Old style Artillery can devestate cities. It takes longer compared to missiles. Missiles blow up a bigger area
Russia’s old Cold War munitions can still kill a lot of people.
Man-portable SAMs aren’t especially effective against fast-moving jet bombers. For those you’re better off with a proper SAM like S-300.
Yeah, the fact that they have large numbers of people who aren’t really trained able to patrol and watch rear areas is huge and allows them to concentrate their available active military. If this wears on, they’ll eventually be trained.
On top of that, Ukraine has about 400K veterans that have combat experience in the Donbass region. Most of them weren’t currently organized and have a gap between their service and now, but they’ll be able to be re-trained a lot faster than green recruits. It seems the Russians have played a hand in making their worst enemy.
Under the category of saying exactly the opposite of what they mean, the Russians are opening a “humanitarian” corridor to allow foreign ships in port to leave. It will allow the Russians to kill Ukrainans harder, without having to shoot around the boats that might worsen Russia’s international standing should one take a stray shell.
I didn’t follow Russia’s actions in Syria. I knew Aleppo was completely bombed out. I didn’t understand that Russia is largely responsible.
Turns out they’re doing almost the same strategy in Ukraine. I’m beginning to realize this is closer to a civil war. It’s especially bizarre the Ukrainians call family in Russia and they’re personal war experiences aren’t believed.
American volunteer:
The FBI is microtargeting Russian speakers who are standing right outside the Russian Embassy in Washington with ads in Russian telling them to contact the FBI if they have anything to tell them.
Please do not buy into Russia propaganda.
It is NOT a civil war!
The fact that some people have relatives on both sides of the border is irrelevant - it’s quite common in Europe for people to have relatives in other countries nearby. It’s like saying because many families have members on both sides of the US/Canadian border, or US/Mexican border, the US and Canada are the same country or the US and Mexico are the same country. They aren’t.
Ukraine is its own country.
It’s a civil war in the same way an enraged father beating up his seven-year-old is a domestic dispute.
Or, more important, if the US invaded Alberta to take over the tar sands it was a civil war because most Canadians and most Americans speak English and have a common heritage, Britain.
Yeah, and they have a kick-ass air force and army also.
It may be as good as advertised, and it may also be almost entirely on paper.
That said, I don’t NATO should be using its submarines actively in support Ukraine.
I mispoke in referring to civil war and this conflict. I overstretched in trying to make sense of this brutal war.
The Guardian article (comparing Syria and the Ukraine tactics) makes Russian strategy more understandable. Russia would do exactly the same thing in Georgia or any of the Baltic countries. Putin has to be stopped before this tragedy goes any further.
From The Guardian’s live blog:
Russia to focus on Donbas region - Russian Interfax news agency
Russia will focus on what it calls the complete “liberation” of Ukraine ’s Donbas region and does not rule out the possibility of storming blockaded Ukrainian cities, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, citing the defence ministry and army.
The defence ministry said Russia had been considering two options for its so-called “special operation” in Ukraine – one solely within the self-proclaimed separatist republics in Donbas and the other on the whole territory of Ukraine, Interfax reported.
So it looks like they are maneuvering themselves into position to dial back their ambitions. Donbas and Crimea. Wonder how that’ll go down with the Ukranians.
Putin & Company already did that to Georgia, back in 2008. The world shrugged and moved on.
As I keep telling people, this bullshit in Ukraine is not the first time Putin has done this sort of thing
Chechya 1994
Chechya 1999
Georgia 2008
Crimea 2014
Syria 2015
This is not sudden, this has been a long time coming but those other wars, those other dead civilians and bombed cities did not grasp the attention of NATO or the West. Why? Lots of possible reasons: too far away, no ties to those places, the inhabitants weren’t European, or were Muslim or not White enough, or… well, those crimes were ignored. And here we are. No doubt Putin is wondering why THIS time we’re making such a fuss about something that’s been going on for 30 years.
When I hear Putin’s ‘peace proposals’, I imagine Zelenskyy saying this:
Ha!
From the Guardian live blog:
Ukrainian forces may have more main battle tanks and they had at the start of Russian invasion, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports, because they’ve been remarkably successful at acquiring Russian vehicles (with the help of a few farmers).
That’s according to western officials, who confirm a 7th Russian general was killed and that a brigade commander was killed by his own troops “as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade”.
More on the Russian commander officials believe was killed by his own troops. The belief is he was “run over”. Was the commander of 37th motor rifle brigade.
Has Colonel Yuri Medvedev died of his injuries? Last I saw, his legs were seriously injured.
ETA: I guess I should have googled better.
I genuinely don’t know if that’s admirable or not. If his children weren’t adults I’d think less of him, I suppose.
Here are the latest Oryx figures, documenting open source vehicle losses.
Russia vehicle losses - 1847, of which: destroyed: 910, damaged: 35, abandoned: 228, captured: 674
Ukraine vehicle losses - 540, of which: destroyed: 206, damaged: 16, abandoned: 37, captured: 281
Russia loses 1847 vehicles, gains 281 captured = NET - 1566 vehicles
Ukraine loses 540 vehicles, gains 674 captured = NET + 134 vehicles
So, according to the Oryx count, the Ukrainians have more vehicles than they started with, through capturing enemy vehicles. The Oryx figures will not represent a complete and accurate picture, of course.
Now, looking at tanks specifically.
Russia tank losses - 289, of which destroyed: 122, damaged: 4, abandoned: 41, captured: 122
Ukraine tank losses - 77, of which destroyed: 26, abandoned: 9, captured: 40
Russia loses 289 tanks, gains 40 captured = NET - 249 tanks
Ukraine loses 77 tanks, gains 122 captured = NET + 45 tanks
Again, Ukraine’s tank numbers grow through capturing enemy tanks.
That’s admirable of him, but 47 is damned old to have to fight in the field as an infantryman.