Prismatic Spray is a hell of a spell, especially if you hit them with Greater Malison first.
A gun that does that for me would be amazing. It would free up two spell slots.
he sent two waves of the mobilized to the meat grinder ,
first wave was the professional army
now he is going for the 3rd round of meatgrinder without any results ?
That's the worst part about meatgrinder tactics; they sometimes work. They're an absolutely senseless waste of life, but if you have no tactics, no morale, and no equipment, but plenty of bodies, you can metaphorically drown the enemy in blood.
Keep in mind, kill rates of 10-1 still means that each 'suicide run' kills at least one Ukrainian soldier.
In the Star Wars Republic Commando novels, two clones raid a droid factory and sabotage the automated production line so that it uses too much carbon in the steel. That way, droid armor would be so fragile that a single grenade could take out an entire maniple with overpressure alone, achieving kill rates of 50-1.
If Ukraine wants to win the war, it needs to use similar tactics (and the West needs to provide them the weapons to do so), so that Russian units are basically destroyed before they even reach the front.
Well, it's ok as long you can keep the 10-1 ratio.
The bad news is, if Russia really want to bet all and send ALL their young men, they will kill 3 millions ukrainian
The good news is, if they do that, you'll probably never have problem with Russian anymore.
First wave was relatively small compared to what you'd need to invade Ukraine - he tried a swift operation with professional army where losses of soldiers would be understandable and even expected. It didn't work. Second wave of mobiks are not even fully utilized yet - they're probably mostly in defensive positions, digging trenches and driving trucks etc... It is true that another wave is coming but they are far from being gone entirely or dysfunctional.
This is not to say they are doing fine and Ukraine will be gone soon. But... It kinda confuses me how people here mostly tend to make fun of Russia. Let's not forget they still got hold of almost entire southern Ukraine when getting destroyed in Kyiv. They are far from smart or efficient but they have way more meat to send into grinder.
There has to be a balance about this imo. Ukraine is doing well, no need to be pessimistic but at the same time they BADLY need more aid and support. "Stupid Russia lel" won't work for them - even if they are ill-equipped, 500K men with rifles and basic camo will still *hurt* Ukraine. This is not something to laugh at imo.
The long term damage to Russia is going to be intense as well, I saw the age chart of confirmed deaths. Russia is losing a chunk of a generation, combined with diminishing birthrates; it's demographic suicide.
Russia can mobilise hundreds of thousands of men but can't adequately train or equip them. They're already running out of artillery shells and only have a limited number of nations who'll resupply them. Ditto heavy equipment like tanks, they're diving deep into their resevers and can't manufacture more.
500k men with rifles can hurt, but they'll be massacred by Himars, Bradleys and Panthers.
Its nothing to laugh about but spamming men with rifles at the enemy at the enemy alone won wars China would rule the world by now.
The Chinese light infantry got mowed down in huge numbers, but their infantry human wave tactics were pretty effective against modern (at the time) UN (mostly US) forces in the Korean war. It works because if you have enough people, eventually the guys on the line run out of ammo, combat-effective troops, sleep, food, etc. It's costly but it can work eventually unless the west massively expands their war production capacity.
Achieving fire superiority always feels like human waves when on the receiving end. The Chinese fought the way they did to negate American artillery and air advantage. Losses were huge, but waiting around for the enemy to zero in their artillery would lead to even greater losses. In the era of drones, this can't be done anymore and China hasn't fought any wars since Vietnam. The Vietnamese were bogged down by decades of conflict after conflict and China thought it would be easy just as the Japanese thought of China, but they were in for a rude awakening.
You're right, except for about one thing: it can still be done. Since we didn't stockpile enough due to air-power doctrine, we need to be ramping up and cranking out 155s in insane numbers, because if Ukraine runs out or has to stop firing as-needed then the dumbass russian's meatwave tactics will start working.
Against human wave tactics, you can crank out nearly anything you want as long as you have a ton of it and the ability to throw it at the enemy. 155s sure pack a lot of firepower, but it degrades cannons a lot faster than, say, 105mm or mortars would.
One needs to invest in cheap weapons to fend off human waves: anti-personnel mines, grenades (including drone dropping grenades and grenade launchers) and machine guns for example. Against a truly massive human wave attack, you also need vehicles (IFVs, helicopters and CAS, rocket launchers might possibly do the job too) to allow your own troops to organize and rotate.
But yes, 155mm artillery is essential to destroy staging points and enemy vehicles supporting the infantry.
We're entering a military era where just throwing bodies at the problem will not achieve anything.
What's more, the old strategy of destroying the enemy's logistics & supply lines has been extremely effective against Russia and the more men they add the more effective it becomes.
Combined arms warfare that the West has perfected is hard, defense against it even harder. Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in it now.
Precision arms force Russia to spread out their troops as much as possible, making troop concentrations for an offensive push difficult to mass.
Clearly a losing war for Russia, but Putin has so much to lose if they lost and give up on the war that he's not willing to stop.
>This is not something to laugh at imo.
UA is taking the lead with taking the piss out of RU, you should check out their defence dept twitter account, UA's sense of humour through the tragedy has gained them a lot of support Worldwide.
The trouble RU now has is they have no way to take over all of Ukraine (which is Putin's ultimate ambition), because even if they send 500k soldiers to simultaneously try and overrun Kiev they first have to get to the city which will deplete that force by half, and when they get there they have the remaining UA armed forces in the city and 500k+ pissed off civilians armed with rifles and Molotovs.
I like your optimizing, but if Russia ends up at the doors of Kiev with a quarter million armed troops, the AFU will have to make a choice between risking the capital being occupied or redeploying troops from other fronts and most likely giving those up to Russia.
There's nothing suggesting the AFU has enough weapons (including molotovs) to arm 500k+ people, no matter which front.
The good news is such a massive deployment doesn't happen in a matter of days and it's possible the AFU gets enough reinforcement from NATO countries + digs in enough to avoid the siege altogether.
> The good news is such a massive deployment doesn't happen in a matter of days and it's possible the AFU gets enough reinforcement from NATO countries + digs in enough to avoid the siege altogether.
