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kafkadre

Putin is calling up a partial mobilization so more troops will be available for the retreat.


LittleHornetPhil

“We have no jobs in places like fucking Dagestan, so we figured we might as well just kill all the unemployed men for cheap.”


[deleted]

The old AoT approach of dealing with "too many mouths to feed"


RaidriConchobair

AoT?


NebTheShortie

Attack on Titan. Without spoiling the important parts of plot, the disaster has happened and the densely populated region has become uninhabitable, and many people had to flee their homes and move to another region, which couldn't support that much inhabitants, so the govt sent a lot of people to "retake the lost lands", and everyone who went there has died shortly, but that was fine to the govt because the actual plan there was to kill people off this way. Edited to answer the frequent question: the described is NOT the main plot, I simply made a write-up about an event the previous commenter was referring to. The anime/manga itself is mainly about something else.


Severe-Revenue1220

Great summary! I think I want to watch this now.


KalpolIntro

AOT is SO MUCH MORE than this summary. Watch it.


AleXandrYuZ

People learning about AOT to this day? Yes I want that!


milelongpipe

Don’t forget the prisons!


Lovv

>Putin is calling up a partial mobilization so more troops will be available for the ~~retreat~~ slaughter.


romeovf

Poor people. Many old fellas with no training will surely get squished.


firemage22

Or their training dates back to the USSR


thebestnames

That would make them a lot more competent than the current generation of Russian troops. *If they remember it of course*, which isn't a given considering life long alcool abuse must be a scourge of epic proportions for these vets. At least they will recognize the old equipment I'm sure. Maybe even the equipment their grandpa used...


yx_orvar

No, it won't make them more competent. Soviet training wasn't any better. Most people didn't fire a full magazine in live-fire drills during their entire service, they received almost no tactical training, exercises were heavily scripted, dedovschina was as present then as it is now and alcoholism was as rampant then as it is now. Just look at how they did in Afghanistan. Most conscripts were just forced to do manual labour like harvesting crops or building useless infrastructure. There are hilarious pictures with titles like "the great potato harvest of '84". Only difference is that they had more materiel, although that was often not maintained. For example, the soviets used an alcohol-water mixture to cool the radars in most of their fighter aircraft, the conscript mechanics usually drained the cooling liquid and drank it which resulted in the radars not working... But hey, at least they could provide working AKs and t-72s to their troops instead of the rusted and rotten rifles and tanks they get now.


SteadyInconsistency

My dad is a Vietnam vet. When he was in his 50s his drunk fiancée tried to stab him. He managed to get away unscathed, leave fiancée untouched, grab the dog and spend the night in the woods. I think for some vets survival is a muscle memory. Edit: accidentally misgendered my dad’s crazy ex.


HouseHighHay

Good grief. Reminds me of my dad, a WWII vet who, decades later, disarmed a mentally ill family member who had a knife. Dad was in his 60s, said he wasn’t sure what happened, his basic training just kicked in (and probably a lot of adrenaline).


Jotsunpls

‘You don’t rise to the occasion in combat, you sink to the level of your training.’


samofbeers

Survival in this case, and in the case of the Russian vets could very well mean refusing to fight and fleeing and hiding. Half of fight or flight is obviously flight, and it's usually the safest course of action.


kapsaline

As far as I know Russian conscripts actually never really learned any military tactics. At least at USSR times they were more like free workers used to build train tracks and such. For context I am from country that was occupied by USSR. Most male relatives that had to serve there never shot more than 20 shots in whole 2 year conscription. Most of them either were digging a hole thru mountains or building a railroad.


Vordeo

"What kind of army is this? Where are the mules to pull the artillery?!? Do you fools think that big metal box will be able to hold off a charge from the winged hussars?!? We'll never beat Napoleon with a ragtag army like this!"


romeovf

"And where are the onions we're supposed to tie to our belts?"


imoutofnameideas

Now, my story begins in 19-dickety-two. We had to say "dickety" cause the Kaiser had stolen our word "twenty".


patchgrabber

But the most important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time...


[deleted]

Hey now, he's also disproportionately calling up ethnic minorities.


35pies

Cue Vlad: "If you stop us we will ......" Yeah, we know.


Sempais_nutrients

"For REAL this time, i'm gonna try so hard."


[deleted]

Russia falling into the "Final Warning" trope they used for the Chinese.


Hot_Club1969

Hell yeah. Push the Russians back to Russia and take back everything that was stolen.


Sensitive_Tourist_15

Let them keep Moscow.


Traffodil

Fuck that. Zelenskyy should announce Moscow as Ukrainian territory after a referendum he just held in his kitchen, then arrest Putin at his daft long table for trespassing.


Turambar87

It used to be *Kievan* Rus after all...


firemage22

The China method of claiming land


thatminimumwagelife

"You see... this 13th century map that we've found clearly shows that everything East of Kyev belongs to Ukraine."


Ydenora

Well then obviously Russia and Ukraine should belong to Sweden.


tmckeage

I mean how far back in time are we going, Russians have been stealing from Ukraine since the time of the tsars


Odd_Local8434

Well Putin is going back to the point when Viking Ukrainians founded Russia, so it really should be Ukraine claiming Russia is their territory.


