Russian / Ukranian Combat Tactics

[niran]

just one word "manpower" unlike Indian Army non of the Oiropeans have manpower to place boots on ground Ookarain is vaste flat land too vast even for IA to capture all cities towns together.
and no till date Putin anna has not released his war plans so Roos cuda suda wuda is pure hogwash. i show .Roosiyan building field supply depot my caculation is 1 depot supply 3km radius, and they are systematically house by house mohalla by mohalla street by street capturing Ookarain my guesstimate is it is 1.8 year campaign.

Roos cuda suda wuda is based on certain principles of warfare and combat.
Some of these principles are based on common sense.
If you have reached close to Kiev dig in as Ukrainian will now fight on 2 fronts. You Donbass objective is a lot less expensive if you have less to fight against no?
So unless one has a direct line to Putin and his magic lamp then the question is which cuda suda wuda is more logical than the other.

whose common sense? yourself or Roosiyan? Roosiyan actung what they (they mean Roosiyan) think is common sense not your common sense.

[niran]

how do you know Kiev siege is a proper front not a fient? kiev front compelled zelensky to yell help help and pulled troops from other towns to defend crown jewel Kiev, isolating Mariopol and see how Roosiyan surrounded starved Azovs to slow ugly agonising death. this is Roosiyan method and common sense to them.

[ks_sachin]

Common sense of military operations planning.
I don't and you don't know what they were up to in Kyiv. But Would it not have been better to dig in around Kyiv which meant that Ukrainian forces would be completely spread across two fronts. As soon as the threat to Kyiv was relieved by the Russian withdrawal Ukrainians would have rushed to bolster the Donbas area is it not. They may have encircled Mariupol but they are bogged down across a wide swathe of territory there.
If Kiev was the feint where was the counterpunch in that timeline?
The most logical explanation sometimes is the most probably one.
They underestimated Ukrainian resistance and their logistics failed them!!! - JMT

[ks_sachin]

how do you know Kiev siege is a proper front not a fient? kiev front compelled zelensky to yell help help and pulled troops from other towns to defend crown jewel Kiev, isolating Mariopol and see how Roosiyan surrounded starved Azovs to slow ugly agonising death. this is Roosiyan method and common sense to them.

Because a fient has to be accompanied by something that takes advantage of that diversion.
They waited and then waited and then suddenly decided to pull out and pivot their forces to the other sectors.

But hey I don't know how the Russian mind thinks but I hope the succeede.

[dnivas]

1. Create a buffer zone and free Donbas, luhansk
2. Get Ukraine to stay out of nato
3.Grab as many strategically relevant positions as possible
4. Cause the dollar to weaken as reserve currency

Do this slowly with as little civilian damage as possible. Hence we don't see too much shekinaw.

Excellent summary and would also like to add one or two more
-Show the world that NATO and EU is a paper tiger and ultimately the union have failed. US is the only one with any tooth and loss of ukr will be a tight slap
-Undermine Europe with a broken poor deindustrialised Ukr , the country that will be a pakistan [with open borders] to Germany and France. Let's see how long the euros who already pay high commodity prices will keep supporting Ukraine and its people. There is already a some pushback in parts of Italy and Lithuania

[dnivas]

Back to combat -
captured Ukr soldiers waxes about the unreliability of US delivered ATGM.
https://t.me/intelslava/27903

John
Link about planned invasion of Donbass by Ukr
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... military-i

I am unable to find the link to the MOD briefing. language limitations unfortunately.

[NRao]

Talking of "nukes" What is Russia's Poseidon nuclear drone and could it wipe out the UK in a radioactive tsunami?

A popular Russian state TV anchor has warned that Moscow could wipe Britain off the map with a nuclear tsunami in retaliation for supporting Ukraine.

......

[dnivas]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ru ... 022-05-05/

Russia killed over 600 Ukrainian fighters in artillery strikes - defence ministry.....

from a Russian POV, it is good that they have now moved to more standoff range before engaging in close.

[brar_w]

Link about planned invasion of Donbass by Ukr
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... military-i

Since this is a combat tactics thread let's (re) focus on combat tactics. What firepower, force structure and tactics, would Ukraine need and deploy to be the aggressor and invade a territory that would surely invite a Russian response (can anyone seriously claim that it wouldn't?). Knowing that the attacker needs a 3:1 advantage, and parity or clear superiority when it comes to long range fires, and aviation (despite the absurd claim made by someone a few pages back that Ukraine enjoys superiority in this regard over Russia, Ukr armed forces are inferior in practically all objectively measurable metrics on technology, equipment, or even training) where would Ukraine have this advantage?

