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> Should fighting continue into March, mechanized forces would have to deal with the infamous Rasputitsa, or thaw.” That's a key point. It does go to show that
by arbuge 5y ago
> Should fighting continue into March, mechanized forces would have to deal with the infamous Rasputitsa, or thaw.”
That's a key point. It does go to show that the Russians expected this to be a very short affair. I wonder if they have any real contingency plans for when that thaw sets in.
- hef19898 5y agoIt would be almost ironic if, of all the armies in the world, the Russians would be caught unprepared by Rasputitsa. And quite embarrassing, to be honest.
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoglobal warming has its benefits.
- seanw444 5y agoThey'll never live it down.
- mattbrewsbytes 5y agoThere are reports of Russian forces running out of fuel and food. It sounds like with the thaw if Ukraine's forces focus on shutting down major roads then the current "siege warfare" approach by Russia may backfire badly. If their supply lines are easily cut off, they siege themselves.
- spiralx 5y agoHow do you invade somewhere and not have contingencies for being denied the use of major roads? That's in the top three essential (and obvious!) things the defending force will do. For a Russian force you'd also think dealing with a post-winter thaw would be part of their general military strategy, it's not like Ukraine has a vastly different climate than Russia after all.
- omgJustTest 5y agoThe current reports are fuel shortages are at least partially self-sabotage (hole in the gas tank), Russia has mandatory conscription. It does look like low morale and dissent are not insignificant. And when people stop “tanks with their hands” it’s not because of technical logistics.
- lordnacho 5y agoThis is what I don't get. Isn't Kyiv a few hour's drive from the border? How can you run out of fuel and food? I guess the only way is if you expected to simply drive directly to a victory march, but surely it's worth being prepared?
- dboreham 5y agoTanks use a great deal of fuel.
- Avalaxy 5y agoThe article describes supply line attacks as a crucial part to disrupt enemy convoys. I expect that this is what is happening behind the scenes. You need an enormous amount of fuel for this many tanks.
- gannonburgett 5y ago> 'How can you run out of fuel and food?' The Pentagon [is reporting](https://news.yahoo.com/russian-troops-surrendering-sabotaging-vehicles-130211053.html https://news.yahoo.com/russian-troops-surrendering-sabotagin...) some units are self-sabotaging their machinery to avoid fighting.
- esja 5y agoThat may be true, or it may be propaganda.
- onlyrealcuzzo 5y agoThe key word is /some/. When you have 10k tanks, it's unlikely there wasn't at least /some/ deserters. It would be nice to know how many incidents they have observed.
- gdy 5y agoI wonder how much time one would need to run tank engine idle to run out of fuel?
- 5y ago
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago>I wonder if they have any real contingency plans for when that thaw sets in. The plan is/was always to control the roads and the air by then. Even when conditions are "good" moving an army overland is absurdly less efficient than using infrastructure hence why you only ever see it for initial attack thrusts.
- wildzzz 5y agoI've already seen some photos of tanks stuck in mud. The good news for the Russians is that Ukraine has plenty of roads between the major objectives. It would be a totally different situation if the Russians had to cross a lot of wilderness.
- selectodude 5y agoGood news and bad news, since roads tend to be a little easier to block.