Monash
Military Professional
I didn't say it was smart. I just said the passport had potential value, especially in the future once the war is over and (presumably) sanctions/travel bans etc are eased off.
2022-2024 Russo-Ukrainian War
- Thread starter Mithridates
- Start date
I didn't say it was smart. I just said the passport had potential value, especially in the future once the war is over and (presumably) sanctions/travel bans etc are eased off.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Monash! The fuck PAID $3500US to join a MEATGRINDER in the UKR for a chance at a Russian passport!!!!!!!!!
At the same time, the Russians are paying Syrian and Chechen mercs to fight in the UKR! All he had to do was to VOLUNTEER! Instead, he PAID $3500US for the priviledge! YOU and I can't WRITE THIS BULLSHIT!
Monash
Military Professional
Stupid is what stupid does. Maybe he was scammed, who knows? Either way he's looking like the ideal recruit for the Russian army at the moment i.e. too stupid to live. He's lucky he got captured. I don't like his chances when this is all over and he's repatriated to China though.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Like all mercs who's on the "pro" side, he will be ignored. We've had a Rhodesian Sgt-Maj here on the board who resides in the US and no legal trouble came of him. But to the Chinese mercs, they are nothing per Beijing's dictate
Monash
Military Professional
If he is a 'serious merc'. What little I've seen in the reports about him he doesn't come across as a professional.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
In this case, "pro" refers to "pro-Moscow", or precisely "pro-whatever side Beijing wants him to be," not professional.
tbm3fan
Defense Professional
The passport AND become a military officer. The officer part struck me more than the passport.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Zero military experience nor Russian language skills. Pretty hard to make officer
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Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Ukraine official: North Korean troops in Kursk fully master modern tactics
A senior Ukrainian defense official has expressed his view that North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces have fully mastered modern fighting tactics, posing a serious threat on the battlefield.
Andrii Cherniak, a spokesperson of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry, spoke to NHK on Thursday about North Korean troops that have been deployed to the western Russian region of Kursk.
Ukrainian forces have been engaging in cross-border attacks on the region.
Cherniak said North Korean casualties have so far amounted to around 5,000, and 6,000 other soldiers from the country are in Kursk and can continue to fight.
He noted that North Korean troops initially went on some kind of large-scale offensive and were immediately defeated by Ukrainian artillery and drones.
He said this has made them change their tactics, and they are now moving in groups of one to two people.
Cherniak said, "Unfortunately, we can talk about the evolution, about the successful training of the North Korean military."
He said the North Korean soldiers have learned the tactics of using unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare. He added that they are fully mastering the weapons and tactics which Russia uses on the battlefield.
Cherniak also noted it was considered that there would be a language barrier between North Korean and Russian forces.
But he expressed his view that the troops from North Korea have been fulfilling their duties as assault units, even without communicating with the Russian military.
Specifically, he said North Korean soldiers receive some commands or instructions to "reach this or that frontier" and then go forward. He added that once they have completed their task, they get a foothold there without constant communications with the Russian side.
He also pointed out that Russia's military is considering attacks on Sumy in northeastern Ukraine and the eastern region of Kharkiv.
He did not rule out the possibility that North Korean soldiers will be involved in these offensives.
Cherniak also noted that half of the shells used by Russia are made in North Korea, which he said is also supplying missiles to Russia.
He said that these missiles were at first not so accurate and they would land more than 100 meters away from their intended targets, but they have now become much closer to targets.
Cherniak said North Korean troops in Kursk will take the tactics of modern warfare back home and teach them to other soldiers in their country.
He said North Korea is a threat to Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific region.
A senior Ukrainian defense official has expressed his view that North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces have fully mastered modern fighting tactics, posing a serious threat on the battlefield.
Andrii Cherniak, a spokesperson of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry, spoke to NHK on Thursday about North Korean troops that have been deployed to the western Russian region of Kursk.
Ukrainian forces have been engaging in cross-border attacks on the region.
Cherniak said North Korean casualties have so far amounted to around 5,000, and 6,000 other soldiers from the country are in Kursk and can continue to fight.
He noted that North Korean troops initially went on some kind of large-scale offensive and were immediately defeated by Ukrainian artillery and drones.
