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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:19:23 AM EDT
[#1]
Solutions to various problems.
Mini missiles!
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:19:47 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Prime: Russian cope from what used to be Wagner Columnist for the American magazine The National Interest Peter Suchiu called Ukraine a “tank graveyard” in light of the destruction of Western armored vehicles provided to Kyiv in the conflict zone. As he noted, “in less than a week, Ukraine saw three M1 Abrams tanks destroyed, reportedly by Russian guided anti-tank missiles.” “Ukraine has become a graveyard of tanks, and whether the US military wants to admit it or not, three M1 Abrams tanks became just new corpses on it. They burned like any other tanks and like thousands of tanks before them,” Suciu emphasized. 😎 https://t.me/rsotmdivision/14328 The creator of PMC Blackwater Erik Prince on the war in Ukraine. We need to end this war, because Ukraine is now demographically collapsing. She is already grinding down the next generation of her living force, which will have nothing to replenish. Ukraine has a shortage of people, and the Western defense resource is ridiculous. In a normal war, the Russian bear cannot be defeated. So let it be better to have an ugly world than such a beautiful war. Freezing hostilities, leveling the front and the acceptance stage. Let them take Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk, whatever they want. The American taxpayer is not at all obliged to allocate another hundred billion dollars to Ukraine. Moreover, there is corruption there. And especially since there is still no result." https://t.me/rsotmdivision/14336 Obviously means that Blackwater or whatever they are called now got rejected for work in Ukraine.(Or maybe he is hoping for some Russian contract work in Africa) So for now its better Ukraine is a slave and maybe they can get some good contracts when Russia invades Moldova. Or Poland. |
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OK, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:22:49 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryOriginally Posted By trapsh00ter99: Originally Posted By birdbarian: If we did an "I'm out" gif for when we are done with a thread, this would make a good one.  https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMnJ2b3pxbThpdXphcXkwanl5aGRvNnJ0OWhjNXZmOHg2NmtlemR2cSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/oJEM3L3KI6IwnpNNk9/giphy.gif OH. EM. GEE. I almost hyperventilated watching that. Saved. 
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:22:59 AM EDT
[#4]
NSFW.
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:26:29 AM EDT
[#5]
Given the re-emergence of discussions about a potential Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2024, and even specific dates named, it would be wise to avoid these speculations, particularly by officials, considering both frontline realities and past experiences with inflated expectations. In my assessment, any realistic counter-attacks should be opportunistic, responding to enemy mistakes or rare openings, which might or might not arise this year, much like the Kharkiv 2022 counter-offensive. Announcing such moves in advance would be highly counterproductive. While the enemy may be losing offensive momentum, it is very important to understand that Ukraine cannot afford to incur losses comparable to those suffered by Russia - 16 thousand men and over 300 vehicles, as highlighted by the deceased Russian milblogger Morozov, only to liberate a settlement like Avdiivka. In this asymmetrical situation, where the enemy has more men, vehicles, ammo, and better-fortified positions, a head-to-head and entirely symmetrical approach is unlikely to succeed.
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:27:42 AM EDT
[#6]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:30:17 AM EDT
[Last Edit: AlmightyTallest]
[#7]
Someone on the Russian side got creative, we actually discussed this thousands of pages ago.
The Russians have started using killer (and I assume reconnaissance) drones with fiber optic cables attached to them: Real War | Ukraine -- «For greater efficiency, Russia launches FPV drones with a coil of thin fiber optic cable attached to them. Our military (AFU) captured one of these drones with 10 kilometers of cable unrolled in the air. Such a drone is not vulnerable to EW and the picture from it can be transmitted in the highest quality. This sample is being studied by Magyar's team and probably we too will be able to equip our drones in the same way as the enemy.»      |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:31:46 AM EDT
[#8]
5 hrs ago.
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:35:43 AM EDT
[#9]
lol, shades of the battleship Yamamoto.
"We will have a fleet. But without ships." Russian military Telegram channels predict the complete annihilation of the Black Sea Fleet by the end of the year. They call for an original solution to speed up this process: half of the ships should be dug into the coastline, turning them into artillery batteries, and the other half should be sunk along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. "The best thing that can be done now is to dig the entire Black Sea Fleet into the ground along the coast and make coastal artillery batteries out of it and sink half of it along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. Or the fleet will be destroyed for nothing. In my opinion, such practice took place in WWII". Which solutions for the Russian Black Sea Fleet would you suggest? |
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ESP
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:43:27 AM EDT
[#10]
Paramedics of the police of Donetsk oblast are doing the impossible. Today is the second anniversary of the creation of this unit:
The moment of today's explosion at the Shagonarskaya Power Plant in Russian Tuva The city was left without central heating. 23 people were injured. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. Border guards smashed a Russian 100-mm MT-12 Rapira cannon with an FPV Another Russian Assault Group is wiped out: |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:45:06 AM EDT
[#11]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 10:46:38 AM EDT
[#12]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:00:41 AM EDT
[#13]
showing of the T-90S (export only) IMO this was because they wanted to preserve the old T-90As to be upgraded before going back into battle. By the end of 2023, it was T-90As only. but this year we have seen the return of both T-90A and T-90S modals. This might be 'random' as a lot in the Russian army is, or a sign they are short of tanks on the front line. Data Table below. 
