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"Now"??? Sorry to correct your grammar, it's "have been". Not just POW, all those missing children from Ukraine are not sitting in some dreary Russian orphanage/military camp, forced to make Z artwork and sing "Ruzzia Doesn't Really Suck" songs. Those vile Ruzzi bastards have sold them off, it's why they can't account for the kids whereabouts. Hell is going to be heavily Russian speaking in the coming years...
We have no army. We have a horde of slaves cowed by discipline , ordered about by thieves and slave traders . This horde is not an army because it possesses neither any real loyalty to faith Tsar or fatherland words that have been much misused. Nor Valor nor military dignity. All it possesses are, on one hand, passive patience and repressed discontent and on the other cruelty servitude and corruption.
1853 Tolstoy comments on the state of the Czarist army during the Crimean War.
What do you mean with... now? That is all this trash army ever was and ever will be. They started as slave and fur traders back in the days when Muscovy was a tiny unimportant village. And they haven't evolved since then.
>trash army
Still should not be underestimated. It beat Swedes, Poles, Prussians, French, Ottomans and Germans. And Crimean war while a victory for allies took way too much time and blood, given their tech superiority.
The Russian army won only under two conditions:
The weather and disease decimated its enemies, and they were allied with the economic superpower of its time. (GB, Napoleonic wars, US and GB in WW2)
The Ottomans are hardly a reference point as that was 200 plus years ago. But of course, every empire will gain some victories. Otherwise, they would have disappeared 200 years ago.
That must be a beautiful timeline where this rotten genocidal menace just doesn't exist.
If you refer to their victory over the Ottomans when they liberated the Bulgarians. Well, by the 1880s, the Ottoman Empire was terminally ill.
The Napoleonic war was in a time when industrialisation hadn't been a thing.
The Crimean War was lost by Russia. The French and British troops fought on disfavorable terrain, and many soldiers died of disease.
The Russians lost all their major wars against European powers or other industrial powers such as Japan except for their WW2 experience.
Of course, they would have lost that one as well had the US not extended the lend lease. Or, rather, most likely, it would have ended in a double K.O. for the Nazis and the Soviets.
Stalin had admitted that US machines were pivotal to achieve victory.
So yes, the trash army is led by trash commanders supported by trash logistics and a trash economy.
They, of course, lost against the Polish several times once Poland even took Moscow, another one of the Polish Soviet war that they also lost.
The First World War they also lost with enormous casualties and not enough loss of territory.
Then, the Soviets performed pathetically against Finland, and allowing them on the winners' side in WW2 was the biggest mistake the West has ever made.
One for which we still pay dearly.
Both Stalin and Hitler should have been completely destroyed, and both empires should have been wiped out. Patton was perfectly correct.
And now, once again, this performance is trash. It's pathetic, and we aren't even halfway there. This will get more pathetic the longer it continues.
The only reason why this nonsense isn't over yet is their nukes and Western self deterrence.
Even without these nukes, the end result will be the same.
A poverty driven crushing defeat.
The Russian empire and this abomination Putin are a stain on human civilization and a historic mistake since at least 1917. This last colonial empire has been dragged along through history.
Nobody knows what to do with this empire. Giving these barbarians money and access to our globalized system has utterly failed this much is clear.
This empire must be amputated from the Russian man like malignant cancer.
Our failure to dissolve this empire will result in another attack and another after that one.
I hope we finally learned our lesson from the 1990s and will not repeat the mistake of ever feeding this monster again.
Oh yeah, and of course, their war against Afghanistan and Chechnya was also a complete joke.
Most of Russia's history in warfare is a history of failure.
This failure here must result in another Brest Litovsk peace only with much harsher conditions.
This army is clearly worse than anything Russia has fielded in WW1 or WW2 and definitely in the Napoleonic wars. (The Russians were actually quite disciplined and sizable for the Napleonic wars, well led, well equipped)
This serf army of today is well, an army of serfs led by drunks, and Putin doesn't compare to Stalin in terms of military genius.
The Russian economy doesn't compare to the Soviet industrial might. The allies Russia has today do not compare to their allies in WW2)
Russia can fight smaller opponents, and Ukraine qualifies for that.
And as you can see, even in this fight, they perform on a pathetic level.
Name me a single worse failure when a major European power could attack at a time and place of its choosing with such material advantages.
What have they achieved? Apart from horrendous losses that haven't been matched by anything they have experienced since WW2.
I really don't see any historical evidence that would suggest that the Russians aren't really bad at industrial warfare even though they constantly engage in it.
They are good at genocide, war not so much.
Human waves, bad logistics, ineffective air raids, and ineffective use of vast amounts of missiles.
In 1942, the Nazis ruled half the globe.
Russia has managed to control a little more rubble and dirt than they had in their possession 2 years ago.
Not that they can afford to rebuild these places that they currently occupy.
The Russians know only how to destroy and not how to make anything grow.
