Vanir Ausf B

For sure there will be huge demand for those skills, but if you're not paying for machine gunners, tanks crews and fighter pilots that should free money for a smaller number of technical specialists, at least enough to compete with the private sector.

It doesn't matter. If forum predictions are correct unmanned/autonomous is going to solve everyone's recruitment problems.

Latest on Avdiivka and Helicopters Operations. https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1749922739467477072 1/ By late 2023, Frontelligence Insight noted a stabilized situation in Avdiivka. However, recent developments have worsened the situation for Ukrainian troops, especially in the southern residential area. 2/ While the northern part of Avdiivka is shielded by the AKHZ (industrial buildings), the southern area is comprised of one to two-story houses susceptible to artillery fire. If unable to capture the area, russians erase it with artillery, deploy infantry, and seize the rubble. 3/ The visible artillery strikes, moving from the outskirts to residential areas, indicate the shift. Eventually, the damage makes defense challenging. The same problem extends to nearby multi-story apartment buildings targeted by previous Russian FAB hits. 4/ The situation on the flanks remains more stable, enabling Ukrainian forces to defend Avdiivka. Sattelite imagery shows a continued shift of artillery fire north of Avdiivka, targeting areas near Stepove, Berdychi, Novobakhmutivka, and Novokalynivka. 5/ In summary, Avdiivka's situation has worsened due to limited artillery ammo, a decrease in counter-battery fire, and a lack of reinforcements. Russia exploits these gaps, leveraging its personnel and ammo numbers advantage. 6/ Resurgence of Helicopter Operations Our team previously identified a FARP (Forward Arming and Refueling Point) helicopter base in Strilkove. Following Ukraine's ATACMS strikes on airfields in Luhansk and Berdyansk, the base was abandoned and remained unused until recently. 7/ Recent imagery from January 2024 reveals the presence of Russian helicopters at the base. Analysis over multiple days indicates that Russians keep no more than 3-4 helicopters at a time. Additionally, the helicopters appear to be more dispersed.

I would LOL if President Zelenskiy ended every speech with "Russia delenda est!"

I look forward to using bucket trucks in future CM games

Nah, you can see all 3 crew members running at :22 https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1747843889971580992

Some things never change.

Reported. Thanks!

I like the sound effects, although I would have gone with traditional pewpewpew

That's going to make for some boring war games in the future. But we'll always have CMCW.

Everybody's walking in Ukraine More stories of Russians using tear gas. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/world/europe/ukraine-troops-exhausted-defensive.html

There's a new book out claiming that Zaluzhny wanted to do the Zaporizhzhia offensive a full year before they actually did it, but that the US convinced them to hit Kherson instead. https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-wanted-a-bold-counteroffensive-but-us-disagreed-book-2024-1

Expenditure rates past and present.

Instigating people in India or Morocco to attack shipping going into India or Morocco is going to severely piss off India or Morocco, and it would get shut down very quickly. These are not lawless failed states where that could function for long. Ukraine has done this sort of thing on land in Africa, but AFAIK only in Sudan specifically. Sudan is in a state of civil war and Wagner has taken a side in that war, so the other side in that war has nothing to lose by letting Ukraine SOF operate on its territory. That dynamic doesn't translate to just anywhere else.

I'm confused that @dan/california lives in Seattle

"So, Zelensky, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."

"In our war against the Finns we had an opportunity to choose the time and the place. We outnumbered our enemy, and we had all the time in the world to prepare for our operation. Yet even in these most favorable conditions it was only after great difficulty and enormous losses that we were finally able to win. A victory at such a cost was actually a moral defeat. Our people never knew that we had suffered a moral defeat, of course, because they were never told the truth. All of us—and Stalin first and foremost—sensed in our victory a defeat by the Finns. It was a dangerous defeat because it encouraged our enemies' conviction that the Soviet Union was a colossus with feet of clay." -- Nikita Khrushchev

Back on topic... equipment loses for the Zaporizhzhia counter-offensive. Roughly 1:1 with trucks and drones excepted.

This is a very strange time for Armenia to be disarming itself. I'd wait for confirmation.

Fair. Some bitterness is understandable. "Mykola Melnyk was seriously wounded during one of the assaults during the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. A Russian large-caliber gun hit him when he was trying to navigate a Bradley through a minefield and lost his leg. During an attempt to get to the nearest Ukrainian positions, he stepped on anti-personnel mine and fell on another one. Mykola is now slowly recovering, and just recently was able to stand up."

Very interesting. It runs counter to the narrative that all Ukraine needs to win is more weapons.

? It goes to the correct one when I click on it. EDIT: ninja'd

A good shot of the new Lancet EFP drone. Looks like it detonates about 3 or 4 meters from the target. https://twitter.com/cvetko35/status/1722589902347383131