Russian invasion of Ukraine

From "The Analyst":

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE AT IVANISKE BLUNTED

The Russians have been trying very hard in the past weeks to take the village of Ivaniske, sited on the front just south of Bakhmut and north of Klieshievka.
Its importance is twofold. Its capture would allow the Russian forces to turn south and come behind Klieshievka - forcing the collapse of that part of the front and a Ukrainian withdrawal. The other is it is in the road to Stupochky which is a hub for Ukrainian logistics supporting Klieshievka and Chasiv Yar to its north- another target the Russians have set their sites on. However the main target is Kostyanivka the logistics key to the whole of this sector, which the Russians have been lobbing inaccurate missiles at causing civilian infrastructure damage.
Ukrainian forces expended artillery to counter battery fire and to force the Russians into hiding - in many ways revealing that the Russians had not the level of forces expected - especially in artillery.
The Russians have been making up for the lack of artillery - which has been deployed elsewhere- with FAB air launched glide bombs, but in the past few days, as losses mounted the skies above the area have been clear - I saw several shots of radar tracking screens showing zero air activity over the whole front. Without an operational A50-U the Su-34’s are too vulnerable and the losses have been far too high to sustain. As a result the Ukrainian forces have had some respite and been able to hold on to parts of Ivaniske and the front they might otherwise have given up under immense pressure. Usually the Russians follow up a bomb run with assault groups. Ukrainians are heavily entrenched in many areas here and it’s impossible to move them without this air support.
Until recently the Russians have been using the glide bombs in huge numbers against Chasiv Yar. Deliberately aiming them at industrial and high rise buildings, their aim is to demolish as many as possible, as completely as possible. They learned the lessons of Vuhledar. If a settlement is on high ground and it has high rise buildings, taking it is exceptionally difficult verging on impossible. They’re preparing it now for ground attacks that could be two months away.
The Russians have an uphill battle - both physical and metaphorical in taking Chasiv Yar. For one, it’s obvious what the target is, and two, there’s a lot of excellent defensive positions from hills to dense forest and streams in deep valleys they have yet to overcome. Inside Chasiv Yar a major canal runs north south through the town as an extra defence line. Ukraine isn’t going to make it easy for them.
With the spring mud season just around the corner, mobile operations are going to become difficult again until the summer. The Russians will try and consolidate their gains - not that they’ve made any of huge significance due to intense and well planned resistance.

Slava Ukraini !
 
you remember one downed **** ship today? it seems it had a rare ka-29 helicopter on board as well ;) nice strike Cossacks!
Apparently Russian news outlet says both Ship and Helicopter are being towed into port with minor damage..
 

Regarding the defeat of the patrol ship

"Sergey Kotov". Today, 05.03.2024, around 00:50 near Feodosia was

The patrol ship of project 22160 was hit

"Sergey Kotov". The attack was carried out using five

Crewless impact boats "Magura V5". The advance of the enemy boats was detected around 00:15. The units of the Russian Federation's Black Fout were proper

Informed about the impending threat.

The strikes were struck on both sides of the ship. According to the source, during the attack there was an explosion of the AK-176 artillery installation and

Destruction of the Ka-29 on-board helicopter. However, despite all the damage, the ship still remained afloat. Until an attempt was made to tow him to the port of Feodosia. In the course of movement, a patrol ship

Project 22160 "Sergey Kotov" sank.

Nothing is known about the fate of the crew yet.
——————————————————————————-
Sadly the Russians said “Six crew died and about five injured” .?
 
From "The Analyst":

UKRAINE CONTINUES TO CHANGE THE FACE OF NAVAL WARFARE

The sinking of the Sergei Kirov, a corvette sized fleet ship is not without its significance.
First off why was it so vulnerable? The answer is Russia is so short of radars and air defence systems these ships are being place in harms way out of necessity. This particular ship had its own defence anti-air system and bolted on the back instead of the usual anti-submarine helicopter, another larger S300 system from a land based launcher.
The attack surrounded the ship, and as is now common Ukraine practice, the first detonation is the site of the second drone strike as well. This has two advantages. It stops the second drone being fired at by defences knocked out by the first drone and lets the drone into the damaged hull to create a decisive and usually terminal explosion that sinks the ship.
This is a modern warship, barely two years old.
The deadly impact coastal drones have had in limited geographic areas has been truly staggering.
The whole means of defending the ship is small arms fire - longer range weapons soon prove useless as the ship itself has them too high and the guns can’t depress closely enough to take out immediate targets. This suggests an entirely new type of ship design and defence system is going to be necessary to combat low profile surface drones in the future.
While this war is confined to the Black Sea and is unique in its profile, longer range drones that face the dominance of ‘blue water’ fleets are inevitable. We’re on the brink of a complete transformation of naval surface warfare - and few navies have started to even begin to comprehend what that’s going to look like. Ukraine and the Houthis in the Red Sea have proven decisively that change is coming. Imagine not just drones with a range of 500km but 2,000km+ ?
As if that wasn’t enough, Turkish weapons company Roketsan tested a cruise missile fired from an aerial drone just a couple of days ago. Long range stand off missiles coupled to the simultaneous arrival of naval drones in a confined space such as the Black, Red, North or Baltic seas, then Persian Gulf, could and surely will transform naval combat and who commands the sea.
The lesson won’t be lost on the Russians or anyone else - as long as they’re paying attention. History however is not complimentary to those who control naval development. Old ideas get stuck into place and change is slow to come. If you can’t see the writing is on the wall for current naval ship design, you need an eye test. Ukraine is guiding us all in a very different direction.
 
Been working night for a couple of week,so been missing a bit.
Summat is being planned i think.
My cousin and 110th Mech Brigade are at Slobozhanske,Dnipropetrovsk Region.....about 100km from the front line...which is strange to him.
Anyway....not my words nor his.....

We're at the edge, staring into what many fear to acknowledge. The call to arms is clear, stark, devoid of any embellishment—it's a raw, unfiltered rally to those ready to stand firm in the face of what's coming. Igniting the will to fight with every fiber of our beings, knowing full well the cost.

We face a force that seeks to extinguish our spirit, our freedom, our very existence. We stand for the essence of who we are, for values that can't be subdued by fear or overpowered by tyranny.

It's time to cast aside illusions of an easy path forward. The enemy banks on our hesitation, our fear, our hope for an escape. They mistake our laughter for weakness, our silence for submission. Let's prove them wrong.

This is a call to those who understand the weight of the sacrifice yet are willing to shoulder it, not out of despair but out of an indomitable will to preserve what we hold dear. This is for those ready to prove that defeat is not in our blood, that we will embrace death before we let ourselves be vanquished.

Their tactics of fear, their attempts to demoralize us, will falter against our collective strength. They will come to know us as the very storm they feared would come. We stand ready, unyielding, propelled not by false bravado but by a steadfast commitment to fight, to endure, and ultimately, to prevail.

Death before defeat! Whatever it takes. for we are here to change the course of history. Our eyes, our souls, are wide open. The battle cry has sounded. Ancestors drums are rolling.
Let's rise and meet the moment.

Heroyam Slava......Slava Ukraini.
 

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