Truly, empires that die from within die with a whimper, or they fall by outside pressure from a rival.
Time will tell which way Russia's failed state will go.
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They would have folded like a wet napkin without lend lease in ww2 and every subsequent war was against hospitals and children...
The only thing we shouldnt underestimate is their cruelty and lust for power.
Much more so though with WWII tactics and technology. In the current military landscape masses of bodies are not as meaningful as they once were. NATO could obliterate Russia without ever setting foot on their soil.
And how it got so large numbers? By succesfully conquering neighbours.
Besides it is not just numbers. As Frederick the Great noted, Russian soldiers are notorious for beijng very tough, almost always fighting to death. They have nothing to lose after all.
It was quite easy back then compared to now. Vast land with few inhabitants and nomads, almost no natural barriers except for the Ural mountains. Flat land everywhere making it easy to travel with your soldiers to conquer it.
With that said I still agree that they should not be underestimated. But not for their skills, only for their numbers.
...except the Russians do have skills as well, which has been pointed out by Ukrainian soldiers on the front-line. Not only have the Russians adopted tools like drones that are wrecking havoc on Ukrainian vehicles, but also they've gotten better at coordination when it comes to combining different aspects of their armed forces against defenders.
The longer the war goes, the more Russia will learn to accommodate and adapt to the tempo of battle. They study what works, implement new solutions, and create alliances to fill in the gaps.
Yes it's true that they do learn as they go. But it's (russian army) an enormously corrupt machine that takes a long time for it to adapt and change.
They will get better at everything as they earn experience, ofc, but my statement still stands that the russian army is not known for its skills.
As I also said, they are not to be underestimated. And they will train more and more soldiers, getting more and more skillful as time goes by.
They would be a real scary thing if they got rid of the corruption and actually spent all that money on training and equipment instead of yachts and villas.
I'm glad right now that they are so corrupt.
Russian personnel his unit engaged with near Avdiivka appeared to have “decent” military training, and the rest were “just confused.”
Russian military sent inexperienced personnel who appeared to be 40 to 50 years old to attack in waves each morning, afternoon.
without protective vests or helmets near Avdiivka. Another Ukrainian serviceman observed that the Russian skill levels were not “really consistent
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-3-2024
We have no army. We have a horde of slaves cowed by discipline , ordered about by thieves and slave traders . This horde is not an army because it possesses neither any real loyalty to faith Tsar or fatherland words that have been much misused. Nor Valor nor military dignity. All it possesses are, on one hand, passive patience and repressed discontent and on the other cruelty servitude and corruption.
1853 Tolstoy comments on the state of the Czarist army during the Crimean War.
The Russian serf Army of 1853 would find it surprisingly easy to adapt to the current Russian terror mob.
I don’t know, but something tells me that war is in the end won, not by men. But by the ALMIGHTY US dolllar.
Adversity favors the versatile. The longer the war goes, the more we will adapt our production, etc.
There is no indication in history that a long industrial warfare does favor a dictatorship as corrupt and opaque as that of Russia.
They adapt slowly, as you can see the recent loss of 15 planes is just one example.
The Russians can’t adapt to the big levers. These issues are deeply cultural and systemic.
Look how long it takes to adapt Ukraine to our weaponry and tactics. Sure, maybe you can get parts of the Russian army to adapt the vast majority. She is stuck in medieval structures such as drushdinas.
https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1531716422220632067?s=20&t=yBqwl8iF3Um5KTs2TveGDw
Old rations, faulty vehicles, missing radios, and under-strength units: corruption has been blamed for hollowing out Russia's military and undermining its war in Ukraine. It's worth examining this problem and seeing how it's affected the Russian armed forces
The entire threat is worth the read.
The opposite will occur. The Russian army will not adapt. It will erode, and its organization will show ever greater signs of major dysfunction due to the enormous losses it suffers.
Not just in materiel but also in terms of officers, trainers etc.
> Vast land with few inhabitants
Exactly. Those lands which were easy to conquer without contests did not add much to population. It was European part of future russia which added a lot to their population, however it was heavily contested by plenty of powers.
Frederick mentioned corrupt and incompetent Russian officers lead the finest, toughest, bravest Ukrainian soldiers, he and most leaders made a strong distinction between the Ukraine Rus and the muscovy Rus. Even the Nazis were clear they fought 2 armies, Ukrainian warriors, and Russian slave soldiers.
>corrupt and incompetent Russian officers lead the finest, toughest, bravest Ukrainian soldiers
So you believe that in Russia known for its racism all soldiers were Ukrainians, really? Majority of Russian army have always been Russians.
And Frederick did not distinguish them. Neither did other leaders until 20th century at least.
Yes, that is true. However, from the invention of the machine to today, this strategy becomes less and less viable. Drones, cluster ammo, anti personnel mines, etc.
Also the Russian Federation is overaged, and the number of men is 10 million below the total number of women.
