But it wouldn't take much, I'd think, to line up on that column and to major damage.

This is interesting, if true. I'll bet Putin is fuming mad if this stuff is true.

https://www.newsmax.com/headli…le/2022/03/01/id/1059097/

Russia's military move on Kyiv has stalled as its forces struggle with basic logistics challenges, including shortages of food and fuel, with some units appearing to be gripped by low morale, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

Russia warned residents in capital Kyiv to flee their homes on Tuesday and rained rockets down on the second city of Kharkiv, as Russian commanders who have failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Satellite images taken on Monday show a Russian military convoy north of Kyiv that stretches for about 40 miles (64 km), substantially longer than the 17 miles (27 km) reported earlier in the day.

"One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they've had," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official told reporters that it was unclear whether the convoy itself had stalled, but it was not making much progress.

"The Russians have been surprised by some of the morale problems that they're experiencing and I think they're none too pleased about the logistics and sustainment challenges they've had," the official said, without providing evidence.

Images have appeared on social media over the past several days showing Russian tanks and military vehicles idled on the side of roads, some appearing to have run out of fuel.

"The Russian defense ministry threatening statement today... is indicative of a change here, that they are being quite open about," the official said.

Rocket strikes on Kharkiv killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Herashchenko said.

Human rights groups and Ukraine's ambassador to the United States on Monday accused Russia of attacking Ukrainians with cluster bombs and vacuum bombs, weapons that have been condemned by a variety of international organizations.

The U.S. official said that Russia had systems that could launch vacuum bombs, but could not confirm that they had been used in Ukraine.

Munitions experts told reporters after reviewing footage that it appeared to show multiple cluster bombs being fired on Kharkiv.

As the invasion entered its sixth day, Russia had committed about 80% of its pre-staged combat into Ukraine and launched more than 400 missiles on Ukrainian targets, but did not control any major cities or have complete control of the skies over Ukraine.

The official said the United States had seen indications of some Russian units surrendering without a fight, but did not provide details on how many troops that included.

Still, the bombardment continues. Russian forces attacked a television tower in Kyiv, potentially disrupting its signal, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said on Tuesday.

The Russian defense ministry also said Russia would strike sites in Kyiv belonging to Ukraine's security service and a special operations unit.

Quote from Toad

You can bet your boots we have recon aircraft flying the Poland/Ukraine border along with satellites. Aircraft that can pick up, record, uplink/downlink about anything in the electronic spectrum and send that info back to DC in seconds. Satellites that can read a license plate from space.

Heck back in the days after the Vietnam war stuff we picked up when the Viets and the Chinks were going at it on their border region was reported in the newspapers and TV news as being from "sources close to the battle zone". That was me and my crew, LOL.

Count on it. We are using our recon assets to stay on top of the situation. They just don't tell you everything they know for good reason. Not that Brandon is going to do anything with it.

That's cool!

Quote from Chakana

Which one is Joe Brandon?

Lol. Good question.

I'm not so sure about Russia having ccontrol of the air. This article specifically mentions that they have sent their armor ahead of their air support, leaving it vulnerable.

And I've heard this more than a few times. That the air is contested.

http://www.reuters.com/article…=34553&utm_medium=partner

What happened to Russia's Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence had predicted a blistering assault by Moscow that would quickly mobilize the vast Russian air power that its military assembled in order to dominate Ukraine's skies.

But the first six days have confounded those expectations and instead seen Moscow act far more delicately with its air power, so much so that U.S. officials can't exactly explain what's driving Russia's apparent risk-averse behavior.

"They're not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots," a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Vastly outmatched by Russia's military, in terms of raw numbers and firepower, Ukraine's own air force is still flying and its air defenses are still deemed to be viable - a fact that is baffling military experts.

After the opening salvos of the war on Feb. 24, analysts expected the Russian military to try to immediately destroy Ukraine's air force and air defenses.

That would have been "the logical and widely anticipated next step, as seen in almost every military conflict since 1938," wrote the RUSI think-tank in London, in an article called "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Russian Air Force."

Instead, Ukrainian air force fighter jets are still carrying out low-level, defensive counter-air and ground-attack sorties. Russia is still flying through contested airspace.

Ukrainian troops with surface-to-air rockets are able to threaten Russian aircraft and create risk to Russian pilots trying to support ground forces.

"There's a lot of stuff they're doing that's perplexing," said Rob Lee, a Russian military specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

He thought the beginning of the war would be "maximum use of force."

"Because every day it goes on there's a cost and the risk goes up. And they're not doing that and it just is really hard to explain for any realistic reason."

Military experts have seen evidence of a lack of Russian air force coordination with ground troop formations, with multiple Russian columns of troops sent forward beyond the reach of their own air defense cover.

That leaves Russian soldiers vulnerable to attack from Ukrainian forces, including those newly equipped with Turkish drones and U.S. and British anti-tank missiles. David Deptula, a retired U.S. Air Force three-star general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said he was surprised that Russia didn't work harder to establish air dominance from the start.

"The Russians are discovering that coordinating multi-domain operations is not easy," Deptula told Reuters. "And that they are not as good as they presumed they were."

While the Russians have been under-performing, Ukraine's military has been exceeding expectations so far.

Ukraine's experience from the last eight years of fighting with Russian-backed separatist forces in the east was dominated by static World War One-style trench warfare.

By contrast Russia's forces got combat experience in Syria, where they intervened on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and demonstrated some ability to synchronize ground maneuvers with air and drone attacks.

Ukraine's ability to keep flying air force jets is a visible demonstration of the country's resilience in the face of attack and has been a morale booster, both to its own military and Ukraine's people, experts say.

It has also led to mythologizing of the Ukrainian air force, including a tale about a Ukrainian jet fighter that purportedly single-handedly downed six Russian aircrafts, dubbed online as "The Ghost of Kyiv."

A Reuters Fact Check showed how a clip https://www.reuters.com/articl…ssian-plane-idUSL1N2V035G from the videogame Digital Combat Simulator was miscaptioned online to claim it was an actual Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down a Russian plane.

Biden led a standing ovation in support of Ukrainians in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, praising their determination and mocking Putin for thinking he could just "roll into Ukraine" unopposed.

"Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people," Biden said.

The United States estimates that Russia is using just over 75 aircraft in its Ukraine invasion, the senior U.S. official said.

Ahead of the invasion, officials had estimated that Russia had potentially readied hundreds of the thousands of aircraft in its air force for a Ukraine mission. However, the senior U.S. official on Tuesday declined to estimate how many Russian combat aircraft, including attack helicopters, might still be available and outside Ukraine.

Both sides are taking losses.

"We do have indications that they've lost some (aircraft), but so have the Ukrainians," the official said.

"The airspace is actively contested every day."

But what about climate change????