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:02:01 AM EDT
[#14]
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ESP
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:10:42 AM EDT
[#15]
A mortar shell lands near Ukrainian soldiers:
Bombing Russians in Southern Kherson with French-provided munitions: Drone Strikes on a Russian vehicle depot: "Group 13" ― hunters of the Russian ships: |
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WI, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:16:20 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Lieh-tzu]
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ITCHY-FINGER: Interesting about the Antotov Execs and the Hostomel airport. They probably had the same idea as Biden and most of the West...if you fight and resist the inevitable Russian victory, it will only cause more death and destruction. They probably didnt want the plane damaged and had promises from Russia about resuming business "as usual" but under RU management. They should be prosecuted as traitors but I'm betting their motivations were something like the above. Probably large parts of Ukraine were totally or partially compromises by Russia. It's a miracle they didnt just collapse after Feb 24. There's no 'probably' about it. FSB had been working on Ukraine for over 25 years. There were a decent minority of people who recalled USSR days of union with Moscow fondly, and a decent minority of people who reasonably believed that Russia was the 'big brother' who would eventually come back to their own. FSB and other Russian agencies had penetration throughout business, government, and social sectors. If Russia had been successful in taking the capital and the elected government collapsed, everything would have been far different. The really striking thing is that despite all the extensive work of the FSB, despite all the info ops & social engineering, despite the insertion of loyal Russians in so many units of Ukrainian commerce, government, and society - despite all this, Ukraine threw back the initial onslaught and has rallied to fight like hell for their independence. The 1991 referendum on independence showed 85-95% support through all of Ukraine (less in Crimea), the 2014 Pew Research study still showed strong, widespread support for independence in Kyiv (including in Donbas), and the war has solidified Ukrainian sentiment for independence and Ukrainian nationalism. This is why it's unfair and unreasonable to consider this conflict an 'internal' Russian/Slav dispute. It truly is a war of aggression by an imperialist power. Only Russian propaganda can argue otherwise, but Russia has invested so heavily in their info ops that this propaganda permeates many western establishments. Here's a video interview of Orange Woman Bad. Lots of it is fluff, but she talks briefly about running large scale info ops for Russia.  Margarita Simonyan talks about info-wars and conservative values |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:36:02 AM EDT
[#17]
Non thermal night drone attacks from Ukrainian FPV's.
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:39:41 AM EDT
[#18]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:40:20 AM EDT
[Last Edit: AlmightyTallest]
[#19]
More context same video.
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USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 11:46:10 AM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: lol, shades of the battleship Yamamoto.
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: lol, shades of the battleship Yamamoto.
"We will have a fleet. But without ships." Russian military Telegram channels predict the complete annihilation of the Black Sea Fleet by the end of the year. They call for an original solution to speed up this process: half of the ships should be dug into the coastline, turning them into artillery batteries, and the other half should be sunk along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. "The best thing that can be done now is to dig the entire Black Sea Fleet into the ground along the coast and make coastal artillery batteries out of it and sink half of it along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. Or the fleet will be destroyed for nothing. In my opinion, such practice took place in WWII". Which solutions for the Russian Black Sea Fleet would you suggest? Yeah, static and on shore they are even easier to hit.  |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:11:03 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: Someone on the Russian side got creative, we actually discussed this thousands of pages ago.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEmL6_WMAA8V10?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEuyE3XYAAB3tk?format=png&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu1_wW8AAjFmA?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu72WWUAIpE5o?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu9b8XoAAWis2?format=png&name=small Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: Someone on the Russian side got creative, we actually discussed this thousands of pages ago.
The Russians have started using killer (and I assume reconnaissance) drones with fiber optic cables attached to them: Real War | Ukraine -- «For greater efficiency, Russia launches FPV drones with a coil of thin fiber optic cable attached to them. Our military (AFU) captured one of these drones with 10 kilometers of cable unrolled in the air. Such a drone is not vulnerable to EW and the picture from it can be transmitted in the highest quality. This sample is being studied by Magyar's team and probably we too will be able to equip our drones in the same way as the enemy.» https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEmL6_WMAA8V10?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEuyE3XYAAB3tk?format=png&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu1_wW8AAjFmA?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu72WWUAIpE5o?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIEu9b8XoAAWis2?format=png&name=small Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. |
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USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:28:18 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. Any idea how much this spool weights? |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:35:54 PM EDT
[Last Edit: AlmightyTallest]
[#23]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: Any idea how much this spool weights? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: Originally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. Any idea how much this spool weights? This stuff doesn't seem to be cheap either. The cheapest spool at 10km length is almost $400, the cost of the drone, but this was higher quality stuff. https://www.sanspot.com/10-km-lc-lc-os2-simplex-bare-fiber-lclc-ss201x6n0a Found the Ali Express version for just over $100. https://www.aliexpress.com/i/2251832857005944.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:36:05 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: Any idea how much this spool weights? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: Originally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. Any idea how much this spool weights? If it's attached to the drone and the fiber snags on a treetop 1000m down range, it will continue to unwind as the snag point is the new anchor point. If the spool is on the ground and the line snags on a treetop 1000m down range, that's it. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:39:12 PM EDT
[#25]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:41:08 PM EDT
[#26]
Recent photo, but Bayraktar drones are still in service.
