International Russia/Ukraine Megathread V15

[Strychnine]

 

[Strychnine]

 

[SandisLL]

Thanks for telling everyone that you know absolutely nothing about the Ukrainian military and how heavily armed it was. As in it had more artillery, MLRS, and anti-aircraft systems than the entire US military, along with more heavy armoured vehicles than the EU. NATO forces would get absolutely shit-kicked if they tried to invade the Ukraine.

Jesus Christ.

Especially funny to mention anti aircraft systems....

According to western and even pro ukr oriented the same ukr ...not only these....

Ukraine air defense systems were manufactured in 1960 th - 1992 th..
This. They really weren't modern at all...especially if compare with russia etc...

Better maybe tell how beautiful was ukr aviation, where unlike in russia, these manuactured in 1970-1992 th airplanes..

It is surprise that something from this still does work today...

 

[San Marino]

But it has in three years only managed to make Ukrainian army grow by 350%.

Where are you getting this number? At what point during the conflict was the Ukranian Army at 100%?
Ukrainian casualties are roughly at the 500,000 mark.

Tempo really is the speed of walk of a turtle. A ruined village per week, Ukraine can live with that, since it is absolutely vast.

It depends on the week. Some weeks the Russians have captured 2 to 3 villages. That number will grow once the spring offensive gets started. Again, Putin does not want all of Ukraine.

Soviets used 3 million soldiers to take Kyiv and Dnipro and the Nazis weren't on home soil and weren't a 21st century drone warfare superpower.

700,000 Soviet soldiers for the Kiev recovery. Neither country was on a 21st century military. Again, Russia defeated Napolean's French Army, and the Soviets defeated Hitlers' German Army.

 

[San Marino]

Yeah, you're right because Putin would NEVER just invade another country.

Man, you talk as if the world still had a communist threat. That threat pretty much ended after the Vietnam war.
What exactly would Russia gain by invading France, Germany, and Great Britain?

 

[Cole train]

Btw ukrainian/russian movie industry will be making movies about this stuff for next 100 years.

Theres so many ridiculous stories and character arcs on ground level like going from ukrainian national wrestling team to succesful architect to azov sniper and war hero or going from chechen war vet to corrupt cop to prison to wagners hero in this war lol

 

[San Marino]

How was Russia's economy prior to the invasion vs. right now?

A bit better. The Russian economy is doing fine despite sanctions. It has adapted itself to deal with the sanctions. Some sectors of the Russian economy have grown compared to where it was in 2022. Also, look at Iran and how its economy is doing after sanctions were put into place.

 

[SandisLL]

If about MRLS systems in Ukrain...

They had very loud PR campaign about Vilkha MRLS...a lot of PR since 2019 th...

Appeared that they had produced low number of missiles for them ...looks that stockpiles quickly were depleted.

Then from large MRLS they had Smerch..and USSR era production missiles for them.
It is difficult to tell even had all these been in usable condition.
These stockpiles were depleted quickly....maybe they still does have some ..maybe a bit.

 

[Strychnine]

Man, you talk as if the world still had a communist threat. That threat pretty much ended after the Vietnam war.
What exactly would Russia gain by invading France, Germany, and Great Britain?

Territorial expansion.

Come on man.

 

[SandisLL]

Uragan MRLS they mainly had from USSR era ....doesn't looks that they had produced missiles for them...

Grad 122 mm : they didn't had produced missiles for these ..

With these yes, europe had supplied them some batches ...
Grad stuff is most widely used by both sides MRLS system in this war.
These missiles are small, launcher might be even 1-2 tubes on technical...might be 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40 tubes on truck.
Most common was truck with 40 tubes.

 

[San Marino]

Territorial expansion.

What territorial expansion?

 

[Rational Poster]

Jesus Christ.

Especially funny to mention anti aircraft systems....

According to western and even pro ukr oriented the same ukr ...not only these....

Ukraine air defense systems were manufactured in 1960 th - 1992 th..
This. They really weren't modern at all...especially if compare with russia etc...

Better maybe tell how beautiful was ukr aviation, where unlike in russia, these manuactured in 1970-1992 th airplanes..

It is surprise that something from this still does work today...

Sure is a lot of words to say Russia cannot achieve air dominance against their neighbor fielding their own anti-air systems designed 50 years ago.

