This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...
- Thread starter Nole Lou
- Start date
"Kursk Offensive - Day 7, August 12, 2024Morning situation a little later - details still missingNow more of a NE offensive, as the UA attacks have been expanded further to the south, and attempts are being made to break through the RU border defenses in two places. The authorities have already begun the evacuation.Already yesterday evening a border crossing was reported near Tjotkino - so far unconfirmed.The UA are expanding the front of the attack more and more, which means that a deep-reaching attack is not planned. Rather, the aim is to keep RU reinforcements moving ("Russian ping-pong") and to split them up and, as a result, to create a cordon sanitaire along the border."
I hope this surrendering is contagious and is spreading into Ukraine too as evidenced here. I have said for a while in this glorious thread that think the possible end of war would manifest as a mass surrender as depleted and abused troops give it up.
Have the Russians allowed international observers to see the source of the fire?
Ever ask yourself why they’d hide it?
Ukraine’s foray into Russia’s border region embarrasses Putin. How will it affect the course of war?
A swift Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region isthe largest such cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces in the nearly 2½-year war, exposing Russia’s vulnerabilities and dealing a painful blow to the Kremlin.
The surprise foray has prompted tens of thousands of civilians to flee the region as the Russian military struggles to repel the attack.
For Ukraine, the cross-border raid offers a much-needed boost to public morale at a time when the country’s undermanned and under-gunned forces have faced relentless Russian attacks along the more than 1,000 kilometer (620-mile) front line.
A glance at the Ukrainian raid and its implications.
How did the Ukrainian attack unfold?
Kyiv’s troops poured into the Kursk region from several directions early Tuesday, quickly overwhelming a few checkpoints and field fortifications manned by lightly armed border guards and infantry units along the region’s 245-kilometer (152-mile) frontier with Ukraine.Unlike previous raids conducted by small groups of Russian volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, the incursion into the Kursk region reportedly involved units from several battle-hardened Ukrainian army brigades.
Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian mobile groups comprised of several armored vehicles each quickly drove dozens of kilometers (miles) into Russian territory, bypassing Russian fortifications and sowing panic across the region.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said Ukrainian forces have managed to push up to 35 kilometers (20 miles) deep into the region. “Ukrainian forces appear to be able to use these small armored groups to conduct assaults past the engagement line due to the low density of Russian personnel in the border areas,” it said in an analysis of the raid.
The Ukrainian forces have widely used drones to strike Russian military vehicles and deployed electronic warfare assets to suppress Russian drones and derail military communications.
While small Ukrainian mobile groups roamed the region without trying to consolidate control, other troops reportedly have started digging in the western part of the town of Sudzha about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border and in some other areas.
How has the Russian military responded?
Caught off guard, Russian troops failed to mount a quick response to the incursion. With the bulk of the Russian army engaged in the offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, few troops were left to protect the Kursk border region. The Russian units along the frontier consisted mostly of poorly trained conscript soldiers, who were easily overcome by seasoned Ukrainian units. Some conscripts were captured.The manpower shortage prompted Russian military command to initially rely on warplanes and helicopter gunships to try to stem the Ukrainian attack. At least one Russian helicopter was downed and another one was damaged by the advancing Ukrainian forces, according to Russian military bloggers.
Russian reinforcements, including elite special forces units and hardened veterans of the Wagner military contractor, later started to arrive in the Kursk region, but they so far have failed to dislodge the Ukrainian forces from Sudzha and other areas near the border.
Some of the newly arriving troops lacked combat skills and suffered casualties. In one example, a convoy of military trucks carelessly stopped on the roadside near the combat area and was pummeled by Ukrainian fire.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared Friday that Ukraine lost 945 soldiers in four days of fighting. The claim couldn’t be independently verified. The ministry didn’t offer any data on Russian casualties.
What did Ukrainian authorities say about the incursion?
Officials in Kyiv have refrained from comments on the cross-border raid, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the armed forces for their “actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor,” he said in a nightly video address.
Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Thursday that cross-border attacks will cause Russia to “start to realize that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory.” He also suggested such an operation would improve Kyiv’s hand in any future negotiations with Moscow.
“When will it be possible to conduct a negotiation process in a way that we can push them or get something from them? Only when the war is not going on according to their scenarios,” he said.
