Russia's War Against Ukraine

[Uberhaus]

Ukraine is now the most mined country in the world and schoolchildren have a new addition to their curriculum, while Russian children get HJ like indoctrination and paramilitary training. https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-kids-learn-mine-safety-russian-children-learn-drones-guns-2023-8


Ukraine is also trying innovation for demining with an excavator:
https://ca.rogers.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-tests-homemade-demining-machine-185131710.html

Should be usable away from combat but they might want to up armour the excavator's hydraulic cables even with the attachment's thick shield.

[FarAway Sooner]

It'll be interesting to see how much money the West has to spend to develop effective anti-mine technology.  Obviously, the challenge of removing a prodigious number of mines is vastly complicated when you have other enemy technologies (e.g., artillery or ATGMs) trying to neutralize your own anti-mine technology.

[JasonPratt]

I hope you're right, Jason.  The "Make the Russian Army so miserable that they eventually give up" approach has not exactly been historically successful.

Speaking of modern WW1 fighting, though... making the Russian Army so miserable they eventually gave up was, in an admittedly oversimplified way, what happened.

[JasonPratt]

It'll be interesting to see how much money the West has to spend to develop effective anti-mine technology.

Cry havoc and release memes about the robot dogs!

[Sir Slash]

I believe Robot Gophers might work better. But then you'd have the gopher holes so...

[GDS_Starfury]

 

[JasonPratt]

I believe Robot Gophers might work better. But then you'd have the gopher holes so...

Quick, AI! -- generate a giphy from Caddyshack with the gopher wearing a Ukranian cap!

[FarAway Sooner]

I hope you're right, Jason.  The "Make the Russian Army so miserable that they eventually give up" approach has not exactly been historically successful.

Speaking of modern WW1 fighting, though... making the Russian Army so miserable they eventually gave up was, in an admittedly oversimplified way, what happened.

Yeah, I thought about that as I was typing it.  WW1 was, I think, the only example where that tactic worked. 

Of course, after the Germans lost WW1, the Russians got most of their land back...  Only to have it invaded again by Allied powers during 1918 in a bid to help the White Russians overthrow the Red Russians! 

[Gusington]

^We have to define 'worked' more clearly. Like this: 'Knocking Russia out of the First World War' as it got engulfed by numerous other wars.

[Gusington]

Solid Wall Street Journal-produced documentary on the Wagner Group:

[SirAndrewD]

Well, great news.  With the fast and unexpected collapse of the defensive point of Urozhaine, the Russians actually decided the next strongpoint of Zavitne Bazhannia is not tenable and they are falling back, not even bothering to defend the Morkiydy estuary. 

The Russians are instead trying to rally their broken forces at Staromlynikva with elements of the 60th Motorized Rifle as a rearguard. 

This puts the UAF in striking distance of the only Russian defense lines in the sector as long as they can push through Staromlynikva quickly. 

And further to the west the bridgeheads across the Dniper awaited Russian mechanized counterattacks that never came.  Getting across the river has been surprisingly easy and I imagine the temptation to try to establish a major crossing is getting tempting.  Still very risky as the logistics trail will be choked by the river. 

I'm very interested to see what happens with these bridgeheads as they Russians have virtually no forces across the river opposing it.  That's the best most open ground running in the region and it's totally unfortified, unmined and virtually undefended. 

If the Russians bite on the river crossing that could weaken them significantly along the other fronts.  They're stretched so thin that they can't keep numerical parity everywhere while still sending units to their death in Adiivka and Kupiansk. 

[GDS_Starfury]

great post, needs maps!   

[SirAndrewD]

great post, needs maps!   

A lot of that I'm scouring off Telegram and translated Russian intercepts so no maps.  The Deepstate map has some of that reflected but it's a bit behind. 

And a fun story.  In Kherson when the UAF Spec Ops made night before last's crossing, the Russian regional commander Major Yuri Tomov made his way to the front to see why he'd lost communications with his blocking forces. 

He approached soldiers to ask why they weren't reporting in only to meet Ukrainian special forces.  They politely informed him he was now a prisoner of war. 

 

[GDS_Starfury]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1691491187985723402

[Gusington]

I'm sure the Ukrainians were especially polite to the Russian Major...