Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Anyone just not care anymore? France and Germany would declare the Donbas part of Russia tomorrow if they could and get the taps turned back on. This will drag on for ages yet and achieve nothing.

It'll achieve something if it dissuades the next undersized dictator with an oversized ego from doing something similar. To give Putin the land he wants, especially at the prompting of the west for the sake of its own convenience, would send a message to the world that armed aggression works. Putin needs to learn the same lesson as Galtieri and Saddam Hussein...and experience the same long-term results.

I'm not assuming anything, just painting a picture of a possible outcome that history has shown is not by any means impossible. I'm not making a prediction or even saying it's likely - just that it's not quite as unlikely as might be imagined. As for the separatists, they might fight on but if Russia cuts them loose and they're facing a resurgent, victorious Ukrainian army, they could be in a bit of a pickle. Again, not a prediction, more an acknowledgement that warfare is the possibly the most complex and unpredictable of all human activities.

counterattack deep inside seperatist territory

The big question is what would constitute a "victory" for Putin and the regime. It seems very unclear - I was reading that even Solovyov / Skabayeva and their chums on state TV cannot agree on this, with furious debates in recent days what would constitute a victory and what would be a humiliating defeat. Some of them think that if the war ended tomorrow, what they have taken so far in Ukraine would amount to an embarrassing and humiliating setback.

At Bakhmut direction Russian army shelled Bakhmut, Spirne, Ivano-Daryivka, Berestove, Pokrovske, Vershyna, Volodymyrivka, Opytne, Toretsk, Zaitseve, Kodema, Klynove and New York. Russian aviation conducted airstrikes near Vershyna and Vuhlehirsk power station, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

how many more months of artillery can the offence have?

Ukraine's ability to defend itself and/or take back land are largely dependent on support from the US, so I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss opinions coming out of the country's political circles. None of us know what is going to happen or how far the US is prepared to go to maintain support, particularly with elections looming.

Don't worry . The thumbnail is as graphic as the video gets. Worth the watch and SFW.

Sure all the pallets are stockpiled in NI.

What we're seeing now with the first chink of light that the Ukrainians are finally making some difference. Is disheartening from some western commentary. Maybe it's a threat to what comes next and an upheaval never seen before in Russia. Maybe it's realism. Maybe Putin sees it and for the first time is scared of what comes next.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

But nows not the time for western governments to ease up on military and financial aid.

The laws of nature and humanity require the Russian military to be driven to extinction.

If some governments have humanity and know it is something else.