danfrodo

Yeah, I was wondering same thing.  Kinda like germany spent a gazillion dollars worth of resources on kreigsmarine capital ships which was near total waste of money.  Shoulda just built more subs & Eboats.  

This is something I've been thinking about for a while.  I get how folks can not care when it's other RU men getting slaughtered, especially from minority ethnicities.  What I can't fathom is why they themselves would then just repeat the process when they are put on the meat conveyer?  Do they not know what's going on?
But what can they do if they realize they are about to have an 80% chance of death/serious wound?  Can they mutiny?  It's RU culture, you can't trust anybody.  What can they actually do when told to make a hopeless, probably suicidal attack?
I keep waiting for mutinies, but if it's happening we sure don't hear about it.  We've had a few anecdotes of groups refusing to attack but I suspect the security teams move in very quickly.  

SOOOOOOOO excited for this.  Bad news I'll probably never finish my Downfall battles once this arrives.  

SOOOOOOOO excited for this.  Bad news I'll probably never finish my Downfall battles once this arrives.  

SOOOOOOOO excited for this.  Bad news I'll probably never finish my Downfall battles once this arrives.  

Goes along with my yearly watching of The Longest Day.

A huge thanks for the great discussions over the past few days, enlightening on many subjects.  And a special thanks to ATH for stepping in over the past couple of weeks to add another angle to the point/counterpoints.  This forum is excellent.
 

Is it just me or does the RA seem a little more ragged lately?  We have been here before but there seems to be a steady stream of some weird signals again.  I am starting to wonder if they burned themselves out over the Winter-Spring trying to show everyone that they are not burned out.

I would again suggest that while RU culture, generally, devalues the lives of others, I am quite sure that individuals value their own life just as much as anyone else.  I suspect what we see are men trapped by circumstance, seeing no way out, and hoping they are in the small percentile that survive or receive a wound that will take time to heal but not be too debilitating.  
This reminds me of what germans said about RU soldiers in WW2 -- they don't value life like the west, they are impervious to cold and suffering, etc.  What germans were seeing was the apathy of those trapped by circumstance and misinterpreting it as giving life no value -- did the germans not understand that the russians were not going to complain to their captors, and why would the captors care anyway?  US did same with japanese early on, believing they had magical jungle fighting powers despite none of them ever seeing a jungle until 1941, and believing they could live on tiny amounts of rice and be fit and happy (totally untrue, of course).

I would again suggest that while RU culture, generally, devalues the lives of others, I am quite sure that individuals value their own life just as much as anyone else.  I suspect what we see are men trapped by circumstance, seeing no way out, and hoping they are in the small percentile that survive or receive a wound that will take time to heal but not be too debilitating.  
This reminds me of what germans said about RU soldiers in WW2 -- they don't value life like the west, they are impervious to cold and suffering, etc.  What germans were seeing was the apathy of those trapped by circumstance and misinterpreting it as giving life no value -- did the germans not understand that the russians were not going to complain to their captors, and why would the captors care anyway?  US did same with japanese early on, believing they had magical jungle fighting powers despite none of them ever seeing a jungle until 1941, and believing they could live on tiny amounts of rice and be fit and happy (totally untrue, of course).

I would again suggest that while RU culture, generally, devalues the lives of others, I am quite sure that individuals value their own life just as much as anyone else.  I suspect what we see are men trapped by circumstance, seeing no way out, and hoping they are in the small percentile that survive or receive a wound that will take time to heal but not be too debilitating.  
This reminds me of what germans said about RU soldiers in WW2 -- they don't value life like the west, they are impervious to cold and suffering, etc.  What germans were seeing was the apathy of those trapped by circumstance and misinterpreting it as giving life no value -- did the germans not understand that the russians were not going to complain to their captors, and why would the captors care anyway?  US did same with japanese early on, believing they had magical jungle fighting powers despite none of them ever seeing a jungle until 1941, and believing they could live on tiny amounts of rice and be fit and happy (totally untrue, of course).

