The “super sniper” who goes by the nom-de-guerre Wali rather boastfully went to Ukraine in March to fight on the Ukrainian side “because they want to be European and not Russian”. The “world’s deadliest sniper”, a former Canadian soldier with experience in Afghanistan, he was capable of killing up to 40 men a day. Well, he’s back home now and glad to be. Things didn’t go as he expected – not a fun holiday plinking lots of Russians and running up his score. Quite the opposite in fact. “Hell” says his mate “Shadow”. And no sniping either, just incoming huge explosions. “Shadow” won’t be returning to the front either – “I’ll just stay here in Lviv and be as useful as I can be.” “Wali” tells the same stories and the final experience described by “Shadow” seems to have been enough for him too.
Their stories mimic testimonies from many other foreign fighters who rushed into Ukraine following Zelinsky’s invitation. Chaos and disorganization are common complaints; many say that they have to equip and feed themselves; others that the Ukrainian high command treats them as expendable. The foreign groups themselves often suffer from internal confusions. The Russian strike on the Yavoriv training base on 14 March killed quite a few of them and many lost their taste for fighting and left afterwards. The British Sun newspaper goes over the top on one surrendered British “hero” but also reports no food, no ammunition and endless artillery bombardment. For many the message now is don’t go, it’s a trap.
Not the expected fun safari.
So what’s going on here? Many of the foreign volunteers weren’t couch potatoes who fancied their skills on computer games but had never seen actual fighting; they’d had experience in NATO’s wars and thought they knew what they were getting into. So what happened?
Watch this video. Afghanistan, US infantry take small arms fire from the building in front of them, call in an airstrike, a bullet appears to strike the ground in the camera field at 2:26, bomb hits at 2:32, Now watch this video. Afghanistan, US infantry in a hollow, some gunfire but pretty relaxed, call in the air force, A-10s arrive at 3:34 and make several passes, loud cheers. There are plenty more videos like this from NATO’s recent wars. Take fire, sit still, call in the air force to blast whoever is shooting at you. (Collateral damage? Who cares? Blow up the whole building and everybody in it.)
No doubt “Shadow” and “Wali” and the rest of them, remembering their experience in a NATO war, expected to be on the giving end. Instead they found themselves on the receiving end. In their interviews, they describe two front-line experiences in Ukraine. In the first they are setting up a sniper position in an apartment building (not using civilians as a shield, I hope) when they’re knocked out by a tank round. Never saw it coming. In the next story “Wali” learns how to use a Javelin anti-tank missile and the two set off to go tank-hunting. They find two Ukrainian soldiers in a trench and “Shadow” gets in the trench while “Wali” goes off to look at the Russian tank. The two Ukrainians get out to have a smoke – BANG! – when “Shadow” recovers consciousness, one of the Ukrainians is dead and the other dying. The two Canadians apparently decide that that’s enough for them. They never actually saw a Russian through their sniper scope.
What’s going on in Eastern Ukraine right now is something like the two Afghanistan videos but the other way around and on a much larger scale. The Russians inch forward, if they meet resistance, they plaster it with artillery. Inch forward, repeat. It’s slow but it’s destroying the Ukrainian Armed Forces (it’s destruction of the enemy’s fighting power, not territorial gain, that wins wars. Just ask NATO – capture Kabul in six weeks, leave twenty years later in defeat.) The daily briefings given by the Russian Defense Ministry mention hundreds of artillery fire missions every day. Ukrainian prisoners speak of continuous artillery fire. “The god of war” Stalin (or was it Suvorov?) called it. Here is the result of this relentless shelling.
The Western volunteers have no idea and neither do the cable TV “experts”. No one in NATO knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end. (“Shadow” and “Wali” and some others know now, however, but it doesn’t look as if they want to re-live the experience).
And that’s one of the reasons why Western coverage of the war is so off-track – the TV “experts” can only process what’s happening through their NATO-made spectacles.
Exactly. I’ve been following the stories of former US and Canadian military volunteering in UKR. Summary = war ain’t no fun when you’re the goat herder with a crappy old AK, half a mag of ammo and no arty or CAS.
