Ukraine War Watch Thread

[ibm9000]

Sorry...

Is he saying that with 300 tanks he is going to win the war? They have destroyed "thousands" of tanks but with 300 (more) tanks they are going to retake Crimea, really?


"...a right to prolong an unwinnable war to postpone defeat or, at the very worst, to lose only gracefully, covertly, slowly, at the cost of an uncounted number of lives, a toll on which they and the policy set no real limit."

No, but it could be applied, right? It's from the Pentagon Papers, a government following a policy.

[ibm9000]

Guys

Guy_s?, like plural?, really?

[caltrek]

Russia’s War in Ukraine Threatens Students Daily and Forces Teachers to Improvise
by Kristina Hook
January 9, 2023

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Svitlana Popova’s students didn’t realize she was leading their online math class while outside the charred remains of her home in Ukraine until they saw a news video about it on social media.

Her students were in their own difficult circumstances, too – seeking refuge away from their homes, some in other countries.

Popova is a mathematics teacher in the town of Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. Her school was seized as a headquarters by Russian military forces and heavily damaged before their retreat. After her classroom transitioned to online instruction, Russian tanks fired on her house and burned it down. Yet this dedicated teacher continued to lead virtual lessons from a small umbrella-covered table in the yard.

Ordinary Ukrainians have been hailed for their heroism since Russia’s full-scale invasion. “There are no small matters in a great war,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy affirmed in an emotional New Year’s address. “Each of us is a fighter,” Zelenskyy stated. “Each of us is the basis of defense.”

Listing the tools of war – ship’s helms, steering wheels, weapons, scalpels – Zelenskyy ended with an unexpected inclusion: the teacher’s pointer. This passing remark highlights an often hidden front in Ukraine’s defensive struggle – the fight by countless teachers and parents to keep more than 8 million children educated, even as their worlds have been thrown into upheaval.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/russias-wa ... se-196773

[andmar74]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... war-russia

Let's go!

UK considers supplying handful of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine

[weatheriscool]

Putin replaces commander of Russia's war in Ukraine after just 3 months
Source: NBC News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced the commander leading his forces in Ukraine just three months after he handed him the job.

Gen. Valery Gerasimov will take over from Sergei Surovikin, the country’s defense ministry said on Telegram Wednesday, a change that comes as Kyiv warns Moscow is planning a major new offensive after months of battlefield setbacks.

Surovikin became the first person to be handed sole charge of the campaign in October, and his tenure has been marked by the aerial bombardment of Ukraine's civilian infrastructure as well as Russia's retreat from the crucial southern city of Kherson.

The ministry said he would now serve as one of Gerasimov's three deputies, along with Army Gen. Oleg Salyukov and Col. Gen. Alexey Kim, as part of a new "joint group of forces." It added that the “increase in the level of leadership” was “related to the amplified range of tasks,” and the necessity of closer cooperation between branches of Russia's armed forces.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/puti ... -rcna65307

[erowind]

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[erowind]

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[ibm9000]

Do Ukrainians generals talk to each other?

Another U. grl is saying that with 1.500 MBT (so 3.000 AFV at least), 1.5 millions artillery rounds and 80.000 men he is going to win the war.. By the way, UK was talking of " a handful" of Challenger-2, maybe a bit short of that.

So, he is going to advance to Mariuopol, take it (the last time it was that easy), get to the gates of Rostov, turn right, reach the isthmus, cross it and take Sevastopol (because it was that easy in WW2); and a few bits here and there, of course.
Russia called 200.000 reservists... but he is going to do all that with 80.000.

[Water]

Soledar by now seems to have fallen according to sources of varying backgrounds - including those biased in favor of Ukraine.

By now I've given up arguing with people who still think Russia will end up getting anything out of any of this, for the same reason I never argued against my patients when I worked with the elderly who suffered Alzheimer's. I kind of just congratulate them on the military progress they've imagined and move on.

