Article

2022-02-28 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

The Russian perspective: The situation in various directions in Ukraine by February 28

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by badanov 2022-02-28 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Country to western tabloid press spam, David P Goldman of AsiaTimes reports that their western military intel sources' info is that Russians are taking their time and preparing to encircle Kiev and other cities

NEW YORK – Russian forces are driving the Ukraine army into pockets of envelopment, well-informed European military sources told Asia Times.

“The Russians are in no hurry,” a European military intelligence analyst wrote in a text message. “They will engage and drive the Ukrainians into several pockets. Then they will ask them to talk or kill them. It’s a time-honored tactic.”

There are three major Russian encirclement maneuvers presently in progress, the intelligence source added. The first is in the south, with troops moving to the west of Mariupol, the largest city in the breakaway Donbass region whose independence Russia recognized last week.

Russian columns are moving north on the west side of the 70-kilometer highway that connects Mariupol and Mykolaivka. In Donbass, Russian forces are bypassing heavily entrenched Ukrainians on the so-called Line of Control, threatening the Ukrainian fortifications from the rear.

Kiev is already encircled, its mayor told the Associated Press late on February 27: “Mayor Vitali Klitschko was silent for several seconds when asked if there were plans to evacuate civilians if Russian troops managed to take Kiev,” the AP reported. “We can’t do that, because all ways are blocked,” he finally said. “Right now we are encircled.”

Google Maps shows that roads close to the capital on the west side of the Dnieper River are closed, presumably by Russian columns pushing south from Belarus.

Russia appears to be trying to minimize casualties—a potential political liability for Putin—and avoiding frontal assaults on entrenched Ukrainian positions or urban warfare in Ukraine’s major cities.

Instead, the Russian Army is fighting a war of position, with the aim of cutting off Ukraine’s best units from resupply and forcing a negotiated settlement on Moscow’s terms.

The Russian Army knows the terrain and tactics well. During the Second World War, Ukraine was the setting for history’s biggest battles of encirclement.

The German envelopment of Russia’s Southwestern Front in the First Battle of Kiev in 1941 resulted in over 700,000 Russian casualties.

In 1943, the Soviet First Ukrainian front attempted to envelop and annihilate the German Army Group South. Although this failed – as did the Germans’ attempt at a counter-envelopment – Russian forces retook the city of Kiev and left German forces exhausted.

Posted by Slons Unigum7651 2022-02-28 01:05|| 2022-02-28 01:05|| Front Page Top

#2 Yes, keep burning through your reserves, resources and stockpiles. Keep tripping over yourselves showing how less than competent your military executes its mission. It's been so badly done I'd suspect the Biden White House planned it. Notice the Chinese are sitting this out. Didn't even join your master in vetoing the UN resolution. You don't think Beijing knows the vast resources that lay just north of them. Put a brave face on it.

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-02-28 07:34|| 2022-02-28 07:34|| Front Page Top

#3 The Russian Army knows the terrain and tactics well. During the Second World War, Ukraine was the setting for history’s biggest battles of encirclement.

Maybe they shouldn't have sent 90-year-olds to war?

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-02-28 09:10|| 2022-02-28 09:10|| Front Page Top

23:29 Thing From Snowy Mountain
23:21 Herb Snaith3120
23:15 trailing wife
23:07 badanov
23:07 Angaiper Ulavins1210
23:00 Bill Untervehr7873
22:27 Hupavimp Thrusort7210
22:23 Chealing Chomotle4158
22:14 Chealing Chomotle4158
22:11 Rob Crawford
22:09 Rob Crawford
22:07 Chealing Chomotle4158
21:36 Angaiper Ulavins1210
21:11 badanov
21:03 trailing wife
20:36 Rex Mundi
19:58 SteveS
19:52 DooDahMan
19:51 DooDahMan
19:49 DooDahMan
19:26 SteveS
19:23 Mercutio
19:11 Cleling Panda1816
19:07 Besoeker