Ukr Disastrous Day: Rus Controls 50% Ocheretino, Ukr Admits Novomikhailovka Lost, Budanov Crisis (1 hour 26 minute YOUTUBE video. Small portion Transcribed)

YOUTUBE ^ | 3/11/2024 | Alexander Mercouris

[ransomnote]

Alexander Mercouris: The last 24 hours, or perhaps to be more precise, the last weekend has been a, actually, a consequential time over the course of the Ukraine crisis and, not indeed, just the Ukraine crisis, but in terms of global policy.

But I'm going to start first by providing the military update on the situation in the Ukraine, where the developments are becoming more dramatic by the hour. In fact, as I've said in previous programs, it does increasingly look as if events, the tempo of events, or at least to be more precise the tempo of Russian advances is accelerating.

Now, over the course of this morning, first thing to say though is in the course of this morning, I believe it's the 79th Brigade of the Ukrainian army has in an apparently extremely bitter message, admitted it has been forced out of Novomikhailovka, and that the village has fallen entirely under Russian control. This is a village of 1400 people before the war. It is a strategic location South of Marinka. It opens the way for a Russian advance further westwards towards the village of Paraskoviivka, and ultimately beyond Paraskoviivka to places like Kostyantynivka another fairly large village in this area. And ultimately towards toward Katerynivka cutting off the roads, the supply roads to (ransomnote: name of village I can't spell).

ransomnote: I used Google maps to get the spelling of village names.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.8797127,37.3762245,12.94z?entry=ttu

Alexander Mercouris: Anyway, the particular brigade that I'm talking about, the Ukrainian brigade that was defending Novomikhailovka has been making some rather extraordinary comments in its various messages. Couple of days ago it claimed it had destroyed over 300 armored vehicles of the Russian army in the fight for Novomikhailovka, a figure which I think is massively exagerated, but it's the sort of thing that perhaps you would expect soldiers who've suffered a bitter defeat and who are very angry about that defeat to say, 'despite the fact that they've suffered this defeat, they've caused, they've inflicted these enormous losses on the Russians.

Apparently, in their (79th Brigade - UK) latest statement, admitting that Novomikhailovka has fully fallen under Russian control. They blame the Ukrainian high command. They say they've been given inadequate orders, inadequate supplies of ammunition, and inadequate re-inforcements, and that this was why they were finally driven from the village.

One senses behind all this anger, also fear presumably on the part of some of the brigade's middle and senior ranking officers that Syrskyi, now in charge (ransomnote: as of Feb 8, 2024), and with Zelensky egging him on, some of them are going to be blamed and criticized by the Ukrainian command for the loss of Novomikhailovka.

