Ukrainian War VI: Pyrrhus in Bakhmut

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

It took the Empire of Japan three whole years of merciless, savage combat, all the while losing from day one to get to the point where the Imperial General Headquarters declared that they had sunk "11 US carriers and another 6 battleships" at Leyte Gulf.
The Russian Empire, a reich far less totalitarian(!) is at this point a mere year into the war in Ukraine.
Now what does this tell us about the Russian Imperial General Headquarters?

[Hidrandia]

Maybe the fall of Bakhmut could prove to the Russians that Human Wave tactics and leveling the entirity of Ukraine will win the war.

[The Pirateariat]

Maybe the fall of Bakhmut could prove to the Russians that Human Wave tactics and leveling the entirity of Ukraine will win the war.

They make a desert and call it peace

[Northern Seleucia]

Ukraine Encircling Russians in Bakhmut Day After Wagner 'Victory': Reports
Stalingrad?

[Rary]

Ukraine Encircling Russians in Bakhmut Day After Wagner 'Victory': Reports
Stalingrad?

“Ukraine says that Ukraine has encircled Bakhmut” is what that title is. If we’re to believe this, then why shouldn’t we believe that Russia has captured the city? After all, Wagner did say that Wagner has captured Bakhmut.

I’ll believe this when I see some evidence. Right now this is just propaganda.

[Celritannia]

I shall be keeping up to date of the situation via this thread.

[Bombadil]

The tragedy is there's really nothing to fight for, the head of Wagner Group noted there was little strategic importance to Bakhmut, just symbolic, and Zelenskiy said this while disputing Russia's claim to control..

“You have to understand that there is nothing. They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place … just ruins and a lot of dead Russians,”

Just dead people on the whim of the delusional fuckbag that is Putin.

[Picairn]

Reuniting them with their families outside Ukraine is certainly the best option. But for orphanages or relatives in Western Ukraine that just brings up the previous point: Russia intends to move the front line. Will they get all the way to the Polish border? Doubtful, and I'm not certain they even want to anymore, but Russian missiles can still land in Lviv. As long as they're still in Ukraine they're still at risk. Is that really worth it?

With the current speed, Russia will need 1,000 years to reach the Polish border. The orphanages there will be fine. As for the missiles, that's the job for (an increasingly stronger) Ukrainian air defense, and I don't recall Russia ever hitting an orphanage *in western Ukraine* anyway.

[Gravlen]

Russia kidnapped orphaned Ukrainians with the intention of committing cultural genocide upon the Ukrainian nation by raising those orphans as Russians. It’s no different to the supposedly ‘civilising’ boarding schools that First Nation children in Canada and the United States, and Aboriginal children in Australia, were sent to. They’re both driven with the same intent and beliefs - that the children come from ‘savage/primitive’ cultures and need to be ‘civilised’.

I am not disagreeing, but I would like to see evidence for the claim that they are trying to Russify the children. I've heard the claim often but never seen it substantiated. Not that it isn't believable of course, just that I'd like to see weight behind the claim.

Russian authorities sought to provide a pro-Moscow viewpoint to children through school curricula as well as through field trips to patriotic sites and talks from veterans, the report found.

Videos published from the camps by the occupying regional authorities show children in the camps singing the Russian national anthem and carrying the Russian flag. In separate videos, teachers, employed to teach the children, talk about the need to correct their understanding of Russian and Soviet history.

[...]

“Mounting evidence of Russia’s actions lays bare the Kremlin’s aims to deny and suppress Ukraine’s identity, history, and culture,” the US state department said in a statement. “The devastating impacts of Putin’s war on Ukraine’s children will be felt for generations.”

US state department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters the report “details Russia’s systematic, government-wide efforts to permanently relocate thousands of Ukraine’s children to areas under Russian government control via a network of 43 camps and other facilities.

“In many cases, Russia purported to temporarily evacuate children from Ukraine under the guise of a free summer camp, only to later refuse to return the children and to cut off all contact with their families.”

Thousands of Ukrainian children put through Russian ‘re-education’ camps, US report finds

[Corrian]

First (I will never participate in this or any else probably)

Then don't bother commenting

[Oceasia]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

[Northern Seleucia]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

Just was going to post it, beat me to the punch.

[The Dodo Republic]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

W a i t w h a t

[Northern Seleucia]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

W a i t w h a t

Fun fact, this is the second time.

[Oceasia]

W a i t w h a t

Fun fact, this is the second time.

The scale of this attack is definitely much larger though.

[The Dodo Republic]

Fun fact, this is the second time.

The scale of this attack is definitely much larger though.

Ive been wondering how and when the counter would start. Is this it?

[Northern Seleucia]

Fun fact, this is the second time.

The scale of this attack is definitely much larger though.

Without a doubt. Wonder what the goal is - I seriously doubt they wish to seize the oblast or anything.

[Northern Seleucia]

The scale of this attack is definitely much larger though.

Ive been wondering how and when the counter would start. Is this it?

How useful would invading Russia be, however? Are they trying to distract forces from the frontlines, so they can strike? Is this not part of the counteroffensive? What is the chief goal?

[El Lazaro]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

How can you tell they’re Russian volunteers?

[The Dodo Republic]

Ive been wondering how and when the counter would start. Is this it?

How useful would invading Russia be, however? Are they trying to distract forces from the frontlines, so they can strike? Is this not part of the counteroffensive? What is the chief goal?

I have no idea. Ukraine has surprised us before, but I doubt this "Free Russian Legion" is much of anything bound to do much of anything. The offensive has been delayed and delayed again so I dont know what the idea is.

Also you would know better but how reliable is the source? Ive come not to trust any Ukrainian figures as well as Russian ones, and I dont blame them. War can be messy.

[Oceasia]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

How can you tell they’re Russian volunteers?

That's just what people on Twitter are reporting, but the official Twitter account for the Russian legion has posted about it as well.

[The Dodo Republic]

How can you tell they’re Russian volunteers?

That's just what people on Twitter are reporting, but the official Twitter account for the Russian legion has posted about it as well.

Can you post that tweet?

[Cerespasia]

Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine are apparently invading Belgorod oblast

This is definitely not how I expected any counteroffensives to start.

How can you tell they’re Russian volunteers?

That's just what people on Twitter are reporting, but the official Twitter account for the Russian legion has posted about it as well.

Well that was a wild turn of events.

[Oceasia]

That's just what people on Twitter are reporting, but the official Twitter account for the Russian legion has posted about it as well.

Can you post that tweet?

https://twitter.com/legion_svoboda/stat ... 5729124353

This is the tweet.

[Northern Seleucia]

How useful would invading Russia be, however? Are they trying to distract forces from the frontlines, so they can strike? Is this not part of the counteroffensive? What is the chief goal?

I have no idea. Ukraine has surprised us before, but I doubt this "Free Russian Legion" is much of anything bound to do much of anything. The offensive has been delayed and delayed again so I dont know what the idea is.

Also you would know better but how reliable is the source? Ive come not to trust any Ukrainian figures as well as Russian ones, and I dont blame them. War can be messy.

It's from Ponomarenko, and at least in my experience, I've never had any issues with the reporting he's provided. Other reporters have had issues - not him.

Most of the issues with reliability come from the fog of war, which is understandable.