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Ukraine Smashes Tank Column Near Kyiv, Kills Commander of Russian Regiment

Posted on | March 10, 2022 | Comments Off on Ukraine Smashes Tank Column Near Kyiv, Kills Commander of Russian Regiment

Brovary is a suburb of Kyiv on the east side of the Dnieper River. A column of Russian tanks rolled into the town Wednesday, apparently seeking a way into Kyiv not blocked as the Ukrainian capital’s western approaches have been blocked. But the attempt to reach Kyiv proved deadly, as the Russians were ambushed in an attack that reportedly killed Col. Andrei Zakharov, commander of the 6th Regiment:

Drone footage shows a Russian tank column coming under fire on the outskirts of Kyiv.
A Russian tank commander was killed in the attack in the town of Brovary, the Ukrainian military claimed.
The footage, taken from a Ukrainian drone, shows three Russian tanks in the village of Skybyn before they are joined from the north by at least 20 Russian vehicles, including tanks and a TOS-1A, the thermobaric missile launcher system Russia recently confirmed it had used in Ukraine.
The vehicles turn and stop on the north side of the village before artillery shells and rockets begin to explode around them.
The closely grouped tanks appear to be thrown into disarray by the attack, eventually turning to retreat from the town.
A [British] military expert, Air Marshal Philip Osborn, said the grouping of the vehicles suggests they did not anticipate an attack.
“In regards to grouping, you would only group in that way if you felt relatively secure from attack,” he told Sky News. “This video proves that was a misjudgement.”
Intercepted radio communication in audio released alongside the video says they have been “ambushed” as multiple strikes hit the column. . . .
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said the Russian forces “suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment” and the tank column was forced to retreat and go on the defensive.
Footage taken in the aftermath of the ambush shows burning Russian vehicles on the road.

The video is some of the best “war porn” we’ve seen yet:

It appears that the Ukrainians hit the lead tank in the Russian column, then hit the last tank in the column, and were beginning to take out the tanks in between when the entire column made a hasty U-turn and headed back east. Some are saying the Ukrainians were using artillery, while others share my opinion that Javelin antitank missiles did the most damage, but regardless of what weapons the Ukrainians used, the Russian tactics were an invitation to disaster. You’re just going roll a dozen tanks down the middle of main street in broad daylight and think the enemy’s not going to be watching you? Clearly, the Ukrainians had planned this ambush well — they had picked this spot as a good trap, with “channelizing” features, and had it zeroed in with their artillery — and the surveillance drone was part of that plan. No doubt video of this ambush will serve as morale-boosting propaganda for the Ukrainians, showing their success in beating back the Russian invaders.

Russia’s losses in Ukraine continue to escalate:

he invading army has suffered “very, very significant casualties,” a U.S. official told CBS News on Wednesday, putting the U.S. estimate at between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian troops killed in action. That’s comparable to losses in World War II battles, the U.S. official said. It’s also, as Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich notes, “more than the number of Americans killed during the Iraq War.”
The U.S. estimate is about halfway between the 500 Russian casualties Moscow claims and the 12,000 Russian deaths claimed by Ukraine. The U.S. intelligence estimate also puts Ukraine’s casualties at 2,000 to 4,000 killed troops plus hundreds or thousands of slain civilians. 
Ukrainian forces continue to destroy a stalled 40-mile-long Russian military convoy north of Kyiv, and the “unexpected effectiveness” of Ukraine’s air defenses has curtailed Russian air activity, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said early Thursday, in its latest public intelligence assessment. . . .
“Putin truly believed people would greet (Russians) with flowers. Instead, they were met with Molotov cocktails,” Ukrainian diplomat Volodomyr Shalkivskyi said at Australia’s National Press Club on Thursday. “Russian soldiers going into Ukraine did not have extra ammo or food in their packs. They did however have a parade uniform for a Russian victory parade through Kyiv,” he added. “You cannot win a war against a free people determined to fight for their freedom. There is no way we will give up.”

Why should Ukraine give up now? They’re winning. If Russia has suffered 5,000 troops killed in action, that’s about 330 a day on average. That may not seem like much, considering that Russian invasion force is more than 100,000 troops, but when you factor in the addition troops wounded and captured — probably at least twice the KIA number — this brings Russia’s total manpower losses to somewhere around 15,000. This is not a trivial degradation of an army’s fighting capacity, and you must add into this calculus the losses of equipment that Russia has sustained, not only in terms of vehicles destroyed by the Ukrainians, but also the vehicles that have broken down or gotten stuck in the mud.

Every day the war goes on, Russian losses will only increase, and while the invaders are also inflicting losses on the Ukrainian defenders, those losses don’t do as much to degrade Ukraine’s ability to keep up the fight. No matter how many losses they’ve taken, the defenders can still hunker down and wait for their chance to strike in ambushes like the one that wrecked that Russian column at Brovary. How many Russian troops will die trying to make that town safe enough for the invaders to continue their advance on Kyiv? Even if it is defended by only a few dozen Ukrainians (well armed with Javelins and mortars), Brovary could remain an obstacle for weeks. And this doesn’t even consider the possibility that the Ukrainians might counterattack, striking the rear of the Russian invasion force and cutting their supply routes.

Guess who doesn’t think Ukraine can win? Our “experts”:

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Fox Business Tonight,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) reacted to the Biden administration’s rejection of Poland’s plan to transfer MiGs to Ukraine by stating that the U.S. is supplying Ukraine like they’re going to lose, the decision to send the jets should be left to Poland and Ukraine instead of D.C. bureaucrats, and it’s a good thing Zelensky hasn’t been to U.S. intelligence briefings because the intelligence community has “repeatedly said he has no chance” of winning.
Issa said, “[F]ortunately, President Zelensky doesn’t go to our classified briefings that have repeatedly said he has no chance, he will not survive, and he will crumble quickly. The problem, of course, is that we’re still resupplying him like he’s going to fail, instead of resupplying him like he’s going to stop this terrible dictator from taking a country by force.”

Our “intelligence community” really isn’t very intelligent.




 

Category: Russia, Ukraine

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