Ukraine killed a third Russian Major General. And there are rumors Putin has the head of the FSB (modern version of the KGB) under house arrest.
Fourth Russian General is killed. The Ukranians were tracking him with his phone. Putin has gone full Hitler and is saying that Russia is full of traitors.
Russia will win even if they have to resort to turning their guns on their own people and march them toward Ukraine until Ukraine runs out of bullets.
Russia has a long history of doing very poorly with its military and throwing bodies at the problem. Sometimes it works like in WW2. Sometimes it doesn't like in WW1 and Afghanistan. In both WW1 and Afghanistan huge losses on the battlefield played a major role in regime change. I have no idea how Ukraine is going to turn out for them. So far they are getting their asses kicked on the battlefield and only seem to be good at killing civilians. Targeting civilians doesn't always work. Sometimes it crushes morale, but other times it backfires and makes a population much more determined to fight.
I also think we might be seeing the end of the era of the tank. This war is making it abundantly clear that they are extremely vulnerable to anti-tank guided missiles. Tanks have been central to ground forces for the last 100+ years, but maybe they shouldn't be at this point. Maybe we should be moving more towards things like the Stryker fighting vehicle that are fast, adaptable, and easy to load on transport planes.
I think everything has its place. A tank, or multiple tanks are ferocious in the plains or desert landscapes. But cities or forests, not so much. And in this case, how old are these tanks? How skilled are the operators? Do they have infantry backing them up and clearing paths? Anyone spotting for javelins? Lol obvs not. I think it’s the over-reliance on tanks is what killing the ruskies right now. That and obviously outmatched tech that has easily exploited vulnerabilities. Also the personnel is not up to this. You put a bunch of Abrams (or whatever it is our army is rolling with these days)on a field and I defy you to take that field conventionally. I’m sure it can be done but it will be hard. It’s why we were in Baghdad by now if you match timelines. Those tanks were beastly in armor and communications tech. And they were supported. This invasion is so poorly planned and supported. We are all reading the same articles and seeing the videos. It’s one thing to send in a tank. But they are running out of gas and food. They are unsupported and getting molested by javelins and other superior tech. I think the take away from this war is don’t send in your army without supply lines. It’s all about infrastructure.
Here is my armchair analysis: Putin/Russia got Lord of War'd They have a large defense budge of $70 billion a year (top 5 in world). Even the CIA expected a quick and efficient invasion in 3-5 days by a massively superior army. But we haven't seen any of that. I bet a good chunk of that $70 billion was embezzled before it made anywhere near military R&D. And the "high tech" planes and gadgets the CIA has schematics for have been sold off on the black market. There is probably a trillions of dollars discrepancy between what Moscow has on the books vs actually military inventory. There is a decent those nukes are long gone lol. A few years ago I read that the Coast Guard impounded Russian submarines from the mexican drug cartels. So it kinda fits. I'm actually wondering if China would suffer a similar fate in acual combat.
@mizzle True. Most of their tanks are T-72 variants. It's a 50 year old tank that they slapped some explosive reactive armor on more recently. These aren't modern tanks. And they are sending them in with little or no infantry, fighting vehicle, or air support. @supersonic I definitely think they got Lord of War'd. Money that was meant to upgrade, maintain and train got embezzled by mobster oligarchs. Equipment and parts got ripped off and sold. And on that note, there have been airstrikes, but they haven't flattened Ukraine like you would expect from a country with a large airforce. I'm guessing many of their aircraft simply aren't airworthy due to lack of funds and lack of maintenence due to embezzlement. What you are seeing is what they have that still works.
Yeah I remember the Gulf War. They had Bradleys following the tanks popping the anti-tank guys who were trying to ambush the tanks from the rear after they passed.
The Bradley was built to take care of anything on the ground that would threaten our tanks. It carries infantry. It has an autocannon and machine guns for dealing with enemy infantry and light armored vehicles. And it carries TOW missiles that are very effective at dealing with tanks. Bradleys destroyed a lot of T-72s in the Gulf War using TOW missiles. They're also very heavily armored. We didn't lose any M1 Abrams to enemy fire in the Gulf War, and we only lost 3 Bradleys to enemy fire. The Bradley can keep pace with the tanks and take punishment like a tank. In theory the Russian BMP should be comparable but its actual performance in combat shows it really isn't at all. The BMP is too lightly armored and gets destroyed very easily. Many of the burnt out wrecks you're seeing from Ukraine are dead BMPs. It comes across as a cheap, inferior knockoff of the Bradley that can't actually do what a Bradley does. It also looks like the Russians aren't very good at using them. We are seeing so much footage of tanks sent in with no infantry and fighting vehicle support.
So my next train of thought is Putin must have figured this out by now. So he's gonna be on the hunt for people responsible. They only have one way out if they wanna live. Who will win?
Mobster oligarchs gonna get their legs broken for stealing all the money meant for Comrade Putin's glorious invasion.
NATO is estimating 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, captured, or gone MIA. With anywhere from 7,000 to 15,000 estimated killed. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/up-...killed-wounded-captured-or-mia-nato-says.html Russia's internal estimate got leaked the other day. They're estimating 9800 dead and 16000 wounded. https://www.newsweek.com/report-10000-russian-deaths-immediately-deleted-pro-putin-tabloid-1690281 I have a feeling this will end up making it on those "worst military disasters of all time" lists. We're only a month in.
Their strategy is send bodies until they run out of bullets. Then they invade a country backed by bullet making factories. And these factories are eager to test their latest bullet out in the field. A lot of Russians are going to die.
It's ironic because the worst military disasters usually involve marching into Russia. Anyway, I guess the Russian military is running out of food because someone has been selling it. Russia is now asking China for military food aid for their soldiers to continue Putin's war. Bizarre.
Russian ship gets blown up. Two other ships that have also been hit flee the port. The ship was recently featured on Russia Today. Doesn't seem too bright in retrospect. Thanks for the intel guys!