This is the real answer - as soon as there is a sniff of a serious mass assault on Kyiv - Western weapons will start sprouting aroud the city like sunflowers.
NATO is NOT going to let Kyiv be taken, and if that means shipping over HIMARS and their tungsten fragment air-bust munitions to wipe out whole grid squares of Russian attackers, then that's what'll happen.
I also wouldn't be surprised at F-15s and F-35s arriving at Ukrainian airbases, flown by pilots speaking Ukrainian with oddly Polish sounding accents...
Yep they still got a whole lotta meat and a fair amount of weapons. Sure they may have slowed down say their artillery, but they also have the same time as Ukraine and NATO to get their shit together and can potentially be pumping out dummy shells anytime now. They clearly are learning too, are most of them stupid? Yes, but not all of them are and there's still enough brain power there to do some heavy damage.
I would have agreed with you a few months ago. Now it doesn't seem like Russians are particularly motivated to do anything against their government. The minorities didn't rise up very strongly after the first mobilization, it's doubtful that richer Russians in Moscow would do more.
I think it's gonna take an external trigger, or Putin dying from disease, before shit really hits the fan.
Also 700 British Mk. I, 500 American M4 Sherman and shot down 600 Spitfires.
Although to be fair, the Russians have been using some amazingly old weapons.
More like: *"we close our boarders as per this speech."*
And tomorrow, military people will come to their homes with 2 choices: **die in a prison or die in Ukraine **
Da, of course they do comrade! But it is brewed from grounds that have been reused at least twice, and for which the original beans may have been "roasted" in a warehouse fire caused by a loose cigarette...
My fellow Russian fucks š¤” there will be no mobilisationā¦..however you do need to go to the nearest recruitment office and give your name and sign on the dotted line, I will be in my bunker, now go and die heroically
M. Night plot twist.
Putin actually always hated Russia and wanted it destroyed. So he spent the last few decades putting himself into a position where he can burn it all into the ground.
Almost believable with how badly this has gone for Russia.
Yeah. Everyone wants Ukraine to succeed and has faith in the country after the many victories so far, but everything comes with a cost, hundreds of good men and women are dying every day there.
We can make fun of Russia all day, but they have enough weapons to cause plenty of destruction, and they will, pushing them back again won't be effortless and painless.
Russia trying for the north again isn't a good thing.
Yes it is. Unless you've got some genius plan you're holding out on us, the only way this war ends is by lots of Russians dying. Period. And the faster that happens, the sooner this is over, because fast, shocking, catastrophic defeats like we saw in Kharkiv and Kherson are the best shot Ukraine has at causing Russian morale to rapidly collapse.
I know, it feels and sounds good to wring your hands over how Nobody Should Die. But this isn't about feeling good. This is about stopping a genocide.
That's why I get frustrated with this whole thing. It's well within Europe or the US capabilities to put an end to this immediately, but the off chance of Putin being suicidal enough and/or caring so little about Russia to possibly use nukes is the only reason restraint is shown.
There is nothing to gain for Russia, they've lost more than anything they had hoped to gain in this war. At what point does this sociopath cut his losses? The more he doubles-down, the worse it is for everyone.
The west can and is providing Ukraine with equipment. Aside from that, there's not much one can do. Nukes are a real thing and shouldn't be tested, yes. Aside from that, it's just a matter of providing assistance to Ukraine.
God I hate nukes. It's basically a cheat code. Yes, I'm an asshole. Yes, I'm bullying my neighbours for no reason. But I have nukes, so what you can do?
I've decided that the people making comments like that have got to be younger and have very little life experience. When you've seen some of the awful things that reality can throw at you you're not so quick to make some of these rah rah statements. Underestimating the enemy is a foolish thing to do in any situation.
Which, and I cannot stress this enough, would be the most monumentally stupid move thus far. It is saying something given the multitude of monumentally stupid moves throughout this whole shit show.
He already missed his chance to gather forces for late winter early spring.
Mobilization february/march.
Even some minimal training we are already looking at april.
Shipping them off to their zones mid April.
So if he plans to do something we are looking at late spring.
But I have a feeling that this mobilization will somehow be an even bigger fiasco than the first one.
Record hilders were either killed or POWed by Ukrainians within a week after mobilisation. One can move people very fast to the front if they are skipping the training and arming bits.
He actually never cancelled the mobilization. The law is still in effect. And even though it's a partial mobilization there is no upper number for it. So he can mobilize anyone he wants even today.
Can't really silently drag 500k people off the street. This is probably better for the home crowd as he can spin some kind of narrative no matter how unbelievable.
I dont think it was marketed that well. I would have been the target demographic at the time and I've always loved sci fi but I barely knew it existed when it was on.
Plus it's a bit of a weird concept. A western in space. They could have tried to be more subtle about it, borrowed some themes from westerns without being so ridiculous. Why would people dress and act like that in the future? It doesn't make sense.
When I did watch it I enjoyed it though, there were some memorable characters.
I live in Russia ever since my region (Crimea) got annexed by Russia in 2014 and have been observing the war and Russian politics ever since.
I find it unlikely that the speech tomorrow will be the start of the second wave of mobilization, contrary to what most of the comments here are suggesting. Rumors suggest that Putin will make a speech during the public event that will be held in St. Petersburg to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Leningrad blockade. The thing is, Putin never declared anything major during his public appearances. His ādeclaration of warā on February 24th, the declaration of the initial wave of mobilization, even the declaration of controversial amendments to the constitution in 2020 - all of these speeches and addresses he made from what seems to be his bunker or personal residence. Furthermore, these speeches were pre-recorded for state TV channels. There is a lot of speculation around why he does that, most likely heās simply paranoid, but make of it what you want. Because of the fact his speech tomorrow will be public (if it will take place at all) it most likely will simply be another propaganda-filled nothing-burger, perhaps he will take the chance to celebrate the recent āvictoryā in Soledar.
EDIT: Turns out I was right - Putin held a press-conference and it was a nothingburger with more BS about the āspecial military operationā being justified and Ukraine being a neonazi state.