Setting aside the dubious Al Mayadeen as a source, where is the evidence that NATO was building up force structure and putting "divisions" in Ukraine to attack? Where was that build up or were these stealthy divisions that could be kept hidden yet still mobilize and train to begin offensive operations? We did see clear evidence of mobilization of a large force in territories surrounding Ukraine including long range fires, aviation, armor, logistics etc. It wasn't NATO moving divisions into Ukraine but rather Russia mobilizing 150K+ troops on its borders and in Belarus preparing to invade (while denying that they were going to and claiming that they were only there for exercises). Ukraine has only started receiving heavy artillery and tanks in the last couple of weeks and even with the 100-150 155mm howitzers it is only going to capable of using them as defensive weapons as even those aren't going to be enough to mount an offensive action against the might of the Russian Army, Air force and navy all capable of precision targeting. And finally, where was NATO's legal basis for sending "divisions" into Ukraine to capture territory that would invoke a Russian response? Ukraine isn't a NATO member, and the alliance is defensive and can't invoke A5 unless one if its members is attacked. Would individual members have gone to their Parliaments, Congress and legislative bodies and declared war on Russia?

But I suppose it all adds up and there's enough crap out there to connect the dots. Ukraine was going to have NATO divisions help it attack and re-capture territory and invite Russian response. Russia mobilized nearly 200K troops to prevent that who then invaded as a preventative measure. A large part of these troops then carried out a feint via its stalled march and subsequent retreat around kiev losing a large amount of equipment with elite units in the process, only to then re-focus on the East and enter a war of attrition to sure up gains there all the while inviting sanctions and breaking off relations with the west (which Russia doesn't mind given its so much more prosperous than the rest of Europe which apparently can't even feed itself)...

Talking of "nukes" What is Russia's Poseidon nuclear drone and could it wipe out the UK in a radioactive tsunami?

A popular Russian state TV anchor has warned that Moscow could wipe Britain off the map with a nuclear tsunami in retaliation for supporting Ukraine.

......

Does the "popular Russian state TV anchor" have any role in Russia's nuclear policy? Does the UK have nukes? I wish we put some of these articles through the "smell test" before posting.

[brar_w]

Russia Just Lost Its Most Advanced Operational Tank In Ukraine

Shared on Twitter by The Kyiv Independent’s defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko, the image, dated May 4, shows what appears to be the remnants of a T-90M tank, still smoldering after a direct hit somewhere within Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.

[niran]

how do you know Kiev siege is a proper front not a fient? kiev front compelled zelensky to yell help help and pulled troops from other towns to defend crown jewel Kiev, isolating Mariopol and see how Roosiyan surrounded starved Azovs to slow ugly agonising death. this is Roosiyan method and common sense to them.

Because a fient has to be accompanied by something that takes advantage of that diversion.
They waited and then waited and then suddenly decided to pull out and pivot their forces to the other sectors.

But hey I don't know how the Russian mind thinks but I hope the succeede.

herr Zelenski pulled all his troops in defence of Keiv leaving rest of the country undefended. that was the obvious objective.
do you know why Nazis failed in Roos? the answer is logistics in general fuel supply in particular.
Nazi calculated 1000 litre fuel to move a combat unit 50km
during their Blitzkrieg of western Oirope some unit achieved 1000 liters for 65km
in Roos best was 5km to a 1000 liter, this shot up their plans to capture Moscow and Stalingrad by early winter.

if you have time and resources for a paid google map you will see RuA is building up supply centers at regular interval similar to mobile phone signal towers, you will also see transport from units come up and take supply back to unit,
this kind of supply was first seen 8n ww2 Red army hot tea samovar carts they would park at prefixed locations Red Army personnel would come up and take back tea to units.

meanwhile Ookarainians are hiding in buildings, basements
tik toking, RuA are blowing Ookarainian supply depots, hideouts, basements barracks, even the damned loo.
to recapture lost land you need to counterattack not hiding tik toking Ookarain has no air power left, no sea power left no armour left, hell they don't even have tube arty left. what are they gonna fight RuA with? no, menacingly gesticulating on SM video clip won't do them any good.

[ldev]

I wonder why the Russians waited for so long before targeting key rail transport infrastructure such as the power distribution centers that supply traction power to the electric locos of the Ukranian railways? I would have thought that should have been accomplished in the first week of the invasion.

