Russian Invasion of Ukraine Megathread

[JosephStalin]

What about the Black Sea coast then? That's where they have seized the most territory.

Good question. Believe that area is contiguous to areas they took from Ukraine in 2014. Also hampers Ukrainian exports of grain. Again, tying up Ukrainian troops that could have gone to Kyiv.

 

[draggs]

What about the Black Sea coast then? That's where they have seized the most territory.

What about it? Russia moved out from Crimea after it had stalled everywhere else and Ukraine didn't have much to oppose it because of heavy commitments elsewhere. It's also the best terrain for attacking with cities and towns more spread out and not a lot of natural defensive features until you get to the Dnieper. Northern Ukraine west of Kiev has the marshes and there's not really much worth taking until you get to Lvov which is not close to the northern border it's not a great place to attack, the north border in the middle has the Dnieper plus a bunch of towns and cities close together, there's more built up areas that aren't that great to attack into farther east on the northern border as well

An offensive from Crimea north was a smart move and about the only one Russia had left to try so it did but now it's another mostly stalled front after the Ukrainians moved reinforcements in and now the Dnieper is in the way of further advances there

Muh land bridge to cut Ukraine east of the Dnieper in half is about the only thing Russia has left to try that might bring some important success, every other grand strategic move they've tried hasn't worked and likely won't or even can't work now

 

[Derka Derka]

Is there a site of how much armaments that has been sent to Ukraine

According to this CNN article, there was 17K anti-tank missiles and 2K SAMs sent to Ukraine within the first 2 weeks of the invasion.
And Ukraine are asking for 500 a day of each the stinger and javelin

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/24/politics/ukraine-us-request-javelin-stinger-missiles/index.html

 

[JosephStalin]

You believe everything you read on the internet, especially if it validates your position, don't you?

I'm going to point out that after the breakup and we were able to see/talk to the other side about what happened (e.g., the various sub accidents, collisions, the Glomar Explorer sub raising, etc) during some tense exchanges and insofar as their nuclear capabilities and doctrine were concerned, we were wrong on so many important points.

Your points on logistics are great, it's often overlooked, but now that they have Mariupol and secured it, the land bridge will solve a lot of those problems.

Indeed, in the mid 80's we put out a glossy publication called "Soviet Military Power". The USAF also sent a "Soviet Awareness Team" on the road to give their unclassified presentation at various bases. Among others, there were a couple of people dressed in Soviet uniforms, speaking with a Russian accent. Saw it at our base theater. When the Berlin Wall came down, that stuff started going away.

Would say that at certain alphabet agencies there were people who knew the true situation. They also had the White House's ear.

The one thing about the mid-80's which is still a mystery to me was how many people actually believed the
Soviet Union would take over the USA. Started in 84, that's when the first "Red Dawn" came out. Entertaining but not realistic, was in a position to know. Around the fall of 86 people started thinking again, had a good laugh, said 'The Russians taking US over? What a fucking joke!", and promptly forgot about the whole thing. In early 87 ABC had their mini-series "Amerika", set ten years after a Soviet takeover. Remember seeing many name players, such as Kris Kristofferson, Robert Urich, and some others. Enough to piss a person off but by that time everyone had moved on. First episode drew well but viewership dropped off for the others. Interestingly, while the original "Red Dawn" is widely available on various types of media even now, takes a little doing to find any copies of "Amerika" available on VHS or DVD, have to go on eBay.

 

[AnOminous]

Eventually they will win. It's that simple.

Like they did in the Russo-Japanese War?

 

[Feline Supremacist]

The glomar explorer is truly one of the best cold war stories and its a shame no movie has been made about it.

We gave the recovered sailors a military funeral at sea, playing the USSR national anthem. We recorded it and gave the film to Soviet diplomats so they could tell the families their loved ones were found and honored for their service (we also returned the boat's bell). This happened during the Cold War when Richard Nixon was President. I don't think this would happen now give the type of low class individuals in our present government.

Indeed, in the mid 80's we put out a glossy publication called "Soviet Military Power". The USAF also sent a "Soviet Awareness Team" on the road to give their unclassified presentation at various bases. Among others, there were a couple of people dressed in Soviet uniforms, speaking with a Russian accent. Saw it at our base theater. When the Berlin Wall came down, that stuff started going away.

Would say that at certain alphabet agencies there were people who knew the true situation. They also had the White House's ear.

The one thing about the mid-80's which is still a mystery to me was how many people actually believed the
Soviet Union would take over the USA. Started in 84, that's when the first "Red Dawn" came out. Entertaining but not realistic, was in a position to know. Around the fall of 86 people started thinking again, had a good laugh, said 'The Russians taking US over? What a fucking joke!", and promptly forgot about the whole thing. In early 87 ABC had their mini-series "Amerika", set ten years after a Soviet takeover. Remember seeing many name players, such as Kris Kristofferson, Robert Urich, and some others. Enough to piss a person off but by that time everyone had moved on. First episode drew well but viewership dropped off for the others. Interestingly, while the original "Red Dawn" is widely available on various types of media even now, takes a little doing to find any copies of "Amerika" available on VHS or DVD, have to go on eBay.