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WI, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:43:23 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Prime: Many, many pictures at the link. The fate of the exchange fund: how Russian prisoners live and what they do in Ukraine An exclusive report from a Russian prisoner of war camp Denis Popovych Thursday, March 7, 2024, 08:05 https://apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/f5342f88de03225b9159779e4b5212b5.jpg All these people came to Ukraine to rob and kill Ukrainians, destroy our houses, rape our women and steal our children. But here it is no longer the "second army of the world". Moreover, it is not an army at all. It is a crowd of gloomy and very docile men of all ages, dressed in identical blue robes. Among them are both Slavs and residents of the "national republics" of Russia; Yakutia, Tuva, the Far East, Sakhalin, St. Petersburg and Pskov; Orthodox and Muslims; convicts from Russian penal colonies and ordinary mobilized. All of these are Russian prisoners of war who are in a special camp somewhere in the west of our country. "Apostrophe" got acquainted with the conditions of their detention . This should be a key point of international diplomacy. Ukraine upholds the highest standards, while Russia is a criminal state. This should be front and center at every international conference and used to justify Russia's expulsion. If this and related stories (Bucha, etc) were pushed enough through diplomatic channels, it might even be possible to get some real action in the UN GA. Could Russia be suspended from the Security Council until the conflict ends? That would both punish Russia quite heavily, but also set a precedent that would not be intolerable because they could go back. Russia should be suspended from the G20 and other groups. Russia's membership in OSCE should be downgraded to observer status. All of this is justifiable by Russia's persistent rejection of international norms, standards, and treaties. All nations should stand up to Russia based on their rejection of humanitarian norms. Unless Russia will guarantee accountability for war crimes (shooting prisoners, using them as shields) and compliance with POW standards, Russia should be barred from everything everywhere. The stories that have come back with returned Ukrainian prisoners is awful. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2023/10/21/what-is-happening-to-ukrainian-prisoners-of-war-in-russia/?sh=5dfb000d436f |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:46:39 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIDmY44WoAAhsmC?format=png&name=900x900 
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:51:33 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Capta: Wow! So we were seeing, effectively, the middle of the attack onward, and the 3rd party view was either the first hit or maybe the second. But after that return fire mostly stopped. the weird part. The view from the ship showed alot of small arms tracers. But neither one of the views from the other boats showed that much. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 12:53:35 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: https://i.imgur.com/h3LI68m.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/AymTfHm.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/cvp35fD.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/fNFc7iZ.jpeg Bradley repost. Am I the only one who thinks something isn't right about these pictures respectively the description?  Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 4xGM300m: https://i.imgur.com/h3LI68m.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/AymTfHm.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/cvp35fD.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/fNFc7iZ.jpeg As a result of two ATGM missiles hitting a Ukrainian M2A2 ODS-SA "Bradley" infantry fighting vehicle in the Avdiivka direction One of the missiles hit the onboard ARAT dynamic protection units, which completely contained the attack. The other only caught the blocks on the machine's turret. The infantry fighting vehicle remained on the move, none of the crew members were injured Bradley repost. Am I the only one who thinks something isn't right about these pictures respectively the description? I don’t see anything inconsistent. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:03:54 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Prime: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/203719/IMG_4157-3151792.jpg Whenever possible, learn from the mistakes of the enemy. What does this photo and this good Russian teach us? That the first aid kit on the back is bullshit. Why? Because you won't use it. And your friend won't help you remove it. Why? Because situations are different. We will analyze one of these, especially since there is an example. This is a typical first-aid kit, which is full in the army, and in the enemy's as well. It can be quickly removed from the armor/RPS, because it is held on fastex and velcro. Just click, pull and it's in your hands. It is convenient to use everything inside. But, of course, if you can reach it. Probably, this already good Russian expected that at any moment his comrade would help her to shoot, because he performs tasks in a group of 5-6 military personnel (who, by the way, are all already good). But the situation was such that all his comrades were already 200 or 300. He decided to run away. Then he received injuries to his legs and the front part of his body, and there was no one around. So there was no chance to escape, because it was simply impossible to reach the first-aid kit. Yes, he could try to remove the plate carrier, and get access to the first aid kit, but it's all time and effort. He did not have time. And it seems that you can remove the plate carrier as well. We used this, so the result is natural. Learn from the enemy's mistakes, not your own! (c) Yurii Gorskyi American infantryman https://t.me/usinfantryman1/16558 That’s the same guy I posted video of a few pages back. He was very identifiable. One thing I didn’t notice before, is that some kind of long-barreled AK? It isn’t an RPK because it lacks front trunnion bulges, but it appears to have a 20+ in barrel and a folding stock adapter of some kind. |
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MN, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:18:22 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Finally. This makes me feel a little better. I hope this will help the war effort while we continue to stall.  
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:28:35 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: lol, shades of the battleship Yamamoto.
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest: lol, shades of the battleship Yamamoto.
"We will have a fleet. But without ships." Russian military Telegram channels predict the complete annihilation of the Black Sea Fleet by the end of the year. They call for an original solution to speed up this process: half of the ships should be dug into the coastline, turning them into artillery batteries, and the other half should be sunk along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. "The best thing that can be done now is to dig the entire Black Sea Fleet into the ground along the coast and make coastal artillery batteries out of it and sink half of it along the perimeter of the Crimean bridge. Or the fleet will be destroyed for nothing. In my opinion, such practice took place in WWII". Which solutions for the Russian Black Sea Fleet would you suggest? We should all hope that Russia will respond in the usual way and try to build an even stronger fleet which they don’t need and can’t protect. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:29:08 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By trapsh00ter99: I think it would unwind more freely being attached to the drone. If it's attached to the drone and the fiber snags on a treetop 1000m down range, it will continue to unwind as the snag point is the new anchor point. If the spool is on the ground and the line snags on a treetop 1000m down range, that's it. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By trapsh00ter99: Originally Posted By 4xGM300m: Originally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. Any idea how much this spool weights? If it's attached to the drone and the fiber snags on a treetop 1000m down range, it will continue to unwind as the snag point is the new anchor point. If the spool is on the ground and the line snags on a treetop 1000m down range, that's it. Perhaps. But, more likely is that if the fiber gets snagged on anything, it's toast anyway. I'm also guessing the way they have the camera mounted near the spool that the fiber is just for the video downlink. It would be really interesting if both the video and control link goes thru the fiber. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:35:42 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIBrt78WQAE6-Le?format=png&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIBuI6yWEAEjKZI?format=png&name=medium Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
