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Posted on 06/12/2023 5:20:56 PM PDT by Mariner
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy more or less confirmed over the weekend that Ukraine has begun its long-anticipated counteroffensive, though he added he will "not disclose in detail" the stage of Ukraine's effort to pry back heavily fortified land from Russian occupiers.
"Ukrainian forces made visually verified advances in western Donetsk Oblast and western Zaporizhia Oblast, which Russian sources confirmed but sought to downplay," the Institute for the Study of War research group assessed Sunday night. "Ukrainian forces liberated several towns, but claims of a Ukrainian 'breakthrough' are premature at this time."
Ukraine said Sunday and early Monday that it had recaptured several small villages south of Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk — Neskuchne, Blahodatne, Makrivka, and Storozhove — and made gains in Zaporizhzhia and on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Kyiv also acknowledged taking casualties and losing several Western-supplied armored vehicles in hard fighting.
Russian aircraft, mines and artillery destroyed or crippled at least three German-made Leopard 2 tanks and eight U.S. Bradley fighting vehicles, The New York Times reported, analyzing verified photos from pro-war Russian bloggers. The Russian military bloggers "gloated over footage appearing to show the destruction of numerous vehicles," The Wall Street Journal added. "But videos posted online mostly showed hits on the same tanks from different angles."
"Ukrainian forces are attempting to do something no other European military is currently capable of: conducting sustained combined-arms operations at scale against a peer-adversary in a state-on-state, high-intensity war," defense analyst Franz-Stefan Gady told the Journal. And the U.S., which has that capability, has overwhelming air power. "Ukraine doesn't control the air," said Phillips O'Brien at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "People forget how hard this is, what Ukraine is trying to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
That was the first year of the war for them.
There was another leader that wouldn't give up an inch of ground in this area, either. Spiritual father to the Azov creeps running the Ukraine now...
Didnt the US army refuse to retreat or then surrender at Bastogne (the roadblock) in the Battle of the Bulge. What if they had surrendered to the Germans then?
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The 101st Airborne was surrounded.
They had the Germans right where they wanted them.
You bet they did. And Patton pushed his men to fast march to relieve them, showing up I’m sure very tired and jumping right into the thick of battle.
There was another leader that wouldn’t give up an inch of ground in this area, either. Spiritual father to the Azov creeps running the Ukraine now...
There was another Great Leader who issued Order No. 227, spiritual father to Putin.
I had a friend who was a tanker with Patton at the battle, he was in the mud under his burning tank with a 45 pistol and 3 bullets left when the Airborne saved him.
He loved that I was Airborne.
“...nascent counteroffensive...”
Nascent?
This already sounds like an excuse for failure.
Who wants a military counteroffensive they’ve begun to be described as akin to a bouncing newborn baby that Putin could quickly kill in the crib?
>Weird how the Ukrainians are fixated on “territory”, and the Russians are fixated on destroying the Ukrainian Army
A lot of people are comparing this to the battle of Kursk. The Ukrainians charge in to low lying areas, they get pummeled with drone-guided artillery, then they retreat.
Bakhmut gave them months to build up entrenchments and defensive lines just like the Ukrainians did from 2014-2022. Plus, the Ukrainians have lost tons of minesweepers. It’s just not looking very good.
Looks like Order No. 227 worked for Uncle Joe, may p*ss be upon his name and tomb.
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