Fierce battles rage in Soledar, but Ukraine is still holding onto it and even launching counterattacks in some places

Quote"After several days of pulling back, we've even made a small advance," Ukraine's 46th Airmobile Brigade said on Telegram. "The railway station is ours. The mine is ours. We are waiting for support. Soledar is Ukraine."

Russia claims it has destroyed some Bradleys, even though they aren't in Ukraine yet

Just fyi for Russia: we don't deploy this stuff a week after announcing it, we have to train the Ukrainians first, and that takes a few weeks to a couple of months.

So wait a couple months, then claim you blew it up, otherwise it has as much credibility as blowing up the Batmobile or the Ninja Turtle van.

Daily invader death toll back in the 700s.

It doesn't matter where they are or what they're doing, those sorts of losses will ultimately exhaust them and ensure victory for Ukraine.

It appears that Wagner made a mistake in Soledar, they prematurely announced victory there, now they have to fully take it or their boss is a liar.

So now they're throwing everything they have at it, regardless of casualties, and fighting a lot of tactically unwise battles in the process.  Ukraine is taking advantage of such desperation and fighting Wagnerites in whatever favorable matchups they can find.  Things are difficult for them as well, but the key difference is that they can pull back when needed and fight smart, while the Wagnerites must charge ever onward.

As an amusing aside, Ukraine's border with Belarus is flooded because of beaver dams that locals haven't been able to clear because of the war.

So nature itself is helping to protect Ukraine.

Fuck russia

Quote from: Mr.Obvious on January 13, 2023, 03:09:58 PMFuck russia

and their national TV service, Fox.

HIMARS strike destroys Russian counterbattery radar

This radar is designed to pinpoint Ukrainian firing positions, allowing Russians to more accurately target Ukrainian artillery with their own artillery.

Its destruction is the loss of not only an expensive piece of equipment, but an extremely useful asset for Russia which threatens Ukrainian artillery.  Its destruction brings Ukrainian artillery crews relief.

It appears that Ukrainian forces are no longer fighting in Soledar, but along its outskirts, having been forced to withdraw.  So Russia mostly controls Soledar.

As much as I would've loved to see their advance beaten back, it didn't happen.  Instead, the Russians took heavy losses to take a town with little strategic value, much like Severodonetsk.

That "victory" made subsequent Russian advances difficult and opened up thinly-stretched Russian forces to counterattacks - like the famous Kharkiv counteroffensive, which denied Russia Kharkiv city, cut an important supply hub in Izyum, and pushed back Russian forces all the way to the border.  Russia was not able to seriously advance again until after the partial mobilization.

So this is a pyrrhic victory for Russia - the capture of a political objective rather than a strategic one.  Russian propagandists rejoice, Russian generals sob.  Oh to be a fly on the wall when Ukrainians drive Western tanks through such hard-won territory!

Speaking of tanks, the UK just announced that it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine

At the rate things are going, Ukraine stands to have a large supply of some really nice iron alloys. 😁

Ukrainian defense minister states that Russia loses 500-600 every day while Ukraine loses roughly 50-60 (10:1 ratio)

The previous ratio was about 6:1 (in war, it's common for the attacking side to lose more troops than the defending side) and as predicted, all the Western gear flowing into Ukraine, especially Ukraine's prolific use of drones and superior artillery, has widened that gap.

Wagner and the Russian military have been publicly squabling over who should be credited for the "victory" over the tiny salt-mining town of Soledar (Russia's only major advance in months, months in which it lost lots of territory in the Kharkiv region and the city of Kherson)

Wagner claims they alone did the fighting and claims that "corrupt bureacrats" try to steal their victory from them.

The Russian military announced the "victory", but made no mention of Wagner, later adding them as a footnote after complaints.

Those two have been publicly feuding for a while now, and it appears to be heating up.  They practically hate each other now.  Why, with just the right push, it's possible for them to come to blows...

Well, if they'd blow each other maybe they could patch things up.

One "elite" Russian battalion down to just 30 troops and 10 tanks

A full-strength battalion consists of 700ish troops and about 40 tanks, so there's some serious downsizing going on.  It seems that many opted for the Lada retirement plan, lol.