No Surprise Here ...

 ... when one looks at the state of the Royal Navy. 

The Royal Navy’s only amphibious warship has been declared unsafe to put to sea. RFA Argus is unable to leave the Portsmouth Naval Base because maritime authorities have said the ship is unfit to sail. The inability of Argus, currently designated as the naval service’s sole amphibious warfare vessel, to put to sea means the Navy has no ships capable of delivering the Royal Marines en masse into war zones.

This is hapless Argus. 

But apart from a decline of the UK as a whole, with Royal Navy being one of the symptoms, one still has to ask the question of the utility of such vessel for a country which struggles with deploying a single combat ready brigade. In comparison:

С.-ПЕТЕРБУРГ, 27 июля - РИА Новости. Пять бригад морской пехоты РФ будут преобразованы в дивизии в ближайшее время, две из них - уже в 2025 году, заявил президент России Владимир Путин. Путин в воскресенье обратился к участникам оперативных учений "Июльский шторм" по видеосвязи. "В ближайшее время пять бригад морской пехоты будут преобразованы в дивизии, при этом две из них - уже в 2025 году", - сказал глава государства.

Translation: PETERSBURG, July 27 - RIA Novosti. Five Russian marine brigades will be transformed into divisions in the near future, two of them - already in 2025, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin addressed the participants of the July Storm operational exercises via video link on Sunday. "In the near future, five marine brigades will be transformed into divisions, two of them - already in 2025," the head of state said.

For those who still don't understand the scale--a division is the first formation, after brigade, which is OPERATIONAL-tactical formation, meaning it can conduct independent operations because of TOE. Five marines' divisions is essentially a marines army. But then again, Russia is not UK or any other European country, Russia dwarfs any of them in terms of economy and ability to maintain a massive force across all domains, from space down to underwater.

The Timing Of Kursk...

 ... operation was chosen by NATO planners with what you can see in this video--of which I explained at the very start of this "mission"--in mind. Correct--a presence of fairly thick forests which would have made (which they did) the work of Russian UAVs operators harder. Well, it still didn't decide the issue and UAVs still provided and continue to provide critical support for what now has become a mop-up operation or, rather, dig out operation in Kursk Oblast against VSU. It was one of the tactical and operational factors strongly considered by NATO, including the idea of digging in inside those forests for a PR effect. Reports of VSU "holding the ground" was a good propaganda fodder for the Western public but, as marine from the now legendary 810th Brigade explains and shows (in Russian but you do not really need an interpreter--everything is self-evident), they tried to pull this trick in a wrong country, against wrong armed forces and people.

But, but... as you can see yourself, Pacer (Inokhodets) has very little problem with finding valuable VSU (in reality NATO's) armor and dealing with it by means of a very nasty ATGM Vikhr.

As a result--most of the roads in the small pocket in Kursk Oblast are littered with NATO's armor. 

Not a good idea in both cases: either hiding in forests or, let alone, traveling in the open--it is death sentence in both cases, and as both Alexes correctly noted yesterday--Lavrov's "demand" to lift all sanctions off Russia is peremptory and... naturally designed to be refused by the US. Russians do it on purpose...

Russia can continue with SMO for as long as it wants, NATO... well, has lost and is out of resources, that includes the US. Meanwhile, Russians produced a horror for the West, officially--Excimer Lasers. First fully Russian lithography machines are going into series production early 2026. For now 350 nm, then, 90 and then... Mikron does produce 90 and 65 nm topology already, but this is done on Western technology. Now, however, a critical range for all military and most industrial applications is already being tested on Russian-made machines. So, I guess, no more cannibalizing those Western washing machines and... tanks to extract those precious microchips for Russian missiles, of which Russia ran out like... since ever. What a bummer, right?