Russian Invasion of Ukraine - tactics and logistics

[Harry Bosch]

Russia hints that they will trade Britney Griner for Victor Bout, illagal arms dealer known as the "Merchant of death".

Not a good idea to negotiate with terrorist states. Russia will just end up kidnapping more Americans.

 

[Patooka]

And yet we are still on page 28 of this thread and Barbos still has nothing to say about Putin's best boy band the Wagner Group. Funny about that...

Yet blah blah nazis ukraine blah blah...

 

[TV and credit cards]

.

Russia hints that they will trade Britney Griner for Victor Bout, illagal arms dealer known as the "Merchant of death".

Not a good idea to negotiate with terrorist states. Russia will just end up kidnapping more Americans.

Release a guy with an IQ of 170 who ran hundreds of millions of dollars of weapons through his air freight company for a basketball player with hash oil in a vape pipe.
And he's only in his mid fifties. His best evil mastermind years are still ahead of him.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Geesh. Maybe I've been wrong about Russia. It appears that they are helping to open up the Ukranian ports for grain shippage. Yesterday, they ran one of their ships into a mine, clearing the mine:

Putin faces fresh humiliation as his navy sinks its OWN ship

The Russian navy appears to have accidentally blown up one of its own ships in the black sea in the latest blunder for Putin's forces. A landing craft is reported to have exploded when it hit a Russian sea mine.

www.dailymail.co.uk

However, I'd recommend that they use mine sweepers. They are much cheaper than sacrificing a ship. But again, well done Putler!

 

[barbos]

And yet we are still on page 28 of this thread and Barbos still has nothing to say about Putin's best boy band the Wagner Group. Funny about that...

Yet blah blah nazis ukraine blah blah...

I commented on that long time ago, even though you had not commented on anything I posted.
I don't know who that guy is. I don't even know if that single photo you keep posting is even real.

Sorry, man. If that single unverified photo is all you got then you are in a lot of troubles in this "Who is is the naziest here?" contest here.

 

[barbos]

Meanwhile Lisichansk is practically intact. Anti-nazi coalition forces led by Russia used different (from Mariupol) tactics where they left Wehrmacht ukrainian army way out of the city. So nazis had an option of retreating (without heavy equipment)

There is developing story about 2 french howitzers which were reportedly sold by ukrainian soldiers to .... russians $120K for 2 units I understand.
Very good deal I must say.

 

[barbos]

Geesh. Maybe I've been wrong about Russia. It appears that they are helping to open up the Ukranian ports for grain shippage. Yesterday, they ran one of their ships into a mine, clearing the mine:

Putin faces fresh humiliation as his navy sinks its OWN ship

The Russian navy appears to have accidentally blown up one of its own ships in the black sea in the latest blunder for Putin's forces. A landing craft is reported to have exploded when it hit a Russian sea mine.

www.dailymail.co.uk

However, I'd recommend that they use mine sweepers. They are much cheaper than sacrificing a ship. But again, well done Putler!

Do you feel humiliated enough?

 

[barbos]

So, Poroshenko blurted out the truth - Ukraine had no intention of complying with Minsk Accords and the reason for signing them was to get time to get weapons from NATO and attack Russia/Eastern Ukraine.

And that old video from 1997 about US army "scenario" training about war with China and Russia about Ukraine NATO membership. In that scenario it was year 2025.
here is a 1997 video:


The guy is a an ukrainian journalist who had spent 2 years and 3 months in ukrainian prison on trumped up chatrges by Poroshenko regime.

this is also from him


I suspect EU/US/lithuanian idiots are scratching their heads now, cause it ain't looking good for Lithuania.

Do you really think Russia will attack Lithuania? Lithuania is a NATO member. Russia is having problems defeating Ukraine. Do you think Russia can take on NATO?

No, Russia will do the same thing to Lithuania - blockade these imbeciles
And no, Russia does not have problems defeating Ukraine.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Lithuania is a NATO nation. Putin's fantasy he could take Ukraine in a few days like Hitler took France demonstrates that Putin was a fool. Fuck with Lithuania and Russia will lose big.

 

[barbos]

This is terrorism.

Terrorism is what US is doing - bombing downtown Donetsk (no military targets at all)
What Russian Army did was hitting a plant/railroad station near shopping mall. And despite what you lying media says, shopping mall was not hit, instead one of the missiles went slightly off course and hit near the mall, resulting in a fire and it was utter lack of fire safety at the mall which destroyed it.
Missiles used in the attack were old and not very accurate but they were deemed good enough for such a large target as that plant.
Now, what do you have to say for yourself and your nazi puppets
bombing Donetsk?

 

[barbos]

Lithuania is a NATO nation. Putin's fantasy he could take Ukraine in a few days like Hitler took France demonstrates that Putin was a fool. Fuck with Lithuania and Russia will lose big.