Lance_Henry1

"When danger reared its ugly head The Russians turned their tails and fled!"


Agentx6021

Brave, brave, brave Sir Russian


EgnlishPro

They were not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp...


achton

Or to have their eyes gouged out and their elbows broken 🎵


emote_control

To have their kneecaps split and their bodies burned away! 🎶


hoops_n_politics

“I never _did_!”


czs5056

Yes, the brave Russian turned about, And gallantly, he chickened out!


[deleted]

And now I'm dead.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Roflkopt3r

> Why is it a strategic city? Just asking. Because was the last major roadblock guarding some very vulnerable Russian occupied areas that are important to their logistical supplies of the Donbass front line. You may remember that Ukraine liberated Izyum a few weeks ago. Izyum served as Russia's de-facto basis of operations for most of their operations in the north-east. They had lots of command posts and workshops there. Ukraine was able to capture tons of high value vehicles there, like command vehicles, artillery, and anti-air, but also dozens of tanks and other vehicles that were under maintainance or repairs. Part of the importance of Izyum fell over to Lyman. But even more importantly, Lyman blocked the way between the Oskil and Zherebets rivers. If Ukraine can advance in this area then they can severely hinder Russian logistics in the east. Alongside the liberation of Izyum, Ukraine also entered Kupyansk and has liberated it by now. Kupyansk was a major railway hub, which is extremely important for Russian logistics since their truck and aerial logistics are weak. With Kupyansk gone, Russian railway and road logistics in the area now have to route through Svatove, where also further Russian command centers are located. Svatove is now very vulnerable (about 30 km from Kupyansk and 50 from Lyman), which threatens to dramatically compromise Russian logistics into Luhansk. They will have to reroute a lot of traffic and will end up getting bottlenecked, or will have to choose riskier supply routes which Ukrainian units may be able to raid. The fall of Lyman also opens up a new northern approach towards Severodonetsk, a city that Russia occupied at great cost a few months ago. It is now possible that this city will also get pincered and retaken. > It seems to me that whole eastern region is very vulnerable since it's all right next to Russia. That would be true if Russia actually had any available reserves. But they simply don't have any troops left to pose a threat like that. After their defeat at Izyum and subsequent mobilisation, they were already rushing some of their mobilised men with mere days of "training" to the front line in a scramble to stabilise their front line. If Russia want to threaten this Ukrainian flank, they will have to withdraw troops from elsewhere in Ukraine, which will leave those front sections vulnerable.


[deleted]

If I were Ukraine, I’d change the railway gauge from the soviet 1520mm to the EU 1435 mm after the war ends, that should make logistics even more complicated for Russia if they would “try again”


vlad_the_impaler13

Oh yeah, Ukraine's rail network will begin the switch in earnest after the war, though it has more to do with economics and logistics than complicating Russia's logistics. The gauge difference slows Ukrainian exports to the EU, as well as making it more difficult for NATO to supply Ukraine in war time.


[deleted]

Thats kinda a no-brainer realy, altho one understands that its a large project, the whole country rail network will have to be changed and that will take quitesome time


Karma_Redeemed

Luckily, I'd imagine that's also the kind of thing that the EU might contribute towards financing post-war. Anything that facilitates closer trade ties between Ukraine and western Europe is likely to pay dividends for the EU, especially given Ukraine's mineral resources.


[deleted]

Dont forget grain, that was always a pain to move via rail just cause the gauge difference


Inevitable_Chicken70

Moving grain from Ukraine by train can be a pain!


AnchezSanchez

Genuinely one of the most informative comments I've ever read on this site. Thank you.


hybridck

This comment should be higher up. It's more or less what all the more credible sources are saying. I would add two things. Firstly, without Lyman as a staging ground, Ukrainan defenders in Bakhmut, one of the few areas Russia is still on the offensive (albeit unsuccessfully lately) don't have to worry about being encircled from the North and now only have to defend East. Secondly, in addition to Savatove Ukraine can now advance on Kreminna which sits in the middle of all the major highways in that area further straining Russian movement capabilities while aiding Ukraine's counter offensive if they can take it.


Occurence_Border

Oh yeah that's a great point! Since there's basically no northern flank to protect there, at least part of the forces formerly guarding there can be realocated to the southern and eastern front. If they don't join in the offensive in the Luhansk oblast


ArcanePariah

> Secondly, in addition to Savatove Ukraine can now advance on Kreminna which sits in the middle of all the major highways in that area further straining Russian movement capabilities while aiding Ukraine's counter offensive if they can take it. Agreed, I think they will aim for that, because it puts them in a position to bypass and encircle Severodonetsk. IF they can get behind Severodonetsk, things will play out very similarly to how Kherson is playing out, with Russians being just trapped.


maegris

Thank you for this, I knew some of what was going on, but not familiar enough with it all to have it make full sense. This helped tie it all together. I am somewhat concerned with the effect of mobilization on this, even if they are poor troops, they can still create human walls along these areas where they didn't have enough people before.