I would again suggest that while RU culture, generally, devalues the lives of others, I am quite sure that individuals value their own life just as much as anyone else.  I suspect what we see are men trapped by circumstance, seeing no way out, and hoping they are in the small percentile that survive or receive a wound that will take time to heal but not be too debilitating.  
This reminds me of what germans said about RU soldiers in WW2 -- they don't value life like the west, they are impervious to cold and suffering, etc.  What germans were seeing was the apathy of those trapped by circumstance and misinterpreting it as giving life no value -- did the germans not understand that the russians were not going to complain to their captors, and why would the captors care anyway?  US did same with japanese early on, believing they had magical jungle fighting powers despite none of them ever seeing a jungle until 1941, and believing they could live on tiny amounts of rice and be fit and happy (totally untrue, of course).

If this drone's prototype had been shown here, it would have been dismissed as not good enough because it is prone to easily get stuck in terrain. But sometimes something is enough, even if it only works in favorable circumstances.
Ukrainian ground kamikaze drone blows up Russian dugout.
 
 

First appearance of Russian wheeled SP-howitzer 2S34 "Malva". The photo made in Kharkiv oblast
2S34 is equivalent of tracked 2S19 "Msta-S", having the same barrel, so has the same maximum range 24,5 km and the same ammunition
"Malva" has been developing since 2019, in 2022 it was under tests. Since October of 2023 first serial howitzers went to the troops 
  

I am not so sure the elites in RU really want a larger state more than they just want to stay rich and powerful.  And I bet a majority of them don't give a damn about UKR or the baltics more than they care about making money.  There's plenty of money to be made in a dictatorial petro-state like RU with a pretty good internal security apparatus.   This war has been a disaster for the oligarchs.  Some have suffered greviously, even losing their mega-yachts!  

Near Narva. Scouts make contact with an outpost.

Ghost Forest. Partisan hunt.

 
The marshes inside the Ghost Forest. Ambush!

 
Thank you @Mr.X ! 😘

Thanks @Haiduk for the great clips today, much appreciated.  So RU defending while also trying to move in new direction to link up the two widely separated incursions -- interesting.  Video (if actually what claims to be) shows the new RU advance taking a beating.  And it's led by T62 tanks - another piece of evidence that RU has burned up so much of its tank force that it's forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel more & more often.  

M88 ARV evacuates damaged Bradley
 

Great clip about warfare around Chasiv Yar
 

Solovyove village (Avdiivka area), Bradley of 47th mech.brigade shoots out two Russian BTR-82A with infantry on the top
On the first video is a cutting where two bodies fly after direct hit of 25 mm shell
 

With all due respect to the Canadian Ambassador, I don't think Putin's regime is going to accept anything less than victory. They're now increasing defense spending to 6% GDP, and doing a major shuffling of the major MOD players. This all looks to me like they're in it for the long haul - at least until Putin receives a well deserved retirement.

"In Putin’s Russia the president remains laser focused on winning in Ukraine, but recent overtures have shown that the supporting cast may change and the president is ready to be ruthless in his search of victory."

With shake-up at defense ministry, ‘Putin’s chef’ gets his wish from beyond the grave

The Canadian Ambassador is doing what she can to persuade russians to stop fighting and my conviction has always been that this is the only way to win this war.  What else should she be doing?  Insisting on unconditional surrender would not be taken seriously by anybody.
One plausible way to end this war is for Putin to be "retired".  It is in essence Putin's war.  The rest of the russian management might welcome the chance to get back to enriching themselves and taking nice holidays.
There is a lots we do not know about the military facts on the ground.  Maybe the russian retreat is just around the corner.  I believed that for a while after listening to experts.  Dealing with the realities in front of us it would be a bold expert predicting a military victory right now.

So instead of all this secondary stuff you post, how about you address the elephant in the room?  RU has advanced a very short distance in two areas over a period of 3 weeks and sustained enormous losses in the process.  How is that a success?  And the amount of RU offensive actions on the other fronts has reduced from before the Kharkiv offensive.  So how is this in any way a success for RU?  
WTF point are you even trying to make?  

Except that you are acting like this is some disaster for UKR.  They are holding, Ukraine is surviving.  This is a false comparison.  We all know & agree that UKR has not shown the ability to break through.  RU has not shown that ability either.  RU has taken relatively small amounts of rubble-ized terrain at insane cost, and none of that changes the strategic or operational stalemate.  
So again, WTF is your actual point?  Is UKR 'losing' the war?  is RU 'winning' the war?