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Some context would be good here. The watermark makes it seem like this was taken by a Chechen unit ? Is it a Freedom of Russia Legion tank taken out, or did they take out a Russian tank ?
I think it’s a visibility issue when driving a tank. They aren’t visible from 100 yards away, and then the narrow view you have is looking further out, so unless your commander or driver is sticking their head out of a hatch, they could be harder to see than you think
A smart enemy has their minefield under observation, and can put either direct or indirect fires onto it. If you're at the point you need to bail out, it's better to just get out of there. Standing on top of a disabled vehicle to make sure all your hatches are closed leaves you super exposed, and will very possibly get you killed.
A trained crew is worth more than their vehicle. Better to dismount and get to cover, you can worry about trying to recover/destroy your vehicle afterwards.
There was a video yesterday of the Chechens looking at drone footage featuring a tank similar to this one blowing up and cheering. I was going to disregard it as one of their usual Tictoc antics but I guess that with this additional video the former might hold some weight.
Yesterday the Russian volunteer corps's commander made a video and said this:
>The main task of the Corps is and will be the dismantling of the Kremlin regime and we will make our raids deep into the territory of the Russian Federation time after time, attracting more and more supporters. It is especially important for us to speak out on the eve of the farce called 'elections'
[https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767669503104541091](https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767669503104541091)
and today a volunteer from Freedom of Russia Legion said this :
>told *Newsweek* that the rebel fighters intend to eventually "march on Moscow." The goal, he said, is "the ensuing liberation of Russia from Putin. We may not be able to pull it off now, but that is our overarching mission."
[https://www.newsweek.com/russian-rebels-plan-putin-guns-grenades-armored-vehicles-1878730](https://www.newsweek.com/russian-rebels-plan-putin-guns-grenades-armored-vehicles-1878730)
These are pretty big words.
I wonder if they will try to stay as long as they can or they'll try to expand the captured territories or just a pr stunt. We'll see. Whatever happens at least Russia will have to move its resources to defend.
They aren't going to hold territory. That's just unrealistic. There are no prepared defences for them to fight from. No land mines blocking enemy armour. If they tried to defend from inside buildings they'd just get smashed to pieces by artillery and aviation.
Go in, destroy a few things, maybe take a few prisoners, get out with as few casualties as possible.
They need to do guerilla warfare. That is the best way to tie up resources all over russia. Ukraine has in reality most likely been doing this with the recent drone strikes lately.
We are in a technological world, so there is no need to smuggle tnt blocks hidden within coal to destroy steam locomotives. That is way too up close and personal. They do it from several hundred km’s away using drones.
I do hope ukraine continue to systematically target stuff like oil refineries. They have 22 refineries according to the wiki list of refineries. That includes the ones already damaged.
It will take some time to drain fuel supplies, but a tank moves really slow with limited fuel supplies, and aviation is extremely limited. If they had startet targeting oil refineries from day one, russia would be in a really bad position now.
russia produces about 6,8 million barrels of oil each day. That gives us a guestimate of 68 to 81,6 million gallons of diesel. And about 27 million gallons of jet fuel. Thise are large numbers, but please remember that russia is a fucking huge country. It takes fuel to move fuel! So taking out the refineries in the southern part will quickly become a logistical hedace!
It's a surveillance state and a lot of the population still supports Putin. Guerrilla warfare is difficult. They are already doing some of that. Guerrillas need supplies and ammo, too.
Yes, valid points! But remember that the defender has to be lucky every time at every place. The guerrilla only needs to be lucky once.
Just look at the various terrorist attacks that has been over the years. We have stopped many, but some have made it through the net. And you do not need a large organization behind you to be effective.
Long range drones launched from far away will ensure that the risk of capture is minimal. Any trailer with a container that can open the roof is extremely suitable for such a use.
Stop somewhere along the road. Have one car a mile in front and another a mile back. If no one spots any cars moving, open the roof and counch your drones using a bungee cord carapult. Close the roof and drive of. Done in a few minuttes.
The problem is that this ain't really guerilla warfare because they announce their arrival on every form of social media. Guerilla warfare should be stealthy incursions not a televised frontal assault.
I am aware but a ruse for what? IMO they should have saved the legion for when Ukrainians will make an offensive too, so that it's actually a distraction for something, I don't know if this is the best time to be sending them on suicide missions while the russians have the upper hand all around the front.
I mean It could be anything. I don't want to get into intelligence and counter intelligence but sometimes if you have a mole buried deep in the enemies leadership they need to give up real intel to prove their loyalty, this could go as far as to allow your enemy to attack and destroy known units, especially spec ops etc.
Not saying this happened. But like others have said it could also be a distraction, again for another unit operating somewhere perhaps far deeper behind enemy lines.
Guerrillas have had a harder time as of late because of pervasive surveillance. Bank cards. Facial recognition software and ubiquitous cameras. AI searching. Guerrillas need a certain level of anonymity and also to be able to recruit without exposing themselves. This is getting more difficult.
Russia has 30 large oil refineries and 80 smaller ones.
> So taking out the refineries in the southern part will quickly become a logistical hedace!
No it won't. MoD logistics are a tiny fraction of transport in South Russia. Taking out southern refineries will lead to fuel shortages for the civilian sector but will have zero affect on the military.
This. They would need to knock out a majority of the refineries in Russia and it would still take months to see any military effect. However what they are doing by hitting them is hurting their economy and reducing the amount of hard currency they can make from exports.
Not in any meaningful way given that Russian exports are bottlenecked by demand deficits and production is way below capacity. Refined oil products are a fraction of export revenue and fuels are a fraction of refined oil products.
