The Russians have gone in

[oldbrownhat]

Teen 'hero of Ukraine' uses toy drone to protect Kyiv from Russian advance

Jun 07, 2022

Andrii Pokrasa was one of the few local residents who had knowledge of how to operate the device

Story here.

Fifteen-year-old Andrii Pokrasa has been hailed a hero after using his toy drone to help halt a Russian advance on Kyiv.
Article content

The military was made aware that Russian tanks were headed toward their city, but did not know the exact coordinates.

Pokrasa was called upon by the civil defence forces to help because he was one of the few local residents who knew how to operate a drone and could determine the GPS coordinates of the convoy.

“He was the only one who was experienced with drones in that region,” said Yurii Kasjanov, the commander of the armed forces’ unmanned reconnaissance section....​

 

[UncleEd]

Obviously I'm no general nor do I
necessarily even own an arm chair
from which to pontificate. But....

I predict that in the next few weeks
the Ukrainians will get up to speed
in use of new artillery from the West.
And the Ukrainians will have major
Russian forces concentrated in the
Donbas area "right where we want
'em." And then Russians will be
pounded with subsequent heavier
losses than even Putin could foresee.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Obviously I'm no general nor do I
necessarily even own an arm chair
from which to pontificate. But....

I predict that in the next few weeks
the Ukrainians will get up to speed
in use of new artillery from the West.
And the Ukrainians will have major
Russian forces concentrated in the
Donbas area "right where we want
'em." And then Russians will be
pounded with subsequent heavier
losses than even Putin could foresee.

I SO hope you are right, pontifical armchair or not.

 

[oldbrownhat]

And in local news, my neighbour up the street, whose mother has opened her big house to a Ukrainian family of four, has finally had her guests arrive, after staying in a relative's one-bedroom apartment while their documentation was being straightened out. One of the first outings for the young children was saddling up the horses and taking them riding

 

[Absalom]

Short, decisive wars that keep the audience enthralled until the credits roll at the end are rather rare; the Six Day War of 1967 and Desert Storm come to mind.

The Ukraine war has been taking more the shape of World War I: An initial flurry of offensive and defensive excitement at various fronts (as in the summer and fall of 1914), which now shakes out into a generally predictable pattern of what the next months or years may look like.

The stronger side not being successful is not generally a recipe for a short war. The US in Vietnam, the USSR in Afghanistan, Russia in Chechnya, the US in Iraq and Afghanistan … there is little to support the hope that the Russians will just pack it in because the Ukrainians are resisting successfully.

So it‘s impossible to keep up the same level of attention. Happens with most big topics. Two years ago world history seemed to have stopped so we could concentrate on Covid. By now, I‘m sitting here five days into testing positively and three days into semi-annoying symptoms, gobbling my paxlovid, and it‘s just one of those things I hardly read about anymore

 

[ACORN]

Yup. It seems that as long as the Ukrainians were giving the Russians a good drubbing, with perhaps the thought that it would all be over soon, it was exciting (if still terrible) news. But now that it has turned into an artillery slugfest with no "exciting" news, it has slipped in the ratings and the news agencies have let other current events overtake it.

I thought the “special operation” had ended.
I’ve seen nothing on the MSM, or even Fox.

 

[Rudi]

The drive by media are dealing with several "current things" now.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Who else has noticed that news about the Ukraine war has nearly vanished from the mainstream news media recently? You have to dig it out from th internet.

They're a little busy right now with the campaign to abolish the 2nd Amendment...

 

[Fuch]

fake news from Ukrainiens

beware of Ukrainian fake news like that of the Russians according to certain testimonies of French humanitarians the Azov militias executed or committed acts of cruelty against Russian prisoners according to these French witnesses who were in karkov the Ukrainians summarily killed the officers Russians with an AK74 bullet in the head and for ordinary Russian soldiers it was a bullet in the knee!! these testimonies have been confirmed by certain well-known media in France. in wars there is neither good nor bad but men who clash, the most important thing is to do it with honor.

 

[ladder13]

Short, decisive wars that keep the audience enthralled until the credits roll at the end are rather rare; the Six Day War of 1967 and Desert Storm come to mind.

The Ukraine war has been taking more the shape of World War I: An initial flurry of offensive and defensive excitement at various fronts (as in the summer and fall of 1914), which now shakes out into a generally predictable pattern of what the next months or years may look like.

The stronger side not being successful is not generally a recipe for a short war. The US in Vietnam, the USSR in Afghanistan, Russia in Chechnya, the US in Iraq and Afghanistan … there is little to support the hope that the Russians will just pack it in because the Ukrainians are resisting successfully.

So it‘s impossible to keep up the same level of attention. Happens with most big topics. Two years ago world history seemed to have stopped so we could concentrate on Covid. By now, I‘m sitting here five days into testing positively and three days into semi-annoying symptoms, gobbling my paxlovid, and it‘s just one of those things I hardly read about anymore

Best wishes on your Covid battle.

