Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
January 27, 2025

Ukraine - Organizational Chaos, Commanders Fired

The unusual combat organization of the Ukrainian army is taking its toll.

In a classic military hierarchy Corps, Divisions, Brigades and Battalions each have their own staff and responsibilities. The Ukrainian army is using a more flexible but also chaotic structure of Operational Units with less control. The results are unnecessary losses on the battle field.

After the Maidan coup the Ukrainian government designated the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk areas held by separatists as the Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone (ATO) and put it under the control of the Ukrainian secret service SBU.

In 2018 this changed:

On 20 February 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko changed the status of the ATO zone from an anti-terrorist operation to "taking measures to ensure national security and defense, and repulsing and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts".

This allowed the Ukrainian military to take charge of the zones instead of the Ukrainian secret service SBU. As such, the ATO was renamed to JFO zone (Joint Forces Operation (Ukrainian: Операція об'єднаних сил, ООС, romanized: Operatsiya ob'yednanykh syl).

The Commander of the Joint (or 'Combined') Forces Operation is also the commander of the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Group which is directing the war against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

The Operational-Strategic Group (OSUV) commands several Operational Tactical Groups (OTUs), each with their local areas of responsibility. Several brigades and/or battalions get temporarily assigned to each Operation Tactical Group to fulfill its tasks.

This scheme is largely seen as ineffective:

Operational Tactical Groups (OTUs) and Operational Strategic Groups (OSUVs) are temporary military administrative bodies created specifically to command troops within combat zones and adjacent areas. These entities lack formal legal attributes such as correspondence addresses, contact details, or designated military unit numbers. Their structure is flexible, with authority limited to units operating within their respective zones of responsibility. In contrast, the established Operational Commands (OCs) focus on broader responsibilities, including the manning, training, and ensuring the combat readiness of their assigned units.

In simple terms, Operational Commands are responsible for preparing troops, while units deployed to a combat zone are transferred to an OTU or OSUV, which plan and coordinate their combat operations. This division often causes conflicts at both tactical and strategic levels. OTUs and OSUVs do not oversee the condition of the troops; they assign tasks based solely on operational needs, treating units as abstract entities on paper. When a unit loses its combat effectiveness, it is returned to its Operational Command for recovery and reorganization.

Operational-Strategic Groups as well as Operational Tactical Groups lack the staff and dedicated resources to fight their battles. They have little control over their assigned units which also continue to receive orders from their Operational Command. Units thus lack a clear line of reporting.

The commander of the Joint Forces and the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Group is in a very hot seat. He is responsible for the successes and failures in eastern Ukraine while lacking control over his assigned resources and the means to influence those.

Sudden unceremoniously changes in that position have happened frequently with the latest announced just yesterday.

Zelensky replaces commander of Joint Forces Operation - Interfax, Mar 15 2022

KYIV. March 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Eduard Moskaliov has been appointed the new commander of the Joint Forces Operation, and its previous commander, Oleksandr Pavliuk, is the new head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
...
Gen. Maj. Eduard Moskaliov, a professional, has been appointed the new commander of the Joint Forces Operation," Zelensky said in his video address on Tuesday.
---

Zelenskyy fired commander of joint forces - Ukrainska Pravda, Feb 26 2023

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired Eduard Moskaliov from the post of commander of the joint forces.
Source: President’s decree on the President's website
Quote: "To fire Eduard Mykhailovych Moskaliov from the position of commander of the joint forces."
---

Recently dismissed Joint Forces Commander says he found out about his dismissal from news headlines - Ukrainska Pravda, Feb 11 2024

Serhii Naiev, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has indicated that he learned about the presidential decree on his dismissal from the mass media on 11 February.
---

Zelensky appoints 4 new high-level military commanders - Kyiv Independent, Feb 11 2024

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced four high-level military appointments on his website on Feb. 11, including the commanders of the Ground Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, the Combined Forces, and the Airborne Assault Forces.
...
The Combined Forces will be headed by Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol, former head of Ukraine’s marine corps since 2018.

Zelensky dismissed former Airborne Assault Commander Maksym Myrhorodskyi and former Combined Forces Commander Serhii Naiev.

---

Zelensky Replaces AFU Joint Forces Commander Amid Criticism and Military Failures - Kyiv Post, Jun 24 2024

Late night on Monday, June 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol as the Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Joint Forces with Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov.
...
Sodol had been the Joint Forces Commander since February 2024. His tenure faced criticism from military observers.

Activist Serhii Sternenko called his appointment a "personnel disaster," and People's Deputy Mariana Bezuhla blamed him for failing to defend Kharkiv Oblast from a Russian incursion in mid-May.

Earlier on Monday, June 24, Bohdan Krotevych, Chief of Staff of the Azov National Guard Brigade, has formally requested the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) to investigate Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol, the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

---

Ukraine's ​​Andrii Hnatov to head Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group soon - Ukrainska Pravda, Jun 26 2024

Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov, the new commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will replace Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol as the Head of Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group.
---

Ukraine replaces commander of eastern front after Russia captures another town - Reuters, Jan 26 2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy replaced the commander of the eastern front, the most heated battlefield of the Ukraine war, after Russian forces captured another strategic town there.

Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov was replaced as the battlefield commander in the east by Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, overall commander of ground forces, who will keep his previous duties. Hnatov was given a role overseeing training and communications.

Eduard Moskaliov lasted 11 month. Serhii Naiev lasted 12 months. Yuri Sodol was fired after 4 months. Andrii Hnatov had 7 month.

How Mykhailo Drapatyi, now in a double role, is supposed to better handle the chaotic organization is beyond me.

Posted by b on January 27, 2025 at 16:36 UTC | Permalink

Comments
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Check out the titles/names of these bureaucratic entities. Strikes me that those appellations were taken right out of the U$$A textbook for military operational groupings. What such a development suggests is that the original Soviet organizational pattern of clear chains of command were altered to a quasi-American iteration. Traditional military organizations are quite hierarchical, while this situation suggests that the original Ukrainian system was overlaid due to suggestions from elements within the Pentagram.

Result of the above almost axiomatically engenders mass confusion, bureaucratic overreach and a ganglion of strategic and tactical mistakes on the battlefield. Welcome to their nightmare.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 27 2025 16:48 utc | 1

clearly it is not an easy job to take on... and what a mess! are they getting instructions on this directly from nato/usa?? thanks b..

Posted by: james | Jan 27 2025 16:49 utc | 2

The war situation in Ukraine has developed not necessarily to our advantage:

'Russian forces have entered the Donetsk Oblast town of Velyka Novosilka, according to Russian and Ukrainian sources. The settlement is Ukraine’s last major stronghold in the southern Donbas region. Located at the intersection of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts, its capture could provide Russian forces with a potential route for advancement into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian military analysts say, according to Euromaidan Press.