He said this has made them change their tactics, and they are now moving in groups of one to two people.
Cherniak said, "Unfortunately, we can talk about the evolution, about the successful training of the North Korean military."
He said the North Korean soldiers have learned the tactics of using unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare. He added that they are fully mastering the weapons and tactics which Russia uses on the battlefield.
Cherniak also noted it was considered that there would be a language barrier between North Korean and Russian forces.
But he expressed his view that the troops from North Korea have been fulfilling their duties as assault units, even without communicating with the Russian military.
Specifically, he said North Korean soldiers receive some commands or instructions to "reach this or that frontier" and then go forward. He added that once they have completed their task, they get a foothold there without constant communications with the Russian side.
He also pointed out that Russia's military is considering attacks on Sumy in northeastern Ukraine and the eastern region of Kharkiv.
He did not rule out the possibility that North Korean soldiers will be involved in these offensives.
Cherniak also noted that half of the shells used by Russia are made in North Korea, which he said is also supplying missiles to Russia.
He said that these missiles were at first not so accurate and they would land more than 100 meters away from their intended targets, but they have now become much closer to targets.
Cherniak said North Korean troops in Kursk will take the tactics of modern warfare back home and teach them to other soldiers in their country.
He said North Korea is a threat to Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific region.
Now if they could only teach the Russians how to master them, Putin might actually win!
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Who didn't see this coming?
www.aljazeera.com
Trump risks leaving behind a legacy of failure in Ukraine
If the US president does not change his strategy, he will fail as a peacemaker and an ally.
Monash
Military Professional
Who didn't see this coming?
Trump risks leaving behind a legacy of failure in Ukraine
If the US president does not change his strategy, he will fail as a peacemaker and an ally.
Yep! Tripped up by his own ego again. Now Putin is proposing direct cease fire talks with Ukraine and I can see a couple of reasons that might make sense from Putin's perspective, none of them good. While Ukraine has already agreed to a cease fire based on Trump's 'plan' Russia has just been stalling for time these past few weeks. But there's only so long they can keep doing that before even Trump has to realize he's being played and imposes secondary sanctions on Russian oil and gas as he's threatening to in the past.
So IMO Putin suggesting direct talks with Kiev now is just a ploy to take the US out of the loop and delay peace negotiations further while keeping Trump on side. If Putin succeeds with this ploy and, as is inevitable those direct talks fail? Well then Trump has the excuse he needs to walk away and wash his hands of any further involvement by blaming the failure of his 'deal' on the two warring parties (though more likely only on Ukraine) because Putin will 'assure' Trump that he's been negotiating in good faith and Kiev hasn't. Anyone care to lay bets on who Trump is going to believe if that happens?
If I'm right about this? Trump gets an out and someone to blame (Ukraine) while Putin gets to continue his war without further risk of US involvement. And the master 'deal maker'? Will have been royally played.
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Never saw this touched on this thread. New York Times super long read article going into the history of the Ukraine War from a mostly American perspective. Published 3 weeks ago titled "The Secret History of the War in Ukraine" by Adam Entous.
