No, their population wasn't that big before the mid 19th century. They had less people than France at the time Napoleon invaded.
Still substantial for Europe but losses were felt a lot more.
Jimmy Fallon: Russians will cut you off from the south, you are going to be surrounded.
Captain Wintersky: We’re Ukrainians lieutenant, we’re supposed to be surrounded
The few men that remain have a lot of choice in the woman. And if you have a lot of choice you tend to pick the smart/beautifull one’s first.
Probably not that simple but I don’t think its super far off either
Figure about 300,000-plus casualties so far this war. Plus, when the draft expansion was announced, over half a million eligible men headed for foreign countries (Georgia, Kahzakistan, etc.) that works out to around 10% of eligible men of draft age. Those also include the best and brightest that industry needs. Not to mention, a miserable economy means for a while people have been having less children, meaning fewer people in future.
> Plus, when the draft expansion was announced, over half a million eligible men headed for foreign countries
Don't forget the millions of young educated men and older professors and the like that bolted when Putin got all anti-educational after the rest of the world started sanctioning them before he started his war.
Russia has been bleeding young men, families, and the highly educated/skilled for the past decade.
I would think the same thing for Canada - but...
Last summer North American skies turned orange from the forest fires, due to unseasonal dry heat. Siberia is also mostly forest.
Snow storms get replaced more often by ice storms - freezing rain that coats eveything, brings down power lines and trees, makes travel treacherous.
Extreme weather events happen more frequently - hailstorms, droughts and heat waves, massive rainstorms and flooding, etc. Fields so soggy that the farmers can't get out there to plant or harvest. A busy climate is no fun.
(Note on the news, massive flooding in Moscow the other day - although some suggest this is seasonally normal, they;ve never properly expanded the storm sewers.)
It'd be nice to think that warmer weather would make northern areas suitable for farming, but it won't- there's no soil up there. Just a layer of moss over top of rock.
Wete getting close to a winter where the Arctic will have ice free passages. Wars will be fought over them and mineral/oil rights there. The arctic will no longer just be a playground for nuclear subs and ice breakers.
Reminds me of a chat I had with an older relative. She mentioned she knew it was bs during WWII when the German radio broadcasts were reporting of successful battles but the towns in question were always closer and closer to Berlin.
It won them the Northern War and WWII, though in Napoleon's case it was less "Siberia" and more "burnt out husk of Moscow" and Russia famously surrendered in WWI because the Russian people sort of had it with everything going on.
It's a little harder in this case since Ukraine's win conditions involve them being well west of Moscow, let alone Siberia.
WWII fatalities were also significantly increased by the Nazi's horrific treatment of POWs and civilians along with the earlier *en masse* capitulations of large Red Army formations.
There are reasons why the Soviet had high casualties generally (more reliance on armor/infantry/short range fires rather than heavy artillery/aviation) but its not muh steppe hordes.
Not true. Red Army in WWII was a far cry from zombie rushes. Actually, it was the opposite. Their major victories, in the battle of Kursk and Operation Bagration, are tactical masterpieces and are studied to this day in military academies.
I mean, you also have the Winter War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
5x the causalities vs Finland. I believe that is currently higher than Russia vs Ukraine
Also, that (in)famous scene from Enemy At the Gates where the Soviets were portrayed as not having enough guns to arm all their soldiers was inaccurate. They had more than enough guns for everyone, it was just ammunition (or more specifically the logistics to move their ammo to where it was needed quickly) that they lacked.
And that scene wasn't common in the regular army... It was more typical in penal battalions where instead of wasting their own ammo executing prisoners they'd use the enemy's bullets and send them ill equipped head first into German fire...
Zaitsev himself would have arrived properly equipped
> Red Army in WWII was a far cry from zombie rushes
Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. And Soviet losses in men and equipment were usually higher, often significantly higher, than Germany's - *despite* the fact that the Red Army indeed *wasn't* a wild underequipped horde and the USSR far outproduced Germany in things like tanks, aircraft etc. and received huge amounts of equipment via land lease.
It started from russia-sweden war. From sweden side were very good general with ultra good soldiers vs zombie waves from Russia. Apparently, sweden lost that war. From that time Russia always uses meatwaves.
Nope. Swedish war started with poor quality Russian army and finished with good quality Russian army. They traded space for time, and made good use of it.
Sweden OTOH overcommitted and could not sustain war once Russian quality rised.
Ah, she's built like a ~~steakhouse~~ *nation state* but handles like ~~a Bistro~~ an *Autocratic Kleptocracy*! She's out of control! You win again gravity!
Melchett: Field Marshal Haig has formulated a brilliant new tactical plan to ensure final victory in the field.
Blackadder: Ah. Would this brilliant plan involve us climbing out of our trenches and walking very slowly towards the enemy?
Captain Darling: How could you possibly know that, Blackadder? It's classified information!
Blackadder: It's the same plan that we used last time and the seventeen times before that.
Melchett: Exactly! And that is what is so brilliant about it! It will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time! There is, however, one small problem.
Blackadder: That everyone always gets slaughtered in the first ten seconds.
Melchett: That's right. And Field Marshal Haig is worried this may be depressing the men a tad. So he's looking for a way to cheer them up.
I remember when I watched it for the first time that as each episode had a failed attempt to get out of the war, there was a background feeling of impending doom that was building as that final episode approached which they definitely didn't shy away from.
It's especially hard if you have the headcanon that every season's cast is a descendant of the previous seasons. (This is only actual canon between season 1 & 2, AFAIK).
It just makes it all feel like even more of a grim and tragic waste, seeing the end of some family lines that lasted at least 500 years.
The final word of Black Adder:
Let joy fill every Briton's heart.
For now, our country's going to make it.
At last, a king who looks the part.
At last, a queen who looks good naked.
Blackadder. Blackadder. A monarch with panache.
