Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "RFU News — Reporting from Ukraine" channel.

  1.  @nerdyali4154  The infamous slave trade was initiated, centuries ago, by Portugal. Brazil is one result.
    1
  2. I think so, too, Neritan.
    1
  3. Behrooz -- the Russians are lying -- again.
    1
  4. Worldwise -- Ukraine has slightly over 100 generals in its army. No WAY would half of them have a confab anywhere but Kyiv. Then, to top off the bizarre claim, Moscow reports that 10 M777 were also destroyed. Everything I've read indicates that the UA refuses to allow M777s -- or anything else -- to become concentrated.
    1
  5.  @catfishfortesque-smythe437  At 30km -- the bridge is within the range of Caesar, PH2000 and even Krabs, IIRC. Even base-bleed rounds can cover such a distance.
    1
  6.  @farzana6676  That's what I've advocated. Mere base-bleed shells will have the range -- and are cheap enough to toss with abandon. I don't know if the UA is gutsy enough to bring their Caesar or PH2000 close enough to the front such that they can reach these key targets without even using base-bleed rounds. For some reason the railroad bridge across the lower Dnieper never seems to come up in convos. The railroad grid is easily seen on most maps -- typically as a white line. (Look for the graphic that crosses the Dnieper dam.) This second rail line crosses the Kerkhnya Konka river -- and then the Dnieper river. The KK river is about 35 meters wide. So, at scale, it disappears from sight. The Dnieper is about 1,300 meters across for both rail and road -- downstream of the dam. I suspect that Kyiv high command will find it easier and more effective to destroy the approaches to the railroad bridges. Trains just have to have rails. It's easy, these days, to just keep ruining the rails -- even while keeping any repair crews at bay. (Drones!) I think the Russians are in an impossible situation. I think the only reason that Kyiv has not already crushed them: Zelenskyy is still building out a million man army.
    1
  7.  @bittripper3530  The Iranians found that a factory in Syria had an easier time sourcing imported components... which is why they set one up. You can bet that all original bills of lading showed Beirut as the destination. Cute. Do remember that Iran also used Syria for its atomic program, too. The IDF had to put it out of business. When Jerusalem discovered the scheme -- they were shocked -- as anyone would expect such a top secret program to be built out inside Iran. For Tehran, Assad is just a tool.
    1
  8.  @escaped1534  Those are Russian stats. Moscow has lied so often, so beautifully, that there is no way that I can trust its BS. Your post cites impossibly high counts, BTW.
    1
  9.  @S.999-w2h  You didn't drink the koolaid? What kind of follower are you ?
    1
  10. Events are NOT going Zelenskyy's way. The Russian army is advancing while the Norks are dying. They are just meat.
    1
  11. Freak... this war is WWI 2.0 --> it's not a war of movement. (WW2) The only metric that counts is casualties... with the wounded being more significant than the dead. For, the wounded walk the streets bitching about their missing limbs. In an attritional war, the front barely moves --> and then the world caves in. ( 1918, Western Front of Imperial Germany)
    1
  12.  @myteebrown7876  Where does that brain fart come from ?
    1
  13. I'd suspect base-bleed ammo. It's drastically cheaper, available, and able to reach the bridge.
    1
  14.  @albinklein7680 Putin is managing to lose even MORE. Such is war. It's a lose-lose 'solution.'
    1
  15.  @phuckyu3383  France sent in (18) Caesars -- and Macron just promised Zelenskyy another (6) machines. If they've survived, which is pretty likely, then the total is rising to (24) machines. I figure that Caesar is highly survivable because it does not need to be anywhere near the front. Both Caesar and Archer can shoot and scoot in no-time-flat. It would be the wildest stroke of luck to hit one. The Russian Air Force has proven that it can't hit moving targets. It also does not send out big strike packages. (It always attacks in ones and twos.) Putin's most effective deep weapons are his long range missiles. But they can't hit moving targets. Some Ukrainian traitor would have to geo-locate a Caesar while it's in its barn. If a cell phone is used, that traitor is toast. I figure that the M777 becomes vulnerable because the troops are not displacing quickly enough. They get carried away. By now, I'm sure that the word is out: three-four shots -- and its ALWAYS time to move on. I know something's screwy when I see substantial howitzer pits -- manually dug. What a mistake. That much effort induces the firing crews to hang around. Ukraine needs to STOP digging howitzer pits manually. Only backhoes should be employed. By machine, howitzer pits should be cut-in all over the countryside. Lay in some dummy howitzers. Have so many prepared pits that the game turns into 3-card monte.
