It’s two-fold. First, the anti-tank weaponry, particularly the man-portable ATGMs but also precision-guided artillery, combined with the blanket surveillance via drones with thermal optics etc make the battlefield a very dangerous place for armoured vehicles. Second, because the lines have been so static, they have become extremely heavily mined. There’ve been large numbers of losses resulting from a sequence: 1)tank or IFV hits mine, track breaks, vehicle intact but immobile, 2) crew abandons immobile vehicle, 3) quadcopter drone drops grenade through hatch and vehicle becomes a total loss, or 3a) artillery hits stationary vehicle for same effect.
Sometimes, “Almost” is enough. Picture trying to land an air cavalry unit during a battle, if there’s a swarm of drones loitering in the area. You have to slow down to deploy the troops, but as soon as you do, the drones can attack. Putting every pilot on edge about drone attacks right when they’re doing the most difficult part of their mission could seriously disrupt such an assault.
Ramzan Kadyrov is reported to be in a coma and in critical condition.
what … just 9 months after doing 35 pushups on tik-tok???
A reminder that Mother Nature gets a vote in all these folks’ lives, even the mst important or infamous ones.
There are also reports that he had his doctor buried alive a year ago, because he thought his ill-health was the result of being poisoned by his doctor.
Recent pictures show Kadyrov with a bloated face, unlike his previous lean appearance, with speculation of serious kidney disorder.
Per that article Kadyrov himself had publicly spoken or posted about liver & kidney difficulties. Though not specifically what the problem was, or perhaps much more interestingly, why he had it.
To add on to an excellent post: Most of the explosive clearance vehicles/devices shootout via rocket motor a line of attached C4/explosive blocks. The detonation clears a narrow path around 100 meters long. The minefields encountered were 500 meters in depth (a lot of f@$#ing mines). You get stuck 20% through, the mineplow in front of you gets disabled; your armor attack now looks like the Russian columns trying to descend on Kiev. Stuck on a narrow path with mines (not mud) on all sides, ATGMs, helicopters, and artillery incoming.
Armor needs maneuver room to conduct a breakthrough. Constrain it to a location, it becomes a target.
Was it under a window?
This war has validated decades of military Science Fiction writers who have cleverly contrived ways of having combatants use historical ground tactics in an age of spaceships, superbombs, and other high tech.
Given the right circumstances modern soldiers could wind up throwing rocks. Tactics change with circumstance as well as technology.
My guess is that they’re waiting to target the bridge until just after ground forces finally finish cutting off the land corridor. Between cruise missiles and torpedo drones, they could probably take it down now, but if they did, it still wouldn’t isolate Crimea, and it’d be repaired.
As I understand it, trench warfare went away because of air support. But here, both sides have much stronger anti-air than they have air forces, so air support hasn’t been very relevant. Yet. But if Crimean missiles can take out Russian air-defense sites, then that changes.
Or swinging shovels at the enemy.
Horses!
I’m not sure it isn’t a higher percentage. There were two dry dock berths taken out in the Russian navy’s main port of Sevastopol. The alternate ‘main’ port facility is in Novorossiysk. And I think they only have a single drydock berth there. Can someone confirm?
Even better!
But Novorossiysk is in Krasnodar Krai, not Сrimea. UA would not attack Novorossiysk because it does not claim any part of Krasnodar as its own rightful territory.
??? Ukraine have launched loads of attacks on Russian territory and damaged a ship near Novorossiysk in an attack a few weeks ago.
I’ve heard people arguing for a while that modern missiles will make things like aircraft carriers obsolete. I’ve no informed opinion on that, but things like naval drones seem to reinforce that idea.
But, it’s hard to imagine a major power war where navies can’t be used…
And please no more in this thread on conjecture about the future of warfare.
Moderating:
Correct. So if/when the Black Sea fleet is forced to relocate their main base to avoid Ukranian strikes there they’ll be much further away from Ukraine (and consequently less of a threat).