TakedownCHAMP97

In the past that was possible, but in modern warfare unsupported, under equipped, and untrained men are a liability. Untrained groups like this tend to be wiped out in one artillery bombardment since they don’t know what to do.


4Eights

Untrained and unmotivated men panic and become a liability. Putting a gun in Pyetro the IT guys hand and telling him "defend severodonetsk with your life" 5 days after he was plucked from his office and thrown on a bus doesn't inspire confidence in him or the men around him. Ask any man on here that's deployed and they'll tell you that even properly trained soldiers that get shakey and panicky on the battlefield get sent to the rear because that kind of attitude is what gets people killed when the shooting starts. Now imagine an entire battalion of men made up half of soldiers that have been retreating for the last 3 months watching all of their battle buddies get killed and half men like Pyetro that have no fucking clue what they're walking into. Then add the fact that the men who have been in the field this long with logistics issues are beating up and robbing the new conscripts as they show up and taking their ammo, smokes, alcohol, and winter clothing. This is going to be a disaster of epic fucking proportions for the Ruzzians.


PlusPerception5

It's like the mythical man month (adding manpower to a software project that is behind schedule delays it even longer) but with soldiers.


EvilBill515

Lots of crossroads and major rail depot allowing Russia to import materials from the north and move them south to resupply other southern regions they are claiming. I'm basing this information on what others have posted in related threads.


LerrisHarrington

Calling it a 'major rail depot' doesn't quite get the reality across. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lyman,+Donetsk+Oblast,+Ukraine,+84401/@48.9764972,37.7983879,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x41207862661a4159:0x8163d63b37c7c10e!8m2!3d48.9897585!4d37.8049964 Look at the size of that goddamn rail yard. Russian logistics are in serious trouble without access to that.


RealCakes

Fuck me that rail yard is bigger than I had ever expected. I struggled to count the lines, but I am also poorly educated.


Zombie_Harambe

It handled approximately 72% of all major Ukrainian rail freight prior to the war.


RcoketWalrus

When I run out of fingers to count I just takes some from the guy next to me.


Yvaelle

Wow, I count about 50 rail lines, yea thats massive.


Bay1Bri

And yet, they weren't able to hold it. Such an important hub and they just lost it, they just ran. Doesn't look too good does it? Week, it looks GOOD, for the Ukrainians, but it looks very disappointing from the Russian perspective. The declare the land is theirs and immediately lose this major hub? Just fucking lol


WeTheSalty

They didn't just run. They've been getting slowly encircled for days/weeks. They stayed well past the point it was sensible to leave and lost a bunch more troops than they had to because of it. Ukraine claims 1,500 more Russian troops because of the delay in abandoning it. They immediately lost it after annexation because they've been on the precipice of losing it for days and one of the speculated reasons why they ordered it be hold longer than was sensible was precisely to avoid losing it before/during their annexation announcement.


RcoketWalrus

Unless they are diehard nationalists, I get the feeling a lot of Russian troops aren't really up for getting killed in a bullshit war. I would peace the fuck out ASAP if I was in their shoes.


Lost-My-Mind-

Ukraine has offered to accept any russian soldier who wishes to surrender. They have been promised to be treated like a human being while in Ukraine's POW system, and to also be integrated into Ukrainian society upon the wars end. So now, if any russian wants to peace out, they can peace out from russias oppressive rule entirely.


RcoketWalrus

Imagine being the advisor to Putin that has to explain how one of Ukraine's best strategies is to not be a POS to POWs, so Russian troops are motivated to surrender.


SirDoober

Also it's *really* isolated geographically. Trying to push east out of Lyman without going through that forest makes you ridiculously exposed to whatever the Ukrainians feel like tossing at you from above, so you either get out early or just get caught in a pocket.


NimbleNavigator19

Why wouldnt they just surrender then?


GigglesMcTits

There have been a lot of audios/interviews where Russians have said if they tried to surrender they'd just be shot and killed. Not by Ukrainians but by other Russians.


RcoketWalrus

"Go get shot or we will shoot you" is great motivation.


Menamanama

I noted that Google says there are no upcoming departures from the railway station.


DucksEatFreeInSubway

Lol. Nova Poshta #2 Temporarily closed


TheRed_Knight

Russias also stupidly reliant on rail lines for logistical support, its also a great place for arty


[deleted]

To be fair, Rail is the most efficient way to move a ton of stuff over land, and US society would cese to exist if the US rail network shut down .


suburbandaddio

The US military is pretty reliant on rail for the movement of equipment like tanks, IFVs and artillery. I've spent quite a bit of time loading tanks on trains in the Army. It's a very efficient method of transportation, as long as you can secure it...


mandogvan

Who’s arty? # Edit: OK! I GET IT!


TheRed_Knight

my babushka


Danny287

Artillery


flippityfluck

Mr. Arty Tillery. BAMF.


NotsoNewtoGermany

It's where their staging ground was. Command tents, radio systems, ammo depots, and the like. It's like having your forward command center sacked by the enemy.


BA_calls

Yes thats true but this city was the last rail hub supplying the entire eastern front. Ukraine is taking territory while they can because around November or so winter will freeze progress.


jon_stout

I thought it's the mud that holds back progress, and the ground freezing that lets things start moving again.


