If he intends to make fun of the Russians. He should open his telegram channel for all to see so we laugh together.
Otherwise it is just "trust me bro" level plausability, likely propaganda.
The War in the Ukraine
- Thread starter SampanViking
- Start date
If he intends to make fun of the Russians. He should open his telegram channel for all to see so we laugh together.
Otherwise it is just "trust me bro" level plausability, likely propaganda.
Calling the same action differently on both side indicating the purpose to shape the view of the reader.
Liars lie, and liars are not trusted, they are the evils.
It is part of the dehumanisation process, used by the propagandist.
What has me thinking is almost primitive artillery usage by both sides
1- Limited smoke round usage
2- Limited cluster round usage (remember neither side is a party to cluster munition ban)
3- Limited use of guided rounds
4- No MRSI
5- Little to no close support and counterbattery. Artillery is mostly used at bombing fixed locations and at short ranges. Exceptions exist but this is the usual affair.
6- Towed howitzers survive as good as SPGs. This is caused by the previous point.
7- Lack of PROX fuses in most rounds! People easily survive in crowded and simple trenches.
8- Little to no mechanization in munitions handling.
9- No dispersed batteries. Guns are arranged close to each other side-to-side.
10- Generally slow targeting if non-organic assets are involved. Accoding to RUSI publications if Russian artillery observers or UAVs find a target, it takes 3-4 mins for Russian artillery to attack there. If it is the infantry, EW, aviation or radar who finds the target, it takes 4 hours. This is absurdly slow. Counter battery reaction is faster than 2 mins in NATO exercises. Granted, exercise doesn't equal war but 4 hours is not comparable to 2 minutes. Ukraine is no better.
11- Widespread use of semi-targeted suppressing fires. This is why you see those moonscape photos.
Just like you I am not impressed by the Russian military at all. The problem is not their hardware. None of the problems I listed are caused by the lack of tech. Russia manufactures proximity fuses, SPGs, guided rounds, data links... The problem is the organisation
KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion is gradually strengthening as its army grows and . Sergii Marchenko’s problem is how to pay for it all.
The Ukrainian finance minister is struggling with a yawning gap between the cost of the war and depressed tax revenues in . Ukraine’s Western supporters—particularly the European Union—are help only slowly.
Ukraine’s central bank is having to make up the difference, printing money so the government can pay soldiers’ salaries and buy arms and ammunition. That is , the hryvnia, pushing up inflation and raising fears that fragile finances could undermine Ukraine’s ability to sustain its war effort.
“Every day and night it’s a constant headache,” said Mr. Marchenko, a 41-year-old economist and government veteran picked as finance minister by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine was one of Europe’s poorest countries before the war, in terms of per-capita income. Several economic crises have set it back, while other Eastern European countries have joined the EU and grown strongly. Ukraine’s aspirations to reorient its economy westward, and Russia’s resistance, are among the causes of the conflict.
Ukraine’s economic output plunged after Russia invaded in February, with monthly gross domestic product falling by close to half in March as businesses shut down and .
Russia’s strategy for subjugating Ukraine includes suffocating its economy. Russian missiles have destroyed factories, oil refineries and other economic infrastructure. Russia’s navy has blockaded the Black Sea, choking off Ukrainian exports. A Turkish-brokered deal to is beginning to offer partial relief.
With Ukraine’s defenders , the economy is showing signs of stabilizing at a depressed level. The government expects GDP for this year to be around 30% lower than last year. But the economy depends on how the military effort fares, just as sustaining the war depends on bolstering Kyiv’s finances.
Lack of money threatens to become Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel. Before the war, the government’s budget was roughly balanced. Now, tax revenues only cover around 40% of government spending. War costs are more than 60% of the budget. Mr. Marchenko has cut nonessential spending to the bone.
The government needs about $5 billion a month to cover nonmilitary spending. Western governments have with grants and loans, leaving Kyiv able to use more of its own resources for the war.
But Western governments’ total pledges of fall short of Kyiv’s needs. And disbursements are lagging behind promises.
Mr. Marchenko spends much of his time urging Western governments to act faster. “The support we get now gives us the opportunity to win this war and to do it sooner rather than later,” he said. “Without this money, the war will last longer and it will damage economies more.”
On Wednesday, he received some good news: Ukraine’s international bondholders approved his proposal to . The bond standstill, together with a similar agreement with official creditors last month, will save Kyiv around $5.9 billion over the next two years. But that only covers a small part of the financial shortfall.
Ukrainian officials say the U.S. and U.K. are delivering on their funding pledges, but they are frustrated that the EU’s promised support has become caught up in internal wrangling between Germany and the bloc’s executive, the European Commission.
