Ukraine SitRep: The Kursk Incursion Was Stopped
On its seventh day the Ukrainian army incursion into the Russian Kursk oblast seems to have come to a halt. The front-lines are hardening and the Russian side is using its artillery and bombing predominance to push it back.
There are three Ukrainian brigades involved plus a number of battalions that have been dispatched away from their brigades involved in other parts of the front. The 80th and the 82nd paratrooper brigades are the main forces. They have partly been trained in Britain and Germany and are using western equipment. The 22nd mechanized brigade is the third major unit. Then there are some five to ten battalions from various other brigades.
The Economist reports (archived) on the operation from a hospital in Sumy:
[T]he accounts from Ukraine’s wounded suggest it has not been a walk in the park, and remains risky. The hospital ward reeks of the sacrifice: soil, blood, and stale sweat. Foil burn-dressings line the corridor. In the yard, the patients, some wrapped like mummies from head to toe in bandages, smoke furiously. Angol, a 28-year-old paratrooper with the 33rd brigade, looks like a Christmas tree. His left arm is immobilised in a fixation device. Tubes, bags and wires protrude from his body. He was also about 30km into Russia when his luck ran out. He isn’t sure if it was artillery or a bomb that hit him. Maybe it was friendly fire; there was a lot of that. All he can remember is falling to the ground and shouting “300”, the code for wounded. The Russians had been on the run up to then, he insists, abandoning equipment and ammunition as fast as they could.
That the Russia border troops have taken to run is not astonishing. They were mostly conscripts and not armed sufficiently to withstand an armored onslaught:
Some aspects of Ukraine’s operation appear to have been meticulously planned. Operational security delivered the element of surprise, a crucial aspect of warfare. “We sent our most combat-ready units to the weakest point on their border,” says a general-staff source deployed to the region. “Conscript soldiers faced paratroopers and simply surrendered.” But other aspects of the operation indicate a certain haste in preparation. All three soldiers quoted in this article were pulled, unrested, from under-pressure front lines in the east with barely a day’s notice.
The Ukrainian army moved in with the best troops it still had plus some extras scrapped from the bottom of its barrel. Russian units which have been moved to the border have put a halt to the Ukrainian movement. Mobile reconnaissance platoons the Ukrainians have been sending down the roads to outlaying towns have mostly been eliminated. The huge progress seen on some Ukraine friendly maps now looks much smaller. Some 30 small settlements have been captured but even the local administration center Sudzha, with previously 6,000 inhabitants, has not been fully conquered.
A new Ukrainian attempt today to cross the border at the Kolotilovka checkpoint in the Belgograd region has failed and the Ukrainian units involved there have taken losses.
Russia has thus mostly contained the Ukrainian onslaught. The operation is now a new meat grinder like Krinky on the southern front previously was. An operationally isolated attrition pit into which the Ukrainians will have to feed more and more reserves they do not have or will retreat from treeline by treeline.
Russian drones and bombers are now leading the fight. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that the Ukrainian incursion has lost much of its armored equipment (machine translation):
In total, during the fighting in the Kursk area, the enemy lost up to 1,610 servicemen, 32 tanks, 23 armored personnel carriers, 17 infantry fighting vehicles, 136 armored combat vehicles, 47 vehicles, four anti-aircraft missile systems, a multiple launch rocket launcher and 13 field artillery pieces.
The Ukrainian side knew of the danger that its operation could be a dead end. As the Economist writes:
Ukraine does not appear to be reinforcing its positions in any serious sense. “Our calf demands a wolf,” the security source cautions, using a local saying to warn against overly ambitious objectives.
...
The source cautions against comparing the Kursk incursion to Ukraine’s successful swift recapture of much of Kharkiv province in late 2022. The Russian army is taking the war more seriously now, he says: “The danger is we’ll fall into a trap, and Russia will grind our teeth down.”
It seems to me that this is exactly what has now happened. It was utterly foreseeable.
The operation though is a momentarily still a success in that it increased the moral of the Ukrainian side:
Tired, dirty and exhausted, the soldiers say they regret no part of the risky operation that has already killed scores of their comrades: they would rejoin it in a heartbeat. “For the first time in a long time we have movement,” says Angol. “I felt like a tiger.”
That week long rush of good news for Ukraine is now at its end. The involved units, which already lost a full brigade worth of equipment, will shrink away further. There will be no one to replace them. In the Donbas the Russian army continues its offensive against the weakened and retreating Ukrainian units. New York, Chasiv Yar and Toretsk will soon be taken.
There will soon be questions asked in Kiev, "What was the point?", to which no one will have a good answer. The Ukrainian commander in chief General Syrski may well have to leave over it even though the pressure to do the hopeless operation came, as The Times writes (archived), from elsewhere:
President Zelensky’s personal fingerprints are all over it. It’s been an open secret in Kyiv for many months that the president was pressing his military chiefs to launch a summer offensive.Given Ukraine’s manpower and resources problems, they were hesitant. But Zelensky is desperate to reverse the narrative that Ukraine is losing its war.
Zelenski believed the Kursk operation would help to keep the war going with Russia failing over time and Ukraine becoming the winner. The Russian Duma announced today that there will not be another mobilization. A mobilization, and following unrest, is something Zelenski had hoped for. There will be no uprising in Russia because of the Kursk incursion, just an increase in nationalism.
The week long operations was certainly insufficient to do change the long term narrative. The high it has caused in Kiev and elsewhere will soon make room for a deep depression.
Posted by b on August 12, 2024 at 17:28 UTC | Permalink
next page »he polluted the Ukraine thread the other day saying very demeaning things and swearing at like 6 other people... it derailed any intelligent conversations...
Posted by: Al Balog | Aug 12 2024 17:31 utc | 2
oops sorry Albert. we have been sharing the same PC i clicked his drop down name. giggles.
Posted by: nini | Aug 12 2024 17:33 utc | 3
🖼️>❗️🇷🇺🇺🇦 Kursk Direction: Battles near Belitsa and the situation on the approaches to Korenevo What is known as of 7:00 pm on August 12, 2024In the Kursk direction, fierce battles continue almost along the entire line of contact. At the same time, against the background of the data from the scene and footage of objective control, it was possible to establish a more accurate configuration of the front line in several sectors.
