Ukraine - Battle Of The Izium Bulge?
Here is the latest from the Izium front where a Ukrainian counterattack made a deep push into Russian held lines.
Source: Militaryland.net - bigger
The map shows 5 Ukrainian brigades within the bulge the Ukrainian forces have formed to the north of Izium. Several more brigades are pushing up from the south of Izium. With about 3,000 men per brigade this is a major force of some 30,000+ soldiers plus likely reserves.
Source: Rybar - bigger
After the light Luhanks Peoples' Republic forces who had held that area were overrun by the ISIS style attack of the Ukrainian forces, the Russian army has pulled up its heavy reserves. Mi-26 helicopters brought in armored vehicles and soldiers to stop the attacks wherever possible.
The Ukrainians are also pulling in heavy weapons for a new push along their front lines.
Armored land bound Russian forces are coming in from the east and north. The Russian air force and army aviation have air superiority and pound the Ukrainian lines.
We can expect a lot of attacks on the quite thin and long supply lines of the Ukrainian spearhead. The town of Shevchenkove, where several big roads and train lines cross, may be a weak point of the Ukrainian offensive. Retaking it would cut the main Ukrainian supply lines in the area.
The latest Rybar situation report says (edited machine translation):
Battle for Kharkov: the situation on the Izium-Kuyansk section of the front - by the end of September 9, 2022🔻 Kupyansk direction
▪️The sending of reserves to the Kupyansk section of the front by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation managed to stop the advance of the main forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine a few kilometers from the city line.
▪️ By the end of the day the Armed Forces of Ukraine established control over the villages of Chkalovskoye, Shevchenko, Borovskoye and control the Chuguev - Kupyansk highway to Grushevka, which allowed to transfer equipment and artillery systems to the combat contact line.
▪️ The Ukrainian command is forming a shock group for the assault on Kupyansk in the Grushevka and Staroverovka area. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation apply artillery and missile bombing at the places of concentration of enemy forces.
▪️ AFU conduct shelling of the rear settlements in the liberated territories. The village of Bolshaya Broluk was subjected to especially strong blows.
Ukrainian formations will block the reserves of the RF Armed Forces in Kupyansk and try to go around the city from the north, moving in the direction of Dvurechensky.
🔻 Izium direction
▪️ From the south of Izium the Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing to Vernopolye and Dolina.
▪️ If an attempt to advance to Gorokovatka, the mobile groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was rebuffed in the area of the village of Yasinovatoe.
▪️ The reserve forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation reached the eastern bank of the Oskol River which stopped attempts to cross the mobile groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine across the river.
Apparently, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will strengthen mobile units on the western coast of Oskol with heavy equipment and will try to reconnoiter the defense of Russian forces from Gorokhovatka.
🔻 Balaklia direction
▪️ There are unverified messages that the eastern blocks of Balaklia are still held by the detachments of the RF Armed Forces. In the near future, one should expect the blow of the Armed Forces of the Ukraine in the village of Vesele and Kunya.
In the near future, the Armed Forces will be attempted to attack Lyman from the Raygorodk. The main goal of the Ukrainian command on the site is to reach the Oskol reservoir and surround the Russian group near Izium.
This operation is THE big push by the Ukrainian military. Most of the heavier armored vehicles on the front seem to be from foreign countries.
If the Ukrainian army is willing to throw all heavy reserves into this operation, as it seem to do, the Russian army will have a chance to give it a decisive blow.
The alternative is to retreat to later fight elsewhere.
The operation reminds of one that played out at the end of 1944. Operation Wacht am Rhein, also known as the Ardennes offensive or the battle of the bulge, was a large German attempt to encircle western allied forces in the Netherlands and Belgium. On the German side some 450,000 troops took part. The offensive failed when good weather set in which allowed allied air supremacy to attack German supply lines and when the German tanks simply ran out of gas.
bigger
Will we see a small replay of it?
Posted by b on September 10, 2022 at 6:51 UTC | Permalink
next page »Or will Russia give up Izyum, give up all areas apart from Donbas and Crimea.
Posted by: Keith | Sep 10 2022 7:02 utc | 3
How is this Ukrainian attack even possible? Traditional Iraqi fighting ability was simply neutralized by massive unrelenting attack from the coalition air force? Why can't Russia do the same?
Posted by: MallardB | Sep 10 2022 7:05 utc | 4
Visual confirmation of Ukrops in Kupyansk. It seems that the city was partially surrendered by allied forces, avoiding losses of manpower in this sector.
Posted by: Kareem | Sep 10 2022 7:11 utc | 5
💢 Lots of Ukrainian armour being decimated overnight. We should see pics and videos surface by the end of the day tomorrow.
This was Ukraine’s best. Not just hardware, but also troops. Units they reserved for this exact purpose. There’s no coming back from this if they lose these assets.
ASB Military reports
Posted by: Kim | Sep 10 2022 7:31 utc | 6
You are wrong when you talk about "Ukrainian forces" or a "Ukrainian counterattack". This is not the ukrainian army any more. The ukrainian army has been decimated and demoralized for 6 months now, their best forces KIA, their equipment destroyed. They could never have done this, with stupid young lads from Territorialna Oborona and a complete military idiot like Zalushny at the helm. This is NATO fighting its last and final battle in ukraine, like 80 years ago in a different setting.NATO is finally panicking because they feel their game is up, so they throw everything they have left into this battle. Their people are too dumbed down to even notice and they do not care anyway because they are panicking. And Winter is coming in ukraine which would end this anyway. These are NATO troops with some mercenaries from NATO's past failures fighting with NATO eqipment under NATO command. Russia knew this would eventually happen, they just did not know where or when, so they patiently waited. It was a waiting game, and the russians played it perfectly. Now NATO has made its final desperate move with no way back. This is NATO committing suicide before the final collapse of the west.
Posted by: Franz Beckenbauer | Sep 10 2022 7:37 utc | 7
Neither side will tell the other (or media) what they plan to do. So make sure that you have lots of popcorn and beer.
Russia is obviously having trouble, since they should have blitzed through the open terrain to Kieb/Kyiv. Russia has to watch their back for trouble with China or NATO. Europe has to know that they are next, even if the fuel cut-off doesn't break their will. China has ancient claims on Siberia and a big military. The Ukrainians have proved to be stubborn and resourceful fighters. They have been victims of the Russians/Soviets/Bolsheviks before and the Russians have used their traditional brutality to try and break the will of the Ukrainians. Putin is a smart guy, but he only made the rank of Major in the KGB so he hasn't seen how they play in the "Big Leagues". He obviously didn't see how badly the military had been degraded by corruption. With the old Soviet machine, he would have rolled over the Ukrainians. Now we will see who is able to address the situation better. Those drones from Turkey, the American HIMARS, and Musk's satellite clusters have been game changers. The Russian tanks with their turrets blown off have given the Russians real heartburn. The Russians have hired good foreign fighters, but the Ukrainians are fighting on home turf and they have held the new guys back until they were well trained. Gunna be a nasty slug fest.
