Russian special military operation in Ukraine #40

One more failed attempt to probe Russian defense at Orehov/Zaporhoze direction.
Decimated before even getting into contact, BMP and two technicals burning, to two platoons wiped out.

https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/49162

The ICC is playing the same propaganda script as NATzO did during its gang rape of Serbia in 1999. We had video of Albanian refugees
with tractor hauled carts full of possessions heading into Montenegro painted as victims of ethnic cleansing. CNN compared Albanians
arriving in passenger trains into FYROM to Jews arriving into death camps in cattle cars. The average NATzO resident swallows the
excrement that being driven out of your house at gunpoint still gives you plenty of time to pack all your bags.

That these ICC clowns got tasked with going after the children's rights commissioner with retarded sophistry about "deportation"
demonstrates that they couldn't find any actual cases of war crimes.

Important to consider:

Once again, I would like to say that the calming news, including in the Western media about the heavy losses of the Ukrainian and his unwillingness to fight, was created with one goal in mind, and this is the goal, mass disinformation before a big offensive. Colleagues have written about this more than once or twice, it’s not a sin to remind you.

All these scandals with the removal of battalion commanders “for the truth from the front”, the arguments of Western analysts that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are no longer capable of anything due to the retirement of experienced soldiers and officers, plans to transfer military equipment at the end of 2023, etc., it's all a smoke screen. Crews for Western vehicles, be it Abrams, Leopard, Bradley, have already been trained. Western tactical level control systems have already been introduced into new units and formations, the direction of the main (possibly two) strike has already been chosen. The new wave of mobilization is almost completed, and by mid-April-early May, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will try to attack with the most serious goals. Moreover, the main offensive will be just the same on Soviet technology, those very transferred T-72s and armored personnel carriers / BMP-1.2.

The Khokhol will use high-precision MLRS systems as a replacement for aviation in order to try to isolate the battlefield, and will massively use drones, including FPV kamikazes.

The Bakhmut meat grinder swallowed up many soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian army, but now Kyiv is trying to extract its benefits from these huge losses, namely, to show the deplorable state of its own forces and underestimate its potential in our eyes. Of course, you shouldn’t believe this, it’s better to overestimate the enemy a little and prepare for a meeting with him as expected, than to underestimate and stay in a relaxed state of mind.

#source: https://t.me/vysokygovorit/11035

Chronicle of the Special Military Operation for 17 Mar 2023

Russian Forces launched a massive kamikaze drone strike against targets in Ukraine this evening.

Targets have been hit in #Novomoskovsk in #Dnepropetrovsk region, #Konstantinovka, #Dnepropetrovsk and #Kiev region. Explosions have also been reported in #Zhytomyr, #Rovno, #Khmelnytsky and #Volyn region.

#Starobelsk (#Svatovo) Direction (MAP}:

In the #Kupyansk sector, Russian troops took control of several enemy strongholds near #Gryanikovka.
Ukrainian commanders withdrew units to the right bank of the #Oskol River.
The AFU is redeploying fresh units to the #Khatnoye - #Olkhovatka and #Petropavloka - #Sinkovka lines.

Russian forces managed to seize enemy strongholds near Balka Zhuravka in the #Liman sector.
Near #Kremennaya, fighters of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division were able to advance west from #Chervonopopovka, expanding their zone of control.

#Soledar (#Bakhmut) Direction:

In the #Lisichansk sector, Ukrainian formations are conducting a partial evacuation of the population, expecting a Russian offensive soon.
In the vicinity of #Belogorovka, the sides are engaged in heavy positional fighting.

In #Bakhmut, units of the Wagner PMC continue to fight fiercely on all the outskirts of the city.
In the north, assault units are pushing the enemy out of the industrial zone near Vostokmash.
In the south, Russian forces managed to clear most of the Sobachevka district and engaged the enemy on Mariupolskaya Street.
Some success was achieved in the Vodokanal district, pushing the enemy back from several defensive positions.

In the Chasov Yar area, the Ukrainian command is preparing a strike force consisting of heavy mechanized brigades in preparation for a counteroffensive against #Bakhmut.

#Donetsk Direction:

In the #Avdeyevka direction, Russian units are storming the heights on the approaches to #Vodyanoye.
Due to heavy losses, the enemy withdraws troops to #Severnoye for rotation and re-staffing.

Ukrainian terrorist formations continue indiscriminately shelling civilian infrastructure in #Donetsk and adjacent towns:
Rocket artillery attacked Kievsky and Petrovsky districts of #Donetsk. One woman was wounded, two were killed and three residential buildings were damaged.
In #Gorlovka, civilian infrastructure was damaged with no civilian casualties.

