Russia and Ukraine appear to be in the final stages of preparation to fight the Battle of Donbas, in what is shaping up to be the biggest tank battle in Europe since the decisive Battle of Kursk in World War II. The stakes for both Moscow and Kyiv couldn’t be higher. The course of the entire war could hinge on the outcome in the Donbas.
On February 24, Russian forces invaded Ukraine on four major axes of advance, near Kyiv, Kharkiv, the Donbas, and up through the Crimea. In spreading their limited numbers of troops, Russia’s military leadership violated one of the oldest principles of war: mass. Instead of designating a primary objective and allocating the bulk of their combat power to seizing that objective, they dispersed their forces so widely that Ukraine’s defenders were able to repulse all four axes.
After suffering serious combat losses in the environs west and north of Kyiv, Russia acknowledged its failures and about a month into the war made the decision to limit its failures in the Kyiv and Sumy regions by withdrawing all its forces and repositioning them to the northern side of the ongoing Donbas fight. Russia also kept its forces north of Kharkiv conducting limited probing attacks and harassing artillery fire to keep the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) from withdrawing to join the Donbas fight.
South of the Donbas, Russia is in the final stages of completing the destruction of the UAF defenders of Mariupol, which will open a land bridge between Russia and its forces in Crimea, allowing logistics and other support to its troops in the Kherson area (where likewise lo-level fighting continues so as to pin down Ukrainian troops and prevent them from reinforcing their compatriots in the Donbas).
Meanwhile, there is a grouping of up to 40,000 Ukrainian troops defending the front lines of their fight in the Donbas. Russian strategy shifted from the disaster of the opening rounds and its revised plans are now coming into focus: continue pushing forward with their troops east of the Donbas line, bring up Russian troops from the southern/Mariupol axis to attack the southern shoulder of the Donbas pocket, and bring Russian armor from Kyiv to attack the norther shoulder of the Donbas pocket.
If Russia succeeds in flanking the UAF positions on either the north or south side, they will be able to cut off the entire Ukrainian battle force and systematically destroy or capture them. Ukraine, on the other hand, will seek to prevent Russian attempts to encircle their forces in the Donbas. Their task will be very difficult, but not impossible.
Ukraine can’t pull its troops out of their fights against Kharkiv or Kherson areas, because doing so would open up even more territory for Russian forces to capture. But they can now reposition considerable number of the troops they had defending Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy and send them – along with whatever strategic reserves Kyiv may still have – to reinforce their battle group in the Donbas.
UAF troops have the advantage of having built considerable defensive works in this area, in the years since 2014, and they can make any Russian attempt to breach the front lines egregiously expensive in blood and tanks. Ukraine’s objectives to prevent any Russian breakthroughs will be complicated, however, for several reasons.
First, the Russians aren’t the only ones to have suffered significant losses of personnel and armor, Ukrainian forces have also lost a lot of troops and tanks. Thus, UAF combat effectiveness is less than when the war started. It is unknown how many casualties Ukrainian troops have suffered and how many trained troops they still have left to defend the Donbas front, as the Kyiv government has enforced an information blackout on friendly troop losses.
Second, while Russia’s supply lines to its side of the Donbas are short and secure, Ukraine’s are ironically more difficult. Ukrainian reinforcements and the throughput of Western-delivered military gear have to travel hundreds of kilometers from Kyiv to get to the front – and Russia continues to hammer away at these supply lines with air attacks, drone strikes, and rocket and missile raids. Every successful interdiction deprives the defenders of badly needed troops, fuel, ammunition, and arms.
Kyiv has been pleading with NATO countries for heavy weapons, tanks, fighter jets, and long-range air defense missile systems. It is important to understand that such aid would take considerable time to assemble, transport to Ukraine, and deliver to the front – all of which will come under the scrutiny of Russian pilots and drone operators to try and destroy before they arrive at the front. But there is an equally important factor at play: training.
