Ukraine #17: Is There Life on HIMARS?

[Gorn]

There is also a disparity in ratio between mechanized/armored troops and leg infantry on the Russian side which I believe was previously unseen in warfare. Armor protects soldiers from indirect hits, but on the other hand a direct hit will likely leave no survivors in the vehicle, wounded or otherwise.

[Maithanet]

Very limited use of helicopters for battlefield evac also contributes to higher combat deaths vs wounded. 

[Werthead]

13 minutes ago, Gorn said:

There is also a disparity in ratio between mechanized/armored troops and leg infantry on the Russian side which I believe was previously unseen in warfare. Armor protects soldiers from indirect hits, but on the other hand a direct hit will likely leave no survivors in the vehicle, wounded or otherwise.

Yup. Early in the war especially Ukrainians were going wild using Javelins and NLAWs on targets far too weak for them, resulting in ludicrous overkill.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

That's what happens when you only plan for a three day to two week war. The levels of incompetence on Russia's end knows no bounds.

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

That's what happens when you only plan for a three day to two week war. The levels of incompetence on Russia's end knows no bounds.

Speaking of which, it appears that the Russians have bombed their own lines again, including hitting a prison killing both prisoners but also a lot of DPR guards. The Russians have blamed the Ukrainians, but the Ukrainians have pointed out why the hell would they target a prison which is of no value in hurting the enemy?

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

4 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Speaking of which, it appears that the Russians have bombed their own lines again, including hitting a prison killing both prisoners but also a lot of DPR guards. The Russians have blamed the Ukrainians, but the Ukrainians have pointed out why the hell would they target a prison which is of no value in hurting the enemy?

Double-secret false flag! 

[broken one]

29 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Speaking of which, it appears that the Russians have bombed their own lines again, including hitting a prison killing both prisoners but also a lot of DPR guards. The Russians have blamed the Ukrainians, but the Ukrainians have pointed out why the hell would they target a prison which is of no value in hurting the enemy?

Ukrainians claim Russians did it on purpose, having already moved 40 POWs to a building which was directly hit.

According to Komsomolska Pravda on the ferry crossing set up near damaged Antonovskiy brige Russian troops are transported together with civilians. I guess Russians announce this to discourage Ukrainians from sinking the boat. This , if true, would be breaking the law of war.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

7 minutes ago, broken one said:

Ukrainians claim Russians did it on purpose, having already moved 40 POWs to a building which was directly hit.

According to Komsomolska Pravda on the ferry crossing set up near damaged Antonovskiy brige Russian troops are transported together with civilians. I guess Russians announce this to discourage Ukrainians from sinking the boat. This , if true, would be breaking the law of war.

As if Russia or their allies who enable them care... 

[Maithanet]

According to multiple credible people on Twitter this is a real video that the Russian govt produced and is actually promoting.  It really feels like satire.

Notice the "beautiful women" are 8 year old girls.  Did no one...notice that? 

EDIT:  This is safe for work, and is not gruesome or anything.  Just extremely bad propaganda.

[broken one]

9 minutes ago, Matrim Fox Cauthon said:

As if Russia or their allies who enable them care... 

Sure they don't, but it suprised me a bit they directly inform about it. Usually when they commit crimes for everyone to see they insolently deny it, at least for their internal public.

[broken one]

13 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

According to multiple credible people on Twitter this is a real video that the Russian govt produced and is actually promoting.  It really feels like satire.

Notice the "beautiful women" are 8 year old girls.  Did no one...notice that? 

EDIT:  This is safe for work, and is not gruesome or anything.  Just extremely bad propaganda.

CHRISTIANITY! Ok, I have been convinced 

[Zorral]

A thoughtful piece from, gasp! the NYT Style section concerning Ukraine's First Lady and being Vogue

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/style/olena-zelenska-vogue.html?

Quote

 

.... Representative Mayra Flores, a Republican from Texas, seized the opportunity to attack the Biden administration for its financial support of Ukraine, implying it was funding vanity. Breitbart wrote a gleeful article aggregating the criticism, especially as it related to government funding.

Still, other readers have come to the defense of Ms. Zelenska, seeing the shoot as a symbol of national pride: a means to show the world Ukrainian elegance; a reminder of the balm that can be found in beauty; and a subtle nod to shared humanity in the face of inhuman aggression. She is not, after all, in a ball gown eating cake. She is in a war zone, looking haunted.

To a certain extent, the debate simply shows how tangled our feelings about fashion still are and how entrenched the view of it as a nonserious subject remains — despite the fact that fashion is a key part of pop culture and the rare equivalent of a global language. It’s one that every politician, and public figure, employs to their own ends, whether they want to admit it or not. (That’s why, despite the risks, they keep appearing in magazines like Vogue.)

