You should tell that to these people because I'm sure they would like to tell you about it:
If fear and horror have flatlined through repetition on Ukraine’s southern front, however, the soldiers fighting there still have enough emotional reserve to express scorn for those in Ukraine and abroad who believed that a fast handout of western war machines would bring quick results to a war that few on the front see an end to.
“When I hear of people sitting on their sofas at home or further afield saying, ‘Oh, the Ukrainian army have got Bradleys and Leopards now, they’ll show the Russians what’s what,’ I clasp my head in my hands,” said Boyets, sounding suddenly exhausted as he stood up to receive his orders for the night’s attack. “And I wish only that they could come here and see the reality of our fight.”
Lol:
This left Ihor's unit, with their three weeks of NATO basic training and two months' deployment in Kharkiv Oblast, one-on-one with professional Russian troops with superior firepower.
The casualties were only recovered by nightfall. An undisclosed number didn't make it, including some of Ihor's friends from the unit.
"I lost brothers in arms there," he said. "I haven't been back since, and I don't want to go back. What I went through there is just chaos."
Soldiers from different brigades told the Kyiv Independent that the Russians in this area are experienced and well-equipped soldiers, extensively stocked with artillery shells and MLRS rockets.
Soldiers from the 32nd are open about how in over their heads they often feel. The infantrymen talk about being outmatched by the competent and seemingly fearless Russian troops they saw on this axis of attack.
"Everything is not like what you read in daily briefings and on the news," said Volodymyr, an infantry sergeant with the brigade, who was in the thick of the fighting.
Like most units, the 32nd is starved for vehicles and artillery ammo. Most of the good equipment is deployed to the counteroffensive on the Zaporizhzhia front.
It also lacks battlefield experience, from low ranks to commanding officers. Nor do they have many options to draw on somebody else's. The year 2022 ground down Ukraine's supply of experienced warfighters to the point where there can be said to be a shortage.
However, the same soldiers who spoke to the Kyiv Independent didn't hide their scorn about how the training prepared them for a war that doesn't exist in Ukraine. They said the NATO officers don't understand the reality on the ground.
"A NATO infantryman knows he's supported and can advance with the confidence that there's a high likelihood that he won't be killed or maimed," Ihor said.
The NATO way of war calls for massive preparatory airstrikes and artillery barrages and demining before the infantry is sent in, he added.
It usually doesn't work that way in Ukraine.
Between the country's tiny, old air force, ancient T-64s, and a continuing shortage of artillery shells and infantry vehicles, it often falls to infantry to hold the line against Russian probing attacks and occasional assaults, supported by overwhelming artillery and huge numbers of drones.
Troops said they sometimes struggle to apply NATO small unit tactics because there often isn't enough cover to do so.
Zgurets said that the instructors in Germany put a lot of emphasis on teaching urban combat. But the skills of how to smoke an enemy out from a trench, how to build an assault group, and coordinate it with artillery and drone support were lacking.
The style of battle in the Ukrainian countryside, blending World War I trench combat and 21st-century tech and tactics, are only seen in Ukraine — they are outside NATO's wheelhouse.
Furthermore, the translators that are used often lack a military background and fail to convey accurate commands or responses between instructors and trainees, Zgurets added.
He said that it would be helpful for some of these instructors to visit Ukraine.
"European countries can correct their training," Zgurets said. "There has been a mutual understanding of experiences and concerns, and this is the moment when they can be cleared away."
"None of the guys will want to talk to you," he said. "They don't want to think about it."
Volodymyr himself refused to speak, but once Ihor began explaining the situation, he eventually joined the conversation in fragments, adding this or that observation. By the end, Volodymyr can barely contain his bleak descriptions of the vagaries of combat.
"A heroic feat — to jump out from that basement and shoot aimlessly in their general direction, then end up without an arm or a leg, or just dead?" Volodymyr said. "What's the point?"
To get to the positions, soldiers have to walk on foot for five kilometers in the dead of night, with no sources of light, while carrying all of their incredibly heavy gear.
The positions themselves were ruins, with few places to hide. It's dangerous to stick a limb out from what cover remained, let alone go to the bathroom. Because the Russians in this area are relatively sharp, with professional troops and special forces in addition to conscripts from prisons or the general population. They’re well-screened and show little signs of fear.
"They have night vision drones, Orlans, and other tech; they see everything," Volodymyr said. Many of these drones are equipped with droppable munitions, having learned from the Ukrainians using this technique in 2022.
The feeling of constantly being watched and targeted is hugely demoralizing for the Ukrainian troops.
"It locks you up, you want to take certain actions, but you can't because the eye of Sauron is always watching," Ihor said, referencing the villain and master of the orcish horde from the Lord of the Rings.