🔻In the Korenevo district, near Obukhovka, the AFU attempted an attack towards Snahost, and fighting is currently underway in the area of the village. The status of Krasnooktyabr'skoye remains unknown: at the moment, there is no information about the entry of Ukrainian formations into the settlement.
▪️The enemy also does not stop trying to break through the defense of the Russian troops in Korenevo and north of it towards Tolpinskoye, where they were stopped by return fire. No battles are reported in Vetreno and Matveyevka, but it is not known for sure whether the Russian Armed Forces are present in the settlements.
▪️Fighting is underway in Ol'govka, meanwhile the Russian troops have cleared Kremyanoye of the remnants of Ukrainian formations. After the recent defeat of the Ukrainian armored column in the area of Zhuravli, the enemy advanced further north towards Obshchiy Kolodez'. To the south, near Kruglen'koye, the Russian Armed Forces are holding their positions, while Viktorovka is under the control of the AFU.
▪️The situation in the area of the small settlements of Malaya Loknya, Nikolayevka and Malaya Sorochka remains to be clarified. Along the road leading to Ryl'sk from the direction of Sudzha, attempts by the enemy to consolidate on the approaches to Kromskiye Byki and Durovo-Bobrik are recorded. At the moment, it is not possible to reliably establish whether the enemy is still there or not.
▪️In the area of Shaposhnikovo, Semyonovka, Levshinka and Otradnoye, Ukrainian formations are concentrating their forces, apparently for a further push northward. At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported during the day about the suppression of an attempt to break through from this area towards Kauchuk. Meanwhile, the presence of Russian troops remains in the gullies east of there.
🔻In the Sudzha district, fighting continues on the approaches to Martynivka. With a high degree of probability, Sudzha is currently under the control of the enemy, as evidenced by the footage published by the enemy from the center of the city. And judging by the lack of sounds of battles and shootouts, the front line is already relatively far beyond the settlement.
▪️On the southwestern outskirts of Sudzha itself, the presence of the Russian Armed Forces is reliably known in the villages of Dmitryukov and Agronom, while enemy infantry has been spotted in Bondarevka and Makhnovka
https://t.me/rybar_in_english/16922
Posted by: Down South | Aug 12 2024 17:37 utc | 4
Another violent PR exercise. Zelensky wants to put off the date he runs to his villas, hopefully with those swiss bank accounts untouched.
Posted by: Cresty | Aug 12 2024 17:38 utc | 5
The interesting part is: What was Russia thinking?
They left the border lightly defended.
Mercouris notes that some with knowledge and insight are claiming that Russia was encouraging such an attack.
Alternately, perhaps the Russian military is a bit over-stretched at this point.
Clearly, they will get it back under control, but unfortunate for civilians and killed/captured soldiers.
Posted by: jared | Aug 12 2024 17:44 utc | 6
"On its seventh day the Ukrainian army incursion into the Russian Kursk oblast seems to have come to a halt."
That's inadvertently funny. I especially like the passive language. Indeed even the Yes-trolls would have a hard time claiming Russia really "stopped" an invasion, as opposed to its being a half-assed raid which petered out on its own yet still manages to occupy ground.
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 17:47 utc | 7
In total, during the fighting in the Kursk area, the enemy lost up to 1,610 servicemen
Posted by b on August 12, 2024 at 17:28 UTC
Jeepers! Add to that the 1935 troop losses recorded in today’s Donbass SMO report from the Russian Defence Ministry, then we must be looking at a macabre daily record for Ukrainian personnel casualties since the start of the entire operation. Some serious personnel attrition going on that can’t possibly be sustainable for any meaningful length of time.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 17:48 utc | 8
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 17:47 utc | 7
Ah! You’re back! It has been noted that you completely failed to comment on an earlier post about Ukraine’s debt levels interfering with its ability to actually pay its troops.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 17:51 utc | 9
The mathematics of war have never favoured Ukraine, which must husband its limited resources, and an assault deep inside <...> Russian territory risks making the situation worse.
And yes, it was always a trap.
Posted by: AI | Aug 12 2024 17:53 utc | 10
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 17:51 utc | 9
"Ah! You’re back! It has been noted that you completely failed to comment on an earlier post about Ukraine’s debt levels interfering with its ability to actually pay its troops."
I don't know what you're talking about. You're so stupid you think money is a problem here?
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 17:55 utc | 11
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 17:55 utc | 11
I’m talking about debt, specifically Ukraine’s national debt.
But clearly you think money isn’t a problem as you equally clearly don’t understand the difference between money and currency, just as you don’t understand the difference between a Special Military Operation and an all-out war, just as you clearly don’t understand the difference between logistically supportable bridgeheads and social media-driven adventurism.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:02 utc | 12
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:02 utc | 12
Indeed, your world is beyond me.
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:05 utc | 13
Indeed, your world is beyond me.
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:05 utc | 13
That much is clear, to say the least!
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:07 utc | 14
I do understand the difference between a real war and a fake one.
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:08 utc | 15
While everyone was focused on Kursk, RUAF entered the first high rise buildings in eastern Toretsk and moving further NE of New York to encircle it.
https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1823057363059851652
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 18:10 utc | 16
I do understand the difference between a real war and a fake one.
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:08 utc | 15Congratulations on your enlightenment...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:10 utc | 17
Arguing with an idiot is like playing chess with a pigeon.
It is also idiotic.
Place is overflowing with idiots it seems.
Carry on.
Posted by: saner | Aug 12 2024 18:11 utc | 18
Why can't Russia prevent a literal invasion and massacre of its civilians?
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:15 utc | 19
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:15 utc | 19
For some reason, I don’t find your sudden concern for the fate of Russian civilians to be sincere.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:19 utc | 21
“Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” ― Mark Twain
Don't feed the trolls.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 12 2024 18:20 utc | 22
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 12 2024 18:20 utc | 22
OK, point taken, I’m out.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:21 utc | 23
The point about the AFU feeling exhilaration when on the attack, isn't dissimilar to the Germans after 1942-3. When morale had sagged.
Trouble is it flared up then fizzled out. As ephemeral gains evaporated & the situation was worse than ever.
There was no "wunderwaffen" or "brilliant stroke", to be had...
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:21 utc | 24
Kokhols tried the diversion technique , they planed an in & out on the weakest border to reshuffle RUAF logistics on the frontline. It seems like a failure and now the RUAF seems to not bee so keen on the "out" part of the plant. Sending tanks and troops on a bulge near Kursk : what could possibly goes wrong ?
