I am so sorry to offend your tender sensibilities. I hope you and your buds are getting together for the blow by blow on CNN and MSNBC so you can comfort one another.
Posted on 06/08/2023 6:50:36 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
The Ukrainian military’s long-anticipated counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces has begun, opening a phase in the war aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and retaining Western support in the war. Ukraine’s troops intensified their attacks on the front line in the country’s southeast, according to four individuals in the country’s armed forces, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the battlefield developments.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ukraine broke through Russia’s first line of defense last night at Lobkovoe. Russian war bloggers not happy.
Still not the main offensive - keep ‘em guessing by inflicting doubt.
I don’t believe any info coming from over there.
Mikael Valtersson
@MikaelValterss1
Following
Former officer Swedish Armed Forces/Air Defence, former defence politician and chief of staff Sweden Democrats. Current political and military analyst.
https://twitter.com/MikaelValterss1/status/1666662302140051458
Mikael Valtersson
@MikaelValterss1
ANALYSIS UKRAINIAN TACTICS MORNING JUNE 8
I must say that I’m both a bit confused and disappointed in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their behaviour on the battlefield on the Southern front. There might be an hidden tactic that will be seen in the coming days, but what we have seen since June 4th doesn’t look good.
I was very disappointed in the Russian Armed Forces in the beginning of the war and surprised of the combat prowess of the ukrainian forces. While awaiting the ukrainian counteroffensive I expected ukrainian forces to act and perform better than they have. I wonder if it’s a case of underestimating the russian enemy. It seems like the ukrainian forces expected the russians to buckle under pressure and just abandon their positions. I can’t explain the ukrainian tactic otherwise. They are attacking with wave after wave straight into minefields and russian kill zones.
Russians are often accused of using human waves while attacking, but now it seems that the ukrainians do the same against the russian defences. That’s suicide if the enemy stays and fight. Even if ukrainian forces succeed in breaking through one defenceline due to local superiority in soldiers and weaponry they are losing the bigger game with horrendous losses. They must understand that, I’m sure of it. So the only explanation is that they underestimated their russian adversary and expected them to flee.
This underestimation is probably based on the successful information war from Kiev and the west claiming that russians are worthless fighters. That narrative seems to been so successful that ukrainian planners was convinced by their own propaganda that they just to kick in the door, then the entire rotten russian house would fall apart. This might have cost Ukraine any chance of victory this summer. But the chock of reality might cost Ukraine much popular support for the war effort, both in the West and even within Ukraine.
It’s a bit ironic that Ukraine seems to repeat Russia’s underestimating of Ukrainian capabilities and willpower from February 2022.
The picture shows 42 video confirmed ukrainian losses the last days. Sorry for the disparaging figure, it came with the picture.
According to Russian media, there is nothing is happening around Kherson and the Belgorod area.
https://twitter.com/MikaelValterss1/status/1666662302140051458
@MikaelValterss1
NEWS UPDATE & ANALYSIS UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE ZAPORIZHIA LATE NIGHT JUNE 8
It seems that the much awaited ukrainian counteroffensive has started. Since yesterday a number of waves with ukrainian units has attacked the russian positions south and southwest of Orikhiv. The fighting has been very hard but the ukrainian forces has made only minor gains and according to my russian sources there seems to have been heavy casualities on both sides, but especially on the ukrainian side. The russian MoD will probably claim several thousand killed ukrainians and 50-100 destroyed ukrainian combat vehicles later today. (NOTE Shoigu has claimed 30 tanks, 11 combat vehicles)
After several unsuccessfull assaults yesterday with limited artillery support the UkrAF spent a couple of hours long massive artillery barrage on the russian forward positions before resuming attacks during the night but to no avail. For the time being no attacks are ongoing, but large ukrainian formations are in position for resumed attacks. The attacks will probably resume in a couple of hours.
I believe the ukrainian side is disappointed with the lack of progress. They must break through not only the first russian defenceline but a large number of defencelines behind the first one. To achieve success the ukrainian side cannot spend many days with huge losses to break through each defenceline.
The coming three or four days might be some of the most important days in 2023 when it comes to the war. If UkrAF doesn’t succeed in breaking through the russian defences and suffer massive casualities during the attempts the summer offensive will be shortlived and a failure. If on the other side ukrainian forces do break through they have to take on the next defenceline and it’s starting over again. The only way Ukraine can achieve a significant success is if the russian forces collapse under pressure from the attacks and panic spreads. But that doesn’t seem likely at the moment.
