Sarjen

Yup, and the Russian Army culture where sergeants are selected (as in nearly all non-Western armies btw) for their ability to bully the ranks and act as toadies/bagmen for the officer capos.
The Phd tweetstorm Steve posted a few above seems to nail it.
When you have both an unrestricted mandate and obligation to obey orders without question, BUT you are also treated like the scum of the earth day to day by everyone above and around you, it leads directly to what we're seeing here.
No warmed over Austro-Hungarian phrenology spittle about Mongoloid forest primitives is required.
There are no evil races, only evil cultures. Or more accurately, cultures broken either by privation or to serve the designs of evil men. (Or the pure convenience of careless or self-deluded ones, which amounts to much the same thing).

Kind of puts the knee-capping incident into a different perspective.
This was almost inevitable sad to say.  A lot of this has the whole “civilian reprisals” feel to it.  However I would not rule out some old fashion “ethnic cleansing”.  Not much to add on a military assessment as this sort of thing is a blight on the profession.  I would only add that this either demonstrates an extreme loss of control, or Russian high command has gone to a pretty dark, and stupid place.  Stuff like this results in assassinations and reprisal attacks for a century.  Further any hope of normalization with the west has left the building as any easing of sanctions will now be tied to warcrime investigation and prosecution.
This sort of thing also plays into any anti-war support in Russia itself as these tales of atrocities come home.  
This right here is why war is best left to gaming.

Or as I like to say "I am interested in military history .....as history"
This live action kind of war makes me sick.  I mean, this is some really really sick stuff.  why do any of this?  Why why why why?  Russia has everything it needs to be prosperous.  (oh, except the will)

This is my job and my headache %) 

That post shows the danger of social media. A random jerk venting on 2 Images without proper knowledge.
Please question yourself how old are those pictures?
They are form an newspaper article released in 2014.

What condition are the vehicles in?
Probably in a really bad one, cause they stood there without cover, stripped of weapons and all useful stuff before they were parked. The facility in Rockensußra is specialised on scrap metal recycling, so what you see are only Marder hulls.
Refurbishing them will cost more than buying new IFV's.
And finally all @Battlefront.com mentioned applies here such as logistics, training,..

They stand there in the open for at least 12 years and are more than likely in no working condition. Prone to failure and motor power is bad because the 2nd armor layer is fitted but the motors are not upgraded. Additionally the springs and suspension brake easily. Plus, Ukrainians are not trained on it, including missing spare part logistics. 

The events in Ukraine are going to add some more fuel to the fire regarding the highly controversial reorganization of the US Marine Corps. The current commandant has eliminated all tanks, reduced artillery, helicopters and fixed wing assets to focus on guided missiles, drones, long range anti-ship missiles batteries and long-range unmanned surface vessels that has sensors and weapons that allow for pinpoint bombardment. They are also buying unmanned boats loaded with Kamikaze drones.
The reason for the re-org is the likely adversary China is a Pacific oriented theater that involves vast distances and the need for light highly deployable forces. Many of the potential hot spots are small atolls and shoals. Tanks are too cumbersome and heavy to land on these atolls and the risk of losing them to handheld anti-tank weapons is too great is the argument.
Artillery is also limited by the fact many of the tiny islands are so small they can't be used from a safe distance away from enemy fire and may not be able to use indirect fire at close range. While not totally useless its argued that tanks and artillery "are of less value than the things we need the most" and with a limited budget choices have to be made.
   
This has drawn the ire of just about every past commandant and they have been engaging in a PR campaign to slow or stop the re-org and are now lobbying congress. The argument here is the force structure is too tailored for a potential fight with China and would be ineffective elsewhere. There have been arguments that eliminating tanks makes the new force structure vulnerable in a fight with a armored heavy opponent.
The events in Ukraine where light infantry armed with guided missiles are decimating tanks and IFV's, pretty much invalidates the infantry is vulnerable to armored formations even when taking into account the Russians lack of finesse.
The argument that the new force structure would not be useful in a theater like Europe is also looking sketchy. A force structure like the new Marine Corps one would be highly effective in the southern coastal region of Ukraine. Anti-ship missile batteries would make any sort of Russian amphibious invasion or ship resupply of land forces a very risky proposition. Long range unmanned surface vessels with precision guns and guided missiles and drones would also be very effective.
Norway another area the marines currently train in would be another region where the new force structure would be very effective as would Sweden and Finland if it ever came down to it.
I still believe tanks are highly effective when properly used, but they are expensive to acquire, expensive to maintain and they will definitely need APS and more APS systems need to be developed. All of this will require money, lots of it and they are not easily deployable as their weight is already approaching the limits of practicality and adding on more stuff to protect them will only add to the weight problem.
In the past few decades global populations have been trending away from rural areas into urban areas. Over 90% of global commerce moves on the sea, so it follows that urban areas located near the water is where the centers of government and economic power lie.
A light infantry centric force with precision weapons, drones, unmanned surface vessels and anti-ship missiles makes a lot of sense. He may be highly controversial but General Berger is beginning to look very visionary.
 