Only €1 billion out of €9 billion, equivalent to $9.3 billion, promised by Brussels has arrived so far. Germany, which sent Ukraine a separate bilateral grant of €1 billion in June, objected to the commission’s plan to offer low-interest loans backed by guarantees from EU member states. Discussion about whether to offer grants or loans, and how to share the burden, has dragged on all summer. The commission says it is working on a new proposal.
Ukraine doesn’t have time for the EU’s long debates, said Rostyslav Shurma, economic adviser to Mr. Zelensky. “If we acted this slowly, the Russians would be at the Polish border by now.”
“They don’t feel the war. That’s the problem. The only thing they feel in the EU is high prices,” said Mr. Shurma.
To cover its shortfall, the government is offering war bonds to its citizens, but the population’s savings are limited. Many Ukrainians are living off their savings, including millions who are refugees.
Most of the gap is being covered by central-bank money printing. “It was a very painful decision for us,” said Sergiy Nikolaychuk, deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.
The central bank strengthened its political independence in 2015, as part of reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund after Ukraine’s last economic and financial crisis, which followed and covert invasion of the eastern Donbas region in 2014. Since then, the National Bank has followed an orthodox anti-inflation policy. But when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February, the bank had to choose between orthodoxy or saving the government from bankruptcy.
“We had no choice. Otherwise there would be a collapse of the public finances,” said Mr. Nikolaychuk. The bank prints money and buys government bonds, depending on how much Western financial aid arrives each month. Heavy money printing in June put the hryvnia’s exchange rate under pressure, leading the central bank to devalue the currency against the dollar in July. The hryvnia’s value has fallen about 30% since the war began, pushing up inflation via the cost of imports. Inflation is over 20% and rising.
If Western governments disbursed around $3 billion a month, the National Bank could keep its money printing to a manageable level, said Mr. Nikolaychuk.
The National Bank is pressing the government to raise taxes and cut spending to help protect financial stability. Mr. Marchenko doesn’t see much scope for that.
“Sometimes we have a different point of view from the National Bank,” said Mr. Marchenko. “We have to worry about winning the war. It is better to risk high inflation than not to pay soldiers’ salaries.”
Mr. Marchenko is planning for a long war, and how to pay for it next year too. “This is a war of attrition. You have to think in these terms, to think about 2022 and 2023. It’s a marathon.”
The government is in talks with the IMF about a new loan program, and last week sent the fund a formal proposal. An IMF program would help give Ukraine’s plans credibility and encourage Western governments to step up their financial support, Mr. Marchenko hopes. “Without an IMF program, it will be very tricky to look at 2023,” he said.
The difficulty facing IMF staff is how to predict Ukraine’s financial needs when much depends on how successful its army is against the Russians. “It’s a question of the reliability of data and forecasts. It’s not easy to construct a program with a country in a war,” Mr. Marchenko said.
Ukrainian trench under Russian artillery fire :
Whooo! what a genius!
UA nazi Dmytro Korchynsky : "Yes, it's a risk. Many people will suffer, but even more people will suffer if Russian administrations and nuclear facilities are not attacked now. We need to strike, there is no other way."
Shiny M113s captured by Russian / Allied forces, looks like both are broken, As the front one has tow cables attached to the rear one, So rear one likely had a breakdown, they tried to tow it with the front vehicle until it broke down.
Whooo! what a genius!
UA nazi Dmytro Korchynsky : "Yes, it's a risk. Many people will suffer, but even more people will suffer if Russian administrations and nuclear facilities are not attacked now. We need to strike, there is no other way."
Shiny M113s captured by Russian / Allied forces, looks like both are broken, As the front one has tow cables attached to the rear one, So rear one likely had a breakdown, they tried to tow it with the front vehicle until it broke down.
Basically Ukraine has about three month supply of HIMARS missiles left. And the US has already emptied a third of their own HIMARs systems. The US has sent 16 and Ukraine has lost 8 of them to Russian bombardment. There has been reports that the flow of arms to Ukraine has slowed down since June.
Looks like no Kherson offensive is not happening. Same complaint we hear from Ukrainian soldiers over and over again. Lack of basic artillery and armored vehicles. They moved all their heavy artillery from Donbass to Kherson. Now that back fired as Peski has fallen. Maryinka is near collapse and Aveedka is being attacked on the north and south. I think they will try an offensive when the referendum happens to try disrupt it but it will fail.Once Ukraine loses access to the Black Sea coast their economy is done. The land Russia currently has control of right now represents 50% of Ukraines GDP. Landlocked, heavily armed and militarized Ukraine will be a major headache for the EU for decades to come.
aren't they supposed to have like thousands or hundreds of Himars missiles ? If they running out yet Russian offensives in Donbass continues and no sign of Russian Goodwill to retreat from Kherson. Where were those stocks going ? Are Russian CRAM & precision strike effort works better than what twitterland shows ? Or Ukrainian just havent fired as many.
Probably some being destroyed in missile strikes in their warehouses or others being used in locations where there is no one recording such as the front lines.