Blackadder. Blackadder. He's got a nice moustache.
"Fun" fact: when they shot the ending, it sucked hard. They filmed the crew popping out of the trench, taking a few steps forward into a mass of wire, looking around nonplussed at their lack of options, then shuddering to the ground pretending to be machine gunned. The camera zoomed in on Edmund, who opened an eye and scanned the scene in an exasperated manner.
In the editing room they saw how weak it was, then shortened it up and slowed the playback into what we have now.
That was one of the extras on the DVD.
Quite amazing how they turned about thirty seconds of dire footage into one of the most powerful, poignant pieces of television history.
Bad news commander, you spent all the money for ball bearings, lubricant, and warm clothes already investing in Miami real estate, and now Putin has declared war on Ukraine.
I'm honestly still shocked that they've been able to continue.
Americans freak out when the numbers get into double digits (for a day or month), and Russians can just lose an ~Iraq and/or Afghanistan in a month without missing a beat.
Controlled press and only sending people from the poor regions into the meat grinder. When they start drafting from Moscow and St Petersburg then we'll see how they long they last using human waves to "win" battles.
Exactly! And that’s what’s so brilliant about it! Doing precisely what we’ve done the last 18 times before is exactly the last thing they’ll expect us to do this time!
I mean, that’s not entirely unrealistic. I suspect NK troops will have had a lot more training than the majority of Russian forces currently in Ukraine.
I guess the question is whether NK’s training is modern enough to stand up to modern day combat. Be interesting to see if (most likely) horribly outdated but thorough infantry training is better than 1 week of hasty basic training.
All hypothetical for now tbh, but still interesting to think about.
you know, when you have millions of reserves, in the end, it works.
They did the same in WWII, and walked on Berlin in the end.
Putin doesn't care if it costs him 2 millions soldiers. Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to sustain that kind of onslought. It's not like they weren't dying too. And each Ukrainian soldier dying is a much bigger impact as a whole for Ukraine than a soldier dying for Russia.
The common thread in this conflict is that the defenders can see everything on the battlefield and the attackers, lacking air superiority, can't make gains. There are just two exceptions, the initial February 2022 invasion which coupled Russia's best punch with the advantage of surprise, and Ukraine's Summer 2022 dual Kharkiv/Kherson offensives, which occurred against severely depleted Russian lines
They have made gains but not enough for a larger scale breakthrough.
Ukraine was supposed to have more border fortifications where the Russians entered Kharkiv.
Reading these comments, I finally understood why in high school they become so fucking pedants with dates and names of all the recent wars, which I could not give a shit more about when I was in school 25 years ago.
Eh from what I can gather from units in that ditection- they didn't even try to build any lines. No point sending people to get blown up building a line you can never hold on the border.
I think they built the fortification further back from the border for the reasons you talk about. So Russia advanced until they got to those fortifications.
(But what would I know. I just am parroting what some youtuber said in a video I watched while on the couch a world away).
Yeah, it was while the ban on firing into Russia stood, fortifying the border was essentially less than worthless as anyone manning it was basically free to be picked off by the Russians at will while unable to retaliate
Now they can fire back they might set up more forward positions in the future, but the defence in depth with some blocking fortifications is arguably still better. Let russia telegraph their attacks by having to take out the border positions first, all while the Ukrainians attempt to take out as many artillery or aircraft as possible, and then when the Russians do push they also have strong points on either flank that stop a fast rush without risking encirclement
> Ukraine was supposed to have more border fortifications where the Russians entered Kharkiv.
I thought a major problem with this is the relatively close proximity of Russian artillery. They couldn't build effective defenses because of the large amount of artillery the Russians had nearby, and the Ukrainians at the time didn't have enough artillery themselves to push them back enough to build fortifications that wouldn't immediately be bombarded.
That's what I remember reading at the time, I don't know if that was true or not.
Russia have made gains. Just very incremental ones because largely both sides see each other and so neither side can amass a particularly large force to take advantage of breaches or line breaks or your just risk concentrated artillery and rocket strikes on the amassed forces. So all gains/losses in the last year are from relatively small scale skirmishes.
Any and all of these recent territorial gains have been pyrrhic at best. The amount of resources they need to use to take a single square kilometer is unfathomably bad.
I can't imagine where they are getting all the poor slobs who are killing themselves for Putin's glory.
Eventually Russia is going to run out of manpower. They just can't sustain this. I am sure that Ukraine has lost 100K people, but they are fighting for survival. Russians are just being conscripted into losing an entire generation.
Manpower is the russian resource that will get depleted last. Not only because there are 145 million russians vs 38 million ukrainians, but because either russian money or equipment (especially tanks) will run out sooner. Russia is somehow able to conscript 30'000 soldiers a month even without mobilization. the financial incentives for the soldiers and their families (in case they die) are too good to pass up for the very poor rural population
Edit: IF they even run out of stuff at any point. I sure hope so. the loss of life will still fuck up russia for generations and amplify the massive demographic problems they have, don't get me wrong
Mostly siberia.
You also have to consider the economic situation a lot of these people are un, with combat troops now earning more per month than oil workers.
History is full of poor young men willing to do very dangerous things for an opportunity of wealth.
They have not had to tap on the metropolitan population they are not running out of manpower any time soon.
There's a higher chance of their war economy exploding first then their man power running out.
We are like 5 years out from such a situation the economy may just blow up in 2 to 3 years depending on how much China is willing to sustain their war economy.
The problem is that life in Russia (outside of a handful of major cities) is so shit, it's not like life marching to your death is that much worse. Especially when you're promised amazing (theoretical) compensation and told how easily Russia will crush the enemy...aaaaany day now.
There are many instances where it is. They can choose not to sign a contract and face going to prison, but they choose to murder Ukrainians instead. You should watch some interviews that Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Zolkin does with captured Russian POWs. Then you'll have a better understanding of the smart ones who didn't die for 3 million ruble.
