dan/california

I am running out of words to describe how brave these people are, and how competent. A month straight of high intensity mechanized warfare, and some of them are still alive!!!!!!

I should have been clearer, I meant maximum support in the current proxy war, indirect involvement, environment. To put it another way the people running the war for Ukraine, and the NATO members supplying the Ukrainian army need to get on the same page as far as means and ends. If the goal is to create a stalemate on the current line of confrontation in the Donbas, then be sure the Ukrainians know that so they can do it coherently and with the lowest possible casualties. If the goal is to kill so many Russian troops so quickly that Russia abandons everything but Crimea we need to give the Ukrainians support to do that. That should specifically include higher level western AA/anti missile systems, even if that means some NATO troops have to do the false flag thing to operate them. NATO personnel from Eastern Europe could be used, it isn't like you can tell a Pole from a Ukrainian just by looking. Just don't let the BBC interview them, heck don't admit the Ukrainians have the systems, let the downed Russian aircraft speak for themselves. You won't even have to shoot down that many, they will just stop flying where it is dangerous.
On the larger issue of Ukrainian strikes in Russia you have to distinguish between logical extensions of the Ukrainian campaign against Russian military logistics in the area of operations, and "communication of our actual negotiating position". The fuel depot strike was probably more to do with communication, although Russian logistics have so idiotic it may have a real impact there as well. As communication goes it is a would I would call it a level one attack, the noise made is large, but the body counts is pretty low, and it is still local to the current theater of operations. so now we see how the Russians respond, And then we will see if the Ukrainians can do something larger if they don't like the Russian response. A really large scale covert attack on the Russian railway system, or something purely symbolic much deeper into Russia come to mind.

Everyone is hung up about small gradations in what will or won't trigger Putin. I think this is totally wrong unless NATO cuts Ukrainian support to the point they have to take a bad deal immediately. As long as Ukraine is winning Putin is getting more desperate. He has staked his regimes prestige, and probably its survival on winning this war. If he loses it he IS going to be desperate. All the hemming and hawing about giving the Ukrainians this system but not that one just moves the moment WHEN Putin gets desperate back and forth. What I have not seen is any reason to think that Putin desperate later is going to be any different from Putin desperate sooner. Later just lets him wreck even more of Ukraine and create even more refugees, thus I am for absolutely maximal support for the Ukrainians.

Man they still operate as if they're not under constant observation. They think they can camouflage and wont be watched doing it. There is a real 20th century mindset just cemented into their collective consciousness. 
Good god, why would any RUS soldier get into a vehicle at this point? Bloody bicycles would be safer.
The violence of the strikes since D1 has been only amplified by the pinpoint accuracy of each hit. Deeply unnerving just to watch, let along being there and enduring your entire platoon's IFVs going POP POP POP POP. The blow-torch up from inside a T-72 is horrible.
I'd have sympathy - but then I remember those children screaming for days in the darkness under the theatre in Mariupol and I just say F#CK 'EM.  Let them burn. 
It wont stop until they die or leave.
@akd @sburke I was literally wondering if there were any more..
@Combatintman et al, thank you for the info and analysis it's enormously interesting and informative.
 

Everyone is hung up about small gradations in what will or won't trigger Putin. I think this is totally wrong unless NATO cuts Ukrainian support to the point they have to take a bad deal immediately. As long as Ukraine is winning Putin is getting more desperate. He has staked his regimes prestige, and probably its survival on winning this war. If he loses it he IS going to be desperate. All the hemming and hawing about giving the Ukrainians this system but not that one just moves the moment WHEN Putin gets desperate back and forth. What I have not seen is any reason to think that Putin desperate later is going to be any different from Putin desperate sooner. Later just lets him wreck even more of Ukraine and create even more refugees, thus I am for absolutely maximal support for the Ukrainians.

My oh my, what a lot of excitement over my night, Ukraine day. 
1.  fuel depot strike:  looks like the ammo depot explosion last week might not have been an accident.  And Putin might use this as a provocation for escalation except that he could just make something up if he wants to escalate.  Plus it seems so far that it's more embarrassing for him to publicize this than it is useful to him for propaganda.
2.  Armored vehicles being sent to Ukraine:  so maybe we're past the whole foolishness of sending 'defensive' weapons only.  Hopefully the floodgates will open for tanks, planes, helos.
3.  What does Izyum retreat mean?  Is it just a tactical withdrawal because holding that salient was not longer worth it and freed up forces for use elsewhere?  Or is it a defeat?
4.  we've seen a very large number of destroyed russian vehicles last few days.  This has got to seriously impact their offensive capabilities.
5.  and looks like there's some russian troops who missed the chance to escape from Kyiv areas.  Warms my heart. 

Everyone is hung up about small gradations in what will or won't trigger Putin. I think this is totally wrong unless NATO cuts Ukrainian support to the point they have to take a bad deal immediately. As long as Ukraine is winning Putin is getting more desperate. He has staked his regimes prestige, and probably its survival on winning this war. If he loses it he IS going to be desperate. All the hemming and hawing about giving the Ukrainians this system but not that one just moves the moment WHEN Putin gets desperate back and forth. What I have not seen is any reason to think that Putin desperate later is going to be any different from Putin desperate sooner. Later just lets him wreck even more of Ukraine and create even more refugees, thus I am for absolutely maximal support for the Ukrainians.

