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‘This isn’t war. It’s the destruction of the Russian people by their own commanders’
The New York Times ^ | Dec. 17, 2022 | Anton Troianovski , MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ , Thomas Gibbons-Neff , Adam Entous , Yousur Al-Hlou, Masha F

Posted on 12/20/2022 7:39:44 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper

They never had a chance.

Fumbling blindly through cratered farms, the troops from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade had no maps, medical kits or working walkie-talkies, they said. Just a few weeks earlier, they had been factory workers and truck drivers, watching an endless showcase of supposed Russian military victories at home on state television before being drafted in September. One medic was a former barista who had never had any medical training.

Now, they were piled onto the tops of overcrowded armored vehicles, lumbering through fallow autumn fields with Kalashnikov rifles from a half-century ago and virtually nothing to eat, they said. Russia had been at war most of the year, yet its army seemed less prepared than ever. In interviews, members of the brigade said some of them had barely fired a gun before and described having almost no bullets anyway, let alone air cover or artillery. But it didn’t frighten them too much, they said. They would never see combat, their commanders had promised.

Only when the shells began crashing around them, ripping their comrades to pieces, did they realize how badly they had been duped.

Flung to the ground, a drafted Russian soldier named Mikhail recalled opening his eyes to a shock: the shredded bodies of his comrades littering the field. Shrapnel had sliced open his belly, too. Desperate to escape, he said, he crawled to a thicket of trees and tried to dig a ditch with his hands.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: 1asplanned; 3daywarlol; adamentous; antontroianovski; babyitscoldinside; bidenlovertrollsonfr; bidensbuttboys; bidenstooging; bidenteamnews; bidenworshippers; dummkopf; energyschadenfreude; germanstooges; keinerdgasfursie; mashaf; maximumtrolling; michaelschwirtz; newyork; newyorktimes; pulitzerhoaxters; putin; putinlovertrollsonfr; putinsbuttboys; putinworshippers; russiansuicide; russiawillfreeze; russiawillstarve; stoogeforbiden; thomasgibbonsneff; trumprussiahoax; ulrainesuicide; ulrainewillfreeze; ulrainewillstarve; vladtheimploder; walterdurantytimes; yousuralhlou; zeltheimploder; zotthebidentrolls; zottherussiantrolls
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To: House Atreides

21 posted on 12/20/2022 8:10:59 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Merkel’s confession regarding Minsk II says Germany is in large part to blame for the disaster that is taking place.

Most of the blame goes to the country that destroyed those pipelines that, so far, has yet to be named out loud. Eventually it will.


22 posted on 12/20/2022 8:12:28 AM PST by Chunga85 (An arrogant govt combined with an ignorant population is a recipe for disaster.)
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To: Scrambler Bob

Are we still issuing M-16s warehoused from the Vietnam war to frontline troops?


23 posted on 12/20/2022 8:23:49 AM PST by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: Vermont Lt

Guns shoot bullets….

Basic design


24 posted on 12/20/2022 8:24:00 AM PST by Nifster (OI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: McGruff

——> It’s almost humorous.

The real entertainment is the Swooning Zeepers, breathlessly posting paid propaganda - and believing it.


25 posted on 12/20/2022 8:24:04 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything. )
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To: House Atreides

Well said


26 posted on 12/20/2022 8:28:18 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Vermont Lt

VL…

Zeepers do not research.

Zeepers find liberal news outlets that publish propaganda that reinforces their prejudices.

I’ve come to accept their mass formation psychosis is incurable.

If they reside in Eastern Europe, multiply by 10x


27 posted on 12/20/2022 8:28:34 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything. )
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To: Berlin_Freeper

And what exactly was our “pandemic” with jabs (and upcoming social credit score CBDC initiatives cum sovereignty capitulation to the WHO)?


28 posted on 12/20/2022 8:30:35 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: ansel12

Are we still issuing M-16s warehoused from the Vietnam war to frontline troops?
= = =

Don’t think so.

But we can send them to Ukraine to even the fight vs Kalashnikovs.