Posted by: Mike-SMO | Sep 10 2022 7:40 utc | 8
It takes some time that ammunition from North Korea and Iranian drones arrive?
I am not an excelent chess player, so I don't understand that situation. Men are dying...
So, as I follow situation map for months, RF initiative is dead.
Now they are in defensive...
Posted by: preseren3 | Sep 10 2022 7:41 utc | 9
This seems to be the Ukies attempt to keep getting support from the West, by launching a big offensive. The US Empire needed to get the fighting on the news as support is dwindling in the West.
Posted by: No Trever | Sep 10 2022 7:43 utc | 10
The western side of Kupyansk has been taken by Ukraine according to Colonel Cassad. The bridge was destroyed as it no longer served any purpose.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/63224
Lyman is also under attack right now and if it falls an encirclement of the troops around Izyum will happen unless the Russians redraw quickly as Cassad also mentions as a real option.
The frontline is in flux and not to the Russians advantage. Putin's decision not to mobilize is coming back to plague Russia. a 100,000 more infantry would have work wonders.
Posted by: Poul | Sep 10 2022 7:56 utc | 12
Posted by: Mike-SMO | Sep 10 2022 7:40 utc | 9
I guess you've just arrived from Mars with an intagalactic SMO understanding and authority to inform and update us as you stumble off the edge, into the Oskol Reservoir never to be heard from again
Posted by: Kim | Sep 10 2022 7:59 utc | 13
Patience everyone. Whatever the Ukrainians have thrown at this last-gasp offensive is essentially all they have, and most seems to be courtesy of the West. The fighting is not far from Russia's border and Russia has a lot more men and equipment that can be rolled down from the North.
So as time progresses Ukraine will weaken and Russia will get stronger.
The outcome is inevitable, but can't be achieved overnight.
Posted by: Pancho Plail | Sep 10 2022 8:00 utc | 14
Based on what B has told us in the last two weeks, such a counterattack was impossible on account of lacking manpower and firepower. It's really hard taking anything at face value anymore, we will see what happens.
Posted by: Krištof | Sep 10 2022 8:01 utc | 15
Posted by: H1000 | Sep 10 2022 7:52 utc | 14
TBQH Russian has been forced to this. Ukraine started to attack Donbas a week before Russian intervention, and without it would have succeeded and kept on with Crimea.
It took 8 years to force Russia into this, the little they can do about it has been done (minsk agreement and trying to materialize it), but the plan was a military campaign from the very beginning. Now collective west have it, it's just we are not in the situation they thought they would be in.
Posted by: w | Sep 10 2022 8:05 utc | 16
Will someone PLEASE tell me why Russia does not, or has not, done the 'shock and awe' tactic. In other words bring in the long range bombers and obliterate the Ukrainians? And no it is not valid to say they are trying to be careful and not kill civilians, there are NO civilians in most of the areas that are involved in battle.
Posted by: Jonathan Mills | Sep 10 2022 8:06 utc | 17
Ok, I guess we can all agree this is not "part of the plan". And Putin is not playing at 80D chess. He is a half measure king, as someone here used to say. What a monumental failire. NATO can smell blood, and they won't stop. Do the judo-master even know what the defeat means to Russia? I hope he is enjoying the Vostok games.
As for Martyonov, Saker, those type of guys, they are just full of shit - not to say more graphical stuff. And to think that at some point I bought the BS idea that NATO couldn't handle Russia fighting in Europe. It seems Russia can not even handle Ukraine supported by NATO.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 8:08 utc | 18
I am very sad about the people left behind. They are going to be crushed by the nazis. No one is going to trust the Russians anymore. I will refrain myself from saying more.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 8:10 utc | 19
@Poul | Sep 10 2022 7:56 utc | 15
Really? The railroad is quite important.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 10 2022 8:12 utc | 20
So it appears the naysayers were correct. Russia wasn’t taking it slow to bleed anything or anyone. Simply a lack of stomach for the fight. A fight which it appears may not be conducted on their terms.
Posted by: NightTripper | Sep 10 2022 8:13 utc | 21
I just saw an almost unbelievable video of thousands of Ukrainian troops casually walking along a road in the forest, in daylight, towards Kupyansk.
Speaks for itself.
From ISV:
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Today and the next few days we will not receive the most joyful news, and crests will dump gigabytes of photos and videos from the settlements we left behind. Kupyansk has been abandoned and, in fact, we cannot hold out on the right bank of the Oskol River now. I will say this, the decision to withdraw our troops is a military necessity that has prevailed over political expediency, and we must pay tribute to the fact that he who gave the order to withdraw showed courage.
The overslept counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Balakley-Izyum sector, the state of the troops in this area, the lies in the reports to the top, let those who are supposed to deal with all this. I repeat, in the current conditions, an organized withdrawal is the only right decision. And thank God that despite serious territorial losses, our losses in personnel are very small, especially considering the scope of the operation.
In our history, there were the most difficult defeats, after some we became stronger and repaid the enemy a hundredfold, after others, the country itself slipped into disaster. The main thing now is to understand that the Izyum-Balakley battle is Narva, and not Tsushima or Mukden. No need to sprinkle ashes on your head, look for traitors and build conspiracy theories. Such searches lead to a false path, which not only does not correct mistakes, but also aggravates them. We must calmly analyze what happened and realize that there is a difficult war with a strong enemy.
Posted by: Moaobserver | Sep 10 2022 8:15 utc | 22
Maybe this is Ukraine's last. Maybe.
However that's what we've been told for six months already. Ukraine will collapse tomorrow. Only tomorrow is never happening...
So I wouldn't count on it. I have also stopped believing the optimistic rumors like "lots or armour destroyed tonight", "mountains of cadavers"... Yeah in the meantime the Ukies are that close at encircling the Izyum group.
The Russian press conferences seem more laughable by the day. We're at, what, 4.000 tanks destroyed ? Yet seems the Ukies have an abundance of them, as well as all the necessary logistic (petrol, oil, lubricants) to roll.
Unfortunately I have stopped believing in : Konashenkov, Saker, Martyanov, Lira, and the like. Sadly, their credibility has been completely destroyed and I don't think they will ever recover from this blow. No, the Russian army is not all powerful, they did quite a lot of damage but in their current capacity do not seem able to counter what the combined West brings to the table. No shame in that by the way.
The only sources I will more or less trust remain Cassad, Kotenok, and eventually Strelkov who has regained quite a lot in a few days. However Cassad and Kotenok are only good for getting some feeling for the mood at the front, but they are completely useless to understand the tactical or strategic picture.
Posted by: Micron | Sep 10 2022 8:15 utc | 23
Posted by: Jonathan Mills | Sep 10 2022 8:06 utc | 21
Because Russia see Ukrainian as their own people, sharing the same langage, the same culture, the same history.
So they see this conflict as a civil war on their own land, which in fact it is - DNR and LNR forces are I.E. Ukrainian.
They don't want a bloodbath in the civilian population
OK, that probably delay the outcome, but that will ensure a peaceful future after the war.
