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Pick your poison, eh. Guess the Wagner recruiters ask their recruits while filling out the application: do you want to die in a plane crash or being killed as cannon fodder on the battlefield, please indicate on the form.Quote:
Originally Posted by FriscoDog
Russian anti-aircraft units are getting better, they actually shot down a high-performance jet fighter-bomber...unfortunately it was one of their own :laugh:. Now they are as good as that surface-to-surface missile battery that blew themselves up when their own missile did a 180 and came back at 'em! Keystone cops! Oh, yes, the mighty Russian army getting its ass kicked by a tiny country...and kicking their own asses too. Ya gotta love it!
Oh, but Tucker Carlson and a small group of delusional folks will have you believe Ukraine has lost a million men while Russia has barely suffered any losses at all, LOL! Always need a comic relief in this chitty world and glad ole Tucker is providing a good laugh.
If you can stomach it, there is video of brutal murders conducted by Russian soldiers along the Zhytomyrh Highway from March, 2022. Yes, this was 18 months ago when the evil invasion had just begun, but the video has just been discovered and leaked. One incident shows a minivan stopped by Russian soldiers, a man, a dad/husband gets out with his hands up and pleas for his and his family's life. Tough luck, dude, you were dealing with murdering bastards. He is shot. Then his wife and two young kids are dragged out and forced into the woods near the highway, where they were shot. Their bodies and the van were burned in an attempt to cover it up. They were 4 of 19 confirmed murders by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Tank Brigade of the Russian army. It was a Russian drone videoing the whole thing...you know, for posterity sake. The Nazis took photos and some film of the murders they committed too. Guess they are so proud of it...The video, shot from overhead, is graphic enough. Little kids' bodies jerk violently when slammed by 7.62mm slugs.
The Russkies were certain of total victory, still, in March, 2022. The invasion had just begun, and they had no concept of failure. Winners get to write the history and cover up war crimes. Well, they are losing and now segments of the Russian military are seeking immunity from prosecution "by turning state's evidence" as we would say. Officers are contacting Ukrainian and NATO officials and spilling their guts to secure a better deal for themselves, and their families.
The Putin regime is rivaling Stalin's for brutality in domestic policies/laws. Just yesterday western sources, citing leaked information, stated Putin is seeking 140,000 new recruits from young Russian men who are being forced into military service, or go to prison, or worse, have something bad happened to their families. Six months ago, Putin pulled this stunt and to fool the recruits, the word was they would not be sent to Ukraine, after just one month of basic training, but rather be sent elsewhere to replace veteran soldiers being sent to the Ukrainian front. Well, about half of those recruits were deployed to the Chinese border and elsewhere, but the other half drew the short straw and were deployed to Ukraine. How many of those poor souls are still alive is anyone's guess.
News from the front has been slow the past several days. Basically, the Ukrans have gained ground but in most places are now facing strong Russian defenses. There was a report of the Russians abandoning their positions in the Verboze theater in favor of newly constructed works further south, near Tokmak. And there has been some movement of Russian troops. But it might be just a rotation of new troops taking their turn on the front line. It is confirmed the Russians are building new defenses around Tokmak, but that doesn't mean they are abandoning their positions at Verboze and the other town, whose name is too long to post here...it begins with an N.
It's not bad news (yet) but it certainly isn't good news for Ukraine. First, the 45-day funding of the Federal budget, to avoid a shutdown, was absent any new aid to Ukraine. This was to appease the GOP hardliners. There is already enough aid and equipment/ammo/supplies in the pipeline to allow Ukraine to continue operations. But the 45-day moratorium will have ramifications in the months ahead. Of course, we are about to enter the winter and the bad weather and wet ground will slow military operations for both sides anyway. So, if aid was going to be cut this is the best time of the year for it to happen.
In potentially worst news, Robert Fico won election as Slovakia's prime minister, and he has promised to halt all military aid to Ukraine. The only possible saving grace will be how the parliamentary races end up. Some seats are headed to run-offs, and some have yet to be called because of close results. If Fico's SMER Party garners enough seats he can rule as a dictator setting policy without opposition. If Slovakia yanks support for Ukraine, it will have only a small impact, unless it sets a new precedent and other nations decide to follow suit. Slovakia, under its present PM, was the very first to send military aid to Ukraine when Putin invaded.
When a captured Russian T-80 tank wouldn't start, the crafty Ukran soldier dialed up tech support and was switched to India where the fellow was able to get the help he needed...okay, I'm just joking about this, but it wouldn't surprise me if India-based techs were used, even for military equipment! Actually, the story is true, only the Ukran soldier contacted Russian tech support and got the help he needed. Thanks comrade, now I will use it to kill your guys.