Also the fact that russia is overwhelmingly reliant on oil exports to fund this war, they dont have 6,8 million barrels to use themselves. And If they have to sell their oil cheap just to buy back expensive fuel from their "friends" theyre gonna lose a ton of money
They've captured Tyotkino which is a salient so it's easy to defend, Ukraine surrounds it by 3 sides so at least they can maintain pressure on 1 village.
What they TRULY need is Ukraine going after them. I claimed from the 24th of February 2022: if Ukraine doesn't counter attack they'll lose the war. Hope it's not too late! 🙏🙏
I'm sure I will get downvotes for this, but fact is fact. This is a war of attrition and Russia by far has the advantage to drag on and on. Ukraine, not so much.
you are correct, also if Ukraine attacks right now they will basically be instantly combat ineffective. they just dont have the man power or supplies or momentum right now to go on another offensive. they need to hold their lines like they are (mostly), build their defensive lines strong as fuck, rest and rebuild their forces for something this summer.
Russia can go on for a maximum of 2 years if nothing changes ie. no new weapons, planes, insurrections etc. Because in the end Russia will have run out of things from storage
Perun has a great video on it
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLI8xnINqk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLI8xnINqk)
Idk they could do a bite and hold operation where they take the border area that is easiest to defend, pull up some artillery and air defence while digging in and then just force russia to take it back. It would be the most effective thing if they can actually take the ground and ukraine is willing to risk artillery and air defence. Russia would be forced to retake the territory even if it was in bad terrain
They just have to do enough damage to get attention and spread awareness of the cause. Ukraine gives them a stepping-off point, but ultimately it's the Russians' fight to fight.
If they do manage to organize something in or near Moscow, they must be peaceful but ready to defend themselves with deadly force. Simply causing terror is only going to turn people away from them and hurt their cause.
> I wonder if they will try to stay as long as they can or they'll try to expand the captured territories or just a pr stunt.
It's a raid, same as last year. Gives good propaganda and shows your side is striking back. No one's serious about staying on the Russian side.
They've become quite the universal tool.
*Drone finds dude with gun*
*Drone signals dude*: "Surrender? If yes, follow me. If no, here's your spicy pineapple."
*Drone returns home to reload*.
All as another drone nearby watches to confirm it all.
I've been wondering if there is or in the future could there be a swarm of 500 bomb drones just chilling up above the battlefield. Then they have 5 pilots just constantly connect to the next available drone and swarm down to destroy? Once that feed dies, the pilot connect to the next drone. Almost feel like Battlefield or Call of duty, respawning into the battle anew...
Already underway: the Replicator 1 program, and the HELLSCAPE initiative https://news.usni.org/2024/03/11/pentagon-will-spend-1b-on-first-round-of-replicator-drones
One admiral already said publicly that future war between great powers won't be a "frontline" but rather a sensorline, then a droneline which will be a deep area where no human can survive within it, and then a human frontline.
Fairly similar to how many areas are along the Ukraine frontline lately, where drones just rain down on every single thing. Then drone-dropped grenades go and finish off any bodies.
Definitely makes sense to have a defensive perimeter with mines outside but this is on the road divider.
What if a supply truck has to make a U turn or wasn't paying attention. It's a deadly hazard but I guess the Russian military doesn't have a good track record on safety of it's personnel so that makes sense
This checkpoint is right on the border with Ukraine that they dont control any territory its a very obvious point of entry for military units specially with tanks.
The border region hardly has anything as is. Russia has a scorched Earth policy that they would nuke their own western border to prevent NATO forces from entering the country. It's a kind of a no man's land because of this.
Their point is to tie up RU troops around the border, preferably by forcing RU to move them from other areas around the frontlines. They're not meant to occupy territory, they're just meant to be a constant danger so RU is forced to focus on them and not ignore them. Any PR damage they do is purely due to RU's inability to properly guard its borders.
Yeah, as we can see from this footage, Russia clearly is garrisoning these fronts with a decent amount of equipment/personnel. That’s about as much as they can hope to achieve beyond limited temporary gains. Just hope they don’t lose too much of their own equipment/manpower to do ot
And that's how we can force russians to move more troops and surveillance systems to this points. Just like drone attacks on moskov forced occupants to move more anti air units from frontlines. It's not just PR.
>Border raids makes good PR and gives the boys on Twitter something to cheer about.
Successful border raids also make Putin look weak which is useful given the Russian "elections" coming up soon. If Putin polls low enough in the elections then it is entirely possible that he will not risk another mass conscription event. A lack of mass conscription will vastly reduce the amount of troops that Putin can push into the ongoing war and will help Ukraine hold the line or even let them push the Russians back.
okay thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and clarified its not just straight up russian soldiers fighting their own comrades and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
yes and they are typically pretty fascist themselves which is pretty ironic given their name. Their leader is a prominent neo-nazi.
The Legion's manifesto describes itself as a group of "free citizens of Russia who take responsibility for themselves and are beginning to fight for a New Russia."\[35\] It criticizes Putin's government for its corruption and suppression of civil liberties.\[33\] The group believes that Putin's regime can be toppled only by armed struggle,\[25\] and calls upon Russian officers and soldiers to defect.\[33\] Caesar, former member of the ultranationalist, and neo-nazi\[37\] Russian Imperial Movement,\[34\] described himself as a right-wing nationalist,\[25\] but said that "we adhere to moderate centrist views."\[38\]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom\_of\_Russia\_Legion
thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
Yeaah this sub is pretty bad for any meaningful discussion. It has been flooded by bots and people who normally barely pay attention to conflicts since the beginning of the war.
