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Either the last thread is gone or I just couldn't find it during my perusing, so I figured I'd start a new one.

Their offensive into Russia is quite wild. Here is the latest:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-continues-major-incursion-russia-114400987.html

Ukraine continues major incursion into Russia, with reports of advances amid heavy fighting
PATRICK REEVELL
Thu, August 8, 2024 at 11:32 AM PDT·5 min read
1.3k


Ukrainian forces are continuing to advance deeper into Russia's Kursk region, expanding their area of control on the third day of their major incursion, with the situation worsening for Russian forces, according to a key pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger.

Rybar, a blog closely linked to Russia's defense ministry, reported Thursday that Ukrainian armored units have reached the village of Bolshoe Soldatskoe, roughly 18.5 miles inside Russia's border.

Heavy fighting is now also reported only 9 miles from the town of Lgov, which straddles a crucial highway.

"Despite the attempts of the Russian joint forces group to stop the advance of Ukrainian mobile groups, the scale of the crisis is widening," Rybar wrote on Telegram.

Rybar and other pro-Kremlin military bloggers are contradicting the claims of Russia's defense ministry that the Ukrainian advance has been stopped.

Ukraine's attack appeared to be a large-scale offensive operation, involving at least two Ukrainian brigades, rather than a less significant cross-border raid. As the scale of the attack was becoming clearer on Thursday, it appeared to be one of the most significant military developments in the war in months.

At least 66 people have been injured as a result of shelling in the Kursk region since Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Health reported Thursday.

The railway stations in three settlements in the Kursk region -- Sudzha, Korenevo and Psel -- are closed amid the invasion, the press service of the Moscow Railway reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for "courage" in the region.

"This requires you, and the current situation requires a certain amount of courage and concentration on ways to solve these complex, difficult, extraordinary tasks that are now facing all branches and all levels of government," Putin said at a meeting with the acting governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov, on Thursday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, commented Thursday for the first time on the operation, saying one goal was to alter the Russian perception of the war, a shift that could potentially affect any eventual negotiations.

"This increases the cost of the war for Russia quantitatively. More armored vehicles have been destroyed, the Russian Federation has lost territories, and there have been more casualties. Will this affect how they perceive this war? Undoubtedly," Podolyak said in a live discussion on Ukrainian TV.

Zelenskyy praised the Ukrainian army on Thursday for its ability "to surprise" and achieve results, though made no direct reference to the situation in Kursk.

"Everyone can see that the Ukrainian army knows how to surprise. And knows how to achieve results," Zelenskyy said at an event in Kyiv. "This is demonstrated by the battlefield, where our soldiers not only withstood the overwhelming force of the occupiers, but also are destroying it in the way necessary to protect Ukraine -- our state and independence."

The Ukrainian incursion began on Tuesday when a Ukrainian force numbering in at least the hundreds crossed over the border near the village of Sudzha, with tanks and heavy weapons, according to official and unofficial Russian public sources. Catching Russia off-guard, Ukrainian soldiers quickly seized a handful of villages, advancing up to 6 to 9 miles, according to the pro-Kremlin Russian military bloggers.

Since then, Ukraine has moved in significant reinforcements and its forces were continuing to try to press forward but were being held on Thursday at the village of Korenovo, according to multiple pro-Kremlin bloggers, who are close to Russia's military. Heavy fighting was also focused on Sudzha, which Ukrainian troops were reported to have largely surrounded.

Russia's defense ministry on Thursday claimed to have halted the Ukrainian advance and to have inflicted hundreds of casualties on Ukrainian troops. But reports from the Russian military bloggers suggested a far more chaotic situation, with unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian forces had continued to reach deeper in some places into the Kursk region.

One of the best-known pro-Kremlin military bloggers, Two Majors, reported that six or seven Ukrainian tanks were fighting in the village of Ivnitsa, roughly 18.5 miles from the border.

He also reported gunfire, likely from Ukrainian reconnaissance special forces units, in the village of Anastasevka, more than 18.5 miles from the border and about 28 miles from the Kursk nuclear power station.

