International Russia/Ukraine Megathread V9

[Err]

Half of Putin's elite airborne troops 'wiped out' in just six months

"A former Kremlin official has admitted Russia now only has half of its elite airborne troops since invading Ukraine.

Putin’s elite paratrooper squad, known as the VDV, had already been decimated before his mobilisation of 2,000,000 troops in September 2022.

The revelation comes from Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former military press official and creator of the Rybar channel on Telegram, who revealed the news on Russian state TV.

‘Many are saying that you can’t see the airborne troops on the frontline,’ he said.

‘Unfortunately, this is the objective reality – by the start of mobilisation, our airborne forces lost 40-50 percent of staff.

He added: ‘As of now, out of the old and tested formations with designated equipment, not that many are remaining.’

It was known the VDV had sustained heavy losses and were noticeably absent from the frontlines, but the true scale of their decimation was not publicly known.

Russia’s airborne forces led the country’s military in the initial advance into Ukraine in February 2022."

Half of Putin's elite airborne troops 'wiped out' in just six months (msn.com)

40 to 50% GONE?!?!

That must've been one helluva feint into Kyiv!



Starcraft tactics!

They are Legs now as far as I’m concerned.

 

[curryjunkie]

Think he's talking about Central Asia. A lot of the former Soviet Republics are in Central Asia and in Russia's sphere of influence. Also, the current areas of Russia that are part of Central Asia.

any instability in central asia from a possible break up of a losing russia is nobodys fault but putins, its ridiculous to assert nato should do nothing when it is entirely russias problem, perhaps the central asian republics should grow a pair and stand up to them . anyone who thinks putin will stop at ukraine if he is appeased is an idiot, theres decades of behaviour saying otherwise.

 

[SandisLL]

Belarus.

Don't travel to Belarus, dictator now is in mad mode.
Paranoia and obsession with possible spies and diversants hiked till heaven.

Recently their KGB accused in extremism etc sins one guy.
I had lurked who he is.
1. Politically absolute 0.
2. For mass media in Belarus : 0 and noname cos had worked with western clients.
3. Cubicle rat and ....designer by education.
4. Does have % in one LLC in EU and % in one small company in Belarus...
5. Not some kind of TOP 5000 businessmans in Belarus....

Basically really nothing special.
Ofc such guy might earn some 2-3-4 x more than casual employee designer, still most likely not more...

KGB is accusing him in extremism.

 

[Rod1]

...but that is not what you said.

I said that fear of US intervention keeps a lot of conflicts from happening, Taiwan being invaded by China is one of them.

Are you willing to concede that at least ONE conflict isn't happening because of fear of the USA?

 

[Rod1]

First off, I commend you for your honesty. It's a difficult question since all we have are bad choices or even shittier ones, you've actually thought through some of the possibilities and chosen the one which you believe will result in the least bad outcome. I can't say I agree with it since my background leads to a more Asian-centric viewpoint rather than the Euro or Western-centric point of view which forms the majority of opinions here and elsewhere. Removing Russia from the world stage has the potential to really fuck up the geopolitics in Asia and cause more suffering than letting Russia take nibbles out of its neighbours.

IMO there's no longer a way out of this mess that's acceptable to both the Ukraine and Russia. When it's over, one or both countries will cease to exist and we'll have a whole bunch of new fires to put out.

China is already filling the void left by Russia.

 

[SandisLL]

+ Lukashenko hates Lithuania ans Poland becuse cos sanctions a lot of IT companies had relocated to these countries and had relocated a lot of programmers etc kind of ppl.

Especially Lukashenko hates Lithuania because most well known in Minsk companies opened offices in Vilnius and relocated a lot programers etc ...
Like EPAM, Wargaming etc kind of IT companies.

Lukashenko is almost mad because IT, mainly outsource type stuff before(!) war had produced ~6% from total netto GDP in Belarus...

 

[PEB]

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

First off, I commend you for your honesty. It's a difficult question since all we have are bad choices or even shittier ones, you've actually thought through some of the possibilities and chosen the one which you believe will result in the least bad outcome. I can't say I agree with it since my background leads to a more Asian-centric viewpoint rather than the Euro or Western-centric point of view which forms the majority of opinions here and elsewhere. Removing Russia from the world stage has the potential to really fuck up the geopolitics in Asia and cause more suffering than letting Russia take nibbles out of its neighbours.

IMO there's no longer a way out of this mess that's acceptable to both the Ukraine and Russia. When it's over, one or both countries will cease to exist and we'll have a whole bunch of new fires to put out.

I do wonder what happens if in the end, Putin is unable to take any new territory out of Ukraine. will he attempt to nuke Kyiv? send all the missiles to try and wipe it out?

