Internal calls within Russia grow for Putin to order general mobilization...
Poster Comment:
British Intelligence says the Russians want to fix the Ukrainian frontline where they are and to send forces from the north and the south well behind their lines and to trap the Ukrainians. They used to have maybe 40,000 or more in the center. But the Ukrainians frontline forces have lost more than 50% of their soldiers.
Russia flies 300 jet and copter sorties a day. The Russian rocket services usually start the hunt by taking out the brigade HQ, warehouse, armored vehicles and the adjacent men. Then comes the jets and copters. Then the first contact by ground forces with a constant artillery barrage directed by drones. The artillery establishes fire control over an area. Then a second contact is made and then a third. With either the second or third ground contact, the Russians establish a cauldron. Artillery using those drones stops all resupply of men and material. The constant artillery fire is directed at vehicles. artillery, tanks and trenches. When the Ukrainian forces are sufficiently degraded, the snipers, tanks and ground forces approach to remove the remaining Ukrainian troops. As Scott Ritter, a former US Marines captain, said, "Russia has the best brigade commanders in the world. The Ukrainians were trained by NATO. The Ukraine could have defeated the British or French armies. Only the Americans or the Turks could have beaten them. It is just that the Russians are better."
The Ukrainians are firing HIMARS rockets at civilians. To protect civilians the Russians have to continue moving westward.