!LOL

Such Stronk Titles, Bakhmut 2.0, the myth of the Shovels Only will be resurrected, meanwhile, the Lol grows by three new entries today:

Ukraine, Allies Push to Avoid Stalemate as Headwinds Grow

Concerns about the slow pace of Ukraine’s advances this year have been accentuated by doubts over the durability of Western aid

KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia hasn’t achieved the decisive breakthrough that Kyiv and its backers had hoped for. >Now the challenge for both is to sustain what momentum Ukraine has built and prevent the war from becoming a stalemate.
Battlefield obstacles are compounded by threats to political, military and financial support from the West.

hardened defensive lines have stymied assaults and cut down tens of thousands of troops. Political ructions in the U.S. are raising doubts about the durability of aid from Kyiv’s most important supporter, and the rest of Europe can’t muster enough assistance to take its place. Israel’s response to Hamas’s attack could also divert U.S. money, military equipment and attention away from Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western backers had hoped for a decisive breakthrough in its counteroffensive in the south this summer, which was aimed at cutting Russia’s occupation forces in two. But Russian defenses, including minefields and networks of trenches and bunkers, have proven difficult to overcome.

Ukrainian troops haven’t achieved a breakthrough that would allow them to press forward faster with greater numbers of vehicles.

Ukrainian soldiers have faced stern resistance from Russian troops in systems of trenches and bunkers in lines of trees along the edges of fields. “We are drilling, not breaking through,” said one officer in the area.
Russian troops are well dug in, have plentiful ammunition and are more widely deployed with new weapons. Aerial drones are proving a particular problem, soldiers say. The self-detonating crafts are piloted remotely and slam into armored vehicles, bunkers and groups of infantry soldiers with little warning.
Russians are also using guided bombs weighing 1,100lbs to strike the front lines and villages where Ukrainian soldiers gather a few miles back. The Ukrainian officer said the village of Mala Tokmachka near Verbove was struck with five such bombs, launched from warplanes beyond the range of Ukrainian air defenses, in the course of one recent day.
Even if there is a breakthrough, Ukrainian soldiers acknowledge that it may be hard to exploit. The counteroffensive has taken a heavy toll in losses of troops and armored vehicles, and morale has suffered as soldiers complain commanders have sent them into frontal assaults against prepared defenses rather than seeking original approaches.

Ammunition is a long-term issue for Ukraine that its allies are struggling to address.
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/ukraine-alliespush-to-avoid-stalemate-as-headwinds-grow-db0a7f24

What's Going On In Avdiyivka? A Russian Offensive Challenges Ukraine In The East

The offensive began at dawn on October 10: At least three Russian battalions -- between 2,000 and 3,000 men -- moved with tanks and armored infantry vehicles, backed by an artillery fusillade pummeling Ukrainian positions.

Northwest of the city of Avdiyivka, home to a massive coke factory in the heart of the Donbas, the Russian units pushed southwest into the village of Berdychi and locked horns with units from Ukraine's 53rd Motorized Brigade. Other Russian units pressured Ukrainian lines to the south, trying to advance with small columns of armored vehicles
It's shaping up to be the biggest single offensive by Russia in months, possibly since the launch of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

And it comes at a precarious time for Ukraine's forces, which are four months into their own big counteroffensive, pressing Russian lines at three locations in southern and eastern Ukraine. That counteroffensive is grinding forward slowly.
Ukrainian forces are holding their positions "in difficult fighting" near Avdiyivka, said Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, in an October 13 post to Telegram.

"It's practically comparable to the first day [of the invasion], February 24, when they marched en masse, but this only on a separate small section of the front," Serhiy Tsekhotskiy, an officer of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

As many as three Russian battalions were involved in the offensive near Avdiyivka, the Ukrainian military's general staff said on October 10.