#Kherson Direction on #SouthFront:

Mutual shelling continues along the entire line of contact: Russian troops have hit identified enemy positions in #Kherson, #Kazatskoye and #Kachkarovka.
For its part, the enemy terrorists shelled the left bank of #Kherson region. Civilian infrastructure facilities in Novaya Kakhovka, #Alyoshki and #Tavriysk have been damaged.


https://t.me/sitreports/5952

Smuggling from #Ukraine of Weapons supplied by the West to the AFU

A few days ago, colleagues from the Telegram Channel ANNA NEWS wondered where some of the weapons supplied by Western states to the AFU go. According to the story, the Ukrainian government is writing off oversized types of weapons under the pretext of combat operations and high consumption of all the property.

The process is overseen by Kirill Budanov, head of Ukraine's main intelligence directorate, and assisted by the head of the #Odessa regional administration, Maxim Marchenko, who was recently removed from his post.

Why #Odessa?

The city hosts a major port whose infrastructure allows the passage of large flows of cargo ships. There is virtually no control over the goods carried on the ships, thanks to the grain deal concluded last year, which was safely extended a few days ago.

Various cargoes supplied by the West are brought into #Odessa port completely unhindered through Bulgarian and Romanian seaports, as well as directly in transit through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. This is also how smuggling out of #Odessa takes place.

Where is Everything going?

Some of the weapons do go to #Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. However, separatist and terrorist groups operating in the regions can hardly afford to buy even a sufficient number of assault rifles.

Therefore, the main flows of smuggling go to criminal organisations and radical national diasporas in #Europe. They are the most solvent customers due to their participation in various black market activities.

Why Europe?

American foreign policy and position in the #Ukraine conflict is not only to weaken #Russia, but also to implement the total impoverishment of European states in order to further their total subjugation to their will.

Since the start of the #SMO, #Europe has been hit by a serious economic and energy crisis, prompting many large businesses and companies to move their infrastructure and financial flows to the safer states.

All #EU countries are now effectively left behind, as the sanctions imposed on #Russia have done more damage to the #EU itself and forced it to surrender completely to the control of US policy.

The outflow of weapons into the hands of criminal elements or ethnic diasporas in #Europe, who run the "back end" of the economy, allows the creation of well-equipped cells in European states, which are bound to be used under certain circumstances. Arms smuggling also leads to increased criminality and sets the stage for businesses to leave #Europe.

So the Americans are involved in Smuggling?

The illegal sale of the supplied weapons by the Ukrainian authorities could not be organized without assistance or a go-ahead from Washington. If it were not for the leaked evidence of what is happening, no one would have paid attention to it.

The conflict in #Ukraine created favourable conditions for the organisation of alternative supply routes for various criminal and extremist groups operating in different regions of the world. First and foremost, in Europe itself.

The flourishing corruption at the top of the Ukrainian government, together with the "war will pay for everything" principle, has eliminated any possibility of actual control over the activities of the Ukrainian authorities in the use of military aid for its intended purpose.

And this most smuggled weapon with ammunition in the future will begin to suddenly pop up exactly where the US will need to artificially create an escalation.


https://t.me/sitreports/5954

The drama with the ICC clowns, is just to distract the western sheep from the planned banking collapse.

The Kiev regime does not have the resources to mount an effective offensive. The 150,000 mobilized Russians are in the field of operations
but they are not at the front. The other 150,000 are still outside the field of operations. Actually the numbers are probably 50,000 vs 250,000
since 100,000 volunteers signed on shortly after the mobilization last year. I think most of them are in Ukraine. So the Kiev regime is going
to be facing Russian forces with comparable number of much better prepared troops and vastly more equipment and munitions.

I have to keep repeating that all the "victories" of the Kiev regime in Kharkov and elsewhere were cases of Russian forces withdrawing. Kiev
will not have this afforded to it this time around.

That this offensive is being pushed by the US indicates that the US does not have a grip on reality. Any sane policy would require an offensive
to have a measure of success. There are no "optics" angles here since this offensive will fail hard.

I actually believe there is an alterior motive to this.

The Western nations are trying to force the hand of third countries who aren't aligned to their nonsense to try and get them to do their bidding. This could have two kinds of consequences - the nations decide to dump the ICC and thus it loses its relevancy entirely or these nations are forced to do the bidding of the west, increasing the chance of an international incident forcing the Russian's hand.

All in all, the west uses this as a tool against third nations.

Levi@Levi_godman

Prigozhin says up to 1200 russian volunteers per day are signing up to serve in Wagner right now.

