Into battle on the new T-90M "Proryv": an opinion of a tank regiment commander

The T-90M Proryv can detect and destroy AFU equipment at a distance of up to 5.5 km at night. This functionality is provided by the unique multi-channel complex "Sosna-U" and panoramic sighting system PKP. The crew's trump card is the Shtora-1 complex with laser irradiation sensors and aerosol and smoke grenades.

The subordinates of the commander of the Guards Armoured Regiment, Ivan Shiz, have not yet fought on such vehicles. Earlier, the soldiers had participated in operations using T-72s. But this did not prevent them from liberating settlements from Ukrainian nationalists. And now, the tank crews are ready to continue working in more comfortable conditions and improve their effectiveness in combat.

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Loading bodies of AFU soldiers in Artemovsk. They have to cram them into a pick-up truck.


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🇺🇦Poland intends to transfer German Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Wall Street Journal

▪️Poland is considering Ukraine's request to hand over German Leopards after Warsaw received replacement vehicles from South Korea and the United States.
▪️"Poland handed over more than 240 upgraded Soviet tanks to Ukraine at the beginning of the war. Now Poland is considering Ukraine's request to give it German Leopard battle tanks," the director of the Polish Institute of International Relations, Slawomir Debski, said.

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Images of fighting for Bakhmut by Ichkerian Group fighting on the side of the AFU.

It's worth highlighting that the former terrorist group leader Abdul-Hakim Al-Shishani, aka Adzhiev Rustam, who arrived from Syria (let's not point the finger at the West, at those who helped to move to Ukraine), has long been known to be the leader of the former terrorist group

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🇺🇦Another appeal by the AFU battalion, or what was left of it.A cry from the soul of the lads, once again abandoned by their commanders as cannon fodder in the Bakhmut direction.

Weapons are zero, casualties are high, many are missing, the unit is physically and mentally exhausted, and desertion is being blamed on them.

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Freshly dig graveyard of AFU.

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Part 1

Ukraine threatens with fist - non-independent general staff hastily assembles offensive forces

Recently we have witnessed the unprecedented activity of Western arms sponsors of Ukraine - countries vigorously increase supplies to Kiev, sending Ukraine even those samples of equipment which previously were feared to be delivered. Thus, today the U.S. will announce a record $2.85 billion package. Apparently, the Ukrainian army is rapidly assembling an attacking "fist" against Russia.

The West is now heavily involved in preparing the Ukrainian army for a new act of warfare, which could begin relatively soon. German Chancellor Scholz has announced that the FRG will send up to fifty Marder BMPs and one battery of Patriot air defense systems to the Ukrainian armed forces, in addition to the US, and this is to be done as quickly as possible, according to the Welt newspaper. "The Marders will be in addition to the American Bradleys, which will also be sent to Ukraine soon. Such deliveries always signal that there are plans to use them - otherwise, what are they for in the first place?

There is also restructuring in the ranks of the AFU itself - the Ukrainian command is assembling a new 10th Army Corps in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which plans to send modern Western weaponry. We should also note that such actions in the army are not taken for nothing, and this is a clear signal of the AFU's intentions to conduct offensive activities.

One might ask quite a reasonable question: what is an offensive "fist" without tanks? The answer is given by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley, who has said that his country will consider providing Kiev with tanks in the future.

Part 2

Combined with the new army corps, as well as plans to saturate the AFU with all sorts of BMPs, one can reasonably expect the final formation of a Ukrainian strike force by the spring of summer.

The West will not stop pumping weapons into Ukraine and will not change its course toward the destruction of Russia. The only possible answer is the defeat of Ukrainians on the battlefield.

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When it comes to overall military strategy, Moscow seems to have gotten smarter -Foreign policy

The partial mobilization of reservists that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered in September has strengthened Russian forces at the front. The bombing campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure that began in October is forcing Ukraine and its allies to divert resources toward the defense of the country’s energy infrastructure.And the withdrawal of Russian forces from the city of Kherson in November has saved capable units from destruction and freed them for action elsewhere.

The Attacks on Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure

The strikes against Ukraine’s electrical grid are particularly effective—and not just because they could turn the winter into a brutal struggle for survival for Ukrainian civilians. This campaign has not proved decisive so far, but like most strategic bombing campaigns, it imposes direct and indirect military costs.