Trying to minimize their losses to drone attacks, the clever Russians strung nets, every 30 meters, across highways and major roads. Designed to catch the drones in flight, of course. Only it has had only very limited effect as the skilled Ukran drone operators easily avoid the nets, killing Russian vehicles just the same. Nice try though!
Two more Russian generals have been fired by Putin. The poor fellow in command at Bakhmut has disappeared. Russian agents arrested him in his HQ several days ago and he has not been seen since. The other general, in the Verboze region, was removed from command and was reported heading back to Russia, to be arrested, I guess. Now...here's a question for Tucker Carlson and his small group of delusional followers: if Russia is winning, killing a million Ukran soldiers, rolling over the out-classed Ukran military, as some morons believe, then why is it Putin keeps firing all these generals? Would he be replacing commanders if he was winning? Hmmm...:icon_roll:
Some more incredible bodycam video released by Ukraine. This of the 47th Assault Brigade in the Verboze area. Shows a Leopard II tank supporting a squad of infantry fighting through rows of woods separating open fields. The fighting is intense, twice the Ukrans have to fall back and seek cover in a recently captured trench, the bodies of two dead Russians left on the lip, used to absorb incoming rifle fire. Just as good as sandbags, eh. You can hear the bullets whistling by and slamming into the trees. Lots of cussing, although the English subtitles are *##$%% out, seeing bullet-riddled bodies is okay, but not cuss words :icon_roll:. Finally the Ukran tank advances, is hit by an anti-tank missile of some kind, which just bounced off and exploded harmlessly in the field...to the cheers of the Ukran infantry guys. The tank fires three times in very rapid fashion into the tree line across the field, and then quickly backs away. Then it advances again, firing its machinegun and main gun again, then throws it in reverse and speeds backwards to where the bodycam dude is. A Ukran soldier walks over to the tank, the hatch opens, and the tank commander appears giving the thumbs up.
Fast forward and the Ukran officer, a lieutenant, gives a report saying the tank killed 8 Russians, wounded 4 more, who were abandoned by the surviving retreating Russians. No way to know how many Russians had been in the tree line, but he estimated 40. So these 8 Ukrans with one tank, captured more ground south of Robotyne. This video was shot 3 days ago and just released today. He says this is typical of the combat engagements along the front. It's small groups of soldiers, supported by tanks, artillery and drones. He said only the Russians use human-wave infantry tactics, but even they have finally learned that is not effective and just costs many lives. Now the Russians are trying to use small squad attacks too, but lack the technological support and are thus not effective in this tactic too.
At the end of the video an artillery shell exploded in the field about 50 meters away. Dirt showers them, and the officer and his men duck and then laugh...the lieutenant says, Russian artillery is trying to zero in on us, so we have to move. Bye!
More of an "in your face" stunt than any real strategic accomplishment...riding jet skis, which a YouTuber called "sea scooters," Ukran special forces landed on Crimea and engaged in a gunfight with Russian soldiers manning a trench on the beach. There were casualties on both sides. There were 16 Ukran commandoes involved, one was captured when his jet ski was shot to pieces, and he was unable to leave. Before the gun battle started the Ukrans posed for a picture holding the Ukrainian flag and proclaiming this is just a preview of coming attractions, a full-scale invasion of Crimea.
Some pundits, I guess trying to spin this as a positive, commented this "stunt" will serve a purpose as it will cause the Russians to move more troops to the Crimea coast, thus weakening their defenses elsewhere. I doubt that, as it won't require any significant troop movement to protect the Crimea coast. This was nothing more than a pin-prick designed to aggravate the Russians.
The past 72 hours has mostly been a stalemate, or really, both sides moving troops in an anticipation of some major action to come.
The 31 US Abrams tanks are officially on the ground in Ukraine, arriving via the large US transport planes. More training of the Ukran crews is expected before the tanks are deployed. I think the Ukrans will not send the Abrams into combat anytime soon...except maybe 3 of them to see how they do. That is what they did with both the British Challengers and German Leopard IIs when they first arrived. Makes sense to see how they perform in real combat with Ukran crews, then they can evaluate their performance and tweak the tactics. For the Ukrans 3 tanks compose a combat platoon, supported by other armored vehicles, like the Bradley Fighting Machines, and infantry in APCs(21 soldiers total), along with drones and mobile artillery and mortar teams. If the Abrams are going to be effective they have to be incorporated into the Ukran standard dispositions.
