What!
The Bombers flying high?
No way!
I found this article of interest… An apparent breakdown in Ukrainian command and a fighting Ukranian military extraction from encirclement.
Edit: 6 days old.
A Day After Getting Surrounded Near Prohres, Two Ukrainian Battalions Overruled Their Commander—And Fought Their Way To Safety
The retreat doesn’t address Ukrainian forces’ fundamental failure in the sector around Prohres: a failure of leadership.
A day after getting surrounded and cut off by advancing Russian troops just north of the village of Prohres, two battalions of Ukrainian soldiers from the Ukrainian army’s 31st Mechanized Brigade made a hard decision.
Rather than waiting for rescue, the encircled Ukrainians fought their way out on Thursday. The rest of the 31st Mechanized Brigade, along with the nearby 47th Mechanized Brigade, apparently assisted the break-out.
“With the help of coordinated actions of artillery, air reconnaissance and related forces, as well as under the control of officers on the ground, the guys from the 1st and 3rd Battalions were able to break out of the encirclement in full force,” Ukrainian analysis group Deep State reported.
The successful evacuation saved potentially hundreds of Ukrainian troops from death or capture—and deprived the Kremlin of a major propaganda victory. But it doesn’t address Ukrainian forces’ fundamental failure in the sector around Prohres: a failure of leadership.
The Russian advance toward Prohres began last week after Russian warplanes “carried out powerful air strikes on the tactical rear,” according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies. Amid the confusion, one of the Ukrainian brigades in the sector—possibly the 110th Mechanized Brigade or the 111th Territorial Defense Brigade—collapsed.
To be clear, it wasn’t the brigade’s rank and file who failed—it was their leaders. “The main problem,” Ukrainian correspondent Yuriy Butusov reported, “is primarily in the management and organization of our actions.”
“When a poorly managed crew is attacked, it can’t hold,” Butusov explained.
As Ukrainian troops fled, a clutch of motor rifle regiments from the Russian 1st Army Corps seized the opportunity—and marched four miles to the west in the span of a week, ultimately capturing Prohres and sweeping around those two Ukrainian battalions north of the village.
The surrounded Ukrainians then experienced their own leadership crisis, according to Deep State. “The brigade commander never gave the order to break through, so the personnel who were in that area confronted him with the fact that the boys would break through with a fight.”
That is to say, the encircled Ukrainian troops decided, on their own, to battle their way to the main Ukrainian line hundreds of yards to the west. “This case should be a reminder to many commanders not to neglect personnel and trust the [non-commissioned officers] and officers who are on the direct line of battle,” Deep State commented.
The wider battle continues. After consolidating their control over Prohres, Russian troops also occupied the adjacent village of Vovche. Ukrainian volunteers have been rescuing civilians from the front line while the army redoubles its efforts to halt the Russian advance.
Losses are high on both sides. The elite 47th Mechanized Brigade, the main operator of Ukraine’s best American-made armored vehicles, has lost two of its precious M-1 Abrams tanks around Vovche in just the past three weeks.
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Reportedly the prisoner swap involves not just Russia and US, but also prisoners held in Belarus and Germany and includes the release of a German dual notional prisoner in Russia, plus Russian dissidents in addition to high profile US prisoners.
Prisoners released from Russia and Belarus , reportedly 24 in number, have landed in Ankara.
Turkey official agencies jumped the gun on official announcements, although US and European media appear to have been backgrounded.
ADD
European media report refer to nationals of seven different countries as part of the swap. ( US, Russia, Belarus, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway) . Presumably all four of the European countries have handed over some Russians or a Belorussian.
US media focus on a bilateral swap.
Disheartening. It confirms my statement and information I got from trusted sources a while back. The sr levels of command, Colonel and above, are generally incompetent and there because of ties to other powerful ppl. Some are brilliant, but trust is absent. Some might even be passing information or owe favours to rusian sympatizers.