"The battles, both gunbattles and artillery duels, are fierce and really non-stop," said Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiyivka city military administration. "Day and night, the occupiers are crawling like cockroaches, a lot."
Russian effort comes at a precarious moment, posing a challenge for Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine's biggest counteroffensive effort was launched in early June. Despite a major influx of Western armor and weaponry, however, the effort has moved forward at a snail's pace as troops run into formidable Russian defenses known as the Surovikin Line -- named for the Russian general who oversaw their construction last year.
Ukrainian units have switched tactics away from highly coordinated "combined arms tactics" and are now focusing on small-scale, dismounted platoon advances on foot
In televised comments on October 13, Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy, complained the counteroffensive was "off schedule" due to delays from Western allies supplying weaponry.

"It's just that our partners were still afraid to admit that they needed to provide everything that Ukraine needed as quickly as possible," he said. "We are six to nine months behind schedule."

Also ominous for Ukraine is the fact that Russia was able to mount even a small-scale offensive given the estimated size of its losses.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-avdiyivka-russian-offensive-east/32636398.html

British howitzers fall silent in Ukraine because of ‘catastrophic’ shortage of shells

Soldiers have been reduced to firing weapons less than once a day and some are resorting to using Second World War-era field guns instead

By Colin Freeman IN KRAMATORSK 13 October 2023 • 11:32am
British artillery guns supplied to Ukraine are falling silent on the battlefield because of a lack of ammunition for them, front-line troops have told The Telegraph.

Ukrainian soldiers trained by Nato on L119 howitzers have been reduced to firing them less than once a day because of a “catastrophic” shortage of shells.

One front-line unit said they had ended up using a Second World War-era field gun instead, as it still had stocks of shells available.

The revelation comes after Nato’s most senior military official warned last week that the alliance was fast running out of artillery shells to give to Ukraine.

Rob Bauer, the Dutch admiral who chairs Nato’s Military Committee, told the Warsaw Security Forum that “the bottom of the barrel is now visible”.

The acuteness of the shortfall has been laid bare by troops from Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, who received part of a batch of 36 L119 Howitzers supplied to Kyiv by Britain last year.
“Miron”, an artillery commander stationed near Bakhmut, told The Telegraph: “The British L119 is a nice gun, very comfortable to work with and accurate to fire. But we don’t have enough shells for it – last week, we fired only five shells all week.

“It is catastrophically limited. When we are in battle, we are having to weigh up very carefully whether we should use a shell or not.”
But because of the shortage of Nato-issue 105mm shells, they have had to fall back on their existing Soviet-era howitzers instead. Among them is an ancient 85mm D-44, a gun used in the final clashes of the Second World War.

“It’s almost like a museum [piece], but we still use it, as at least we have more shells for it,” Miron said.

“This is a critical situation as this is an artillery war – not having enough shells costs our own soldiers’ lives.”

His comments highlight a long-standing complaint from Ukraine that it is being outgunned in terms of artillery power by Russia, which uses up to 20,000 artillery shells a day on the battlefield.
Last Tuesday, Adml Bauer urged Western governments and defence manufacturers to increase production of shells to “a much higher tempo”.

He warned that many countries supplying artillery shells to Ukraine had already depleted more than half of their warehouse stocks.
However, the worry remains that with thousands of shells being fired on the battlefield every day, Kyiv is depleting stocks faster than its military backers can replenish them.

“We will be using bows and arrows next,” joked one of Miron’s comrades
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/13/british-howitzers-ukraine-shells-shortage-soldiers-nato/

Previously:

On southern front, Ukraine's struggle to pierce Russian lines

ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION (Ukraine) (AFP) – When Ukraine announced it had re-captured the village of Robotyne, its message to the world was that it had found a way to pierce Russian lines on the southern front.

Six weeks on, no such breakthrough has materialised and soldiers from the 65th brigade that led the assault admit they do not fully control the village.

The recapture of the small village in the Zaporizhzhia region was announced in August as a strategic victory in the counteroffensive.

Yet eight Ukrainian soldiers involved in the fighting told AFP their forces were only inching forward with heavy losses against a Russian army entrenched behind heavily fortified positions.

Speaking in an area usually closed to media, they complained of a lack of manpower, ammunition and drones.

Igor Korol, the heavily tattooed commander of the brigade's first battalion, spoke calmly but did not mince his words.