The Leopard IIs are kicking ass, now that the Ukrans have learned how best to use them. If the Abrams tank is superior to the Leopards, as everyone is saying, then the Ukrans should enjoy enormous success with them. With 31 tanks, that is 10 combat platoons. Of course, the Russians will pull out all stops to try to knock the Abrams tanks out of action, which would have a profound effect on the morale of both sides, pro and con.
While his pathetic army is getting its ass kicked on the battlefield, the delusional Putin grasps at straws. He just made a statement that his strategy has always been to wage a protracted war until the west grew weary of it and pulled support for Ukraine.
Well...he can make that claim now, but that has most definitely NOT "always been" his strategy. He actually boasted publicly back in February, 2022 that this would be a very short war as his forces would easily overrun Ukraine. He gave a timetable at that time not to exceed 60 days. Today, his crappy army reeling defeat after defeat, all he has left is to hope some strategy of attrition will work. He just cited the asinine action of Matt Gaetz as hope the US will yank support for Ukraine, and of course the recent election of a pro-Russian government in Slovakia, the disagreements between Poland and Ukraine, and some other news from various NATO countries of any dissent against support for Ukraine. Putin is desperate. He knows he is losing the war, and as long as Ukraine can get the support it needs, he will lose the war and all of his illegally seized territory, including Crimea.
So, anyone making public statements to the contrary of continued support for Ukraine is aiding and abetting the evil Putin. Ya know...the Vietnamese said the same thing about the anti-war protests in the US. They were getting slaughtered on the battlefield...the US won every battle (tactically) yet lost the war, in large part because the North Vietnamese knew all they had to do was not quit.
That said (above) what are the prospects for Ukraine if they do lose support from NATO? Well, there are currently enough equipment/supplies on the ground and some in the pipeline heading their way for the Ukrainians to maintain their current level of operations for 6+ months (based on pundit estimates). Operations are going to slow down soon due to inclement weather, so that timeframe can be stretched out to about 10 months. After that, the Ukrans will be so depleted of equipment/ammo/supplies that any large offensive operations will not be possible. But, they will be able to remain on the defensive for the foreseeable future from their own domestic military industry.
Everyone has forgotten, or probably never even knew in the first place, that the Ukrans kicked the Russians' asses in the opening months of the war with hardly any outside support. It was what they had on-hand already, their standing army, that rallied and halted the Russian advance. The most famous of which were the valiant 900 soldiers, part of one brigade, who refused to withdraw even when ordered to, and dug in east of Bakhmut and held out for months, allowing the situation to stabilize and for the Ukrans to decide to send them support. They are the reason the otherwise insignificant town of Bakhmut has taken on such a symbolic meaning, for both sides. It is Ukraine's Alamo. A heroic stand by a small band of heroes who simply refused to give up.
Saw a YouTube video on the plight of those 900 fellows. It was largely speculation as to this day there is no independent confirmation on what happened to them. Most pundits agree that the brigade (again, part of one) fought for months against impossible odds, and eventually they were all either killed or captured. The numbers given are 50-50%, 450 KIA the other 450 taken prisoners when they ran out of ammo and had no choice but to surrender. The Russians have refused to comment on their plight and given that the Russians have participated in prisoner exchanges, it is alarming that none of the survivors of "The Alamo" have appeared. One pundit claims the POWs were sent to a Siberian labor camp.
Then, there was the overwhelming success of the Ukran northern (Kharkiv) counter-offensive where they rolled up Putin's lousy forces and also knocked Belarus out of the war. There was very little NATO equipment/supplies involved in that success. Again, it was mostly what the Ukrainians already had on-hand.
All of this to say that Putin is beyond delusional if he thinks he's going to win this war, even if most (if not all) countries cut off aid. The Ukrans have proven resourceful, innovative, and very determined to prosecute this war to final victory, and I am betting on them over the evil Putinites.
The evil terrorist strikes again. A Putin missile struck a market in the small village of Hrova, in the province of Karkiv. 51 confirmed dead, including young children. Reports say villagers had gathered for a memorial service for a local Ukran soldier killed at the front and afterwards had moved to a market area for food. A single missile struck when about 60 people were gathered. Ukran sources think the strike was called in by a local spy, although they also admit it might have been as a result of a drone as Hrova is close to the battle zone along the front. Regardless of how the Russian missile battery knew how to target it, it is criminal how Putin continues to target civilians. Nearly 200 nations have signed off on his international arrest warrant. He can't leave Russia, except to travel to his friends in China, North Korea, Cuba and a few others.
