2022-2024 Russo-Ukrainian War

[Officer of Engineers]

We can't overlay our experience with theirs and theirs won over ours big time. Do recall that the Red Army crushed the Wehrmacht, the former without a NCM, the latter wrote the book on it. Do also recall that the Chinese in Korea and the Vietnamese also lack a professional NCM.

So, the lack of a NCM is no indication of combat effectiveness ... and let's face it, a hell of a lot of our NCMs are Officer Qualified. Hell, my RSM has two degrees (didn't want to be an officer). The last Russian Army performance of note was the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Then, they read the ground, they read the enemy, and they read the books right. Here, well, they got none of that right but be advised that their books never included a good NCM.

[statquo]

Reports that the UA is massing around Vuhledar in eastern Zaporizhia Oblast.

EDIT: ISW assessing it too

Russian sources are increasingly voicing concern that Ukrainian troops are pulling forces southwest of Donetsk City and near the eastern Zaporizhia Oblast frontline. A member of Zaporizhia’s occupation administration, Vladimir Rogov, claimed that the accumulation of Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhia direction is “colossal” and unprecedented.[41] Russian milbloggers further claimed that Ukrainian troops are amassing near Vuhledar (45km southwest of Donetsk City), where they stated fighting is ongoing.[42] ISW cannot independently confirm if Ukrainian forces are indeed in this area, but the Russian milblogger discourse about the area southwest of Donetsk City indicates a pervasive sense of nervousness over perceived Russian vulnerabilities in Donbas and southern Ukraine.

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Liberation of Mariupol on the horizon?

[Albany Rifles]

Was that a target even worth wasting an ATGM on?

Joe is gonna Joe the world around. They will use a hammer when a fly swatter will do.

I mean what are they going to do to you...stick you in a combat unit and give you an anti-tank weapon to use?

I can't tell you the number times a TOW missile got fired into a house in Iraq when an AT-4 was probably overkill.

[Officer of Engineers]

Did I ever told the story that I used 5kg of detcord for a BIP ex simply because I didn't want to do the paperwork to return the stuff?

[Albany Rifles]

From

The Washington Post

Here’s what Russian soldiers left behind when they withdrew from Izyum


Samuel Oakford, Alex Horton - Yesterday 7:18 PM

The Ukrainian counteroffensive in northeast Ukraine has forced Russia to surrender a wide swath of territory that it spent months, and many lives, capturing.

Videos and photos posted on social media have provided a glimpse into what Russian troops left behind during their hasty retreat.

In videos verified by The Washington Post, Ukrainian troops have documented war machines in various states, from combat-ready tanks to vehicles in need of repair. In some cases, Ukrainian forces have obliterated Russian weapons, leaving smoldering vehicles to be discovered by the advancing forces. Russian forces may have also damaged their own weapons as they retreated.

Many of the discoveries were clustered around Izyum, a strategic city southeast of Kharkiv positioned along transportation routes that had been key to Russian movements. The city also became an important intake for armored vehicles in need of maintenance, said Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.


Here’s what Russian soldiers left behind when they withdrew from Izyum Provided by The Washington Post

“The abandonment started from the Russian side pretty quickly once it became clear that the highways and the railway connection north were cut off,” Bronk said.


The state of the equipment at the site is unclear, though much of it appears to lack significant damage. “You and I get a tank,” someone can be heard saying. “We all get a tank each.”

After Russia captured Izyum, video posted online and satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed military vehicles at the same site — indicating it may have been used as an equipment hub.

In the video posted Sunday, several tanks and armored personnel carriers are dispersed throughout a wooded area. They appear to be assembled in a circular formation, allowing 360 degrees of visibility, said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe. It’s possible Russian forces stopped for fuel or were waiting for a mission when they fled, Hodges said.

Hodges, who examined the video, said it appears that the Russians withdrew hastily, leaving behind tanks that show no outward signs of being sabotaged to prevent their use by the Ukrainians. The Russians may have left on foot or in other vehicles in an attempt to keep a lower profile as they fled.

“If you get out of the tank to escape, it’s because you think the tank is a target,” Hodges said.

