Article on the use of HIMARS against fascist invader ammo depots:
Video of launching of quadrotor drone with 82mm mortar shell:
Ukraine has 18 Polish self-propelled howitzers Krab, and soon will get another 54 . They proved themselves especially useful during battle for Sievierodonetsk https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1545950939613478914?cxt=HHwWhIC-vYqMqfQqAAAA
Ammo depot [former]Shakhtarsk blast:
Report from the Russian side (ultranationalist Igor Girkin) on the effectiveness of recent Ukrainian strikes on ammo depots and other locations:
The longest rifle I’ve ever seen. It’s a Ukrainian-made anti-material rifle, so designed to be used against military equipment, structures, and other hardware, rather than people.
I suppose “the button in the middle of that officer’s chest” is cheating.
Ukraine Destroys 35 Russian Tanks in a Single Day, Kyiv Forces Say
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Ukraine’s armed forces on Friday claimed to have destroyed 35 Russian tanks in a single day.
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Ukraine, which regularly provides updates on Russian [military losses said on Facebook that since Vladimir Putin’s war began on February 24, Russia has lost 1,637 tanks, including 35 in a single day.
I do recall a conversation with a Vietnam veteran who manned M2s which, being .50 caliber, were also supposed to be used against materiel, not people. He would often claim, he said, “The guy was wearing a backpack.”
“Without pay, without any f***ing anything. I gather they weren’t even being fed. They were then deployed to the front line. After sitting there for a while, they started to move back, only to clash with Russians. The Russians completely wrecked them. Imagine that kind of army.” …
“Russian invaders attempted to keep this under wraps, even though conscripted people from temporarily occupied areas of Donbas can see they are being spent as cannon fodder,” the SBU said in its message.
To make up the manpower shortfall, the Kremlin is relying on a combination of impoverished ethnic minorities, Ukrainians from the separatist territories, mercenaries and militarized National Guard units to fight the war, and promising hefty cash incentives for volunteers.
Soldiers who complain publicly of not getting those promised bonuses and other shabby treatment get in trouble:
One claimed to have been denied a promised payment of nearly $2,000. Another grumbled that a local hospital declined to remove shrapnel lodged in his body.
Their public pleas for help got results, but not the kind they were hoping for. Instead, an aide to Ramzan Kadyrov, the autocrat who runs Chechnya, berated them at length on television as ingrates and forced them to recant.
How long until the house of cards comes down?
Avoiding a draft for all adult males allows the Kremlin to maintain the fiction that the war is a limited “special military operation,” while also minimizing the risk of the kind of public backlash that spurred the end of previous Russian military debacles, like the one in Afghanistan and the first Chechen war.
The public outcry after Chechnya prompted Russia to ban the use on the battlefield of raw recruits, men aged 18-27 who are required to complete a year of mandatory military service. The revelations that hundreds were deployed in Ukraine anyway, including some of the sailors who died when the Ukrainians sank the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, prompted the very outrage from parents that the Kremlin had sought to avoid.
I had never heard of these river ports. The NPR article gives specific ports and a map.
Site: Ukraine restores Danube River ports in emergency effort to get grain out | Ukraine | The Guardian
Czech Republic contributions so far:
Tanks
40~ T-72M1 [April 2022]
T-72M1 [May or June 2022] (Purchased from Bulgaria and delivered to Ukraine via Czechia)
Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs)
5+ BVP-1 [April 2022]
56 Pbv 501A [April 2022]
Towed Artillery
152mm D-20 gun-howitzer [April 2022] (Purchased from Bulgaria and delivered to Ukraine via Czechia)
Self-Propelled Artillery
122mm 2S1 Gvozdika [April 2022]
20+ 152mm ShKH vz. 77 DANA [April 2022] (Delivered along with at least 4,006 artillery shells)
Multiple Rocket Launchers (MRLs)
20+ 122mm RM-70 [April 2022]
122mm BM-21 Grad [May or June 2022] (Purchased from Bulgaria and delivered to Ukraine via Czechia)
Surface-To-Air Missile (SAM) Systems
6 9K35 Strela-10M [March or April 2022]
(Attack) Helicopters
2+ Mi-24V [July 2022]
Reconnaissance UAVs
3 Bivoj (Crowdfunded) [July 2022]
Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS)
160 9K32 Strela-2 [March 2022]
Small Arms
30,150 Pistole vz. 82 Pistols [February 2022]
2,085 vz. 61 Škorpion Machine Pistols [February 2022]
5,000 vz. 58 Assault Rifles [February 2022] (Delivered along with at least 3.5 million 7.62mm rounds)
CZ BREN 2 Assault Rifles [February 2022] (Delivered along with at least 3.5 million 7.62mm rounds)
3,200 UK vz. 59 Machine Guns [February 2022] (Delivered along with at least 3.5 million 7.62mm rounds)
12 Dragunov Marksman Rifles [February 2022]
19 Falcon Anti-Materiel Rifles [February 2022]
10.000 RPG-75s [March 2022]
Miscellaneous Equipment
2 Pontoon Bridges [June 2022]
Vindication!
Geez, I wonder where they stumbled across those. I think the last time I saw one of those even mentioned was in the 1970s. I can see them being used by armored vehicle crews, but I wouldn’t want that to be my main weapon if I was front line infantry. Not much range or accuracy.
My understanding is Ukrainian forces received considerable partisan training from the west in the years following the 2014 Russian invasion. Remember, the prevailing wisdom was that Ukraine would be conducting primarily guerilla-partisan asymmetric warfare, as Russia would sweep aside Ukrainian conventional forces in a couple of weeks. History has shown that didn’t happen, but all the training and equipment is still in place and being put to good use.
Ukraine’s partisans are hitting Russian soldiers behind their own lines | The Economist
How Ukrainians’ Guerilla Warfare Strategy Blindsided Putin’s Mighty Russian Army Amid War - YouTube
CNN:
Ukraine has been fighting in this area for over a month. I’ve seen reports of HIMARS attacks against Russians deployed at Chornobaivka Airport.
Maybe a big counter offensive really is being prepared? They have to soften them up by hitting important targets with HIMARS.
You wouldn’t normally advertise that sort of thing though surely?
The Belarussians have been conducting “exercises” on Ukraine’s northern border this past week which means Ukraine has to commit troops to defending the area whether or not they think it’s a bluff. This seems like a good story that forces Russia to do a similar thing.
A few interesting bits from the Economist article from @Cardigan (thanks for posting it!)
Remember the Ukrainian baba handing out sunflower seeds? Another one has taken it a step further, from wishes to action:
In Izyum, hungry Russian soldiers were purportedly given spiked pies by a seemingly friendly old lady, according to a telephone conversation between a Russian soldier and his girlfriend that was intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence; eight of them reportedly ended up dead.
And in the category of “Why would God need a helicopter?”
On at least one occasion a helicopter struck an oil-storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk. Officials in Kyiv refuse to comment on the operations. Speaking off the record, a tight-lipped senior intelligence officer says it would be better to speak to a priest: “This is God’s work. God is punishing the Russian Federation. Maybe not directly. Maybe not with his own hands. Maybe he has to use helicopters.”
Plus, literary criticism:
The tight-lipped intelligence officer predicts Ukraine’s underground army will prove to be a big asset. He suggests Vladimir Putin’s troops will be forced to beat an ugly retreat. “The Russians will be able to write another ‘War and Peace’. I’ve always been very fond of Tolstoy.”
‘I sent you two boats and a helicopter! What did you expect?’
Excellent Johnny.