 

[San Marino]

The problem with US air support is where will the planes fly from? If the US and NATO gets into a direct war with Russia, every single airbase within range of the Ukraine will be trashed by missiles & drone strikes. The only airplanes with rough field capability on the NATO side are the various Saabs from Sweden and the A-10, all of which are easy pickings for Russian planes and air defence systems. B-52s and B-1s will also be blown out of the sky without much trouble and there simply aren't enough B-2s to make a difference.

Well, Russia would be facing the same problem with their Air Force. U.S. air bases have a pretty good defense systems in place to take down any incoming threats. Look at Israel. Also, the US had B-1 missions to Iraq and Afghanistan that left and returned to the US in a 24-hour period.

Right now NATO could not win a war with Russia​

Are the allied forces helping or hurting the prospects of a sustainable peace? This retired Royal Navy commodore has some thoughts.

responsiblestatecraft.org

In summary, NATO is positioning itself as Europe’s defender, yet lacks the industrial capacity to sustain peer-to-peer warfighting, is wholly dependent on U.S. forces for the remotest chance of success, is unable satisfactorily to defend its sea lines of communication against Russian submarine, or its training and industrial infrastructure against strategic ballistic bombardment, is comprised of a diverse mix of un-bloodied conventional forces, and lacks the capacity to think and act strategically. An easy NATO victory cannot be assumed, and I am afraid that the opposite looks far more likely to me.

It's actually even worse since the latest generation of Russian subs (Yasen-M) are guided missile subs which can hit US ships from outside the range of anything that can hit back. These things are the equivalent of a Block V Virginia class sub (the US hasn't finished building one yet) except they're loaded with hypersonic missiles that are a couple generations ahead of anything NATO has. They're also quiet enough that several US navy officials have admitted that they can't track it.

Interesting.
It paints a bleak picture of the current status of things.
This being true, Taiwan has no chance if China decides to invade.
Personally, I think NATO should have been abolished in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

 

[San Marino]

There is a reason why America won the cold war against the Soviets.

Yeah, we Americans did not win in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. We won a lot of battles but lost 3 wars.

 

[Boxiana]

You're forgetting that...

The entirety of the EU is supporting Ukraine because they know that they're next on the menu.

Supporting in words but less effectively in materiel - there is no meaningful increase to a pitifully small industrial base in the short or medium term and countries are worried about their own lack of stocks at the moment.

If Ukraines future rests on EU military support, they’re done for.

 

[Cid]

Could Zelinsky also end it? What conditions would need to be met?

The reason I ask that is would/could those conditions change with continual casualties?

If Ukraine took another hundred thousand casualties? Five hundred thousand? Or is this a fight to the last man situation? And what will Ukraine look like at that point.

My point is, this isn't sustainable and Russia isn't known for giving AF about casualty rates.

Not really.

Your President did a horrible job at the negotiating... table isn't the right word here.

Trump made massive concessions before even entering negotiations... basically he gave up everything he could for a ceasefire and didn't get that.

That's because Putins demands demilitarization still. Demilitarize and we will stop the war and we won't invade a third time even though you now have no military...

There's a whole bunch of other demands that are ridiculous but that's peak ridiculous. Just never going to happen.


Basically no.

 

[San Marino]

If Ukraine's future rests on EU military support, they’re done for.

Ukraine is done regardless of US or European support. A matter of when, not if. It is bleeding a slow death at the moment, but the media will not admit to that. I believe at least 50% of western Ukraine will survive as a country. The rest will fall under Russian control. Again, it could all have been avoided back in 2021.

 

[Cid]

It's actually even worse since the latest generation of Russian subs (Yasen-M) are guided missile subs which can hit US ships from outside the range of anything that can hit back. These things are the equivalent of a Block V Virginia class sub (the US hasn't finished building one yet) except they're loaded with hypersonic missiles that are a couple generations ahead of anything NATO has. They're also quiet enough that several US navy officials have admitted that they can't track it.

Also Optimus Prime is on their side. And Thanos...

 

[San Marino]

2 April 2025.

 

[Badr Hari]

Btw ukrainian/russian movie industry will be making movies about this stuff for next 100 years.

Theres so many ridiculous stories and character arcs on ground level like going from ukrainian national wrestling team to succesful architect to azov sniper and war hero or going from chechen war vet to corrupt cop to prison to wagners hero in this war lol

What about poems and songs, do they write and sing about their heroes already, is it part of their culture, i know you know them from closer?