At Siverskyi, Ukraine's 10th Mountain Bde Destroys Repeat Russian Armored Assaults

As in other sectors of the front, the Russians continue their fruitless assaults before autumn rains arrive or the Russians run out of men and equipment - whichever comes first. JL

Militarnyi reports:

Ukrainian infantry of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelweiss” repelled a massive Russian assault involving armored vehicles in the Siversky sector of the Donetsk region. The Russian invaders launched an assault from the area of the occupied village of Vesele. “Between 15 and 25 invaders were killed. Five units of equipment were destroyed.” 

NATO To Increase Force By 250,000 Troops (49 Brigades) To Counter Russian Threat

NATO plans to substantially increase its combat-ready forces with 250,000 additional troops in 49 new brigades.

This is a significant addition to current forces and is meant both to prepare for Russian aggression and to signal to the Kremlin and its allies that the civilized world intends to defend itself. JL

112UA reports:

NATO has agreed on the "minimally required potential" to respond to potential Russian aggression. The plans were created by NATO leaders General Christopher Cavoli of the US and Admiral Pierre Vendier of France. NATO intends to increase the number of its military forces by 250,000 people. To achieve this goal, it plans to create 49 new combat brigades. The number of brigades will increase from 82 to 131, with each brigade consisting of 5000 soldiers. There are also plans to increase the number of combat corps from 6 to 15 and division headquarters from 24 to 38. NATO also plans to increase its stockpiles of weapons, including anti-aircraft and helicopter units. 

Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber Shot Down By Ukraine Over Donbas

Another one bites the dust. JL

The Associated Press reports:

Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian bomber Saturday near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province The aircraft was an Su-34 fighter bomber. Photos showed charred remains of an aircraft after it landed on a house that caught fire. “Debris partially fell near the town of Kostiantynivka. Debris also  damaged several private houses. There were no casualties or injuries as a result of this incident,” 

AI Models Lie Because They're Rewarded For Convincing, If Incorrect, Answers

AIs - and the large language models that drive them - are designed to optimize their performance in the eyes/brains of the humans who design them. Since those humans are commercializing AI as a superior source of information, uncertainty is considered sub-optimal and even deleterious.

So the models responded to the negative feedback they received - such as red flags from developers - by learning to provide confidently convincing answers even if they were wildly inaccurate. Since the coders frequently didnt know enough themselves about the subject at hand, such as medical diagnoses, the models were rewarded for their flights of fancy. This can probably be corrected over time, assuming that the programmers and companies that employ them, believe it is financially (to say nothing of operationally and ethically) beneficial to do so. JL

Jacek Krywko reports in ars technica:

AIs lie because we told them that doing so was rewarding. AI’s propensity to give well-structured, eloquent but blatantly wrong answers do this (because) “To speak confidently about things we do not know is human. AIs are optimizing their performance to maximize reward and minimize red flags. When incorrect answers were flagged, getting better at giving correct answers was one way to optimize things. (But) getting better at hiding incompetence worked just as well. If human supervisors didn’t know whether an answer was correct, they wouldn’t penalize wrong but convincing-sounding answers.

Taking Donbas Looks Remote For Russia As Losses Degrade Its Capabilities

To achieve Putin's goal of taking Ukraine's Donbas, the Russians would have to take five times as much territory as they have captured. And given the Russians' performance to date - and that they are projected to run out of armored vehicles in about 18 months - Ukraine's strategy of making tactical retreats after bleeding them dry makes sense. JL

Constant Meheut reports in the New York Times:

Ukraine's Donbas strategy is “trading space for Russian losses.” The idea is to retreat from towns under attack after exacting the highest price it can on manpower and matériel. Russia is far short of achieving its long-held objective. To do that, it would need to take another 4,000 square miles of Ukrainian territory, five times as much as it has over the past year. Russia will exhaust its stocks of armored vehicles by 2026 and will then be able to afford only “one or two battles of the scale of Avdiivka. This war isn’t going to be decided by who controls Vuhledar or other tactical frontline towns. It’s about how many troops the Russians have spent trying to seize Vuhledar. It’s a matter of how much they lose before they realize it’s futile.” 

Outnumbered 2-1, Ukraine 3rd Brigade's Svatove Counterattack Stymies Russians

The 3rd Brigade, a battle-hardened, mobile armored unit, used creative tactics like those in evidence during the Kursk offensive, to surprise the more numerous Russians near Svatove.

The result was that the Ukrainians, outnumbered 2-1, defeated the Russians and forced them not only to stop their attacks but divert troops from other sectors to make up the losses they suffered. JL

Euromaidan Press reports:

Despite being outnumbered two to one, Ukraine's elite 3rd Brigade counterattacked to secure new positions through the coordinated efforts of their units. These assaults north of Makiivka forced the Russians to divert their forces to the northern flank in an attempt to stabilize the situation. The 3rd brigade was designed to create a highly mobile, well-equipped, and trained force capable of engaging in offensive and active defensive operations alike. The Ukrainians began by deploying thermite drones to burn tree lines holding Russian trenches. After artillery and drone strikes weakened Russian positions, T-64 tanks  launched ground assaults destroying most of the Russian defenses.

Ukrainian Counterattacks Near Lyptsi Take 7 Russian Positions, Destroy Weapons

The Russians remain incapable of mounting either offensive operations or strong defense of established positions in Kharkiv oblast as shortages and low morale take their toll. JL

New Voice of Ukraine reports:

The 13th Brigade of Ukrainian National Guard captured seven enemy positions near Lyptsi in northern Kharkiv oblast, destroyed an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) position and a howitzer". The brigade credited the success to surprise, an unexpected attack direction, and meticulous planning. "They monitor key logistics routes, and we knew they’d see us. We planned how to neutralize the artillery that would try to destroy our equipment,"