Russian special military operation in Ukraine #39

@VARGR198

So those Ukrainian columns were trying conduct relief action up north around Bakhmut and were promptly spotted and eliminated. Ukraine have pulled out most of their heavy equipment, so assume these are last transgression before they will be rolled up to the next defensive lines


Sorry for bad source, but Lukashenko talks about A50 and it seems there was actually some damage done to it, but it’s superficial as we seen it being taxed out. It’s so hard to believe Ukrainians these, they released fake videos for events that actually happened making me doubt that water is wet. They just lie for the sake of lying

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1633130390880763907/mediaviewer

Iran secretly supplied ammunition to Russia
2 cargo ships under the Russian flag left the Iranian port on January 10 and 12.
Container ships could carry about 100 million bullets and about 300,000 shells.
According to an investigation by British Sky News.....

They don't do investigations, they copy the printouts they get from the US State Department...

They really earn their name though.... BS News....

When this war will be over, the Russian army will be much, much stronger than it was before.
It will be a formidable power, with more than half a MILION battle-hardened troops.
Much refreshed officer corps, including people who fought a real war, and commanded on war.
It will reveal some shortages and weak spots for improvement.

Some say Russia should not use their latest and best weapons, but how will they know if they perform if they don't?

The weapons and equipment are to make the soldier better and more effective in their role, the fact is that there are losses in combat but using a newer tank or the newest fighter might lead to the accidental loss of one of those aircraft or tanks but you can analyse how they were lost and work on ways of making them better so next time they wont be lost... these are things you can't learn if you don't send your new stuff into battle.

Chinese are pussys. They know very well they are the next on the list and they just do nothing.

They will be working hard in the background... remember the ties with the west in China run deep and the west could probably do more damage to China than they could to Russia simply because they have more strings to pull, so China will be busy continuing their work to expand trade and relations with the rest of the world and that includes Russia, and also make changes and work so that any sanctions BS the west imposes to try to hurt China does minimal or no damage and so they can respond in time without hurting themselves.

If Russia actually needed ammo or weapons I am sure China would be happy to sell such things without an enormous profit margin because they know Russia is fighting a good fight that is self defence... ie Russia is not the monster threat to China that the US and the west are to everyone.

kvs wrote:The A50 already had damage when the recon drone landed on its radome.

Just checked that and you are right.

So basically, if ignoring all the idiotic caveman UA PR stunts, they more or less did pre-flight inspection and reported the findings It is more believable than this fake CGI video.

Its Monday folks.
Multiple hits across 404.

The settlement of Dubovo-Vasilevka came under the control of Russian forces, 03.09.2023.

The settlement of Dubovo-Vasilevka near Artemovsk came under the control of Russian forces.

MOSCOW, March 9 - RIA Novosti. The village of Dubovo-Vasilevka, northwest of Artemovsk, has come under the control of Russian forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner group, said.

“Dubovo-Vasilevka is completely under the control of the Wagner PMC. There are battles on the outskirts. The entire territory of the settlement is under us,” Prigozhin was quoted by his press service in the Telegram channel.

Artemovsk is located in the Kyiv-controlled part of the DPR, north of the large city of Gorlovka. This is an important transport hub for supplying the Ukrainian group of troops in the Donbass.

As Sergei Rakhmanin, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, said, the situation in Artemovsk is critical. On Monday, however, Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, called for the continuation of the defensive operation in the city.

https://ria.ru/20230309/punkt-1856668801.html

Wagner, without ammunition and cut off from decision-making centers, is moving faster and faster towards the West

Yevgeny Prigozhin said that the situation with ammunition in PMC "Wagner" has not improved. According to him, in order for him to stop asking for them, all special communication phones were turned off for him in all offices and divisions, and his passes to all decision-making departments were blocked. wrote:

https://vk.com/wall-31371206_2022227

No distractions from the real job anymore. 


Nuland has been spotted in Georgia:

Expert Shurygin explained the large losses of the VFU artillery

The destruction of armored vehicles and artillery is one of the main tasks that the Russian army is currently facing, military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia, assessing the latest successes of the Russian Armed Forces in eliminating such equipment.

