Mary Magdalene, a symbol of salvation and hope, holds a Javelin anti-tank weapon in her hands, a symbol of destruction: a viral meme on social media soon became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian invaders, as Euronews notes. And because this resistance needed a name, it was called “Saint Javelin.” The state-of-the-art anti-tank weapon manufactured in the USA is considered, these days, one of the most effective weapons in the arsenal of Ukrainian defenders who still face, after 10 days of conflict, the aggression of the Russian army.
The meme itself presents an “image” of Mary Magdalene (other sources I claim that the source of inspiration was, in fact, the Virgin Mary), made in the style of Orthodox icons, but with some fundamental differences: the halo (or “halo of light”) is blue and contains a yellow trident – the symbol of the coat of arms of Ukraine. And the hands, instead of being joined together in a prayer, hold fast to the Javelin launch system, which, when ready for battle (with the built-in rocket), weighs over 22 kilograms.
Most likely, the image is based on a modern art painting depicting the Virgin Mary holding a Kalashnikov machine in her hands. work exhibited in 2013 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
An account was also created on Twitter called “St. Javelin ”showing images from the current conflict in Ukraine, including destroyed or abandoned tanks or armored vehicles.
According to open public sources, the anti-tank missile Javelin would be able to penetrate 800 mm homogeneous rolled steel shield. In addition, the rocket has the option top-attackcan be launched on a vertical trajectory so that it can later hit a tank from above, where the armor is much thinner.
Ukrainian military talks about Russian tactics so far: “We are shocked at how stupid they are”
This is the message of a member of the Ukrainian special forces, quoted by the Wall Street Journalon the tactics used so far by the Russians to enter the range of Ukrainian anti-tank weapons with tanks, armored vehicles and convoys.
According to the Ukrainian military, its unit lost two soldiers since the beginning of the war, but killed more than 60 Russians.
“Now we are concentrating on hitting them in the back, attacking the supply columns because if they don’t have fuel, they can’t do anything,” said the Ukrainian military.
A special account has been set up on Twitter since the beginning of the war to try to account for the loss of military equipment and to centralize all images with combat equipment (mostly Russian) destroyed or abandoned in Ukraine.
Many of the destroyed Russian armored vehicles are blamed on the Holy Javelin. Or his “little sister” N-LAW, a portable, British-made anti-tank weapon similar to the Javelin, but which is disposable: once the rocket is fired, the launch “tube” is abandoned.
A special meme dedicated to “Holy N-LAW” has also appeared on social media, where N-LAW comes from “Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon” (new generation portable anti-tank weapon).
According to the Ukrainians, the Russians lost between 10 and 20 battalions after only 9 days of conflict
According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian army has already lost, after 9 days of conflict, 9,000 soldiers, 217 tanks, 900 armored vehicles, 90 pieces of artillery, 42 long-range reactive artillery systems (Katiuşe), 30 planes, 31 helicopters . The information was not confirmed by independent sources.
The Russians have officially acknowledged that they have lost only 498 troops. It should be noted that the Russian military did not specify whether the losses included Wagner mercenaries or Chechen fighters who were involved in the invasion of Ukraine and who were not considered to be part of Moscow’s regular army.
According to the US, 90% of Russian troops originally massed on the Ukrainian border are now engaged in combat, which means about 150 tactical groups at battalion level – the rapid reaction units that the Russian army always has ready for battle.
According to the current doctrine of the Russian army, a “battalion-level tactical group” (abbreviated, GTB) is a combat unit consisting of about 800 soldiers, to which are added armored, artillery or anti-aircraft subunits.
An analysis of the US military shows that each such Russian GTB also has 50 armored vehicles – 10 tanks and 40 infantry fighting vehicles.
If the Russian casualty figures reported by the Ukrainians are confirmed, it would mean that Moscow has already lost between 10 and 20 such battalions, which would mean huge losses in less than 10 days for a modern army in the 21st century.