“Military personnel of the ‘Vostok’ group continue to hack into the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Velyka Novosilka,” the Russian MoD claimed on Telegram. “Servicemen from the ‘East’ military group installed the Russian flag on one of the buildings recaptured from the enemy in the center of the settlement.”

'The Ukrainian DeepState open-source tracking group confirmed that assessment, saying “The enemy is successful in advancing on the eastern outskirts, and has also occupied a small part of the central streets of the settlement, where they filmed their videos with rags.”

https://www.twz.com/news-features/russians-enter-last-major-ukrainian-stronghold-in-key-eastern-sector

Meanwhile, it's all quiet on the western front, among the lickspittle NATOstan media. No news means good news -- for Russia.

Posted by: Jim H | Jan 27 2025 17:00 utc | 3

Posted by: Jim H | Jan 27 2025 17:00 utc | 3

--------------

Nah, they'll be back shrieking about how Putin not nuking Lisbon right now means he's a traitor, the Russians should have won in a week, the West is nefariously infallible and the Ukro-Nazi's will fight forever even zombie/ghost form.

Posted by: Urban Fox | Jan 27 2025 17:17 utc | 4

james | Jan 27 2025 16:49 utc | 2--

I recall some US-NATO general in 2024 being named overall command advisor to help guide Ukies who supposedly weren't coordinated enough. With most reserves being sent to Kursk to die, there's nothing to support the garrisons of the urban regions Russia assails where Ukies have admitted replacing infantry with drones. Unfortunately, Ukies also report significant increases in Russian anti-drone EW performance while vastly more Russian fly-by-wire drones are being deployed and used to very deadly effect.

The lack of battlefield coordination is leading to gaps in the LOC Russia is exploiting for gains that will continue to grow larger as Ukie troop density continues to wane. Finally, the rumored peace talks will make Ukies even more reluctant to engage in combat, and they've seen the preferred Russian tactic of surrounding and besieging urban zones enough times to know what awaits.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 27 2025 17:18 utc | 5

@ karlof1 | Jan 27 2025 17:18 utc | 5

good commentary.. thanks... i am sure many in ukraine are very unhappy about all of this, or worse - distraught.. it would be nice to get to some sort of peace agreement, but it is hard for me to see this happening here, although trump has gotten a number of folks hopes up..

Posted by: james | Jan 27 2025 17:21 utc | 6

@ karof1 and james

I agree with james question about how the Ukraine military hierarchy interacts with NATO and are we down to the last Ukrainian Major General?

I posit that since Z has no agency that this Major General or his boss Major General have the power to surrender.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 27 2025 17:29 utc | 7

Nah, they'll be back shrieking about how Putin not nuking Lisbon right now means he's a traitor, the Russians should have won in a week, the West is nefariously infallible and the Ukro-Nazi's will fight forever even zombie/ghost form.

Posted by: Urban Fox | Jan 27 2025 17:17 utc | 4

LOL, yes.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 17:34 utc | 8

Its all very 1944 wehrmacht esque.

The Russians must have that effect in totalitarianism.

Posted by: Cavery | Jan 27 2025 17:35 utc | 9

UKraine is in full CYA mode now.

Those guys who got fired may have a chance to leave the country if they are smart.

These firings are not what winners do.

Hail Mary after Hail Mary.

I see Trump's all-or-nothing tariff approach similarly.

Aggression often masks weakness.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 17:43 utc | 10

@1.

You correct. U$$A military structure evolved from 1947. Which took a lot from how U$$A did invasions and expanding fronts in WW. II.

Decently U$$A has two broad grouping of high commands. Training commands such as Air Comba Command Army Forces Command air national guard etc.

These train and prepared unit to go to war for combatant commands such as USCENTCOM or USEUCOM. EUCOM is burning through $20 billion in combat support for Kiev.

Kiev problem is not having success in training and organizations

Posted by: paddy | Jan 27 2025 17:51 utc | 11

Kiev's Military is 100% NATO since 2014


organized
trained
commanded

Posted by: exile | Jan 27 2025 17:54 utc | 12

An old boss of mine was fond of the term “mucking fuddle”, for some reason he came to mind while I was reading b’s article. How in the world are lines of communication even supposed to work in such a shambolic structure?

If this is mimicking NATO’s organisational and operational approach then NATO has got some deep-seated doctrinal problems which need urgent re-thinking.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 17:57 utc | 13

Were it not for the fact that we've already seen Russia go through a similar process with front line commanders and overall theatre commanders in the past three years this might be something to get excited about.....just saying that at the current rate of attrition this could go on for some time, leaving Russia in flames and the Ukraine a barren lifeless wasteland.
Maybe Russia burns some westerly things for a pound of flesh......best not to live near a juicy spot......

Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 27 2025 17:57 utc | 14

please bear with me i have a bad flu and can't recall where i ran into this report yesterday by Yuriy Butusov, it could have been here, but it's really good, highly recommend.
Journalist Butusov told about the catastrophic situation in the 155th Brigade Anna de Kyiv, which was trained in France

Butusov calls the main problem that in the summer months the leadership constantly removed minimally trained servicemen from the brigade to “fill holes” in other areas of the front.

“In July and August, more than 2,550 servicemen were removed from the 155th brigade to replenish other units. That is, they removed almost all of the fully fit from the brigade, destroying all of the previous four months of work, and then… they gave an order to everyone who remained to prepare for a trip to France at the end of September,” he emphasizes.

“So, the command of the OC “West” sent to France not an organized and managed military unit that could learn a lot, but a crowd of new people just dressed in military uniforms,” the journalist notes.

Posted by: annie | Jan 27 2025 18:04 utc | 15

If this is mimicking NATO’s organisational and operational approach then NATO has got some deep-seated doctrinal problems which need urgent re-thinking.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 17:57 utc | 13

Better to scrap it... and NOT start over! It's funny, but NATO's end could come entirely from the Greenland initiative and not Ukraine per se. Either way I'll take it.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 18:05 utc | 16

The specific Ukrainian in charge may not matter much when operational and strategic decisions are all made elsewhere - in Kiev or Ramstein etc etc

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 27 2025 18:15 utc | 17

I want NATO to last another decade to bleed the West dry.

Don't cash out early while there is still easy money to be made.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 18:17 utc | 18

Convoluted structures makes corruption easier, harder to track weapon shipments, stealing dead soldiers pay and probably dozens of other schemes.

It's not a bug it's a feature.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jan 27 2025 18:20 utc | 19

Posted by: Peter Williams | Jan 27 2025 4:58 utc | 139
Posted by: HB_Norica | Jan 27 2025 13:21 utc | 154

OT
Thank you Peter and HB for your replies yesterday on who in Russia can authorize war or the use of the military. I believe it is significant that, in Russia, no single political figure has the authority to initiate wars or military actions.