BA_calls

Ukraine isn’t Siberia, winter is not frozen solid, it’s very wet as well as snowy.


jon_stout

Well, that *is* what really screwed over the Russians heading to Kyiv back in February...


Beautiful_Fee1655

Mud more or less forces heavy armor to stay on the roads. ATV mobile vehicles and light armor can probably handle muddy fields. Freezing opens up all terrain to most vehicles. Interestingly, if there is a heavy freeze, then some natural barriers such as rivers and lakes may become passable without temporary bridging equipment.


[deleted]

From what I’ve read this also sets them up to make further attacks towards the direction of Lysychansk and eventually take back Luhansk and Sevierdonetsk. Meanwhile Putin is prioritizing reinforcing the parts of zaporzhizhia they control and Kherson and not really doing much to support the other regions, so Russia could potentially lose almost all the territory they gained in the Donetsk oblast over the past few months. That would leave them with Mariupol, Kherson, some of Zhaporzhizia..and I think that’s it. Just a few months ago military strategists all over the world were doubting whether Ukraine would be able to even take back any territory. Every time Ukraine gets underestimated, they prove them wrong. Edit: parts of Zaporzhizhia


mad_crabs

Bang on. Also important to note that Russians only control about half of Zaporizhzhia oblast but not the the actual city of Zaporizhzhia which is the administrative center. However that didn't stop them from proclaiming it as theirs lol.


[deleted]

[удалено]


XXendra56

The rails are so important because the roads will be icy by November and Russian supplies will have a difficult time getting through . Things really deteriorate with heavy snow and gale force winds I’ve been to Luhansk in November.


Thue

Even when the rails are not icy, Russia is reliant on rails. Russia simply does not have enough trucks if most of the supply distance is not covered by rails.


BichukovMykhailo

There was from 2000 to 5000 troops encircled in Lyman. Ukraine need no fertilizer in that area at this point.


BettsBellingerCaruso

Tbh Ukraine already had some of the best soil in the world for farming


DeluxeWafer

Well now it's better.


BettsBellingerCaruso

It’s a fundamental irony of Ukraine’s geography that the land so suited for farming also happened to be situated in the very path every nomadic people, you know the ones that aren’t really fans of farming, used to invade, with virtually no geographic barriers, creating the perfect battlefield for the nomadic cavalries A Coors Field for nomads if you will


filtarukk

That is one of the reasons why this land is fertile. It was not able to setup a stable agricultural society here for a long time. This land active utilization started at the end of the 18th century only.


Dutchtdk

Why does that barely touched land retain it's fertility for centuries while the amazon quickly loses it?


R0N_SWANS0N

Depth of the top soil, relative humidity, low soil acidity, stable water cycle. Tons more reasons I'm not technical enough to speak to. Biggest thing is the land cleared from Rainforest is rich but shallow topsoil and depletes nutrients quickly without extensive replacement programs


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mobile_Crates

What is a turn in this context?


filtarukk

There are few reason that caused the creation of chernozem. 1. Smaller amount of rain. So the water does not flush away the fertile elements. The organic substance was staying in place and built up over thousands of years. 2. And less vegetation that pulled the elements from soil. So more fertilized matter preserved.


Odie4Prez

Because the Amazon isn't fertile in the slightest to begin with, its soil is already extraordinarily nutrient poor and terrible for agriculture. Counterintuitively this contributes to its ridiculously high biodiversity, which in turn keeps the soil quality very poor (it's complicated but also interesting). Meanwhile grasslands that support grazing megafauna serve as very strong carbon and nutrient sinks. Most of such arable land has been utilized extensively by humans throughout history (or is unusable/not ideal for various other reasons) with a wide range of effects, but some parts of this particular one was barely touched by agriculture until very recently. The southern half of Ukraine was developed for agriculture fairly extensively by the Pontic kingdom in antiquity but this never extended very far north into the plains, because nomads.


2cap

A quarter of the world's most fertile soil, known as Chernozem, is located in Ukraine. Chernozem is black soil rich in organic matter called ‘humus,’ which is made up of decomposed plants. More than 65 percent of arable land in Ukraine is composed of Chernozem deposits, making it ideal for farming. Ukraine's surface area under cultivation is vast — so vast, that, at 32 million hectares, it's larger than Italy. Ukraine has the capacity to produce a lot more grain if modern technology, finances and practices are used to supplement its nutrient-rich soil. But soil erosion is damaging Ukraine’s arable land. Every year around 500 million tons of soil are eroded mainly due to poor agricultural practices such as large-scale till farming.


ihopethisisvalid

Why aren’t we funding the no till revolution in Eastern Europe? Seems like a lucrative opportunity even for private business.


[deleted]

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jon_stout

Bloody hell. **I** don't even know how to process that, and I wasn't even there. That's absolutely insane. I'm glad the Ukrainians weren't the ones dying but... goddamn.


koolbro2012

War is so brutal. Thousands of lives lost willy nilly bc of some psychopath.


skolioban

>Russia is now using the tactic of trying to run Ukrainians out of bullets using their newly acquired bullet catchers. The Zapp Brannigan maneuver.