See what happened with Crimea: USA tried their regular practise to use ethnic group under religious leadership (in this case Tatar) for guerilla warfare, terrorism etc. For Crimea it hasn't worked because it was took without a fight against the Crimean population which was then integrated to Russia with strictly equal rights - plus some much needed investments.
That's exactly what will happen in Ukraine under Russian control after resolution of the conflict. Any part not under Russian control will become a EU platform for various illegal activities such as terrorism, drugs, prostitution, etc ...
Posted by: w | Sep 10 2022 8:17 utc | 24
I warned people on this site for months about all this.. “concern troll”
Commentators don’t think that “mental degradation” of the West also applies to them ..
Posted by: Moaobserver | Sep 10 2022 8:20 utc | 25
Kupyansk is not definitely as important as Lyman and Izyum. And the east bank of Oskil reservoir.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 10 2022 8:23 utc | 26
Posted by: Jonathan Mills | Sep 10 2022 8:06 utc | 21
1. A lot of Russian's have family connections in Ukraine.
2.Russia is achieving its SMO objectives every day at its own pace as outlined by Russia.Demilitization of Ukraine & Denazification of Ukraine.
3.Russia is achieving this by very cleverly staying close to its own boarders while it weakens Ukraine and Nato's forces.
4.When Russia sees this depletion is satisfactory, it will only then move further into Ukraine to continue its objectives.
5.Russia has time on its side,Ukraine,the EU and Nato don't.
Posted by: Kim | Sep 10 2022 8:26 utc | 27
Latest from Intel Slava Z:
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Today and the next few days we will not receive the most joyful news, and crests will dump gigabytes of photos and videos from the settlements we left behind. Kupyansk has been abandoned and, in fact, we cannot hold out on the right bank of the Oskol River now. I will say this, the decision to withdraw our troops is a military necessity that has prevailed over political expediency, and we must pay tribute to the fact that he who gave the order to withdraw showed courage.
The overslept counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Balakley-Izyum sector, the state of the troops in this area, the lies in the reports to the top, let those who are supposed to deal with all this. I repeat, in the current conditions, an organized withdrawal is the only right decision. And thank God that despite serious territorial losses, our losses in personnel are very small, especially considering the scope of the operation.
In our history, there were the most difficult defeats, after some we became stronger and repaid the enemy a hundredfold, after others, the country itself slipped into disaster. The main thing now is to understand that the Izyum-Balakley battle is Narva, and not Tsushima or Mukden. No need to sprinkle ashes on your head, look for traitors and build conspiracy theories. Such searches lead to a false path, which not only does not correct mistakes, but also aggravates them. We must calmly analyze what happened and realize that there is a difficult war with a strong enemy.
Posted by: Barofsky | Sep 10 2022 8:29 utc | 28
But hey, I read that today Russia cleansed 2 more fortified positions and advanced a couple block in some settlement in Donetsk. So all is well.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 8:32 utc | 29
Posted by: H1000 | Sep 10 2022 7:52 utc
Because Ukraine is a US puppet. Because is lead by fanatics and fascists. Because is a fascist and agenocidal state. Because it’s been armed and prepared by the US and it’s minions to be the spearhead to attack Russia. Because is a failed state into which we, Europeans, have poured billions of our own tax money. Because it has killed, tortured and persecuted tens of thousands of its own people. Because they go around Europe demanding things they’re not entitled to, as if they were their natural right. Because it is driven by an ideology of racial superiority.
In short, because Ukraine must be erased from maps as it is now and remade, and only Russia wants and can do it.
Posted by: DS | Sep 10 2022 8:33 utc | 30
Can anyone remember when Russia kept parking helicopters at an airport near Mykolaiv and getting them blown up seemingly day after day before finally withdrawing and giving up. A bit like what happened with Snake Island ...
Posted by: Keith | Sep 10 2022 8:40 utc | 31
Why is everyone here supporting the Russians? Why would anyone be cheering on an army invading a sovereign nation?Posted by: H1000 | Sep 10 2022 7:52 utc | 14
Did you ask that when the Americans cheered on their armed forces as they decimated the sovereign nations of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Posted by: Simon | Sep 10 2022 8:43 utc | 32
In this thread: posters having a tantrum over their declining standard of living.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 10 2022 8:44 utc | 33
"This operation is THE big push by the Ukrainian military. Most of the heavier armored vehicles on the front seem to be from foreign countries. If the Ukrainian army is willing to throw all heavy reserves into this operation, as it seem to do, the Russian army will have a chance to give it a decisive blow."
Yesterday, our host was practically pooping his pants at the 'utter disaster' befalling the Russian forces; today, he perhaps sees that the Russians have been waiting for this to happen. They have watched for months the build-up of forces just across the front lines, and no doubt pinpointed the exact area of the main thrust, which is why they deliberately weakened their own force in that area to give the Ukraine forces enough rope to hang themselves, their armour, and their reserves. This 'bulge' is the final, futile throw of the dice for NATO, and will be the end of the Ukraine as we know it. IMHO
Posted by: Earl | Sep 10 2022 8:44 utc | 34
I just skip all posts where the poster is new. Cuts down on trolls.
Posted by: Passerby | Sep 10 2022 8:46 utc | 35
Too bad Gonzalo is not recording videos anymore...I miss him talking about Ukrainian army collapsing and Russians rolling over to the westernmost regions. What a bunch of fools. But I am fooler for taking their serious. I guess it is true we are very lenient to what we want to hear.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 8:51 utc | 36
I will refrain myself from saying more.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 8:10 utc | 23
No, you won't.
Posted by: Mike | Sep 10 2022 8:53 utc | 37
Russia is playing chess, Ukraine is playing checkers. It will end in a Ukrainian slaughter, the Ghost of Kiev has left the building.
Posted by: nightdipper | Sep 10 2022 8:57 utc | 39
Looks like it was NATO degrading Russian resources after all.
Posted by: Johnycomelately | Sep 10 2022 8:58 utc | 40
The Russian telegram-sphere has gone from dismay to hope, and now this morning to sobriety and acceptance. It is a serious counter offensive that may just catch Russia with their pants down (how? everyone knew it was coming). Occam's razor is beginning to point at inaccurate reports up the command chain about local readiness... a particular weakness in the Ru military... almost a trope that the army ossifies over time and needs to be spanked once in a while to wake up.
It isn't sustainable from the UKR side. The losses are high, reading solely UKR battalion level social media. There are videos of NATO country mercenaries dying here. Russia has moved in sufficient forces to theoretically destroy this salient.
But the effects on the civilians are horrible. At least Russia was evacuating civils from Izyum and Kupyansk starting a minimum of 36 hours before. The huge loss here is the promise "we are here to stay". If civilians expect to be involved in tactical retreats, then how to build peace and win the longer war? Russia needs to not just double but triple down here... not for the win, because they could grind that out, but because unless they start decisively crushing soon the trust of the populace will be very difficult to win. And without trust there is no viable economy etc.