Posted by: Hiro Masamune | Aug 12 2024 18:22 utc | 25
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 18:19 utc | 21
"For some reason, I don’t find your sudden concern for the fate of Russian civilians to be sincere."
Actually, so far as I've seen, the Yes-trolls here consistently express contempt for Russian civilians killed or driven as refugees. Are you one of these commenters who sneer at them?
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:26 utc | 26
At the start of a busy day, we have "Putin War Room--Safeguarding Civilians" that also contains a short essay by Marat Khairullen about the Oligarch snake Oleg Deripaska, https://karlof1.substack.com/p/putin-war-room-safeguarding-civilians
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 18:15 utc | 19
How many Russian civilians have died in this 'offensive'?
And, by the way, military actions aimed to kill civilians are not military operations but terrorist operations.
Once again Ukraine (nato) is only able to have limited success in terroristico actions.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 18:27 utc | 28
I saw some video of a town the nazi's had been through. Shot up civilian cars lined the road through the town. A straight out terrorist operation to 'kill Russians' as the Americans like to say.
Pulling forces in from other fronts right at the start of the operation was how Nato was able to pull off a surprise attack.
To the last Ukrainian.....
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 18:32 utc | 29
Could somebody explain why the Russians don't clise the border, containing the enclosure in a big cauldren? More to the point, why wasn't that an obvious threat to the Ukrainians?
Posted by: curious | Aug 12 2024 18:32 utc | 30
All I can think of is Ardennes Christmas 1944. Same thinking, same result. Suzhda is Bastogne. Green boys on the border easy to puncture. Same waste of resources better used in defense.
Same Nazi desperation.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 31
The interesting part is: What was Russia thinking?
They left the border lightly defended.
Mercouris notes that some with knowledge and insight are claiming that Russia was encouraging such an attack.
Alternately, perhaps the Russian military is a bit over-stretched at this point.
Clearly, they will get it back under control, but unfortunate for civilians and killed/captured soldiers.
Posted by: jared | Aug 12 2024 17:44 utc | 6
---------------
The border is too long to defend in force everywhere, a thin screen limitarei can defend it against scouts & small raids.
Strongholds & mobile reserves held further back, are needed to contain, push back or destroy. Enemy forces who attack in strength.
This is hardly a novelty. Particularly for Russia, with it's sprawling borders, that don't always have natural defensive terrain.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 32
Propaganda talking points for this suicide mission by the Ukroids is "why cant Russia close its border". "The Russian military leadership is incompetent/corrupt".
Many trolls swamping the media in conjunction with the suicide clowns in Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 18:40 utc | 33
Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 18:32 utc | 29--
Reports of Ukie artillery shells loaded with gas aimed at civilians tasked with repairing downed electrical lines. Putin announced an increase in military recruitment so there's no need for the government to mobilize and Russians are mobilizing themselves. The element of surprise along the border is now dead.
seeing pictures and videos of dead "ukrainians" on several sites shows one notable little detail:
a lot of them have either the SS insignia somewhere patched on, or they wear the wolfsangel or black sun.
think of that whatever you will. nazi apologist napoleon will of course decry those facts as "muh nazi whaaaaaaaaaa" while he is still looking for putins financial documents, but the facts remain.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Aug 12 2024 18:44 utc | 35
This was hardly an invasion, in reality it was really a recon in force, with several airborne brigades at the spearpoint. And by the way RF border troops are really supposed to engage and withdraw, they are not equipped or designed to stand up to regular armored infantry forces.
Since the UFA forces lack any air cover what so ever, this farcical expedition was doomed from the start. They sacrificed their remaining best troops on a PR excursion. Pathetic incompetence......
Already over 200 UFA armored vehicles, MBT's (mostly T80's of Serbian make), APC's (mostly obsolete US M113's), IVF's (mostly obsolete M1 Bradley's), and armored Hunvees, and Marders have been turkey shot by RF attack helo's and drones and Kornet anti tank ATGM's, and RF artillery.........its a massacre.
In the end this was a purely political adventure engineered by the Master War Strategist Volo Zelenskyy.
This episode really signals the end the active phrase of the war, and beginning of active collapse of UFA forces.....expect huge RF gains in the next month, the UFA reserves are now spent.......
Posted by: Tobias Cole | Aug 12 2024 18:44 utc | 36
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 32
Yes, agree. Russia is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. They must only lightly maintain parts of the border, again like the Ardennes in 1944. One thing I'll say about the Ardennes Offensive: it had aims (Antwerp, splitting the US and British forces, etc)—not great or intelligent or achievable aims, but aims. This operation has no aim other than a hallucinogenic and momentary buzz ("I felt like a tiger" is such a sad statement: I couldn't face the enemy is a serious defensive conflict so I beat up some teenagers on the border... yeah, real tough). Every one of these units will be annihilated and then it will be Ukraine's turn to have an empty border. And maybe that was the point. Russia may be neither omnipotent nor omniscient but they have serious form when it comes to expelling enemies on their territory.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 18:45 utc | 37
> Angol, a 28-year-old paratrooper with the 33rd brigade, looks like a Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas Angol. I you are lucky Santa will bring you a lump of coal so you don't freeze.
In other news I was informed that Chinese logistics has suspended the handling of li-on batteries as needed by drones because of the current heatwave effecting the region. That was the excuse I was given for my troublesome battery delivery.
The thousands of drones consumed per day seems to have driven down battery pack costs. Until now.
Posted by: too scents | Aug 12 2024 18:47 utc | 38
The border is too long to defend in force everywhere, a thin screen limitarei can defend it against scouts & small raids.Strongholds & mobile reserves held further back, are needed to contain, push back or destroy. Enemy forces who attack in strength.
This is hardly a novelty. Particularly for Russia, with it's sprawling borders, that don't always have natural defensive terrain.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 32
As I said before, the problem with ISR and this attack was that AFU (Nato) assembled this force very far from the front. As indicated by b's article, some, even a substantial proportion of all troops for this offensive were pulled off some other line just a day or two before it started without knowing where they are going. Others were put in this attack from a week or two week bootcamp.
So the force was assembled far from the line and driven to the border staging area in a matter of day or two. So no amount of ISR would help, or give time to deploy to the most likely attack vector. Yet US ISR had been studying for weeks at least where they would attack.
