Inside Ukraines Offensive, What Happened?

Once more unto the breach, dear friends. The Ukraine offensive was launched on Sunday June 4th 2023 on at least four sectors at the same time. This is a massive effort to breach Russian defenses along the over 1,000 km long front line. Ukraine aims to retake their territory and drive a wedge between Russia’s Land bridge in the south.

But was this an overly ambitious and unrealistic goal?
Well If you’re rooting for Russia, your view of the offensive so far is likely that Ukrainian forces' assault has slammed into an impenetrable Russian wall. You’ll point to Russian figures that Ukraine has lost 7,000 soldiers and 160 tanks and 360 armored vehicles destroyed including viral videos of destroyed fancy western vehicles.

2 Bros 1 Bunker Podcast:

Written by: Chris Cappy
Edited by: Maksym

If you’re rooting for Ukraine you likely believe the full counter offensive has yet to begin and only 1/4th of the 9 to 12 assault brigades have even been committed to the fight. You Probably think this movement will take time and look less like a sweeping victory and more like a creeping one.
I’m going to parse through the front line reports and try to look past the fog of war and look past the propaganda on both sides to see if we can get a better sense of what is really happening. We’ll look at NATO documents that I found that detail western breaching theory tactics and citrine. I want to see if it can give us some hints it might give us about how the offensive is progressing so far.

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Task & Purpose is a military news and culture oriented channel. We want to foster discussion about the defense industry.

#UKRAINE #WAR #ARMY

[stephengrinkley]

I remember my uncle (a retired CSM as well as Vietnam & ODS Veteran) once told me that Desert Storm spoiled Americans into thinking all wars are or should be little video game conflicts that wrap up in about 72 hours. In the real world, conflicts against two fairly evenly matched armies look a lot like this...a chess match that test the competency and will of units from the brigade level all the way down to the squad and team level. Basically who is more competent in using the terrain to their advantage, shaping the battlefield, and exploiting the enemy's weaknesses. And lastly...who wants it more. Who has the will to fight through the misery and death to finally achieve their goal. So for these reasons, IMHO the AFU is doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing right now.

[dragondrm]

Don't forget that it took 3 months for the Allies to break out of Normandy. This is not a movie or a video game with quick results.

[SpicyTake]

"Why would Ukraine cut off water to Crimea?" They already did this in 2014. One of the first things RU did when they got to the floodgates was reopen the canal to Crimea.

[_datapoint]

The hint that the Ukrainian offensive is a failure is when General Milley and Sec Def Austin says “…it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.“

[Player-remo]

People need to realize that wars can last for years, even decades. There is no offensive to end all offensives. Don't fall prey to propaganda from either side. What we are seeing on the internet is only a glimpse of what is going on on the battlefield.

[theoldleafybeard]

"These two young men who under different conditions may have been friends —but these are exactly the kind of thoughts that soldiers need to push aside when asked to do the unthinkable— we often forget the human side of these major ground operations as we root for one side or the other."

Bravo. 👏♥

[williambrasky]

Man, you really picked a hell of a time to try to clarify things.

[theofficialken]

Biggest problem with a normal NATO breakthrough is that this is not a NATO army, regardless of current equipment. When the US punched into Iraq we established air dominance and crushed armor. Ukraine cannot make large equipment and troop concentrations due to Russian Air superiority, as well as being outgunned in artillery (not to mention mines). Unfortunately it will probably be more attritional until a breaking point of lack of artillery support and breaking air superiority. Unless they get F-16s soon, the pace of reclaiming territory will be slow.

[atomic]

With what's happening with Wagner right now, it'll be interesting to see how it affects the counter offensive.

[shooth]

The US spent 30 days using over 1000 sorties a day during the gulf War start.
Then, they sent in the armor and infantry.
Not much left to fight on the ground.

[boomie]

Cappie, I was shocked by your confession to being a recovering addict, you're the last person I would suspect of having such a problem. Your videos are not updates, they are superb lessons in depth of how this war is fought. Keep up the good work and I am happy you are clean and I'm sure your parents are very proud of you.

[jsinope]

Thanks for putting such a human element to the soldiers through your experience as a soldier about to be deployed.

[kyledabearsfan]

The freaky part of warfare is how quickly public sentiment can effect a conflict compared to the past. That's why we are seeing so much effort put towards propaganda. Was watching a documentary on the pig war and noted how long it took for official replies (in this case the general in question got away with rackless aggression because he knew it would take 12 weeks to get a response from his commanders) and how much individual power it gave a general at the time. Now, commanders know or have a decent idea of what is happening real time.

[Roman-zqwp]

"Ukraine is not releasing video of their successes"

It's because they've had none to speak of in this offensive. Ukraine is heavy on PR media warfare; if they had videos of such events they would release them.

Occam's Razor.

[ghostdiaries]

Didnt even breach the first line of defense and started loosing Leopards 😂😂

[Clikyn]

Knowing Ukraine if they were doing good they would talk about it. Especially the media would have a field day if they were doing good.

[joynalmiah]

11:48 the issue with theses 8 towns are that they are small and inconsequential. One of the towns is a village and the entire town consists of a single farm house.

[robertbeach]

From an old retired combat engineer, any breaching efforts will need to be focused on specific objectives along several axis of advance. Shaping of the battlefield through massive artillery, air support use and deception will be critical. A Point of penetration will be identified and will be the focus in that sector. The engineers must be prepared to conduct several breaches in depth and that will eat up a huge amount of equipment and munitions. A few destroyed Bradlie's are not indicative of any serious breaching effort. These are small probes at best. The entire "front" will need to be engaged while the respective points of penetration are executed. Air power will need to be engaged for success. God Bless them All.

[Bigliever]

So NATO is trained to break defence lines but itself is defensive alliance?

[ulandookwah]

I was 20, never felt invincible, honestly never expected to survive and knew that I'd never be missed. TBH, never thought I'd live to my 40s. Society takes life for granted and never know the real sacrifices Soldiers take for a career, or to be political puppets, and mainly, to protect their country.