And notwithstanding Russian threats to target NATO arms supplies into Ukraine the US says that arms deliveries to Ukraine have not been impacted. Almost all the 90?? M-777 howitzers that the US had promised Ukraine have been delivered and are in action....

[brar_w]

Yeah most of the 100 or so LW155s committed by US, Canada and Australia have been delivered with I believe two batches of soldiers trained as well. More in the form of wheeled and tracked ? Howitzers are on the way but I suppose those just have all been destroyed (even the ones not yet delivered) because apparently Ooookraine has no tube arty left.

[ldev]

Yeah most of the 100 or so LW155s committed by US, Canada and Australia have been delivered with I believe two batches of soldiers trained as well. More in the form of wheeled and tracked ? Howitzers are on the way but I suppose those just have all been destroyed (even the ones not yet delivered) because Ooookraine has no tube arty left.

Unless one has mental discipline you tend to view the world as you want it to be rather than how it is!!

But the bottom line for Russia interdicting NATO supplies is that IMO they just do not have either the ISR capability or the PGMs needed to destroy mobile targets.

[bala]

I wonder why the Russians waited for so long before targeting key rail transport infrastructure such as the power distribution centers that supply traction power to the electric locos of the Ukranian railways? I would have thought that should have been accomplished in the first week of the invasion.

Yes, this part is rather confusing and beguiling. Even Scott Ritter claimed that the first thing the US did in Iraq, etc was to disable basic city amenities - power, water, internet, cell phone, fuel storage and other basics. Then cut off all access to/from city. Just make it a helpless island of humans and then allow the humans to surrender along with their defenders. I don't know why Russia prevaricated on this crucial plan.

[Cyrano]

Initially to let people evacuate to west, which millions did, including Indian students. Then I'm not sure, perhaps they wanted to preserve infa expecting Kyiv to fall and take control. Now they're hitting traction substations and key rail bridges systematically which are harder to repair than just tracks.

[John]

I wonder why the Russians waited for so long before targeting key rail transport infrastructure such as the power distribution centers that supply traction power to the electric locos of the Ukranian railways? I would have thought that should have been accomplished in the first week of the invasion.

Yes, this part is rather confusing and beguiling. Even Scott Ritter claimed that the first thing the US did in Iraq, etc was to disable basic city amenities - power, water, internet, cell phone, fuel storage and other basics. Then cut off all access to/from city. Just make it a helpless island of humans and then allow the humans to surrender along with their defenders. I don't know why Russia prevaricated on this crucial plan.

They are trying but cannot for example they fired multiple stand off missiles on their infrastructure but they suffer IMO from poor accuracy some of the weapons like Ashm aren’t designed for land attack (or Ukr claim they shooting it down idk about that) and also they don’t have as much effectiveness as Laser guided bombs.

Speaking of bombs vs cruise missile, I remember the time when one of news channel survived the aftermath in Iraq war when US fired close to have dozen cruise missile at Saddam palace with lot of external damage but nothing critical finally an F-16 I believe went in and leveled it with bombs.

Similarly There is video Russians literally wasting Kalibr cruise missile on a train track which Ukrainian patch up and have it running the next day.

With Russia forced to use standoff weapons and some of that are inaccurate or Ashm lot of their strikes aren’t that effective. There could be many reasons for it including lack of PGM and threat posed by SAMs and Ukr AF.

[ks_sachin]

Because a fient has to be accompanied by something that takes advantage of that diversion.
They waited and then waited and then suddenly decided to pull out and pivot their forces to the other sectors.

But hey I don't know how the Russian mind thinks but I hope the succeede.

herr Zelenski pulled all his troops in defence of Keiv leaving rest of the country undefended. that was the obvious objective.
do you know why Nazis failed in Roos? the answer is logistics in general fuel supply in particular.
Nazi calculated 1000 litre fuel to move a combat unit 50km
during their Blitzkrieg of western Oirope some unit achieved 1000 liters for 65km
in Roos best was 5km to a 1000 liter, this shot up their plans to capture Moscow and Stalingrad by early winter.

if you have time and resources for a paid google map you will see RuA is building up supply centers at regular interval similar to mobile phone signal towers, you will also see transport from units come up and take supply back to unit,
this kind of supply was first seen 8n ww2 Red army hot tea samovar carts they would park at prefixed locations Red Army personnel would come up and take back tea to units.

meanwhile Ookarainians are hiding in buildings, basements
tik toking, RuA are blowing Ookarainian supply depots, hideouts, basements barracks, even the damned loo.
to recapture lost land you need to counterattack not hiding tik toking Ookarain has no air power left, no sea power left no armour left, hell they don't even have tube arty left. what are they gonna fight RuA with? no, menacingly gesticulating on SM video clip won't do them any good.

