2 days ago. From Yuri Butusov at Censor.net.
Generally, I find this source mostly factually correct, though less moderate in tone.
This article is bullish and may not be indicative of the whole situation in the region. These are not easy villages to defend. But it does beg the question of why Russia is unable to get half-decent kit to some of its troops, who are only 10 miles inside the Ukraine border.
Note the 65 year old wired telephone systems - the sort the German army rolled out on hand-held drums during WW2. It is not impossible some may even have been captured German stock. Essentially we are talking about wires rolled out over the battlefield to allow commanders to talk to each other! I saw something similar on Antiques Roadshow once.
I am mindful of the 700,000 Russian troops allegedly in reserve. We can very, very crudely cut that number down by half for frictional retirements, admin staff and minimum security in the regions and perhaps those who do not even exist. It is pretty reasonable to expect that 'ghost soldiers' existed on the Russian payroll as they did on Afghanistan's. This is a country whose oligarch's spent more on yachts that the Northern Fleet were given to upgrade its boats. That leaves 300,000 in reserve and we might then cut that down by another half for air force and navy personnel and other branches whose roles do not lend themselves to this offensive. Even so, personnel should be trained first and foremost as an "infantryman" - capable of being used in the frontline. So I am troubled as to why we are not seeing more decent kit being brought up to the frontline. I have not seen any plausible explanation, though the obvious conclusion is that it does not exist. Unshakeable proof of that is still awaited.
Note - The 'lease' YB is referring to I presume is the US new Lend Lease programme specifically for Ukraine.
The Russian army has almost no heavy weapons, transport is lacking, and general mobilization is failing. Putin's hopes of prolonging the war in Ukraine have not materialized.
Russia does not have the resources to carry out universal mobilization and wage a long war.
Today our troops liberated the villages of Kutuzovka and Momotovo in the Kharkiv region.
The villages were defended by units of the infantry battalion of the 1st Army Corps, formed from those mobilized in the Donetsk region, among them were people with combat experience, deployed defense, buried.
In a short attack, more than 30 enemy soldiers were killed, the rest escaped, there are prisoners.
The enemy's weapons are poor. The villages are entangled with TA-57 field telephone wires, there is no radio communication for those mobilized in the Russian Armed Forces, they were not given bulletproof vests, steel helmets, most without first aid kits at all. And those who have standard first-aid kits of the RF Armed Forces, ours do not take them as trophies, no one needs Esmarch's plaits.
Lots of infantry weapons, but nothing modern. Heavy weapons are not available. There is a lack of transport, civilian cars are in very poor condition.
There are no arms supplies for them.
Therefore, what can be the general mobilization of the Russian army - can be seen in the example of mobilized "DNR". Putin has no weapons for hundreds of thousands of unmotivated and poorly trained soldiers. The Russians will be armed as well as the DNR, they have no other resources. Putin does not have enough resources to strengthen his army.
In general, Putin's hopes of prolonging the war in Ukraine do not come true. As soon as the lease for Ukraine goes wide, the Ukrainian army will gradually gain the upper hand, and the Russian army will receive the most devastating defeat in the history of the 21st century.
Yuri Butusov Джерело: censor.net/ua/r3337825