Neville Chamberlain has been roasted by history, he and his silly one-page "agreement" he waved around that Hitler never had any intention of keeping. Then Stalin stunned into disbelief when Hitler betrayed him. Stupid!!
Well, here we go again, only this time there is an evil tyrant lunatic who is not making promises of peace, but rather blatantly boasting his intentions to invade sovereign nations, destroy governments, subjugate entire populations. At least one can say Putin is the most honest tyrannical maniac in history. He is telling the whole world he wants to take over all those countries, murder their leaders and their combined families, and utterly destroy the very fabric of their society. And yet...there are morons stating if the world would simply stop supporting Ukraine, that war will end, and peace and tranquility will be restored.
"Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya..."
I suppose these idiots believe Putin is lying when he says he wants to change the world, starting by invading all of Eastern Europe. I can see these morons at a cocktail party, "Oh that Putin, he is such the jokester..."
And, even more alarming, Putin seems to be among the more sane of his inner-circle, hard to fathom, I know. One of his loonies just advocated nuking a province in Siberia because the local politicians are saying they oppose the war in Ukraine, bring our troops home. This woman has been an out-spoken provoker of expanding the war, often slamming her fist down while yelling, "We should nuke 'em!" to anyone who dares stand up to the Putinites.
Members of the GOP leadership, including Jim Jordan, are against continuing to support Ukraine. Wow :shocked2:! Bunch of Neville Chamberlain disciples.
Updates...
Ukrans have penetrated a second defensive line protecting Verboze. There the elite Russian 56th Paratrooper Regiment is defending the works. The Ukran unit most involved is the very tough 82nd Assault Brigade, which has known nothing but success since its inception about a year ago. It is a brand-new unit but was trained by NATO advisors from Britian. To the west, at Kopani, another elite Russian paratroop unit, the 107th, is taking it on the chin and is said to be retreating south toward another line of defensive works.
The Russkies thought the Wagner boys could duplicate their success at Bakhmut and two battalions were thrown into the fray on the southern flank. They ran headlong into the 3rd Assault Brigade (Azov) and got their asses kicked. Early reports of heavy losses for the Wagners, to the point the battalions have already lost their offensive capability. BTW, Prigozhin's son has been appointed by Putin to command of the Wagner Group operating on his behalf. He looks like a little wimp, and he reminded me of King Longshanks' son from the movie "Braveheart." In case you need reminding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoG7m1V6aw
In the north, the Karkiv region, the Russians have begun accumulating troops along the front in what may be an attempted offensive. They did destroy 4 bridges across a major river with long-range missiles which would impede the Ukrans from bringing up reinforcements and supplies. That is something one would anticipate the Russians doing. And it makes tactical sense. Too bad for the Russians though, the Ukrans have been supplied with state-of-the-art pontoon bridges, these courtesy of Germany, and the 4 bridges have already been replaced, in less than 24 hours, by the pontoons.
The Russian 25th Reserve Army, numbering 15,000, had walked into a trap last week. To avoid total annihilation, the unit had to quickly disperse and by doing so lost any combat effectiveness. They did suffer losses from Ukran artillery strikes, but mostly the 25th scattered and now various units have attached themselves to other Russian units. The 25th had been intended, we now know, to support the northern offensive in Karkiv. Have also learned the 25th's combat strength, on paper, is supposed to be 40,000. But the Russians have failed to force enough conscripts to enlist to fill the ranks.
Another comical video released. I say it is comical, but it is war, so this is all serious business. Only in this case there appears to be no casualties, albeit it would have been Russkies. Anyway, a Russian APC packed with ammo, mostly mortar and artillery shells, is crossing an open field heading for a tree line where Russian artillery units are stationed. This was obviously a resupply effort. A Ukran drone strikes the APC causing an explosion and a fire to start in the ammo packed cargo hole. The driver, apparently the only person in the vehicle realizes the pending danger and leaps from the APC, only he left it in gear, so it continued toward the Russians in the trees. He is then seen running about 40-50 yards off to the side, waving his arms and yelling toward his comrades to run like hell. Several Russians are seen running away from the trees and then the APC slams into the trees, stopping up against a large tree after it mowed down some brush. About 30 seconds pass and then BAM! a huge, and I mean HUGE explosion utterly destroys everything and sets off a series of explosions in both directions where the guns and other ammo are stored. Thanks to one Ukran drone, which costs about $200, and a goofy APC driver an entire Russian artillery battery was wiped out. Good job, comrade!
