Posted on 06/12/2022 2:52:35 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Almost 4 months after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the war turned into an "artillery duel". And victories in battles are increasingly being won by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A significant role in this is played by the supply of Western weapons, which are gaining momentum, but are still insufficient. Der Spiegel writes about this in an analytical article.
"At the beginning of the offensive, when Russian troops began to advance in large columns from the north to major Ukrainian cities such as Kiev and Kharkiv, the goal was to lure the enemy into ambushes, where anti-tank weapons were waiting for him. However, now that the struggle has migrated to the vast steppes of the south and east of Ukraine, it has become more violent, more ruthless... Courage, experience and imagination do not help much when the necessary weapons are not at hand," the newspaper writes.
Journalists quote the Ukrainian deputy, Colonel Roman Kostenko, who now commands a special unit that works closely with the Gunners. The MP believes that it is artillery that will be of decisive importance in the battle for the Ukrainian South, where the unit headed by him is fighting.
The publication notes that if initially the Ukrainian army had mainly Soviet-made artillery systems at its disposal, now the share of Western equipment is growing.
"On one of the fields covered with artillery, M777 is firing at Russian positions. The United States promised the Ukrainian military 108 such howitzers, as well as 200,000 rounds of ammunition for them. Howitzers are not self-propelled, they are towed by other vehicles. In addition, the" Triple Seven", which the Ukrainians call" three axes", has a longer range than Russian artillery, and uses standard - sized NATO shells that can be replenished, " the newspaper writes, adding that Norway and France also supplied Ukrainian artillery.
According to adviser to the head of the Office of the president of Ukraine Alexey Arestovich, the supply of Western artillery is "decisive" for the situation at the front today. Without them, he says, "the enemy would now storm Zaporozhye, take Lisichansk and surround Slavyansk."
"In close combat, battalion vs battalion, we win," says Arestovich. "Our problem is that the enemy is shooting at us with almost impunity from a long distance." This, according to him, explains the high Ukrainian losses of up to 100 servicemen daily. Ukraine, he adds, ran out of ammunition for its own rocket launchers in early April, "except for the inviolable reserve," the author of the article quotes Arestovich's statement.
At the same time, the Russian occupiers do not experience a shortage of artillery and ammunition - and use them at full capacity in the Donbas.
"The Ukrainian commander on the Eastern Front called Russian tactics a 'wall of fire'. Before each attack, they create a "blanket" of artillery fire, which allows them to inflict losses on Ukrainian defenders. And the Russians are unlikely to run out of ammunition in the near future: "they use Soviet-era stocks, and the Soviets were not stingy when it came to weapons." The commander also praises the New M777 howitzers." the Russians are afraid of them, " he says.
Journalists also quote John Spencer, a military expert at the Madison Policy Forum think tank, who believes that these Western systems "significantly affect the Donbass."
"Ukrainians are now waiting for the next delivery from the West. The United States intends to send four M142 HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems. And the British promised several M270 systems, a multiple launch rocket system with a range of up to 80 kilometers. This is not only twice as much as that of American howitzers, but also slightly exceeds the range of comparable Russian systems. And the Germans promised to deliver four MARS II systems by the end of June," writes Der Spiegel.
Western rocket launchers are capable of destroying enemy artillery from a long distance. And while Russian missile launchers are notorious for their inaccuracy, with a scattering radius of 170 meters, HIMARS and M270 allow accurate strikes provided that GPS-guided missiles are used.
"These systems will really make a difference," said Mark Kanchian, an analyst at The Washington - based think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"The problem, however, is that the eight systems promised by the Americans, British and Germans are not enough to protect against Russian offensive along the entire front line. "10 systems are probably enough for the Donbass alone, but it is likely that at least twice as many are needed for the rest of the front," Kanchian said.
Journalists state that recently Ukraine has been conducting counterattacks in the southern region, the medium – term goal is to recapture the territory west of the Dnieper. Russia captured Kherson, which gave it a springboard on the West Bank of the river, from which it could move to Odessa.
Now, says Colonel Kostenko, the Ukrainian army is able to strike at the initial positions of the invaders with the help of targeted artillery, which is controlled using drones.
