Previous day’s thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4154619/posts
What were Russian equipment losses in 1945? /smirk
But Ukraine paid a heavy price in blood in trying to hold onto that supposedly “worthless” city. Simplicius provides the details of the Ukrainian military obituary:
Why is Bakhmut called a Meat Grinder?
Who was decimated in Bakhmut:
Brigades:
45th Brigade
43rd Brigade
26th Brigade
28th Brigade
62nd Brigade
63rd Brigade
53rd Brigade
60th Brigade
24th Brigade
57th Brigade
30th Brigade
Advance Rubizh Brigade
Advance Azov Brigade
Advance Uragan Brigade
Advance Spartan Brigade
109th Brigade
116th Brigade
119th Brigade
241st Brigade
93rd Brigade
77th Brigade
46th Brigade
4th Brigade
17th Brigade
61st Brigade of Jaegers
Special Forces and Spetsnaz Regiments:
5th Assault Regiment 8th Regiment of Special Forces
Kraken Battalions:
122nd Battalion
68th Battalion
49th Rifle Battalion
15th Mountain Assault Battalion
Omega
Border Guard Donetsk
8th Regiment of the UDAR UAVs:
Shershen
Adam
Karlsen
Terra
Skala
Madyar
Khartia
Kep
Seneka
WASP Legions:
Dudaev Battalion
Georgian Legion
Mansur Battalion
Shamil Battalion
Gonor
Normandy Legion
Most of these battalions have suffered more than 70% casualties just against PMC Wagner.
The twenty five brigades listed above represents a force of atleast 50,000 men (assuming only 2000 men in a reduced brigade) and as many as 125,000. Simplicius also lists at least 9 battalions and 5 regiments — that is 4500 and 5000 additional troops respectively. Do the math. If Ukraine deployed 134,500 troops to the battle for Bakhmut, 70% casualties means that Ukraine suffered as many as 94,150 killed and wounded.
Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, pledged that Japan will send 100 combat vehicles as a military aid package to Ukraine.
In addition, Japan will support Ukraine with $470 million for the energy sector and another $30 million aid in non-lethal goods, such food rations.
Ukraine: military situation update with maps - May 20, 2023
(’Orc’ is associated with the various hoards of 13th century Mongol invaders, as well as LOTR evil villains)
War in Ukraine Explained/Reporting from Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
Artillery (key to success in this war), Fuller explanation of Orc military structure, Other Bonus articles - see previous postings in “Attack on Europe” (FR title search).
(Numbered printed material below - Some of the items below may be out of date, and not updated yet)
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. The entirety of the analysis is from a Ukrainian guy named Reporting from Ukraine’s daily video - I only transcribe it. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
-—> Current to date and past MAPS: <——
https://militaryland.net/
-—> Daily Battle Maps by Date and Region, Showing Troop Dispositions and Movements: <——
https://deepstatemap.live/
==
-—> The True State of Russian Army <——
posted 2 months ago, 21.13 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KiII_2qabk
The Russian military, the second largest military in the world, may not be what it looks like. Lies and systematic corruptions may in fact have dragged Russia into this war with Ukraine, which has been heavily backed up by the US and NATO. We will present the evidence, you make your own decision, because the Russian Army, is not what you think.
==
-—> Understanding Combined Arms Warfare <——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOGdKANL5s
Designed to support the U.S. Army Captains Career Course, “Understanding Combined Arms Warfare” defines and outlines the important aspects of modern combined arms operations. This is not a complete history of combined arms warfare. It is intended to highlight the most important aspects of the subject.
The beginning of the documentary establishes a common understanding of combined arms warfare by discussing doctrinal and equipment developments in World War I. The second part compares the development of French and German Army mechanization during the interwar period and describes how each country fared during the Battle of France in 1940. The film concludes by showing how the United States applied combined arms operations in the European Theater in World War II.
==
-—> Combined Arms Breach, 1990 <——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-sCT_maAQ
What UA will have to master to smash Orc Lines. This visualization was developed for the Maneuver Center of Excellence and is closely based upon the National Training Center Breach and Assault exercise executed circa 1990. This visualization demonstrates viable Techniques, and Procedures as discussed in Army Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures March 3, 1990 for the conduct of the combined arms breach against a hypothetical enemy.
==
-—> How Many of Each Type of Tank Does Russia Have In Storage? <——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PHUK6zkbpc
Type Good 2023
T-54/55 270
T-62 560
T-64 248
T-72 1841
T-80 942
T-90 50
~3,911 operational tanks in storage as of ~04/07/2023 | Ball park tank number.