showing of the T-90S (export only) IMO this was because they wanted to preserve the old T-90As to be upgraded before going back into battle. By the end of 2023, it was T-90As only. but this year we have seen the return of both T-90A and T-90S modals. This might be 'random' as a lot in the Russian army is, or a sign they are short of tanks on the front line. Data Table below. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIBrt78WQAE6-Le?format=png&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIBuI6yWEAEjKZI?format=png&name=medium Loss breakdowns as a percentage by type isn’t being done enough, and I think there’s a lot of value missed because of it. I’ve felt for a while we were seeing something important in the (seeming) expanding use of BTRs for frontline assaults. Without the numbers there’s no way to tell if I’m right or wrong. T55s and T62s are also now being seen and lost in appreciable numbers. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:37:07 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Haub: Finally. This makes me feel a little better. I hope this will help the war effort while we continue to stall. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Haub: Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Finally. This makes me feel a little better. I hope this will help the war effort while we continue to stall. Well, it does buy some time for US and European manufacturing to catch up and it isn't coming from US stockpiles. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:41:22 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. My guess would be that the spool on the drone allows it to snag up and not stop the drone vs the drone dragging line out off the spool and getting stuck if the line snags. |
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OK, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:43:56 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Prime: Many, many pictures at the link. The fate of the exchange fund: how Russian prisoners live and what they do in Ukraine An exclusive report from a Russian prisoner of war camp Denis Popovych Thursday, March 7, 2024, 08:05 https://apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/f5342f88de03225b9159779e4b5212b5.jpg All these people came to Ukraine to rob and kill Ukrainians, destroy our houses, rape our women and steal our children. But here it is no longer the "second army of the world". Moreover, it is not an army at all. It is a crowd of gloomy and very docile men of all ages, dressed in identical blue robes. Among them are both Slavs and residents of the "national republics" of Russia; Yakutia, Tuva, the Far East, Sakhalin, St. Petersburg and Pskov; Orthodox and Muslims; convicts from Russian penal colonies and ordinary mobilized. All of these are Russian prisoners of war who are in a special camp somewhere in the west of our country. "Apostrophe" got acquainted with the conditions of their detention . Before the large-scale Russian invasion, this camp was an institution that housed convicts who had committed minor crimes. However, as Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said, after the start of the Great War, Ukrainian prisoners were transferred to other places of imprisonment, and the colony was repurposed to house Russian prisoners. The staff of the camp are employees of the State Department for the Execution of Punishments, who have undergone special legal training related to the study of normative acts regarding the observance of the rights of prisoners of war. By the way, the Geneva Convention is revered here. On the walls of some buildings of the camp hang boards with excerpts from international documents (in Russian - so that each of the local "sydelians" could read them), which spell out the rights of prisoners of war - what they can count on and what cannot be done to them. According to Petro Yatsenko, some representatives of the "Wagner" PMC, who were recruited from Russian penal colonies and exchanged on the eve of Prigozhin's rebellion, called the conditions in Ukraine a "tourist trip." No one says how many prisoners of war there are. As Petro Yatsenko noted - "enough". They say there is another similar camp also somewhere west of Kyiv. Prisoners are brought here to the west of Ukraine in batches of 20, 30, 50 people from different areas of the front. Some of them have been waiting for exchange for several months, and some have been sitting here for well over a year. First, each new arrival undergoes an initial examination. At least to understand their physical condition. By the way, there are many wounded. Walking around the camp, I saw Russians with amputated limbs, on carts, on crutches, with shrapnel wounds and the effects of frostbite. Such people are placed in a hospital here. During the initial inspection, their military uniforms are taken from the prisoners, washed, disinfected and stored in a special room in bags. Each bag has the name and surname of the owner. He will get his property back when he gets out of here after the exchange. For now, he is given the same blue coat, shoes, personal hygiene items, some other clothes and placed in a two-week quarantine. Quarantine is not medical isolation, psychologists simply talk with the prisoner to understand what to expect from him and what kind of work he is capable of doing. The people here, as mentioned above, are not simple. There were "Wagnerians", there are ex-convicts from "Storm Z", who were serving sentences for serious crimes committed on the territory of the Russian Federation. And suddenly the guy is aggressive and needs special attention. By the way, some characters from the Russian camps tried to establish the prison rules they were used to here, but the local staff quickly stopped these intentions. After passing the perimeter, I saw a building with a large map of Ukraine in 1991 - a very correct reminder, as well as a corridor for lining up - an equally instructive place. Here, prisoners of war are lined up and sent to work, as well as for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This corridor is notable for the fact that one of its sides is decorated with portraits of various Ukrainian hetmans, and the other with portraits of political figures of recent Ukrainian history, including Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych, and Yevhen Konovalts. However, it is pointless to even "reboot" some characters. Russian propaganda brewed such a cool porridge in their brains that, looking at the portrait of Stepan Bandera, they claimed that in front of them was a young Vladimir Putin. The life of prisoners of war in the camp is subject to a clear schedule. Ascent is always at 6 a.m., departure is always at 10 p.m. Everyone should have uninterrupted sleep, which, however, can be interrupted by an air alarm, for example, due to a massive night missile attack. Then the prisoners of war must be taken to the bomb shelter - such are the security requirements. The same should be done if the alarm is announced due to MiG-31 flights. Our visit was not interrupted by alarms, but the officers of the camp staff told us that in these cases, columns of prisoners descend en masse to the storage. The wounded limp on crutches, roll in wheelchairs, some who are unable to move on their own are carried on stretchers by their comrades. A strange sight. The cause of these air alarms is perceived by the Russians in a very peculiar way. "At least they hit us once," some of them say. The schedule of weekdays and weekends differs in that prisoners of war must work on weekdays (we were in the camp on Thursday). What exactly they do here - I was shown later. But both on weekdays and on weekends, prisoners of war are provided with personal time, the opportunity to send religious needs, visit the library, watch TV programs and contact relatives. To put it mildly, to sneeze at the denazification soldiers. For almost two years of the existence of the camp, none of the Russian relatives managed to visit their husbands and sons, even despite the existence of special programs... However, it seems that there was one of the women, but this is rather an exception to the rules. Basically, relatives say something like this: "We see that you are in good conditions and everything." True, they can (and some do) help their men with money, which is transferred to a special account opened for each prisoner of war. The salary that the Russians receive for performing work in the camp also drips in there - about 10 hryvnias per day. With this money, they can buy some goods that are sold in a special shop set up on the territory. Here you can buy coffee, tea, water, cigarettes, sweets, office supplies, socks, underwear, wristwatches and even different types of sausage. Up to 10,000 hryvnias are spent on the maintenance of each prisoner of war every month . They come from the state budget. As you have already managed to understand, each of the Russians gets their hands on a very small part of these funds, and even then they still need to be earned. The rest of the money goes to related expenses, which are one way or another related to their maintenance. But we digress. As I already said, on weekdays the rooms for sleeping