I have family in both western and eastern UKR (the easterners are now under RU control and very happy about it). They are both worried for different reasons. I can understand the military rationale for grinding close to Russia's borders, but the civilian aspect needs to be more emphasized and demands more decisive action from the Russian side.
Posted by: dask | Sep 10 2022 9:00 utc | 41
"sovereign nations"
Is Germany sovereign? Italia, Japan, South Korea? Occupied natons, where ONLY US have to say, what they can and what they can't do?
I am SICK of such "intelligent" statements!
If an american member of occupiing forces kills, rapes, beats heavily, an citizen of this "sovereign" nations, can be arrested, for few minutes, only until occupyimg forces arrive.
Then that person is sent to US, where he gets "strong condemn" of his act and maybe he is released of the duty... Or even revarded.
When captain of USS Vinceness killed 278 passangers on civil flight, he got PROMOTED!
So, good mornig! Wash faces with cold water, get coffe and start readig, who is what!
Posted by: preseren3 | Sep 10 2022 9:01 utc | 42
"Will someone PLEASE tell me why Russia does not, or has not, done the 'shock and awe' tactic. In other words bring in the long range bombers and obliterate the Ukrainians? And no it is not valid to say they are trying to be careful and not kill civilians, there are NO civilians in most of the areas that are involved in battle."
I second this question.
Posted by: MallardB | Sep 10 2022 9:03 utc | 43
Not just Kupyansk but Izyum have fallen to the nazis. What kind of Battle Of The Bulge is this, the parallel universe one where the Germans won?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:08 utc | 45
dask | Sep 10 2022 9:00 utc | 47
"But the effects on the civilians are horrible. At least Russia was evacuating civils from Izyum and Kupyansk starting a minimum of 36 hours before. The huge loss here is the promise "we are here to stay". If civilians expect to be involved in tactical retreats, then how to build peace and win the longer war?"
There's a great contradiction within many commentators. They rightly denounce the mass-homicidal sociopathy of Zelensky, the Kiev regime and the empire where it comes to using the entire Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, yet at the same time they display extreme callousness toward the pro-Russian civilian population when they breezily talk about how "this is a war of movement" and "the Russians can come and go as they please", even though that dooms the civilians to either desperate refugee conditions (if they keep evacuating) or death at the hands of resurging Nazis.
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Sep 10 2022 9:10 utc | 46
Leaving Izyum! Wow, I am speechless. Really. I guess the west has always been right. Russia is just a failed state run by drunk and incompetent fools. That's what corruption does to you. And I say this with great pain, because I love Russia like no other.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 9:11 utc | 47
The Ukrainians really do hate Russia.
The only thing is: these are not their father's Russia. This is not Soviet Revanchism, and the Ukrainians have little to fear from Russia, unlike when the Soviets centralized their lands and repealed all of the Tsar's liberal reforms which had given more autonomy shortly before the Revolution.
If anything, Putin would have been willing to give it back to them, as I feel he is trying to set the clock back to a time before 1917.
I sincerely wish the Ukrainians had the good sense to trust the Tsar Putin. But their minds have been rendered so mistrustful of anything coming from the east that they have played right into the hands of global finance, the Satanic NWO led by the small hats.
What a waste of life from a conflict that could easily consume us all.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 10 2022 9:12 utc | 48
After this MASSIVE win, just imagine the ammount of money and weapons that NATO will flow into Ukraine.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 9:13 utc | 49
"Why is everyone here supporting the Russians?"
Hard to find anybody supporting Russia in today's shock-n-awe fest. Guess the Big Push for PR superiority is creating the new Atlantic Council/MI6 salient in MoA territory. The trolls blossom like crabgrass whenever there's a battle, then die off when Ru pushes back. The trolls always prove that Ru territory is collapsing but overlook Ukr casualties. Let's see what happens as Ru reinforcements arrive. I see nobody is mentioning Dima's comment that this is all a gift to Ru.
Posted by: TPaine | Sep 10 2022 9:13 utc | 50
@26
i've seen the same thing. a huuuge column of ukros walking freely around and enjoying scenery?? looks like causal hiking? and how it is possible for ukros to roam freely with heavy weapons THROUGH THE STEPPES? russia does not understand west and doesn't understand that time is not on russia side. west is buying time and organize enemy better. we've seen this in former yugoslavia. serbaian leaders are pussyfooting around and you know the end of it. russia is doing the same thing, pussyfooting around. on the other side, ukros are just right now shelling donetsk again indiscriminately and choosing only civilian targets, markets, parks etc...really unbelievable!
Posted by: denazi | Sep 10 2022 9:14 utc | 51
@dusk
But the effects on the civilians are horrible.
If they had support in local residents, there won't be any after this.
Posted by: Jabo | Sep 10 2022 9:14 utc | 52
Worth considering is that the Oskil Reservoir has been drained after the Ukrainians blew the dam in April. It may be easier to cross the Oskil than the maps indicate.
https://uncg.org.ua/en/should-the-oskil-reservoir-be-rebuilt-after-the-war/
Posted by: Poul | Sep 10 2022 9:14 utc | 53
Seems to me Russia was attempting a Syria 2.0, using the locals as the bulk of the force with logistics backing and stand off weapons from the standard military.
Problem with that scenario was that the republican guard was doing the heavy lifting and fighting, there is no equivalent in Ukraine. Plus ISIS backing by NATO wasn’t as intense as it is with Ukraine, with shared borders.
Posted by: Johnycomelately | Sep 10 2022 9:17 utc | 54
Kiev, Kharkov, Mykolaiv, Snake Island ...
Wasn't a wild prediction to say Izyum would go the same way.
But was is the Russian plan here, are they going to give up everything but for Donbas and Crimea and sue for peace?
Posted by: Keith Granger | Sep 10 2022 9:21 utc | 55
I don't think the Russian army is weak. They have had at least 8 yes to prepare for this eventuality. My question is why they left this point of their line weak? Surely they could see the build up of troops,vehicles and armaments that suggested an offensive and they still kept that point of their front line weak? Why? It is one thing to launch an offensive but a completely different thing to maintain it, it's one thing to capture territory but another thing to hold onto it. I wonder if Ukraine has what it needs to sustain this action. Will they now have to pull troops from elsewhere to support and maintain the offensive leaving them weak elsewhere and allowing RF forces easy successes in those areas? The Russians have never said what they are going to do next so I wonder what those pesky Russians are up to.
Posted by: Sanz | Sep 10 2022 9:21 utc | 56
Putin expected a form of negotiated settlement by now. The west are not having it and he is at a loss what to do.
Posted by: NightTripper | Sep 10 2022 9:22 utc | 57
Another Report
🇷🇺🇺🇦 We are leaving most of the Kharkiv region. This is a military disaster. We are severely underpowered. The only thing that will improve the situation is the declaration of WAR to Ukraine, the introduction of martial law and mobilization. In the near future, and better - TOMORROW.
Nothing else will help, it's already obvious. I have no other words for you.