Ukraine must get a significant success during the offensive to make it worth the costs. A failure will change the perception of the RuAF both in the West but also in the rest of the world. The likelihood of a ukrainian military victory will disappear. Pressure both within the western countries, but also from the west towards Ukraine, will increase on negotiations to solve the conflict. On the other hand a victoriousl Russia might want to go for a military victory instead of negotiations and use a ukrainian defeat for an major offensive.
For the time going I’m inclined to believe that the most likely outcome is a ukrainian defeat. They have no surprise or numerical superiotity and faces an enemy with superiority in artillery and air power who awaits them in well prepared fortifications. It looks a lot like the battle of Kursk in 1943. When the Third Reich throw all their reserves in an offensive against well prepared Soviet defences and used up all of their carefully gathered reserves during a couple of weeks, without any major success.
ANALYSIS UKRAINIAN TACTICS MORNING JUNE 8
I must say that I’m both a bit confused and disappointed in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their behaviour on the battlefield on the Southern front
________
Let’s line our armor up in a single file line out in the open and see what happens
Very realistic assessment.
Then lets roll down sunny country lanes, with no air cover…and when our guys start hitting mines and taking Lancet strikes…keep on going
Vorwarts!
Yes.
The Russians “invaded” as a negotiation strategy after witnessing the debacle of our botched pullout from Afghanistan and Biden's assurance that nothing would be done if there was a “minor incursion”.
The woke idiots in charge of the USA and NATO believed that this was a trap that they had set for the Russians. The Russian economy is a tiny fraction of the West's. California alone has over twice the GDP of Russia.
Russia has taken some pretty good punches from NATO's Ukrainian proxy army which has had access to $100s of Billions of advanced military hardware as documented daily by our resident cheerleading squad. But Russia has a different culture than the West and even Ukraine who are mostly from of the same ethnic origins.
Russia is a honey badger with a culture that is far tougher than the West. Putin is as popular as ever among Russian citizens, but more importantly he is more popular among the Russian oligarchs who really run the show. The most stunning achievements of Western sanctions was the creation of another 22 Billionaires in Russia in 2022, and an economy that is now outperforming most Western countries including England, France and Germany. They are prospering by expanding their export markets, while the West is floundering on the edge of recession.
Any realistic appraisal of what Bumbling Biden has wrought in this absolute boondoggle will conclude that he has botched this thing completely. The only problem is that one of his motives was to funnel money back into Democrat and leftist causes. By that nefarious measure this entire show has been a spectacular success. And it all has been done by distracting people with the “war” while they rob the taxpayers blind.
total, utter BS
Maps and satellite images don't lie. Ukraine isn't even putting a dent into Russian defense line.
You're posting propaganda in order to keep the money flowing and laundered in Ukraine.
You don't give a freep how many Ukrainians are dying.
You and your ilk are evil personified.
An offensive like this will take considerable time and lots of losses to form. The Russians have been building these defenses for a while now—Ukraine is not just going to roll over them.
The first days of an offensive are when the heaviest losses occur.
There are going to be fantastical claims from both sides until the main battle groups are engaged.
I am so sorry to offend your tender sensibilities. I hope you and your buds are getting together for the blow by blow on CNN and MSNBC so you can comfort one another.
Cranky again this morning, eh?
lies won’t change reality
grow up
The reality is that the “Ukrainian offensive” is already being acknowledged as going poorly from the very start. To defeat an entrenched enemy, it takes many times more offensive soldiers than the defending force. This is nothing but a big fireworks show that the Ukrainians hope will provide them with additional funding. It is a a big game that will fizzle out completely in a month or two and then they will revert back to guerrilla tactics picking off soldiers and armored vehicles from a distance which is the only thing that actually seems to work for them.
This is a tactic that can wear down reluctant forces over a period of years, but the Ukrainians do not have that long before their funding is going to get scrutinized. I sympathize with Biden's corrupt puppet regime that has continued to harass the Russians while at the same time losing over 25% of their population who managed to escape to Europe (50%) Russia (40%) and other places (10%). That is called voting with your feet.
The fact that you are willfully ignorant of reality speaks volumes about your own personality.
What do you think of George Washington? Do you respect and/or admire him?
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.”
― George Washington
I of course love George Washington. Your quote is Washington's take on what happens when one political party gains enough power to control another, which can result in despotism. Although this is certainly applicable to our current political situation... I have no idea why you think that this quote has anything to do with the dictatorship that Biden and company have set up in Ukraine and why we should spend hundreds of $Billions to preserve it, along with risking WWIII. George Washington was not insane and very unlikely to approve of this botched foreign policy.
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