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is a war being conducted on all fronts: on the ground, in the air, in the digital sphere and in the arena of public opinion. (See, for example, Ms. Zelenska’s appearance in Washington last week.) Vogue — and, indeed, any outlet that allows the Ukrainian people to reach different swaths of the global population and influence sentiment — is one of them. As Ms. Zelenska and her husband, who founded one of the biggest television entertainment production companies in Ukraine before getting into politics, know.

By putting Ms. Zelenska on its cover, Vogue is furthering her role as the relatable face, and voice, of the struggle; bringing her up close and personal for the watching world. And by appearing in public, and raising issues in public, when her husband cannot, she is keeping her country’s needs alive in the international conversation at a time when other crises are vying for attention. She has, essentially, weaponized Vogue.

She said as much to the BBC when one of its interviewers asked her to explain the choice: “Millions read Vogue, and to be able to speak to them direct, that was my duty,” she said, adding, “I believe it is more important to do something and be criticized for it than to do nothing.”

Whatever you think of the actual piece, however you feel about the magazine in which it was published, you can’t dispute the fact that it once again put the war in Ukraine in the headlines — and in the minds of people who may not have been following it as closely as others. In that context, her interview is not just an interview. It’s a piece of battle strategy.

 

We won't say anything here as to how this must rankle somebody who Really wants to be Somebody, and Really wants to be on the cover of Vogue.
 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I’m correct in saying there is a snowball’s chance in hell of Orban pulling Hungary out of the EU and playing ball with the Russians… right?

 

[SeanF]

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

According to multiple credible people on Twitter this is a real video that the Russian govt produced and is actually promoting.  It really feels like satire.

Notice the "beautiful women" are 8 year old girls.  Did no one...notice that? 

EDIT:  This is safe for work, and is not gruesome or anything.  Just extremely bad propaganda.

I guess it would appeal to people like Roy Moore.

[Werthead]

16 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I’m correct in saying there is a snowball’s chance in hell of Orban pulling Hungary out of the EU and playing ball with the Russians… right?

No.

Orban might want to pull Hungary out of the EU, but it would devastate Hungary's economy and I suspect would trigger massive protests against his autocratic rule. It would be a risk that Orban does not want to make. Orban wants to set himself up as a president for life in Hungary and certainly sees the EU as an obstacle to that, but he also does not want to become a vassal to Putin. He can see how Lukachenko is making that work and how much effort it is.

I also suspect he doesn't want Hungarian troops expending themselves in some surreal military adventure in Ukraine (I suspect a lot would refuse to go) that would be deeply unpopular and again could cost him his position.

This is yet more Russian desperation. If Belarus, which is already in Russia's sphere of influence and effectively a vassal state under Lukachenko, is refusing to send troops in, I don't see any realistic prospect of Hungary doing the same thing.

[Maithanet]

Adding to that, Orban's primary pitch in the election this spring was that he would keep Hungary out of the Ukraine War, unlike his opponents who wanted a war with Russia.  This second part was obviously a lie, but it would be pretty hard for him to pivot from that campaign to "we're invading Ukraine after all". 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

51 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I’m correct in saying there is a snowball’s chance in hell of Orban pulling Hungary out of the EU and playing ball with the Russians… right?

 

The more interesting question is, will Orban manage to piss Poland off sufficiently, that they won't veto any Article 7 stuff directed at Hungary.

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I’m correct in saying there is a snowball’s chance in hell of Orban pulling Hungary out of the EU and playing ball with the Russians… right?

 

No. 

Hungary has been anti-war from day 1, which, contrary to common opinion, does not equal pro-Russian. Hungarian economy is already in ruins because EU money isn’t flowing and global supply chains struggle. We are already at 20-30% inflation and even the middle class is beginning to struggle to afford life. Hungary can barely support itself economically at this point, let alone such a destitute region as Transcarpathia. We would go bankrupt in weeks. 

Hungary has no military resources to spare, not even enough for self defense. Hence the reluctance to send military aid (which we don’t have) to Ukraine. Here I will insert a kind reminder that Hungary went out of its way to provide humanitarian and medical aid to Ukraine in the first months of the war, we still have Ukrainians coming here, they are 100% welcome and taken care of as best as Hungary can provide. 

31 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

The more interesting question is, will Orban manage to piss Poland off sufficiently, that they won't veto any Article 7 stuff directed at Hungary.

This is indeed a more interesting question. But the most interesting is how long the economy has before crashing entirely and what then. That’s what’s on people’s mind and that’s the chief concern of the government as well.  The rest is talk. 

[Werthead]

A lot more fire landing on Kherson City tonight. And a big Russian arms depot in Kamyanka-Dniprovska in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was blown to hell earlier today.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On a side note.

Zelenska is that one of the differences between Ukrainian and Russian? I would've thought her married name to be Zelenskaya.