Russian Special Military Operation in the Ukraine - Mark IV: The Partitioning of Discussion

[Romeo]

Invasion Update - 24 February 2024 - Day 731 of the Invasion

---

Bakhmut/Ivanivske Front - Battle of Ivanivske Starts​

---

Bakhmut - Ivanivske, Donetsk Oblast

---

Introduction​

Bakhmut Front, 22 January - DeepStateUA​

Due to snowy weather over Christmas and New Year's and heavy Ukrainian resistance, Russian forces were unable to make any significant advances in this frontline.

• Popivske (Russian transliteration: Popovskoye) - west of Bakhmut (some Russian milbloggers: Artyomovsk, Artemovsk)
  • As it turns out, Russian forces never were able to control Popivske Cemetery due to this resistance, making the cemetery as part of the grey area and Ukraine still in control over the main hills of Popivske (marked as corrected in 1. of North of Bakhmut Map Table by SuriyakMaps). It seems that Russian forces intend to capture Popivske to cover the northern flank of the village of Ivanivske, which is adjacently west of Bakhmut.
• Klischiivka (Russian transliteration: Kleshchiyevka) - south of Bakhmut
  • Like Popivske, Russian forces could not expel Ukrainian forces from Klischiivka due to ditto. As a result, this front has been on a standstill with neither side making any significant gains.

The targeted settlements in this report are mainly Ivanivske (Russian transliteration: Ivanovskoye; some Russian milbloggers: Krasnoye) and Bohdanivka (Russian transliteration: Bogdanovka), of which Russia intends to capture. This is needed before crossing the water canal to assault Chasiv Yar (Russian transliteration: Chasov Yar), the main Ukrainian stronghold and base in the Bakhmut front, and after that, Kostiantynivka (Russian transliteration: Konstantinovka), the other main Ukrainian stronghold and base in the front.

Ivanivske is probably the easiest of the strongholds that Ukraine has that Russian needs to capture, as it is mostly just houses on flatlands in comparison to other strongholds like Vuhledar and Bilohorivka.

Stagnation (19 January - 6 February)​

South of Bakhmut​

Klischiivka, Andriivka, Kurdyumivka

• With the arrival of Ukrainian reinforcements, the frontline has since stabilized into a stalemate, with Ukrainian forces maintaining a foothold on the other side of railway north of Andriivka (2) and Russian forces only managing to take some heights between Klischiivka and Ivanivske. (1)

26 January	4 February
1	2

West of Bakhmut​

Bohdanivka, Popivske, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar

• With the arrival of reinforcements, the Ukrainian Army recovered some of their lost positions in and south of Bohdanivka during fighting with Russian forces. (2, 3)

-	31 January	1 February
1	2	3

Momentum (7 - 18 February)​

West of Bakhmut​

Bohdanivka, Popivske, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar

Captured Ukrainian-operated CV-90-40C infantry fighting vehicle - Source: Russian milblogger Remylind23

Spoiler: NSFW

Russian drone dropping grenades on withdrawing or dying Ukrainian soldiers following a rout from Popivske - Source: Russian milblogger Remylind23​

• With Russian forces taking over the then-Ukrainianstronghold of Avdiivka resulting in droppingUkrainian morale and manpower in the frontline, Russian forces in Bakhmut took initiative and relaunched assaults toward Bohdanivka and Popivske.
• The Russian Army could only recapture some of their lost positions in Bohdanivka due to Ukrainian resistance, and as such, shelled the Ukrainian garrison in the village. (1, 2) Russia could not advance further until eleven days later when they advanced on the flanks of the village. (8 ) On the other hand, Popivske was heavily in Russia's favor and much to Ukraine's detriment.
• With the arrival of reinforcements, Russian forces seized the cemetery and the forest in Popivske while shelling nearby Ukrainian positions within four days. Ukraine soon withdrew from Popivske, allowing Russia to seize the entire area. Russian forces in Popivske are 1.6 km east of Chasiv Yar. (3, 4, 5)
• Ukrainian forces quickly attempt to reinforce their garrison in Ivanivske as Russian forces have seized the northern and eastern outskirts of Ivanivske within 5 days, capturing all trench systems from advancements from Popivske and Bakhmut. The capture of the trenches north of Ivanivske has led the Russian Army to have the height advantage over Ivanivske. (6, 7, 8 )

