Ukraine

[birlinn]

They say they have- but have they really left?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-63576212

[gypsie]

This is funny, watch from about 35secs in.
is this a national penny drop moment? No, but it'd be nice.

[gypsie]

It makes perfect sense. To keep the city you need at least 10 000 men, maybe more, fed and munitioned for the entire winter. Sooner or later the ukrainians advance enough to make the entire river a killing zone and retreat and support become impossible. From that point forward its a siege, ukrainians only have to wait for you to run out of food or ammo. You only do this if you know you can launch a counteroffensive that can relieve the city before that happens.
What they are doing is logical, evacuate the civilians, boobytrap the entire city, retreat and keep shelling anybody coming close enough. If the ukrainians actually move their troops to another place, you can always attack and retake the city.
Announcing the move serves to buy time for an orderly retreat, you hope they slow down and don't have to retreat under heavy fire.

Thanks Rumars, appreciate your keen insight.

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

Wonderful news!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

more on the liberation of Kherson from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-63576212

[mizzenman]

WOW! Where are the Russian soldiers, how many managed to cross the river!

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

Washington crossing the Delaware




Someone please paint Putin crossing the Dnipro!

[Canoez]

WOW! Where are the Russian soldiers, how many managed to cross the river!

I saw a Twitter post that showed tracking of cellphone signals as a line of red dots heading towards the river. I think Ukraine was using that information to target fleeing Russian troops. Probably not many managed to cross.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The Ukrainian Government has said that many Russians are wearing civilian clothes and trying to mingle with the population; it has urged them to give themselves up.

Looking at a Russian clip of the bridge, which I will try to find and post, it looks as if at least one span of the bridge was dropped using explosive charges; the damage seems too neat for a bomb, shell, or missile.

https://images.app.goo.gl/3hXNqeezY7xwD6Vn7

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

<a href="https://youtu.be/DlH-nk0zi7o" target="_blank"> https://youtu.be/DlH-nk0zi7o

yep!

[Gerarddm]

In late WWI the Germans showed 'moral courage' ( Liddell Hart ) in withdrawing, in an orderly fashion, to even stronger defensive lines some miles behind the old trench line. It may be that a dose of reality has occurred to the Soviets and the new guy ( Dr. Evil lookalike) is simply making the best out of a bad situation. The more they can train conscripts, the better off they will be in the future- except that while they can give them practical training, it does not affect their actual willingness to come to sword strokes.

If they did manage an orderly withdrawal across the river, it means the Ukrainians missed a golden chance to really lay the hurt on them. Bridges and pontoon crossings are juicy targets.

[HRDavies]

Washington crossing the Delaware

Funny thing about that ... in that painting, George was crossing the Delaware for a surprise attack on the Hessians on Christmas morning, in violation of generally accepted practices. When the vietnamese did the same thing, the entire US was horrified at them devious, untrustworthy commnists.

depends on whose ox is being gored, seems like ....

[birlinn]

Looks like the Russkies were lying, as usual, when they claimed to have removed all their equipment from Kherson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPH13_wMrEg

ETA: sorry guys, YouTube says video no longer available; was only posted 6 hours ago.
Probably find it on YouTube- shows loads of shells and other ammo abandoned in a warehouse.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

this isn’t about Kherson; this is a Q&A

https://medium.com/@Stefan.Korshak/n...d-3574c7dd0691

[epoxyboy]

Looks like the Russkies were lying, as usual, when they claimed to have removed all their equipment from Kherson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPH13_wMrEg

ETA: sorry guys, YouTube says video no longer available; was only posted 6 hours ago.
Probably find it on YouTube- shows loads of shells and other ammo abandoned in a warehouse.

Makes sense though, doesn't it. If their supply lines were so broken that they couldn't get materiel in, the same would apply to getting it out again.

Pete

[Nicholas Carey]

Looks like the Russkies were lying, as usual, when they claimed to have removed all their equipment from Kherson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPH13_wMrEg

ETA: sorry guys, YouTube says video no longer available; was only posted 6 hours ago.
Probably find it on YouTube- shows loads of shells and other ammo abandoned in a warehouse.

This the video?

https://youtu.be/GPHI3_wMrEg

[Nicholas Carey]

this isn&rsquo;t about Kherson; this is a Q&A

https://medium.com/@Stefan.Korshak/n...d-3574c7dd0691

Good question from one of our own!

Andrew Craig-Bennett

I&rsquo;m very interested in your "secondary theme", Stefan. This looks to me to be about the most difficult achievement of the Ukrainian people in this war. Organising volunteers is usually rather like herding cats. To have set up arrangements that have developed and improved over most of a year is an incredible feat.

A: It seems to work roughly on the same principle as small-scale traders at a farmer&rsquo;s market: you have so many individuals engaged in the same general kind of activity, but each with a slightly different intent, angle, product choice, delivery procedure, and so on, that you get a real effect, but it isn&rsquo;t so much as directed as it happens. Volunteers help individually, they send money, they donate goods, they provide warehouses, some focus on individual units, some on certain item categories, some on regions, some are absolutely vouched for by the authorities and some seem to want to have nothing to do with the authorities.

