Ukraine Update
Well, I haven’t done one of these for a while, so …
Did you hear the one about the US shelling a nuclear power plant—through its proxy vassal state, the one we, like, totally own for the time being?
It’s true.
The Russians occupied the plant early on to safeguard it. The West wants you to think that its the Russians who are now launching artillery and missile strikes at the nuclear plant that they occupy. Yeah, right.
You can read a bit more here:
The title is a bit misleading. There’s no battle going on, in the usual sense. The Ukrainians are simply launching some stealth strikes.
The idea behind this reveals that the US now knows that Ukraine is a lost cause. Therefore these attacks are being launched and blamed on the Russians. In “response,” the West is demanding that the power plant be placed in a demilitarized zone—which would establish a sort of de facto ceasefire, at least in the middle part of Ukraine. Russia appears to be disinclined to fall for the ruse. They say they’ll be happy to have the plant demilitarized, with their own troops staying in place.
Now, here’s an interesting article from South Front, which summarizes an article that appeared at the United States Marine Corps Gazette. It’s written by a Marine and analyzes Russia’s conduct of its special military operation:
Here are some key excerpts:
The picture that has been presented of the war in Ukraine is completely at odds with the reality of the situation on the ground. Surprisingly, information that supports this assertion, which totally undermines the Western media narratives regarding the war, is provided by an article in the August edition of the United States Marine Corps Gazette. Writing under under the pen name Marinus, a senior marine corps officer, provides an objective analysis of Russian military strategy since late February. It totally undermines the narratives provided by Western media and pro Washington politicians.
Marinus observes how Russia has pursued three distinct military campaigns since the beginning of the war in late February 2022. In the north fast moving Russian troops never attempted to capture cities such Kiev or Kharkov, they never made any attempt to convert temporary occupation into permanent possession. Their whole purpose was to act as a ‘grand deception’ which led the Kiev government to divert large forces from its main field army in the Donbass. This gave the Russian army the time to deploy its artillery units in large numbers into the Donbass, secure transport networks and accumulate large quantities of ammunition for the long campaign ahead.
In the southern campaign Russian armed forces ‘took immediate possession of comparable cities’. This was accompanied by a thoroughgoing political transformation whereby Russian civil servants took control of local government and Ukrainian banks and cell phone providers were replaced with Russian ones. Alongside this, Russian forces conducted raids in the vicinity of the city of Mikolaiv. These raids as in the ones around the northern cities forced the Ukrainian military to send forces to defend Mikolaiv and Odessa that otherwise could have been sent to the main theatre of operations in the Donbass.
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In the east of Ukraine in the Donbass region Russian forces conducted bombardments ‘that, in terms of both duration and intensity, rivalled those of the great artillery contests of the world wars of the twentieth century’. Made possible by short supply lines these heavy bombardments in the Donbass served three purposes. Firstly, they pinned down Ukrainian infantry in their fortifications. Secondly, they inflicted a large number of casualties both physical and psychological. The psychological effect has led many Ukrainian units either to retreat and abandon their positions or refuse orders to attack. Thirdly, when conducted for a sufficient period of time these bombardments have forced defenders to with draw from their trecnhes or surrender.
Marinus compares the scale of the Russian bombardment in the Donbass by comparing the struggle for the town of Popasna (18 March to 7 May 2022) to battle of Iwo Jima (19 February to 26 March 1945). At Iwo Jima US marines fought a ferocious battle to capture eight square miles of fortified ground. In Popasna Russian gunners bombarded the Ukrainian infantry in their trenches for eight weeks before they withdrew after suffering heavy casualties.
Note that well. It took the US a good month to capture the 8 square miles at Iwo Jima, supported by massive naval and air bombardment. The Ukrainians, with NATO advice, have been preparing their fortifications since 2014. It should not be surprising that the Russians are proceeding methodically.
Russia’s offensive operations in the east of Ukraine have been criticised by many, both pro Ukrainian and pro Russian as slow and ponderous. Marinus contrasts Russian operations in the Donbass with the war on the Eastern Front during World War 2 where both German and Russian forces made extensive use of cauldrons where enemy forces were encircled and then destroyed or forced to surrender. He observes that:
Freedom“ from the desire to create cauldrons as quickly as possible relieved the Russians fighting in Eastern Ukraine from the need to hold any particular piece of ground. Thus, when faced with a determined Ukrainian attack, the Russian often withdrew their tank and infantry units from the contested terrain. In this way, they both reduced danger to their own troops and created situations, however brief, in which the Ukrainian attackers faced Russian shells and rockets without the benefit of shelter.’’
This point also counters all the triumphant Western propaganda which proclaims major defeats for Russia when Ukraine forces win minor tactical victories and Russia withdraws troops from a position. The Russian withdrawal from Snake Island being a good case in point.
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In conclusion this senior marine officer declares that Russia’s military campaign owes much to traditional Soviet models of warfare. However, he goes on to express his admiration for the unique nature of the current military campaign being fought by Russian forces in Ukraine:
“At the same time, the programme of missile strikes exploited a capability that was nothing short of revolutionary. Whether new or old, however, these component efforts were conducted in such a way that demonstrated profound appreciation of all three realms in which wars are waged. That is, the Russians rarely forgot that, in addition to being a physical struggle, war is both a mental contest and a moral argument.’’
I am not convinced the moves on Kharkiv and Kyiv were feints. I suspect the Russians were attempting a lightning capture of the Ukrainian capital. It just failed is all, the Russians were smart enough to quickly adjust their strategy and pursue a more methodical and grinding one- one that appears to have been highly successful.