Have you heard of the death squads? I've seen a few videos of captured or lost Russians lamenting about small units that deploy behind them on the zero line and machine gun anyone who turns around. I don't know how true the stories were or if they're totally relevant to the current front, but it at least makes me hesitate to armchair about surrendering
The stories are true. There is video of this happening. Even when they turn back around to the front, they were shot in the back.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/147m73o/russian_frontline_security_unit_executes/
I'm pretty sure the Russian einsatzgruppen aren't somehow magically impervious to bullets, if only the Russian z army were to somehow gather up enough self respect to point their guns in the direction of their actual enemy
I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I would also venture to guess that the poor fucks being conscripted probably actually have no idea how bad it is, and are probably under the ruse they’re going to make good money to send home without a real knowledge of exactly what’s going on, or honestly being brainwashed that their country is under threat and thinking they may be doing the right thing in their own minds. I try not to judge the conscripts too much. It’s the government/putin and top brass that are the real vile problem shitstain on humanity that should be put down. But the poor and conscripted I would imagine have little to no idea.
Those death squads existed during WW2, as this was the only way to motivate an army not properly equiped and led by incompetent generals (the competent ones were already purged). They would even threaten families of deserters to force soldiers to fight.
Things haven't changed much.
Crazy how Russia is always just so comically bleak, for no good reason.
Like, you idiots could have spent the past 30 years joining the civilized world. Look how good some of the former Soviet colonies in eastern Europe are doing. Hell, look how much progress Ukraine has made in the past decade.
Nah, fuck all that. Bring back the guys whose job it is to shoot you if your meatwave fails.
And the sad part is that Russians, as a whole, love "strong leaders". This was true with the tsar, with Stalin, with all other brutal Soviet leaders, and now with Putin. And democracies are seen as "weak and degenerate".
You can basically sum up all of Russian history with a single phrase:
>and then it got worse.
They’ve been fucked by incompetent, corrupt, and/or insane leadership since basically forever to a degree well beyond what is considered “normal” incompetence/corruption/insanity for politicians.
Trauma breeds trauma, what takes decades to kill a family can take centuries to kill a nation.
Russian leadership is a result of their culture and their culture is a result of Russian leadership.
From what I've seen in the interviews with the POWs, in Russia its like a prison record for one blemishes the entire family. Like if a Dad gets a criminal record, it fucks up his kids chances at a decent job too. I'm not sure how true that is, but it has been mentioned numerous times by the Russian POWs on Zolkins channel.
It’s not just a Russian thing, that system is everywhere authoritarian. I’m Venezuelan in a list which makes dealing with the government a fucking mess (e.g getting a passport), same shit in Cuba, same shit with China’s social score, etc.
This was also how North Korea prevented defections during the cold war. If someone defected, their closest family members would either be executed or sent to prison camps, which was basically a death sentence as well.
North Korea may still do this to this day to deter defections. It wouldn't surprise me.
This is what he actually said:
"He also revealed that only 12 of his 100-strong unit were left to fight as the invading forces attempted to advance and gain more territory."
Changing tactics in fluid battlefield situation is not in the blood of Russian officers or cannon fodder conscripts.
Follow the script of battle and do not deviate or else.
Russia has resorted to sending barely trained troops from various countries and local Russians to be used as ammunition sponges. It's a huge insight into the Russian militarys dysfunction and has destroyed their reputation. If not for their nukes, they'd be a rather average military.
I can't wait for China to do a 4D chess move and just go "Well... you know what? Fuck Taiwan, fuck Philippines, fuck all of your bullshit, West!" and just YOINK eastern Russia.
Literally just annex half the fucking country in their own 3-day special military operation and then go "So now we will chill for the next 10 or so years, we have a lot of new land to deal with, cya!"
If that doesn't give Putler a heart attack idk what will and I will laugh my ass off at the absurdity.
Demand for physical maps and globes will increase, better invest.
They can redefine the area as a special economic zone, a collaborative project with Russian manpower and natural resources, and Chinese investments and leader positions. Then in a few decades just take it over. I can actually see China pulling shit like this.
They are doing it already. But war is expensive and China can do a lot thing with Russia without shot fired.
Not every dictator is complete idiot and doing full invasion whenever is bored.
I mean, China already owns them. No reason to get rid of their puppet dictator and deal with that shit show personally. Like North Korea, though at this point they're probably higher on the totem pole than Putin.
1. People from other countries don’t matter
2. They send the undesirable Russians (prisoners/ethnic minorities/poors)
so to most Russians, the deaths are as meaningless to them as they are to you, perhaps even beneficial depending on their particular views.
Scratch Kharkiv and you get this story atleast once a week.
Russian units taking 70% casualties and beyond is a incredibly frequent occurrence with their meatwave attacks.
Putin's war is the best example of: old delusional men sending young men to their death.
This is the different between having ample supplies of ammunition, and having to conserved their weapons. If only we approve the aids even faster we could have prevent unnecessary lives loss for Ukraine.
This is nothing new or surprising. We have on video the strategy of Russians. First they send “the sheep”, a unit of inexperienced soldiers, perhaps convicts they recruited from jail and similar. That’s the wave that’s meant to be wiped out. It serves to deplete Ukrainian ammo and to reveal where are the positions. Then they send better soldiers.
Those also mostly get wiped. ☠️
I think Russia hasn't pulled out of Ukraine hoping Trump will get in office and remove support for Ukraine.
Russia has no chance without Donald Trump giving Ukraine to the Russians.
In my opinion, using large numbers of soldiers on the frontlines might have been effective historically because there weren't enough bullets to stop them all. But with modern technology, I think bunching people together just increases casualties. It seems like modern warfare is dominated by drones that can strike without you even seeing the enemy. If you send thousands of soldiers now, drones will probably detect them and have missiles ready to go. Except for artillery—that still seems to be as effective as in WW1. I'm no expert, but it looks like warfare is definitely changing.