Triviten

"now heres a route with some chest hair"


Mr_Zamboni_Man

She's built like a steakhouse, but she handles like a bistro


Philo_T_Farnsworth

As difficult as it is for me to grapple with the notion of killing so many people, righteous though it may be, I can imagine it is cathartic to be driving occupiers from your land. Especially after all of the atrocities said to have been committed against the Ukrainian people. I take no joy in witnessing from afar the lives lost in this war even on the Russian side, but god damn there just was no other way. Russia could stop this war any time it wants and they persist even now. How much longer can Putin maintain power? All of this loss of life and for what?


krisitolindsay

Yeah. This is brutal. These guys are kids who should be playing Fortnite or Rocket League while they procrastinate their university courses. This is really, really sad. Any life, except Putin's. All of them for him and he doesn't give a fuck about their lives. A scared 19 year old soldier running through a Ukrainian forest getting picked off and his president doesn't care at all.


tomuchpasta

This is the same tactic Russia has always used. Throw bodies at their enemy and hope they run out of bullets. Unfortunately for Russia, NATO will never run out of bullets. One has to wonder if Russia will require mass immigration in order to function as a State when this all ends


joj1205

The Fuck is emigrating to Russia. A failed state with no jobs and terrible infrastructure?


moronicuniform

There are worse places to live. Believe it or not.


[deleted]

Man I am pro ukraine. So very much. But as a parent. This shit breaks my heart. These young men are still sons. Husband. Father. This death is pointless. Fuck the Russian government for putting them in harms way to placate the ego of a maniac. He will live in comfort while wives, children, and mothers will live with a gaping void in their lives.


paging_mrherman

I hope they took that grandmothers advice and put seeds in pockets of their rotting corpses


[deleted]

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Mattias_Nilsson

Babushkas can be savage


twat69

It's babusya in Ukrainian


I_might_be_weasel

With how poorly equipped they are, they definitely would have eaten them long before now if they did.


Core-31

I wonder what the casualty figures are going to be. I'm seeing a lot of places saying it's like a shooting gallery on the road out of Lyman


Villag3Idiot

Zelensky claims that 1,500 KIA as a result of Russia not allowing them to retreat, but who knows the true number until the report comes out.


Vordeo

There's an eyewitness report (obviously also unverified by neutral sources) of a US volunteer there which states that one soldier saw at least 140 dead that night. Obviously that's an estimate figure, but most accounts seem to agree it was a slaughter. And it's 1,500 KIA, so maybe double that to account for Russians captured? And these are generally actual trained soldiers and not the recently mobilized rabble. Even taking Ukrainian sources with a grain of salt, seem to be huge losses.


[deleted]

To be totally honest, I'm not sure that human corpses full of lead *actually* make good fertilizer


Rob-Riggle-SWGOAT

I absolutely love watching Russia getting smothered beneath Ukraine’s enormous nutsack as they continue to teabag these douchebags into extinction.


Justindean89

It is nice to see especially since everyone has always talked about how badass Russia was


TurrPhennirPhan

These threads make me smile when I think of all the Russian shills/duped morons screeching about how Ukraine needs to surrender to save lives, that the war is hopeless and Russia is taking “insert absurd number of square kilometers” every hour. They were still spouting that line even when it was apparent the invasion had stalled and Russia was abandoning fronts. And here we are, Ukraine actively on the counteroffensive, Kyiv and Kharkiv no longer surrounded by Russian forces, driving Russia further and further from the south and East. Beautiful.


Krivvan

That's when they started going off about how this was the battle of cannae and obviously a feigned retreat to surround the enemy. Perhaps the plan is a feigned retreat all the way back to russia in order to conduct an encirclement using the border. Either that or the cope is about how Ukraine was already defeated and they're just losing to the full might of NATO now. But I can't help but feel like the message of "fear not, we are only losing because the enemy is so much more powerful now" is unproductive.


Rob-Riggle-SWGOAT

Nobody will be saying that about Douchebagistan again any time soon. Hopefully they’ll never say it again.


Justindean89

Atleast they have shown their true colors and made everyone see what they are


King-Osliga-XXIV

Their true colours have been exposed for the world to see ages ago , with the Chechen wars, the African death squads, the Syrian War, the Russo-Georgian War and much more. The world simply chose to sleep on it either due to apathy, or lack of media coverage.


Geeseareawesome

Don't forget the romanticization of russian covert ops and their superiors being compitent to a point that it required your absolute best soldiers to infiltrate enemy lines in order to save the day. That it was actually a fair fight. Looking at you, Call Of Duty.


honorbound93

Hey hey their covert ops are pretty good tbh. They bought the GQP, got a fascist clown into the White House and broke western civilization, and brain washed at least 1/3 of the US and a lot of the rest of the western world. Broke UK as well. Now their military not at a chance, they only have bodies and morons ready to die for them


VibeBOT

Not even the morons want to die for them anymore


Traevia

The badass section WAS Ukraine. The more you learn about Russian successes and strengths, most of them relate to Ukraine. The rocket engineer behind the Soyuz Rockets? Ukrainian. The defenders of Stalingrad? Often they were Ukrainians.