==
-—> Contrast & Compare: the T-14 Armada [The AliExpress Tank]: The Best Russian Tank Ever! [very funny] <——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opSlCGLGQ4
[ HIMARS Raid |We Targeted Underground Bases | HIMARS Strike Destroys Russian Secret Underground Base ]
••Day 451: May 20
Today Ukrainians conducted a series of very successful HIMARS strikes.
As mentioned last time, the activation of Ukrainian HIMARS crews is explained by the relocation of Russian troops to the Bakhmut direction because it creates a perfect opportunity for identifying, tracking, and destroying enemy forces concentrations.
The target of the first strike once again became Mariupol. Local residents reported hearing several explosions. One photo clearly shows the aftermath of the air defense work.
The picture was quickly analyzed for geolocation, and after determining from which building a person took a photo and determining the direction of the trajectory, it became clear that Russian air defense was shooting down the rockets near the industrial area Azovstal.
This is where Russians reportedly use a lot of facilities as warehouses for equipment. In the meantime, more information became available about yesterday’s strike.
Yesterday, I showed you that Ukrainians hit unspecified buildings near the airfield. Today satellite footage became available of this area, showing that HIMARS rockets entered the center of the building.
Ukrainian sources reported that there was an underground facility that was used as a high-level command post of the Russian forces that are operating in the Vuhledar and Zaporizhzhia areas. The Ukrainian Mariupol Mayoral Advisor reported that 24 troops were killed and 37 were wounded.
As a result of strikes on other facilities, Russians also lost a lot of vehicles of various types: from cars to APCs, because today local residents noticed how Russians were transporting the destroyed machinery through the city.
Another target of another strike became Tokmak. Local residents reported hearing multiple explosions, which was later confirmed by the Russian Appointed Head of the region. He stated that there were at least 2 explosions and that more information would become available later.
HIMARS strikes were also recorded in the Donetsk region. Russian independent investigative outlet reported that a Ukrainian HIMARS strike destroyed up to 10 T-90 tanks east of Marinka.
Overall, it looks like by destabilizing the situation on the Bakhmut’s flanks and forcing Russians to send reinforcements, Ukrainians managed to destroy more heavy equipment during the relocation than during the storming operation of the flanks that Russians tried to reinforce.
And the frequency and intensity of HIMARS strikes will continue to increase, especially as Norway and the UK recently agreed to supply Ukraine with 8 artillery systems M270, which is like HIMARS but has twice as many rockets.
When it comes to Bakhmut itself, after another night of surviving some of the most intense shelling with incendiary munitions, some Ukrainian soldiers reported that the last units that were still present on the outskirts of Bakhmut finally received an order to withdraw to Ivanivske.
This is corroborated by multiple videos of Ukrainians driving out of the southern outskirts towards Ivanivske and also by the fact that Russians are mostly shelling the tree lines between Bakhmut and Ivanivske.
The Head of the Wager Group, Prigozhin, made a video saying that today, after 224 days of continuous storming operations, the Battle for Bakhmut has ended.
He admitted that Ukrainian fighters put up immense resistance and that in 5 days he planned to transfer the responsibility for the region to the regular Russian army and withdraw to the deep rear to heal and replenish from the damage incurred.
At this stage, we don’t know whether the Wagner Group will be allowed to withdraw or whether the Russian Ministry of Defense will once again threaten Prigozhin with charges of treason in case he leaves his position.
In any case, the first Battle for Bakhmut ended, and the most important question is what comes next.
Some analysts are saying that now, with the city secured, Russian forces will easily recapture the ground around Bakhmut. However, if we look at the topographic map, we can see that the ground around Bakhmut is actually tactical heights, which took Russians months to take, especially in the south.
Recent footage from the Khromove region clearly shows that the city is located in the valley, meaning that Russians would need to fight from a very disadvantageous position.
That is why many Ukrainian fighters are calling the Russian victory a Pyrrhic victory - Russians got so focused on the city and the idea of declaring the whole city taken that they lost all tactical heights in the process.
Now as Ukrainians have almost secured all tactical heights in front of Chasiv Yar, they can either continue the movement along the ridges to take Bakhmut into a pocket or stop here and conduct defensive operations.
Unlike Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar is located on a hill, not a valley, which means that storming Chasiv Yar will likely be much more difficult than storming Bakhmut.
But it looks like Ukrainians decided not to stop. The fighters on the ground continue reporting advances on the flanks, especially south of Bakhmut.
Here, after securing this huge piece of territory, Ukrainians continued reporting about securing from 100 to 150 meters every day.