Let's stay on topic guys. If you want to discuss racism do it with personal messages not forum posts please. 

@Haiduk, @kraze Agreed. What is being done to your country and your people is vile and evil. Your anger and hatred towards your enemies is justified. All the " be nice to each other" crap can wait until the war is over. Be safe and keep your heads down guys.
 
 

Could we maybe knock off these racist accusations? Russian is not a race. Ukranian is not a race. It's the same as saying American or British or French is a race. That's just nonsense and all it's doing is inflaming passions.
Plus it's tiresome to wade through while trying to catch up.
Dave

But that’s not what you keep typing. You just keep referring to Russians as an entire group. I can only take what you write at face value.
The whole point of denazification is that it opens peoples eyes, because you accept that people are capable of much better than they’ve shown. Shame on them. A million times over. Because they should know better.
But don’t degrade yourself by not respecting their fundamental humanity. Otherwise you don’t look much better than them.
 

While I think @LongLeftFlank post was interesting and surely/hopefully >50% chance going forward, I'm not sure I agree with what you write here. I'm sorry to interrupt your George Washington dreams 😉
If Ukraine manages to kick out Russia from it's lands (Crimea another story) and does good on the internal cleansing of kleptocracy and other undesirable stuff, I think it will be able to attract large investments.
Of course the EU will do something (as will US, UK, AUS, etc), they might even do a whole lot but they won't give a blanc cheque or give financial guarantees against Russian aggression (lol that would be really, really, stupid). The EU doesn't have unlimited moneys. So like LLF wrote Ukraine will also need private (for profit) investments. With a decent security lookout those will surely come!
Also the EU isn't a moneypot membership where if you fight hard against Russians, you are allowed to become member and scoop it till the bottom 🤣. And unlike many people in the world seem to think, winning a war against Russia doesn't mean you can enroll in any coalition/union without meeting the requirements. 
EU membership is imo probably in Ukraine's hands IF they manage to achieve all the required preconditions. Fast forward 5-10 years. Personally I hope they manage.
Sorry if I'm being negative but that's just not how the world works. And after reading for the n-th time how Americans (not only you 😉 ) write that Ukraine should be in the EU for fighting against Russia, I felt the need to address it. 

There, fixed that for you.
Collective responsibility for Putin's excesses is vastly different from asserting that every Russian soldier is a rapist and looter, and every Russian is a zombie who wishes to murder any Ukrainian they can get their hands on. Every. Single. Conflict. Ever. Has brought out the worst in SOME of the combatants. Generalisations can lead to tragedy.

The live strategic map this group has been waiting for. Unit identifications. Locations. BTG quantities. Yet to be seen if this is timely or sustainable info:
https://www.uawardata.com/
Zoom in or click on a stack of counters and it breaks down into sub unit IDs.

General Mud is going on counter-offensive too. 
 
 