Judging by the main method of this attack, the most important thing would probably be small/mobile ATGM teams deployed both near the border, and further away from the border, covering the main roads, and perhaps largest fields on most likely attack vectors. So there are mobile/recon units to scout out what/where attacker is doing, and rapid deployment counter forces for the discovered attack vectors.
Also, basically the militia in Sudzha was holding the town for several days. This definitely put a massive dent on the entire AFU plan, because they were of course supposed to get Sudzha on day one. They didn't, not on day two, or day three, which came RUAF time to push back their other vectors.
And now we are back to grinding with bombs, and drones, and since it's on Russian territory and AFU supply from Sumy is more or less chocked to one road, the thing doesn't have too much of a chance.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 18:48 utc | 39
To the last Ukrainian.....Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 18:32 utc | 29
Apparently the initial assault was led by the Georgian mercenary unit, I suspect there are many more soldiers of fortune of other nationalities that have taken part in the incursion. To the last neonazi nutjob...!
Posted by: ThirdWorldDude | Aug 12 2024 18:53 utc | 40
Posted by: curious | Aug 12 2024 18:32 utc | 30
They are pounding the rear in the Sumy region that is the point of the logistic supply of the 'bridgehead', if any.
Once the front line doesn't receive, fuel, food, water and rotation it's practically dead.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 18:55 utc | 41
War is foreign policy, which is always domestic policy. Winning attrition is not necessarily the same thing as winning the politics. Grant's Overland Campaign jeopardized the Union victory even while inflicting more attrition on the Confederates. The battle for political morale matters therefore losing or holding territory matters.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Aug 12 2024 18:55 utc | 42
War is war, the Russians understand that, the Chinese understand that, the Iranians understand that. But the Ukrainians are operating under modern day Western Narrative control logic, just repeat your story enough and people will think your story is true and will act according. Back in the 1940s people would have called this the Big Lie theory of political control that the German leaders used as their entire country was beaten into the ground and they refused to accept reality. Narratives don't win wars and never have, weapons and armies win wars how many times do the Western fools need to be taught this lesson.
Posted by: Kadath | Aug 12 2024 18:57 utc | 43
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 17:51 utc | 9
#############
Dutchman is a nihilist.
That goes for many of the NAFO posters (Napoleon, Julian, etc). They cannot say ANYTHING positive about NATO, they have to try to lower everyone else.
People who have no values are not worth our time.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 18:58 utc | 44
It was planned as a suicide mission to seize the Kursk NPP. Still suicidal if they had achieved that because there is no way they could have kept a functioning supply line open. Success and they could have caused a lot of problems. Having failed their objective, it is now just a suicide mission. Supply lines will be cut and units that don't surrender will be destroyed.
seeing pictures and videos of dead "ukrainians" on several sites shows one notable little detail:a lot of them have either the SS insignia somewhere patched on, or they wear the wolfsangel or black sun.
think of that whatever you will. nazi apologist napoleon will of course decry those facts as "muh nazi whaaaaaaaaaa" while he is still looking for putins financial documents, but the facts remain.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Aug 12 2024 18:44 utc | 35
Not surprising as Ukraine sent its better troops to the theatre, not conscripts and territorial defense units. Those stayed on the lines in the Donbass. And its 'better' more motivated troops are also the ideological fanatics, ie nazis.
Posted by: Mike R | Aug 12 2024 18:59 utc | 45
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 18:55 utc | 41
People who compare Ukraine to Nazi Germany are really playing down Germany, or playing up Ukraine. This blitzkrieg was really bad.
Yes, the Nazi panzers ran out of fuel two, but during Barbarossa they did have enough infantry formations to cover all those flanks. Then they could again utilize the roads and eventually rail lines, bringing more fuel for panzers to start the next wave offensive to try and punch through some line. Which is the basic idea of blitzkrieg.
Ukraine never bough more fuel, and they are restricted to a single road from Sumy to supply their offensives toward Korenevo, Lgov (Kromskie Byki) and Bolshoe Soldatskoe. A single chokepoint, probably controlled by RUAF bombs and drones and artillery 24/7. Not only the road, but all the depots further back toward Sumy (the depots MUST be near the main road to be efficient).
So now hitting the rear, which crumbles the three pre-mentioned axis'.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 19:00 utc | 46
You're so stupid you think money is a problem here?
Posted by: flying dutchman | Aug 12 2024 17:55 utc | 11
Money IS a problem for Ukraine. The mafia is financing their war. They've been stripped of their assets. These mafia fuckers are just giggling because they have Russian Slavs killing Russian Slavs. If Ukrainains stop killing Russians the mafia stops funding, calls in the debt and the economy collapses. Ukraine become another Syria.
Posted by: HB_Norica | Aug 12 2024 19:01 utc | 47
The role of mercenaries in this entire conflict will merit special attention in future studies. It's one thing to fight for cash, but surely most of them can see it's a one way ticket? "We'll pay you $100K but you'll never get it, or spend it, because you're invading Russia." Well, duh. Je pensais que les Français étaient pragmatiques et intelligents? Mais je me souviens des défenseurs du Reichstag : La division Charlemagne.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 19:01 utc | 48
ThirdWorldDude | Aug 12 2024 18:53 utc | 40
Yes. From what I could make of it, many of the leading elements were foreigners. Something like a Nato special forces leading edge.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:02 utc | 49
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 19:01 utc | 48
It could work provided that the wage is payed in advance.
Some more or less desperate folks will take the risk provided that their relatives can benefit of the sum.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 19:06 utc | 50
Spot on, and exactly right.
Not that long ago I read about Goebbels "Total War" speech and how both he and his audience reveled in it like it was the smoke from a pipe filled with Heisenberg's finest meth.
Goebbels Sportpalast Speech - "Total War" | HD & COLORIZED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4RiCnxNJnE
Goebbels was walking on air after delivering the speech, over the moon with how he had nailed it and had the audience in the palm of his hand.
http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/do_you_want_total_war.htm
Total war is therefore the demand of the hour. We must put an end to the bourgeois attitude that we have also seen in this war: Wash my back, but don't get me wet! The danger facing us is enormous. The efforts we take to meet it must be just as enormous. The time has come to remove the kid gloves and use our fists. We can no longer make only partial and careless use of the war potential at home and in the significant parts of Europe that we control. We must use our full resources, as quickly and thoroughly as it is organizationally and practically possible. Unnecessary concern is wholly out of place. The future of Europe hangs on our success in the East. We are ready to defend it.