Every day of this war, Ukraine losses a number of trained troops that it can’t readily replace. To go on the offensive, Ukraine would have to create entire battle groups with new tanks, self-propelled artillery, and air defense systems that don’t presently exist. It will take time to train them – first as individuals on their own tanks, then as platoons, and then as battalions – before they would have a reasonable chance of defeating Russian armored units in the field. If Ukraine rushes troops and new equipment into a battle without having adequately trained them first, they will be much less effective and thus have a more difficult time stopping the Russians.
The 1943 Battle of Kursk saw a powerful German tank army attempt to break through a Soviet defensive front. The Soviets were able to spend months preparing elaborate defensive positions and brought up large numbers of reinforcements, planned and rehearsed local counterattack routes, and stored huge amounts of fuel, food, and ammunition. When Hitler’s troops finally attacked, they were shredded and lost tens of thousands of irreplaceable casualties. The defenders suffered major losses as well but inflicted such a defeat on the Germans that they never regained their ability to attack and were driven from Soviet territory.
This Battle of the Donbas will be fought on terrain not too dissimilar from the Battle of Kursk, and there is just as much riding on the outcome of this battle. If Russia is able to close off the pocket-forming around the UAF battle group, there is virtually nothing the Ukrainians can do to break them out, and the path back to Kyiv will again be open to Putin, should he choose to make a new attack – but this time Ukraine would have far fewer defenders.
If the UAF is able to hold the line and inflict losses of sufficient scope on the Russians, Putin’s forces may lose the ability to return to an offensive and be forced to dig in and go on the defensive. In that case, the war will enter a new and potentially darker phase: attrition warfare that may eventually bleed both sides dry.
Regardless of who wins this fight, both the Russians and Ukrainian troops are going to suffer severe military losses and the civil infrastructure is going to be damaged beyond belief. Upon the conclusion of this fight, neither side will be in a position to go on the offensive, likely for months, as both would need to rebuild, replace, and retrain their force.
Russia is bringing in 60,000 new troops + new commander for #BattleofDonbas. NATO says they’re sending more + heavy weapons. This’ll b the biggest tank battle since 1943 Kursk & could b just as decisive. @defpriorities @EricShawnTV @FoxNews https://t.co/5ZFfzk48YO
— Daniel L. Davis (@DanielLDavis1) April 9, 2022
The most practical solution for all involved would be to recognize that this looming battle will be one of attrition for all involved and comprise levels of destruction that mankind has not seen since the 1943 Battle of Kursk. There will almost certainly be no winners from this fight. Instead, one side will simply lose worse than the other. And the bitter reality is that this war will end with a negotiated settlement, not a military victory, almost irrespective of how the Donbas Battle plays out.
America’s overriding priorities are first, to ensure the war doesn’t expand beyond the Ukrainian borders and escalate into a U.S. or NATO on Russia conflict, and second to assist in finding ways to end the war as soon as possible. The longer the war continues, the more Ukrainians will suffer and die.
Daniel L. Davis is a Senior Fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who deployed into combat zones four times. He is the author of “The Eleventh Hour in 2020 America.” Follow him @DanielLDavis1
Alex
April 9, 2022 at 8:12 pm
The freaks didn’t care when Bendera’s Nazis killed Ukrainians in the Donbass. It should be understood that the Donbass, like the Crimea, will forever be Russian. Now the question is whether Russia will take the entire half of Ukraine. Probably yes. Nobody and nothing can stop it. After 1945, for another 6 years, Bandera Nazis were found in Ukraine and fled to other countries. They were destroyed. I am sure that it will be the same with their followers in our day. Complete denazification.
CK
April 9, 2022 at 8:19 pm
Obvious Troll Checklist:
[x] Be first to comment on any new article.
[x] [x] [x] Mention “Bandera Nazi”. This step is absolutely imperative!
[x] Make a series of unrelated, obviously biased, pseudo-historical points.
[x] Be utterly divorced from reality.
