re: Russia to commence invasion of the Ukraine next week, Western defense officials believe

I could be wrong but I think that negotiations have failed so far and this is us calling his bluff. By saying he’ll invade, he will either completely isolate Russia from the rest of the world with an invasion or he’ll humiliate himself by not invading

I bet you are praying that your President sends our troops over too.

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Right now the ground is frozen, thus making movement of ground forces easy. But in a few weeks the spring thaw will come, making huge swaths of land virtually impassible, especially for follow-on logistics trains that have to keep up with the mechanized front line units.

Once the Spring thaw (Russians call it Rasputitsa) arrives, an invasion will be far more difficult. And it won’t be until late June or early July before the land will dry out enough to make an offensive feasible.

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Haha, this isn't WWII. They will just drive in on paved roads, and take over virtually unopposed. The air and cyber war will be what puts them in control, not tank and mechanized movements. Those methods are not really necessary these days.

If I were Putin and wanted Ukraine, right now is the perfect time to do it. NATO is a joke and is very divided. The US has a vegetable in the White House, the country is busy tearing itself apart, and our military leadership is more worried about trannies being accepted in the military than making sure the military can actually function and fulfill the roles for which it exists.

If (key word there) Putin wants to take Ukraine, there’s nothing to stop him. He knows it.

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Haha, this isn't WWII. They will just drive in on paved roads, and take over virtually unopposed. The air and cyber war will be what puts them in control, not tank and mechanized movements. Those methods are not really necessary these days.

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Everything you just said is wrong. It’s embarrassing frankly.

ETA: the only prayer Ukraine would have is if the Russian forces stuck to the paved roads. This would allow the Ukrainians to concentrate their vastly outnumbered forces in roadblocks and ambushes. Plus mining the shite out of the roads to slow the Russians. And the miles-long congestion of the roads would make tempting targets for air, artillery, and rocket strikes.

Honestly, how could you think just driving down the paved roads is a viable Stradegy?
:ritflmao:

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They're not doing it next week. It will at most be a few weeks after the Olympics. Xi will be furious if Putin ruins his little stupid games.

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3D Chess Plot Twist.

Xi wants Putin to invade Ukraine to distract everyone for how shitty these Olympics are and its terrible ratings.

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If you say so. If Ukraine is left to defend itself, Russia can drive right on in via northern, southern, and central paved highways. It will be over quickly. All the invasion paths I have seen proposed are over paved roads.

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Bless your heart. Just because the invasion routes you see have main highways doesn’t mean the forces will all concentrate on the roads themselves. In fact as I spelled out above that would beyond stupid. Sure, roads would be vital and would be used. But they can’t just keep to the roads. You have to take and hold the ground between those roads. If you don’t then all you’re doing is extending your forces into enemy occupied land and inviting them to defeat and destroy your forces in detail.

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ust because the invasion routes you see have main highways doesn’t mean the forces will all concentrate on the roads themselves. In fact as I spelled out above that would beyond stupid. Sure, roads would be vital and would be used. But they can’t just keep to the roads. You have to take and hold the ground between those roads. If you don’t then all you’re doing is extending your forces into enemy occupied land and inviting them to defeat and destroy your forces in detail.

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I agree with what you are saying, I just don't see where the Ukraine has the forces to defend any of this space. They are vastly outmanned and outgunned. Much more likely that they acquiesce pretty quickly and sue for peace by giving up the Crimea I think.

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I don't think they have any of this in place though. How quickly are they going to get the roads mined? What type of defenses do they have for roadblocks? They are woefully unprepared without serious international intervention.

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Ukraine has had their forces on a war footing for quite some time. And mining and blocking roads is quite simple and doesn’t take much time. All it will take is knocking out a few of the vehicles at true front of the convoy and the rest behind it are sitting ducks.

For a prime example of what happens to a mechanized column that is stuck on a highway by an enemy defending from cover, study the actions of Oberstrumfüher Michael Whitman in the Battle of Villers-Bocage in 1944. His single Tiger I decimated an entire Column of British tanks in a matter of 15 minutes by knocking out the lead and rear tanks of the column. After that all the other vehicles were sitting ducks, which he methodically knocked out in succession.

Armored forces are vulnerable when forced to remain in column formation on a road. They cannot bring their maximum power to bear while also being subject to being halted by an entrenched enemy on their flanks. Armor works best when advancing in formation across country where they can bring their full combat power to bear. That was true in 1944, 1991, 2004, and it’s still true today.