Posted by: Babel-17 | Aug 12 2024 19:07 utc | 51
1 and 2 in this thread might take a look at the following two links.
osted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 12 2024 14:38 utc | 528 thanks for the link, the url given by Tom lists six ways to disrupt a forum and it explains each in detail..
https://ritholtz.com/2012/11/the-gentlemans-guide-to-forum-disruption/ very instructive.. what follows is my understanding of what the link was talking about.
FORUM SLIDING object=DOWNGRADE THE IMPORTANCE OF TARGET POST.
Use fake accounts to Lay the groundwork in advance of need for misdirecting a forum; then when needed use the advance stuff to dround-out the importance of the target post by overlaying posts of useless meanings.
Census cracking..object=NO FOUNDATION to the claim. fake accounts argue the target comment has no foundation..
fake accounts object=CONFUSE UNDERSTANDING Attach unwarranted importance to a substituted or redirected, subject matter or point,
Topic dilution. object= RESOURCE BURN continually post unrelated disruptive posts.
Information collection .. object="INCREASE RISK" attack the psychic, attributes of the target person, "involve or threaten on-going surveillance by authorities, removal from the forum, other reprisals.
Anger trolling..object=INDUCE DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR. berate, scold and blame the target for exposing truth.
Maybe we should all work to learn how to identify when any one of the techniques is in play.. ?
Posted by: snake | Aug 12 2024 18:38 utc | 590
https://www.unz.com/article/the-ideological-enforcement-industry-part-2/
there are 4 pictures on the front page of the article which everyone should see.
Posted by: snake | Aug 12 2024 19:08 utc | 52
This is hardly a novelty. Particularly for Russia, with it's sprawling borders, that don't always have natural defensive terrain.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 32
===========
And that is the problem with Ukraine.
As a "border" state.
The northeast border of the Ukraine with Russia is a very wiggly line along hills and small valleys. Over 1200 miles (excluding the maritime border). How could Russia fortify or defend the whole border equally, all the time?
(The interior border between West and East Germany was 858 miles.)
Best for Russia to absorb Ukraine up to the Dniepr, IMHO.
Posted by: Jane | Aug 12 2024 19:09 utc | 54
I messed up in what I wrote above, I neglected to include what post I was replying to, namely ...
Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 12 2024 18:21 utc | 24
Posted by: Babel-17 | Aug 12 2024 19:09 utc | 55
Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 19:01 utc | 48
For many merc's now, it seems as much ideological as the money. Same hatred for Russia as the western elite. Some believe the propaganda and think they will go and help poor little underdog Ukraine.
Just brainwashed fools. I'm guessing very few if any foreigners will be taken prisoner.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:09 utc | 56
Intensive bombing in Sumy...
🇷🇺Russian aviation and artillery are delivering massive strikes on the Sumy region, from where the enemy is advancing into the Kursk region.In Sumy, after two strikes, two enterprise buildings and a critical infrastructure facility were damaged, reports the Northern Operational Command.
During the night and morning, Russian forces carried out 21 shellings of border areas and settlements in the Sumy region, resulting in 59 explosions.
In the Novoslobodskaya community, there were airstrikes with KAB bombs, resulting in eight explosions, and one FPV drone strike.
In the Glukhovskaya community, there were four explosions from airstrikes with KAB bombs.
In the Berezovskaya community, two explosions were recorded from an airstrike with KAB bombs.
In the Velikopisarevskaya community, artillery fire resulted in 19 explosions.
In the Miropolskaya community, airstrikes with KAB bombs resulted in seven explosions.
In the Sumskaya community, there were six explosions from airstrikes with KAB bombs.
In the Yunakovskaya community, five airstrikes with KAB bombs were recorded.
In the Esmanskaya community, there were strikes from barrel artillery.
In the Krasnopolska community, Russian forces struck with artillery, causing four explosions, and also used an FPV drone, resulting in one explosion.
- RVvoenkor
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 19:12 utc | 57
Poland, the hyena and next proxy after the obliterated country 404, continues buying all the US-made manufactured crap 'soon to burn in combat' such as M1A2 Abrams tanks and second-hand M1A1 tanks. Nearly 200 units in total have been transferred from US bases in Germany.
Posted by: AI | Aug 12 2024 19:12 utc | 58
Hilarious.
Actually an Italian newspaper, a rather important one, reports that Sirsky declared that Ukraine controls 1000 skm of Russian territory. 🤣🤣🤣
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 19:16 utc | 59
Posted by: AI | Aug 12 2024 19:12 utc | 58
##########
Never disturb an enemy when it is making a mistake. I hope the Poles buy every F35 and Abrams tank in the world.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 19:18 utc | 60
The ukies can choose to die on whatever hill the like. Sic transit queer
Posted by: nook | Aug 12 2024 19:20 utc | 61
If Zelensky thought that he would get something to "improve" his negotiating position, he really screwed up.
PUTIN: “We have nothing to talk about with Kiev.”Peace deals are off the table, no negotiations anymore in sight.
****
If you saw the real anger of Putin at the start of the UKe attack - I would say that this story does not have a happy ending for Ukraine's controllers.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 19:12 utc | 57
###########
A great reply to that tweet.
500+ FABs in Sumy in the last 5 days someone is getting a completely new landscaping.
On that note, where are the F-16s? Surely this Ukrainian incursion would benefit from air support ...
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 19:23 utc | 63
They are pounding the rear in the Sumy region that is the point of the logistic supply of the 'bridgehead', if any.
Once the front line doesn't receive, fuel, food, water and rotation it's practically dead.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 18:55 utc | 41
I thought Pounding the Rear was the exclusive jurisdiction of Macron and the French.
Fly Paper Dutchman's understanding of "fiat" money could be stuffed in a fly's purse. It takes real resources for fiat money to have any value. The U.S. is riding on past, fading glories.
Watch carefully when the U.S. Treasury has its Debt/Treasury Auctions. Lots of bidders on short term paper that lenders can get out of (30 day to 1 year). But long term debt 20 to 30 year is getting harder and harder to peddle. A lot of Foreign bids look like the U.S. Fed is backing the activity because a Failed Auction ends the whole Paper Facade Empire that is the US/DC today.