    1
  16.  @phuckyu3383  My numbers come from Ukrainian and French officialdom. From what I've read, these are all brand new machines. Yes, they didn't even come out of storage. The first (18) were supposed to go to Morocco, IIRC. (They were awaiting shipment -- which I take to mean: payment.) It was only at the last second that Macon intervened and had them sent to Ukraine. [ Morocco and Algeria don't like each other.] Macron promised (6) more Caesars the last time he visited Zelenskyy. The (French) Press cranked out a video showing (3) Caesars in action a few weeks back. During that video, the French made sure that the existence of (18) machines in Ukrainian service came out. Since the broadcaster was, and is, the French government's mouthpiece (it's state owned) I figure that this video amounts to Paris bragging. I'd rate each Caesar as having thrice the net combat effect of an M777 howitzer. It does not need a howitzer pit. I can't imagine how Russia can find and destroy one. Both Caesar and Archer (Sweden) are mighty new designs and can be declared state-of-the-art. The M109 is old in chassis -- but up-graded so often -- with so many variants -- that you can say it's been in continuous improvement for decades. The moment Russian counter-battery threats are eliminated, these machines will magnify Ukraine's artillery concentrations. I'm amazed that the M198 is not in the picture. The USA has so many looking for something to do. Like the M109, they will weigh in only after Russian counter-battery assets are dealt with. Putin is facing an exponential rise in Ukrainian artillery assets. Lastly, it's not announced, but you can figure the US is ramping up the production of 152mm ammo. As you might imagine, the US DoD has more ammo capacity than any other nation on Earth. 96% of that capacity has been off-line => in mothballs. The flood WILL come, it will come by ship.
    1
  17.  @Jimunu  Denys.
    1
  18.  @blazunlimited  Denys.
    1
  19.  @Jimunu  Check him out. Then clarify your postings.
    1
  20.  @joeo2533  You've been watching FSB disinformation operations. Chechens are famed for such barbarities.
    1
  21.  @joeo2533  You can't torture the dead. Chechens are famed for torture. As for 'playing with enemy dead' -- it has an ancient history. The US Army prohibits it. It blows back as very bad military relations. As for attrocities, Putin promoted the sinning battalion up to Guards status. This is a Big Deal in the Russian Army. All Guards units get better treatment (barracks) -- the works. Such an honor beats a Presidential Citation. Video of Russians gunning down civilians -- and much more -- has gone viral. I rather doubt that Skynews ever broadcast the nasty stuff you post of. Western Media are uniformly loathe to portray the dead. Period. And Skynews has to be deemed totally in the tank for Kyiv. So, I just don't believe you.
    1
  22.  @joeo2533  Broadcasters have standards. It is taboo to broadcast the dead. Any broadcaster that does so is going to be in hot water with the licensing authorities. It wouldn't matter if the event actually happened. So, I figure you've been duped... duped by Moscow ? You are obviously equating the victim with the attacker. This is a meme that Moscow has pushed from the first.
    1
  23. The bulk of RA supplies are coming by rail. So don't over-estimate the strategic impact of this strike. However, the psychological impact on the Russian occupiers inside Crimea has to be vast. The last illusion of normalcy has to have been destroyed. Asking their civilians to run a gauntlet -- what a come-down.
    1
  24. I don't see an evacuation -- I see mass deportation. As long as the ferries and pontoon elements are crammed with Ukrainians -- the UA is paralyzed. Cute. Putin is calling the shots -- and clearly intends to use a meat-wall to shield his invasion crew. He's clearly doing that in the Luhansk oblast -- right now.
    1
  25.  @traumflug  Holding such farces in the middle of a war zone -- Putin has utterly lost his mind. Everything about these frauds appears to be coming directly from Putin. Obviously he intends to expand his border even has he's losing his war of conquest. I believe that this is the first instance of such a gambit in history.
