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Ukraine Invasion Day 380: Russia fires barrage of missiles [1]

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Date: 2023-03-09

Missile attacks wound two in Kyiv, hit energy facilities in Odesa and critical infrastructure in Kharkiv

“Russian forces used an array of missiles, especially those that #Ukraine cannot intercept such as the #Kinzhal, to ensure [...] some informational successes [...] regardless of [#Russia's] dwindling supply of high-precision missiles,”

"[ISW] estimates that about 50% of #Bakhmut is now under Russian control, and Russia is now committing higher-quality Wagner and traditional Russian military special forces operators in an effort to conclusively take the city.

Prior to the invasion, the battle plan that the Russian military ultimately followed had been widely previewed in the Western press. Although the attack came as no surprise, Western military observers were shocked by the inexplicably poor performance of Russian forces. "We realized in retrospect that the Russian military exercises that we'd studied in minutia for years weren't really exercises," George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War told Newsweek. "They were choreographed ballets with tanks." "Exercises are supposed to stress units, to bring them to their breaking point, to help them learn new operational concepts, to help them find pain points so that they can iron them out and get good at fighting," he explained. "That's what we thought the Russians were doing," Barros added. "But we didn't understand how hollow the exercises had been until we actually saw the First Guards Tank Army come up against a real life adversary." In addition to poor execution, poor planning was also a factor. One of the main reasons why pre-war predictions of Russian military success proved to be so far off the mark was because the Russian military did not fight the way the Russian military probably was capable of fighting. "Based on Russian military doctrine, we were expecting them to wage an unrelenting, 72-hour air campaign aimed at crippling critical infrastructure and destroying as much of the conventional Ukrainian military as possible," Barros said. "Instead, the air and missile campaign lasted for only around six or seven hours," he added, "and they didn't really destroy anything of consequence before sending in ground troops, who in a lot of cases didn't seem to be expecting to meet actual resistance." www.newsweek.com/...

The fighting in Bakhmut has captured much attention. But the real attention should be on whether the allies are setting the Zelensky government and Ukrainian forces up for success in the coming offensive, thus increasing the probability of ending the war on terms favorable to Ukraine and the rest of Europe. War costs money — money that no government can spew out forever. Helping to end the fighting this year prevents dragging things out unnecessarily. [...] U.S. and NATO leaders, in coordination with the Zelensky administration, should be planning and preparing for a post-fighting transition period that could last at least months — and if history is any judge, probably longer. The transition period also will include extended recovery actions before any “normalcy” is possible. Recovery will include repair and rebuilding not only of Ukraine’s civil infrastructure but also rebuilding economically, socially, politically and judicially. Recovery will have a security component as well: rebuilding Ukraine’s army; providing security guarantees to prevent Russia from future aggression; reconstituting a police force; and enforcing whatever ceasefire agreement ends major combat operations. Countries that have experienced the intensity of war, as Ukraine has, do not just turn on a dime and return to “normal.” They need lots of help. thehill.com/...

x ⚡️ WAR IN #UKRAINE - MAR 9



22:10 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 added by @Rebel44CZ (27:10 including corrections)



VISUALLY CONFIRMED:

3.12x losses to date ➡

2.73x since 🇺🇦 counteroffensive (Aug 29) ➡

3.60x 30-day average ⬇



📈 https://t.co/C9eBOj4lmU pic.twitter.com/yso3UCJgCu — Ragnar Gudmundsson 🇮🇸🇺🇦 [email protected] (@ragnarbjartur) March 9, 2023

x ‼️ #Poland transfers 10 more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine



Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak confirmed at a briefing on March 9 that 10 more Leopard2А4 tanks had been transferred to #Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate the tanks has concluded. pic.twitter.com/KkzvPzh64D — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 9, 2023

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/9/2157181/-Ukraine-Invasion-Day-380-Russia-fires-barrage-of-missiles

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