Vuhledar is about to fall. Ukrainian units being evacuated before the pocket closes. This is a repeat of Avdiivka. Not good.
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Vuhledar is about to fall. Ukrainian units being evacuated before the pocket closes. This is a repeat of Avdiivka. Not good.
A Russian general has been arrested, after he went public telling the Russian people not to believe the propaganda coming from the Kremlin on the war. In a 10-minute segment he tried to appeal to the Russian public to stand strong, but he was telling the truth about the numerous setbacks and the huge losses being suffered. The TV station that allowed this and aired this has been shut down, the station manager "detained." He's either dead or heading to a gulag in Siberia.
Depending on the source, the numbers are staggering. Several sources say Russian losses have reached 700,000, this being KIA and severely wounded, such that they cannot possibly return to duty. The numbers of wounded and returned to duty is 300,000. Russia has lost close to 9,000 tanks, 20,000+ armored vehicles, 20,000+ artillery pieces, nearly 400 jet fighter-bombers, 600 helicopters. It's gotten so bad that the entire crew of Russia's lone aircraft carrier, in dry dock undergoing repairs, has been handed a rifle and sent to the trenches in Kursk.
Yeah, Russia has gained some ground in Donbas but has paid a huge price for every acre.
The amazing Ukrans have done it again. They have deployed flamethrower drone robotic dogs! They are about the size of a German Sheperd, although the resemble a Greyhound. These robot dogs can be "unleashed" by ground forces, but the Ukrans have also parachuted several behind Russian lines. They have proven to be very effective, working in tandem with reconnaissance drones. The Russians are terrified by these robot dogs as they can made to hide until needed, and then pop out and attack. They are also bullet-proof it appears, and it takes something like an RPG or very heavy machinegun fire from something like a .50 cal or 20mm to stop them. So far, the Ukrans have used flamethrowers, but there are plans to also mount machineguns, grenade launchers, and to also make the robot dogs kamikaze packed with explosives and sent into bunkers, etc.
This is another example of how much the modern battlefield has changed, and why AI development is crucial. The US and our allies MUST lead in AI development. China is trying to be the world leader in AI for the expressed purpose of dominating both industrial/manufacturing uses and military applications.
Wagner troops are leading the charge at Vuhledar, this explains "Russia's" success there. Wagner units have entered the eastern portion of the town and intense house-to-house fighting is ongoing. The elite 69th Assault Brigade (Ukrainian) was withdrawn over a week ago, leaving lesser units to try to hold Vuhledar, and that is not happening.Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
Nuclear war! World War III! the rhetoric is getting intense.
Putin just changed Russia's doctrine on the use of nukes. It was their policy to only use nukes against countries who had nukes too. Putin, as dictator, just rewrote the doctrine and now Russia is "justified" to use nukes on any countries that attack it and actually strike Russian territory. Well, guess who that is? Right now only Ukraine fits that model, and previously it was Hitler's Nazi Germany and Napoleon's French army. Yes, Ukraine is only the third nation to invade Mother Russia since 1812. Back to the rhetoric...
Putin also named several other nations as "being on the list" for nukes, including the UK, since they have authorized the use of their cruise missiles in attacks inside of Russia. The UK defense minister did not mince words. His response was mechanical, scientific, matter of fact, spoken with no emotion. He said in an official announcement: exactly 55 minutes after Putin launches ICBMs toward Great Britain, Vladimir Putin and several million Russians, the entire city of Moscow, and other targets of our choosing will simply cease to exist. He went on to provide some details of the number of ICBMs, 116, how many warheads each carry, 40, and that each of those 40 are 10X more powerful than the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Now, some will say, whoa! back at ya Vladimir! But this kind of rhetoric is only heightening the tension.
The Brits just commissioned two more attack subs, ones that carry nuke ICBMs. One of which was last "seen" traveling toward the Baltic Sea, so it is thought to be lurking just off of Russia's coast. And that's just the Brits. Putin will also face nukes coming from a dozen+ other countries.
One pundit says Putin does not have the means to launch nukes at anybody. Yes, as dictator he can order it, but experts think clearer heads will prevail and the Russian soldiers, their officers, who actually have to press the buttons, won't do it. Let us hope cooler heads will prevail and the world will sidestep mutual destruction.
