DesertFox

Nope, there is always the JohnDeere option...🤣

DesertFox,

Since there are several pieces of ordnance called butterfly mines, I decided to clarify what mine was being talked about. Turns out it was the PFM-1 AP mine, and I'm delighted to report a way has been found to detect them from a drone so they can be removed.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drones-used-to-find-toylike-butterfly-land-mines/
 
Also, there is now an upgraded version termed PFM-1S.
 
Regards,

John Kettler

Clarification needed about who encircles who - seeing as how rear fuel convoys catch on fire daily

Is all of this only part of a huge JohnDeere marketing campaign...😅
 
 

you all are missing just how good that tank cover actually is.  It is the same defensive technology used for generations by children all over the world.  Just hide your head under the blanket.  Note that ZERO children have died, ever, from monsters under the bed when engaging with this one simple trick. 

Besides moral, which can be edited by everyone himself, I´d rather see some russian units added to CMBS. T-80 family just as an example or "older" T-72s. We now know that this gear is still used in different configs as you can see from this site:
Attack On Europe: Documenting Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine - Oryx (oryxspioenkop.com)

I think mistakes were made, to say the least.  In reality this is going to likely go down as a massive Russian strategic failure, possibly nation breaking but we would be remiss not to look in that mirror and recognize that it is also a western failure writ large.  We collectively run the planet (casting nervous glance at China) and as such this mess that took 20+ years to happen has to come home to roost on our decision making.
As to the NATO argument, I guess what sticks is that every former eastern bloc nation who has joined NATO did so of their own free will and for very good reasons.  What happened is akin to watching a man with three wives he abused for years beating the one who stayed behind and blaming the other two who left.  Yes, technically he might have just spread the abuse more equitably but how on earth does that equation get right?!  The US was using the same strategy that won the Cold War, enticement and Russian response with a strategy of bombing or threats of bombing, followed by more bombing cannot compete, and that is not on us.  
I think we in the West do need to take a long hard look at how we basically went past "letting it happen" to "enabling because we like cheap gas and were to busy with our own crap".  I am Canadian and frankly the lines we fed ourselves for over 30 years of a utopian liberal humanistic new world order, and kept smoking right up until Feb 24th meant we lost sight of just how nasty the world was really getting and failed to do anything about it.
I hope that some lines are re-drawn as a result of this and we try and realize that things like freedom and democracy come at costs that every generation must pay, not just the ones in the movies. 

What´s wrong with these guys...
 
 

Russian gear is taking the piss (lit.)
 
 

I think it's easier for EU leaders to explain away this hypocritical moral dilemma than to explain to their voters why their energy bill has exploded...
Right now, from the perspective of the average EU citizen, somebody else is fighting and dying in Ukraine, and somebody else's economy is getting wrecked in Russia.
Also, I think the EU want to keep a few potential new sanctions ready to use in extreme circumstances.. if Putin starts using chemical weapons, the EU needs to have some kind of reaction available in order to be seen to respond. And at that point, such measures might also be easier to explain to voters.

That touched my heart. Watch till the end.
 
 