Some military analysts are calling it a Pyrrhic victory as well, but for a different reason. They said that while Russian forces allocated their best forces to fight in the Battle for Soledar, Battle for Bakhmut, and now Bakhmut’s flanks, Ukrainians never engaged their strategic reserves.
And this is entirely correct because the Ukrainian 9th and 10th Corps continue to stay in the deep rear and prepare for large-scale offensive actions.
This puts Russians in significant danger because, while their most capable units have been degraded in battles of no strategic significance, Ukrainians have been sending their most capable troops overseas for intense training, and they have been accumulating Western equipment to equip these forces.
The fact that these reserves have not yet been engaged, suggests that Ukrainians are yet to deliver their main blow.
••Bakhmut:
Russia now has all of Bakhmut, except for one tiny piece. Because they do not have the troops or other resources to hold the ten for long, Prigozhin announced fro the 2nd time he would withdraw his forces on the 25th of May.
The big advance of the Wagners yesterday was because the UA withdrew from that area. Wagners took around 70,000 casualties in the process of taking most of Bakhmut.
Prigozhin said taking the city is not as important as defending it.
UA Command confirmed the mission for now is to encircle the city from the north and the south flanks. Prigozhin sees that, and that is why he wants to withdraw to the deep rear, allowing the RGF to an assume his positions.
There are 3 possible scenerios
1. P lied again and the PMC will continue to assault forward to Chasiv Yar. But the UA is pushing on the flanks, and the PMC needs more troops and weapons to go forward.
2. The Russians will go into the total defense mode. UA assault is slowing down on the flanks and may not be able to penetrate the Russian defenses further. This is the most likely scenario.
3. The best one is that the PMC will remain in defense of the town, and the UA will successful continue the town’s encirclement. This is just a local offensive and serves to fix a lot of RGF troops in the area.
==
Avdiivka:
Even more important than Bakhmut. The Russians moved forward on the north flank taking some fields up to the RR line in their Krasnohorivika area. There are 2 important roads leading from the city. This could be an area where the PMC might move.
==
There are now 60 private armies in Russia. All of them illegal. At some point because of the conflicts like that between Wagners and the RGF High Command, these armies could start to fight each other.
==
Ukraine expects to receive 40-70 F-16s in the fall. There are plenty of pilots available in the UA Air Force.
==
Crimea:
There is now 3-D model available for Putin’s Bunker.
==
Netherlands canceled the deal to send 40 F-16s to Drakon.
==
Tokamak had several explosions and could be their first target of the UA offensive.
==
China no longer seems to plan a road connecting through Russia, and now plans a RR between Beijing and Europe through Iran and Turkey.
==
Russia, after its “victory” in Bakhmut, now projects on a map of taking Europe up to Germany on a line from Munich to the Baltic Sea.
••More CNN fake news:
The United States is ready to provide Ukraine with LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, but on the condition that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not strike at the territory of Russia
As a result of a night strike, the Defense Forces successfully hit the headquarters of one of the occupiers’ units in the city of Berdyansk - StratCom of the Armed Forces. The losses of the enemy are specified.
An explosion occurred at the Kacha airfield in Crimea: a Mi-8 military helicopter from the 318th regiment was damaged, - RBC citing sources. The incident took place around midnight.
Only 10 consecutive posts to yourself??
You Trolls must be getting paid less.
Your spam is hilarious.
Where’s your buddy Mucusmaximum? and his dog and shovel barf..
.
It was Artemosk long before this proxy war on Russia started and Ukes renamed it.
It is Sad that Z ignored US intel and his own military advisors to send many tens of thousands to a needless death there.
I hope now a ceasefire can come quickly.
.
it’s a shame that so much of our taxpayer dollars and both Rus and Uke lives went down the toilet.
Here’s the Prigozin speech with english subtitles...enjoy!
https://s2.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Wagner_Bakhmut.mp4?_=1
.
.
for some decent reports on how the liberation of Bakhmut pr0gressed try these...
BREAKING NEWS | WAGNER CAPTURES BAKHMUT 20/05/23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ov4qLlw5ww&ab_channel=WeebUnion
Ukraine Retreats From BAKHMUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMcW02BTm2Y&ab_channel=HistoryLegends
Time lapse of the surrounding and capturing of Bakhmut from August 2022 to 17MAY2023.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qLy9JrNhMB4
Axium launch now
https://www.axiomspace.com/#:~:text=Aboard%20the%20orbiting%20laboratory%2C%20the,%2C%20the%20arts%2C%20and%20mathematics.
Today I am attending the G1 summit.
The term “Bakhmut Victory” to replace the term “Pyrrhic Victory”, as a better example of the concept.
@Tendar
In all honesty, I have covered many wars in several decades and I can say that I haven’t seen in a long time a more hysteric way to declare “victory” as we see now around Bakhmut...
