(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ukraine Invasion Day 550: Even US General Milley says the first RU defense lines have been pierced [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-26 Indications & Warnings A NOTE ON SOURCES AND METHODS: Thanks to the many readers who have put Indications & Warnings above 160K followers. I’ve been asked some questions on some of our later maps and would like to answer for everyone. Why do the lines on the map change? The front line in any battle is difficult to judge. Zones of control and the line of contact are highly changeable. The Zero Line may or may not be where the enemy takes you under fire. A place that was ‘safe' yesterday may not be safe today. Every battle space is dynamic. Lines on the map are estimates. Indications & Warnings monitors multiple sources and attempts to ’triangulate’ the Zero Line and update this assessment hourly. Source reporting varies daily, and the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA) is depicted on the preponderance of current reports. Your maps are wrong! [Fill in the Blank] says so! Many of the ‘gold standard’ daily maps, (Deep State, LiveUMap, ISW) vary daily. Sometimes they depict a ‘Zero Line’ that differs by as much as 10-15 kilometers. We base our reportage on based heavily on the twice daily reports of the Ukrainian General Staff. We also use an ‘average’ of the larger sites, augmented by local combat sources, as well as geolocated combat photos and video. Other daily maps are different. You must be wrong! Indications & Warnings, to my knowledge, is the only account that attempts to report battle spaces at the granular level-- often based on squad and platoon level contacts. The Institute for the Study of War reports at a ’Nation-wide” altitude. We report on small spaces, within the length of their “lines”. Their scales are 100 Km, ours are often 100 meters. Indications & Warnings provides close ups of individual battle spaces. We might not always get the latest reports, but we constantly update, are happy to reassess our maps and are equally happy to receive information from new front line sources. You sometimes show combat beyond the Zero Line—why? A major component of our reportage is the plotting of Russian artillery strikes. These are always indicative of the presence of UKR troops. Russians don't shell their own positions. These artillery strikes demonstrate that the ‘agreed upon’ front is porous, and that UKR conducts many raids, probes and patrols beyond the zero line. Why do other maps show such different lines of contact? The Line of Contact and the Forward Edge of the Battle Area are matters of opinion-- and are constantly in motion. They certainly vary on a daily basis. When local combat sources tell me where the zero line is-- I weigh their reports more heavily than ‘other maps’. Both sides conduct attacks, probes and strikes ‘across the lines. We report ‘crossline’ operations conducted by both UKR and RU units. The ‘Zero Line” is somewhere between the last two reported contacts. I’m unfollowing you! No account should be your only source of information. Follow as many map providers as you can. Compare their posts. Go to http://Opentopomap.com (BAD link) and download topographic maps of the battle spaces and consult the terrain yourself. This will allow you to get a better idea of what the front is like. High ground is important. So are roads and junctions. Find out where they are. Armies move on roads, and open terrain is a killing field. Look at the top maps and determine where troops are likely to be-- and where they are likely avoid. This will help you to assess other maps. [Fill in the Blank] says you're a... [fill in curse word]. There are a few ‘personalities’ in the mapping game. Some of them are bullies. Good luck to them and their sock puppet accounts. Indications & Warnings is living rent free (in) their heads. We don’t feel its necessary to attack or criticize other accounts, and we don’t engage in ad hominem attacks. We're not in a zero sum game. We encourage you to follow other accounts. Get as much info as you can-- and make your own approximations. We’re about information, not personalities. We get trolled. It’s gonna happen. Right now, based on daily views, negative comments on our account run about at 0.000078 % of traffic. That’s [wait for it]..... 78/100,000ths of one percent of views. Pretty much infinitesimal. Opinions are going to vary. Especially from people who are having a bad week. Why we do things differently: To my knowledge, we are one of the only accounts who have been reporting on individual battles since the beginning of the invasion. We report on the most changeable and variable aspects of battle and do our best to get it right. We update most of our battle space maps daily--using UKR and RU sources, and frequently provide hourly updates on individual points of contact. Many, many thanks to all the readers of I &W and to the many hundreds who tune in to Bullet Points on . Thank you especially to the brave front line sources from whom I'm honored to receive reports. I am always striving to make Indications & Warnings better, and I appreciate your help. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/26/2189745/-Ukraine-Invasion-Day-550-Even-US-General-Milley-says-the-first-RU-defense-lines-have-been-pierced Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/