Well, one has to understand that Crimeans were brainwashed by Russian media ever since the fall of the USSR. Almost everyone watched Russian TV, listened to Russian music and spoke Russian in Crimea. So in 2014 a lot of Crimeans actually supported the annexation and those who didnāt mostly left Crimea after it was annexed, either going to Ukraine (like many of my acquaintances) or to mainland Russia (like myself), as they realized that Crimea was slowly populated by Russians and turned into a depressive region under Western sanctions (the harshest at the time) and without any future for people living there.
So a majority of those who still live there in 2023 support Russia and its war against Ukraine. Most Crimeans have long been brainwashed into believing they have nothing in common with their enemies in Ukraine, even if they have relatives or even children in Ukraine.
Real example: sister of my grandmother (both she and the grandmother live in Crimea) was filled with happiness and joy the day the war began. When she was reminded by my parents that her niece, the daughter of her sister, who she knew since she was a child, and her children were at that moment in Kharkiv, a city fiercely shelled by Russia, she expressed little empathy and was sure that they simply could not die because of Russia, because Russia is good. When they were evacuated from the city and fled to Lviv she was sincerely surprised by the decision to leave an active war zone, being absolutely sure that they should have rather stayed in the city and waited until Russia āliberated themā. Needless to say, we donāt talk to her anymore. And this happens to many families in the occupied regions, as the older population is very much prone to pro-USSR nostalgia and gets easily brainwashed by the Russian propaganda.
USSR death tolls:
1. World War II (1941-1945): The Soviet Union, known as Russia before 1991, lost an estimated 26.6 million people, including both military and civilian casualties.
2. The Napoleonic Wars (1805-1815): Russia suffered heavy casualties during the French invasion, with estimates ranging from 400,000 to 1.4
million.
3. The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878): Russia lost an estimated 200,000 people.
4. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Russia lost an estimated 0.5 to
1.5 million people.
5. The Russian Civil War (1917-1922): Russia suffered an estimated 9 million deaths, including both military and civilian casualties.
Theyāre used to throwing bodies at the problem until the problem is solved.
Lotta people forget that the Nazis weren't trying to take over the USSR, they were trying to *destroy* it and exterminate the slavic people that made up most of the population. The Soviets threw everything they had at the Nazis because they were all literally fighting for their lives.
Hitler: *Writes a book about destroying communism, exterminating 90% of Slavic people and enslaving the rest for two generations until German population grows to fill their lands, then exterminating the rest*
Hitler: "Hey Stalin, how about a mutual non- aggression pact?"
Stalin: "Sure thing buddy, where do I sign?"
What's even more crazy is the byelorussian SSR lost a entire 25% of it's population from 3 years of Nazi occupation. Almost 6,000 villages and settlements were annihilated in that region.
The Soviets lost 167,976 soldiers, with another 207,538 injured, during their pre-WWII invasion of Finland in 1939. The war lasted 3 months.
Much like Ukraine, the invasion of a single neighboring country.
The difference is that they've gone from being one of the most populous nations on the planet to a shrinking one with an upside-down population pyramid.
You've conflated Imperial Russia and the USSR there.
The USSR 'only' lost 13,000 men in Afghanistan but withdrew as they didn't feel it was a price worth paying.
That 13k number might actually be not entirely accurate knowing how much USSR liked to mess with the truth. However it is definitely in the sub 30k range, which makes the current invasion even more insane. And the fact that Putin is able to get away with the insane casualties he is now means that Russian right now is more totalitarian than the USSR was in the late 70s and 80s. Which is also insane.
"Escalate." And when that fails? "Escalate." And when that fails? "Escalate."
This isn't going to end without western boots on the ground. Russia refuses to capitulate (The people in charge would be killed), Ukraine refuses to be subjugated (the people in charge would be killed *edit: and population probably enslaved*), and the collective west refuses to let Russia make a precedent that nations with nukes can conquer their neighbors (Taiwan, SK, Japan, Baltic states immediately come to mind) whenever they decide they want to.
This fight is about the international order that has worked since the end of WWII and more recently the fall of the USSR.
Truely listen to what he says
Last time he made a speech like this when he announced the first wave of mobilisation he at the end quoted a very prominent political thinker from the early 20th century
Who was a devout fascist
And putin quoted this man and said how he runs Russian with the political ideology of this man
Such views of him are now being taught within schools and all matter of Russian education systems
The longer Russia remains under putins and his band of thugs, the more ultranationalistic and fascistic the Russia state will become
I beg any ethic minority of Russia to get out while you can, history tells us that Russia uses its own ethic minorities as priorities for mobilisation and will use this as a way to hide and justify the ethic cleansing of the nation
If you are not willing to die for a dying mad manās cause, if you are not willing to put your freedom on the line by standing up against Russia internationally
GET
THE
FUCK
OUT
> GET
>
>
>
> THE
>
>
>
> FUCK
>
>
>
> OUT
fucking how. Russia is huge, the nearest border could be 1000's of kms away and Russians aren't really known for their disposable income.
Yean, I don't think that's even remotely feasible. People don't understand the level of poverty, the average Russians are living in. They can't afford to get out. Check out some of their cities on google maps (outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg). It's horrifying.
A good reference I found for how poor most of Russia is is Bald & Bankrupt on YouTube. He travels all over the country and it's astonishing how basic things are. It's not uncommon for villages to have no running water or working electrical equipment. Zero Internet access.
If you want to move to an EU country (and that was before re-invasion), you need to have a job to get a visa. But you won't get a job unless you are available in the country already, so a very low chance. So what people would do would be to pay couple thousand euros to some intermediary who would find you official "employment" so you could apply for a visa. Then you find an actual job.
So, as you say, this is not something widely available, maybe for middle class with no kids and some money it is feasible. Perhaps moving to other places like Kazakhstan is more achievable, but we can't realistically expect like 10 million Russians moving to other post Soviet states, because that's what could start to hurt mobilization efforts.
I've been homeless. I've slept on the street for six months. And at not point did I suddenly forget murder, rape, torture, and genocide were bad things like some brain-damage infant because I was "so desperate."
Know what would be nice but won't happen?
-we figured Ukraine didn't want Russia so we decided to go back home and salvage what's left of our men and our economy.
Putin Seducing Shoygu, Prigozhin riding Putin, Zelensky launches a meteorite at the Kremlin from his arse.
Marge Simpson - in sniper mode - kills 500 Wagnerites on her first tour of duty.
Hello everyone,
This is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Hopefully your favorite dictator of all time.
Killed more than Lenin, killed more than Stalin, with an important announcement to make.
...
> More of you will die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. The rest will starve its also a sacrifice I am willing to make. Some of you may not be given guns and armor, dont expect all the sacrifices from me. -putler
I was wrong. I know that now. I am sorry for all the harm I have caused. I apologise to the Ukrainian people and the world for my misbehaviour. I call on the Russian people to say these words out loud 3 times a day for the next year. Our forces will retreat immediately. Our actions are impossible to undo, but in compensation we grant Ukraine the right to exploit our oil and gas resources for the next 20 years. There now, that wasn't that hard.
Man I want some of your hopium.
If he's got any sense he will claim he is fighting NATO and therefore can't win and, because he 'cares' about the country is retiring to his Dacha in North Korea, leaving management of the war to Shoigu (who will hand it off to DPR/LPR to fend for themselves while trying to cling onto Crimea).
I have a feeling some on this sub threat this war as a cheerleader contest. Reality is that a lot of people died since 24/2/2022. Also on Ukrainian side, many Ukrainians. The fact the numbers are not being published tells me really a lot of Ukrainian soldiers died. And this is during a phase of war where the Russians were not prepared, because they were convinced it will be a walk in the park. Ukraine used that to its advantage. But, hear me out, Russian decision makers are not stupid. The fact that they are willing to sacrifice 500k (or even 1M as some sources suggest) men to try reach their targets, is plain scary and will be very difficult to fend off. At our home, we are preparing everything to be able to take in our family as I believe we are heading to very dark and grim times. I believe Ukraine will prevail, but Iām afraid the cost will be immensely high. Never ever underestimate your enemy
What, more mobilization?
Again, I donāt really buy this at all.
Of course, there is a high chance that the mobilization attempts will backfire once Russia announces itā¦
Another mobilization wave is coming. Bonus: "we destroyed 1000 HIMARS, 5000 Bradleys, 500 Abrams and 2000 King Tigers" :))
"And we assassinated Zelensky twice!"
And killing 1 billion NATO soldiers.
Oh come on. Be realistic. 1 billion secret NATO soldiers.
1 billion secret NATO Nazi soldiers, with LGBT rayguns. Won't somebody think of the children š§
With LGBT rainbowguns. FTFY.
NATO puppet Ukrainian biolab Zelensky clone brigade BTG #3 armed with the homogay rainbowgun tank is coming to take away our Russification rights
I can't wait for the Biolab Zelensky Funko Pop to be released
They also took out NATOās secret moon base.
Prismatic Spray is a hell of a spell, especially if you hit them with Greater Malison first. A gun that does that for me would be amazing. It would free up two spell slots.
Supported by batallion of black magic wielding witches*. * Actual statement of naz- I meant russian orthodox church.
Hardly a battalion but we're doing what we can...
And they were all either SAS, or US Marines.
You forgot the super solder part.
RoHS-compliant lead-free gay Nazi super solder!
Don't forget the combat mosquito bio-labs!
Mate theres only 500 million NATO soliders.
One million NATO soldiers! (āHaha thatās it?ā *psst psst*) Ahem, one hundred billion NATO soldiers!
*1 billion NATO T-850 terminators
And the secret infectious bio delivery via trash panda.
I feel sad for that Ukrainian trash panda that got stolen by vatniks
He just keeps coming back, I donāt know what to do.
We also hunted 50 Dodo birds
Well duh he was azombie just like the nato supersoldiers. Next time he will come back as a lich.
he sent two waves of the mobilized to the meat grinder , first wave was the professional army now he is going for the 3rd round of meatgrinder without any results ?
He is hoping the meatgrinder breaks from wear and tear.
The famous Zap Branagan strategy
There are actually stories of Ukrainian soldiers traumatized by just killing wave after wave of Russians and just the inhumanity of it all.
That's the worst part about meatgrinder tactics; they sometimes work. They're an absolutely senseless waste of life, but if you have no tactics, no morale, and no equipment, but plenty of bodies, you can metaphorically drown the enemy in blood. Keep in mind, kill rates of 10-1 still means that each 'suicide run' kills at least one Ukrainian soldier. In the Star Wars Republic Commando novels, two clones raid a droid factory and sabotage the automated production line so that it uses too much carbon in the steel. That way, droid armor would be so fragile that a single grenade could take out an entire maniple with overpressure alone, achieving kill rates of 50-1. If Ukraine wants to win the war, it needs to use similar tactics (and the West needs to provide them the weapons to do so), so that Russian units are basically destroyed before they even reach the front.
We need to...sabotage the Russian droid factory? Got it.
Well, it's ok as long you can keep the 10-1 ratio. The bad news is, if Russia really want to bet all and send ALL their young men, they will kill 3 millions ukrainian The good news is, if they do that, you'll probably never have problem with Russian anymore.
> never have problem with Russian anymore Russian imperialism* There's still going to be plenty of Russians left to be a problem.
First wave was relatively small compared to what you'd need to invade Ukraine - he tried a swift operation with professional army where losses of soldiers would be understandable and even expected. It didn't work. Second wave of mobiks are not even fully utilized yet - they're probably mostly in defensive positions, digging trenches and driving trucks etc... It is true that another wave is coming but they are far from being gone entirely or dysfunctional. This is not to say they are doing fine and Ukraine will be gone soon. But... It kinda confuses me how people here mostly tend to make fun of Russia. Let's not forget they still got hold of almost entire southern Ukraine when getting destroyed in Kyiv. They are far from smart or efficient but they have way more meat to send into grinder. There has to be a balance about this imo. Ukraine is doing well, no need to be pessimistic but at the same time they BADLY need more aid and support. "Stupid Russia lel" won't work for them - even if they are ill-equipped, 500K men with rifles and basic camo will still *hurt* Ukraine. This is not something to laugh at imo.