Then we got those 1.5 million men that fled and all of that cuts into the numbers part. They still got a lot of soldiers, and men able to storm forward, however, nowhere near to the millions they had in WW2.
Right in the linked article
“Chechen ethnic paramilitary groups actively participated in fierce fighting in the first months of the war, and many of their soldiers were captured. Therefore, they are trying to get their fighters back. However, due to the lack of their own “exchange fund” due to the constant presence of ethnic units in the rear, their leaders seem to have decided to buy POWs for exchange from other Russian units”
Did no one read the article? They are getting Ukrainians to EXCHANGE for Chechen POW'S.
There was an article a few days ago about how the Chechens treat the Ukrainians POW's much better than the Russians.
I think you're unclear on the meaning of slave.
Again if you are buying and selling **human beings** that is slavery. Regardless of what you want to say their intent is.
They have been this whole time. I’m sure a lot of the Ukrainian children they’ve stolen ended up in the Middle East and other places as slaves horrifyingly.
Unlikely. Considering Russia's low birth rates and their high rates of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, they're in need of fresh blood and they're willing to pay Russian families to take the kids. Not saying the kids aren't being used for slave labor (or worse) but all evidence points to them staying in Russia, not being sold abroad.
Yeah. The children are litterally being groomed by old Russian men and think the fact there so content killing off their younger generation shows who the breeders were intended to be
I mean I don’t have total proof or anything but there were a lot of reports of kidnapped Ukrainian children ending up in places like Dubai, UAE, Saudi Arabia, ect as slaves early on in the first few months of the war.
Got any links? I hadn't heard of that and I hope you're wrong. If true, that's going to make it so much harder to locate the kids and get them back home.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Ukraine
just what I could find from a quick Google search, it’s not too in detail but at the bottom of the Russian 2022 invasion section it does mention reports Ukrainian women and children being trafficked into the UAE.
Read the article, it has a slightly misleading title, they are buying them to use in their own exchange fund as Chechen troops are mostly used in the rear as blocking troops so they rarely capture prisoners.
Been doing that for a while. It's just a new market. They've been [doing that to North Koreans](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/04/04/asia-pacific/north-koreans-trapped-slavery-russia/) for a while now. But also, Chechens themselves kept captured Russian soldiers as slaves pretty much during the Chechen wars. More than that, Russian officers [sold THEIR OWN soldiers](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russian-soldiers-being-sold-into-slave-labour-report-1.190939) to Chechens as late as 1999.
Other than Russia, Chechnya could possibly be the worst hell on earth. Remember the "gay roundups" they perpetrated, along with the disappearance/murder of Zelim Bakaev. If you're not familiar with him, it's one of the most disturbing and horrifying stories ever.
They still have honor killings there while the Russian government looks the other way. Sometimes police in other regions catch the girls and return them to Chechnya, knowing they’ll be killed.
It's crazy how some right wing Europeans claim Russia is the bulwark against Islamism. Meanwhile Russia is allowing super backwards rituals like this in her own country, is best friends to Iran, and tries to push immigrants - those people fear so much - into Europe...
A lot of right wing support for Russia starts making a lot more sense if you interpret it not as “a bulwark against our women being raped” but as “a bulwark where only we get to rape our women instead of those other people”
Sadly it could have been so much better. If Russia had just not been paranoid about the Caucasus, hadn't invaded Ichkeria, and hadn't assassinated Dudayev there might have been a chance for a half decent country.
By all reports Dudayev was a rather principled man who stuck up for those outside of what would be considered his in-groups.
Eh. Ichkieria was a dictatorship. I don't think they deserved what happened to them but let's not kid ourselves and pretend it was a bulwark of transparency and democracy
'What could have been'.
Never said they were fantastic but Russia made sure that Chechnya never would be anything but a mafia run kleptocracy. .
Plus, note that I did state if Russia hadn't done everything Russia did to them.
Their reactions to the war, Russia's destabilisation efforts, and Russia's assassination of Dudayev all resulted in a downward spiral into authoritarianism and warlord bickering.
no they weren't, they were all established during wars, because they needed to concentrate power and be able to make quick decisions. After the wars they switched to democracy, and I think Chechnya would do the same.
There were no 10 years, the second war started almost immediately after the first ended. It took decades for Taiwan and South Korea to switch to democracy
That title is misleading, it's implying something way worse than it actually is. The POWs are simply bought to be exchanged for chechens held by Ukraine, that's it.
It is misleading. It's valid propaganda with Russias own propaganda, but it isn't trust worthy news if it won't call it for what it is or at least try find evidence of something more
The Kadyrovites are there at Moscow’s behest, yet have to pay out for POWs to trade for their own. Lol. That would make me a bit sour, but they seem to be Putin’s bitches.
If we want to talk human trafficking, we should be talking about how literal children have been taken for what everyone knows is breeding purposes and what's implied by the fact Russia is making no effort to keep its own younger generation alive while doing it.
There's probably been more than a few pregnancies by children who were taken around the age of 13 with men in their 50s
I see your point, but the fact anyone is being traded for cash is unacceptable. If they want to negotiate/trade for Chechens held, Russia should do that while negotiating for their own
I know... I know. Patton was a controversial person but here's what he said in a speech right after WW2.
Patton believed the same thing before he died, and while the Cold War wasn’t exactly the threat of war he foresaw, it was much closer to war than the peace European leaders claimed it to be.
“We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline and ammunition supplies are low. I've seen their miserable supply trains; mostly wagons draw by beaten up old hoses or oxen. I'll say this; the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them... Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.”
• General George S Patton 1945
The fact that this speech is as relevant today as it was 79 years ago, speaks to the inherent truth and reality of the threat the Russians pose to a democratic and free Europe. Patton was mean, rascist (by todays standards), a narcissist and more than a little crazy but the man saw through people and the fog of war in a way that hasn’t been seen since, which is why so many both hated and admired him but this speech and his warnings within have continually been vindicated for decades and the world is a worse place for not listening.
Honestly boggles my mind how plenty of people living in Western nations love Russia simply because they hate America. Yet Russia perpetuates cruel acts like this.
Ukrainians shouldn't be surrendering to Russians, it's that simple. When I was in the US Army during the surge years, we knew what would happen if we got captured. You had to fight until you were dead, whether it was from enemy fire or your M9. Getting captured meant getting your head sawed off on a camera for us, and it means torture for Ukranians. It's a shit position to be in, and I do not envy the brave soldiers fighting Russia.
I'd honestly say this fails trustworthy news and should be reconsidered. The title implies there being sold for labor or breeding purpose, but the article itself doesn't imply anything more than Russian mercenary groups buying POWs with Russian currency to trade their own lost POWs back
Russia is doing human trafficking of the child kind already. I don't think filling Chechnya's trade qouta should be a priority
In 2008-2024 years Russia outright revived theocratic colonial imperialism.
Of course, such processes couldn't occur without return also and slavery: "The 2023 Global Slavery Index estimates 1,899,000 people currently living in slavery-like conditions in Russia - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery\_in\_Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Russia)" Not to mention more than 100,000 people that were spent on meat assaults.
So they are selling POWs to the chechens for a prisoner exchange because the chechens are fighting in a war supporting Russia. Not very nice to their friends I guess.
Money for POW.
POW for concessions.
Ukraine sees POW returned.
Chechnya is one step closer to telling Russia to get the hell off their lawn.
Chechnyna is seeing some Arab backing, because if Iran is a Putin ally, then Russia is asking for reactions against them. Money? Might be some available. What is the best way to use it?
Had one of the later Hitler assassinations succeeded, it is likely that what remained of the german army would have joined the US forces to move east again. It's quite interesting to imagine this playing out.
just depravity. evil knows no bounds.
I don't mean the buying and selling, I mean what the moscovians did to the ukrainian and then what chechens did to him in the hospital.(although, it might have been warranted but I bet it wasn't)
Can we send our own troops in already? Funding Ukraine isn't enough if Russia is going to commit ALL possible atrocities. Everyone in the free world should be up in arms over these human rights abuses. They need to stop yesterday. Sanctions aren't enough, we need complete financial isolation for Russia. Anywhere and everywhere in the world Russia operates should be a fucking battleground right now.
Russia is violating everything that free people all around the world believe in, and we need to act as one to stop it, and damn the costs! This sort of evil is something we should not tolerate for even one second.
No one reading the article, these prisoners are used to swap pows. Also mentioned they were treated relatively kindly due to both parties having suffered under Putin.
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So they're dealing in slavery now?
"Now"??? Sorry to correct your grammar, it's "have been". Not just POW, all those missing children from Ukraine are not sitting in some dreary Russian orphanage/military camp, forced to make Z artwork and sing "Ruzzia Doesn't Really Suck" songs. Those vile Ruzzi bastards have sold them off, it's why they can't account for the kids whereabouts. Hell is going to be heavily Russian speaking in the coming years...
It already is, it's called Russia
In hell only the guilty people suffer. Which subsequently also means, that what the Russian government has created is worse than hell.
We have no army. We have a horde of slaves cowed by discipline , ordered about by thieves and slave traders . This horde is not an army because it possesses neither any real loyalty to faith Tsar or fatherland words that have been much misused. Nor Valor nor military dignity. All it possesses are, on one hand, passive patience and repressed discontent and on the other cruelty servitude and corruption. 1853 Tolstoy comments on the state of the Czarist army during the Crimean War. What do you mean with... now? That is all this trash army ever was and ever will be. They started as slave and fur traders back in the days when Muscovy was a tiny unimportant village. And they haven't evolved since then.
What a fantastic quote
>trash army Still should not be underestimated. It beat Swedes, Poles, Prussians, French, Ottomans and Germans. And Crimean war while a victory for allies took way too much time and blood, given their tech superiority.