[ ] Return home, look into mirror, feel ashamed. [Optional]
Alex
April 9, 2022 at 8:50 pm
For the Bandera Nazi troll. Try to disprove the story:
In 1922, Ukraine joined the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Without Kharkov, Without Kherson, Without Odessa, Without Lugansk, Without Donetsk and their regions, and Without Crimea. Ukraine did not even have Lviv and the western regions. Ukraine received all these lands from the USSR just like that. It’s time to deprive all the lands of the Bandera Nazis. Those lands that never belonged to them, and those lands where the Bandera Nazis began to kill Ukrainians.
Joe Comment
April 9, 2022 at 9:29 pm
Alex: In 1922, also Russia was without Kaliningrad, without Karelia, without Petsamo, without Tuva, without Southern Sakhalin and without the Kurile islands. So, what’s your point? And who do you think is killing the most Ukrainians today?
Vladolph Putler
April 9, 2022 at 10:16 pm
These claims of historical ownership are nonsense. The Ukrainian empire owned most of industrialized western Russia and the Baltic states, before Moscow even existed.
If it weren’t for the genocide of Holodomor enacted against Ukrainian civilians under Stalin, these folks probably wouldn’t fight so hard. Course with the evidence from Bucha and Borodyanka of children being raped and tortured, and their bodies then being mutilated- probably puts some fire in their fight too.
So what now? Well, the media and talking bobble heads have repeatedly preached the imminent Ukrainian defeat to the superior fighting force of the Russians to no end. Even when Russian forces performed like it was a massive “Three Stooges” convention.
How will Ukrainians and Russians perform in this battle? I predict they both will perform more effectively. Russia’s learning curve will be steeper, but that’s due to context of previous performance. I think (for what little it is worth) that it is entirely possible that Ukraine may uncork yet more hot air out of Russian arrogance. That’s what I think.
As Leonidas once said, MOLON LABE!
Chloe
April 9, 2022 at 11:06 pm
Once the Donbass and Crimea are back in Ukrainian hands, and Putin’s sitting in the dock at the Hague, along with the rest of the war criminals, baby-killers, and rapists, and the denazification of Russia is underway, we can start talking about how much by way of reparations the former Russian Federation will pay.
Viktor Sergeev
April 9, 2022 at 11:33 pm
The British Sun showed in a report from Borodyanka in the Kiev region an SBU officer with a patch of the SS Galicia division
The SS troops of Nazi Germany were recognized as a criminal organization by the decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal.
https://t.me/vzglyad_ru/50210
The media turned out to be fragments of a video in which the Ukrainian military lay out corpses in Bucha. According to the director’s idea, all the corpses should be in the frame.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin/41011
Why was it necessary to film the process of preparing the “set”? We will answer. Ukrainian information centers are part of the special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all their employees are military personnel who record their work for reports. Also, their commanders, who agree on the result, like all big bosses, are often too lazy to go to the filming locations,
and they approve the work remotely, modern technologies allow you to send video anywhere. Then they were in such a hurry to send the material to the media that they sent all the source files. And in the editorial offices of the media, will they really know what is happening there in the frame. Installed and released.
Slack
April 10, 2022 at 1:21 am
The battle of Donbass ( if it actually takes place) won’t represent any ‘massive tank battle.’
This is because Ukrainian tanks are at a minimum level, so no tank-on-tank contest.The so-called UKR super tank, or T-84, has been a failure, so was the much-praised T-64 which faded away even earlier.
The coming battle could well be a replay or repeat of Brody july’44 when red army crushed a 40,000-strong force of SS-ukrainian-german units.
Brody saw the fascist force hit by massed artillery and katyusha salvoes before tanker troops moved in for the kill. No quarter was asked or given and stavka military headquarters followed the action very closely. There was even a gun salute to mark the occasion.
This is the price zelenskiyy has been willing to pay for NATO membership, and apparently he will succeed in this aim. Von der leyen has already publicly promised ‘accelerated membership’ into eu.
