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Ukraine’s Winter Could Turn Against Russian Troops
The Wall Street Journal ^ | January 21, 2023 | Alistair MacDonald and Oksana Pyrozhok

Posted on 01/23/2023 3:33:52 AM PST by Timber Rattler

In the battle to keep warm, Ukrainian infantryman Kyrylo Molchanov has turned to “trench candles”—empty food cans packed with cardboard—to heat his front-line dugout.

With Russia and Ukraine fighting through the winter, keeping Ukrainian soldiers warm could become a competitive advantage for Kyiv.

For armies, winter weather affects everything from maneuverability to battery power. But the cold and wet can have a crushing effect on soldiers’ morale and ability to fight, while creating potential medical problems.

The U.S. and its allies have sent hundreds of thousands of pieces of winter clothing. Ukraine has supplemented those supplies from elsewhere, and the various items in Lt. Molchanov’s uniform come from several countries.

Some Russian soldiers seem to be arriving for battle less well kitted out, hindered in part by a hasty mobilization drive in the fall.

Ukraine’s armed forces are adapting, cutting wood from local forests, sourcing smaller barracks and using the trench candles, which volunteers and family send packed tight with rolls of cardboard.

“If you light it an hour or two before going to bed, it heats up more than you would expect,” Lt. Molchanov said from Ukraine’s southern front line.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: 3daywar; blueandyellowpompoms; europe; globalistpropaganda; nato; notnatoswar; notourwar; putinfansragebelow; ragekeywordtroll; ukraine; war
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To: DesertRhino
Russians die in the cold too, lots of them...


21 posted on 01/23/2023 4:54:06 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: canuck_conservative

our resident Turdeaux does both quite often

LOL


22 posted on 01/23/2023 4:54:41 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (Germans are bat-crap crazy for cold showers, high energy bills, and boiled turnips.)
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To: JonPreston

you carefully left out the rest ... “in my youth”


23 posted on 01/23/2023 4:54:45 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: Timber Rattler

Is this satire?


24 posted on 01/23/2023 4:55:39 AM PST by Wilderness Conservative (Nature is the ultimate conservative)
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To: PIF

Your sad little cartoon is straight out of the Alinsky playbook that advises to shout down your opponents and use moderators to ban them. You are all kinds of nasty.


25 posted on 01/23/2023 4:56:38 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (Germans are bat-crap crazy for cold showers, high energy bills, and boiled turnips.)
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To: canuck_conservative

First, I have no idea how old you are, so “in my youth” still prevails. Second, any reading of your posts show you to be an unchanged, “reckless liberal.”


26 posted on 01/23/2023 5:01:37 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: marktwain

No. Around here it’s more commonly a sign of being fed up with mindless trolls.

Except humblegunner, who was just an open jerk and did it for amusement.


27 posted on 01/23/2023 5:04:06 AM PST by grey_whiskers ( (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.))
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To: DesertRhino
Think these people can operate and maintain sensitive leopard tanks?

Last I looked they were firing missils into Poland, Belarus and civilian apartment buildings in Kiev.

28 posted on 01/23/2023 5:04:09 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: JonPreston; marktwain

like the man said,

“Name calling is a sure sign of losing the argument”

... and you do a LOT of both


29 posted on 01/23/2023 5:05:15 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: PIF

I assume you are in your 70s, yet you post and celebrate child-like NAFO memes. Why don’t you stop sniffing around Biden’s foreign policy and start acting like an American man?


30 posted on 01/23/2023 5:07:05 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: canuck_conservative

Coming from a self-described Canadian liberal, that’s a compliment!


31 posted on 01/23/2023 5:08:00 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: Travis McGee

Yes indeed.