What did the Kremlin say?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation” that involved “indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances.”Russian authorities said at least five civilians, including two ambulance workers, have been killed in the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region and nearly 70 others have been wounded. Over 76,000 people have been evacuated from the areas engulfed by fighting, officials said.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Putin-chaired Security Council, said the Ukrainian raid emphasized the need for Moscow to expand its war goals to capturing more of the Ukrainian territory, including the capital of Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa and other major cities.
Russia has announced a federal emergency in the Kursk region and declared a counterterrorism operation in the area and neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions, giving local authorities more powers to quickly coordinate an emergency response and tighten security.
Russian state propaganda focused on the Kremlin’s efforts to provide assistance to displaced residents while playing down the military’s unpreparedness for the attack.
What are Ukraine’s goals and how could the situation unfold?
By launching the incursion, Kyiv could be aiming to force the Kremlin to divert resources from the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have pressed offensives in several sectors and made slow but steady gains, relying on their edge in firepower.Coming at a time when Kyiv’s forces are struggling to stem the Russian advances in the east, the swift cross-border raid shows Ukraine’s ability to seize the initiative. It has also dealt a blow to the Kremlin, highlighting its failure to protect the country’s territory and shattering Putin’s narrative that Russia has remained largely unaffected by the hostilities.
But despite the initial successes, the foray into Russia could cause attrition in some of Ukraine’s most capable units and leave troops in Donetsk without vital reinforcements.
Trying to establish a lasting presence in the Kursk region could be challenging for the Ukrainian forces, whose supply lines would be vulnerable to Russian fire.
Military analysts say it’s still unclear what Ukraine’s operational goals are and how many troops it has committed in the Kursk raid.
Michael Kofman, a military analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, said in a comment on social platform X that “a fair bit depends on what Ukraine has available in reserve to throw into the operation, and how quickly Russian Federation organizes to counter.”
Ukraine’s foray into Russia’s border region embarrasses Putin. How will it affect the course of war?
A swift Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was the largest such cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces in the nearly 2½-year war.
apnews.com
Shades of Desert Storm ground offensive. The Iraqi army troops were hungry and demoralized and could not surrender fast enough.
The very last sentence to me is the most important part of all this IMHO. It has been 7 days now and not only has Russia been unable to respond at all but by all accounts the last 11 hours Ukraine has launched another foray to the south towards Belgorod.Ukraine’s foray into Russia’s border region embarrasses Putin. How will it affect the course of war?
A swift Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region isthe largest such cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces in the nearly 2½-year war, exposing Russia’s vulnerabilities and dealing a painful blow to the Kremlin.
The surprise foray has prompted tens of thousands of civilians to flee the region as the Russian military struggles to repel the attack.
For Ukraine, the cross-border raid offers a much-needed boost to public morale at a time when the country’s undermanned and under-gunned forces have faced relentless Russian attacks along the more than 1,000 kilometer (620-mile) front line.
A glance at the Ukrainian raid and its implications.
How did the Ukrainian attack unfold?
Kyiv’s troops poured into the Kursk region from several directions early Tuesday, quickly overwhelming a few checkpoints and field fortifications manned by lightly armed border guards and infantry units along the region’s 245-kilometer (152-mile) frontier with Ukraine.
Unlike previous raids conducted by small groups of Russian volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, the incursion into the Kursk region reportedly involved units from several battle-hardened Ukrainian army brigades.
Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian mobile groups comprised of several armored vehicles each quickly drove dozens of kilometers (miles) into Russian territory, bypassing Russian fortifications and sowing panic across the region.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said Ukrainian forces have managed to push up to 35 kilometers (20 miles) deep into the region. “Ukrainian forces appear to be able to use these small armored groups to conduct assaults past the engagement line due to the low density of Russian personnel in the border areas,” it said in an analysis of the raid.
The Ukrainian forces have widely used drones to strike Russian military vehicles and deployed electronic warfare assets to suppress Russian drones and derail military communications.
While small Ukrainian mobile groups roamed the region without trying to consolidate control, other troops reportedly have started digging in the western part of the town of Sudzha about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border and in some other areas.
How has the Russian military responded?
Caught off guard, Russian troops failed to mount a quick response to the incursion. With the bulk of the Russian army engaged in the offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, few troops were left to protect the Kursk border region. The Russian units along the frontier consisted mostly of poorly trained conscript soldiers, who were easily overcome by seasoned Ukrainian units. Some conscripts were captured.
The manpower shortage prompted Russian military command to initially rely on warplanes and helicopter gunships to try to stem the Ukrainian attack. At least one Russian helicopter was downed and another one was damaged by the advancing Ukrainian forces, according to Russian military bloggers.
