The War in the Ukraine
- Thread starter SampanViking
- Start date
Ukrainian MSTA-B howitzer taken out by Krasnopol by the 2nd Artillery Brigade in Seversk front.
Ukrainian vehicle taken out by Lancet in Volchansk.
Russian soldier with captured Czech rifle. BTR-82A crew after a successful ambush on Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.
Kozak-7 intercepted by FPV in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian forces stopped for a discussion somewhere in the Kursk region, not a good idea with a Russian drone setting it's target reticle on them.
A strike arrives at Kharkhiv at night.
Tor takes out a Ukrainian drone.
Another M270 HIMARS gets taken out somewhere in the Sumy region. It's transport carrying spare missiles was also taken out.
Humvee captured by elements of the 30th Brigade in the Pokrovsk direction.
Destroyed T-64BV with a mine trawl in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian vehicle gets taken out by Lancet in the Kursk region. Hiding in the bushes makes it difficult to identify but doesn't escape AI driven scans.
Giatsint-B of the VDV hits a Ukrainian gathering point and mortar site across the Dniepr.
Iran said to be supplying new missiles to Russia according to EU. It can be that Russia is battle testing Iranian ballistic missiles or this is just shipments of 122mm rockets for Grads.
Group Vostok apparently has broken through Prechystovka and might already be in mop up operations there.
UMPBs on the wing of an Su-34.
Burning Leopard 2A4 somewhere in the front.
M109 the 78th kill of it's type in the SMO.
Another Bradley found destroyed.
Russian MLRS strike destroys a Ukrainian ammo depot somewhere in the Kupyansk front by the 6th Army.
An arty strikes takes out a Ukrainian EW station.
Ukrainian transport intercepted by VT-40 drones.
Ukrainian vehicle taken out by Lancet in Volchansk.
Russian soldier with captured Czech rifle. BTR-82A crew after a successful ambush on Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.
Kozak-7 intercepted by FPV in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian forces stopped for a discussion somewhere in the Kursk region, not a good idea with a Russian drone setting it's target reticle on them.
A strike arrives at Kharkhiv at night.
Tor takes out a Ukrainian drone.
Another M270 HIMARS gets taken out somewhere in the Sumy region. It's transport carrying spare missiles was also taken out.
Humvee captured by elements of the 30th Brigade in the Pokrovsk direction.
Destroyed T-64BV with a mine trawl in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian vehicle gets taken out by Lancet in the Kursk region. Hiding in the bushes makes it difficult to identify but doesn't escape AI driven scans.
Giatsint-B of the VDV hits a Ukrainian gathering point and mortar site across the Dniepr.
Iran said to be supplying new missiles to Russia according to EU. It can be that Russia is battle testing Iranian ballistic missiles or this is just shipments of 122mm rockets for Grads.
Group Vostok apparently has broken through Prechystovka and might already be in mop up operations there.
UMPBs on the wing of an Su-34.
Burning Leopard 2A4 somewhere in the front.
M109 the 78th kill of it's type in the SMO.
Another Bradley found destroyed.
Russian MLRS strike destroys a Ukrainian ammo depot somewhere in the Kupyansk front by the 6th Army.
An arty strikes takes out a Ukrainian EW station.
Ukrainian transport intercepted by VT-40 drones.
faster response time i guess, the system seems to prove itself well to handle time critical targets for the Russians.
Japanese volunteer to Russia says lots of politically incorrect things.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
I feel there is more to it than just reduced kill chains. Iskander is hardly the only long range strike option available to Russian frontline commanders.
I personally think it’s a combination of many factors, with the biggest being Kursk and it’s aftermath, where Ukraine moved assets a lot closer to the front to support the invasion; and the subsequent collapse of the main Ukrainian defensive lines have both allowed the Russians to move the front closer to the traditional launch locations of M270s, and potentially also pushed them out of their old favoured positions.
I suspect they had a very elaborate network of coveted paths and maybe even tunnels and shell hangers etc prepared to allow launchers to rapidly break contact from Russian airborne surveillance assets. For example, they could have cut a path in a forest that maintained canopy cover but allowed the M270s to cut through or move significant distances from when they entered to ensure Russian strikes of entry points didn’t have much chance of hitting their targets. Such paths are time consuming to make, and if they launchers are moved/forced to a new location, they are unlikely to be available, leading to launchers being forced to hide close to entry points and thus get hit by the Russian strikes.
I also suspect there to be meaningful Chinese back end software/hardware assistance in helping the Russians to better share intel between recon and strike assets to allow the kill chain to be reduced so much compared to the start of the war.