Putin had no such fantasy. His plan was to liberate ukrainians (and ukrainian russians) from nazi regime US installed in order to start a war with Russia.
And yes, Lithuania stands no chance even with NATO (which is not even guaranteed),..... NATO itself said so.
In fact, EU practically told Lithuanians that article 5 does not apply here and idiots should stop being idiots.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Pure baloney! Russia tried to take Kyiv and totally failed. The entire world witnessed that Russian fiasco.

 

[Jayjay]

And yet we are still on page 28 of this thread and Barbos still has nothing to say about Putin's best boy band the Wagner Group. Funny about that...

Yet blah blah nazis ukraine blah blah...

I commented on that long time ago, even though you had not commented on anything I posted.
I don't know who that guy is. I don't even know if that single photo you keep posting is even real.

Sorry, man. If that single unverified photo is all you got then you are in a lot of troubles in this "Who is is the naziest here?" contest here.

Argument from ignorance.

I assume you mean this photo:

That's Dmitry Utkin, the person whose callsign "Wagner" is why Wagner Group is called what it is. Choosing a nickname after Hitler's favorite composer should be the first clue of this guy's political leanings, even if he didn't have SS tattoos on his shoulder.

I agree that this isn't a contest of who's the naziest. Both sides have individual nazis fighting for them, but it's unfair to label all Ukrainians or all Russians "nazis" just because of a few crackpots.

 

[Jayjay]

Meanwhile Lisichansk is practically intact.

Doesn't look intact to me:

There is developing story about 2 french howitzers which were reportedly sold by ukrainian soldiers to .... russians $120K for 2 units I understand.
Very good deal I must say.

That story has been "developing" for several weeks. But curiously no pictures of the equipment.

 

[Jayjay]

Terrorism is what US is doing - bombing downtown Donetsk (no military targets at all)

The US is not bombing anyone in Ukraine. And the recent hits in Donetsk have always been military targets. I can't know for sure if the 2014 bombing was, but that was 8 years ago, and if you excuse Russia for missing it's target in Kremenchuk and hitting a crowded shopping mall instead, the same excuse should apply to Ukraine using inaccurate soviet weapons.

What Russian Army did was hitting a plant/railroad station near shopping mall. And despite what you lying media says, shopping mall was not hit, instead one of the missiles went slightly off course and hit near the mall, resulting in a fire and it was utter lack of fire safety at the mall which destroyed it.
Missiles used in the attack were old and not very accurate but they were deemed good enough for such a large target as that plant.

That's just bullshit. Satellite images and CCTV footage shows that the mall was hit directly. I can buy that the real target was the railroad station (because it wasn't actually hit, unlike what Russian MOD claimed), but to put the blame on the destruction of the mall on poor fire safety protocols is just inane.

Russia’s Kremenchuk Claims Versus the Evidence - bellingcat

Russian claims about the missile strike that hit a factory and mall in Kremenchuk appear to be contradicted by open source evidence.

www.bellingcat.com

The CCTV camera in the above image can be geolocated here.

This, aligned with the fact that the mall appears to have taken a direct hit given there is no clear or significant impact site anywhere in the area around it, would seemingly undermine Russian MOD claims that a fire spread from the factory area.

Russian MOD has been caught lying so many times that you should know better to google their claims first by now. MH17, Mariupol maternity ward, Bucha, Kramatorsk, the ridiculous "victories" at Snake Island just days before Russia fled, and now this nonsense that they're saying about Kremenchuk. All bullshit, all easily verifiable.

 

[Jayjay]

Lithuania is a NATO nation. Putin's fantasy he could take Ukraine in a few days like Hitler took France demonstrates that Putin was a fool. Fuck with Lithuania and Russia will lose big.

Putin had no such fantasy. His plan was to liberate ukrainians (and ukrainian russians) from nazi regime US installed in order to start a war with Russia.
And yes, Lithuania stands no chance even with NATO (which is not even guaranteed),..... NATO itself said so.
In fact, EU practically told Lithuanians that article 5 does not apply here and idiots should stop being idiots.

Where do you get these fantasy scenarios? EU doesn't have a say in article 5. That's a NATO rule. The EU commission bungled up this thing by first saying that the sanctions apply to goods going from Russia to Russia through European nations, and now, apparently due to German pressure, they're changing their minds about it. Lithuania hasn't budged, but EU commission might. And of course that coward Scholz.

Article 5 holds. But it won't be needed, because Russia isn't going to start a second front with NATO when it can barely handle Ukraine.

 

[Patooka]

Sorry, man. If that single unverified photo is all you got then you are in a lot of troubles in this "Who is is the naziest here?" contest here.

This is adorable.
Firstly, you and you alone are the one saying invading a country is totally cool if there is even a hint of Nazis. I could give a fuck who is naziest - by your logic Russia deserves to be eradicated from the face of the planet because of Putin's affiliation with Wagner. I don't agree with that sentiment - I am simply applying your logic to you. If you had a shred of integrity, you would endorse the eradication of Mother Russia. Even youtube comments agree with me.