He expects to increase the number of Wagner soldiers by 30.000 till May

https://twitter.com/Levi_godman/status/1637051982425870336?cxt=HHwWgMC-tdiG_bctAAAA

Guess it's "Reunification Day" in Crimea and VVP went to Sevastopol for the occasion.

Saw this on the internet way back in 2014, so for the occasion, "Welcome home" (set to the tune of December's "We do not abandon our towns")

The "offensive" they are talking about is just to keep the dumb EU idiots in line for another 3-4 months, so the US can rob/steal whatever is left of the EU industry. When Uncle Scumbag is done fucking the EU via Ukraine, Uncle Scumbag will come to the pacific to rob the idiots "US allies" in that part of the world via Taiwan.

The Kiev regime does not have the resources to mount an effective offensive.

After the Politico article stating that at least 100.000 of the best Ukro forces were killed, I hope
that this catch phrase "Best Troops" that was even used by the Duran guys for month and month,
will vanish.

It was always the same in the last 8 to 9 months, there was some battle, the Ukro regime commited
it´s "best troops" to the fight, they lost from Mariupol to Soledar and shortly before the liberation of
a town the narrative changed to "the best troops were already pulled back" or even "were never there".
Just to claim some days latere that "now the best troops are coming" either to "break the cauldron around
Bakhmut" or for the "spring offensive".

In his last videos Christoforou used that phrase at least a hundred times.

To be clear: when the regime in Kiev states "his best troops" are in that city or area they mean the
"best troops" that are left = a handful of 30 year old fighters with a few months of experience between
fighters above 40 or even 50 or younger as 20 with 2 weeks of basic training.

This is the real winter/spring offensive:

No big arrows but pressure along the entire frontline.

Ukro offensives are russian best tactic. They easily destroy them as they advanced towards russian positions.

Russians must be doing everything they can to encourage them to launch offensive again and again.

Next phases of the SMO

Hole when do you think such a move could be made to take those regions

Defense Politics Asia
@DefensePolitics
·
6h
A new format of reporting appear on Russia MoD Telegram.

They now have representative from their 4 army groups in kherson, kupyansk, donetsk and zaporizhzhia "fronts" to report their own updates in video...

This is on top of Russia MoD's daily report.

https://t.me/mod_russia_en/6508

What happens when a drone hits a loaded MLRS. Boom  

https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/49157

Moves north of Avdeevka

https://t.me/llordofwar/100291

EDIT another MoA comment

Russians don’t do cities, the only exception was Berlin, where the NVA would have bourn a large part of the FIBUA burden, just as the proxies Wagner, Chechens and militia forces have and are doing today.

Most of the regimental/divisional commanders in the SMO would have been junior officers during the First Chechen war, when the disastrous decision to transition from a siege to a direct assault on Grozny was taken and have no intention of being drawn into attritional urban conflicts that work against the better, trained and equipped force, by limiting its opportunities to manoeuvre, reducing the LOS and forcing upon it higher unit densities.

The UAF are defending not through choice but because of necessity, their tactical and operational competencies are cruelly exposed when they deviate from this posture.

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of a special military operation (18.03.2023)

In the Kupyansk direction, the artillery fire of the "Western" group of troops hit the enemy's human force in the areas of Dvurechnaya, Sinkovka, Kotlyarovka of the Kharkiv region and Stelmakhovka of the Luhansk people's republic.

Up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen and three vehicles were destroyed.

In the Krasno-Limanskoe direction, operational and tactical aviation strikes, artillery fire and heavy flame throwing systems of the Group of Forces (Forces) Center hit AFU units in the areas of Nevske, Chervona Dibrova of the Luhansk People's Republic, Yampolovka and Hryhorovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

During the day, the enemy losses in this direction amounted to more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers, two armored combat vehicles, as well as a self-propelled howitzer "Gvozdika".

In the Donetsk direction, as a result of active actions of units of the "Southern" group of troops, air strikes and artillery fire, up to 120 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, two vehicles, two combat vehicles of the Uragan MLRS, as well as a D-30 howitzer were destroyed during the day.

On the South Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya directions, the operational and tactical aviation and artillery of the Vostok Group of Forces hit the AFU units in the areas of Novomikhailovka, Ugledar of the Donetsk People's Republic, Levadnoye and Orekhov of the Zaporizhzhya region.

The enemy losses in these directions during the day were up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen and two pickup trucks.

In the Kherson direction more than 25 Ukrainian servicemen, four vehicles, as well as two D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the course of the day.

Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit 89 artillery units in firing positions, manpower and equipment in 107 areas.

The command post of the 110th mechanized brigade of the AFU was hit near the village of Tonenkoye in the Donetsk People's Republic.