You forgot the Chuck Norris classic Invasion USA. we always had a good laugh whenever that one came on.

That time right after the break up...what could have been had the neocons not taken control. Would make for a good alternate history novel.

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

Indeed, in the mid 80's we put out a glossy publication called "Soviet Military Power". The USAF also sent a "Soviet Awareness Team" on the road to give their unclassified presentation at various bases. Among others, there were a couple of people dressed in Soviet uniforms, speaking with a Russian accent. Saw it at our base theater. When the Berlin Wall came down, that stuff started going away.

Would say that at certain alphabet agencies there were people who knew the true situation. They also had the White House's ear.

The one thing about the mid-80's which is still a mystery to me was how many people actually believed the
Soviet Union would take over the USA. Started in 84, that's when the first "Red Dawn" came out. Entertaining but not realistic, was in a position to know. Around the fall of 86 people started thinking again, had a good laugh, said 'The Russians taking US over? What a fucking joke!", and promptly forgot about the whole thing. In early 87 ABC had their mini-series "Amerika", set ten years after a Soviet takeover. Remember seeing many name players, such as Kris Kristofferson, Robert Urich, and some others. Enough to piss a person off but by that time everyone had moved on. First episode drew well but viewership dropped off for the others. Interestingly, while the original "Red Dawn" is widely available on various types of media even now, takes a little doing to find any copies of "Amerika" available on VHS or DVD, have to go on eBay.

Red dawn at least had a somewhat plausible backstory for the invasion. Iirc it involved nato breaking up and most of south America falling into the soviet sphere. It wasn't just out of nowhere they invade. It's a fun movie, regardless of realism, the same can't be said for the remake.

 

[Smity Werbenjagermanjensen]

What about it? Russia moved out from Crimea after it had stalled everywhere else and Ukraine didn't have much to oppose it because of heavy commitments elsewhere. It's also the best terrain for attacking with cities and towns more spread out and not a lot of natural defensive features until you get to the Dnieper. Northern Ukraine west of Kiev has the marshes and there's not really much worth taking until you get to Lvov which is not close to the northern border it's not a great place to attack, the north border in the middle has the Dnieper plus a bunch of towns and cities close together, there's more built up areas that aren't that great to attack into farther east on the northern border as well

An offensive from Crimea north was a smart move and about the only one Russia had left to try so it did but now it's another mostly stalled front after the Ukrainians moved reinforcements in and now the Dnieper is in the way of further advances there

Muh land bridge to cut Ukraine east of the Dnieper in half is about the only thing Russia has left to try that might bring some important success, every other grand strategic move they've tried hasn't worked and likely won't or even can't work now

Big issue Ukraine suffered at the beginning of the war was that it hadn't mobilized it's forces until after the invasion, meaning many active troops weren't deployed and they didn't have any of their reservists on the field until almost a week in. As soon as mobilization did it's thing for Ukraine the few fronts Russia was having considerable success in (mainly in the South and South-East) were either slowed significantly or outright ground to a halt. Russia CAN take massive parts Ukraine, like Odessa and Kharkiv (although both will be immensely costly for both sides), nobody is denying that, only issue is will they, since to actually have a realistic opportunity do so they need to invest a significant amount more forces inside of Ukraine to actually to do it and get advances going again, you can't just put all your money on a caldron when said caldron is both obvious and also forming at a literal snails pace. People have been saying the main forces in Donbass are about to be encircled for basically an entire month at this point.

Either Vlad mops up Mariupol and claims all Nazis are now dead and gets his land bridge (which doesn't even need to include all of Russian occupied land in the South) and goes home, or he is forced to invest more forces and a potential mobilization to get Russian offensives going again.

 

[AnOminous]

We gave the recovered sailors a military funeral at sea, playing the USSR national anthem. We recorded it and gave the film to Soviet diplomats so they could tell the families their loved ones were found and honored for their service (we also returned the boat's bell).

And yet, we had previously claimed we never recovered the conning tower, where that bell would have been. Always wondered about that.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

And yet, we had previously claimed we never recovered the conning tower, where that bell would have been. Always wondered about that.

Some say it was actually cover for a different glowie op too, so I guess by the time grandchildren grow up they'll know the truth.

I thought the nukes were in the conning tower, so if they were able to recover those then they grabbed the bell too.

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

Some say it was actually cover for a different glowie op too, so I guess by the time grandchildren grow up they'll know the truth.

I thought the nukes were in the conning tower, so if they were able to recover those then they grabbed the bell too.

It's been alleged we got at least one of the missiles. They weren't kept exactly in the conning tower, but in a structure behind it, so it's possible to have grabbed the bell without the missiles. All I've ever seen fully agreed on is that we recovered at least the forward 1/3 of the sub, with some saying more, but nobody saying less than that.

 

[Cool Dog]

during some tense exchanges and insofar as their nuclear capabilities and doctrine were concerned, we were wrong on so many important points.

Go on I'm listening.

