Ukrainian Artillery losses Running Total: 223
RuZZian Tank losses Running Total: 1787
March 2023 - 8
February 2023 – 118
January 2023 – 61
December 2022 – 76
November 2022 – 105
October 2022 – 212
September 2022 - 217
August 2022 – 74
July 2022 – 108
June 2022 – 67
May 2022 – 148
April 2022 – 243
Feb 24 - March 2022 – 350
RuZZian Artillery losses Running Total: 533
March 2023 - 8
February 2023 – 41
January 2023 – 31
December 2022 – 19
November 2022 – 55
October 2022 – 64
September 2022 - 73
August 2022 – 21
July 2022 – 21
June 2022 – 18
May 2022 – 20
April 2022 – 52
Feb 24 - March 2022 – 110
8 months and the RuZZians have STILL not taken Bakhmut. What a joke of an army.
“Ukrainian Soldiers, Nearly Encircled, Push Russians Back”
“The battle for Bakhmut is not over — at least not yet. Ukrainian assault brigades offered Moscow a bloody reminder of that over the weekend.”
“Lined up in the dark in civilian vehicles, lights dimmed, a company of soldiers waited silently at the side of a road. Farther behind, a second company was parked, an occasional light inside a car revealing the face of a soldier. Still farther back, a third company was moving into place.
After months of epic struggle, the fight over the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut had seemed in recent days to be reaching a climax, with Russian forces close to encircling the city and some Ukrainian units pulling out.
Then, early Saturday, Ukrainian assault brigades went on the attack. Over the weekend, hundreds of troops joined the counteroffensive, mounting assaults from the ground and pounding Russian positions with artillery from the surrounding hills.”
MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system, an S-300 radar and a US-made counter-battery radar station over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.
“In the area of the settlement of Troitskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a Ukrainian Buk-M1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed. In the area of the community of Andreyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a guidance radar of a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile system was obliterated. In addition, a US-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar station was destroyed near the settlement of Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye Region,” the spokesman said.
“In the past 24 hours, operational/tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 86 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 117 areas,” the general said.
Russian fighter aircraft shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet and a Mi-8 helicopter while Russian air defenses downed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 plane in an aerial battle near the community of Trudoolenovka in the Zaporozhye Region. In addition, a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was downed near the settlement of Novopavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the spokesman said.
Also, Russian air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet near the city of Krasnoarmeysk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general added.
Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Kupyansk area, eliminating over 40 Ukrainian troops in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Kupyansk direction, assault and army aviation aircraft and artillery of the western battlegroup struck the enemy’s units in areas near the settlements of Timkovka in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic,” the spokesman said.
The strikes eliminated enemy manpower and equipment, the general said.
“As many as 45 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles and three pickup trucks were destroyed,” Konashenkov reported.
Russian forces struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Krasny Liman area, eliminating over 160 enemy troops, a tank and a Grad multiple rocket launcher over the past day, he said.
“In the Krasny Liman direction, units of the battlegroup Center and artillery inflicted damage on the enemy’s manpower and equipment in areas near the settlements of Yampolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic as a result of their active operations,” the spokesman said.
The enemy lost over 160 troops, a tank, three infantry fighting vehicles, five armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles and a Grad multiple rocket launcher in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.
Russian forces eliminated about 225 Ukrainian troops in their advance in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Donetsk direction, as many as 225 Ukrainian personnel, five infantry fighting vehicles, nine armored combat vehicles, five pickup trucks, four motor vehicles, an Uragan multiple launch rocket system and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed as a result of the continued active operations by units of the southern battlegroup and artillery fire,” the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian forces obliterated an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 55th artillery brigade in the area of the settlement of Dachnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic and a US-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar near the community of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the general said.
Russian forces destroyed about 65 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas, artillery of the battlegroup East struck the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Ugledar, Prechistovka and Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman said.
“As many as 65 [Ukrainian] personnel, two armored combat vehicles, two pickup trucks and Uragan and Grad multiple rocket launchers were destroyed in those areas in the past 24 hours,” the general specified.
Russian forces destroyed three Ukrainian armored combat vehicles and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the Kherson direction, artillery fire eliminated three armored combat vehicles, eight motor vehicles and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer,” the spokesman said.
Russian air defenses destroyed nine Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and shot down 15 HIMARS and Uragan rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
“In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted 15 rockets of the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems and destroyed nine unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region, Karmazinovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Blagodatnoye, Novoandreyevka, Kirillovka and Verkhnetoretskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Chubarevka and Magedovo in the Zaporozhye Region and Lesnoye in the Sumy Region,” the spokesman said.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 396 Ukrainian warplanes, 217 helicopters, 3,345 unmanned aerial vehicles, 410 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,192 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,054 multiple rocket launchers, 4,284 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,771 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
Why are the Russians so intent on capturing Bakhmut? It is not clear.