7 February	9 February	10 February
1	2	3
12 February	13 February	14 February
4	5	6
15 February	18 February
7	8

South of Bakhmut​

Klischiivka, Andriivka, Kurdyumivka

• On 10 February, the Russian Army only made small advances southeast of Klishchiivka to push back Ukrainian forces from the east of the railway.

​

Russia enters Ivanivske; the Battle of Ivanivske Starts (19-24 February)​

West of Bakhmut​

Bohdanivka, Popivske, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar

Russian artillery strikes a BMP-1 in Ivanivske. - Source: Pro-Russian milblogger Remylind23​

• Within two days of westwards assaults from Bakhmut, Russian soldiers captured a Ukrainian trench network and entered the first houses of Ivanivske for the first time, launching the start of the Battle of Ivanivske. (1) Russian troops soon captured the forest belt between Ivanivske and Klischiivka to reinforce the Russian entrenchment within the settlement. (2)

22 February	23 February
1	2

Conclusion​

Bakhmut Front, 22 February - DeepStateUA
​

It is most likely that Ivanivske will be the next Ukrainian stronghold that Russia has made its capture a priority, whereas taking back Klischiivka is now irrelevant for the Russian command. Ivanivske is not a small settlement like a village or a hamlet, but it is a large suburb near Bakhmut, so it will be a blow to Ukrainian morale in the entire frontline if it is lost to Russia, which would result in Ukraine more reluctant to keep defending Bohdanivka and Klischiivka and areas east of the canal further.

---

Donetsk Front - Russia captures Pobieda, Stepove, and Lastochkyne and enters Sieverne​

---

Donetsk, Donetsk Oblast

Introduction​

Donetsk Front, 19 February - DeepStateUA
​

The Russian capture of Avdiivka (Russian transliteration: Avdeevka; north of Donetsk) has shocked Ukrainian forces around the Donetsk front, depleting their morale.

• Although far away from Avdiivka, Pobieda (Russian transliteration: Pobeda; southwest of Marinka and Donetsk) is one of the settlements that Russia is in the process of capturing. Seizing Pobieda is necessary to put pressure on the northern flank of the Ukrainian garrison in Novomykhailivka (Russian transliteration: Novomikhaylovka) in the south, and to force them to withdraw to push the fighting into Kostyantynivka. (not the same town that was mentioned previously). This would ultimately cut the supply route southwest towards Vuhledar (Russian transliteration: Ugledar), a Ukrainian stronghold of commie-blocks that Russia has botched an offensive to capture it in January 2023.
• In somewhat of a fit of rage and retaliation, Ukraine shelled the city of Donetsk from settlements they have held northwest of the city, resulting in the death of several civilians. I should correct my mistake in mentioning that capturing Avdiivka will not result in the stop of shelling of Donetsk, as Donetsk is still in effective firing range of artillery in many Ukrainian-held settlements in the northwest, which is 21-23.5 km. The capture of Avdiivka however makes it possible for Russian forces to assault these settlements, and if captured, will stop155 mm artillery shelling of Donetsk, with Ukraine only able to use HIMARS to shell the city. Lastochkyne (Russian transliteration: Lastochkino) is one of these settlements that Russia is assaulting in the wake of depleting Ukrainian manpower, resources, and morale in this front.