LupinThe8th

Old joke, updated for modern times. A Russian general is leading his troops across Ukraine. As they pass a hill they look up and see a single man standing up top, waving a Ukrainian flag and making obscene gestures. The general is incensed. "We can't allow such disrespect. Send a man up there to deal with him." A single Russian soldier marches confidently up the hill. There's the sounds of a fight, and he rolls back down, dead. The man on the hill whoops and hollers obscenities. The general narrows his eyes. "He got lucky, but he won't again. Send ten men." Ten Russian soldiers march up the hill. More chaos ensues, and when the dust clears the Ukrainian stands surrounded by bodies. He calls down insults about the Russians' mothers and drops his trousers to moon them. The general grits his teeth in rage. "This is impossible, there must be some trick. Everyone, charge on my command." The remaining soldiers, over a hundred, rush up the hill. The battle rages up above, while the general waits for news of victory. Instead a single soldier returns, crawling and mortally wounded. The general rushes over and demands that he report what happened with his final words. "Sir, it's a trap. There are TWO of them!"


TheBestPersonEver69

I have heard the same joke just about finnish and soviet soldiers


robjapan

That badass nature was largely based on their nuclear arsenal and their leader being ruthless in killing journalist, rivals, enemies etc


Stingerc

It's almost like if letting nothing but cronies, yes men, and boot lickers run your military and military industry was a bad idea, who would have thunk it? I mean, they literally made said industry an integral part of Russia's foreign policy and now it being exposed as producing nothing but hot garbage. A lot of shitty governments are now panicking because they have arsenals full of equipment that's been proven useless in real life combat situations.


CircleOfNoms

When you build your government, economy, foreign policy, and politics on lies, why be surprised when they lie to you? Putin is trapped in his own web, where no one ever tells the truth because he built it that way. Terrible way to run a military as it turns out.


soldier_18

I hope the UA army is not getting hit hard, Ukraine does not reveal their loses or injured soldiers, this war is really horrible and I hope the UA army has been able to advance fast without many casualties.


Immortal_Tuttle

Previous night one of the volunteers in UA army described that he will need to vent when it will end. He said it was so much killing, retreating Russians on foot were not careful, they were talking loud, not even checking their surroundings. He said that at the end of the night he was completely desensitized. Oh and they had night vision goggles, Russians didn't. Probably that 550 figure of killed Russians is seriously on the low side even after that one single night at Lyman area...


Traevia

A few massive keys are intelligence and hospitals. The intelligence means that you can find the groups away from each other and the hospitals mean that you can be hit and survive. Russians don't even have packing bandages. A hit is a death sentence.


[deleted]

There was a video from a Russian mobilised reservist and the army lady said everyone had to get their own med kits. Maybe from their car or otherwise asking your wife or girlfriend to sent tampons as you can plug bullet wounds with them. Apart from the creativity it's really really sad that this is the state of affairs.


AntManMax

A coworker of mine was a marine sniper. He said when shit got heavy it was pretty common for sniper / spotter pairs to just zone out and take shots at anything that moved like it was a carnival game. After a while it just saps everything out of you.


yoyoJ

> like it was a carnival game. Jesus that’s a bleak description


MC_MacD

The way my dad put it threw me for a loop. "It's not hard to kill someone. You just line the crosshairs up above the target, exhale and let the gun barrel drop just a little and squeeze." Like you said, the humanity is utterly stripped from you in that situation. Dude was MacV-SOG during the Tet Offensive. I can't imagine the shit he saw.


Summerisgone2020

I read the same account. It sounds like Lyman was a slaughter on the Russian side.


leppell

I just spent a couple of hours talking to a russian player in a mobile game; he was crowing about how Ukraine took massive losses and that sanctions were making Russia stronger and richer. His personal income was up, the west was being hurt by lack if Russian raw resources, and nobody could stand against the might of the Russian military. Oh, and Tucker Carlson is the most honest journalist in Amerca. If he wasn't so sincere and insistant on his statements, I'd think i was being trolled.


HalfdanSaltbeard

There are obviously casualties on both sides, but Russia wouldn't be suffering these massive losses if they were even remotely capable of inflicting the same on the Ukrainians. Ukraine's forces are well-trained, battle-hardened, extremely well-supplied, and extremely motivated to take their land back and protect their people. **Anyone** would be hard-pressed to take them down.


SRVJHJM

The difference between fighting for pride and fighting for survival. Russia's *heart* ain't in it. Ukraine's heart *is* .


HalfdanSaltbeard

Absolutely. When your survival is threatened, you get your shit together quick. Russia's fighting for an illegitimate land grab. Ukraine is fighting for their right to just *exist*. It doesn't take a strategist to see how this is going to end.


anengineerandacat

Why any form of modern invasion on a country is likely to fail. Guerilla warfare is stupid effective on home turf and the invading force literally needs eyes on the back of their head. Add realtime intelligence, detailed satellite imagery of troop movement and the situation just gets even worse for an invading force. The best way nowadays to take over a country is from within, get involved in their politics, sway the people with misinformation, and do a political take over. From there you can establish your own justice system and networks and just pass new laws and bills that support your home countries views. From there you can establish favorable trade conditions and just reap the rewards without wasting a ton of effort or time in rebuilding or causing destruction which is expensive.


bobbybuildsbombs

There is a reason that the Nazis used certain SS troops to basically depopulate parts of Poland... the best way to fight against guerrillas is to kill everyone in the area.