Russian fascists out
April 10, 2022 at 5:56 am
Russian fascist trolls are here to manipulate facts as always. Ruski fascists defends killings their Ukrainian people as they call it. Ruski trolls dont understand that missiles wont kill the will for ukrainian freedom. Your missiles only strengthen ukrainian spirit. Donbas Battle will end Russian dreams to kill her Ukraninain people
Peace-making nukes of US arsenal
April 10, 2022 at 9:51 am
To systematically destroy the fascist forces bottled up in Donbass, Russian troops must employ flamethrowers against the network of tunnels an trenches that they have dug since a string of defeats in late 2014 and early 2015.
In Sept 2014, after an initially highly successful campaign, the azovs were surprisingly beaten at Ilovaisk, then a forced withdrawal from the Luhansk airport battle, followed by the crushing collapse of their ‘cyborg troops’ at Donetsk airport in Jan 2015, again followed one more time by their defeat at Debaltseve in Feb 2015. These massive defeats reduced them to tunnel digging to survive.
The tunnels and trenches have allowed the fascist elements to take regular potshots at the civilians in Donbass while incurring few casualties among themselves.Thus the need to employ flamethrowers against them.
But this battle of Donbass could well draw in NATO troops or US military to participate in the fight to save their fascist allies, thus Moscow must keep its tactical nukes READY FOR ACTION ! ! !
WW3 in Europe, thanks to Biden. Thanks, Biden, hunter.
Alex
April 10, 2022 at 11:11 am
More and more videos appear on the Internet that prove the crimes of Bandera Nazis: looting, torture, rape, murder. These bastards often film their crimes themselves in order to “boast” in front of the same bastards. People in cities such as Bucha and Irpen are intimidated by the Bandera Nazis and simply remain silent. But there is one BUT: when everything is over, and we all understand how it will end, they will start talking. They will speak to the whole world and no false propaganda of either the criminal Ukrainian authorities or the United States or Britain will be able to shut them up. There are already hundreds of testimonies from people from cities where war crimes were committed by Bandera Nazis. These are people who fled to the Donbass, to Russia, Belarus, and they SPEAK. The special services are trying to remove it from the Internet, but this is not possible, they continue to talk on all channels, in all social networks. Soon there will be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of such testimonies! When the world learns about everything, the attitude towards Ukraine and some Western countries will change forever.
Anti-troll
April 10, 2022 at 1:37 pm
These comments here are hilarious. This place is infested with kremlin payed trolls.
Woodchuck
April 10, 2022 at 2:41 pm
By the proper definition of fascist, it’s the Russians that are fascists. So the only de-nazifying there can be had is in Russia.
Peace-making nukes of US arsenal
April 10, 2022 at 3:15 pm
Biden could have his wish turning europe into the next battlefield for US military adventurism fulfilled before 2022 is out.
But he surely would never be able to fathom the consequences of his actions due to effects of dementia, old age and possibly stealthy onset of alzheimer’s.
Now stoltenberg has just publicly stated that NATO must be ready and must ‘strengthen its forces at the border’ (codeword for intervention), the world will have to deal with US & NATO’s recklessness and eagerness for war.
It is time for everyone to stock up your larder, keep some loose cash at home and keep the powder dry, if you have self-defense equipment in your bedroom.
Alex
April 10, 2022 at 3:28 pm
A hundred years ago, the Russian philosopher Ilyin wrote:
“Europe does not need the truth about Russia, Europe needs the truth that is convenient for it. The European press is ready to print the latest nonsense about Russia, if this nonsense has the character of blasphemy and reproach.”
This is true even now, if not for one thing: now the truth cannot be hidden for a long time. The truth quickly comes to the surface.
Eric
April 10, 2022 at 7:29 pm
Alex is quoting Ivan Ilyin, a Russian fascist philosopher, while calling the Ukrainians fascist. The truth is inverted for Alex.
wesley bruce
April 10, 2022 at 7:49 pm
It should be noted that Ukraine still had two sizable army groups in the centers south of the country facing Transnistria north of Odessa.