Russia has a lot of cards to play, has virtually unlimited resources while Ukraine is holding 1 joker.
Posted by: kupkee | Aug 12 2024 19:25 utc | 64
Stonebird | Aug 12 2024 19:23 utc | 62
Much rubbish at the start of how Putin looked nervous at that meeting. A troll talking point but also repeated by many who should have known better.
As you say, it wont end well for Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:26 utc | 65
Ukraine/Nato..... one and the same thing. Ukraine's controllers are as dumb as the cannon fodder they control.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:28 utc | 66
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 18:58 utc | 44
Thank you.
Though I have nothing positive to say about NATO either. Its rapid expansion following the dissolution of the Soviet Union/Warsaw Treaty has led it to become a bloated, flabby organisation, with sclerotic decision processes, encumbered by US MIC junk such as the F-35 Flying Invoice and the infra-red beacon that is the Abrams tank. It has allowed its resources to become atrophied by the constant drive for financialisation; the quarterly bonus reigns supreme.
Hope that doesn’t make me a nihilist...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 19:30 utc | 67
> Angol, a 28-year-old paratrooper with the 33rd brigade, looks like a Christmas tree….
When do the organ harvesters start their dirty work ?
Posted by: Exile | Aug 12 2024 19:33 utc | 68
Thanks b. Predictably diasterous, as anyone serious surely told the planners. But hubris is a helluva drug, and the clowns are desperate. They even activated all their PR idiocies, like the swarm of disruptors commenting nonsense on little old MoA! Hilariously impotent, even as shitposting clowns.
37, others, thanks for your posts and sorry for my puerility. Im cranky about wading through pages of imbecilic trolling to find the intelligent commentary..but this is MoA so it's never far away.
Once again the Ukrapatsies and general dipshits thought they had some nice fresh Russian pussy and once again they stuck their dicks in the bear trap. I guess they're slowly realizing the demining wasn't a preparation for an offensive, but an invitation to dinner, an invitation that the predictable and as noted desperate Ukranazis and their butthurt Western sponsors took. And now, those foolhardy souls who joined them in this insane venture are being slaughtered. Given that they're likely mercenaries and Azov types, not really shedding any tears. The whole indiscriminately shooting at civilians thing too..
Congratulations NAFO idjits, you cheerlead the UAF to slaughter.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Aug 12 2024 19:35 utc | 69
All I can think of is Ardennes Christmas 1944. Same thinking, same result. Suzhda is Bastogne. Green boys on the border easy to puncture. Same waste of resources better used in defense.
Same Nazi desperation.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 31
I agree but to the Nazi's credit they had an objective, a plan and they attacked with 3 armies numbering 500,000 men and that was considered under strength. The Nazi's planned to be in Antwerp in 4 days ... where were the Ukrainians headed? I mean Antwerp was the main supply port for the allies, losing it would have been a disaster but what were the Ukrainians after in the Kursk region that it was worth getting your best trained best armed units chewed up?
Posted by: HB_Norica | Aug 12 2024 19:37 utc | 70
>Tired, dirty and exhausted, the soldiers say they regret no part of the risky operation that has already killed scores of their comrades: they would rejoin it in a heartbeat. “For the first time in a long time we have movement,” says Angol. “I felt like a tiger.
Note to Angol if he's reading this: Powerful drugs that raise your mood in the short run give a horrible hangover or cause other bad effects in the long run.
Posted by: anonposter | Aug 12 2024 19:44 utc | 71
Not surprising as Ukraine sent its better troops to the theatre, not conscripts and territorial defense units. Those stayed on the lines in the Donbass. And its 'better' more motivated troops are also the ideological fanatics, ie nazis.
Posted by: Mike R | Aug 12 2024 18:59 utc | 45
______
You know things are getting desperate for the Ukronazis when the Azov types actually have to fight!
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 12 2024 19:45 utc | 72
What about the German made drone hitting the Zaporizhe nuclear power plant? A cooling tower on fire. A retaliation because the incursion is failing?
According to the Transnistrian Italian blogger and podcaster Nicolai Lilin the Kiyiv regime and the US neocon cabals really want a nuclear disaster there or in the Kursk plant. It would put European Russia back for a decade. West and North Europe would also hugely suffer from the fall-out. But they are all "dispensable" countries. Only the Anglosaxons are indispensable.
Posted by: teraspol | Aug 12 2024 19:48 utc | 73
>" Angol, a 28-year-old paratrooper with the 33rd brigade, looks like a Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas Angol. I you are lucky Santa will bring you a lump of coal so you don't freeze."
too scents
He's probably a scared conscript kid just unfortunate enough to be serving in a Nazi army and now his life has been ruined; not a context for mirth.
To make fun of him with your joke is not cool.
Kursk and Belgorod directions. Information workAgainst the background of the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces failed:
▪️break through the defense of Martynovka and exit through Lyubimovka to the North to Kurchatov (near Martynovka in the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost dozens of units of equipment)
▪️Break through the defense of the Kolotilovka checkpoint and the border at Bezymenno
▪️Significantly increase raid groups in the Belovsky districtthe enemy began mass publishing videos, including a huge number of fake ones. There were also shots of snow ("information preserves").
But the main thing is that the official junta began a series of reports about the invasion of the Kursk region. That is, Kiev, which had previously skillfully used the slightly untimely reaction of official resources, created an information vacuum, knowing that ours would not open their mouths without clear commands and permissions. That is, the information field was half abandoned, which created grounds for speculation against the backdrop of heavy fighting and enemy breakthroughs.
Now that our high officials have finally agreed to publish footage of the real successes of the Russian Armed Forces in the mass extermination of Nazis, the enemy has begun to throw out its videos on the Internet, trying to interrupt the agenda. This is how the false impression of a "wave" of videos from the enemy is created (let us remember - more than half of them are either lies or old).
This does not mean that the enemy is exhausted . Yes, he was pinned down by battles, but the morning raid (https://t.me/dva_majors/49534) of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Belovsky district showed that the situation remains difficult, and the enemy is trying to pull our forces apart along the front. This means that we all have to withstand his attacks in the Kursk direction and behave wisely when familiarizing ourselves with the media from that side.
...