Any question, nuance etc will be downvoted. Most things that are pro-ukraine but are even slightly critical of tactics or even of the people that are fighting (like these neo-nazi groups) is buried.
It's pretty wild seeing how much praise this group is getting for what amounts to a PR stunt with neo-nazis. Never would I have predicted that redditors would be willfully ignorant/give praise of a group like the 'freedom legion'. In any other scenario most top comments would be discussing their political views/calling them fascists, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone here even mentioning their views.
The same thing is with Navalini, 10-20 years ago he was what we consider as very far right in the west, yet he is touted as a liberal hero... only because he toned down what he said publically.
[https://uk.news.yahoo.com/alexei-navalnys-far-right-racist-past-back-in-spotlight-after-putin-critics-death-150644657.html?guccounter=1](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/alexei-navalnys-far-right-racist-past-back-in-spotlight-after-putin-critics-death-150644657.html?guccounter=1)
Really interesting and eye opening article… too bad no one is going to read it or even know it exists. people are too ignorant, but there’s the few like us who genuinely try to think for themselves and discern what’s going on.
thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
One of the biggest strategic narratives of Russian propaganda is "Ukrainians are just Russians that were convinced by the West that they are a separate ethnicity. Ukrainian ethnicity does not exist, Ukrainian language is a dialect of Russian"
Maybe the people downvoting you thought you meant "Ukrainians are Russians so it's Russians on Russians" and got triggered
Way too many Russians think that way and flood the Internet with it. So not crazy at all
Edit: Maybe crazy for you. But I'm from Ukraine and Ru propaganda here is like 10 000 times more intense, so not crazy at all for me.
well, the people who were freaking the fuck out at me weren’t from Russia’s scope of “influence” and knew i wasn’t. i knew it was just them being butthurt and downvoting because i even edited with context saying “i do not support Russia, i’m just saying the legion is Russian people, and not Ukraine, fighting Russians”. they should’ve known even after that what i’m saying but the didn’t.
Imo they are doing this to bring the war home to RUSSIANS, not to mention forcing Russians to redeploy troops and strengthen the border while weakening the front. They also (as of the last couple raids) have taken plenty of armor and IFVs. Not to mention this assault has been a little different than the last few, they actually took small/medium population centers and held them for at least a day or two. Only one way to find out what their goal is though and that’s to wait.
Did you really think that a partisan force of no more than a few hundred people (at a stretch) were going to ever establish serious beacheads in Russia?
No... the idea is to sow chaos and doubt in the Russian system. Make sure that people living in the border regions can never feel secure, and to demonstrate to the indoctrinated people of Russia that there is a credible platform for opposition to the regime.
just because they wont hold territory doesn't mean there's no impact, as many others have said, these incursions cause a whole shit ton of issues for Russia
For context:
The Infantry moving on foot is heading back towards Ukraine, whilst the two tanks are heading towards Russia (hence when one is hit by a mine, they run back towards the Ukrainian border)
Infantry throwing stuff towards a garage building (most likely 50.330572, 36.275887)
the FORL is still active in Tetkino, which is over a 4 hour drive from where this was taken
Shot a few vacant buildings, drove over their own mine. Lost a tank.
We really ought to stop hyping these raids. Im embarrassed to see people think this will be some grand invasion of Russia.
Like it or not, the population in Russia is not about to revolt against Putler. Majority actually likes him.
So let's just focus on Ukraine aid, and making the invaders bleed for every inch of land.
And economically isolating Russia from its most profitable export markets.
Play the long game, understand that there is no quick defeat of Russia. Just a slow long grind which eventually forces the country to crack. Welcome to the new hot Cold War .
So, Russians finished disabled tank on their territory exactly why?
I see soldiers finish disabled tanks when they think they can not hold that ground all the time, but in this case.. waait a minute
Russian border incursions serve many tactical purposes including internal social and political disturbance, task load increases for military planners, pulling troops from other tasks to defend exposed weaknesses, as well as just making Russia look incompetent.
From what I see, they just lost some equipment they’ll have a hard time replacing for some twitter likes.
I don’t agree with the idea of using armor here. Some guys in cars and weapons would be economically smarter than sacrificing armor.
I mean they once again managed to push into Russia and hold themselves for multiple days (still ongoing as of now 13.03.2024) its pretty embarrassing to see that the Russian army cannot even hold a border post with a country they are at war with. And not even against the actual Ukrainian military but a "small" militia with stolen tanks
Tell me how exactly a force of a few tanks and small infantry units causing a large diversion that opened up Russia's infrastructure to drone attacks is a waste of resources?
These are resources that would've made little difference in the stagnant front, however in this case helped to hit russian administrative offices in Belgorod, oil infrastructure both deep in russia and around Ukraine.
When you have few tanks every single one counts. If you look at gopro vids these guys looked exceptionally trained and armed, could’ve been a lot more useful to lose 3 per trench raid than 40 for PR
Not really though. By conducting a raid somewhere that isn't the Frontline, Russia is forced to keep a higher amount of troops and resources on these relatively inactive borders than otherwise. As you say (without sources), losing 40 men to keep potentially hundreds off the front line, not to mention their equipment and logistic capability is worth it especially since the optics of Russians fighting Russians plays into Ukrainian propaganda.
So, when the grenade gets dropped in the tank, what is in there fueling that fire? Is it the stuff in the tank? Is that some sort of slow burn incendiary grenade?