https://archive.ph/jTAcu
Highlights (grain of salt, this is mostly an American perspective, I'm sure one written by the Ukrainians view things differently although they do have the perspective of the Ukrainian general that was the Attaché at the allied joint planning facility in Germany throughout the conflict, Entous says he interviewed 300 people for this story):
-early cooperation went splendid, we gave them "points of interest" which was code for targets and they went and decided what they wanted to hit
-eventually the relationship got to where the Ukrainians saw the Americans as overbearing and the Americans saw the Ukrainians as constantly focusing on shiny prizes, one example provided is when the U.S. early on idly mentioned this one point of interest was the Moskva and the Ukrainians said "okay, bye", hung up the phone, and went and sank the Black Sea Fleet flagship; the Americans never gave the Ukrainians intelligence for certain high worth items or individuals where the Russians could retaliate beyond reason, for example we never gave the Ukrainians intelligence on the whereabouts of Gerasimov
-at some point in 2022 when the war wasn't going well for the Russians American intelligence got a phone call of a Russian general discussing Ukrainian attacks potentially reaching Crimea they may have to do nukes and it gave the Biden administration pause and caution
-counteroffensive planning was pretty touchy, Ukrainians were maximalists off their successes in 2022 - Zaluzhny vs. Syrski arguments took hold, Syrski wanted to put all his chips in Bakhmut, Zaluzhny and the British wanted to focus on Melitopol, the American general in charge Donohue thought Melitopol was a stretch and to prove his point, won war games on the attack as Russian commander
-allies knew the counteroffensive was in trouble when they were sent a bunch of troops for the new brigades to train that were in their 40s and 50s
-Syrski won the counteroffensive arguments, but the Americans thought a Bakhmut operation was doomed before it started, and later it became "Syrski's assault on Bakhmut was starving the Ukrainian Army"
-the Americans were very critical of how cautious the Ukrainians were in their advances, apparently this was due to the Americans had the satellite picture info and just reported to the Ukrainians what they were seeing; in some cases in 2022 and 2023 the Russians would leave behind a token force in their retreats and because the Ukrainian general Tarnavskyi would have a drone fly over to look at what was there even after the Americans told them "attack, it's just a platoon" because they did not have their own satellite images, that 48 hours or so of delay meant the Ukrainians' advances were more limited than what they could have been as it allowed the Russians to form fallback trenches
-eventually a lack of trust between the two sides came to the fore, Zelensky wanted a big win of sorts, that became the Kursk operation where the Americans had no fore-knowledge; prior to that operation they even warned a Ukrainian general that if they did this other operation cross the border in Russia they found out he was planning, Ukraine were on their own, the Americans found out about it from eavesdropping on Russian intelligence talking about and preparing for what they were seeing from the Ukrainians
-the Kursk operation occurred the day after a change in U.S. military leadership at the joint planning base and the day of the CIA station chief change
-Americans were not surprised when Zaluzhny was fired and thought the situation might improve to just have a general in charge that was on the same page as Zelensky
-Ukrainians seem to have given up on prioritizing militarily important targets in exchange for "oil and gas facilities and targets in and around Moscow", apparently per what Zelensky told Blinken to get Russian political opinion to turn on Putin, which Blinken responded "you're wrong, we know the Russians"
-situation became the Americans saying the Ukrainians need more men and it's not an existential conflict for the country if the Ukrainians aren't conscripting 18-year-olds, Ukrainians are countering what good is it to conscript them if they're not getting equipment, which we counter back their own generals are saying their front line defenses are understaffed (this is all still 2024, we're not into Trump administration)
https://archive.ph/jTAcu
Highlights (grain of salt, this is mostly an American perspective, I'm sure one written by the Ukrainians view things differently although they do have the perspective of the Ukrainian general that was the Attaché at the allied joint planning facility in Germany throughout the conflict, Entous says he interviewed 300 people for this story):
-early cooperation went splendid, we gave them "points of interest" which was code for targets and they went and decided what they wanted to hit
-eventually the relationship got to where the Ukrainians saw the Americans as overbearing and the Americans saw the Ukrainians as constantly focusing on shiny prizes, one example provided is when the U.S. early on idly mentioned this one point of interest was the Moskva and the Ukrainians said "okay, bye", hung up the phone, and went and sank the Black Sea Fleet flagship; the Americans never gave the Ukrainians intelligence for certain high worth items or individuals where the Russians could retaliate beyond reason, for example we never gave the Ukrainians intelligence on the whereabouts of Gerasimov
-at some point in 2022 when the war wasn't going well for the Russians American intelligence got a phone call of a Russian general discussing Ukrainian attacks potentially reaching Crimea they may have to do nukes and it gave the Biden administration pause and caution