The air defense forces intercepted 15 HIMARS, Smerch and Uragan MBRLS rockets.

In addition, nine Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of Novaya Tarasovka (Kharkiv Region), Rubizhne, Chervonopopovka (Luhansk People's Republic), Staromayorske, Vladimirovka, Yegorovka and Valeryanovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

MoA Comment:

Recent comparative reduced OP tempo continues(Past 48hrs). Equivalent to average effort over Jan/Feb period. Current 48hr RF main effort concentrated & targeted. AFU forces remain fixed in place & in contact all along FEBA under constant disadvantageous attrition by RF CAS & direct & indirect ranged Fires & RF forces.

AFU forces AFV/Arty/MBRLS unsustainable materiel losses continue to mount, combat power degrades, yet especially soft-skinned transport & critically logistics support vehicles.

Significant AFU logistical infrastructure & stores/dumps/depots targeted & destroyed, beyond FEBA & immediate rear areas, by RF Theater strategic strike assets during period.

Expansion of outer envelopment ring defensive depth continues re Bahkmut(Artemovsk) as inner ring constricts, ongoing multiple axes assaults fragment weakened AFU forces, creating non-mutually supporting isolated pockets of resistance for subsequent destruction in detail. Reported ~70% of Bahkmut(Artemovsk) defensible positions now taken. Reduction of AFU Bahkmut will shorten the Line of Contact and free up significant RF forces to be redeployed & hence place even greater pressure on AFU all along FEBA, incrementally increasing already disadvantageous attrition & further stress already over-stretched AFU forces.

Double envelopment of Adviika is advancing and continues apace. Adviika in current Situ likely facing same fate as forces trapped within Bahkmut, interdiction then severance of MSRs. Regardless of the strength of long developed hardened fortification within the developing encirclement, the contained AFU forces cannot long survive once their MSRs are under Fire Control, ultimately severed. Logistics. An open question as to whether AFU has sufficient or capable reserves to 'attempt' relief of Bahkmut(Too late ? Now pointless re cost/benefit ?), let alone Adviika concurrently or sequentially.

Expect further double envelopments/significant localized offensive Ops, by RF v AFU elsewhere to be in advanced planning/preparation/preparatory execution as RF Theater incremental attritional momentum & sustained broad offensive pressure continues apace.

Note: An Army does not ultimately maintain & retain urban defense fortifications by relentlessly reinforcing forces inside an envelopment. It actually defends said works by deploying sufficient capable maneuver combat power to support & hold the flanks to prevent envelopment & where necessary counter-attacks to retrieve them to ensure security of MSRs. AFU repeatedly demonstrates it lacks both the capacity & capability to do so.

Posted by: Outraged

https://t.me/s/milchronicles/1679

'Military Chronicle', Telegram, browse-able Open(Public) link.

What's wrong with Western equipment for the AFU reserves ?

A remarkable video of a convoy of 40 foreign armored vehicles, presumably moved by the AFU to the Artemivsk (Bakhmut) area, has appeared online.

Why so many Humvees ?

There are many two-seat American Humvee (HMMWV) pickup trucks in the M1152 transport modification in the convoy. Ukrainian ground troops probably need such vehicles the most. Because of the massive use of pickups and other civilian vehicles, the AFU in Artemivsk (and in other parts of the front) is losing several dozen a day. The loss of off-road vehicles deprives the AFU of the ability to at least minimally supply front-line positions: to deliver ammunition, medicine, water, and supplies. These vehicles are practically useless in combined arms combat because of their weak armor, which would not withstand a hit from a rocket-propelled grenade(RPG)(or even sustained MG fire).

Are such armored vehicles suitable for attacks?

All the vehicles in the video have no heavy armor and are practically useless in combat. No anti-tank HMMWV M-1036 with the TOW system or M-998 Avenger version with short-range SAM. If a 152 mm shell hit near the Humvee, shrapnel could penetrate the vehicle's armor, and all passengers would be killed or severely injured.

Where are all these things coming from and why aren't they repainted?

To expedite deliveries, these vehicles are probably not repainted on purpose and are delivered directly from the forward depots of the 405th Field Support Brigade in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Almost all of the armored vehicles are painted in Tan 686 sand camouflage, which suggests a rush to get them to the battlefield. Under normal conditions, the AFU repaints American vehicles sand-colored in green, less conspicuous camouflage. In Ukrainian spring conditions, with a lack of greenery and mud, sand-colored armored vehicles are clearly visible from a drone and are likely to come under fire more quickly.

