Russia

[dawg80]

The Ukrans have reached the main defensive lines of the Russians in another place and found them abandoned, not a single Russian soldier to be seen. There is a video, shot from the Russian line, of a Ukran tank approaching the defenses, coming slowly across an open field and then crashing into a deep anti-tank trench. Well, there was no one in the tank, instead the controls had been set and sent unmanned by the Ukrans to test the defenses. Since there was no response, the Ukrans cautiously approached the defensive line and "captured" it. The video was taken from a camera left operating by the Russians.

The test tank is an old T-55 captured from the Russians months ago. The tank was not damaged but does show that a tank cannot cross these anti-tank trenches. The bigger question is, how much more of their defenses have the Russians abandoned and will this open an easy route for the Ukrans to flood assets through to flank the manned defenses?

In other news, it appears the Ukrans have contained the "bulge" created by the Russian offensive in the north. Latest report shows a stalemate has developed with the Russians holding a pocket of about 40 square miles (10 miles deep by 4 miles wide).

[dawg80]

Ukran "water drones" (Sea drones) attacked a Russian navy vessel, said to be an amphibious ship designed to land Russian marines, but that is also armed with rapid-fire cannons and rockets. Reports say the ship was carrying local Crimean Russian officials, politicians/authorities, and perhaps some family members as well. The officials are being evacuated as faith in Russia to stave off Ukran liberation of Crimea is fading. The Kerch Bridge is not passable to vehicular traffic and will not be repaired until at least November. Riots have broken out on the wharfs as terrified Russian civilians try to force their way onto any ships/boats departing for Russia. But in the wake of this recent attack Russian navy officials say they cannot protect ships/boats attempting the crossing so proceed at your own risk. Conflicting reports about the attack itself, Russia says the drones (boats packed with explosives) were destroyed and did not hit the ship. Yet, a Russian official in Moscow had already been quoted on TV saying the ship was damaged, with a few casualties to sailors, but all the civilians on board are safe. More aerial drone attacks were made against Russian military facilities on Crimea, including the destruction of another ammo/supply depot. In one attack 19 Ukran drones were sent, 16 of them disabled by electronic jamming, but three hit the mark.

In other news, the Russian bulge in the north has shrunk. The Russians aren't retreating (yet) but shortening their defensive lines. The Russians pulled back about 1.5 miles. So! some great offensive, eh! Less than a week into it and already pulling back. Thought great/mighty offensives only move forward

[dawg80]

Sea drones, a Ukran invention...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv1WbNY-yB0

[dawg80]

Ukran "water drones" (Sea drones) attacked a Russian navy vessel, said to be an amphibious ship designed to land Russian marines, but that is also armed with rapid-fire cannons and rockets. Reports say the ship was carrying local Crimean Russian officials, politicians/authorities, and perhaps some family members as well. The officials are being evacuated as faith in Russia to stave off Ukran liberation of Crimea is fading. The Kerch Bridge is not passable to vehicular traffic and will not be repaired until at least November. Riots have broken out on the wharfs as terrified Russian civilians try to force their way onto any ships/boats departing for Russia. But in the wake of this recent attack Russian navy officials say they cannot protect ships/boats attempting the crossing so proceed at your own risk. Conflicting reports about the attack itself, Russia says the drones (boats packed with explosives) were destroyed and did not hit the ship. Yet, a Russian official in Moscow had already been quoted on TV saying the ship was damaged, with a few casualties to sailors, but all the civilians on board are safe. More aerial drone attacks were made against Russian military facilities on Crimea, including the destruction of another ammo/supply depot. In one attack 19 Ukran drones were sent, 16 of them disabled by electronic jamming, but three hit the mark.

In other news, the Russian bulge in the north has shrunk. The Russians aren't retreating (yet) but shortening their defensive lines. The Russians pulled back about 1.5 miles. So! some great offensive, eh! Less than a week into it and already pulling back. Thought great/mighty offensives only move forward

The Russian bulge has shrunk some more overnight. They are almost back to their starting point. What was a 40 square mile bulge is down to about a 10-mile area. The Putinites are just pathetic.

In other news, the Wagner thugs are "threatening" to invade Poland to secure the corridor to Kaliningrad. Not much of a "threat" though as there are only about 200 Wagner soldiers and the Poles have it covered with more than 10X that number. I actually hope the Wagnerites try it, that will be fun to watch.

[dawg80]

The Putinites screaming about "terrorist" attacks on Moscow and other Russian cities as Ukran drones hit apartment complexes and other civilian structures. Well, here's the truth. Those drones were headed for military targets when Russian electronic jamming sent the drones careening off course. A Ukranian TV anchor commented, well, the Russians just need to stop jamming our drones and let them proceed to military targets. Well, duh! No, I don't think so. No one, not even the Russkies, should be expected not to defend themselves. But, the Putinites can stop this by simply quitting the war and withdrawing from Ukraine. Besides, the Ukrans have never deliberately targeted civilian targets, while Putin sure has and continues to do so, most recently in Odesa.