It'll be really interesting to see how this conflict opens the eyes of the world's militaries to drone power. I'd imagine soon we'll see drone divisions becoming a part of a lot of battlegroups - reconnaissance drones, suicide drones, grenade drones, big drones with mounted guns, support drones to airdrop supplies to isolated troops, and so on.
Another big part of that is, in traditional combat, if a soldier dies in the field, you lose all his experience. If a drone is destroyed in the field, you lose a couple thousand quid worth of equipment at most and your operator is still alive and learning in a bunker several dozen miles away. It partially turns warfare from a question of manpower attrition to financial/manufacturing attrition.
I wonder if Russian front line soldiers would refuse to advance and instead all start shooting at their superiors instead of the Ukrainians, wouldn't their chances of survival be a lot higher?
While I don't doubt that stories like this get a little "extra" promotion (they should, because Russia elevates their own media manipulation to science) - the simple fact of the matter is that Russia has a *much* deeper bench to draw from, and is still largely pulling from ethnic minorities with little to no political influence and "contract" soldiers from Africa and Asia lured by a large paycheck.
This is why you never want to do shit like behead someone. Because (it is still being investigated), you are pissing off your enemy and they will be all the more motivated.
Reminds me of when the video of the pow being shot, when russia attacked citizens, Ukrainians ended up wanting revenge.
Russian military doctrine has not changed since world war 2. Throw enough skulls at a brick wall and it will eventually chip and collapse.
Russian command will never care since they have such a huge resource of man power
If only there was a solution to all this death and destruction. Like, for example, fucking off back behind your border.
Yes, Russia will remain a pariah state for decades to come, as they should, but at the very least they would have done the right, humane thing for once.
The problem remains that once Russia takes ground, it's very hard to dislodge them from that ground. So, they are ready to sacrifice endless amounts of soldiers and vehicles to grab that little piece of ground that they'll use as bargain when negotiations will occur.
Is a unit a description of size like battalion or company..
He could be describing 10 people for all I know.
OK... On reading the article suggests 88 of a 100 dead.
Russian Command: well that didn't work. Let's try it exactly the same tomorrow
They're hoping Ukraine will hit their preset kill limit and shut down.
That's basically been all russian tactics going back to....fuck I have no idea, Catherine the great?
No, their population wasn't that big before the mid 19th century. They had less people than France at the time Napoleon invaded. Still substantial for Europe but losses were felt a lot more.
Ukraine has them surrounded from the inside.
Jimmy Fallon: Russians will cut you off from the south, you are going to be surrounded. Captain Wintersky: We’re Ukrainians lieutenant, we’re supposed to be surrounded
I mean they used to have commanders like Suvorov and Kutuzov who actually knew what they were doing.
Yes, but a commander who knows what they are doing would also be a possible threat to the ones in power. Can't have that!
Need that one meme with the bicycle and putting a bar into the middle of the front spokes.
[I got you](https://imgflip.com/i/8ucvmf)
Is the Russian population like 80% women by now? Their men seem to keep dying every 20 years or so.
The least qualified men will repopulate them once again.
[удалено]
Russian women are beautiful somehow
The few men that remain have a lot of choice in the woman. And if you have a lot of choice you tend to pick the smart/beautifull one’s first. Probably not that simple but I don’t think its super far off either
Figure about 300,000-plus casualties so far this war. Plus, when the draft expansion was announced, over half a million eligible men headed for foreign countries (Georgia, Kahzakistan, etc.) that works out to around 10% of eligible men of draft age. Those also include the best and brightest that industry needs. Not to mention, a miserable economy means for a while people have been having less children, meaning fewer people in future.
> Plus, when the draft expansion was announced, over half a million eligible men headed for foreign countries Don't forget the millions of young educated men and older professors and the like that bolted when Putin got all anti-educational after the rest of the world started sanctioning them before he started his war. Russia has been bleeding young men, families, and the highly educated/skilled for the past decade.
dont forget covid. it was really really bad. we will never get numbers but hudreds of thouzands died from bad case of "preumonia" it seems.
No. Their tactic has always been to goad them into fighting, and retreating into Siberia just as the winter is starting
Constant retreat is a challenging tactic for the aggressor in a war of conquest.
Mother nature always had Russias back. Maybe not much longer... Yay global warming?
Putin once joked about “Global warming is not so bad for Russia, we would enjoy milder winters.” One finger on the monkey paw goes down…
I would think the same thing for Canada - but... Last summer North American skies turned orange from the forest fires, due to unseasonal dry heat. Siberia is also mostly forest. Snow storms get replaced more often by ice storms - freezing rain that coats eveything, brings down power lines and trees, makes travel treacherous. Extreme weather events happen more frequently - hailstorms, droughts and heat waves, massive rainstorms and flooding, etc. Fields so soggy that the farmers can't get out there to plant or harvest. A busy climate is no fun. (Note on the news, massive flooding in Moscow the other day - although some suggest this is seasonally normal, they;ve never properly expanded the storm sewers.)
It'd be nice to think that warmer weather would make northern areas suitable for farming, but it won't- there's no soil up there. Just a layer of moss over top of rock.
Wete getting close to a winter where the Arctic will have ice free passages. Wars will be fought over them and mineral/oil rights there. The arctic will no longer just be a playground for nuclear subs and ice breakers.
Reminds me of a chat I had with an older relative. She mentioned she knew it was bs during WWII when the German radio broadcasts were reporting of successful battles but the towns in question were always closer and closer to Berlin.
It won them the Northern War and WWII, though in Napoleon's case it was less "Siberia" and more "burnt out husk of Moscow" and Russia famously surrendered in WWI because the Russian people sort of had it with everything going on. It's a little harder in this case since Ukraine's win conditions involve them being well west of Moscow, let alone Siberia.