The new western assets going to Ukraine can be sent to hold that rear line. This is a static line so provides time for training. Moldova is also mobilizing and will have Transnistria on their priority list. The forces in that area can move east to the center line of the Donbas line or more likely form a push into the Kherson- Melitopol areas to cut off southern supply. Those who know about Kursk also know that major pressure elsewhere limited the German ability to concentrate more forces particularly air reconnaissance and artillery. NATO and thus Ukraine has a huge intelligence advantage, seeing and hearing everything. In WW2 the German enigma codes were compromised with a similar result. lastly the Ukrainians will have defensive lines of armour, ATGM, artillery and short range drones operating as artillery. Combined with decoys, mines and bunkers they do not need to maneuver as much as the Russians do.
GoDark
April 10, 2022 at 7:51 pm
This is nonsense. The Russians will pulverize the Ukrainians with thermobaric weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. It will be a massacre. The battle of Kursk was a war of maneuver. The Ukrainians are surrounded within multiple caldrons with no means for maneuver.
These weapons were not used in Phase I because of the impact on civilians and civilian infrastructure. There will be no holds barred in Phase 2. Game over!
Alex
April 10, 2022 at 8:43 pm
Eric, why aren’t you at the front, motherfucker? Ivan Ilyin was an opponent of communism. You don’t like that either, Bander Nazi? Certainly. You don’t like everything. You are Bandera Nazis. Your ideal is Bandera and above him only Hitler and Mussolini.
Thermobaric weapon? It would be great if the Bandera Nazis were driven out into the field and there they were all destroyed by the Father of all bombs. It would be great! But not everything is so simple.
I would like to remind you why Russia’s special military operation for denazification and demilitarization in Ukraine is not a war:
1. Ukraine has not declared war on Russia. Strange, right?
2. Russia did not disconnect Ukraine from electricity, water supply, food supplies. How is this possible if this is a war?
3. People’s Police of Donbass and Russian forces free the population, which thanks them in all the videos. How is this possible?
Conclusion: now even people in the Anglo-Saxon countries are waking up and supporting Russia. The plan of Britain and the United States is falling apart irrevocably. This is a fiasco, motherfuckers. All Bandera Nazis will face trial, but not only them, but also those who are thousands of miles away from Ukraine. Everyone will answer.
Olrik
April 10, 2022 at 9:01 pm
“I am Martin Hessler. Four years ago, my panzers overran Poland in one week. That was no illusion. In 39 days, my tanks smashed all the way to Paris. That was no illusion. I conquered the Crimea. That was no illusion. Today……I was given a brigade of Tiger tanks. When I have a brigade of tanks……that is reality.”
Michael Veritas
April 10, 2022 at 10:05 pm
Daniel Davis left out one critical piece of information on the battle of Kursk. The British gave the Soviets the German battle plans via their captured enigma machine received from Poland. The Ukrainian army going into east is clear recipe for disaster. Their supply line will be long and easier to cut. Most of the local population will be hostile and quickly inform their Russians of their positions. Once surrounded Kiev forces will share the same fate as German 3rd army at Stalingrad.
samir sardana
April 10, 2022 at 11:23 pm
The whole of Europe is the target
The aim is to bring PRC into a strategic embrace of Russia – with a swap to Russian Gas via the Siberian Gas Pipelines.That will PERMANENTLY SOLVE THE OIL /ENERGY SECURITY OF PRC, AND THE RISK OF A NAVAL BLOCKADE IN THE SCS AND THE HORN OF AFRICA.
RUSSIA HAS ALL THE OIL/GAS/COAL,MINERALS AND RARE EARTHS THAT PRC NEEDS !
THAT WILL DRASTICALLY LOWER THE COST OF CHINESE MANUFACTURING + DESTROY EU MANUFACTURING & GERMAN MANUFACTURING, THERE WILL BE NO EU MANUFACTURING EXPORTS TO PRC,AND IT WILL CRASH THE EURO, & RUIN THE EU ECONOMIES WITH JOB LOSSES AND LOWER STANDARDS OF LIVING – & WILL CONVERT THE EU, INTO A 3 RD WORLD BLOCK – WHICH GERMANY & FRANCE,WILL NOT SUPPORT,AND HENCE ,THE EU WILL BREAK UP.
