Ukraine

[Dalisclock]

Not terribly relevant to the war but since it's Russia waving it's military dick around.

Putin Mocked As Only A Single T-34 Tank Was Present For Moscow's Victory Day Parade

Normally, the annual event sees thousands of Russian soldiers march through Red Square accompanied by hundreds of military vehicles.

www.forbes.com

Basically, the Victory day Parade today in Red Square was a bit muted. Notably, for what's supposed to be Russia showing off it's toys, for whatever reason, only a single T-34 was the only Tank to drive by today. 2 more were apparently spotted nearby but they weren't moving. There wasn't much in the way of other vehicles either, including the "dreaded" T-14s Armatas, which we've been assured numerous times totally exist and are totally terrifying.(Source: Trust me Bro)

Look, I get that the Russians aren't going to deploy T-34s pretty much ever, but it's the fact that for something that's supposed to project the image of strength, having lone tank show up really comes across as kind of sad....and hilarious, you're in the mood for mockery. Which I am almost constantly.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Not terribly relevant to the war but since it's Russia waving it's military dick around.

Putin Mocked As Only A Single T-34 Tank Was Present For Moscow's Victory Day Parade

Normally, the annual event sees thousands of Russian soldiers march through Red Square accompanied by hundreds of military vehicles.

www.forbes.com

Basically, the Victory day Parade today in Red Square was a bit muted. Notably, for what's supposed to be Russia showing off it's toys, for whatever reason, only a single T-34 was the only Tank to drive by today. 2 more were apparently spotted nearby but they weren't moving. There wasn't much in the way of other vehicles either, including the "dreaded" T-14s Armatas, which we've been assured numerous times totally exist and are totally terrifying.(Source: Trust me Bro)

Look, I get that the Russians aren't going to deploy T-34s pretty much ever, but it's the fact that for something that's supposed to project the image of strength, having lone tank show up really comes across as kind of sad....and hilarious, you're in the mood for mockery. Which I am almost constantly.

This is what happens when you break all your toys, little Vlad.

 

[Bedinsis]

My reaction to that underwhelming military parade is to think how the average Russian sees it. My read is that they'd go "Only one tank? Yeah, that makes sense. The rest must be busy in Ukraine.".

 

[Dalisclock]

My reaction to that underwhelming military parade is to think how the average Russian sees it. My read is that they'd go "Only one tank? Yeah, that makes sense. The rest must be busy in Ukraine.".

I'm sure that the official take, though I'd question just why they couldn't scrouge up more T-34's for the parade? Surely they pretty much do Parade Duty at this point?

And of course my favorite question: If the T-14s aren't doing parades and they haven't been sighted on the battlefield, where the hell are they?

 

[bluegate]

I'm sure that the official take, though I'd question just why they couldn't scrouge up more T-34's for the parade? Surely they pretty much do Parade Duty at this point?

All part of their propaganda campaign I'd wager.

It seems like they're treading a fine line between "We're the best in the world no one can stop us" and "We're fighting the entire world, can you really blame us if we lose?".

I assume they figured that making it seem like every tank is on the front lines is better for their narrative than having a "large" display of tanks in a parade. Would they be able to justify any losses to their people if they had an entire row of tanks driving through Moskau? "We wouldn't have lost the battle of XYZ if the government hadn't insisted on a large parade!" might become a popular sentiment with people.

Even if T34's might prove to be ineffective on a modern battlefield, all the general populace see is a big hunk of steel on treads with a gun on top.

 

[Ag3ma]

And of course my favorite question: If the T-14s aren't doing parades and they haven't been sighted on the battlefield, where the hell are they?

According to Russian claims, in crew training and/or behind the frontlines acting as long-range fire support (i.e. artillery).

I would suggest the most likely explanation is that they are still in testing and aren't fit for battlefield operations. Although another possibility is that they are ready, but the Russian command do not have confidence in their army's ability to use them effectively - it's embarrassing enough to lose thousands of older model tanks without also losing their brand new ones, too.

 

[Ag3ma]

I assume they figured that making it seem like every tank is on the front lines is better for their narrative than having a "large" display of tanks in a parade. Would they be able to justify any losses to their people if they had an entire row of tanks driving through Moskau? "We wouldn't have lost the battle of XYZ if the government hadn't insisted on a large parade!" might become a popular sentiment with people.

As a less charitable suggestion, they don't have the troops and tanks to run a grand parade: they're too busy in Ukraine or other key deployments.

Russia is having to reactivate mothballed T-62s, so it's run out of modern (I use that term loosely, as they are 30-60-year-old designs) tanks it can spare. What's it going to do - let the whole world see that by sending obsolete 50s-60s hardware down the street? Send T-14s, and just make everyone wonder why they still aren't ready for the frontlines?

But then the get-out: use obsolete hardware from the "Great Patriotic War" and turn it into a recognition of past glories. Unfortunately, it's quite hard to keep museum pieces running, so there's that sad, lonely, T-34.