and rest were empty. In the sitting room, I saw a large television set on the wall, and under it a stack of New Testaments and a book about the afterlife. There is also a kitchen with a refrigerator, which was filled with various food, and a game room. Chess and backgammon are on the tables. The backgammon is made very skillfully and probably by hand. A lion is skillfully engraved on the box Prisoners of war are sleeping in a nearby room. The large hall resembles the barracks of an exemplary military unit. Neatly made beds, each one has a tag with the name and surname of the person sleeping on it. There is a bedside table next to each bed. There are books on some bedside tables. Prisoners of war have different literary tastes. Here is a book called "Petro the First", here is a Bible, here is a detective by Daria Dontsova, "A Frog with a Wallet", and here is someone smart interested in electrical engineering. All this can be taken here in the library. Books are published by one of the prisoners of war (selected as a result of conversations with psychologists during quarantine). There is a lot of literature here. In addition to fiction publications, there are textbooks on algebra and the history of Ukraine. But detective stories, sports books, as well as the Bible and publications on religious topics are particularly popular. In the hospital for the wounded, you can already talk to the first prisoners of war who are being treated here. They even have a dental office and medical equipment at their service, which you won't find in every central district hospital. It's just not possible to cling to prisoners of war with questioning. If you want to chat, be sure to ask their permission. If you were refused, you must respect this refusal, and if you were allowed, it is highly desirable to record this permission in some way. But most are not against communication. Here is a relatively new "passenger", 30-year-old Dmitry from Pskov. He did not have a military career from the beginning. After a month's training, which consisted, in particular, of digging dugouts, he was thrown into battle, which ended with his capture on January 21, somewhere in the Luhansk region. "We were sent to storm the positions of the Armed Forces, that's how I got captured," said the Russian, lying on the bed and wrapped in a blanket so that only his hands and greenish face with small whiskers were visible. - Why did you come here at all? Earn money? - Yes, - answered Dmytro. - And they promised you a lot? - 190 thousand rubles per month. - Did you manage to get it? - No, only lifts, - said Dmytro. The first and last "salary" was issued to him in the form of shrapnel wounds and frostbitten limbs - currently Ukrainian doctors are restoring them. There are also wounded outside, probably those who were allowed to walk due to their health. Many are crippled. Many have Ilizarov devices on mutilated limbs. Some sit on benches, some just stand by the walls, leaning on crutches or sitting in wheelchairs. Seeing the journalists, they fell silent. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/aaae0ea3ce2002546cece57296c591f3.jpg This is 28-year-old Oleksandr from Sakhalin. He can only stand on crutches. He was captured on September 23 last year, about six months after he joined the service under a contract for 195,000 rubles a month. - And I worked as a loader in a store and felt great. I wasn't going to join the army, Oleksandr says willingly. - But no one asked me. A summons came and they took it away. - That is, how they took it, - I am surprised. - Your partial mobilization was supposed to end on November 4, 2022. Putin talked about it. Oleksandr shrugged, making it clear that despite Putin's public assurances, mobilization in places like Sakhalin continued into 2023. Moreover, the former porter was not particularly stressed by combat and special training - immediately after the Military Commissariat, the boy was provided with a rifle and sent straight to the front, where he was eventually captured near Avdiivka... https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/5a83a112d0876ec7fc42d159799c9526.jpg During further communication with the prisoners of war, I became convinced that we do not always correctly imagine the situation with the Russian mobilization. For example, in Ukraine, for some reason, it is believed that recruits for the army are mainly somewhere in the Russian hinterland, in the same Pskov or Sakhalin, but nobody is touched in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The fate of 25-year-old Oleksandr from St. Petersburg refutes this stereotype. He was taken on October 6, 2022, in the midst of an "official" partial mobilization. For a month, they were driven through the training ground, and then pushed near Kreminna (it was quite "hot" there in the fall of 2022), and then near Kurdyumivka on the even "tougher" Bakhmutskyi direction. From near Kurdyumivka, after a year of service, he moved to much safer conditions for life and health in a Ukrainian prisoner of war camp. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/23dea465d3bb17dcfa5938b3b75504dc.jpg Conversations with some of the prisoners of war can burn a certain number of nerve cells. Here is a 20-year-old boy, Kyrylo. He got into the unit "Storm Z" from the correctional colony #8 somewhere in the Far East. There he was serving a sentence for a double murder and robbery. However, recruiters from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation promised him full rehabilitation for six months of service. Why not go, if you also pay for it. According to Kirill, from 105 to 220 thousand rubles per month. He fought in the Vugledaru area, where, repelling a counterattack by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he got surrounded and ended up here. According to Kirill, the procedures in "Storm Z" are no different from the procedures in "regular" Russian units. "Our combatant was a prisoner," the boy notes. - When you return home after the exchange, what will you tell your family about the war? - War is bad. - And only? You attacked us. - We defended our country. - From whom? Did someone attack you? There was no clear answer to this question. The boy, whose fate was much better now than it could have been in the Far Eastern VK-8 or in the trenches near Ugledar, was taken away. Then we were shown the production. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/0896fcacbdac8c100445a4bdcb45aab8.jpg Prisoners also end up here as a result of psychological selection. Specialists find out even the place from which, so to speak, everyone's hands grow. Here we see a workshop for the production of wicker furniture - tables and chairs. Robots are made by many people by hand and are made to order by companies that pay money and place them in different places. Including in correctional institutions and even in a camp for keeping prisoners of war. So, if you buy a wicker chair somewhere, know that it could have been made by a captured Russian soldier. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/b05ef0a53da7bf965dbd2a38449ce1c1.jpg We walk along the working lines and meet our compatriot, a resident of the Luhansk region, 44-year-old Yevhen. He was captured as a result of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region and has been here since the fall of 2022. His wife stayed at home. - Are you waiting for an exchange? - Yeah. He was one of those mobilized in the so-called "corps of the people's militia". He has been sitting here for a year and a half and most likely he will stay until the end of the war. The Russians do not need these for exchange. The same Kirill from "Storm Z" has a much better chance of getting home. By the way, there are also those mobilized from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Life has taught some people almost nothing. One of the residents of the Donetsk region said that he was forced to surrender because he was left without ammunition, and the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were already going to throw grenades at him. "I was defending my land!", - confidently, in spite of everything, he claimed... Time to have lunch. A column of prisoners of war lined up in the same small corridor, timidly pressing their heads into their shoulders under the stern gaze of Stepan Bandera, who looked at them either from a portrait or from heaven. With their hands folded behind their backs and hunched over, they stomped into the dining room to wash their hands and eat. Prisoners of war cook for themselves (again, the result of psychological selection). They even have their own bakery here. This time, borscht, millet porridge with natural meat cutlet and salad were served for lunch. Fish and potatoes