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Rob Lee

Jun 13 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

An interesting account of fighting for Dovhenke in the Izyum area on May 16. It says that a group of Russian volunteers were sent to reinforce a Russian motorized rifle company that only had 20 infantrymen, 1 tank, and 4 BMP-1AM.
t.me/milinfolive/84…
vk.com/milinfolive?w=…

Presumably, this was the 69th Covering Brigade. The account suggests there wasn't much briefing provided to the volunteers before advancing. The infantry advanced behind a BMP for cover, but the vehicle suddenly took a right while in the middle of a field leaving them exposed. 2/

This left 30 infantrymen/volunteers in a fire sack ambush. A volunteer with two Russian soldiers approached a building with Ukrainian soldiers but the BMP-1AM sent to support them began to fire on them instead of the Ukrainian soldiers. 3/

Half way into the fight, Ukrainian mortar and artillery fire began, and the one Russian tank began to fire on the building with Ukrainian troops most of whom had allegedly already been killed. The Russian force eventually retreated under mortar fire. 4/

The Russian source claims that one Russian volunteer and two Russian soldiers were killed and the rest of the infantrymen were wounded. It claims 10 Ukrainian soldiers were killed. The volunteers reportedly included Chechnya, Syria, Libya, and Donbas veterans. 5/

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More from @RALee85

Rob Lee

@RALee85

Jun 5

Video reportedly of a Russian aircraft getting shot down.
facebook.com/Kochevenko/pos…

Another video presumably of the same aircraft getting shot down. This occurred in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. 2/
t.me/truexanewsua/4…

The Russian Fighterbomber channel claims this was a Ukrainian aircraft. 3/
t.me/fighter_bomber…

Read 6 tweets

Rob Lee

@RALee85

Jun 2

https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1532343503270731776

Thread. Two points I want to make from this article:
1) The Russian invasion force's struggles in Ukraine do not show a fundamental change in warfare
2) I think this shows that people are jumping to the wrong conclusions about this war and the Russian military's weaknesses

https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1532343503270731776

One of the main reasons why Russian tank units struggled in Ukraine is that they lacked sufficient infantry to support them, particularly in urban areas. This doesn't show that tanks are necessarily more vulnerable, it is a well-known requirement for the success of tank units. 2/

Infantry is the fundamental and oldest component of armies. This war shows that infantry is still just as critical (people have said that infantry is obsolete as well), and that Russia needs more light infantry. Imo, this war discredited the VDV's overly mechanized structure. 3/

Read 8 tweets

Rob Lee

@RALee85

May 31

Thread: I completely disagree with this article's conclusions, and I think it stems from a misinterpretation of the data. Tanks, fighters, and ships are not "being pushed into obsolescence" and we are mostly seeing incremental changes in warfare.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

If you are going to make a bold claim like "we are seeing the very nature of combat change" you need extraordinary evidence, which this article lacks. Instead, the successes and failures of the Russian and Ukrainian militaries can be explained by well-known principles of war. 2/

In Ukraine most casualties are coming from unguided artillery, Soviet-era air defenses are countering modernized Soviet-era aircraft, infantry are fighting infantry in trenches with rifles and grenades, tanks are being destroyed by AT mines, and most equipment is decades old. 3/

Read 33 tweets

Rob Lee

@RALee85

May 31

Russian Mi-24 helicopter reportedly in the Severodonetsk area.
t.me/ChDambiev/17188

Russian Mi-8AMTSh and Mi-28N helicopters in Luhansk reportedly from May 28. 2/
t.me/ChDambiev/17191

Russian Ka-52 helicopters in the Donbas. 3/
t.me/ChDambiev/17196

Read 5 tweets

Rob Lee

@RALee85

May 28

Video of the fighting in Novotoshkivske, Luhansk Oblast from late April. The video shows LNR tanks and BMPs firing on the town. The video appears to show a Russian artillery strike at the beginning.
t.me/Z4LPR/22