Posted by: Samu | Jan 27 2025 18:26 utc | 20

@ psychohistorian | Jan 27 2025 17:29 utc | 7

the idea of one of these military leaders surrendering is thought provoking.. but it seems the ukee leadership puts their men in chains, if they resist going along with orders from on high... either that or they shoot them in the back.. not sure how that would work here.. i am waiting for the cia to pull the plug on zelensky, but it hasn't happened yet and maybe this can go on for much longer then i realize..

Posted by: james | Jan 27 2025 18:51 utc | 21

Excellent post!!T

Thanks for the tutorial, 'b' .

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 18:56 utc | 22

If it's so ineffective then why do I see so many youtube channels promoting ...

1. Russia has suffered its most devastating defeat since the start of the war (weekly)
2. A brilliant operation destroyed an entire Russian tank column.
3. All the bridges in Crimea are destroyed and the Black Sea fleet HQ and navy gone.

Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Jan 27 2025 19:00 utc | 23

I guess only the Russian Federation can claim with any degree of truth, "Gordon R. Dickson, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!" lol

Just kidding, the Russians have an effective system all their own, but when would I ever have a better opportunity to use that line?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactics_of_Mistake

Patton (3/5) Movie CLIP - Rommel, You Magnificent Bastard (1970) HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dObTXYa-_n4

Posted by: Babel-17 | Jan 27 2025 19:05 utc | 24

@ Christian J Chuba | Jan 27 2025 19:00 utc | 22

You haven't seen the so-called-ukrainian channels, especially those in Russian language. That's where all the fun is at. It's like peering into pure madness.

It's an entertainment platform. Entertaining rusophobes pays quite well is all.

Besides, plenty of channels exist saying the opposite. Which is an important point.

Posted by: boneless | Jan 27 2025 19:11 utc | 25

If anyone was unsure, the Resistance's victory over Israel is on display in Gaza and South Lebanon, as the people -- the base of resistance -- return to their land, without fear of death or what lies ahead. There is no greater humanity than the resistant people. The martyrs live in them. The Zionists are a usurper people. They don't belong there and they know it. They are scared and fearful. And so they kill and kill, a sign of their weakness and futility. The martyrs are the proof of the righteousness of the Arab and Islamic cause to expel, return and liberate. All this is lost on American idiots. Israel and America will be defeated. They will lose to a power they know little about and can only fear.

Posted by: Crumch | Jan 27 2025 19:11 utc | 26

I refrain commenting on how 'b' should handle his blog as 'b' to manage as he sees fit..

Notwithstanding , here is my, unsolicited counsel: I have noticed a pattern; I notice that troll and assorted miscreant, identity stealers and the like greatly proliferate just before one of 'b's comprehensive posts like the one , above.

b is , for the most part, a one man band, hence , when he is busy doing his well researched posts he doesn't have the time, nor do we want him to be distracted by disciplining , censoring the most atrocious of the above.

I believe b's time is best spent reading, researching material than being a Blog Cop; ergo a proposal that you 'b' deputize one or two posters that you have trust in and have them deal with those mundane tasks?

I will now shut up.

So, b' a proposal: figure out a Deputy or two that can help you with

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:12 utc | 27

"Better to scrap it... and NOT start over! It's funny, but NATO's end could come entirely from the Greenland initiative and not Ukraine per se. Either way I'll take it."

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 18:05 utc | 15

My feelings exactly-Trump has figured out a way to kill NATO in an unusual fashion.

Two or three years from now, Greenland will have a referendum be a protectorate of America - they will go to Amer4ica-American and British firms will own the country, the Greenlanders , all 58,000 (fishing is the major industry) of them will get rich with the expansion mining, airbases plus and NATO will die with a whimper.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:21 utc | 28

I noticed something here that fits another pattern. Where I a CIA representative looking at how best organize the Ukraine what would I do? Particularly given my agency's history in the region?

Why as they stated I would follow a model similar to the Middle East where my troops were geographically fixed and intended to be overrun. Thereby leaving a nasty nasty surprise behind to harass the Russian ukrainians from the rear. To so chaos in their societies after the war.

So I agree with the other commentators here that this organizational advice originated within NATO and the CIA. Maybe Azov thought it was a good idea due to simple ignorance.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:29 utc | 29

"I believe b's time is best spent reading, researching material than being a Blog Cop; ergo a proposal that you 'b' deputize one or two posters that you have trust in and have them deal with those mundane tasks?

I will now shut up.

So, b' a proposal: figure out a Deputy or two that can help you with"

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:12 utc | 26

I agree with you Canuck. We are stronger together than alone. Although now that I'm discussing cellular organization of troops let me mention that b is a cell consisting of one member. That's very hard to corrupt.

It's a question of who can you actually trust when the FBI/CIA/etc infiltrates every organization larger than 10 members.

Given the state of current technology we could develop a mirror platform that provides a view of the site with whatever additional features might be warranted. Provided be like the idea. Friends of MOA is one place where this could be organized.

One of the users here provided a JavaScript tool that you can use to block undesirable users. There are other features that people would like to see.

At the same time the absolute Simplicity of b's site makes it a good solution. The idea behind this is that the donate button would go to B's inbox.

I think I'm developing a habit of going off topic so I'll leave it there.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:36 utc | 30

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 17:43 utc | 10

You don't really understand the Trump 'tariff' idea, it's not really about tariff income its about short term negotiating power and getting Trump's 2017 tax cut (1) that expires in 2025 made permanent..

In order to make the tax cuts permanent Trump has to find money to replace the $4 trillion (over 10 years) with additional income.

Well he puts up tariffs on countries, the 'voila' the income is granted the tax cuts become permanent. A few months later, the tariffs have hurt all counties, loosened them up in negotiating they are lifted with 'new deals'.

Theses policies have been meticulously thought out unlike the Clown Show that was Bidens'.

1. Summary: H.R.976 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)All Information (Except Text)

Listen
There is one summary for H.R.976. Bill summaries are authored by CRS.
Shown Here:
Introduced in House (02/10/2023)
TCJA Permanency Act

This bill makes permanent provisions affecting individual and business taxpayers that were enacted in 2017 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.

The bill makes permanent reductions in individual and capital gain tax rates.

The bill increases the standard tax deduction for individual taxpayers. It also increases and modifies the child tax credit and raises the contribution base for the tax deduction for charitable contributions.

The bill allows additional contributions to ABLE accounts (tax-exempt accounts designed to enable individuals with disabilities to save and pay for disability-related expenses). It exempts from taxation combat zone benefits of members of the Armed Forces serving in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and limits the deduction for moving expenses to active duty members of the Armed Forces.