Multiple military bloggers also reported gunfire, likely from Ukrainian reconnaissance special forces units, in the village of Anastasevka.

They also reported Ukraine engineering equipment to try and dig in and hold ground.

Ukrainian officials have been almost entirely silent on the operation, with speculation swirling around its possible goals. Ukraine may be seeking to pull Russian forces from elsewhere in Ukraine, as Ukrainian troops are under intense pressure in the Donbas region near the key city of Pokrovsk, although most analysts believe Russia likely has sufficient forces to continue its operations there unchanged.

Russian analysts have also suggested that Ukraine could be seeking to seize the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, which is located roughly 50 miles from the border, but most analysts were deeply skeptical that the Ukrainian force is large enough to reach it.

Podolyak's comments on Thursday appeared to perhaps support another theory that Ukraine could be seeking to capture Russian territory with the goal of trading it for Ukrainian-occupied land in potential future peace negotiations. Podolyak said he expects the Kursk attack to impact Russian society, bringing clear signals of the ineffectiveness of Putin's strategy closer to home, at the same time as potentially strengthening Ukraine's position in negotiations.

"Do they respond to anything other than fear?" he told Ukrainian television. "No, we need to finally realize this. Any compromise is perceived by Russia as your weakness and readiness to kneel before them. When can they sit at the negotiating table, and can something be achieved? Only if they understand that the war is not going according to their plan."

Some Ukrainian and independent military analysts have expressed doubts about the wisdom of such a risky operation when Ukraine is suffering from severe manpower shortages in Donbas, where Russia in recent weeks has been making rapid advances towards Pokrovsk, prompting fears Ukrainian lines near there are in danger of cracking. Russian forces overnight reportedly again made advances in that area, capturing another small village, according to Ukrainian military analysts.

Side note - relating to that conversation I was having with Keith - this demonstrates even more so than Russia's nuclear weapon bloviating was just that...

It appears as though all they really needed was the weaponry to help make this happen after all. Hopefully we won't see people blocking their ability to defend themselves in an attempt to gift Ukraine to Putin again the future. It really took a toll on Ukraine while they were waiting.

Can't imagine where they'd be if they had everything up front. All of us - them, Europe, and us - would be better off if that were the case.

A little off topic, I'll admit. But, Putin was complaining about Ukraine attacking in Russia's country. Like, it was illegal? Uh, hello vlad.........what did you do? I say go Ukraine. Hit them where it hurts.

Wanted to point out this quote as something to really emphasize. This is what soooo many administrations have gotten wrong about them. From GW Bush all the way through Trump. Biden's admin I think has dealt with them the best, but there was still a lot of room for improvement when the invasion went down. Perhaps lessons learned from all the botches he experienced in the Obama administration during the stupid "Reset."

There is no partnering. There is no compromise. There is only power.

China understands that because they operate similarly. For a while there, the alliance between the two was more tentative than anything. They kind of unified around undermining the US, but they did not really integrate their forces and resources similarly to what you would see in NATO. Right now, China professes a "friendship with no bounds" with Russia because they have Russia by the cajones in terms of economic and military leverage, given the situation in Ukraine. Russia knows that and assumes itself as the beta in the relationship. If they ever get the chance to reclaim "alpha status" with China, they will 100% do so.

It's not about even compromise or mutually beneficial relationships. It's about whether I can control you or I have to accept the fact that you currently control me.

Amen! Sociopaths sometimes don't understand that the rules apply to everyone, including them.

Edit ~ just realized I'm a "Legend" now. Only took 18 years...

And just think, you were just about to give up on this place right before you achieved greatness!

Ha, well that was just the PP forum. Despite my rampant posting today, I've scaled down the areas/threads where I want to post.

Don't you have to sit and wonder, what if we'd have sent Ukraine everything they needed at the very beginning? These guys seem really really bad ass. To take on the Russian military and hold them off with what is basically Bows and Arrows.. Yikes, what could they have done fully equipped?

Shout out to Sweden for dropping a nice aid package for Ukraine.

