Ukraine War: Odesa in Russia's sights

A flotilla of Russian naval ships is believed to be just on the horizon of Odesa as Ukrainian residents prepare for the worst.

The city is strategically important to Vladimir Putin. If he can take it then he could cut off the country from the sea.

People have put sandbags on the beaches, blocking doorways, windows and roads and huge steel crosses have been placed in the roads, designed to stop tanks and military vehicles in their tracks.

Sky's Nick Martin reports.

[nationalinterest]

Looks like they need some land based anti ship missiles...

[kamrunhossain]

May God bless 🤲 🙏 Ukraine 🇺🇦 🤲 🙏
Ameen
🇨🇦 Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦

[heitzelalvarenga]

My God Please Protect everyone in Ucrania, including all digs and all animals 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[clausbohm]

Folks, please leave the city or take up arms. Its going to get very ugly.

[guydreamr]

Never has such a beautiful city faced such an obscene threat from such a repulsive adversary.

[djaykhay]

Based on 35 years of experience as everything from deckhand to freighter First Officer in the US Merchant Marine, here are a few observations about the vulnerabilities of a Russian amphibious landing operation off Odessa.

Any amphibious landing by the Russians at Odessa provides a fantastic opportunity for the Ukrainians.
Amphibious landings are totally dependent on the amphibious craft that transport men and equipment to the beach.
The very design of amphibious craft makes them vulnerable to precision drone or perhaps Javelin attacks.
The reason is the inherent nature of the design of amphibious landing craft.

Amphibious craft all have a hinged landing ramp at the forward end of the vessel.
If a ramp area is struck at or near deck level while the craft is in deep water, the entire forward end of the vessel will be open to flooding.
If flooding occurs, the cargo area of the craft will literally fill with sea water in seconds.
A ship with a flooded cargo area almost inevitably sinks quickly.
If flooding does not occur, at the least, the landing ramp will be unable to open and thus will not be able to land men and equipment.

If the ramp area is smashed in shallow water, the craft may settle half submerged in the surf.
It will still be difficult or impossible to unload heavy equipment such as BMP’s, Tanks, as well as support and resupply vehicles. With the ramp damaged, the equipment will be trapped inside the landing craft.

Surviving Marines who disembark in the surf will struggle in order to reach the beach.
Combat boots, small arms and heavy packs full of equipment will quickly fill with seawater and will either be jettisoned or pull the Marines to the bottom.
Many won’t make it to the beach.
Those who do will often be left barehanded.

Without heavy equipment and supplies, the survival of any infantry making it to the beach will largely depend on helicopter resupply. Such resupply will involve low altitude missions which will place those air units at risk to portable anti air weapons.

Striking the landing ramp areas on landing craft with Javelins or drones such as the US SwitchBlade or Turkish Bayraktar may provide a creative and decisive method for halting landing craft in mid attack.

It is important for the Ukrainian Naval Command to be aware of this critical weakness in naval landing craft design.
Those with expertise should review the actual Naval architecture of the Russian amphibious craft, the range, the precision and destructive power of various shoulder fired missiles and drones and then evaluate whether this is a sound approach.

A failed amphibious invasion at an area such as Odessa would go far towards discrediting the myth of Russian Naval power.

An amphibious disaster at Odessa could go down in Naval history alongside Tsushima in 1905 as one of the defining moments in Naval Warfare.

Such an invasion is not a danger to Ukraine, it is an opportunity to strike a decisive blow.
It is an opportunity to make history.

John J. Kernahan
First Class Pilot
US Merchant Marine (Ret)

[ferabie]

Why is there no coverage of the fighting in the Donbas?

[titteryenot]

Odesa has one of these old European cores it would be a tragedy to lose.

[SCRT]

Can we all appreciate that he uploads consistently? 💕

[crytpcrux]

Odessa has "catacomb" power turning the city into a version of Vietnam's famous Cu Chi Complex. Urban environments are bad enough but with over a thousand miles of catacombs it will be beyond difficult to capture the city armed with with modern anti-tank and anti-material weapons. A VERY predictable amphibious assault simply will not work. It violates the basic principles of strategy. A well prepared Odessa will simply turn the landing into a Turkey shoot from the land and from the underground hides if it even gets to that. It's reasonable seeing the ships not moving as pinning move, though we've been seeing plenty of crazy and reckless things from the Russians. It's to stop forces from moving to Mykolaiv and Kherson that can prevent Odessa from being attacked from the rear. Another reason is the waters are now just ripe, another factor of predictability. Ukrainian leadership has been far more than competent and will make best use of their super advantages. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

[SigMaQuint]

Great respect for their coming skills.

[stacyg]

If they destroy that city, someone will seek revenge for sure. Odessa can't be destroyed.

[eljanrimsa]

Putin may have second thoughts about giving the order to shell Odessa. Odessa is famous for a revolution-inspiring mutiny starting in the Black Sea Fleet.

[leszeka]

Ukrainians ruled the USSR for decades Brezhnev Khrushchev Trotsky and hundreds of other comrades, millions in the Red Army and the KGB were all Ukrainians .. Exactly it was the Ukrainians who created the Red Army led by Trotsky .. Lenin's right hand, but number one, but Georgian turned out to be more "friendly and collegial", less "deadly and dangerous to comrades" and a multinational team was needed to liberate Europe, with the Georgian being against the fight for the West, Trotsky had to leave ... but the Ukrainian core was everywhere before and after WWII.

[isotropisch]

Odessa has 1000s of km of underground passages, Russia will never take it

[damirsirotic]

Vječna slava for people burned alive in Trade Union House.

[jannekiljunen]

Battleships?!? did they bring out the Ganguts..

[ann-christincarew]

I'm a Swedish woman I'm disabilied wheelchair bound and I am searching utube the internet for anyone who is disabled and wheelchair bound but the SCARY part I do NOT see 1 wheelchair bound person under the age of 65 what has been done with US we can not jump run down the stairs we can not do a thing and the world does not CARE as we are the INVISIBLE people we can not speak up for our selves and not one person CARES why does not the WORLD CARE ABOUT US THE VOLNRABLE DISABILIED WHEELCHAIR BOUND 😰 I CALL the world a CARELESS society the world should be ashamed of themselves 😰

[kallivino]

There are at least 7 large orphanages in Odessa. Please God tell me they have been evacuated!

[arnettthayer]

May Ukraine keep the russians out of odessa!