The readiness and effectiveness of those formations is at least questionable though. At least some of them appear to be units pulled out of the disastrous Kyiv thrust. They have had considerable time to rebuild and re-equip, but the extent of refusals in Russia is really difficult to translate into operational implications - it appears to be motivating cancelled/delayed deployments, with those forces very likely to be some of the units that have seen that problem.
The credible video circulating of a Baltic Fleet sailor redeployed as a tanker suggests the problem is becoming acute.
It’s extremely gratifying seeing Western military equipment, in the hands of those with only the briefest of training, smashing the shit out of Russian ordnance.
Important that we leave Putin an out though. He’s mad enough to go nuclear if his ego suffers too much of a spanking.
drop the Kerch Bridge into the straight, watch the Russians tuck tail and head back via Berdyansk and Mariupol. Shitty thing is, that would effectively fuck the rebuilding of the Azov steel plant for some time.
the plus would be, the Black Sea port of Sevastopol would return to UA hands without the ability of Russia to regain it anytime soon.
I have to wonder about the long term effects on Russian armour of the complete lack of crew survivability as a design element in their AFVs. In Soviet days, tankers were the ‘heroes’, like fighter pilots in the West. Some of that aura was presumably still around, and you could see that in Russian film. But seeing the 1st Guards Tank Army get smashed, turrets flying, has to have eroded some of that.