Why are the Ukrainians so intent on keeping Bakmut? It is not clear.
Both sides claim to be inflicting heavy, disproportionate losses on the other side in Bakhmut.
The war appears to be a "cabinet war" (war of choice) for Russia, and a war of national survival for Ukraine.
The Russian "cabinet war" has clearly devolved into an expensive "regime survival/embarassment" war for Russia.
The Ukrainian war for survival has become a terrible stalemate for Ukraine.
Ukraine: military situation update with maps - Mar 5, 2023
(’Orc’ is associated with the various hoards of 13th century Mongol invaders, as well as LOTR evil villains)
War in Ukraine Explained/Reporting from Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
Artillery (key to success in this war), Fuller explanation of Orc military structure, Other Bonus articles - see previous postings in “Attack on Europe” (FR title search).
(Numbered printed material below - Some of the items below may be out of date, and not updated yet)
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. The entirety of the analysis is from a Ukrainian guy named Reporting from Ukraine’s daily video - I only transcribe it. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
-—> Current to date and past MAPS: <——
https://militaryland.net/
-—> The True State of Russian Army <——
posted 2 months ago, 21.13 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KiII_2qabk
-—> Combined Arms Breach, what UA will have to master to smash Orc Lines <——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-sCT_maAQ
———————————————————————————————————————
Reporting from Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
••Day 375.
Today the biggest news is coming from the east. [This is the attack mentioned by Denys yesterday.]
Here, in an attempt to breach Ukrainian defenses north of Avdiivka, Russians tried to conduct a new attack and put Ukrainians in Novobakhmutivka into a pocket.
They prepared a huge assault unit consisting of tanks and armored vehicles, got to their positions, but
when they were ready to launch the assault, they suffered a devastating flank attack and got completely demolished.
Last time I told you that Russians decided to shift their focus to the area of lower tactical value because Ukrainians seemed to be protecting high-value positions too tightly.
I also told you that despite initial success, Russians were quickly pushed back towards the highway.
After several unsuccessful attempts to recapture these positions back, Russians realized that breaking through the same Ukrainian defenses would not be as easy because now Ukrainians are fully focused on this area.
That is why Russians decided to capitalize on their recent advancements around Novobakhmutivka, develop their success further, and attack Krasnohorivka from the north.
If we look at the topographic map, we can see that by attacking from this direction, they would be essentially fighting at the same elevation, as opposed to trying to storm the hills from the lowlands.
But if Russians were to carry out this attack right now, they would be shot in the back because Ukrainians are controlling the western part of Novobakhmutivka and the tree belts around it.
Ukrainians in the tree belts are holding a perfect position for countering this type of attack.
That is why in order to continue encircling Avdiivka, Russians needed to establish control over the last 30% of the village.
Based on the available footage from February, it is clear that Russians control the hill between Novoselivka and Novobakhmutivka.
The next logical step would be to engulf Ukrainians by attacking them from the north.
And this is exactly what Russians attempted to do: they prepared a large assault unit consisting of 5 tanks and 10 armored vehicles, they rapidly moved along this huge tree line and tried to assault Ukrainian positions from the flank.
Unfortunately for Russians, it looks like they took no measures to secure their own flanks. As you can see, Ukrainians are controlling the hills around Oleksandropil.
The positions on these hills give a direct view of everything that is happening on this side of Novobakhmutivka.
Geolocated footage confirmed that Ukrainians spotted a Russian assault unit during the relocation process.
Ukrainians responded extremely quickly and attacked Russians assault unit before they got ready for their assault.
The video shows that Ukrainians opened intense artillery fire.
Russians tried to save their infantry by creating a line with their armor in front of the tree area, but it did not help much.
The armor got quickly destroyed, and Ukrainian infantry entered the region.
Russians reportedly lost 3 tanks, 5 armored vehicles, dozens killed, and half a dozen were taken captive.
Overall, Russians made a big mistake by counting too much on the fog.
Judging by the video, the fog inhibited visual control over the area, but the fog was not too dense, leaving their flanks extremely vulnerable.
The risk did not pay off, the moving column was quickly spotted by the drone, and Russian assault unit was almost entirely destroyed.
==
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpYQuLW8T0
Denys says:
••Bakhmut holds. Successful UA counter attack in the southern area. Maybe more to come. Russian artillery advantage here is 7:1.
==
Russia propagandist in Vuhledar narrowly missed by UA shell. Could be fake shelling to show how brave he is.
==
More than 2,000 [CNN says 4,000-5,000] civilians remain in Bakhmut - refusing to leave their homes and go into the unknown with nothing. People who do not leave immediately from cities that are under attack, create more defensive obstacles for the UA.