Seizing the Initiative​

Southwest of Donetsk​

Marinka, Pobieda

Ukrainian troops hiding behind a burning Leopard tank, Pobeda - Source: Pro-Russian milblogger Remylind23​

• The Russian Army seized Pobieda following the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces, and are maintaining its capture by securing the northern flanks of the village by capturing the area between the H-15 road and the O0532 road. (1, 2)

20 February	21 February
1	2

North of Donetsk​

Avdiivka, Sieverne, Lastochkyne, Stepove

Russian troops announcing the capture of Lastochkyne - Source: Pro-Russian milblogger Remylind23​

• Following the capture of Avdiivka, Russia forces advanced westwards from the captured stronghold towards Lastochyne where Ukrainian forces have partially withdrawn from the village. After almost a week of fighting, Russian forces seized control of Lastochkyne following Ukrainian withdrawal. (1, 2, 3, 4) This coincides with Russian advances toward Sieverne and Stepove, where Ukraine finally partially withdrew towards Tonenke and Berdychi after numerous months of stagnated battles, allowing Russia to enter them. (2, 3, 4) Soon, Russian forces captured Stepove and made advances towards Tonenke. (3)

18 February	22 February	24 February
1	2	3
	24 February
	4

Conclusion​

​

• With a string of settlements falling into Russia's hands following the fall of Avdiivka, it is growing clear that the West and the mainstream media is more likely to be reluctant to support Ukraine due to the country's failures to defend these settlements. It would result in Ukraine's growing bitterness towards the West as they lack the resources and manpower according to them to push back the Russians. In the end, Russia will only gain more settlements with their target being the Berdychi-Orlivka-Umanske-Netailove Defensive Line and according to some reporters, Selydove. The fall of Stepove and Sieverne to Russia represent the collapse of Ukraine's defensive line that prevented Russia's assaults for many months to years since the start of the Invasion.

---

Too Long; Didn't Read​

• Russian forces seized Pobieda, Lastochkyne, and Stepove near Donetsk and Popivske near Bakhmut following the fallout of the Battle of Avdiivka due to depleting manpower, morale, and resources in the Ukrainian Army. Russian forces have also finally enteredSieverne and Ivanivske, two settlements that Russia could not enter in previous months until now, with the Ukraine's defensive line collapsing in the Bakhmut and Donetsk Fronts.

---

2nd Anniversary of the Invasion​

Here is the results of Russian territory gained compared to last year in the 2nd anniversary of the start of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. (24 February 2022)

	2023	2024	Difference
Kherson Oblast + Zaporizhzhia Oblast	42,355 km^2	41,670 km^2	-685 km^2
Donetsk Oblast/Donetsk People's Republic	15,430 km^2	15,540 km^2	+110 km^2
Luhansk Oblast/Luhansk People's Republic	26,202 km^2	26,283 km^2	+81 km^2
Kharkiv Oblast	643 km^2	703 km^2	+60 km^2

At that time the Russian army was in a defensive position after the defeats at Kherson and Kharkov in the autumn of 2022. As the mobilized Russians arrived at the front, new lines of defense were being erected along the kilometer-long frontline in anticipation of a new Russian offensive in the south, while the few advances were being made in Bakhmut by the PMC Wagner.

Now the situation has turned around and the Russian army has gone on the offensive, recapturing several areas lost during the summer of 2023 and new ones on the eastern front such as the bastion of Avdiivka. As can be seen from the data, these territorial gains have not reversed the net balance of a year ago (a difference of 434 square kilometers). This is the war of attrition, the seizure of a few square kilometers at the cost of enormous expenditure of material and human resources.

---

Crediting most of what I have to SuriyakMaps (Telegram), which has been consistently neutral and reliable, and has been my main source for posting updates in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, especially as it pertains to the Battle of Bakhmut. Other mapper I recommend is the pro-Ukrainian mapper DeepStateUA, of which it is constantly reliable and truthful despite the pro-Ukrainian lingo, and even reports more Russian gains than Suriyak and other Russian mappers like Rybar (Telegram).

