VIDEO WITH COMMENTARY
16 May: Russian Most Potent Weapon MEETS UKRAINIAN IRON DOME | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
256K subscribers
May 16, 2023, 9:30 PM EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ircerwGC3uo
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I am Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the four hundred and forty seventh day of the war.
Day 447: May 16 Today Ukrainians got hit by an exceptionally dense missile barrage. Usually, massive Russian missile strikes were spread out across the whole of Ukraine, which forced Ukrainians to spread out their air defense systems. By rapidly changing their tactic and concentrating all of their rockets on Kyiv, Russians expected to take advantage of the fact that Ukrainians may not have enough air defense systems in one place.
Unfortunately for the Russians, Ukrainians decided to allocate plenty of Patriot systems exactly to the Kyiv region, and as a result, Russians had the most unsuccessful missile strike because, for the first time in this war, Ukrainians managed to shoot down all Russian rockets. It was highly likely the merit of the Intelligence, which unveiled the Russian plans and ensured that Patriot systems showed up at the right place at the right time.
And such insight was indispensable for the 100% success rate because Russians used 6 hypersonic missiles, Kindzhal, and 3 yet unspecified ballistic missiles, which could only be intercepted with Patriot systems. As the Spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force stated multiple times, regular Ukrainian air defense, such as Buk, is incapable of intercepting hypersonic objects.
Russian sources reported that they targeted areas of forces concentrations, ammunition depots, and warehouses with equipment and that they achieved all their goals and destroyed all predetermined objects. Later local residents started publishing a lot of photos with different remnants of Russian rockets that they found on the streets of Kyiv, some of them even found whole missiles. Several hours later, a video was published with partially reassembled intercepted Russian rockets.
Russian sources also claimed they almost didn’t use hypersonic missiles and that they destroyed one Patriot system. Some sources circulated a video showing an explosion in the area where Patriot systems have been launching rockets. The Ukrainian side responded that Patriot systems are intact and that the explosion was caused by an intercepted missile that fell in the Soloviansk region and caused a fire in a bus station.
Some Russian military analysts also discussed the photos of the remnants of Ukrainian rockets. The remnants were identified as PAC-3 CRI, which means that Ukrainians are indeed capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and confirms that Ukrainians received the newest model of the Patriot air defense system.
When it comes to the Bakhmtu direction, Ukrainians seem to be opening another line of attack. If previously, Ukrainians were moving south from Ivanivske and northeast from Bohdanivka, then over the last several days, there was a visible activation of Ukrainian forces near Minkivka.
After Ukrainians successfully pushed Russians from the hill north of Bohdanivka, the Russian tactical position in the region started to deteriorate and made it much harder to protect the tree lines around Orikhovo-Vasylivka. In the aftermath of several assaults, Ukrainians managed to push Russian from one of the trench networks in a dense tree area.
The Head of the Wagner Group, Prigozhin, recently predicted that this is going to be the next major Ukrainian line of attack because this way Ukrainians will also be moving along the tactical heights and pushing Russians back downhill. The latest reports indicate that Ukrainians have already started intense artillery preparation. Recent footage shows how a Ukrainian drone operator unveiled a Russian artillery position together with an ammunition depot and, in coordination with an artillery crew, destroyed the enemy forces, equipment, and ammunition.
When it comes to the city itself, there are a few important updates in the citadel. After penetrating Ukrainian defense orders along Levanevskogo Street, Ukrainian retreated towards the outer buildings. The Head of the Wagner Group claimed that Ukrainians set perfect conditions for a controlled fighting withdrawal. The Ukrainian Head of the Eastern Group Forces that arrived in the Bakhmut direction reported that he gave all the necessary information to the commanders, walked through all possible scenarios, and said that Ukrainians are ready for the next move.
ARTICLE
Ukraine has exploited Russia’s months long ‘Bakhmut fixation’ as it reclaims territory and sends Russian soldiers running from the ‘meat grinder,’ military expert says
Erin Snodgrass
May 15, 2023, 9:32 PM EDT
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bakhmut-casulaties-fixation-military-experts-say-2023-5
• Ukraine gained an advantage over Russia by doggedly defending Bakhmut, a military expert told Insider.
• “The Russians have had a Bakhmut fixation,” said Mick Ryan, a retired Maj. Gen. in the Australian army.
• The country reclaimed territory near the city last week after a series of surprise attacks.
Ukraine is gaining momentum and reclaiming territory in Bakhmut after months of brutal and bloody fighting in the country’s east that left thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dead.
Ukraine looked to shake up the essentially stalemated frontline near the one-time mining town this month, which has been left a decimated shell of a city after months of attrition warfare so ruthless it has become known as “the meat grinder.”
Last week, Ukraine launched multiple surprise counterattacks, reclaiming several miles of territory around Bakhmut in the country’s largest land gain since its autumn offensive in Kherson.
Russia fought back and has managed to maintain uneasy control over most of the destroyed city despite Ukraine’s advances. Still, Ukrainian officials are touting the gains as proof of purchase of their monthslong approach to Russia’s attacks in Bakhmut — defend the city as long as necessary to exhaust and deplete Russian troops ahead of Ukraine’s much-anticipated counter-offensive.
Ukraine’s dogged defense of the strategically unimportant city prompted calls from Western allies and military strategists earlier this year to abandon the town, voicing concerns that the endless fighting could leave Ukraine’s troops wounded and unprepared for future attacks.
Russia, meanwhile, has dedicated the majority of its time, efforts, and resources this year to the fight in Bakhmut, though analysts are still uncertain why the former mining town became such a symbol for both sides, as the city’s location would not necessarily offer Russia a wide-open pathway to claiming the rest of the region.
“The Russians have had a Bakhmut fixation,” Mick Ryan, a retired Major General in the Australian army and a military strategist, told Insider earlier this month. “To their credit, the Ukrainians identified this and exploited it.”
“Exploiting it has led to Ukrainian casualties, but at the end of the day, war isn’t about absolutes,” he added. “It’s about relative advantages.”
The White House said last month that Russia suffered 100,000 casualties just this year, including 20,000 deaths.
“There’s no question that the fighting around Bakhmut has chewed up both sides,” Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ security program, told Insider earlier this month.”
The Ukrainian military does not release casualty numbers, but military experts believe the country has suffered significant losses in Bakhmut, though notably fewer than Russia. The country has not had to expend any of its troops currently being trained for its coming offensive, Col. Serhiy Cherevatiy, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, confirmed to The Wall Street Journal this week.
“The Ukrainians saw that they could generate a relative advantage over the Russians by killing more Russians than they lost themselves in Bakhmut,” Ryan said.
Russia’s offensive in Bakhmut has been plagued by small, slow advances, as well as increasingly public infighting between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, which has shouldered the brunt of the fighting in Bakhmut, and Russia’s military brass.
Ukraine’s recent gains, while relatively small, appear to be already having a psychological effect on Russia. Ukraine shared a video last week of Russian soldiers running away from the city while being chased by armored vehicles.
On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that two Russian commanders were killed in fighting near the city while repelling Ukrainian efforts to break through the frontline.
“We lured the enemy into a Bakhmut trap,” Cherevatiy, the Ukrainian spokesperson, told The Journal. “The enemy has lost an incredible amount of manpower. We’re continuing to bleed the enemy.”