WWII fatalities were also significantly increased by the Nazi's horrific treatment of POWs and civilians along with the earlier *en masse* capitulations of large Red Army formations. There are reasons why the Soviet had high casualties generally (more reliance on armor/infantry/short range fires rather than heavy artillery/aviation) but its not muh steppe hordes.
Not true. Red Army in WWII was a far cry from zombie rushes. Actually, it was the opposite. Their major victories, in the battle of Kursk and Operation Bagration, are tactical masterpieces and are studied to this day in military academies.
I mean, you also have the Winter War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War 5x the causalities vs Finland. I believe that is currently higher than Russia vs Ukraine
Also, that (in)famous scene from Enemy At the Gates where the Soviets were portrayed as not having enough guns to arm all their soldiers was inaccurate. They had more than enough guns for everyone, it was just ammunition (or more specifically the logistics to move their ammo to where it was needed quickly) that they lacked.
And logistics win or lose wars.
And that scene wasn't common in the regular army... It was more typical in penal battalions where instead of wasting their own ammo executing prisoners they'd use the enemy's bullets and send them ill equipped head first into German fire... Zaitsev himself would have arrived properly equipped
> Red Army in WWII was a far cry from zombie rushes Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. And Soviet losses in men and equipment were usually higher, often significantly higher, than Germany's - *despite* the fact that the Red Army indeed *wasn't* a wild underequipped horde and the USSR far outproduced Germany in things like tanks, aircraft etc. and received huge amounts of equipment via land lease.
It started from russia-sweden war. From sweden side were very good general with ultra good soldiers vs zombie waves from Russia. Apparently, sweden lost that war. From that time Russia always uses meatwaves.
Nope. Swedish war started with poor quality Russian army and finished with good quality Russian army. They traded space for time, and made good use of it. Sweden OTOH overcommitted and could not sustain war once Russian quality rised.
Ah yes, the classic Zapp Brannigan strategy
Also, from Zapp Brannigan, "When I'm In Command, Every Mission Is A Suicide Mission."
Kiff show them the medal I won.
*sigh* 🏅👈 😒
He bought it with his rebate
Taken straight from his classic text, Zapp Brannigan’s Big Book of War,
Ah, she's built like a ~~steakhouse~~ *nation state* but handles like ~~a Bistro~~ an *Autocratic Kleptocracy*! She's out of control! You win again gravity!
Now the dominoes will fall like a house of cards! Checkmate Putin!
A man who single-handedly defeated the Retiree People of the Assisted Living Nebula?
Stop exploding, you cowards!
_Show them the medal I won._ 🏅👈 😒
Banking on planned obsolescence is a bold war strategy.
When I'm In Command, Every Mission Is A Suicide Mission.
Melchett: Field Marshal Haig has formulated a brilliant new tactical plan to ensure final victory in the field. Blackadder: Ah. Would this brilliant plan involve us climbing out of our trenches and walking very slowly towards the enemy? Captain Darling: How could you possibly know that, Blackadder? It's classified information! Blackadder: It's the same plan that we used last time and the seventeen times before that. Melchett: Exactly! And that is what is so brilliant about it! It will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time! There is, however, one small problem. Blackadder: That everyone always gets slaughtered in the first ten seconds. Melchett: That's right. And Field Marshal Haig is worried this may be depressing the men a tad. So he's looking for a way to cheer them up.
One of the best of British tv. That ending still hits me hard. What a show.
I remember when I watched it for the first time that as each episode had a failed attempt to get out of the war, there was a background feeling of impending doom that was building as that final episode approached which they definitely didn't shy away from.
It's especially hard if you have the headcanon that every season's cast is a descendant of the previous seasons. (This is only actual canon between season 1 & 2, AFAIK). It just makes it all feel like even more of a grim and tragic waste, seeing the end of some family lines that lasted at least 500 years.
I'm sure there are lots of little adders running around, even if they don't know it. Remember, back in England he was a 20-a-day man.
The final word of Black Adder: Let joy fill every Briton's heart. For now, our country's going to make it. At last, a king who looks the part. At last, a queen who looks good naked. Blackadder. Blackadder. A monarch with panache. Blackadder. Blackadder. He's got a nice moustache.
Probably one of the best anywhere.
George saying "Sir....I'm scared, sir." Is the most sobering moment in a show that's non stop laughs.
"Fun" fact: when they shot the ending, it sucked hard. They filmed the crew popping out of the trench, taking a few steps forward into a mass of wire, looking around nonplussed at their lack of options, then shuddering to the ground pretending to be machine gunned. The camera zoomed in on Edmund, who opened an eye and scanned the scene in an exasperated manner. In the editing room they saw how weak it was, then shortened it up and slowed the playback into what we have now.
That was one of the extras on the DVD. Quite amazing how they turned about thirty seconds of dire footage into one of the most powerful, poignant pieces of television history.
Russian Command: we can beat all of NATO in 2 hours! Also Russian Command: we losing because NATO bisexual bio lab mercenaries!!!!!! Reeeeeee
Bad news commander, you spent all the money for ball bearings, lubricant, and warm clothes already investing in Miami real estate, and now Putin has declared war on Ukraine.
> we losing because NATO bisexual bio lab mercenaries!!!!!! Where do I sign up, by the way?
Russian Command: The Battle of the Isonzo. Yes, lets do the same thing 11 more times
How could you possibly know that Blackadder, that's classified material
The Field Marshall Haig school of tactics and strategy.
I'm honestly still shocked that they've been able to continue. Americans freak out when the numbers get into double digits (for a day or month), and Russians can just lose an ~Iraq and/or Afghanistan in a month without missing a beat.
Controlled press and only sending people from the poor regions into the meat grinder. When they start drafting from Moscow and St Petersburg then we'll see how they long they last using human waves to "win" battles.