29 posted on 12/20/2022 8:33:41 AM PST by Scrambler Bob
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

That’s funny.


30 posted on 12/20/2022 8:34:38 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

“posting paid propaganda - and believing it.”

You said a couple months ago that: “Kherson isn’t a military offensive… it’s a suicide fundraiser.”

https://freerepublic.com/tag/by:amoreperfectunion/index?more=125019003

Were you the one swallowing propaganda back then?


31 posted on 12/20/2022 8:36:58 AM PST by Renfrew
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To: Chunga85

long before “Minsk”, Russia was already going back on their word that they would respect the borders of their neighbors

Russia has a long history of lying ... and attacking & invading its neighbors

forewarned is fore-armed


32 posted on 12/20/2022 8:38:02 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative

You’re so full of crap you stink.

Putin and Zelensky finally agree. Here’s why that’s a bad thing.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/12/05/putin-and-zelensky-finally-agree-heres-why-thats-a-bad-thing/

“In 2019, Zelensky was elected in large part because his platform of making peace with Russia and signing the Minsk II Agreement won him the Russian-speaking vote in the south and east. But to fulfill his promise, Zelensky had to have the support of the U.S. He didn’t get it. Abandoned and under pressure, Zelensky refused to implement the agreement. The U.S. then failed to pressure him back onto the road of diplomacy.”


33 posted on 12/20/2022 8:55:55 AM PST by Chunga85 (An arrogant govt combined with an ignorant population is a recipe for disaster.)
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: Scrambler Bob

My husband has a Sharp’s rifle in .303 (yes, that’s right) and it can put metal on target just as well as my precision .308

Old rifles are no joke.


35 posted on 12/20/2022 9:15:16 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: Renfrew
You said a couple months ago that: “Kherson isn’t a military offensive… it’s a suicide fundraiser.”

1. Absolutely a grifter fund raiser.

2. Russia withdrew.

36 posted on 12/20/2022 9:50:29 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything. )
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To: meatloaf
Russia is using the WW II tactics of bleeding the enemy with waves of Russians.

I find that very disturbing--for Russia, because demographically, they are in tatters. On average, since the 1990s most Russians are having one kid per family. Lose one in war and that's it.

No parent wants to outlive their kids, especially if there is only one.

No, if I was a Russia who really cared about Russia, I'd try to conserve my troops lives by using more fire and air power--including tactical nukes.

Human wave combat is extremely costly to a nation/people unless you have a huge surplus of men. They don't.

37 posted on 12/20/2022 9:58:00 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Gov't declaring misinformation is tyranny: “Who determines what false information is?” )
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Haha. So how you think the battle went was the Ukrainians launched a doomed suicide attack, but the Russian generals, the gentle souls that they are, decided to withdraw rather than hurting them?


38 posted on 12/20/2022 9:59:52 AM PST by Renfrew
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To: Alas Babylon!

You’re right. Due to the massive losses of men in WW II, Russia has seen a cycle in births reflecting those losses.

They’re in a down cycle now.


39 posted on 12/20/2022 10:02:56 AM PST by meatloaf
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To: House Atreides
The source is irrelevant, it only matters if it's true: even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The accounts match many other sources and especially the historical tradition of the Red Army and Tsarist armies before it.

Putin attempted to reform the Red Army in the 2000s. Most of the money was stolen, and he was forced to sack the only Defense Minister serious about reform because it annoyed the corruptocrats Putin depended on for support.

As a consequence, Putin has had to abandon any thought of applying a modern maneuver warfare approach and has fallen back to using cannon fodder in a war of attrition. My impression is that the Army commanders are simply going through the motions of attacking, which is why Prigozhin's Wagner Group was sent to introduce some competition. The danger of course is that with multiple military and paramilitary groups operating, Putin's death (natural or otherwise) could set off a civil war in Russia.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians have acquired the ability to conduct some maneuver warfare and are waiting for a hard freeze to attack again.

40 posted on 12/20/2022 10:29:08 AM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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