Ok you win

[Pratyush]

There are a lot of similarities between the winter war and this one.

The Russians in both the events went in expecting a quick and easy victory with expectations that the population will welcome them as liberator's. They even had banners of friendship in their convoys during the winter war.

It is possible that in the expectations of quick victory. The Russians didn't prepare for a long and grinding conflict. If you have paid attention to the Russian language during the start of the conflict. A lot of Russian actions during the early phase of operations. Such as not taking out phone network, power grid and bridges become understandable.

The question is now that the Russians know what they have gotten themselves into. How will they scale up the conflict.

A few days ago I read a headline that Russians had ceded escalation dominance to NATO.

I am not so sure that a nation that has not mobilised for a full scale war can cede anything.

[niran]

Yes, this part is rather confusing and beguiling. Even Scott Ritter claimed that the first thing the US did in Iraq, etc was to disable basic city amenities - power, water, internet, cell phone, fuel storage and other basics. Then cut off all access to/from city. Just make it a helpless island of humans and then allow the humans to surrender along with their defenders. I don't know why Russia prevaricated on this crucial plan.

all destruction will need rebuilding and all rebuilding cost shit ton of money, plus both sides are from same stock Putin will need to feed, educate so in an attempt to keep costs under control they try not to discrinately bomb every obstacles

[ManuJ]

Ok you win

Lol, the lengths to which some people will go to portray' Russia's blunders as strategic master-strokes is highly amusing.

[Vayutuvan]

@ManuJ ji

You are sure that they are blunders? How sure are you?! How willing are you to take bets and at what odds?!

[ks_sachin]

If this was strategy and planning then I would like to see what a true blunder is like!!
Again I say this with all humility as I don't know what was/is in Putin's mind but.....

[Cain Marko]

herr Zelenski pulled all his troops in defence of Keiv leaving rest of the country undefended. that was the obvious objective.
do you know why Nazis failed in Roos? the answer is logistics in general fuel supply in particular.

This. The RuA never intended to take Kyiv - nobody is that incompetent. Russian generals might like their vodka but I can't imagine them wanting to take Kiev with a force of 40k and with unsure supply lines. It was a feint - yes, they lost men, but that's how the Russians play it. Men, even well trained ones can be sacrificed to make it seem real, to achieve a larger objective - to keep Ukr army pinned around Kiev while they move to encircle the east. And they are achieving that, slowly perhaps, but surely. And, God alone knows the cost to the Ukr army. What we do know is that they are the one's issuing calls for more manpower (not the russkis), we also know that they are throwing everything they can into the mix - from mercenaries, phoren pyhters, to convicts. This suggests that from a Russki POV at least, the enemy is being defeated.

I know that this is not the way many here would have played it, but that's how the Russians do it, they always have. We all have heard of how many ill equipped conscripts they sent to die vs. Germany. So long as the objective is achieved.

[Cyrano]

We all have heard of how many ill equipped conscripts they sent to die

Exactly what AFU is doing right now. Most of their soldiers surrendering or dying seem to be middle aged men if one goes by whats seen on telegram channels of RT

[habal]

Victorious ukrainians deserting their army

https://twitter.com/gbazov/status/15224 ... 34082?s=20

[ks_sachin]

herr Zelenski pulled all his troops in defence of Keiv leaving rest of the country undefended. that was the obvious objective.
do you know why Nazis failed in Roos? the answer is logistics in general fuel supply in particular.

This. The RuA never intended to take Kyiv - nobody is that incompetent. Russian generals might like their vodka but I can't imagine them wanting to take Kiev with a force of 40k and with unsure supply lines. It was a feint - yes, they lost men, but that's how the Russians play it. Men, even well trained ones can be sacrificed to make it seem real, to achieve a larger objective - to keep Ukr army pinned around Kiev while they move to encircle the east. And they are achieving that, slowly perhaps, but surely. And, God alone knows the cost to the Ukr army. What we do know is that they are the one's issuing calls for more manpower (not the russkis), we also know that they are throwing everything they can into the mix - from mercenaries, phoren pyhters, to convicts. This suggests that from a Russki POV at least, the enemy is being defeated.

I know that this is not the way many here would have played it, but that's how the Russians do it, they always have. We all have heard of how many ill equipped conscripts they sent to die vs. Germany. So long as the objective is achieved.

