RT.com – July 16, 2023
Bradley armoured vehicles. Click to enlarge
The vaunted Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV), which was touted as a potential “game-changer” when Washington agreed to give dozens of the machines to Ukraine earlier this year, has reportedly had trouble staying in action amid fierce resistance from Russian forces during Kiev’s counteroffensive.
At least 34 Bradleys “have now been visually confirmed as having been abandoned, damaged or destroyed,” Business Insider reported on Saturday, citing “open-source” data from military research firm Oryx. The US has supplied as many as 109 BFVs to Ukraine, the outlet added, and they were first deployed on the battlefield in April.
Most of the losses occurred during the early days of the counteroffensive, which began last month, as Ukrainian forces tried to cross territory that was heavily mined by Russian troops, Business Insider said. The latest loss estimate was similar to that in a report on Saturday by the New York Times, which said Ukraine’s NATO-trained 47th Mechanized Brigade had lost 30% of its Bradleys in just two weeks.
The BFV is a tracked and lightly armored vehicle with the capability to transport about ten soldiers and mount weaponry such as a 25mm cannon and a TOW anti-tank missile launcher.
When the administration of President Joe Biden agreed in January to send BFVs to Kiev, the Pentagon touted the vehicles as “tank-killers” and claimed they would provide “a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield.” US media outlets such as Newsweek cited military experts as saying the Bradleys “could become a game-changer,” potentially even enabling Ukraine to retake Crimea. Russian officials warned that the BFVs and other Western-supplied weaponry would “only prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
With dozens of Bradleys and other hardware being knocked out of action by Russian forces, Ukrainian units have been forced to abandon their armored vehicles and advance slowly on foot, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. “You can no longer do anything with just a tank with some armor because the minefield is too deep, and sooner or later, it will stop, and then it will be destroyed by concentrated fire,” Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, told the newspaper.
Nevertheless, a new $800 military aid package for Ukraine announced by the Biden administration earlier this month includes an additional 32 BFVs. The US also agreed to send cluster bombs to Kiev, citing disappointment with the counteroffensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that US shipments of cluster munitions to Ukraine would constitute a war crime. As for captured Western weaponry, such as BFVs, Russian specialists will use “reverse engineering” to adopt any military technology that might be useful to Moscow, Putin said in an interview aired on Sunday.
So the Crimea bridge has been attacked again. Fake news claims drone strikes, but this is your usual bullshit.
I’ve had a look at the images, and the downed section shows almost no top surface damage, and there are images showing the underside with damage.
The distance images of the explosion show a big blast, so this must of been under the bridge, cus the surface section shows almost no damage.
Who did it? Well, that’s dead easy. This was MI6 and the SAS/SBS again, and the damage is almost identical to the previous attack.
What will Putin do this time? I know what he should do. I’ve got a good idea what most of the sheeple in his team want to do, but can they get him to take the right decisions?
MI6 want a reaction from Putin, and the danger is, if Putin doesn’t react, it could be Zaporizhzhia next time, and that would be very bad news.
As I keep saying, there’s going to be no peace deal, because this will only stop via two possibilities. Russia collapses and the City Crime Cartels get their swamp mitts on Russian resources, or there’s a nuclear WW3.
There’s no ground in between, unless the French or German militaries coup their respective regimes.
Crimea bridge update!
Finally, Russia blames Nazi terrorist UK for Crimea bridge attack, an act of International terrorism.
I don’t believe NATO can come to Nazi Britain’s defense. We must remember, NATO is a defensive organisation, and that despotic states who act outside international law, can’t be protected from a reasonable Russian response.
But I go further. As I pointed out in my earlier comment, but attacks look very similar and were carried out from below the bridge, both times.
I would suggest that not only does Russia have evidence that Britain carried out this attack, they have evidence they carried out the previous attack, but decided in the first case, not to escalate.
Storry that Russia blames UK has now dissappeared. Me, I’d sink our rust bucket carrier, and you know what, no one will lift a finger. While they are all Nazi states, some are out of control. All the investment banks prior to 2008 were nasty banks, but all those banks hated one bank, and in particular it’s boss, so it was Lehman Brothers and Dick Fuld who was sacrificed at the Satanist alter. The Nazi NWO might do the same to bankrupt Nazi Britain.
Could be, Biden’s had enough.
And so the stupid Ukes have hit the Kerch Bridge again. How very useful that is … sure to be the game changer that delivers their slava to them.
Just how much longer will it be before President Putin hits their decision-making centres?
Then again, since he has not done it so far into the piece, perhaps he thinks this hardly necessary. The Uke leadership is doing a thorough job of wiping out their entire manpower. With luck, these obscene killers might soon have to wipe themselves out.
“Russian forces have knocked out one-third of Ukraine’s Bradleys..”
Dont feel so bad about those Bradley’s.. but look on the bright-side any Americans here:
if it hadnt gone “mysteriously” (😂) mia the B’w’itish Centurion Tank – yeah… that’s the one that Ben Wallace Of Arabia drove into Baghdad! 😅 – would’ve “scored” something closer – a LOT closer! – to 100% knocked out! 🤣
thats good scrapmetal for russian furnace ovens
in Azov plant . russia needs more scrap JOE !
ha ha ha ha
the coward germans hoping for their pension
will never putsh + the french have too many
freemasons + multiculti in their rangs .
Putin should blow up some british tax havens
in the karibic . it would have the advantage
of some exrussian tax fugitive oligarchs
accounts closed .