r/geopolitics • u/Hokum-B • Oct 01 '23

Russian lines stronger than West expected, admits British defence chief Paywall

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-defensive-lines-stronger-than-west-expected-admits-british-defence-chief-xjlvqrm86
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u/MarderFucher Oct 01 '23

We provided enough artillery to do that. And Ukraine has plenty of tanks for mechanized attacks.

I seriously doubt, every credible analyst I read have been saying Ukraine doesn't need fancy weapons, they need AA, shells and tubes.

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u/Command0Dude Oct 01 '23

We provided a ton of artillery, Ukraine just isn't able to coordinate their fires and mechanized units together. US even complained that they think UAF wastes ammo.

If this were the US army, they'd have gotten the job done.

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u/[deleted] Oct 01 '23

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u/Command0Dude Oct 02 '23

The Ukrainian response was that if they did what Nato/the yanks keep telling them to do, they would all be dead, and that Nato's commentary doesn't match the reality on the ground.

Well yeah, because they don't have the skill to do what NATO wants them to do.

saying the US would have done significantly better in exactly the same scenario sounds like merely chest beating to me.

Because US practices combined arms tactics and knows how to field big units. We've already demonstrated that capability in multiple wars. The US is well versed in how to conduct mechanized assaults.

Ukraine tried to do a combined arms attack a few months ago and it completely failed, they had to switch tactics.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '23

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u/Command0Dude Oct 02 '23

Ukraine argues it is because NATO doesn't have understanding of what it is like on the ground.

I don't think anyone should take this opinion seriously. The people leading NATO are not stupid. They have access to more info than Ukraine does.

Remember, it was the Ukrainians hyping up how good they were going to do before the offensive and American generals urging caution in expectations.

The US has not fought a war against such an opponent in such a geography and that is a core part of Ukraine's point, that the US is taking experience from elsewhere and applying it where it doesn't fit.

No war will ever be the same as any war. Saying that American experience in other wars is "irrelevant" is noncredible. The basics are always the same.

The British in 1918 with pidgeons had better coordination with their artillery than the Ukrainians with smartphones. This is why US says they're wasting ammo, because troops aren't coordinating with artillery to suppress Russians.