Russian attack smashed in the Karkiv region! Along the same highway where Russia realized some temporary success months ago, trying to get to the important river town of Borova, another offensive was utterly wiped out. You may recall a surprise attack by the Russians garnered them a bulge of about 40 square Km, but they were ultimately pushed back. They tried again, only this time the Ukrans have built defensive works to guard that highway. At least 12 tanks and 20 other vehicles along with hundreds of soldiers were slaughtered. Can the Russkies really be this stupid?
Another Russian attack south of Bakhmut was thwarted. This was a smaller attempt, which did realize some initial success, but again the Ukrans mounted a counter-attack which took back the lost ground and eliminated the entire Russian force that took part in the attack.
When the Russians attack entrenched Ukran units they suffer a 10 to 1 loss ratio. When the Ukrans attack entrenched Russians, the Russkies still lose, but at only a 3 to 1 loss ratio.
Still one of my favorite songs(1985), Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." The song is about what is going on today with Putin and the Chicoms and the evil islamic extremists; some things never change.
There is a line in the song that is also appropriate: "...one headline, why believe it?" The pro-Putin propagandists have mostly grown silent since reality doesn't match their silly rhetoric. But, every once in a while, they try to slip one in. Such as this ridiculous headline released by a pro-Putin online "news" site: "Is Ukraine Finished? Russia Launches Massive Offensive."
Then if you actually bother to read the article, even with its extreme spinning, you are drawn to the conclusion that it is Putin who is finished. Of course, if all you did was read this article and you knew nothing else about the war in Ukraine, you might be led to believe Russia has a chance to win. But, with any amount of knowledge of the truth all you would do is laugh at this stupid attempt to CREATE news, not actually report it.
The "massive Russian offensive" cited in the article was the already failed attempt to retake the village of Avdiivka, south of Bakhmut, which the Ukrans just liberated from the Russians this summer. The fighting is taking place east of this small community as the Ukrans continue to advance eastward, eventually to encircle Bakhmut. The Russians sent a pathetically small force, of 4 tanks, 8 APCs with maybe 50 infantry, to penetrate the Ukran defenses south of Avdiivka. This was hailed as some huge offensive by the Putin spin masters and it utterly failed. In fact, the lead vehicle of this attack convoy fell off a small bridge and blocked the road for the rest of the column. The bridge is a hastily built wooden structure across a canal and the APC got too close to the edge and fell off, unable to move forward or backward. Ukran drones spotted the column and they and Ukran artillery zeroed in and destroyed the column. Two of the tanks tried to retreat and had to take to the fields, hitting mines which destroyed the tanks. Every vehicle, 100%, was destroyed and the last video released was a drone tracking the surviving Russians, maybe 15-20 soldiers, running back up the road.
"...one headline, why believe it?" Indeed!
Upon more research I found two more reports on the situation at Avdiivka. The Putin spinsters are reporting a "massive" offensive, yeppers, they are, claiming two full brigades, 8,000 infantry, supporting by 200 artillery pieces, up to 30 attack helicopters/jet fighter bombers, and [drum roll, please], 200 tanks! Have launched attacks both north and south of the village. Well, the truth is the Russkies have indeed launched attacks. South of the village it was a two-prong effort, one, the destroyed column mentioned above, and the other mostly infantry, about 250 Russians which realized an initial success as they attacked a defensive line held by exactly 13 Ukran defenders, who quickly retreated back to the next trench joining their buddies there, while Ukran artillery pummeled the attacking Russians caught in an open field. Those Russkies lost 2/3 of their number and retreated. Meanwhile, in the north, supported by two Russian fighter-bombers and two attack helicopters, Russian infantry, about 200-225, gained ground as the lightly defended line was vacated by the Ukrans. The key feature there is the north-south railroad berm which figures prominently in the fighting in the Bakhmut region. It is a defensive works, as it has been fortified by both sides, and the berm is built up to keep the tracks above the surrounding lowlands which flood in the winter, so it provides a "high ground" to whichever side holds it. The Russians captured about 200 meters of the RR berm in this attack, and now the Ukrans, at last report, are mounting a counterattack to retake it.
So! while the one headline is greatly exaggerated, as is the size of the attacking Russkie force, there is at least a little truth in the news story re: Avdiivka. As I have mentioned before, both sides have their spinmeisters, and the Ukran side has usually very trustworthy reporters (YouTubers) who sometimes jump the gun and published a report, which they correct later on as appropriate. Such is the case here. But, the latest report is accurate as there is drone video proof of the very limited "success" of the so-called "massive" Russian offensive.