Posted by: Barofsky | Sep 10 2022 9:22 utc | 58
Komsomolskaya Pravda, correspondent Oleksandr Kots reports:
The world's largest serial Mi-26 helicopters, one after another, land in a field near Kupyansk, the unspoken capital of the liberated part of the Kharkov region. From the rear ramp, under the roar of propellers that raise dust on the platform, fighters jump out in full combat gear, delivered from the mainland. Each such machine can fit up to 82 paratroopers. Here they were very much expected, and help literally came from heaven. Russia is throwing reserves to repel the Ukrainian offensive that Kyiv has launched in the Kharkiv region in recent days.
Help is on the way. Near Kupyansk and Izyum, columns of the Brave grouping are stretching - troops of the Central Military District with a tactical sign "O" on the sides of military equipment. They have an impressive list of successes in their track record, including in this area. It was they who conquered the territories on the eastern bank of the Oskol River, near which the main events are now unfolding. The terrain is familiar, the enemy too.
- It will be interesting, - my friend of one of the "Brave" special forces somehow joked not very cheerfully.
In the columns - trucks with infantry and special forces, howitzers, armored vehicles, logistics vehicles ...
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian troops, supported by NATO-style high-precision artillery, have managed to advance near Kupyansk, not only the capital, but also a strategically important transport hub. Through it is the supply of our Izyum group. From it there is a direct road to the LPR - to Svatovo, Severodonetsk, Lugansk ...
The idea of the Kyiv command is becoming more and more obvious. The main task is to encircle our grouping in Izyum. Ukrainian troops have already been able to penetrate deep into our territory up to 30 kilometers and disrupt logistics. In social networks, there was even information that Izyum was surrounded. But it's not. There are other ways to supply his garrison, less convenient and more dangerous, but they do exist.
And now there are reserves on them.
The enemy is also trying to advance south of Izyum, but the Russian units standing there tightly are repelling powerful attacks.
The Ukrainian troops also failed to reach the Chuguev-Izyum highway east of Balakleya.
And with Balakleya herself, not everything is completely clear. Volodymyr Zelensky announced her “release” the day before. However, there is not a word about this in the reports of the Ukrainian General Staff. But there are such lines: "The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are trying to evacuate the wounded personnel and damaged military equipment to the areas of the settlements of Olkhovatka and Borodoyarskoye." Where to evacuate? These are settlements to the east of Balakleya. It is possible to evacuate the wounded in them only from the city, the capture of which Zelensky has already announced. Indirectly, this may indicate that the enemy occupied only part of the city, in which ours can still remain.
In the end, big fans of video clips with Ukrainian victories have not yet posted a single piece of evidence from this part. As well as from the largest arsenal that adjoins the city.
It is felt that, despite the rapid advance, the fighting fuse of the Ukrainian troops has somewhat faded. This is facilitated by the round-the-clock work of Russian aviation, artillery, and missile forces. And this should be used. The main thing is to hold out until the main forces of the “fire brigade” approach the most “hot” sections of the front - the very reserves that Russia is now transferring to the Kharkiv region.
Posted by: Oblomovka daydream | Sep 10 2022 9:24 utc | 59
It is as the Donbass fighters have been saying: they need RF forces to support them if they're going to continue to progress. Now we are seeing Russia commit its own troops to the fight.
Yes, I agree again with b--this will likely play out for Ukraine like the Battle of the Bulge did for the Germans.
Posted by: Pacifica_Advocate | Sep 10 2022 9:26 utc | 60
"Will someone PLEASE tell me why Russia does not, or has not, done the 'shock and awe' tactic. In other words bring in the long range bombers and obliterate the Ukrainians? And no it is not valid to say they are trying to be careful and not kill civilians, there are NO civilians in most of the areas that are involved in battle."
I second this question.
Posted by: MallardB | Sep 10 2022 9:03 utc | 49
It is not only killing civilians....
There is infrastructure to.
But, most important... RF DOES NOT HAVE FULL CONTROL of Ukrainian airspace. Such claims are fiction...
In Ukraine is complete stock of antiaircraft systems Russian manufacterers, donated from weastern puppets... And now some western to..
If manpads like Stinger reach only until 6-7000m, other go until 20km high, and 300km far...
And RF does not have stealth bombers. There was never much need fot them, because RF army is DEFENSIVE orientated.
Never wanted to attack somebody, that is also reason, why they don't have drones for that purpose....
Iraq was shooting on bombers with artilery....
Posted by: preseren3 | Sep 10 2022 9:26 utc | 61
@denazi | Sep 10 2022 9:14 utc | 58
Because Shoigu doesn't know what drones are. When the budget was set, year after year, drones were not on the menu. Okhotnik is years away from being finished. They tried to quickly set up a factory at the end of last year, apparently that isn't working fast enough. Add that to the 5 soldier army they have and you get exactly this. Bucha will happen again in all lost areas because nato's purpose is to kill as many civilians and soldiers of any kind as possible before they set bases in Ukr. They only want resource there, not the population, they've been killing them since 2014 and thanks to Shoigu's strategy it works even better now.
Posted by: rk | Sep 10 2022 9:27 utc | 62
Russian military correspondent say there is only one road out of Izyum.
The prudent thing would be to redraw to a new defensive line. You can't keep your troops supplied with one road. My guess is the Russian are out of Izyum by today.
Posted by: Poul | Sep 10 2022 9:29 utc | 63
Remember what I said yesterday, Putin cultists?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:31 utc | 64
Liman abandoned, total route. Thing are moving to fast for Russian command.
Obsolete, retarded high command.
Posted by: Jabo | Sep 10 2022 9:32 utc | 65
🇷🇺 The encirclement of the Russian group in Izyum would be a disaster. The decision to withdraw from a military point of view is absolutely correct in the current shitty circumstances. Let me remind you that this is an episode, tragic and bitter, but an episode of global confrontation. So everyone needs to get together, and not just those who are now working in the NWO zone. Everyone has to do their own thing.
And,
🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡️Russian Armed Forces left Liman
Posted by: Barofsky | Sep 10 2022 9:38 utc | 66
Meanwhile on the battlefield of the sanctions war Vesti reports (this shows the Russian perspective):
Simple Calculations: Why Gas Storage Won't Save Europe
European officials report filling gas storage facilities. German Vice-Chancellor Habek recently even boasted that the reserves were replenished despite the suspension of Russian gas supplies. However, it is important to understand that all the talk about the vaults is nothing more than a media story designed to somehow reassure the population of Europe.
So, on average , EU countries have filled their UGS facilities by 80%. Targets were exceeded in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain. Some things are worse. Among those lagging behind are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Latvia.
However, a simple comparison of gas volumes suggests that 80% of the filling of underground storage facilities is just a distracting information stuffing. They say, look - we have reached the target indicators, stocks for the winter have been made, there is no need to worry. A simple trick that the Europeans may well "fall for".