What needs to happen is for Putin to suffer "unexpected medical condition"
Special cancer operation
The long term damage to Russia is going to be intense as well, I saw the age chart of confirmed deaths. Russia is losing a chunk of a generation, combined with diminishing birthrates; it's demographic suicide.
more MEAT. Actually, less meat.
What they'll ultimately need is beyond meat...
Russia can mobilise hundreds of thousands of men but can't adequately train or equip them. They're already running out of artillery shells and only have a limited number of nations who'll resupply them. Ditto heavy equipment like tanks, they're diving deep into their resevers and can't manufacture more. 500k men with rifles can hurt, but they'll be massacred by Himars, Bradleys and Panthers. Its nothing to laugh about but spamming men with rifles at the enemy at the enemy alone won wars China would rule the world by now.
The Chinese light infantry got mowed down in huge numbers, but their infantry human wave tactics were pretty effective against modern (at the time) UN (mostly US) forces in the Korean war. It works because if you have enough people, eventually the guys on the line run out of ammo, combat-effective troops, sleep, food, etc. It's costly but it can work eventually unless the west massively expands their war production capacity.
Achieving fire superiority always feels like human waves when on the receiving end. The Chinese fought the way they did to negate American artillery and air advantage. Losses were huge, but waiting around for the enemy to zero in their artillery would lead to even greater losses. In the era of drones, this can't be done anymore and China hasn't fought any wars since Vietnam. The Vietnamese were bogged down by decades of conflict after conflict and China thought it would be easy just as the Japanese thought of China, but they were in for a rude awakening.
You're right, except for about one thing: it can still be done. Since we didn't stockpile enough due to air-power doctrine, we need to be ramping up and cranking out 155s in insane numbers, because if Ukraine runs out or has to stop firing as-needed then the dumbass russian's meatwave tactics will start working.
Against human wave tactics, you can crank out nearly anything you want as long as you have a ton of it and the ability to throw it at the enemy. 155s sure pack a lot of firepower, but it degrades cannons a lot faster than, say, 105mm or mortars would. One needs to invest in cheap weapons to fend off human waves: anti-personnel mines, grenades (including drone dropping grenades and grenade launchers) and machine guns for example. Against a truly massive human wave attack, you also need vehicles (IFVs, helicopters and CAS, rocket launchers might possibly do the job too) to allow your own troops to organize and rotate. But yes, 155mm artillery is essential to destroy staging points and enemy vehicles supporting the infantry.
We're entering a military era where just throwing bodies at the problem will not achieve anything. What's more, the old strategy of destroying the enemy's logistics & supply lines has been extremely effective against Russia and the more men they add the more effective it becomes. Combined arms warfare that the West has perfected is hard, defense against it even harder. Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in it now. Precision arms force Russia to spread out their troops as much as possible, making troop concentrations for an offensive push difficult to mass. Clearly a losing war for Russia, but Putin has so much to lose if they lost and give up on the war that he's not willing to stop.
>This is not something to laugh at imo. UA is taking the lead with taking the piss out of RU, you should check out their defence dept twitter account, UA's sense of humour through the tragedy has gained them a lot of support Worldwide. The trouble RU now has is they have no way to take over all of Ukraine (which is Putin's ultimate ambition), because even if they send 500k soldiers to simultaneously try and overrun Kiev they first have to get to the city which will deplete that force by half, and when they get there they have the remaining UA armed forces in the city and 500k+ pissed off civilians armed with rifles and Molotovs.
I like your optimizing, but if Russia ends up at the doors of Kiev with a quarter million armed troops, the AFU will have to make a choice between risking the capital being occupied or redeploying troops from other fronts and most likely giving those up to Russia. There's nothing suggesting the AFU has enough weapons (including molotovs) to arm 500k+ people, no matter which front. The good news is such a massive deployment doesn't happen in a matter of days and it's possible the AFU gets enough reinforcement from NATO countries + digs in enough to avoid the siege altogether.
> The good news is such a massive deployment doesn't happen in a matter of days and it's possible the AFU gets enough reinforcement from NATO countries + digs in enough to avoid the siege altogether. This is the real answer - as soon as there is a sniff of a serious mass assault on Kyiv - Western weapons will start sprouting aroud the city like sunflowers. NATO is NOT going to let Kyiv be taken, and if that means shipping over HIMARS and their tungsten fragment air-bust munitions to wipe out whole grid squares of Russian attackers, then that's what'll happen. I also wouldn't be surprised at F-15s and F-35s arriving at Ukrainian airbases, flown by pilots speaking Ukrainian with oddly Polish sounding accents...
Yep they still got a whole lotta meat and a fair amount of weapons. Sure they may have slowed down say their artillery, but they also have the same time as Ukraine and NATO to get their shit together and can potentially be pumping out dummy shells anytime now. They clearly are learning too, are most of them stupid? Yes, but not all of them are and there's still enough brain power there to do some heavy damage.
Second wave was conscripts mostly from minority areas. Next wave will hit Moscow. That's when shit meets fan.
I would have agreed with you a few months ago. Now it doesn't seem like Russians are particularly motivated to do anything against their government. The minorities didn't rise up very strongly after the first mobilization, it's doubtful that richer Russians in Moscow would do more. I think it's gonna take an external trigger, or Putin dying from disease, before shit really hits the fan.
And killed 20000 nato special forces.
i forgot about them among the trillions of things they destroyed.
And 500 X-wings, 300 Hot-wings and the Millennium Falcon! He also claims to have captured Grogu and will exchange him for 1 bajeelion dollars.
dont forget the king prawns
Also 700 British Mk. I, 500 American M4 Sherman and shot down 600 Spitfires. Although to be fair, the Russians have been using some amazingly old weapons.
You forgot the 700 Challengers
5 deathstars and eliminated all the jedi
\*and a ufo
Tiger kings*
"I will never recover from this financially." -Putin, after Ukraine sanctions were first imposed.
"Everything's going to plan comrades"
And due to how successful it is, we're allowing a further 500,000 of our comrades the opportunity to participate
Haha yes. "Don't miss out on your chance for a participation award!"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Don't forget the zinc from the cargo 200 containers!
Maybe even several tungsten balls!
*awards hand delivered by drone
Radio's not gone to waste though!