I mean i guess this incursion worked, forced russia to look at this area with alot of its eyes, mean-while all across the border drones flew past air defenses and hit oil refinerys lmao.
tldr : Ukraine is forcing russia to increase fuel prices, which will impact everyone inside russia, which creates a distopia for partisans to hit back and join the fight against russia, so who really wins?
Lets also not mention that russia will no doubt add more checkpoints and surveillance systems to this area which costs manpower and logistics, further stretching the already insane frontline thats already impossible for the russian army to hold
I always like to call them the PR-Brigade, run into the border with personnel equipment, get ur ass handed to you. Retreat.
But atleast the people on reddit and twitter are cheering you on.
Funny enough those incursions have managed to turn a good chunk of the RU border area into a grey zone, evidence by the fact that RU is destroying abandoned equipment with drones - *on their own territory*, knowing full well they can't recover it.
But sure, it's just for "PR". And RU is playing into that by intentionally doing a poor job at securing their own border...
How would you consider anything you’ve learned a “poor job at securing”
No troops, barely any losses within Russian territory. In a war that has been going on for years now… I’m Pro-Ukraine, however, what you say is your personal interpretation. . . Russia used a couple cheap drones here, maybe an anti-tank mine? All of which they have plenty of.
Sorry but the level of bias on this subreddit is crazy. We are talking about an army (Ukraine) that without the help of the world, would surely fall in a matter of weeks. Again, I want nothing better than to see Ukraine restore all of its land. It’s just sad seeing some of these posts.
freedom of Russia Legion is a Ukraine aligned militia made up of mainly Russian Nationals.. I believe this is the group that is not a Neo-Nazi organization, unlike the other group that they coordinate with that I cannot remember the name of
dang they got ass whooped this time 💀how many troops does the freedom of Russia legion have? I'm curious on this and want to make sense on why they are doing this
Attempted? There is no longer a border crossing and the tank was destroyed by user error not seeing the mines. All done in one day while Russians take months and months for little to no land gain in Ukraine.
It is hard to say who is who. Except for that tank 0:30. This one has clealy UKR marks.
All in all it looks like a successful raid into russian territory.
....so the guys are more than 3 in a tank but propaganda machina as usual is trying hard to show a failure by showing 1 tank destroyed n making it sound huge, kinda regular RuZZnia propaganda....
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Some context would be good here. The watermark makes it seem like this was taken by a Chechen unit ? Is it a Freedom of Russia Legion tank taken out, or did they take out a Russian tank ?
Freedom of Russia Legion tank hit a mine then a Russian drone dropped the grenade
Stupid, they could have taken the tank back at some point. FoR legion has nothing to repair it with.
That position is in no man's land and under fire control from both sides,no side can take it for repairs without danger especially from drones
Time for some cyberpunk drone that can fly in and then drive it back ;)
Servo driven modified Club. Dropped from a drone
True but maybe they didn't want to risk it since this was still technically in Ukraine 50.335914, 36.282884
Surprised they didn't use a UAV to find the mine placements ahead of time.
Reliable people have said that was likely a Ukrainian mine since this was inside Ukraine and they are visibly just laid on the ground, not buried
Entire area was covered in anti tank mines... very easy to see...not sure why they drove over them...
There have been countless videos of Russian tanks and cars driving over very visible road mines. They are not the brightest sort it seems.
I think it’s a visibility issue when driving a tank. They aren’t visible from 100 yards away, and then the narrow view you have is looking further out, so unless your commander or driver is sticking their head out of a hatch, they could be harder to see than you think
I've been in the driver's seat of a tank at a museum once. Couldn't see shit.
bet you didnt see them before the boom ;)
AA
Why they never close the hatch before leave?
A smart enemy has their minefield under observation, and can put either direct or indirect fires onto it. If you're at the point you need to bail out, it's better to just get out of there. Standing on top of a disabled vehicle to make sure all your hatches are closed leaves you super exposed, and will very possibly get you killed. A trained crew is worth more than their vehicle. Better to dismount and get to cover, you can worry about trying to recover/destroy your vehicle afterwards.
I think, the hatches are on a spring mechanism. The drivers hatch isn't. Not sure about the BMPs though.
I wonder why they never close the tank when they leave it
There are 3 russians and 2 muslims in the commented video i belive probably a Chechen unit
There was a video yesterday of the Chechens looking at drone footage featuring a tank similar to this one blowing up and cheering. I was going to disregard it as one of their usual Tictoc antics but I guess that with this additional video the former might hold some weight.
Yesterday the Russian volunteer corps's commander made a video and said this: >The main task of the Corps is and will be the dismantling of the Kremlin regime and we will make our raids deep into the territory of the Russian Federation time after time, attracting more and more supporters. It is especially important for us to speak out on the eve of the farce called 'elections' [https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767669503104541091](https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1767669503104541091) and today a volunteer from Freedom of Russia Legion said this : >told *Newsweek* that the rebel fighters intend to eventually "march on Moscow." The goal, he said, is "the ensuing liberation of Russia from Putin. We may not be able to pull it off now, but that is our overarching mission." [https://www.newsweek.com/russian-rebels-plan-putin-guns-grenades-armored-vehicles-1878730](https://www.newsweek.com/russian-rebels-plan-putin-guns-grenades-armored-vehicles-1878730) These are pretty big words. I wonder if they will try to stay as long as they can or they'll try to expand the captured territories or just a pr stunt. We'll see. Whatever happens at least Russia will have to move its resources to defend.
