Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Russians reportedly take out own secure communications system during Kharkiv assault
Sky news ^ | 8 March 2022 | Alexander Martin

Posted on 03/25/2022 3:19:35 AM PDT by Cronos

An intercepted conversation between two Russian FSB officers, published by Ukrainian military intelligence, reveals another senior military officer has been killed.

Russian forces in Kharkiv have accidentally taken out their own secure communications systems by destroying the 3G towers they depend on, it has been reported.

Ukraine's military has shared an intercepted call captured as a result, reporting the death of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov to someone identified as a senior Russian intelligence officer by Bellingcat's Christo Grozev.

The incident is the latest evidence of the technological and equipment challenges facing Russia's invasion force, as indicated by photographs of civilian radios and abandoned and captured vehicles.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: genius; howsmartisthat; smartandsavvy
It seems that the Achilles' heel of the Russian army is the communications system. Everyone expected the Russian military, which claims to have great electronic warfare and jamming capabilities, to immediately disrupt Ukrainian communications.

We do not know how much NATO has been involved, we do not know how much it is related to corruption in Russia, but in reality, those who cannot communicate are the Russians.

We know that Ukraine has blocked the ERA communication system. The Ukrainians say they captured a terminal in less than 48 hrs since the beginning of the invasion and completely blocked this system. Older Romanian officers who at one point worked with the Warsaw Pact die laughing when they see that such a system is used by the Russian army.

The Russian military also used the unprofessional method of communication: mobile phones using the Ukrainian network, which is also being listened to.

As the Ukrainian army blocked their access, Russian soldiers stole mobile phones from Ukrainians to communicate with each other or to call home on WhatsApp. The situation is so serious that Russia has not been able to ban the use of WhatsApp in Russia.

Very few officers understand how it is possible to shoot down so many planes and missiles (let's just talk about the confirmed ones) with museum-grade Soviet surface-to-air missiles from the 70s and 80s. Saddam had the same missiles 30 years ago and was crushed by NATO planes (30 years ago, not today).

1 posted on 03/25/2022 3:19:35 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Sky news reportedly lies creatively.


2 posted on 03/25/2022 3:27:23 AM PDT by MarMema
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MarMema

LOL. Sure. The Russians are doing just great in Ukraine. /s


3 posted on 03/25/2022 3:31:51 AM PDT by Sir_Humphrey ( I wiIl not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!i)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MarMema
Was in the military for over 20 years and I'm guessing 99% our comms were secure. I can't believe the Russians are much different.
4 posted on 03/25/2022 3:34:00 AM PDT by Doofer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

One of the photos I’ve seen was thst of what was supposed to be a dead Chechen’s equipment loadout. For comm gear he had a motorola HT1250 portable radio. I worked with those as an equipment officer for a state prison. They’re UHF and, without signal repeaters they’re short range. And they are not particularly durable. Certainly They’re not optimized for combat and are unencrypted.

CC


5 posted on 03/25/2022 5:13:21 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Whenever one of these wars take place, it’s always amusing to find out how abysmal these so-called invincible military forces are — whether it’s Iraq, Russia, Iran, etc.

China I still would be concerned about, as they have a lot of cannon fodder to thrust at the front, but it’s surprising how bad the Russian military has been in this endeavor.

But then again, with our forces being overtaken by sexually confused social warriors, we might be on the same block as being less-vaunted ourselves.


6 posted on 03/25/2022 5:18:09 AM PDT by Magnatron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MarMema

Sky news reportedly lies creatively”.

They excoriate Biden and Harris like no other!


7 posted on 03/25/2022 5:26:24 AM PDT by Does so (https://youtu.be/3PxEWB6W8ig ......Ukraine Independence Day Parade. Anthem starts at 15:00)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Doofer

Was in the military for over 20 years and I’m guessing 99% our comms were secure. I can’t believe the Russians are much different.


In my day 50 years ago, Russians in the field seldom transmitted in the clear other than short bursts saying stuff like “go right, open fire” and so on. Any operational messages were via five day pads (ABNOB BYVOA etc). Higher level stuff was via 4 chan encrypted PPM systems.

It was the Americans in the field who would often transmit their exact locations in the clear.

All that changed, and now it the Russians using cell phones and in the clear radio communications because their newer systems seem to be faulty, broken and otherwise undependable. Just this one example illustrates how far the Russian military has degraded.


8 posted on 03/25/2022 5:31:29 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Russia can easily block the communications, but it continues to take a conservative approach and not stop most services the population needs.

Russia has control of power plants and they’ve generally been left running. Likewise, water is left running.

If you believe Russia also can’t turn of water or electricity they now control, I don’t know what else can be said to you.


9 posted on 03/25/2022 6:35:28 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cronos
Russians reportedly take out own secure communications system during Kharkiv assault

Oopsie.

10 posted on 03/25/2022 6:50:23 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

That’s bull.

They are bombing civilian buildings and you think they are purposely not taking down communications?

They aren’t taking them down as they can’t. Putiarmy doesn’t have that capability

Russia cannot turn off the water or electricity. If they could have theg would have.

Theg haven’t, so they can’t


11 posted on 03/27/2022 9:23:42 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Magnatron

China’s military hasn’t fought, nor had a real war game for 40 years.

Also, due to the one child policy doesn’t have so much cannon fodder


12 posted on 03/27/2022 9:25:13 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Celtic Conservative

Interesting. Thank you!


13 posted on 03/27/2022 9:25:46 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: MarMema

It’s not just sky,

Why are you supporting Putin?

He’s not on the side of Orthodoxy. He’s also adversely affecting the Russian Orthodox church


14 posted on 03/27/2022 9:27:55 AM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

If they were taking out civilian buildings, don’t you think MOABs are an easier way? Also, why not drop a few on Kiev and level it?

Of course they can do that. They can also go nuclear. As long as they don’t go after other countries, NATO won’t get involved.


15 posted on 03/27/2022 1:30:11 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

Do they have MOABs? Working ones?


16 posted on 03/27/2022 11:55:22 PM PDT by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson