Yep - M2 firepower, protection, maneuver. This is the perfect war for them.MouthBQ98 said:
Yes, they cannot mass then because it draws drone and artillery fire, so they have learned to use them in 1's and 2's for fire support and suppression. They apparently really like the Bradley because it can zip in, unload some infantry for a small attack, and hammer the enemy positions, and it has turned out to be really good at keeping the personnel inside alive and mostly unharmed if it is hit, and they know it can defeat opposing armor in a pinch as long as it can see the target first.
Why wouldn't they? This is an existential war for them.Tanker123 said:
Would Ukraine go Total War on Russia if it has the capability? Perhaps the fear of Total War is the reason Ukraine has limited offensive weapons systems.
There are possibly second and third order effects to consider due to international politics.agent-maroon said:Why wouldn't they? This is an existential war for them.Tanker123 said:
Would Ukraine go Total War on Russia if it has the capability? Perhaps the fear of Total War is the reason Ukraine has limited offensive weapons systems.
"Fighting continues in the Lukiantsi and Vovchansk sectors... (Russian forces) are trying to gain a foothold there, but Ukrainian troops are not allowing them to do so," Voloshyn said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 15, 2024
Are the Ukrainians dug in and the Russians have to maneuver in open terrain? That is how I visualize the battle. Of course, I could be wrong, but doubt it.nortex97 said:
Some good news for those pulling for Ukraine/Kiev Government forces:"Fighting continues in the Lukiantsi and Vovchansk sectors... (Russian forces) are trying to gain a foothold there, but Ukrainian troops are not allowing them to do so," Voloshyn said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 15, 2024
It's awful. Whenever the Russian army marches, brutality and subjugation and outright war crimes ALWAYS marches in step. Proven time and time again over the last century+. Something in the Asian water I swear...fullback44 said:
Sad situation for these people, war sucks and these people are the ones suffering. I don't like all of this one bit, I wish they could just end this dumb and senseless war, obviously their are 2 sides of every story, I don't fully understand the reasons this war is being fought, their certainly is a lot of politics on both sides as to why this war is taking place.
This video shows who the people are that are dealing with the war and how it's affecting their lives.
Quote:
The offensive has been going on for long enough that I think we can draw a few conclusions. First of all is that the Russians are not using a lot of troops and are in no hurry to introduce more - this entire push is probably the work of a single Russian division task group attacking on a 60-kilometer front. I've included a very speculative Russian disposition with the latest tactical map based on a "two-up one-back" attack with two brigades forward and one in reserve.
This relatively small Russian force has been able to make substantial progress despite what is now a considerable Ukrainian force rushed in to reinforce the area, fascinatingly, by turning NATO's next-generation warfighting doctrine around against the Ukrainians. I wrote about this at some length earlier (link downthread). Essentially the Russians are using massed surveillance and standoff fires to shred the Ukrainian force attempting to close with them into manageable chunks for their sparse ground forces to tackle. This can be easily seen in the attached map with geolocated pins of Lancet strikes on Ukrainian artillery pieces in the region from May 11-15th - and I remind the reader that these 40-odd strikes represent hits with one "video-rich" weapon system released by an army that's maddeningly tight-fisted with combat footage.
Russian Kharkov Offensive D+5 Update (and some notes about the general situation in Ukraine right now)
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) May 16, 2024
The 48-hour updates are I think a pretty good tempo for battle updates thus far, things are developing but it's not exactly blitzkrieg... yet.