were expected for dinner. I tasted the food. The portion is solid and filling. Of course, it's not a Kyiv restaurant, it wouldn't hurt to salt the borscht, but there's nothing to spoil those who came to conquer your country. They say that every second person here (who is not injured and not being treated) is overweight. And here I will put an end to my story. In order not to anger the reader, who, having reached this place, will probably ask - why the enemies who came here to rob and kill, eat from the belly for our money and also receive medical care, which you will not find in every district center. Not to mention the condition in which our boys return from Russian torture camps. Not to mention how many of our prisoners were shot in general... The questions are valid. But war has customs and rules. And if we violate them by responding to Russian prisoners of war with the same coin, then how will we differ from our enemies? We need anything to bring home our boys who were captured by the Russians. And we need to show that we are a humane European country that still needs to be helped. After all, good must always win over evil. https://apostrophe.ua/ua/article/society/2024-03-07/sudba-obmennogo-fonda-kak-jivut-i-chem-zanimayutsya-v-ukraine-plennyie-russkie/56878 A fascinating read. Thank you- and I shared it around elsewhere. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:46:45 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIDmY44WoAAhsmC?format=png&name=900x900 *small but nonzero chance of dying alone in horrible agony *small but nonzero chance of dying with friends in horrible agony *enlistee may suffer from persistent feelings of hopelessness and impending doom *in the event of death, state is not obligated to return body to family *due to circumstances beyond our control there may not be a body *due to the needs of the state, pay may or may not conform to advertised rates *after death, individual may experience a burning sensation. This is normal. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:53:32 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Looked like a Russian ATGM @ 1:02. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 1:57:05 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Bama_Rebel: the weird part. The view from the ship showed alot of small arms tracers. But neither one of the views from the other boats showed that much. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Bama_Rebel: Originally Posted By Capta: Wow! So we were seeing, effectively, the middle of the attack onward, and the 3rd party view was either the first hit or maybe the second. But after that return fire mostly stopped. the weird part. The view from the ship showed alot of small arms tracers. But neither one of the views from the other boats showed that much. Most probably abandoned their guns after the first or second hit. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:08:44 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By planemaker: Well, that's one way of getting an EW resistant drone. Can't imagine why you'd put the spool on the drone instead of on the ground, tho. More weight on something that has to go vertical is generally considered bad. That's how wire guided ATGMs have been doing it since at least the 70s |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:10:11 PM EDT
[Last Edit: AlmightyTallest]
[#44]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:14:18 PM EDT
[#45]
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OK, USA
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:17:33 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ITCHY-FINGER: Very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post this. I was an EPW Camp guard in DS #1 although it was out in the desert and not at a permanent facility like in the article. There were usually 2-3 of us inside an enclosure with around 400 Iraqi EPW. We are unarmed and had to interact with them. We typically had 1 or 2 English speakers that we delegated commands to for the occasional work details etc. They got the same MRE's that we did and 10 cigarettes per person, per day. They were generally very cooperative, compliant, and happy to be there .vs out in the desert being bombed. *One night being bored I asked our terp to bring out there strongest, fittest guy. A few minutes later this guy that looked like Charles Bronson, buy young and fit like a gymnast, shows up. I challenged him to a pushup contest. After demonstrating pushups to him we get started. I grunted out 50 something before coming to rest but not putting knees down. A small crowd had build up on the other side of the wire and they all yelled that I had stopped. Ok whatever. Then Charles Bronson gets to work but gets a few less than me. Handshakes and pats on the back were exchanged along with whatever extra MRE's we had. Things eventually got crazy in the "First Annual Iraqi Olympics" and eventually the command showed up in a HMMV worried about a riot after hearing multiple enclosures erupting in cheers after beating us in barrel races... Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ITCHY-FINGER: Originally Posted By Prime: Many, many pictures at the link. The fate of the exchange fund: how Russian prisoners live and what they do in Ukraine An exclusive report from a Russian prisoner of war camp Denis Popovych Thursday, March 7, 2024, 08:05 https://apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/f5342f88de03225b9159779e4b5212b5.jpg All these people came to Ukraine to rob and kill Ukrainians, destroy our houses, rape our women and steal our children. But here it is no longer the "second army of the world". Moreover, it is not an army at all. It is a crowd of gloomy and very docile men of all ages, dressed in identical blue robes. Among them are both Slavs and residents of the "national republics" of Russia; Yakutia, Tuva, the Far East, Sakhalin, St. Petersburg and Pskov; Orthodox and Muslims; convicts from Russian penal colonies and ordinary mobilized. All of these are Russian prisoners of war who are in a special camp somewhere in the west of our country. "Apostrophe" got acquainted with the conditions of their detention . Before the large-scale Russian invasion, this camp was an institution that housed convicts who had committed minor crimes. However, as Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said, after the start of the Great War, Ukrainian prisoners were transferred to other places of imprisonment, and the colony was repurposed to house Russian prisoners. The staff of the camp are employees of the State Department for the Execution of Punishments, who have undergone special legal training related to the study of normative acts regarding the observance of the rights of prisoners of war. By the way, the Geneva Convention is revered here. On the walls of some buildings of the camp hang boards with excerpts from international documents (in Russian - so that each of the local "sydelians" could read them), which spell out the rights of prisoners of war - what they can count on and what cannot be done to them. According to Petro Yatsenko, some representatives of the "Wagner" PMC, who were recruited from Russian penal colonies and exchanged on the eve of Prigozhin's rebellion, called the conditions in Ukraine a "tourist trip." No one says how many prisoners of war there are. As Petro Yatsenko noted - "enough". They say there is another similar camp also somewhere west of Kyiv. Prisoners are brought here to the west of Ukraine in batches of 20, 30, 50 people from different areas of the front. Some of them have been waiting for exchange for several months, and some have been sitting here for well over a year. First, each new arrival undergoes an initial examination. At least to understand their physical condition. By the way, there are many wounded. Walking around the camp, I saw Russians with amputated limbs, on carts, on crutches, with shrapnel wounds and the effects of frostbite. Such people are placed in a hospital here. During the initial inspection, their military uniforms are taken from the prisoners, washed, disinfected and stored in a special room in bags. Each bag has the name and surname of the owner. He will get his property back when he gets out of here after the exchange. For now, he is given the same blue coat, shoes, personal hygiene items, some other clothes and placed in a two-week quarantine. Quarantine is not medical isolation, psychologists simply talk with the prisoner to understand what to expect from him and what kind of work he is capable of doing. The people here, as mentioned above, are not simple. There were "Wagnerians", there are ex-convicts from "Storm Z", who were serving sentences for serious crimes