"We have neglected a lot of the training" on "how to fight and survive in a peer-on-peer adversary war, in the US military, we mostly have been focusing on a guerilla war" and battling insurgents, with places with Iraq and Afghanistan in mind.

The former soldier said he fought in Iraq as a contractor after leaving the US military, and in Ukraine, he fought in hotspots like Kharkiv and Bakhmut.

"We've gotten so used to the idea of just fighting guerilla wars and fucking fighting terrorists and everything else that we kind of forgot what it means to actually fight a war," he said.

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The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were real wars that came at a severe cost in human lives, but the war in Ukraine is industrial warfare at levels of destruction like the world has not seen in a long time. The veteran said that when he went through training, he never got any real training for peer-on-peer conflict. "A little bit of talking about it and just a little bit of training, but nothing to the point that would have prepared me for the war in Ukraine," he recalled.

He said that he has seen a lot of Western soldiers struggle in Ukraine as "they already have a set idea about how things should be and everything, and it's just not that way out in Ukraine."

He said that US soldiers are used to fighting at an equipment and manpower advantage, but against Russia in Ukraine, "a lot of time I've fought at a disadvantage compared to the enemy."

Multiple NATO countries have trained Ukrainian soldiers, but the veteran said that some of the Ukrainians he fights with described some of that training as irrelevant or inadequate.

The veteran said that some Ukrainian soldiers who were trained in the UK told him that when they asked how to get through Russia's vast minefields, they were told to just go around them. He described some of the training that Ukrainians have gotten as making sense on paper, but it "doesn't work [in Ukraine] because it's not the same type of warfare."

Some Ukrainian soldiers trained abroad said the training they received was not suited to the kind of fighting needed for this war. A Ukrainian commander who was trained by US, British, and Polish soldiers said last year that if he had followed those countries' advice exactly, he would have been killed.

Other US veterans who have fought in Ukraine said they found the fighting there far worse than in Afghanistan and Iraq, describing Ukraine as being at a disadvantage the US never was and recalling ceaseless attacks by Russia.

One previously told Business Insider that the relentless fighting in Ukraine often means that, unlike in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is no break or chance to relax. It's a kind of fighting that takes a severe toll, both mentally and physically, on a soldier.

He said that in many places where he fought in Ukraine, "there is nowhere that is safe," while when he was in Afghanistan and Iraq, if you were half a mile behind the front line, "you could stand outside and have a barbecue, a sandwich, and drink."

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What could be better than the arrival of an ODAB-1500 from the UMPC against the enemy against the backdrop of sunset.

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Destruction of the Ukrainian AN/TPQ-50 radar on a Hummer chassis by Lancet in the Kharkov region

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New footage of yesterday's Russian missile attack on the Novaya Poshta building in Odessa, video posted by residents

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Devastating Russian aerial glide bombs are gnawing away at his men’s positions in a new tactic.

Yet, to retreat carries no promise of safety — the rear defensive lines meant to give them cover barely exist.

“It’s necessary to increase the pace of building fortifications … so that when we retreat, we will retreat to a prepared position, These fortifications are not enough.”

“There was an absence of responsibility. ... People didn’t understand that fortifications can save your life if you do it in advance,” said Oleksandr, a commander with the 47th.

“Many people thought we wouldn’t need to prepare such lines. They didn’t expect a new Russian offensive.”

In March, Ukraine’s 67th was rotated in to hold positions . “I would be hard-pressed to describe them as ‘positions,’” said a serviceman. With nowhere to take cover and the Russian barrages, they retreated.

“We lost department commanders, platoon commanders, company commanders and sergeants,” he said.

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For those who love destroyed bridges.

Russian aviation, using a high-precision Kh-38ML missile, destroyed the bridge over the Mokrye Yaly River connecting Vremevka and Velikaya Novoselka.

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Moscow's army continues to advance. According to experts, their breakthrough is at a strategic point. While Ukraine has to improvise its defense, the Kremlin is developing a new weapon.

The prospects for Ukraine in its defensive battle against Russia are becoming increasingly bleak, and a victory for Moscow is getting closer.

According to Colonel Markus Reisner, the situation is now so dramatic that the Ukrainian front lines could collapse and a breakthrough to the Dnipro, appears possible. Then Moscow would most likely have won the war.

The devastating area effect of its rocket volleys makes TOS-3 a brutal breakthrough weapon even bunkers cannot withstand.

Colonel Reisner told WELT that the TOS-3 was an “even more devastating version” of the previous models. “TOS-3 is capable of firing its absolutely deadly thermobaric missiles further. It can fire rockets 15 km - and therefore  cannot be successfully attacked by “FPV” drones,” said Reisner. The new weapon hits more precisely.

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We learned how to fire a mortar from a YouTube video. Ukrainians talk about the combat training system in the Fourth Reich.

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Assault on Kislovka. Atmospheric footage.

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"Soviet-era attitudes to disability hinder Ukrainian fighters’ recovery" an absolute horrible story described by Politico

“I could still see then,” he recalled. “Then I came round and I couldn’t see, I was tied to a bed, I had a tube down my throat... I thought: I’m a prisoner. But then: Why are they treating me this way, am I a prisoner?”

Kosyuk realized he was in the military hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. He had to wait another day until the staff told him he had permanently lost his sight. Over three months, Kosyuk’s other injuries healed, and he was given ocular prostheses that matched his original brown eye color. But in spring 2023, he was discharged to start life again with no assistance or support. “They sent us home with nothing,” Kosyuk’s mother Anastasia said. “We thought we were alone. He was 19 years old, and all the lights had been turned out.”

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy, the number of Ukrainians with disabilities has increased by 300,000 since the February 2022 full-scale invasion by Russia. The country’s Ministry of Veteran Affairs has said there may eventually be 5 million veterans and family members, many of whom will need help for physical and psychological trauma.

The concern among many patients and their families is that Ukraine is historically ill-equipped to deal with disability, a hangover from Soviet days where disabled people were kept out of sight. [Asbery: Everything bad is Soviet 🙄]

Oleksandr Ishchenko, who attended a rehabilitation course for blind veterans along with Kosyuk in February in Lvov, a city in western Ukraine. He lost his eyes after being brutally injured while serving in the territorial defense forces. Now, on top of learning how to navigate the world without vision, he struggles with the fear that others, including his family, are horrified by the sight of his injuries.

This attitude of hiding away disabled people still lingers, according to Anna Horkun, project manager for HAB Lvov Habilitation Centre, a halfway house between medical treatment and independent living. “The administrators of the building asked us to cover the windows, because the sight of our disabled spoils the picture,” Horkun said. “For part of society, it’s an interference in their lives. But this is a huge part of all our lives now.”

Asbery's Opinion: Since 1991 it's never Ukraine's fault it always someone else's fault.

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Soldiers from the 155th brigade, which took over the defense of Ocheretino, believe that the Ukrainian command is responsible for its fall.
“My company was literally destroyed. We carried out tasks in the most difficult conditions, and no one cared. We both went on the attack without support and with stupid command, and defended with virtually no support and with the same stupid command,” wrote one Ukrainian soldier on X.

Retired general Krivonos said that the dominance of Ocheretino’s high-rise apartment buildings over the surrounding steppe could have served as an effective deterrent against Russian troops and prevented the town’s takeover
“This is a serious systemic failure."

“This is a breakthrough.. at a strategic level. Russians will only increase pressure,” Kiev military analyst Mikhail Zhirokhov. “It will get worse. It will be very difficult to hold other cities and the line.”

Another analyst noted, he is pessimistic about Ukraine's overall chances.

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