Suleyman

I assumed he was Ukrainian but the name is middle eastern, didn’t know he participated in combat with the Kurds tho. Skilled sniper I see. Going off what the volunteer said and the other accounts too, the firepower the Russians bring causes heavy casualties for Ukrainians. I wonder if they have a plan where they decide to go defensive after some minor gains and play a war of attrition by causing damage with their firepower advantage. Maybe that’s their most ideal game-plan right now. The Ukrainians can offset that by receiving more equipment and doing the same. Ukrainians gained ground around Kharkiv, but the reports show that Russians are massing up in Belgorod to push into Kharkiv, or maybe they’ll just be posted in Belgorod in case the Ukrainians try to push through the border. Ukrainians need more tanks and IFV/APCs and other supporting units to be able to launch heavy offensives and do damage to RU forces. From what I’ve studied so far I don’t know if they can make huge drives against the Iziyum area with what they have right now. Maybe the lend lease will provide it for them.

I like this Wali guy, sounds like he’s very experienced. I feel bad for those two Ukrainian soldiers who died brutally. Assuming the tanks were out of range of Javelins, that means it was a T-72B3 since the gunner has better optics for targeting. Can’t lie I don’t even want to talk about that engagement. That was brutal and I feel bad for the soldiers who died.

If I was in a T-72/64/80/90 I would only load AP rounds and few at those like 6-8 of them. The coax MG and .50 cal on top is good enough for most engagement supporting infantry. I'd be too scared my turret and I will be launched into orbit in the heavy AT environment. I saw a video of a T-72B3 taken multiple AT hits on the side towards the rear, and the outlier tank made it back to the FOB running. I also am lead to believe that both sides take armor losses because crews abandon them for various reasons. Any idea on how the T-90M got destroyed? I like studying the tank side of things in war.

Yeah they still have units to do offensives. The thing is the Ukrainians got the tools to halt it by inflicting heavy casualties. On the flip side the Russians got tools to do heavy damage as well. If they relocated 19 BTGs worth of units to Belgorod to go into the Kharkov region, and they’re launching offensives in the Izium-Popasnaya-Slaviyansk areas there might be a underestimation on the manpower they still possess to utilize. Not by a lot though, nothing crazy. I know they wish they never went for that “feint” (faint*) and wasted all those capable soldiers over there.

You’re not wrong but in my opinion they still have units that can pull through to create more offense. They haven’t used a lot of their potential in terms of airpower and artillery coordination which is weird to me. Even the Smerch systems would be an extreme threat in counter-battery roles or even just targeting logistics, or armor. Unless artillery is overrated a lot of the Russian offense doesn’t make sense. Manpower is extremely important in warfare a big lesson. NATO has a big unrivaled advantage in this area

They might just mobilize a small portion for manpower to hold ground while bringing in other contract units from around Russia to buff up their offensives in Ukraine. My advice to them is to use older equipment because they really will lose all the new stuff in Ukraine at this rate.

Haha.. turns out there was no Putin for years, it was a hologram.

@sross112 I agree more or less. But if the UA had to withdraw from a major defense like that which lasted weeks then it is a sign that there was a breakthrough, the RU forces usually take some time to get ready to push forward, after a gain. Even so, with how bad the Russian command is they tend to take losses, wasting capable equipment and soldiers by not having them in the right positions to avoid being exploited. I mean I remember in the first few weeks of the war they lost so much equipment because of their logistics issues. There was a report years ago that I read, and it was from the Russian side about their logistics issues even in the Georgian war where they did pretty good against a less capable adversary. Crazy to think they never got that mess together by now even when they knew of this weakness.

As much as I’m on Ukraine’s side, I think taking Popasnaya is a big deal locally. I get the point that it’s too slow, but it seems like they want to keep a slow tempo because the fast breakthroughs around Kiev got stomped on and they took massive casualties. They’re still taking losses that make no sense, but good for the Ukrainians, they can still defeat them in the east. I think they will launch offensives in the area this starting week. Probably the only Russian goal is major parts in East Ukraine they never planned on going passed it after they got humiliated around Kiev. Plus with all the armor they’re losing I don’t think they wanna try to push in to the point where they got 0 tanks/AFVs left and it could happen they seem to be super reckless. Unless they deploy most of their manpower into Ukraine they wont get much farther anyways.

