I don't disagree and there are a bunch of such crossings none of them are really big enough to stop things more than a few days. A bridge across the Dnipro? Oh yeah. Most of the stuff are creeks and lots of them have been built up by earth and, at least according to Telegram discussions reinforced with earth and shaped to make it easier to repair.74OA said:All true but using HIMAR's ability to precisely and repeatedly hit bridges, crossings and culverts will be a more formidable repair challenge than just plinking away at the rails.aezmvp said:Only if you hit the train. Otherwise, even with as much damage as you can do with HIMARS or ATACAMs the Russians literally have engineering units designed for railroad repair. The grunts are grunts but the units are generally pretty good at this. So best case you hit the train, derail it and then hit the recovery and repair groups after with cluster munitions. Worst case it's out of action for a few days.74OA said:Puzzling as the new lines will be in HIMARS range which should severely limit their wartime utility.Rossticus said:
Russians currently constructing new rail lines to bypass Tokmak and make supply route from Crimea secondary. If they manage to complete these lines before Ukraine advances deeply in the southern direction then it'll be bad news.
Edit: Annnnnd I see others beat me to the punch.
SamjamAg said:
I"m surprised they don't use drones to drop inexpensive explosive devices at remote locations along the track, triggered when the train goes over the device. Sure they will find some, but they could drop hundreds and they won't find them all.
AgLA06 said:I get it from their perspective.74OA said:Puzzling as the new lines will be in HIMARS range which should severely limit their wartime utility.Rossticus said:
Russians currently constructing new rail lines to bypass Tokmak and make supply route from Crimea secondary. If they manage to complete these lines before Ukraine advances deeply in the southern direction then it'll be bad news.
- They have entire railroad brigades or divisions to do nothing but repair rail lines.
- They don't give a **** about them getting hit repairing them.
- They'll only be down for a short time after each strike.
- And it forces Ukraine to use HIMARs on them instead of other targets.
bonfarr said:SamjamAg said:
I"m surprised they don't use drones to drop inexpensive explosive devices at remote locations along the track, triggered when the train goes over the device. Sure they will find some, but they could drop hundreds and they won't find them all.
Sabotage on the ground would also be an option. Ukrainians look the same as Russians and there has to be a large Uke spy network in Crimea and the other occupied territories I would think. It seems like laying some explosives somewhere along the miles of track in the dark wouldn't be too difficult.
Effectively confirmed at this point, Russian air defenses appear to have downed a Russian Su-35 over Tokmak last night in a friendly fire incident. https://t.co/JzNHzoqgnl pic.twitter.com/YeC3VOFbGg
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 29, 2023
Russian and Ukrainian officials are increasingly reporting fewer Russian ground attacks in the #Kupyansk and Lyman directions, indicating that Ukrainian offensive operations have drawn Russian forces away from the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line and significantly degraded the… https://t.co/Zpq3m2wol9 pic.twitter.com/uRv38cK1oB
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) September 29, 2023
NASA's FIRMS suggests that the treelines south of Novopokrovka (north of Verbove) got hammered today. I remember seeing a tweet from someone that said Russians are favouring using treelines as defensive positions instead of the trenches. pic.twitter.com/PjbSyaSHT8
— Kyle Glen (@KyleJGlen) September 29, 2023
A battle in the Zaporizhzhia region under the cover of a Bradley IFV and a Leopard 2A6 MBT through the eyes of a fighter of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade. pic.twitter.com/etXa3G43zs
— deaidua.org 🇩🇪🤝🇺🇦 (@deaidua) September 29, 2023
hopefully on the approaches to VerboveWaffledynamics said:A battle in the Zaporizhzhia region under the cover of a Bradley IFV and a Leopard 2A6 MBT through the eyes of a fighter of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade. pic.twitter.com/etXa3G43zs
— deaidua.org 🇩🇪🤝🇺🇦 (@deaidua) September 29, 2023
UKE INF walking past dragons teeth in Verbove just hit reddit moments ago. Looks like their might be an armor piece up the road. Ground still smoking and appears to be final clearing operation.LMCane said:hopefully on the approaches to VerboveWaffledynamics said:A battle in the Zaporizhzhia region under the cover of a Bradley IFV and a Leopard 2A6 MBT through the eyes of a fighter of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade. pic.twitter.com/etXa3G43zs
— deaidua.org 🇩🇪🤝🇺🇦 (@deaidua) September 29, 2023
although it doesn't seem incredibly tactically proficient to have one tank pretty much sitting in an open field by itself
Cool.80sGeorge said:
This would sure be useful over there. I know we have some drone experts around, any idea if these are being tested live??
