19 Feb: FOOTAGE: Five Cocky Russian Pilots VS Patriot Air Defense | War in Ukraine Explained

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I am Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video, I will tell you what happened on the seven-hundred-twenty-sixth day of the war.

Day 726: Feb 19

Today, there are a lot of different updates from the Orikhiv and Avdiivka directions.

First of all, when it comes to the Orikhiv direction, here Russian forces conducted several sudden waves of attacks toward the only settlement inside the bridgehead. The Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces stated that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian attack consisting of “a fairly large number of personnel” with about thirty tanks and armored fighting vehicles, which corresponds with numerous Russian claims that Russian forces renewed offensives in this region. Based on the geolocated footage, Russian forces extensively used cluster munitions to prepare for storming and passing the tree lines and then sent one assault unit after another. Ukrainians targeted the assault units with drones and anti-tank guided missiles, which made the Russian attacks extremely disorderly, with the units breaking down into multiple parts, where each part did whatever it wanted – some decided to run away, some immediately tried to seek shelter from the Ukrainian fire, others continued the suicidal assault alone. What made the situation for Russians even worse was that they got eighty-year-old T-fifty-five tanks with poor anti-drone protection and weak hull and turret armor. Russian military analysts tried to reframe this embarrassing offensive as a reconnaissance-in-force operation, however, this is not true. Based on the number of forces engaged and the fact that these attacks were suddenly conducted once the front line in Avdiivka collapsed means that Russians tried to take advantage of the possible lack of readiness of Ukrainian soldiers. Still, some Russian sources declared success too soon and claimed that Russian soldiers entered the village. Simultaneously, other Russian sources started urging to take that information because those Russians that entered the outskirts were there not because they breached the defense but because they were lucky enough to find shelter and survive after the disastrous attack, and such posts just encouraged Ukrainians to go and check the outskirts. And they were right because shortly after that, Ukrainians released multiple videos of surrendering Russian soldiers.

When it comes to the Avdiivka direction, the recent Ukrainian withdrawal gave Russian forces a huge boost in morale, and they started attacking the next Ukrainian defense line in the region. The main Ukrainian defense line is located on the other side of the river, and for now, Ukrainian forces are still uncertain whether there is any sense in holding defense in these four settlements. Russian forces are trying to take advantage of that and break through Ukrainian defenses using small infantry groups for assaults. The Ukrainian command previously committed fresh units to the Avdiivka front to counterattack advancing Russian forces and provide an evacuation corridor for Ukrainian units withdrawing from Avdiivka. According to the Institute for the Study of War, these newly committed units are likely able to establish and hold defensive positions against Russian forces, degraded by their assaults on the town. They noted that it is normal practice to bring in reinforcements to function as a receiving force that can allow withdrawing units to reconstitute behind prepared defensive positions. The Institute for the Study of War also noted that available imagery, which they refused to present or describe in greater detail at this time to preserve Ukrainian operational security, indicates that Ukrainian forces prepared good defensive positions west of Avdiivka.

In an attempt to maintain the momentum, Russian forces started using air-dropped bombs in the same way they used them inside the town. During the Battle for Avdiivka, Russian forces appear to have temporarily established limited and localized air superiority and were able to provide ground troops with close air support during the final days of their offensive operation, likely the first time that Russian forces have done so in Ukraine. However, as the front line shifted westward, the Russian fighter-bombers necessarily needed to get up to ten kilometers closer to the contact line to reach the next defense line. Unfortunately for the Russians, this was a fatal mistake, as Russians suddenly started losing their aviation in large numbers.

[RFU]

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[anomymouse]

Czech republic proposed, some time ago, that EU should buy artillery shells outside the EU. This would fix the urgent need of artillery shells for Ukraine. This is needed now as the artillery shell production is increasing too slowly. Contact your politicians and make this happen. See Politico article on this topic.

[The_ZeroLine]

Estonia, whose GDP is $36b has given Ukraine nearly $2b in military aid while 🇫🇷, 🇮🇹& 🇪🇸 whose combined GDP of $7.8 trillion is 207x bigger, have barely given $1b COMBINED. People need to get on SM and begin shaming these countries so they begin pulling their weight.

[nickxplore]

I love the Russian logic of deflecting enemy strength by saying "It was friendly fire", that's EVEN WORSE than a competent enemy because that's literally an INCOMPETENT self

[chrissmith]

Looking at the number of downed Russian aircraft their air defences are now 'very friendly'

[xcw]

Is it more demoralising to be told your enemies are quite capable of destroying your jets or that your AA is still so incompetent that years into the conflict they're still committing multiple friendly fire incidents daily? It's like Sophie's choice but you don't want to keep either child.

[steirerblut_]

Watch out my russian friends. There seem to be a lot of chinese eyes fixated on outer manchuria recently 👀

[professorg]

It is hilarious that Russia would claim friendly fire taking out some of their most sophisticated jets rather than admit just how vulnerable they are to Western anti=aircraft systems!!

Russia: "We have the best aircraft technology you can get!!! But we are sometimes so stupid, we use it against ourselves and shoot down our own planes!!!"

[JoseTorres-ryqe]

Looks like Ukraine anticipated the enemy air support over extending to cover infantry advance. They turned their loss into a baited trap, and the Ruskies fell for it. They probably even did the whole quick-start detection to give a false sense of security, like they did in the south. Im even willing to bet that they never even knew of that strategy, because intelligence isnt shared. Well done.

[danielfrisk]

What? The Russian military think blaming 5 downed jets on friendly fire somehow sounds better to the public than admitting the new discovery that the Patriot systems are capable of this aswell as taking down cruise missiles?

One of these really makes the russian military sound ridiculously incompetent more than the other.

The optics strategy of never admitting a defeat/loss/failure is a very odd and unsuccesful one.

[mariadekelver]

Ukrainian soldiers bravely keep fighting when they must be very tired. I say thank you for your commitment to protect freedom and educating many people about the truth of what a terrible country Russia is.

[marcusott]

Much appreciated, excellent insights as always from you.
✌️🇺🇦

[KingM]

UA should name Patriot battery "Friendly Fire" in cyrilic

[badgercdlyons]

By this point "village" = loosely organized piles of rubble and loose bricks.

[equarg]

Apparently it’s now 6 cocky pilots now…….

[barbaramassey]

Thank you for reporting. Sending deep respect to Ukrainian people.

[matsv]

Its worth saying that Ukraine got access to Starstreak man pads. Those have a ceiling considerably higher than stinger and most other systems. Even for fighter bomber, going down just a bit. Or not reaching full cruse altitude. Something like starstreak would be very dangerous

[candyhotlips]

Thank you. ❤Praying for the beautiful Ukrainian people. 🇺🇦

[martinaasandersen]

5:20 It's kinda ironic they find friendly fire less embarrassing than being shot down by one of the most effective anti-air systems in the world (even if they dont want to acknowledge that)

[bdcochran]

As I posted the other day, the Russians were following Suvorov's 300 year old offensive strategy which is still taught in Russian military academies. The new UA commander was aware of the Russian approach and moved up Patriot missile systems.

The improved Russian glide bombs have a range of up to 50 miles now. So, the aircraft moved to within range and were shot down. The UA did similar changes in its approaches, based upon newly supplied munitions to defeat the excellent Russian helicopters near Kherson and to defeat the Russian winter offensive on New Year's Eve, 2022.

Each SU34 costs $50 million new. Each SU35 costs $60 million new. A Patriot missile costs $1 - $6 million. The Russian planes will not be replaced.