Being able to shoot down any missiles at all is a relatively new thing. I mean, nobody’s exactly happy about them, but the world has faced unstoppable missiles plenty of times in the past.
We should move the hypersonic weapons discussion to a new thread but currently the military is very concerned, the US & Allies are working on defenses and many feel the answer will probably be the battlefield and ship mounted lasers that are being developed already.
Here is the Spin off thread:
In other news, Bakhmut STILL hasn’t fallen, and the Wagner mercenaries are taking a “tactical pause” which I interpret as to mean ask themselves “why can’t we decisively take over this medium-sized town?”.
Shades of Stalingrad?
You’d think Russians, of all people, would understand what kind of a slog/meat grinder attacking a city defended by motivated troops can be.
There’s a river through the center of Bakhmut. Russia would probably prefer to complete encirclement rather than having to cross the river.
I really hope this is followed by Wagner “reorganizing their units rearward in a random fashion.”
I believe they get Prigozhin’s Silver Hammer for that, or shot if the non com is in a hurry.
While Wagner complain that they aren’t being sent ammo any more, Russian soldiers complain that they don’t have any ammo because it’s being sent to Wagner:
If it weren’t for the fact this is actual war with actual people being maimed and killed, livelihoods, destroyed, and cities pounded to ruin it might almost comedic at times what sort of clusterf***ery is going on.
“So what unit are you assigned to?”
“the 155th Kamikaze Brigade! I hear it’s got a great reputation!”
Ukraine really needed a pause in Bakhmut. Perhaps get their new defensive lines better established and get resupplied.
The 155th Separate Marine Brigade (Pacific Fleet, based in Vladivostok) has suffered unit-destroying casualties multiple times in this war and reconstituted presumably with freshly mobilized soldiers. First retreating from Kyiv, again assaulting Pavlivka (just a few km south of Vuhledar) back in November, and again in the past month assaulting Vuhledar.
After the losses in November they wrote an open letter to Putin asking that the circumstances of their extreme losses be investigated, which was widely circulated on Telegram and Twitter. The 155th has become almost synonymous with the insane attack with no concern for losses approach of the Russian army, hence @wartranslated’s joking renaming of the unit.
I laughed when I heard these Russian soldiers say this:
That’s just one level above being a Wagner penal battalion soldier. Conscripts of the Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” were the Russians’ cannon fodder before Wagner Group recruited criminal prisoners.
I suspect that the highest priority for ammunition in the Russian military/Wagner goes to the blocking/barrier troops.
In yet another blow to Russian pride, they must subcontract their technological needs to Iran.
What is the deal Newsweek and these Kinzhal missiles? Check out the headline:
Russia’s Unbeatable ‘Kinzhal’ Hypersonic Missile Compared to U.S. HIMARS (msn.com)
Comparing Kinzhal missiles to HIMARS? wtf? One is an air (or ship) launched ballistic missile having a 480kg warhead and a 3000km range. The other is a high mobility MLRS artillery system with (usually) six smaller rockets with about a 90 km range. Two entirely different weapons systems with different purposes that are employed on the battlefield, well, differently. Why the apples and oranges comparison? I mean why not compare a NATO 60mm M-2 mortar with a Russian 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV 152mm self-propelled artillery?
Maybe they’re trying to stir fear in the west that Russian weapons are better than ours so we feel better about sending more advanced weapons systems to Ukraine. Who knows
Granted, this is coming from a biased source, but DPR supposedly announced that those born in 2006 (ie. turn 17 this year) are now eligible for conscription. Seems plausible enough.
Hopefully, the Russian Joseph Heller lives long enough to write about it.
I doubt that a Newsweek journalist knows the difference between HIMARS and an “assault” rifle.
Has it been mentioned yet that in WWI, the second wave of Russians over the trench were not armed? They were told to recover weapons from the dead guys in the first wave.
While the success of the Kinzhal weapon is noteworthy, it’s not really relevant in this battle. Even if the Ukranians had them, they wouldn’t use them the way they’re intended to be used: deep strike into your enemy’s strategic rear areas to disable their ability to support and sustain warfighting. They’re not front line or even theater-level attack assets. They’re too rare for that.
For whatever reasons, the Ukrainian government has chosen or been persuaded not to attack very far over the border. So this weapon, or weapons like it, has no use to Ukraine. Any reporting that doesn’t start with that fundamental understanding is “not even wrong”, to borrow a phrase.