnbiased

Brigadier
Registered Member
Kich said:
Very excellent discussions about the state of Russian navy especially from @gelgoog and @MarKoz81.

There is one factor I very much like to point to which when you think about it, will make you realize that Russia really doesn't need a Blue Water Navy like the US or China so although they will be set backs, their Navy modernization will be fine in the long-run.

This will be going slightly off-topic.

For Russia, it's main geopolitically issue that it had to deal with this past 2 decades and even the present decade was NATO's expansion into former soviet satellites. Ukraine was their red line and the West crossed it and now we have a war. However this war turns out, I believe Russia at minimum will capture the East or major parts of it and then the south to turn Ukraine into a landlocked state. That would be a victory because unlike East Germany, Russia WILL NEVER returned annex territories back to an independent Ukraine...ever. Ukraine will be ruin economically and the unsettled borders will prevent members like Germany and others from fully accepting it into NATO.

Russia doesn't need their Navy to deal with Ukraine. It doesn't require a powerful Navy to blockade a non-naval threat from Ukraine. It's possibly that hubris was what got their Moskva sunk. Russia just need their Army and Air Force to deal with their main and greatest geopolitically threat for this half century which was preventing Ukraine from falling into NATO's orbit. The Naval engagement was just a luxury and a chance to test new tactics and equipment like the Caliber cruise missiles or their new green water ships.

For most users here, compare to this China's main and greatest geopolitically issue; re-uniting with Taiwan. If this issue boils to a military confrontation, China needs all three main branches, Air, Army, and Naval forces to achieve this goal. The Naval and Air forces will have the hardest task of taking control of Taiwan air and naval space but also keeping potential third parties from coming to Taiwan's aid. This main geopolitical challenge facing China is why they've underwent an unprecedented modernization of air and naval forces these past 2 decades and counting.

War is a form of politics and for China they saw the need to have a blue water navy to counter US and Japan (and even others) in case war is needed to solve their main geopolitical issue for this half century which is Taiwan.

Russia is using war to solve it's main geopolitical issue for this half-century right now which is Ukraine and after they think they've solved it, the war will end. For them they realized a long time ago that they really didn't need the Navy's help in case that had to resort to war.
In fact, the one and only thing they really need their Navy for was always the 2nd strike nuclear capability from their SSBN against NATO and US. That is why that part of their Navy is the only part in great shape.

Russia doesn't need their Navy like the US and China does. In fact they only care about their subs. This explains why they've let their Navy slide so much. Russia is not going to be launching wars against US or western Europe. It will never happen. And with the protection of nukes, US and Western Europe likewise won't start anything against Russia. Ukraine was Russia's red line and now they are acting on it. They don't need a navy to deal with it.

It will be interesting to see what Russia does after it solves its main geopolitical issue for this half century. I think they will seek to spread their tentacles elsewhere globally like Africa or Middle East. Maybe then they will think about paying attention to their surface fleets.
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China has the unluckiness of needing to be strong on the ground, in the water, in the air and in space because of 3 critical theaters:

1. Taiwan
2. India
3. Korea

However it has the luck of it's navy being fully concentrated in 1 ocean and great natural barriers thanks to the Himalayas, southern jungles, northern deserts and forests.

Russia has the luck of being able to keep it's navy defensive. But it has the unluckiness of having it's navy divided among 4 oceans (Black Sea, Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific) that can't support each other because they have to sail around adversaries to do so.

Russia focuses on its Arctic and sub fleet not by choice but by necessity. It cannot be dominant in all 4 oceans it is involved in because it is too much money. It can only focus on 1-2 (historically, Arctic).

Russia also has the bad luck of no defensive barriers to the west where most of its adversaries are and most of its own population is.
 
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