RuAF useless though. mainly arty fight.

I do feel Russia just use 20% of their military might

if we are referring to people, then yes, and not even 20%. russia has a large population that it can draft on but not sure what level where people will feel it violates the social contract between putin and the people.

edit
the one thing that made me curious is why they don't want to commit their air power in the first 12 months of the war, they number of bombers and planes could have overwhelm Ukraine air defense before it was buff up.

Bizarrely, Ukraine is also look intent on recapturing Bakhmut

I still don't understand why pipul put so much stock in small-scale destruction by HIMARS when Russian strategic and tactical air units are bombing Ukraine literally on a daily basis nowadays?

And pls don't tell me u believe in those 'Patriot shot down 99%' nonsense

i am just very curious how STATIC DEFENSE (example, trenches, pillboxes, fox holes) will perform in today modern warfare.

WW2 where the imminent combat range is 500m to 1km? snipers add another 1-2km?
artillery and mortars serve as area suppression than actually accurate fire and air bombing + ground coordination is slow.

unlike WW2, imminent combat range now is 500m to 5km? auto grenade launcher, FPV drones, bomber drones, ATGMs, mobile short range rocket fire, recon drones to support mortar and artillery fire. instant fire correction method. air burst munitions as well as thermobaric warhead.

i am like 50% yes 50% no, cause a lot of weapons doesn't exist in WW2.
especially FPV drones, soldiers in trench is like target 🎯 practice for these.

Seriously, I don't know why they are so surprised by it.... Its like they have no idea what apaches/cobras were built to do.....

i see you as a far more reasonable person for discussion even though you support the opposing side so no need to go all defensive about it.
while in the short term i don't think UA has able to solve the KA-52 8KM+ ATGM capabilities without bringing in some mobile AD cause Manpads just can't reach that far.

unlike the Kharkiv / Kherson offensive,
russians have been able to build up layers of defensive lines as you also said i think, these lines of defense are somewhat functional too.

anyone who expect this to be a rapid takeover is being ignorant whichever side they are part of.

i would say effective is because even with a few month of training, they are undertaking a combined arms offensive action that i am sure any military experts can say it is not easy, ESPECIALLY, without air cover.  it takes a lot of willpower, discipline, and determination to actually perform offensive action under enemy fire, artillery, mortars and navigating minefield.

can you quote to me who exactly said "wanted Crimea by summer" cause i want to LOL at that person too.

well Budanov optimism deserve a LOL then.
also i don't think Ukraine can take back Crimea by force as i believe this war will end in a meeting room with concessions given depending on the outcome of the battlefield.

the article quoted here:
Budanov’s forecast for this year is that Russia will focus on occupying more territory in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A renewed offensive from its forces stationed north of Ukraine, in Belarus, is unlikely, he said, and just an attempt to distract and divide Kyiv’s troops. He also said that “we must do everything to ensure that Crimea returns home by summer.”


i do agree that this is a foolish war but i don't agree who started provoking it first and i do agree NATO not exactly blameless.

yes, i think UA is having trouble with the KA-52 and i am not even sure if those mobile AD can hit targets like hover above treeline many kilometers away blurring between radar ping and landscape.

US keep saying it is unprovoked war. lol dai sohai believe them

personally I doubt F16 will help much for Ukraine... some of the functions / features / weapon range will possibly be reduced or crippled as Murika is cautious Ukraine will be attacking Russia targets thus escalating conflict further

Ukrainian radar station in Kharkiv.
Everyone seems to be using "netting" of some sort.

Wait, are you seriously trying to wage a war of attrition with Russia of all countries?

actually their doctrine is quite good, even the BTG doctrine is workable, the problem or maybe blessing is the training of the ground troops and/or the top down policy didn't allow their doctrine to be full utilized without effective results.

but yes, they are adapting quite fast.
in fact they even adapted the defensive strategy used by Ukrainian at Vulhedar against the counter offensive.

In terms of military strategy, it would be foolish to dismiss the traditions descended from the likes of Suvorov.
Keep in mind the current Russian arm forces =/= Soviet. The current Russian armed forces are objectively inferior not because of doctrine, but because of execution. They can't execute to plan because of a more fundamental weakness in organisational culture and endemic corruption compared to the Ukrainians. They're adapting, just not as fast as the Ukrainians. There is an armed force using the best bits of soviet doctrine, but it's not Russian.

Anti-Drone Gun

Seeing that the tank heavy concept was failing the Ukrainians switched to a much older and more bloody technic:

In these conditions, our guys, together with Ukrainian commanders, developed tactics of “mosquito” promotion: continuous attacks of Russian positions by small tactical groups of Ukrainian infantry. The Russians, who are much more sensitive to losses in manpower, try to prevent close (“contact”) battles and retreat when Ukrainians reach their trenches, allowing artillery to destroy the enemy. This usually succeeds: Ukrainians die or retreat. But this tactic has a positive effect. Several such attacks almost completely destroy the Russian position, most often with their own fire, after which the Russians are forced to retreat to a new line, where this tactic is repeated. That’s how in two weeks the Russians were pushed back three miles from Makarov’s strategically important position. And this tactic is constantly improving. Our side believe that, at the continuing pace of such progress, in two weeks Ukrainians will be able to overcome the Russian support band and start storming their main line of defense, while maintaining the offensive potential of their strongest brigades. Perhaps that’s what General Milley meant yesterday about the ten weeks of the Ukrainian offensive.

This tactical technique has another important effect. Russians are forced to spend more artillery shells to repel such “mosquito” attacks, the stocks of which they replenish more slowly than they spend. And in two weeks of such battles, they may well approach the depletion of their stocks. Of course, this leads to great losses of Ukrainians but, as I said at the beginning, they are not sensitive to the death of their soldiers. In addition, advances however small are a better justification for their death than unsuccessful attacks. And here, we must admit that the Russians today are much closer to the armies of Western countries than the Ukrainians are in this respect: the Russians take care of their soldiers ...

Why is it so hard for them to grant UA Nato membership?