Previous update: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/russian-special-military-operation-in-the-ukraine.150029/post-17763983

Reliable Reporters I use:

• History Legends - Despite having a soyjak face in the thumbnails, his reports are neutral and reports both on Russian and Ukrainian successes and losses.
• Willy OAM - Willy is a Pro-Ukraine/Pro-NATO reporter who is probably the first to be disillusioned that Avdiivka's fall to Russia is inevitable a week ago, and pro-Russians seem to sorta like him more despite the pro-Ukrainian lingo as he is more truthful in his reports.

---

Off-topic​

Congrats!​

1000 pages, 19,999 post replies, and 1 original post (OP).

Heraldry Autism​

Here is a funny Drone Patch I found. I don't know why it exists or who specifically uses it but it made me laugh.

These patches are made by a organization called Russian Heraldry (Telegram). They make patches for Russian forces operating in Ukraine, so in this case, drone operators, but most of their work is pushing for Russian cities and oblasts to have coat of arms dating back to Imperial times (or having a Imperial-style) due to its more Russian identity.

They achieved some success in getting their design for Russian-owned Kherson Oblast to become the province's official coat of arms and made multiple coat of arms for the oblast's settlements that Russia has and had captured that were made official. Currently, they're trying to implement Imperial/Tsarist-era/-style coat of arms in settlements captured by Russia in the DPR and LPR and renovating current coat of arms of Russian cities. A lot of their work seems appreciated by many Russians (and me) except some detractors who are nostalgic for Soviet symbolism.

The only recent thing is that the organization is in talks with the LPR for their Imperial-style coat of arms to be made official for the city of Severodonetsk, which was interestingly built after Soviet times (so it never had a Imperial coat of arms before). The proposal is mostly liked compared to this monstrosity, with some reservations with the phoenix looking too similar to the Ukrainian trident.

Russian-owned Kherson Oblast (Official)	Mariupol (Unofficial)	Severodonetsk (Unofficial)
​	​	​
Drones	Ghostbusters	45th Artillery Brigade (named after Bohdan Khmelnitsky)
​	​	​

 

[Tumbo II]

2 years since the start of the SMO time flies when you're stuck in trenches I suppose hopefully this will end sooner than later but that's probably just my optimism talking.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

For the two year anniversary of the SMO I bring a re-mastered classic:

Super Swinario!

Pretty funny. Don't lose your sense of humor.

 

[Rubick]

Anyway.

Hohol hiding hole being fabbed.

 

[geckogoy]

Oh also today is the day and I was saving this sorry

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

Oh also today is the day and I was saving this sorry
View attachment 5753911

I was wondering where this "3 days" thing came from, and it was the Pentagon

Gen. Milley says Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if Russia decides to invade Ukraine: sources

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers that Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine took place, multiple congressional sources tell Fox News.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Rubick]

General Milley. When you get you're general rank from a box of cereal.

 

[geckogoy]

I was wondering where this "3 days" thing came from, and it was the Pentagon

Gen. Milley says Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if Russia decides to invade Ukraine: sources

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers that Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine took place, multiple congressional sources tell Fox News.

www.foxnews.com

Lol quality

 

[Rubick]

https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/

https://archive.ph/nagKk

Compared to most shit western media publishes. This is an improvement.

 

[geckogoy]

Compared to most shit western media publishes. This is an improvement.

They are just crying doom to pump for more funding its a common enough tactic

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

General Milley. When you get you're general rank from a box of cereal.

Only if the cereal was made in China.

https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/

View attachment 5753985

https://archive.ph/nagKk

Compared to most shit western media publishes. This is an improvement.

If the plan is for the Ukros to hold out until November under current conditions, I think he needs a better plan.

 

[Strix454]

Compared to most shit western media publishes. This is an improvement.

Its still rather crazy. The article admits that Ukraine may find it difficult to conquer Crimea in the near future because that would be hard. The implication of Ukraine remaining on the defensive is that Russia will likely not unconditionally surrender in a negotiations process.

So the author suggests that any peace deal that requires Ukraine to accept new borders is simply impossible for Ukraine. But that they should negotiate some sort of agreement that would amount to a temporary ceasefire. Though he doesn't say it, a cease fire that would allow Ukraine to join NATO, re-arm and presumably accomplish total victory in a few years.

