And that's my point: yes, of course the Ukrainian army was modernized a bit with the help of their Western partners between 2014 and 2022. But not to the extent that the Russian army shouldn't have steamrolled them anyway, particularly when we consider that Russia had purportedly modernized its military as well. But as it turned out, even just sending some stingers and javelins to Ukraine was enough to stop Russia's initial advance; the modernization of their troops was a mirage. And later, starting in early summer, even just a handful of western hightech weapons were enough to turn the tide of the war and give Ukraine the initiative.

That the Azov Battalion is using outdated and makeshift gear doesn't prove a lot, one way or the other - they were not an official branch of Ukraine's military and presumably had to obtain their equip from inofficial channels.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 27 2022 06:35am

We'll see how things go now that Russia is mobilizing (read: taking this stuff more serious)

The azov battalion was one of the most die-hard frontline units and I don't believe they had to fend for themselves. I mean no way

Actually they are marines (using blue tape on the sleeve)

So who supplied their equipment, do you know?

ZSU

Okay so they didn't have to fend for themselves.

Thx for clearing that up.

Electricity supply in Kiev is almost restored so we will soon see Lvivz and Palasan, whom we adore. Meanwhile,
«Energoatom» (Ukraine) records signs that Russians are preparing to leave the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

This post was edited by Norlander on Nov 27 2022 08:31am

No wonder this thread was so peaceful for the past couple of days

Russia had one wave of mobilization in which 300k mostly untrained and unmotivated folks were drafted to serve as cannon fodder. Even this mobilization was already met with notable grumbling from the people, so I doubt that that's a card Putin can play again without risking open dissent and turmoil.



Good for the residents of Kyiv.

This means that we will get an answer, over the coming days, to an unsettled question over which there has been deep and longstanding disagreement here in this thread. Goomshill and other members of the "Russia still has the upper hand/Russia cannot lose this war"-faction have been arguing that Russia is not running out of cruise missiles and has the capacity to escalate its attacks any time it feels like it while Ukraine is defenseless. Now that the damage from the previous attacks on civilian infrastructure have been (mostly and seemingly) repaired, destroying them again with another round of missile attacks would make sense again. So, over the coming week or two, if Russia is able to destroy the infrastructure again which has just been repaired, causing the residents of Kyiv and other cities to sit in the dark and cold yet again, that would prove their viewpoint right.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 27 2022 09:57am

Those 300K recruits will have 6 months of training under their belts if Russia decides to launch a spring offensive in April next year.

I don't think they like to get bogged down in the mud in early spring like last year so they'll wait and use that time to train recruits.

At least that's what's logical.