Posted on 02/24/2015 6:51:00 PM PST by tcrlaf
More than half of the Ukrainian casualties in the battle against Russian-backed separatists are killed by friendly fire and lack of training, a British army veteran who volunteered with the Ukrainian forces has revealed. The soldier, known only as “Saffron”, confirmed that the Ukrainian forces were in complete disarray, lacking basic equipment and having no concept of military strategy.
Last week Ukrainian forces suffered defeat at Debaltseve. But Saffron, a 40 year old naturalised Briton of Ukrainian descent, told the Sunday Times that the defeat was inevitable thanks to incompetent leadership and lack of training.
“Six out of 10 casualties among the Ukrainian volunteers occur because of blue-on-blue shooting and the inability to handle weapons. It was clear Debaltseve would turn into a disaster for Ukraine, but the military command and their political bosses just watched it happen in slow motion,” he said.
The command is so bad that it endangers the lives of soldiers,” he said. “They confuse tactics with strategy; they launch attacks without warning each other and for no apparent strategic reason.
“There are nearly 30 voluntary battalions and a number of regular units, but every group is fighting their own war. They don’t have central command, they don’t co-ordinate and they don’t even share radio frequencies between themselves, which makes it impossible to communicate.”
The Maidan activists were the worst, a lot of them seem to be jobless, aimless people who joined the force but are unwilling to learn discipline. I would try to teach them something, and they would say, "Who are you to lecture me? I threw Molotov cocktails during the Maidan. ”
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Well, if they joined NATO, all of this would have been standardized.
What do you expect when both sides use the same equipment and wear the same uniforms
Who says?...
He may wish to be on their side, but I see no practical way that a foreign force can compete with the Russian bear on what is practically their territory. Sorry to say, I don’t see any way any sort of Western-force adventure can have a positive outcome in this situation. And maybe that is purely shortsidedness on my part.
Sounds like amateur hour over there
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3261225/posts
75 to start, trainers and advisors, etc.
Stay tuned...
Well, IRBMs parked along the border are quite the deterrent.
Considering there have been between 2 to 4 thousand dead Russkie soldiers in this conflict, we would have to conclude that if the Ukrainians really are as incompetent as this guy claims, then the Russkies are so bad that all their military successes depend entirely on Ukrainians shooting themselves.
I would try to teach them something, and they would say, "Who are you to lecture me? I threw Molotov cocktails during the Maidan. ”
I read one article that said both fought in the Soviet style as that was their education; hopefully, Ukraine can get it together.
“Sounds like amateur hour over there”
I’ve been following this pretty closely since the beginning of the Civil War, and I knew the lack of control was causing problems for Kiev’s troops, but I had no idea it was THIS BAD...
The most important thing the Russians gave the rebels after Minsk was a centralized Command and Control system, where everyone is now under a central leadership, and fighting for the same goals.
“”Limeys stun Europe by sending troops to Ukraine:””
And now you know why.
But, IMHO, it won’t help unless Kiev can somehow take control of all of the independent battalions, and I just don’t see that happening.
“I read one article that said both fought in the Soviet style”
The Ukrainian Army is fighting “Soviet-Style”, as has been demonstrated numerous times.
The rebels, on the other hand, are using small-unit tactics against them, with a decentralized yet cooperative command. The basic rebel tactical group is about 25-50 people, with small groups coming together for bigger tasks. They have been that way since the beginning, but now they act faster, and with much better coordination.
In this MLRS heavy war, massing anywhere is a recipe for disaster. Grads aren’t very accurate, but they are incredibly cheap and simple, devastating when fired enmass, very mobile, and hard to find.
The Brits are sending in some instructors to help our side, against the Russians.
“Well, if they joined NATO, all of this would have been standardized.”
You mean like the Germans who recently attended a rapid response exercise with a broom handle painted black instead of a vehicle mounted machine gun?
Europe has relied on the U.S. military empire for three generations and has no idea how to fight in a war. I doubt the Russians would have much resistance if they decided to roll to the Atlantic.
Correct. If this current administration gets its way we will find out.
When the Russians invaded Afghanistan the Afghanis ran circles around them. It was only over-whelming fire power that saved the Russkies from defeat.
Don’t totally belittle the NATO fighting men the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Poland, and the others just to prop up the Russians.
“we would have to conclude that if the Ukrainians really are as incompetent as this guy claims, then the Russkies are so bad that all their military successes depend entirely on Ukrainians shooting themselves.”
Considering how many lives and thousands of tons of equipment that has been lost/captured in the “Cauldrons”, that might not be too far from the truth.
The Kiev leadership’s utter incompetence has helped the rebels as much as anything they might have done has.
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