Indeed, in the mid 80's we put out a glossy publication called "Soviet Military Power". The USAF also sent a "Soviet Awareness Team" on the road to give their unclassified presentation at various bases. Among others, there were a couple of people dressed in Soviet uniforms, speaking with a Russian accent. Saw it at our base theater. When the Berlin Wall came down, that stuff started going away.

Would say that at certain alphabet agencies there were people who knew the true situation. They also had the White House's ear.

The one thing about the mid-80's which is still a mystery to me was how many people actually believed the
Soviet Union would take over the USA. Started in 84, that's when the first "Red Dawn" came out. Entertaining but not realistic, was in a position to know. Around the fall of 86 people started thinking again, had a good laugh, said 'The Russians taking US over? What a fucking joke!", and promptly forgot about the whole thing. In early 87 ABC had their mini-series "Amerika", set ten years after a Soviet takeover. Remember seeing many name players, such as Kris Kristofferson, Robert Urich, and some others. Enough to piss a person off but by that time everyone had moved on. First episode drew well but viewership dropped off for the others. Interestingly, while the original "Red Dawn" is widely available on various types of media even now, takes a little doing to find any copies of "Amerika" available on VHS or DVD, have to go on eBay.

The only way you could have a realistic invasion of murrica story is if the invader its a future superpower that doesn't exists now, partially because nobody can burn as much money on guns as you guys do and because using china would get any studios involved banned from that market, they already suck xi's dick every day to avoid that

And even then you would have to turn murrica in 5th century rome, basically a house that's collapsing from the inside, although looking at things now that might not be that far off

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Go on I'm listening.

The only way you could have a realistic invasion of murrica story is if the invader its a future superpower that doesn't exists now, partially because nobody can burn as much money on guns as you guys do and because using china would get any studios involved banned from that market, they already suck xi's dick every day to avoid that

And even then you would have to turn murrica in 5th century rome, basically a house that's collapsing from the inside, although looking at things now that might not be that far off

Also can't use Mexican cartels or be called REEcist. See Rambo 4.

 

[Richardface]

This plan is unironically more realistic and well thought out than what the German leadership has

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

This plan is unironically more realistic and well thought out than what the German leadership has

View attachment 3128402

The complete lack of planning for this is just astoundingly stupid. What the fuck was the plan if Russia had a refinery fire, the pipeline broke, or there was a major natural disaster in Russia? It's just mind numbing how dumb this is.

 

[Kane Lives]

The complete lack of planning for this is just astoundingly stupid. What the fuck was the plan if Russia had a refinery fire, the pipeline broke, or there was a major natural disaster in Russia? It's just mind numbing how dumb this is.

"What could possibly go wrong?" except its an entire country.

 

[Richardface]

"What could possibly go wrong?" except its an entire country.

I am impressed by the trademark Euro perfidity in that they will REFUSE to pay in rubles, but will instead hand over Euros to a Russian bank that will then on their behalf convert them to rubles to pay for the gas. Its a brilliant workaround to avoid nominally cucking while actually cucking in the proudest EU tradition

 

[JambledUpWords]

The complete lack of planning for this is just astoundingly stupid. What the fuck was the plan if Russia had a refinery fire, the pipeline broke, or there was a major natural disaster in Russia? It's just mind numbing how dumb this is.

Link (Archive)

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

"What could possibly go wrong?" except its an entire country.

It would have been retarded even if Germany and Russia had a special relationship like the US and UK. Being that dependent on one single source is always risky.

 

[MrJokerRager]

Indeed, in the mid 80's we put out a glossy publication called "Soviet Military Power". The USAF also sent a "Soviet Awareness Team" on the road to give their unclassified presentation at various bases. Among others, there were a couple of people dressed in Soviet uniforms, speaking with a Russian accent. Saw it at our base theater. When the Berlin Wall came down, that stuff started going away.

Would say that at certain alphabet agencies there were people who knew the true situation. They also had the White House's ear.

The one thing about the mid-80's which is still a mystery to me was how many people actually believed the
Soviet Union would take over the USA. Started in 84, that's when the first "Red Dawn" came out. Entertaining but not realistic, was in a position to know. Around the fall of 86 people started thinking again, had a good laugh, said 'The Russians taking US over? What a fucking joke!", and promptly forgot about the whole thing. In early 87 ABC had their mini-series "Amerika", set ten years after a Soviet takeover. Remember seeing many name players, such as Kris Kristofferson, Robert Urich, and some others. Enough to piss a person off but by that time everyone had moved on. First episode drew well but viewership dropped off for the others. Interestingly, while the original "Red Dawn" is widely available on various types of media even now, takes a little doing to find any copies of "Amerika" available on VHS or DVD, have to go on eBay.

Ronald Reagan's staff filled with neocon warhawks needed a boogeyman to justify increasing military spending is probably the most simple long run explanation.

The whole "evil empire" meme and making the Soviets sound "stronk" was their idea and Afghanistan invasion was the catalyst for it.

Though looking at the current Russian army using Buhankas, it will be a hard sell to the American voter that the US Military needs more money when the 2nd best military in the world uses scooby doo vans.

Or wait nvm, the American voter has been bent over and getting it without lube since 2020, they will make up money at this point while also giving reparations for slavery as well and illegal immigrants getting gibs for gas.