Additionally, the bill

expands the types of elementary and secondary school expenses eligible for payment from qualified tuition programs (529 programs);
lowers to $750,000 the amount of mortgage debt eligible for an interest expense tax deduction;
reinstates after 2024 the exclusion of income from the gross income of student loan borrowers for loan debt discharged due to death or total and permanent disability;
makes permanent the limitation on the tax deduction for state and local taxes and denies a deduction for foreign real property taxes;
makes permanent the tax deduction of the income of certain pass-through business entities;
repeals the tax deduction for personal tax exemptions and the exclusion of employer-provided bicycle commuter fringe benefits;
terminates certain miscellaneous itemized tax deductions;
doubles the estate and gift tax exemption amount; and
makes permanent the increase of the alternative minimum tax exemption amount for individual taxpayers.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:37 utc | 31

"I want NATO to last another decade to bleed the West dry.

Don't cash out early while there is still easy money to be made."

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 18:17 utc | 17

There are some very insightful comments here today. Go large or go home.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:41 utc | 32

The job of the Ukraine military is to all die, according to Dictator Z, who would prefer it to be a slow bleed off rather than outright slaughters. However, Dictator Z is a drugged out clown mentally incapable to making decisions that actually save lives, so the slaughters continue.

Posted by: JustTruth | Jan 27 2025 19:45 utc | 33

"either that or they shoot them in the back.. not sure how that would work here..."

Posted by: james | Jan 27 2025 18:51 utc | 20


Wordnik:
commissar -
Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

" noun An official of the Communist Party in charge of political indoctrination and the enforcement of party loyalty.
noun The head of a commissariat in the Soviet Union until 1946.
noun A person who tries to control public opinion."

noun - the guy with the handgun that blows your brains out from behind who is personally assigned to keep an eye on you.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:46 utc | 34

The lack of battlefield coordination is leading to gaps in the LOC Russia is exploiting for gains that will continue to grow larger as Ukie troop density continues to wane. Finally, the rumored peace talks will make Ukies even more reluctant to engage in combat, and they've seen the preferred Russian tactic of surrounding and besieging urban zones enough times to know what awaits.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 27 2025 17:18 utc | 5

These train and prepared unit to go to war for combatant commands such as USCENTCOM or USEUCOM. EUCOM is burning through $20 billion in combat support for Kiev.

Kiev problem is not having success in training and organizations

Posted by: paddy | Jan 27 2025 17:51 utc | 11

Even the western MSM is starting to copy paste, unaccredited but all thoroughly discussed, from MOA and others

Forbes on the catastrophic 150's and their deployment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2025/01/27/another-ukrainian-brigade-is-disintegrating-as-it-deploys-to-pokrovsk/


Posted by: Newbie | Jan 27 2025 19:50 utc | 35

Looks like a kiss up to Trump. Look, I'm firing failures like you would

Posted by: Scottindallas | Jan 27 2025 19:50 utc | 36

"They don't belong there and they know it."
Posted by: Crumch | Jan 27 2025 19:11 utc | 25
That statement has a certain amount of irony and that it partially applies to itself. But it's not off topic to be discussing zionists as relates to Ukrainian Nazis. Beasts of a similar nature. And they are such good buddies. Not only that they are both into killing their own.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:51 utc | 37

"These firings are not what winners do." - well, yes and no.

Certainly firing the commanders after every pretty much inevitable loss is lame, it's just the top blaming the underlings for being put in an unwinnable situation. Agreement there.

But more typically, yes, winning armies often fire losing generals. Certainly the US was very aggressive at demoting commanders thought to be ineffective in WWII, and look at Lincoln in the US civil war threshing around until he finally found some generals that could fight. Armies that stick with losers, tend to lose. It's like the old management saying, hiring is less important than firing.

Posted by: TG | Jan 27 2025 19:57 utc | 38

I wanted to thank b for putting this together. I have some difficulty keeping these military organizational systems clear. If anybody wants to maybe they could provide some approximate sizes for these organizational units. I'm interested in Breaking this down to the platoon level.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 27 2025 19:57 utc | 39

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 18:05 utc | 15

Yes. It's hilarious. Here's the EU prattling about the "threat from Russia" and "Russia will invade Europe and enslave us all" while goody two-shoes, the oh so 'liberal, freedom loving USA", their supposed ally, is going to invade an EU sovereign territory and occupy it, in insolent defiance of the impotent and grovelling Danish compradors. It would take a heart of stone not to laugh till you were sore.

Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 19:58 utc | 40

Canuck, Trump's tax cuts are economic sabotage. Low income taxes favor finance over real production. The taxes are the poison. Go back to suckling at the knees of Trump, and know your knowledge of economics is juvenile at best

Posted by: Scottindallas | Jan 27 2025 20:04 utc | 41

Here's the EU prattling about the "threat from Russia" and "Russia will invade Europe and enslave us all" ...

Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 19:58 utc | 39

This alone is hilarious. All the bluster, yet they complain about how they can't even make their full NATO contributions. Actions speak louder than words.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 20:08 utc | 42

You don't really understand the Trump 'tariff' idea, it's not really about tariff income its about short term negotiating power and getting Trump's 2017 tax cut (1) that expires in 2025 made permanent..

In order to make the tax cuts permanent Trump has to find money to replace the $4 trillion (over 10 ye

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:37 utc | 30

##################

A typically Western perspective as though the ROW are NPCs.

Trump can tariff as much as he wants. Every action brings consequences.

I want him to keep throwing tariffs around. I am an accelerationist.

All gas no brakes.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 20:14 utc | 43

NATO chief stunned byGrenell, 'U.S. Taxpayers Won't Fund NATO's Ukraine Move'
Times Now World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhHm0eNtEUg
So Mark Rutte is on stage, parrot-preaching, preening in his new role. Putin bad, Russian aggression, Ukraine belongs in NATO.
[I note the backdrop signage is the Vicktor Pinchgut Foundation. A generous HRC election donor and a Clinton Global Initiative Big Wig. Noteworthy that his foundation is sponsoring a NATO love-in.]
Then Rutte throws to Grenell on zoom from LA. [notable that he has more important tasks within the U$ and hasn’t immediately taken a junket to Europe]
Grenell delivers some remarks … that would have been howled down as Putin propaganda any moment prior to Jan20.
it’s a short vid and worth it if you appreciate a good “schadenfreude”.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 27 2025 20:38 utc | 44

It fits specifically to feed corruption and grasp money wherever it drops: typical Ukrainian mood

Posted by: Dario | Jan 27 2025 20:44 utc | 45

NATO chief stunned byGrenell, 'U.S. Taxpayers Won't Fund NATO's Ukraine Move'
Times Now World
....
Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 27 2025 20:38 utc | 43

Could it be that Rutte and his NATO-warriors made the same clusterfuck out of their little project "Trump-proofing NATO" as they made out of all other NATO operations before?

Posted by: Marvin | Jan 27 2025 20:50 utc | 46

You don't really understand the Trump 'tariff' idea, it's not really about tariff income its about short term negotiating power and getting Trump's 2017 tax cut (1) that expires in 2025 made permanent..

In order to make the tax cuts permanent Trump has to find money to replace the $4 trillion (over 10 ye

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:37 utc | 30

##################

A typically Western perspective as though the ROW are NPCs.