The west has been focusing the training primarily at the lowest levels tactically as well as technical to deal with the miriad of equipment brought in, but we should also increase trg for HQ staff and commanders, from Coy level up to Div and Corps - There are enough advisors at the strat level directly embedded.
I know of a few in different staff colleges of i5 and NATO but it should be a more cohesive and scale effort to get most comd and their staff retrained or purged.
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Exchange: Yashin, Kara-Murza and Other Political Prisoners at Large (Eng subs) - Max Katz
Katz lauds the humanitarian outcomes of the swaps. As for the political takeaways, perhaps this one is important to Putin at this stage of the war.
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Dozens released in biggest US-Russia prisoner swap since Cold War | ABC News
He claims a lot of things, but the loan one he qualified by saying at zero percent interest and with no timeline to pay it back…
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Bill Browder: Putin’s prisoner swap proves how desperate he is
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Here’s what American air-to-air missiles can do for Ukraine’s new F-16s against the Russians
The US is sending Ukraine air-to-air missiles to go with the new F-16 fighter jets coming this summer from European partners, per a new report on armaments.
Ukraine will receive the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, known as the AMRAAM, and the AIM-9X missile, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The US also plans to send Kyiv more air-to-ground munitions.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a capable fourth-generation aircraft expected to provide a capability boost, augmenting Ukraine’s current fleet of aging Soviet fighter jets, but its effectiveness will, in part, be determined by the weapons with which it flies.
Top US generals and Ukrainian officials have cautioned that the fifty-year-old F-16, while an effective combat platform able to perform offensive and defensive operations, won’t be a game changer. It faces a daunting operating environment in Ukraine and will likely be a top target for Russia’s air-defense systems. Kyiv also simply is not getting enough of the aircraft. That said, there’s a lot it can do.
Powerful air-to-air missiles
The AIM-120 is an all-weather, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile with active radar for decreased dependence on the aircraft for intercepts. It was built as a follow to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile that Ukraine already has in its arsenal for air-defense purposes.
It’s unclear exactly which AIM-120 variants Kyiv is receiving or how many. Earlier models of the missile have a range of over 20 miles, while the newest one — the AIM-120D — is said to reach beyond 100 miles. The earliest AIM-120 design was fielded in the early 1990s.
A Ukrainian Air Force official said last year that the US would offer the country with AIM-120 missiles that can travel more than 100 miles, pointing to one of the newer variants. Some airpower experts, however, have expressed skepticism that Kyiv would actually get newer weapons because the technology may be too sensitive for the US to risk losing.
On the other missile Ukraine is receiving, the AIM-9X is a short-range air-to-air missile with an infrared seeker and is the newest variant in the Sidewinder family. Like the AIM-120, its specific range is classified. Ukraine already owns the AIM-9M, which has a range of up to 18 miles. The earliest Sidewinder versions entered service in the mid-1950s. Though the AIM-9 is an older system, it’s considered to be highly successful.
Armed with AIM-120 and AIM-9X missiles, the F-16 could be used for air-to-air combat against other fighter aircraft, though that may not be the best use. The Russians are operating Su-35 and MiG-31 fighter jets that carry long-range air-to-air missiles like the R-37. These capabilities would seriously threaten an F-16. Greater reach could be decisive, but there are other factors in play in air-to-air combat.
As an alternative, Kyiv can use its F-16s to engage Russian cruise missiles, one-way attack drones, and, potentially, the fighter-bombers that are releasing the highly destructive glide bombs that are pounding Ukraine.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top general, told the Guardian earlier this month that the arrival of the F-16s would strengthen his country’s air defenses, but he acknowledged that the jets would likely need to stay at least 40 kilometers or more from the front to avoid being shot down.
Experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank wrote last month that “once introduced on the battlefield, F-16s will increase the Ukrainian Air Force’s air-to-air capabilities.”
With its powerful radar and AIM-120 missiles, the F-16 will provide “an appreciable engagement range improvement compared to Ukraine’s Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter aircraft,” they argued.
