I think it's more that we know that the Ukrainian offensive has started and, in the instant gratification internet culture that we inhabit, we demand 'BIG NEWS NOW!' i.e. something huge and decisive. We press refresh continously.
Whereas the actual military campaign itself is more likely to be a slow burn, akin to last year's Kherson offensive. Thus the people who demand 'BIG NEWS NOW!' are fixated on micro-events ('a Leopard lost here!', 'a fake image there!') that are strategically irrelevant and make foolish macro pronouncements on the direction of the entire war.
The strategic picture is that Russia is losing this war - militarily, diplomatically, economically and politically. And has been doing so before the first boot landed on Ukrainian soil. The course of events of the remainder of this year may hasten that loss - or they may go on losing for years. But micro tactical events are just that - micro.
Translation
Putin confirms he has no intention stopping after Ukraine.
Merry Kremlin "journalists" ask Putin how far he intends to continue expanding the borders of Russia.
"I can fully answer only privately...but it depends on our potential".
Putin will be stopped only when he's stopped.
Twitter won't allow this tweet to be imbedded? I wonder why?
Putin responds "I can fully answer only privately...but it depends on our potential".
https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1668657010789822466?s=20
More concise than the way I was trying to put it. Exactly.
Nordstream ? Ha
To the general public , and most national leaders it doesnt matter ,
There's a new report out every other day pointing the finger in a different direction , most people who have an intrest have already rightly or wrongly made up their minds long ago ,
Its effective use of dis-information ,
The same person who swore it was the Americans with help from the swedes and norweigans , cant then be believable when he states it was a couple of ukrainian on a yacht,
This is an incredible half hour of well-subtitled footage, very worth watching. Even the narration/reaction comments from the US Marine is relevant. Some really intense filming.
Things to note:
1. The realtime images and footage of the battle being fed through to an operations room.
2. The really tight tactics and comradeship amongst the men.
3. The medic setup, extraction behind the lines.
4. Bit of a shocking scene towards the end.
because they were going to do it themselves :-P
The fate of the 16 Bradleys are inconsequential to the course of the war.
They will be replaced
The fact is Russia has lost this war already. Putin thought the west would get bored and abandon Ukraine. He miscalculated badly, the Americans could never let Russia win in Ukraine as it would diminish America's own standing in the world and give the green light to China on Taiwan. It's just a question of when members of the Kremlin regime decide to abandon the ship. Prigozhin's carry on shows he knows the game is up and is probably eyeing the top job. It would not surprise me if there is a heave against Putin in the next few months. Whether that will be aided by external forces who knows. What will they want is an orderly transition,though. They may have a plan in place already, but won't want their hand seen in it.
probs the Ukranian's, because there is no replacement armour coming ;-(
Nah the war will continue until the Russians are pushed back all the way to Russia or they both run of tanks and armor to fight with ,
Which ever comes first
Dutch intelligence tipped the Americans that Ukraine was planning to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline. The CIA supposedly warned Ukraine not to do it.
terrible news... @Gatling you were right again... time to call off the war
I'm surprised they haven't gotten a few at least , mightn't be great for an assault down south , but anywhere they can hide behind cover ..
Weasle is an interesting idea based on WW2 tanketts ,
Oddly enough they can be equiped with several TOW Anti tank weapons and some smaller short range air defense systems,
There's a few hundred around
Time is very much on the Ukrainian side. The war has already been lost by Russia. The war was never about just grabbing the south of Ukraine, it was about quickly taking over the whole country and putting Russia back on the international stage as a major player. And now Russia is just China's diseased lapdog, it is still barking, but its teeth are falling out.
Hopefully, Ukraine's current offensive kicks Russian troops out for good. Though it may be too much to hope for this year. But even if the war drags on into 2024, a lot of things may happen to Russia -- death of Putin, internal fighting, etc, while Ukrainian resolve will stay strong.
Wouldn't these be useful in Ukraine? Fast once the front is breached. Or maybe they don't have spare crew.
One thing that jumped out from a comment posted on this. I wonder what the 300 mil is actually going to? A quick google shows that a Bradley IFV comes in at somewhere between 1-2 mil a pop. Even if it was double that ... where is all the extra money going? Either there's something Im not understanding about how the cost of sending stuff is valued. Or there's an ungodly amount of ammunition/equipment or HIMARS missiles hidden in that package or something.(maybe ATACMS? since they cost so much).
Would love to have that explained.
Nice overview of the additional equipment being given
I really don't see why the idea that the Ukrainians may have lost a number of mine-clearance vehicles in a failed attack is that controversial. I'm not an AI/Photo-editing wizard, but the only odd things about the image are the use of an MRAP, which may have been just to plus-up the numbers, and the location of the recovery vehicle, which may well have just veered left under power after being damaged before rolling to a halt.
So an attack was repulsed. It happens. Russians have historically been quite dogged in defense, and on occasion, they will get things right. There's a common phrase in the US military: No matter how well you plan things, the enemy gets a vote.
The video shows a couple of Leos off yonder in the distance. Not impossible that night fell, and the Ukrainians managed to get one or two back.
Relevant items:
15 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles;
10 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers;
This is not getting better for Russia in any way shape or form. The destroyed/ already replaced Bradleys confirm this to me. The USA has thousands of these things and that's just the ones in storage. Same goes for the brigade of Abrams tanks which haven't arrived yet. Nor the F16s.
Once the logistical train is set up that's pretty much the end of it. War is a test of logistics and Russia now faces off against the undisputed heavyweight champion of military logistics. For moving heavy armor around the landbridge Russia relies almost entirely on two rail lines(Which are currently cut) from Crimea. All of which is targetable by storm shadow and the soon to be introduced thousands of GLSDB rockets. Meanwhile Russia has yet to intercept a single train of supply from Poland. Not one.
Holding until Winter does nothing. Russia's literal only hope is that all of the west gets bored. Through their own stupidity/lack of ability they continue to target civilians and infastructure(the Nova Khakovka Dam). So that's not likely to happen any time soon. They're dead in the water and I suspect they know it.
Unfortunately time is not on Ukrainian side Russia just needs to hold until winter
The west has been to slow f16 maybe apaches definitely a presents in the black sea b4 the offensive
Russia has threatened the western support enough to get over the line imo
That is enough to erode a sovereign state to submission and obliteration.
No .
No, I'd say in the next 15 mins or so they'll probably completely abandon support for Ukraine and join ranks with the Russians !
But have they ?
One tweet said it , nothing announced today that I saw that said the US government was replacing every damaged Bradley and Stryker vehicles
Russian resilience on the interweb.
Its the crew are the big thing , if the crew survived and are recovered,then they can go again .. not that anyone is suggesting that there havent been casualties and fatalities, the vehicles can be replaced
Finland aren't going to give any F-18's to Ukraine, that was just a comment by the outgoing prime minster who said it should be discussed when replacement F-35's arrive. Should Ukraine get F-18's from someone else, then I'm sure Finland would help with training and logistics, but the actual planes will have to come from somewhere else.
I'd be giving the kids the codes for the Swiss bank accounts also.
Bradleys and Leopards being destroyed is not the end of the world - these vehicles are designed to take heavy hits, because of the usecase many will inevitably be destroyed. Thats just the price that will be paid for territory.
15% of bradleys is a lot, but US have recently committed to replace all those destroyed. Also, none of the strykers, marders or challengers have even been seen in the field yet so there is plenty more vehicles in reserve yet.
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