The "What Are You Thinking About Right Now?" PIP

[SympathysSilhouette]

8 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

If he activates the reservists, he will generate a lot of motorized/mechanized infantry formations, and send them into Ukraine.

 

Wall Street Journal interviewed a US defense official who said that the Russians are recruiting Syrians for the war in Ukraine because the Russians need people to fight house to house.  On the Ukrainian side, they have already raised a legion of 18,000 foreigners (last I heard).

 

There are reports of the foreign legion already being 40K strong. Apparently there are 500 just from Canada alone!

[Cult Icon]

6 hours ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

 

There are reports of the foreign legion already being 40K strong. Apparently there are 500 just from Canada alone!

 

According to this article from a DC military analyst group, an unknown percentage of 261,000 conscripts are operational. They are only operational in the final months of their 12-month conscription term.   Besides that, 10% of 2 million active reservists is a smaller than 200,000 manpower pool for the Russians.  It would take time to integrate the reservists however the conscripts are faster. 

 

There are other news, that Moscow has transferred units from the far east and are moving them across Russia.  Also, Russian PMC and Paramilitary groups are starting to appear in the Ukraine (formly named Wagner Group and Chechen paramilitary).  IMHO, as long as this war remains categorically a "Special military operation", Putin will reinforce his Ukriane with paramilitary/PMC , largely as police and in the defense, to occupy territory.  Russia has a lot of these people.  This is scary for the Ukrainian civilians.

 

If Putin declares war, the immediately operational conscript/reserve pool will be start being released onto the battlefield.

 

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/explainer-russian-conscription-reserve-and-mobilization

 

"Approximately 261,000 conscripts from 2021 are currently serving across Russian units, with the fall 2021 conscripts entering their third month of training. New conscripts undergo a one- to two-month basic training, followed by three-to-six months of advanced training before arriving at their assigned units.[9]

Current law precludes conscripts from deploying to combat with less than four months of training; however, martial law or general mobilization could supersede the current policy, allowing for the immediate employment of new conscripts or mobilized reservists.[10] Some of the fall 2021 conscripts are likely already serving in units fighting in Ukraine.

The Russian reserve has over two million former conscripts and contract servicemen on paper, but few are actively trained or prepared for war.[11] Historically, only 10 percent of reservists receive refresher training after completing their initial term of service."

[Cult Icon]

There are protests in Russia, among their concerns is the potential for conscription.

[Cult Icon]

The foreign legion guys seem to be impulsively volunteering to go to the Ukraine.  But this is not Afganistan/Iraq, where the enemy was ragtag insurgents.  This is not an insurgency, they are going to fight the heavily armed and mechanized Russian military.  

 

This is scary stuff, going to the Ukraine looks like a death sentence.

[Cult Icon]

 Mariupol city hospital, hit by Russian air strikes

 

 

[Cult Icon]

  Ukrainian T-80

 

[Cult Icon]

 

[Matt!]

3 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

 Mariupol city hospital, hit by Russian air strikes

 

 

Children's hospital I believe..

[Matt!]

7 minutes ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

 

And I'm not referring to the beer, if that's not clear! Heineken! Only thing ruining the total package TBH. 😛

 

 

[elfstone]

It's glaringly obvious Mbappe is too good a player in this crap PSG team.

[Matt!]

 

[elfstone]

MOTHERFUCKER How have they bottled this OMG?????????

[Cult Icon]

looks like Putin got caught up on his lies about conscription.  The real mystery is how many against Ukraine are conscripts?  Perhaps there are far more than the public knows:

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-acknowledges-conscripts-were-part-ukraine-operation-some-taken-prisoner-2022-03-09/

 

"The ministry said that some of them, serving in supply units, had been taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army since the fighting began on Feb. 24.

Citing Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the RIA news agency said Putin had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts from the operation."

[Cult Icon]

3 hours ago, Matt! said:

 

Children's hospital I believe..

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60675599

 

Apparently it was evacuated? 17 injured, none were children.

 

"Deputy Mayor Orlov said at least 1,170 civilians had been killed in the city since Russia began its bombardment, and that 47 people there were buried in a mass grave on Wednesday, although those figures have not been independently verified."

[Cult Icon]

 

A local counterattack with Ukrainian infantry- small or very small attacks for small pieces of territory.  

 

Note the numerous RPG tubes.  Some of them their own Russian and the other Western.  Also the quantity of re-loads.  

[Cult Icon]

 the Russian government's communication right now is that a deal is being finalized with the Ukrainian government for peace as the Russians succeeded in encircling fifteen plus Ukrianian brigades, a strategic level defeat.

 

[Cult Icon]

 

 

Interesting footage from the Russian POV

[Cult Icon]

 

[Cult Icon]

Syrians and Central African fighters have announced that they are entering the war on the side of the Russians.

 

Mayor of Kharkiv tweeted that 400 buildings have been destroyed in his city.  Deputy Mayor of Mariupol in an interview stated that the 1200 dead in his city is an understatement; the real number is 3-4 times that right now.

[SympathysSilhouette]

The Syrian and African fighters is a PR coup for Putin, but not much more. They won't be deployed in great enough numbers (before you even get into the logistical issues getting them there in large numbers) and they don't have the operational capabilities to do any real damage in the actual battles. They might be used as shocktroopers to terrorize the populations of the already occupied territories. But that won't really impact Russia's hold on the country.