"The fact is that gas storages are not gas reserves for the winter in any case. This is a necessary reserve for the balance of the energy system. All these reports that they have filled out by 80%, they will survive the winter only if they turn off their economy "The enterprises will be shut down, which we are already seeing. Europe is losing its furniture industry, chemical industry enterprises, all energy-intensive enterprises are closing," explains Alexander Losev, an economist and financier.
Let's do some simple calculations. Total gas consumption in the European Union at the end of last year amounted to approximately 410 billion cubic meters. The heating period accounts for half of this volume. That is about 205 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the maximum capacity of underground storage facilities in the EU is 110 billion cubic meters. Now they say that they are filled on average by 80%. Not enough for the whole winter. But there is also a buffer gas in UGS facilities that cannot be pumped out. Yes, stocks help to survive the heating season. Still, gas supplies play a key role in its successful passage. And in their absence, blue fuel from storage facilities will disappear in a matter of days.
This week the Bloomberg agency already wrote that the cessation of gas supplies from Russia to Europe will lead to a rapid depletion of reserves in underground storage facilities. The rate of "melting" of reserves can be estimated from last year. Then Europe burned a quarter of its gas reserves by the sixth day of winter. At the same time, blue fuel was steadily supplied from Russia, and in some periods, Gazprom even increased the volume of pumping.
And if anyone is to blame for the energy crisis last fall, then the failed "green transition" and abnormally cold weather.
How Europe will survive this heating season is still difficult to say. It is clear that the winter will be difficult for the Europeans. Analysts believe that, at the very least, gas may be enough. But European politicians are walking on thin ice. There is very little room for maneuver .
Cold weather, possible LNG plant shutdowns, high demand in Asia, falling supplies from Russia - any of these factors could destroy the EU's fragile energy balance.
Posted by: Oblomovka daydream | Sep 10 2022 9:40 utc | 67
The Russians gave a good fight but it seems they r running out of ammo as evidenced by their usage of s300 missiles as artillery but they still have their oil money hopefully they will get the shells from nk and hopefully replenish their stocks.
It seems finally people coming to realize that shaker is an idiot.
Posted by: A.z | Sep 10 2022 9:41 utc | 69
Kupyansk, Izyum, Liman all abandoned without a shot, troops fleeing so fast that ammunition dumps and weapons are left for the nazis (they don't have to worry about supplies for a while then).
I suppose this is the brilliant 5D trap blowhards like the asinine Martyanov and the no less imbecilic Faker were blathering about?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:43 utc | 70
Muah, gaehn, Pobeda, Chessmaster, gaehn, Izyum done?! Russia leaving Kharkov or Ukraine? Ah, I am sleepy, I come back later, then you tell me again..
Posted by: C | Sep 10 2022 9:45 utc | 71
NightTripper | Sep 10 2022 9:22 utc | 65
"Putin expected a form of negotiated settlement by now. The west are not having it and he is at a loss what to do."
I think that's the position. Putin remains the indelible globalist and westernizer he always was, and at heart always will yearn for friendship with the US empire, for the G7 to be a G8 (as it very briefly was c. 17 years ago), for Russia to be accepted in what he sees at its rightful place within the US-dominated globalist system.
He'll never be able to accept that the West hates Russia, hates him and will never requite his affection. He'll never be able psychologically to burn that last bridge and accept that this is total war, no looking back, and proceed with that mindset.
That's why I said from early on, when just days into the war Putin already was desperate to "negotiate", that while he had done a great job preparing Russia for this war, he's not the man to be the actual war leader.
And so we see today, as the SMO strategy, whatever validity it may have had before, is by now hopelessly tangled up in its own contradictions and needs to be superseded by a more aggressive strategy which includes the acceptance that there will be no "deal" short of total victory, Putin is at a loss, since his entire mindset is predicated on forcing the empire to accept the deal he demanded last December.
It's like a reverse Napoleon, whose invasion of Russia was supposed to force the tsar to the negotiating table. When the tsar didn't bite and responded with silence Napoleon had no idea what to do, loitered inconsequentially in Moscow for weeks and then had to withdraw (too late).
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Sep 10 2022 9:46 utc | 72
Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:31 utc | 72
What you said yesterday was Biden for President
Posted by: Gerrard White | Sep 10 2022 9:36 utc | 76
Yeah?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:46 utc | 73
At: H1000 | Sep 10 2022 7:52 utc | 14
Why is everyone here supporting the Russians? Why would anyone be cheering on an army invading a sovereign nation?
--
Because we read our history. Like an impartial judge, we collect the facts, and then with enough evidence come to a conclusion.
Posted by: C | Sep 10 2022 9:49 utc | 74
Looks like the western part of Kupyansk has fallen over night.
It sits on the major supply line to Izium and Lyman.
The Russian now does what it always did during this SMO when it came under pressure. Preserving Russian lives is more important than holding grounds. That means retreat.
Thus Izium and Lyman will be given up and the military will pull back from them.
I fear for the civilians left behind.
The Russian mil bloggers and nationalists are reasonable pissed.
It seems that Kremlin has foreseen that and used its TV propaganda arm to call for some kind of escalations.
Gilbert Doctorow has watched it:
U.S. ups the ante: are we indeed headed into WWIII and what can save us?
By ‘take the bait,’ I mean the Russians may escalate to all out war on Ukraine. This question figured prominently in yesterday’s major news and political talk show programs of Russian state television. I will go into these matters in some detail below.
...
For his part, Vladimir Solovyov went beyond presentation of the threat posed by the United States and its allies to analysis of Russia’s possible response. He spoke at length, and we may assume that what he was saying had the direct approval of the Kremlin, ...
...
So, what did Solovyov have to say? First, that Ramstein marked a new stage in the war, because of the more threatening nature of the weapons systems announced for delivery, such as missiles with accuracy of 1 to 2 meters when fired from distances of 20 or 30 kilometers thanks to their GPS-guided flight, in contrast to the laser-guided missiles delivered to Ukraine up till now. In the same category, there are weapons designed to destroy the Russians’ radar systems used for directing artillery fire. Second, that Ramstein marked the further expansion of the coalition or holy crusade waging war on Russia. Third, that in effect this is no longer a proxy war but a real direct war with NATO and should be prosecuted with appropriate mustering of all resources at home and abroad.Said Solovyov, Russia should throw off constraints and destroy the Ukrainian dual use infrastructure which makes it possible to move Western weapons across the country to the front. The railway system, the bridges, the electricity generating stations all should become fair targets. Moreover, Kiev should no longer be spared missile strikes and destruction of the ministries and presidential apparatus responsible for prosecution of the war. I note that these ideas were aired on the Solovyov program more than a month ago but then disappeared from view while the Russians were making great gains on the ground. The latest setbacks and the new risks associated with the Western policies set out at Ramstein bring them to the surface again.
Solovyov also argued that Russia should now use in Ukraine its own most advanced weapons that have similar characteristics to what NATO is delivering to the other side.
@b 87
Is Russia going to do it or will it start in the realm of television studio talk?
I'm betting on the latter.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 9:53 utc | 76
At this point, a loss will mean not only Kherson and Donbass, but Crimea as well. And Ukraine will join NATO immediately.
