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Endless shelling and dead soldiers: A vicious artillery war spreads in Ukraine
LA Times / Tribune News Service syndication via Stars and Stripes ^ | June 17, 2022 | NABIH BULOS

Posted on 06/17/2022 2:21:49 PM PDT by Vlad0

LYSYCHANSK, Ukraine (Tribune News Service) — The first shell was the worst, mostly because it came as a surprise. But then the soldiers thought it was OK to get up, dust themselves off. That's when the second one landed, and it was the worst. The third one is when they understood they were being hunted and somehow that shelling was now the worst.

Their commander, a breezily confident 31-year-old named Levan, gathered his squad and waited for the bang of outgoing artillery. He made a dash around the corner to the next block, taking cover beneath the trees before sprinting in body armor across a square to an abandoned, brutalist-style apartment building. The Russian barrage was relentless, shells chasing Levan and his men almost to the door.

This is the conflict in Ukraine now: a pitiless artillery war, the kind perhaps not seen since the days of endless trenches and gouged terrain that marked World War I. Less strategy than slugfest, both sides lob barrage and counter-barrage over a see-sawing front line and hope to still be standing when they pulverize the other side into either submission, or crushing withdrawal.

The most ferocious battle is for Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, its sister city across the Seversky Donets River. Russian forces have battered their way to almost full control of the former and prepare for encirclement of the latter. All three bridges linking the two cities were struck and cannot bear vehicles, in effect trapping 12,000 people in Severodonetsk's residential areas. At least 500 civilians and hundreds of fighters are bunkered in the city's Azot chemical plant, authorities say, setting the stage for a rerun of the Azovstal, the industrial complex in the embattled city of Mariupol, where Moscow's troops maintained a crushing siege on Ukrainian defenders.

(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: artillery; rumors; russia; ukraine; ukrainelosing; war; yousankmyazovstal
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Grim, but interesting article. Seems a little less propagandistic than much of what the MSM is pumping out.
1 posted on 06/17/2022 2:21:49 PM PDT by Vlad0
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To: Vlad0

and it is reported that ol joe is sending 18 howitzers and 32000 rounds to Ukraine.


2 posted on 06/17/2022 2:25:34 PM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: Vlad0

So what. Not our problem, not a national security risk to the US. Our only fault is that we are helping fund one of the parties, we are causing this civil war to continue, we are facilitating the death and destruction. And, more, we are already being asked by Zelinsky to help pay to rebuild Ukraine once it is over. We lose coming and going. Should never be there, should wash our hands of it immediately.


3 posted on 06/17/2022 2:26:01 PM PDT by Reno89519 (FJB. Respect America, Embrace America, Buy American, Hire American.)
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To: Vlad0

Zombie (April 2022 cover)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsRPEQGWtBA


4 posted on 06/17/2022 2:29:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Vlad0

Yeah we know - war is hell send more money 🤪


5 posted on 06/17/2022 2:32:06 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
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To: Vlad0

Rommel didn’t call artillery the “king of battle” for nothing...


6 posted on 06/17/2022 2:34:51 PM PDT by Captain Walker ("If you think tough men are dangerous, wait until you see what weak men are capable of."- J Peterson)
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To: BenLurkin

Impressive! I like it better than the original.


7 posted on 06/17/2022 2:36:46 PM PDT by Vlad0
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To: Terry L Smith

I thought I saw something earlier to the effect that Russia is using 60,000 shells/day. So 32,000 will match them for a little over 12 hours. What does that accomplish apart from prolonging the suffering and pointlessly increasing casualties?

I give the Russians credit for this much: They remember that the point of war is to break the enemies’ will to resist. Western elites are ignorant of this, so they fight pointless, open-ended wars that result in much longer conflict before finally retreating and surrendering. The result of the “humanitarian” Western way of war is much higher casualties than a conflict in which the winner smashes the enemy’s will quickly and brings the conflict to a close, ending the suffering.


8 posted on 06/17/2022 2:38:41 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: Vlad0

Someone ping marcusmaximus, kkthx........ /s


9 posted on 06/17/2022 2:42:55 PM PDT by cranked
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To: Terry L Smith

18 howitzers and 32000 rounds to Ukraine.

Wow! Almost a slow day’s worth of shells for the Orcs! Massive heavy weapons build up - a few here a dozen over there - eventually will reach a number worth reporting.


10 posted on 06/17/2022 2:47:47 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

Yet YouTube and msm still carry nothing but video after video of dead Russians, blown up tanks etc. never or hardly ever the other side.

(Neutral here but feel Russia is in the wrong, not worth us us getting in another war though)


11 posted on 06/17/2022 2:48:24 PM PDT by Phoenix8
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To: Phoenix8

Try this for something more like the truth; https://kanekoa.substack.com/p/osce-reports-reveal-ukraine-started

Not a report on the fighting but a background on the reason for it. Articles are Part I, II, III, III with the above being IIII


12 posted on 06/17/2022 2:55:32 PM PDT by Pollard (If there's a question mark in the headline, the answer should always be No.)
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To: Terry L Smith

50,000 Soviet-era artillery rounds land every day in Ukraine.


