"Russian forces deploy outdated military equipment" Topic

The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on June 9 that Russian forces are mining Kherson Oblast with mines from the 1950s to defend against recent Ukrainian counterattacks in northwestern Kherson Oblast. The GUR stated that Russian forces moved these mines from Russia's Rostov Oblast to the Kherson area despite the fact the mines were meant to be destroyed. The GUR claimed that some of the mines detonated during the transportation processes and killed Russian sappers from the 49th Combined Arms Army. The GUR's report is consistent with previous statements that Russian forces are moving old and obsolete equipment to Ukraine to make up for equipment losses, including deploying T-62 tanks to the Melitopol area and pulling MLRS and 152mm howitzers from storage in Irkutsk, Siberia.

Understanding War: link

Reading the article, did anyone notice the massive intrusion in the Kherson front? What is going on there?!?

Damon.

did anyone notice the massive intrusion in the Kherson front?

If you mean the dash on map 1 running from southwest to north-east, then that seems to be simply a long narrow bay of a lake (see map 5), with the Russian military controlling both shores. And control of the shores effectively means control of the water, even though they may not have been able to bring in much in the way of military watercraft to patrol it.

As for being tasked with laying land mines produced in the 1950's, that does not exactly sound like a dream assignment.

That's bad news for everyone in the theater. Land mine warfare was one of my emphasis areas when I was a combat engineer, and the Soviets were not shy about crafting some truly nasty land mines. Non-metallic mines that can't be found with standard mine detectors, for example.

And while unfuzed mines that are properly stored and sealed can remain stable for decades (we had mines in storage in Korea in the 90's that had been shipped there from Saigon), do we really trust the Red Army to have been very careful about that? Their logistical prowess has shown to be somewhat lacking as of late…

If you mean the dash on map 1 running from southwest to north-east, then that seems to be simply a long narrow bay of a lake (see map 5), with the Russian military controlling both shores. And control of the shores effectively means control of the water, even though they may not have been able to bring in much in the way of military watercraft to patrol it.

I'm not seeing a lake on Map 5. It looks very much like a recon element broke through & is running around in the Russian back area. There ARE water bodies in the area, but they have a
different color.

(map from the site)

Edit: further looking at the map, I think they are saying Ukrainian elements are in control of the waterways down to that point!

Damon.

I have to admit that there is a lot of material on that map, and the colour choices may not be optimal, making it a bit confusing to interpret. For example, there are two shades of light blue, one standing for the waterways and the other for "claimed Ukrainian counteroffensives".

Checking other sources, the "lake" that I was referring to is apparently known as Kakhovka Reservoir, an artificial lake formed by building a dam on river Dnieper. The dam and the accompanying hydroelectric power plant seem to located close to the town of Nova Kakhovka marked on the map.

That reservoir is quite wide, so crossing it is not exactly a trivial operation for ground forces.

That reservoir is quite wide, so crossing it is not exactly a trivial operation for ground forces.

Quite true, & the Russians haven't had great experiences with contested water crossings…

But I am wondering how to interpret this. If the Ukrainians are using light craft or boats to deny Russia control of the waterways, they are effectively conducting an enveloping operation, cutting off Russian retreat from the Kherson side of the bank. So I am wondering if the Russians are going to suffer a bit of a loss here.

Damon.

This is from their interactive map. 1, 2, 3 & 4 are water.
No control is indicated or meant.

The sea is shown as grey on map 5 but the river by Mykolaiv is the same fresh-water colour as the dammed lake.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

When will we see the T-34?…

Armand

It seems from DAY 1 the Russians were using many older equipment types. E.g. MTLBs, BMPs, BTRs, T-72s off the top of the my head.

Javelin + 1 👍👍

"Russian forces deploy outdated military equipment"

Well, the equipment goes with their outdated tactics. :-)

You got that right !

Ha!….

Armand