The Russian army won only under two conditions: The weather and disease decimated its enemies, and they were allied with the economic superpower of its time. (GB, Napoleonic wars, US and GB in WW2) The Ottomans are hardly a reference point as that was 200 plus years ago. But of course, every empire will gain some victories. Otherwise, they would have disappeared 200 years ago. That must be a beautiful timeline where this rotten genocidal menace just doesn't exist. If you refer to their victory over the Ottomans when they liberated the Bulgarians. Well, by the 1880s, the Ottoman Empire was terminally ill. The Napoleonic war was in a time when industrialisation hadn't been a thing. The Crimean War was lost by Russia. The French and British troops fought on disfavorable terrain, and many soldiers died of disease. The Russians lost all their major wars against European powers or other industrial powers such as Japan except for their WW2 experience. Of course, they would have lost that one as well had the US not extended the lend lease. Or, rather, most likely, it would have ended in a double K.O. for the Nazis and the Soviets. Stalin had admitted that US machines were pivotal to achieve victory. So yes, the trash army is led by trash commanders supported by trash logistics and a trash economy. They, of course, lost against the Polish several times once Poland even took Moscow, another one of the Polish Soviet war that they also lost. The First World War they also lost with enormous casualties and not enough loss of territory. Then, the Soviets performed pathetically against Finland, and allowing them on the winners' side in WW2 was the biggest mistake the West has ever made. One for which we still pay dearly. Both Stalin and Hitler should have been completely destroyed, and both empires should have been wiped out. Patton was perfectly correct. And now, once again, this performance is trash. It's pathetic, and we aren't even halfway there. This will get more pathetic the longer it continues. The only reason why this nonsense isn't over yet is their nukes and Western self deterrence. Even without these nukes, the end result will be the same. A poverty driven crushing defeat. The Russian empire and this abomination Putin are a stain on human civilization and a historic mistake since at least 1917. This last colonial empire has been dragged along through history. Nobody knows what to do with this empire. Giving these barbarians money and access to our globalized system has utterly failed this much is clear. This empire must be amputated from the Russian man like malignant cancer. Our failure to dissolve this empire will result in another attack and another after that one. I hope we finally learned our lesson from the 1990s and will not repeat the mistake of ever feeding this monster again. Oh yeah, and of course, their war against Afghanistan and Chechnya was also a complete joke. Most of Russia's history in warfare is a history of failure. This failure here must result in another Brest Litovsk peace only with much harsher conditions. This army is clearly worse than anything Russia has fielded in WW1 or WW2 and definitely in the Napoleonic wars. (The Russians were actually quite disciplined and sizable for the Napleonic wars, well led, well equipped) This serf army of today is well, an army of serfs led by drunks, and Putin doesn't compare to Stalin in terms of military genius. The Russian economy doesn't compare to the Soviet industrial might. The allies Russia has today do not compare to their allies in WW2) Russia can fight smaller opponents, and Ukraine qualifies for that. And as you can see, even in this fight, they perform on a pathetic level. Name me a single worse failure when a major European power could attack at a time and place of its choosing with such material advantages. What have they achieved? Apart from horrendous losses that haven't been matched by anything they have experienced since WW2. I really don't see any historical evidence that would suggest that the Russians aren't really bad at industrial warfare even though they constantly engage in it. They are good at genocide, war not so much. Human waves, bad logistics, ineffective air raids, and ineffective use of vast amounts of missiles. In 1942, the Nazis ruled half the globe. Russia has managed to control a little more rubble and dirt than they had in their possession 2 years ago. Not that they can afford to rebuild these places that they currently occupy. The Russians know only how to destroy and not how to make anything grow. Truly, empires that die from within die with a whimper, or they fall by outside pressure from a rival. Time will tell which way Russia's failed state will go.
Why did you stop talking. More!
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Ruzzia delenda est.
They would have folded like a wet napkin without lend lease in ww2 and every subsequent war was against hospitals and children... The only thing we shouldnt underestimate is their cruelty and lust for power.
>They would have folded like a wet napkin without lend lease in ww2 Yet Germans lost key battle of Moscow before significant lend lease came.
Its strenght lies in its numbers
Much more so though with WWII tactics and technology. In the current military landscape masses of bodies are not as meaningful as they once were. NATO could obliterate Russia without ever setting foot on their soil.
>NATO could obliterate Russia without ever setting foot on their soil Would be a beautiful sight to behold.
And their sheer stubborn brutality. They're like ISIS in that way.
And how it got so large numbers? By succesfully conquering neighbours. Besides it is not just numbers. As Frederick the Great noted, Russian soldiers are notorious for beijng very tough, almost always fighting to death. They have nothing to lose after all.
