Russian invasion of Ukraine

[jagfox]

 

 

[jagfox]

Bit of light relief...

 

[LongTimeLurker]

Focus of Ukrainian efforts might be shifting to Kherson oblast:

but it's no doubt best to keep the Russians guessing on that so they can't concentrate their forces too much.

Edited October 2, 2022 by LongTimeLurker

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Trying to work out if you're at it or just thick.
Tough call. 

He's arrogant arsehole who thinks he knows it all.

Had you not noticed?

[Lurkst]

 

 

[ICTChris]

18 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Kadyrov has raged against the loss of Lyman on Telegram and has said Outin should declare martial law and use low yield nuclear weapons. Probably the first person within the Kremlin hierarchy to make a specific public call to use nuclear weapons.   

 

18 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Prigozhin, ex-con, millionaire and owner of Wagner, has praised Kadyrov for his attacks on the Russian general staff.

Lots of talk about this stuff on Russian channels. What’s interesting is that it shows divisions in the ruling group - essentially two power players who are outside Russian military control (Kadyrov and Prozoghin) are accusing those within the Russian armed forces command of failures. One of the commanders of the BARS units who were defeated in Lyman has also chimed in, criticising Shiogu.

It does show a difficulty with having such a disparate group of units - who commands them, who controls the units and who takes them with missions? For example, Wagner continue pushing against Bakhmut to little affect while the Russian Army experience defeats around Lyman and are pushed back (albeit slowly) in Kherson. Who has decided to expend Wagner firepower in Bakhmut? Can the Russian General staff command them or do they do their own thing?

This ties into the reports that Putin is taking battlefield decisions, the example being given is that the Russian Army commanders wanted to retreat to the East bank of the river in Kherson as it’s far easier to defend but were refused. 

If senior commanders are removed, who will replace them? Russia has changed a lot of the commanding officers throughout the operation already, who is sitting in the wings to replace people now? Could Kadyrov and Prozoghin be eyeing up commanding roles for themselves?

[jagfox]

If Putin keeps overriding Shiogu and the Russian top brass it could  be a dangerous path to follow?

If he appointed the likes of Kadrov or Prozoghin that could go badly. One could lead to serious questions internally amongst the military.

Could lead to an even worse clusterfuck operationally which would take us all down a very dangerous route.

[jagfox]

 

[jagfox]

 

[Moomintroll]

I can't quite remember his name, who was that other Fascist arsehole who used to countermand his Generals orders & what Party did he lead again?

[Moomintroll]

10 hours ago, oaksoft said:

How many of them have invaded another country, bombed the shit out of it, unilaterally declared it as their country now and threatened to drop nuclear bombs on it?

I never thought I would see the day but here we are agreeing. You would think him and his wee pals would have abandoned the thread by now but double down appears to be the order of the day. No doubt a certain one of them will slither back a year from now, claim he was right all along then try to dine out on it forever more.

[welshbairn]

8 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

 

The twat in the hat still loves him - 

 

 

[dorlomin]

1 hour ago, jagfox said:

If Putin keeps overriding Shiogu and the Russian top brass it could  be a dangerous path to follow?

If he appointed the likes of Kadrov or Prozoghin that could go badly. One could lead to serious questions internally amongst the military.

Shoigu is a political appointee. Bit like how our minster of defence does not need much defence experience. But his main job is structuring the civilian defence sector, planning the equipment it will need in 10 or 20 years. Kadyrov and Prozoghin are little more mafioso warlords with militias. Russia is going badly wrong in the staff planning and logistics departments (and one hundred times over lack of training at every level), but you cannot will a competent general staff into existence, its is decades of education, learning and passing knowledge on. Appointing a Tik Tok mafioso will not resolve those issues, just direct Su-57 funding to Kaydrov's bank account.

Russias problem is that fundamentally the entire state structure has been eaten out hollow by a cancerous infestation of corrupt spies and mafioso.  Whether the lack of proper staff officer structure is due to deliberate decades of de-education by Putin or nepotism and corruption within is at this point, moot. The effects are the same. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by dorlomin
extra sentence of tik tok mafioso

[Moomintroll]

9 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

 

The twat in the hat still loves him - 

 

QotS must condemn.

[MONKMAN]

Just been sent a video allegedly from Lyman, of pigs eating a dead Russian soldier. It looks pretty grim there, and there's certainly rumours of a massacre of Russian forces who were fleeing the town.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, MONKMAN said:

Just been sent a video allegedly from Lyman, of pigs eating a dead Russian soldier. It looks pretty grim there, and there's certainly rumours of a massacre of Russian forces who were fleeing the town.

If true about the massacre, I'm not sure if Russian propagandists will play it up to get people riled up, or cover it up so the conscripts and their families don't shit themselves. 

P.S. Unless there was a deal for them to put their arms down and retreat unmolested, I think the normal thing in war is to keep attacking a retreating enemy so they don't just regroup and attack again. The horrors of the Road to Basra come to mind.  

Edited October 2, 2022 by welshbairn

[ICTChris]

There are photos and videos purportedly from Lyman that are absolutely horrific. Some reports said that the Russian forces trying to escape the town were funnelled into a ‘kill zone’ and then hit with artillery strikes but it’s difficult to confirm from the videos, which show the aftermath of individual strikes. It could be that there are a few videos being widely shared or it could be that there has been heavy losses for Russians leaving Iyman. 

[doulikefish]

50 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

If true about the massacre, I'm not sure if Russian propagandists will play it up to get people riled up, or cover it up so the conscripts and their families don't shit themselves. 

P.S. Unless there was a deal for them to put their arms down and retreat unmolested, I think the normal thing in war is to keep attacking a retreating enemy so they don't just regroup and attack again. The horrors of the Road to Basra come to mind.  

Yip no surrender then you must still keep attacking a retreating force or else they come back and cause problems for you later

[Moomintroll]

2 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

Just been sent a video allegedly from Lyman, of pigs eating a dead Russian soldier. It looks pretty grim there, and there's certainly rumours of a massacre of Russian forces who were fleeing the town.

 

[Boo Khaki]

You need a functioning fighting force with supplies and ammunition in order to conduct an orderly retreat. The Russians left in Lyman didn't have that, so it's basically a rout as soon as they tried to leave, and it's inevitably going to turn into a bloodbath if the Ukrainians do anything more than stand and watch them go.