Thread on the thermite attack on Donetsk.
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Thoughts on strategy in Kherson.
TLDR - Ukraine is likely deliberately pulling as much Russian force into Kherson so that they can wipe out supply and attrit as large a force as possible. Grind them down over the coming weeks then hit them hard when they are weak. Do this to as large a force as possible to have a war defining impact. Ukraine needs to defeat Russian force, not just regain territory.
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Spoiler alert. They are building a pontoon bridgeâŠ
Which can only go well.
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Aww geez, now the Ukrainians will find out about it. How do you expect glorious Russia to win if you keep giving secrets away on the internet?
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Ha!
Theyâre constructing pontoon segments in hidden tributaries, ready to tow into position when needed.
Canât see this going horribly wrong for them at allâŠ
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Whatâs the length of the pontoon bridge? The dnipro is quite a wide river from whatâve read. Forgetting if the Ukrainians attack it, will it withstand the normal currents?
To digress, given the roads that have been served up in some past years, that is not much spin.
âday 5 SCG pitchâ would be more appropriate.
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Thereâs two options that the internet analysts think might be happening. They could strap the pontoon to one of the existing bridges to hold it in place, run it alongside. Otherwise they could use the pontoon segments as barges and shuffle them back and forth.
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After the first 4 days are rained out?
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Latest from everyoneâs favourite airliner killing war criminal.
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The EU ( apart from Hungary) and NATO havenât fractured , but there are complexities in relations with Turkey and differing bilateral political and economic relations, including activities in other countries ( in particular Syria). Greece and Turkey currently not doing dead cat bounces to raise bilateral tensions.
As I understand it , Turkish weapon supply is strictly commercial. Reportedly , Ukraine had purchased significant quantities of weaponry prior to the War and after the Russian invasion had sent the EU a list of the weaponry ( more than drones) it wanted the EU to purchase from Turkey.
Turkish drone manufacturers have reportedly stated they wonât supply to Russia, but caution has also been expressed about how much more Turkish weaponry should be supplied for use in Ukraine.
Turkey is the key player in Black Sea status as a war or peace zone in the future.
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Standard Russian quality. In fairness, precision ainât historically their aim (no pun), itâs sheer quantity, lol.
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Ok comrades, Who wants to be the guinea pig crossing within Himars range!?
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Pontoon bridges are great stuff, but what often gets overlooked is that they are very limited. They are designed for short duration operations and are extremely limited in the load they can hold. Firstly, they take up a lot of logistics (trucks, fuel, roadspace) and manpower on their own and take time to assemble and maintain. They are vulnerable to enemy interference at all stages of operation, and once established they become a bottleneck for movement. You put up pontoon bridges when regular crossings are compromised, so if the enemy knows where your pontoon bridge is (thanks to @Benny40âs OPSEC breachesâŠ), they know exactly where to deliver their air-mail to. Pontoon bridges can only hold a limited amount of traffic, often one armoured vehicle at a time, and only moving at a relatively slow speed. As pointed out previously, the main rivers in Ukraine are big, so if it takes 1 tank 4 minutes to crawl across a pontoon bridge and you have 10 tanks and 25 BMPs to move, how long will it take you to get everything across? Oh, and donât forget the fuel trucks. And the ammo trucks as well, because we had to pull all the ammo dumps way back out of HIMARs range. Oh, and donât forget the traffic thatâs coming back the other way.
And thatâs assuming no-one is shooting at you. Or taking any sort of action against the now-obvious route to and from this magical pontoon bridge.
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That is insane. I cannot fathom that ever being acceptable in a Western military. The risk of barrel warping, cracking and even rupturing when the barrel heats up is horrific.
But, hey, Russia! Life is cheaper than vodka.
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What will be the impact of the next mud season, starting October IIRC?
Mud season will probably help the Russians. RU forces have run out of steam and and largely bunkering down to hold what theyâve taken. Ukr forces will be more and more on the attack. Mud season will restrict vehicle movement to the roads, which will make Ukr attacks more predictable.
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Not to worry, itâs only designed for a short service life.
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Improvise, adapt, overcome.
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