Posted on 05/20/2022 9:05:55 AM PDT by dennisw
A Russian senator attempted to justify what he described as the Russian military's "difficulty" in Ukraine by saying that his country is fighting against one of the "strongest and best-trained armies."
Frants Klintsevich, who made the remarks recently during an appearance on Russian state TV, said Ukraine has an elite military made up of "Russian soldiers and officers with exactly the same mentality as ours," according to a translation provided by a journalist with the BBC.
Recent reports from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have indicated that Russia is losing ground in Ukraine and has been forced to go on the defensive in some instances because of the Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive. But President Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials have continued to assert that the invasion is achieving its goals and that Russia will ultimately defeat Ukraine.
"The special military operation continues in Ukraine. As Russian leaders have said more than once, it is going according to plan, and new territories are being freed from the Nazis every day," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday, according to a translated transcript posted on the ministry's website.
"As the Russian leaders said more than once, Russia will achieve the goals of its military operation on denazifying and demilitarizing Ukraine, defending the [Donetsk People's Republic] and the [Luhansk People's Republic] and removing the threats to its own security," Zakharova added later in the briefing. Donetsk and Luhansk are two self-declared, Russian-backed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.
While Klintsevich did not indicate during his state TV appearance that Russia's reported struggles in the war could be due to its own errors or failures, he did concede that the offensive was proceeding "with quite some difficulty."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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Klintsevich initially referred to the offensive in Ukraine as a “special military operation,” the term used by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials instead of “war” or “invasion.” But Klintsevich notably broke with Putin later in the clip by calling the conflict a “war,” according to the translation.
He said the conflict differs from other wars Russia has fought, such as those in Afghanistan and the Caucasus, because of the strength of Ukraine’s military.
In its Russian offensive campaign assessment for May 19, which cited Ukrainian military officials, the ISW said that some Russian troops withdrew from the “Kharkiv city axis” and redeployed to the Donetsk region to “replace the significant combat losses that the 107th Motorized Rifle Battalion has taken approximately 20 km southwest of Donetsk City.
The ISW also said that Russian forces continue to contend with manpower shortages.
Ukraine benefits from American weapons, signal intelligence, "advisors", and "contractors", AKA mercenaries.
Russian mortar crews firing without securing the baseplates
So when their "fellow" Slavs reject that and hand their asses to them, they get very irate and can't explain it except to say it's Westerners or, as in this case, traitor Russians. They simply can't admit being defeated by their "inferiors."
‘We thought they were just VC but they turned out to be NVA’
Russians have mercenaries, Kadyrovites. Russia's main problem is their recruits have no interest in fighting and possibly dying in Ukraine.
There are very few foreigners integrated with Ukrainian military units. Unless you speak Ukrainian or Russian it’s almost impossible. Even then, there are issues regarding training, weapons proficiency with Ukrainian kit, etc. So there are some individual units comprised of foreign volunteers fighting with the Ukrainians, with the exception of some Belarussians and Chechens, most of them are English speaking. I wouldn’t call them mercs either, as I suspect most of them are paid nothing or next to nothing and bear the insignia of the Ukrainian army and answer to its command structure.
>>> Ukraine benefits from American weapons, signal intelligence, “advisors”, and “contractors”, AKA mercenaries. <<<
But the noble Soviets don’t have any Chechen mercenaries. Oh no, they’re way too pure and noble to use mercenaries.
...that long vaunted top Russian military.
All them easy to be found via YouTube military comparison vids with all the views have all been proven to be utter bunk! Poof! Suckers.
I never said that.
If this was the plan, then it was (is) a pretty {censored} plan.
I'm not seeing brilliant strategy or clever tactics. More like a general push along completely predictable routes towards obvious objectives. Mounting losses of men and equipment. Embarrassing losses of high ranking officers and even the flagship of the Black Sea fleet - a guided missile cruiser tasked with protecting other shipping and installations that ultimately could not even protect itself.
On second thought, maybe this is the plan. What we may be seeing is strict adherence to a plan - even in the face of unexpected enemy action. This could be what happens when you fail to assess and adapt. They are just plowing ahead with "the plan" in spite of the plans obvious failures.
“But the noble Soviets don’t have any Chechen mercenaries. Oh no, they’re way too pure and noble to use mercenaries.”
The Ukrainians are getting satellite intel from the US and NATO. We must send them intel from private American satellites too. The Russkies have their own satellites for Ukraine battlefield intel. Unless those are mostly FUBARed too. Which I am beginning to suspect. Plus they are grossly incompetent at forwarding their satellite intel to their front line generals and to Pooty Poot and his Moscow war planers.... Just my theorizing.
Ths Putards are going to go all stabby on this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPpSWv-_Po
The analyst, Alexander from The Duran does a very good full job explaining how Ukraine making agreements and then refusing to follow through with any of them led to this.
Dramatic Russian progress; experts expect the conflict in Donbass to be over soon.
“Russia Says Luhansk Under Full Control Soon, US Considers Supplies of Anti-Ship Missiles to Ukraine”
You've got to be kidding! Who did the planning? The 3 Stooges? Laurel and Hardy? Fred Flintstone?
The Soviets have pretty decent sat coverage and services. I know because I’ve used them a few times. Like you can get images of all sorts of things that are obfuscated in Google Maps (like the secret airbase northeast of Area 51, Guantanamo Bay, etc. ).
“Plus they are grossly incompetent at forwarding their satellite intel to their front line generals”
It’s not incompetence. It’s standard operating procedure. Intel in the Soviet system is ALWAYS a closely guarded secret. Sharing critical data like this is utterly anathema to their general mindset. It’s part of why doctrines like combined arms can’t be implemented in their system.
The Russians literally do not trust each other and that’s the root of their dilemma when it comes to intel.
The US used to be the same and when Congress and a series of executives ordered the intelligence services to share info with each other and the military they had to be threatened with defunding before they grudgingly obliged. But oblige they did and the results have been amazing.
You can have a US squad on patrol in the wayback of Dirtistan and they can uplink and obtain real time drone and even satellite imagery to see what’s up ahead. The Soviets can’t change their thinking to allow this kind of intel/arms integration.
Perhaps one of the constructive benefits of Putin’s purges of the Red Army will be the ushering in of younger officers who are more tech savvy and who better appreciate that old traditions have to go away in the name of battlefield awareness.
“....Perhaps one of the constructive benefits of Putin’s purges of the Red Army will be the ushering in of younger officers who are more tech savvy and who better appreciate that old traditions have to go away in the name of battlefield awareness.....”
Except they don’t for the most part stay in, particularly the talented ones. Very few long-term careerists in the Russian Army, most officers don’t stay past 5 years.
Thanks much for the info and insights!
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