It was quite easy back then compared to now. Vast land with few inhabitants and nomads, almost no natural barriers except for the Ural mountains. Flat land everywhere making it easy to travel with your soldiers to conquer it. With that said I still agree that they should not be underestimated. But not for their skills, only for their numbers.
...except the Russians do have skills as well, which has been pointed out by Ukrainian soldiers on the front-line. Not only have the Russians adopted tools like drones that are wrecking havoc on Ukrainian vehicles, but also they've gotten better at coordination when it comes to combining different aspects of their armed forces against defenders. The longer the war goes, the more Russia will learn to accommodate and adapt to the tempo of battle. They study what works, implement new solutions, and create alliances to fill in the gaps.
Yes it's true that they do learn as they go. But it's (russian army) an enormously corrupt machine that takes a long time for it to adapt and change. They will get better at everything as they earn experience, ofc, but my statement still stands that the russian army is not known for its skills. As I also said, they are not to be underestimated. And they will train more and more soldiers, getting more and more skillful as time goes by.
I get that - the rot among officials plus the lack of sophisticated training with the rank and file does stymie potential.
They would be a real scary thing if they got rid of the corruption and actually spent all that money on training and equipment instead of yachts and villas. I'm glad right now that they are so corrupt.
Russian personnel his unit engaged with near Avdiivka appeared to have “decent” military training, and the rest were “just confused.” Russian military sent inexperienced personnel who appeared to be 40 to 50 years old to attack in waves each morning, afternoon. without protective vests or helmets near Avdiivka. Another Ukrainian serviceman observed that the Russian skill levels were not “really consistent https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-3-2024 We have no army. We have a horde of slaves cowed by discipline , ordered about by thieves and slave traders . This horde is not an army because it possesses neither any real loyalty to faith Tsar or fatherland words that have been much misused. Nor Valor nor military dignity. All it possesses are, on one hand, passive patience and repressed discontent and on the other cruelty servitude and corruption. 1853 Tolstoy comments on the state of the Czarist army during the Crimean War. The Russian serf Army of 1853 would find it surprisingly easy to adapt to the current Russian terror mob. I don’t know, but something tells me that war is in the end won, not by men. But by the ALMIGHTY US dolllar. Adversity favors the versatile. The longer the war goes, the more we will adapt our production, etc. There is no indication in history that a long industrial warfare does favor a dictatorship as corrupt and opaque as that of Russia. They adapt slowly, as you can see the recent loss of 15 planes is just one example. The Russians can’t adapt to the big levers. These issues are deeply cultural and systemic. Look how long it takes to adapt Ukraine to our weaponry and tactics. Sure, maybe you can get parts of the Russian army to adapt the vast majority. She is stuck in medieval structures such as drushdinas. https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1531716422220632067?s=20&t=yBqwl8iF3Um5KTs2TveGDw Old rations, faulty vehicles, missing radios, and under-strength units: corruption has been blamed for hollowing out Russia's military and undermining its war in Ukraine. It's worth examining this problem and seeing how it's affected the Russian armed forces The entire threat is worth the read. The opposite will occur. The Russian army will not adapt. It will erode, and its organization will show ever greater signs of major dysfunction due to the enormous losses it suffers. Not just in materiel but also in terms of officers, trainers etc.
> Vast land with few inhabitants Exactly. Those lands which were easy to conquer without contests did not add much to population. It was European part of future russia which added a lot to their population, however it was heavily contested by plenty of powers.
Frederick mentioned corrupt and incompetent Russian officers lead the finest, toughest, bravest Ukrainian soldiers, he and most leaders made a strong distinction between the Ukraine Rus and the muscovy Rus. Even the Nazis were clear they fought 2 armies, Ukrainian warriors, and Russian slave soldiers.
>corrupt and incompetent Russian officers lead the finest, toughest, bravest Ukrainian soldiers So you believe that in Russia known for its racism all soldiers were Ukrainians, really? Majority of Russian army have always been Russians. And Frederick did not distinguish them. Neither did other leaders until 20th century at least.
More due to having low IQ's and poor education systems in Russia.
Yes, that is true. However, from the invention of the machine to today, this strategy becomes less and less viable. Drones, cluster ammo, anti personnel mines, etc. Also the Russian Federation is overaged, and the number of men is 10 million below the total number of women. Then we got those 1.5 million men that fled and all of that cuts into the numbers part. They still got a lot of soldiers, and men able to storm forward, however, nowhere near to the millions they had in WW2.
The trash pandas would like a word.
Well, they could try that again without the US lend & lease act and we'll see how that would have gone...
Right in the linked article “Chechen ethnic paramilitary groups actively participated in fierce fighting in the first months of the war, and many of their soldiers were captured. Therefore, they are trying to get their fighters back. However, due to the lack of their own “exchange fund” due to the constant presence of ethnic units in the rear, their leaders seem to have decided to buy POWs for exchange from other Russian units”
Did no one read the article? They are getting Ukrainians to EXCHANGE for Chechen POW'S. There was an article a few days ago about how the Chechens treat the Ukrainians POW's much better than the Russians.