For him, the announcement of the capture of Robotyne on August 28 was primarily a PR move, since the village, occupied since early in the war, has no strategic value.

"We could have gone around it," he said, speaking to AFP in an area near the front line.

"We love big announcements, quick victories. The reality is different," said the commander who uses the call sign "Morpekh" (Marine).

'Death 100 percent'

Korol said his men are still not able to move freely around the area because of Russian fire, even though they hold the territory, calling it a "gray zone".

"Moving by day means death -- 100 percent," Korol said.

Every time there is shelling "there are victims, we lose men".

While Russian forces are no longer in Robotyne, the area is within their range so large-scale infantry operations with armoured vehicles are impossible.

'Surovikin Line'

For the Kremlin, the fact that Ukraine has only managed to re-capture a few dozen square kilometres since launching a counter-offensive in June is proof of the failure of this large-scale operation.

The first main city after Robotyne is Tokmak, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) away. The sea is 70 kilometres away.

Russia has built up heavy defences including underground shelters, trenches, tank traps and minefields.

Ukrainian forces are only able to inch forwards -- and are always under enemy fire
The Ukrainian army broke through the first defensive lines in some places this summer but the main defences have held strong.

Autumn rains and mud and winter snow and ice in coming months will make the Ukrainians' task even harder.

The danger from the sky is also constant -- aerial bombs, shells and explosive drones rain down on Ukrainian soldiers every time they try to advance.

'Thicket by thicket'

Leonid, a 44-year-old grenade specialist with the call sign "Miron", said soldiers can only advance in the "three or five minutes" between enemy barrages.

"There isn't any close-quarters combat," he said.

Russians send over "120 mm and 82 mm mortars, and 152 mm artillery, kamikazes (drones) and KABs", a type of laser-guided bomb.

"Poltava", a deputy commander of the first battalion, said the Russian army "spares nothing in terms of ammunition or bombs".

As a result, the Ukrainian advances are slow, with heavy losses.

"We advance gradually, thicket by thicket, not as quickly as we would like... It's very tough. We lose a lot of our men," he said.
Soldiers from the 65th brigade said Russia fires 10 shells for every "one or two" from their side. The same goes for drones.
"We are fighting against... a massive country. They have more men, more equipment," said Oleksandr, a 27-year-old soldier with the call sign "Storm".
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231012-on-southern-front-ukraine-s-struggle-to-pierce-russian-lines

Counteroffensive is behind schedule, intelligence chief concedes

Ukraine’s intelligence chief admitted Thursday that Ukraine’s forces are behind schedule when it comes to the counteroffensive they launched in June.

“We are behind it [the combat schedule] ... Not everything went smoothly,” Kirill Budanov told Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda without explaining further.

In a discussion this past week at the Warsaw Security Forum, Royal Netherlands Navy Adm. Rob Bauer, chair of the NATO Military Committee warned that “the bottom of the barrel is now visible” when it comes to ammunition production for Ukraine.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/08/europe/analysis-putin-ukraine-race-against-time-intl-hnk/index.html

Britain has run out of defence equipment to donate to Ukraine and other countries should step in and shoulder more of the burden, a senior military chief has said.

The comments come after Ben Wallace revealed that he asked Rishi Sunak to spend £2.3 billion more on support for Ukraine before he resigned as defence secretary last month.

Mr Wallace warned that the UK had been overtaken by Germany as the biggest European military donor to Ukraine as he called for the 50 per cent increase on funding that the UK has committed so far.

The Western alliance has suffered a series of blows in recent days, with support for Ukraine dropped from a US stop-gap budget bill, election success for a pro-Russian party in Slovakia and rows between Poland and Kyiv over grain supplies.

On Monday, the Kremlin claimed that Western fatigue with the war “will grow”. The White House replied that Vladimir Putin was wrong to think he could outlast the pro-Kyiv alliance.

‘We’ve given away all we can afford’
Last night a senior military source told The Telegraph that the onus should not be on the UK to provide the “billions” Mr Wallace has called for.