I think the major difference between discussions here and what I have seen from a lot of the "experts" is that they seem to focusing on quantitative assessment, while we are largely focus on qualitative.  We can count up the losses and numbers as well as any right now but when linking that back to qualitative deductions one comes up with different conclusions.
I mean one can see that about 10% of the Russian invasion force of tanks has been attrited.  From a quantitative view that is not great but losses are to be expected in front line capability and it likely matches some other similar military actions.  Then if one takes the remaining 90% versus big red spaces on the map, I can see how people are coming to the conclusions that they are.  What is missing is all the weird stuff, like most of those tanks have been abandoned either out of gas or crews just left.  That is a qualitative observation on how or why those tanks were lost beyond what was lost.  
I am not surprised that a forum of avid wargamers and students of history are taking a broader qualitative system view, and frankly the real experts/analysist who work for government/military are doing the exact same thing (with better data).  In the end events will confirm or deny which viewpoint has been correct and the truth is probably somewhere in between.  What has been interesting is that we here have been about 24-48 hours ahead of mainstream in a lot of ways.  In the first couple of days we noted some odd signals and had pretty much decided that the "quick war" was a loss by the end of the first weekend.  Then experts caught up and complimented "Ukrainian resistance", when it was in fact a pretty convincing military defence, and were stating that Ukraine may hold out for a couple weeks but the end was going to be the same.  As things unfolded it became more apparent here that the Russian war machine had stalled hard - while mainstream media was pointing to the looming 64km convoy North of Kyiv - which turned out to be a parking lot and by now is likely turning into a graveyard.  We began to wonder if the Russians might even get to the siege phase.
Now most experts are still seeing a brutal siege phase and a long term guerilla war.  Here in our little bubble it is looking more likely that the Russians will have to be halting broad offensive action soon and we could see this turn into a stalemate scenario...all largely based on qualitative assessment of 1) Russian inability to establish what should have ben pre-conditions such as information and air superiority, 2) very poor Russian logistical performance, 3) Signs of eroding Russian morale, 4) Baffling Russian C2, and 5) The increasing/acceleration of Ukrainian will and capability to fight.  This is beyond the changes in strategic narrative from Russia, who went from "unconditional surrender" to "conditional surrender" in about 10 days.  As well as the growing impact of what has become the economic equivalent to a nuclear war against Russia. 
We will see how close everyone is as this thing unfolds, we could be wrong or too optimistic based on a steady stream of what may be fairly isolated events but when strung together on social media look like a trend.  The major shift I am looking for right now is signs of Russian defensive operations like minefields, major digging in and the like.  At the strategic level we might start seeing less of Putin and the identification of a new "spokesperson", this may be a sign of a shifting power dynamic at the top. 
I recall back in 2014 the Russian Foreign Minister saying "if Russia wanted to, we could be in Kyiv in two weeks" or words to that effect, well that is Thurs and so far they can't even seem to be able to cordon Kyiv, let alone control it; there are strange rattling and scraping sounds coming out of the Russian War Machine.  All the while Ukraine is waging an information war that is now the Gold Standard and a employing a hybrid operational approach that will be actively studied for a century at least. 
In another reality, if I were on the Russian Military Staff and had a golden Willie Wonka ticket to say whatever I wanted without repercussions, it would be "Get out, now.  They are not surrounded, we are." 

In 100 metres turn left...🤣

Maybe if their stuff get blocked by EW the commercial stuff may still run? It's a back-up?
 

Our jets also equipped with commercial Garmin GPS trackers

Some more thoughts on logistical matters and the state of affairs for Iwan
 
 

I know and I am with you and the Ukranians. To get some good understanding about Ukraine and where they come from historically (20th century) I can recommend this book. Maybe a little eyeopener to some why they and the russians dont exactly love each other.

Amazon.com: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin: 9780465031474: Snyder, Timothy: Bücher

LOL! It is a little bit more complicated...
Kyiv - History | Britannica

I know and I am with you and the Ukranians. To get some good understanding about Ukraine and where they come from historically (20th century) I can recommend this book. Maybe a little eyeopener to some why they and the russians dont exactly love each other.

Amazon.com: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin: 9780465031474: Snyder, Timothy: Bücher

I know and I am with you and the Ukranians. To get some good understanding about Ukraine and where they come from historically (20th century) I can recommend this book. Maybe a little eyeopener to some why they and the russians dont exactly love each other.

Amazon.com: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin: 9780465031474: Snyder, Timothy: Bücher

At the rate the war is going....

Yes. Reminds me of a very good movie. The Death of Stalin a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci.
The scene where Beria met his fate. BÄM and hes gone.

Well…it looks like maybe we know why Russia hasn’t blinked out the cell networks in Ukraine: 
 

Visually confirmed vehicle losses:
Russia - 902, of which: destroyed: 358, damaged: 10, abandoned: 150, captured: 382
Ukraine - 272, of which: destroyed: 94, damaged: 4, abandoned: 44, captured: 127
Source: Attack On Europe: Documenting Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine - Oryx (oryxspioenkop.com)
Twitter: 
 
 
 

Yes. Reminds me of a very good movie. The Death of Stalin a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci.
The scene where Beria met his fate. BÄM and hes gone.