Or you drop 2 bombs and the rest of the column takes the cue to abandon all the vehicles and run away….
I’m just saying, if there’s a grain of truth to it (even if you go to 80 vehicles from 800) that’s the only way I see it happening.
Houngan
5062
Right, if they could actually field 800 missiles in a couple of hours we’ve seen that the targets are there for the taking, but they just don’t have that sort of offensive capability. My gamer brain really wants a couple of Spooky/AC-130 flybys on that convoy.
LOL, I probably give the article more credibility than it deserves. Your take was certainly funnier.
Aceris
5064
The Oryx twitter feed indicates that Russia has been losing about 10 vehicles an hour. And Mariupol got surrounded. But in the North the Russians are regrouping and trying to prepare for an assault on Kyiv.
It’s like a Russian propaganda piece because it’s a Russian propaganda piece. From wikipedia:
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[31][32] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the The Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research , two online journals where Escobar’s work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[33] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[31]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of “Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.”[32] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of “anti-Western intellectuals” hosted by RT , adding that Escobar suggests “dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia.”[34]
I’m not sure about this. They thought Putin was one of them, someone who cared about Russian glory and would look after the Russian military. But he’s made them look like idiots and his legitimacy comes from being a successful strongman. If he loses that mystique, what powerbase does he truly have?
I think @Alstein is commenting there more on the insanity and depravity of what passes for the modern GOP leadership rather than geopolitical trends.
It doesn’t take maneuver units. The Russian supply convoys are going along predictable routes, and haven’t secured the areas along the roads. Even semi-regular infantry can just set up an ambush for a truck convoy, especially if they have NLAWs to deal with any armor. Risky as hell of course, but I think the Ukrainian military is up for it.
Especially if Russian movements are being discussed in the clear over radio…
I don’t believe 800 vehicles for a second though.
LOL. “THE BAKTRAYARS ARE COMING RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”
Houngan
5065
In response to the “800 destroyed” 10 an hour is realistic, and absolutely devastating if true. We didn’t lose 10 fighting vehicles period in Iraq, ground and air included. 1990, not 2003.
Lurb
5066
I’ve been looking at pics and videos purportedly from Bashtanka today and there are pics of an abandoned BTR, some vehicle near it blown to unrecognisable pieces, consistent with something big hitting it from above, an upturned arty piece, some broken trucks and a huge and expensive “Pantsir” Air defense thing apparently abandoned and then burned by the locals.
So I don’t believe the 800 number, but Bashtanka sure doesn’t look like a good place to drive your tank around at the moment.
jpinard
5067
Is there anything stopping the U.S. getting a hundred high-tech Maverick carrying drones into Ukrainian hands TODAY, so they can begin to wipe out that convoy? If Turkey can sell them drones, why can’t the U.S. give them a bunch?
Houngan
5068
Yes, the fact that it would be the US doing it. We have to maintain a pretty strict image of non-military support. Plus they don’t have the troops, training, or support to field them without us actually lending a hand. And lastly, I would imagine that there aren’t 100 drones or even more than a dozen ready to somehow be transported into Ukraine in any reasonable fashion. We love our guns, but it’s not like we have laagers of them just sitting around with the most advanced weapon systems in Eastern Europe.
Something I have wondered about drones… If you shoot one down, can you tell where the pilot is sitting? What if the country providing that drone took pains to erase identifying marks? I’m sure you can see what my very very bad idea is.
That tweet is fairly ambiguous about exactly what happened, for obvious reasons. I’d be surprised if it was a full 800 vehicles actually destroyed or otherwise disabled, but that’s not my call.
jpinard
5071
I think it’s a great idea. Russia isn’t playing by the rules. Why should anyone else? Russia is bombing civilian sites, orphanages, hospitals, apartment buildings, wiping out elderly in old cars.
Looks like US will ban Russian airlines / aircraft from US airspace. Source is WSJ.
Aleck
5073
So, if I read that right, it’s not so much an “Anti Fascist Conference” as a “League of Authoritarians”?
Found the original report on Bashtanka (a Facebook post of an Ukrainian official) and the some follow up in Telegram (another Ukrainian official).
The claim is the convoy was 800 strong (I still don’t buy it) and that it was “hit hard” and couldn’t advance (no claims of it being destroyed).
There are also claims of a lot of abandoned equipment out of fuel, which, tbh, is very believable because it seems Russians have so much equipment they just drop it when it’s inconvenient….
They also say Ukraine lost a helicopter, but not the pilots.
Link to a report that links to the two original sources: Enemy column destroyed in Mykolaiv Region consisted of 800 vehicles
Yeah, some of these claims are from the realm of fantasy. Next we’ll see that they somehow blew up the Kremlin.
LOL at the warning at the top of the video.
Q. What do you call a comic about a conspiracy of GOP shadow financiers?
A. A League of Authoritarian Gentlemen
Some boldness back in Russia:
Drones may actually be the reasonable compromise between nothing and a no fly zone. There is plausible deniability, especially if we make sure they have some kind of self-destruct mechanism. Who has time to put together drone pieces in the middle of a war zone. It would be helpful if the drone pilots spoke Russian/Ukrainian so they could be integrated into Ukraine air-defense network.
Speaking of command and control why haven’t the Russians taken out the Ukranians C&C.
No, anything that involves the US attacking Russia outside of World War III is insane.
You’re not going to keep it quiet.