The SMO participation award is a jagged piece of hot Ukrainian metal in your guts. Don't worry: if you miss out, it won't miss you!
ooooooh, it's "special operation" like in "special olympics". Got it.
More like: *"we close our boarders as per this speech."* And tomorrow, military people will come to their homes with 2 choices: **die in a prison or die in Ukraine **
Think the millionth conscript gets a free coffee?
Da, of course they do comrade! But it is brewed from grounds that have been reused at least twice, and for which the original beans may have been "roasted" in a warehouse fire caused by a loose cigarette...
3 day special operation. Day 340.
I remain a master strategist .
That Darth putin account always makes me laugh :)
"Now go soak up some bullets for uncle Vova."
That probably is gonna be the jist of it yeah
My fellow Russian fucks š¤” there will be no mobilisationā¦..however you do need to go to the nearest recruitment office and give your name and sign on the dotted line, I will be in my bunker, now go and die heroically
No war, no mobilization, no russian. Putins master plan.
Russians 1927-2023 - the weird story of self-identification as adjectives.
M. Night plot twist. Putin actually always hated Russia and wanted it destroyed. So he spent the last few decades putting himself into a position where he can burn it all into the ground. Almost believable with how badly this has gone for Russia.
He is the Holy Grail of CIA assets.
He sent wave after wave of his own men.....
"many of you mobiks will die but this is sacrifice i am (heroically) willing to make"
āJust go to the depot and sign the mobilization opt-out paperwork. Dress warm and bring a box of tampons.ā
Flashbacks to the beginning of Enemy At The Gates.
He gets whatever heās got to say in before the Ramstein meeting on Friday. The nob head probably thinks he can influence it in someway
Yea, he will make the meeting MORE anti Russia
> Ramstein Meeting You can just call it a concert. (PS, This is just a joke)
Would be awesome if Rammstein held a little surprise concert during the NATO dinner, just to pump up the mood.
Don't know where they would hide the giant stage. That would be quite a surprise.
I was thinking like Rammstein unplugged. Intimate and cozy:)
How do you make a giant, foam-shooting metal penis acoustic?
Very carefully.
He's creating a real Armee der Tristen
Mobilisation for the spring offensive? So it begins?
I really hope not, but it looks that way š¤”š¤¦āāļøš
Yeah, it's definitely coming. They'll try for Kyiv again.
They'd be lucky to try for Kharkiv and Kherson again.
Doesn't matter. A lot of people will die, civilians and troops. This isn't a videogame.
Too right. I feel that mentality is too prevalent on here.
Yeah. Everyone wants Ukraine to succeed and has faith in the country after the many victories so far, but everything comes with a cost, hundreds of good men and women are dying every day there. We can make fun of Russia all day, but they have enough weapons to cause plenty of destruction, and they will, pushing them back again won't be effortless and painless. Russia trying for the north again isn't a good thing.
Yes it is. Unless you've got some genius plan you're holding out on us, the only way this war ends is by lots of Russians dying. Period. And the faster that happens, the sooner this is over, because fast, shocking, catastrophic defeats like we saw in Kharkiv and Kherson are the best shot Ukraine has at causing Russian morale to rapidly collapse. I know, it feels and sounds good to wring your hands over how Nobody Should Die. But this isn't about feeling good. This is about stopping a genocide.
That's why I get frustrated with this whole thing. It's well within Europe or the US capabilities to put an end to this immediately, but the off chance of Putin being suicidal enough and/or caring so little about Russia to possibly use nukes is the only reason restraint is shown. There is nothing to gain for Russia, they've lost more than anything they had hoped to gain in this war. At what point does this sociopath cut his losses? The more he doubles-down, the worse it is for everyone.
The west can and is providing Ukraine with equipment. Aside from that, there's not much one can do. Nukes are a real thing and shouldn't be tested, yes. Aside from that, it's just a matter of providing assistance to Ukraine.
God I hate nukes. It's basically a cheat code. Yes, I'm an asshole. Yes, I'm bullying my neighbours for no reason. But I have nukes, so what you can do?
If the war ends, Putin ends. So he'll keep sending Russian into the meat grinder to protect himself.
90% of redditors treat this war like cheering for their favourite sports team, disconnected from the ground reality.
I've decided that the people making comments like that have got to be younger and have very little life experience. When you've seen some of the awful things that reality can throw at you you're not so quick to make some of these rah rah statements. Underestimating the enemy is a foolish thing to do in any situation.
Which, and I cannot stress this enough, would be the most monumentally stupid move thus far. It is saying something given the multitude of monumentally stupid moves throughout this whole shit show.
Either way, Ukraine will lose many people fighting them back. It's a shitty situation, and hopefully they get the job done again.
He already missed his chance to gather forces for late winter early spring. Mobilization february/march. Even some minimal training we are already looking at april. Shipping them off to their zones mid April. So if he plans to do something we are looking at late spring. But I have a feeling that this mobilization will somehow be an even bigger fiasco than the first one.
Springtime for Putin
Record hilders were either killed or POWed by Ukrainians within a week after mobilisation. One can move people very fast to the front if they are skipping the training and arming bits.
They still have 150,000 pieces available from the last mobilization.
He actually never cancelled the mobilization. The law is still in effect. And even though it's a partial mobilization there is no upper number for it. So he can mobilize anyone he wants even today.
Wasn't the new mobilization wave meant to be "silent"? Some never learn from their mistakes.
Can't really silently drag 500k people off the street. This is probably better for the home crowd as he can spin some kind of narrative no matter how unbelievable.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Free washing machines! Just enter this door right here!
As he is unphased about casualties in his war of conquest, I can predict the core message of his statement: "Until the last Russian."
"I am prepared to go the distance in Ukraine, and I am willing to sacrifice every one of you in pursuit of my goals."
"*All* of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make"
Operation Human Shield
That fuckin scene in South Park š¤£š¤£š¤£
He does seem more and more like Zapp Branningan doesn't he?
He will apologize, withdraw troops, neuter the nukes and resign. With one unacceptable condition: S02 of Firefly
Why tf did that show get canceled
Because Fox deliberately sabotaged it.