“Giving billions more doesn’t mean giving billions of British kit,” they said, adding that the UK had a role to play in “encouraging other nations to give more money and weapons”.

“We’ve given away just about as much as we can afford,” they added.

“We will continue to source equipment to provide for Ukraine, but what they need now is things like air defence assets and artillery ammunition and we’ve run dry on all that.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/02/britain-run-out-of-arms-send-to-ukraine-says-military-chief/

---

NYT:
Russian Troops Cede Ground and Strike Back, Frustrating Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
Military analysts say that Russian commanders have been using a tactic known as “elastic defense” to prevent Ukraine from holding villages and other positions as staging grounds for future attacks.
Across desolate fields and shattered villages, Ukraine’s counteroffensive is confronting Russian minefields and Russian soldiers dug into elaborate trench networks.
But one unusually daunting obstacle to Ukrainian troops is a tactic adopted by Russian forces: ceding ground and then striking back.
Rather than holding a line of trenches at all costs in the face of Ukraine’s assault, security experts say, Russian commanders have employed a longstanding military tactic known as “elastic defense.”
To execute the tactic, Russian forces pull back to a second line of positions, encouraging Ukrainian troops to advance, and then strike back when the opposing forces are vulnerable — either while moving across open ground or as they arrive at the recently abandoned Russian positions.
The goal is to prevent Ukrainian troops from actually securing a position and using it as a base for further advances.
“The defender gives ground while inflicting as heavy casualties as they can on the attackers with a view to being able to set the attackers up for a decisive counterattack,” said Ben Barry, a senior fellow for land war studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British research group.
This tactic is just one of several factors that have impeded more rapid progress, according to Ukrainian officials and military experts. They also cite Moscow’s use of dense minefields, networks of trenches and tank barriers, and the reluctance of the country’s NATO allies to supply advanced fighter jets and longer-range weapons sooner in the war.
Perhaps the most formidable problem for Ukraine is Russia’s large stockpiles of artillery, which have been deployed throughout the conflict and not least to repel the counteroffensive that began in June.
In recent months, Ukraine’s war has consisted of battles for tiny villages and individual trench systems — contests that can last for weeks
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/world/europe/russia-ukraine-elastic-defense-counteroffensive.html

---

Bitter results of the Ukrainian summer offensive!
Pro-Ukrainian activists from the support group “DeepState” have a on their Telegram channel
Interim conclusions drawn from the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The result: sobering.
Under the title “Summer Offensive. Results. Defense Forces”, the experts who create daily maps of the war are analyzing the three attack directions of the Ukrainian summer offensive, namely Bakhmut, Tokmak and Mariupol.
Regarding Bakhmut, it is said that the official goal of the General Staff was to “encircle” the city. But the army is far from that. The activists admit that they managed to “evacuate Andriyevka and Klishchyivka south of the city, which opens the possibility of another attack on the road to Horlivka.”
In the north of Bakhmut, however, there were “strategic mistakes” by the Ukrainian armed forces that “cost us dearly.” The conclusion of the Ukrainian activist group: “The attempts to break through the enemy positions did not bring any significant success. Contrary to what the media claims, Bakhmut is not surrounded.”
According to the experts, the counteroffensive went even worse south of Velyka Novosilka, i.e. on the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, towards Mariupol.
The main task of breaking through the front here has been “successfully implemented” – a total of six villages along the road to Mariupol have been liberated since the beginning of June. However, a “tragedy” then occurred, which led to an end to the offensive efforts in the region at the beginning of September.
Literally, the pro-Ukrainian analysts conclude: “Due to the mistakes made on June 5-7, all offensive actions were extremely difficult. Other brigades suffered unnecessary losses because enemy anti-tank defenses thwarted all plans in the area.”
Finally, the Ukrainian activists are dealing with the main Ukrainian push, which is currently taking place towards the occupied city of Tokmak (formerly 33,000 inhabitants).

