Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment — 24 March 2022
Some of today’s items of interest from Putin’s March Madness:
· The ISW assessrep for 24 March 2022.
o Still somewhat of a status quo for both sides at the moment. The Russians are plodding away in Mariupol at great cost to their forces and any civilians unfortunate enough to hide in legitimate military targets like hospitals or schools or bread lines, etc. SSDD in Kharkiv as well; kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings… the usual. Near Kershon, Ukrainian forces appear to be preparing for a counter attack to liberate the city.
o Score one for the good guys… In case you missed it, Ukraine nailed a Russian LST in port and damaged two others. John K sent out related articles yesterday. Among the items of speculation are the actual weapon type that scored this Fatality, and who drew the short straw to tell the tsar.
o And the hits just keep on coming. The CO of the 810th Marine Brigade (RA) was killed near Mariupol two days ago. And hot off the press… the CG of the 49th Combined Arms Army was also killed.
o While the Ukrainians are making good use of their limited assets, the Russians seems to be throwing whatever they can wherever they can and hoping for the best. This includes their use of hypersonic missiles against non-critical targets.
o Russians conduct another nuclear show of force. OSINT at its finest.
o Not sure if this is true, but the US military’s “most trusted news source” reports that Putin will give up a few things for Lent.
§ “Lent is a time we give up some of those little vices we’re often so fond of,” said Putin. “But for the next forty days, we’ll be swearing off everything from killer umbrellas to little green men.”
o According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, everything is proceeding exactly as planned…
· The Ruble to USD exchange rate is currently 99:1. This seems to be the new normal rate based on the last week.
· A good piece discussing some of the mil-mil cooperation between US and Ukraine. US Army Special Forces helped spot Ukraine on their post-Crimea workouts and made sure that they didn’t skip leg day.
· Plot twist: When your Army actually increases the number of tanks that it had prior to kicking off a war without having to buy or manufacture them.