Using its F-16s in a defensive role would help Ukraine relieve some pressure on its existing air defense apparatus, which has been hamstrung by a limited supply of interceptor missiles and available batteries. These include both Western systems like US-made Patriot batteries and NASAMS and Soviet-era equipment.
Beyond air-to-air engagements, Ukraine can use its F-16s in an air-to-ground role, executing suppression and destruction of enemy air defense missions.
With its powerful radar and AIM-120 missiles, the F-16 will provide “an appreciable engagement range improvement compared to Ukraine’s Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter aircraft,” they argued.
Using its F-16s in a defensive role would help Ukraine relieve some pressure on its existing air defense apparatus, which has been hamstrung by a limited supply of interceptor missiles and available batteries. These include both Western systems like US-made Patriot batteries and NASAMS and Soviet-era equipment.
Beyond air-to-air engagements, Ukraine can use its F-16s in an air-to-ground role, executing suppression and destruction of enemy air defense missions.
Kyiv already has US-provided AGM-88 HARM missiles — or high-speed anti-radiation missiles — to hunt down enemy radar systems, and more are coming with the new jets. With F-16s, Ukraine can potentially better use these weapons to degrade Russia’s vaunted air-defense capabilities. The Ukrainians previously jury-rigged them onto its Soviet aircraft.
A coalition of several NATO countries — Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands — have promised Ukraine some 80 F-16s, although the deliveries will be spread out over time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv will need more than a few dozen of the aircraft to actually make a difference. He also suggested they were needed earlier.
Gen. James Hecker, commander of NATO’s air command, said Tuesday that the F-16s won’t be a “golden bullet” for Ukraine that will immediately win them air superiority because they’re going up against advanced Russian air-defense systems.
Hecker said at an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that the American-made aircraft will help bring Ukraine even closer to the West and help shift its forces to be more aligned with NATO tactics, procedures, and equipment.
“It does move them a step in the right direction,” he said.
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Air to air combat
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Russian losses per 02/08/24 reported by the Ukrainian General Staff.
+1100 men
+3 tanks
+8 APVs
+42 artillery systems
+2 MLRS
+37 UAVs
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Ya gotta love this articles language. “Russian invaders, temporarily occupied Ctimea, the occupation administration, the so-called governor of Sevastopol”.
Excellent writing.
After missile strike on Crimea, fires broke out at invaders’ air defense positions
On the night of August 1 to 2, explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The Russian invaders claimed an attack with ATACMS ballistic missiles.
In particular, the objects of the Russian invaders near Sevastopol came under attack, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel reports.
The sounds of explosions were also heard at night in Simferopol, Saky, and Yevpatoriia. The occupation administration claimed that Russian air defense had been operating over the peninsula.
Later, it became known that NASA’s satellite fire monitoring system had detected fires at Russian air defense positions near Balaklava.
The time period from 1:57 a.m. to 2:20 a.m., when the fires were detected, coincides with the time of the missile attack on Russian facilities near Sevastopol.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel points out that the fires could have occurred both after the launch of anti-aircraft missiles and after hits on Russian air defense positions.
After the first explosions in Crimea on the night of August 2, the so-called governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that the air defense system had been working in the city.
The Russian invaders claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had attacked the temporarily occupied peninsula with ATACMS ballistic missiles.
The missiles were allegedly shot down over Sevastopol, which is why two streets were even closed until about 12:00 to collect all explosive items.
In addition, the occupation administration decided to evacuate the residents of one of the nine-story buildings to remove a part of the missile that allegedly pierced the roof and got stuck on the mechanical floor of the building.
As previously reported, on July 30, over 50,000 households remained without electricity due to a fire at power facilities in occupied Crimea.
Local reports indicate that the fires started almost simultaneously in the area of the 450th block. The pro-Kremlin Mash media outlet suggests sabotage as a possible cause of the fire.
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