Wednesday, February 15, 2023 11:00:37 AM
Almost the entire Russian army is currently involved in the war against Ukraine, said on the air of BBC Radio 4 British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace.
Speaking about Russia’s offensive, Wallace said that Russia could not “punch through” Ukraine’s defences, and that 97% of its army was estimated to be in Ukraine
“We now estimate 97 per cent of the whole Russian army is in Ukraine and to put that in perspective that means that those tens of thousands of miles of border Russians have with obviously China, with Norway, with Finland, imagine all those people are stuck now in Ukraine suffering very high levels of casualties,” the British Defense Secretary said.
“The offensive they planned is gradually proceeding. But it’s not the one they expected to have”, Wallace added.
The British Defense Secretary noted that the combat capability of the Russian troops was reduced by 40%, and almost two-thirds of the Russian tanks were destroyed or broken.
“I think what Russia is doing in trying to advance, it’s doing in a sort of human way, almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres rather than kilometres,” Wallace pointed out.
(C)UAWIRE 2023
He told Times Radio: “Ukraine must be trained to fight in a more ammo efficient “Western way” instead of the scattergun traditional Soviet style, Ben Wallace has said.
“Ukraine uses huge amounts of ammunition to defend itself, partly that’s why we’re training them to fight in a Western way.”
He said that 20,000 Ukrainian troops will be trained by the British army this year. I’m not clear whether that includes training from scratch or exclusively experienced soldiers.
Well, that’s very easy to say – fighting Western-style – if you have Western-style aircraft and choppers all over the place, taking lots of the load off of the artillery.
People should get properly informed before blathering nonsense.
Ben is a military man and well informed. Furthermore he is as committed to Ukraine as Boris.
More extracted info from the same, long article :
“Mr Wallace said: “The Russian, or the Soviet, way of fighting is very ammunition heavy [with] massive artillery barrages. That’s never how we have organised ourselves to fight in the West and in Nato.
“Ukraine uses huge amounts of ammunition to defend itself, partly that’s why we’re training them to fight in a Western way.
“If they can be very accurate in their use of artillery instead of having to use hundreds of shells to pin down a Russian unit, they can only use two or three because they can see exactly where the shot falls.”
He told Times Radio: “So if we can do both, we can make sure that they are much more effective on the ground. And at the same time, we can make sure that we address our own shortfalls at home.”
Ukraine’s armed forces are thought to be firing about 6,000 artillery rounds a day, faster than the West can resupply them, and around a third of the scale being used by Russia.
Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said that several Western nations were pressing to train Ukraine in tactics that would reduce its reliance on artillery shells.
Bastian Giegerich, the director of defence and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that European nations currently have the capacity to produce about 300,000 heavy artillery rounds of 155mm calibre a year.
“Most industry sources think they could ramp up relatively quickly [this year] by about 50 per cent,” he told The Telegraph.
However, he cautioned “anything beyond that will take longer”, meaning Ukraine needs supplies of ammunition from outside Europe and to transition onto more accurate munitions such as the Excalibur GPS-guided artillery round, in order to repel Moscow’s troops.
Ukraine’s state arms producer said that it had launched joint production of artillery shells with a central European Nato member, but refused to identify the country, adding that it plans to develop and produce other arms and military hardware with allies.
Ukroboronprom said it began producing 120mm mortar rounds, ammunition that is in high demand for the war effort.
Natalia Sad, the company’s spokesman, said: “The emergence of this shell is the first product of our joint co-operation with a country from the [NATO] alliance. It will not end with shells. We will soon show you other products produced with partner countries.”
Ms Sad added that companies were working around the clock to produce ammunition and keep supplies flowing, and that Ukroboronprom increased production on different types of military equipment by five to eight times last year compared with 2021.
Meanwhile, Mr Wallace said that vital military supplies would soon be sent from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), a pool of funding to finance lethal and non-lethal equipment and training, direct from industry.
The first package from the IFU, valued at roughly £200 million with funds drawn from the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, will include artillery ammunition, tank spares, drones and electronic warfare and air defence systems.
The Defence Secretary said that the equipment package “will provide a significant capability boost for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will support their ability to defend their country”.
He added: “The UK-led International Fund for Ukraine demonstrates the commitment of the UK and our Allies to ensure Ukraine receives vital military aid necessary to defend against Russia’s illegal invasion.”
“If they can be very accurate in their use of artillery instead of having to use hundreds of shells to pin down a Russian unit, they can only use two or three because they can see exactly where the shot falls.”
It’s never a bad idea to be conservative when shooting a weapon. But, I think the Ukrainians already know this very well. I’m sure they’re not shooting so much for the fun of it. What it comes down to is that the AFU will not be able to shoot Western-style without Western-style air support. Maybe if the cockroaches run out of meat puppets or tanks and armored vehicles, but not sooner.
Our own battle philosophy is centered around air superiority, Scradge. This has its beginnings in WWII. The krauts were better on the ground, despite being outnumbered, but we had the air and this helped not only with our advances and save many lives, but also artillery rounds … by carpet bombing and attacking their lines, their artillery emplacements, their transportation hubs, ammo and supply dumps, their industries, their fuel production facilities, bridges, command centers and so forth.
Without appropriate air power – and long-range ability – the Ukrainians are forced to wait until the enemy’s material is at or near the front, and only then can they destroy it/them. HIMARS are a rare thing to have nearby, and their ammo is also not limitless. It’s also not always possible to have the target visible. Here, air superiority also plays a vital role.
The West can’t provide more ammo and refuses to give aircraft. Thus, it’s a problem essentially created by the West, not Ukraine (ignoring the true culprit for the sake of argument). When you’re outnumbered in everything, and you’re lacking anything else except artillery, it’s artillery that must carry the burden. Having good air power could change everything … or lots more artillery and ammo.
The russian offensive actually got pushed back in the South of Bakhmut yesterday. If the orcs carry on with the WW1 tactics, that 97% will soon be 50% living, the rest dead.
No British fighter jets he said.