Ukraine’s failure to build defenses in Kharkiv aided Russian reinvasion

The Washington Post ^ | May 17, 2024 | Isabelle Khurshudyan, Serhii Korolchuk and Mary Ilyushina

[MinorityRepublican]

Russia’s new offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months — yet it still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there to defend against it.

Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade — stretched thin along a roughly 27-mile stretch of the Kharkiv region’s border with Russia — used reconnaissance drones to monitor, daily, how Moscow was steadily building up forces for a possible attack. But the morning it happened, May 10, the brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming.

Its Starlink devices — satellite internet the Ukrainian military relies on for basic communication — failed, the first time it was knocked out completely for them since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“We were left at a certain point completely blind,” said a drone unit commander in the brigade. The Post agreed to identify him by his call sign, Artist, in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol.

“This was the biggest problem, we didn’t see how they were moving, we only worked through radio or through phones where they still worked,” Artist, a 53-year-old sergeant, said. The drone feeds, he said, “simply disappeared.”

Within days, the Russians had captured — for the second time — some 50 square miles of territory along the border, capitalizing on a moment of particular vulnerability for Ukraine’s military.

[dforest]

If Biden wanted to send artillary shells, they would have sent them. They manage to come up with the money any time they want.

If Biden didn’t really send shells it was because he stood to gain more politically here by blaming repubes for Ukraine’s failures. Cokehead dwarf Zelensky knows this.

One huge failure is the lack of men to send in front of enemy fire.