Anyway, all of that came from the Ukrainians, and shortly after, the Russian Defense Ministeey also confirm that Novomikhailovka has fallen fully under the control of the Russians.

~~~~END OF LITERAL TRANSCRIPTION. Just notes on a few more minutes of the video below.

ransomnote: I am having such a hard time transcribing names, I 'll stop transcribing here.

ransomnote's notes: Watching a few more minutes, the importance of the  capture of Novomikhailovka is said to be another means of encircling the Ukrainian army's major hub south of Donetsk. Mercouris describes other advances meant to further the plan to surround that Ukrainian hub. If the Russians take that area, it frees them to use the railway to move their supplies. The Ukrainians had defended Novomikhailovka for 6 months due to its strategic importance and therefore, for them it is a bitter loss.

Had Novomikhailovka been lost a few weeks ago, it would have been bigger news, but it is now overshadowed by the collapse of Ukrainian defenses north of Afdyevka (phonetic spelling). Extraordinary speed of events here suggests it is in this area the Russians are concentrating the 'most powerful strike elements of their army' which they have so far activated.

At the 12:30 minute mark, he embarks on a discussion of the importance of the  village of Ocheretino.

[ransomnote]

I assume the prior reports of the loss of Novomikhailovka have been denied while Congress debated funding. Now it can be admitted.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Time to launder another $95 billion through Ukraine.

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

Despite an end to US resupply until Saturday’s Congressional vote and serious ammo shortages on the part of Ukraine, it took the Russians at least 3 months to take this tiny village of 1,400 people.

---

https://wavellroom.com/2024/03/14/fpv-drones-on-the-battlefield/
[At the end of January 2024 a Russian company from 33rd Motor Rifle Regiment 1 set off to attack in the area of Novomikhailovka, South-West of Donetsk City. The company comprised three T-72s leading one BMP-1 and seven MT-LBs (catastrophic attrition means the Russian Army now uses the MT-LB utility tracked vehicle as an APC). After leaving a hard-topped road the sub-unit fanned out to attack from the line of march across open fields. It didn’t get too far. The company was not stopped by mines or other engineering obstacles. Nor was it stopped by artillery or rocket fire. There were no anti-tank engagements and no Ukrainian tanks deployed to counter-attack. In fact, none of the elements of a defensive battle studied by a British Army cadet at Sandhurst, or student at the Defence College at Shrivenham, were present. The company was stopped by $500 FPV drones loaded with explosive charges. All but one vehicle were damaged or destroyed and the survivors fled on foot.]

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In 1940, Germany took all of France in 6 weeks, half the time Russia has used to capture this small village. With the US resupply spigot about to turn back on, the Russians will likely mount a big push to advance as far as they can before a fresh torrent of American munitions and the arrival of Western fighter bombers are used to push them back.

[Kazan]

Despite an end to US resupply until Saturday’s Congressional vote and serious ammo shortages on the part of Ukraine, it took the Russians at least 3 months to take this tiny village of 1,400 people.

What a load of crap. The Russians are rooting Ukraine out of positions that had been heavily fortified for years.

Ukraine isn't getting an inch of territory back that the Russians control. Ukraine is losing ground DAILY that it will never get back. If you want to dispute, put up or shut up and bet me on that. $500 to a future freep-a-thon.

[The Duke]

So, can we keep our $65 billion?

[rfp1234]

Apples and oranges. Every battle is different. How long did it take the USMC to capture Iwo Jima?

[The Old Hoosier]

Duranty ping!

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

Kazan: [What a load of crap. The Russians are rooting Ukraine out of positions that had been heavily fortified for years.

Ukraine isn’t getting an inch of territory back that the Russians control. Ukraine is losing ground DAILY that it will never get back. If you want to dispute, put up or shut up and bet me on that. $500 to a future freep-a-thon.]

---

The Maginot Line is a far more complex, expensive, robust and visually-impressive fortification than whatever hillbilly defenses Ukraine managed to put up on the fly in this war. France’s rapid collapse in the face of German attack is testament to the fact that in war, physical factors are important, but morale cannot be overlooked. And it is morale that kept Ukraine in the fight despite the large Russian advantage in equipment and manpower.

For reference, the Taliban at its peak had maybe 50K part-time fighters. Its equipment consisted of rifles, RPGs and mortars with a maximum range of less than 5 miles. The US spent $50b a year there, between supplying the Afghan government and providing fire support through howitzers and strike fighters.

Russia has about 500K troops in Ukraine. Its ranged weapons includes ballistic and cruise missiles, howitzers and strike fighters. It outranges the Taliban 100x. Yet Ukraine is somehow stalemating this Russian force 10x the size of the Taliban, that outranges the Taliban by two orders of magnitude, without direct US participation, using the same $50b a year.

This astounding disparity in results is why so many of Ukraine’s backers remain supportive. It shouldn’t be possible. And yet Ukraine remains standing, bloodied but unbowed.

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

rfp1234: [Apples and oranges. Every battle is different. How long did it take the USMC to capture Iwo Jima?]

---

Iwo Jima took 5 weeks. But everything had to be shipped over from the Mariana Islands while under sporadic Japanese air, surface navy and submarine attack, about 500 miles away. This village is literally on the front lines. And amphibious operations are some of the most complicated combat operations around, because of the way weather, the tides and naval logistics are additional factors that have to be taken into account.

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

rfp1234: [Apples and oranges. Every battle is different. How long did it take the USMC to capture Iwo Jima?]

---

Iwo Jima took 5 weeks. But everything had to be shipped over from the Mariana Islands while under sporadic Japanese air, surface navy and submarine attack, about 500 miles away. This village is literally on the front lines. And amphibious operations are some of the most complicated combat operations around, because of the way weather, the tides and naval logistics are additional factors that have to be taken into account.

[ransomnote]

Your statement(s) are pathetic. The point is, the Ukraine is losing and cannot win, and has burned through most of the men and is conscripting the elderly, disabled, and boys to keep fighting a war they cannot win.

Ukrainian apologists point to a ship that the CIA/NATO just blew up in the name of ‘The Ukraine!’ but the Ukraine is losing - everything. All infrastructure of value is being destroyed by constant electrical switching which is frying everything plugged into the grid (medical equipment, computers, cell phones, ovens, lights etc.) The public has mostly fled and the women/children are for the most part, permanently resettled in other countries (they are seeking ‘safety). The remaining men are being conscripted and under equipped to fight under Russian air attack, as the Ukraine does not have sufficient air defenses or modern jets.