13 posted on 06/17/2022 3:00:38 PM PDT by Does so (https//youtu.be/3PxEWB6W8ig ......Uke's Independence Day Parade. Anthem starts at 15:00)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

“Western way of war is much higher casualties than a conflict in which the winner smashes the enemy’s will quickly and brings the conflict to a close, ending the suffering.”

But THIS enemy is the RUSSIAN ARMY, for which Western women are filled with fear and dread.


14 posted on 06/17/2022 3:04:54 PM PDT by Does so (https//youtu.be/3PxEWB6W8ig ......Uke's Independence Day Parade. Anthem starts at 15:00)
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To: Vlad0

The news is grim, but it’s old. That article describes the situation in the Severodonetsk area as it has been for more or less a couple of weeks. The real significance of the article is that the MSM, after writing nonsense about how the Russians have been pushed around by the “plucky Ukrainians”, is pivoting in the face of a reality that is destroying the MSM’s and the Biden Administration’s war narrative. The 6/15 Brussels press briefing by Austin and Milley is the Biden Administration engaging in the very same exercise.

Severodonetsk has been over for a while (You just have some UFA soldiers hiding in a chemical plant - similar to Avostal in Mariupol. The Russians are mainly just letting the UFA run out of food and water, etc., so they will surrender, thereby avoiding shedding more blood.). Lysychansk isn’t taken yet, but the Russians are across the Donetsk River and other units are encircling the UFA. For some reason Kiev won’t let the UFA withdraw, which would be the intelligent, humane action. After Lysychansk falls, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk are next. If they are taken, Kiev will probably have lost most of its army in the east by casualties, surrender, and desertion.

The UFA is being subjected to an horrific pounding. I don’t think any of us can imagine what it’s really like to be on a front line when 50k to 60k artillery rounds a day are raining down.


15 posted on 06/17/2022 3:06:52 PM PDT by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: Vlad0

“He made a dash around the corner to the next block, taking cover beneath the trees before sprinting in body armor across a square to an abandoned, brutalist-style apartment building.”

Pretty much why Russia is being forced to level the cities. In WW2, both France and Italy (Paris and Rome) removed their soldiers from the cities, so that they wouldn’t have to be destroyed.


16 posted on 06/17/2022 3:09:36 PM PDT by BobL (My hatred of Necons/Globalists exceeds my love of Ukraine or any other country, other than the US)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: Terry L Smith

and it is reported that ol joe is sending 18 howitzers and 32000 rounds to Ukraine.
————
It will have no bearing for a few reasons. Much of the western stuff is getting destroyed at the entry points, Polish border. The heavy equipment that isn’t knocked out by long range cruise missiles at marshaling depots must then be transported by rail across flat plains almost the size of Texas, oh, wait, one problem, Vlad is taking out all the major rail lines…especially those leading to Donbass. Fact is most will not reach Donbass, most probably going to be used when the Ukies retreat back towards the Dniepner and try to find some new defensive position ( but not on the flat plains).

Ever “ hang out” with the 155 tubes? Probably not, Ammo heavy, requires huge amounts of heavy transport, long convoys…tons of shells, fuzes, propellant ,transport….non western media is reporting Vlad is doing an excellent job of interdicting the supply lines, which the Ukie Minister’s remarks state much of the same ( reality).

Been reports of western cargo planes landing on highways ( airports mostly unusable), at night, unloading then splitting, quickly…if artillery, piece meal, easily picked off. Artillery must be massed for any real effect, and the Russians are masters at it.

18 155 howitzers will not change the fact the Ukies are out gunned in artillery x 20, superior range of Russian artillery and Vlad’s ammunition is endless, 24/7 shelling…..nothing new under the sun, artillery won WW2 ( most notable admission by Patton himself), it is playing the leading role in this regional conflict.

The Ukies are toast, which will be finally evident when they are pushed out from the Donbass ( Russia now has 90 percent of the Independent provinces) and start retreating across the plains.

Best the corrupted beggar Zelensky gets to the table before Vlad eats Odessa.


18 posted on 06/17/2022 3:15:41 PM PDT by delta7
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To: EnderWiggin1970

We fight war to justify the insane defense budget. We prefer prolonged and drawn out conflicts to keep the money going from the tax payers to the MIC.


19 posted on 06/17/2022 3:18:29 PM PDT by Levy78 (Reject modernity, embrace tradition. )
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To: Terry L Smith

Also keep in mind all of the artillery in the ZSU uses 122mm and 152mm Russian shells of which they basically have none left.

They are totally dependent on the 155mm shells supplied by the West for the handful of heavy weapons (tubes) supplied so far and has to stretch across a 1500km front line. 32,000 shells is basically a 6 day supply. They need upwards of 500,000 shells and several thousand more tubes.


20 posted on 06/17/2022 3:22:23 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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