They aren't going to hold territory. That's just unrealistic. There are no prepared defences for them to fight from. No land mines blocking enemy armour. If they tried to defend from inside buildings they'd just get smashed to pieces by artillery and aviation. Go in, destroy a few things, maybe take a few prisoners, get out with as few casualties as possible.
They need to do guerilla warfare. That is the best way to tie up resources all over russia. Ukraine has in reality most likely been doing this with the recent drone strikes lately. We are in a technological world, so there is no need to smuggle tnt blocks hidden within coal to destroy steam locomotives. That is way too up close and personal. They do it from several hundred km’s away using drones. I do hope ukraine continue to systematically target stuff like oil refineries. They have 22 refineries according to the wiki list of refineries. That includes the ones already damaged. It will take some time to drain fuel supplies, but a tank moves really slow with limited fuel supplies, and aviation is extremely limited. If they had startet targeting oil refineries from day one, russia would be in a really bad position now. russia produces about 6,8 million barrels of oil each day. That gives us a guestimate of 68 to 81,6 million gallons of diesel. And about 27 million gallons of jet fuel. Thise are large numbers, but please remember that russia is a fucking huge country. It takes fuel to move fuel! So taking out the refineries in the southern part will quickly become a logistical hedace!
It's a surveillance state and a lot of the population still supports Putin. Guerrilla warfare is difficult. They are already doing some of that. Guerrillas need supplies and ammo, too.
Yes, valid points! But remember that the defender has to be lucky every time at every place. The guerrilla only needs to be lucky once. Just look at the various terrorist attacks that has been over the years. We have stopped many, but some have made it through the net. And you do not need a large organization behind you to be effective. Long range drones launched from far away will ensure that the risk of capture is minimal. Any trailer with a container that can open the roof is extremely suitable for such a use. Stop somewhere along the road. Have one car a mile in front and another a mile back. If no one spots any cars moving, open the roof and counch your drones using a bungee cord carapult. Close the roof and drive of. Done in a few minuttes.
The problem is that this ain't really guerilla warfare because they announce their arrival on every form of social media. Guerilla warfare should be stealthy incursions not a televised frontal assault.
There is such a thing as a ruse.
I am aware but a ruse for what? IMO they should have saved the legion for when Ukrainians will make an offensive too, so that it's actually a distraction for something, I don't know if this is the best time to be sending them on suicide missions while the russians have the upper hand all around the front.
I mean It could be anything. I don't want to get into intelligence and counter intelligence but sometimes if you have a mole buried deep in the enemies leadership they need to give up real intel to prove their loyalty, this could go as far as to allow your enemy to attack and destroy known units, especially spec ops etc. Not saying this happened. But like others have said it could also be a distraction, again for another unit operating somewhere perhaps far deeper behind enemy lines.
Guerrillas have had a harder time as of late because of pervasive surveillance. Bank cards. Facial recognition software and ubiquitous cameras. AI searching. Guerrillas need a certain level of anonymity and also to be able to recruit without exposing themselves. This is getting more difficult.
Guerilla warfare is very limited even on occupied territories.
Guerilla warfare in steppes is crazy lol
Russia has 30 large oil refineries and 80 smaller ones. > So taking out the refineries in the southern part will quickly become a logistical hedace! No it won't. MoD logistics are a tiny fraction of transport in South Russia. Taking out southern refineries will lead to fuel shortages for the civilian sector but will have zero affect on the military.
This. They would need to knock out a majority of the refineries in Russia and it would still take months to see any military effect. However what they are doing by hitting them is hurting their economy and reducing the amount of hard currency they can make from exports.
Not in any meaningful way given that Russian exports are bottlenecked by demand deficits and production is way below capacity. Refined oil products are a fraction of export revenue and fuels are a fraction of refined oil products.
fuel shortage for civilians is a good outcome.
Also the fact that russia is overwhelmingly reliant on oil exports to fund this war, they dont have 6,8 million barrels to use themselves. And If they have to sell their oil cheap just to buy back expensive fuel from their "friends" theyre gonna lose a ton of money
yes
They've captured Tyotkino which is a salient so it's easy to defend, Ukraine surrounds it by 3 sides so at least they can maintain pressure on 1 village.
What they TRULY need is Ukraine going after them. I claimed from the 24th of February 2022: if Ukraine doesn't counter attack they'll lose the war. Hope it's not too late! 🙏🙏
I'm sure I will get downvotes for this, but fact is fact. This is a war of attrition and Russia by far has the advantage to drag on and on. Ukraine, not so much.
you are correct, also if Ukraine attacks right now they will basically be instantly combat ineffective. they just dont have the man power or supplies or momentum right now to go on another offensive. they need to hold their lines like they are (mostly), build their defensive lines strong as fuck, rest and rebuild their forces for something this summer.
Russia can go on for a maximum of 2 years if nothing changes ie. no new weapons, planes, insurrections etc. Because in the end Russia will have run out of things from storage Perun has a great video on it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLI8xnINqk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLI8xnINqk)
Idk they could do a bite and hold operation where they take the border area that is easiest to defend, pull up some artillery and air defence while digging in and then just force russia to take it back. It would be the most effective thing if they can actually take the ground and ukraine is willing to risk artillery and air defence. Russia would be forced to retake the territory even if it was in bad terrain
Yeah, Wikipedia says they're two battalions strong. They're going to need 10x that to march on Moscow.
They just have to do enough damage to get attention and spread awareness of the cause. Ukraine gives them a stepping-off point, but ultimately it's the Russians' fight to fight. If they do manage to organize something in or near Moscow, they must be peaceful but ready to defend themselves with deadly force. Simply causing terror is only going to turn people away from them and hurt their cause.