First of all, they complain that the offensive was carried out without the intended surprise effect. With regard to the Russian generals, they write that “even a drunk in Moscow understood why Leopard tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles appeared in the region.”
Russia recognized very early on that “this area had been chosen as a place for our breakthrough” and therefore “excavated and mined everything in the winter and spring.”
Critical of its own troops, the activist group writes sarcastically: “It is worth mentioning the situation with the top tanks (“Leopard 2” from German production, editor), which, instead of providing cover for the infantry, drove into the bushes to avoid getting stuck on the ground to simulate.”
The activists praise the “heroism of our boys,” which “compensated for” massive strategic mistakes by the Ukrainian army leadership. There were “deep breakthroughs that ended in a retreat” “because the flanks were not successful”.
The Ukrainians continue, “Robotyne came under our control, but so far we have not succeeded in taking Werbowe and Kopani or driving the wedge deeper.” The 47th Mechanized Brigade, which dominates the region, has “become hostage to its own media coverage”.
All in all, it was “a difficult summer for the defense forces” in which Ukraine “did not achieve any strategic success”.
Worse still: While the Russian defense wall has been scratched in the north, it is already being reinforced again in the south. “A new defensive line is already being built east of Tokmak. The enemy is also strengthening the line in Donetsk. “You shouldn’t underestimate the Russians when it comes to technology,” said the activists in the direction of Kiev.
Their bitter conclusion: “The summer showed that the war in 2024 will not end on our terms. The Ukrainian state must prepare for new challenges that it will soon have to face.”

---

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
  https://nyheder.tv2.dk/udland/2023-09-16-forsvarschefer-advarer-om-kritisk-mangel-paa-ammunition-ekspert-forudser-flere-konsekvenser

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/

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.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ukraine-counteroffensive-i-m-ready-to-die-90-of-the-guys-here-will-die-too-76jvs3kwj

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 from the article 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

… 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

---

Ukraine has made minimal gains in its counteroffensive. Dense Russian minefields and fortifications have made every attack extremely costly.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has struggled to push forward across the wide-open fields in the south. It is facing extensive minefields and hundreds of miles of fortifications — trenches, anti-tank ditches and concrete obstacles — that Russia built last winter to slow Ukrainian vehicles and force them into positions where they could be more easily targeted.

When both sides’ gains are added up, Russia now controls nearly 200 square miles more territory in Ukraine compared with the start of the year.

Rather than seeking rapid gains, the Russian military appears to be comfortable holding the territory it already controls, according to Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher in war studies at King’s College London. “It’s not losing anything by not moving forward,” she said.
Russia’s forces outnumber Ukraine’s nearly three to one on the battlefield, and with a larger population to replenish its ranks, Russia could see a prolonged defense as in its interests.
“The whole strategy in Ukraine is for the Russians to let the Ukrainians run against those defenses, kill as many as possible, and destroy as much Western equipment as possible,” she added.

Russia controls about 18 percent of Ukraine — a swath of land larger than Switzerland. This includes Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine, which it has occupied since 2014.

The slowdown comes with huge risks for Ukraine. If it looks unlikely to recapture large areas of the country, Western support could wane, either through lack of political will or unwillingness to donate more weapons, especially given the yearslong wait for deliveries of replacement equipment.

“Russia is trying to wait out until the West turns its back,” said Dr. Miron.

Ukraine continues to battle through Russia’s defenses in the south. Last month it successfully recaptured the village of Robotyne, and in recent days moved armored vehicles past Russia’s main anti-tank defenses near Verbove, about eight miles to the west of Robotyne.
But the clock is ticking for Ukraine’s counteroffensive to make significant territorial gains. Heavy rains are expected next month, and muddy terrain could prevent the use of heavy vehicles, such as the newly arrived U.S. Abrams tanks and the Challenger tanks supplied by Britain. “When there is mud and you have a 75-ton Challenger, it will just sink,” said Dr. Miron.
NY Times https://archive.today/20Y46

---

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!!

https://t.me/ZeRada1/15778

---

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:

https://nationalfile.com/former-zelensky-administration-officials-speak-to-national-file-zelensky-accused-of-money-laundering-stealing-american-money-persecuting-opponents-cocaine-use-selling-his-weapons-taking-russian/

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

!PGM