War

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Ukraine’s major counteroffensive in beginning stages, Russia has failed second campaign attempt: Gen. Milley
Milley says Russia has failed in its second attempt to assert dominance over Ukraine

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley confirmed Thursday that Ukraine has officially launched a major counteroffensive on its 1,500-mile-long front lines in a move to repel Russian forces from its borders.

"At the beginning of this month, on or about the first of September, Ukraine launched an offensive in order to seize operational and strategic initiative. That offensive is ongoing," Milley told reporters from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "That offensive is in its early stages."

Milley said it was too early to provide an assessment of how Ukraine is progressing, though reporting this week has suggested that Ukrainian forces made some operational advances in the Kharkiv region in the north as well as the Kherson region in the south.

"Ukrainians have demonstrated superior tactical proficiency and they've demonstrated a superior will to fight," he added.

The general said Ukrainian forces are effectively using arms supplied by the U.S. and allied nations to counter Russian advances – in some cases pushing into Russia's front lines, according to reports Thursday.

Milley, who stood next to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin following a meeting with leaders from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, said the U.S. and allied nations renewed their pledge to support Ukraine in its fight to "live free of Russian occupation and live free of Russian violence."

Austin said Ukraine will continue to need assistance in air and coastal defenses along with other critical capabilities.

"The United States has stepped up to meet those needs," he said, referring to another $675 million arms package approved for Ukraine Thursday.

The package will include howitzers, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances and anti-tank systems.


BLINKEN MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO KYIV TO ANNOUNCE $2B MILITARY AID FOR UKRAINE, EUROPE

"So far, the Russian strategic objectives have been defeated," Milley said.

The chairman detailed how Russia launched a second offensive in April after it failed to take Kyiv, overthrow the Ukrainian government or push westward across the country.

Milley also claimed that Russia has failed in its second objective as it has yet to take the Donbas or establish dominance over the Dnieper River – only crossing it in the southern Kherson region, where Ukrainian forces have destroyed at least two bridges Russian forces relied on for supplies.

"Their operational gains, in addition to their strategic gains, have been defeated by a very successful defense conducted by Ukraine," Milley said.

The general reiterated the U.S.’s long-term commitment to Ukraine but warned "the war is not over."

"Russia's a big country. They have very serious ambitions with respect to Ukraine," Milley added. "So sustainment of Ukraine to continue their fight for their survival will be necessary."
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Russia will pay "a heavy price" for war in Ukraine, CIA director says
From CNN's Katie Bo Lillis


William Burns, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency director, testifies during his Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, on February 24, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
William Burns, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency director, testifies during his Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, on February 24, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Tom Williams/AP)

Russia “is going to pay a very heavy price” for a long time because of its war in Ukraine, CIA Director Bill Burns said on Thursday.

“I think if you take a step back now, it's hard to see the record of the war — Putin's record — as anything other than a failure so far,” Burns said at a cybersecurity conference in Washington, DC. “Not only has the weakness of the Russian military have been exposed, but there's going to be long term damage done to the Russian economy and to generations of Russians as a result of this.”

“Russia is going to pay a very heavy price, I think over a long period of time,” he said.

Burns’ remarks come as Ukraine has begun to mount what the CIA director described as a counteroffensive in the south and in Kharkiv — although some US officials have been reluctant to name the Ukrainian operation as a true “counteroffensive” just yet and its chances of reclaiming territory remain unclear.

“In the northeastern part of Ukraine, I would not underestimate the capacity or the courage of the Ukrainians right now, as well,” Burns added.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Looks like the Russians have been worn down and demoralized enough to get a good screwing, in the northeast and around Kherson. Smart generalship is chopping the Russian forces into pockets and heading for their logistical hub in the east that should collapse the whole eastern front. If they trap and defeat the forces on the wrong side of the river near Kherson, the Russians will be in serious trouble. There are months left in fighting season before winter sets in and the Ukrainians will be better prepared for winter fighting than the Russians. Fall rains and mud could stop heavy armor and keep things on the roads until it freezes the ground hard enough.

Uncle Sam just showed up with their performance bonus!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US Secretary of State Blinken says Ukrainian counteroffensive is "proving effective" as he departs Kyiv
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on September 8.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on September 8. (Genya Savilov/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has departed Kyiv after his unannounced visit on Thursday, where he said the ongoing counteroffensive was “proving effective.”

The top US diplomat also said “it would be hard to imagine” that Russia’s so-called filtration operations, which have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, would be possible without the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Blinken credited the success of the counteroffensive to the “incredible bravery, resilience of Ukrainians,” and said the US was “so pleased to have been able to support your efforts.”
“Fundamentally, what this comes down, I think the reason for this success is this is your homeland, not Russia’s. And it’s as basic as that,” the top US diplomat said while seated across from Zelensky.
Speaking to the press before departing the city by train, Blinken said he got “a comprehensive update on the on the counter offensive.

