True, but you have to consider those statistics include aircraft lost on the ground and flight accidents unrelated to battle which accounts for a substantial portion of the losses. I find it difficult to draw any analogies between current air warfare and that which was employed 50–60 years ago. For instance, the B-52’s mission dramatically changed between Vietnam and our operations in Iraq. Additionally, as a military we also have far fewer aircraft and consider them far less “disposable” than previously.
This is business and you’re making it personal. I simply restated Ukrainian claims and extrapolated the pace. Hence the usage of the word “pace”. If we want to get technical about it, most of what Ukraine reclaimed last week was territory they had just lost a few months ago when Russia pushed them out of Bakhmut. Hence the assertion “if we assume Russian gains will be 0”, which would be a silly assumption to make.
Still a nice haul by the Ukrainians. Russia only have 20 Mi-8’s. It does appear to be all one event, however, all downed within a two minute span. Looks like they were all on the same mission. Russia just f’d up. Not sure that proves Ukrainian air superiority as Zelenskyy was just lamenting Russia’s fierce chopper fire and air superiority three weeks ago.
I’ll set a reminder on my calendar to re-visit page 943 of the “War in Ukraine” thread on January 1st, 2024, but I didn’t make any projections or predictions. I simply re-stated the data Ukraine provided and extrapolated that out over time and square mileage, assuming some constraints on Russia that are frankly unassumable.
“Minutes later, a single Ukrainian air force Patriot surface-to-air missile battery shot down at least four, and possibly five, of the fighters and helicopters in the package. Eleven aviators died over Bryansk Oblast in what was one of the worst single-day losses for the Russian air force in the nearly 17 months of its wider war on Ukraine.” A Ukrainian Patriot Missile Crew Shot Down Five Russian Aircraft In Two Minutes—And Possibly Forced The Kremlin To Rethink Its Tactics
Chris Hedges: They Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About Ukraine. - scheerpost.com
and anti-tank missile to down helicopters. Ukraine claiming 13 km of advances in recent days Ukraine is Using Tank-Killer Missiles to Destroy Putin’s Helicopters (msn.com) reading between the lines, it appears that Ukraine has been using "soft" pushes to get artillery to expose itself and then go after the artillery with drones and missiles. Helicopters were very effective against these soft advances and Ukraine countered with effective means to neutralize the helicopters and the advances are now moving faster but still being delayed by artillery and mine fields. Does Russia have artillery staged behind the front hat can replace the units being lost? If not, it would seem that the breakthrough with the main battle force will occur once that front line of artillery is taken out and the mine fields neutralized/navigated
It’s almost like a well trained military is doing what is needed to degrade the capabilities of the aggressor before launching their real counterattack.
why the march to Moscow was stopped. 10B Rubles or $110M in US in cash and gold returned to Prigo wonder how many taste testers he has with him. Big stones or personal guarantees to show up in St Petersburg? Prigozhin arrives in St Petersburg, takes back seized weapons (yahoo.com) Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), personally arrived in St Petersburg on 4 July, where the weapons seized during the searches were returned to him. Prigozhin arrives in St Petersburg, takes back seized weapons | Ukrainska Pravda Putin Deal Hands Wagner's Prigozhin $111M Cash, Gold Bars: Russian Media (newsweek.com) Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly won back more than $100 million in cash and gold bars seized by Russian authorities in the midst of his short-lived June insurrection, as the oligarch-warlord continues negotiations with the Kremlin as to the stripping of his assets and his enforced exile in Belarus. St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka reported Tuesday—citing undisclosed internal sources—that around 10 billion rubles ($111.2 million) made up of boxes of U.S. dollars and five gold bars were returned to the disgraced oligarch, who last month led a Wagner Group mutiny against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chair of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The assets were confiscated by Russian authorities in raids on properties linked to Prigozhin on June 24, the day after Wagner Group fighters seized control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and a column set out towards Moscow. ........................ The seized assets reportedly weighed "a couple of tons" and were returned to Prigozhin's driver, who had been granted power of attorney, on July 2. Criminal investigators did not wish to relinquish the funds, but Fontanka reported that "judging by yet another reversal, a higher power intervened." Prigozhin said on June 24 that the money was intended to pay salaries to his Wagner fighters and compensate the families of fallen troops. St. Petersburg police seized the funds in two batches: first some $47 million from a parked minivan, and second another $66.7 million stored in 80 cardboard boxes in a second van.
Ukrainians keep killing themselves trying to take that little piece of land under the bridge in Kherson. They need a Twitter victory before the NATO summit.
Ukraine warns Russia might attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. How worried should we be? | CNN This makes no sense. If you're gonna do something like this, why would you put explosives in literally the only place that people can see from a thousand miles away?
Or alternatively, like they’re losing thousands and tens of thousands throwing themselves against thrice-hardened lines and enormous firepower advantage to lull Russia to sleep.