    1
  26.  @icexvi2573  That's not how things work out. In WWII, all combatant nations got very, very good at regenerating crippled units. So, while it's news to you -- all modern generals know the drill. The US Army had to regenerate its airborne divisions after every single drop, every single major operation. It never took months. The new boys had already been through state-side training. So they were in great physical shape and knew their weapons, their gear. It only took three-weeks to integrate them into their assigned division. Famously, the Krauts could regenerate divisions from nubs in less than six-weeks. (!) This ability is why Nazi Germany was able to hang on as long as it did. But the absolute masters of generating new combat units must have been the Red Army. The Bolsheviks had a scheme that just cranked out green divisions like they were hatched. The rest of their training came by way of OJT at the front. This goes double for tank troops. History has recorded the result. Zelenskyy has obviously been 'blooding' his green brigades in quiet sectors -- the military tradition in all armies. I'd say that Kyiv has at least ten brigades ready to shift east. They'll probably arrive on the sly -- one by one. It would be absolutely classic for Kyiv to promote this or that brigade up to divisional size. (The USSR did this for all of its tank brigades in the middle of WWII, yes, on the fly.) Once a cadre of talents is clicking, it's actually institutionally easy to flesh out an outfit with more warriors. Famously, the LAH SS brigade expanded through the war to such a degree that it became a panzer corps by 1945. It spawned a slew of buddy divisions, too... on top of its own growth. The limiting factor for such growth is talent among the officers and sergeants... with the latter particularly important. Ukraine has sergeants -- Russia only has fake instant sergeants. Consequently, the regeneration power of the UA will astound.
    1
  27. This counter-offensive has captured at least one Lt. Colonel. He's on video. He's not a happy fellow. Zelenskyy wants PoWs so as to have exchangeable bodies for those in Russian captivity. The latest prisoners all appear to be White Russians -- from the heartland of Moscovy.
    1
  28. Putin is throwing fresh meat in front of the UA. One is reminded of Typhoon, late 1941, in front of Moscow.... But in this case, Putin is throwing away men to defend mere farmland. Northern Luhansk is not all that strategic for Putin... which is why it only rates instant soldiers. BTW, the Kherson oblast pocket is falling apart. Morale there is shot. It can't be long before the UA dominates the Dnipro crossings with ordinary artillery. When that happens, the Russians will be learning to swim.
    1
  29.  @katrinapaton5283  Generals NEVER disdain their own victories. They always have critics, though. Bradley 'owns' the Hurtgen Forest campaign -- yet never brought it up -- much -- in his own war bios. He's not alone. Not one of the WWII era top commanders ever uttered a word even mildly critiquing his own army,... or his own performance. Such is the way of generalship. I don't care WHAT Pultarch attributed to Pyrrhus, you just KNOW that the line came from fellow Greeks (think politicians) upon hearing the results from the field. (Pyrrhus just killed recruitment into the ranks. It was hell to field a second, replacement, army. ) There were (2) two infamous battles... blood baths, both. Back home, his critics began howling after his first debacle. Such heavy, heavy losses were a total novelty for Greece. You can bet the boys on the spot were bitter, too. These battles were months apart, BTW. Well, at least Pyrrhus became famous.
    1
  30. I'm still seeing alternate realities WRT the Zolote pocket across the Internet. The fog of war is intense. It's also interesting that various, pretty well researched, Internet posters have alternate front lines, too. The US has announced that another (4) HIMARS are authorized -- and on the way -- presumably by air. Germany insists that PH2000s have entered Ukraine. We await video. In all cases: Caesar, PH2000, M270, M142, M109, M777 -- the numbers are just too small. Ukraine needs artillery battalions -- not artillery platoons.
    1
  31. The full-on PANIC seen in the footage (above) echoes that of Cobra (1944), Bagration (1944), and Barbarossa (1941) --> Meaning that we're likely to see the RA pull back about 500 km when this is all said and done. Think Sevastopol. In the time of Javelin and NLAW, Russian counter-attacks with tanks just can't work. Where is the Russian air force ? Theoretically, there should be a storm of air combat over the battlefront. Drones have -- apparently -- entirely replaced manned flying machines. (!)
    1
  32. Kyiv has shifted over to attritional warfare -- as against maneuver warfare. (panzer warfare) Armchair generals miss the fact that the RA is being bled white. That's what counts. Putin absolutely does NOT have infinite manpower for his project. He's now using convicts as cannon fodder -- same as Wagner did. Attritional warfare is resolved when the loser runs out of men and stuff. Thus, you have Lee losing to Grant in 1865; Germany losing to France, Britain and America in 1918. Forever on end, nothing seems to move -- and then the front finally collapses -- and the government falls. Putin has pulled entire armies away from Finland, Red China, ... and the 'stans. He can't do that twice. Continuous conscription has crippled his economy -- so in the years ahead, Russia's demographic crisis will be acute. Whereas Zelenskyy has been building his army ever larger -- all this time.
    1
  33.  @harissuta1280  The UA is using both manpower and machine power to dig trenches. September is not a problem. Mud traditionally begins in October and may last into most of November. That's when all offensive action grinds to a slurry. The fact is obvious and open: Putin has run out of infantry. He's actually pretty well set for tanks and artillery -- if 1950s warfare techniques still work. With no micro-chips in production, Putin is simply screwed. The UA has already destroyed the cream of Putin's crew. This happened to the Nazis in 1941. Barbarossa could never be repeated.
