UK Defence Forum

Russian Army has literally "lost" 1.5million winter uniforms.... its almost like the Russian Army dont want to fight anymore ..



And Ukraine has the biggest Tractor Army in the world.

Each day - it gets worse and worse for Russia.

OPEC slashes oils production.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61188579

After Russia invaded Ukraine, many countries bought less Russian oil and its price started to fall.

At one point Russian crude was more than $30 a barrel cheaper than Brent crude oil, the international oil benchmark. By the end of September, it was around $20 a barrel cheaper.
India and China - who did not join the Western sanctions against Russia - now account for over half of the country's seaborne oil exports.

Russia is now China's biggest supplier of oil, taking over from Saudi Arabia.
In March this year, China and India imported more oil from Russia than the 27 EU member states.

All the more reason to move to renewables based around an electrical ecosystem as fast as we can and then give the Saudi's and Russians the "middle" finger ..

TheLoneRanger wrote: ↑06 Oct 2022, 19:15 All the more reason to move to renewables based around an electrical ecosystem as fast as we can and then give the Saudi's and Russians the "middle" finger ..

Unfortunately having a grid based on renewables with a guaranteed base load is decades away and several significant tech break thru’s around city wide electrical storage. Not to mention very few people heat there homes with electricity.

The only way to achieve any near term break is to build as many nuclear power plants as we can and expand and enhance domestic gas and oil production and refinement with long term enhanced deals with the friendly nations such as Norway, America and Trinidad and Tobago.

In addition to the heavy equipment other Countries have given to Ukraine, the amount of personal equipment worn by many Ukranian troop gives them the appearance of western forces. They even now appear to have western optics on their home-grown rifles. Russia on the other hand seems to have personnel equipment from the 1980s still in use, and how the newly mobilised troops will be equipped is anyone's guess.

Lord Jim wrote: ↑07 Oct 2022, 02:33 In addition to the heavy equipment other Countries have given to Ukraine, the amount of personal equipment worn by many Ukranian troop gives them the appearance of western forces. They even now appear to have western optics on their home-grown rifles. Russia on the other hand seems to have personnel equipment from the 1980s still in use, and how the newly mobilised troops will be equipped is anyone's guess.

It's an interesting one, the Russians are criticality short of equipment and then they mobilise 300,000 men!

I've heard of Nagant bolt action rifles being issued to some, but I haven't personally seen the footage.

There must still be 'very large' quantities of older AK-47/ AKM rifles in store, along with huge stocks of 7.62x39 ammunition.

The only way these conscripted reservists can be effectively employed, is to relieve and release front line troops for the front.

Deploying ill equipped 40 plus year olds to the front will probably just hasten the collapse of the Russian offensive.

The Ukrainians have sensibly allowed the panicking Russian troops to withdraw ahead of the advance in many areas, instead of aggressively engaging them.

These disorganised fleeing troops, leaving there equipment behind are adding to the sense of collapsing moral and chaos in the Russian ranks...

I await with interest to see if the Ukrainians turn towards Crimea and try to take it back, or simply cut it off and force a surrender of the Russian forces stationed there in 2023.

Lord Jim wrote: ↑04 Oct 2022, 21:12 As the Ukrainians push the Russian south towards Kherson, they are trapped except for a number of lash up ferries, on the wrong side of a major river. The Ukranian do seem to be aware of the risk of overextending themselves as well, moving support and logistics units up behind there advancing forces. There is a definite timescale for the Ukranian counter offensive, that being the beginning of winter, when they will have halted and dug in to defend their gains. Their aim would then be to prepare their forces to resume operation in the spring, with hopefully additional equipment from the west.

In that part of the world combat movement is normally in summer (dry) or winter(frozen hard). The spring and autumn it is so muddy as to prevent movement.
But as can be seen, UKr have been managing by various means (though one recent attack could not press the advantage because the wet conditions mean that vehicles could only move on roads.)

However, the point is that winter really sets in, attacking should get easier again, as the mud will be frozen (and digging trenches harder)

Given RU clothing (1.5m uniforms gone missing) and supply issues, one would expect it to be a tough time for experienced soldiers, let alone the Mobiks who will mainly use vodka to warm themselves. Some units already reporting 80% of Mobiks disappearing within days

With the news of the Crimean bridge being substantially damaged it will be interesting to see the effects on Russia's logistical requirements ,certainly a road span has been pictured to have collapsed into the sea
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/ke ... 44adb766ff
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/08/euro ... index.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/35 ... force.html

“A Bridge too Far” for the would be Tsar methinks.

Scimitar54 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 10:22 “A Bridge too Far” for the would be Tsar methinks.

Looks like they are going for cutting off the Crimea, we can expect the bridge to be progressively malleted as the Ukrainians advance and it steadily becomes within range of various weapon systems....

Putin simply 'can't' allow Crimea to fall, if it does, his head will fall right along with it.....

Wonder how true this is?

Ballsy move by the Ukrainians regardless.