 

[Onomea]

From today's WaPo:


"Ukraine is running out of ammunition as prospects dim on the battlefield
Hopes that Ukraine will eventually be able to reverse Russian gains are fading in face of superior firepower.
By Siobhán O'Grady, Liz Sly and Ievgeniia Sivorka"

https://wapo.st/3NJJyAy

 

[Kevin J.]

We may soon see the Ukrainians move to a more insurgency based war in the eastern areas like the Donbas that have a history of Russian control. Hard to match the Russians in a head to head slug fest artillery war. Now if they had serious air power…..

 

[UncleEd]

From today's WaPo:
"Ukraine is running out of ammunition as prospects dim on the battlefield
Hopes that Ukraine will eventually be able to reverse Russian gains are fading in face of superior firepower.

Maybe.

I found the report thin on specifics
from NATO/US advisers. The
Ukraine source, like all sources
West and East, can be suspect.

Matching Russia round for round,
for instance, is not necessary since
the Ukrainians do not need to level
every inch of ground to advance.
In fact advancing may not be an
imperative. The imperative is to
just keep killing Russian soldiers
and destroying some of their
equipment.

 

[venomballistics]

Maybe.

I found the report thin on specifics
from NATO/US advisers. The
Ukraine source, like all sources
West and East, can be suspect.

Matching Russia round for round,
for instance, is not necessary since
the Ukrainians do not need to level
every inch of ground to advance.
In fact advancing may not be an
imperative. The imperative is to
just keep killing Russian soldiers
and destroying some of their
equipment.

What you describe is a defensive position. One General George S Patton further described as a monument to human stupidity.

Sitting around waiting for the enemy to come so you can kill them quickly turns into the enemy figuring out where you are, and how you are armed. They just need to get a bigger gun, come back and kill you.
Ukraine needs to push into Russia and cripple their ability to continue the offensive.
With news on this front going from plentiful to lean, this is an indicator of a condition of slow loss.
Not to say the Ukrainians were slacking off in any way, I really expected Russia to take territory much faster than they did in the first weeks. They really gave Putin some trouble.
Ultimately, there will no longer be a nation known as Ukraine.

 

[Beemerguy53]

What you describe is a defensive position. One General George S Patton further described as a monument to human stupidity.

Sitting around waiting for the enemy to come so you can kill them quickly turns into the enemy figuring out where you are, and how you are armed. They just need to get a bigger gun, come back and kill you.
Ukraine needs to push into Russia and cripple their ability to continue the offensive.
With news on this front going from plentiful to lean, this is an indicator of a condition of slow loss.
Not to say the Ukrainians were slacking off in any way, I really expected Russia to take territory much faster than they did in the first weeks. They really gave Putin some trouble.
Ultimately, there will no longer be a nation known as Ukraine.

One of things I like about this thread is the number of well-reasoned, well-thought out posts, and this ^ is certainly one of them.

But...while I appreciate your logic, and can't really argue with you, I pray with all my heart that you're wrong...

 

[biku324]

If I wanted to slash Russia's throat, I'd seem like I was weakening. Once they bit, I'd hit them with everything, including sinking the Black Sea fleet in port with missiles, at the exact stroke of the clock I chose.

 

[venomballistics]

One of things I like about this thread is the number of well-reasoned, well-thought out posts, and this ^ is certainly one of them.

But...while I appreciate your logic, and can't really argue with you, I pray with all my heart that you're wrong...

It's a case where I really would not mind being wrong either.

 

[BigBelle]

Yes, as I've mentioned before, a world backlash like Ukraine would be very bad for business. I avoid buying anything from the chicoms, but that is hard, considering how much of the stuff we need is made there.

I totally agree with you but how did we survive when the chicoms were poor and wasn't knowledgeable enough to make anything worth buying ? We used to be a country of producers.
We made everything we needed and we never needed anyone to make anything for use now we need the Chicoms make everything included a large percent of our medicine.

 

[Kevin J.]

If I wanted to slash Russia's throat, I'd seem like I was weakening. Once they bit, I'd hit them with everything, including sinking the Black Sea fleet in port with missiles, at the exact stroke of the clock I chose.

Warfare jujitsu, aka Tzu art of war. Destroy your enemies will to fight.


He outlines the five fundamental factors associated with war: moral influence, weather, terrain, command, and doctrine.

With all due respect to Patton he wasn’t fighting from an underdog position against a massively more armed enemy.

 

[biku324]

Well, I'm hardly schooled in grand strategy. It does make sense to feign weakness through top-to-bottom disinformation just before striking an 'all in' blow against a poorly motivated, poorly supplied, poorly led army. Russia would need months to recover, if they could.