[nomilk]

It's the horrible thought we don't want to think but it's a possibility.

Question for military analysts: what is the counter to siege / artillery barrage?

Guesses:

1. dig deep bunkers to survive the weeks/months of artillery,

2. organise ambushes on the artillery (taking out a few pieces per day will add up over months), or

3. use flying forces (e.g. Bayraktar TB2).

Would these counters work; are they likely to occur?

Another idea is taking out the transports that resupply artillery ammo, but if they're coming from the North that probably won't work, since it's close and well protected.

[bladegash]

Think the biggest issue with the more offensive actions they could take is that it’s very difficult to make troop movements or position your personnel when they are pinned down with artillery.

From my view, their best options right now are to

1) minimize the number of directions/locations which they have to defend,

2) shelter and minimize losses during air raids/artillery strikes,

3) blow every single strike they make out of proportion to gain sympathy of Western partners and even Russian citizens. I’d even go so far as to start staging fabricated atrocities - the world has a short attention span and international pressure helps their cause).

4) employ unconventional warfare, including coordinated psychological operations directed towards Russian citizens and military members/their families (e.g., their mothers).

These are all things I’m pretty sure they’re doing right now and is part of their strategy. Authoritarian governments have some positives, but central decision making is also a glaringly vulnerability.

The same person who can decide to start a war, is the same person who can be the target of an entire war effort to try and persuade them to stop the war.

Let’s just say, we probably don’t even hear about/know half of what is going on behind the scenes/clandestinely to sabotage Russia’s potential for success right now.

[philwelch]

If you have your own artillery and the right radar/targeting equipment, counterbattery fire. The counter to counterbattery fire is to use self-propelled artillery and “shoot and scoot”, but the muddy conditions in Ukraine might complicate the scooting aspect.

Russian doctrine dubs artillery the “god of war” and they have more artillery than Ukraine, but Western radar and targeting might make Ukraine’s artillery more precise. Hard to tell. Would have been nice to set Ukraine up with that stuff before the invasion.

[wolverine876]

Ignore them, as much as possible. They are mostly ineffective against insurgencies (unless you kill everyone, which the Russians probably won't do). The only option to defeat insurgencies is with ground forces.

> Another idea is taking out the transports that resupply artillery ammo

Definitely part of insurgent warfare - attack the weak spots. I don't have it in front of me, but one military expert said the soft underbelly of a seige is the outer ring - the outside of the siege.