Plus, UA equipment is steadily improving, not just in availability but tech level.
=====
I'd predict that in a couple of months the majority of UKR combat inf will have proper gun optics and nvg goggles. They will have a huge number of experienced ATGM "snipers". They'll have adapted their tactical best practices. The lower level officers from D1 will be leading Companies, Battalions, Groups.
So with the current contrasting attrition levels, the UKR army is going to get better equipped, better led, better at large unit fighting the more the war continues at this steady pace. UKR will achieve deeper unit-group cohesion, not just at company and battalion but divisional and above. 
Every military reflects its society.@Haiduk's post much, much earlier described the Ukrainian frontier/cossack mentality, a very open, egalitarian and self-motivating from of group-think that is in sharp contrast to the Russian top-down, Pharaonic and self-censoring mindset. 
That contrast seems to be exactly why UKR reformed after 2015 but RUS Army did not. It also didn't help the RA that the top brass essentially got distracted by Syria, where as UKR was able to group-focus on a single objective - defeat the next Russian invasion. The real one.
By contrast, RUS will achieve none of those rapid, nimble adjustments and deep unit cohesion, as it funamentlla cant think that loose and fast as an institution and also they've lost so many of their officer core, especially the combat experienced ones.
Russia will have some units, commanders able to adapt/change but the nature of the  political society behind them has not changed and will constantly and instinctively override/interfere with any push within the military for change/adaptation. The Russian military is a wolf with a scorpion clinging to its neck, stabbing in the poison whenever the wolf tries to go a different direction.
This will be the real tension point within Russia, as only the military has the wherewithal to actual confront and change the political structure. Navalny et al are inevitable but ultimately irrelevant. The Russian Army will decide the next form of Russia, as it's the Army that is being affected most directly by this growing possible defeat. 
 

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/risks-russian-ceasefire-offer
Don't think this has been posted yet.  Some very good points, the main one being that we in the west need to rethink the algorithms of this war in terms of what it really is, and not the lens we normally have viewed this thing thru.  In the west "ceasefire" is a prelude to peace...for Russia, not so much.  Of course I have zero doubt that the Ukrainian government does not already know this.
The concept of a ceasefire in this war is not really between Ukraine and Russia, it is really between Russian and the West.

Izium is abandoned by Ukrainan troops. Russians tried to advance further to Mala Kamyshuvakha, but were repelled. From Izium to Sloviansk 50 km. Reportedly Russians try to advance to this city from two directions - from Izium and from the area north from Sloviansk - form villages Terny and Yampolivka
Russians and LDPR forces also conducted heavy shellings and fierce assault actions in Siveroidonetsk, Rubizhne, Popasna of Luhansk oblast and launched offensive near Velyka Novoselivka, west of Donetsk oblast toward the group attacking from the north
 

🇺🇦зи нами бог🇺🇦
(some readers may be more familiar with the German version:  Gott mit uns )

Don't believe any of his trash. Julian Röpcke is just a numb nut writing for the German yellow press. He is calling himself a military expert, but all he puts out is blown up bull****, without providing any credible source.  

I admit to being kind of amused at these "Russia will do this and declare a ceasefire..."
You can't declare a unilateral ceasefire unless you are really in a dominant military position.  You can ask for one, but the other side has a say.  Ukraine will have a set of conditions for the ceasefire which they have already started establishing.  The key one being Russia recognizing the territorial integrity of Ukraine.  I don't think they will insist on Crimea beyond an internationally managed referendum there.  It will however mean the end of DPR/LNR.  I don't see Putin agreeing to that.  So the war will go on until Russia is simply unable to maintain their forces in the field either because of a military collapse or a political "transition" back in Moscow and a unilateral withdrawal.
The cracks are appearing for Putin.  Incidents of soldiers refusing to serve in Ukraine .  Too much of the army is being committed to this with potential risk of instability elsewhere.  Too many of the various power blocs now have a reason to consider a Russia without Putin.  The cost of the war which so far he has managed to hide will become apparent.  The butchers bill will come due.  Putin is in a situation where everyday things get a little worse and he is not in a position of controlling the narrative.

Well, ok, they were even more stupid than I imagined them to be. Like WAY more.
I kind of based my assessment on previous reports of Russian troops "traveling through" the area, raising up dust and breathing in some of it. HOWEVER, note in the article that they were digging and presumably occupying trenches in the area. So they no doubt inhaled a LOT more than they would have traveling through, AND they were pretty much hugging the radioactive dirt, so getting irradiated from inside AND outside.
Idiots.
There are reports of 7 busloads of soldiers transported to a radiation sickness treatment center with acute radiation exposure symptoms, after being evacuated from the Chernobyl area.
Now acute radiation syndrome/sickness is a very wide ranging term. The body can take quite a dose of radiation before ANY symptoms appear (roughly 160 times your yearly background dose), and then 9 times THAT dose before you receive what is termed a 50/30 dose, which means that about 50% of people receiving that dose die within 30 days. The other 50% recover but would be susceptible to increased cancer risk the rest of their lives. A guaranteed fatal dose is about another factor of 10 higher than the 50/30 dose.   At doses from the onset of symptoms up to the LD 50/30 dose symptoms vary from mild nausea to incapacitating nausea, diarrhea, crushing fatigue. At the extremely high doses there are neurological issues, breakdown of blood (ionizing radiation breaks down the water in your blood and tissues and it recombines into peroxide - pleasant thought, eh?)  Those guys are most likely already dead by now if they received that kind of dose.
A few sources for the evacuation and trench digging. The rest is my own knowledge from working in the radiation protection and emergency response field for many years. All those levels are rough but should get the idea across.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/retreating-russian-troops-leaving-chernobyl-26596437
https://www.newsweek.com/chernobyl-russia-troops-ukraine-yemelianenko-nuclear-1693714
 