Against the background of the assault by Russian troops on the powerful fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Marinka near Donetsk, which has been going on for more than a year, military correspondents Vladlen Tatarsky and Andrey Medvedev rightly highlighted the problems of assault operations. This was announced on March 18 by the military commander Alexander Kharchenko, commenting on what is happening in the Telegram channel “Witnesses of Bayraktar”.

According to Kharchenko, starting the NMD in Ukraine, Russian troops were not ready for the assaults on megacities. Of the entire military nomenclature, only the IMRs and the assault and barrage battalion from Murom could be noted. The number of special vehicles and trained fighters was insufficient, so infantrymen under the cover of T-72 and BTR-82 were sent to storm in Mariupol he noted.

He stressed that it is still a mystery to him why the huge and first-class experience of fighting in Syria was not fully summarized, analyzed and mastered. According to him, back in 2012, it became clear that the T-72 MBT is a good heavy combat vehicle, but its armor and the power of ammunition are really not enough to destroy enemy fortifications.

In order to fold the Syrian high-rise building, it was necessary to release several ammunition and at the same time tried to hit the supporting columns he clarified.

Kharchenko recalled that the ATS fighters attached (by welding) cylinders filled with explosives to rockets from the Grad MLRS. This design flew not far (2-3 km) and not exactly. But if she hit, then she demonstrated greater efficiency - "it was guaranteed to demolish one entrance."

To storm a neighboring house, 107 mm shells with an enlarged warhead were used. They were hit by direct fire from holes in the walls Kharchenko added.

He drew attention to the fact that the Americans, despite the colossal resources, also did not work out with the storming of cities. For example, they took Raqqa in Syria for 4.5 months, and Mosul in Iraq for 9 months.

High-precision weapons are good, but even Uncle Sam's soldiers had to wipe cities off the face of the earth in order to dislodge a lightly armed enemy he pointed out.

Kharchenko expressed the hope that the experience of past years and the experience gained during the special operation would be properly processed and the Russian troops would be equipped with assault weapons systems. Summing up, he explained that the conflict in Ukraine is “only the beginning of a long chain of armed clashes,” since humanity is in a state of turbulence and one must be prepared for any changes in the geopolitical situation.

It should be noted that in May 2021, Uralvagonzavod began to create the first prototypes of the Shturm heavy strike robotic complex based on the T-72B3 tank. This RTK is designed for urban combat, but nothing has been heard of it since.

https://topcor-ru.translate.goog/33221-voenkory-osvetili-problemu-shturmovyh-dejstvij-rossijskih-vojsk.html?utm_source=warfiles.ru&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

No big arrows but pressure along the entire frontline

It has been pointed out by many observers that hiding massive troops in this day and age of space intel satellites is impossible, so there can be no surprise rapid deployment to any one front. Just another lesson learned from this war.

Artillery remains King of the battle but the Queen (Infantry) is still paramount.

This has nothing to do with satellites. They were present in the 70´s and 80´s, even
with less capabilities.

No, this kind of warfare is exactly what was envisaged back then with the difference
that in the 80´s Russia (SU) had enough active ground forces to attack a frontline
with a length of 3.000+km.

Russian forces were always supposed to put pressure onto the enemy until somewhere the
resistance collapses, after that the typical "maneuver warfare" would happen, attacking the
flanks and rear of the enemy through that hole in the defensive lines and do a "Bakhmut" on
them in that area.

The main difference to the imaginations of wargames back then is that for the first time since
WWII we see something like this happen in realtime. In maneuvers the "pressure phase" is
always neglected or happens virtualy during the staff part of the exercise, because for the troops
and the politicians it´s more fun to watch tanks and troops moving around.

Russian forces were always supposed to put pressure onto the enemy until somewhere the
resistance collapses, after that the typical "maneuver warfare" would happen, attacking the
flanks and rear of the enemy through that hole in the defensive lines and do a "Bakhmut" on
them in that area.

Not sure how mobile the "maneuver warfare" will be on a modern battlefield.

In the 70s and 80s you had nuk wareheads on any type of missile, rocket or projectile present on the battlefield.

I doubt they gave a **** about ability to mobilize or not their army on a frontline of 3000km as long as their nuks worked.

Their huge army was useless. In peace time useless, in wartime against Nato it would have gone nuclear and against isolated countries you want a bigger army than the opponent but also better equiped so more money for advanced stuff and less soldiers. It worked as a detterance against neighbours but nothing more.

Just look how US burn their money on their huge shitty army of 1.5 million soldiers.

Russian army is far smaller than the soviet, yet Nato can't do shit still because what matters is nuks. If they didn't had nuks they would have been balkanized long time ago.