 

[Dalisclock]

As a less charitable suggestion, they don't have the troops and tanks to run a grand parade: they're too busy in Ukraine or other key deployments.

Russia is having to reactivate mothballed T-62s, so it's run out of modern (I use that term loosely, as they are 30-60-year-old designs) tanks it can spare. What's it going to do - let the whole world see that by sending obsolete 50s-60s hardware down the street? Send T-14s, and just make everyone wonder why they still aren't ready for the frontlines?

But then the get-out: use obsolete hardware from the "Great Patriotic War" and turn it into a recognition of past glories. Unfortunately, it's quite hard to keep museum pieces running, so there's that sad, lonely, T-34.

A credible, non-shitposty suggestion is that the factories, tank crews and mechanics are all working triple overtime to keep the actual combat tanks operational and that one T-34 was the only one remotely ready to be driven down the street without extensive overhaul.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Russia is probably hurting really bad for trained tank crews right now. Pulling a T-55 out of storage is one thing, finding someone to drive it that knows what they're doing is quite another and the downside of being in a metal box that protects you against enemy fire is that you're in a metal box that traps any flying metal bits going at the speed of sound in the box with you, an experience that is probably akin to being trapped in a running blender for the tank crew. Even if you survive, you proabably aren't fit to crew a tank anymore. I'm not even gonna get into something like HEAT and HESH rounds which basically direct the full force of the explosion through the tank armor into the soft meatly bits inside.

But also they need to use factory space to fix up those T-55's that have been sitting neglected in a bumfuck Russia field for 40+ years if they want it to, you know, actually run and they didn't have that much factory space to begin with. Which of course means they can't use that space to make NEW(ER) tanks because it has to be used to fix up the older ones. And I imagine those parade T-34s are at the very back of the queue considering.

So yeah, it turns out that having a shitty logistics train and taking extremely heavy losses has unfortunate side effects. Not even counting the sheer amount of post War PTSD Russia is going to be grabbing in the coming decade from the survivors.

I don't think it's remotely controversial to say Russia wasn't prepared for this. It was apparently supposed to be a quick in and out adventure that unraveled very quickly and now Russia doesn't know what the fuck to do when it turns out the easy highway to Kyiv was actually a beartrap loaded with AIDS needles and smeared with shit. Putin doesn't want to admit a loss out of Pride, likely Mental Illness and even because he'll probably get whacked but at the same time his forces clearly weren't up to the task a year ago and it looks like the quality is only declining as the war goes on which makes it even harder to turn things around.

And I've said it before and will say it again, Russia's back stock of Soviet Era vehicles is far from unlimited and all the good stuff has probably already been recovered and pressed into service at this point. What's left in those storage yards is probably shit that needs an extensive amount of work to even drive which means more effort for the same amount of usable vehicle and eventually those too will run dry. Russia will never run out of dudes to toss into the grinder but we're long past the point where throwing waves and waves of conscripts into a battle and expecting anything substantive was viable. Hell, it stopped being viable in 1914.

And then Russia will be in a world of shit because the barrel will be thoroughly scraped(and the factories aren't producing at nearly a rate to keep up with losses thus far) while Ukraine keeps getting newer kit from the west. Something will give, it's just a matter of when.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Russia is probably hurting really bad for trained tank crews right now. Pulling a T-55 out of storage is one thing, finding someone to drive it that knows what they're doing is quite another and the downside of being in a metal box that protects you against enemy fire is that you're in a metal box that traps any flying metal bits going at the speed of sound in the box with you, an experience that is probably akin to being trapped in a running blender for the tank crew. Even if you survive, you proabably aren't fit to crew a tank anymore. I'm not even gonna get into something like HEAT and HESH rounds which basically direct the full force of the explosion through the tank armor into the soft meatly bits inside.

To add to that, even if you've got someone trained as a tanker, and hopefully trained with that particular tank (some skills overlap, of course, but you want experience with the specific machine they'll be using), are they trained together with the rest of the tank crew? Is that tank's crew trained with the tank's unit as well? Working together and unit cohesion doesn't happen overnight.

But also they need to use factory space to fix up those T-55's that have been sitting neglected in a bumfuck Russia field for 40+ years if they want it to, you know, actually run and they didn't have that much factory space to begin with. Which of course means they can't use that space to make NEW(ER) tanks because it has to be used to fix up the older ones. And I imagine those parade T-34s are at the very back of the queue considering.

Modern tanks need fancy modern equipment to make, though, you might have stuff which totally is inadequate for them which can do older, simpler stuff. Though, if you want to do anything useful with them you need modern optics, which aren't WW2/Early Cold War era technology.

 

[meiam]

There's been a lot of commentator on this war, with plenty of armchair general, and apparently one more has been added Prigozhin himself started commenting in real time on the effort in Bakhmut and confirming that they're failing hard and quickly losing territory that they've spend weeks and countless life capturing. Bakhmut is now just a pile of ruin and once again Russia, and Wagner, has nothing to show for it except for a tattered reputation.