Trump can tariff as much as he wants. Every action brings consequences.

I want him to keep throwing tariffs around. I am an accelerationist.

All gas no brakes.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 20:14 utc | 42

Hudson has a great article on his substack re: likely impact of Trump tariff mania. Check it out.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Jan 27 2025 20:50 utc | 47

The chaos has only one purpose. It makes the money disappear. When no one can understand the structure no one can do the accounting.

One of the early comments noted Ukrainian military is NATO commanded anyway. The chaos works for their grift just as well.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 27 2025 20:55 utc | 48

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Jan 27 2025 20:50 utc | 46

###############

Thank you. Hudson is a great communicator of nuanced ideas.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 21:04 utc | 49

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 20:14 utc | 42
———————————
Trump does not need to care for the long term because he knows that no state on earth will accept the short term consequences of his tariff threats. Meaning they will bow immediately.
Even a massive economy like EU doesn’t resist. When Trump threatened of raising tariffs, what did Von der Liar answer: EU is ready to increase the import of gas and oil from the US. Lol, they are suffering a lot when they broke the gas supply from Russia but they are not ready to resist to the US permanent “friendly” death kiss.
The US is the Mafia: their international policy and “diplomacy” is blackmailing, racketeering, sanctioning and even using military means to achieve what they want. As long as the ROW accepts that, the situation will worsen. Not for the US of course, they feel untouchable, and they are because we are cowards.

Posted by: scc | Jan 27 2025 21:10 utc | 50

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:37 utc | 30

It's just the 21st century version of Imperial Preference: tried by the British in the inter-war years, it was successful in fathering independence movements across the whole empire.

Nations may well end up saying 'well, we shall sell our stuff to somebody else'.

The idea of putting 25% tariffs on Marching Powder is one I can imagine the Colombian cartels riding out quite easily, the US not so much.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Jan 27 2025 21:10 utc | 51

David G Horsman @ 28

Ten!!? Only when they are very slack. My old SDS chapter had the minimum number required for national voting status (can't remember if that was six or eight) and we had two agents running the chapter. Later on it went up to four. In later years the principals admitted it all to me.

Don't forget that many or most organizations are simply created by the feds.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 27 2025 21:14 utc | 52

I don't know how to use DeepSeek otherwise I'd ask it who will be Zelensky's Gen. Weidling, maybe someone more adept can ask for me?

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 27 2025 21:15 utc | 53

Posted by: scc | Jan 27 2025 21:10 utc | 49

#############

The EU is a degenerating economy. As they centralized, the economy slowed. Then it stalled, now it is de-industrializing. (this characterization is borrowed from Alastair Crooke earlier today)

They long ago accepted vassal status.

It's not impressive that they bend over. Every day more and more African countries are rejecting Western power. The most popular politician in Africa, Ibrahim Traore, declined an invite to Trump's inauguration. That would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Most African leaders would have gone to suck up to America. Open defiance is increasingly the mood in the colonies. Africa. South and Central America. West Asia, and soon Eastern Europe.

I love tariffs. Trump wants to find more revenue to feed the beast without ever addressing the fundamentals of why the beast is so unsustainably hungry.

It's like trying to cure drug addiction by decriminalizing drug possession.

Multi-polarity here we come!

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 21:28 utc | 54

Sounds very much in line with the Zeitgeist of the Western neo-liberal organisational paradigm operating everywhere else in the Collective Worst. As described here:

https://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2018/01/31/in-the-eternal-inferno-fiends-torment-ronald-coase-with-the-fate-of-his-ideas/

Where basic organisational principles are non-existent, in favour of reducing every subunit into its own tick in a box entity with no symbiotic relation with other parts of the organisation in terms of working together. The result is always and inevitably outcomes which are less rather than more than the sum of the parts.

This is why nothing works in the West, and it is doomed to inevitable collapse.

Posted by: Dave Hansell | Jan 27 2025 21:31 utc | 55

Daily DS map update:

https://deepstatemap.live/en#6/49.4383200/32.0526800

Overall, another poor day for the RFA. They took 10.8 kmsq, which is less than the DEC rate of 14 per day and much less than the NOV pace of 23/day.

Gains were all in the S Donetsk. A very small polygon near Dachne and then three related polygons on the "broad west moving" part of the Pokrovsk salient. The strange island near Andriivka is still isolated via gray zone. But one of the three polygons fills in some of the gap with the rest of the salient.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 27 2025 21:51 utc | 56

Fire raid and assault on a AFU stronghold by the Russian Special Operations Forces.

The enemy observers were eliminated by sniper fire, after which the Ukrainian soldiers were suppressed by dense small arms and grenade launcher fire and driven into trenches, where some of the Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed, and some surrendered after being smoked out of their dugouts by setting them on fire.

a very dramatic and cinematic modern trench warfare video 3 minutes long.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 22:02 utc | 57

LATEST UPDATE FROM THE FRONTLINE:

✌Russian drones struck targets in Ivano-Frankivsk region;

✌Russian drones struck targets in Sumy region;

✌Russian strikes were reported in Ternopil region;

✌Russian strikes were reported in Kharkiv region;

✌Russian drones struck targets in Dnepropetrovsk region;

✌Russian strikes were reported in Kiev region;

✌Russian strikes were reported in Poltava region;

✌Russian strikes were reported in Cherkassy region;

✌Russian forces advanced in the Pokrovsk direction;

✌Russian forces advanced in the Kurakhovo direction;

✌Russian forces eliminated 15 servicemen, three field artillery guns, and one ammunition depot in the Kharkiv area;

✌Russian forces eliminated 355 servicemen, seven pickups, and five field artillery guns, three ammunition depots in the Svatove area;

✌Russian forces eliminated 250 servicemen, one infantry vehicle, two motor vehicles, and two field artillery guns in the Chasov Yar area;

✌Russian forces eliminated 610 servicemen, four armoured fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, and six field artillery guns in Donetsk region’

✌Russian forces eliminated up to 160 servicemen, a tank, four motor vehicles, four artillery guns including a Krab system in the Southern Donetsk area;

✌Russian forces eliminated up to 35 servicemen, four motor vehicles, and one ammunition depot in Kherson region;

✌Russian air defense forces intercepted 64 Ukrainian drones over the past day;

✌Russian air defense forces shot down shot down four U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles over the past day.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 27 2025 22:05 utc | 58

LoveDonbass @ 53

I love tariffs. Trump wants to find more revenue to feed the beast without ever addressing the fundamentals of why the beast is so unsustainably hungry.

"The self-immolation will continue until morale improves"

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 27 2025 22:05 utc | 59

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 27 2025 22:05 utc | 58

##########

Failure and defeat teach us more than victory. When things seem to be going too well, for too long, I believe there is a subconscious drive to self-sabotage.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 22:09 utc | 60

Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:12 utc | 26

Supported. Is it me or the supporters of the urkonazis did not come today. Yet.

