Posted on 03/31/2022 12:31:31 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
In recent weeks, Western defensive weapons have helped Ukraine thwart Russia’s plans for a blitzkrieg by effectively halting the advance of its troops. The Russian military has already lost more than 500 tanks and 1,500 units of other armoured vehicles, 120 helicopters, and 100 aircraft. However, to drive Russian forces out of occupied Ukrainian territories, Kyiv urgently needs more offensive weapons. This would help Ukraine lift the blockade on the cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, and Mariupol. And, most importantly, it would save the lives of civilians who are being held hostage by Russian troops. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued at the summit NATO held on 24 March, the alliance would only need to provide Ukraine with 1 per cent of its aircraft and tanks to greatly help in the effort to force Russian troops to withdraw.
One of the easiest and quickest ways to do that would be to supply Ukraine with the Soviet-made weapons systems owned by formerly socialist NATO countries: Ukrainian soldiers are already familiar with this equipment, so they would not require training to use it. The United States could replace these donated weapons with American ones. Another option would be for the US to provide Ukraine with older equipment that the American military had removed from its inventory and replaced with more modern weapons. The weapons systems Ukraine needs most are as follows.
Tanks and other armoured vehicles. Currently, tank battles are taking place across the front line, including in some cities. The Russian military still has a significant numerical advantage in tanks, even though Ukrainian forces have rapidly destroyed many of them with anti-tank guided missile systems. These systems have been vital for defensive operations, but might not be so effective in counterattacks. Tanks, in contrast, will be key to the Ukrainian army’s counterattacks. Poland, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic together have several hundred T-72 tanks of various types, such as the Polish PT-91 Twardy. These tanks could significantly increase the offensive potential of Ukrainian ground forces.
Eastern European NATO countries have hundreds of Soviet-made armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. They would be especially useful for Ukraine’s territorial defence units, which lack vehicles of this kind. Armoured personnel carriers can markedly increase the mobility and manoeuvrability of territorial defence forces, thereby reducing the number of casualties they suffer. The US could provide the Ukrainian military with more M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Humvee armoured vehicles. These vehicles can be equipped with anti-tank systems such as the US-made Javelin, which the Ukrainian military has used to great effect.
Artillery. As Russian forces are digging in and gradually moving to a war of attrition, artillery will play a key role in breaking through their lines with strikes on critical military facilities, such as command posts, ammunition dumps, and fuel depots. Therefore, the Ukrainian army would greatly benefit from more weapons such as D-20 howitzers, Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units, and Grad multiple launch rocket systems.
Ukraine would also benefit from supplies of tactical ballistic missile systems such as the Tochka-U, more than 20 of which are in service in Bulgaria. This is the longest-range weapons system in the Ukrainian army, which has repeatedly used it to destroy Russian equipment and command headquarters. For example, Ukraine used the Tochka-U to destroy Saratov, a large landing ship, in the port of occupied Berdyansk.
Attack aircraft. The Russian Air Force has a numerical advantage over its Ukrainian counterpart. That is why Ukraine has repeatedly asked NATO to provide it with the MiG-29 fighters that are still in service in Bulgaria and Poland. These requests primarily concerned the protection of Ukrainian airspace from Russian bombers. For offence, the Ukrainian Air Force could benefit from American A-10 attack aircraft. The US Air Force no longer needs these systems, as it is procuring more advanced F-35s. Ukrainian pilots could quickly learn how to fly A-10s.
Other military equipment. To coordinate the offensive, the Ukrainian military will need secure means of communication. It will also need night vision devices in great numbers. This would allow for offensive operations at night, which are particularly effective against Russian troops that lack such devices.
A prolonged confrontation would help Russia regroup, increase its military strength, and adapt to sanctions. The quicker Ukraine receives more military support from its allies, the greater its chances of driving Russian forces out of its territory.
Russia’s war of attrition results in hundreds of civilian casualties every day. This is why the Ukrainian army needs to seize the initiative to counterattack across the front line. Western supplies of offensive weapons can turn the tide of the conflict in Ukraine’s favour. After all, one cannot win a war through defence alone.