 

"The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russia is deploying servicemen from military support units, including educational institutions, to replace combat losses.[1] Russian officer casualties and the decision to strip Russian training units of personnel will further impede the Russian military’s ability to train new conscripts and replacements. "
From latest ISW assessment.
Doesn't a Russian rebound from the stalled campaign, or even to hold on to what they have, utterly depend on the incoming manpower from reserves mobilization? Who will onboard them to handle the Ukrainian shark tank?
The Germans started stripping training personnel in late '44 (I think?).
You do that when 1) there's no one else and 2)you know training new ppl to a high standard is pointless - defeat will come sooner,or they will just die too easily for the effort to be worth it, or both. So just arm, clothe,, a few weeks "training" then into the Garthok lair with them.
nomnom.

Well, yeah. Kind of obvious. There's no "likely" about it. If it's radioactive, and you inhale it, you WILL be irradiated from internally ingested radioactive particulates.
Alpha particles, yes, can be stopped by a piece of paper, or, say, your lung tissue. Also an alpha particle is massive - it's a helium nucleus, so causes much more damage than other radiation. There shouldn't be any alpha emitters in the dust/soil around Chernobyl. Beta radiation is an electron, or positron (a + charge electron- antimatter actually). A beta particle also has little penetrating effect. Your skin will stop it.  So for example everyone was horrified at Fukushima workers wading through water that was beta radioactive - but at the levels there it was probably a sunburn effect. Gamma rays are highly energetic electromagnetic radiation - think highly energetic X-rays. They can pass through a lot but they will definitely interact with flesh and the lower energy ones will be more likely to be stopped, depositing all their energy, where a greater percentage of higher energy ones will pass through. But you can't think of it as just passing through without interacting. It WILL interact, but it just won't be slowed much. But every atom it hits it will deposit some energy along the way.
The problem with any radiation when you ingest it is that 1) it irradiates you internally, and the human body internally is very delicate once you get past protective skin 2) isotopes will concentrate in certain areas/organs due to their physical (non-nuclear) similarity to beneficial elements. For an example most are familiar with, in an active release it's Iodine-131 that is the biggest immediate concern. Iodine concentrates in the thyroid. That's why KI pills are issued - to flood the thyroid with good iodine so there are no receptors for I-131. And the half life of I-131 is pretty short, and it would pass by quickly. Biological half life is short too, so KI pills are effective (note they are effective for ONLY that scenario and isotope). And with all that thyroid cancer is among the most treatable and survivable of cancers.
But I digress. Strontium is one concern here. It's a fission product and in all spent fuel - which Chernobyl distributed all over Europe in varying amounts. It is physically/chemically similar to calcium so it will concentrate in bone marrow and bones, which can cause various issues with T-cells and B-cells that fight infections, mutating them and/or killing them. It releases betas and low energy gammas. Guess where else it shows up? Milk. Because, calcium. Cows eat the grass, and pass it into the milk. There are still areas that are restricted to grazing because strontium can be detected.
There is probably little external danger even after stirring up dust, AS LONG AS PROTECTIVE GEAR IS WORN, and after you pass through the gear is removed and decontaminated or disposed of properly. But they didn't do that. So likely they all breathed in fission products. How much, and how much of an effect, is anyone's guess really and probably won't show any effects for years.  I kind of doubt (but don't know for sure) that anyone would have received an acute dose that would make them ill or kill them. There ARE people living in the exclusion zone who moved back or never left, so the levels are not THAT severe. But, in general, don't inhale radioactive particulates.
Dave