How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?

[Combatintman]

26 minutes ago, riptides said:

I think the smoke was more for in distress/casualty spotting on behalf of the men under fire.

I disagree, I think it was more to provide obscuration for an extraction to cover.  The trouble was that it was a poor throw and landed too close to both the door and casualty.  Having been in close proximity to a smoke grenade in similarish (training) circumstances and throwing my guts up for about three minutes almost instantly, I'm not surprised that nobody ventured out or the guy outside the building moved towards the casualty.

[chuckdyke]

Even in a civilian situation you first make the area safe. It is a little hard during a fire fight. May he rest in peace. 

[Taranis]

 

[Kinophile]

22 minutes ago, chuckdyke said:

. May he rest in peace. 

Gimme a break. May he burn in hell with the rest of them. Any pity was buried alive with those children under the theatre and the ones who terrified and filthy under Azovstal.

**** him. I hope it was agonizing and he was in despair the entire time.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Kinophile

[akd]

Too slow…

Also too slow:

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by akd

[CHEqTRO]

Edit: AKD was faster on the trigger. I was too, too slow 

Edited April 29, 2022 by CHEqTRO

[chuckdyke]

18 minutes ago, Kinophile said:

I hope it was agonizing and he was in despair the entire time.

Albert Pierpoint's words "They will die, and they will pay the price and they will have a proper funeral. This was the case for this man. Albert Pierpoint hanged some of the worst war criminals. 

[akd]

Longer version of the Russian marines taking casualties in Mariupol:

 

[dan/california]

5 hours ago, Combatintman said:

I was a month out on my assessment of the fall of Kabul - my first assessment in late May had the house of cards collapsing on September 14.  Hence me getting shipped out on July 02 and covering the final days remotely from my home office, rather than scrambling to get on a plane.  Not everyone in the intelligence community was wrong - just the ones the media/beltway chooses to blame.  It was apparent in 2015 (and before then for anyone who'd had any dealings with them) that the ANDSF weren't going to cut it.

I simply cannot think of a stronger contrast anywhere in history than they way Afghan army rejected Western training, and the way the Ukrainians absorbed whole libraries of it for lack of a better term. And this from essentially the same trainers. The trainers certainly went to exactly the same schools. 

[chuckdyke]

Another video on Twitter.

 

[DesertFox]

Interesting if true:

 

 

[BFCElvis]

56 minutes ago, Kinophile said:

Gimme a break. May he burn in hell with the rest of them. Any pity was buried alive with those children under the theatre and the ones who terrified and filthy under Azovstal.

**** him. I hope it was agonizing and he was in despair the entire time.

Recently a forum member expressed something similar. I said something to him about it. A few days later he did it again and got a week's vacation. Please don't repeat what he did.

[Phantom Captain]

2 hours ago, Huba said:

I remember reading that reverse gear in various T-somethings is really crappy and does not allow for high speed movement. It's painful to watch this one tank sloooowly reversing while shells fall down around.

You are correct.  T-72s, the older ones at least, are really quick moving forward but the reverse gear makes NO sense at all.  It's horribly slow and practically worthless.  

[danfrodo]

30 minutes ago, DesertFox said:

Interesting if true:

 

 

that's what I like to hear!  This smells of collapse and mutiny.  More, please. The orcs of mordor fighting w the uruk hai.  SamWise and the forces of good have an opening here, I hope.

and ELVIS: congrats on your fancy new eagle friend, $25M a year but quite a talent. 

[Der Zeitgeist]

Putin is trying for Gröfaz now, I'm sure that's going to go well....

 

[Desertor]

24 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

Recently a forum member expressed something similar. I said something to him about it. A few days later he did it again and got a week's vacation. Please don't repeat what he did.

But, can we can think it?

[OldSarge]

The T-14s make for a great show!

Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!

Edited April 29, 2022 by OldSarge

[Battlefront.com]

3 hours ago, c3k said:

Publishing a list of NATO military members fighting in Ukraine (nom de guerre or not) is for Putin's internal use. This will bolster his claims that Russia is fighting NATO.

He will add this to the scales when he declares war on May 9th. It'll be a holy crusade to cleanse Ukraine of the infection from the West, etc., etc.

To us, publishing this list is non-sensical. To the propaganda organs of the Soviet Russian state, it makes perfect sense.

Still leaves me scratching my head.  Nobody's denying that foreigners are fighting in Ukraine.  In fact, the fighters themselves are broadcasting that information.  So it seems unnecessary to devote resources to faking a list of 700 names. Whether that be a state effort or volunteer.  But then again, this is Russia we're talking about.

I think for now we should view that list as probably faked and presume that the Russians that created it had a specific reason to do so.  Publishing it was, obviously, intentional as well.  Reinforcing that Russia is fighting NATO is the obvious intent of this.

Steve

[acrashb]

52 minutes ago, dan/california said:

I simply cannot think of a stronger contrast anywhere in history than they way Afghan army rejected Western training, and the way the Ukrainians absorbed whole libraries of it for lack of a better term. And this from essentially the same trainers. The trainers certainly went to exactly the same schools. 

Armed forces swim in the sea of civilian culture.  My understanding is that Afghanistan as a whole has tribally-oriented loyalties, hierarchies, etc.  So setup for failure.  
 

The Afghani armed forces and other security forces took maybe 92000 casualties from about 2001; many fought bravely, but overall were let down by their society and political structures.

[Pete Wenman]

From the parade video - are these a thing  ?

[Battlefront.com]

3 hours ago, c3k said:

Previous mentions of Russians ignoring their wounded and leaving them behind are obviously not evident here.

In tight urban conditions withdrawal to safety is measured in meters not kilometers.  Lose a man in tight confines you're more likely to retrieve him than if you're in a vehicle and have the option to drive away at 100kph or in an assault group that is caught out in the open.

Add to that Russian Marines are a cut above much of the rest of the Russian Army.  Add to that these guys are the Darwinian Survivors™, therefore might be the best of the better.

Steve

[womble]

8 minutes ago, acrashb said:

Armed forces swim in the sea of civilian culture.  My understanding is that Afghanistan as a whole has tribally-oriented loyalties, hierarchies, etc.  So setup for failure.  
 

The Afghani armed forces and other security forces took maybe 92000 casualties from about 2001; many fought bravely, but overall were let down by their society and political structures.

Aye, the political structures in Afghanistan were riddled with corruption to the same extent as (or even more than) the structures in Russia, so even if there were progressive, nation-loyal recruits, the treasure to support them got diverted, and tribal leaders spent it on other things, including troops who were "loyal" to them. Ghost formations were widespread and most of the formations that might've fought for the idea of Afghanistan as a nation that we'd recognise were under-resourced.

Ukraine was the polar opposite: the concept of nationhood had been being strengthened by an existential threat and the national structures were overwhelmingly supportive of the effort to defend the nation.

[DesertFox]

11 minutes ago, Pete Wenman said:

From the parade video - are these a thing  ?

Looks like a modified M113 to me. What is that?

[evilcommie]

20 minutes ago, OldSarge said:

The T-14s make for a great show!

Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!

No BMD-4 and T80 BVM’s this year. 

[MSBoxer]

23 minutes ago, OldSarge said:

The T-14s make for a great show!

Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!

Amazing how our perspective changes.

A few months ago, I would have viewed this as a collection of formidable equipment.  Now, all I see is a convoy of units that are primed for unscheduled rapid disassembly.