TopBadger wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:16 pm
EACLucifer wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 5:28 pm
It's going to be like Panzer-IVs and Tigers all over again, isn't it.
But worse... if folks can't tell between tracks and wheels.
Anyway, regarding ongoing / future Ukrainian movements lets hope Russian Sappers are crap and those defensive lines are more for show than effect.
Lets hope so, but their job is to slow Ukrainian advances until reinforcements arrive. If Ukraine can get through them before that happens, they can break into the operational depth and there wreak havoc. So Ukraine need to break through fast, which is a radically different prospect depending on whether or not they are properly manned. A tank with a dozer blade can clear that sort of hastily deployed obstacle line, line charges and mine ploughs can clear the mines from in front of it, bridgelayers or engineering vehicles with fascines can fill the ditch behind it to allow the wheeled APCs to cross, and so on, but it's much harder if someone is shooting ATGMs at you.
On the other hand, as well as going fast, Ukraine can work to ensure Russian reinforcements go slow - so if they are looking at a breach, we might see a sudden wave of strikes on the transport network between it and where reinforcements are expected from and so on.
There's clearly some sort of fighting going on around Velyka Novosilka, which is west of Vuhledar, but I'd be surprised if it was anything other than a) a probe to see how the defences are in that area or b) an attempt to convince the Russians to move equipment around to see how they react and if that creates any gaps. Realistically, it's going to be a bit of both. There's also various claims about Ukrainian advances in the Bakhmut area, including possibly capturing the key high ground of Berkhivka just north of the city. Russian forces northwest of here around Orikovo-Vasylivka already have their supply lines under pressure as they run within range of Ukrainian FPV improvised loitering munitions.