Two of three battalions of the 72nd Brigade has been withdrawn from Vuhledar. The remaining battalion, numbering about 450 soldiers, along with elements of other battalions, plus armored battalions and artillery battalions, around 800 Ukrainian soldiers, are now trapped in the city. The commander of the 72nd Brigade, Colonel Ivan Vinnik, was rescued along with members of his brigade staff, but the rest of his men have been abandoned to their fate. Earlier reports said the entire 72nd had been withdrawn, even before the 69th, but as it turns out one battalion of the 72nd had remained in an effort to try to get everyone out. Colonel Vinnik, thought by many to be a brilliant commander, is too valuable to lose to capture, so a special effort was made to get him out, and some staffers. Wonder how his trapped soldiers feel about that...:icon_roll:Quote:
Originally Posted by dawg80
Under the cover of darkness Ukrainian soldiers are making their way out in small groups. They waited too long to withdraw.
The Biden administration "reaffirmed" Ukraine's right to attack inside of Russia with any domestically built weapons. Wow! How nice of the US to give Ukraine "permission" to defend itself. Pompous asses.
Still contradictory reports coming out about Vuhledar. Russian sources claim they have not yet taken the town but are still encircling it, while Ukrainian sources say they have 100% completely evacuated the town and have surrendered the town to the Russians. Maybe both are true. The Ukrans are gone, and the goofy Russians are still maneuvering around an empty place. And there is this story. Russian propagandists claim the 3rd Assault Brigade (The Azov Brigade, you know, the unit claimed to be Nazis) was too "afraid" and refused to enter Vuhledar, since Wagner troops were fighting there. Oh yeah, the spinsters in Putin's propaganda machine are trying to boost morale anyway they can. Said the 3rd Brigade was cowering outside of the town. Well, the Azov Brigade delivered a strong rebuttal. In another brilliant tactical move, the Ukrans lured Russian forces into thinking they were withdrawing from a defensive line, this way up north in Kharkiv, some 400 miles from Vuhledar. And who was ready to deliver a crushing blow to the Russians, now in the open during an advance. Yes, the "cowering" Azov Brigade. The entire Russian advance, said to be 45 armored vehicles and some 1,400 troops, were wiped out in the carefully orchestrated ambush. The Ukrainian YouTuber laughed at the notion the 3rd Assault Brigade would be "cowering" anywhere.
Speaking of Putin's propaganda machine, wow! the number 1 rated "news" show is said to be calling on Putin to resign. The main host is their Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, the main guy on the most-watched Russian network, called "Channel 1." This is reported by pro-Ukrainian sources, so have to wait for independent confirmation. Up to now, this show has led the way serving Putin's lies with a nightly barrage of bullshit and "rah-rah!" cheering that Russia is winning the war. They have claimed Russian tanks had rolled into Berlin, this was months ago. Of course, that is not true, so how they have covered up that lie and manage to continue to fool the Russian people is beyond me. Of course, half of America believes the lies of MSNBC, CNN and the other lamestream media outlets, so...
Was away for a few days. Was actually down at Disney with two of our grandkids and had to cut the trip short to avoid Hurricane Milton. Glad we left when we did cuz the roads are clogged now, and we breezed out at 80mph+. I told others at the Disney Resort where we were staying they should leave too, but they thought we were over-reacting. Well...
Back to the topic, nothing much happened the past several days, really just more of the same. As fall weather has begun to show with lowering temps and increasing rains, and winter looms, the front has begun to bog down. The Russians continue to push hard on the Eastern Front and have made some small gains, but as always, at a very high price. The Ukrans have beaten off every counter-offensive in Kursk Oblast and are holding about 95% of the ground they took several months ago. And, even there, with winter coming on, both sides are digging in. The Russians built a huge force of at least 60,000 and some sources say, 80,000, to attack the less than 10,000 Ukrainians in Kursk and all the Russians accomplished was filling many thousands of body bags.
Anti-Putin groups are becoming more bold and visible, some putting out Social Media videos calling on all Russians to join them in overthrowing Putin's evil regime. There are more militia groups that have formed, being armed by....the west? Maybe? One poster on a Ukrainian blog claims the CIA is operating in Russia and arming these militias. No proof of that, but is okay with me if true.
Putin just had his 72nd birthday and Ukraine sent him a special gift...they blew up one of his mansions south of St. Petersburg. The mansion was empty and sources say Putin had already blown off that estate, saying he had no plans to ever return to it anyway. But, it was symbolic nonetheless. A pro-Putin blogger laughed at the attack saying Putin has over a dozen such massive estates and didn't care about that one.