He will anyway! Putin’s rationale for invading was because he felt that Russia was threatened with aggression by “NATO”. Well, after the showing of the Russian Army during his “Special Operation”, he must now be not just having sleepless nights, but Nightmares as he has demonstrated to the world both his and Russia’s weakness. A case of the Emperor’s New Clothes, and all he can be seen to be able to do now is to be in a state of denial (From “Everything going to Plan” to the Illegal Referenda) and then,to threaten the onlookers!
No, I do not think that ihe will be able to continue for very much longer.

I would not be surprised if Ukraine launches a new offensive southwards in the direction Melitopol or Mariupol to try and bring the 'land bridge' initially within HIMARS / M270 range and later within conventional artillery range before finally severing it completely by reaching the sea. I have seen diagrams that in any event show that the land bridge only has the major road as shown above as there is no rail connection which runs solely through occupied territory.

Jdam wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 12:06

Wonder how true this is?

Ballsy move by the Ukrainians regardless.

There another rail route through occupied territory - but is only 5km from Ukrainian forces. That and the road route are vulnerable.

Regrettably it seems like the Kerch bridge is not fully destroyed, but even if not attacked again there will be benefits.
Some traffic will be reduced, Russian civilians in Crimea are likely to panic and leave, more troops and equipment will be needed to guard the bridge rather than anything more useful.

Where will Ukr strike next? All the initiative is with them. Ru is just reacting and reacting poorly.
Melitopol perhaps? Cut off southern Ukraine even more
Nova Kakhovka? (in which case some think Kherson city will become untenable for Russians
Svatove and cut off a main logistical road?
Somewhere else entirely?

The attack on the bridge - is the beginning of the end of this war it seems. Russia has big problem on her hands as the Ukranians are looking to break the landbridge itself soon.

Russia soliders can probably still walk across the reamining walkway - but given the damage to the supporting structures for the remaining roadway, it is possible that it would not be able to support heavy traffic.

It does look like the Russians are about to voluntarily give more free weapons to the Ukranian armed forces....

Something doesn't seem quite right about the fact that, if it was a truck bomb, then it must have involved a suicide bomber. That doesn't seem to be a Ukrainian modus operandi. Add in the fact that the truck came from the Russian end and I'm wondering if there could be a third party at play in this, such as local Tartars, who would love to chase ALL Russians out of the Crimea and reclaim it for themselves. Unless it's even more maskirovka by Russia.

It just doesn't quite "gel" for me.

(The Telegraph) 8th October 2022

The Kerch bridge between Crimea and mainland Russia has been partially destroyed in an apparent Ukrainian strike.

An explosion on the rail section of the bridge was reported.

Footage from the scene later showed a train of oil tanker wagons ablaze, and one lane of the parallel road bridge collapsed into the sea.

Caribbean wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 17:00 Something doesn't seem quite right about the fact that, if it was a truck bomb, then it must have involved a suicide bomber. That doesn't seem to be a Ukrainian modus operandi. Add in the fact that the truck came from the Russian end and I'm wondering if there could be a third party at play in this, such as local Tartars, who would love to chase ALL Russians out of the Crimea and reclaim it for themselves. Unless it's even more maskirovka by Russia.

It just doesn't quite "gel" for me.

It could well have been a device placed on an "innocent" truck and then sent off its merry way with activation itself done by GPS co-ordinates ? The driver didnot really need to know about the attack - could have been some poor hapless hack.

This was however a special behind the scenes special operation.

The Russians are claiming that the one undamanged roadway is operational with "light" traffic and also the railway. I would take the later with a pinch of salt until there is more conclusive proof of Russians claims..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63183404

Last night as a "co-incidence" an explosion on a train in the occupied Donetsk region at a similar time ,suggests that for some reason trains are exploding (not trucks)
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-new ... 9a75f388f5

TheLoneRanger wrote: ↑08 Oct 2022, 20:50 The driver didnot really need to know about the attack - could have been some poor hapless hack.

Yes - fair point. I guess I didn't consider that, as I would find it morally repugnant (as, I'm sure, we all do)

However I'm not involved in an existential conflict (not yet, at least and hopefully never), so I feel that it would be unfair of me condemn anyone who made that choice in those circumstances.

I cannot see the Ukrainians officially sanctioning the use of a bomb on a civilian truck without the driver knowing about it. The idea of a third party seems more plausible.

All seems a bit odd. The fuel train just so happened to be located at the same point in the adjacent rail bridge?

dmereifield wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 08:55 All seems a bit odd. The fuel train just so happened to be located at the same point in the adjacent rail bridge?

I did originally wonder if it was an inside job by political opponents of Putin or the Russian military because they do not want to fight this war anymore and want a quick resolution - even if it is a loss for them.

(Forces News) 7th October 2022

Since the war in Ukraine started, the EDM4S (Electronic Drone Mitigation System) has been a key component in targeting Russian drones.

The anti-drone gun is a point-and-shoot electromagnetic pulse weapon that handles like a standard infantry rifle.

By jamming communication signals it forces drones to either fall, return to base or make an emergency landing.