I think the intent is to "boil the frog*", and hope there's a resolution before anyone gets desperate enough to do something thermonuclearly stupid.
* By which I mean incrementally ratchet the pressure in such a way that there's never an inflexion point where the new level of pressure is sufficiently different from the old level that restraint snaps. 

I am running out of words to describe how brave these people are, and how competent. A month straight of high intensity mechanized warfare, and some of them are still alive!!!!!!

With this helo story I think there are a lot of conclusions being drawn without knowing the facts. I don't know the facts either but earlier Haiduk advised that these helo ops were news to everyone. Makes sense as if you are running clandestine supplies in and medevacs out you probably don't want that on twitter for the RA to find. 
Legitimate question: Do you really think the Azoz command group would abandon ship? I don't know so I'm curious what people think. Unless it is about to collapse and even then I'd be surprised if the whole command group bolted. Just seems like too much passion, emotion and commitment to the cause for that. If the whole or majority of the defending remnants were attempting to extract I could see it but not just the command group.  

I'm glad to see UKR regaining territory.  I understood the RF is redeploying it's northern forces to the south, so more gains in this area north and east of Kyiv should be expected, correct?  Or have I misread the situation?

Don't know how he idiotically jumped to the conclusion that "most of the Azov leadership was killed" other than just straight up reporting Russian propaganda without even thinking about it?  Quite a reporter there...

There's a difference, I think, between "Stopping because you no longer have the assets available to succeed," and "Hiding behind your armour, rather than supporting it."

Oddly, that will be all of them.

You also learn a lot about the importance of good commanders/ plans playing CMBS, you can turn a guaranteed victory into smoking wreckage in two bad turns. I used to think I was world class at this, but after seeing the Russians level of expertise..... 

It fully involved on Donbas, where the war has more "traditional" form. It involved in Sumy oblast and Kharkiv - Russian BTGs in Trostianets and Rohan' were defeated not with lihgt infantry (though with their assist). Our "line troops" too busy to make footage, also a censorship there is more tough than in volunteers/TD and Azov, which since 2014 have made PR for itself. You can see Oryx about our losses, we lost about 70 tanks. So, they in fight. 
Full picture, how our mech. and tank brigades fought, we can receive only after the war.

Oh yes - it's almost as if putin exists in a spacetime bubble separate from at least last 300 years of human history and russian history in particular.
This article forgets to mention that after a month our army having more tanks than it had at at the start of the war is just a part of that cunning putin's plan. Him throwing his most elite units to take Kyiv and having them wiped out was done so he could take a few more villages in Donbass.
I also like the bit about putin's demands of neutrality. Ukraine was constitutionally neutral in February 2014 with only 18% people wanting to join NATO. The neutral status was cancelled more than 3 years after the war and occupation began.
I have a suspicion this author is absolutely clueless.

This is funny!

"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.

I think I get the gist of the article, it's just that he could've done all this at far lower cost and much faster if that had been his actual plan.  It's a nice what-if but it just doesn't fit the facts.  Putin thought he would get everything, including the natural gas, by an invasion/coup.  Now he's going to have to fight just for the gas.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/krieg-in-der-ukraine-bundesregierung-will-kiew-lange-liste-mit-waffen-anbieten-a-8fe6d35c-d3b3-4ce7-aa60-ea9b62dd3d4b
The German government wants to offer Ukraine more weapons systems as soon as possible to strengthen the resistance against the Russian army. According to SPIEGEL information, a round of state secretaries from the ministries involved agreed on Tuesday to offer the government in Kiev a list of various weapons systems in the next few days. After that, Ukraine is to decide for itself which weapons it can best use.
The Excel list, however, now makes it clear that almost all reservations against arms deliveries to Ukraine have been dropped. In addition to a lot of protective material, the list also includes heavy military equipment such as mortars or heavy machine guns of the type GAM B01 from the manufacturer Rheinmetall. According to the manufacturer's offer, the heavy weapons cost a good one million euros each.
There is also plenty of high-tech material listed. For example, Thales offers to supply ground radar systems of the "Squire" type. Thales also offers twelve mortars mounted on trailers, which, according to the manufacturer, could be delivered to Ukraine as early as this week. The delivery of thousands of night vision devices, protective waistcoats, helmets - but also modern drones to monitor the battlefield - would also be possible.
In total, the list includes possible arms deliveries worth 308 million euros. More than half of this amount is for reconnaissance equipment, such as night-vision devices or radar systems - but also for ultra-modern micro-drones equipped with jammers to cut off the mobile radio signal. A good 40 million are for hand-held weapons, almost 80 million for equipment such as protective waistcoats or helmets

It makes me wonder how much of it is from looting?  Is this proof of how much of that they are doing?

Well, maybe. I don't know and they aren't saying. They wouldn't have gotten sunburned. But they will have internal exposure which will continue. The comment that it was "suicidal" may be a bit of hyperbole. But who knows. Likely we will never know.
Dave

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  

Alpha radiation is bad for this as it isn't very penetrating, unlike gamma rays.
 A gamma ray source is equally dangerous no matter where it is - a certain flux will interact with the entire mass of your body with some degree of probability, and the rest pass through.
Conversely alpha radiation can be stopped by a piece of paper, so if it is external, it is basically not going to get past your clothes and not really cause you a significant problem. But if you breath in dust that is an alpha source, you have the opposite problem - it is now inside you and not getting out, so all the energy from the radioactive particles gets dumped into cell damage inside your body.