Moscow’s forces were thwarted, too, by pieces of foam mat — the Ukrainians call them karemats — costing as little as £1.50. The mats prevent Russian thermal imaging drones from detecting human heat. “We held the karemats over our head,” said Konoko, explaining how his men moved stealthily in tiny groups at night. In that way soldiers armed with anti-tank weapons supplied by the US, Britain and others could sneak up on the Russians, fire their deadly and accurate missiles and then slip away.
The article noted that the Russians destroyed a dam on the Irpin river. The resultant flooding hindered their ability to maneuver, leading to predictable results. The Russians also destroyed cell towers to keep Ukrainian civilians from telling their government where the Russians were, but the Russians forgot that without those cell towers, their new communications system wouldn't work. That forced them to use mostly unsecure radios.
Anyway, the Financial Times has made its coverage of the war free to read.
CDR Salamander has a story and links to more data on what countries are doing what to help Ukraine, both in amounts and in percentage of GDP. Estonia is really stepping up to the plate. The Germans, not so much.
The Russian drones must deploy some shitty IR sensors if holding a piece of foam over your head blocks heat detection. I remember seeing videos from Iraq and Afghanistan of tank and artillery crewmen's body images glowing brightly just before impact. No way holding a yoga mat over your head would block that.
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