ONCE THERE IS NO EU – AND NO MONEY IN EU – THERE WILL BE NO NATO !
THAT IS THE PUTIN-XI PLAN – & SO,THEY WANT MORE SANCTIONS.HIGHER ENERGY AND MINERALS WILL PUSH PRC TO PUTIN & ALSO INCREASE, INFLATION IN THE EU. dindooohindoo
Mike
April 10, 2022 at 11:49 pm
The age of the machine gun then the tank and now the missile. With adequate anti air and tank missiles and more machine guns and mortars in vast sums along with trucks to supply them in night run convoys they can defeat them. Unlike ww2 the Russians don’t want to die and after suffering losses in this attack they may break and retreat. Then the war will grind into stalemate. Also unless the spring rains move in the summer will allow the soviets forces to disperse across the countryside. This will be the critical war winning battle the Russians need or the turning point for Ukraine to stop the Russians and fall into stalemate. If Ukraine is trapped in a massive pincer move it’s over for them.
Jacksonian Libertarian
April 11, 2022 at 3:40 am
There is a report that of 300 Javelins fired, 280 armored vehicles were destroyed (93.3% kill ratio). If this is even half true, then the Combat utility of Tanks and Armored vehicles is over.
“Captains should study tactics, but Generals must study logistics.”
The Logistics of moving man portable missiles to the front lines (2 dozen in a pickup, 93% kill ratio) vs. the megatons of fuel and ammo (Tractor trailers with 30 tons, kill ratio?) needed to support an Armored army in combat are like night and day.
Tank cannons have a range of 4 km, Javelins have a range of 4.5 km. The combatant that gets the first shot has the tactical advantage. Tanks (0.3 mpg) are huge, loud, and nearly impossible to hide. A Missileman in a Ghillie suit hiding behind a tree deep in enemy’s rear areas, is invisible, and can fire and jump on a motorcycle (50+ mpg) and be gone in seconds.
The Ukrainians would be stupid to participate in a big Tank battle. During the American Revolution, American Riflemen would destroy British patrols of Musketmen, and vanish into the forest. Ukrainian Missilemen destroy Russian Armored units in the same way.
Mike
April 11, 2022 at 4:45 am
Below avg Nato propaganda .. salient point is Ukraine has no airforce left , the s300 delivers a days ago from Europe was destroyed the next day , Ukraine has only a few tanks left and no long range artillery … they will be crushed … if they try and flee back to Kiev it’s a Turkey shoot … the Russian part of Ukraine will be cleared of neo Nazi and zelensky will run to America … another defeat for America and further decline in influence
Thank god for Russia standing up to the globalists !
from Russia with love
April 11, 2022 at 5:13 am
Mike:
we live in the 21st century and the night does nothing to hide the movement of troops. there are radars, there are thermal imagers and the night makes equipment and people only more contrasting. moreover, moving at night deprives the Ukrainian army of the main advantage, the ability to use the civilian population as human shields.
for reference, at the end of February, Ukrainian troops tried to leave the Donetsk pocket. as a result, the convoy that left Kramatorsk for Dnepropetrovsk came under attack from Russian aviation and less than half were able to return to Kramatorsk.
Now the Russian army performs two important tasks:
1) pull the most combat-ready formations of the Ukrainian army from large urban agglomerations, such as Kyiv and Dnepropetrovsk, into the field in order to deprive them of the opportunity to use civilians as human shields and minimize civilian losses.
2) methodically grind the concentrations of Ukrainian troops with the help of artillery, MLRS and aviation.
until everything goes well.
from Russia with love
April 11, 2022 at 5:53 am
Jacksonian Libertarian:
your beautiful theory crashes against unpleasant facts with a roar.
1) if you rely on the Ukrainian report, then you can safely divide the amount of allegedly destroyed equipment by 10. Ukrainian propagandists overestimate the losses of the Russian army by about that much.