So you can say ‘Hey it took them X months’ and make an irrelevant comparison to Nazi Germany (uhm...circumstances have changed, yes?) but you continue to obscure the obvious point. The Ukrainians are being killed to the last man to provide optics for NATO.

[Red6]

The money and equipment is secondary at this point.

Ukraine is running out of warm bodies with a pulse.

This end was predictable. Russia will simply keep the pressure on, taking one small village and city after another.

Russia’s goal now is to force the West (US primarily) to begin negotiating an end to this, but first they have to pound the idea that Ukraine won or has any chance of winning out of the brains of a poorly informed Western audience that was in an entirely non-propagandist way (sarc) was told this was all about democracy, sovereignty, and human rights, that Ukraine was winning, and Russia was losing horribly, that Russia’s economy was imploding, Putin was hated by his own people...

However, unlike the past, today in the West you have a huge government footprint in the MSM and massive censorship. All the forces are sort of aligned: economic, political, US, Europe. This allows for some weird things to happen, i.e. losing by all measures both politically and militarily but the average person still believing that we’re winning...

Stories about a ghost of Kiev, fighting to the last man on Snake Island, girls with blue and yellow ribbon in their hair and sucking on a lollipop holding a shotgun shaped western perceptions early on. And just like that, Nazis became cool, war fun, and a dictator we emplaced the symbol of democracy and sovereignty: https://images.axios.com/LZYnoN-rzVK5Xp7rVgCmb05B9kU=/0x0:1920x1080/1024x576/2022/12/07/1670424141675.png?w=1024. It would be funny if this were satirical comedy movie.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I've listened to Mercouris, and although he comes off as a bit of a fop, his analysis does seem to tie in with what is actually going on.

He got into some legal trouble a ways back, and so dissenters will bring this up to put his truthfulness into question. (Maybe the Russians are paying his legal bills?)

Anyway, what he and his compadres say makes a lot more sense than what is coming from Nuland and her neocon buddies.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

The Russophiles are getting nervous. Creating ever more elaborate fantasies about how well the Russian army is doing to reassure themselves.

Russia threw a huge number of missiles and drones against Ukraine’s depleted air defenses. to knock out one power plant. Why haven’t they followed that up? (Inquiring minds, etc......)

[rfp1234]

This “village” was strategically important. Otherwise the AFU would not have committed so many resources to its defense.

Amphibious ops are indeed very complex. That’s why the AFU failed to cross the Dnieper (even after water levels dropped after the failure of the Nova Kakhovka Dam). And that’s why Russia withdrew from Kherson, it was indefensible.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Ukraine isn't getting an inch of territory back that the Russians control. Ukraine is losing ground DAILY that it will never get back. If you want to dispute, put up or shut up and bet me on that. $500 to a future freep-a-thon.

I smell flop-sweat.

[Zhang Fei]

Your statement(s) are pathetic. The point is, the Ukraine is losing and cannot win, and has burned through most of the men and is conscripting the elderly, disabled, and boys to keep fighting a war they cannot win.

Ukrainian apologists point to a ship that the CIA/NATO just blew up in the name of ‘The Ukraine!’ but the Ukraine is losing - everything. All infrastructure of value is being destroyed by constant electrical switching which is frying everything plugged into the grid (medical equipment, computers, cell phones, ovens, lights etc.) The public has mostly fled and the women/children are for the most part, permanently resettled in other countries (they are seeking ‘safety). The remaining men are being conscripted and under equipped to fight under Russian air attack, as the Ukraine does not have sufficient air defenses or modern jets.

So you can say ‘Hey it took them X months’ and make an irrelevant comparison to Nazi Germany (uhm...circumstances have changed, yes?) but you continue to obscure the obvious point. The Ukrainians are being killed to the last man to provide optics for NATO.

I wouldn't call Ukraine's efforts pathetic. 2 years into Russia's war with Germany, Russia was still fighting well within its own empire's territory.

If Ukraine is indeed at the breaking point, manpower-wise, it's astonishing that it has taken Russia at least 2 years to overrun a 1 sq mile hamlet of 800 people positioned right on the front lines.

As pointed out earlier, Russia was still fighting on its own territory 2 years after the German invasion began. And this was with the US giving to the Russians 3% of the 1941 US GDP for each year of the war, which translated to among other things, 100,000 trucks, 14,000 airplanes and 13,000 tanks. Since 3% of GDP is roughly the current US defense budget, that's a pretty hefty number. And yet in that time, the Russians couldn't expel the Germans from their empire. With the upcoming revival of Ukraine's air force with the delivery of fresh air frames to replace the Soviet-era planes lost in combat or through wear and tear, a new phase of the war awaits. A military force with air cover can operate much more aggressively than a force without it. Much as Russian air power blunted the Ukrainian counter-offensive and bolstered the recent Russian advances, a revived UAF could finally provide the additional ranged firepower necessary for Ukraine to push towards pre-2014 boundaries.

[Rocco DiPippo]

"Time to launder another $95 billion through Ukraine."

Why stop at $95,000,000,000?

I say we go "all in" for at least $10 trillion! Imagine the awesome grift that'll occur with that number. Zelenskyyy™ will be able to afford a new, diamond-covered gay-dancing, rough trade leather outfit, and besides him every scumbag, cheeseball Youcraynian politician, bureaucrat and oligarch will be able to afford gold toilets, boob jobs for their hoebags, massive amounts of other Western bling, gigantic yachts, case after case of Cristal, an unlimited supply of high-end hookers and $100 steaks, as will scores and scores of filthbags in Congress and throughout Western bureaucracies and weapons manufacturing companies.

[Kazan]

Of course, Zeepers like you want take that bet because you know everything I've been saying about this war is true.

Ukraine can only lose more territory the longer the war continues and it will not ever gain back the territory Russia presently controls.

[Kazan]

And yet Ukraine remains standing, bloodied but unbowed.

You didn't address my point (or accept the bet I proposed) -- that Ukraine will never, ever get back the territory Russia controls and that Ukraine can only continue to lose territory the longer the war continues.

Thus, continuing funding this war is solely about Congress feeding the defense laundering taxpayer money and to delay Ukraine's surrender or collapse until after the 2024 election.