Zelensky watched an old man march his forces almost all the way to the Kremlin with almost no opposition. He’d like nothing more than to put Putin on his heels like that again.

https://new.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/

Various war videos. Mild gore warning. A lot of it is pretty interesting. The arms we gave them (I am assuming this stuff is from us) performs pretty badass.

Ukraine Is Getting Ready to Unleash a Swarm of Robot Dogs
Sharon Adarlo
Sat, August 17, 2024 at 8:45 AM EDT·2 min read
302


Rover 2.0

To address its manpower shortage, Ukraine is planning to let loose packs of robot dogs against the invading Russian military, Agence France-Presse reports.

The robot dogs will be used to detect land mines, go on reconnaissance missions to scope out the enemy in hostile territory, and carry weapons, ammunition, and medicine to the battlefield.

During a recent demonstration to journalists, one of the robot dogs dubbed BAD ONE crouched and ran not unlike its flesh and blood counterpart, showing off its compact size and stealthy agility.

"This dog limits the risk for soldiers and increases operational capabilities," a robot dog operator named Yuri, who's working for a British military equipment company, told AFP. "This is the core function of the dog."

The robot dog has a battery run time of two hours, an onboard thermal imaging system, and a kill switch that erases all of its data if the robot would fall in the hands of the Russians.

It just goes to show how military forces will use and push technology to their limit in order to gain a battlefield advantage, even if the results look like they came out of the "Terminator" movies.

Dogs of Ware

Besides Ukraine, other countries like the United States and China are also deploying robot dogs on the battlefield.

Recently, China unveiled a robot dog with a machine gun strapped to its back, a dystopian glimpse at the future of warfare. Israel is also using robot dogs in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

In addition to robot dogs, a variety of different types of drones have been a pivotal part of the war in Ukraine, a hotbed for new and experimental military technologies.

Ukraine is using the robot dogs to limit the risks to soldiers on the front lines.

"We were concerned about the increasingly frequent reports of casualties at the front due to enemy drones," Kyle Thorburn, head of UK-based military contractor Brit Alliance, told German magazine Bild. "So we discussed the possibilities of a safer solution for reconnaissance missions in high-risk areas."

And the bid appears to be paying off.

"This not only increases the effectiveness of combat operations, but also strengthens the morale of the army," Thorburn added.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-getting-ready-unleash-swarm-124552244.html

Boston Dynamics' creations scare the s# out of me.

Then, I think of the fact that they work for our side.



I'm torn. Truly torn.

What happens when they stop working for my interests?

Ukraine just embarrassed Russia. It doesn’t matter that this is most likely temporary - the fact that Ukraine managed to pull off taking over Russian territory was unimaginable.

I agree with your sentiments for the most part. The idea of the orange one unleashing those on political dissidents in the US is rather terrifying.

I'm not sure "our side" and "my interests" are entirely the case now.

Couldn't you dumb a drone way down, build a bunch of them on the cheap, and then send a swarm through a minefield to clear it?

^ That's a genius Idea I've never heard mentioned. Hopefully our military has.

I watched a lot of video of the Ukrainians using drones to destroy various vehicles and infantry. They are crazy accurate with the drones dropping bombs and use them extensively.

There is a video of their drone flying training school and it's amazing how they fly those things. Zipping through suspended tires and other obstacles.

The Ukrainians are a clever bunch. I remember they had people coming from all over the world because they wanted to help the war effort without much in the way of relevant skills ("I play lots of Call of Duty"). This could be how they put those to use?

/s

The uneven terrain might be bad for a cheap quadupedal (sp?) robot, but then you'd probably want something with a larger footprint and was heavier anyway.

I had the idea when I watched that one video of the defunct, but mobile, tank that one side loaded up with explosives and sent it at the other side. It never made it, but that was because the other side had to shoot a couple rockets or whatever at it to blow it up. Resources spent to neutralize something that wasn't going to do a whole lot anyway (tank wasn't battle-worthy, but could still go).

Posted by Oober.....