==
Big conflict says UA intel within Russian military command about the general, Muradov, who was recently promoted, after having suffered horrendous losses at Vuhledar.
MoD wants him to take Vuhledar, but local commanders do not want him because their troops will die or the troops will refuse to fight.
For the Russian general, win or lose on the front is immaterial, as the most important thing is keeping one’s career growing.
==
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant negotiations are stalled - no way to resolve it now.
==
Serbia denies they supplied Grad rockets to Ukraine or any weapons to either side. However, The Turks who shipped the rockets to Ukraine said they were delivered from Serbia.
==
New UA “I Want To Leave” campaign to get Russian soldier to surrender includes meals: turkey or fish dinner, bread, tea, borsch, salads. Some minor work daily, TV time, sport time, church hours, Chess, reading groups.
Getting 50-100 calls per day, currently at 9,836 defectors. UA soldier gets financial reward for capturing Russian troop - amount depends on type of soldier taken.
==
UA helicopter pilots complain they do do have precision rockets to fire at armor - Russians have same complaint.
==
Putin’s favorite band singer taken ill and flown to Germany for health care. Showing how poor Russian health care is.
Thanks for the updates speedy.
B-52s flying over Poland, 4 maybe.
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for March 6, 2023: - Russian forces continue the encirclement of Bakhmut;
- Western media admits Russian operations around Bakhmut is exhausting Ukrainian forces and may diminish them ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive;
- US announces another military assistance package for Ukraine with fewer items listed and absent of any specific quantities despite previous packages featuring such information;
- Ukraine has urgently asked the West for more artillery shells in particular, highlighting the inability for Western industry to match or exceed Russian military industrial output;
- German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall claims to be considering building a tank factory in Ukraine. Older articles claim only if approved by the German government and after the conflict is over, newer articles suggest the factory may be built sooner;
- Ukrainian pilots are in the US to assess their skills for potential training on US warplanes (likely the F-16);
- Training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s or other Western warplanes will admittedly take years, if F-16s arrive in Ukraine beforehand they will likely be Western operators posing as Ukrainian pilots;
@KyivIndependent 8h
“Media: UK, Germany to conduct joint NATO air policing exercises in Estonia.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, as cited by Sky News, called it a demonstration of NATO “unity” and said that 300 Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel will be involved.”
@KyivIndependent 9h
“Air Force: 13 out of 15 Russian drones downed by Ukraine overnight.
Ukrainian air defense shot down 13 out of 15 Iranian drones Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on national television on March 6.”
ISW’s RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 5, 2023
“Key inflections in ongoing military operations on March 5:
The Ukrainian Air Force Command and Ukrainian news outlet Defense Express reported that Russian forces began using new UPAB-1500V aerial bombs against Ukrainian targets.
Russian forces continued to conduct limited ground attacks northwest and south of Kreminna.
Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks near Avdiivka and on the western outskirts of Donetsk City. A Russian source claimed that Russian forces advanced to Pervomaiske, 8km northwest of Donetsk City.
The Ukrainian General Staff continued to report that Russian forces are attempting to create conditions for the transition to an offensive in some areas of the Zaporizhia and Kherson directions. ISW has not observed indicators that Russian forces are preparing to launch sustained offensive operations in Zaporizhia Oblast or any offensive activity in Kherson Oblast.
Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Viktoriya Litvinova reported that Russia deported about 16,000 children of whom 307 were able to return to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights Daria Herasimchuk reported that Russian officials use coercive tactics to separate Ukrainian children from their parents in order to deport them.
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska reported that Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating 171 cases of sexual assault committed by Russian Forces against Ukrainian citizens.
(https://tsn.ua/en/ato/russian-air-forces-have-used-new-dangerous-weapon-what-is-known-about-upab-1500v-bombs-2278651.html):
"The Russian bomb UPAB-1500V was first demonstrated in Russia only in 2019.
Its first use during the war in Ukraine was recorded a few weeks ago against a facility in the Chernihiv Region. At that time, one of the fragments had remnants of markings that corresponded to the UPAB-1500V...
the bomb is equipped with an inertial and satellite navigation system and has a warhead weighing 1010 kg designed to hit highly protected targets. The aircraft can drop it 40 kilometers from the target, although the carrier must climb to an altitude of 14 kilometers...
The use of this ammunition is currently sporadic. For a long range, it is necessary to raise the aircraft to a considerable altitude, which makes it easier to identify targets and the possibility of hitting the carrier."
Prigozhin panicking tonight over Bakhmut situation. This is getting good. Ukraine typically pulls some tricks out of their bag when Putin is away in Sochi getting cancer treatments.
Yesterday the Kyiv Independent reported from near the frontline about the bad situation for the Ukrainian troops fighting there:
Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut: ‘Our troops are not being protected’
Russia’s relentless assault on Bakhmut is sacrificing waves and waves of unprepared men being sent to their deaths. But multiple defenders of this embattled city in Donetsk Oblast feel that they are in a similar boat, according to interviews with more than a dozen soldiers currently fighting in or around Bakhmut.
During their brief visits to the nearby town of Kostiantynivka, Ukrainian infantrymen told the Kyiv Independent of unprepared, poorly-trained battalions being thrown into the front line meat grinder to survive as best they could with little support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery, drones and tactical information.
“We don’t get any support,” says a soldier named Serhiy, who has been fighting on the front lines in Bakhmut, sitting down with his friend, also named Serhiy, for a conversation in a small cafe in the Kostiantynivka market. Both men are in their 40s but one of them is a bit older than the other.
The soldiers lack about everything that would support their defense:
They say that Russian artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers are often allowed to strike Ukrainian positions for hours or days without being shut down by Ukrainian heavy weapons. Some complained of poor coordination and situational awareness, allowing this to happen or making it even worse.
Mortarmen spoke of extreme ammunition scarcity and having to use weapons dating back to World War II. Drones that are supposed to provide critical reconnaissance information are also scarce and are being lost at very high rates in some parts of the battlefield.
All this leads to terrifying casualties of both dead and wounded. "The battalion came in in the middle of December… between all the different platoons, there were 500 of us," says Borys, a combat medic from Odesa Oblast fighting around Bakhmut. "A month ago, there were literally 150 of us."
“When you go out to the position, it’s not even a 50/50 chance that you’ll come out of there (alive),” says the older Serhiy. “It’s more like 30/70.”
The soldiers describe the Russian operation as small reconnaissance followed by artillery fire. This is repeated again and again until it has reached the desired result. The very reasonable application of this tactic is why I disregard claims of 'waves or Russian cannon fodder storming forward' or of 'high Russian losses'. They are obviously nonsense:
The older Serhiy says that the enemy likes to send a team of three or four expendable foot soldiers to attack and make the Ukrainians expose themselves by shooting at them. At that point, the more elite forces zero in on the defenders’ position.
Once they begin exchanging fire, the Ukrainians are struck with heavier weapons like Russian mortars and rockets from Grad multiple launch rocket systems or BMP infantry fighting vehicles and BTR armored personnel carriers with machine guns.
“They get the positions where we are, establish the coordinates, then they hit us from seven to nine kilometers out with mortars,” as well as from closer by with grenade launchers, says the older Serhiy. “They wait for the house to fall so we have to jump out. The building catches fire and then they try to finish us off.”
“Their birds come out and they chase us with fire,” adds the younger Serhiy, referring to Russian UAVs, like quadcopters and Orlan-10 fixed wing drones that spot distant heavy weapons. “They hit accurately.”
As Russians destroy more and more buildings, Ukrainians keep losing more places where they can reliably take cover. Borys the medic says people have been lost when their entrenched positions collapsed from heavy Russian fire, suffocating them.
“I’ll put it like this, we should get our people out because if we don’t take off, then in the next few weeks, it’s going to be bad,” says Oleksandr. A mortarman named Illia agrees that Bakhmut is “practically encircled.”
For lack of ammunition there is no Ukrainian counter artillery fire. Infantry fighting vehicles are held back from the front. The little trained Territorial Brigades are send in at night to be killed the next morning:
Multiple soldiers say Bakhmut troops are barely given enough time to learn to shoot a rifle – sometimes their training is just 2 weeks, before they’re dropped into the hottest parts of the most intense current battle of the war. They would have preferred for troops to get a minimum of two or three months of training before being deployed to such a hot spot.
“Two weeks’ live training and they’re sent here. You can’t do that,” says the older Serhiy. “Or it’s a person who once served in the army, how long ago was that? Obviously they forgot everything.”
“We were promised that we wouldn’t be sent to the zero line right away, that at first we’d be sent to the second or third line,” he continues. “And then we came here in the middle of the night and they immediately sent us to Bakhmut.”
... According to both soldiers named Serhiy, most brigades are insufficiently trained and lack the experience for an environment as brutal as Bakhmut. People are taken at night to a place they’d never seen before and the battle starts in the morning.
“This is why positions are abandoned, people are there for the first time,” says the younger Serhiy. “I went to a position three times and was given six people who hadn’t fought at all before. We had a few dead and wounded that had to be evacuated… Our people are not being protected.”
Oleksandr confirms that while some battalions fighting in Bakhmut are well-trained and ready, most of them aren’t and many were thrown in at night without much preparation. “Yes, that’s true, my battalion was not prepared,” he says. After five months without a single break from the fighting, only half of Oleksandr’s battalion is left, he says.
“They shouldn’t have rushed to throw everyone in there,” says the younger Serhiy. “Better to abandon those positions, who cares? It’s better to properly train people.”