Western intelligence has confirmed the presence of North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine for Putin. Exactly how many soldiers has not been confirmed, but a British Military Think Tank says there is a battalion, about 600 North Koreans, on the ground and have seen combat and suffered casualties. Individual Ukrainian sources have also published reports of NK's in Ukraine. This is not surprising given their evil alliance.
Vuhledar is gone. Both sides have confirmed Russian forces have occupied the town. The Ukrainians withdrew to prepared defenses about 5 miles west of the town. Ukraine is doing better in front of Povkosk now that proper defenses have been established there. Most likely the Russians will advance no further, at least not until next spring/summer as winter-time operations are nearly impossible on muddy roads and impassable fields.
Pundits say neither side will ever win this war. Not at the current conditions of limited support for Ukraine from NATO and Russia's depleted military and crashing industrial military complex. February, 2025 will mark THREE years since Putin's evil invasion and he has made very, very limited gains, but at tremendous cost. Crimea is a smoldering wreck. Most of the Russian assets previously in Crimea has either been destroyed or withdrawn to safer bases. And Ukrainian forces now occupy parts of Kursk, inside of Russia itself. No end in sight...
Return of the Abrams Tank to the battlefield, and bam! The Ukrans have finished upgrading the Abrams' armor protection against drone attacks and these beasts, still the best tanks in the world on the offense, have made a return to the battlefield. In the past several days a company of Ukran tanks, composed of both Abrams and Leopard IIs smashed Russian tanks and APCs in a one-sided fight, this occurring along the Eastern Front, where the Russians had amassed large numbers and had been enjoying some success gaining ground. This unit is part of the elite 47th Armored Brigade, one of Ukraine's best armor units. The tanks arrived in the midst of desperate situation as over-matched Ukrainian infantry units were being pushed back along a two-mile front. The only fresh infantry was a brigade of "home guard", like our National Guard, not considered front-line troops. The commander of the tank company convinced the "home guard" unit to provide infantry support. This being the 119th Home Guard Brigade, composed mostly of "old men" with the average age being 48. Well, these "old fellows" went forward supporting the 8 tanks: 3 Abrams, 5 Leopard IIs, and kicked some ass. Reports say Russia lost 22 armored vehicles: 6 tanks, 10 APCs and 6 mobile artillery units, and suffered 1,000 casualties. The Ukrans lost no tanks, with one of the Leopard IIs sustaining damage from an RPG hit, but only minor damage. Ukrainian losses were not reported, but based on drone footage and eyewitnesses, the Ukrans suffered 3 KIA and about 20 wounded amongst the "old fellows" infantry.
One of the "old fellows" sergeants was interviewed resting against a log and drinking from his canteen, he looked exhausted and one who had "seen the elephant" as the old soldier saying goes. He said, "Whew, hell of a fight."
In other huge news, and this is big! Stupid Kremlin officials have cutoff the use of Discord for all their military units because "misinformation" was getting out about the realities of Putin's losing war. Well, this has crippled communication, amongst Russian combat units, who used Discord as their one reliable source to communicate during battles and for maneuvering. A Russian commander, using a social media source, one of Putin's propagandists, said "the stupid ****s have crippled our operations." When the social media dude hesitated to publish that, the Russian commander, a colonel, nudged him hard saying, "post it! post it! them dumb ****s have to hear this." The Ukrainians are laughing and cheering the Kremlin decision, because if it is not rectified, this is a major gamechanger along the front. Russian units will NOT be able to communicate across distances and thus be unable to coordinate their operations.
Stay tuned...
Ukran artillery has obliterated the hapless Russian troops occupying Vuhledar. Situated on a ridge less than 7 miles from the town and having previously zeroed in the coordinates of key targets, the Ukranian artillery crushed Putin's thugs. Even when the Russians "win" they always LOSE too.
Obviously the Ukrans have great intelligence, aided in large part by anti-Putin operatives in Russia. Ukraine always seems to be several steps ahead of the hapless Russians, case in point. North Korea was known to be shipping missiles to Russia, these some of their more advanced. Caused tremendous alarm and concern in Ukraine and by pro-Ukrainian allies. So, it was discovered, all of these missiles would be delivered to a central warehouse, on a base about 150 miles inside of Russia from the Ukrainian border. And that the missiles would be delivered in three separate shipments over the course of two weeks. So, the Ukrainians simply waited until after all three deliveries had been made and the missiles were stored in a simple warehouse, not some hardened bunker...kaboom! For the past 36 hours explosions have been rocking, not only the base, but the community nearby as the missiles' warheads cook off in spectacular fashion. The base is gone, all personnel assigned to the base are presumed dead, and half the nearby town is on fire with an undisclosed number of civilian casualties. Tch, tch..