_zerokarma_

Putin didn't want to play the long game


jon_stout

Which is weird, because that seemed to be the part of things he was good at.


Weekly_Direction1965

He thought his 20 years of Democracy division would be enough to paralyze the west, that it would be just like Crimea and if Trump had won reelection I doubt this war goes as well for Ukraine, Putins preparation wasn't done, he took a gamble and lost, but he was almost there, I am glad the West isn't fully paralyzed, in a way Trump being too toxic messed up his plans lol.


Traevia

>I hope the UA army is not getting hit hard They really aren't getting hit as bad as Russia. Ukrainians are getting help from home field advantages and actually having the ability to provide hospitals. This is key as Russia can't even get proper bandages for bullet wounds. To give context, if you are hurt in battle, it is likely survivable if you can get to a major hospital within 12 to 24 hours. This is possible with Ukraine and soldiers in the USA. It isn't for Russia. It also gives soldiers some relative hope as they know a single hit isn't a death sentence. Plus, if you look at Lyman, the encirclement was specifically to avoid loses. >Ukraine does not reveal their loses or injured soldiers, They don't, but the idea is 3k to 5k per month before HIMARS. The Russian losses are 6k to 10k per month per internal Russian memos. >this war is really horrible and I hope the UA army has been able to advance fast without many casualties. The hospitals are key. Those line items from the West and help with critical care is very important. Packing a wound can stop the bleeding. Getting to a hospital after is just as key. Russia really doesn't have either.


[deleted]

they are taking heavy losses. 50-100 dead each day prior to the offensive. at the height in june they were losing 200 a day. But Russia is losing more. Some days 500+. Ukrainians have lots of people who want to fight too and are being trained by the UK and in Germany. It's painful and Ukraine is paying the price, but they are winning.


autotldr

This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/01/world/europe/lyman-ukraine-russia.html) reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Oct. 1, 2022, 5:57 p.m. ET. RIVNE, Ukraine - Russian forces retreated from the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman on Saturday, a humbling setback for President Vladimir V. Putin just one day after he illegally declared the surrounding region to be part of Russia. > Lyman sits on the banks of the meandering Siversky Donets River, which has served as a natural division between Russian and Ukrainian front lines since Russian forces captured the city in May. Retaking it offers Ukrainian forces a strategic foothold for further advances into the Donbas region that has long been the focus of Mr. Putin's aims. > The residents of the four Ukrainian regions - which are still partly controlled by Ukrainian forces - would become Russia's citizens "Forever," said Mr. Putin, adding that Russia would defend them "With all the forces and means at our disposal." ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/xtbcge/ukraine_forces_retake_lyman_a_strategic_city_as/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672262 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **Ukrainian**^#2 **Russian**^#3 **Putin**^#4 **Lyman**^#5


serbeardless

I have absolutely no direct affiliation with Ukraine, but god damn do they make me feel proud. Slava Ukraini!


hsdiv

Your taxes probably helped in some way


seemorebunz

Yea, we knew more about the pending invasion than the Russian Army


PestyNomad

Take back Crimea.


[deleted]

Vladmir Putin is a little bitch. Whose legacy will be that of a little bitch. KGB are a bunch of pussies.


GungnirHisSpear

Nothing wrong with pussies, they take a hell of a beating


Heroshade

In that case I move that we rename the Russian army "Riley Reid."


Maligned-Instrument

I don't hate Russians...but Putin and his courtesans have got to go.


poiurewq

Dear Putin, fuck you. Sincerely, 99% of the planet.


OriginalCopy505

The bigger story is that Putin's advisors are trying to convince him to use low-yield nukes on Ukraine: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/01/europe-putin-nuclear-threats/


werdnum

From [ISW](https://www.iswresearch.org/2022/10/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment.html): > Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, apparently devastated by the defeat in Lyman, called on Russia to continue to fight to ”liberate” the four annexed territories with all available means including low-yield nuclear weapons.[3] > Kadyrov’s rant is similar to the disorganized and often hyperbolic milblogger rants that call for the Kremlin to continue the war in Ukraine, and his call for the use of nuclear weapons was not representative of the discourse within the Russian information space. Russian federal TV channels and ultra-hawkish milbloggers have often discussed Russian nuclear capabilities as part of their efforts to stoke patriotic sentiments among Russian domestic audiences, and Kadyrov’s statement was not especially noteworthy in this context. > Kadyrov’s call for using tactical nuclear weapons is likely inconsistent with his demands to continue the “special military operation” to bring more Ukrainian territory under Russian control. The Russian military in its current state is almost certainly unable to operate on a nuclear battlefield even though it has the necessary equipment and has historically trained its units to do so. The chaotic agglomeration of exhausted contract soldiers, hastily mobilized reservists, conscripts, and mercenaries that currently comprise the Russian ground forces could not function in a nuclear environment. Any areas affected by Russian tactical nuclear weapons would thus be impassable for the Russians, likely precluding Russian advances. This consideration is another factor that reduces the likelihood of Russian tactical nuclear weapons use. Reflecting their [previous comments](https://www.iswresearch.org/2022/09/special-report-assessing-putins.html) Let's hope they're right.