"But then they send reserves, and we can't protect the territory," he says.
According to Kostenko, Modern Multiple Launch Rocket Systems with their long range will allow Ukrainian soldiers to also attack Russia's reserve lines, which will facilitate the maintenance of the recaptured territory.
"Meanwhile, the United States has made it quite clear about the possibilities of weapons systems, taking president Zelensky's promise that Ukraine will not use rocket launchers to fire at Russian territory. And Washington decided not to supply the so-called ATACMS missile, which can be launched by the same launchers, but has a range of up to 300 km. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not seem impressed by the announced deliveries of missile systems, because he said that they "will not change anything in essence," the newspaper writes.
And even those MLRS that are already on the way will not be able to start using immediately.
"The question is how quickly Ukraine will actually be able to deploy multiple launch rocket systems. Four HIMARS systems from the United States have already been transported to Europe, but Ukrainian soldiers still need to be trained in their use, and this training is given three weeks. Meanwhile, German systems require software configuration, which can lead to significant delays, possibly even before winter," the publication writes.
Journalists recalled that the German government is delaying the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
So far, Berlin has only supplied light weapons and ammunition, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, 16 million rounds of ammunition, 50 field medical vehicles, and 80 armored SUVs.
"However, when it comes to heavy weapons, all that Ukraine has received from Berlin is promises. Other countries sent much more. Poland, for example, supplied 230 upgraded T-72 battle tanks, and the Czech Republic — 61 armored personnel carriers," States Der Spiegel.
The publication also noted the "huge solidarity" of Eastern European countries with Ukraine, which was a victim of Russian aggression.
"In tiny Lithuania, the population raised 5 million euros to buy a Bayraktar combat drone for Ukrainians. And the Eastern European ones also helped in other ways: they still had a significant number of Soviet weapons that the Ukrainians could easily use. Western systems may be better, but they need training," the newspaper writes.
Recall that on June 11, it became known when Ukraine will receive the long-suffering howitzers from Germany. According to the Ukrainian ambassador to this country Andriy Melnyk, the Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers are approximately on June 22. After that, German Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns are expected to be delivered.
Only verified information is available in the Obozrevatel Telegram channel and in Viber. Don't be led to fakes
The idea that Putin is aiming at taking and holding only majority pro-Russian parts of Ukraine is no longer true, with territorial aims now more or less openly declared. Put to the test of invasion, many in the Russian speaking areas proved to be loyal to Ukraine, especially after having had a taste of the brutality of the Russian military.
In order to assure a tractable population in the newly seized areas, Putin is removing the population for investigation and sorting, with only the reliable pro-Russian element returned. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians are thought to be either held in captivity, executed, or displaced deep into the Russian interior.
You’ve already got Turkey threatening to annex Northern Cyprus. They drop NATO, align with China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and finally unite the Muslims, they will be a handful. Even Russia, with its significant Muslim population may join the alliance.
“Good for them! The advantage of M777 is a DFCM module networking the gun through the GPS, calculating wind speed and so on. This makes it very good against Afghan insurgents but barely useful against a semi-intelligent opponent who spoofs and hacks it to make you fire on own troops.”
My GPS ALWAYS works in my car, so GPS will always work in combat.
(at least according to the smart pencil-heads at the US DOD)
“Titanium is so valuable that reportedly many of the M77s are not making it to the battle, but are being diverted to scrap metal buyers instead.”
Boeing had to shut down production of the 737-Max aircraft, as they can no longer access Russian titanium due to trying to ‘stick it to Putin’. Airbus told their governments to take a hike and are still buying it and still producing airplanes.
I wonder if Boeing has anyone working the black market for the M777’s.
“We only have to kick in the front door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down”
They were indeed demoralized and badly led and the intelligence is true in this part.
It is indeed not enough to have an upper hand per se because there were indeed Kiev tools of political control over the military in form of embedded Nazi militias brutalizing the troops who didn’t want to fight.
I actually believe it was anticipated and there was a deal with some in the Ukrainian higher ups who had to overthrow the government but the deception took place on their part.
