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Russia, Learning From Costly Mistakes, Shifts Battlefield Tactics
The New York Times ^ | June 17, 2023 | Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Julian Barnes and Natalia Yermak

Posted on 06/17/2023 10:27:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

The team of soldiers had been out of their Ukrainian armored personnel carrier for only a matter of minutes when the tree line in front of them erupted in Russian gunfire. The dozen or so soldiers, sent to reinforce a trench, found themselves pinned down for hours.

“Never seen that much fire, from so many positions,” a soldier recounted in a mission report obtained by The New York Times.

One soldier fighting for Ukraine was killed and nine were wounded in the battle, which took place in March near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russian troops, the report said, showed a “high level of skill and equipment.” The ambush was part of a patient, disciplined operation that was in contrast to the disorderly Russian tactics that marked much of the first year of the war, which began in February 2022. It was a deadly demonstration that the Russian military was learning from its mistakes and adapting to Ukrainian tactics, having grossly underestimated them initially.

Russia won ground early in the war with sheer firepower. Interviews with 17 Ukrainian soldiers, a Russian prisoner of war, officers, foreign fighters and Western officials, as well as a review of documents and videos, show that, in recent months, the Kremlin’s gains, especially in Bakhmut, have come in part because of a series of adaptations.

Russian armored columns, for instance, no longer rush into areas where they can be quickly damaged or destroyed. Troops are more often using drones and probing attacks — and sometimes just shouting — to find Ukrainian trenches before striking. The mercenary Wagner Group has shown an ability to outpace Ukrainian defenders with a combination of improved tactics and disposable ranks. As it begins its long-awaited counteroffensive, Ukraine is well armed, backed by improved communication technology and American and European weaponry

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


TOPICS: Russia; Ukraine
KEYWORDS: failedinvasion; fuvp; russia; russiadelendaest; russialosing; ukraine
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1 posted on 06/17/2023 10:27:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

The cope of an ossified and failed USA military establishment, which has incurred a massive strategic military and politico-economic defeat in this debacle. The myth of USA military supremacy has been pierced. It is the last remaining bastion of regime support- we shall see if, in their death throes, they further escalate. International terrorism is clearly not a redline for the regime and its proponents (including these despicable FR characters Marcus Maximus and USMC Vet Mom or whatever her name is). Interestingly, there is a lot of crossover with the DeSantians and some other affinity groups.


2 posted on 06/17/2023 10:43:49 PM PDT by mikegreenwell39
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To: MinorityRepublican

The Ukraine delenda est.


3 posted on 06/17/2023 10:45:15 PM PDT by mikegreenwell39
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To: mikegreenwell39

“The myth of USA military supremacy has been pierced”

Ridiculous. A handful of AVs lost means nothing. After all our own government has done to cripple it, our military can still defeat any likely adversary and they know it.


4 posted on 06/17/2023 10:59:35 PM PDT by rxh4n1
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To: mikegreenwell39

I swear we have more psychos here than I’ve ever seen in 24 years.

There’s an article about tactics in the war, so you wrote insane nonsense about the entire US military being finished.

And you all spit out your fantasies as if you knew what you’re talking about.

Russia is on the RECEIVING end of an offensive two years into a war they were supposed to win in two weeks.

And from this we get genius wannabes telling us the United States is finished, because Ukraine hasn’t defeated Russia in ten days.

This follows a thread on which many of you praised not just present day Russia but the USSR as a shining example of historic truth telling.


5 posted on 06/17/2023 11:02:23 PM PDT by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: mikegreenwell39

More like deperdita at these s point. :(


6 posted on 06/17/2023 11:02:39 PM PDT by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: mikegreenwell39

Not sure how you are making that leap. I have said for a long time that it was common sense to conclude that last years debacle (not sure what else you could call it) was the 1941 Russian.

They withdrew to defensive lines where they could take advantage of their overwhelming superiority in artillery and they licked their wounds. Shortening their supply chains (they got a huge F in logistics last year) and fighting a war that is simpler to execute (fixed positions and artillery) means we are now at the 1943 Russian (still not great but good enough).

It is now a war of attrition and despite shiny gear from the West and overall superiority in soldiering the war has entered much more of a stalemate with attrition on both sides. Assuming the Russians will fight the old adage is still true - quantity has a quality all its own.

I am not even sure how one defines “victory” there as both sides have already suffered significant losses but there is no way the Russians will suck as bad as they did last year and Ukraine’s top units suffered horrible losses. The Russians are demonstrating more competent counter-artillery operations, use of drones, and how to better use their artillery advantage to hammer the Ukrainians.

The biggest danger to Putin still lies in Moscow and not Kiev. Despite those who claim the Russian economy is better it is not. They are under crippling sanctions and nothing is more expensive than war.


7 posted on 06/17/2023 11:13:16 PM PDT by volunbeer (We are living 2nd Thessalonians)
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To: mikegreenwell39

BONUS: As the west and NATO used the proxy Ukrainians to test our latest gadgetry (think HIMARS, Javalins, various drones, etc.) the Russians got to practice how to successfully defeat them all.

At this point in history, Russia has the most formidable, experienced, and battle hardened army in the world. Our sanctions backfired: their economy is booming while the west enters a recession. Their military industry is cranked up and tooled in producing 24/7/365, meeting the wartime demand.