 

[method115]

I do wonder what happens if in the end, Putin is unable to take any new territory out of Ukraine. will he attempt to nuke Kyiv? send all the missiles to try and wipe it out?

The worst he will do is send all the missiles he can. He's not nuking. If Ukraine attempts to invade Russia though then I can see him nuking.

 

[MeatWagon06]

The US Army has 2,300 Abrams in storage and have not built new Abrams tanks since the early 1990s.

The 31 tanks being sent are not being newly built.

That Abrams-X prototype though...

 

[San Marino]

I said that fear of US intervention keeps a lot of conflicts from happening.

...but not all. Countries in Africa, Burma, Cambodia, Rwanda, India, Pakistan, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria, Ukraine, etc.

Are you willing to concede that at least ONE conflict isn't happening because of fear of the USA?

Oh, yeah. Taiwan, South Korea, and Israel.

 

[San Marino]

If Ukraine attempts to invade Russia though then I can see him nuking.

Zelensky seems to be heading that way. "I want this, I want that, give me this, give that, and hurry it up."
I don't think Russia will be taking any more Ukrainian territory. They are having a difficult time keeping what they have. About 20% including Crimea? I don't see this conflict going nuclear even if Ukraine invades Russia. A nuclear war would stop being a Ukrainian issue. No winners to be had.

 

[Rational Poster]

That Abrams-X prototype though...

That's just a test bed vehicle it's not going to see production.

 

[Hog-train]

Zelensky seems to be heading that way. "I want this, I want that, give me this, give that, and hurry it up."
I don't think Russia will be taking any more Ukrainian territory. They are having a difficult time keeping what they have. About 20% including Crimea? I don't see this conflict going nuclear even if Ukraine invades Russia. A nuclear war would stop being a Ukrainian issue. No winners to be had.

Only way I see Russia using nukes is if they go after Crimea successfully and Putin feels his regime is threatened internally. Then he might do a tactical nuke.

Crimea loss may truly destabilize his regime. It would be a catastrophic loss on his part.

 

[Hog-train]

I don't think that someone even should waste time and money on this " classified armour "....

All high level touting for this cral is because Iraq..
Where they mainly had monkey model tanks and ammo approwed in 1974 th...
These tanks with the same success ratio might had been deNazified by some 1988-1991 a bit upgrade M60A3 version or the same USSR version T-72 tank produced in 1988 th with late phase of Gorbachev era ammo.This.

Yea I agree. Having the next level tanks aren't actually going to be a game changer. Even the Abrams and Leopards will get fuqqed by anti tank weapons easily if they aren't used properly. It's more about how well trained the Ukrainians will be in utilizing them alongside infantry, ifv's and artillery support.

 

[Badr Hari]

Number of rus soldiers inside Ukr right now more than 320 000.

 

[Queen B]

The worst he will do is send all the missiles he can. He's not nuking. If Ukraine attempts to invade Russia though then I can see him nuking.

It depends. Is Crimea part of Russia?

That might draw the line

 

[method115]

It depends. Is Crimea part of Russia?

That might draw the line

That’s one I’m not sure about either.

 

[DEVILsSON]

It depends. Is Crimea part of Russia?

That might draw the line

That’s one I’m not sure about either.

How is Crimea any more part of Russian than the other 4 regions Russia annexed last year?

People need to stop pussyfooting with Russia. Putin and Russia only recognize strength. If you show weakness they will pounce with everything.

If Obama told Putin point blank any action against Ukraine will result in US direct intervention to push them back out and maintain Ukraine's integrity per the Budapest Memo, Russia would not have sent their little green men. Once Obama waffled, Russia pounced.

Very few countries recognize Crimea as part of Russia. I personally don't give a shit what happens to Russia once Putin is ousted or if Russia becomes a slightly more 3rd world country than it currently is.... There will no doubt be another strongman. I do not think anyone who replaces Putin will be any more likely to nuke Ukraine or any other countries. It is essentially a move that forces NATO to directly to intervene. If you're watching Russian success in Ukraine against largely Ukrainian forces(with a few volunteers), mostly Soviet weapons and a few Western weapons does that give you confidence to go up against the full might of NATO? Not just in words....or 'but they are providing intelligence' or whatever other bs......Full on direct confrontation....If I am the Russian president or general in charge, I sure as shit wouldn't want that....

Should Russia lose Crimea they will simply find some explanation such as Ukraine had been sufficiently de-militarized, de-nazified, or de-whatever other lie you want to make up.

 

[JoeyJoeJoeJr]

I just wanted to post this video addressing the war. I just watched a video by Russel Brand on YouTube, and his take is eerily similar to mine. Watching the video was a bit shocking as he's the first person I've seen who really perceives the situation the same way I do. It came out an hour after I made my posts earlier. It almost sounds like I wrote his script. Great watch! I reccomend you guys watch it in its entirety.