Ukraine will try to take advantage of ‘weakened’ Putin | Major General Rupert Jones

“Early reports of a potential crossing around Kherson on the far bank of the Dnipro river. If that is true and if they establish a foothold, that is pretty significant.”

Major General Rupert Jones discusses the Ukrainian army’s next steps on #TimesRadio.

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[robinhood]

We shouldn't be surprised by anything that happens, we live in a world where a 5 minute video has a trailer.
The world has gone completely mad.

[dichebach]

Prigozhin's forces had a number of engagements during their march to Rostov, thence to Voronezh, then to Lipetsk where their progress halted then reversed. The estimates I've heard from reputable sources are 6 helicopters and 1 fixed wing aircraft and in some cases entire crews lost. There were at least two policemen killed on the outskirts of Rostov before Wagner entered and "conquered" the city. Most of the ground forces which were apparently deployed were Rosgvardiya, FSB and police equipped primarily with small arms and perhaps some vehicle-mounted autocannons. Wagner reportedly has some tanks, some armored vehicles, some aircraft and UAVs, possibly even some special vehicles (EWCV, de-mining, and such). I think it is definitely true that the actual number of Wagner who made the trek from Rostov to Lipetsk was no where near 25, 000. Moreover, based on the timeline, my hunch is that at least some of those forces which "arrived" at Voronezh and Lipetsk may have been on the way from very early in the operation or were already there. There were reportedly multiple engagements on the main north-south roadway though so it does seem that some Wagner forces were tracked from their departure from Rostov on their trip north.

I agree that, under normal circumstances of warfare 25, 000 would be insufficient to be-siege a major metro area like Moscow. But this is hardly "normal circumstances." The most likely purpose of the raid was a show of force to demonstrate to the various Siloviki and owners of private military groups in the Russian Federation just how weak and ineffective the Putin regime actually is. The seemingly indisputable fact that Wagner, a relatively small force whatever its actual size, was able to "take control" of two major Russian cities and advance as far as it did toward Moscow, along with the claims that many Putin regime forces disobeyed orders to confront Wagner reveals just how weak the Putin regime is. This makes sense too given all the existing signs that the Putin regime is struggling with manpower issues and likely has the majority of its military deployed inside Ukraine.

This also reveals to the soldiers at the front how tenuous their position is, and that of their homeland and overall this is bound to undermine Russian forces cohesion, morale and effectiveness. It might seem strange that Prigozhin would take actions which would expose the weaknesses of the Putin regime, but if Prigozhin had long ago realized that the war was likely lost and moreover, that his own chances of long-term survival as free man were minimal, then a rebellion against the Putin regime can be seen to be a potentially "least-bad" option.

Things may have gone better than Prigozhin expected. He may now have broadened his set of allies and supporters (among Russian elites, Governors, wealthy, PMC owners/leaders, etc. as well as the common folk) and heightened his already strong reputation as a man of action and a competent or even daring leader. It seems unlikely that he would strive to be the leader of the whole Russian Federation, someone like Alexiy Dyumin (or others of a similar ilk) seem more likely in that regard.

[jurgen]

Go Ukraina!
You WILL win this war!
Glory to the Heroes and people of Ukraina!
Slava Ukraine!
💙💛💙💛

[foxportergrey]

Ugh it’s bugging me, this long into the war and names of significant places in Ukraine are still being mispronounced, the ‘d’ is moreorless silent in Dnipro, you combine the d and n and it’s a subtle touch on the d but heavy on the n. Sorry to be that person but it’s grating to hear on times radio the consistent mispronunciation of poignant locations during the war on Ukraine. Slava Ukraini! 💙💛

[laurentTru]

We're waiting for that for almost one year and a half. Will we have to wait for the autumn rains or the thawing of next spring??

[cohen]

Right boys we need u to flower up this situation and avoid anything to do with the lacl of Ukraine's counter offensive

[TCO]

It's a #Ploy ... #VeryScarryPloy

[win-kewin]

Just take things slowly and victory will be ensures with minimal losses. Slava Ukraine!

[ladfa]

Take down Putlers bridge to Crimea asap. He will become even weaker.

[TCO]

Watch out for #Desperateputin ... #TacticalNuke

[joshuap]

there's probably a way to more quickly smash through massive lines of defense in depth, mine fields, counter attack groups, etc....but it requires 10, 000 of casualties. check out battle of kursk, the russians have some experience in this.

[bezdownunder]

Zero army units left positioms.. not seeing them.getting weaker as things settle

[poohoff]

Will that happen before or after the promised counteroffensive

[Thomas-csjb]

Ukraine so far has no gains in the battlefields.

[leaveourstatuesalone.]

loose ships sink ships, Tbf Ukrainian forces have been across the Denipro / Kherson region for 4 days now, special ops at first, now a few hundred troops, heavy machinery just landing, 🤫

[StPiter]

Ukranians couldn't get any real results even in those circumstances 😅😅😅😅😅

[catel]

I’m worried that the Russians are preparing a meltdown of the nuclear power plant and Prigozhin is getting out just in time to escape the fallout.

[noksucowboy]

Putin weakened? What?, did you not see the people applaud and salute etc the Wagner troops? This was after they decided to leave and go back to fight, the people, along with the military supported Putin on this, . It has strengthened Putin if anything

[bashtherich]

Cant believe it.A rupert named Rupert 😂

[nickpope]

Mr Putin is fine, don’t worry about him. Russians absolutely adore him.