How Precision Artillery Ammo Is Giving Ukraine Attack Advantage Over Russia

Greater accuracy is more effective, eg deadly, and thus makes it harder for the target to hide or avoid being hit. 

In the Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives, this has enabled Ukrainian forces to eliminate Russian obstacles more quickly and certainly. JL 

Michael Peck reports in Business Insider:

Ukraine's recent counteroffensive owes much of its success to precision-guided munitions. Guided howitzer shells can destroy a pinpoint target - a tank, a bunker, or a supply depot - with a single shell where a barrage of old-fashioned unguided projectiles might have missed. The howitzer's crew puts GPS coordinates into the shell, which has a range of  25 miles. After launch, the fins pop out, allowing it to adjust its trajectory to hit the designated location. The Excalibur shell can hit within 7 feet of a target, though other figures suggest it can hit within 250 feet to 500 feet.

Czech Crowdfunding Raises $1.3 Million To Give Ukraine A New Tank

The significance of the act has less to do with the tank itself - Ukraine has captured a couple of dozen usable Russian tanks in the last month - but in the ongoing support from citizens from former Russian subjects in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Estonia, Slovakia and now the Czech Republic. 

These people know what it is like to live under Russian rule so their active contributions to Ukrainian defense underscores their understanding of the stakes in this war. JL 

US News and World Report reports:

Czechs have become the first citizens of a country to raise money through crowd-funding to buy a modernised Soviet-era T-72 tank that will soon be sent to the Ukrainian army. The crowdfunding effort, run by the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, raised 33 million crowns ($1.31 million) as of Monday from 11,288 donors. The tank, a T-72 AVENGER, has been modernised to improve its protective systems and to add modern night-vision and communications equipment. Fundraising is continuing to provide ammunition.

After Sham Referendums, 18 Working For Russians In Occupied Areas Were Attacked

Even as the Ukrainian military liberates a growing number of Russian occupied regions, Ukraine's partisans and special forces are reminding collaborators in still occupied areas that a price will be paid for betraying Ukraine. JL 

Isobel Koshiw reports in The Guardian, image Zohra Bensemra, Reuters:

At least 18 people working for the Russian occupying authorities in Ukraine have been targeted in attacks carried out by Ukrainian partisans. Following Vladimir Putin’s attempted annexation of four areas after sham referendums, Ukrainian advisers vowed to “continue systemic liberation of the occupied territories by military means” including Ukrainian army and “intensification of special saboteur operations”. Ukraine’s security services published a list of 390 “collaborators” in Zaporizhzhia alone, who they said would be prosecuted for volunteering to help the Russian electoral commissions. Of the 18 reported attacks, 12 comprised bombs placed near or under cars.

Ukrainian Troops Liberate 1,600 KL of Kherson Oblast In 3 Days, Aren't Stopping

The Russians keep attempting to set up new defensive lines which are just as quickly breached by the Ukrainians. 

The Russian collapse appears almost complete as those Russians who can escape, crowd into Kherson city where their prospects of being cut off are growing since there are no reinforcements to save them. JL 

Mark Sumner reports in Daily Kos:

Another hour, another map of the Kherson area. In three days, Ukraine has liberated a third of the territory on the west side of the Dnipro. Over the course of Tuesday, and into the evening, Ukraine has continued to press, bringing the area liberated since Sunday, to 1,600 square kilometers. The line that supposedly represented Russia’s fallback position is reportedly already broken. Many of the towns liberated in the last two days come complete with a video of Ukrainian forces strolling in and the raising of a Ukrainian flag. Ukraine is back in this area, and they don’t care who knows it.

Ukrainian Advances Are Outpacing Russian Attempts To Reinforce Its Battered Troops

Russia no longer has the capacity - if it ever really did - to effectively reinforce and redeploy its forces in Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian advances in the southern Kherson region and in the east around Donetsk and Luhansk are driving disorganized Russian forces before them as Ukraine begins to retake territory Russia forcibly annexed in 2015. JL 

Matthew Luxmoore reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Ukrainian troops announced the liberation of (many) towns, while Moscow sought to prevent an encirclement of its forces in the east and south of the country. Ukraine’s push eastward from the strategic town of Lyman, which its forces liberated over the weekend, is threatening Russian positions in the Donetsk region.Ukraine is pushing deep into the Kherson region. Moscow has had major issues supplying its forces there due to Ukrainian attacks on infrastructure needed to transport equipment to troops.

Why Supply Chain Management Is Attracting Record Venture Investment

As global awareness of supply chains' importance grew - the hard way - during the pandemic, investors have been intrigued by the potential for digital supply chain management, digital freight networks, supply chain software and supply chain platforms  investment in them has exploded. 

The driver is belief that the scale will produce significant returns, that the problems will not go away soon (see return of manufacturing to the US) and that digital solutions are the answer. As a result, supply chain is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy venture industry story this year. JL 

Joanna Glasner reports in Crunchbase:

Ever since the pandemic first disrupted global trade in early 2020, everyone seems to be complaining about supply chains. Investors see an enormous market for next-generation platforms to ease logistics pain points. So far this year, investors have put over $7 billion in seed through growth-stage rounds globally for supply chain-focused startups. That puts funding this year on pace to roughly equal 2021’s record-setting levels, which is no small feat considering investment in most startup sectors is contracting. A third of global supply chain-related funding this year has gone to pre-seed through Series B rounds.

Burn Rate: Russia Loses 23 Tanks, 26 Armored Vehicles and 6 Drones In One Day

Those losses are neither sustainable nor replaceable. 

Analysts also estimate that Russia has lost more than 4,000 soldiers killed in action since the Kharkiv counteroffensive began a few weeks ago - and that number is considered conservative. JL
Anders Anglesey reports in Newsweek:

In a Sunday, October 2 post Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said 23 tanks, 26 armored combat vehicles, eight artillery units, and six drones had been destroyed in the past 24 hours. The liberation of Lyman represented a major defeat for Putin, who just hours before declared Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia would join the Russian Federation following referendums in the territories.