Secondly;
Barbos - This is unverified! Wahhhhh! (It isn't. It really isn't. You asserting nonsensical crap won't won't change that.)

Also Barbos - I heard from someone who heard it somewhere that Ukraine is selling howitzers to Russia. You just have to take my word for it.

Sleep it off, Barbos. You're drunk.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Russian MOD has been caught lying so many times that you should know better to google their claims first by now. MH17, Mariupol maternity ward, Bucha, Kramatorsk, the ridiculous "victories" at Snake Island just days before Russia fled, and now this nonsense that they're saying about Kremenchuk. All bullshit, all easily verifiable.

Most of the time you can tell if something was a military target or not--military targets have a considerable potential to go boom or make big fires. Other things usually do not.

Thus if it goes boom when hit it's probably military. If it doesn't it probably isn't but this isn't as reliable an indicator as neither logistics or command and control targets have much tendency to go boom.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Geesh. Maybe I've been wrong about Russia. It appears that they are helping to open up the Ukranian ports for grain shippage. Yesterday, they ran one of their ships into a mine, clearing the mine:

Putin faces fresh humiliation as his navy sinks its OWN ship

The Russian navy appears to have accidentally blown up one of its own ships in the black sea in the latest blunder for Putin's forces. A landing craft is reported to have exploded when it hit a Russian sea mine.

www.dailymail.co.uk

However, I'd recommend that they use mine sweepers. They are much cheaper than sacrificing a ship. But again, well done Putler!

Do you feel humiliated enough?

The big fucking difference here is that currently Russia is killing people, stealing land, stealing and looting grain. And your side isn't going to quit until the west either stops buying your gas or when you run out of military weapons. So I cheer whenever one of your death machines blows up.

 

[Rhea]

Interesting post in teh Institute for the Study of War today:

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 17, 2025

The Trump administration reportedly approved its first European-financed foreign military sales to Ukraine through the PURL initiative.

www.understandingwar.org

Russian forces continue to conduct meaningless offensive operations around Donetsk City and Bakhmut instead of focusing on defending against Ukrainian counteroffensives that continue to advance. Russian troops continue to attack Bakhmut and various villages near Donetsk City of emotional significance to pro-war residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) but little other importance. The Russians are apparently directing some of the very limited reserves available in Ukraine to these efforts rather than to the vulnerable Russian defensive lines hastily thrown up along the Oskil River in eastern Kharkiv Oblast. The Russians cannot hope to make gains around Bakhmut or Donetsk City on a large enough scale to derail Ukrainian counteroffensives and appear to be continuing an almost robotic effort to gain ground in Donetsk Oblast that seems increasingly divorced from the overall realities of the theater.

Russian failures to rush large-scale reinforcements to eastern Kharkiv and to Luhansk Oblasts leave most of Russian-occupied northeastern Ukraine highly vulnerable to continuing Ukrainian counter-offensives. The Russians may have decided not to defend this area, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated declarations that the purpose of the “special military operation” is to “liberate” Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Prioritizing the defense of Russian gains in southern Ukraine over holding northeastern Ukraine makes strategic sense since Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts are critical terrain for both Russia and Ukraine whereas the sparsely-populated agricultural areas in the northeast are much less so. But the continued Russian offensive operations around Bakhmut and Donetsk City, which are using some of Russia’s very limited effective combat power at the expense of defending against Ukrainian counteroffensives, might indicate that Russian theater decision-making remains questionable.

Ukrainian forces appear to be expanding positions east of the Oskil River and north of the Siverskyi Donets River that could allow them to envelop Russian troops holding around Lyman. Further Ukrainian advances east along the north bank of the Siverskyi Donets River could make Russian positions around Lyman untenable and open the approaches to Lysychansk and ultimately Severodonetsk. The Russian defenders in Lyman still appear to consist in large part of BARS (Russian Combat Army Reserve) reservists and the remnants of units badly damaged in the Kharkiv Oblast counteroffensive, and the Russians do not appear to be directing reinforcements from elsewhere in the theater to these areas.

Key Takeaways

Russian forces continue to prioritize strategically meaningless offensive operations around Donetsk City and Bakhmut over defending against continued Ukrainian counter-offensive operations in Kharkiv Oblast.
Ukrainian forces liberated a settlement southwest of Lyman and are likely continuing to expand their positions in the area.
Ukrainian forces continued to conduct an interdiction campaign in Kherson Oblast.
Russian forces continued to conduct unsuccessful assaults around Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Ukrainian sources reported extensive partisan attacks on Russian military assets and logistics in southern Zaporizhia Oblast.
Russian officials continued to undertake crypto-mobilization measures to generate forces for war Russian war efforts.
Russian authorities are working to place 125 “orphan” Ukrainian children from occupied Donetsk Oblast with Russian families.

(My emphasis)

I’m very curious about their actions. Is it as simmple as admitting publicly that it was never about Donetsk and Luhansk, but was always about the land route to Crimea?