He talks about a "realistic" option of Ukraine being on the defensive in 2024 and waging what amounts to a war of attrition against the Russians. The Russians will lose so many soldiers in 2024 that (somehow) Ukraine WILL be able to conquer Crimea in 2025.

His view of the battlefield is entirely wrong:

They have drawn Ukrainians into prolonged battles for small amounts of territory like Avdiivka, where they have relied on Russian superiority in artillery and munitions to wear them down through constant bombardment.

The stupidity of these people and the fact that they don't follow anything to do with the war bothers me no end. This particular genius is completely unaware that the Russians are on the offensive along nearly the entire line. That what is going on is far from just being explained by a lack of artillery shells on the Ukrainian side. Last year it was all "human wave" attacks, now its always a matter of more ammunition as the explanation for everything.

This person's view of negotiations is that Russia must accept Ukraine's post-conflict borders as absolute and untouchable. But at the same time he suggests the Ukraine can never recognize the loss of any territory within the 1991 borders.

So the overall message is that Ukraine should ask for a ceasefire agreement where the Russians agree to never fight Ukraine again but where Ukraine is free to attack when it wishes to or is ready to. That this false agreement to end the war is preferable to Ukraine either losing the war or not being able to efficiently win the war.

I guess given Zelensky's ten-point surrender ultimatium (peace plan), this is somewhat of a more realistic proposal. But short of a mutual recognition of new borders and neutrality for Ukraine, none of this is going anywhere. The Russians certainly have no incentive to give ukraine a timeout in the war to improve their position.

 

[geckogoy]

Probably by far the biggest issue is the "west" isn't actually willing to put any real sacrifice into ensuring these demands are met.

It is basically greta thunberg tier 'my job is to demand solutions not provide them' whilst sitting in a comfy upper class swedish house.

The US is at least upgrading shell production (and drawing down stockpiles rather rapidly) but the euros in particular seem to think the extent of their contribution should be tolerating some degree of economic hardship and then waiting for the russians to keel over on their own (lol, lmao), now that the devastating economic sanctions have been imposed (the ultimate superweapon of carebear land).

 

[blackjack101]

TOS-3 in development, click settings for english subtitles.

 

[Betonhaus]

https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/

View attachment 5753985

https://archive.ph/nagKk

Compared to most shit western media publishes. This is an improvement.

I think they're ignoring the question of if Ukraine can hold out before the end of the year. Everything I hear about Russia's economy is that they have reached the point where they generate more wealththen is spent fighting the war, and that the death of soldiers is low and weapons production is sustainable.

Compared to Ukraine that is burning through its population and weapons extremely fast, and has lost so much that they can't replace them fast enough so as they lose more and more Russian advancement would continue to accelerate. NATO and the USA could start dumping more and more weaponry and "mercenaries" at Ukraine, but they have been doing so all this time and it isn't enough. Either Ukraine falls quickly, or NATO spends everything they have trying to prop it up and leave themselves defenseless.

I wonder if they'll reach a point where Russia determines that NATO and America's ability to defend themselves have been so depleted that it would be more economical to go after weapon manufacturing facilities in NATO and the states and fend off the few ineffectual counterattacks.

That's an unlikely scenario, but Russia probably knows where all the major manufacturing facilities are. If this situation theoretically continues to an extreme level without deviation, could Russia launch a simultaneous strike on weapons plants and storage depots and force the world to surrender while they use orbital satellites to spot and destroy attempts to restart manufacturing for decades?

 

[Gondolindrim]

Oh also today is the day and I was saving this sorry
View attachment 5753911

I was watching the news this morning and the spin is that the glorious, valiant Ukrainian armed forces drove the orc hordes back from Kyiv 2 years ago and have been engaging them on equal footing in the biggest land war since WW2 ever since. I'm pretty sure that is completely fiction and the Russians were never gunning for Kiev to start with. They've just been whittling down the Ukies and taking towns in the Eastern half of the country nonstop.

