https://us.yahoo.com/news/third-german-p...00205.html
This is an issue that is going to become increasingly important in the coming months. Frankly, I am surprised things have gone as well as they have, but then again we don't have the entire story. There may be other maintenance time-bombs that we don't know about. It undoubtedly was a big ask to expect Ukraine to learn how and to do routine maintenance on these (and similar) hardware, but Ukraine has (apparently) done at least OK in that regard. However, heavy maintenance isn't something they can do, and it will be needed. Lets hope the Paladins are doing better. The PZH-2000 is a piece of gear that is relatively untried. The fact it wears out in heavy use wasn't unexpected, but it is certainly inconvenient :-).
Based on what we are seeing in Kherson it may unfortunately be that Russia has somebody running the show there that is better than up north. In so far as the retreats from the various outposts were made in order to "shorten the line", it was a wise action. The Russian milbloggers were saying the number of Russian troops was simply inadequate to the front they were asked to hold. Shortening the line in those cases may have been a necessity. Previously, Russia waited too long to do this. It may be this time they responded much better.
Shortening the line also makes delivering all kinds of supplies easier because they don't have to be moved so far. This also obviously requires less fuel, another good thing. There are two "Bad" (from Russia's point of view) things associated with this action. First, they had to abandon defensive positions they had been creating for months. It is unclear the new line actually exists or is a work in progress. In either case, it won't have the benefit of long preparation. Second, if this new line is within 20 km (or so) of Kherson and/or Nova Kakhovka it brings them within range of the Ukrainian 155 mm artillery. This fact will call into question the ability to hold the new line with supply even more difficult. We shall see.
Still no rain in the 10 day forecast. Sláva Ukrayíni!
This is an issue that is going to become increasingly important in the coming months. Frankly, I am surprised things have gone as well as they have, but then again we don't have the entire story. There may be other maintenance time-bombs that we don't know about. It undoubtedly was a big ask to expect Ukraine to learn how and to do routine maintenance on these (and similar) hardware, but Ukraine has (apparently) done at least OK in that regard. However, heavy maintenance isn't something they can do, and it will be needed. Lets hope the Paladins are doing better. The PZH-2000 is a piece of gear that is relatively untried. The fact it wears out in heavy use wasn't unexpected, but it is certainly inconvenient :-).
Based on what we are seeing in Kherson it may unfortunately be that Russia has somebody running the show there that is better than up north. In so far as the retreats from the various outposts were made in order to "shorten the line", it was a wise action. The Russian milbloggers were saying the number of Russian troops was simply inadequate to the front they were asked to hold. Shortening the line in those cases may have been a necessity. Previously, Russia waited too long to do this. It may be this time they responded much better.
Shortening the line also makes delivering all kinds of supplies easier because they don't have to be moved so far. This also obviously requires less fuel, another good thing. There are two "Bad" (from Russia's point of view) things associated with this action. First, they had to abandon defensive positions they had been creating for months. It is unclear the new line actually exists or is a work in progress. In either case, it won't have the benefit of long preparation. Second, if this new line is within 20 km (or so) of Kherson and/or Nova Kakhovka it brings them within range of the Ukrainian 155 mm artillery. This fact will call into question the ability to hold the new line with supply even more difficult. We shall see.
Still no rain in the 10 day forecast. Sláva Ukrayíni!