"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (15 Viewers)

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Russia proudly announced that they have taken a Ukrainian village in their "push".

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are grabbing hugh swaths of Russian land, capturing hundreds of Russian troops, destroying Russian AFVs & supply columns and jeopardizing Russian logistics.

Oh, and Russia is proudly announcing that that they destroyed a Stryker APC in Kursk.

So much winning by Russia, wow...
 

And meanwhile, Putin is still sitting around with his thumb up his keister.
 
Just watched a vid at funker530 where Ukrainian troops were house clearing.
They came across an emaciated and paralysed older woman who had been abandoned.
The compassion and respect they showed while providing food and water for her was above and beyond.
They told her that they were Ukrainian soldiers, not Russians and she will be safe and looked after, they promised while contacting medics.

I have to admit that I was really moved by that.
 
Another Russian mercenary turns on Putin:

[...] The 53-year-old Zakrevsky is no liberal and no good guy. He served in the KGB and Soviet army, earned a law degree and got "involved with secret activity, information about which is forbidden." He then moved on to "independent military consulting" and founded the mercenary outfit Paladin.

[...]

Here's Zakrevsky's diatribe against Putin, in my translation:

"Our country is not just on the brink of disaster or already right next to it; our country is already in trouble. In big trouble. Drones are flying all over central Russia, right up to Moscow and St. Petersburg. They even attacked the Kremlin. Our Black Sea fleet is being pushed out. It's being pushed out as if we were not a great power with a great fleet, but some third-rate country.

"Our air force is practically not working because it is also being pushed out. We are standing in the same positions that we took more than two years ago, and partly in those to which we retreated. The population is dying out, becoming impoverished, drinking itself to death: no one cares. All they have time to do is bring in migrants."

Zakrevsky minces no words in assigning blame for this sad state of affairs: "And all this was done by the so-called 'president.' The 'Great' Putin."

After accusing army officers of incompetence and worse, Zakrevsky concludes his screed with an appeal "to those who are in the trenches. You know very well what kind of indecency is happening there now….You know very well the faces that are mocking you and your relatives…. We call on everyone to join our union to save our country. The point of no return has already been passed."


Note that Zakrevsky doesn't say "I call on you," but "we call on you." The plural is presumably a reference to "our union," Paladin, but it may also be a reference to other military men, whether in the private mercenary companies or the regular armed forces.

[...]

Zakrevsky's appeal, which has supposedly been distributed widely among Russia's military and civilian elites, can't be dismissed as the unrepresentative grumbling of a disgruntled mercenary. Zakrevsky, like Prigozhin before him, represents Russia's military class. If he's unhappy and willing to risk his career — and possibly his life — by going public with his call for Putin's removal, there must be many others who share his discontent. That may be why he hasn't been arrested or killed — yet.


 
Whilst reading this reports on the drone attacks against Russian airbases I noticed that there was something I didn't expect. Only one airbase in Russia has protected hangers, and that was the one being attacked.

Is it any surprise that availability rates for Russian aircraft are down, even in peacetime?

The Marinovka airfield in the Volgograd region is the only airfield in Russia where there are shelters for aircraft. The airbase was attacked today, August 22, by Ukrainian Defense Forces, according to Defence Express.

It is noted that the Marinovka airfield is located 450 km from the front line. The airfield is situated 200 km closer to Kazakhstan, with a distance of 270 km to Ukraine.
Marinovka is also known as the only airfield near Ukraine where the Russians built shelters for aircraft. Russia began constructing these shelters in November 2023 and completed them in early 2024. Defence Express points out that these shelters can hardly be considered protective structures. They are more like hangars designed to shield aircraft from weather conditions, but they cannot even protect against shrapnel.

The Marinovka airbase hosts Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft. Su-34 frontline bombers were also stationed there. In total, 14 Su-24s (excluding those in the aircraft boneyard) and 15 Su-34s were recorded at the airfield.

Attack on Marinovka airfield
In the early hours of August 22, explosions were heard in the Volgograd region. Russians reported a drone attack and a fire at the Marinovka airfield.
According to RBC-Ukraine's sources, the Security Service of Ukraine and Special Operations Forces attacked the Marinovka airfield in the Volgograd region. The attack targeted warehouses containing guided bombs and fuel. A fire broke out at the airbase, and there was also a detonation.
Satellites detected three fire hotspots at the airfield. One of them was in the area where aircraft could have been stationed.
 
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Some new Ukrainian soldiers refuse to fire at the enemy. Others, according to commanders and fellow fighters, struggle to assemble weapons or to coordinate basic combat movements. A few have even walked away from their posts, abandoning the battlefield altogether.

While Ukraine presses on with its incursion into Russia's Kursk region, its troops are still losing precious ground along the country's eastern front — a grim erosion that military commanders blame in part on poorly trained recruits drawn from a recent mobilization drive, as well as Russia's clear superiority in ammunition and air power.

"Some people don't want to shoot. They see the enemy in the firing position in trenches but don't open fire. ... That is why our men are dying," said a frustrated battalion commander in Ukraine's 47th Brigade. "When they don't use the weapon, they are ineffective."

The accounts come from commanders and soldiers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive military matters. Others spoke on the condition that they be identified only by their call signs in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol.

[...]

They described having to plan operations with infantry who are unable to shoot targets and uninformed about basic topography. Some recruits simply lacked faith in the battle plans of their superiors and walked away from prepared positions.

[...]

The loss of the village of Prohres last month in the Pokrovsk region is the most recent example of territorial loss blamed on new recruits, commanders said. Units from the 31st Brigade left in a poorly coordinated frenzy, prompting the 47th Brigade to enter the battle and attempt to stabilize the line. A similar scenario unfolded in the village of Ocheretyne in May.

Not enough is done to train newcomers, the battalion commander said. "They don't receive even the lowest standard of training required for our (combat) actions," he said.

The new men do not have enough practice assembling and shooting their rifles, he said. They also have not learned how to coordinate combat tasks in small groups or to use even simple tactics, he added.


 
I find this interesting, since Ukrainian soldiers have been training at NATO bases, like Weisbaden, Germany, as they are inducted.

Also, in that article, she mentions the "47th Brigade", however, the only "47th" in the Ukrainian Army, is the elite 47th Mechanized Brigade and they are far from shying away from engaging the enemy, especially with their M2 Bradleys.
 
 

I'm not sure what to think. But over the years I've found AP's reportage to be remarkably accurate in other contexts. I can imagine the Ukrainians being desperate to relieve their veterans, many of whom have been fighting a year or more nonstop.

While I've read of Ukrainians training in NATO nations, I'm not sure that that's their only training locales or cadres.
 

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