Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[Panto_Villan]

6 hours ago, magnkarl said:

Ukraine entrenching in Russian cities. Putin will have to smash his own towns now. It'll be good to see how that goes down in the public.

Over 100.000 Russians displaced internally now. 

A few more of these raids into other regions and it might start to hurt even more. Belgorod, Bryansk?

What Russian cities does Ukraine now control? As far as I can see they control 1 (?) small town and a bunch of tiny villages.

Ukraine has also already attacked into Belgorod over the past few days, but didn’t make any real headway.

22 hours ago, magnkarl said:

They’re doing this. Attacks in the East have all but halted as Russia is relocating their only capable brigades, who Ukraine have a great chance to pick off in transit. Wonder what the f16s are doing.

What’s your source on this? Everything I’m reading suggests that the Russian attacks in the East are unchanged and Ukraine is continuing to slowly lose ground.

[magnkarl]

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

Let's face it. 

After those videos 2 years ago of those massive military convoys rolling over the border into Ukraine, hands up who saw Ukraine making incursions deep into Russia 2 years later? 

We were mainly worried how many days it would be before they took Kiev. 

Be interesting to look back when I’ve got time one day what people said..

[chrisp65]

I think predominantly any review of predictions will basically be two and a half years of people saying Russia is about to collapse.

[sidcow]

On 25/02/2022 at 14:35, sidcow said:

If Ukraine put up a really hard fight and Russia loses a lot of equipment and a lot of men, are they going to be in a position to invade a other country whilst also patrolling their own borders and policing the vast country of Ukraine with probable guerilla warfare breaking out all over the place. 

I know their army is massive but is it capable of being that stretched? 

Turns out they weren't even in a position to patrol their own borders

[Genie]

Could you imagine if an aggressor invaded the US, China, even the UK… would they still be at large causing chaos after a week? It’s crazy they are so stretched that they can’t really confront them. They don’t even have the hardware or the intelligence.

[tinker]

Complete farce, Russia should be a big player in the world, instead corruption, incompetence and greed has took its toll. Have to feel for their armed forces who have been lied to and then sent into a war against the wests superior weapons and a determined under dog who actually use their brains.

Zelenskyy is one hell of leader and the Ukrainian armed forces are truly outstanding  

[foreveryoung]

5 minutes ago, tinker said:

Complete farce, Russia should be a big player in the world, instead corruption, incompetence and greed has took its toll. Have to feel for their armed forces who have been lied to and then sent into a war against the wests superior weapons and a determined under dog who actually use their brains.

Zelenskyy is one hell of leader and the Ukrainian armed forces are truly outstanding  

I know a couple of Ukrainian lads. Frickin nails they are. Work for my pal who does the doors. Always thought, if this is what most of the Ukrainians are like, Russia are gonna have a very difficult job.

[Captain_Townsend]

3 hours ago, sidcow said:

Let's face it. 

After those videos 2 years ago of those massive military convoys rolling over the border into Ukraine, hands up who saw Ukraine making incursions deep into Russia 2 years later? 

We were mainly worried how many days it would be before they took Kiev. 

I got very depressed during the pandemic- have mentioned it a few times in Pms here - and was starting to recover around Christmas 2021. The Russian invasion set me back, it was an awful time when it started. Remember having nightmares about nuclear war.

[sidcow]

16 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I got very depressed during the pandemic- have mentioned it a few times in Pms here - and was starting to recover around Christmas 2021. The Russian invasion set me back, it was an awful time when it started. Remember having nightmares about nuclear war.

Hope you're in a more positive place now dude

[limpid]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

I think predominantly any review of predictions will basically be two and a half years of people saying Russia is about to collapse.

Mixed with people saying that Russia keeps making small advances for two and a half years.

It's almost as if it can't be boiled down to simple sound bites.

[magnkarl]

Seems both things are true. Russia is and has collapsed from being the world’s second army, they’ve lost Kharkiv and Kherson, their Black Sea fleet is all but gone, their international standing is in tatters. Yet they’re still moving 200 or so meters a day in some directions at the cost of 1000 soldiers per day.

Total break likely won’t happen, but Russias hand is generally weaker than it’s been for a while if there ever is negotiation. You don’t lose 1000 square km’s in 5 days if you’re doing well.

Maybe a good time to knock out the Kerch bridge now that everyone is looking at Kursk.

Edited August 12 by magnkarl

[Captain_Townsend]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Hope you're in a more positive place now dude

Much better! Thanks mate

[sidcow]

51 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Seems both things are true. Russia is and has collapsed from being the world’s second army, they’ve lost Kharkiv and Kherson, their Black Sea fleet is all but gone, their international standing is in tatters. Yet they’re still moving 200 or so meters a day in some directions at the cost of 1000 soldiers per day.