    1
  34.  @harissuta1280  The RA is out of infantry. Hence its tactics. They minimize infantry requirements. The UA is now about 700,000 in size -- though vast numbers lack military gear. That stuff is still flowing in. So long as the UA artillery is having a field day blowing up Putin's ammo dumps, Kyiv sees no need to actually climb out of the trenches. The Kherson oblast is toast. The Russians there have the same supply nightmare that did in 6th Army at Stalingrad -- eighty-years ago. For the Krauts, they still received air deliveries. For the Russians, they still have a ferry or two. Putin is screwed. He's about to lose 35,000 troops -- and he dares not call up levée en masse. All of his ready reserves are working -- right now -- as his internal security force. The few times these goons have showed up in Ukraine -- they've become the laughing stock of the Russian troops nearby.
    1
  35.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  It was announced by Zelenskyy. That's when Denys brought the prospect up.
    1
  36.  @navinkumar6388  Putin has been sanctioned because he's a serial murderer, serial liar, and serial warmonger. But, he is a fan of Steven Seagal. So, there's that.
    1
  37.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  I brought up Zelenskyy because he DID go public with the notion. So, Denys was quite right to bring it up, too. As for why nothing has happened: that's easy. The UA is so happy shooting up the RA -- as it stands -- that it can't justify leaving its trenches. The UA does know that the Kherson position northwest of the Dnipro is but an echo of 6th Army at Stalingrad. For those lost souls, an airlift was undertaken. It was a fiasco. For the Russians, aircraft have been replaced by a pathetic ferry or two. These have even less capacity than the bygone Luftwaffe. It's a good thing that the Russians in the pocket are only one-tenth the number of those bagged near Stalingrad. The UA keeps banging away -- destroying ever smaller ammo dumps in the Kherson cauldron. They are smaller because Putin can't feed his boys what they need to attack. At this rate, the cauldron will not even be able to defend itself. The last time the Russians had to counter-attack -- they threw in their air force (Su-25s) instead. The ground pounders didn't have enough stopping power. At some point soon, the UA will have enough tactical SAM effectiveness to thwart Russian air force intervention at the front. Then disaster must follow.
    1
  38.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  You ought to be a student of WWI. In that bloodbath, the front scarcely changed -- for years on end -- and then the German position simply fell apart. Spanish flu had wiped out the German army -- even as it wiped out the British, French and American armies. The flu ended WWI fighting. (It was taboo to publish anything during that period about the devastation of the flu. So every last history of WWI is totally warped.) As for the Kherson counter-offensive... it appears that it has already begun. But neither side is willing to release the Big News. Videos have now hit the Web showing abandoned Russian front line positions in the Kherson oblast. Interestingly enough, these are ABANDONED positions -- not those won by traditional assault. Similar pull-backs occurred as 6th Army shrunk its perimeter -- eighty-years ago. Day by day, the UA has been dropping grenades from modest drones onto Russian trenches -- and more. Many, many videos uploaded every day about this tactic. The Russians totally lost the drone war -- because its driven by micro-chips. Both Russia and Ukraine have to import these. But Putin has a very hard time/ impossible situation getting the latest stuff. There is footage -- so recent -- of Russians losing their drone to the UA -- in mid-flight. It had been hacked... even though the Russians made serious attempts to stop such a penetration. There are endless examples of the Russians not comprehending opsec mistakes. The RA is simply getting destroyed -- in place -- without infantry assault. So long as this is happening, the UA is quite content to just sit back and attack... with drones.
    1
  39.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  NATO is not a combatant in this war. LPR boys are already refusing further combat -- on the grounds that doing so would entail leaving the LPR. Videos of the personal gear being given to the front by Putin have hit the Web. Laughter has been the result. Troops are entering combat with plastic helmets -- sold from Red China -- intended for teenage games fought with air pistols. Metal helmets turn out to be so feeble that you can dent them with a strong, bare-handed, punch... or head butt! 'Combat boots' turn out to be athletic shoes -- especially common for DPR & LPR canon fodder. What's been happening is that Kyiv has gotten used to Putin gracefully withdrawing his armies -- as 'goodwill gestures.' Heh. Well, at least Russian generals have the good sense to pull out of impossible situations. The RA in the Kherson oblast have already begun abandoning their hopeless front line positions -- with videos upload to the Web showing some pretty sloppy digs. I've come to the conclusion that Putin has lost this Drone War. The UA is just plinking his troops into submission. Trenches are unable to stop drone dropped grenades -- which are generating casualties -- but not fatalities. Russian surgeons must be operating like mad to pull out shrapnel -- over and over.