Russian reinforcements, including elite special forces units and hardened veterans of the Wagner military contractor, later started to arrive in the Kursk region, but they so far have failed to dislodge the Ukrainian forces from Sudzha and other areas near the border.
Some of the newly arriving troops lacked combat skills and suffered casualties. In one example, a convoy of military trucks carelessly stopped on the roadside near the combat area and was pummeled by Ukrainian fire.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared Friday that Ukraine lost 945 soldiers in four days of fighting. The claim couldn’t be independently verified. The ministry didn’t offer any data on Russian casualties.
What did Ukrainian authorities say about the incursion?
Officials in Kyiv have refrained from comments on the cross-border raid, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the armed forces for their “actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”
“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor,” he said in a nightly video address.
Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Thursday that cross-border attacks will cause Russia to “start to realize that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory.” He also suggested such an operation would improve Kyiv’s hand in any future negotiations with Moscow.
“When will it be possible to conduct a negotiation process in a way that we can push them or get something from them? Only when the war is not going on according to their scenarios,” he said.
What did the Kremlin say?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation” that involved “indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances.”
Russian authorities said at least five civilians, including two ambulance workers, have been killed in the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region and nearly 70 others have been wounded. Over 76,000 people have been evacuated from the areas engulfed by fighting, officials said.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Putin-chaired Security Council, said the Ukrainian raid emphasized the need for Moscow to expand its war goals to capturing more of the Ukrainian territory, including the capital of Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa and other major cities.
Russia has announced a federal emergency in the Kursk region and declared a counterterrorism operation in the area and neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions, giving local authorities more powers to quickly coordinate an emergency response and tighten security.
Russian state propaganda focused on the Kremlin’s efforts to provide assistance to displaced residents while playing down the military’s unpreparedness for the attack.
What are Ukraine’s goals and how could the situation unfold?
By launching the incursion, Kyiv could be aiming to force the Kremlin to divert resources from the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have pressed offensives in several sectors and made slow but steady gains, relying on their edge in firepower.
Coming at a time when Kyiv’s forces are struggling to stem the Russian advances in the east, the swift cross-border raid shows Ukraine’s ability to seize the initiative. It has also dealt a blow to the Kremlin, highlighting its failure to protect the country’s territory and shattering Putin’s narrative that Russia has remained largely unaffected by the hostilities.
But despite the initial successes, the foray into Russia could cause attrition in some of Ukraine’s most capable units and leave troops in Donetsk without vital reinforcements.
Trying to establish a lasting presence in the Kursk region could be challenging for the Ukrainian forces, whose supply lines would be vulnerable to Russian fire.
Military analysts say it’s still unclear what Ukraine’s operational goals are and how many troops it has committed in the Kursk raid.
Michael Kofman, a military analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, said in a comment on social platform X that “a fair bit depends on what Ukraine has available in reserve to throw into the operation, and how quickly Russian Federation organizes to counter.”
Ukraine’s foray into Russia’s border region embarrasses Putin. How will it affect the course of war?
A swift Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was the largest such cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces in the nearly 2½-year war.
This has to be PSYOPS.Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines
AFP
Thu, August 8, 2024 at 9:13 AM EDT·2 min read
420
A robot dog leaps into the air, controlled by its operator in Ukraine (GENYA SAVILOV)
Ukraine could soon unleash robot dogs on its front lines, replacing soldiers for perilous missions like spying on Russian trenches or detecting mines.
At a demonstration in an undisclosed part of Ukraine, the metallic dog known as model "BAD One" stood up, crouched, ran and jumped according to commands transmitted by its operator.
Stealthy and agile, they could soon become an invaluable ally on the front line for an Ukrainian army that is short on manpower to repel the Russian invasion, its makers said.
Low on the ground and therefore difficult to detect, the robot dogs can use thermal imaging to inspect enemy trenches or the inside of buildings in combat zones.
"We have surveillance soldiers who get sent on reconnaissance missions (who) are most of the time very highly trained people, very experienced people (and) always exposed to risks," said the operator who called himself "Yuri", as he showed it off to AFP journalists.
Their guns have to work and by the sound of it, the first wave that is sent in for slaughter to smoke out the Ukrainian positions is usually not armed with anything functional. They’re simply sent in there to die so the 2nd and 3rd wave of Russians know where to shoot
I hope Ukraine does not get too excited and advance beyond their logistical support
