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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. The Ukraine war thread

The Ukraine war thread

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  • George KG Offline
    George KG Offline
    George K
    wrote on last edited by
    #1143

    Abandoned Russian base holds secrets of retreat in Ukraine

    In all, the bunker yielded thousands of pages of documents. Reuters reviewed more than a thousand of them. They detail the inner workings of the Russian military and shed new light on events leading up to one of President Vladimir Putin's most stinging battlefield defeats: Russia’s chaotic retreat from Ukraine’s northeast in September.

    In the weeks before that defeat, Russian forces were struggling with surveillance and electronic warfare. They were using off-the-shelf drones flown by barely trained soldiers. Their equipment for jamming Ukrainian communications was often out of action.  By the end of August, the documents show, the force was depleted, hit by death, desertions and combat stress. Two units – accounting for about a sixth of the total force – were operating at 20% of their full strength.

    The documents also reveal the increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s forces and offer clues to how the eight-month-old war might unfold, with Russia now under intense pressure on the southern front around the Black Sea coast. In the weeks before their retreat, Russian forces around Balakliia, a town 90 kilometres south of Kharkiv, came under heavy bombardment from HIMARS rocket launchers, recently supplied by the United States. The precision missiles repeatedly hit command posts.

    A Russian officer who served in the Balakliia force for three months, described to Reuters a sense of menace hanging over the occupiers. One of his friends bled to death in early September after a Ukrainian strike on a command post in a nearby village.

    “It’s a game of roulette,” said the officer, who asked to be identified by his military call sign Plakat Junior 888. “You either get lucky, or you are unlucky. The strikes can land anywhere.”

    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

    1 Reply Last reply
    • George KG Offline
      George KG Offline
      George K
      wrote on last edited by
      #1144

      image.jpeg

      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • RenaudaR Offline
        RenaudaR Offline
        Renauda
        wrote on last edited by Renauda
        #1145

        Insightful interview with Mykola Bielieskov, Ukrainian military analyst, on fighting an asymmetrical war.

        Excerpt:

        I am inclined to think that the nuclear strike option is actually very, very risky for Putin and his regime. If it happens, then all the states which adopted favourable or neutral positions toward Russia will revise them. The strike will also be the point of no return for the West. Up to now, the Biden Administration has regularly emphasized that the US policy endgame is not regime change in Russia but a change of Russian foreign policy. However, if the nuclear taboo gets violated, then I think regime change will become a primary goal of US policy. Global security should not be dependent on one person who is, I would say, out of touch with reality.

        Complete interview:

        https://ukrainian-studies.ca/2022/10/25/mykola-bielieskov-ukrainians-forced-into-fighting-an-asymmetrical-war-getting-good-at-it/

        Elbows up!

        1 Reply Last reply
        • MikM Mik

          In fairness, we are The Great Satan.

          George KG Offline
          George KG Offline
          George K
          wrote on last edited by
          #1146

          @Mik said in The Ukraine war thread:

          In fairness, we are The Great Satan.

          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • George KG Offline
            George KG Offline
            George K
            wrote on last edited by
            #1147

            LOL.

            FgEt9DbWAAIkNm4.jpeg

            "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

            The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • MikM Offline
              MikM Offline
              Mik
              wrote on last edited by
              #1148

              https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/12-000-russian-troops-once-posed-a-threat-from-inside-nato-then-they-went-to-ukraine-to-die/ar-AA13s6nz?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=58db029ea5434932844367a4548a406a

              “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

              1 Reply Last reply
              • George KG Offline
                George KG Offline
                George K
                wrote on last edited by
                #1149

                "Excalibur"

                image.jpeg

                "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • George KG Offline
                  George KG Offline
                  George K
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #1150

                  Is the Russian submarine fleet about to get bigger?

                  "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                  The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • MikM Offline
                    MikM Offline
                    Mik
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #1151

                    With any luck.

                    “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • JollyJ Offline
                      JollyJ Offline
                      Jolly
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #1152

                      As the American Civil War influenced tactics for many years after, this war changes things for everybody

                      “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                      Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • MikM Offline
                        MikM Offline
                        Mik
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #1153

                        I cannot quite decide whether this proves that old war tactics fail in a high-tech era or that the Russians are simply an incompetent military force.

                        “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • George KG Offline
                          George KG Offline
                          George K
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #1154

                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • CopperC Offline
                            CopperC Offline
                            Copper
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #1155

                            The Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, ChVK Wagner, or CHVK Vagner, is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company, a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Wikipedia

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • MikM Offline
                              MikM Offline
                              Mik
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #1156

                              There’s an irony in the Russian mercenaries having a German name.

                              “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                              RenaudaR 1 Reply Last reply
                              • MikM Mik

                                There’s an irony in the Russian mercenaries having a German name.

                                RenaudaR Offline
                                RenaudaR Offline
                                Renauda
                                wrote on last edited by Renauda
                                #1157

                                @Mik

                                Supposedly it is because Wagner is Pirozhkin’s favourite composer.

                                This is a very well made documentary on the formation of the Wagner Group:

                                Link to video

                                Elbows up!

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • MikM Offline
                                  MikM Offline
                                  Mik
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #1158

                                  I can understand that a mercenary would love Wagner. But still….

                                  “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                                  RenaudaR 1 Reply Last reply
                                  • MikM Mik

                                    I can understand that a mercenary would love Wagner. But still….

                                    RenaudaR Offline
                                    RenaudaR Offline
                                    Renauda
                                    wrote on last edited by Renauda
                                    #1159

                                    @Mik

                                    I don’t think naming it The Tchaikovsky Group would have quite the same connotation as Wagner among Russian men.

                                    Know what I mean?

                                    Elbows up!

                                    George KG 1 Reply Last reply
                                    • MikM Offline
                                      MikM Offline
                                      Mik
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #1160

                                      Maybe the Nutcrackers....

                                      “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • RenaudaR Renauda

                                        @Mik

                                        I don’t think naming it The Tchaikovsky Group would have quite the same connotation as Wagner among Russian men.

                                        Know what I mean?

                                        George KG Offline
                                        George KG Offline
                                        George K
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #1161

                                        @Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:

                                        @Mik

                                        I don’t think naming it The Tchaikovsky Group would have quite the same connotation as Wagner among Russian men.

                                        Know what I mean?

                                        That would be ghey.

                                        "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                        The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • George KG Offline
                                          George KG Offline
                                          George K
                                          wrote on last edited by George K
                                          #1162

                                          And a rare video of Russian troops withdrawing, taken by a Ukrainian soldier:

                                          alt text

                                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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