The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread

[John Fedup]

On a separate note, a lot of reports lately about the “turning the tide”, “soon to collapse”, and the like. Funny enough, a lot of it from the same authors as in 2022, shortly after the invasion and then later that year, in 2023, during and past Prigozhin, and so on. This a not bad of a read:

Reports of Russia's Collapse Are Greatly Exaggerated - The Moscow Times

Opinion | Russia is waging a war against its neighbor.

www.themoscowtimes.com

Here's another decent read. The most interesting comment is how a mid-range country in a desperate situation (Ukraine) can out perform a larger country via AI and aggressive drone development by a well motivated populace. To a lesser extent this being repeated by Iran. This emerging drone/AI era really is a wake-up call for all militarises, especially wrt where large investments in new kit.

Thanks largely to robots, Ukraine is now talking about winning, not just surviving - Defense One

 

[ComradeVortex]

can out perform a larger country via AI and aggressive drone development by a well motivated populace

Obviously, with massive financial and technological backing from its allies. Would we see this performance if Ukrainians didn't have access to Starlink or had the huge amount of money at their disposal? Maybe, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[vikingatespam]

Another RU ship hit.

Tentatively identified as the Boikiy/Boykiy, a Steregushchy class corvette, was hit in drydock in St.Petersburg and was shown burning, looking like the ship might be a write-off.

With this sort of range, the Admiral Nahkimov might be on the hit list unless it stays in the White Sea.

 

[John Fedup]

Obviously, with massive financial and technological backing from its allies. Would we see this performance if Ukrainians didn't have access to Starlink or had the huge amount of money at their disposal? Maybe, but it's something to keep in mind.

Not sure how much financial backing Ukraine is getting versus actual military kit but many Western defence vendors are investing in Ukrainian drone companies because of their expertise. Nice to have allies.