German soldier who was wounded in Ukraine, in German but the automatic translated subtitles work:
I would not say it was a military nothing.
The clear purpose of the raid was twofold: as a shaping attack to force Russia to cover more territory with its limited existing troops*, thininng out its front lines and to cause mayhem, fear and discredit Putin by making his citizens fear anither raid.
Ukraine, if it wishes to launch a counteroffensive this summer had a problem, its objectives could be reasonably deduced and thus prepared for by Russia. So it thought outside the box.
It appears from the faint western reactions rhat Ukraine cleared this operation with its partners and provided the degree of plausible deniability they wanted. Also Ukraine wants mayhem, it doesnât want the cost of a sustained offensive in Russia itself.
Russian troops have been diverted to Belgorod. Belarus may also be a future target. Putin had to redeploy troops or risk looking weak. Not defending a Russian city is a step too far, even for him.
Ukraine can now pick a target anywhere and face fewer Russian troops in the vicinity.
Additionally this operation took the war to Russia and showed a long-suffering Ukrainian population that Russia was not immune. It is clear from the extensive trolling the Ukrainians have put out that this was a psychological payback. This is important in war.
I would also add that after fighter jets, there isnât much more for the west to supply. Ukraine hasvreceived every category of weapon it has asked for. There is no more escalation.
*Russia has a dwindling number of trained, adequately supplied troops, not conscripts with three days training.
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This has never been a truer statement
From another forum â it is a bit dated but still holds true
If Russia is so pathetic, why hasnât NATO won the Ukraine War yet?
Iâll counter with another Question: Why hasnât Russia, with the No. 2 military in the world, fully taken Ukraine after a year? Answer: They are are fighting Ukrainians.
Truth is, Russia is getting their butts kicked, and NATO hasnât arrived on the battlefield. I think a better question is: Why is anyone calling the Russian militaryâŚpathetic?
âOn paper,â Russia really does have the No. 2 military in the world. Their weapons arenât quite as good as Western weapons, but that difference is quite small. Highly trained operators could make up that difference quite easily. The top-end Russian weapons are quite good, and something to be wary of.
So, the answer is: some are calling Russia pathetic, despite a huge weapons advantage, because their performance on the battlefield is astonishingly, irrevocably, irredeemablyâŚpathetic.
Yes, Ukraine has some NATO weapons, but none of the premium gear. Ukraine âcurrentlyâ was no Western Main Battle Tanks like Leopard 2, M1A2, or Challenger 2, no advanced aircraft like F-15s, no F-16s, no Rafales, no Typhoons, no Gripens, no A-10s, no F-35s, no cruise missiles like SLAM-ER, no Tomahawks, no ALCMs, no JASMs, and sadly no ATACMs.
These are the lynchpins of NATO military doctrine, and Ukraine has none of them. If Russia wants to claim they are fighting NATO, then they are fighting the âMini-Meâ version of NATO, with only a small fraction of the total capability.
Some claim that well, Ukraine has HIMARS. Well, thatâs a pretty ordinary system. Itâs an MLRS, and Russia has lots of those too. Russia isnât crushing it with their MLRS. Ukraine is because they know how to use theirs better.
Thatâs what it really comes down to. One side knows how to fight, and the other side fights like a stumbling drunk. Ukrainian soldiers are doing more with less, while Russia is doing less with much, much more. And that, my friends, is why the question posed begins with, âIf Russia is so patheticâŚâ
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Russia and their puppets like to say they are fighting NATO in stead of only one country that they thought would be a pushover as a excuse for why they have not run over Ukraine in one week.
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Exept much more in numbers. 
The Ukrainian Armed Forces got a rude awakening in 2014 and never forgot that lesson. That has saved them.
Doctrine and motivation matters and the Ukrainans had a head start on both. They knew how the Russians would fight and set out to counter that systematically and with gusto gir defending home and hearth.
I also like their style of âgood weapons used wellâ instead of wonder wrapons. You can have fancy kit but used improperly itâs useless.
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Little bit off topic here with this post but found this video about Chinese aircraft carriers and their readiness for war.
Whether itâs true or not could China be another paper tiger like Russia?
Perun:
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So I guess the question is who blew the Dam? Both countries could have reasons to do it but I donât believe Ukraine had the means to do it. We make weapons to do that sort of thing but I have never heard of us giving them to Ukraine. I donât believe a normal JDAM would begin to do the job. So that leave the mining of the Dam or structural failure as the likely cause.