-counteroffensive planning was pretty touchy, Ukrainians were maximalists off their successes in 2022 - Zaluzhny vs. Syrski arguments took hold, Syrski wanted to put all his chips in Bakhmut, Zaluzhny and the British wanted to focus on Melitopol, the American general in charge Donohue thought Melitopol was a stretch and to prove his point, won war games on the attack as Russian commander
-allies knew the counteroffensive was in trouble when they were sent a bunch of troops for the new brigades to train that were in their 40s and 50s
-Syrski won the counteroffensive arguments, but the Americans thought a Bakhmut operation was doomed before it started, and later it became "Syrski's assault on Bakhmut was starving the Ukrainian Army"
-the Americans were very critical of how cautious the Ukrainians were in their advances, apparently this was due to the Americans had the satellite picture info and just reported to the Ukrainians what they were seeing; in some cases in 2022 and 2023 the Russians would leave behind a token force in their retreats and because the Ukrainian general Tarnavskyi would have a drone fly over to look at what was there even after the Americans told them "attack, it's just a platoon" because they did not have their own satellite images, that 48 hours or so of delay meant the Ukrainians' advances were more limited than what they could have been as it allowed the Russians to form fallback trenches
-eventually a lack of trust between the two sides came to the fore, Zelensky wanted a big win of sorts, that became the Kursk operation where the Americans had no fore-knowledge; prior to that operation they even warned a Ukrainian general that if they did this other operation cross the border in Russia they found out he was planning, Ukraine were on their own, the Americans found out about it from eavesdropping on Russian intelligence talking about and preparing for what they were seeing from the Ukrainians
-the Kursk operation occurred the day after a change in U.S. military leadership at the joint planning base and the day of the CIA station chief change
-Americans were not surprised when Zaluzhny was fired and thought the situation might improve to just have a general in charge that was on the same page as Zelensky
-Ukrainians seem to have given up on prioritizing militarily important targets in exchange for "oil and gas facilities and targets in and around Moscow", apparently per what Zelensky told Blinken to get Russian political opinion to turn on Putin, which Blinken responded "you're wrong, we know the Russians"
-situation became the Americans saying the Ukrainians need more men and it's not an existential conflict for the country if the Ukrainians aren't conscripting 18-year-olds, Ukrainians are countering what good is it to conscript them if they're not getting equipment, which we counter back their own generals are saying their front line defenses are understaffed (this is all still 2024, we're not into Trump administration)
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
IN short, Soviet thinking. Trying to fight a battle of annihilation without fighting a battle of annihilation. Wanting the big victories without paying for the big victories whereas we tried to tell them to go for the small victories, to wear the Russians down. Cassius to avoid the Hannibal's. Went over like a ton of bricks.
Ironduke
Staff Emeritus
EU to seize $3 billion in Russian assets. This is not interest earned from the Russian assets, but will be a direct seizure of the assets.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Stalemate! Neither side is going to gain anything militarily, despite what Trump states about 3 years campaign.
Monash
Military Professional
Any chance they're consider 'gifting' some to the Ukrainians? Only asking because the article notes that there is still 7 billion Euros sitting there untouched.
Monash
Military Professional
True. Latest projections I've see estimate the Russians will have cleaned out their Soviet era stockpiles of anything useful by early 2026 (at the latest) and that rates of new production for armor and artillery etc aren't anywhere near loss replacement levels. When you look at the Russian armed forces of early 2022 and in particular the image they projected to the rest of the world back then and the reality now just three year later?
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
Ukraine's 47th Brigade battalion commander resigns, slams military leadership over 'stupid objectives' - kyivindependent.com
Ukraine's General Staff responds after accusations of 'stupid objectives' from 47th Brigade battalion commander - kyivindependent.com
Astounding that the GHQ allows a LCol to mouth off in open public like that, tantamount to realtime AAR. Real time intel the Russians could exploit.
That being said, the Colonel's frustration is real and stress the micromanagement the GHQ is doing. It's clearly not giving battalion commanders the confidence that the GHQ knows what they're doing.
Ukraine's General Staff responds after accusations of 'stupid objectives' from 47th Brigade battalion commander - kyivindependent.com
Astounding that the GHQ allows a LCol to mouth off in open public like that, tantamount to realtime AAR. Real time intel the Russians could exploit.
That being said, the Colonel's frustration is real and stress the micromanagement the GHQ is doing. It's clearly not giving battalion commanders the confidence that the GHQ knows what they're doing.
Officer of Engineers
Military Professional
The GHQ is too worried about battalion level actions to have an accurate view of the operational, let alone the strategic picture. The GHQ is fighting tactical situations, not worried about the conducting operations, let alone strategic campaigns.