Previous day’s thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4156031/posts
THE TIME HAS COME.
““The time has come to take back what’s ours,” Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny wrote on Telegram this morning. His message was accompanied by a video showing Ukrainian troops preparing for battle.”
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1662349934148853761
Ukraine: military situation update with maps - May 26, 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(Numbered printed material below - Some of the items below may be out of date, and not updated yet)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, The 2nd Best Army in Ukraine <——
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
[ Broken & Discarded | Warner Chief’s Confession: 95% of Wagner Killed and Mutilated ]
••Day 457: May 26
Today the biggest news comes from the east.
Yesterday, the Head of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin, announced that his mercenaries started gradually leaving Bakhmut in small groups while the regular Russian army was assuming control over one position after another.
A lot of Ukrainian fighters were skeptical at first about the news and anticipated a sudden push towards Chasiv Yar, but later high-ranking Ukrainian officers confirmed that Wagner was leaving.
Today Prigozhin released another video with his visit to one of the bases in the deep rear and reported that most Wagner forces should be able to leave Bakhmut by the 1st of June.
But more importantly, he raised the forbidden in the Russian-media space subject, which is the extent of losses and whether the so-called special military operation is a success or a failure.
Prigozhin claimed during an interview with Russian political strategist Konstantin Dolgov that at the beginning of the Battle for Bakhmut, the Wagner Group had 35,000 troops and that shortly after that, Prigozhin recruited 50,000 prisoners.
So, the Wagner Group had 85,000 troops at their disposal.
Prigozhin claimed that during the 8 months of continuous fighting, 10,000 prisoners and 10,000 full-time professional Wagner fighters were killed in action.
This immediately raises suspicions because it implies that professionals were killed more easily than untrained prisoners who were used in suicidal human wave attacks.
Based on Prigozhin’s figures, professionals had a 30% death rate, while prisoners had a 20% death rate.
A former Russian officer Girkin pointed out that only half of the prisoners reportedly received pardons, so it looks like Wagner lost 25,000 prisoners, not 10,0000.
He also speculated that other losses are 50% higher, meaning that Wagner lost 15,000 full-time professional fighters.
The total number of killed in action, therefore, is estimated to be around 40,000 troops.
But this is only killed. Many soldiers get wounded. Prigozhin claimed they had as many wounded as killed, so also 40,000.
This makes the total number of losses to be around 80,000.
So, at the beginning of the Battle for Bakhmut, Wagner had 85,000 troops, and at the end, only 5,000.
This means that Ukrainians have achieved their objective of destroying the most capable elements of the Russian army ahead of the counteroffensive operation.
Interestingly, the losses are totally consistent with the changes in the length of the front line under their responsibility: in mid-winter, Wagners were responsible for 85 km of the front, while during the last month, they were responsible for less than 5 km of the front.
That is why Prigozhin wants to get his forces out of the combat zone for a few months - this way, he can at least wait until the wounded heal and return to the ranks.
Most people understand that official losses are always understated, so when Prigozhin made official numbers so high, a former Russian officer Girkin immediately told Prigozhin to keep his mouth shut and stop talking about wild losses for a very insignificant result.
Unfortunately for Russians, Prigozhin also went in full depth discussing the insignificance of the results. He said that the whole special military operation was a complete failure because Russians achieved completely opposite results to the stated objectives.
When it comes to the goal of denazification, first of all, he said that they fought with tens of thousands of soldiers and are still in search of Nazis, and secondly, the war has catalyzed and solidified Ukrainian national identity and also legitimized Ukrainians as a nation internationally because everyone around the world is discussing the war in Ukraine.
When it comes to the goal of demilitarization, Ukraine’s armed forces increased from about 250,000 personnel before the war to 700,000 personnel today, and Ukrainian forces are now equipped with advanced Western anti-tank ground missiles, precision artillery, long-range missiles, modern tanks, and other systems that Ukraine did not have before Russia’s invasion.
Prigozhin said that now Ukraine has one of the most powerful armies in the world.
He specified that Ukrainians had developed the highest level of organization, highest levels of preparation, highest levels of reconnaissance, and that they could fight with anything: from old soviet weapons to the most modern ones produced and supplied by the Western allies.
••There is no way to tell if the videos of the Ivan Khurs are recent, other than taking Russia’s word. Part of the weirdness is the ship turned off its transponder. Another part is that the released images show no paint damage, even though one exploded at the stern.
==
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station:
With the threat of a nuclear disaster by sabotage, Russia is playing with millions of people’s lives. This is a real threat, since they control the plant, and have lots of armored vehicles inside the plant - as well as mounted artillery, machineguns, and air defense systems.
==
The attack on the port of Berdyansk destroyed many S-300 air defense systems arriving at the port.
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Prigozhin has begun his campaign for political office with flyers going up in many tons across Russia: ‘Prigozhin, a strong leader, not a bunker putz’.
==
EU will vote next week on whether Hungary should be represented in its Parliament. This comes about because they do not want to sanction Russia, nor help Ukraine with military or humanitarian aid.
Hungary ineligible for EU presidency - European Parliament. The corresponding draft resolution was supported by the main parties of the European Parliament, it will be voted on next week. The main reason is the country’s numerous violations of EU legislation.
In response, Hungary accused the MEPs of “not liking the peacekeeping position.” Bearing in mind the position of Hungary regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, because of which Budapest often slowed down sanctions against Russia and opposed military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
==
Bakhmut:
No significant movement by either force for several consecutive days. The southern flank is held by the undermanned UA 3rd Brigade, with few tanks and armored vehicles. The bulk of UA forces in the area are in reserve, waiting ...
==
[Weather.com reports that rain in Zaporizhzhya, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine ends today and mostly cloudy from May 29th to June 10th]
==
Russian officials said everything is going according to the Plan.
••Two Russian Su-34 bombers strike from ultra-low altitudes with free-falling high-explosive bombs on a hangar on the territory of the Graivoron border checkpoint in the Bilgorod region of the Russian Federation.
There is no air defense countermeasures, no one is shooting at the planes, visibility is excellent, there is no wind, which we see from the stable picture from the drone.
However, in such ideal conditions, both Russian bombers miss their target, and the bombs fall into the field, the building remains intact.
The UPMK guidance system on Russian aerial bombs requires programming at the base and dropping to predetermined coordinates, which makes it impossible to retarget aircraft in the air to new targets.
Therefore, Su-34s with an export value of $ 50 million are bombed with bombs from the Second World War.
In this case, the enemy was lucky that the fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps, who fought with the Russian army in Grayvoron, did not have man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems. We must help the fighters against the Russian planes next time.
==
Ukraine officially requested Taurus cruise missiles from Germany - Spiegel. The Ukrainian side recently sent a request for the supply of a German analogue of Storm Shadow with a range of up to 500 km to Germany, the newspaper writes.
The receipt of an official request was confirmed by the German Ministry of Defense. How many missiles of this type Ukraine expects to receive is not specified.
==
China offers to hand over the occupied territories to Russia and stop the war - The Wall Street Journal
“A Chinese envoy sent to promote Beijing’s peace plan for Ukraine carried a clear signal: US allies in Europe must declare their autonomy and call for an immediate ceasefire, leaving Russia in possession of the parts of its neighbor it currently occupies.”
Nothing else was expected from CCP.
==
Russian officials said everything is going according to the Plan.