32 posted on 01/23/2023 5:08:40 AM PST by JonPreston
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To: JonPreston; PIF

*** TRIGGERED!!! ***

(LOL)


33 posted on 01/23/2023 5:24:18 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: Timber Rattler

I was stationed in Germany, (1966-67). We were issued the dreaded TA50-901A gear. On February 14, 1967, it was (-)17F, the gear helped, but you were still cold as hell on a field maneuver east of Nuremberg. The coldest I’ve ever been in my life.

Back to the gear being dreaded. During a Battalion Inspection, the “gear” had to be displayed in a designated Army fashion. Every piece issued had its place. When you received your Separation Papers, the gear was the very first thing you turned in (you can’t go out on maneuvers without the gear).


34 posted on 01/23/2023 6:00:54 AM PST by Capt_Hank (btu's...kcal's...to kJ's, but my activation energy is still high.)
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To: Timber Rattler

My presumption about what I am told of the the war in Ukraine is that it’s mostly propaganda, speculation or misdirection. I know more about the far side of the Moon than I know about what’s happening there.

I see the death and ruin, the suffering of the Ukrainians. The soulless aggression of the Russian state and military. NATO’s stupidity and perfidy. Ukraine’s rep as a corrupt money laundering hub. The West’s rallying to their aid while letting them bleed out and tempting a larger war.

But, what do I really know?

The same sources informing me on the war also tell me I’m a racist, that Trump is a Russian stooge, that Obama is a saint, that our electoral process is free and fair, that the border is secure and Climate Apocalypse is nigh unless we all become subjects of an authoritarian global order. They tell me babies aren’t human and abortion is without consequence but that it’s for the greater good, that I can menstruate and there are countless genders. That up is down and Evil is Virtuous Good.

In general, we perceive what we already believe.

I perceive little about the war and believe less, so I’ll stick to backgammon and bird watching.

Harris/Newsome 2024!


35 posted on 01/23/2023 6:10:36 AM PST by Quentin Quarantino
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To: Timber Rattler

Years ago I flew into Moscow on assignment - early February.
Landed about 5:30am their time.
Leaving Sheremetyevo International Airport, our group drove past a soccer field.
All lit up.
Players on the field.
Sub freezing weather.
Shorts and T shirts.
5:30am

I don’t think they care about the cold like we do.


36 posted on 01/23/2023 6:19:43 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything. )
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To: Quentin Quarantino
I see the death and ruin, the suffering of the Ukrainians. The soulless aggression of the Russian state and military. NATO’s stupidity and perfidy. Ukraine’s rep as a corrupt money laundering hub. The West’s rallying to their aid while letting them bleed out and tempting a larger war.

But, what do I really know?

The same sources informing me on the war also tell me I’m a racist, that Trump is a Russian stooge, that Obama is a saint, that our electoral process is free and fair, that the border is secure and Climate Apocalypse is nigh unless we all become subjects of an authoritarian global order. They tell me babies aren’t human and abortion is without consequence but that it’s for the greater good, that I can menstruate and there are countless genders. That up is down and Evil is Virtuous Good.

Good summation. Fog of war, increased by active information warfare on all sides.

37 posted on 01/23/2023 6:28:37 AM PST by marktwain
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
I don’t think they care about the cold like we do.

Sure they do...


38 posted on 01/23/2023 6:55:09 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: marktwain; JonPreston

Who says “Stop sending me supplies and men. We are winning.”?

The US government said that in late 1944 when “The war will be over by Christmas” mood was prevalent and began cutting back on the amount of ammunition and other rapidly consumable supplies needed for battle. And that also included the number of troops, but the high casualty rates caused the ‘cannibalization’ of trained stateside divisions to send the soldiers to Europe as individual replacements, rather than as complete units. The 106 Inf Div was one of those “cannibalized” divisions that had to be rebuilt and then shipped over, as well as the 75th Inf Div.


39 posted on 01/23/2023 7:15:25 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Timber Rattler

Poor Russians don’t know how to fight in cold weather.

Who writes this drivel?


40 posted on 01/23/2023 7:20:51 AM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It ( )
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