Victory Chronicles
-DAY 173

ARM UKRAINE: UA LACKS WEAPONS TO STOP ENEMY SHELLING OF CIVILIANS

Above:  The kremlin is proud of its modern artillery systems, few of which are actually deployed in the war against Ukraine.  Instead, the enemy relies on seemingly endless stocks of cold war inventory to cause terror among the civilian population. Photo via Newsweek

• Over the weekend, the enemy shelled civilian targets in the oblasts of Mykolaiv, Kherson, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk.
• In Donetsk, enemy ground forces made small advances as the invaders pummeled cities including Kostyantynivka, Sloviansk, Avdiivka, Mykolaivka, Bakhmut, Vugledar, Krasnohorivka. Dozens of regular people are dead and wounded.
• Shells were fired from Belgorod in western russia, illegally occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine.  During the beginning stages of the war, analysts exstimated that the enemy had ten times more artillery than Ukraine.  With the introduction of HIMARS and other longer-range artillery systems, Ukraine may have reduced the disadvantage to four to one in some locations.
• According to an analysis in the Kyiv Independent, “Russian heavy artillery …is still a superior force that has no mercy. …despite much effort with Western-provided advanced weaponry, Russia’s artillery force is still inflicting heavy losses on Ukraine and goes unanswered much too often. Counter-battery fire, the tactic of hunting for and firing at the enemy’s artillery pieces, remains a weak spot in Ukraine’s military.”

KHERSON THEATER: BATTLE OF WITS AND BRAVERY AGAINST BRUTE FORCE

Above:  Kherson was occupied early in the full-scale invasion but remains defiant in the face of enemy brutality and incompetence. Photo via Kitangry

• Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov reported that partisans destroyed a railway bridge near the city that will prevent the arrival of “Russian echelons from Crimea.”
• Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces again shelled the Antonivsky bridge, making all three road bridges from the south into Kherson city unusable.  The weekend strikes appeared to have destroyed enemy equipment, ammunition and/or fuel transports on the bridge.
• Mykolaiv Mayor Vitaly Kim reported that the invader military command staff withdrew entirely from the right bank, or western half, of the Dnipro River which includes the city of Kherson.
• There may be 10,000 or more enemy troops left without commands, stranded on the right bank with nothing more than several  vulnerable pontoon bridges available for resupply or escape.  War analysts believe that these forces are a hastily amalgamated collection of troops from far regions, most likely with little training or battle experience.

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL: DISASTER THREAT IS REAL

Above:  Location of temporarily-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and nearby cities that the invaders are shelling from there.  Map via BBC

• According to a story in the BBC, “Staff at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have described to the BBC being kept at gunpoint while Russian troops use it as a military base.”  Just across the Dnipro River, the industrial city of Nikopol has been the target of heavy shelling over the last two weeks with up to 120 rockets reported in a single night, shot from the direction of the nuclear power plant.
• Even with strict control over use of cell phones, two captive Ukrainian NPP employees were able to communicate with the BBC.  The insiders said that the civilian workers are held at gunpoint while irresponsible enemy troops position military equipment right next to reactors.  Some staff members mysteriously disappear and never return to work.  The atmosphere of fear and intimidation is heavy.
• Military analysts have often pointed out that the enemy uses large stockpiles of old artillery equipment that frequently fails, for example, when artillery barrels explode from fatigue or ammo depots spontaneously explode.  The utter recklessness of enemy aggression is almost unfathomable with the accumulation of dangerous and unstable weapons at a nuclear power station.
• Russia is accusing Ukraine of shelling the power plant in order to perpetuate the lie that Ukrainians are the dangerous aggressors.  Some analysts believe that russia may be desperate to push for an end to its disastrous and incompetent invasion and are ready to precipitate nuclear disaster to get its way.