You have tried to combine our military with the idea of doing and building something cheaply. From everything I've heard from people working for military contractors at Wright Patterson as well as 05's posts, I don't believe those two things can be tied together at this point in time no matter how much they should be.

Great point as well. We'd need to figure out a way to make them $1M each, be less efficient and have a six month shelf life.

Edit: Oh, yeah... and make them run on fairy dust.

I have heard a rumor that fairly dust is the most expensive fuel on the market.

That's why we're using it. The higher the budget, the more important the project is considered to be.

I know we've been sort of semi joking about it but here's an article I think actually points out some of the things we have been bantering about thus far......

New spending bill squanders billions on dysfunctional weapons programs

The increase alone from last year is more than what some of the world's biggest countries spend on their own defense budgets.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2...rein-in-the-military-industrial-complex/

I started to make a joke about crazy weapon spending being pretty "communist," but it's not really a joking matter.

Both parties are under the military industrial complex's thumb and with PMCs I'm not sure there's a whole lot they can do about it at this point even if a politician wanted to. Honestly, I'm not sure how much control the government really has over the country's military if push actually came to shove. The military has its own factions. Dark days now and likely more ahead.

Excellent article. Now, multiply that by almost every "department" in the federal gov'.t


Key in that article: No one wants to vote against something that goes on in their district."

It's called job security for those reps and senators. They can't go into congress as normal people and come out 4-6 years later as millionaires if they don't play the game.

However, the "game" is killing this country.

Which is in part why I posted the above article. It's no longer about what the military wants and needs but what the contractors can fore down the throats of the Department of State Eisenhower warned us a about the military-industrial complex but far too few paid attention.

I don't disagree with you arch. I mean all anyone has to do is ask themselves why so many attorneys who could make much more money in the private sector spend millions of dollars and fight to get into a job, politics that pays them far less. Unless they're foolish enough to believe that the average politician is doing it strictly for their love of country. And we both know that isn't the case.

Then they are in Congress. . . .

That is a constant snag that we see, and it's frustrating for sure. I would say that there could be hope if it's done by a startup or something that graduates out of the SIBR program, if it's not immediately bought and consumed and marked up to high hell by one of the "Big 5."

Jc

Shout out to Zelensky. Putin wants a buffer zone? Cool, he can have one that starts within his own borders.

Yeah exactly. Further proof that Russia only understands strength and leverage. Before, they wanted to negotiate being the only holder of foreign territory. Now Ukraine holds Russian territory. "How the turntables."

Also, where are all these nukes everyone was worried about? Russian territory was invaded. No nukes though...

Kinda makes you wonder that very thing. Give them what they need and we won't have a Russia problem any more.. I'm convinced that Ukraine can beat them to a pulp. If Putin has Nukes and sees the writing on the wall, he may use them., I'm convinced that will end in disaster for Russia. NATO will Jump in at that point and it should.

What's sad is that the Russian people will pay the ultimate price. That I don't want to see. But that's what you get for letting a dictator run things. Word to the wise here in America

It would end in disaster for Russia, unfortunately it would/could end in disaster for the rest of the world as well. You think he'd restrict the nukes to Ukraine? Knowing NATO would have to make a response, he'd probably target NATO in the initial nuclear attack.

Reuters link

Russia has 1,710 strategic warheads actively deployed around the world already as a means of deterrence with thousands more stockpiled at home.

"Moscow could destroy the world many times over."

Lots of rather scary stuff in that article.

If you allow fear to dictate your every move you will always come out the loser.

Did I say allow it to dictate? No.

Neither should one make light of the potential annihilation of the human race. You don't seem to understand how mechanically easy it would be for the world to end. A series of button presses and damn near all life could be wiped from the face of the earth.

I certainly do understand. That's why we have an even larger nuclear arsenal that Russia. Russia is fully aware that if they employ such a tactic it would also insure their destruction. I never said that you claimed that fear should always dictate. I was simply making the statement that despite your pointing out there was "Lots of rather scary stuff in that article" I don't believe we can allow scary stuff to dictate our choices and decisions. I don't see anywhere that you claimed we should.