Also, on the first day Ze-clown declared cease-fire and said he is ready to comply with Putin’s demands, adding to the relaxed mood of the Russian forces.
It was used to stage isolated attacks on them, which were rather successful due a combination of the above mood and “don’t shoot” order.
Then all the false propaganda of the victorious Ukrainians has blown it out of proportion and encouraged some “patriots” to stage more attacks and encouraged the military as well. Also Ze released thousands of violent felons from prisons and gave everyone a gun resulting in the orgy of crime, all blamed on the Russians, to add to the confusion.
The rest is history. The above seems like a brilliant tactical success of team Ze and not without the role of foreign advisors, but that essentially has put an end to Ukraine as we know it.
Wow! It took a military "expert" to figure out that America and other countries pouring in tens of billions of dollars of weapons systems affected the Donbass?
Yup!
War is profit. Except for the boots on the ground.
—
That about sums it up.
(((Yawn))) Who cares. I’m more concerned about the “caravan” of foreign septic tank floaters headed for what used to be the U.S. border because Demented Jo Jo doesn’t have a clue how to stop them from invading the United States of America. Americans needs to get into an “artillery duel” with those invading freeloaders trying to invade the U.S.
Wissa: This sounds just backward to me. The US and EU instigated this conflict with a goal of regime change in Russia. They wanted to start a war so they could implement sanctions that they intended to bring Russia to its knees. The Russian regime just needs to survive to come out on top and for the US and EU to fail in their mission.
Other, only peripherally involved parties placing "side bets" are free to define "winning" however they want. "Jimmy the Greek" is at liberty to define "success" however he wants.
The fact remains that for the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian state, all they need to do to "win" is SURVIVE.
Your additional comments are unsubstantiated speculation. You are, of course, free to indulge in it if you want.
Regards,
Yup. Winning militarily is critical for Putin to survive
Bigger picture, the US and EU look to fare poorly if they fail on bringing down Putin. The US is finding that the number of countries willing to be their puppets is smaller than they expected. AFAIK, even Israel and Mexico are refusing to join on the sanctions. I think the US is finding that there are a lot of countries that would like to see the US embarrassed and lose some of their ability to threaten others with their military and economic clout.
Economically, it looks like The US and EU are hurt more than Russia by the sanctions. With the price increases on what they produce, Russia is probably actually gaining more by the sanctions than they're being hurt. In addition, instead of the Ruble turning to rubble, the responses to the sanctions have made the Ruble stronger.
Diplomatically, the US and EU will lose a lot of face if they reverse the sanctions, and if they don't their economies will suffer significant harm. The EU countries in particular are facing having their populations hungry, shivering in the cold, and their industries shuttered due to lack of energy this coming winter if they don't back off on the sanctions.
It looks to me like the US and EU went all in on the bet they could bring down Putin when they instigated the conflict in Ukraine. Now they're finding that the hand they're holding looks like a loser and they're looking for some way to minimize the damage. They thought they could win a gunfight just with superior propaganda.
Titanium is the ninth-most abundant element in Earth's crust (0.63% by mass) and the seventh-most abundant metal. [...] Its proportion in soils is approximately 0.5 to 1.5%.
-Wikipedia
Regards,
I’m pretty sure titanium sheet is available from Japan and korea.
I am actually thinking precisely around the same lines.
The element is abundant, the expertise of making products out of it is scarce.
EU is toying with Turkey since before the EU is a thing. Same thing with Russia. Europe is like a horizon for them. It is always far away no matter how meticulous you are in fulfilling requirements.
I'd still liken that to the knight/horse thing....has to do with training practice, IMO :0)
That said, 'instructions' aren't what they used to be. I was in 68-76 and while I thought a lot was BS gobbledy-gook, lots of it largely made sense. You shoot the rifle, the end with the hole in it gets pointed towards the enemy. If it doesn't, you're gonna have a bad day. :0)
Today? With all this woke BS? Maybe line one of the instructions is "Be respectful of the LGBT's near you..." or "Do not put rocket-go-boom end in your mouth."
As my dear auntie used to say, "ain't no tellin"
Okay:)
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