Ukraine, Sumy regionThe enemy (Ukrainian Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries) suffer colossal losses during their "rescue" operation to attack Kursk Oblast; many ambulances are recorded near the border of Sumy Oblast. Morgues in Sumy are full and corpses of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen and mercenaries are being transported to the nearest cities of Putivl, Lebedin and Akhtyrka in Sumy Oblast. Ukrainians suffer very heavy losses. Armored vehicles for medical evacuation constantly travel from Sumy to the Russian border. Strikes against Ukrainian militants are carried out using aviation and heavy artillery; many have died from FAB-500.
Our guys are doing a very good job of disposing of this shit on our territory. There will be even more. And how many corpses are there that they couldn't evacuate, the numbers are lightning fast, but the Ukrainians are hoping that they will have a great "success" in carrying out this operation. We're working, guys.💪
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 12 2024 19:50 utc | 75
But they are all "dispensable" countries. Only the Anglosaxons are indispensable.Posted by: teraspol | Aug 12 2024 19:48 utc | 73
but you still have enough dumb folks within the eu that truly believe that nato is there to protect them.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Aug 12 2024 19:52 utc | 76
I agree what was the point of the incursion into Kursk - nothing has been achieved - except, the galvanisation of the Russian people to see this war through to the end.
Many Ukrainian troops killed and injured, and equipment destroyed - on this pointless incursion - for only a few to say, look we landed a blow on Russian soil - even though it cost us dearly in manpower and military hardware.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Aug 12 2024 19:53 utc | 77
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Aug 12 2024 19:30 utc | 67
############
Every bureaucracy trends towards ineffectiveness over time. "Victory" over the USSR set NATO on a path of destruction. People often overlook that by winning, they create their future defeat.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 19:55 utc | 78
With a high degree of probability, Sudzha is currently under the control of the enemy, as evidenced by the footage published by the enemy from the center of the city. And judging by the lack of sounds of battles and shootouts, the front line is already relatively far beyond the settlement.
https://t.me/rybar_in_english/16922
Posted by: Down South | Aug 12 2024 17:37 utc | 4
People here claimed the Russians would force the Ukrainians out in 2-3 days.
Don't worry, my experience with the current events tells me that everything will be over in 48/72 hours; it all depends on whether 2 or 3 brigades will be involved in the attack. A surprise with little support from the rear and no air support is destined to end up like the Vietnamese Tet offensive.Posted by: LEMMNING1 | Aug 7 2024 11:30 utc | 321
Posted by: MiniMO | Aug 12 2024 19:56 utc | 79
"But they are all "dispensable" countries. Only the Anglosaxons are indispensable."
Posted by: teraspol | Aug 12 2024 19:48 utc | 73
No, only Anglo/Zionists are indispensable.
One thing that is different to the previous Nato offensives. The glide bombs. According to the Ukie side, very little glide bombs on the eastern front now, so I assume they are all directed at the forces put together for the offensive.
At the same time, Ukraine has pulled forces from the eastern front so even without the glide bombs, Russian forces there are forging ahead faster.
Just going by previous offensives, Nato/Ukraine would have pulled together a force of 20,000 or more. It won't take Russia long to chop through them as they are still trying small suicide offensives and when they are all dogmeat, Nato/Ukraine have a much longer active frontline.
Its also been a great boost for Russian enlistment.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:58 utc | 81
If Russia had previous warning of the invasion they did a really bad job preparing for it. A few artillery emplacements with remote mining cartridges would make retreat a near impossibility. I am surprised the road to Sumy doesn't have any bridges or crossings to blow up.
The "new" blitzkrieg tactics with 4 to 5 point vehicles in single file could have been stopped with a handful of ATGMs, road blocks and land mines. How were the roads not covered in AT mines? Maybe the cold war mine shafts in roads will make a comeback soon.
The good news is this shakes off more cobwebs.
Posted by: SOS | Aug 12 2024 20:02 utc | 82
You know things are getting desperate for the Ukronazis when the Azov types actually have to fight!
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 12 2024 19:45 utc | 72
You know things are getting desperate for the Ukronazis when the Azov types actually refuse to fight!
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 20:03 utc | 83
All I can think of is Ardennes Christmas 1944. Same thinking, same result. Suzhda is Bastogne. Green boys on the border easy to puncture. Same waste of resources better used in defense.
Same Nazi desperation.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 31
I agree but to the Nazi's credit they had an objective, a plan and they attacked with 3 armies numbering 500,000 men and that was considered under strength. The Nazi's planned to be in Antwerp in 4 days ... where were the Ukrainians headed? I mean Antwerp was the main supply port for the allies, losing it would have been a disaster but what were the Ukrainians after in the Kursk region that it was worth getting your best trained best armed units chewed up?
Posted by: HB_Norica | Aug 12 2024 19:37 utc | 70
All I can think of is Ardennes Christmas 1944. Same thinking, same result. Suzhda is Bastogne. Green boys on the border easy to puncture. Same waste of resources better used in defense.
Same Nazi desperation.
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2024 18:33 utc | 31
I agree but to the Nazi's credit they had an objective, a plan and they attacked with 3 armies numbering 500,000 men and that was considered under strength. The Nazi's planned to be in Antwerp in 4 days ... where were the Ukrainians headed? I mean Antwerp was the main supply port for the allies, losing it would have been a disaster but what were the Ukrainians after in the Kursk region that it was worth getting your best trained best armed units chewed up?
Posted by: HB_Norica | Aug 12 2024 19:37 utc | 70
According to Wki there was only 406,000 men on the German side. The Allies has 200,000 so it was 2-1 in attack not 3-1 which would have been preferable
"German Armies
16 December:
406,342 men
557 tanks
667 tank destroyers and assault guns
1,261 other AFVs
4,224 anti-tank and artillery pieces
13 infantry divisions[c]
7 armored divisions
1 armored brigade[3]"
SOS | Aug 12 2024 20:02 utc | 82
Tell your boss to give you new talking points.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 20:03 utc | 85
a lot of them have either the SS insignia somewhere patched on, or they wear the wolfsangel or black sun.
think of that whatever you will. nazi apologist napoleon will of course decry those facts as "muh nazi whaaaaaaaaaa" while he is still looking for putins financial documents, but the facts remain.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Aug 12 2024 18:44 utc | 35
Of course they're Nazis. I thought that had been established beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Posted by: Tichy | Aug 12 2024 20:09 utc | 86
Hey. I don't blame Peter AU1 a bit for swearing. Come on!!! The Izzies are tearing children to sheds and have an official policy of rape and starvation. Now the Rotten fella's economist wants to write sob stories about poor soldiers whose "luck ran out" as they invaded a foreign country bombing the usual...hospitals, schools, homes. Please. This is LUNACY. Meanwhile, Trump's buddy Eric Prince got his ass handed to him in his latest Mercenaries-R-Us fiasco in Africa. The NED is STILL trying to overthrow Maduro with the tired old rag of a murderer, Eduardo Gonzales and the see ah hey financed witch who wants BIBI the Butcher to come right on over and liberate her country for the benefit of banksters and other scoundrels every where.