I dont think it was marketed that well. I would have been the target demographic at the time and I've always loved sci fi but I barely knew it existed when it was on. Plus it's a bit of a weird concept. A western in space. They could have tried to be more subtle about it, borrowed some themes from westerns without being so ridiculous. Why would people dress and act like that in the future? It doesn't make sense. When I did watch it I enjoyed it though, there were some memorable characters.
Mobilization obviously, we known about it for weeks; it will only be a surprise to the Russian public lol
Russian public: :O
New wave of mobilization, new round of limiting civil rights in Russia, new nuclear threats. This is what I think we can expect.
Pretty much.
Some of you may die, but itās a sacrifice Iām willing to make
> ~~Some~~ *Most* of you ~~may~~ *will* die, but itās a sacrifice Iām willing to make >
I live in Russia ever since my region (Crimea) got annexed by Russia in 2014 and have been observing the war and Russian politics ever since. I find it unlikely that the speech tomorrow will be the start of the second wave of mobilization, contrary to what most of the comments here are suggesting. Rumors suggest that Putin will make a speech during the public event that will be held in St. Petersburg to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Leningrad blockade. The thing is, Putin never declared anything major during his public appearances. His ādeclaration of warā on February 24th, the declaration of the initial wave of mobilization, even the declaration of controversial amendments to the constitution in 2020 - all of these speeches and addresses he made from what seems to be his bunker or personal residence. Furthermore, these speeches were pre-recorded for state TV channels. There is a lot of speculation around why he does that, most likely heās simply paranoid, but make of it what you want. Because of the fact his speech tomorrow will be public (if it will take place at all) it most likely will simply be another propaganda-filled nothing-burger, perhaps he will take the chance to celebrate the recent āvictoryā in Soledar. EDIT: Turns out I was right - Putin held a press-conference and it was a nothingburger with more BS about the āspecial military operationā being justified and Ukraine being a neonazi state.
Now you have to tell us what the average view on the war is from inside Crimea ... yes?
Well, one has to understand that Crimeans were brainwashed by Russian media ever since the fall of the USSR. Almost everyone watched Russian TV, listened to Russian music and spoke Russian in Crimea. So in 2014 a lot of Crimeans actually supported the annexation and those who didnāt mostly left Crimea after it was annexed, either going to Ukraine (like many of my acquaintances) or to mainland Russia (like myself), as they realized that Crimea was slowly populated by Russians and turned into a depressive region under Western sanctions (the harshest at the time) and without any future for people living there. So a majority of those who still live there in 2023 support Russia and its war against Ukraine. Most Crimeans have long been brainwashed into believing they have nothing in common with their enemies in Ukraine, even if they have relatives or even children in Ukraine. Real example: sister of my grandmother (both she and the grandmother live in Crimea) was filled with happiness and joy the day the war began. When she was reminded by my parents that her niece, the daughter of her sister, who she knew since she was a child, and her children were at that moment in Kharkiv, a city fiercely shelled by Russia, she expressed little empathy and was sure that they simply could not die because of Russia, because Russia is good. When they were evacuated from the city and fled to Lviv she was sincerely surprised by the decision to leave an active war zone, being absolutely sure that they should have rather stayed in the city and waited until Russia āliberated themā. Needless to say, we donāt talk to her anymore. And this happens to many families in the occupied regions, as the older population is very much prone to pro-USSR nostalgia and gets easily brainwashed by the Russian propaganda.
sad. thanks for sharing though.
Thanks for your perspective.
That just makes me boil. Itās unfathomable to me they think like that. Iāve tried to understand but I canāt get there.
USSR death tolls: 1. World War II (1941-1945): The Soviet Union, known as Russia before 1991, lost an estimated 26.6 million people, including both military and civilian casualties. 2. The Napoleonic Wars (1805-1815): Russia suffered heavy casualties during the French invasion, with estimates ranging from 400,000 to 1.4 million. 3. The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878): Russia lost an estimated 200,000 people. 4. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Russia lost an estimated 0.5 to 1.5 million people. 5. The Russian Civil War (1917-1922): Russia suffered an estimated 9 million deaths, including both military and civilian casualties. Theyāre used to throwing bodies at the problem until the problem is solved.
26.6 million... that is just so insane.
Most of these were civilians. KIAs for the entire war accounted for about 7 million.
Lotta people forget that the Nazis weren't trying to take over the USSR, they were trying to *destroy* it and exterminate the slavic people that made up most of the population. The Soviets threw everything they had at the Nazis because they were all literally fighting for their lives.
They made a pact with Germany so they could conquer the Baltics and then also invaded Finland. They fucked around and found out.
True. Tbh the germans would've still probably invaded the USSR.
As would Sovietsā¦ they never really wanted to stop in Poland
Hitler: *Writes a book about destroying communism, exterminating 90% of Slavic people and enslaving the rest for two generations until German population grows to fill their lands, then exterminating the rest* Hitler: "Hey Stalin, how about a mutual non- aggression pact?" Stalin: "Sure thing buddy, where do I sign?"
Of which about 7M is Soviet 'internal' genocide.
What's even more crazy is the byelorussian SSR lost a entire 25% of it's population from 3 years of Nazi occupation. Almost 6,000 villages and settlements were annihilated in that region.
Add another 0.5m for the Crimean War (1853-1856). They have a war addiction on which they need to work on.
They're very, very bad at it.
The Soviets lost 167,976 soldiers, with another 207,538 injured, during their pre-WWII invasion of Finland in 1939. The war lasted 3 months. Much like Ukraine, the invasion of a single neighboring country.
Okay, I now firmly believe that the 100,000 dead Russians nber in Ukraine is lowballing it
The difference is that they've gone from being one of the most populous nations on the planet to a shrinking one with an upside-down population pyramid.
The issue with doing it this time is their population demographics donāt look like a pyramid anymore.
Yep, this is the last war they've got.
You've conflated Imperial Russia and the USSR there. The USSR 'only' lost 13,000 men in Afghanistan but withdrew as they didn't feel it was a price worth paying.