The reality though, of course, is that Russia -is- pretty much in shambles and are eventually kicked out of their medieval attempt of conquest. Putin's supporters will still find a way to argue that he's won, but that's fine as long as they just go away.

Be that as it may, the fall of Soledar is a double edged sword. On one hand, Russia's reaction to it shows how ridiculously desperate Russia has become. What started as a plan to conquer Ukraine in 2 weeks, is now a celebration of the capture of a small area of ruins that proves the might of the unstoppable Russian army. On the other hand civilians are in fact killed or deported, Ukrainian morale -will- suffer irrationally as much as Russia will see this tiny achievement as proof of their military might.

If anything, Russia's historic failures are a reminder of the fact that outside of books and movies, wars are still tragedies even if the bad guys mess everything up from the get go.

[ibm9000]

On one hand, Russia's reaction to it shows how ridiculously desperate Russia has become. What started as a plan to conquer Ukraine in 2 weeks, is now a celebration of the capture of a small area of ruins that proves the might of the unstoppable Russian army.

Have you seen that "plan"? I haven't been able to see it published anywhere, maybe you mean the goal of achieving a change of regime to a friendlier one... or even a puppet state? "Conquer", is a big word.
I don't read many Russian newspapers (none, actually), how are they celebrating what exactly?

As of now, 06:30 GMT, Soledar is still disputed.
Ukraine may still launch a counterattack, even if I keep reading that there is an Ukrainian "offensive" still going on.

[wjfox]

[andmar74]

Poland will send Leopard 2 tanks it seems.
So give Ukraine 300 Leopard 2 tanks, as requested. Will the Russian soldiers have any fighting will left?

[Xyls]

[ibm9000]

Do you believe everything that (in Australia) Russian newspapers publish?

[erowind]

.

[caltrek]

...
In the trenches there were many cases of them refusing to fight one another, or even crossing the line and sharing camaraderie.

...

And don't say some foolish thing about which empire shot first.

There have been cases reported of Ukrainians accepting the surrender of Russian troops and observing international law in respecting the rights of such ex-combatants.

It is not foolish to point out which empire shot first. It is rather to point out evidence that one side is pursuing a course of genocidal nihilism, while the other is acting in self-defense. That they may also be acting in defense of a system you hate does not alter the fact that they are defending something that they hold to be valuable. One should not shrug such motivations off as being misguided or naive. Before one can exercise the choice to form a co-op or commune, one must have the freedom of choice. Such a freedom does not always mean that the persons exercising that choice will pursue only goals for themselves that you would choose for yourself. Don't leave out the right to self-determination on the part of Ukrainians from the equation.

As I have written before, I am all for a negotiated settlement to this conflict. Continued warfare is not desirable, but then neither is standing by and watching another case of genocide.

[weatheriscool]

Deaths from strike on Ukraine apartment building rise to 25
Source: AP

By VASILISA STEPANENKO and ANDREW MELDRUM 21 minutes ago

DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 25 Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported as rescue workers scrambled to pull survivors from the rubble.

Emergency crews worked through the frigid night at the wrecked multi-story residential building, the site of the worst casualties from a widespread Russian barrage Saturday.

The attacks, which also targeted the capital, Kyiv, and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, ended a two-week lull in the airstrikes Russia has launched against Ukraine’s power infrastructure and urban centers almost weekly since October.

Russia fired 33 cruise missiles on Saturday, of which 21 were shot down, according to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces. The missile that hit the apartment building was a Kh-22 launched from Russia’s Kursk region, according to the military’s air force command, adding that Ukraine does not have a system capable of intercepting that type of weapon.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... osition_02

[weatheriscool]

Expanded US training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany
Source: AP

By LOLITA C. BALDOR an hour ago

BRUSSELS (AP) — The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use.

Until now the Pentagon had declined to say exactly when the training would start.

The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... osition_05

[ibm9000]

Fourteen.

UK is sending 14 tanks... the mother of all offensives.

[ibm9000]

Anyone knows what happened to Soledar? Suddenly, it has disappeared from the news.