“Again, it's very early, but we're seeing clear and real progress on the ground, particularly in the area around Kherson, but also some interesting developments in the Donbass, in the east, but again, early days,” he said.
Blinken said he spent about two hours with Zelensky and his team, and called it “a very productive and in many ways meaningful day.”

In addition to meeting with Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, he visited US Embassy, toured a children’s hospital and went Irpin, where he saw first-hand the devastation wrought from the Russian occupation of the suburb of Kyiv.

The top US diplomat told the press he “was able to bear witness to horrific attacks on houses, on buildings, clearly belonging to civilians, where the shelling, the missiles, the bullets, it's all there. And at best, it's indiscriminate. At worst, it's intentional. And I was able to talk to people doing remarkable work in compiling evidence of war crimes and atrocities and also those responsible for the city who are working to rebuild it,” he said.

Ukrainian forces regained control of Irpin in late March, but the city was left in ruins. Damage was still visible as the top US diplomat toured a part of the city, guided by Deputy Mayor Dmytro Nehresha, according to press accompanying Blinken.

Blinken was told that 95% of the city was evacuated at one point, but a vast majority – about 78% — have returned, and it is receiving internally displaced people from Kherson.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
if that was the worst of our problems, i'd be sleeping a lot better
It costs little to contingency plan, they were caught short the last time Russia dissolved and had to scramble to get the nukes secure. Make no mistake Russia's troubles have just begun with neighbors it once dominated and ethnic groups inside the federation, along with how it's politically organized now. As I've mentioned all the ingredients are there for trouble in Belarus once Vlad's army is nearly destroyed. Then there's Georgia and other places around the Caspian sea that have oil to sell. The CIA must have shit themselves with joy over this war and started drooling when the Ukrainians started winning. Some want payback for Trump, they blame Vlad and want to dance on his corpse.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
It costs little to contingency plan, they were caught short the last time Russia dissolved and had to scramble to get the nukes secure. Make no mistake Russia's troubles have just begun with neighbors it once dominated and ethnic groups inside the federation, along with how it's politically organized now. As I've mentioned all the ingredients are there for trouble in Belarus once Vlad's army is nearly destroyed. Then there's Georgia and other places around the Caspian sea that have oil to sell. The CIA must have shit themselves with joy over this war and started drooling when the Ukrainians started winning. Some want payback for Trump, they blame Vlad and want to dance on his corpse.
their "federation" seems to be made up of people who don't want to be federated...who don't enjoy being marginalized and ignored, who don't want to be "integrated" into russia. they were happy without them, oppressed under them, used as cannon fodder in a war they don't support.
it's a wonder it has survived this long without serious internal revolts.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Denis seems happy! The entire society is at war, so this is a huge moral booster for the country and army, high moral is a big battlefield advantage, so is momentum, surprise and speed of advance. How could the Russian army react with dead generals and Putin going through the rest of them like shit through a goose. The troops are poorly or not trained, the equipment is obsolete, the artillery worn out, they are low on rockets, air support is non existent and their main logistical hub in the east is overrun and large Russian forces in Donbas are cut off from resupply.


Update from Ukraine | We Took it ! Ruzzians are running in Panic | Military map analysis
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Tonight’s analysis update:

From earlier in the conflict, an image I think of as iconic.
One might even be moved to observe that this little adventure is costing the Russians Deerely.

1662703023995.jpeg
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Each one of these drones could be armed with a warhead and directed at a single target or multiple targets simultaneously...

Vlad would have a thousand bee stings at once, using facial recognition and 100 grams of plastic explosive each. If they all went off at once, it would be like one big one and there wouldn't be much left, except vapor and perhaps a pair of shoes.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Each one of these drones could be armed with a warhead and directed at a single target or multiple targets simultaneously...

New battery tech being developed for EVs could see the endurance of these drones increase by 3 to 5 times in coming years, the US military might be ahead of the rest though. A truck with a tube could launch them like switch blades, only it would pump them out of the tube preprogramed at 200 DPM (Drones per minute) like a machine gun. New battery technology could see them have the same range, as long range artillery. They would fly circuitously and independently at tree top level, or even in among the trees, to the GPS located target.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
A Russian soldier speaks out: ‘The people are afraid’
Finally, a courageous Russian soldier tells all about the war against Ukraine. Pavel Filatyev is a 33-year-old paratrooper who wrote an explosive memoir, “Zov” (Call), that appeared in early August. Filatyev exposes the war as an act of Russian aggression, shows that most Russian soldiers are hungry, dirty and demoralized, and savagely criticizes the Russian generals and officers. His exposé rings true, if only because it is identical to the one proffered by Ukrainian and Western policymakers, journalists, analysts and generals.