https://bcdc.tamus.edu/bush-combat-development-complex-laser-test-site-sep-2023/
P.U.T.U said:
I have not looked it up but how far inland are Russia's O&G refineries and processing plants? With Russia counting on so much of their GDP from those sales hitting them there would hurt them the most. But most of us have probably read Red Storm Rising and if they get hit Russia will go all out, maybe even nuclear.
Exactly. One of the reasons the West put a price cap on Russian oil rather than trying to ban it entirely is because anything approaching a complete loss of production would be economically disastrous.bonfarr said:P.U.T.U said:
I have not looked it up but how far inland are Russia's O&G refineries and processing plants? With Russia counting on so much of their GDP from those sales hitting them there would hurt them the most. But most of us have probably read Red Storm Rising and if they get hit Russia will go all out, maybe even nuclear.
How much damage to World markets would that do? If Ukraine set off a World energy crisis by taking out Russian production it wouldn't exactly make other nations sympathetic to their struggle.
For whom? Europe, China, India?Quote:
Exactly. One of the reasons the West put a price cap on Russian oil rather than trying to ban it entirely is because anything approaching a complete loss of production would be economically disastrous.
aggiehawg said:For whom? Europe, China, India?Quote:
Exactly. One of the reasons the West put a price cap on Russian oil rather than trying to ban it entirely is because anything approaching a complete loss of production would be economically disastrous.
What I was thinking.VitruvianAg said:
Russia, the others would just seek oil from other markets, at normal prices.
74OA said:
Russian natural gas production slumps to late-stage USSR levels. Good job, Vlad.
GAS
HERE YOU GOAgLA06 said:aggiehawg said:For whom? Europe, China, India?Quote:
Exactly. One of the reasons the West put a price cap on Russian oil rather than trying to ban it entirely is because anything approaching a complete loss of production would be economically disastrous.
I'm not buying it. Most of Europe has had 2 years to solve that problem. My understanding is most of Ukraine's biggest supporters are no longer reliant on Russia at this point.
Hell, an entire content was starving without Uke grain caused by the Russian blockade. That didn't seem to matter.
aggiehawg said:For whom? Europe, China, India?Quote:
Exactly. One of the reasons the West put a price cap on Russian oil rather than trying to ban it entirely is because anything approaching a complete loss of production would be economically disastrous.
Quote:
UK planning to send troops into Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces on the ground, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps says - Telegraph
Well as the daughter and granddaughter of a Dad and Granddad being in the oil industry, I should have known that. I feel dumb but thank you for the clarification and reminder to remember my roots.Quote:
Kind of depends. Refineries are designed and built to process specific blends, and not every oil is the same. You can't just buy x barrels from producer B instead of A because B's oil may not be what your refinery is designed and optimized for.
Waffledynamics said:Quote:
UK planning to send troops into Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces on the ground, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps says - Telegraph
https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/30-september-uk-planning-to-send-troops-into-ukraine-to-train
Ag with kids said:Cool.80sGeorge said:
This would sure be useful over there. I know we have some drone experts around, any idea if these are being tested live??
https://bcdc.tamus.edu/bush-combat-development-complex-laser-test-site-sep-2023/
I know a number of those folks there. The director is an old Ag (well, older than me). Good guy. We're supposed to do some work with them this year.