Russian special military operation in Ukraine #40

So the Ukrainians blew up a bunch of administrative buildings in Bakhmut? Final song?

Nope. They have to take airplance monument in order to finally cut off supplies through mud road.

Lots of anti Russia propaganda today in our news. "Wagner losing terrain in Bakhmut" and "Putin: Sanctions hurt us" both clearly not the case given the recent terrain advancements and economic growth numbers but still surprising. Not sure what they think they are thinking to achieve with this.

@ limb "Nope. They have to take airplance monument in order to finally cut off supplies through mud road."

They would have to take a lot more than that to have clear line of sight to the mud road. Probably another 500m of terrain North-west of that airplane monument area.

https://i.imgur.com/Y8RRsAK.png


Honestly Artyomosvk can't really be encircled with main road fire control alone. Too many dirt roads and non-swampy fields to drive through.

IIRC, the "smoke" you see after anything with a 125 mm fires is not gun smoke. Its the remains of the cardboard sleeve crimped into the metal stub which burns at a slower rate compared to the propellant. Not very healthy to inhale but so are cigarettes and nobody's bitching about that mass killer of soldiers. wrote:

You get smoke, the hatch has to stay open and some Ukrainian $1000 drone drops a grenade into your hatch. Also these tanks have to take into consideration peacetime training and reservists. All of which don't want to get exposed to toxic fumes. Imagine what its like when you are in intense battle and have yo shoot of your entire 30-40 rounds at max rate with the hatch closed!! OMG.

The fume extractor probably did not do its job here properly or this is just the unavoidable fume residues that - due to the sunlight in the video - are overexposed. The one thing that did surprise me was the ejection of the primer cap through the hatch. On the Abrams they have chosen to just drop on to the turret floor; not ideal either to sit in between spent primer caps stacking up on the floor.

I tend to believe that - during the design phase of the T-90 - drones dropping grenades were not taken into consideration or even considered a real threat. It's only this war where this type of attack on cheap drones was introduced. Maybe there is an operating mode where you can keep the hatch shut in high risk areas and just drop the primer cap on the floor instead.

Either way, you will probably see an updated version where this deficit will be pragmatically solved as well.

That extraction hatch opens automatically and closes in a sec. Drones are no issue, unless the Ukrainians drone operators are clairvoyant and genius-level physicists, as they'd have to foresee the gun firing and time the drop with the drone's current height, the fall speed of the munition etc in mind.

The bore evacuator is a flawed idea in the first place. You're literally drilling holes in the gun barrel making it weaker and reducing the operating pressure. For guns whose main purpose is to drive a subcaliber shaft as fast as possible this is counter-intuitive. Which is why I like the Leclerc's solution of a gas blower more but this is additional complexity that many tankers wouldn't like. But even better just remove the crew from the turret and you won't even have to worry about performance drops or carry additional hardware altogether...

I only have minor experience with the Leo 2, only seen USSR-era tanks from the outside. Never been close to any of the modern Russian iterations


So, I know next to nothing.

That said, yandexing a bit for videos quite succinctly told me that this minor smokey residue and the operation of the extraction hatch is no problem

In fact, it often seems to me that people just think some hugely fatal flaw is present in all Russian designs. Not only that, it is also so god damn obvious, like they are just comically incompetent. Even a random couch warrior can see how **** they are.

Would just like people to think a bit further. Like, is that even reasonable?

We can see on these pictures that MOD is storing a lot of ammunition on the site of the 719th Artillery Ammunition Base (45.8861, 40.0399).

There is a strong increase in equipment between July and December 2022. They are using civilian-looking semis to transport ammo.

Big fireworks coming

Mats Nilsson
@mazzenilsson
Greek source: The Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” managed to hit the joint Ukrainian-NATO control and communications center, installed at a depth of 130 meters.  

The underground headquarters housed NATO officials and reportedly housed over 300 people.  Most of them are British and Poles, but there were also Americans and representatives of private companies that support communications and data transmission.  

This is the first massive strike against NATO personnel and it is not known how Western capitals reacted as there's been no response.  It will be the same as recognizing the active participation of personnel in the war against Russia.  

In the coming days, it will be seen to what extent this will affect the conduct of Ukrainian and Western operations and attempts to stop the Russian offensive on Bakhmut.

https://www.pronews.gr/amyna-asfaleia/enoples-sygkroyseis/ektakto-tromaktiko-ktypima-se-120-metra-vathos-me-rosiko-yper-yperixitiko-vlima-kinzhal-sto-kentro-dioikisis-tou-nato-stin-oukrania/

......................

I wasn't very sure when this story started to come out. But now Western sources (Grecia) are starting to talk about it.
If confirmed, it was a terrible blow to NATO. Lucky for those who died in the explosion because the chance of being buried alive in this type of attack is great, since the underground bunker, according to the information, collapsed, not being possible to rescue everyone the bodie!

Some complaints about some smoke in the turret.

Had a peek at Combat Approved's episode on the T-80 tank. There was a recording inside the turret with three rounds being fired. The first was the missile with no sign of any smoke after the shot. The next camera shot showed the missile's smoke being blown out the front of the gun barrel.

The second and third shots were described as high explosive rounds. The reporter mentioned a little bit of smoke but from the camera angle towards the gunner no smoke was visible in the shot though, which means that the gunner in the Twitter video probably did not activate the fume extractor.

