Military progress in East Ukraine

[Tomconroy]

After a week of mopping up and progressing north to the rashist border in Kharkiv, the UAF are beginning to make progress going east. The Oskil River would have been a natural line of defense but the rashists fled farther east away from Ukraine artillery. Ukraine forces have crossed the river and are making progress, a major accomplishment.

Link to tweet

The geolocation DefMon refers to matching photos from the front to known locations from something like Google Earth.

And a bit more from @defmon3, who knows his stuff:

Link to tweet

And some important thoughts from warmonitor3:

Link to tweet

[Irish_Dem]

1. Do the Russians have the equipment to set up a defensive line?

Since they have been leaving so much behind as they retreat.
And their men are hungry and demoralized.

The Ukrainians are going to need some time to rest, re-group and re-arm.

Tired troops start making mistakes.

[Tomconroy]

2. When all is said and done I suspect we are going to find out

Ukraine has many more soldiers under arms than the rashists.

[Irish_Dem]

3. I have a question, not sure how to put it.

Obviously Tom you are interested in the war, and have read and know more than I do.

I have been reading about the last week in Ukraine, the spectacular strategic, tactical, psychological war
the Ukrainians have been waging.

It occurred to me as I have been reading about all of this, perhaps the US is providing more than
weapons? We know there was help locating the Russian generals who were killed.

But is the US doing more than we know about?

I am trying to add it all up.
And I keep coming back to that thought.

What recent combat experience do the Ukrainians have to pull this off?
Of course not to take away from their brilliance, courage and home ground defense attitude.

Spectacular strategic, tactical and psych-ops assistance points to the Pentagon?

[Tomconroy]

5. The US has been sharing satellite intelligence for quite a while.

With commercial satellite pictures you can identify buildings and trucks. The military stuff is probably even higher quality. So yes, we are providing a lot of targeting info, combined with Ukraine people every where who are risking their lives to provide valuable Intel to the UAF.

[Irish_Dem]

13. There is brilliant strategic and tactical planning.

So it is more than just intel.

[Tomconroy]

14. The US wargamed the Kharkiv offensive with the UAF

General Staff to ensure it could succeed.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Yes now we are talking my friend.

That is what I have suspected is happening.

Didn't read about it, just guessed this must be the case.

Oh I would love to be a fly on the wall during those sessions.
Absolutely fascinating.

Of course it is all highly classified.

[Tomconroy]

7. You also have to remember Ukraine.has been fighting a war since

2014. Everyone served a year in the military. They had a lot of experienced man and women who were called up to serve and.have been training in the west.
They also had training with US forces for years right up to the beginning of the year until the US pulled out.

[Irish_Dem]

12. So they do have experience and also links to US military training personnel.

Their generals know our generals, and all the ranks down the line.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. What is happening in Ukraine in regard to intelligence gathering is a perfect blend of

local intelligence gathering, where Ukrainians are exploiting every resource, from reports coming in from local partisans, to creative spying on Russian phones and embedded metadata, to drones (and more) combined with and extraordinary amount to real-time intelligence from the US and other NATO partners.

UKR has an unprecedented picture of where Putin's forces are and now they have guided weapons that can hit those coordinates.

This is hugely advantageous.

[Red Mountain]

11. It's all of that plus

NATO aircraft (manned and unmanned) can 'see' a long way into the war zone while staying safe either above NATO countries or in international airspace.

Real time targeting data is golden.

Must be driving the Russians crazy.

[paleotn]

8. Without a general Russian mobilization, I'd not be surprised at this point.

The problem for the Ukrainians is lack of training and lack of kit. The later is where we come in. Defending the homeland makes the former go a lot faster. They're more than a little motivated.

[paleotn]

4. Hoped the Oskil in force. Interesting.

Natural barrier to rally behind. Not enough rallied troops and reserves to defend dicey river crossings? Or a case of "striking while the iron is hot" with panic and disorganization still rife among the Russian units in their front. Taking advantage of opportunities as they're presented vs. over extension? I hope the former.

[grantcart]

6. Hard to map out a line when the defense is running away.

[Mopar151]

9. HIMARS, PRECISION ARTILLERY

Gives the Ukrainian Army a reach advantage like Larry Holmes! "We run around like headless chickens, the officers are drunk, and they're finishing their coffee before they hit FIRE!" Alleged phone interception from the East side of the line..
Packed up and truck in' before the rounds hit!

[PortTack]

16. Stay safe brave solider...Slava Ukraine!