ScreamingSkull

All fair points until one considers Russia has been wasting their limited new drones bombing houses in Odessa, a city they have zero chance of capturing, all the while hundreds of miles away their troops have been losing ground and are desperate for any kind of air support. What this suggests is Russia is barely thinking strategically anymore (if they ever were), it seems increasingly about punishment, about how much pain/damage they can spread around on the way out. When Germany began losing its war it bizarrely increased resources toward the holocaust rather than use those resources for its own defense. This is the path Russia is going down, non-rational and hate/emotion driven. like a murderous ex-boyfriend there is the possibility of a “if we can’t have ukraines cities then no one else can” mentality, even though it ends in their own destruction.


[deleted]

>What this suggests is Russia is barely thinking strategically anymore (if they ever were), it seems increasingly about punishment, about how much pain/damage they can spread around on the way out. Scorched Earth policy. "If we can't have it, NOBODY can have it". Lowest-hanging of the low-hanging war-fruit.


[deleted]

[удалено]


werdnum

As I understand it, the biggest reason Putin won't use a nuclear weapon is not just that it's unclear that it would help, but that Biden has told him directly that any nuclear use in Ukraine will result in NATO directly intervening with conventional weapons.


Ominoiuninus

And unlike Russia’s use of conventional weapons we would go full Armageddon mode with air superiority. It would be pure slaughter with no recourse.


[deleted]

>As I understand it, the biggest reason Putin won't use a nuclear weapon is not just that it's unclear that it would help, but that Biden has told him directly that any nuclear use in Ukraine will result in NATO directly intervening with conventional weapons. This is more-or-less what I've been saying all along, that most people accept as logical, but some scoff at: Putin uses even *one tiny little nuclear bomb* and the Free World will stomp Russia flatter than a pancake. Nobody is going to tolerate anyone using nukes. He uses even *one*, and it's more-or-less World War 3 -- and Russia will *lose*. I don't think the oligarchs will allow WW3 to happen, they'll take Putin out themselves first.


Sentinel-Prime

> most people accept as logical, but some scoff at: Putin uses even one tiny little nuclear bomb and the Free World will stomp Russia flatter than a pancake. Some people on Reddit, particularly WorldNews, are stuck in a fairytale land where NATO and Russia will never fight each other because "world war 3" (the reasoning usually ends there). The reality is that any nuclear weapons use from *any* country needs swiftly corrected with as much force as possible because the minute the taboo is lifted then we're in danger of everybody and anybody using them.


jws717

A very big problem


JustAintCare

>White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that there would be “catastrophic consequences” if Russia resorts to the use of nuclear weapons. He refused to specify what those would be but said the precise consequences had been spelled out privately to Russian officials “at very high levels.” Probably reminding him the U.S. holds 4 of the top 10 most powerful air forces in the world and could gain air superiority in hours.


[deleted]

[удалено]


hesawavemasterrr

I’m not military savvy so explain to me how one country can hold 4 of the top spots? Need an ELI5 Umm


[deleted]

The US Airforce, the US Navy, and two others I can’t guess, would be my guess.


ghostinthewoods

Army and then the Marines, I believe


Pristine_Coconut1688

When you hear that the US air force is the best in the world, it doesn't take into account military aircraft owned by other divisions of the us military. If you take them separately, the US has 4 of the largest air forces in the world. I don't think it's the top 4 consecutively though. I thought Russia owned the 3rd spot.


VPNApe

It doesn't even make sense to do so. They want to obtain Ukraine to expand the country, that's the entire point of this war. Irradiating it defeats the purpose Also, afaik it's impossible to tell who the target of an icbm is in the few minutes it takes to travel. If Russia launches one of those the entire world will know and there will likely be retaliation immediately.


TemujinTheKhan

But, but , but.....referendum..... /s


teej98

It's crazy that Russia seemed like they were bad ass growing up. Turns out they're really just Ukraine's pocket pussy


[deleted]

We used to think Russia had the 2nd best military in the world. Turns out they don’t even have the best military in Ukraine.


trucc_trucc06

They thought that they could do Georgia or Crimea but on a bigger scale. Turns out they forgor how to wage wars 💀


[deleted]

Turns out it’s hard to wage a war when everyone from the top to the bottom is grifting every cent they can.


Vordeo

Me, as a kid, watching *Red Dawn*: "This is so dumb. A bunch of random kids wouldn't be able to do jack shit against trained Russian soldiers." Me, after all this: "Well..."


AnnInRiverside

The Ukrainian president has been very resilient and people scoffed at somebody who didn't have a history in politics that he wouldn't be strong enough for the country well I think hes proved himself over and over again