And now, apparently for the first time, Putin realizes (maybe has been told for the first time) that the Chicoms are gobbling up Russian territory in the east. Putin was outraged in his weekly "lying fest" on Russian national TV warning the Chinese to immediately vacate all seized lands. Or...? Or what? Putin is dependent on the Chicoms, and North Korea, and Iran for arms' shipments and supplies, and even some monetary bailouts as his economy continues to crumble under western sanctions and his war-time economy ignoring civilian needs in favor of military ones.
Poor ole Vladimir...
Pro-Putin American media sites push false narratives and misinformation. These are usually "right leaning" sites that want the US to halt all aid going to Ukraine. So, they publish pure bullshit designed to cast a pall over Ukraine's chances of winning the war. But, this article was published by Newsweek, not exactly right-leaning.
Headline: "Russia Eliminates Major Ukrainian Salient in Kursk"
Followed by a short opening paragraph that reads: Russian troops surrounded Ukrainian units in Kursk, capturing the whole lot of them. This opening is designed to mislead readers who might stop reading there and be left to think Ukraine is losing the war and can't possibly win. But, if you keep reading, the truth finally comes out. What this POS writer is referring to is a very isolated incident where a squad of advanced Ukran soldiers had been cut off and after delivering severe losses to the hapless Russians, were compelled to surrender after running out of ammo. And the overall situation in Kursk, referring to the huge Russian counteroffensive, has turned very sour for Putin's keystone soldiers, and Ukran counter-attacks are actually squeezing these advanced Russian units into an ever-tightening pocket. This Newsweek article says 50,000 Russians were committed to the attack in Kursk, have seen various estimates of their number. Regardless, they greatly outnumber the 10,000 or so Ukrainian troops in Kursk, and still are getting their butts kicked.
Meanwhile, in the bigger picture, Putin warned India to stop supplying Ukraine with ammo/weapons/supplies or else! Again, or else what Vladimir? You are losing!
Another headache for Putin, the leader of the Chechen alliance, Kadyrov, has declared a "blood feud" against "Russia" but really against some of Putin's closest personal allies, the oligarchs. It's a complex matter, with a lot of moving parts and shifting alliances. The Chechens, battalions under Kadyrov, have stepped up and filled the void left by the reduction of Wagner troops. It was the Chechens that sacrificed themselves by the hundreds (thousands?) in the taking of Avdiivka. Now Kadyrov is not only threatening to withdraw his units, but perhaps start a civil war against Russia. Any kinks in his armor is a concern for Putin. Good!
Reports that a Ukranian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter-bomber in an air-to-air fight, a SU-34 Russian jet.
The Army of the future? Ukrainian officials (military/government leaders) are allowing individual units to market themselves and recruit without going through central command. And not surprisingly the unit best at doing this is the 3rd Assault Brigade. Using professional models (cute girls) in their ads, and on their billboards, and showing 3rd Brigade soldiers enjoying all kinds of cool R&R, while at the same time appealing to men's desire to be the best, the brigade is averaging about 175 new recruits per day since the marketing campaign began. They are using a variety of media, including social media, and in one of those there's a video of a captured Russian soldier saying everyone knows the 3rd is the best unit in the Ukrainian army.
Ah yes, how far they have come since the early days of Putin's invasion...accused of being Nazis (the Azov Battalion) and then showing their true grit when they stood their ground at the nuclear power plant and the nearby town, against impossible odds, allowing Ukrainian citizens to evacuate and to allow Ukrainian wounded soldiers to be evacuated too. Then the remnants of these brave soldiers held up in the nuclear power plant denying Putin control of it for over two months. This was their "Alamo." Only they surrendered, after running out of ammo, food and water, and because there were over 100 civilians trapped in the plant with them (nuclear power plant engineers and some of their families) and the Russians were threatening to level the plant with artillery. You may know the rest of the story on how Turkey negotiated their safe release into Turkish custody with the promise they would be kept there until the war was over. Putin only agreed to this because at the time he was still negotiating with Turkey asking for favors. Then Putin violated all the terms he agreed to, so Turkey released the captive Azov officers. The privates had already been exchanged in a POW swap. Then the battalion was increased being partnered with three other battalions forming the brigade.
Cute girls in their ads...just saying :icon_razz: