In daylight! Protected by soldiers with MANPADS just in case a Russian drone was spotting.

From Ukraine Weapons Tracker

This is why Russia is increasingly making threatening noises about US help to Ukraine. This kind of barrage on a single target cannot be stopped by existing Russian air defenses.

I'm sure many in Kyiv are drooling over the possibility of such a barrage aimed at Russian ships of the Black Sea Fleet docked in Sevastopol harbor. If they can clean Russian forces from the northern side of the Dnipro river, perhaps they can get close enough to Sevastopol to do it.

More ... especially for those who think Ukraine is dead man walking.

Video emerges of the HIMARS strike on the Russian train bringing reinforcements to Kherson. The train was apparently stopped at a predictable siding (it's a one-line rail), and that's when the Ukrainians hit it with HIMARS.

Quite a dramatic event

Rather traumatic for the Russians taking the video, natch.

The U.S. is still considering sending jet fighters to Ukraine. That’ll help them even more if it’s OKed. The problem is that it takes time to train pilots to fly them. Also, where is Ukraine going to park the jets? They’ll be sitting ducks when parked on a tarmac vulnerable to Russian missiles. And I doubt Ukraine has any deep underground hangar bunkers to hide them. It reminds me of the children’s book “How to Hide a Hippopotamus”.

Ukraine's current jets are still flying combat missions, so they seem to have some capacity to protect them. I suspect we would also provide high quality defenses against air attack and cruise missile attack were we to give them high priced advanced jets.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
More ... especially for those who think Ukraine is dead man walking.

Video emerges of the HIMARS strike on the Russian train bringing reinforcements to Kherson. The train was apparently stopped at a predictable siding (it's a one-line rail), and that's when the Ukrainians hit it with HIMARS.

Quite a dramatic event

Rather traumatic for the Russians taking the video, natch.

I'd imagine that one-line rail line is somewhat non-operational now.

So, it's not just the train that was destroyed ... they can't use that train line to bring in reinforcements until they clear it and repair it.

Everything I'm reading suggests that that is a minor problem for the Russians. They can repair track in short order. But the basic layout of the line is something they're stuck with. Trains will have to use sidings, which makes them vulnerable to attack if you've got good local intelligence. Since partisan activity in Kherson Oblast is ramping up, I suspect the Ukrainians have a very good idea of what the Russians are doing at any moment.