[quote=" I tend to believe that - during the design phase of the T-90 - drones dropping grenades were not taken into consideration or even considered a real threat. It's only this war where this type of attack on cheap drones was introduced. Maybe there is an operating mode where you can keep the hatch shut in high risk areas and just drop the primer cap on the floor instead. Either way, you will probably see an updated version where this deficit will be pragmatically solved as well. [/quote]

As of there were not already many reasons to keep the hatch closed before drones.

Ironic that a poster is having a cry about the T-90 and then posts a video of an abrams that shows a working stiff manually loading each shell while the T-90 has something called pneumatics and hydraulics that is loading the shells automatically. Maybe the US doesn't have the machining tolerances to master these technologies I dunno.

Drsnufflebag said
In fact, it often seems to me that people just think some hugely fatal flaw is present in all Russian designs. Not only that, it is also so god damn obvious, like they are just comically incompetent. Even a random couch warrior can see how **** they are.

It is an unavoidable feature of using the English language and discussing Russia. The brainwashing is that complete.

Quite an interesting general map

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on a special military operation (30.03.2023)

In the Kupyansk direction, army air strikes and artillery fire of the "Western" group of troops hit the enemy's manpower and equipment in the areas of Hryanikovka and Sinovka (Kharkiv Oblast), Novoselovskoye and Stelmakhovka (Luhansk People's Republic).

Up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen as well as two vehicles were destroyed.

In the Krasno-Limanskoe direction, air strikes, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems of the Group of Forces (Forces) Center hit AFU units in the areas of Chervona Dibrova, Nevske of the Lugansk People's Republic, Yampolovka, Torskoye and Hryhorovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

During the day, up to 130 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, a Grad MLRS unit, and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer were destroyed.

In the Donetsk direction, as a result of active actions of units of the "Southern" group of troops, air strikes and artillery fire, the enemy's losses for a day amounted to more than 340 servicemen and mercenaries, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, six armored fighting vehicles, nine vehicles, one Uragan MLRS unit as well as D-20 and D-30 howitzers.

On the South Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya directions, army air strikes and artillery fire of the Vostok Group of Forces hit AFU units in the areas of Vladimirovka, Ugledar of the Donetsk People's Republic, Malinovka and Scherbaki of the Zaporizhzhya region.

More than 25 Ukrainian servicemen and two armored combat vehicles were destroyed in these areas during the day.

In the Kherson direction the enemy destroyed up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen, 11 vehicles, as well as three D-30 howitzers.

Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the day hit 93 artillery units in firing positions, manpower and equipment in 107 areas.

A self-propelled firing unit of the Ukrainian Buk-M1 antiaircraft missile system was destroyed near the settlement of Grebennikivka, Sumy region.

An ammunition depot of the 126th Territorial Defense Brigade was destroyed near Olhovka, Kherson region.

Also, a fuel storage depot of the 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade was destroyed near the Zaliznichnoye settlement, Zaporizhzhia region.

An anti-aircraft defense aircraft near the village of Temirovka, Zaporizhzhia region, shot down an Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian air force.

Additionally, during the day, one Grom-2 operational-tactical missile, three HIMARS MBRLS rockets were intercepted, and two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of Novoandreyevka and Zelenyi Gay of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Those drones with a higher weapons load look like they are in service. It's raining grenades on these hohols heads

Greece announced the elimination of dozens of NATO officers during the launch of the Kinzhal., 03.30.2023.

Up to 200 foreign officers killed by hypersonic Kinzhal strike on NATO communications center.

Dozens of officers from NATO countries, who were in the center of command and communications near Lvov, were eliminated as a result of a missile strike by the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) on March 9. This was reported by the Greek edition of Pronews , citing sources in the US Army.

It is specified that the blow was delivered by a hypersonic missile Kinzhal.

According to the publication, the headquarters was located underground at a depth of about 130 m, and it housed about 300 military personnel from different countries, including NATO officials.

“Up to 200 NATO officers and NATO operations in Ukraine have suffered irreversible damage,” the article says.

Pronews reports that 40 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of the destroyed center, but most of those liquidated will remain under the rubble, since it is not possible to get them.

According to the source of the publication, mostly citizens of Poland, Great Britain, and also the United States were in the center. In addition, employees of private companies that provided the military with communications also died.

“This is the first massive strike against NATO personnel, and it is not known how the Western authorities will react. Although if they somehow speak out about the losses, this will be tantamount to recognizing the active participation of personnel in (military operations. - Ed.) against Russia, ”the material says.

The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, said on March 9 that the Armed Forces (AF) of the Russian Federation launched a massive retaliatory strike on the military infrastructure of Ukraine in response to a terrorist attack committed by Ukrainian saboteurs in the Bryansk region. The enterprises of the military-industrial complex and the energy facilities that provide them are also affected.

On the same day, a source for Izvestia reported that the Russian Armed Forces had struck, in particular, at facilities where Ukrainian drones were being produced . Other objects were also hit by the Russian military.

In turn, the representative of the Air Force of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, said that the air defense (air defense) of the country was unable to intercept any of the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles fired by the Russian military.

On March 2, a group of Ukrainian saboteurs fired at a car in which there were children and took several people hostage in the village of Lyubechane, Bryansk region. As a result of the attack, two people were killed, schoolboy Fedor was wounded. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a terrorist attack. He pointed out that the terrorists saw that they were shooting at a civilian car - an ordinary Niva, where civilians and children were sitting.

The Special Operation to Protect Donbass , which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.

https://iz.ru/1491219/2023-03-31/v-gretcii-soobshchili-o-likvidatcii-desiatkov-ofitcerov-nato-pri-puske-kinzhala