The Stan R. Mitchell report for 4/22/22.

Apr 22

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope everyone has had a great week and has something fun planned for the weekend! (Make sure you click the blue link to go to the actual page, as I’m quite certain the newsletter will be cut off in your email.)

Full post without it cutoff.

I wrote in quite a bit of detail about the defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol as a part of my last newsletter. When we last left off of this conversation, the defenders were surrounded, running out of ammunition, and likely running out of time.

But since then, Russia has decided to give up trying to take the steel plant. Rather, the plan is to cut it off and starve out the defenders.

CNN @CNN

Putin scraps plan to storm a steel plant in Mariupol where last Ukrainian forces are holding out, in favor of an ongoing blockade

Putin scraps plan to storm steel plant in MariupolRussian President Vladimir Putin orders blockade of Mariupol steel plant “so a fly cannot get through” as Ukrainian forces continue to resist.cnn.it

The situation there is still unbelievably challenging and potentially dire, but this is good news in my opinion. Certainly better than a successful assault by Russia that would have led to more deaths and likely worse for those who survived.

So, Putin giving up is in my estimation a brief respite while Ukraine tries to figure out how to re-supply the troops and civilians in the plant.

And I do think this is happening somehow, though I’m not sure how. Part of why I say this is from the clip below.

NowThis @nowthisnews

ICYMI: Pres. Biden said there’s 'no evidence yet' that Mariupol, Ukraine, has completely fallen to Russian forces — and called on Pres. Vladimir Putin to allow for humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee the city

It’s almost as if President Biden knows more than he can say.

If I had to guess, I’d say there’s some kind of resupply happening by sea or something. Or maybe even by large drones or something. (They do, after all, make a drone that can carry 500 pounds of supplies; and that was a civilian version on a video from a year ago.)

There’s also this new fact.

Shashank Joshi @shashj

“the sinking of the Moskva has caused Russian warships to push themselves further offshore in order to avoid missile attacks. This transitions what had been a relatively close blockade to a far blockade & potentially opens up the seas for Ukrainian small craft to begin operating”

Regardless, let’s continue to hope and pray that some kind of rescue comes their way.

The Russians partly pulled their troops away from the Azovstal steel plant so they could focus on their larger plans. From a grand scheme, here’s what the Russians are partly trying to do.

Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko

Here’s a very, very basic map that will help you understand the Battle of Donbas now. The Red is the Russians, the blue is the Ukrainians. As you can see, the enemy is trying to pinch off a Ukrainian salient with two major strikes from the north and the south.

This is the Donbas region just north of Mariupol.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost

Capturing Mariupol would connect mainland Russia to Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. This could help link its forces in Crimea to Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. wapo.st/3EzjOTP

Map of eastern Ukraine showing Russian-held areas and troop movement

But the other plan by the Russians now is to push further west in the southern area toward Odessa, making a large landbridge (as we’ve discussed in previous editions).

Helping to make sure this won’t happen was a new round of help from the United States. President Biden announced $1.3 billion in new military and economic assistance to Ukraine on Thursday. From the story:

The latest package of U.S. military assistance, the eighth such installment, includes 72 howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, dozens of tactical vehicles and more than 120 Phoenix Ghost tactical drones. An additional $800 million is going toward military assistance, Biden said, while an additional $500 million is going toward direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government.

It’s the artillery that we’re sending that will ultimately doom the Russians, in both my opinion and many other military strategists.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost

The Pentagon says it will resume direct training of the Ukrainian military, which had largely stopped with the Russian invasion of Ukraine seven weeks ago.

Pentagon will bolster weapons training for Ukrainians as aid expandsPresident Biden on Wednesday authorized an additional $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, arms transfers that will come with U.S.-provided training for small groups of Ukrainian troops.wapo.st

The U.S. has already announced that it will begin stepping up its intel sharing to stop Russian attacks “and to enable the Ukrainians to respond with artillery, drone attacks.”

Back to the artillery, here’s a must-read overview of how that will ultimately help crush the Russians. (Here’s the link in case the screenshots are hard to read.)

It will take some time to tell, but I don’t think I’d want to be on the other end of ANY of that artillery.

Sorry for the long post. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Let’s end with some motivation and wisdom.

Motivational Quotes @therandomvibez

Don't rush the process. Good things take time.

Success Minded @_SuccessMinded_

You didn't come this far just to quit. You are closer than you think you are. Don't give up now.

That’s it for this edition. Want to talk to me directly? Email me at the following address: authorstanrmitchell@yahoo.com. I love hearing feedback, compliments, and even constructive criticism. : )

As a reminder, please be kind and endeavor to love your fellow Americans. We need to pull this country together, and that starts with all of us.

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Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a leadership/biography book, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan.

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The view from the front: military matters and motivation.

The Stan R. Mitchell report for 4/22/22.

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