Except this one of course:

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 27 2025 21:51 utc | 55

And how many ukies servicemen were eliminated today? Fucking bastard.

Posted by: Naive | Jan 27 2025 22:12 utc | 61

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 27 2025 21:51 utc | 55

##########

Russia is running out of opportunities to make large territorial gains.

It is much more difficult to achieve 99% from 95% than it was to achieve 95% from 5%. As the goal approaches, incremental gains become costlier and more difficult.

Donetsk is nearly liberated. Then, Russia will decide the size of the neutral zone it wants to create.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 22:14 utc | 62

Not for the US of course, they feel untouchable, and they are because we are cowards.

Posted by: scc | Jan 27 2025 21:10 utc | 49

Tariffs are "playing nice" compared to sanctions or military threats. Welcome change IMHO.

It's not like most countries don't have some form of protectionism built into their trade policies.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 22:18 utc | 63

Remember general Zalushny who was fired and replaced by general Syrski ?

Posted by: WMG | Jan 27 2025 22:18 utc | 64

Russia is running out of opportunities to make large territorial gains.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 22:14 utc | 61

They'll be HUGE gains before then -- all the way to the Dnieper in short order. Once there things get REALLY interesting.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 22:20 utc | 65

Donetsk is nearly liberated. Then, Russia will decide the size of the neutral zone it wants to create.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 22:14 utc | 61

At the current rate of advance, the DNR will not be liberated until 2028 or so.

Russia has taken a bit more than 2,000 km^2 of the DNR since the Avdeevka offensive started. There remain nearly 10,000 km^2 under Ukrainian control, including several massive for the standards of this (not-)war cities.

And the rate of advance has slowed quite dramatically in the last three months, instead of accelerating. Worse, it is still slowing down rather than picking back up.

Those are the empirical facts.

Then there is the Zaporozhye to liberate, which is an impossible task with the fortifications in place there and the wide open terrain with nowhere to hide and the current self-defeating rules of engagement the Kremlin has imposed on the Russian army.

Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 22:21 utc | 66

Well that organizational structure is good if you expect enemy to destroy early in conflict all your lines of communications. So basically, every group for itself. Works (in a way) only in defensive fighting.

OTOH, I'm just giving them too much credit. Yes, they are incompetent bunch.

Posted by: Abe | Jan 27 2025 22:26 utc | 67

Is this “organisation” a result of Booz Allen or McKinsey ?

Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Jan 27 2025 22:31 utc | 68

the last three months
Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 22:21 utc | 65

Meteorologists in the Northern Hemisphere call that “the onset of winter”...

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 22:34 utc | 69

If this is mimicking NATO’s organisational and operational approach then NATO has got some deep-seated doctrinal problems which need urgent re-thinking.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 17:57 utc | 13
Say nothing to no one.
Let them at it Jeremy.
The world will be a safer place!

Posted by: jpc | Jan 27 2025 22:39 utc | 70

The contradictions of capitalism cannot be micro-managed away. A system which must constantly expand in order to profit will run into limits, which requires expanding into other markets, for resources and sales.
But then it runs into other countries doing the same thing, which leads to wars.

China and Russia are delusional if they actually think that they can have a win/win system in which every country cooperates and prospers, while remaining capitalist. Russia is already running up massive trade deficits with India.

The US is not that naive. The US system is set up to kill and loot for profit. But it still doesn't solve the contradictions at home, which has led to massive unemployment, homelessness, and drug addiction.

Trump thinks that he can solve the contradiction of capitalism by rebuilding US industry. The tariffs are meant to encourage US capitalists to build at home.

Not going to work. But neither is the BRICS organization. Which will kill us first? The escalating resource wars, or the destruction of our ecosystem by the rapacious capitalists of every country?
Or will they release an effective bioweapon?

I guess we'll see.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jan 27 2025 22:43 utc | 71

Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Jan 27 2025 22:31 utc | 67

Probably the Lehman Brothers auditors... (Arthur Andersen comes to mind, or were they Enron?)

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 22:44 utc | 72

Posted by: Dave Hansell | Jan 27 2025 21:31 utc | 54

Very useful article Dave. Thanks.

Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 22:48 utc | 73

61:

Did you even look at real numbers?

Donetsk is only 2/3 captured, not 95%.

Not to mention Kherson and Zhap, which are about 75% captured, but with essentially zero change over the course of last year.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 27 2025 22:48 utc | 74

This supposedly flexible organisation structure that is causing problems for the Ukrainians and which (among other things) results in huge manpower losses may well have come from the US Department of Defense (as Aristodemos @ 1 has suggested) and from military experts in other organisations (private, other government agencies in the US and from beyond as well).

If this is the case, then it might also partly explain why the US and its coalition allies have failed to maintain peace and stability in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where their forces have been sent are supposedly responsible for keeping the peace and to fight and drive back jihadi forces.

When organisational units and structures are deliberately designed to be temporary, supposedly in order to respond to emergencies as they arise, and to regroup into other units and structures to respond to new emergencies, it is no wonder soldiers might lose motivation and perhaps start to hoard weapons and ammunition for their own use or sell on the black market. Corruption and abuses of soldiers in these units might be an issue as well, and responsibility for giving orders to soldiers that force them to harass, torture or kill civilians may be hard to trace.

Whoever had the idea of ordering units of soldiers around as if they are cards in a pack to be shuffled, sure does not sound like someone with much military experience, but more like someone whose experience in organising people and resources comes from having worked in office bureaucracy all through his/ her life, and never seeing the results of his/her shuffling people in real life.

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Jan 27 2025 22:50 utc | 75

Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 22:21 utc | 65

Such poor trolling. Obviously you have learned nothing in your time here. To troll effectively your argument must be at least superficially believable. However, you make the elementary mistake of failing to take into account the by now very obvious lack of replacement soldiers in the 404 army, the lack of sufficient supplies from Nato, and Russia's strategy of destroying the 404 army bit by bit until it disintegrates. As it will, when Russia plans for this to happen. They are in control of the time scale.

'Fail again, fail better' as they say, and as you seem determined to do.

Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 22:54 utc | 76

Re my comment @ 74:

"... If this is the case, then it might also partly explain why the US and its coalition allies have failed to maintain peace and stability in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where their forces have been sent are supposedly responsible for keeping the peace and to fight and drive back jihadi forces ..."

Sorry, that should be:

"... If this is the case, then it might also partly explain why the US and its coalition allies have failed to maintain peace and stability in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where their forces have been sent and where they were supposedly responsible for keeping the peace and to fight and drive back jihadi forces ..."

Also I agree with those barflies who responded to Jeremy Rhymings-Lang's comment @ 13: if this is how NATO operates, let NATO keep going the way the British Royal Navy is going ... glugg, glugg ...