A tank platoon commander named Vladyslav recalls how the first time a Ukrainian tried to use a tank radio, the Russians immediately zeroed in on it and buried it in artillery. Since then, they learned never to use communications devices more powerful than a hand-held. Enemy troops are too-well positioned to punish any slip-ups.
"They (Russians) are sitting on some of the most advantageous positions in the region," said a tank commander with the callsign Yenot.
Infantrymen criticized their training as unrealistic for a scenario when you’re out of everything but the enemy.
Soldiers also laid blame on their command for specific decisions, for example, taking up a position in a narrow basement that was impossible to escape quickly if the conditions turned life-threatening. Ihor lost some people he knew that way.
Russia's massive artillery advantage throughout the country and its predominance of drones and electronic warfare on this part of the front, don't help either.
These explanations make sense but they do nothing to cheer up the men going into battle.
https://kyivindependent.com/new-brigade-bears-heavy-brunt-of-russias-onslaught-in-kharkiv-oblast/
The most hilarious part is they WISH they were trained like the Russians:
, it'd take a huge investment for training programs to be able to replicate Russian tactics.
"They struggle to cope" writes Business Insider
NATO-trained recruits fighting in northeastern Ukraine are feeling demoralized as they struggle to cope with Russia's better-equipped and "fearless" soldiers, according to a new report by the Kyiv Independent.
https://news.yahoo.com/nato-trained-ukrainian-recruits-admit-134632629.html
Soldiers back from the front line are weary, and they do not mind admitting it. More was expected of this summer’s counteroffensive than they have been able to achieve.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-09-24/ukraine-offensive-against-russia-is-too-slow-for-us-uk-and-eu
Wherever the fault lies, it is clear that something went wrong. “It seems that Kyiv had no contingency plans that could be quickly implemented in case the attack stalled
https://www.economist.com/international/2023/09/12/are-ukraines-tactics-working
The four-month-old counteroffensive has so far disappointed Ukrainian and Western hopes for a major breakthrough.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ukraines-slow-counteroffensive-building-momentum-analysis/story?id=102970839
The New Voice of Ukraine Wed, September 20, 2023
Zelenskyy addresses possibility of major breakthrough in Ukraine’s counteroffensive this year
No one knows if a major breakthrough in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive is possible this year, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with the U.S. television channel CNN on Sept. 19.
“I think nobody knows, really,” said the Ukrainian president.
- The weapon depots are so empty that multiple defense chiefs (of NATO) are calling it an emergency
- Multiple NATO defense chiefs have recently held a NATO secret meeting in Norway to discuss a critical lack of ammunition within the alliance.
- They point out that they're unable to buy more than what they used to buy because what they usually buy has increased in price because the production has barely increased compared to the demand
That’s a harsh reality for the Ukrainians to endure, especially as criticisms swell over the slow counteroffensive.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/17/europe/ukraine-shell-supplies-intl/index.html
Mood in Ukraine is worsening due to high casualties and prospects for a protracted war — Telegraph
“If the war drags on for another one or two years, the strain on Ukraine’s limited human resources could become enormous,” said one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces officers, whose company suffered huge losses during the attack through minefields. He also added that the personnel who replaced the dead lacked both training and motivation
“Every second person now knows someone who died in battle. I have lost count of my friends who died,” said MP Dmitry Natalukha
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/16/mood-sours-ukraine-braces-long-war/
… Military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine complain that NATO instructors do not understand the specifics of military operations in the country at all and prepare them inefficiently, writes the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Independent, which spoke with several fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fighting in the Kharkiv direction.
"It's not like what you hear in daily briefings and read on the news," said one military official.
According to him, Russian troops in the area are superior to Ukrainian ones in experience, equipment and weapons. According to the Ukrainian military, alliance officers do not understand the reality on the ground.
The commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade, who goes by the callsign "Rolo" and who planned the successful assault on the village of Andriivka, described the war today as one of "attrition."
"It’s going to be a long and hard war and we need to get ready for that," he told ABC News, adding that his Russian enemy was "technologically advanced" and calling Russia’s superiority in the air "a huge problem."
One soldier warned that Russia has a large stockpile of its feared Lancet explosive attack drones, which have been used to kill Ukrainian forces.
Rolo also said his men had little way of responding to Russia’s advanced Ka-52 "Alligator" attack helicopters, which can fire armor-piercing missiles from a range of several miles.
As Rolo acknowledged, his men are now facing a formidable Russian enemy.
"You lose someone you know every single day," she told ABC News, describing the Russian enemy as "a living evil" which is "much bigger than you and has unlimited resources."
launched its counteroffensive around four months ago.
During that time Ukrainian forces have not been able to achieve any decisive breakthrough on the battlefield.