Margaryta Khvostova, Olga Lymar, and Denys Davydenko are members of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition, a leading coalition of 26 Ukrainian NGOs created after the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. The fourth author of this commentary cannot be named for security reasons.
Amazing how everyone else wants Ukraine to keep fighting Russia while at the same time Ukraine wants it all to end and is willing to give Russia what it wants
Guess when you’re not the one in the fight it’s easy to keep wanting the other guy to keep taking shots.
I don’t know any reliable sources detailing combat losses.
***Those ORYX folks were detailing combat losses of other conflicts before this one. They are far more reliable than YOU, especially since you are a LOLTroll.
My point is
***You need to make your points up front. Instead all along you’ve been arguing from silence. Classic fallacy — take that critical thinking class.
that your source is unreliable and misleading.
***They are the most reliable source on this stuff right now, far more reliable than your bullsnot.
The very first entry on the Russian losses depicts a Ukrainian wreck as evident from the above picture.
***You don’t outline how it’s evident. Once again, an argument from silence. You do that a lot. It makes you less than timeworthy.
Do you have a slight idea on military equipment to distinguish by type? For one thing, the Russian military doesn’t use BMP-1 or T-64. It doesn’t use aircraft in the Ukrainian livery or digital camo on their vehicles. Yet, your source attributes dozens of pieces of such equipment to Russian losses.
Do you have a slight idea on military equipment to distinguish by type?
***I have an idea of what a classic fallacy is. You haven’t said one word about distinguishing military equipment to type until now, consistently arguing from silence.
For one thing, the Russian military doesn’t use BMP-1 or T-64. It doesn’t use aircraft in the Ukrainian livery or digital camo on their vehicles. Yet, your source attributes dozens of pieces of such equipment to Russian losses.
***Feel free to post a more reliable source. We can hash it out at that point, wherein I can invite others with this bullshiite military-type-distinguishment approach can weigh in because there is no way in hell I’m gonna trust YOU.
Russian separatists use the T64 tank.
tell us how you know this
True enough, LDNR militias use hundreds of pieces of Ukrainian armor but my point is that onyx’s methods do not allow to know difference.
90% if not more of the “Russian losses” on their page are correct to attribute to the Ukrainian or unknown losses.
How I know what?
Why would Biden or his handlers want to give more and advanced weaponary to Ukraine? The current crisis gives Team Biden an opportunity to kill fossil fuels in the US, and a crisis should never be wasted.
.
“ save the lives of civilians who are being held hostage by Russian troops”
The hostages are not just being held, they are being killed.
As a matter of policy, as a deliberate strategy, and on a mass scale. Heavy artillery is targeting civilian homes and their life-essential support, like water, heat, electricity, food and medical care.
That deliberate strategy is an explicit war crime, explicitly authorized by Putin.
Putin is a war criminal on a huge scale, who deserves to be executed for what he has done, continues to do, and clearly intends to do in the future.
He is a mass murderer, on an historic scale. He needs to be stopped, no matter the cost.
The Russian army does use the BMP-1. It has been spotted in use by both the Russian Army and Donbas units. Perhaps these are reserve units pulled out to replace losses.
The Donbas units have also been spotted using T-64’s.
Oryx reports both Russian and Donbas losses together.
LOL. Why not millions?
_____
Because your side does not have a million tanks!
Your guys are Paper Tigers, useless drunks who let half of your crap rust and stole parts to trade for vodka.
Maybe all Ukraine needs a good vodka factory.
They could buy you guys all and let you rot throwing up in the diches.
How about 109s and panthers? They like Nazi equipment. It makes them sentimental.
And how do they sort them out?
Another armchair general.
Or Putin can leave Ukraine and let them live in peace...hmmmm?
You soil yourself yet again.
Many Neocon Soros loving warriors are happy to provide weapons until the last Ukranian is dead.
Not our monkeys.not our circus.
From what I’ve seen - tanks are quite easy to sort out from a combination of divergent upgrades applied to Russian and Ukrainian models, plus markings. Among others those famous Z’s and V’s, but also specific unit markings.
BMP’s/BTRs are more difficult as not only is there more overlap but upgrades on either side are less prevalent.
I largely sort by the features you called, except it is rarely possible. Also Z is often photoshopped.
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