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Jan 27 2025 22:59 utc | 77

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jan 27 2025 18:05 utc | 15
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 19:58 utc | 39
Posted by: jpc | Jan 27 2025 22:39 utc | 69

Yes, my comment about NATO needing some urgent re-thinking was tongue-in-cheek; of course they won’t.

IMHO, NATO is doomed to dissolve into obsolescence, corroded by outdated doctrine, bloated and cumbersome decision-making processes, combined with inferior and over-complex weapon systems (which in turn are infected by financial and political grift).

It is indeed a “mucking fuddle”...

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 23:00 utc | 78

One day the true history of this war will be written, but it'll probably be written in Chinese, and Russian, and Indian, and Portuguese, and I won't be able to read it, if I'm even around to read it:

Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spent the last two months of his tenure doing everything he could to speed up the start of a war between the US and Russia.

This was stated by Tucker Carlson in an interview with journalist Matt Taibbi.

Carlson also noted that he considers the former Secretary of State "a villain and a fool" and suggested that it was Blinken who actually ran the country under the administration of former US President Joe Biden.

https://t.me/ZandVchannel/141549

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 27 2025 23:03 utc | 79

^ brain fart, Hindi not Indian.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 27 2025 23:05 utc | 80

NATO's entire strategy could be summed up thusly:

1. Print money
2. Over-rely on wunderwaffen
3. Poop the bed on the battlefield.

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 27 2025 23:06 utc | 81

Such poor trolling. Obviously you have learned nothing in your time here. To troll effectively your argument must be at least superficially believable. However, you make the elementary mistake of failing to take into account the by now very obvious lack of replacement soldiers in the 404 army, the lack of sufficient supplies from Nato, and Russia's strategy of destroying the 404 army bit by bit until it disintegrates. As it will, when Russia plans for this to happen. They are in control of the time scale.

Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Jan 27 2025 22:54 utc | 75

1) Why is the rate of Russian advance slowing down instead of accelerating if Ukraine is on its last legs?

2) How many times have we heard that Ukraine is finished since March 2022? Yet somehow the war has been moving east into Russian territory faster than it has been moving west..

3) If "Russia is in control of the time scale", why don't they finish it quickly so that their cities are not on fire every night?

Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 23:09 utc | 82

The contradictions of capitalism cannot be micro-managed away. A system which must constantly expand in order to profit will run into limits [....]

China and Russia are delusional if they actually think that they can have a win/win system in which every country cooperates and prospers, while remaining capitalist.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jan 27 2025 22:43 utc | 70

Very well said.

Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 23:09 utc | 83

NATO's entire strategy could be summed up thusly:

1. Print money
2. Over-rely on wunderwaffen
3. Poop the bed on the battlefield.

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 27 2025 23:06 utc | 80

And yet three years into this not a single drone or missile has visited NATO territory while they fly now in the hundreds into Russia every day.

Seems like NATO's strategy is working quite well...

Posted by: ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 23:11 utc | 84

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jan 27 2025 23:06 utc | 80

Concise and to the point, though I have to sound the pedantry alert klaxon: they print currency, not money.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 23:12 utc | 85

Russia has now taken control of half of all of Ukraine's resources. This was stated by the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko. According to him, this fact allowed Moscow to cover all of its expenses for conducting a special military operation.

Russia has seized half of Ukraine's resources, allowing it to fully cover the costs of military operations.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 27 2025 23:14 utc | 86

Barflies, should we answer him? Or should we leave him to stew in his own broth of fantasy, complete with dumplings made from male bovine excrement?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jan 27 2025 23:26 utc | 87

ANON2022 | Jan 27 2025 22:21 utc | 65

It would appear that the road to Zaporozhye, Odessa etc runs through Kiev. If the intention is to establish a demilitarizated buffer state to rule central Ukraine via negotiations it is also imperative to neutralize the current regime or force it to decamp to Lvov where it can be quarantined in a 'Banderastan'. The main difficulty with a Kiev operation under current conditions is the necessity to advance from Belarus. As soon as Western ISR detects the assembly of a large force there they will direct their Ukrainian proxy to begin to target Belarusian cities and infrastructure with drones. There is also the risk of a Kursk style thunder run into Belarusian territory that the small Belarusian forces would struggle to deter.

We may be getting to the point where Ukrainian reserves are sufficiently depleted to prevent a Kursk style incursion, but it would still be imperative for the RF to deploy its forces quickly and provide assurances to Belarus will have the same priority for AD as the rest of the Union State and that there will be no 'goodwill gestures' that would leave Belarus exposed.

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Jan 27 2025 23:32 utc | 88

Rᴜssɪᴀɴs Cᴀᴘᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ Fᴏʀᴛɪғɪᴇᴅ Bᴜɴᴋᴇʀs Oғ NATO Oғғɪᴄᴇʀs Iɴ Cʜᴀsᴏᴠ Yᴀʀ

The battle for the city of Chasov Yar is gaining momentum. After their recent victories in different districts of the city LINK, Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian strongholds in the forest areas on its outskirts.

According to the latest reports from the battlefield, fighters of the Chechen Ahmat Special Forces and the 4th Brigade took control of Ukrainian stronghold in the forest southeast of Chasov Yar. The network of heavily fortified positions was built by the Ukrainian military on the territory of the recreation center Chasovyarets during the war in the Donbass before Russian Special Military Operation.

Chechen fighters reported that the stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine include large concrete bunkers for dozens of officers. They were reportedly captured and mopped up after a week of Russian attacks. The Ukrainian military lost more than 40 soldiers dead on this battlefield.

During the so-called antiterrorist operation of the Kyiv regime against the population of the L/DPR, the large bunkers on the territory of the recreation center housed Ukrainian military headquarters.

After the city of Artemovsk (former Bakhmut) came under Russian control in 2023, NATO and Ukrainian officers restored the HQ there. The military facilities came under heavy Russian strikes. For example, in March 2024, an underground command post was destroyed by Russian Iskander missile strikes. Then, the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces announced the sudden death of Brigadier General Adam Marczak, chief of staff of the allied command of Operation Althea, the EU-led military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Polish General was apparently among the eliminated NATO commanders in Chasov Yar. Later, the fortified stronghold was used by the militants of the 24th Lviv Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is holding the defense in the city of Chasov Yar.

Battles for this fortified stronghold slowed down Russian advance on the southeastern outskirts of Chasov Yar. The retreating Ukrainian forces are also trying to resist in the area of the local lake located to the south of the recreation center but they are likely to loose control of their positions in the near future. Russian advance on the southern flank allows to reinforce Russian positions in the forest area to take the city in the pincer grip and support the ongoing offensive operations in the center of the city, as well as launch assault on the Shevchenko district on the southern outskirts, the last strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Chasov Yar.


Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 27 2025 23:35 utc | 89

Pete Hegseth First Day.
He’s an Outsider.
I’ve watched, from my corporate “sweet spot” senior management position [lowly enough to survive most restructures, amalgamations, “right-sizing”; yet high enough for juicy perks like a car and onsite undercover parking; OS trips and conferences and corporate “team building” 3day-away soirées].
I’ve watched New Boss come and go, New Boss, New Boss, New Boss.(change companies) New Boss New Boss (repeat over decades)
Someone has to guide him through the building, show him the restrooms, get him his privileges like parking pass and other trivialities.
Wish I had spy-cam to watch, reminisce, about how quickly the New Broom is courted, captured and controlled by the very people and processes he(she) is there to scrub.
Hegseth thinks he knows how to rid the pentagram of its Satans. But there are a million little devils in the details (or stultifying corporate procedures) ready for him to trip over….
Reddit has an extremely popular a “malicious compliance” thread. There’s a gazillion ways to fuck over the New Guy.
—-
From a Ukraine perspective. New Guy appointments would be a million times worse. Guys on the line, seeing mates die, knowing who has your back, who’s a waste of space. They bond in the ultimate survival mode (something “corporate team building” foolishly tries to emulate in a safe cosseted environment.).
Any New Guy commander has to prove himself. But the front is too fluid and fatal for that to happen ….
Malicious compliance (+stupendous corruption) is baked by now.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 27 2025 23:42 utc | 90

ANON2022@numrous postings Jan 27

Do I have to address this stoopidity again? Like I told you befive, Ukraine's holding the line in several locations is primarily due to their greatest leader, GENERAL MUD. So here' s mud in your eye.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 27 2025 23:49 utc | 91

Thanks for highlighting the organizational structure, b.

@JRL 86

Leave it.

O/t, I see Trump has suspended all contacts with EU and will be dealing with European countries individually.

NATO actions with seizing Russian related civilian ships in the Baltic Sea on made up charges could be the next Flashpoint.

Posted by: Suresh | Jan 27 2025 23:53 utc | 92

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 20:14 utc | 42
Trump can tariff as much as he wants. Every action brings consequences. All gas no brakes.

<=Maybe a better solution is to send the illegals to Gaza for a Genocide party..strip them of their worldly belongings, give each a towel and a bar of soap and point them to the door that says hope.


Posted by: scc | Jan 27 2025 21:10 utc | 49
The US is the Mafia: their international policy and “diplomacy” is blackmailing, racketeering, sanctioning and even using military means to achieve what they want. As long as the ROW accepts that, the situation will worsen. Not for the US of course, they feel untouchable, and they are because we are cowards.
<= Not sure the EU populations are characteristically cowards, they just lack the information they need to understand the source of the their plight. Every fish learns bait comes with a hidden hook. Unlike American populations, EU populations are unarmed.


Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 21:28 utc | 53
[Threatening Tariff] is like trying to cure drug addiction by decriminalizing drug possession. <=Maybe curing addiction is not the goal?

Posted by: snake | Jan 27 2025 23:53 utc | 93

Melaleuca @ 89

Pete Hegseth First Day.

Looks to me like not much more than a meathead christian soldier, whether Hegseth succeeds or fails nothing good will come of it. True for Trump and his entire court as it was with Biden and his entire court, and all the EU, all fools and clowns, like a reverse King Midas everything these high lords touch turns to shit rather than gold. Best hunker down.

I have some respect for RFKjr and Tulsi, they all share a vendetta along with Trump and like a true pirate captain he brought them on board, I hope they get their revenge, cut the necessary throats but then jump overboard before the ship hits the rocks.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 28 2025 0:03 utc | 94

Melaleuca | Jan 27 2025 23:42 utc | 89

memory: did Obama fire the generals?

Posted by: ms idaho | Jan 28 2025 0:21 utc | 95


"You don't really understand the Trump 'tariff' idea, it's not really about tariff income its about short term negotiating power and getting Trump's 2017 tax cut (1) that expires in 2025 made permanent..
Posted by: canuck | Jan 27 2025 19:37 utc | 30

##################

A typically Western perspective as though the ROW are NPCs.

Trump can tariff as much as he wants. Every action brings consequences.
I want him to keep throwing tariffs around. I am an accelerationist.
All gas no brakes.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 27 2025 20:14 utc | 42

Hudson has a great article on his substack re: likely impact of Trump tariff mania. Check it out.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Jan 27 2025 20:50 utc | 46

This first week of Trump's presidency his tariffs aren't about economics, he's using tariffs as a cudgel to bust down opposition. So far he got Mexico and Colombia to back down on their refusal to take back criminals that we are deporting. He never would have gotten their cooperation without threatening tariffs.

Posted by: Paranaense | Jan 28 2025 0:29 utc | 96

Suresh @ 91

NATO actions with seizing Russian related civilian ships in the Baltic Sea on made up charges could be the next Flashpoint.

The charges are total fabrications, so odd how so much of the pro-Russia punditry youtube and elsewhere doesn't see that, four times now, which indicates what they are up too, trying to force a Cuban missile crisis embargo provocation in the Baltic Sea. Also odd was the USA investigators calling the cable sabotage false. Wondering if the EU is now the bastion of the exiled Biden neocons, that there has developed a genuine demarcation in the deep state?

Actually, I think they are all one blob and Trump v. Biden is kayfabe, pink haired woke pussies can't fight Russia and China, only a mobilized MAGA can. I was holding onto a thread that Trump and Musk finally represented the push back of productive capitalism against neoliberal financialized capitalism (not that Trump's money laundering empire is productive) but Musk publicly unveiling the sieg heil, ramping up the pace, taking the crypto out of crypto nazi, put an end to that fantasy of mine. Best I stick to my reliable, tried and true nightmares.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 28 2025 0:29 utc | 97

For the trolls who tell us to worry about the rate of Russian territorial gains:

The smart play at this point is to make the trump the mark. He either has to end the war to fulfill his promise or go all in. But he doesn’t have much to go all in with unless he’s ready for direct war with Russia. (He’s not.) So the easy way is to make Trump cut Zelensky’s knees off. And if you read the “leaked” Trump peace plan that’s exactly what’s being offered. Note Putin playing to Trump’s ego when he said that 2020 was a stolen election.

And when the conflict stops, Ukraine falls apart. The U.S. wouldn’t be there to pick up the pieces no matter what, but Trump’s made it clear he won’t. That leaves a vacuum that a Russia friendly government with development money from Russia and China can fill. And if nothing else a vacuum that the Russian military can take advantage of.

Posted by: Lex | Jan 28 2025 0:44 utc | 98

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 27 2025 22:48 utc | 73

##########

Being so literal and pedantic must be socially crippling.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 28 2025 0:45 utc | 99

Interesting times !

"Situation Normal All Fouled Up". (SNAFU)

Then again , Prezodum Donald "Munchausen Syndrome" Trump. Has completely destroyed any chance 'MAGA MK2' leaving the starting gate.

Posted by: BadDealMotorsOn | Jan 28 2025 0:51 utc | 100

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