committed on the territory of the Russian Federation. And suddenly the guy is aggressive and needs special attention. By the way, some characters from the Russian camps tried to establish the prison rules they were used to here, but the local staff quickly stopped these intentions. After passing the perimeter, I saw a building with a large map of Ukraine in 1991 - a very correct reminder, as well as a corridor for lining up - an equally instructive place. Here, prisoners of war are lined up and sent to work, as well as for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This corridor is notable for the fact that one of its sides is decorated with portraits of various Ukrainian hetmans, and the other with portraits of political figures of recent Ukrainian history, including Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych, and Yevhen Konovalts. However, it is pointless to even "reboot" some characters. Russian propaganda brewed such a cool porridge in their brains that, looking at the portrait of Stepan Bandera, they claimed that in front of them was a young Vladimir Putin. The life of prisoners of war in the camp is subject to a clear schedule. Ascent is always at 6 a.m., departure is always at 10 p.m. Everyone should have uninterrupted sleep, which, however, can be interrupted by an air alarm, for example, due to a massive night missile attack. Then the prisoners of war must be taken to the bomb shelter - such are the security requirements. The same should be done if the alarm is announced due to MiG-31 flights. Our visit was not interrupted by alarms, but the officers of the camp staff told us that in these cases, columns of prisoners descend en masse to the storage. The wounded limp on crutches, roll in wheelchairs, some who are unable to move on their own are carried on stretchers by their comrades. A strange sight. The cause of these air alarms is perceived by the Russians in a very peculiar way. "At least they hit us once," some of them say. The schedule of weekdays and weekends differs in that prisoners of war must work on weekdays (we were in the camp on Thursday). What exactly they do here - I was shown later. But both on weekdays and on weekends, prisoners of war are provided with personal time, the opportunity to send religious needs, visit the library, watch TV programs and contact relatives. To put it mildly, to sneeze at the denazification soldiers. For almost two years of the existence of the camp, none of the Russian relatives managed to visit their husbands and sons, even despite the existence of special programs... However, it seems that there was one of the women, but this is rather an exception to the rules. Basically, relatives say something like this: "We see that you are in good conditions and everything." True, they can (and some do) help their men with money, which is transferred to a special account opened for each prisoner of war. The salary that the Russians receive for performing work in the camp also drips in there - about 10 hryvnias per day. With this money, they can buy some goods that are sold in a special shop set up on the territory. Here you can buy coffee, tea, water, cigarettes, sweets, office supplies, socks, underwear, wristwatches and even different types of sausage. Up to 10,000 hryvnias are spent on the maintenance of each prisoner of war every month . They come from the state budget. As you have already managed to understand, each of the Russians gets their hands on a very small part of these funds, and even then they still need to be earned. The rest of the money goes to related expenses, which are one way or another related to their maintenance. But we digress. As I already said, on weekdays the rooms for sleeping and rest were empty. In the sitting room, I saw a large television set on the wall, and under it a stack of New Testaments and a book about the afterlife. There is also a kitchen with a refrigerator, which was filled with various food, and a game room. Chess and backgammon are on the tables. The backgammon is made very skillfully and probably by hand. A lion is skillfully engraved on the box Prisoners of war are sleeping in a nearby room. The large hall resembles the barracks of an exemplary military unit. Neatly made beds, each one has a tag with the name and surname of the person sleeping on it. There is a bedside table next to each bed. There are books on some bedside tables. Prisoners of war have different literary tastes. Here is a book called "Petro the First", here is a Bible, here is a detective by Daria Dontsova, "A Frog with a Wallet", and here is someone smart interested in electrical engineering. All this can be taken here in the library. Books are published by one of the prisoners of war (selected as a result of conversations with psychologists during quarantine). There is a lot of literature here. In addition to fiction publications, there are textbooks on algebra and the history of Ukraine. But detective stories, sports books, as well as the Bible and publications on religious topics are particularly popular. In the hospital for the wounded, you can already talk to the first prisoners of war who are being treated here. They even have a dental office and medical equipment at their service, which you won't find in every central district hospital. It's just not possible to cling to prisoners of war with questioning. If you want to chat, be sure to ask their permission. If you were refused, you must respect this refusal, and if you were allowed, it is highly desirable to record this permission in some way. But most are not against communication. Here is a relatively new "passenger", 30-year-old Dmitry from Pskov. He did not have a military career from the beginning. After a month's training, which consisted, in particular, of digging dugouts, he was thrown into battle, which ended with his capture on January 21, somewhere in the Luhansk region. "We were sent to storm the positions of the Armed Forces, that's how I got captured," said the Russian, lying on the bed and wrapped in a blanket so that only his hands and greenish face with small whiskers were visible. - Why did you come here at all? Earn money? - Yes, - answered Dmytro. - And they promised you a lot? - 190 thousand rubles per month. - Did you manage to get it? - No, only lifts, - said Dmytro. The first and last "salary" was issued to him in the form of shrapnel wounds and frostbitten limbs - currently Ukrainian doctors are restoring them. There are also wounded outside, probably those who were allowed to walk due to their health. Many are crippled. Many have Ilizarov devices on mutilated limbs. Some sit on benches, some just stand by the walls, leaning on crutches or sitting in wheelchairs. Seeing the journalists, they fell silent. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/aaae0ea3ce2002546cece57296c591f3.jpg This is 28-year-old Oleksandr from Sakhalin. He can only stand on crutches. He was captured on September 23 last year, about six months after he joined the service under a contract for 195,000 rubles a month. - And I worked as a loader in a store and felt great. I wasn't going to join the army, Oleksandr says willingly. - But no one asked me. A summons came and they took it away. - That is, how they took it, - I am surprised. - Your partial mobilization was supposed to end on November 4, 2022. Putin talked about it. Oleksandr shrugged, making it clear that despite Putin's public assurances, mobilization in places like Sakhalin continued into 2023. Moreover, the former porter was not particularly stressed by combat and special training - immediately after the Military Commissariat, the boy was provided with a rifle and sent straight to the front, where he was eventually captured near Avdiivka... https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/5a83a112d0876ec7fc42d159799c9526.jpg During further communication with the prisoners of war, I became convinced that we do not always correctly imagine the situation with the Russian mobilization. For example, in Ukraine, for some reason, it is believed that recruits for the army are mainly somewhere in the Russian hinterland, in the same Pskov or Sakhalin, but nobody is touched in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The fate of 25-year-old Oleksandr from St. Petersburg refutes this stereotype. He was taken on October 6, 2022, in the midst of an "official" partial mobilization. For a month, they were driven through the training ground, and then pushed near Kreminna (it was quite "hot" there in the fall of 2022), and then near Kurdyumivka on the even "tougher" Bakhmutskyi direction. From near Kurdyumivka, after a year of service, he moved to much safer conditions for life and health in a Ukrainian prisoner of war camp. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/23dea465d3bb17dcfa5938b3b75504dc.jpg Conversations with some of the prisoners of war can burn a certain number of nerve cells. Here is a 20-year-old boy, Kyrylo. He got into the unit "Storm Z" from the correctional colony #8 somewhere in the Far East. There he was serving a sentence for a double murder and robbery. However, recruiters from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation promised him full rehabilitation for six months of service. Why not go, if you also pay for it. According to Kirill, from 105 to 220 thousand rubles per month. He fought in the Vugledaru area, where, repelling a counterattack by units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he got surrounded and ended up here. According to Kirill, the procedures in "Storm Z" are no different from the procedures in "regular" Russian units. "Our combatant was a prisoner," the boy notes. - When you return home after the exchange, what will you tell your family about the war? - War is bad. - And only? You attacked us. - We defended our country. - From whom? Did someone attack you? There was no clear answer to this question. The boy, whose fate was much better now than it could have been in the Far Eastern VK-8 or in the trenches near Ugledar, was taken away. Then we were shown the production. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/0896fcacbdac8c100445a4bdcb45aab8.jpg Prisoners also end up here as a result of psychological selection. Specialists find out even the place from which, so to speak, everyone's hands grow. Here we see a workshop for the production of wicker furniture - tables and chairs. Robots are made by many people by hand and are made to order by companies that pay money and place them in different places. Including in correctional institutions and even in a camp for keeping prisoners of war. So, if you buy a wicker chair somewhere, know that it could have been made by a captured Russian soldier. https://static.apostrophe.ua/uploads/image/b05ef0a53da7bf965dbd2a38449ce1c1.jpg We walk along the working lines and meet our compatriot, a resident of the Luhansk region, 44-year-old Yevhen. He was captured as a result of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region and has been here since the fall of 2022. His wife stayed at home. - Are you waiting for an exchange? - Yeah. He was one of those mobilized in the so-called "corps of the people's militia". He has been sitting here for a year and a half and most likely he will stay until the end of the war. The Russians do not need these for exchange. The same Kirill from "Storm Z" has a much better chance of getting home. By the way, there are also those mobilized from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Life has taught some people almost nothing. One of the residents of the Donetsk region said that he was forced to surrender because he was left without ammunition, and the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were already going to throw grenades at him. "I was defending my land!", - confidently, in spite of everything, he claimed... Time to have lunch. A column of prisoners of war lined up in the same small corridor, timidly pressing their heads into their shoulders under the stern gaze of Stepan Bandera, who looked at them either from a portrait or from heaven. With their hands folded behind their backs and hunched over, they stomped into the dining room to wash their hands and eat. Prisoners of war cook for themselves (again, the result of psychological selection). They even have their own bakery here. This time, borscht, millet porridge with natural meat cutlet and salad were served for lunch. Fish and potatoes were expected for dinner. I tasted the food. The portion is solid and filling. Of course, it's not a Kyiv restaurant, it wouldn't hurt to salt the borscht, but there's nothing to spoil those who came to conquer your country. They say that every second person here (who is not injured and not being treated) is overweight. And here I will put an end to my story. In order not to anger the reader, who, having reached this place, will probably ask - why the enemies who came here to rob and kill, eat from the belly for our money and also receive medical care, which you will not find in every district center. Not to mention the condition in which our boys return from Russian torture camps. Not to mention how many of our prisoners were shot in general... The questions are valid. But war has customs and rules. And if we violate them by responding to Russian prisoners of war with the same coin, then how will we differ from our enemies? We need anything to bring home our boys who were captured by the Russians. And we need to show that we are a humane European country that still needs to be helped. After all, good must always win over evil. https://apostrophe.ua/ua/article/society/2024-03-07/sudba-obmennogo-fonda-kak-jivut-i-chem-zanimayutsya-v-ukraine-plennyie-russkie/56878 Very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post this. I was an EPW Camp guard in DS #1 although it was out in the desert and not at a permanent facility like in the article. There were usually 2-3 of us inside an enclosure with around 400 Iraqi EPW. We are unarmed and had to interact with them. We typically had 1 or 2 English speakers that we delegated commands to for the occasional work details etc. They got the same MRE's that we did and 10 cigarettes per person, per day. They were generally very cooperative, compliant, and happy to be there .vs out in the desert being bombed. *One night being bored I asked our terp to bring out there strongest, fittest guy. A few minutes later this guy that looked like Charles Bronson, buy young and fit like a gymnast, shows up. I challenged him to a pushup contest. After demonstrating pushups to him we get started. I grunted out 50 something before coming to rest but not putting knees down. A small crowd had build up on the other side of the wire and they all yelled that I had stopped. Ok whatever. Then Charles Bronson gets to work but gets a few less than me. Handshakes and pats on the back were exchanged along with whatever extra MRE's we had. Things eventually got crazy in the "First Annual Iraqi Olympics" and eventually the command showed up in a HMMV worried about a riot after hearing multiple enclosures erupting in cheers after beating us in barrel races... Neat story. That's probably the best treatment those Iraqis received in years. Wonder how many of them fought the second time in 2003. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:20:14 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Given the re-emergence of discussions about a potential Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2024, and even specific dates named, it would be wise to avoid these speculations, particularly by officials, considering both frontline realities and past experiences with inflated expectations. In my assessment, any realistic counter-attacks should be opportunistic, responding to enemy mistakes or rare openings, which might or might not arise this year, much like the Kharkiv 2022 counter-offensive. Announcing such moves in advance would be highly counterproductive. While the enemy may be losing offensive momentum, it is very important to understand that Ukraine cannot afford to incur losses comparable to those suffered by Russia - 16 thousand men and over 300 vehicles, as highlighted by the deceased Russian milblogger Morozov, only to liberate a settlement like Avdiivka. In this asymmetrical situation, where the enemy has more men, vehicles, ammo, and better-fortified positions, a head-to-head and entirely symmetrical approach is unlikely to succeed.
UKR should continue hitting oil and industrial production in Russia and also put the Kerch bridge in the water. Hopefully they can figure out a way to get that done. Attriting Russia militarily and economically will eventually lead to opportunities to take territory back without as much human sacrifice, I hope. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:21:59 PM EDT
[Last Edit: AlmightyTallest]
[#48]
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:23:44 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Capta: Most probably abandoned their guns after the first or second hit. maybe, in the most recent view from the other ship, it looked like the russian ship was moving, Which led me to believe it recorder the first explosion, but I reckon it the POV ship that was moving instead. |
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Posted: 3/7/2024 2:25:39 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Swampgrass]
[#50]
Wrong page.
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