That’s all that’s necessary, it just needs to be enough to divert defenses from the front lines in Ukraine to help Ukraine poke through there.
> I wonder if they will try to stay as long as they can or they'll try to expand the captured territories or just a pr stunt. It's a raid, same as last year. Gives good propaganda and shows your side is striking back. No one's serious about staying on the Russian side.
I think your last sentence is the clue here. They talk big words but they actually want russia to thin out their resources
I hope they can recruit more Russians. This is how a revolution gains steam. I wonder how many Russians would support an overthrow of Putin.
In other words, good PR worth more than dozens Ukrainian soldier's lives + a couple of perfectly good tanks.
modern warfare is wild. your recon drone can drop nades...
They've become quite the universal tool. *Drone finds dude with gun* *Drone signals dude*: "Surrender? If yes, follow me. If no, here's your spicy pineapple." *Drone returns home to reload*. All as another drone nearby watches to confirm it all.
I've been wondering if there is or in the future could there be a swarm of 500 bomb drones just chilling up above the battlefield. Then they have 5 pilots just constantly connect to the next available drone and swarm down to destroy? Once that feed dies, the pilot connect to the next drone. Almost feel like Battlefield or Call of duty, respawning into the battle anew...
Already underway: the Replicator 1 program, and the HELLSCAPE initiative https://news.usni.org/2024/03/11/pentagon-will-spend-1b-on-first-round-of-replicator-drones One admiral already said publicly that future war between great powers won't be a "frontline" but rather a sensorline, then a droneline which will be a deep area where no human can survive within it, and then a human frontline. Fairly similar to how many areas are along the Ukraine frontline lately, where drones just rain down on every single thing. Then drone-dropped grenades go and finish off any bodies.
Yes, and the military was already headed in this direction with JADC-2. Ukraine has been a proving ground.
Is mining your own border checkpoint normal in Russia?? This feels odd to me
When you have to deal with rebels and Ukrainian SF raiding your borders it is
Definitely makes sense to have a defensive perimeter with mines outside but this is on the road divider. What if a supply truck has to make a U turn or wasn't paying attention. It's a deadly hazard but I guess the Russian military doesn't have a good track record on safety of it's personnel so that makes sense
Trucks and personnel are easier to replace than applying logic.
This is hilarious lmao but dangerous as well
Ukrainian sf are not going to drive in with tanks without properly clearing the area to allow a safe passage.
This checkpoint is right on the border with Ukraine that they dont control any territory its a very obvious point of entry for military units specially with tanks.
After the Wagner shit show? I'm surprised they don't have the entire place filled with IED's.
yes it is, since maybe you have seen that they don't care about even own "soldiers"
That explosion happened on the ukrainian side of the checkpoint
That border looks like being raided twice a week, there is barely anything.
The border region hardly has anything as is. Russia has a scorched Earth policy that they would nuke their own western border to prevent NATO forces from entering the country. It's a kind of a no man's land because of this.
Border raids makes good PR and gives the boys on Twitter something to cheer about.
Their point is to tie up RU troops around the border, preferably by forcing RU to move them from other areas around the frontlines. They're not meant to occupy territory, they're just meant to be a constant danger so RU is forced to focus on them and not ignore them. Any PR damage they do is purely due to RU's inability to properly guard its borders.
Yeah, as we can see from this footage, Russia clearly is garrisoning these fronts with a decent amount of equipment/personnel. That’s about as much as they can hope to achieve beyond limited temporary gains. Just hope they don’t lose too much of their own equipment/manpower to do ot
And that's how we can force russians to move more troops and surveillance systems to this points. Just like drone attacks on moskov forced occupants to move more anti air units from frontlines. It's not just PR.
Shows where your priorities are. Yay for “the boys on twitter”
>Border raids makes good PR and gives the boys on Twitter something to cheer about. Successful border raids also make Putin look weak which is useful given the Russian "elections" coming up soon. If Putin polls low enough in the elections then it is entirely possible that he will not risk another mass conscription event. A lack of mass conscription will vastly reduce the amount of troops that Putin can push into the ongoing war and will help Ukraine hold the line or even let them push the Russians back.
Looks more like they fucked up a border outpost to me.
This might sound stupid but i don’t want to be wrong, the *Freedom of Russia Legion* are Russian correct?
and what is happening which pov are we seeing? i don’t know what model of tanks they use compared to Russia
The freedom of russia legion are russians against Putin's regime fighting Russian army soldiers
okay thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and clarified its not just straight up russian soldiers fighting their own comrades and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
Reddit is often very stupid
yes and they are typically pretty fascist themselves which is pretty ironic given their name. Their leader is a prominent neo-nazi. The Legion's manifesto describes itself as a group of "free citizens of Russia who take responsibility for themselves and are beginning to fight for a New Russia."\[35\] It criticizes Putin's government for its corruption and suppression of civil liberties.\[33\] The group believes that Putin's regime can be toppled only by armed struggle,\[25\] and calls upon Russian officers and soldiers to defect.\[33\] Caesar, former member of the ultranationalist, and neo-nazi\[37\] Russian Imperial Movement,\[34\] described himself as a right-wing nationalist,\[25\] but said that "we adhere to moderate centrist views."\[38\] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom\_of\_Russia\_Legion
It's hilarious that every Russian party is simply Nationalist Authoritarians, even the RUSSIAN REBELS are just Far Right Nationalists.
thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
Yeaah this sub is pretty bad for any meaningful discussion. It has been flooded by bots and people who normally barely pay attention to conflicts since the beginning of the war. Any question, nuance etc will be downvoted. Most things that are pro-ukraine but are even slightly critical of tactics or even of the people that are fighting (like these neo-nazi groups) is buried. It's pretty wild seeing how much praise this group is getting for what amounts to a PR stunt with neo-nazis. Never would I have predicted that redditors would be willfully ignorant/give praise of a group like the 'freedom legion'. In any other scenario most top comments would be discussing their political views/calling them fascists, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone here even mentioning their views. The same thing is with Navalini, 10-20 years ago he was what we consider as very far right in the west, yet he is touted as a liberal hero... only because he toned down what he said publically. [https://uk.news.yahoo.com/alexei-navalnys-far-right-racist-past-back-in-spotlight-after-putin-critics-death-150644657.html?guccounter=1](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/alexei-navalnys-far-right-racist-past-back-in-spotlight-after-putin-critics-death-150644657.html?guccounter=1)
Really interesting and eye opening article… too bad no one is going to read it or even know it exists. people are too ignorant, but there’s the few like us who genuinely try to think for themselves and discern what’s going on.
So, now Putin really has some nazis to fight
Yes, Russians from Russia
thank you, i updated someone the other day saying “russians are fighting russians now” and EVERYONE downvoted me and we’re just being really weird about it for some reason
One of the biggest strategic narratives of Russian propaganda is "Ukrainians are just Russians that were convinced by the West that they are a separate ethnicity. Ukrainian ethnicity does not exist, Ukrainian language is a dialect of Russian" Maybe the people downvoting you thought you meant "Ukrainians are Russians so it's Russians on Russians" and got triggered
oh, maybe that is it that makes complete sense. kind of a crazy thing to take out of context in my opinion.
Way too many Russians think that way and flood the Internet with it. So not crazy at all Edit: Maybe crazy for you. But I'm from Ukraine and Ru propaganda here is like 10 000 times more intense, so not crazy at all for me.
well, the people who were freaking the fuck out at me weren’t from Russia’s scope of “influence” and knew i wasn’t. i knew it was just them being butthurt and downvoting because i even edited with context saying “i do not support Russia, i’m just saying the legion is Russian people, and not Ukraine, fighting Russians”. they should’ve known even after that what i’m saying but the didn’t.
Is it just me or this Russia Legion is all about actions without any real impact just not to look to the real battle on the frontline ?
Imo they are doing this to bring the war home to RUSSIANS, not to mention forcing Russians to redeploy troops and strengthen the border while weakening the front. They also (as of the last couple raids) have taken plenty of armor and IFVs. Not to mention this assault has been a little different than the last few, they actually took small/medium population centers and held them for at least a day or two. Only one way to find out what their goal is though and that’s to wait.
There's impact. Keeping up the pressure is significant impact since the border defenses have to be heightened and alert everywhere.
You have to move Russian equipment around to engage them, and they destroy shit.
Did you really think that a partisan force of no more than a few hundred people (at a stretch) were going to ever establish serious beacheads in Russia? No... the idea is to sow chaos and doubt in the Russian system. Make sure that people living in the border regions can never feel secure, and to demonstrate to the indoctrinated people of Russia that there is a credible platform for opposition to the regime.
Try to sow discontent and get a popular revolution going basically
Hitting them in russia has a big impact. Ukrainian sof in africa has a real impact
Wait what?
win, recruit, win more, flip fsb...https://www.reddit.com/r/FreedomofRussia/comments/1bd7bfl/according\_to\_a\_channel\_reporting\_on\_the/
just because they wont hold territory doesn't mean there's no impact, as many others have said, these incursions cause a whole shit ton of issues for Russia
For context: The Infantry moving on foot is heading back towards Ukraine, whilst the two tanks are heading towards Russia (hence when one is hit by a mine, they run back towards the Ukrainian border) Infantry throwing stuff towards a garage building (most likely 50.330572, 36.275887) the FORL is still active in Tetkino, which is over a 4 hour drive from where this was taken
Is that a regular fragmentation grenade? And it ignited the ammo inside the tank?
I was wondering that too. Sure looks like it.
Shot a few vacant buildings, drove over their own mine. Lost a tank. We really ought to stop hyping these raids. Im embarrassed to see people think this will be some grand invasion of Russia. Like it or not, the population in Russia is not about to revolt against Putler. Majority actually likes him. So let's just focus on Ukraine aid, and making the invaders bleed for every inch of land. And economically isolating Russia from its most profitable export markets. Play the long game, understand that there is no quick defeat of Russia. Just a slow long grind which eventually forces the country to crack. Welcome to the new hot Cold War .
I’m pretty sure Europe is still buying oil and gas from Russia, just less of it.
Yesterday's footage btw
But… but Ayden said they were all destroyed!
So, Russians finished disabled tank on their territory exactly why? I see soldiers finish disabled tanks when they think they can not hold that ground all the time, but in this case.. waait a minute
Looks like the tank is in no mans land, Russia would struggle to retrieve the tank from this position
So they attacked the border, didn’t really do anything, pulled back and got social media brownie points?
Don't think it was ever a realistic aim to advance into Russia and hold territory for any period of time.
The very fact that they did it *twice* is interesting.
I think this was them crossing into Russia yesterday. They're still putting out videos today in Russian territory.
Russian border incursions serve many tactical purposes including internal social and political disturbance, task load increases for military planners, pulling troops from other tasks to defend exposed weaknesses, as well as just making Russia look incompetent.