 

[Susanna]

I was watching the news this morning and the spin is that the glorious, valiant Ukrainian armed forces drove the orc hordes back from Kyiv 2 years ago and have been engaging them on equal footing in the biggest land war since WW2 ever since. I'm pretty sure that is completely fiction and the Russians were never gunning for Kiev to start with. They've just been whittling down the Ukies and taking towns in the Eastern half of the country nonstop.

Russian goals were announced very early on, and were quite simple and reasonable:
1. Accept independence of Donbass Republics.
2. Accept Crimea's decision to rejoin Russia.
3. Forswear all territorial claims to aforementioned republics.
4. Denazification.
5. No NATO ever.
Ukraine was ready to accept peace on these conditions before Boris started the current war, as they should have, they're really not hard demands to accept. Donbass republics and Crimea had already been defacto lost to Ukraine for nigh a decade, and the only way NATO would ever take Ukraine in would be as to provide the yanks an excuse to invade Crimea.

Now, there's no way they're getting off that easy. The Russian people wouldn't stand for it. I expect the new demands will be referendums to join Russia in all the majority Russian speaking republics, no territorial claims to any land outside the new Ukrainian borders, no NATO ever, and accept Russian bases without oversight near every strategically important city. Kiev regime is unlikely to get out of this mess alive, and whatever successor state is formed will be much reduced, likely consisting only of what's west of the Dnepr save for Odessa, Kherson, and Nikolaev.

 

[Napoleon III]

From Listening to the reports today:

- Ukraine still can't stabilize the front behind avdiivka. They keep losing positions that they shouldn't be losing. They keep getting pushed out of good, strong seeming defensive positions in villages in what are shorter amounts of time than usual.
- Robotyne has either fallen or just about fallen. The Russians also took the fields to the east of the village and are on three sides now. There is also a video of Russian armored vehicles driving around on the inside of the village. Unless the defenses were generally down, they wouldn't be driving around like that. It seems like they were mopping up at least the entire southern half of the village. There was also a video of Russians landing men successfully right in the city center. Its not over, but the Russians are well established in half the village now.

With the front being the way it is we have not seen this much movement since 2022. This phase of the war looks like the early phase of the war after the bait and switch with the peace deal but before Ukraine had managed to finish mobilization. The difference now is there is no way Ukraine can mobilize to fix their problems.

I'd thought I take the opportunity to discuss a general picture of how things might go in a more detailed manner than I have before and discuss the maneuver warfare question.

When armies collapse it doesn't happen all of the sudden. It is a slow process which culminates in the army being able to give ineffectual resistance. Ukraine is in the process of collapsing right now but they are still able to give some resistance which results in Russian Casualties and means Russia can't simply do whatever they want whenever they want. I think this is going to result in a situation not too unlike Avdeevka/Bakhmut/Soledar where Ukrainians can't retreat and eventually get bottled up into cities. We have seen that song and dance before so I won't discuss that too much.

The next place something like that is going to happen is probably here. This war is really starting to bring up comparisons to 2014. (my prediction about Siversk appears to be wrong though I made it to test a theory). Anyway this is one of the last big and really strong defensive lines left in the Donbass. It is the last line but the other ones are weaker and easier to take. This will be a hard fight that is probably going to take at least a month or so. There will still be movement in the south and it may even be quick and impressive but I think this will eventually turn into the main show.


But once that is done and some of the other defensive lines in the south are taken Ukraine will be much more open to attack. If reports about the situation west of Avdeevka are true Ukraine is having trouble having infantry even construct basic trenches because they keep getting harassed by drones.

Taking one part of a line invalidates the rest of the line unless it has another line bisecting it that prevents the Russians from moving horizontally. This lines definitely make things take longer.