That's a clever trick, the Ukrainians need to be careful. I got a feeling the RuAF will start committing more strikes since the Russians are gaining some ground around Izium and they captured Popasnaya. I see that the UA is being tactical in their withdrawals, falling back to better positions. Attrition is on the Ukrainian's side for sure.

The Russians would cruise missile the island, PGM the island heavily if the Ukrainian set up installations there. I think it's better for the UAF to just bomb the clumsy defenses set up on the island.

Are they likely to succeed? If they are, I think they will bypass the city, encircle it as well.

Russians made same moderate gains around Severodonetsk, but it looks like Ukraine is taking back the Kharkiv area. I mean unless the Russian increase their manpower by huge amounts I don’t see how they win the war.

If I was them I’d just use the old equipment. For long range and night engagements they can afford to use newer ones. It doesn’t make sense to send T-90As (or Ms) T-80Us, T-72B3s to the meatgrinder areas. They all have Thermals which are limited in number. Anyways let them do what they do shouldn’t have invaded Ukraine in the first place now they gotta suffer losses

Russians are losing way too much armor. If they don’t find solutions for it the Ukrainians are gonna really even out the playing field soon the only T-90M loss so far was due to artillery I saw the aftermath pics. Who decided to leave the best tank in their armed forces out there to be hit with arty

Iskandar on a Uragan? Overkill but at the same time makes sense. If MRLS are used properly they can do big time damage.

@akdthe uniform didn't look like regular Russian infantry I assumed they were Spetsnaz. As far as your knowledge goes, which units perform best from the Russian side? infantry wise

T-80BVM! I didn't know they used those tanks. Ukrainians in Kharkov aint playing around bro

Unfortunately the Ukrainians lose in this footage, I'm glad they were taken as prisoners and not killed I'm sure they would rather have fight to the last guy but sometimes there's no way to. Probably a decent professional Russian unit, which it seems so since they used the right tactics for this engagement. I don't think many of the Ukrainian soldiers got hit, they got surrounded and surrendered, which we can't blame them. POW trade, they'll live to fight another day. It goes to show that Russia has capable troops, it's the leadership roles that have low IQ for war fighting. Where as Ukraine has capable troops, and good leadership. Very fast reaction times on average for Ukrainian units, and I think that's their main advantage against the Russians. Don't let this footage make you lose motivation though, it's war things like this happen you can't win every battle. I pray those guys get home safe from captivity.

4 BTGs out? If that’s true that offensive is in trouble.

Absolutely. They are Russian citizens so they’re gonna follow the game plan that the Russian military has. Most Muslim people are with Ukraine, since we have gone through invasions and been transgressed with brutality, we can relate. It’s confusing to me how the Chechen government even supports Russia in this war. Although one thing I also want to say is not all Russians are bad however since they are on the wrong side you have to group them together. Off topic but I have a lineage from Turkey that’s fought Russians in the black sea region. Even though they were our enemies the units posted in my family’s village treated the village very nicely. Can’t say the same about them anymore though. Not a cherry pick I agreed with your other points except this one which was blaming it on a people’s faith, since literally anyone can be Muslim it’s not an ethnicity. Ukrainians haven’t done nothing to Chechens nor Dagestanis or Tatars so I don’t see why that would make them join the side that actually murdered their people.

Gotta take a quick dig at Muslims huh? Good one. Being Muslim has nothing to do with Russian brutality in the war. There are white Muslims too. And if a Muslim soldier commits a crime it’s an individual issue not a religious one. I’m astonished someone put Russian brutality on Islam when the Russians been killing Muslims for a long time

Yes I agree, I didn’t mean ending right now but that would seal the deal on the outcome. One thing that is concerning is they seem to be getting ready to grind it out, setting their aims for months ahead. They want that breakthrough but if they get defeated here they’re definitely done.

If they lose ground in Kherson I think the war is close to ending.

They could feint towards there, probing actions. But it’s obvious they want that Izium area, so the focus is there. I don’t think they even mind being pushed back from Kharkov a little. I’m still surprised at how they decided to throw a platoon with a T-90M to recapture a village that obviously had well equipped defenders. No CAS, or UAV guided artillery attacks? I’m not rooting for them but only critiquing their tactics. Not trying to be funny but they are better off using older tanks and armored vehicles since their attrition rate is so high. i want to play a player vs player match in CMBS but dont got the time for it right now. Maybe soon? If anybody is down to play a Florida boy.