Russia’s use of motorcycles and Chinese golf carts actually works sometimes.
Sometimes the bikers get through if Russian artillery bombardments succeed in preventing Ukrainian soldiers from poking their heads above the trench. The tactic solves, though at great risk, a key tactical challenge of the war in Ukraine for both sides: how to cross a mined, open field while observed by drones and under artillery fire.
If they make it across a field, the riders cast aside their bikes, enter the Ukrainian trench and engage in close combat on foot.
"They jump off and start shooting," said a Ukrainian sergeant, Sapsan, serving with the 47th Mechanized Brigade, who asked to be identified only by a nickname, in keeping with his unit's security protocols. "These buggies and motorcycles are fast and fly right into our tree lines."
Like the wave of infantry assaults that Russia used to capture Bakhmut last year, the motorcycle assaults result in huge casualties, Ukrainian soldiers say.
These attacks have not supplanted the Russian military's employing of its blunt advantage in numbers of artillery guns and quantity of ammunition to advance. It is an additional tactic.
Should have stayed home.
“We are servicemen of the 1009th regiment. I am Evgeniy Valetov. This is my brother Igor Valetov. Yesterday we went to the assault on Vovchansk. We didn’t succeed in the assault. Everyone was injured. Someone ran away, I don’t know their further fate: perhaps they were wounded, possibly killed. My brother and I were wounded. We were all wounded, we were able to provide first aid to ourselves and get out into the forest. Our commander says that tomorrow we need to go on the assault again. But in what condition will we go? Everything hurts, we are all wounded and we simply have no strength. I appeal to the military prosecutor’s office, to the president of the russian federation: please solve this issue. Why send wounded, exhausted people into battle? It’s just to send us to our deaths.”
They don’t even know their commanders’ names. And yet they continue to make videos thinking that someone will watch them and fix everything.
“My name is Vadim. I am a member of the assault company of the 2nd battalion, 57th brigade. Today we are going into battle. Our commanders told us that we cannot retreat, even the wounded, those who go back will be shot. Our wounded and dead cannot be taken out. Everyone is there. They just lie there. At the same time, we are not given any vacation, we are not allowed to go anywhere. We are forbidden to go to the store.
Video 2: “Our commanders don’t introduce themselves at all. We only know their call signs. The call sign of the battalion commander is “Cobra”, his deputy is “Sapphire”, the chief of staff is “Berkut”, the assistant chief of staff is “Rolex”. The most cruel of them are Cobra and Rolex. They are to blame for the death of a large number of our guys. If I find out their names, I will tell you."
This is good news about Klishchiivka.
He is referring to Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Yurii Sodol, who had been replaced a week ago as commander of the joint forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces following numerous complaints that he caused unnecessarily high casualties among Ukrainian troops.
Crowdfunding satellites?
Another 66 artillery systems, 19 tanks and 1,110 soldiers.
Two that got away.
This obviously needs to be extended.
Distance and training equal safety for snipers.
So, the law is as follows: every additional 500 meters of distance from the sniper to the enemy increases the sniper's chances of survival by an order of magnitude.
Let's take the risk of being killed for a sniper with a 308-caliber rifle shooting at 800 meters as a starting point.
If we simply re-arm this sniper with minimal training to 338 LM or 50 bmg rifles, his chances of survival are 10 times greater than the average marksman with a 308 rifle.
If we provide a sniper with full training in working with 338 LM or 50 bmg rifles, and introduce him into battle as part of an experienced sniper group, then he already has a basic enemy hitting distance of 1,800 m. And his chances of survival are 100 times greater than an ordinary marksman with a 308 rifle.
That is why we have massively provided more than 200 338 LM rifles and 20 50 bmg rifles. Our best snipers with the best rifles cover 2100-2200 m, further increasing their chances of survival, although here we do not achieve the desired increase of another 500 meters.
If we switch super-professional snipers to the most long-range caliber, then the maximum range of work becomes a limit of 2,500 meters. The main work of 375-caliber rifles takes place in real front-line conditions in the range from 1,800 to 2,600 meters, some professionals cover 2,700, 2,800 and even 3,000 meters. And the law of 500 meters works and a professional fighter with a 375 caliber rifle has 1000 times more chances to survive than a marksman with a 308 caliber rifle.
I don’t know anyone in Ukraine personally who has lost their life. But when you read someone’s Twitter feed long enough and then find out that they have been injured or killed, it does hit home.
This is Pete Fouche from South Africa. He was recently killed in combat.
His heroism knew no bounds. He was actively involved in saving more than 200 wounded Ukrainian soldiers, evacuating civilians from the most dangerous frontline cities, as well as bringing humanitarian aid to people in those towns and cities.Pete’s bravery and selflessness in the face of danger were nothing short of extraordinary, and his actions will forever be etched in our hearts.
And this is writer Victoria Amelina, who was killed a year ago when a Russian missile struck the cafe in Kramatorsk where she was.
That’s a lot of singing.
This is a celebration that revolves around the summer solstice.
Combat Cat