    1
  40.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  It's been no time at all -- and the World has been put on notice, the UA counter-offensive is now everywhere on social media. One is reminded of the break up of 6th Army -- eighty-years ago. The Reds had 6th Army surrounded for weeks -- and yet it hung on. Of course, it's fate was sealed way back in December... if not November. (1942) The UA has popped the Russian front line -- rather thoroughly. Lacking meaningful supplies, (artillery shells/ rockets/ Diesel fuel) the RA is understandably de-moralized. A military collapse tends to be self-reinforcing -- just as civil revolution are. The word is that Putin can barely keep a lid on Moscow and St. Petersburg.
    1
  41.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  I'll take that bet. Turn on the news, tonight.
    1
  42.  @harissuta1280  The required counter-offensive is now in full swing. Turn on the news. Glad to help.
    1
  43.  @harissuta1280  nope Russian social media posts show troops bewailing their situation.
    1
  44.  @harissuta1280  By now there are hundreds of posts to social media showing the drubbing the RA is taking in Kherson oblast. The boys there are trapped -- same as 6th Army at Stalingrad, eighty-years ago. As the UA advances, even its tube artillery will come to bear on the Dnipro. Putin is sacking Shoigu. 'Nuff said. In the east, the RA can barely advance. Putin is at his wits end. He's calling up 137,000 more troops -- who will not answer his call. Life is tough all over. The social media posts by Russians from the Kherson oblast simply crush any desire by noobs to join the disaster. Soon, even Russian 'bots will give it up.
    1
  45.  @mirba6933  Social media shows the RA in flight. The front line had been held by LPR and DPR bullet stoppers. Obviously, Putin wants Zelenskyy to feed them from now on. In these kinds of offensives, the tempo is usually slowed by the number of surrendering fellas. Just open any military history. The story ever repeats. At the end of WWII in the West, GIs (in squad strength) had to accept the surrender of regiments. Military protocols had been reduced to farce. The few GIs that spoke German simply had to point to where the chow line was -- some place further west. It was good that it happened during Spring time. The US Army wasn't quite ready with enough tents and cots. Just bringing up the chow was quite a battle. ( German late-war logistics had completely broken down. They weren't even feeding their own troops. Later on in 1945, the US Army had to panic feed the entire German nation.) Plunging temperatures across Ukraine simply has to motivate Russians to surrender. For who would want to fight during the up coming rain season ?
    1
  46.  @mirba6933  You have a point. However... I can't believe that the whole world would do so, on no notice, just to make Zelenskyy look good. There are well over a hundred videos wandering around Telegram, TikTok, YT.... And they all have the same thrust. It's blatantly apparent that Putin placed LPR and DPR boys along the very front line -- and that they -- pretty much -- dropped their rifles. All along, the LPR & DPR guys wanted no part of western Ukraine... and have been giving Putin headaches every step of the way. He even has a rebellion way back in the east, because LPR boys figure that their war is over. The so-called LPR no longer has any UA soldiers on its turf. The DPR boys can't figure out why they are so far west... especially when the DPR still has UA troops inside it. Over and over, Putin's bots and trolls have asserted victories and captures that have always turned out to be hollow. Thwarting the UA at this time will prove to be just as phony. Cope.
    1
  47.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  The word is now coming back. Putin is considering giving up Kherson as a goodwill gesture -- already. He finally accepts that defending on the southeast bank of the Dnipro makes far, far more sense. One problem, the boys will need to leave ALL of their gear on the northwest side. Putin will have to stump up replacements for everything. Yet an insider (Russian officer) has spilled the beans: at the current tempo, Putin will entirely run out of gear in six-months. The NATO/EU sanctions regime is totally hamstringing new production. Social media posts are showing UA forces advancing through the wheat -- totally un-thwarted. Other posts demonstrate that the sounds of battle are creeping in toward Kherson, itself.
    1
  48.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  Not much. How dire is your situation ? The RA is falling apart -- and thus you wax ad hominem. Cute. You're not 'killing it.' It's killing you. The readership is LOL.
    1
  49.  @kartikeyatiwari2502  Honey -- you've totally lost -- and lost it. LOL.
    1
  50.  @harissuta1280  Swell. It's obvious that Putin has hit the panic button -- hence the stream of trucks attempting ferry crossings. The UA is, of course, hitting the ferry landings -- though Putin has been doing his 'thing' to get the ammo across the water.
    1