Over the last 48 hours Russian… pic.twitter.com/sKCDA2K69p
Zelensky didn't cancel his visits abroad for no reason. The coming days will be difficult. I'm pretty sure Russia will open at least one additional front after Kharkiv. Just my opinion. https://t.co/J4Ti1CvYOd
— marqs (@MarQs__) May 16, 2024
🇷🇺For those who believed Shoigu was demoted, check who's accompanying Putin as right hand man to his audience with President Xi in Beijing: pic.twitter.com/Q6EGLAoo0u
— SIMPLICIUS Ń° (@simpatico771) May 16, 2024
Quote:
One area I will never bend on is that Ukraine is in the morale right for resisting this invader and defending their home and hearth and way of life
BREAKING ‼️ Ukrainian journalist Butusov embedded with the Ukrainian army in Northern Kharkiv reports that the Russian offensive has stalled / stopped
— PS01 (@PStyle0ne1) May 16, 2024
Russians have suffered significant losses while Ukrainian troops have become more effective
Prisoners tell stories of… pic.twitter.com/BU7WioNbXJ
Here are the losses I could identify for yesterday.https://t.co/6rYrkketbL pic.twitter.com/Ogig4hfXLC
— Andrew Perpetua (@AndrewPerpetua) May 16, 2024
Tracked Garden Shed? Bahhahaha!Waffledynamics said:Here are the losses I could identify for yesterday.https://t.co/6rYrkketbL pic.twitter.com/Ogig4hfXLC
— Andrew Perpetua (@AndrewPerpetua) May 16, 2024
The world needs to stop working with India and stop buying goods from China. Russia is good for nothing but fertilizer. Go figure...Build It said:
So is India but you don't see us stomping on that relationship. India is as guilty as China. Pick on them for a while.
Quote:
Ukraine had been waiting for this green light for months. In a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, May 15, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted that Ukrainian forces could strike Russian territory with weapons supplied by the US, for the first time since the Russian invasion in 2022. "We have not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it's going to conduct this war," said Blinken, opening up the possibility of Western military materiel being used against Russian units located beyond Ukraine's borders.
I would like to see consequences for India for taking Russia's side in the economic warfare going on. The BRICs countries should at the least lose MFN trade status with the US.Gilligan said:The world needs to stop working with India and stop buying goods from China. Russia is good for nothing but fertilizer. Go figure...Build It said:
So is India but you don't see us stomping on that relationship. India is as guilty as China. Pick on them for a while.
This is what I envisioned.Teslag said:
A lot of it is just Occam's razor. The Russians easily advanced across a lightly defended gray zone and are now encountering fortifications and defensive lines. The Ukrainians were never going to place defenses right up agains the front.
Concur. I read the size of the city is over 100 square miles. The Germans had around 1 million soldiers at Stalingrad and still could not completely surround it. Another lesson learned from that battle is the Germans bombed the hell out of that city, but it created structures that became good fighting positions for the Russians. Who is ordering the attack on Kharkiv, the generals or Putin?Teslag said:
Bakhmut was a city of 70,000. Kharkiv has 1.5 million. I don't think even Russia can level that type of city with artillery. Not mention that amount of civilian displacement. You do something like that it will be an untenable situation during an occupation.
Last I checked the Russian's most forward positions are still 12 miles from the outskirts of Kharkiv. And they are just now barely starting to come up against the Ukrainian defensive positions. It this pace it will take them months to get there.Tanker123 said:Concur. I read the size of the city is over 100 square miles. The Germans had around 1 million soldiers at Stalingrad and still could not completely surround it. Another lesson learned from that battle is the Germans bombed the hell out of that city, but it created structures that became good fighting positions for the Russians. Who is ordering the attack on Kharkiv, the generals or Putin?Teslag said:
Bakhmut was a city of 70,000. Kharkiv has 1.5 million. I don't think even Russia can level that type of city with artillery. Not mention that amount of civilian displacement. You do something like that it will be an untenable situation during an occupation.
AgLA06 said:Last I checked the Russian's most forward positions are still 12 miles from the outskirts of Kharkiv. And they are just now barely starting to come up against the Ukrainian defensive positions. It this pace it will take them months to get there.Tanker123 said:Concur. I read the size of the city is over 100 square miles. The Germans had around 1 million soldiers at Stalingrad and still could not completely surround it. Another lesson learned from that battle is the Germans bombed the hell out of that city, but it created structures that became good fighting positions for the Russians. Who is ordering the attack on Kharkiv, the generals or Putin?Teslag said:
Bakhmut was a city of 70,000. Kharkiv has 1.5 million. I don't think even Russia can level that type of city with artillery. Not mention that amount of civilian displacement. You do something like that it will be an untenable situation during an occupation.
Based on the desired topic, maybe the thread should be on the Miliary board instead of here. That would probably greatly help remove the temptation of F16 posters.Moderator said:
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Russia/Ukraine From Another Perspective (Relaunch Part Deux)