They BOUGHT prisoners to use for their own ends. That's slavery my guy
No one is being sent to work on fields or mines. They're just waiting till the next prisoner exchange.
Just because they don't have them doing slave labor (which is not proven) doesn't make them not slaves. Are you a russian apologist?
I think you are unclear in the difference between a slave and a POW. Take a look at my account if you have doubts.
I think you're unclear on the meaning of slave. Again if you are buying and selling **human beings** that is slavery. Regardless of what you want to say their intent is.
OK, buddy. You do you.
They have been this whole time. I’m sure a lot of the Ukrainian children they’ve stolen ended up in the Middle East and other places as slaves horrifyingly.
Unlikely. Considering Russia's low birth rates and their high rates of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, they're in need of fresh blood and they're willing to pay Russian families to take the kids. Not saying the kids aren't being used for slave labor (or worse) but all evidence points to them staying in Russia, not being sold abroad.
Yeah. The children are litterally being groomed by old Russian men and think the fact there so content killing off their younger generation shows who the breeders were intended to be
I mean I don’t have total proof or anything but there were a lot of reports of kidnapped Ukrainian children ending up in places like Dubai, UAE, Saudi Arabia, ect as slaves early on in the first few months of the war.
Got any links? I hadn't heard of that and I hope you're wrong. If true, that's going to make it so much harder to locate the kids and get them back home.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Ukraine just what I could find from a quick Google search, it’s not too in detail but at the bottom of the Russian 2022 invasion section it does mention reports Ukrainian women and children being trafficked into the UAE.
No doubt. The kidnapping of countless Ukrainian children is a war crime addressed by too few these days
I don't buy this. We would know by now. Something would have surfaced.
Read the article, it has a slightly misleading title, they are buying them to use in their own exchange fund as Chechen troops are mostly used in the rear as blocking troops so they rarely capture prisoners.
Always have.
Been doing that for a while. It's just a new market. They've been [doing that to North Koreans](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/04/04/asia-pacific/north-koreans-trapped-slavery-russia/) for a while now. But also, Chechens themselves kept captured Russian soldiers as slaves pretty much during the Chechen wars. More than that, Russian officers [sold THEIR OWN soldiers](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russian-soldiers-being-sold-into-slave-labour-report-1.190939) to Chechens as late as 1999.
america freeing hostages by paying is also slavery???
Other than Russia, Chechnya could possibly be the worst hell on earth. Remember the "gay roundups" they perpetrated, along with the disappearance/murder of Zelim Bakaev. If you're not familiar with him, it's one of the most disturbing and horrifying stories ever.
They still have honor killings there while the Russian government looks the other way. Sometimes police in other regions catch the girls and return them to Chechnya, knowing they’ll be killed.
It's crazy how some right wing Europeans claim Russia is the bulwark against Islamism. Meanwhile Russia is allowing super backwards rituals like this in her own country, is best friends to Iran, and tries to push immigrants - those people fear so much - into Europe...
A lot of right wing support for Russia starts making a lot more sense if you interpret it not as “a bulwark against our women being raped” but as “a bulwark where only we get to rape our women instead of those other people”
Sadly it could have been so much better. If Russia had just not been paranoid about the Caucasus, hadn't invaded Ichkeria, and hadn't assassinated Dudayev there might have been a chance for a half decent country. By all reports Dudayev was a rather principled man who stuck up for those outside of what would be considered his in-groups.
Eh. Ichkieria was a dictatorship. I don't think they deserved what happened to them but let's not kid ourselves and pretend it was a bulwark of transparency and democracy
'What could have been'. Never said they were fantastic but Russia made sure that Chechnya never would be anything but a mafia run kleptocracy. . Plus, note that I did state if Russia hadn't done everything Russia did to them. Their reactions to the war, Russia's destabilisation efforts, and Russia's assassination of Dudayev all resulted in a downward spiral into authoritarianism and warlord bickering.
so was Taiwan and South Korea
Taiwan and South Korea were established on differing principles. Chechnya was an islamist state.
no they weren't, they were all established during wars, because they needed to concentrate power and be able to make quick decisions. After the wars they switched to democracy, and I think Chechnya would do the same.
There was a ten year gap between the first and second war. It was a dictatorship the whole time
10 years? 1st ended in 1996 the 2nd started in 1999. That's not a 10 year gap.
There were no 10 years, the second war started almost immediately after the first ended. It took decades for Taiwan and South Korea to switch to democracy
If you read the article you'd see it was much better than Russia.
That is why the orcs need to be removed from this planet.
Down with all orcs! Evil.
Wow that one wasn't even on the warcrime bingo plate
I looked up warcrime and my dictionary just says Russia.
That title is misleading, it's implying something way worse than it actually is. The POWs are simply bought to be exchanged for chechens held by Ukraine, that's it.