No doubt all you kids are on edge as the atrocities mount up every day. Kamala Harris's secret service clowns feel free to break into a private business to - use the toilet!!! That was the clown world post on Zero Hedge for yesterday. Ha ha. So maybe world peace will be a little closer if barflies stop being rude to each other. Y'a think? Cheers
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Aug 12 2024 20:10 utc | 87
You know things are getting desperate for the Ukronazis when the Azov types actually refuse to fight!
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 20:03 utc | 83
______
Even better!
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 12 2024 20:10 utc | 88
Posted by: teraspol | Aug 12 2024 19:48 utc | 73
I follow Liliin myself but he is actually way off on nuclear plants.
Zaporizha is actually shutdown so it will not explode, maybe something way less than Chernobyl and nothing that will send Europe and Russia in the middle ages.
Kursk plant maybe more dangerous because it's fully operational but I guess that Russians will shut it down before a disaster.
Moreover Npp are, or should be, realized in order to sustain a direct hit and ukrainians have nothing powerful enough to create real problems.
Their best option is/was to capture the npp.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 20:11 utc | 89
SOS | Aug 12 2024 20:02 utc | 82
"Tell your boss to give you new talking points."
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 20:03 utc | 85
No one in their right mind would pay for the meagre drivel this misanthrope provides.
How many Russian civilians have died in this 'offensive'?
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 18:27 utc | 28
I don't know. Do you? It would be valuable information.
Posted by: Tichy | Aug 12 2024 20:11 utc | 91
ZH has a posting up with the title
Putin Says There Will Be No Peace Talks With Ukraine As 180,000 Citizens Evacuated Amid Invasion
the quote
President Putin has issued his first detailed public statements since the incursion began. One thing he stressed in the Monday remarks is that now there will be no peace talks or settlement with Kiev.
"It is now clear why the Kiev regime refused our proposals to return to the plan for peaceful settlement," Putin said. "The enemy, with the help of its Western masters - it is doing their bidding, and the West is waging war against us using Ukrainians... seeks to improve its negotiating position in the future.""But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike civilians, civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities," the Russian leader added.. "What can we even talk about with them?"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 12 2024 20:14 utc | 92
psychohistorian | Aug 12 2024 20:14 utc | 92
2,000 civilians still in the few small towns held by Nato. Alive or dead is unknown.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 20:17 utc | 93
🔻In the Sudzha district, fighting continues on the approaches to Martynivka. With a high degree of probability, Sudzha is currently under the control of the enemy, as evidenced by the footage published by the enemy from the center of the city. And judging by the lack of sounds of battles and shootouts, the front line is already relatively far beyond the settlement.https://t.me/rybar_in_english/16922
Posted by: Down South | Aug 12 2024 17:37 utc | 4
The Ukrainians may be behind schedule but Sudzha is a key node so perhaps it's too soon to declare the Ukrainians contained.
We're a week into this and I'm not hearing about regular first line Russian units being involved yet. The Russian forces seem to consist of Akhmat (Chechen militia), Marines (Naval Infantry), and VDV (airborne). The latter two you would think are at least quasi-elite in terms of being well trained, but you have to wonder how numerous they are, and they probably lack heavy weapons compared to a Motor Rifle or Tank division. In other words, it looks to me like Russia is trying to contain this with relatively light rapid reaction forces backed up by airstrikes. For the first 3 to 5 days, that's what I would expect.
However, a week into this and I would expect to see regular forces show up. The fact that they haven't (again, based on what I'm reading) makes me wonder if Russia doesn't actually have reserves available. I understand not wanting to overcommit reserves lest the Ukrainians have another shoe to drop, but relying on drone surveillance, Lancets etc. to contain Ukraine seems risky. Russia needs to get enough troop density on the ground that Ukraine can't go joyriding up the roads playing "Ooh-aah, We're cool NATO trained manoeuvre warfare dudes". Those dudes need to run into at least a 30mm autocannon or ATGM at every village. If Russia is too economical in their response, they risk this turning into maybe not a full blown Kharkov 2022, but perhaps a mini-Kharkov 2022.
Posted by: Mike314159 | Aug 12 2024 20:18 utc | 94
Posted by: SOS | Aug 12 2024 20:02 utc | 82
#########
I read that the Russians were de-mining in order to conduct their own offensive operations out of that area. Previously that part of the border was heavily mined. I have seen the Russians rapidly laying down mines again, which are taking out NATO mechanized forces at this time.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 20:19 utc | 95
Posted by: Tichy | Aug 12 2024 20:11 utc | 91
According to Russian channels a couple dozen or less.
Shure, even one dead is too much, but not a disaster as some nafo posters pretend.
Posted by: Mario | Aug 12 2024 20:20 utc | 96
Napoleon reached Moscow. Hitler - Khimki. Zelenski - Sudzha.
"only 9500 km more and I will bathe on the beach of Vladivostok"
Posted by: Passerby | Aug 12 2024 20:23 utc | 97
Ukraine/Nato..... one and the same thing. Ukraine's controllers are as dumb as the cannon fodder they control.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2024 19:28 utc | 66
Gosh, that was an incisive and illuminating post. Thank you for sharing your nuggets of wisdom. Also . . .
"Tell your boss to give you new talking points." Lol.
Posted by: zman | Aug 12 2024 20:25 utc | 98
@LoveDonbass | Aug 12 2024 19:23 utc | 63
On that note, where are the F-16s? Surely this Ukrainian incursion would benefit from air support ...They are making parking space for them
In anticipation of receiving F-16 fighters, the Iskander OTRK crew of the Russian Armed Forces helped free up parking space by taking out a Su-27.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2024 20:27 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
keep an eye out for Peter AU1 who is swearing at everyone
Posted by: nini | Aug 12 2024 17:30 utc | 1