As I have mentioned already few days ago, Russians do not intend to move any further, or more precisely, they are not capable to move any further, which simply begs the question what was this all about. What strategic value offers Bakhmut in itself? The answer is simple. None. This fact was even stated by Prigozhin, Strelkov and others. It is a military travesty, aiming only for political games of the involved Russian warlords.
The Ukrainian strategy on the other side has been coherent and quite clear. First, to deny Russians entry to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, secondly, bind Russian forces and prepare for their counteroffensive and, third, in the process decimating their ranks, which - when reflecting 100,000 Russian casualties - they have achieved with flying colors. The only threat was a potential encirclement of Bakhmut with the subsequent destruction of the Ukrainian armies in it, but that was averted and Russians were forced to run against the heaviest fortification, a stupidity in itself and exactly how Ukrainian strategist can ask for.
Ukrainians have even achieved additional tactical advantages by binding additional Russian forces in Bakhmut. Russians were so obsessed with Bakhmut that they were depleting lines and more importantly ammunition in Kreminna, Svatove, Avdiivka and Vuhledar. Literally every single one of those named areas ended in total disasters. Especially, Vuhledar can be called an epic fail.
However, when you look at the numbers than you can see that Bakhmut was actually the worst sector for Russians, because for the sake of just “staying in this area” it makes literally no difference whether you stay inside Bakhmut or 7km more to the East, because this is their pathetic “progress” in almost 10 months. It is however a complete difference when you have those 100,000 men and millions of artillery shells at your disposal. Even some Russians are starting to realize this.
You do not have to take my word, the developments in battlefield will say this in the clearest language. History is full of examples where political lunatics forced their military leaders into steps which any sane military commander would never have done. The terms “pyrrhic victory, second Stalingrad etc.” have been used more than once. Maybe we will even add “Bakhmut victory” to the books. It certainly deserves a place in military idiocy.
@visegrad24 20m
President of the European Parliament, @RobertaMetsola, speaking in front of 70,000 pro-western patriots in Chișinău, Moldova today:
“If you chose Europe, Europe will welcome you with open arms and open hearts”
Moldova is on path of becoming an EU member together with Ukraine.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose conservative party scored a landslide election Sunday but without the seats in parliament to win outright, indicated Sunday he will seek a second election in a bid to consolidate victory without need of a coalition partner.
@visegrad24 1h
The far-left, pro-Russian Syriza party declined by 11 percentage points, bringing them down to 20%.
Varoufakis & his Pro-Russian MeRA25 are out of parliament.
F-16 pilots, take note.
@EuromaidanPress 8h
Ukraine can strike Crimea using US-made weapons, Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor to President Joe Biden, tells CNN “We’ve said we won’t allow Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike Russia. And we believe Crimea is Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
The Atlantic: It’s Not Enough for Ukraine to Win. Russia Has to Lose.
Anything less will encourage Russian imperialism and embolden autocrats around the world.
By Eliot A. Cohen
@mattia_n May 20
“To be brutal about it, we need to see masses of Russians fleeing, deserting, shooting their officers, taken captive, or dead. The Russian defeat must be an unmistakably big, bloody shambles. In other words, not an elegant ceasefire, writes @EliotACohen.”
@GeoConfirmed 4 hrs
The Battle of #Klishchiivka/#Кліщіївка.
Based on the @GeoConfirmed footage (take into account the delay before the release of the footage) the battle of Klishchiivka is a fact.
@NLwartracker 3h
"As I said two days before in my thread, when (not if) 🇺🇦 forces take Klishchiivka, the only thing between them and the defensive positions on the borderline between Luhansk and Donetsk (Popasna) is the defensive line on the T0504 manned by units of the 3rd army...
These units are battered and depleted units, who have been receiving untrained mobniks as replacements. If this last line of defense falls, the road to Kodema and Zaitseve is free, here are no notable defenses in these area's."
Russians fighting Russians:
@visegrad24 2h
BREAKING:
The Free Russia Legion, made up of Russians fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Army, has crossed into Russia in the Belgorod region and has taken control of three settlements Kozinka, Glotove, Gora-Podil
Heavy fighting is taking place for control of Greyvoron.
@visegrad24 1h
Traffic jams forming as more and more Russians are fleeing the city of Belgorod, following the incursion of the Free Russia Legion (allied with the Ukrainian Army) into the region, taking control of 4 settlements near the city.
@KyivIndependent 50m
Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov addressed Russian soldiers in a video on May 22, urging them to surrender if they do not want to die because the situation on the battlefield is set to “get worse.”
