Russia's War Against Ukraine

[JasonPratt]

Well, beating the pants off the Russians and not being a war-winning offensive, aren't mutually exclusive ideas, as we know from lots of history.    (Please accept this musketeer smiley in lieu of something Napoleonic a few decades later.)

Still, gaining more ground toward Kursk (as noted earlier) gives Pres Z a little more territory to negotiate a swap over, and looks like they're degrading the Russians more than the Russians already degrade themselves, ba-dump-tish.

[Crossroads]

 

[ArizonaTank]

So 2024 casualties are much higher for the Russians than '22 and '23.

But progress on the ground is still slow. The Russians are making some small progress.

What does this mean? A new "Vlad the Impaler."

[JasonPratt]

One of the many (many many) problems for the Russians right now, is that Ukraine has gotten very good at trading small Russian gains for high Russian losses. The mid-right-flank Russian incremental gains recently have been an example of that.

Something about that ISW report which struck me as portentous -- I mean where quoted by AzTank -- was that ISW was sourcing complaints from what traditionally have been Russian-sponsored hype factories.

By the end, I realized I was mentally reading those quotes in Andre the Giant's voice while wearing a flaming Apocalypse Cloak! "THERE SHALL BE NOOO SUHVYEVOHS! THE DWEAD PIWAT WOBBETS IS HEAH TO... SWALLOW YOAH SOUUUULLLLSSS!"

Now, admittedly, for Russia that's like Thursday. But still, watching the propaganda shift to reporting "Today is Thursday every day" so hard that ISW takes notice?

[ArizonaTank]

Something about that ISW report which struck me as portentous -- I mean where quoted by AzTank -- was that ISW was sourcing complaints from what traditionally have been Russian-sponsored hype factories.

I noticed that as well. Go back a year or two and ISW was using mostly Ukrainian sources. Now the ISW reports seem to use more Russian sources. Is that because of tighter Ukrainian operational security? I don't know. 

[JasonPratt]

Today's tactical analysis, with some strategic discussion, too. I've been pretty impressed with this channel so far.

Note that the title (and gfx) are more clickbaity than the actual content.

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile from yesterday, if you're going to fight Ukrainian Nazis, at least make sure your cope cage is up to snuff!

(To be fair, this is the Azov Brig, so the Nazi reference can't be entirely ironic.)

[ArizonaTank]

Wargames are starting to crack open the door to depicting the conflict.

This is somewhat old news, and may have already been mentioned by someone (if so, apologies).
 
GMT has had "Defiance: 2nd Russo-Ukrainian War 2022-?" on its P500 for a while now.

There have been some comments questioning the morality of such a game, or that the game concept is in "poor taste" because the conflict is still on-going. Personally, I can see both sides. For me however, I don't see the game as trivializing, or making a sport of the conflict. My interest in the game is only because it would help me better understand the conflict.

Despite discussion about the morality of it, the game easily "made the cut" with 800 pre-orders, and is now in the production queue.

The game covers only the first few months of the war.

The Venerable Mark Herman ("V" capitalized on purpose), is one of the designers.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1087-defiance-2nd-russo-ukrainian-war-2022.aspx

[Tripoli]

Wargames are starting to crack open the door to depicting the conflict.

This is somewhat old news, and may have already been mentioned by someone (if so, apologies).
 
GMT has had "Defiance: 2nd Russo-Ukrainian War 2022-?" on its P500 for a while now.

There have been some comments questioning the morality of such a game, or that the game concept is in "poor taste" because the conflict is still on-going. Personally, I can see both sides. For me however, I don't see the game as trivializing, or making a sport of the conflict. My interest in the game is only because it would help me better understand the conflict.

Despite discussion about the morality of it, the game easily "made the cut" with 800 pre-orders, and is now in the production queue.

The game covers only the first few months of the war.

The Venerable Mark Herman ("V" capitalized on purpose), is one of the designers.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1087-defiance-2nd-russo-ukrainian-war-2022.aspx

I'm one of the pre-orders.  I disagree with those who believe that wargaming an ongoing conflict is necessarily in poor taste or less than moral.  Rather, I think that such games can  provide insight to modern conflicts.  As such, they can be a good thing. 

[JasonPratt]

What would the 1st Russo-Ukrainian War be? The conquest of Crimea? The charge of the light brigade? Something during the Red Consolidation?

[Redwolf]

Ukraine gets most modern German artillery piece before Bundeswehr. RCH 155.

It is basically a Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzer on a Boxer chassis with a turret with autoloader.

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/radhaubitze-rch-155-was-kann-das-hochmoderne-waffensystem-a-5237d545-7abf-4493-b4a3-d09aa0e4c7a4

[ArizonaTank]

"The Witches of Bucha"

Ukrainian women have found a place in air defense units around major cities.

I believe calling them "witches" is decidedly positive. This seems to harken back to the all-female Russian 588th Night Bomber Regiment in WWII. The Germans called the regiment the "Night Witches" because of their night-time harassment of German units. The name speaks to grudging respect...much like the WWI Germans calling the US Marines, "Devil Dogs."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-witches-of-bucha-the-exclusively-female-war-volunteer-unit-i-can-t-kill-people-but-the-russians-are-vermin/ar-AA1xVpbj?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=d333ab8566b54ce884a1c420c35d741d&ei=16

[ArizonaTank]

Interesting CNN news story about North Korean troops fighting to the death. Even blurred video of a North Korean soldier killing himself with a grenade rather than be captured. He screamed Kim Jong-un's name before he died.

North Korean story does not pick up until about 30 seconds into the video.

[ArizonaTank]

Russians using donkeys to transport ammunition?

Don't know how wide-spread this is...but not a good look.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-forced-to-use-donkeys-to-bring-ammunition-to-putin-s-troops-in-ukraine-as-military-vehicles-run-short/ar-AA1yOnVo?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=374aba474ebc409fb8e9767674170b63&ei=10

[JudgeDredd]

I see France is donating older Mirage 2000 to Ukraine