‘It was my mistake’: Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief on counteroffensive and ‘gunpowder’ for victory
by Few_Routine_1172
‘It was my mistake’: Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief on counteroffensive and ‘gunpowder’ for victory
by Few_Routine_1172
19 comments
It’s honest, I fear he’s dead on. I don’t see how either side moves basically anywhere unless something gives first.
The craziest bit of knowledge I’ve gathered from this war is how little Russians care for Russians.
Five months into its counter-offensive, Ukraine has managed to advance by just 17 kilometres. Russia fought for ten months around Bakhmut in the east “to take a town six by six kilometres”.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, says the battlefield reminds him of the great conflict of a century ago. “Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he says. The general concludes that it would take a massive technological leap to break the deadlock. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”
The honesty about surveillance problems is obviously real so hope we find a solution first.
Slava Ukraini
It will be difficult, because russians don’t care about their losses. Zombified vatniks happily going to die for $2000 a month. And like one ukranian officer said on video- “30 minutes after we destroy their equipment, new one shows up”.
Ukraine needs NATO and especially Europe to go balls to the wall war production. If Russia is to be fully convinced to abandon its tyrannical goals, the killing machines and ammo of the west will need to be in potentially endless numbers.
I’m very disappointed about the chances for a grand/dramatic defeat of Russia slipping away. But it is what it is. They are willing to use meat wave military doctrine and NATO/Ukraine must account for that.
You beat Russia by destroying their economy
I’ve said from day 1 the war will end when the serfs and elites realize that serf casualties and elite economic destruction converges.
There was a window in time where that would have worked. But the West dithered and hedged for way too long. This is a perfect example of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”
On the other hand, this may also be another massive PR Psy-op by the Ukrainians.
The problem is Ukraine values the lives of their soldiers and ruzzia does not. Hard to fight an enemy that will let its forces be slaughtered wholesale rather than halt offensive.
UA needs to bring the war to ruzzian territory on a bigger scale. those 2 drones in moscow mean nothing. it should be a daily thing to bomb their cities, otherwise the only loss orcs have is prisoners. it should be dangerous to go to orcland for foreigners
Does anyone have any idea what this “gunpowder” could be except ???/500 000 glide bombs?
hi mistake was believing his opponents were also human beings. that’s a mistake that’s admirable.
Floors me how none of them can put 2&2 together. See many many injuries and still sign up for war.
The general is asking for a transformative technology that fundamentally alters the battlefield to allow for movement and advance.
In WW1, it was the machine gun that made defense so much more powerful than offense. In WW2, it was the tank (and combined arms) that brought maneuver and offense back.
This may seem like a joke, but perhaps the answer is an armored and powered exoskeleton.
Mobile Infantry out of the book version of Starship Troopers.
It is a stalemate currently because tanks and vehicles are spotted and destroyed by drones and artillery before they can advance. Drones and surveillance technology is this war’s equivalent to WW1’s machine gun.
Vehicles are sitting ducks as they try to cross minefields or open terrain.
You need infantry that has increased firepower, the mobility of a vehicle, and provides the wearer some protection to near misses of artillery and mortars. You need an exoskeleton that allows a person to move at running speed without fatigue. It needs to be impervious to rifle fire, because they will be moving in the open, and the wearer must be able to close distances to the enemy quickly.
Prototypes of exoskeletons are in development or in limited use already. Engineers will need to chime in and say whether they can be made strong enough to carry sufficient armor and weapons to be useful while remaining light enough that they can stay powered on long enough to move distances necessary for the battlefield.
The problem of “life is cheap in Russia” is not one that you can solve with a new way to kill even more Russians.
Russian lives might be cheap to their ruler, but it’s not cheap to your average Russian themselves.
The average Russian signing up to fight, does so on the basis of the extremely restricted and highly orchestrated information available to them due to their state’s monopoly on news/information.
If Ukraine is hoping for some wonder weapon, its most likely shape would come in the form of cyber warfare.
If Ukraine could hijack the broadcasting platform in Russia, and repeatedly show the unfiltered and brutal nature of what the Russian rulers and military commanders are actually forcing their troops through, and the inevitable outcome for the majority of the people signing up, people would quickly turn against those rulers.
Your average Russian is still a human being, with the same survival instincts kicking in when faced with imminent death, that others have – they’re just not confronted with those facts, and instead see the chance to make some good money.
Doesn’t matter how poor you are, nobody will take a bag of cash if they’re actually certain that doing so will cost them their live.
That’s what I was worried about: Russia slowly getting accustomed to western military standards because NATO didn’t want to escalate too quickly and only introduced their stuff in small, manageable portions. The strategic and technological edge was there, but we made sure the Russians have time to adapt and get used to it.
„Yes you can have Himars, but only 15 and no long range missiles and please don’t hit this and this target, otherwise it’s not fair. Actually let’s wait a month with the shipment because we just gave you these new IVFs and Russia hasn’t adjusted the tactics to those yet. Two new things at a time would be too stressful, we don’t want to overwhelm them.“
Imagine that first week tank traffic jam in front of Kiev was met by immediate and full support of NATO. Jets, attack helis, Navy, long range missiles into Russian territory, the full combined arms package, no bullshit restrictions… we missed the chance and it’s not coming back.
Those one or two ATACMS strikes are nice but in reality they don’t do anything but improve Russian air-defense. If you really want to achieve some strategic damage you need to send enough support to shock the enemy with hundreds of strikes per day IN ADDITION to major tech upgrades in various other parts of the military AT THE SAME TIME.
The Ukrainians just don’t have the manpower to go toe to toe with Russia, and their hands are being tied.
Most likely the Ukrainians will have to cut a deal with Russia and lose territory.
Read somewhere Putin expects the war to last until 2026 he has already lost more than what the Soviet Afghan war costed but it doesn’t matter or at least the human factor don’t matter until he has to use the populations of Moscow or st Petersburg. Also the west could probably out produce Russia enough artillery planes and anti missile/air will be enough to both keep casualties minimal and slowly advance
The situation is the same than Vietnam. Military industrial complexes on both sides provide just enough to get the war going but not for one side to win, because their advantage on every level depends on the longest war possible. This way they divert money from public services , and accumulate political power by keeping people in control.