I have a correspondence friend who I’ve been discussing/arguing topics for years. He has no military experience (a writer who has only handled a gun once in life). He is totally duped by conservative US media outlets. He actually believes that Russia is being trounced by the UKR and that Russian troops are currently retreating back to Russia. Sad because he’s really a smart guy on other topics. I’ve shared some of the stories from these volunteers and tried to explain what can be extrapolated from them. He can’t understand. He thinks it might even be Russian IO bots. It is hard to watch that level of brain washing occurring in our country.
same here , i know a person who said he was a vietnam vet and ex DIA , back then he was anti neocon in DC. but suddenly he turned into full neocon warmonger and go full retard supporting ‘heroic’ ukraine fighters. he even banned those who have diferent opinion and mark them as ‘russian bots’
i think deep down he just playing pretend-anti-neocon , and once his mask dropped i saw the real face of a cowardly murderer hiding behind is veteran status ‘i am honorable’ nonsense.
Well, often times people take the positions they do from purely self-centered perspectives. Like maybe someone studied Islam and develop ties to the people and culture. So went a little native. Then, on top of that, after 9/11 was slighted by the Pentagon et al and told he was not needed. Then it would be easy for that person to go on a personal revenge tour saying how stupid the establishment is and ignorant of the region (all true). With regards to the specific instance – the MENA – easy for that person to be anti-neocon. But that person was always a neocon with regards to the rest of the world. That’s how that person was able to obtain rank and status within the neocon world.
Let’s send Bill Kristof, Lindsay Graham, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney , Robert Kagan and Sean Hannity on over to show us how its supposed to be done!
I’ll even donate a box of Depends they can use once the shooting starts.
Will Smith is looking for someone to slap.
But I think he’d prefer someone who won’t slap him back.
a fun holiday plinking lots of Russians ? says much about him
It’s also money guys like wali go for. Wonder what the rate is for special forces. Still some mad enough to go.
https://odysee.com/Harley—Senator-Black:57a7be8e17c0dd0dcbf854dab8a60aa98302de69
Kudos to Senator Black for speaking out, dang makes this more real.
According to Col Lang’s site, the DNI and the DIA are saying that 26,000 Russian GIs have been killed and there is a mass grave in Donetsk with tons of bodies in it (if you pay good money they will dig out your relative) and that there are refrigerated trains holding untold amounts of dead Russians being held in Ukraine so that the folks back home in Russia won’t know.
I reckon most of those dead must have been killed in the Kiev area after the fantastic Ukrainian defeat of the 40 mile long convoy of Russians near to Kiev. As such, given the number of Russian dead there must also be a substantial number of Russian POWs. I suppose they are being treated as well as can be expected and humanely. Getting kneecapped doesn’t mean you can’t eat a good hot meal, no? Geez, those Russian speaking residents of Donetsk must love the Ukrainian army and they sure do know how to keep their mouths shut.
In spite of a rapidly declining stock market, I’m raking it in. If you’ll just send me 40 billion dollars, you too can profit with my advice.
embarassing , when i thought SST cannot get any lower , truly despicable.
the descent of SST from a platform who welcome opinions into a cesspool of insanity and boot lickers for neocons.
what made a veteran like pat lang to act like neocon bootlicker ? he kept up his facade of anti neocon mask for years and now he dropped his mask and reveal himself not only a total neocon support but allow his blog to be used as IO by a lithuanian slime called TTG.
i thought green berets are supposed to be honorable
Col Lang should be ignored as a senile drunk (I’m being charitable) and TTG as a heap of maggot infested filth. He’s not a patriot. In fact, he is nothing resembling an American. Anyhow, I’m sure you’re aware that the ratio of KIA to WIA is generally in the 1 to 3 or 1 to 4 range. So 26,000 KIA means around another 75,000 to 100,000 WIA. Furthermore, non-battle casualties, e.g. accidents, etc. usually add up to another 3 percent or 4 percent deaths and wounds beyond KIA/WIA. Thus, if the DNI/DIA are correct about the number of KIAs, conservatively, the Russians have lost 100,000 troops? Really? I think that on top of TTG’s well established character issues, he’s become to consume large amounts of drugs and is incapable of the level of clarity necessary to understand how stupid his BS appears to anyone with a lick of sense.