Ok if you say so

[Cyrano]

Russian Artillery Thread

If you've been following the war with even a modicum of interest, by now you've heard a lot about the vaunted Russian artillery. It's possible you're wondering why and how Russia's artillery might be better than competitors. Let's take a look. (1/N)

https://twitter.com/witte_sergei/status ... 83137?s=20

[John]

Reports of Admiral Makarov ( Sister ship to Tushil and Tamala we are buying) hit and on fire so far not confirmed yet. The photos posted from Odesa claiming to be Makarov are old pics of one of cargo ships that was on fire on early March.

[Deans]

This. The RuA never intended to take Kyiv - nobody is that incompetent. Russian generals might like their vodka but I can't imagine them wanting to take Kiev with a force of 40k and with unsure supply lines.

In 2014 the Russian took Crimea, 27,000 Sq km and a population the same as Kiev currently has, with the equivalent of 1 division, in 3 days.
If the Ukrainian forces in Crimea had put up the same resistance as they did on the approaches to Kiev, the invasion would have failed.
It was reasonable to expect that Russia's best case scenario was a repeat of Crimea, where Ukraine would negotiate when threatened with the loss of their capital and their army did not have the will to fight.

It was also reasonable to expect that Russia have a Plan B if the best case does not happen. We are not privy to what that might be, but military logic, as I understand it, suggests that the Russian forces could have kept their gains by digging in and posing a threat to the capital, both from artillery and actual occupation, should a lot of defending forces be diverted elsewhere. Russian units that took a beating on the Kiev front, are better off in defensive roles, than going on an offensive in a new area. The only time Ukraine was serious about talks was when the capital was threatened.

One possibility was that Belarus was not happy about providing the logistics support to the Russians threatening Kiev from the West.

[John]

There was wide expectations that Ukr units would surrender or switch sides, look at even Kherson there were over 5k Ukr soldiers but Russians walked into the region without a shot after the Ukrainian General switched sides and didn’t mobilize his units and had them retreat it disband. Few units disobeyed his order and decided to setup a failed last stand to protect others retreating in outskirts of the city.

Why the strategy failed? Even Russian media has admitted the $$ meant for bribery or covert ops went to FSB leaders pockets and also FSB might have exaggerated its infiltration and its capabilities.

[ldev]

Also who knows to what extent Putin has micro managed this war? Also I was struck by that video just before the war started where Putin had his senior cabinet ministers, FSB chief and military advisors all sitting in a row and obviously terrified to speak up in front of him.

For those who speak of a protracted war and Russia's ability to prosecute such a protracted war lasting years, I wonder how Russia in the absence of control of the air in all of Ukraine other than the Donbass/Luhansk/Crimea area will keep the rest of Ukraine off balance? Right now the only means they have for long range strikes into Central and Western Ukraine are cruise missiles. According to the US, Russia has fired over 2000 missiles since the start of the war. What kind of stocks of the KH 101/55 and Kalibr cruise missiles did Russia have at the start of the war and what is their production capacity. If you look at the US equivalents i.e. Tomahawk (4000), JASSM-ER (5000), the stocks number in the thousands so I would assume that Russian stocks would be lower than equivalent US stocks of similar air and ship launched cruise missiles. I doubt that Russia has the stocks and production capacity to fire off a 1000 cruise missiles a month for any length of time.

[Jay]

I doubt that Russia has the stocks and production capacity to fire off a 1000 cruise missiles a month for any length of time.

Not to mention that this will conflict directly with their export capability too. Increasingly there will only be one diminishing pie from which Russia has to supplant its war fighting and war sales capabilities.

[brar_w]

. According to the US, Russia has fired over 2000 missiles since the start of the war. What kind of stocks of the KH 101/55 and Kalibr cruise missiles did Russia have at the start of the war and what is their production capacity. If you look at the US equivalents i.e. Tomahawk (4000), JASSM-ER (5000), the stocks number in the thousands so I would assume that Russian stocks would be lower than equivalent US stocks of similar air and ship launched cruise missiles. I doubt that Russia has the stocks and production capacity to fire off a 1000 cruise missiles a month for any length of time.