"Everyone understands that the lion's share of the Ukrainian army is artillery, it is the main calculation and this is the main tool. We are currently using a large number of Lancet barrage ammunition and other drones that are engaged in hunting for artillery. Reconnaissance and strike complexes and other means are working, " he explained.

The expert did not rule out the possibility that our troops have found a new tactic for dealing with the VFU artillery, which cannot yet be described. According to him, the very fact of an increase in the number of destroyed targets means that the units have adapted to deal with artillery.

Since the beginning of March, the Ukrainian artillery has suffered heavy losses. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, during this period, 20 self-propelled artillery installations were lost in the Volga Federal District: nine "Carnations", seven" Acacias", two Polish" Crabs "and two American"Palladins".

The VFU also lost 10 multiple launch rocket systems: six Grad vehicles and two Uragan and Smerch vehicles each.

51 units of towed artillery were destroyed: nine Msta-B and D-20 guns each, 28 D-30s, one Hyacinth-B and four US-made M777 systems.

https://translated.turbopages.org/proxy_u/ru-en.en.876413a0-6409c529-d40b472b-74722d776562/https/iz.ru/1480658/2023-03-09/ekspert-shurygin-obiasnil-bolshie-poteri-artillerii-vfu

Strengthening the northern part of the cauldron.

That is the Wunderwaffe that will be used for retaking Crimea, so please be serious!

Supplied by the US the price tag is around 150.000$ without extras. 

@VARGR198

Kinda sad to be honest, would that be even worth shelling?












... of course the answer is yes, after you finish laughing.

Ukros were staging next fake material about the intrusion into RF.



Yet they are so stupid that can't even fake the city limits mark ...




And that is another case

Pro Ukr media claim Russian losses in Bakhmut 5 timed higher than Ukrainian ones.

Ukrainian Army’s Newest Mechanized Brigade Has A Weird Mix Of Weapons.
David Axe
Forbes Staff
I write about ships, planes, tanks, drones, missiles and satellites.
Mar 8, 2023,05:49pm EST

The Ukrainian army has been forming new mechanized brigades as fast as it can recruit, train and equip the troops. It’s a sometimes messy process as the government in Kyiv struggles to fight the war with forces it already has, while also preparing new forces for the war’s next phase.

The 88th Mechanized Brigade might be the newest Ukrainian mechanized formation. Its table of organization and equipment is ... weird. Soviet-made anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns from the early 1960s. Modern Swedish air-defense missiles. The latest Emirati armored trucks.

The 88th Mechanized Brigade stood up in early 2023 after recruiting troops “from different parts of Ukraine, of different ages, with different life experiences,” the unit stated on Telegram.

It joins as many as 40 other mechanized brigades in comprising the bulk of Ukraine’s land forces. A brigade might have three or four front-line battalions, each with several hundred troops and dozens of armored vehicles. Artillery, air-defense and engineering battalions and companies usually round out a brigade’s force structure.

Ukraine’s army has expanded faster than Ukrainian industry can equip it with newly built or reconditioned Soviet-style hardware. Increasingly, the Ukrainians get their heavy weaponry from abroad. New foreign weaponry complementing older ex-Soviet gear.

The 88th Mechanized Brigade exemplifies this uniquely Ukrainian force mix. Its soldiers carry AK-style assault weapons. But their crew-served weapons and vehicles are an ecclectic blend of East and West.

We can confirm, from the brigade’s Telegram account, that it’s been training to use the MT-12 100-millimeter anti-tank gun.

The MT-12 is a Soviet classic from 1960. Ukrainian gunners not only use the gun in its traditional direct-fire role targeting enemy tanks from two miles away, they also angle it high so it can double as a howitzer—albeit a short-range one. Ukrainian technicians have mounted spare MT-12s on MT-LB armored tractors.

The MT-12 isn’t the 88th’s only anti-tank weapon. The brigade has Ukrainian-made Stugna-P missiles, as well. A Stugna-P can range as far as three miles.

The 88th Mechanized Brigade is training on the ZU-23-2 towed anti-aircraft gun. The ZU-23-2 is a side-by-side pair of fast-firing 23-millimeter cannons that entered service with the Soviet army back in 1960.

With its 1.5-mile range and manual sights, the ZU-23-2 is a middling anti-aircraft gun. But point it at the targets on the ground, and it makes a devastating infantry-support weapon.