2) the range of the tank gun is 8-12 km, but this is not important. you are clearly not familiar with the theater of war. the actual combat distance is about 700m. at this distance, ATGM operators fall into the zone of destruction of small arms infantry, which always accompanies tanks.
3) you yourself wrote that your idea is as old as the world. countermeasures have long been developed.
4) the tactics you proposed will not be able to stop the full-scale offensive that will soon begin.these several dozen grenade launchers will simply mix artillery and tanks with the ground. the infantry will finish off the survivors.
for successful mobile defense, counterattacks are needed, which are impossible without the participation of armored vehicles, but Ukraine already has problems with both armored vehicles and fuel for armored vehicles.
all that the West will achieve in this company is a multiple increase in the loss of the Ukrainian army. it remains to be hoped that most of the Ukrainian military will be as reasonable as the border guards on Zmiiny Island and the 264 Ukrainian marines in Mariupol, who surrendered.
Mike
April 11, 2022 at 8:12 am
Russia with love sounds like a Putin communist. I know all about night vision but Russia has little of it and their pilots are scared to fly low to attack and bomb from inaccurate heights with old style conventional bombs. Russia is having their a….. handed to them. This whole war is a major blow to the image of the Russian world power status. It’s a disgrace to them that they were stopped. Their equipment is obsolete. Their troops don’t want to die over this cause. Russia is weak conventionally. The USA would wipe them out as it stands now. If we wanted to mass 2nd corps in Estonia and invade them we could be in moscow in 3 days. They know this. They realize their forces are weak. Their generals are telling Putin now don’t provoke a conventional war we will lose.
Mike
April 11, 2022 at 8:15 am
Russia is weak and if the USA were to mass 500,000 troops in the three Baltic countries and invade Russia would collapse. Those countries are on the northern flank like a dagger pointing down to the exposed Russian flank and a threat to moscow being taken.
Alex
April 11, 2022 at 10:18 am
When I read about the 12 km range from a tank cannon, I didn’t even read further. This is just a student writing.
500.000 soldiers. You can collect at least 5,000,000 soldiers. Only a complete idiot does not understand that it is one thing to liberate cities using manpower, and another thing to destroy equipment and manpower on the march that invades the country. These are just a few sorties of aviation or missiles of operational tactical systems. All 5,000,000 will simply burn in the fire. By the way, the S-300 division was recently delivered from Europe. Don’t tell me where is he? Destroyed by Caliber missiles. help from Europe? So it will be with all the technology from Europe. Did you also hear anything about the capture of new Ukrainian tanks? Of course not. After all, the tankers themselves gave them away, and they themselves surrendered. Storytellers 🙂
from Russia with love
April 11, 2022 at 1:17 pm
Mike:
“Russia with love sounds like a Putin communist.”
bingo! I almost guessed 🙂 I adhere to communist views, but because of this, by definition, I can’t be pro-Putin;) if you suddenly don’t know in the USA, then Putin is not a communist.
about night vision devices, why did you decide that there are not enough of them? this is standard equipment for all (!!!) drones, armored vehicles, aviation and helicopters. the infantry is also provided with thermal imagers and night sights.
regarding flights at low altitudes, the Su-25 is an attack aircraft designed to operate at low altitudes. they just attack. don’t talk nonsense;) the only difference is that Russia has a lot of them, but Ukraine has already lost about 80% of its aviation.
about obsolete bombs, you again demonstrated your ignorance. read about the Hephaestus aviation complex. this is a calculator that allows you to automatically use old conventional bombs, without modification, with the accuracy of guided munitions. uh, this is not even taking into account cruise missiles and Iskander complexes. Yavorsky ploigon clearly showed that there are no safe places in Ukraine. if you decide to invade Russia, then your soldiers will be able to consult on this topic with Ukrainian Nazis and foreign mercenaries from the Yavorsky training ground … in hell :)))
from Russia with love
April 11, 2022 at 1:30 pm
Mike:
“Russia is weak and if the USA were to mass 500,000 troops in the three Baltic countries and invade Russia would collapse.”
