Russia - threadbanned users in OP

no apparently its not ready ..unusually russia makes all its own military equipment and they don't have enough nor is it ..field ready i think ..or at least this is what we are told??

Are you a fan of military vehicles?

Tomorrow's London Times estimates that Russia has lost 7000 troops, has seen 200 tanks destroyed and lost 10% of all its equipment - seems plausible from all the reports we're hearing.

No, and it's not reasonable to expect there would be. They have a small handful of them, none ready for combat, basically their most modern tank in numbers is T90, which in itself is not much of a match against Javelins and other AT weapons.

People talk about how Russia has thousands of tanks and how a few hundred lost is no big deal, but it's actually a huge deal.

The vast majority of their paper inventory is rusted units lying in storage that are nowhere near ready for battle, nor even capable of it on the roughest terms.

Their main tank force right now is tanks from the 1970's with token upgrades. They might have 10,000 tanks on paper but actual battle ready tanks are a fraction of that.

As it is,the forces they committed to battle are massively lacking in upkeep. What remains on paper is pretty much close to worthless.

The force committed to Ukraine might represent a token of their paper strength but it represents about the cream of what's ready for war. And it's not faring well, at all.

How on earth can Putin live with himself for causing this. No mind the deaths he's caused in Ukraine.

Crimea is not going back to Ukraine, as much as I want it, it's simply not going to happen. Escalating thing's even further by attacking russian positions within Russia is a bad play, leave Russia with the option of being more brutal then they are.

Ukraine is playing a smart game at the moment with the stalling tactic, Russia also not going full on attack (if they actually can)

Russian forces can be as sh!te as they are, the nuke option as the counter option for Russia falling to a NATO offensive is the counter to that, it would be the only option for Putin to stop the defeat that would be coming. No one wants that option to be engaged.

I still don't think it has been confirmed what type of Switchblades they're getting: one is a cheaper anti-personnel variant which as far as I can see is basically an assassin drone for taking out a single person and maybe injuring one or two who are within a few feet. The anti-armor one which would be infinitely more effective against artillery I'm not sure is available in any great number. As for the intelligence side the Pentagon confirmed they were indeed supplying it to Ukraine.

We still don't know which way China is leaning at this point and that has the potential to be key: if they start supplying the Russians that could easily drag out the war much longer than might otherwise be the case. If they continue to sit on the fence it's likely to embolden Russia. If they come out against Russia that could prompt a quicker diplomatic resolution; but I think that's the least likely of the outcomes.

I absolutely agree that conquest is not on the cards for Russia here pretty much no matter what way the war goes: they have some hope of holding a few key cities and areas but beyond that I don't see it.

I also agree that taking Kyiv is not much of an option given the way their forces are currently arranged. My big worry is what they might get up to in the meantime; especially if they can eke out a pocket of air superiority around Kyiv and start to actively hurt resupply into the city.

I'm sure this list has been posted before but its all the documented losses sustained by both sides which are supported by photo/video evidence. It's not perfect but I imagine it's a decent indication of how much Russia has potentially lost: https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html

In terms of documented losses (that includes captured and/or destroyed) the Russians are sitting at just over 1500 vehicles. I would guess that's easily more vehicles than the entire Irish armed forces.

The Americans are estimating 7000 russian fatalities, and reckon that's a very conservative estimate, possibly closer to ten thousand, the more important figure would be the wounded , at 2 to 3 times the fatalities usually- you're looking at huge numbers out of the fight.

Russia is extremely adept at cruise missle production and technology. It's the one thing they are good at. Earlier this morning, a Kilo class sub, in the Black sea, fired 6 cruise missles at the aircraft repair centre at Lviv Airport. The West needs a way to counter Russias cruise missiles. They are extremely versatile, accurate and can be both air and sea launched, never mind ground. But they are slow, especially the long range ones.

I've also noticed that the long distant cruise missile attacks always occur when the E-8 Rivet Joint isn't around. Surely someone has noticed this?

Here is a vid of the sub transiting to the Black sea a month ago. Plus info on strike

https://youtu.be/CdRjMe2rwAY

This is extraordinary footage. Watch till end. How anyone managed to get out of that tank alive is a miracle.

Ukrainian tank hunting teams are pretty impressive.

https://youtu.be/gXoyWH5FMgU