In very rough terms the idea, or maybe, the way things have worked out, is the government provides the very basics: weapons, combat vehicles, ammunition, uniforms, some fuel, some basic food, some medical support, and then it is up to volunteers to get everything else to the boys (and women) on the line. The scale can be amazing: a couple of months ago I saw (heck, I drove as part of) a column of at least 50, and what looked like 70+, private vehicles and vans all loaded with all manner of stuff, and heading to someone or some unit in the Izium area. I was told this happens several times a week, and this is only one logistical direction.

Public desire to help is the key. The Russians are trying to so the same thing but it&rsquo;s pretty much falling flat on its face, if for no other reason than that the Russians assume the government can and will take care of the men fighting, and the Ukrainians understand the government just can&rsquo;t, it needs help, so probably tens of thousands of individuals step in.

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

Funny thing about that ... in that painting, George was crossing the Delaware for a surprise attack on the Hessians on Christmas morning, in violation of generally accepted practices. When the vietnamese did the same thing, the entire US was horrified at them devious, untrustworthy commnists.

depends on whose ox is being gored, seems like ....

always have some B.S. to pull out of your troll ass!

[JimD]

^ I read Washington crossed the Delaware on the night of Dec 25/26, so actually Boxing Day. Musta caught the Hessians flat footed while opening their presents.

[StevenBauer]

Did you see all the videos of the Ukrainian forces being ambushed by flower wielding, hug crazy mobs? That’s what Vlad mistakenly thought the greeting would be when the Russian invaders came in.

[WX]

Well that is good news to wake up to. Messaged my FB friend in Kherson to see if he is okay.

[WX]

Washington crossing the Delaware




Someone please paint Putin crossing the Dnipro!

Is Washington's fly undone?

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

Is Washington's fly undone?

I have long wondered that…..but I have a hidden agenda!

[Garret]

Good thing we know that painting of Washington is 100% historically accurate.

Careful Skip - you might have him saying "Well bust my buttons!"

[JayInOz]

The feller in the foreground with the helmet on knows the answer- he seems intrigued

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The status of the Nova Khakova dam is a worry:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...te-2022-11-11/

[dutchpp]

The ISW Russian offensive campaign assessment, November 11.
https://www.understandingwar.org/bac...nt-november-11

With some picture of the bridges in the Kherson area and another picture of the Nova Kakhova dam as it is on November 11.
Nova Kakhova.jpg


Key Takeaways

• Ukrainian forces are completing the liberation of the western (right) bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.
• Ukrainian troops have made major territorial gains throughout Kherson Oblast on November 11 and will continue consolidating control of the western bank in the coming days.
• Russian milbloggers criticized the Russian MoD’s statements about the Russian withdrawal to the left bank but generally took a more muted attitude to Ukrainian gains.
• Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations towards Kreminna and Svatove, Luhansk Oblast, and Ukrainian forces targeted Russian logistics in rear Luhansk Oblast.
• Russian forces continued ground assaults around Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Vuhledar.
• Ukrainian forces continued to target Russian force concentrations in Zaporizhia Oblast.
• Wagner Group financer Yevgeny Prigozhin continued to form parallel military structures in Belgorod and Kursk oblasts, even though there is no threat of a Ukrainian ground invasion into Russian territory.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) subpar conduct of partial mobilization continues to generate social tension.
• Ukrainian partisans continued to target Russian occupation authorities.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Interesting report:

https://nadinbrzezinski.medium.com/a...n-6e41fc304d73

[dutchpp]

^ And another 10.000 soldiers disappeared. Makes you wonder how long the people of Russia will swallow the bullish.t of this regime before the take the matters in their own hand, Romanian style perhaps?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The Financial Times is reporting that the Russians blew both the bridge and the dam sluices.

[Tom Hunter]

Washington crossing the Delaware




Someone please paint Putin crossing the Dnipro!

This is a picture of a small anti imperialist army crossing a frozen river (mostly at night) to attack a superior enemy after they celebrate Christmas. Every man with an oar in this picture comes from the town I live in. As a comment on a great theme of history the painting does have a lot to do with Ukraine. It has nothing to do with Putin.

[skuthorp]

The Financial Times is reporting that the Russians blew both the bridge and the dam sluices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR5E8swTZX4

[mizzenman]

Pregnant soldiers? I have never heard about it before!
https://youtu.be/xGZhcaxF4l4

[WszystekPoTrochu]

Serbia president Vucic said:

I thought that russians will make a stronger Kherson defense, clearly I was mistaken (...) we must understand, that we must take our future in our own hands, we must take care four ourselves - militarily.

These words induced a state of silent panic in moscow. Serbia, not exactly a fan of NATO, started seeing its ties with russia as a liability.


All I can say to that is "Ha!"

[Gerarddm]

I saw ( and cannot find again ) a short video of a whole field of Ukrainian rocket artillery absolutely UNLOADING on the Russian Kherson bridgehead. It reminded me of old WWII Soviet film of Katyusha batteries letting loose against the Germans. Absolutely shock and awe, trust me. You could hear the Ukrainian artillerists chuckling after they had fired everything they had.

Russkies left so fast that not only did they leave materiel, but the dead and even the wounded.

Meanwhile, there are some brutal videos of Ukrainian drones dropping grenades on small groups of Russkies trying to hide in woods and trenches, even in some cases single soldiers ( there is one of some poor schlub trying to take a crap in a field and the drone dropped a grenade almost next to him ). Their accuracy has really improved. That they are ferreting out any Russian, anywhere, and are implacably ambushing them should do wonders for Russkie morale ( insert sarcasm font here).