Today, Ukrainian commanders a few say they are preparing for a long fight.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/ukraines-military-commanders-preparing-long-brutal-war-reporters/story?id=103464404
Some Ukrainian soldiers sent to learn modern combat techniques in the UK, Spain, Germany or Poland are now feeling disappointed. When faced with an emergency, they sometimes find more help on YouTube.
"Things are tense. We are advancing village by village, harassing the enemy, preparing for night assaults and covering our guys. It's the infantry alone that's doing the work here, in small groups. Eventually, NATO will come to understand."
His views are not entirely in keeping with those of the NATO countries, which for the past year have been communicating extensively on the effectiveness of the training provided to Ukrainian forces and, along with equipment support, have made it the high point of their policy to help Ukraine in its war against Russia. To measure the utility of this training, which has taken place in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Poland, Le Monde visited three separate fronts, from the east to the southeast of the country. The findings are bleak.
On the same Bakhmut front, Yeyhen, 24, has vivid memories of his training in the UK in July 2022. "Translation was a problem. On one occasion, the instructors told us we had to ensure our own safety before thinking about the wounded. The Ukrainians translating understood: 'If anyone is wounded, kill them for your own safety.'"
He was surrounded by new soldiers who had just enlisted. "The activities," he continued, "were entirely limited to infantry movements without enemy fire, shells, minefields or snipers, even though that is what we do every day on the ground. Even the depth of the trenches was different from ours, and we were made to distinguish the different Russian vehicles without being told how to react if they came at us." Since his return, Yeyhen, like many others, has been learning about new weapons and tactics on YouTube.
Still shaken by the raging battles of 2022 around Kherson, in the south, where his units paid dearly to retake the town, he insisted that the enemy should not be underestimated. "Russia doesn't have a weak army, they have adapted very quickly. They have a human reservoir that we don't have and equipment in disarray. I suggest that NATO send people to the front for a month, and they will see that the situation changes every day."
"As soon as we bring out any heavy equipment, it's targeted by the Russians, and their defense system is very effective."
In May, Vassil spent 35 days in England coordinating the training of 200 soldiers alongside British and Danish instructors. "I repeatedly told them that the NATO manuals didn't apply to Ukraine, like trench warfare. Their reply was that that's how it was, everything was pre-determined."
He said that the instructors themselves do not always know exactly how to proceed. "There have been several occasions when they have gone to YouTube to find solutions, particularly for planning operations or resolving disagreements." When he asked for exercises involving the use of drones, he was told that they were not included in NATO training, and yet they are an integral part of the war in Ukraine. "The only time we were able to have them was to observe our infantry maneuvers from the air. It's the countries that are not fighting that do the teaching; it should be the other way round."
"We only have Soviet equipment here. We know how to use parts from one tank to another, but with American Bradleys, we don't know how to do it. There are too many electronics, and we've never seen a German Leopard."
He described how a recruit trained in Germany had to be sent back to the rear because he only knew how to operate in column formation, a technique that was soon abandoned as it exposed Ukrainian tanks too much to Russian strikes.
Here, we are fighting a war without air support or artillery cover, even though that's at the heart of NATO doctrine. On top of that, our soldiers are more experienced than the ones who are supposed to train them.
He detailed the latest Russian engagement 500 meters beyond their line: "first small reconnaissance groups, machine guns, very few tanks. We are a long way away from NATO standards."
As a result, he admitted, the training provided by the NATO Alliance is currently only basic training for new recruits with no military experience. When they return to Ukraine, they are not yet operational and need further training.
https://archive.ph/WRREJ
In June, as Ukraine kicked off its counteroffensive, every time its forces gathered more than a few tanks and infantry fighting vehicles together, their columns were quickly spotted by ubiquitous Russian drones and then targeted by a combination of artillery, missiles fired from choppers and swarms of drones. Minefields channeled these columns into kill zones.
After initial heavy losses of Western-supplied tanks and fighting vehicles, Ukrainian troops have now switched to operating in small groups that are ferried toward the front line using armored personnel carriers, and then attempt to advance one tree line after another.
“Unfortunately, most of our offensive is now on foot,” said Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the commander of HUR.
https://archive.ph/CJDGV
Western-made armor is failing in Ukraine because it wasn't designed to sustain a conflict of this intensity, a military analyst told The Wall Street Journal.
Taras Chmut, a military analyst who's the head of the Come Back Alive Foundation, which has raised money to purchase and provide arms and equipment to Ukraine, said that "a lot of Western armor doesn't work here because it had been created not for an all-out war but for conflicts of low or medium intensity."
"If you throw it into a mass offensive, it just doesn't perform," he said.
