Russia-Ukraine War

[chew-ie]

Yeah, those are the funny side stories in this mess... We really are lucky they are so _______ ______.

[fiksal]

Russia is trying to take full control of the Wagner group and making them a direct part and responsible to the Russia army, of course Yevgeny Prigozhin is not a happy bunny about this and is saying his troops will not be part of the Russia army and will not sign or agree with the contracts they are being told to sign, which have to be signed by July 1, I wonder what happens to any who refuse to sign.

interesting, will we find out who has more power

[notaterran]

The boss of the Russian private military company Wagner says he won’t sign contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry, rejecting an attempt to bring his force in line.

Link

Either Prigozhin thinks that he can take on the weakened Russian military, or he's just bluffing to improve his negotiating position. We'll know next month, the Russian palace intrigue could become interesting.

[notaterran]

I guess it's too soon to know how well the Ukrainians are doing, hopefully the new tanks will help. And maybe these new bombs will help too.

[mr.WHO]

Another dam blew up:
https://twitter.com/Flash_news_ua/statu ... 2312445952

[mr.WHO]

When you use washing machine chips in missiles:
https://twitter.com/SmartUACat/status/1 ... 3484537863

[chew-ie]

Ah, that was the spin cycle kicking in - never thought of them being hard-wired. :>

[Alan Phipps]

Using jury-rigged, faulty or damaged munitions/launchers is always exciting for the operator!

[clakclak]

A second dam has been destroyed.

[mr.WHO]

Not gonna lie, Gepard taking down drones and cruise missile is badass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3buvqTsAco


I hope we gonna see Marders in action soon.

[felter]

So the Russians destroyed that damn, creating havoc on a massive scale and allowing them to move troops out of the area, as they must have reckoned there was no way that Ukraine could get troops over the river with it being flooded. A few weeks later and if the rumours are true, Ukraine have managed to get its troops over the Dnipro river into an area that used to be well protected by Russian troops but is no longer in that state. If this is true it will be pretty scary for the Russians because as I said, they moved those troops out to help protect their front line to the east, but now they potentially have Ukrainian troops behind them. If they move those troops back West to protect their rear, they could leave their eastern frontline at risk of being over run. Sounds like another massive screw up by the Russians.

[mr.WHO]

I'm skeptical - it will still take at least a month, before ground will dry enough for heavier equipments.
Without it, there is no real logistics, so Ukraine won't be able to perform much of an offensive there, just small raids as usual.

However, after a month or two, with ground dry up and Dnieper lake lowering significantly, Ukraine will have veeeeeeeeery long line to choose the crossing and Russia won't have resources to plug this whole area. With stable crossing, Ukraine can bypass Russia defense lines, forcing "good will gesture".

I hope this is the plan and current assault operations in South, South-East are just keeping Russians tied and tired for a month or two.

[felter]

They don't need the heavy equipment, yes it would be nice, but it is not 100% essential. Remember, it's not just them that can't use heavy equipment, Russia is also in that exact same boat. Logistical wise if they are able to get troops over then it is possible to get essential equipment to them, but saying all of that what does Russia do just ignore it saying they can't get heavy equipment what can they do, nothing. This is a nightmare scenario for Russia, if they ignore it, then they have an enemy behind their lines. If the Ukrainians are able to set up a foothold, it will make it easier to move heavy equipment in at a later date when they can be used. So what does Russia do their troops are currently fighting on a front line, if they move some of them back to defend the rear they potentially create weak spots to be exploited. Even if they wanted to, they can't move heavy equipment for those two reasons, one it could create a weak spot, but also as we know heavy equipment can't be used in that area. Having troops behind the Russians, even just for hit-and-run operations, is not good for Russian troops lives or their morale.

[Observe]

It seems that the best Ukraine can reasonably hope for, is to cut off Russian access to the 'land corridor' connecting Russia to Crimea in the South. Doing this, might give them a point of leverage in the eventual peace negotiations.

Trouble is (BBC article): "Blocking Ukraine's path to the coast - its own coast, let's not forget - are layer upon layer of Russian minefields, concrete tank-blockers (known as "dragons' teeth") bunkers, firing positions and trenches wide enough and deep enough to stop a Leopard 2 or M1 Abrams tank literally in its tracks. All of this is covered by pre-determined artillery impact zones calibrated to rain down high explosive on Ukraine's armoured vehicles as they and their crews wait for their engineers to find a way through".

