Putin’s Far East bases are being abandoned

[Kurokage]

I came across this interesting article, which talks about a set of satellite images that's revealed surprising changes at a few remote military storage sites. A lot of them were used for storing older armoured vehicles and such, but now appears like they've been striped bare??

https://www.dagens.com/news/putins-far-e...es-it-mean

A newly reviewed set of satellite images has revealed surprising changes at a remote military storage site in Russia’s Far East, United24 Media reports.
The base, located in Arsenievo, was once densely packed with aging armored vehicles, but the facility now appears largely stripped.
But what does this mean? Is it a sign that Russia is struggling more in Ukraine than it admits, or does it suggest that Moscow is preparing for something bigger?
 
Open-source intelligence specialists examined imagery from November alongside photos taken months earlier and before the full-scale invasion. According to their assessment, the depot — previously one of Russia’s biggest hubs for MT-LB armored carriers — has been almost completely cleared out.
The X user Jompy posted images showing that where hundreds of machines once filled the yard, only a few remain, many in poor condition.

 
United24 Media reports that Arsenievo is not the only depot showing significant depletion.
Jompy noted that satellite views of other hubs, including Ussuriysk, reveal a similar pattern: armored vehicles gone, military trucks left behind.

The dwindling supplies at these Russian bases could indicate that Moscow is struggling more in Ukraine than officials publicly acknowledge.
It may also suggest that Western sanctions are hindering Russia’s military industry, leaving manufacturers without the components needed to maintain or produce new equipment — forcing the army to fall back on outdated hardware.

[andy06shake]

I came across this interesting article, which talks about a set of satellite images that's revealed surprising changes at a few remote military storage sites. A lot of them were used for storing older armoured vehicles and such, but now appears like they've been striped bare??

https://www.dagens.com/news/putins-far-e...es-it-mean

The volume of scrap metal on those battlefields must be huge. 

Then again, I suppose most of the material being damaged, contaminated, or still dangerous, down to unexploded ordnance, never mind in an active warzone

Makes recovery somewhat untenable at best.

[Kurokage]

The volume of scrap metal on those battlefields must be huge. 

Then again, I suppose most of the material being damaged, contaminated, or still dangerous, down to unexploded ordnance, never mind in an active warzone

Makes recovery somewhat untenable at best.

The Ukrainian boarder must be littered with abandoned military hardware.
It is a clear sign that Russia must struggling with equipment to send to the front line if they're having to use up old equipment from storage sites.

[andy06shake]

The Ukrainian boarder must be littered with abandoned military hardware.
It is a clear sign that Russia must struggling with equipment to send to the front line if they're having to use up old equipment from storage sites.

They're pulling them apart at the seams and using the likes of the parts from three old vehicles cobbled together to make one operational if they are lucky. 

The thing is that's hardly sustainable or most likely safe.

[xpert11]

If Russia has a strategy in Ukraine, it is to use the Western Front-style deadlock to drain Ukraine's frontline eligible population. To that end, the Russians were emptying warehouses full of older Cold War-era military equipment to replace hardware lost on the battlefields from the outset. 

The interesting question that point leads to is: excluding multiuons, how much of Russia's current military inventory in Ukraine is from its industrial output and from its existing inventory? I am inclined to think the Russians have mostly exhausted their previous supply of equipment. However, life away from my keyboard has kept me busy this year, so that others might know more.

[Kurokage]

If Russia has a strategy in Ukraine, it is to use the Western Front-style deadlock to drain Ukraine's frontline eligible population. To that end, the Russians were emptying warehouses full of older Cold War-era military equipment to replace hardware lost on the battlefields from the outset. 

That strategy could be true but it's also having the same consequences on the Russian forces. Russian has had to start conscripting soldiers all year round in a continuous effort to supply troops to the front lines.

[xpert11]

That strategy could be true but it's also having the same consequences on the Russian forces. Russian has had to start conscripting soldiers all year round in a continuous effort to supply troops to the front lines.

Russia has a larger population advantage over Ukraine. However, the initial wave of men leaving Russia to avoid conscription and frontline service in Ukraine suggests a lack of enthusiasm for that war. However, there aren't any signs of Russian domestic woes forcing their withdrawal from Ukraine.

[andy06shake]

That strategy could be true but it's also having the same consequences on the Russian forces. Russian has had to start conscripting soldiers all year round in a continuous effort to supply troops to the front lines.

When you cannot win air superiority over Ukraine, down to the likes of mere manpads, that tells us something about Russia's ""airforce.""

[andy06shake]

Russia has a larger population advantage over Ukraine. However, the initial wave of men leaving Russia to avoid conscription and frontline service in Ukraine suggests a lack of enthusiasm for that war. However, there aren't any signs of Russian domestic woes forcing their withdrawal from Ukraine.

 
The war is hollowing out the demographic core of both countries.

They are both losing large numbers of young men, the very group that normally becomes the next generation of workers, parents, and community leaders.

And even those who survive are returning with life-altering injuries and trauma.

They are destroying entire generations. 

[xpert11]

 
The war is hollowing out the demographic core of both countries.

That is an interesting observation that warrants more attention. Russia and the Soviet Union's population survived a civil war and two world wars in the 20th century. How the war in Ukraine ends is unlikely to involve Russia running out of personnel for the frontline and wartime economy.