Filatyev starts by describing the first “two months of filth, hunger, sweat, and the feeling of being next to death. It’s too bad that they don’t allow reporters to us in the frontlines, since the entire country could then admire the hairy paratroopers, dirty, filthy, thin; it was unclear who they were angrier at — the stubborn Ukrainians who don’t want to de-Nazify or their own incompetent commanders incapable of providing supplies even during combat. Half of my boys dressed and wore Ukrainian uniforms because they were of better quality and comfort, while ours were worn out since our great country was unable to dress, equip, and feed its own army.” He continues in this vein throughout the entire text, sparing no criticism of Russian military institutions. Unsurprisingly, morale is low: “An atmosphere of apathy rules over the contract soldiers, 90 percent of whom discuss ways to end their contracts as soon as possible.”

Filatyev dismisses the regime’s justifications for the war. It can’t be Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, because Russia wages no war with its other NATO neighbors. It can’t be that Ukraine would have attacked if Russia hadn’t, he says, since “how could a country that has difficulty defending itself … attack us?” It can’t be that the Ukrainians are Nazis who oppress Russians, as he hasn’t heard of a single instance of Russians being persecuted for their language or culture in Ukraine. Nor, finally, can it be that the self-styled republics in Donetsk and Luhansk needed Russian protection from supposed Ukrainian Nazis hell-bent on destroying therm.

“Don’t we have enough territory?” Filtayev asks rhetorically.

Filatyev ends his memoir on a less than hopeful note:

“I fought in Ukraine, and if I don’t have the right to say, ‘no to war,’ then who has the right to start it? I cannot return our army home, but I can relate my experience and my thoughts about participating in this war and call on my co-citizens to concern themselves with their own country, which has so many of its own problems. … The people are afraid and do not want to state their position and influence policy. It’s a vicious circle. We are all guilty, but it’s necessary to reach some conclusions and begin to correct our fall.”

Filatyev then assumes an almost pathetic tone: “Where is the breadth of the Russian soul? Where are our nobility and spirituality? I cannot believe that we have again become enslaved serfs. After all, our ancestors shed so much of their own blood for freedom. Perhaps nothing will change things, but I will not participate in this madness.”

In an interview with a Russian opposition website, Filatyev emphasizes the lies on which Vladimir Putin’s war is based. “I don’t see in the trenches the children of Skabeyeva, Solovyov, Kiselev, Rogozin, Lavrov, and Medvedev” — the first three being Russian propagandists, the latter three being top policymakers — “even as I continually hear their calls to kill.” Fortunately, the soldiers appear to understand the mendacity and hypocrisy of the regime and its spokespersons, he says. “The Russian army does not want to fight. Not because it’s afraid, but because it understands that the government has dragged it into a fatal war. It’s a problematic war, in which there is no truth. Most Russian soldiers don’t feel that truth is on their side.”

Filatyev then turns apocalyptic: “For many it will be hard to recognize the truth and the fact that we liberated no one, but simply destroyed cities and killed many people. But when they do realize this, then there’ll be a collapse.”

Of the regime, of course.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Top Russian Commander of Invading Army Captured by Ukraine—Report
Ukrainian media outlets and social media users have speculated that a top Russian commander has been captured as Kyiv's counteroffensive against Moscow's forces gathers pace.

Images and video shared on Twitter and Telegram purportedly show Lieutenant General Andrei Sychevoi among a group of Russian troops handcuffed on their knees with one social media user saying they were near Balakliya, in the Kharkiv region.

Many noted the similarity of one of the captured men to other images of Sychevoi.

Nexta TV tweeted a screen grab of the alleged general next to a previous image of Sychevoi in his regalia.

"It seems that the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured not the usual 'lieutenant colonel', but the commander of the 'West' grouping, Colonel General Andrey Sychevoi," it said.

The Lviv Journal tweeted a clip it said was of the Russian troops following their capture, with the message, "Time will tell if it's Gen. Andrei Sychevoi that appears in the video.

"What I find intriguing is that 6 Ukrainian soldiers surround him & look at him as if he is the big fish, & the way he looks away from the camera [he surrendered after all]", it added.

Military analyst Rob Lee tweeted "Russian Telegram channels are already [pointing] the finger at Lieutenant General Sychevoi who is the 'West' group commander responsible for this area."

On the uniform of the man believed to be Sychevoi are the two stars worn by Russian lieutenant generals. Two stars are also on display on the shoulders of his ceremonial uniform he is wearing in images shared of him on social media.

"Striking similarity, isn't it?" wrote Twitter user Nordic Arctic Fox Operative who also tweeted a combined image of the Russian captured with Sychevoi in his garb.

Well it looks like the general dodged the bullet by being captured, or rather flying out of a window.
 
Last edited:
Top