It staggers the mind, to think about what's going on over there.

[mr.WHO]

Before this war, what I really didn't expect in XXI century is WW1 style trench combat on daily basis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA67zm1LEg8


Makes me think when we'll see trench combat drones?

[Warenwolf]

This is what I kinda feared knowing how much...ineptness there are in certain branches of western armies and arms industries:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/worl ... ource=Klix

Now, none of the issues presented in that article are unsolvable (some of the issues were resolved few months ago) but 30% of equipment on repair pool is bit on the high end.

And Orban is being Orban:

Ukraine said on Monday that Hungary has been ignoring requests for contact with prisoners of war that Kyiv said had been secretly transferred from Russia

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/uk ... 023-06-20/

[fiksal]

I thought I share some news from former press. [1]

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6053987

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which ended this weekend, was not without political discussions. The main speakers of one of the sessions were political scientists Alexander Dugin and Alexei Chadayev, who shared their doubts about the achievements of Western science and their experience of understanding Russian civilization. United Russia organized a discussion of the role of women in politics. And the governors again demonstrated optimism, proving that the sanctions do not hinder the development of the regions. The forum also discussed the information confrontation with the Western world, although, as Kommersant was convinced, it was too early to refuse everything foreign to Russia: even with friendly Arab guests, representatives of the regions had to communicate in “unfriendly” English.
...
So, at the section “Horizon-2040: Russia on the world map”, two experts spoke at once, who would probably describe themselves as political philosophers: the ideologist of the Eurasian movement Alexander Dugin and political scientist Alexei Chadayev, well-known in domestic political circles. Dmitry Peskov, the presidential special envoy for digital and technological development, who acted as a moderator, immediately warned viewers that if they left too early, it might seem to them that it was “trash”, but those who remained until the end would definitely be enriched with new ideas.
...
“We recognize that Russia as a sovereign civilization is a separate historical phenomenon that has its own path, its own goals. There is no normativity and obligatory nature of Western values... This includes democracy, the market, liberalism, human rights, Greta Thunberg, Soros, an open society - all this can be easily called into question. It doesn’t mean that it is rejected, it just becomes optional,” Mr. Dugin explained, calling for questioning all the achievements of the West, including scientific ones, both in sociology and in the natural sciences. “We refuse to recognize gravity, because it is an Anglo-Saxon invention, and we remember that Aristotle also had levitation,” the thinker gave an example of how to free the Russian “scientific imagination.”

This is the state of science, freedoms and everything in Russia.




[1] the newspaper still exists, and still prints, but as all things press, it should be clear that it doesnt have an allowance to step over a pretty thick line into what one would call press. As it should be understood by now.
We can continue this chat and you can ask how come they were allowed to print that? Well why wouldnt they be, this is official statement of Kremlin by proxy by and for all others who feel are part of the "new" order.

Nothing silly here.

[mr.WHO]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65963403

This does looks like much easier crossing once mud fully dry up.


However, this plan has a weak point - Dnieper still has several more dams upstream, so if Ukraine would try the offensive via crossing, Russia can bait Ukraine forces to other side of the river, then blow up more dams and destroy trapped forces.
This would be ultra high risk/benefit operation for both sides.

[chew-ie]

Seems someone has a plan... summary of the hits on russian logistic infrastructure.

@source "Reporting from Ukraine"@Youtube via piped.kavin.rocks alternative frontend

Fits the slow but steady actions of the ongoing ukraine offensive which is a clear contrast to the russian winter offensive in almost every aspect as it doesn't involve running against the same walls over and over again.

[mr.WHO]

Sorry to put a wrench into this, but Reporting from Ukraine is kinda trash channel that serve nothing but hyper-positive, pro-Ukrainian propaganda.
Nothing but "we are winning and when we are not winning, it's all according to THE PLAN" on daily basis.

It's so bad that even that weird pro-Russian Defense Politics Asia channel looks slightly more tone down and attached to reality and this is relly low bar