The War in the Ukraine

tabu said:

The invasion of Russian territory has been prepared for a long time, but Ukrainian units do not plan to stay there for a long time, former Ukrainian Defence Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, who now advises the government, told the Financial Times.

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According to him, the operation has several goals. Among them are to distract Russian units from fighting in Ukraine itself and to show ordinary Russians that they can't get away from the war, thus discouraging them from supporting it.
In addition, a decisive operation by the AFU should demonstrate Russia's weaknesses, including its inability to defend its own border. Another goal is to retake the initiative on the battlefield after Ukraine failed to achieve meaningful results in its counteroffensive last year and this year had to cede twice as much territory as it liberated in 2023.
According to Zahorodnyuk, during the operation in Kursk Region, the units demonstrated the ability to implement "new tactics of general military combat" that were taught to them by Western instructors.

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That sounds dangerously close to endorsing war crimes against civilians, since civilians are meant to be left unharmed and protected by warring parties.

There are already allegations of war crimes being committed by Ukraine in Kursk. If those claims are substantiated and widespread, then Ukraine would not so much have shot themselves in the foot but blown both its legs away. Since such barbarism would open the door wide open for previously neutral parties to take a much more involved role on Russia’s side, as well as weaken the support of Ukraine’s already wavering western backers.

Also, as a general point, doing a war crimes against civilians tend to strengthen, not weaken their resolve to fight.

If descriptions above about high mobility, feints, and combined arms ambushes are correct, the tactics demonstrated do indicate a fairly large departure from former Soviet war fighting doctrines, though I wouldn't say they're "NATO tactics" as much as tactics invented in a NATO Ukraine war room, specifically for the circumstances under which they're fighting. Ukraine still doesn't and probably won't ever have air superiority even at a local scale, but it is making much better use of its seemingly superior intelligence gathering.

The ZSU opened another axis of advance, but this time in Belgorod.

Exclusive: Iran to deliver hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia soon, intel sources say

Dozens of Russian military personnel are being trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, two European intelligence sources told Reuters, adding that they expected the imminent delivery of hundreds of the satellite-guided weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Russian defence ministry representatives are believed to have signed a contract on Dec. 13 in Tehran with Iranian officials for the Fath-360 and another ballistic missile system built by Iran's government-owned Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO) called the Ababil, said the two intelligence officials, who requested anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters.

Citing multiple confidential intelligence sources, the officials said that Russian personnel have visited Iran to learn how to operate the Fath-360 defence system, which launches missiles with a maximum range of 120 km (75 miles) and a warhead of 150 kg. One of the sources said that that "the only next possible" step after training would be actual delivery o.f the missiles to Russia.

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Kich said:

Start posting comment about how Russia can't prosecute this war correctly and the mods here will threaten you with a ban.

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I am quite critical of the Russian army and have not been silenced or threatened with a ban. My comments are only removed when I leave the topic or when a discussion starts to take a different direction than the one initially discussed.

plawolf said:

That sounds dangerously close to endorsing war crimes against civilians, since civilians are meant to be left unharmed and protected by warring parties.

There are already allegations of war crimes being committed by Ukraine in Kursk. If those claims are substantiated and widespread, then Ukraine would not so much have shot themselves in the foot but blown both its legs away. Since such barbarism would open the door wide open for previously neutral parties to take a much more involved role on Russia’s side, as well as weaken the support of Ukraine’s already wavering western backers.

Also, as a general point, doing a war crimes against civilians tend to strengthen, not weaken their resolve to fight.

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ZELENSKY hopes that the operation in the Kursk region should show ordinary Russians that they can't get away from the war, thus discouraging them from supporting it.

But he hopes in vain. I don't even try to say this to my relatives in Russia, who are ordinary people, not businessmen, knowing that their response will be that - see, we were right when we said that if Putin hadn't started the SWO on 24 February, tomorrow Ukraine would have brought troops into Russia, concentrating them near its border.
We should also realise that there are Russians who benefit from the war in Ukraine, and they are not so few: the media once flashed such a figure of 20-25% of the country's population.
"The most important circumstance is that the majority of Russian citizens believed that V. Putin started a just war in defence of Russia's interests. The narrative that it was not us who attacked, but we were attacked, we just started it first, for all its absurdity, sounds convincing to the majority of Russian citizens. Hence the high level of support for the war."

Cult Icon said:

"The Russian military command appears to be relying on existing units deployed to the international border area and readily available forces in the rear, most of which are units staffed with conscripts and irregular forces, to address the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast."
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1. Russian conscripts, FSB border guards, and elements of Chechen "Akhmat" Spetsnaz units operating under the Russian MoD were reportedly operating in Kursk Oblast as of the beginning of the Ukrainian incursion.
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3. The Russian military command has reportedly transferred forces from unspecified operational reserves, additional units staffed by conscripts, Spetsnaz (Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff [GRU]), Special Operations Forces (SSO), additional Chechen "Akhmat" Spetsnaz operating under the Russian MoD, and the 1st Donetsk People's Republic Army Corps (DNR AC) and former Wagner Group personnel to unspecified areas of Kursk Oblast to defend against further Ukrainian advances and retake territory.

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Frickin idiots at ISW. Russia is not using conscripts. It is using volunteers. It is a contract army.

Akhmat and most other Spetsnaz units have been moved into Rosgvardiya and are under direct control of the Russian President. They are not under the MoD. They are not part of the Russian Armed Forces. Period.

The key point here is not that Ukraine can go on the offensive from time to time, it's that these offensives are getting smaller and smaller.

On another note, I saw a video claiming Russia is now able to use Iskander strikes against much more time sensitive targets due to improved automation and communication in their chain of command. How much truth is there to this?

gelgoog said:

Frickin idiots at ISW. Russia is not using conscripts. It is using volunteers. It is a contract army.

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Russia can use conscripts to fight in Kursk because the war is on Russian territory. This is literally what is .

They can use them, but they aren't using them. At least I heard nothing about it from official sources.