Ukraine's 425th Skala Assault Battalion In Thick of Fighting. As Usual.

The Ukrainian military has proven the worth of almost all its brigades since the Russians invaded, but when things become especially difficult anywhere on the front, they have come to rely on a number of elite units like the Skala Battalion, which has served everywhere from Kyiv to Bakhmut  - and is now helping defend Pokrovsk. JL

Decimus reports in Daily Kos:

Wherever the action is the hottest on the long 600 mile plus battle front in Ukraine, there you will find the Skala Battalion.  They take their name from the founder of the all volunteer unit, Yuriy Harkaviy, call sign “Skala” or “rock”.  They were baptized in the early battles to save Kyiv at the onset of the war in 2022. They liberated Izyum during the Kharkiv counter-offensive, were at Bakhmut, were one of the units to breach the first Surovikin Line and in the battle for Robotyne during last summer’s Ukrainian counter-offensive. Now they are at Pokrovsk and one of the reasons it has not been taken.

Russia Has Gained 37.27 Ukraine Kms - But Ukraine Has Taken 35.92 Kms In Russia

The data show that Ukraine has taken about one kilometer less of Russia than Russia has taken in Ukraine, despite all the breathless western headlines about Avdiivka, Vuhledar etc. 

This reveals that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is stalled and probably for good, since the Russian military has neither the troops nor the material to change the operational calculus. JL 

Phillips O'Brien reports in his substack:

How much of Ukraine has Russia seized in 2024? When you add the area Russia has taken (minus the area of land Russia has lost in Russia) it would be less than half of one percent. There is an extremely small area in which most of the fighting has gone on in 2024 - and thus the extremely small advances that have been made. to compare the areas,  the distance of the Russian advance from Avdiivka (seized in February) to the closest point of the Russian line in Avdiivka. Its 37.27 kilometres. The area that Ukraine still holds in Russia’s Kursk Oblast is 35.92 kilometres.

Ukraine's Strikes Deep In Russia Are Gamechanger, Forcing Putin To Consider Peace

Having already forced Putin to accept a de facto balance of power in the Black Sea by destroying his fleet there, Ukraine is now imposing its will on the rest of Russia. 

By hitting targets from the arctic to the Urals - and only using Ukrainian-made weapons to avoid Putin's red line (albeit with western material and targeting assistance), Ukraine's attacks are having a tangible impact on the Russian economy and, especially if Trump loses the US election, may force Putin to sue for peace. JL

Yaroslav Trofimov reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Several times over the past three months, swarms of as many as 150 Ukrainian drones flew hundreds of miles into Russia, slamming into missile storage facilities, strategic fuel reservoirs, military airfields and defense plants. The growing belief in Kyiv and among its backers is that the war in Ukraine cannot be won just in Ukraine—and that bringing it to an end requires inflicting much more damage to Russia’s economy and military infrastructure. Ukraine's Western backers increasingly see the pain that long-range attacks inflict as a game-changer that could force Vladimir Putin into negotiating an acceptable peace. 

Why Most Csuite Hiring Practices Don't Effectively Predict Superior Performance

Despite significant advances in the methodologies for identifying suitable candidates for Csuite jobs who are likely to provide superior performance, many organizations continue to fail at hiring the best candidates, largely because they rely on familiar practices including face to face interviews and overdependence on search firms. 

These are not effective predictors of future performance because they overweight biases like affability and search firms' own 'models' - for which they overcharge the client - thereby focusing attention on attributes who benefit certain individuals in the enterprise - or search firms' financials - rather than the organizations' strategic priorities. JL

Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton report in MIT Sloan Management Review:

Despite employing due diligence when assessing whether someone will perform well in the role, most companies’ predictive powers rank alongside astrology in reliability. Despite advances in the fairness, validity, and reliability of candidate assessments, organizations haven’t proved very effective in predicting superior job performance. Reasons include: Likability in interviews has a disproportionate impact on how a candidate is weighed but has no correlation to how well they can perform in a specific role. Search firms are incentivized to advocate for candidates already on their rosters rather than identifying new applicants who might be better suited. Reference checks are unreliable and have half the validity of structured interview assessments in predicting future job performance.

Russian Marines, Chechen Akhmats Eliminated In Kursk By 95th Air Assault Bde

Despite the Russian 155th Marines' reputation for murdering surrendering Ukrainian soldiers, the 95th Brigade took some of the marines prisoner, perhaps to use for other purposes in the future. JL 

New Voice of Ukraine reports:

Ukraine's 95th Air Assault Brigade eliminated Russian soldiers from the Akhmat special forces unit and the 155th Separate Marine Brigade in Russia's Kursk Oblast.  The 155th Marine Brigade are known for their “particular cruelty toward Ukrainians.” They Ukrainians reported taking prisoners. 

Russian Troops In Kursk Worried About Korean Translation Lack, Coordination

In intercepted phone calls between Russian marines in Kursk oblast, the troops reported that North Korean soldiers, whom they called 'the Chinese,' had arrived but the Russians dont know what to do with them, in part because they have no translators to help work with them. JL

Kateryna Zakharchenko reports in the Kyiv Post:

Russian soldiers stated according to a new intercepted call Friday, they were supposed to welcome fresh troops – whom they called “the Chinese,” in a day. The call took place between servicemen of Russia’s 810th Marine Brigade. The Kremlin planned to assign one translator and three Russian servicemen for every 30 North Korean soldiers. However, those on the call expressed doubts about the feasibility of providing the newly arrived Pyongyang troops with Russian command personnel. “The Chinese, damn it, arrived here, and I have no idea what to do with them.”

Putin Exaggerates Ukr Losses To Justify Failure To Retake Kursk, Deploy N Koreans

Despite its material advantages, the Russian army has proven incapable of retaking Kursk oblast after the summer's Ukrainian offensive. 

His embarrassment is compounded by his desperate reliance on North Koreans to attempt to do so since his own soldiers have failed. His exaggerations of Ukrainian casualties is part of an effort to claim he is 'winning' despite all the evidence to the contrary. JL

The Institute for the Study of War reports:

Putin continued to exaggerate Russian progress in Kursk Oblast, likely in an attempt to reassure domestic audiences of the Russian military's ability to suppress Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast. Putin’s exaggerated statistics on Ukrainian losses are likely part of his attempt to explain away Russia’s inability to decisively repel the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast after nearly three months in the context of the likely imminent deployment of North Korean troops to combat in this area.