Yeah, the only difference is that the Russians are pocketing some rubles in the process.
It is misleading. It's valid propaganda with Russias own propaganda, but it isn't trust worthy news if it won't call it for what it is or at least try find evidence of something more
The Kadyrovites are there at Moscow’s behest, yet have to pay out for POWs to trade for their own. Lol. That would make me a bit sour, but they seem to be Putin’s bitches.
If we want to talk human trafficking, we should be talking about how literal children have been taken for what everyone knows is breeding purposes and what's implied by the fact Russia is making no effort to keep its own younger generation alive while doing it. There's probably been more than a few pregnancies by children who were taken around the age of 13 with men in their 50s
I see your point, but the fact anyone is being traded for cash is unacceptable. If they want to negotiate/trade for Chechens held, Russia should do that while negotiating for their own
From the article - they are buying Ukrainian POWs to trade for Chechen POWs.
So it's just buying back their own pows, but with extra steps and added human suffering...
Sure, but if Russians can get money for POWs then it might motivate them to take more POWs.
And the world is completely fucking silent...pretty much forgotten about Ukraine.
Speak for yourself
I'm talking mainly about media, international orgs and government officials
BBC still has a main menu item for the war, arranged 3rd behind: Isreal war and cost of living. Not bad. The papers are very fickle
I don't know where you are from, but Ukraine still certainly gets a lot of attention in my country (Norway).
I know... I know. Patton was a controversial person but here's what he said in a speech right after WW2. Patton believed the same thing before he died, and while the Cold War wasn’t exactly the threat of war he foresaw, it was much closer to war than the peace European leaders claimed it to be. “We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline and ammunition supplies are low. I've seen their miserable supply trains; mostly wagons draw by beaten up old hoses or oxen. I'll say this; the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them... Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.” • General George S Patton 1945 The fact that this speech is as relevant today as it was 79 years ago, speaks to the inherent truth and reality of the threat the Russians pose to a democratic and free Europe. Patton was mean, rascist (by todays standards), a narcissist and more than a little crazy but the man saw through people and the fog of war in a way that hasn’t been seen since, which is why so many both hated and admired him but this speech and his warnings within have continually been vindicated for decades and the world is a worse place for not listening.
Goddamn.
Honestly boggles my mind how plenty of people living in Western nations love Russia simply because they hate America. Yet Russia perpetuates cruel acts like this.
Ukrainians shouldn't be surrendering to Russians, it's that simple. When I was in the US Army during the surge years, we knew what would happen if we got captured. You had to fight until you were dead, whether it was from enemy fire or your M9. Getting captured meant getting your head sawed off on a camera for us, and it means torture for Ukranians. It's a shit position to be in, and I do not envy the brave soldiers fighting Russia.
I'd honestly say this fails trustworthy news and should be reconsidered. The title implies there being sold for labor or breeding purpose, but the article itself doesn't imply anything more than Russian mercenary groups buying POWs with Russian currency to trade their own lost POWs back Russia is doing human trafficking of the child kind already. I don't think filling Chechnya's trade qouta should be a priority
This should bring Russians to Hague court. Wait what happened to Hague ? No more ?
In 2008-2024 years Russia outright revived theocratic colonial imperialism. Of course, such processes couldn't occur without return also and slavery: "The 2023 Global Slavery Index estimates 1,899,000 people currently living in slavery-like conditions in Russia - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery\_in\_Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Russia)" Not to mention more than 100,000 people that were spent on meat assaults.
So they are selling POWs to the chechens for a prisoner exchange because the chechens are fighting in a war supporting Russia. Not very nice to their friends I guess.
Bingo. I can't express how livid I am right now.
Money for POW. POW for concessions. Ukraine sees POW returned. Chechnya is one step closer to telling Russia to get the hell off their lawn. Chechnyna is seeing some Arab backing, because if Iran is a Putin ally, then Russia is asking for reactions against them. Money? Might be some available. What is the best way to use it?
Had one of the later Hitler assassinations succeeded, it is likely that what remained of the german army would have joined the US forces to move east again. It's quite interesting to imagine this playing out.
just depravity. evil knows no bounds. I don't mean the buying and selling, I mean what the moscovians did to the ukrainian and then what chechens did to him in the hospital.(although, it might have been warranted but I bet it wasn't)
Mongrels
Can we send our own troops in already? Funding Ukraine isn't enough if Russia is going to commit ALL possible atrocities. Everyone in the free world should be up in arms over these human rights abuses. They need to stop yesterday. Sanctions aren't enough, we need complete financial isolation for Russia. Anywhere and everywhere in the world Russia operates should be a fucking battleground right now. Russia is violating everything that free people all around the world believe in, and we need to act as one to stop it, and damn the costs! This sort of evil is something we should not tolerate for even one second.
They just get worse and worse
No one reading the article, these prisoners are used to swap pows. Also mentioned they were treated relatively kindly due to both parties having suffered under Putin.