Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[magnkarl]

9 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Also rumoured to be one of the ships that fired  missiles down on Snake Island ( as in Russian navy, go **** yourself) if the Torygraph is to be believed 

If true, it's a good thing. They should probably be saving that anti-sea system for beaching crafts though. As Russia can't resupply this navy due to Turkey they won't be able to continue forever. The more they pick off the better..

[leemond2008]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

I didn’t think LinkedIn could get any worse but it has. Just saw a post with over 4,000 likes where a woman bought some flowers from M&S on the way home and gave them to her Russian neighbour who is going through a lot at the moment.

I thought that LinkedIn was a work/career thing?

[magnkarl]

For the nerds out there, Oryx has done a review of footage so far to try to summarise what Russia/Ukraine has lost so far equipment-wise. To no one's suprise, Russia's official figure of destroyed vehicles both for and against are dead wrong.

Quote

Russia - 902, of which: destroyed: 358, damaged: 10, abandoned: 150, captured: 382

Ukraine - 272, of which: destroyed: 94, damaged: 4, abandoned: 44, captured: 127

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by magnkarl

[LondonLax]

31 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Also rumoured to be one of the ships that fired  missiles down on Snake Island ( as in Russian navy, go **** yourself) if the Torygraph is to be believed 

Didn't that Snake Island thing turn out to be fake?

[sparrow1988]

12 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

The USA is looking at lifting their range of sanctions on Venezuela after fifteen years of trying to starve the population.

So at least some good has come from this war as we make friends with other people with oil.

 

Ah Venezuela coming into money. That's Maldonado back in F1 so.

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Didn't that Snake Island thing turn out to be fake?

No. The only untrue aspect was that the Ukrainians survived

[Genie]

32 minutes ago, leemond2008 said:

I thought that LinkedIn was a work/career thing?

Yep, it is supposed to be. But in reality it’s a place to tell everyone how incredible you are and for them to agree whilst telling you how amazing they are.

[leemond2008]

15 minutes ago, Genie said:

Yep, it is supposed to be. But in reality it’s a place to tell everyone how incredible you are and for them to agree whilst telling you how amazing they are.

so its become facebook then

[magnkarl]

Ukraine claims that the first 17 kilometers of the convoy north of Kiev is without fuel with many vehicles having dead batteries. There's dry rot in a lot of the big equipment's tires and soldiers are literally starving and having to loot. Ukraine's special forces are hitting strategic areas (i.e thin stretches of roads) to make it even worse.

[Genie]

Just now, magnkarl said:

Ukraine claims that the first 17 kilometers of the convoy north of Kiev is without fuel with many vehicles having dead batteries. There's dry rot in a lot of the big equipment's tires and soldiers are literally starving and having to loot. Ukraine's special forces are hitting strategic areas (i.e thin stretches of roads) to make it even worse.

It seemed like such a good idea by Russia too. 

[sparrow1988]

13 minutes ago, leemond2008 said:

so its become facebook then

Yep, and facebook has become QAnon

[sparrow1988]

2 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Ukraine claims that the first 17 kilometers of the convoy north of Kiev is without fuel with many vehicles having dead batteries. There's dry rot in a lot of the big equipment's tires and soldiers are literally starving and having to loot. Ukraine's special forces are hitting strategic areas (i.e thin stretches of roads) to make it even worse.

At least the Germans lasted a year or so before the issues like lack of supplies really took hold.

[ender4]

5 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Ukraine claims that the first 17 kilometers of the convoy north of Kiev is without fuel with many vehicles having dead batteries. There's dry rot in a lot of the big equipment's tires and soldiers are literally starving and having to loot. Ukraine's special forces are hitting strategic areas (i.e thin stretches of roads) to make it even worse.

Did they not bring extra fuel and food rations with them?

[The Fun Factory]

7 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said:

Yep, and facebook has become QAnon

But Nick is fixing it

[magnkarl]

9 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Did they not bring extra fuel and food rations with them?

Yes, but the fuel is also stuck in the column. Imagine moving several trucks up a 40 mile congestion on the m25, it'd likely run out of fuel before reaching the people with fuel problems, further clogging up the road. Also the heavy equipment like tanks/artillery uses an enormous amount of fuel. Our artillery pieces and tanks used to guzzle a litre a minute going forward in the 70's.

Edited March 8, 2022 by magnkarl

[Genie]

How many billions of dollars worth of kit and thousands of soldiers are just sat for a week in a war zone waiting to be blown up?

Probably one of the worst “plans” I’ve ever encountered in my life. 

[bickster]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

Probably one of the worst “plans” I’ve ever encountered in my life. 

Definitely should be the Guinness Book of Records entry for Worst Blitzkrieg Ever

[sidcow]

51 minutes ago, Genie said:

Yep, it is supposed to be. But in reality it’s a place to tell everyone how incredible you are and for them to agree whilst telling you how amazing they are.

Thanks for illuminating us about that. You're amazing. 

[LondonLax]

It's very similar to what happened when Russia invaded Finland isn't it?

[bickster]

16 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Did they not bring extra fuel and food rations with them?

Some of the food they brought with them was out of date in 2015!

An interesting and related article I was reading this morning on Politico

Quote

Russian military’s corruption quagmire
Bogged down in Ukraine, Russian forces battle the consequences of systemic sleaze.

In the first days of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s performance was notoriously — and unexpectedly — underwhelming. Russian troops were slow and disorganized and failed to establish control of any major cities. 

To explain this surprising development, experts pointed out that the Kremlin had wrong assumptions about Ukraine’s willingness and ability to fight. And while that may hold true, there is another factor that might have contributed to Russia’s incorrect pre-war assessments and poor performance on the ground — systemic corruption in the country’s defense and security sectors.

On the operational level, the corruption in defense procurement has also likely undermined logistics, manifesting in soldiers receiving inadequate equipment and supplies on the ground. Poor logistics slows down the advancement of troops, undermines their morale and hinders military effectiveness. 

Early on in the invasion, there were accounts indicating that some Russian soldiers received rations that had expired in 2015. Most companies responsible for providing food to the Russian military are connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin — the patron of PMC Wagner, the mercenary organization, and sponsor of the Internet Research Agency, which has been accused of meddling in the United States elections. Several years ago, Prigozhin’s companies were accused by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny of forming a cartel and gaming the state’s bidding system for defense orders, receiving contracts for several hundred million dollars. The quality of food and housing in the Russian military is reportedly worse than in its prisons, with unreasonably small meals and some carrying harmful Escherichia coli bacteria.

There are also reports that Russian advances in Ukraine were slowed by lack of fuel — and this in a country rich with oil and gas. But ineffective control over fuel consumption in the Russian military actually long preceded the war in Ukraine and had historically created opportunities for embezzlement — that is why fuel is often called the Russian military’s “second currency.” It is plausible that the long-standing tradition of corruption in fuel supply decreased the pace of Russian advancement in Ukraine.

It is also important to remember that the weapons currently targeting Ukraine were produced despite this level of corruption. Meanwhile, many technological innovations, including those that could increase the precision of Russian strikes, have never materialized due to graft, embezzlement and fraud. 

[...]