Please use this thread to continue discussing the war in Ukraine.
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Original thread:
There was supposed to be a group of Ukrainians were surrounded in Kursk who then surrendered. The Russian group themselves were being surrounded by a larger group of Ukrainians. The russian group then killed their captive Ukrainians and then surrendered themselves enmass to the Ukrainians. They were saying it was very difficult to take them prisoner and march back to Ukraine and not be finished with them there and then.
Recon or sabotage group?
1,2 - Kamyshnoe. 3,4 - Lgov and more.
There's also the threat of being gunned down by their own [not-NKVD] blocking detachments stationed further back. The Russians must make good use of those when they're fielding penal units and the likes.
No reason to disagree but I did just come across this posted over in politics.ie
https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1823458615925084495
No idea if it could have any real significance or if it is rather a one off ,as you might possibly expect.
I was also reading there that the local inhabitants seem to appeal directly to Putin to help them in their hour of need like they were appealing to a demi god or an emperor.
9-10k Russian troops in the Kursk region now. 50% reported to have combat experience, the rest are conscripts and militia.
You have developed a weird obsession with me and the BBC, I suggest you get over it. I never said the BBC is the only reliable source out there, I used it as an example of reliable journalism versus random people making wild claims on twitter. There are obviously many other reliable sources too. And BBC sometimes gets things wrong as well.
I don't see what else needs to be said about it, so maybe you can stop with the petty sniping
The religious divide is also a class divide Iran. Unlike other ME countries it has a large, educated, secular middle class. A lot of these people live their lives - while in their own homes - much as they did pre-revolution. I lived there pre-revolution (and a little bit during revolution - scary) and am still in contact with friends who live there.
And the number of Ukrainian soldiers is roughly the same? There seems to be little info on exactly what kind of combat is taking place. Are the Ukrainians in primarily urban areas? Is Russia bombarding its own civilian infrastructure? Or is it street fighting, if so what are civilian casualties like?
Belgorod also declares an emergency, Russia says it has halted Kursk action, Ukraine claims the opposite, Biden gives nothing away...
Your family does not get bag of onions (no joke for family to get benefit payments the Russian government not only has to admit you died but it was in Ukraine on SMO) if you die outside Ukraine, these are the smarter Russian soldiers who think of their family legacy
Where to go and whether to go from here? The questions in a nutshell:
…🙃
And their airbases got rocked.
How are they moving them from Kaliningrad? By sea or by air?
Rail?
By air would be my guess,check out the number of flights from there to Moscow each day!
Someone tell Scholz it's time to take Koenigsberg back
and check out the route they have to fly….. puts hours onto the flight time…
In an investigation published Wednesday, the outlets reported that the suspect is a Ukrainian national, named only as Volodymyr Z. for privacy reasons.
Said last week the goal of this operation was to take Russian territory and use it as a bargaining chip to exchange for other occupied parts of Ukraine. The more territory they can control, the bigger the chip they have in negotiations.
I don't see anything that changes that.
Ukraine fought hard for this, they even sacrificed some ground in Donbass so this could happen. The idea that they would just abandon these positions voluntarily would mean that territory lost in Donbass was all for nothing. Also, the battle is still not yet over. As of yesterday at least, the Ukrainian advance has not yet been contained.
The big question now is what will the Russian reaction be. They're not very good at attacking in more than one direction at once. Do they divert resources from Donbass to take back Kursk as quickly as possible, or do they try to contain Ukraine in Kursk for now and push on in Donbass.
Last week the idea that Ukraine was trying to take and hold territory was roundly ridiculed on here by the usual voices who don't like open discussion and exchange of views or who can't make and rebut arguments respectfully. They tend to wait to see what way the wind is blowing before shouting again.
I'd be interested to hear any thoughts from people whose views have changed over the past week, or who still see this as being something other than a land grab for negotiation strength.
Personally, I didn't see holding territory in Russia as realistic a week ago… I presumed it was a dash to destroy logistics, disrupt Russian forces, force a diversion of forces from Ukrainian lines and generally to sow panic and discord within the Russian population. I've been shocked (I really shouldn't be anymore) by how weak and ineffective the Russian defences and logistics have been. I presumed that all hell would be unleashed on any Ukrainian attempts to hold ground as opposed to sweep and move. At this point, digging in and frustrating Putin in his own country is looking more and more like a credible option.
The difference in communication from the Ukrainians this time compared to last summer is also noticeable… back then we all knew what the aim was, where things were hotting up etc. etc. If we did, the Russian's definitely did. Feedback from the front was pretty free and detailed. This time even the West are struggling to get a clear idea as to what is happening and where until it's already happened. Information about strength of forces is thin on the ground and ambiguous. There is no talk about end goal/ strategy. The Russian's are clearly a lot less sure of what is coming their way than they were last year when they had all the time in the world to dig in.
Not bad for an operation stopped a week ago
Exactly, anyone who suggested Ukraine would try to hold onto territory was accused of being a Russian stooge by the usual sources, now everyone seems to be saying that's the obvious goal.
I'm still not sure what the overall aim is and I don't think anyone really outside of Ukraine and their allies does. It's a very fluid situation that could still prove to be a masterstroke or backfire
I think that in order to draw serious amounts of Russians from elsewhere, they'll have to try to hold the territory. But they haven't captured enough settlements yet in my opinion to be able to hold for very long. Most of the battles in this war are street fighting, with the Ukrainians slowly conceding ground in towns at great cost to the advancing Russians. They'll need a few more towns to go along with Sudzha to make that worthwhile for their Kursk incursion. I'd like to see them take Korenovo and Rylsk. That would be a very defensible line and would restrict the Russians to frontal attacks. The opportunity to take Korenovo might have passed however.
Moscow
Good hits I think
Domino's are falling . One village after another .
….
It's only right that UEFA now readmit Kursk based football teams into European competitions as it's only teams from Russia that are banned.
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