Chmut went on to say Ukraine's Western allies should instead turn their attention to delivering simpler and cheaper systems, but in larger quantities, something Ukraine has repeatedly requested, the newspaper reported.
Despite Chmut's comments, some advanced Western systems Ukraine has received were conceived with the highest-intensity combat in mind — NATO going head-to-head with Soviet forces. The US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Abrams main battle tanks were built specifically to counter Soviet ground forces.
But like other armored systems, they are susceptible to artillery and mines, both of which have proven fearsome challenges as Ukraine presses against Russian defensive networks.
Less than 5% of tanks destroyed since the start of the war had been taken out by other tanks, Ukrainian officials said in the Journal report, with the rest falling to mines, artillery, antitank missiles, and drones. This means the relative sophistication of a tank is no longer as important, the paper says.
Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding, Germany's director of planning and command staff, said Western military strategists had not yet accepted that quantity trumps quality.
"You need numbers; you need force numbers. In the West, we have reduced our military; we have reduced our stocks. But quantity matters; mass matters," he told the Journal.
https://www.businessinsider.com/western-armor-not-designed-for-intense-conflict-like-ukraine-analyst-2023-9
Despite the bloc’s attempts to punish Russia, imports from the country have soared, Guy Verhofstadt says Member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt.
The EU’s sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict have been a complete failure, Belgian member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt said on Monday. He added that the EU was only “rewarding” Russia by increasing imports from the country.
Writing on Twitter, Verhofstadt, who served as Belgian prime minister from 1999 to 2008 and has been an MEP since 2009, claimed that the effect of the EU’s nine packages of sanctions on Moscow “is less than 0.”
The former PM said that in the bloc’s attempts to punish Russia, it has achieved the opposite result. “We are rewarding Russia for its war against us!”
🇺🇦 APU losses
The statement by the Poltava military commissar that the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 80-90% of those recruited last fall caused a lot of noise.
Initially, they didn’t want to comment, but since it has already gone online and, moreover, there are comments that these are still underestimated numbers, let’s ask ourselves this question.
It is now being discussed that the military commissar did not have the right to disclose these figures and that he should be punished.
We have a counter question: does society have the right to know the price it pays when fighting? Or not?
Is it freedom to not have the right to know the price?
Probably, during the war it is impossible to do otherwise. War is not a restaurant where the price of any dish is indicated.
But you also can’t deceive people by telling them about 2-3 weeks, 3-4 missile strikes, coffee in Yalta in the spring and the Russians will run away.
But the fucking reality is this: the authorities are lying, raising the price of war every time, so that society is not ready to leave the battle with obvious losses, having paid such a high price!!
When Ukrainians learn the whole truth about this war, many heroes and idols will become traitors/enemies.
It is already clear to everyone that many functionaries of the Office of the President make money from blood, and the mobilization of the sick is a necessary measure, since there are simply no healthy people left in the country.
Now information about losses has become public, and the figure of 80% seems simply catastrophic, but that is the reality of war.
https://t.me/rezident_ua/19689
Former National Bank of Ukraine chairman Kyrylo Shevchenko interview with National File:
• Zelensky is a heavy cocaine user who launders money and uses the war with Russia to cover up his money laundering
• Zelensky steals American money intended for the Ukrainian people and puts it into his own “personal accounts"
• Zelensky suppresses free speech in Ukraine and jails and kills dissidents
• Zelensky’s regime destroys or sells its own weapons funded by the West
• Zelensky’s government continues to trade with Russia and continues to receive money from Russia.
Some interesting accusations against Putin as well:
Why is Ukraine building the largest military cemetery on the face of the Earth?
https://life.pravda.com.ua/society/2023/08/21/256056/
Why does Ukraine have ten times as many amputees as the US did in Vietnam?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-ukraine-a-surge-in-amputations-reveals-the-human-cost-of-russias-war-d0bca320
Why does the average Ukrainian personally know 3 people killed in the war?
https://archive.is/Jj9r8
Why did a Ukrainian major general say multiple times that they have hundreds of thousands of dead?
Why is the Ukrainian Rada legalizing the conscription of those with episodic and motor disorders, central nervous system disorders, mild mental retardation, HIV, tuberculosis, and blood disorders?
https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z1467-23#Text
Why does Ukraine have thousands of women in front line non-support roles?
https://it.usembassy.gov/ukrainian-women-fight-for-their-countrys-future/
Why did the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister say they had 1300 IFVs 400 tanks and 700 artillery systems destroyed in June 2022 when oryx claimed only 132, 200, and 70 destroyed or damaged? Why the 600% difference?
http://nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/6/15/ukraine-to-us-defense-industry-we-need-long-range-precision-weapons
https://archive.ph/pwFMP
RE: THE Day of Russian black sea fleet abandoned Crimea!