On April 5, Task Force 1–64 Armor of the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade, executed a raid, later called the “Thunder Run”, to test remaining Iraqi defenses. The operation began south of Baghdad and went through main roads to the newly secured airport.[29] Iraqi resistance was disorganized, and the unit sustained few casualties. The unit was forced to abandon one tank due to a recoilless rifle or RPG strike in the rear that penetrated a fuel cell and set the engine on fire.[30] The crew was unharmed. Later, the Air Force bombed the tank to destroy it in place, and the Iraqi Information Ministry claimed credit for destroying it.
Two days later, the entire 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division was ordered to conduct another “Thunder Run”, following the same route as before. This route had been fortified in the intervening period, and senior leaders feared much more substantial resistance than during the prior encounter. Colonel David Perkins, the brigade’s commander, followed the original Thunder Run route north into Baghdad, but then veered east into the government districts instead of west towards the airport. The 2nd Brigade easily took control of what is now the “Green Zone” in one day, dramatically speeding up the end of conventional ground combat in Iraq.[31]
Thank you. Then no, I didn’t support them. I just hope Putin would pull enough troops out of Ukraine to fight them to make a difference. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Not surprised someone here decided we all supported Nazis just because they were fighting Putin. Some people have such a black-and-white view of the world.
At least no one around me were actually hoping for Wagner to take out Putin. If Wagner were strong enough to pop Putin, who would take the power then? Prigozhin? Someone Prigozhin selected?
The only outcome of Wagner getting rid of Putin would be someone as “nice” as Putin ending up ruling Russia.
We would just end up with essentially the same problem but now with additional instability in a state with nuclear weapons.
But there’s probably not a correct view on what people rooted for. I based my view on my experience from the people I surrounded myself with at the time.
Either way, hoping for that anything Wagner does ending up good is naive. The only good thing Wagner has done was the Battle of Khasham.
It might have been good or bad, and it would certainly have long-term impacts that we can’t predict and don’t matter now since it didn’t and can’t happen in that way.
Russian military strategy is to throw people against the enemy’s front line until they break through, which is not effecient in the age of automatic weapons
According to Dmitri from WarTranslated, around 80 Wagner troops have been killed and another 15 captured. Among the casualties is also the Russian Telegram blogger GreyZone.