Which brings up something I think might happen as this war develops. Ukrainians without fortifications will be extremely vulnerable out in the open. The obvious thing to do and what Ukrainians have done in the past is retreat to cities and use them as Ersatz fortifications. This will eventually leave Russia with a decision to make once it starts getting to places like Dnipro, Poltava and Kharkov. Does Russia spend a lot time and resources taking those cities or do they bypass them. I am leaning towards Russia eventually bypassing those cities and leaving a small amount of troops surrounding the city and slowly destroy the Ukrainian defenders over time rather than stopping to take the city and then keep going.

I think Russia will do this because they want to maximize the pressure they put on Ukraine. The slower they move the more time Ukraine has to train up troops and try and build new defensives.

Which brings me into the question of is Maneuver war still possible? My answer to that is yes but probably not in the WW2 Germans surrounding everyone in a blitzkrieg manner. Driving a narrow line through enemy territory is a bad idea. The problem is simply that the more you drive a deep but narrow line into the enemy the more and more you open yourself up to enemy fire. Perimeter minimization comes into play here.

If that is true why had Russia had such a hard time implementing it? This is the impetuous that made me write this. The reason Russia has had so much trouble in the Donbass is because it is incredibly Urban. This is what made it possible for Ukraine to build fortifications. Look at the Donbas and how many cities it has. Once Russia breaks out of the Donbas it will be much easier to just drive north and capture everything. There will be hardly any cities in the way. It will also help that Ukraine will be degraded to all hell by the time Russia gets here.

Spoiler: Tank Sperging

It wouldn't have been that big of a overhaul. (tooling alone would have been the same) And the biggest bottleneck would have been the transmission in terms of manufacturing. But i do agree it would have still hampered the production line to much.

Also, anything is better then a Panther. Like i said unbelievable inefficient and crap design of a tank.

I think you are entirely correct that Tactically speaking the Original T-34 wasn't very good. But I think It was basically the best tank of the war still because it was the one most designed for the war that WW2 was. WW2 was a war that killed something like 60 million people. Quality wasn't important, what was important was getting as much somewhat useful stuff out as soon as possible for as cheap as possible. The T-34 fit that bill the best. The Sherman required a lot of specialist labor that only the US really could provide and if the US build something that was much shittier they could have gotten much more output.

It isn't really talked about but the US actually had massive manpower problems in that they couldn't keep the Economy humming along at the rate they wanted and keep 10 million men in the field armed and equipped. The US actually had a fairly small amount of divisions in Europe relatively speaking.

 

[SIMIΔN]

That's an unlikely scenario, but Russia probably knows where all the major manufacturing facilities are. If this situation theoretically continues to an extreme level without deviation, could Russia launch a simultaneous strike on weapons plants and storage depots and force the world to surrender while they use orbital satellites to spot and destroy attempts to restart manufacturing for decades?

The USAF would be a nightmare to fight, even with upgraded S-400s. Even if they could, Russia needs a strong America to contain China.

When armies collapse it doesn't happen all of the sudden. It is a slow process which culminates in the army being able to give ineffectual resistance. Ukraine is in the process of collapsing right now but they are still able to give some resistance which results in Russian Casualties and means Russia can't simply do whatever they want whenever they want. I think this is going to result in a situation not too unlike Avdeevka/Bakhmut/Soledar where Ukrainians can't retreat and eventually get bottled up into cities. We have seen that song and dance before so I won't discuss that too much.

An army is only as good as its supply, and this is doubly true for a state as dependent on foreign arms and refurbishment as Ukraine is. Bypassing would make a lot of sense, especially since even empty big gains destroy enemy morale.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Even if they could, Russia needs a strong America to contain China.

This, I have to disagree. Russia and China both know America is still the strongest nation (with the stupidest leaders), which is why they're working together now. They both know they can deal with each other diplomatically and that is the first bulwark against war, which isn't the case when talking to the US. A strong America is ultimately a strong Globohomo, which Russia definitely doesn't want and China doesn't like that it's centered in the US. As the US found in its Pivot to Asia, containing China isn't really worth the trouble when weakening the US serves Russian interests more.