very bad news for you. in the Pentagon they know about this and therefore they are trying with all their might not to interfere directly, but this is news to you.
do you know why it’s called a “special operation”? because Russia is not waging a full-scale war. part of the western military district is participating in the operation, a little more than 100,000 people. and these 100,000 are fighting against more than 200,000 of the Ukrainian army, which the United States has trained and pumped with weapons for 8 years. as a result, Russian troops control more than 30% of the territory of Ukraine and right now they are destroying the most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian army. if you suddenly forgot, then 200000 of the Ukrainian army cannot do anything to save their Nazis in Mariupol;)
so all you’ll achieve by collecting 500,000 in latvia is to make things easier for russian artillery and MLRS and turn latvia into the biggest graveyard in europe. although not. a little less than near Verdun.
from Russia with love
April 11, 2022 at 1:34 pm
Alex:
“When I read about the 12 km range from a tank cannon, I didn’t even read further. This is just a student writing.”
very much in vain did not begin to read. check it out, the standard 2A46 tank gun. aiming range for a high-explosive fragmentation projectile 12000m. guidance means for firing from closed positions are also provided.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%D0%9046
Alex
April 11, 2022 at 4:07 pm
Any regular NATO tank gun cannot fire more than 5500 km.
greenman
April 11, 2022 at 5:10 pm
Putin liked the Nazi swastika, but realized that he could not put the swastika on Russian tanks, because his excuse for invading peace loving ukraine, was that it was neo nazi. So Putin had a brainwave, why not put a half swastika on his invading tanks, and no one would realise it was shorthand for a full swastika.
Mike
April 11, 2022 at 8:44 pm
The swastika is being used on the uniforms of many Ukrainian battalions .. the Nato trolls are blinded by bigotry .. all the factual evidence of neo Nazi atrocities in donbas 2914 onwards , the staging of bucha and kranatorsk .. the Russians have not done a Nato and bombed indiscriminately killing 2 million people in the Mid East … in mariupol the neo Nazi were offered surrender and zelensky peace but the Americans want to use Ukraine for a proxy war as they are afraid to take on Russia .., the Ukraine army will be destroyed in their trenches and it will end soon or they will return to Kiev and level it
Alex
April 11, 2022 at 10:21 pm
“Peace-loving” Ukraine has been killing Ukrainians in the Donbas for 8 years in a row.
Not a single Russian prisoner of war has svasit.
70% of Ukrainian prisoners of war have swastikas on their backs, chests, and shoulders. All these 70% are Bandera Nazis. There are few soldiers of the Ukrainian army – they either desert or surrender. Only a Bandera Nazi on drugs tries to the last – he understands what awaits him for his crimes.
Ron L
April 12, 2022 at 12:48 am
This “discussion” sounds like a bunch of 4th graders on the playground. No one knows what will happen. First, we were told that it would all be over in a week. Now we are seeing that it may still be going on until the fall. I see the very possibility of this turning into WW1 more than WW2.
from Russia with love
April 12, 2022 at 4:11 am
Alex:
“Any regular NATO tank gun cannot fire more than 5500 km.”
it’s true, but not all 😉
this is the aiming range for a sub-caliber feathered projectile when firing at armored vehicles.
I don’t know if Westerners still have sights for shooting from closed positions. if not, then they will be able to shoot high-explosive fragmentation only in the visibility zone. Russian tanks have sights for shooting from closed positions. technically there is no problem to shoot at 15km, but the sight provides for shooting up to 12km.
Mike k
April 16, 2022 at 12:03 pm
There are Russian supporters big time on here maybe even writing as Russian gov stooges working for the Russian propaganda. Russia is now confirmed a hollow giant as a super power. Ukraine kicked their ass. Enormous losses inflicted on a supposed super power. They have been knocked down a few notches and all the countries around them now realize if you fight back you can beat them. The USA with its air and land power would annihilate them in a war. They can’t even handle Ukraine.
fuk U
July 16, 2022 at 2:46 pm
How’s the prophecy industry going? I think you are 0 for 1.