Will Putin Invade Ukraine?

[Hydra009]

The US will also increase artillery production sixfold

The US simply has much, much more industrial might to draw upon than Russia.  And that has only widened due to sanctions and the ally mismatch (the US has Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan, etc - Russia has Belarus and Iran and maybe North Korea)

When it comes to shipping supplies and feeding the guns, Russia will run out first.

[Cassia]

The US will also increase artillery production sixfold

The US simply has much, much more industrial might to draw upon than Russia.  And that has only widened due to sanctions and the ally mismatch (the US has Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan, etc - Russia has Belarus and Iran and maybe North Korea)

When it comes to shipping supplies and feeding the guns, Russia will run out first.

[Hydra009]

Russian ambassador reacts to Abrams tanks:  "Obviously, Washington is deliberately trying to inflict strategic defeat on us,"

To the contrary, we're not trying to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.  Ukraine already has that on lock.  We're just going to exacerbate that defeat into such a goddamn catastrophe for Russia that Dictator Putin will shoot himself in his bunker and Russia will never be in the position to threaten one of its neighbors again for a long, long time.

[Shiranu]

The US will also increase artillery production sixfold

The US simply has much, much more industrial might to draw upon than Russia.  And that has only widened due to sanctions and the ally mismatch (the US has Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan, etc - Russia has Belarus and Iran and maybe North Korea)

When it comes to shipping supplies and feeding the guns, Russia will run out first.

I might need to look into shifting careers towards arms production...

[Unbeliever]

Yeah, it seems to be a very lucrative business these days. 🪖💣⚔️

[Hydra009]

I might need to look into shifting careers towards arms production...

Or sales.

[Hydra009]

Russia launched another missile barrage (probably in response to the tank news, since they admitted to doing such things in retaliation for bad news from their perspective and to prompt "peace" negotiations)

Ukraine shot down 47 out of 55.  24 out of 24 shahed drones also shot down.  Killed 1 and wounded 2.  Apparently they think Kyiv will surely surrender after such an onslaught.

[Hydra009]

Canada looking into sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine

[Cassia]

Meanwhile the Russians got back some of their Soviet-export, 1944 vintage T34 tanks and are so happy they still crank-up! Could be a future Mark Felton episode if they end up actually deploying them.
 
https://twitter.com/i/status/1618564448582774784

[Hydra009]

LOL T-34s.

Those fuel pods on the side might as well have a "shoot here" sign on them.  Don't get me wrong, they got the job done in WWII, but man, they definitely don't hold up against modern weapons.

And speaking of low T tanks, Russia is considering sending in its T-14 Armata tanks to Ukraine.  Though why they haven't been used yet says a lot in itself.  Think about it.  If you were in charge, wouldn't you send your best to ensure victory?  Would it make sense to take T-62 out of storage and send them in first?  Would you sit on them as your forces were chewed up in a grinding war of attrition for nearly a year?

There's good reason for this hesitancy, and that reason is that they're of dubious quality: 

Russian forces deployed in Ukraine have been "reluctant to accept the first tranche of T-14 allocated to them because the vehicles were in such poor condition," the MoD wrote in a Twitter post.

[Hydra009]

After seeing a war footage video from Halloween of last year where a Russian tank in Ukraine turns its turret during combat and very nearly crushes infantry on top of another vehicle (the infantry were certainly manhandled, but luckily for them, the turret pulled back before anyone splatted) I can safely say that at this point, it honestly doesn't matter what sort of tank they're in.  They're too stupid to operate them well, so if they're up against peer or near-peer forces, they will lose.

[Hydra009]

Spain to send 40 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine

The Leopard tanks that Spain will send to Ukraine will be up to 40 of the old 2A4 tanks.

Delivery times range from four months to a maximum of one year for those in the worst condition.

[Hydra009]

Poland is sending 14 Leopard tanks PLUS 60 PT-91 tanks

PT-91 is basically a heavily upgraded T-72.  All new engine, fire control, communications, etc.  Ukrainian forces will definitely enjoy using those.

The basic aim of the T-72 conversion was to adapt it to the reality of modern warfare and fix its most visible deficiencies. Among those were low mobility, insufficient armour, lack of a fire control system and poor stabilisation of the main gun, which resulted in poor firing accuracy. An additional problem was the lack of passive night vision aiming systems.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT-91_Twardy

LOL this is what Russian forces currently use, if they're lucky and don't get a T-62.

[Hydra009]

Daily Russian KIA up to 850.

At this rate, they'll hit 150k by March.

[Hydra009]

In order to take the tiny mining town of Soledar, Wagner forces lost two-thirds of their manpower

Wagner forces also bitterly complained about the lack of artillery support from the Russian military (Wagner reportedly wanted to take all the credit for Soledar, so it makes sense to do it unaided so as to not lie)

The US has branded Wagner a criminal organization and introduced new sanctions (this is another one of those things that should've been done months ago)