Russia denies reports of Ukrainian breakthroughs along front lines

Russia's defence ministry on Thursday denied reports that Ukrainian forces had broken through in various places along the front lines and said the military situation was under control.

www.reuters.com

 

[Dalisclock]

There's been a lot of commentator on this war, with plenty of armchair general, and apparently one more has been added Prigozhin himself started commenting in real time on the effort in Bakhmut and confirming that they're failing hard and quickly losing territory that they've spend weeks and countless life capturing. Bakhmut is now just a pile of ruin and once again Russia, and Wagner, has nothing to show for it except for a tattered reputation.

Russia denies reports of Ukrainian breakthroughs along front lines

Russia's defence ministry on Thursday denied reports that Ukrainian forces had broken through in various places along the front lines and said the military situation was under control.

www.reuters.com

Prighozhin is a complete facist shit but I kinda love how he can keep flicking Putin's nose and somehow Putin just lets him get away with it. Putin has to be steamed that Prighozhin is the only person in Russia who can flat out call the war a failure and Putin an imbecile and yet apparently the consequences stopping him are worse then just letting him do so.

There's something about watching two bullies going at each other that feels satisfying.

 

[CM156]

Prighozhin is a complete facist shit but I kinda love how he can keep flicking Putin's nose and somehow Putin just lets him get away with it. Putin has to be steamed that Prighozhin is the only person in Russia who can flat out call the war a failure and Putin an imbecile and yet apparently the consequences stopping him are worse then just letting him do so.

There's something about watching two bullies going at each other that feels satisfying.

I would compare it to two drunk drivers crashing into one another.

 

[Ag3ma]

Prighozhin is a complete facist shit but I kinda love how he can keep flicking Putin's nose and somehow Putin just lets him get away with it. Putin has to be steamed that Prighozhin is the only person in Russia who can flat out call the war a failure and Putin an imbecile and yet apparently the consequences stopping him are worse then just letting him do so.

There's something about watching two bullies going at each other that feels satisfying.

I think Prigozhin is very careful not to demean Putin himself, isn't he? (I haven't sat through a whole Prigozhin rant.)

I wonder if Putin loves what Prigozhin is doing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Putin is approving it beforehand. The king is letting his underlings compete against each other, squabble amongst each other, embarrass each other, fight for his favour. Because the more they are struggling against each other and putting each other in their place, the less they can be conspiring against him.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I think Prigozhin is very careful not to demean Putin himself, isn't he? (I haven't sat through a whole Prigozhin rant.)

I wonder if Putin loves what Prigozhin is doing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Putin is approving it beforehand. The king is letting his underlings compete against each other, squabble amongst each other, embarrass each other, fight for his favour. Because the more they are struggling against each other and putting each other in their place, the less they can be conspiring against him.

It's one of the main reasons fascists and other assorted authoritarians tend to be fuck-ups. "Might makes right" is a terrible organizational structure that incentivizes a lot of self-defeating behavior

 

[Dalisclock]

It's one of the main reasons fascists and other assorted authoritarians tend to be fuck-ups. "Might makes right" is a terrible organizational structure that incentivizes a lot of self-defeating behavior

Putin: Who is our enemy? Who are we going to destroy for the glory of the motherland?

MOD: WAGNER!
Wagner: MOD!

Putin: *Has a Nervous Breakdown as British Bridge killing missiles arrive in Ukraine*

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

British Bridge killing missiles arrive in Ukraine

What does Ukraine have against British bridges?

 

[Dalisclock]

What does Ukraine have against British bridges?

The Tower bridge has been saying unkind things about the Ukrainian National Anthem.

That shall not stand, and neither shall the bridge.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The Tower bridge has been saying unkind things about the Ukrainian National Anthem.

That shall not stand, and neither shall the bridge.

But but but... it's on postcards!!!

 

[CM156]

But but but... it's on postcards!!!

I love Tower Bridge.
Please don't hurt it.
Use the missiles on Russia instead.

 

[Dalisclock]

I love Tower Bridge.
Please don't hurt it.
Use the missiles on Russia instead.

Britain says it is donating long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ missiles to Ukraine. (Published 2023)

The missiles, which are launched from the air, are the latest in a pipeline of military aid delivered to the country by Britain, the United States and other NATO allies.

www.nytimes.com

Britain is donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to help it reclaim territory lost to Russia since the start of its invasion, Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, told Parliament on Thursday.

The missiles, which are launched from the air, are the latest in a pipeline of military aid to the country by Britain, the United States and other NATO allies and come after Ukraine’s request for weapons capable of targeting Russian military infrastructure and troop concentrations far behind the front lines in the war. As the country prepares to launch a counteroffensive, those demands have become more urgent.

So I'm not saying the UK might be holding a grudge over the FSB poisoning someone on British Soil.....but it's also possible that fucking around in blighty lead to finding out in Ukraine.

And a certain famous bridge to Crimea might be in danger in the coming weeks, and the only warning wlll be Storm Shadows blaring "Rule Britannia" from mounted loudspeakers installed expressly for that purpose, because style trumps aerodynamics when sending a message.