626
Great leaders rise to the moment. @ZelenskyyUa has done that daily, even in the face of crushing Russian horrors! twitter.com/KyivIndependen…
627
Civilians can't get out of Mariupol. There should be a cease fire and international oversight to help those trying to get transportation in, who can't get there because of Russian checkpoints!
628
Version 4 of "The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender" is out. Updated translations coming. Available to download as PDF. Updates include basic ambush (upon request) content, basic medical lifesaving steps, a little more on water purification, UXO safety. johnspenceronline.com/urban-warfare
629
We must intervene. Do much much more than we are today. I hope tomorrow we hear from @POTUS with bi-partisan effort. We are the leaders of the free world. We cannot let this continue. twitter.com/Klitschko/stat…
630
Mariupol still stands. "Ukrainian forces still control the part of Azovstal plant, the southern area near harbor and the northern parts." militaryland.net/ukraine/invasi…
631
I disagree with anyone that says what we are seeing in Ukraine just happens in war. Just what Russia does, has done. Or just acts of untrained, undisciplined conscripts. IMO & from what I've seen this is organized, unit level, mass genocide. Either ordered/allowed systematically
632
"It has to change everyones thinking...it takes an intimate special kind of evil to wrap the hands of civilians & shoot them in the back of the head. If we...don't stand up, why are we a superpower?" My full talk w/ @AliVelshi on @VelshiMSNBC this morning. youtube.com/watch?v=MhhgIA…
633
Hard to not get emotional about my feelings for the war crimes, genocide, evil we are seeing the Russian military do to Ukrainian civilians. I speak for myself, I want nations to intervene. Now. twitter.com/VelshiMSNBC/st…
634
I’m struggling with the words to describe the genocide committed in mass, deliberately by Russian soldiers. War crimes not good enough. Evil. There is a world of difference from bombing civilians (saying military targets) to intimate, close killing of civilians w/their hands tied
635
Ukraine needs the U.S. not just weapons! This is a test of our national values. What we stand for. What I served for. What my family serves for. To protect the innocent. To stop evil in the war. It is time! twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/…
636
Thank you @AliVelshi It is time to act! twitter.com/AliVelshi/stat…
637
Genocide committed in Ukraine! Reports/photos show civilians w/their hands tied behind their backs, shot in head. Could be thousands. Mass graves. Massacre of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. I pray the cover of all our newspapers tomorrow show front page. The U.S. must intervene!
638
"U.S. Will Help Transfer Soviet-Made Tanks to Ukraine." Very needed, now. I look forward to them getting there quickly. "The Soviet-made tanks will allow Ukraine to conduct long-range artillery strikes on Russian targets in the eastern Donbas region" nytimes.com/2022/04/01/us/…
639
Australian Bushmasters will be sent to Ukraine. "A Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle is an armoured vehicle designed to carry and rapidly deploy up to 10 battle-ready troops." abc.net.au/news/2022-04-0…
640
This warms my heart!! Good over evil. Godspeed to them all!! That looks like a lethal, motivated, cohesive fighting formation to me with the support of their nation. Honestly touches me to my core. twitter.com/walterlekh/sta…
641
This is an act of a desperate military #Russia Men fighting for money to eat. This equals a weak force. No will to fight. "Social media in Syria has been flooded with requests for people to join Russian troops in return for up to $7,000 for deployment." bbc.com/news/av/world-…
642
"there is nothing...no water, no food, no medicine, no life...But Mariupol does not give up. Mariupol continues to fight the occupiers. Its defenders had a choice - they could leave the city and give it to the Russian invaders. They did not." @ZelenskyyUa president.gov.ua/en/news/promov…
643
The Battle of Mariupol. #urbanwarfare of the worst kind. 100,000 to 170,000 civilians trapped inside the battle area. House 2 house, intense combat. Ukrainian fighters still have defending advantages and strong pockets of resistance. Rubble is strong. Map: militaryland.net/tag/maps/
644
IMO, Russia will have to pay a huge price to take Mariupol. Thousands of Russians dead. The paradox of urban warfare is the more you bomb it, the more rubble you create, the more you help the defenders. Rubblized buildings become like bomb-proof bunkers extremely costly to take.
645
Urban warfare is hell. Damaging cities & their populations for generations. Russian acts in Mariupol, targeting protected populations (noncombatants) & protected sites (hospitals, schools, buildings clearly holding civilians seeking refuge from the battle) are war crimes. twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/st…
646
A great explainer on the Starstreak. " unlike infrared-guided MANPADS, the Starstreak cannot be spoofed by flares or other heat sources" Faster, more lethal, farthere reaching. thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4…
647
When I was a Ranger Instructor at the US Army Ranger School, ambush was a primary lesson. 3 Types (Point, Area, Anti-Armor), 2 methods (Linear, L-shaped). Very important to pick best location & move/get there secretly. Lines of supply, moving Russians, very vulnerable to ambush.
648
It will get down to 28 degrees tonight in Kyiv. Reports of Russian soldiers suffering frostbite. They are demoralized. Weather like this exacerbates all bad thoughts. We will see more fragging (purposely injuring their officers), slowness, & maybe mutiny. They are weak right now.
650
IMO #Russia cannot sustain the combat ops it is currently fighting (4 fronts Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donbas, Mariupol, & Kherson). Logistics in chaos, morale to the point of fragging (killing their own officers), illegally targeting civilians w/ missiles, they are scared of #urbanwarfare
Chair of Urban Warfare Studies | Madison Policy Forum | Author of Connected Soldiers / Understanding Urban Warfare