Russia's War Against Ukraine

[SirAndrewD]

Well, I agree too. 

We should all spoon now.

[GDS_Starfury]

as long as JH is in the middle.  :bd: 

[Jarhead0331]

as long as JH is in the middle.  :bd: 

oi givultz.  :hide:

[GDS_Starfury]

like a double stuffed vanilla oreo.  <:-)

[Tripoli]

as long as JH is in the middle.  :bd: 

I'm going to have to take 2 shots of cheap whiskey just to begin to get that mental image out of my mind.....

[GDS_Starfury]

[Gusington]

Make it a triple.

[FarAway Sooner]

Make it a triple.

Gus, are you suggesting that they make it a triple-stuffed vanilla Oreo?  Involving somebody else too?

[GDS_Starfury]

 <:-)

[Crossroads]

Teenaged LTs and convicts...what could go wrong?

I am quite concerned how this will play out as their morale plummets to another low. Bucha happened just a couple of weeks into campaign, and by regular troops, too. Now that they are perhaps fully realising the folly of their situation, and indeed, with armed criminals and what not running free, well, not a good outlook.

This in an setup where Russia has always demanded to be respected, and for them respect and fear are synonyms. I mean, the unit responsible for Bucha was awarded  :(

[Gusington]

I needed a triple shot to get the Oreo image out of my brain.

[GDS_Starfury]

you my friend, are between me and JH. 

[SirAndrewD]

Another quiet day it seems.

The Russians keep falling back to establish new defensive lines around Lyman.  They surrendered a lot of territory today under, what I saw described as light, attack.  They keep putting Lyman and the southern flank of their line along the Oskil in increasing jeopardy and there are indications that the Ukrainians are shifting more and more forces there for an attack. 

Zelensky said today they aren't done and another big push will be coming soon.  I imagine he'd say that if it was true or not, so now the questions is where it'll come.  With fingers pointing at Lyman I wonder if they're going to try the same trick they did last week and prep for a big obvious push and hit elsewhere. 

Where it seems unlikely for them to attack would be the central portion of the front around Donetsk.  The Russians continue to conduct offensive ops there, reportedly at a lot of cost for small gains. 

I saw a few milblog's questioning the logic of their continued offensive in the face of two Ukrainian counteroffensives on the extreme ends of the front, and the answer as to why was something brought up earlier in the thread.   The Central front is largely occupied by LPR, DPR, Wagner and Chechen troops, and they're insisting on pressing their attacks there regardless of the situation that the Regular Russian army is facing in the north and south.  Again, this shows how disjointed the overall Russian effort likely really is..

[bobarossa]

Makes me wonder how much of the regular Russian Army is left.  One of the recent posts described how the Russian forces have a lot of different masters.  And what are the Chechens playing for.  Will they just withdraw their troops home and break away again? 

[SirAndrewD]

Makes me wonder how much of the regular Russian Army is left.  One of the recent posts described how the Russian forces have a lot of different masters.  And what are the Chechens playing for.  Will they just withdraw their troops home and break away again?

Quite a lot I imagine in the south, they've just heavily overloaded the southern flank with RF troops.  They now have two Armies in the Kherson region north of the Dniper, the 49th and 5th, and if you look at the units deployed around the front, they're largely high quality formations like Guards units.  They've also deployed a lot of regular RF formations north of Melitopol anchoring the left side of the center. 

In the north, who knows?  A lot of what's defending in Lyman are mixed LPF formations and reserve formations with a few high quality regiments like the Kuban Cossacks.  Who knows what percentage of their troops there are now combat effective.  I'd wager it's not a lot or they'd have taken advantage of the lull to try some counterattacks to stabilize the situation around Kupyansk and Lyman. 

In rumor zone, there were reports the Chechen loyalty was wavering and some formations refused orders unless they were allowed to go on the offensive despite the general desire by Russian High Command to pause along the Donetsk front.  However, outside of "them" talking about it and rumors from a few of my connected buddies I don't know how true that is.   Their skin in the game is largely Kadryov and his individual power.  The men he brought over were his loyalists and they will fight for him pretty fanatically.  If things keep going badly I wouldn't count on their loyalty to the Kremlin to keep them in the war.