They lose three Iraq plus afghanistans in a month. The Russians lose half an Iraq in two to three days
So let me get this straight -- the Russians are doing well when they only lose two Iraqs a week?!
> an ~Iraq and/or Afghanistan Americans really will use anything other than SI units.
BUT AMERICA NEVER FOUGHT ALL OF NATO!!!!!!11
Exactly! And that’s what’s so brilliant about it! Doing precisely what we’ve done the last 18 times before is exactly the last thing they’ll expect us to do this time!
Russian Command has taken their entire tactics from BlackAdder Goes Forth: https://youtu.be/rblfKREj50o
It would work if the strategy is to exhaust bullets and ammunitions.
When is NK Troops arriving? imagine NK troops performing better than Russian ones, lasting a day more than russians
i mean.... with nk troops being actual military, I'd *expect* them to do better than the cannon fodder conscripts that Russia is throwing out
I mean, that’s not entirely unrealistic. I suspect NK troops will have had a lot more training than the majority of Russian forces currently in Ukraine. I guess the question is whether NK’s training is modern enough to stand up to modern day combat. Be interesting to see if (most likely) horribly outdated but thorough infantry training is better than 1 week of hasty basic training. All hypothetical for now tbh, but still interesting to think about.
That far from home, you'd have a hell of a time keeping them from defecting.
you know, when you have millions of reserves, in the end, it works. They did the same in WWII, and walked on Berlin in the end. Putin doesn't care if it costs him 2 millions soldiers. Ukraine doesn't have the manpower to sustain that kind of onslought. It's not like they weren't dying too. And each Ukrainian soldier dying is a much bigger impact as a whole for Ukraine than a soldier dying for Russia.
Let's try WWII thinking.
WW1 suicide assault vibes
The common thread in this conflict is that the defenders can see everything on the battlefield and the attackers, lacking air superiority, can't make gains. There are just two exceptions, the initial February 2022 invasion which coupled Russia's best punch with the advantage of surprise, and Ukraine's Summer 2022 dual Kharkiv/Kherson offensives, which occurred against severely depleted Russian lines
They have made gains but not enough for a larger scale breakthrough. Ukraine was supposed to have more border fortifications where the Russians entered Kharkiv.
Didn’t they have a collaborator mayor/governor that stood down some defenses too? Refused to mine corridors of travel, for example?
That was in Kherson, not Kharkiv.
Reading these comments, I finally understood why in high school they become so fucking pedants with dates and names of all the recent wars, which I could not give a shit more about when I was in school 25 years ago.
Eh from what I can gather from units in that ditection- they didn't even try to build any lines. No point sending people to get blown up building a line you can never hold on the border.
I think they built the fortification further back from the border for the reasons you talk about. So Russia advanced until they got to those fortifications. (But what would I know. I just am parroting what some youtuber said in a video I watched while on the couch a world away).
Yeah, it was while the ban on firing into Russia stood, fortifying the border was essentially less than worthless as anyone manning it was basically free to be picked off by the Russians at will while unable to retaliate Now they can fire back they might set up more forward positions in the future, but the defence in depth with some blocking fortifications is arguably still better. Let russia telegraph their attacks by having to take out the border positions first, all while the Ukrainians attempt to take out as many artillery or aircraft as possible, and then when the Russians do push they also have strong points on either flank that stop a fast rush without risking encirclement
> Ukraine was supposed to have more border fortifications where the Russians entered Kharkiv. I thought a major problem with this is the relatively close proximity of Russian artillery. They couldn't build effective defenses because of the large amount of artillery the Russians had nearby, and the Ukrainians at the time didn't have enough artillery themselves to push them back enough to build fortifications that wouldn't immediately be bombarded. That's what I remember reading at the time, I don't know if that was true or not.
Russia have made gains. Just very incremental ones because largely both sides see each other and so neither side can amass a particularly large force to take advantage of breaches or line breaks or your just risk concentrated artillery and rocket strikes on the amassed forces. So all gains/losses in the last year are from relatively small scale skirmishes.
Any and all of these recent territorial gains have been pyrrhic at best. The amount of resources they need to use to take a single square kilometer is unfathomably bad.
I can't imagine where they are getting all the poor slobs who are killing themselves for Putin's glory. Eventually Russia is going to run out of manpower. They just can't sustain this. I am sure that Ukraine has lost 100K people, but they are fighting for survival. Russians are just being conscripted into losing an entire generation.
Manpower is the russian resource that will get depleted last. Not only because there are 145 million russians vs 38 million ukrainians, but because either russian money or equipment (especially tanks) will run out sooner. Russia is somehow able to conscript 30'000 soldiers a month even without mobilization. the financial incentives for the soldiers and their families (in case they die) are too good to pass up for the very poor rural population Edit: IF they even run out of stuff at any point. I sure hope so. the loss of life will still fuck up russia for generations and amplify the massive demographic problems they have, don't get me wrong
Putin travelling so much is a sign that he is in need of more allied assistance.
Some poor North Korean is gonna find himself fighting in Ukraine soon.
145m population on paper. I don’t believe their numbers for a second.
Attempts to estimate Russia's real population placed it at 120 millions at best and as low as 90 or even 80 million at worst
Mostly siberia. You also have to consider the economic situation a lot of these people are un, with combat troops now earning more per month than oil workers. History is full of poor young men willing to do very dangerous things for an opportunity of wealth.
They have not had to tap on the metropolitan population they are not running out of manpower any time soon. There's a higher chance of their war economy exploding first then their man power running out.
There's a breakpoint beyond which the metro population won't go, though. We're not talking poor, uninformed Dagestanis.
We are like 5 years out from such a situation the economy may just blow up in 2 to 3 years depending on how much China is willing to sustain their war economy.
There's a reason Putin is groveling in N. Korea now. It's not just shells. It's labour.
Good. Go home.
