re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

How is Russia going to train and equip the troops coming in from a mass mobilization and how is Russia going to support them in the field?

I admit I'm not familiar enough with the Russian army to know what their bootcamp process looks like for conscripts? They can't possibly be planning to just give them a rifle and point them to the front can they??? That's suicide against a modern army.

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How is Russia going to train and equip the troops coming in from a mass mobilization and how is Russia going to support them in the field?

I admit I'm not familiar enough with the Russian army to know what their bootcamp process looks like for conscripts? They can't possibly be planning to just give them a rifle and point them to the front can they??? That's suicide against a modern army.

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In the US Army basic plus infantry AIT is 21 weeks. At that point, you have a very green soldier that needs time to integrate into their unit which already has a well-trained NCO corp. If you took a group of freshly minted 11B PV2s (infantry privates) and threw them into combat it would look like monkeys trying to frick a football, at least until they were KIA. Given Russia's military already looks like said simians units made from mainly post "training" conscripts would be more like a fish trying to play golf. Hopefully, Russia has a coffin-building brigade.

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No Russian leader has never cared about the lives off their soldiers or citizens.

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My man...they were legit practicing Serfdom in the late 19th Century.



Russia has always been about the Elite Class, and everyone else beneath that class.

And anyone who wasn't part of the elite class isn't worth the time it would take to spare a thought of if they even existed.


And the ironic part of it all is that the "Elite" class, aka the historical rulers, weren't even from Russia. They aren't even Slavs.

They are from Sweden. The Rus/slavs begged Swedish mercenaries to come over and protect them, and offered them the Kingship.

They took the offer and eventually settled on Kiev being the best place for a Capitol. And the other areas, like Moscow, were divided between the sons of the first King.

The First "Tsar" was a Scandinavian Mercenary.

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Many large #Chinese companies have suddenly exited the #Russian market.

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they got the memo

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monkeys trying to frick a football

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like a fish trying to play golf.

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I wish more people on the OT wrote like this.

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That's suicide against a modern army.

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Pro tip: It was suicide in earlier wars, too. I get your point, but Russia has a sordid history of "meat grinder" tactics and a disregard for human life..

Russia rn:

Don’t underestimate the Russians dumbassedness. They killed millions by sending them into the teeth of German machine guns in WW2.

To quote the late great Leonard Cohen, “I’ve seen the beauty in their weapons” M777s are sooooo beautiful.

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How effectively can Ukraine use an extra 500k reservists right now?

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I don't know how effective they will be. Like someone else said it takes 21 weeks to turn a civilian into a green new private in the US Army. Ukraine has had and still has NATO nations helping train their forces so it 21 weeks is probably a good estimate of what it takes to turn a Ukrainian civilian into a new green private. If Russia announces mass mobilization to get to 800,000 soldiers it will still be behind since Ukraine started mobilization at the start of the invasion. If Russia tries to rush their mobilization to get troops into the field (which they will) then those troops will perform no better than how the Russian forces have performed already. If by some miracle for Russia it has learned from its mistakes and tries to take a new approach then it will need a longer than 21 weeks to adjust its training and train the soldiers. That gives Ukraine a window to take offensive action and drive Russian forces out of as much of Ukraine as possible or prepare defenses against the next Russian assault.

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Everything I read today suggests that this is a highly technical war being waged by mechanized infantry, tanks and artillery. If the reservists are essentially unmounted infantry, what utility are going to find at the front in an offensive role, if any

Is it enough to deploy them in fixed positions in the east to hold that line while they advance in the north?

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You forget that unlike Russia not all of Ukraine's reservists are green to start out with. Ukraine has been receiving training from NATO nations since 2015 and it has been at war since 2014. Ukraine had a reservist force of 900,000 prior to the invasion. A large part of that reserve force spent some time on the Donbas front. I would imagine that the 250,000 - 500,000 (sources differ on the exact number because unlike Russia Ukraine is not broadcasting its troop strength to the public) reservists that Ukraine has called up are the troops that have served on the Donbas front. Those are also the troops that are in Germany learning how to operate NATO artillery and in western Ukraine being trained by NATO how to operate as effective mechanized infantry and the other skills they will need.

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Is it enough to deploy them in fixed positions in the east to hold that line while they advance in the north?

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The Ukrainian Territorial Defense Force which consists of civilians with a few days of training helped the active Ukrainian forces hold the Russians out of Kyiv and Mykolaiv. The TDF held the line while while the Ukraine military maneuvered and counterattacked and drove the Russians back. If civilians with very little training can do that then I would imagine that reservists which will have at least some training will be able to hold off Russian forces which will also have very little training.

The old saying is that an attacker will need a force at least 3 times larger than the defender. If you add in 800,000 Russian reservists/conscripts to the remaining Russian forces sent to into Ukraine which is between 100,000 - 120,000 troops. That will give Russia just shy of 1,000,000 troops. However, that is only 1.5 to 1 or 1 to 1 if Ukraine activates all of its reserves. That is why I said that 600,000 - 800,000 Russian reservists is not going to be enough troops to defeat Ukraine.