Vehicles abandoned in serviceable condition are a boon to Ukrainian forces, who have suffered their own losses with a much smaller inventory still reliant on Soviet-era systems. While their crews work quickly to repair their own stocks, Ukrainian forces can also absorb newer Russian vehicles into their ranks because their design is familiar and they use ammunition already in circulation.

The equipment left behind in the video amounts to about a tank company, Hodges said, which is typically outfitted with about 10 or 11 tanks.

Several of them are variants of the T-80, a high-powered tank prone to breakdowns, Bronk said.

“Some of them are no doubt reasonably functional,” he said. “You would expect at a major staging point that there would be quite a lot of equipment that is there specifically because it was damaged or needed servicing.”

Another video, taken along a street in central Izyum, shows a marooned 2S19 Msta self-powered howitzer. The system does not have obvious signs of being disabled.

Other pictures taken in Izyum show heavier damage to Russian military equipment, indicating they were hit in battle. One armored vehicle can be seen at a gas station in the city with bullet holes, burn marks and deflated tires.

Ukrainian forces published a video showing the husk of a TOS-1A, a multiple-rocket launcher, using its nickname “Solntsepyok.”

The soldier knew the nickname as well.

“Oh, sunshine!” he says in the video.

The system is capable of launching thermobaric munitions, which first distribute a fuel aerosol before another charge ignites the cloud, helping cause a greater explosion used to target fortified positions. It can be an indiscriminate and catastrophic weapon for people near its target.

Oryx, an open-source analyst site, has documented only five TOS-1As in Russian stocks that have been damaged, destroyed or captured.

As Ukrainian soldiers took stock of weaponry left behind in Izyum, officials said they are still pushing farther into Russian-held areas. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said it had taken a further 20 settlements in 24 hours.

[Albany Rifles]

Did I ever told the story that I used 5kg of detcord for a BIP ex simply because I didn't want to do the paperwork to return the stuff?

AT Graf the limit for the demo pit range was 50 pounds at once.

So we set up 15 sandbags with 49 pounds each, set each to blow at 20 second intervals and then pulled the fuse igniter.

Never blew 50 at once!!!

It was raining gravel & mud.

[astralis]

Actually, they've been doing that but you've got the wrong echelon. They've been throwing Combined Arms Armies (Corps level HQ) commanding BTGs into the fight. What they need is division and brigade/regiment HQs back into the Chain-of-Command. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that a BTG is nomally 400 men. Those numbers were our fucked up peacekeeping days and it still didn't worked. We learned to pump that number up to 600 and a Battle Group to be 1000-1200 strong.

And I also can't wrap my head around why the hell are CAA Generals running around doing the jobs of Colonels?

forget about the CAA general running around doing the job of Colonels.

try -Putin- running around doing the job of Colonels.

[Officer of Engineers]

AT Graf the limit for the demo pit range was 50 pounds at once.

So we set up 15 sandbags with 49 pounds each, set each to blow at 20 second intervals and then pulled the fuse igniter.

Never blew 50 at once!!!

It was raining gravel & mud.

There are times I wonder who in their right mind let us play with this shit.

[Albany Rifles]

There are times I wonder who in their right mind let us play with this shit.

And the best part is they paid us to do it!!!

[Albany Rifles]

U.S. to put Patriot missile defense system in Slovakia to help with Ukraine swap - https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/10917...ovakia-ukraine

[kato]

U.S. to put Patriot missile defense system in Slovakia to help with Ukraine swap - https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/10917...ovakia-ukraine

So now they basically have four Patriot batteries filling in for the 1.5 SA-300 batteries they had...

[Monash]

So now they basically have four Patriot batteries filling in for the 1.5 SA-300 batteries they had...

EDIT: Between the new S-300s Ukraine is getting & HARM Russia will never have air superiority over wide swaths of Ukrainian soil again (this war).

[Ironduke]

We haven't given Ukraine Patriots... we put them in Slovakia, so Slovakia could give Ukraine their S-300s.

[Monash]

We haven't given Ukraine Patriots... we put them in Sovakia, so Slovakia could give Ukraine their S-300s.

Sorry yes, I realized later. The net effect should be the same though. I'll change the post.

[statquo]

Russians continuing their campaign against civilian infrastructure with missile strike on Kryviy Rih dam.