15km trail of destruction

[zoltan]

Don't want to take sides or start a debate but for truck watchers this horrible war is providing an interesting insight into what kit is still being used

This convoy definitely shows some much more elderly vehicles

https://youtu.be/RR8BVr_B338

[texas pete]

It's horrific, looks like they went through hell. I assume that is the results of a mrls attack?

[portamurda1]

Going by the comments, and obviously there are both Russian and Ukrainians commenting, ones identifying Ukrainian and Russian insignia and both claiming the others ‘ran off into the forests’
Who is it said that ‘the first thing to die in war is the truth’
Looks almost like ambush to me rather than Rocket/missile, except local hh, that there was actually little surface damage (road and roadside) and bugger all damage to most of the vehicles apart from the two groups of those burnt out, it does seem reasonable to assume ‘they’ did indeed bugger off, don’t blame them…
but I noted on associated press, reuters and Shayan Sardanizadah fact checking that there is lots of out of context, faked, one-sided (ie both sides claiming the upper hand), and downright propaganda being played out on all social media sites and, like the BBC, getting found out sharing this content without verification

[texas pete]

Yeah, it's weird but finding 9gag more reliable for truth than our prescribed news outlets at the moment as everyone asks for proof on most postings with debunked posts getting down rated.
But most of those vehicles carry Ukrainian markings, I guess they will be left there now as denied assets from drone and artillery coverage

[portamurda1]

Seeing conflicting reports of Russians disguised as Ukrainian forces that have been destroyed, but again, the fog of war.
There was one verified of a couple of Ukrainian marked vehicles being ambushed by actual Ukrainian units. These were soft skinned except for one BRDM, the clip of part of the ‘shoot out’ was more keystone cops with the brutal ending of a shot to the head, I think why the clip was pulled…Ukrainian intelligence must be either brilliant or, again, mostly propaganda.

[portamurda1]

Seems YouTube and TikTok are removing videos and/or commentary…not that I’m looking after seeing some barbaric action…but there’s always RT https://odysee.com/@RT:fd
there are a few routes round the bans on certain news outlets and a fairly constant feed on from an anonymous ex UK soldier who covered the last few years in Syria and Afghanistan
His commentary on Russian vehicle losses concluded a lot of stuff is either breaking down, being sabotaged by their own units (intercepted communications allegedly verified by MoD) or destroyed by ambush and planned deep defences…he’s trying to get more concrete info about the Ukrainian losses but there’s more rumour than fact
some of the pictures show quite old gear with the newest ‘captured’ being a bmp3 which had broken down…but he cautions any ‘claims’ as the same vehicle has been photographed in various locations as being a different vehicle each time…Ukrainian farmers were dragging it around with huge tractors until it was taken to a repair station, for use against the invader, this afternoon

[Abrs]

Looks like they're deliberately targeting residential buildings now, seen a few videos of missile strikes on one town, one where it took out an entire block of flats. Seems they want to scare off the civilians so they can then use thermobaric weapons to clear out the entrenched positions, I'm guessing they're meeting too much resistance doing it the old fashioned way.

[paulob1]

there is certainly no really good news coming in, where are the reporters...seems they are not out there reporting...

[acmatman]

Would you blame them ?

[Abrs]

Seems like now there's a lot of Russian soldiers that don't actually want to have any part in this fight. I've seen lots of videos showing abandoned Russian vehicles of all types that are left in fully working order, sometimes complete with fuel and ammunition. The reports are that their crews have simply left the vehicles and handed themselves in to the nearest Ukrainian forces, presumably that's the better option vs either continuing to fight or returning to their commanders!

Can't say I blame them at this point. This war just goes to show how hopelessly obsolete vehicles such as tanks have become! Now the Ukrainians have been stockpiling and are receiving even more quantities of modern ATGM's and drones, this I think will turn out to be a battle of attrition that the Russians will probably lose. Man portable anti-tank weapons are relatively cheap compared to building a tank, they are easy to rapidly deploy and almost anyone can learn to use one in a very short space of time, a tank on the other hand takes a long time to build, it's crews must be trained extensively, and it's build and running costs are considerable!

I also notice the Russians seem to be hurriedly trying to fabricate various types of cage and slat armour for their tanks, presumably to counter top down ATGM's such as javelin & NLAW. Unfortunately for the Russians it seems that even this seems to offer very little extra protection, especially against javelin as it uses a tandem warhead that will most often counter any cage/slat armour or ERA. Apparently there are more Javelins in Ukraine now than in the rest of the NATO countries put together! Not to mention all the other anti tank weaponry at their disposal - probably not such a nice feeling for any Russian crewmen in possession of that knowledge I'd expect!

Anther aspect of this conflict is that Russia relies mostly on convoys of trucks to resupply front line units, normally the Russian preference is for trains to to get supplies in fast, but Ukraine has very few usable rail networks that can be utilised, meaning almost everything is brought in by road in cargo trucks. These convoys are especially vulnerable, and the Ukrainians have become specialists in targeting them, mostly by making use of drones to wreak havoc on theses soft skin vehicles. You can have the best tanks in the world on the battlefield, but if you cant get fuel and ammo to them they are just scrap metal!

[paulob1]

that is very true, I would not be a tank driver on todays battle field, every man and his dog is trying to kill you...and we all know tanks without troops in defence are highly vulnerable...in a convoy they are just sitting ducks with no ability to fight back...
we were on salisbury plane last week with a troop of javelin armed sections. we were hit three times from a distance that we had not idea they were there. We had a russian Spandrel...when a challenger went by at about 200 yards he spotted us turned his gun on us and pumped out smoke...it was too windy for the smoke to be effective but he had spotted us and had loosed a round our way before we had fired...I suspect as it was a side shot we would have immobilized him but not killed him..but his fighting days would have been numbered for sure...even though we would likely have been dead...

the convoys are a gift from heaven for the defensive forces is they ambush them properly...

[Abrs]

The real trouble for the Russians is that they have nowhere to hide, gone are the days of moving under cover without being noticed. Now surveillance is everywhere. The Russian armoured and supply convoys are tracked before they even leave Russia, satellite and spy planes track them constantly, once they are in Ukraine the surveillance gets even more numerous, there are all the usual military intel methods such as UAV's etc, but also now in this modern age civilians are doing there bit to help keep track or Russian units, there's an entire volunteer army of people using consumer drones to locate and track Russian forces, and of course there's also the good old fashioned mobile phone! The Russians can't even get out of their tanks and take a sneaky p#ss without being seen! let alone try and move anywhere without being noticed.

Doesn't help that modern tanks such as the ones the Russians are fielding aren't as capable cross country as tanks from an earlier era, their tracks are made for covering long distances on road at speed, this means that they have sacrificed traction, which unfortunately in Ukraine would be extremely beneficial. As things stand Russian forces rarely deviate from the highways for the fear of getting stuck in the heavy Ukrainian mud and soft ground. Also worth mentioning is that modern tanks have become extremely heavy, at least 40 tons upwards for most of their current fleet, this coupled with the lack of traction puts them at an extreme disadvantage with them being confined predominately to the highway - easy targets for when a couple of guys show up with some ATGM's, which I've read they often do by civilian car or on motorbikes/quads. It's kind of guerrilla tactics by the Ukrainians but it's very effective and what other option do they have!