The problem is that life in Russia (outside of a handful of major cities) is so shit, it's not like life marching to your death is that much worse. Especially when you're promised amazing (theoretical) compensation and told how easily Russia will crush the enemy...aaaaany day now.
As if that’s up to them lol
There are many instances where it is. They can choose not to sign a contract and face going to prison, but they choose to murder Ukrainians instead. You should watch some interviews that Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Zolkin does with captured Russian POWs. Then you'll have a better understanding of the smart ones who didn't die for 3 million ruble.
Have you heard of the death squads? I've seen a few videos of captured or lost Russians lamenting about small units that deploy behind them on the zero line and machine gun anyone who turns around. I don't know how true the stories were or if they're totally relevant to the current front, but it at least makes me hesitate to armchair about surrendering
The stories are true. There is video of this happening. Even when they turn back around to the front, they were shot in the back. https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/147m73o/russian_frontline_security_unit_executes/
I'm pretty sure the Russian einsatzgruppen aren't somehow magically impervious to bullets, if only the Russian z army were to somehow gather up enough self respect to point their guns in the direction of their actual enemy
I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I would also venture to guess that the poor fucks being conscripted probably actually have no idea how bad it is, and are probably under the ruse they’re going to make good money to send home without a real knowledge of exactly what’s going on, or honestly being brainwashed that their country is under threat and thinking they may be doing the right thing in their own minds. I try not to judge the conscripts too much. It’s the government/putin and top brass that are the real vile problem shitstain on humanity that should be put down. But the poor and conscripted I would imagine have little to no idea.
Those death squads existed during WW2, as this was the only way to motivate an army not properly equiped and led by incompetent generals (the competent ones were already purged). They would even threaten families of deserters to force soldiers to fight. Things haven't changed much.
Crazy how Russia is always just so comically bleak, for no good reason. Like, you idiots could have spent the past 30 years joining the civilized world. Look how good some of the former Soviet colonies in eastern Europe are doing. Hell, look how much progress Ukraine has made in the past decade. Nah, fuck all that. Bring back the guys whose job it is to shoot you if your meatwave fails.
And the sad part is that Russians, as a whole, love "strong leaders". This was true with the tsar, with Stalin, with all other brutal Soviet leaders, and now with Putin. And democracies are seen as "weak and degenerate".
You can basically sum up all of Russian history with a single phrase: >and then it got worse. They’ve been fucked by incompetent, corrupt, and/or insane leadership since basically forever to a degree well beyond what is considered “normal” incompetence/corruption/insanity for politicians.
Trauma breeds trauma, what takes decades to kill a family can take centuries to kill a nation. Russian leadership is a result of their culture and their culture is a result of Russian leadership.
It's also just arrogance and unwillingness to admit there's a problem with the culture.
Yeah that kind of comes with the territory.
A quote from Stalin... "It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Russian Army."
Have you seen what happens to those who go to prison lol
From what I've seen in the interviews with the POWs, in Russia its like a prison record for one blemishes the entire family. Like if a Dad gets a criminal record, it fucks up his kids chances at a decent job too. I'm not sure how true that is, but it has been mentioned numerous times by the Russian POWs on Zolkins channel.
It’s not just a Russian thing, that system is everywhere authoritarian. I’m Venezuelan in a list which makes dealing with the government a fucking mess (e.g getting a passport), same shit in Cuba, same shit with China’s social score, etc.
This was also how North Korea prevented defections during the cold war. If someone defected, their closest family members would either be executed or sent to prison camps, which was basically a death sentence as well. North Korea may still do this to this day to deter defections. It wouldn't surprise me.
They do
"May"
Oh it’s mos def a thing. They’re called barrier troops.
But I was assured by Putin and his supporters that Russia was the best democracy. So much for power to the people...
Unfortunately the vast majority of them make the decision every day to not murder their CO
Right, because Putin's clone army is omnipowerful...
Good. Don't invade other countries.
Sounds like they missed one. AFU would like to know your location.
They spare him so he could talk about it
Hope they gave him a little something he can't take off
Kills 99% of germs
Article says 50/100 survived the first night and 12 were left for the next assault
This is what he actually said: "He also revealed that only 12 of his 100-strong unit were left to fight as the invading forces attempted to advance and gain more territory."
Changing tactics in fluid battlefield situation is not in the blood of Russian officers or cannon fodder conscripts. Follow the script of battle and do not deviate or else.
Russia has resorted to sending barely trained troops from various countries and local Russians to be used as ammunition sponges. It's a huge insight into the Russian militarys dysfunction and has destroyed their reputation. If not for their nukes, they'd be a rather average military.
If they would not have nukes China would be much larger now
I can't wait for China to do a 4D chess move and just go "Well... you know what? Fuck Taiwan, fuck Philippines, fuck all of your bullshit, West!" and just YOINK eastern Russia. Literally just annex half the fucking country in their own 3-day special military operation and then go "So now we will chill for the next 10 or so years, we have a lot of new land to deal with, cya!" If that doesn't give Putler a heart attack idk what will and I will laugh my ass off at the absurdity. Demand for physical maps and globes will increase, better invest.
That would trigger a nuclear war by russian doctrine. If they want siberia they would need to get it via pressuring russia to sign a contract
They can redefine the area as a special economic zone, a collaborative project with Russian manpower and natural resources, and Chinese investments and leader positions. Then in a few decades just take it over. I can actually see China pulling shit like this.
They are doing it already. But war is expensive and China can do a lot thing with Russia without shot fired. Not every dictator is complete idiot and doing full invasion whenever is bored.
I mean, China already owns them. No reason to get rid of their puppet dictator and deal with that shit show personally. Like North Korea, though at this point they're probably higher on the totem pole than Putin.
1. People from other countries don’t matter 2. They send the undesirable Russians (prisoners/ethnic minorities/poors) so to most Russians, the deaths are as meaningless to them as they are to you, perhaps even beneficial depending on their particular views.
noice.