[dawg80]

Again, the evil Putin ordered more random missile attacks against Ukrainian civilians in several cities this morning. These attacks are timed to make sure people are home so as to cause as many casualties as possible. Worst incident caused the collapse of an apartment building, early report has 5 dead, 53 injured, including children. There is no Ukranian military facility anywhere close to this town. This is just more terrorism from a wicked, despicable piece-of-shit that for some reason some people defend.

[techman05]

At what point do we just say screw Russia and obliterate them? Is there a point outside of an attack on US?

[dawg80]

At what point do we just say screw Russia and obliterate them? Is there a point outside of an attack on US?

The world would have to get behind something like that, and that ain't happening.

[dawg80]

Ukran cruise missiles damaged the important Conajar railroad bridge which connects Crimea to the Ukraine mainland. It's a critical supply route for Russian forces in southern Ukraine. The rail lines can be easily repaired and probably will be in a couple of days. So, the Ukrans just need to hit it again. And the Russkies have constructed floating barriers designed to protect the Kerch Bridge against sea drone attacks.

Not much change along the whole 900-mile front. Each side made some small gains.

[Blue Dawg]

At what point do we just say screw Russia and obliterate them? Is there a point outside of an attack on US?

The point of this war is to bleed Russia's energy for as long as possible with minimal US personnel involvement. Ukrainians are disposable, especially as long as they continue to assault deeply entrenched Russian lines at artillery disadvantage.

What do you mean by "obliterate them"?

If you mean nukes, I hope you realize how insane that is.

If you mean conventional war, I'm not sure we have the capability to do that.

[techman05]

The point of this war is to bleed Russia's energy for as long as possible with minimal US personnel involvement. Ukrainians are disposable, especially as long as they continue to assault deeply entrenched Russian lines at artillery disadvantage.

What do you mean by "obliterate them"?

If you mean nukes, I hope you realize how insane that is.

If you mean conventional war, I'm not sure we have the capability to do that.

No, I don’t mean nukes. I agree we don’t have the capability for conventional war. Did we before we started giving everything away?

[dawg80]

No, I don’t mean nukes. I agree we don’t have the capability for conventional war. Did we before we started giving everything away?

Not against Russia, no. We haven't had the necessary assets to defeat Russia in a grind-it-out land war since 1945. Patton was right about that (or so he thought). He said we're going to have to fight Russia some day, might as well do it now while we have the army to do so. But, actually, he was wrong. The Soviet Union had built an army of 2 million+ men with close to 20,000 tanks still in the field, most of which were the T-34 and KV-1, both superior to the standard M4 Sherman tank. Nope!

Today our "stuff" is better than the Russians' equipment, but they are willing to sacrifice many thousands and thousands of soldiers in a land war. Now, if all of NATO and our other allies joined in, then yeah, we would steamroll Russia. But, what would China do, just sit on the sidelines or ally with Russia?

The ONLY viable solution is for Putin to be removed from power, he and his circle of thugs, and a more amicable leadership put in place. Russia needs to join the civilized world...well, at least not be so aggressive with her neighbors.

[Blue Dawg]

No, I don’t mean nukes. I agree we don’t have the capability for conventional war. Did we before we started giving everything away?

Probably not. It's interesting that despite all the tech we have now, they're essentially fighting a WW2-style trench war. Drones give some additional intel, and it's given Ukraine a tiny desperate attack vector by flying drones into Moscow's financial district. Other than that, not much appears to have changed in 100 years on the front.

[dawg80]

Probably not. It's interesting that despite all the tech we have now, they're essentially fighting a WW2-style trench war. Drones give some additional intel, and it's given Ukraine a tiny desperate attack vector by flying drones into Moscow's financial district. Other than that, not much appears to have changed in 100 years on the front.

The Ukrans have revolutionized the development of drones in the technology and their use in combat. They are designing and building their own drones domestically and modifying those received from other countries. And, a lot has changed, especially if you are silly enough to compare it to 100 years ago. Tanks have become the battleships of WW2. Once believed to be the dominant ships on the ocean, battleships were rendered obsolete with the advent of air power, courtesy of the aircraft carrier. The same thing has happened to tanks and drones are to tanks what airplanes were to battleships. Saw a video where a Ukran drone operator was pointing out that with a $200 drone he destroyed a $5 million Russian T-80 tank.

Now, it is true that the way this war is being fought there are similarities to past wars. But that's mostly because Russia is still living in a 1960's mindset and until recently Ukraine simply had no choice as they did not have modern equipment. And even air power has been rendered impotent due to the improvement in hand-held anti-aircraft missile systems. Then there's "the witch" as a Ukran female captain is called, with affection from her own soldiers. She commands a mobile mortar and light artillery battery and runs the whole operation from the backseat of a Humvee with her laptop. She uses drones as spotters and then directs fire onto enemy positions. Soon robots will completely replace human infantry. It'll be like that old Hasbro Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots game.

Point is, the battlefield has changed and is changing more every day.

[dawg80]

Rumors are Putin is putting together another build-up. Wow, Vladimir, your last one faired so well, LOL! gonna try again, eh! Another 100,000 casualties coming to a battlefield near you soon!