I personally think it’s a combination of many factors, with the biggest being Kursk and it’s aftermath, where Ukraine moved assets a lot closer to the front to support the invasion; and the subsequent collapse of the main Ukrainian defensive lines have both allowed the Russians to move the front closer to the traditional launch locations of M270s, and potentially also pushed them out of their old favoured positions.
I suspect they had a very elaborate network of coveted paths and maybe even tunnels and shell hangers etc prepared to allow launchers to rapidly break contact from Russian airborne surveillance assets. For example, they could have cut a path in a forest that maintained canopy cover but allowed the M270s to cut through or move significant distances from when they entered to ensure Russian strikes of entry points didn’t have much chance of hitting their targets. Such paths are time consuming to make, and if they launchers are moved/forced to a new location, they are unlikely to be available, leading to launchers being forced to hide close to entry points and thus get hit by the Russian strikes.
I also suspect there to be meaningful Chinese back end software/hardware assistance in helping the Russians to better share intel between recon and strike assets to allow the kill chain to be reduced so much compared to the start of the war.
Response time is cut from about six hours to under two minutes. That's pretty drastic.
I think the one calling the shots is the Iskander detachment itself. I think there's only few of such highly specialized and skilled detachments, but one in particular that's causing all the kills, first in the Dnipropetrovosk region against air bases and HIMARS, then all these kills in the Sumy. That would be the notorious Grom-Kaskad, formerly Obtf Kaskad. Kaskad has been the prototype of drone using special forces detachment that's now widely adopted throughout the Russian Army, in particular the use of the Lancet and Krasnopol, then later FPV drones and quadcopter drops. When that's done, along with the work from the Sparta and Somali Battalion, more drone and UAV detachments sprung up, each attached to various brigades and the divisions. After this, Kaskad was reformed into an Iskander unit, from which its name changed to Grom-Kaskad.
Grom-Kaskad was later moved from South Donetsk to the Kursk region.
Of course, not all responses are under two minutes. The drones like to quietly track the launcher back to their hiding places and hangers. If it's a hanger you got the jackpot because there are other vehicles, crew, maintenance staff, inventory of missiles. Once the hanger is identified, boom, here it comes.
HIMARS are usually marked with two escorting vehicles. One carries personnel, the other a truck carrying rockets. That distinguishes them from another MLRS like a Grad.
Radars, whether it's air defense or counterbattery, once they detected the missiles or projectiles, the drone detachment will route a UAV (Orlan, Zala, Orion, Forpost, Supercam, etc,.) towards the suspected spot. Once the target is spotted and seen, you have the appropriate response to it, like artillery and MLRS units getting a dose of Lancet or Krasnopol.
Speaking of which...
Russians hit a military institute of communications in Poltava. Lots of killed, based on the online orbituaries. Zelensky himself said 41 killed, more than 180 woulnded. The Ukrainian interwebs are alleging 600-700 killed and wounded.
More than 600 killed or wounded allegedly.
Blood donations urgently needed in Poltava.
LMUR sent into a mine entrance on Yuzhnodonbasskaya no. 1 which was being used as a fire site.
Su-34 carrying bombs with the new extended range UMPK. These glide bombs headed to targets in the Kursk region.
The 810rd Marines conducted another bloody ambush on a Ukrainian column in the Kursk region. Will post when a suitably rated footage is edited.
'Grand Palace' hotel complex in Zaporozhye gets hit. Up to 50 personnel may have been killed. As mentioned before, hotels are where foreign advisers and mercenaries congregate and check in. Strikes are night, hence thermal UAV images, when the foreigners are sleeping.
Rockets from a Czech Vampire MLRS traced back to it's launcher in the Sumy region. The Vampire gets taken out by a Krasnopol.
Counterbattery duel. A Giatsint-S 152mm SPG of the 305th Artillery Regiment of Group Vostok takes out a 2S22 Bogdana 155mm SPG.
TOS and MLRS arriving at Ukrainian positions in Vodayne. Usually a prelude to a direct assault.
Russian forces captured Druzhba.
Prechystovka has fallen to the Russians. That was quick.
AFU vehicle taken out in Bohuslavka. Possibly a Krasnopol strike.
Krasnopol strikes including an L119 howitzer, AS-90 SPG, mortar, APC. 1st Tank Army in Kharkhiv region.
Swedes possibly killed in the Poltava strike. They were there to train Ukrainians for the ASC-890 AEW aircraft.
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Some of the pro-Rus telegram accounts are talking that several Swedish instructors for the Saab 340 AEW&C were in that facility