Production capacity is as important as inventories from the protracted war perspective (we’re talking about months to possibly years of a frozen conflict here). Here, what production slack do you maintain comes into play as does the impact on sanctions and being cut off from foreign projected chips or production equipment and tooling that you may (or may not) need . A well run production system would have a minimum and maximum production rate which is based on a upper limit defined by the program. This entails maintaining some cost inefficiency since the supply chain has to maintain that slack and ability to go from low to high at short notice (generally based on annual orders). For the two US cruise missiles you’ve mentioned, the two OEMs maintain a max production capacity in excess of 1,100 missiles a year (between the JASSM/LRASM and Tomahawk production lines). This them a lot of flexibility in the annual buys as is evident from the JASSM program where the USNs entering the program has meant it is now performing at max production rate of 640 combined JASSMs and LRASMs a year with talk of extending the max annual rate to beyond 750/year by 2026. Tomahawk can likewise flex from a min sustained production of just 90 missiles a year to a max rate of 450 a year.

[brar_w]

One of the first images of the LW155 (M777) in Ukraine from a Japanese correspondent (TBS Japan). There are reports that Canada has supplied Ukraine with a small batch of Excalibur precision guided rounds.



https://twitter.com/HiroshiSukagawa/sta ... 0lVDc8NOpg

[Cyrano]

In 2014 the Russian took Crimea, 27,000 Sq km and a population the same as Kiev currently has, with the equivalent of 1 division, in 3 days.

Because back then the US and NATO were not training and arming thousands of AFU soldiers and pouring billions of $$$ every year. They did all that since the state department effected a regime change during the Maindan revolution with the help of football hooligans turned thugs for hire turned Right Sector/Azov Battalions. They where then funded extensively to spread their neoNazi ideology and recruit youth in droves and maintain grip over who ever is in Kyiv. Since the Russian invasion started, these Azov Battalions now also spread across AFU units have been summarily executing any AFU soldier wanting to surrender or suspected of disloyalty. Its an open secret now, even Americans are admitting that they have experts on the ground, they provide intelligence 24x7 to AFU now, that its a proxy war.

So you're right, if all this was done before 2014, Crimea annexation would have been very much a grinding war like Mariupol has been now.

Russian forces may have modernised or not, their intelligence may be better or worse - but their adversary in Crimea was AFU, today it is NATO using AFU as a condom.

[Jay]

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-706036

If this is true, it will be another data point we need to consider for our war fighting capabilities. All our Talwar class ships have a direct lineage to Admiral Makarov's Admiral Grigorovich-class.

[Baikul]

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-706036

If this is true, it will be another data point we need to consider for our war fighting capabilities. All our Talwar class ships have a direct lineage to Admiral Makarov's Admiral Grigorovich-class.

It would be interesting indeed. At this moment though some people are claiming that the footage of the Russian ship on fire is from a video game. I guess we shall see soon enough.

Edit: this is the footage of the supposed strike:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVide ... ame=iossmf

Meanwhile there are reports (from Russian sources on telegram) that the Russian Army has pulled back somewhat from the Kharkiv area. Specifically they’re believed to have given up the areas of Old Saltov, Tsirkunov, Cherkasy Tishki and Liptsy.

https://t.me/SergeyKolyasnikov/33917

You’ll need google translate for the above source. If this is correct it could mean that, while this is no means a Russian retreat, the Ukrainians are a long way from being encircled.

[John]

Edit: this is the footage of the supposed strike:https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVide ... ame=iossmf

The video of Makarov is most likely fake likely created in Arma 3 video game.

[ks_sachin]

In 2014 the Russian took Crimea, 27,000 Sq km and a population the same as Kiev currently has, with the equivalent of 1 division, in 3 days.

Because back then the US and NATO were not training and arming thousands of AFU soldiers and pouring billions of $$$ every year. They did all that since the state department effected a regime change during the Maindan revolution with the help of football hooligans turned thugs for hire turned Right Sector/Azov Battalions. They where then funded extensively to spread their neoNazi ideology and recruit youth in droves and maintain grip over who ever is in Kyiv. Since the Russian invasion started, these Azov Battalions now also spread across AFU units have been summarily executing any AFU soldier wanting to surrender or suspected of disloyalty. Its an open secret now, even Americans are admitting that they have experts on the ground, they provide intelligence 24x7 to AFU now, that its a proxy war.

So you're right, if all this was done before 2014, Crimea annexation would have been very much a grinding war like Mariupol has been now.

Russian forces may have modernised or not, their intelligence may be better or worse - but their adversary in Crimea was AFU, today it is NATO using AFU as a condom.

So their strategy was based on faulty intelligence you say?

Anyway what if the Russians had purely concentrated on Donbass and those areas? I wonder if they had avoided the attrition and morale sapping Kiev feint/thrust they may have had a better chance of exploiting the numerical superiority of their arty etc.