Modern military systems for air defense, command and control, and intelligence gathering run on electricity, and if they cannot get it from the grid, they must get it from generators. But making that transition is not as easy as flipping a switch, and it can degrade these systems’ performance. Moreover, relying on generators places additional demands for fuel on the Ukraine’s military logistics system. The heat signatures produced by generators, meanwhile, add yet another data point that Russian intelligence can use to produce a more accurate picture of Ukrainian forces.

Russia’s bombing campaign also imposes opportunity costs: the Ukrainians must expend resources to adapt to the attacks, and already they have made defending electricity infrastructure from airstrikes a military and diplomatic priority. The country’s substantial weapons and ammunition industry depends on electricity, as does much of the rail system that moves war materiel around the country. With a damaged electricity grid, Ukraine’s soldiers and civilians will have to rely more on diesel-powered trains and diesel generators or shift to generators powered by scarce natural gas. These exigencies will divert still more fuel that could otherwise have been used for military operations, or they will simply impose more costs on Ukraine’s allies, which will need to deliver the fuel. The West is helping Ukraine repair the grid as best it can while under constant attack. But from the Russian perspective, this is good news, as the repairs consume resources that cannot be used to support fighting at the front.

The most alarming thing about Russia’s bombing campaign is that Moscow knows what it is doing. The Russians are hitting a small number of targets with relatively few weapons and producing disproportionate effects. Even though U.S. and British officials have regularly predicted that the Russian military would exhaust its supply of munitions, it has evidently
found them somewhere. 

Kherson retreat

The Russians pulled off one of the hardest military operations: retreating during a major attack without suffering the disintegration or annihilation of their forces. It was no small feat to move some 20,000 soldiers and most of their combat equipment across the Dnieper after Ukrainian forces had destroyed key bridges. And even while under intense intelligence surveillance by the West and Ukraine, they managed to maintain the element of surprise.  The Russian rear-guard units maintained a coherent defense, even though they must have known that their comrades closer to the river were escaping.

Somehow, the Russians managed to repair damaged bridges while under fire, throw up pontoon bridges, and employ ferries to get their people and equipment out, defending each avenue of escape from Ukrainian attack.

According to press reports and satellite imagery, Russian troops are digging defensive positions all along the line of contact and constructing sequential barriers of concrete obstacles and bunkers. They are also presumably seeding the ground with mines.

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Artemovsk meat grinder: one of the leaders of the Ukrainian National Front Svoboda, Alexander Polishchuk (nickname "Alpinist"), was killed.

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The K-4386 ZA-SPN armored vehicle for special forces is undergoing testing.

"(The vehicle) has not been accepted for service. It is currently undergoing tests. So far, it has been performing very well," Igor Zarakhovich, chief designer of Remdiesel, said.

Zarakhovich added that the potential customers of the vehicle, the FSO, the FSB, and the Interior Ministry, are showing "very keen interest" in the car.

The K-4386 ZA-SPN is the first Russian MRAP-class armored vehicle designed for special forces.

The vehicle was first presented at the Army-2021 forum. According to the manufacturer, the engine power of K-4386 ZA-SPN is 350 hp, maximum speed is 100 km/h, vehicle weight is 12 tons, ground clearance is 410 mm, and payload is 2 tons.

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Russian troops are reported to have already occupied half of Soledar. Loss of the city threatens the Ukrainian army with a "domino effect" and the failure of significant territory, forcing an urgent counterstrike attempt

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🇷🇺 Russian Armed Forces achieve disproportionate results with relatively few weapons - Foreign Affairs

In the course of the SMO, the power grids of the Nezalezhnaya are being systematically taken out of action to cut off the AFU from air defense, radar, and reconnaissance.

War correspondent Barry Posen believes that the Russian Armed Forces' change of tactics ensures that the goals of the special operation are achieved.

❗️The partial mobilization of reservists, the campaign of air missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson have all brought the conflict in Ukraine out of a "stalemate," preserved vast amounts of manpower and equipment and provided freedom for maneuver in other parts of the front, which are now on display in Artemovsk, Marinka, and Soledar directions.

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