The brigade doesn’t need the ZU-23-2 to defend it from aerial attacks. For that, it has Swedish-made RBS-70 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. The missile rides a laser beam out to a range of five miles. The original RBS-70 entered service in 1977; upgrades have added speed and range and improved the guidance.

It’s not totally clear what vehicles the 88th Mechanized Brigade rides in. The brigade has posted photos of up-armored American Humvees and brand-new Panthera F9 mine-resistant armored trucks from the United Arab Emirates.

The trucks can move infantry around the battlefield, but they’re too lightly armored and lightly armed for direct combat. Most Ukrainian mechanized brigades deploy a mix of Soviet-style T-64 or T-72 tanks and BMP fighting vehicles. It seems the 88th Mechanized Brigade has locally-upgraded T-64BVs and old BMP-1s—but it’s hard to say for sure.

The brigade in a March 3 Telegram post hinted that it might be in line for some of the roughly 60 Leopard 2 tanks that Germany, Poland, Spain and other European countries have pledged to Ukraine. “The first 14 Leopard 2 tanks from our Polish brothers arrived on the territory of Ukraine,” the 88th stated. “Who do you think will have them soon?”

That might have been trolling. There are indications that the Leopard 2s will reequip one of the Ukrainian army’s armored brigades—perhaps the battle-hardened 4th Tank Brigade, which has spent much of the last year fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

We don’t know yet when and where the 88th Mechanized Brigade will enter combat. It’s possible Kyiv is holding the brigade in reserve for a widely-anticipated spring offensive.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/03/08/swedish-missiles-emirati-armored-trucks-the-ukrainian-armys-newest-mechanized-brigade-has-a-weird-mix-of-weapons/

@JohninMK

The brigade in a March 3 Telegram post hinted that it might be in line for some of the roughly 60 Leopard 2 tanks that Germany, Poland, Spain and other European countries have pledged to Ukraine. “The first 14 Leopard 2 tanks from our Polish brothers arrived on the territory of Ukraine,” the 88th stated. “Who do you think will have them soon?”

They started off with over 2000 tanks and now they're bragging about 60 cold war-era Leopards?

"Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad" - William Anderson Scott

Not sure if this includes this afternoon's presents. All very precise and certain on number and types of weapons used ... showing off NATO’s electronic signature database?

Ukranews has helpfully posted a breakdown:

   - 28 launches of Kh-101/Kh-555 air-based cruise missiles;

   - 20 launches of Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles;

   - 6 launches of Kh-22 air-based cruise missiles;

   - 6 launches of Kh-47 Kinzhal air-based cruise missiles;

   - 8 launches of guided air missiles: 2 - Kh-31P; 6 - Kh-59;

   - 13 launches of S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles.

   In addition, 8 Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs were launched.

https://ukranews.com/en/news/919839-russia-fires-81-missiles-at-ukraine-occupiers-use-6-kinzhal-missiles-at-once-for-first-time

Ukraine needs shells (So too do US/NATO) - New York Times, Mar8'23 - archive.ph

So desperate is Ukraine for ammunition, it is firing considerably fewer artillery shells than it otherwise would, its defense minister says.

But it is still going through shells faster than the West can produce or supply them, and making more shells is expensive. If arms manufacturers are to increase production and build new factories, they want large orders with guaranteed money — and those factories can take two to three years or more to come online.

Arguing that their efforts to hold back current Russian attacks in the Donbas are being hampered by lack of ammunition, Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, told EU counterparts in a recent letter obtained by The Financial Times that, at a minimum, Kyiv needed 250,000 artillery shells a month. He also said that his forces were firing only about 120,000 a month, a fifth of the rounds they would ordinarily use.

But a senior European official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said that the 12 companies in 10 EU countries that make such artillery shells can currently produce only 650,000 a year — and that includes other types of ammunition that are in short supply, including 120-millimeter rounds needed for German Leopard 2 tanks and 105-millimeter rounds needed for the older Leopard 1 tanks.

The United States, too, does not make many 155-millimeter shells and is trying to increase its own production. It is ramping up from about 14,400 rounds a month to 20,000 a month this spring, with plans to be making 90,000 rounds a month by 2025.