I don't think some people realize the stakes here. It's all or nothing. Russia should take every and any measures possible. To the end of the world.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 9:53 utc | 77
"Solovyov also argued that Russia should now use in Ukraine its own most advanced weapons that have similar characteristics to what NATO is delivering to the other side. "
The only thing nato has better in Ukr is the number of drones. Everything else is old crap or new crap.
Posted by: rk | Sep 10 2022 9:58 utc | 78
6 months into the war and not even the suburbs of Donetsk have been taken -
You can (be) convinced that all is part of the big master plan and that even the retreat from Kiev was a genius part of that.
In spring, the Ukrainian didn't make the mistake of attacking the spears of the Russian advance - but let them advance and destroyed their supply lines.
Over the last 6 months an unprecedented amount of military hardware poured into Ukraine.
Russia faces the choice of escalation or settlement
Posted by: Frenziedfrog | Sep 10 2022 9:58 utc | 79
Still fighting for Liman. Could there be a trade, Kharkiv for Donetsk ?
Posted by: Jabo | Sep 10 2022 10:02 utc | 80
The thing to remember is Russia cannot lose in Ukraine in any shape or form. If they do no one will take the Russians seriously again and NATO will attack and invade Russia. So they have to win. Therefore the Russians have to stay and fight I wonder if the Ukrainians understand that and have what it takes for such a fight. A defeat in Ukraine will bring regime change in Russia. Putin can't lose the Russian people won't let him. If he goes he could be replaced with someone much harder and tougher.
Evacuating civilians 36 hours before and leaving a point in your front line weak esp when the enemy is building up its forces for an attack in front of your eyes,sounds to me like a well laid trap. One in which the Ukrainians with their desperation for a victory have fallen into.
It sounds like mayhem for those of the RF forces at the front but I don't think it will be too long before they gather themselves again.
Yes I agree Russia needs to do more to address the security needs of the civilian population.
Posted by: Sanz | Sep 10 2022 10:02 utc | 81
@Pobeda 90
Unfortunately Pitin cultists are still too much in Denial of the fact that their deity is incompetent to realise this.
If Putin does not now order actual warfare to win he should be couped and replaced before he takes Russia down the drain with him.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 10:02 utc | 82
A trade, really? Have you not being paying attention? The nazis are fanatics and they won't stop. Since the start of the war they have only up their discourse. Last time, I think it was Podolyak, said their territories back, including Crimea, would not be enough. Reparations too. And now that Russians cant advance an inch you think they are doing some backstage "trade"?
Get fucking real!
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 10:06 utc | 83
I've read not just this article, but also every single comment up to the time as I write this.
This is WW3 folks.
Ukraine is just a drill.
Eventually you'll stop being entertained and it's gunna suck.
It's all fun and games watching videos and reading blogs.
Once the smoke and mirrors become flames and blades...
What will you do?
Posted by: Robert Michael Hope | Sep 10 2022 10:06 utc | 84
Posted by: Robert Michael Hope | Sep 10 2022 10:06 utc | 98
Better stay out of the way of the steam roller and stockpile a lot of stuff. Hope you're in the eye of the flashpoint, not on the edges, but keep in mind that you most likely won't.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 10 2022 10:10 utc | 85
I am sure I am overhelmed about the moment, but, at this point, I am not even sure these "modern weapons" Solovyov is saying exist. And if they do, if they are owned in scale, or just half a dozen models.
I mean, we have been mocking western MSM and anglo intelligence since day one, maybe they have been right from the get go? Russia is just a harmless paper tiger.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 10:12 utc | 86
The Gods of Chaos reign on earth is seems. I am disappointed but not surprised. Very few things surprise me anymore.
All the reports and videos for months of cannon fodder troops describing their horrible situations never did jive with the lack of territorial gain by Russian forces. An enemy so depleted should simply be steamrolled, but Russia did not do it...
The unlimited support of the US and NATO at some point had to have it's effect. In truth Russia is at war with the entire western world.
Both sides are all in on this and neither can back down without total defeat. It will escalate. The dogs of war have been set loose upon the world, you can just feel the chaos in the air and madness of our leaders.
Black Days Ahead.
Posted by: JustAMaverick | Sep 10 2022 10:13 utc | 87
Posted by: Chessmaster | Sep 10 2022 8:27 utc | 32
To you, and all the other doubters,it is less than a week since your last hiding/massacre at the ingulets crossing and multiple other failed operations (Power Station) etc.
Please remind me again the results of the Russian Air force,Tos-1a,500lb Fabs,precision artillery on those Ukrainian offensives achieved?
It is laughable that you think these offenses to "no where" will be any different?
Except,further depletion of Nato manpower,equipment and Demilitization?
Posted by: Kim | Sep 10 2022 10:17 utc | 88
China's 20th Party Conference begins on the 19th of Oct, which typically lasts about a week.
All mid-term planning will be effected. Six weeks is a very short time.
Posted by: too scents | Sep 10 2022 10:19 utc | 89
There will probably be massive expansion of war production, but production lines don't get set up in a day. Also USA is expanding artillery shell production. China better get their head-out-of-their-as# if they want to thrive for another 1000 years, too.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 90
@Kim,
Depletion of Nato manpower, equipment? Wake up! There are not even NATO manpower on the ground, other than some few "unnoficial". Equipment? Do you know the size of the US war complex? And US economy? I think some of you are just crazy.
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 91
This is the main line of British/Ukrainian attack. By the looks of the thread, troll factories are working 24/7.
https://t.me/s/legitimniy
Functionaries of the President's Office began to beat up cheap fakes in the hope of sowing panic among Russians, raising hooray-patriotism in the Ukrainian rear, well, we think the most important thing is that someone on Bankova is just working out the allocated budgets. Suckers sell fakes, and functionaries launder millions for new apartments in London.
Here is such a game of "fake screenshots", dispersed on all channels of the Office of the President, of course, the emphasis is placed on the mass nature of fakes, and the fact that no one will check. Functionaries understand that all the same on the image of these TG channels and mass media, they have long been drain tanks that feed their readers with selected g .. vnom.
Well, the President's Office has long considered Ukrainians to be "naive" to put it mildly, and it is best to listen to Arestovich's speech, he literally voiced his attitude to Ukrainians in one of his videos.
.......
Our Kremlin source reports that Moscow is aware that the President's Office is involved in the game of British screenwriters, who are now implementing a repeated massive blitzkrieg aimed at destabilizing Russian society.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 92
Unfortunately Pitin cultists are still too much in Denial of the fact that their deity is incompetent to realise this.Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 10 2022 10:02 utc | 96
I was explaining the other day how the COVID response showed the true colors of governments all around the world, and how everyone but the Chinese failed the test. With Putin being particularly bad.
You can't expect from someone who has just sacrificed 1.25 million Russians to an entirely preventable disease as well as left millions more with lasting internal organ damage that will be dragging the nation's development back for decades to come, and for the most despicable possible reason too - in order not to tax the rich so that he can pay the poor to stay home - to then do a good job at defending the interests of the state and the Russian people in Ukraine.
