A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Jun 3, 2024

Kremlin Fumes As Ukraine "Precision" Strikes Decimate Military Convoys In Russia

Re-repeat: the Russian military is not a learning organization.

Two years after Ukraine annihilated miles-long Russian supply columns in various parts of Ukraine, but most infamously near Kyiv, the Russians are still heedlessly using such columns - and the Ukrainians are targeting them, especially now that they have permission to use highly accurate western weapons to hit military assets inside Russia. JL 

Brendan Cole reports in Newsweek:

Russia's continued use of long vehicle columns is being criticized following repeated Ukrainian attacks on the convoys. Ukraine struck a column on Saturday in Kursk oblast, close to the border. The column had consisted of 18 vehicles, which had been hit at the front, middle and back. "Three years into the war, (there are) military columns eight kilometers [five miles] from the border. Nothing has changed except that the columns have become longer." Russia suffered "precise blows to the head and tail of the column." After strikes on the center, the vehicles "dispersed as best they could."

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers have criticized Russia's continued use of long vehicle columns following repeated Ukrainian attacks on the convoys.

The Russian milbloggers said Ukraine had struck a column on Saturday in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk oblast, close to the Russian border. They accused Moscow's commanders of not learning lessons more than two years into the war.Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email about the milbloggers' claims about Kursk. Ukrainian forces continue to strengthen their defenses in neighboring Sumy oblast, according to the Sunday update of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank in Washington, D.C.

Pro-Kyiv X, formerly Twitter, user Special Kherson Cat cited Ukrainian sources' claims that the Russian column had consisted of 18 vehicles, which Russian milbloggers said had been hit at the front, middle and back.

The Telegram account Two Majors, which gives regular updates of Russia's movements in the war, posted on Telegram how Moscow's military command is transferring an unspecified number of forces to the Kursk region.

 

However, the account posted how "three years into the war," Russia had suffered "precise blows to the head and tail of the column." After strikes on the center, the vehicles there "managed to disperse as best they could."

 

Another Telegram channel, Notes of a Veteran, posted: "Just last week I wrote about the movement of military columns eight kilometers [five miles] from the border. Nothing has changed since then except that the columns have become longer."

 

The channel LPR1 also criticized the commanders' decisions to allow the convoys, while Roman Alekhin posted on Telegram how faced by Ukrainian drones and artillery. "We must look for different logistics routes and split up groups, especially when there are routes, including safe ones, even if the distance is greater," read the latter's post.

 

Meanwhile, Moscow's officials and milbloggers said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had conducted an MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) strike on Shebekino, in Russia's Belgorod Oblast, around three miles from the border.

 

Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the strike killed the deputy head of Korochansky district, Igor Nechiporenko, and injured other local officials.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Defense Ministry about the reported strikes, and the ISW said it could not confirm the systems used, their targets or whether Western-provided weapons were involved.

Last week, the U.S. reportedly gave the go ahead for Ukraine to use weapons supplied by Washington to strike legitimate military targets on Russian territory, following pleas by Kyiv and a reluctance by its biggest backer to escalate the war.

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