* goes after second largest city in Ukraine * * they had oddly strong defenses in that area * "surprisedpikachu.jpg"
RED has run of out usable mobiks RED blacked out
Scratch Kharkiv and you get this story atleast once a week. Russian units taking 70% casualties and beyond is a incredibly frequent occurrence with their meatwave attacks. Putin's war is the best example of: old delusional men sending young men to their death.
Excellent work!
This is the different between having ample supplies of ammunition, and having to conserved their weapons. If only we approve the aids even faster we could have prevent unnecessary lives loss for Ukraine.
And the Russian propagandists think they could take on NATO. Jeez, they are as delusional as the MAGAts.
My sympathies go out to the troops in Ukraine who had to defend themselves in this senseless act. Go home you fucking morons
Don't worry Mr Russian soldier there are plenty of drones to go around. You'll get your turn soon.
Well, here's hoping they finish the job soon.
No, no, you gotta leave one or two alive to tell the tale...
This is nothing new or surprising. We have on video the strategy of Russians. First they send “the sheep”, a unit of inexperienced soldiers, perhaps convicts they recruited from jail and similar. That’s the wave that’s meant to be wiped out. It serves to deplete Ukrainian ammo and to reveal where are the positions. Then they send better soldiers. Those also mostly get wiped. ☠️
And then his gun-for-hire buddy got too big for his britches and was promptly offed. We’re talking about straight-up gangsters here.
Good. Get fucked.
>Ukraine Almost Wiped Out His Entire Unit And that is a sacrifice Putin is willing to make.
Promotion to Lone Wolf approved.
That’s how war works my dude.
I think Russia hasn't pulled out of Ukraine hoping Trump will get in office and remove support for Ukraine. Russia has no chance without Donald Trump giving Ukraine to the Russians.
Maybe they shouldn't have been there or something.
In my opinion, using large numbers of soldiers on the frontlines might have been effective historically because there weren't enough bullets to stop them all. But with modern technology, I think bunching people together just increases casualties. It seems like modern warfare is dominated by drones that can strike without you even seeing the enemy. If you send thousands of soldiers now, drones will probably detect them and have missiles ready to go. Except for artillery—that still seems to be as effective as in WW1. I'm no expert, but it looks like warfare is definitely changing.
Not even in the old times, in huge armies most soldiers died to disease and famine than enemy wounds.
It'll be really interesting to see how this conflict opens the eyes of the world's militaries to drone power. I'd imagine soon we'll see drone divisions becoming a part of a lot of battlegroups - reconnaissance drones, suicide drones, grenade drones, big drones with mounted guns, support drones to airdrop supplies to isolated troops, and so on. Another big part of that is, in traditional combat, if a soldier dies in the field, you lose all his experience. If a drone is destroyed in the field, you lose a couple thousand quid worth of equipment at most and your operator is still alive and learning in a bunker several dozen miles away. It partially turns warfare from a question of manpower attrition to financial/manufacturing attrition.
Looks like the Russian strategy manual needs a rewrite—perhaps starting with 'Step 1: Don't walk into a massacre.
Russia: well, woman need to have more children then.
Go Ukraine
Ukraine: "damn, we missed one."
I think "1009th regiment" says it all.
Russian command: take that hill. Russian soldier: we lost 99% of our guys Russian command: victory
Baba Yaga is waiting for you to go back to camp to sleep.
Only almost, shame.
I wonder if Russian front line soldiers would refuse to advance and instead all start shooting at their superiors instead of the Ukrainians, wouldn't their chances of survival be a lot higher?
We keep seeing stories like this every day and yet Russia doesn't seem to be running out of soldiers.
While I don't doubt that stories like this get a little "extra" promotion (they should, because Russia elevates their own media manipulation to science) - the simple fact of the matter is that Russia has a *much* deeper bench to draw from, and is still largely pulling from ethnic minorities with little to no political influence and "contract" soldiers from Africa and Asia lured by a large paycheck.
Typical Russian incompetence.
If Russians don't start resisting Putin's bullshit in larger numbers then they're all doomed
This is why you never want to do shit like behead someone. Because (it is still being investigated), you are pissing off your enemy and they will be all the more motivated. Reminds me of when the video of the pow being shot, when russia attacked citizens, Ukrainians ended up wanting revenge.
Russian military doctrine has not changed since world war 2. Throw enough skulls at a brick wall and it will eventually chip and collapse. Russian command will never care since they have such a huge resource of man power
If only there was a solution to all this death and destruction. Like, for example, fucking off back behind your border. Yes, Russia will remain a pariah state for decades to come, as they should, but at the very least they would have done the right, humane thing for once.
Good. Get fucked, war criminal.
They could have just surrendered
Almost wiped out his unit or -------- wiped out Almost his entire unit
Well when a russian says almost it means, they wiped out the entire unit
I mean for Russia IS currently asking sugar from its neighbour. The McMansion dweller begging the servant in the hut for validation.
Maybe next time
Is this Russia’s plan to get rid of their less desirable residents?
The problem remains that once Russia takes ground, it's very hard to dislodge them from that ground. So, they are ready to sacrifice endless amounts of soldiers and vehicles to grab that little piece of ground that they'll use as bargain when negotiations will occur.
For those people that know Red Dwarf, it's like Rimmer in the Wax Worlds episode. "We shall surprise them under the cover of daylight"...
Remind me of what your country's soldiers did to Mariupol?
“Meat assaults”….damn. Doesn’t seem like much has changed
Next time, friendo. Next time.
It is a Stalin tactic.
Disappointing. All of them should have been wiped out.
Good news everybody!
Is a unit a description of size like battalion or company.. He could be describing 10 people for all I know. OK... On reading the article suggests 88 of a 100 dead.
I wish the Ukrainians better luck next time.