The War in the Ukraine

Bill Blazo said:

The significance of what happened in Rubizhne is that the Russians were stalled as they were trying to advance south through the city itself. But then they outflanked the Ukrainian positions by advancing through the forest to the east of the city. It's that maneuver which set up the battles for Zarya and Vojevodivka. Those were not low-level skirmishes; they took multiple days to play out and involved heavy artillery strikes.

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It appears the Chechens are the most combat effective units in the Ukrainian civil war on both sides. Chechens are deeply religious and scare the bejezus out of Ukrainian soldiers the same way Islamist rebels scare the bejezus out of Syrian soldiers.

Abominable said:

It's anything but drones according to this war. Apart from reconnaissance and targeting drones haven't done much for either side.

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Future combat drones like S-70 do have a major role to play. Assuming the war lasts decades, we may yet see these in action.

Janiz said:

And leaves are clever CGI of Ukrainians I assume? Because leaves on the trees around Kyiv in February/March would be as interesting as Rasputica in the middle of May. But in this thread everything's possible. I mean not impossible but strange.

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Or it could just be a recent picture of a really old position and battle that happened earlier this year which was my point. I swear I've seen a tank and pontoon bridge in that exact same position after the whole Dniepr flooding incident earlier in the war.


Captured Ukrainian T-72AV on display in Donetsk, which apparently had to have T-55 wheels fitted to it.

Abominable said:

It's anything but drones according to this war. Apart from reconnaissance and targeting drones haven't done much for either side.

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Russians are doing recon with MBT or moving with MBT without recon... and they go booom. Maybe drone don't do a lot in damage but they don't go boom if they are forward of the battle group, making them tip of the spear, opening the way for the bigboys.

Atomicfrog said:

Russians are doing recon with MBT or moving with MBT without recon... and they go booom. Maybe drone don't do a lot in damage but they don't go boom if they are forward of the battle group, making them tip of the spear, opening the way for the bigboys.

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Russian doctrine is really bad. Plus they had no combat experience. This war really rejuvenates not only the Russian military but the entire Russian population. Russian birth rate must be very high by now.

BTG's taking heavy blows.

Don't know if this war posted previously but after Russian SPG gets hit there is a massive blast wave.

Broccoli said:

BTG's taking heavy blows.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1524437300574310401

Don't know if this war posted previously but after Russian SPG gets hit there is a massive blast wave.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1524474300874604545

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M777 shooting Excalibur is a monster. Range up to 40 km. It is definitely a priority target for Russian attack drones, jets, helicopters. I believe targeting Ukrainian logistics trucks will severely hamper M777 by restricting their movement and ammo supply.

Of course, only the latest Msta-SM2 has comparable range at 40 km maximum. However, with Russian industrial capacity much less than China, Russia may request China for supply of AH4 155 mm howitzers to duke it out with American M777 in eastern Ukraine.

Yommie said:

M777 shooting Excalibur is a monster. Range up to 40 km. It is definitely a priority target for Russian attack drones, jets, helicopters. I believe targeting Ukrainian logistics trucks will severely hamper M777 by restricting their movement and ammo supply.

Of course, only the latest Msta-SM2 has comparable range at 40 km maximum. However, with Russian industrial capacity much less than China, Russia may request China for supply of AH4 155 mm howitzers to duke it out with American M777 in eastern Ukraine.

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Do you specialize in stating the blindingly obvious? If the Russians were able to effectively target Ukr logistics they wouldn't be struggling like they are now.

As for supply of AH4, China is very unlikely to do that. The potential risk/cost to China is simply not worth it.

Maikeru said:

Do you specialize in stating the blindingly obvious? If the Russians were able to effectively target Ukr logistics they wouldn't be struggling like they are now.

As for supply of AH4, China is very unlikely to do that. The potential risk/cost to China is simply not worth it.

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Mi-28N can shoot logistic trucks using long range anti tank missiles outside range of MANPADS. At night Mi-28N is pretty dangerous to logistics trucks.


Of course, Americans will have to keep donating logistics trucks to replace losses in order for the war to remain stalemate. I would guess the US would need to donate a few hundred logistics trucks per month in this permanent war.

Broccoli said:

BTG's taking heavy blows.

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"“The Ukrainians are going to drive them back to that 02/24 line, probably by the end of summer/September,” retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, now the policy director at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Yahoo News in an email, referencing the Russian occupation of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions made during the first invasion of Ukraine."

How, exactly are they going to achieve that?.

Ukraine gains have been minimal and the last massive gain they had which was Hostomel/Kiev was because the Russians unilaterally pulled out completely out of the area. Meanwhile, the russians do keep advancing in the south despite the mess and their incompetence.