Total break likely won’t happen, but Russias hand is generally weaker than it’s been for a while if there ever is negotiation. You don’t lose 1000 square km’s in 5 days if you’re doing well.

Maybe a good time to knock out the Kerch bridge now that everyone is looking at Kursk.

Their military has been completely exposed. 

I remember before the invasion reading a report about if the armies of The EU could defeat Russia without US help. 

The conclusion was that if The UK was involved it was possible but would be a close run thing. 

I think we could say with certainty that if the NATO trained troops of France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Belgium Holland etc etc put their boots on the ground with their modern artillery and tanks supported by their combined Air Forces and their Navies. They'd have gone through these half trained, badly equipped Russians and their second rate "modern" weapons like a knife through butter. 

Russia is finished as a credible military power. All they've got is troops for the meat grinder and they're getting through them at a pace against only adequately provisioned Ukrainian troops. 

Population of The EU excluding the UK is 4 times that of Russia and I'd wager right now their supply of fighting age men is probably 8 times that of Russia, not that they'd need meat grinder troops in the way Russia do because they'd just pick them off with modern weapons. Total air superiority would probably be achieved in days.

Yeah, the Russian military myth has been busted wide open.  Deep down Putin must be horrified. 

Edited August 12 by sidcow

[Panto_Villan]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Their military has been completely exposed. 

I remember before the invasion reading a report about if the armies of The EU could defeat Russia without US help. 

The conclusion was that if The UK was involved it was possible but would be a close run thing. 

I think we could say with certainty that if the NATO trained troops of France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Belgium Holland etc etc put their boots on the ground with their modern artillery and tanks supported by their combined Air Forces and their Navies. They'd have gone through these half trained, badly equipped Russians and their second rate "modern" weapons like a knife through butter. 

Russia is finished as a credible military power. All they've got is troops for the meat grinder and they're getting through them at a pace against only adequately provisioned Ukrainian troops. 

Population of The EU excluding the UK is 4 times that of Russia and I'd wager right now their supply of fighting age men is probably 8 times that of Russia, not that they'd need meat grinder troops in the way Russia do because they'd just pick them off with modern weapons. Total air superiority would probably be achieved in days.

Yeah, the Russian military myth has been busted wide open.  Deep down Putin must be horrified. 

One of Russia's main advantages in any war was the huge number of ex-Soviet vehicles and weapon systems that they had in storage, and they're burning through them at a rate of knots - and when they're gone, they're gone. Even with a major re-armament program Russia isn't going to build up stocks of thousands of BMPs and tanks, so in a proper war vs the EU they just wouldn't be able to compete with the vastly larger population and industrial base of the EU (and hopefully the US too) over the long term.

That said, it's worth bearing in mind that the vast majority of militaries would likely be exposed in many respects if they tried to fight a serious adversary - Western armies included. War is difficult and our militaries haven't been tested against a proper opponent for a long time. I'd be astonished if all our gear and tactics worked quite as well as advertised when used in a peer combat situation instead of blowing up insurgents in developing countries; even the US has been producing reports saying they don't think their military is in good enough shape to fight a major war against an opponent like China.

[magnkarl]

12 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

What Russian cities does Ukraine now control? As far as I can see they control 1 (?) small town and a bunch of tiny villages.

Ukraine has also already attacked into Belgorod over the past few days, but didn’t make any real headway.

What’s your source on this? Everything I’m reading suggests that the Russian attacks in the East are unchanged and Ukraine is continuing to slowly lose ground.

Sorry, should've written settlements. Suzcha seems the biggest one and has 10.000 or so.

Russia moves some units from Ukraine's south to Kursk, Kyiv says

Quote

According to Lykhovii, the number of assault attempts by Russian troops in the Tavria sector is "ten times less" than in the Pokrovsk sector, but this does not mean "a lull."

Seems things are slowing down elsewhere except for Pokrovsk and some slight advances near Kupiansk. Toretsk seems to have stopped in Nui York for a week.

The next few days will be vital for Ukraine in Kursk, if they can hold on Russia will need to relocate more trained troops.

[jimmygreaves]

12 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

I know a couple of Ukrainian lads. Frickin nails they are. Work for my pal who does the doors. Always thought, if this is what most of the Ukrainians are like, Russia are gonna have a very difficult job.

Any openings?

[blandy]

33 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

Any openings?

It all hinges on how you frame the question. Would you be able to handle the work?

I wonder what horrors Russia will commit in revenge for Ukraine’s incursion.

[magnkarl]

[ender4]

3 hours ago, magnkarl said:

Seems things are slowing down elsewhere except for Pokrovsk and some slight advances near Kupiansk. Toretsk seems to have stopped in Nui York for a week.

Gotta see the sights and catch a Broadway play.

[magnkarl]