You also cannot expect from a state that never bothered to organize itself properly to contain an infectious disease the way the Chinese do - i.e. regular mass testing, digital tracking of contacts, setting up isolation facilities, etc. - to then properly mobilize and roll out a well oiled military machine that will crush everything in its path instead of committing blunder after blunder after blunder.
Those things are directly and intimately connected.
The USSR was well set up to do well on both fronts, but Putin has ruled as a neoliberal for 22 years, and while we are all keeping our fingers crossed to be proven wrong, that is a large enough time span to know that we are not to expect a return of the key aspects of the system from those times even though nothing short of that will achieve victory now.
And you see the results.
Posted by: Tbx | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 93
Posted by: Pobeda | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 106
Well tbh US industry is a joke and not anything you probably think it is/was sometime in the past. They have a few corporate production lines of stuff producing over priced malfunctioning equipment, shipyards and surface fleet rusting away. Society is completely degenerated and they rely on China for everything.
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 10 2022 10:24 utc | 94
Doh - it’s about the Nazis - stoopid!
Ukrops are brainwashed from children through fairytales into being Russian hating Nazis
Just like Hitler youth were.
They are taught that humans evolved in Ukraine! And then spread to Egypt to build the Pyramids! And a whole lot of other dumbed down brainwashing along with dumb songs and ziegheil saluts - it is fully recorded and shown - little children doing Nazi salutes.
These poor Ukrainian children are brought up to believe that their People are the original Europeans - only white ones of course - and Russians are less than human.
They really are led to believe in some make believe English invention of ‘orks’ - some strange other sub human species! It’s the only way they can be made demented enough to throw themselves into destruction and mass murder - ultimately suicidal idiots. Like these Japanese who believed their emperor was a god. Etc
The real history cannot so easily be erased. It was Russians who defeated the Nazis.
Not the US or U.K. in WW2.
Thank you for that Russians.
It was the US and U.K. that financed and supported the rise of Nazism to attack Russia then- as it is now with the Nazis of Ukraine.
Fuck Us and our Aristo Nazi lovers and backers.
Not all Germans were Nazis obviously. Not all Ukrainians are Nazis now obviously.
It didn’t stop Nazi Germany then ; it does not stop Nazi Ukraine now.
We and our Aristos and Bankers are the supporters of the ukronazis now as we were the supporters of the fascists and Nazis then, including Franco and Mussolini - just like the dead queen of Britain Nazi saluted as a child, taught by her mother, the not so cuddly, gin soaked mama of hers. With her nasty friends such as paedo necrophiliac Savile.
No one wants to talk about our role in creating and supporting Nazis. Just so that we can use them to invade Russia every fucking Century.
That’s why I fully support Russians in their latest defence from us and against the Nazis that we have created in The Ukraine.
Any more questions from Nazi lovers and Russian haters?
Let’s meet in person if you think you are hard enough. We will be waiting for you nazi lovers in all the Cable Streets - bring your weapons and cavalry, I’ll bring my childhood marbles - come on down for a lesson in history.
Again.
We hate Nazis.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Sep 10 2022 10:25 utc | 95
The "Lord Ho-ho brigade" out in force these last 48 hours, it seems.
As per usual with many things, in this war, only time will tell. It looks very much like some sort of Ardennen-Offensive and will, IMHO, be noted down in the history books as a great PR stunt at the cost of many "Ukrainian" soldiers and more civilians. One can indeed only hope that most reasonable people who are able to do so have by now left the area, even though the number of hardcore-Nazis might have been reduced significantly since Bucha.
I tend to refrain to put too much emphasis on what the Dima chap on the Military Channel "thinks", more on what is actually happening and how the area looked/-s. Compare that to/with the RMoD statements and some other sources and if you have a fairly good idea what went on. What will happen is rather difficult to project. War is quite a dynamic a thing and not every loss or victory is a disaster for this or that side. Over the course of the war, as one can clearly see, the Ukrainians have taken a pounding and lost much of the Donbass area, and of its army. There is every reason to believe that the reserves of the Donbass PRs are not endless, yet their losses will still be significantly lower than those of Kiev's troops. In fact, I wouldn`t be surprised that this recent attack by the Ukrainian leads to more volunteers / contract soldiers from Russia willing to go there. The PR pendulum swings both directions ...
I see quite a few chaps calling for Russia to throw in 100k or more soldiers, or that they should have done so from the off. To these a wee reminder. this is not monopoly or a Battlefield video/PC game. We speak about real people here and if anything, Russia / the Soviet Union has paid bad blood tolls over the decades. They are not in a hurry to fight the DPR/LPR vs Ukraine conflict and paying with Russian blood. Likewise, anything beyond the Donbass is to a large extent hostile country, as opposed to ethnically dominated by Russian-speaking (and may I say thinking) people. I doubt the Russians have any greater interest in that region than they have in the Baltics, Finnland or Sweden. No matter what some braindead Western media creeps or politicians bay about "Russian imperialism". They will de-militarize as much of western Ukraine as possible, mostly via air-strikes. Once winter is there, Ukraine will have different problems to deal with.
Posted by: CM of Berlin | Sep 10 2022 10:30 utc | 96
Why does you map not show 21st Army Group into which 12th Army was inserted by Eisenhowever ?
Is this a US map denying the presence of other nations fighting in battle of the Bulge perchance ?
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Sep 10 2022 10:32 utc | 97
I pray to God this ends soon with no more pointless waste of Russian or Ukrainian lives.
Not so sure about praying for our nuke trolls and escalation trolls. But clearly, they need God's grace because an escalation of the "SMO" into actual WW3 would be an unbelievably nightmarish scenario for the majority of humanity.
Agree that the Russian government has no way back, they must achieve something they can plausibly declare as victory in Ukraine or the state is in very serious trouble. So I'm confident they will simply commit more resources until they win - but while Russia may feel like it's not on the clock here, the longer this goes on, the greater the danger of the armed conflict widening like an uncontrollable wildfire.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 10 2022 10:33 utc | 98
Why bother who wins? Nuclear annihilation is awating us anyway. As Michael Hudson wrote: The US empire won't allow its hegemony to collapse and Russia won't allow itself to be destroyed. So, one way or the other the outcome will be a nuclear wasteland, and the nationalistic psycopaths in Ukraine being just a tool to achieve this, as they, too, prefer the world to burn than to settle a negotiated peace
Posted by: salvo | Sep 10 2022 10:34 utc | 99
Posted by: Tbx | Sep 10 2022 10:20 utc | 108
And you see the results.
??
Sorry,I was out getting groceries.
Did I miss something??
What results???
Posted by: Kim | Sep 10 2022 10:35 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
If Shariy is not lying (and if the Ukrainians did not throw in a photo misinformation), then the Ukrainians took Kupyansk ... If this is true, then the front in this area has simply collapsed.
Posted by: NightTripper | Sep 10 2022 6:59 utc | 1