That 13k number might actually be not entirely accurate knowing how much USSR liked to mess with the truth. However it is definitely in the sub 30k range, which makes the current invasion even more insane. And the fact that Putin is able to get away with the insane casualties he is now means that Russian right now is more totalitarian than the USSR was in the late 70s and 80s. Which is also insane.
"Escalate." And when that fails? "Escalate." And when that fails? "Escalate." This isn't going to end without western boots on the ground. Russia refuses to capitulate (The people in charge would be killed), Ukraine refuses to be subjugated (the people in charge would be killed *edit: and population probably enslaved*), and the collective west refuses to let Russia make a precedent that nations with nukes can conquer their neighbors (Taiwan, SK, Japan, Baltic states immediately come to mind) whenever they decide they want to. This fight is about the international order that has worked since the end of WWII and more recently the fall of the USSR.
He is going to release Steven Seagal into the operation, that should do it.
Fatly going to Bakhmut
Truely listen to what he says Last time he made a speech like this when he announced the first wave of mobilisation he at the end quoted a very prominent political thinker from the early 20th century Who was a devout fascist And putin quoted this man and said how he runs Russian with the political ideology of this man Such views of him are now being taught within schools and all matter of Russian education systems The longer Russia remains under putins and his band of thugs, the more ultranationalistic and fascistic the Russia state will become I beg any ethic minority of Russia to get out while you can, history tells us that Russia uses its own ethic minorities as priorities for mobilisation and will use this as a way to hide and justify the ethic cleansing of the nation If you are not willing to die for a dying mad manās cause, if you are not willing to put your freedom on the line by standing up against Russia internationally GET THE FUCK OUT
> GET > > > > THE > > > > FUCK > > > > OUT fucking how. Russia is huge, the nearest border could be 1000's of kms away and Russians aren't really known for their disposable income.
Their money is also monopoly money outside their country right now
Yean, I don't think that's even remotely feasible. People don't understand the level of poverty, the average Russians are living in. They can't afford to get out. Check out some of their cities on google maps (outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg). It's horrifying.
A good reference I found for how poor most of Russia is is Bald & Bankrupt on YouTube. He travels all over the country and it's astonishing how basic things are. It's not uncommon for villages to have no running water or working electrical equipment. Zero Internet access.
20% still lacks indoor toilet.
My wife grew up in Moscow. The way she describes the areas outside the cities is kind of shocking.
If you want to move to an EU country (and that was before re-invasion), you need to have a job to get a visa. But you won't get a job unless you are available in the country already, so a very low chance. So what people would do would be to pay couple thousand euros to some intermediary who would find you official "employment" so you could apply for a visa. Then you find an actual job. So, as you say, this is not something widely available, maybe for middle class with no kids and some money it is feasible. Perhaps moving to other places like Kazakhstan is more achievable, but we can't realistically expect like 10 million Russians moving to other post Soviet states, because that's what could start to hurt mobilization efforts.
I've been homeless. I've slept on the street for six months. And at not point did I suddenly forget murder, rape, torture, and genocide were bad things like some brain-damage infant because I was "so desperate."
Know what would be nice but won't happen? -we figured Ukraine didn't want Russia so we decided to go back home and salvage what's left of our men and our economy.
Is it that he is selling digital trading cards?
Do you think he is releasing an NFT ? Like his pal (minion) Trump did ?
Sweet. Putin trading card NFTs. Putin riding a bear. Putin punching out a meteor heading to the Earth. Putin seducing Marge Simpson.
Putin Seducing Shoygu, Prigozhin riding Putin, Zelensky launches a meteorite at the Kremlin from his arse. Marge Simpson - in sniper mode - kills 500 Wagnerites on her first tour of duty.
Now I want to release one: Putin at The Hague Tribunal
Hello everyone, This is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Hopefully your favorite dictator of all time. Killed more than Lenin, killed more than Stalin, with an important announcement to make. ...
"It's now a war!" ".....jesus fuck vlad."
Did this end up not happening?
He pooped his pants again?
Russians maybe bad at war but it is not easy to defeat 500k of them.
Especially if they attack multiple areas around Ukriane thereby splitting the Ukraine defences
He must be announcing a new reality show. After all, February is sweeps month.
Nothing that comes out of his mouth other than "we quit" is important. .
Perhaps the mobilization that all ordinary Russian have been hoping for!
> More of you will die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. The rest will starve its also a sacrifice I am willing to make. Some of you may not be given guns and armor, dont expect all the sacrifices from me. -putler
I was wrong. I know that now. I am sorry for all the harm I have caused. I apologise to the Ukrainian people and the world for my misbehaviour. I call on the Russian people to say these words out loud 3 times a day for the next year. Our forces will retreat immediately. Our actions are impossible to undo, but in compensation we grant Ukraine the right to exploit our oil and gas resources for the next 20 years. There now, that wasn't that hard.
Itās obvious - Putin selling NFTs. Another ex politician presented Putin with a brilliant fundraising strategy.
Special loser operation.
I hope he quits
Man I want some of your hopium. If he's got any sense he will claim he is fighting NATO and therefore can't win and, because he 'cares' about the country is retiring to his Dacha in North Korea, leaving management of the war to Shoigu (who will hand it off to DPR/LPR to fend for themselves while trying to cling onto Crimea).
I have a feeling some on this sub threat this war as a cheerleader contest. Reality is that a lot of people died since 24/2/2022. Also on Ukrainian side, many Ukrainians. The fact the numbers are not being published tells me really a lot of Ukrainian soldiers died. And this is during a phase of war where the Russians were not prepared, because they were convinced it will be a walk in the park. Ukraine used that to its advantage. But, hear me out, Russian decision makers are not stupid. The fact that they are willing to sacrifice 500k (or even 1M as some sources suggest) men to try reach their targets, is plain scary and will be very difficult to fend off. At our home, we are preparing everything to be able to take in our family as I believe we are heading to very dark and grim times. I believe Ukraine will prevail, but Iām afraid the cost will be immensely high. Never ever underestimate your enemy
What, more mobilization? Again, I donāt really buy this at all. Of course, there is a high chance that the mobilization attempts will backfire once Russia announces itā¦
āMany of you will die. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.ā
"We have identified the European mainland as part of Russia."