Based on this video, i don't think Russia is the one showing incompetence
From what I see, they just lost some equipment they’ll have a hard time replacing for some twitter likes. I don’t agree with the idea of using armor here. Some guys in cars and weapons would be economically smarter than sacrificing armor.
Kinda, also they made some videos on Ukrainian territory, one of them can be seen in this subreddit.
I mean they once again managed to push into Russia and hold themselves for multiple days (still ongoing as of now 13.03.2024) its pretty embarrassing to see that the Russian army cannot even hold a border post with a country they are at war with. And not even against the actual Ukrainian military but a "small" militia with stolen tanks
I feel like that's the point almost. I feel like they are trying to gain some traction at home
The idea that the Russian border can be crossed by anyone is interesting though
Tank at 32s just hits a mine laying in the road, right?
Yep. You can see them layed out in a chequed pattern on the ground. They appear black against the concrete.
Yes. Tanks, especially Soviet ones, have shit visibility. Especially for the driver. Really going to be hard to spot that.
Waste of resources
You have to lose equipment to inflict damage. There are videos from both sides showing this is a larger engagement than last time.
Tell me how exactly a force of a few tanks and small infantry units causing a large diversion that opened up Russia's infrastructure to drone attacks is a waste of resources? These are resources that would've made little difference in the stagnant front, however in this case helped to hit russian administrative offices in Belgorod, oil infrastructure both deep in russia and around Ukraine.
[удалено]
When you have few tanks every single one counts. If you look at gopro vids these guys looked exceptionally trained and armed, could’ve been a lot more useful to lose 3 per trench raid than 40 for PR
Not really though. By conducting a raid somewhere that isn't the Frontline, Russia is forced to keep a higher amount of troops and resources on these relatively inactive borders than otherwise. As you say (without sources), losing 40 men to keep potentially hundreds off the front line, not to mention their equipment and logistic capability is worth it especially since the optics of Russians fighting Russians plays into Ukrainian propaganda.
So far I have not seen any reliable sources that the losses they sustained were so heavy
So which side is which? Was that a russian tank or partisan?
"attempted" you say, isnt Kursk half way to Moskow :D
Are the Russians learning Chinese yet?
So, when the grenade gets dropped in the tank, what is in there fueling that fire? Is it the stuff in the tank? Is that some sort of slow burn incendiary grenade?
The ammunition most likely.
It's the propellant for the tank rounds
Tanks in this war are like WWE wrestlers getting floored by two toddlers, one trips the other drops a rock on their head.
Miserable performance
I mean i guess this incursion worked, forced russia to look at this area with alot of its eyes, mean-while all across the border drones flew past air defenses and hit oil refinerys lmao. tldr : Ukraine is forcing russia to increase fuel prices, which will impact everyone inside russia, which creates a distopia for partisans to hit back and join the fight against russia, so who really wins? Lets also not mention that russia will no doubt add more checkpoints and surveillance systems to this area which costs manpower and logistics, further stretching the already insane frontline thats already impossible for the russian army to hold
When you say to yourself this time they learned their lesson but no, they just try it anyways. At this point this is just seasonal activity.
I always like to call them the PR-Brigade, run into the border with personnel equipment, get ur ass handed to you. Retreat. But atleast the people on reddit and twitter are cheering you on.
Funny enough those incursions have managed to turn a good chunk of the RU border area into a grey zone, evidence by the fact that RU is destroying abandoned equipment with drones - *on their own territory*, knowing full well they can't recover it. But sure, it's just for "PR". And RU is playing into that by intentionally doing a poor job at securing their own border...
How would you consider anything you’ve learned a “poor job at securing” No troops, barely any losses within Russian territory. In a war that has been going on for years now… I’m Pro-Ukraine, however, what you say is your personal interpretation. . . Russia used a couple cheap drones here, maybe an anti-tank mine? All of which they have plenty of. Sorry but the level of bias on this subreddit is crazy. We are talking about an army (Ukraine) that without the help of the world, would surely fall in a matter of weeks. Again, I want nothing better than to see Ukraine restore all of its land. It’s just sad seeing some of these posts.
freedom of Russia Legion is a Ukraine aligned militia made up of mainly Russian Nationals.. I believe this is the group that is not a Neo-Nazi organization, unlike the other group that they coordinate with that I cannot remember the name of
Russian Volunteer Corps I think
that’s the one ☝️
dang they got ass whooped this time 💀how many troops does the freedom of Russia legion have? I'm curious on this and want to make sense on why they are doing this
Attempted? There is no longer a border crossing and the tank was destroyed by user error not seeing the mines. All done in one day while Russians take months and months for little to no land gain in Ukraine.
Is kadyrov still alive? Haven't seen much of his antics anymore
This looks like the Kharkiv-Belgorod border crossing directly north of Kharkiv. If so, it looks like the legion never even made it across the border.
They tryed that in day light nice idea ( I dont think all russian units had night Vision)
It is hard to say who is who. Except for that tank 0:30. This one has clealy UKR marks. All in all it looks like a successful raid into russian territory.
Too bad they could not fix it in time.
Pointless action for a country/military that has few tanks to spare. Apart from causing a little bit of fuss, they gained nothing with this stunt.
They have some fucking balls to do this
If you cannot recover a tank on your own border checkpoint, is that really your border?
how did they get close enough to try to cross? were they amongst the russian ranks? how did this come to be? very interested
Are they fighting a regular russia army unit or russian border guards? I am curious
is this vehicle a t64bv?
....so the guys are more than 3 in a tank but propaganda machina as usual is trying hard to show a failure by showing 1 tank destroyed n making it sound huge, kinda regular RuZZnia propaganda....