2022/23 Russian-Ukrainian War

[Towered]

I asked about this............

The first thing I was told is that while there's some truth to it, its mostly propaganda. This is someone who is very pro-Ukrainian and situation aware about what's going on there.

He noted that the Kyiv Independent has often been used to communicate this exact message both to bolster domestic morale but also damage that of Russian troops and residents of Crimea.

View attachment 464049

Note the date on the above headline.

In this case, apparently the headline was timed to go with with Ukraine having hijacked/hacked local radio frequencies and "broadcast basically threats to those cooperating with the Russians".

So the object is to to make people on the ground there believe their leaders are abandoning them (Which some are, but many are not) and to promote destabilization.

Whatever it takes. The war cannot end until Crimea is liberated.

 

[Richard White]

Whatever it takes. The war cannot end until Crimea is liberated.

Indeed.

If Crimea is retaken by Ukraine it will be a momentus occasion for Ukraine and a great defeat for Russia (and most importantly Putin).

I can't see Putin surviving Ukraine retaking Crimea. His whole raison d'etre was to liberate Crimea and other occupied Russia territories from the "Nazis" in Ukraine.

Losing Crimea would force him to answer more than a few uncomfortable questions back home.

 

[DSC]

Ukraine: ICRC delivers much-needed aid to civilians near Bakhmut

The ICRC delivered much-needed humanitarian assistance to Kostiantynivka and Chasiv Yar, two locations close to Bakhmut, where the fighting has been particularly intense for several weeks. Another ICRC convoy reached Selydove, a locality close to the frontline.

www.icrc.org

 

[W. K. Lis]

Crimea has a sad history...

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" is an 1854 narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom at the time he wrote the poem.'

 

[kEiThZ]

I urge everyone to watch the video I posted on Crimea. It's from a decent military video channel. The difficulties of taking Crimea are substantial. And with no real amphibious or air assault capabilities and insufficient air defences to hold off Russian airpower, they can't really protect their forces.

 

[kEiThZ]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1640338596568735744

 

[DSC]

Russian soldiers say commanders used ‘barrier troops’ to stop them retreating​

Assault unit members claim in video that superiors ‘want to execute us’ after ‘huge’ losses in eastern Ukraine

Russian soldiers say commanders used ‘barrier troops’ to stop them retreating

Assault unit members claim in video that superiors ‘want to execute us’ after ‘huge’ losses in eastern Ukraine

www.theguardian.com

 

[kEiThZ]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1641041780123611136

Let's go!

 

[Richard White]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1641041780123611136

Let's go!

What am I looking at?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Globe:

Ukraine hits Russian-held Melitopol deep behind front line

The strikes come as Kyiv suggests it could soon mount a counterattack against tired Russian forces

www.theglobeandmail.com

AoD

 

[kEiThZ]

What am I looking at?

Coming pain. Judgment and deliverance.

A Ukrainian combined arms armoured brigade with Western kit. This is enough firepower to slice through about 10-15 000 conscripts in trenches in hours. I hope to see something like this:

 

[Northern Light]

Turkey's parliament just ratified Finland's NATO membership, it was the last country to do so, as such, Finland is now in the club.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/turkey-approves-finland-nato-1.6796687

An interesting aside in the above article from the Finnish Ambassador to Canada; talking about military cooperation between our two countries:

We often talk about all the capabilities we don't have or that are dated or strained (and rightly so); but a worthwhile reminder we do possess a range of capabilities than other, usually smaller countries do not.

 

[kEiThZ]

Strategic airlift is one of our better capabilities. The RCAF fought two Liberal Prime Ministers (Chretien and Martin) and one Chief of Defence Staff (Hillier) to get those Globemasters. Then only got 4 airplanes. Enough to sustain 1.5 airbridges to Europe. The government begrudgingly approved a fifth aircraft just before the production line closed. The RCAF would have wanted 6-8 frames if it could get them.

At the time there was lots of discussion from politicians on why Canada needs $350M airplanes and from the army (non-air types) on why can't the air force just use $80M Hercules? And it's because our country is the size of continent and getting anything large over the Rockies in case of a disaster (like construction equipment for combat engineers) or lifting supplies to the Arctic (7 hr flight from Trenton) requires strategic airlift. Helping our allies move stuff around Europe is actually a secondary function. But it's a good example of what we can do when we have capacity.

I see the same response these days, to suggestions that Canada should field some kind of flat top on each coast. The exact same arguments against buying Globemasters, 17 years ago.

 

[lenaitch]

Strategic airlift is one of our better capabilities. The RCAF fought two Liberal Prime Ministers (Chretien and Martin) and one Chief of Defence Staff (Hillier) to get those Globemasters. Then only got 4 airplanes. Enough to sustain 1.5 airbridges to Europe. The government begrudgingly approved a fifth aircraft just before the production line closed. The RCAF would have wanted 6-8 frames if it could get them.

At the time there was lots of discussion from politicians on why Canada needs $350M airplanes and from the army (non-air types) on why can't the air force just use $80M Hercules? And it's because our country is the size of continent and getting anything large over the Rockies in case of a disaster (like construction equipment for combat engineers) or lifting supplies to the Arctic (7 hr flight from Trenton) requires strategic airlift. Helping our allies move stuff around Europe is actually a secondary function. But it's a good example of what we can do when we have capacity.

I see the same response these days, to suggestions that Canada should field some kind of flat top on each coast. The exact same arguments against buying Globemasters, 17 years ago.

One trouble with too-few airframes is we work them like rented mules.

Small militaries like ours or Finland's can't hope to be all singing-all dancing these days, but the one concern I have with capabilities like strategic lift is some people who feel this and such areas as logistics should be our specialty at the expense of reduced combat arms.

Interesting that you should mention engineers west of the Rockies in case of a natural disaster. Wasn't the engineering school at Chilliwack until they closed the base, leaving no regular land forces on the west coast?

 

[kEiThZ]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1641805708650856450

The amount of destructive power that Ukraine has within 70km of range is pretty close to what NATO would bring to a fight. The three weapons above are the same range, but with different levels of boom. We're getting closer to seeing a real smack down on the entire Russian rear area.

Also, now we have reports of Ukraine getting more modern anti-tank and anti-structure weapons. There was a lot of speculation a few months back if Americans would give them these: