Ukraine Update 2023 Week 20

Do tanks have a purpose?

In the Ukraine/Russia war, neither side has been able to achieve air superiority. Russia is unable to get past Ukrainian air defenses and has lost a lot of aircraft. The Ukrainian air force is slowly being resupplied with former Soviet era aircraft from Poland, Slovakia and other countries. However, they can’t penetrate deeply into the Russian air defense.

Ukrainian armor is being used to destroy entrenched Russian forces, or in the case of Bakhmut, buildings being occupied by Russian military forces. The USA would use an air strike on these targets, for Ukraine, they are using armored forces to destroy the locations.

Bakhmut geographically serves no strategic purpose. It became a very important political image. The Russians wanted to show a victory and the Ukraine wanted to show their ability to prevent the Russian military from achieving any success on the battlefield.

What the Ukrainian’s have used Bakhmut into is a meat grinder for Russia to expend its waning military capability in a controlled environment. The fighting is brutal, but the Russians repeatedly use mass attacks against a very well organized Ukrainian force. The Ukrainians gain experience and Russia keeps loosing material and personnel.

Now, the Ukrainians have advance United Kingdom missiles to use with their former Soviet aircraft. These missiles can go deep into occupied territory. They are now testing the weapons while destroying Russian Command and Control sites.

A British update on Putin:

An Australian Analysis of the Ukraine / Russian war.