And would an allegedly retired a-hole like TTG have access to real DIA product? I don’t think so.
TTG is real owner of SST , pat lang sold his soul for $$$ and to prevent his pedophile photos (from honey trap) to resurface
even the bellingcat and oryx western propaganda sites never put out such russophobiv hatred currently seen on SST
PL used to show some insight into the idiocy and cruelty of our government’s policy, although when push came to shove, he could be quick to question the patriotism of someone with an opinion counter to his. Now? His behavior reminds me of someone slipping into dementia.
TTG is, and always has been, an idiot lost in a rabbit hole of smug delusion, but when it comes to Russia, he exhibits a detachment from reality similar to someone like Nina Jankowicz.
worse than dementia , he actively ban , insult , bully and smear people who have different opinion as russian bots.
he is active participant in this IO , like judas , selling his honor for $$$ and possible cover up his pedophile adventures in SEA captured on film and now used as whip to keep him in line. no wonder he didnt talk much about epstein and the whole honey trap division
Bill,
At least make the effort the read the story and the linked article. DNI and DIA did say that, it was directly taken from the Ukrainian Security Service. How hard is that to understand?
“…a substantial number of Russian POWs”
Have you heard of any Red Cross visits to either side’s POWs? Both countries and signatories to the Geneva convention, you would think those things would get done and reported by any reasonably honest press; provided either government would provide press access.
Fred rick,
The linked facebook post is in Ukrainian or Russian, not even English alphabet. Who can read that stuff? Now spy master SF heros are getting their intel – and truth – from foreign shit post FB pages? Good Lord, we’re in more trouble than I thought.
The 26K KIA figure allegedly comes from the DNI/DIA.
What is wrong with what Bill said? Are you really defending the abhorrent nonsense being posted by Turcopolier and the Lithuanian Dingaling these days?
Eva Bartlett who is an independent journalist sent this report on a “Mass graves” story in April …
Here’s what I found at the reported ‘mass grave’ near Mariupol
Reports about Russians burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians in mass graves near Mariupol don’t hold up to scrutiny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeEnCcn1S3I
She posts on Telegram as Reality Theories, Eva K Bartlett.
Bill, there was a 3miles long Russian convoy stationed 40 miles outside Kiev which eventually redeployed elsewhere.
But there was no “40 miles long” Russian convoy outside Kiev, in spite of what many news outlets reported. Let alone a “fantastic Ukrainian defeat” of it. And neither did Maxar’s Satellite pics show a “40 miles long convoy”.
Fast forward to 0:30… https://youtu.be/_gDmMVzjIVw
Another winner, both interesting and informative, this time by Helmholtz Smith.
Wait, who is Helmholtz Smith?!?
Is this a Pen Name and also a play on the optical term “Smith–Helmholtz invariant”?
Inquiring minds want to know, lol!
I am worried about the fallout from Siverskyi Donets. It does appear that the Russians suffered a lot of casualties, and that US intelligence identified the opportunity and targeting for the Ukrainians. How long will Russia tolerate the US essentially killing its troops?
Not what I am hearing. The Russians are shelling the Ukrainians relentlessly and picking up territory at the same time. I was told by someone with access, “The Ukrainians are cut off.”
Larry,
No disagreement with your perception of the overall trend of the war from what I can figure out. Even a broken clock is right twice a day and I think Turco is correct about that one incident where the Russians got hit hard trying to cross the river. Yes, it’s war and there’s no such thing as a war where the winning side doesn’t lose a battle or two. It’s the US ramping up it’s support of UKR with intelligence like sat imaging for target identification and coordinates that worries me. I don’t know what the Russian response, if any, might be. They’ve been very patient and level headed so far. Just wondering if at some point US interference becomes intolerable.