Yet somehow there are idiots out there that think the west/NATO is winning.

Sad.


8 posted on 06/17/2023 11:26:22 PM PDT by CapandBall
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To: MinorityRepublican

March is not June.

What is happening now is the counter offensive.

I would prefer that Ukraine’s army used flanking maneuvers rather than front on breaching to attack Russian positions.

I do want to see Ukraine send home to Mother Russia lots of her soldiers in body bags to be buried by their relatives. I also want Ukraine to take back all of the territory including all of Crimea.

I further would like to see Ukraine and Russia establish a DMZ that is former Russian territory along the border of Ukraine. I want to total and humiliating defeat for Russia in this military aggression.


9 posted on 06/17/2023 11:30:09 PM PDT by Robert357
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To: volunbeer
Russians pushed to work six-day week and volunteer in weapons factories to boost war effort
10 posted on 06/18/2023 12:14:41 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Williams
And you all spit out your fantasies as if you knew what you’re talking about.

Maybe it's time to get off the ledge.

11 posted on 06/18/2023 12:43:21 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: CapandBall; mikegreenwell39
Our sanctions backfired: their economy is booming

one of the great Russian lies, which only the gullible like to repeat

NO, Russia is actually hurting ... they're now shut out of 75% of their European oil & gas markets, meaning about their economy has shrunk by about 25-30% from 2021 ...

and the war just keep dragging on - 17th month coming up, and no end in sight - as the sanctions bite and Russia falls further behind technologically

see how angry Putin was yesterday? telling the West to "go to hell"? LOL

that's not somebody that's winning ...

"FUVP"!!!


12 posted on 06/18/2023 1:18:21 AM PDT by canuck_conservative (there would be no more need for NATO, if Russia could just stop attacking its neighbors)
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To: volunbeer
I am not even sure how one defines “victory

Russian victory is destroying Ukraines ability to remove the Russian occupation and its ability to threaten or harm Russian interests by destroying its infrastructure and military manpower/equipment in such a manner as to make them relatively harmless.

Ukraines victory is removing Russians from Ukraine and destroying the ability of Russia to attack them or threaten Ukraine again by killing as many Russian soldiers, destroying their economy and removing anyone that threatens or will attempt to attack Ukraine. Which do think is most likely to happen?

13 posted on 06/18/2023 2:03:02 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (2 Timothy 4:7 "deo duce ferro comitantes" <p><b><i></I><i> </i><p>/B><P> <img src=""> )
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To: Robert357

“I want to total and humiliating defeat for Russia in this military aggression.”

May it be so!


14 posted on 06/18/2023 2:06:28 AM PDT by Sunsong
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To: Williams

Why do you think this battle belongs to the USA?


15 posted on 06/18/2023 2:13:20 AM PDT by eyedigress (Trump is my President!)
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To: rxh4n1

This fiasco of a counter-offensive proves that the NATO/USA training and equipment “superiority” is a joke and a paper tiger.

The chronic ongoing artillery ammunition shortages that Ukraine has proves that the industrial capacity of the West is a joke and a paper tiger.

And we already knew that the intel and military “leadership” of the USA given the Kabul withdrawal fiasco is also a joke and a paper tiger.


16 posted on 06/18/2023 2:25:18 AM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: Sunsong

Since we are on our wish lists:

I want Russia to destroy the Globohomo EU and NATO and collapse the EU Regime.

I want the resulting economic and geopolitical chaos to destroy the US GAE Empire and collapse the current Washington/G7 Regime.


17 posted on 06/18/2023 2:31:51 AM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: Reverend Wright

And we already knew that the intel and military “leadership” of the USA given the Kabul withdrawal fiasco is also a joke and a paper tiger.

Yes, our current leadership is a pathetic joke, but we’ve had bad leadership in the past and eventually won. You must not know much American military history, our Civil War and WWII are the main examples. The CSA, Imperial Japan, and Nazi Germany thought somewhat the same as you.


18 posted on 06/18/2023 2:49:01 AM PDT by rxh4n1
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To: rxh4n1

I’d say George Marshall and Cordell Hull compare pretty favourably to clowns like Milley and Blinken.

And in Ww2 the USA was still an industrial powerhouse.

Now it can’t even produce 7000 artillery shells per day.


19 posted on 06/18/2023 3:01:26 AM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: rxh4n1
By a combination of circumstances and deliberate choice, Ukraine does not have the best and full range of US and NATO weaponry and training. US and NATO forces would first strike deep and comprehensively from the air to isolate enemy front lines, then hammer those lines with a fierce preliminary artillery bombardment, followed by a mobile armored assault of overwhelming force at a key point that punches through to seize or bypass tactical points and keep moving toward a decisive strategic objective.

Since that is not happening, the Ukrainians are engaging in so-called penny packet attacks and hoping to find a weak point that can be reinforced and exploited. This seems to have resulted in a small mobile unit dawdling about on the battlefield outside their vehicles without security. That is dangerous but can happen as a matter of necessity or poor decision with an army that is less than fully trained and equipped to NATO standards.

20 posted on 06/18/2023 3:03:38 AM PDT by Rockingham
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