Satellite images show 40-mile-long Russian convoy closing in on Kyiv
New satellite images show a massive convoy of Russian military vehicles heading toward Kyiv is more than twice as long as analysts previously estimated it to be.
The big picture: Analysts originally believed the procession of invading vehicles spanned 17 miles. They now estimate it’s closer to 40 miles long, stretching from near Ukraine’s Antonov Airport in the south and north to near the tiny town of Prybirs’k, according to satellite imaging firm Maxar Technologies.
A 40 mile long column along one road.
I’m fine with providing the Ukrainian Air Force with a bunch of A-10s and AH-64 Apaches.
This is the Russian tactic that those platforms were designed for.
Right now there are a bunch of Warthog pilots with near terminal cases of blue balls.
I wonder: if one of those fuel or ammo trucks were hit by a missile, or even a Molotov cocktail, how far would secondary explosions spread?
It’s a nice thought but those A-10’s would probably be removed pretty quickly by Russian air power.
You know, all it would take is one strafing pass on the lead vehicles and the entire thing grinds to a halt. That way instead of destroying everything, the line could be attacked from the sides and all the equipment commandeered.
Do not forget to destroy the road behind them as well. Remove any possibility of simple/easy retreat, or regroup. Force them to go off road. Granted, your average tank will not have any difficulty on that, but it is an obstacle the column of tanks would not want to deal with.
Anything you do to encumber your enemy helps you to win.
Doesn’t Ukraine have mud in depth this time of year? Damage the road enough, and the whole procession gets literally bogged down?
A forty-mile long convoy!? My god… are they… honking their horns?
Ermagerd! Think of Poor Justin! Imagine his trauma!
Nice one, Ish!
One thing for certain, these days if it comes from the mainstream media, it’s wrong and probably opposite to what’s actually happening. There’s a ton of images and video that are years old, and not even from the area. The other thing that’s certain is NATO will in no way shape or form do squat.
Where will those A-10s launch from? Wanna bet it’ll cease to exist shortly after?
That’s a mighty long way to fly an A-10 through hostile airspace. Are we sending F-22s and F-15s to cover?
What’re we going to do? Float an aircraft carrier up the Black Sea?
All fun and games until your toys get smashed too. These guys aren’t Iraqui or Afghan goatherds. They get a vote too.
I don’t wish to come across as a troll but I have to ask: What makes you so aggressively anti Russia in this war ? And not only that but significantly further (or I miss the joke), pro US intervention ?
This blog is often very critical of the US regime, practically to the point of supporting efforts to topple it. You belittle many of its leaders, military and civilian and many of its institutions. Why is it so much better that the Ukraine be aligned with NATO and the US rather than i.e. converted into a Russian client state ? What is so terrible about Russia or Putin that gives you this perspective, that puts it so above and beyond your complaints against the US and its leaders ?
Because Russia is invading a Sovereign nation.
I’m not wanting to get involved myself. America should sit this one out.
But Ukraine has every right to defend itself from invasion. See every post I made on the Holodomor for why.
Fair enough, can’t argue with sovereign countries defending their borders.
Thanks for the clarification regarding your position on US intervention.
This blog is often very critical of the US regime, practically to the point of supporting efforts to topple it. You belittle many of its leaders, military and civilian and many of its institutions.
You seem to have conflated criticism of government and government actors with disapproval of the nation itself.
“You seem to have conflated criticism of government and government actors with disapproval of the nation itself.”
I’ve never been a regular commenter but I’ve followed the blog for a bit and think its pretty clear JKB and Miguel both generally love America and its people. Maybe you’re reading a broader meaning than I had intended with regime or institution, sorry I’d been trying to clean up confusion and here I am sewing more of it.
Its just that when I read posts like https://gunfreezone.net/i-didnt-think-austin-and-milley-could-be-this-stupid-and-greedy-but-they-are/ , I do not expect the same guy a month later to advocate war with Russia. That percieved (and now I see fallaciously so) disconnect was the source of my confusion.
Even when the casus belli is indisputably legally justified (e.g., the CSA attacking Fort Sumter without formal declaration of war) and the broader cause is indisputably morally just (e.g., abolition of chattel slavery), it is perfectly reasonable to criticize the conduct of military officers and/or politicians directing the war (e.g., Bragg, Burnside, McCellan were all pretty lousy leaders).
Freedom to criticize the military’s leadership, especially when they start dabbling in civil politics, is a keystone of our representation republican form of government. We’re not a banana republic were criticisms of the junta get the people sent to re-education camps. At least, not yet.
One should never confuse criticism of the specific for a disdain of the whole.
Not to dispute your general point, but the “broader cause” of the Civil War wasn’t abolition; Lincoln made that quite clear. Abolition wasn’t brought in as a cause until later.
Remember also the Budapest agreement, where the US is one of the parties offering Ukraine “security guarantees” in exchange for Ukraine surrendering its nukes. If you read the fine print those “guarantees” don’t actually amount to anything — it seems to be basically a promise to complain to the UN if someone were to invade. Still, one might argue that this agreement amounts to at least a moral duty to help Ukraine against aggression. The Ukrainians haven’t actually called on this, probably because they know full well they’d be snubbed.
I was going to point out its needs to be much longer to beat the Canadian trucker convoys entry into the guinness book.
I don’t know – I mean, everybody loves a good brrrrrt.
At the same time, it’s probably more efficient for a couple b52’s to drop mk84’s from tip to tail.
And naturally the Russians would merely watch placidly as this developed. What could go wrong?
Why not both? Brrrrrrrt the heads and tails of the column, then Buff the rest out.
When Hitler dismembered Czechoslavakia before WW2 officially started, at least he waited a few months after he was given the Sudetenland, before he conquered the other 90% of Czechoslavakia in March 1939.
.
If Putin takes Ukraine? Everything Else to the West is NATO.
Even Germany is pulling their heads out, and finally agreeing to fund their own military.
I’ll say it again: The German military was never “underfunded”. The money was simply spend on BULLSHIT.
And i’ll guarantee you that the 100 BILLION € now planned for the Bundeswehr will simply vanish in corrupt channels without affecting the fighting capabilities of the army.
It looks like Russia is trying to stufff a goose.
.
With that huge traffic jam, how much material is actually making it to their destination?
Are the regiments, battalions, even the companies maintaining cohesion and a semblance of readiness?
I saw sat photos of trucks parked 3 wide on the road. How many are breaking down, out of gas, out of hours?
Is anyone actually in command and control of this movement?
.
Reminds me of those Chinese 3 day traffic jams.
IMO: This is not going well, If only Ukraine could hit the convoy with MLRS and Arty, or Ground Troops making hit and run attacks? It could start some “unplanned retrograde movements.”
.
A column of Russian artillery units and tanks 40 miles long has been pictured snaking its way towards Kyiv as analysts warned it will likely be tasked with surrounding the city, besieging it and bombing it into submission as Putin resorts to ‘medieval’ tactics in an attempt to force victory.
.
But the convoy has reportedly stalled as its forces face logistics challenges, including a shortage of food for some units, and Russians appear to be reevaluating how to move forward on the city, a senior U.S. defence official said on Tuesday.
.
‘One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they’ve had,’ the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. Another official claimed the Russian advance is ‘basically… where it was yesterday’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10565523/Ukraine-war-Belarus-dictator-stands-battle-map-live-TV.html
“Right now there are a bunch of Warthog pilots with near terminal cases of blue balls.”
I had a good laugh from that line. An endless amount of targets in a straight line? You bet.