I feel comfortable in saying it was Russia. It gains them mIlitary advantages and causes chaos in the civilian sector. It also fits in with their infrastructure attacks. If they think they will lose part of the area, they seem content with destroying everything they can.
Iâm sure I could be wrong but even if Ukraine did it and blamed Russia, I donât think they could. So itâs either Russia or a US b2 dropping a large deep penetration bomb and frankly, I donât think our leader has the balls to try it.
Surprisingly it doesnât take much to blow up or structurally damage a dam if you know where to place charges and both counties have the capabilities to destroy the dam. In this case explosives were apparently placed on or near the water turbines and did enough damage to structurally comprise the dam with the results that we all saw.
With that being said my guess is that Russia is behind this.
First they still had control of the dam itself. Secondly they blamed Ukraine with no supporting proof, thirdly Russian high command said this was to destroy its forces yet refused to give the order to evacuate until several Russian soldiers had reportedly drowned and posted on telegram, lastly Russia had a prepared statement minutes after the dam was reported destroyed.
Ukraine has no reason to blow the dam as it causes them operational headaches for manoeuvring and travelling in southern Kherson, blowing the dam caused power outages for 3-4 million of Ukrainian people and would be a PR nightmare for Ukraine, there is no military value for Ukraine to blow the dam now(it was on the table when all of Kherson was occupied) and lastly this could cause problems at the nuclear plant for cooling which Ukraine has been very vocal about since it was occupied by Russia.
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As more information comes out about the dam burst there is a chance the dam failed on its own as since Russia has occupied it minimal repairs and upkeep have been done to it and there are reports that the dam had developed cracks in it but nothing has been substantiated yet due to several factors.
What is known is Ukrainian soldiers witnessed many Russian soldiers being washed away and saw several bodies of Russian soldiers floating down the river. It sounds like Ukrainian soldiers have tried to mount a rescue mission to rescue stranded Russian soldiers and civilians but no word on whether it was successful or not. There have been scattered reports of boats approaching stranded Russians and being shot at but again the reports are not substantiated.
It is thought that the Russians never received word to retreat from the flood waters until it was too late and as of now nobody really knows how many have survived or died.
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You may very well be right on this. I hear people reported a loud explosion but I donât know that it was validated. They did state the water was at extremely high levels and this might be due to non working gates. Definitely a case of fog of war.
It works out well for Russia even with a few casualties. It makes a river crossing almost impossible for weeks.
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Despite the title, this uses satellite imagery and other data to explain why this was probably not an explosive event.
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NATO Airshow over Germany:
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My favorite and the channel that seems to try to be as objective as possible about this horrible drama is Willy AOM . He is a Ozzie infantry veteran who actually is familiar with a lot of the weaponry, sadly he has a life threatening disease which is stable. This video is an analyses of the defeated Leopard 2 crews and why these brave men were killed. (Wonder Weapons donât exist except in the leaflets of the manufacturers)
Well see what you think, but this is just another start of a continuing horror story which seems to be escalating.
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I watched this video and it was quite interesting. A good presentation. Not too many surprises though.
Clearly the Ukrainian offensive is developing. Whether it succeeds or not is too early to tell. But just like the Russians showed a few months ago, sending massed vehicles into mines and roads presighted by artillery is very costly. Fighting without air superiority is costly. I wonât say suicidal but itâs not easy. No armored vehicle made can wIthstand direct hits from artillery and mines can be just as disabling.
He talks about an article blaming NATO corruption and I disagree with that but you canât expect them to advance like NATO forces might without air Power. There would have been probably a full cluster of attack copters and air power would have been constant not only over the fighting but pushing deep. Of course it would have taken NATO 6 months to prepare as well but I canât be too critical of what UKraine is trying. I feel for them going against a country willing to shed their own blood so easily. If they can get that breakthrough many things are possible but it will be a bloody fight all the way. I do feel NATO is probably pressuring them to attack and they may not have been ready.
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nato corruption? thatâs a new one. I noticed a lot of people got caught by russian propaganda, all they did is showing the same column from different angle. Some people panicked too, I donât think western tank losses are enough to say the counter offensive is lost, we donât have enough inormation to judge how the offensive is going and itâs too early to judge
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I do too. As far as I know: Amerikan, Polish, and other NATO soldiers do their best to prepair their Ukrainian comrades for combat. I have provided information that soldiers of the Dutch/German army have worked very hard, (in German). Willy AOM is a person who can not defend himself well against disinformation.
He defended Putins storytelling:
Iâm sure the Ukrainians are looking into the loss, but bad timing/lucky bullet strikes do happen. Itâs when its going on too frequently that you should really worry. Sad but true.
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