Something the russians always keep forgetting when they try to alter history
Of course Ukrainian losses are not sustainable. The west aren't spending billions in further support to Ukraine for no reason, it's that or they eventually fail. Russia's losses are also unsustainable.
The US spent 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting in combat daily and lost around 7000 men and women,
11 months in Ukraine and Russia has Lost north of 110,000 men ,a high percentage of it's tank force 60% + and a sizeable portion of it's overall armor and it's aircraft jets and helicopters ,
But somehow Ukrainian losses are unsustainable according to some ,
My son, who is somewhat skilled, says they have things locked down very tight, unless you know someone in the UK.
Of course it should be available here via satellite on Freesat.
Looks like the only other realistic other options are unmentionable.
Russia Can’t Replace the Energy Market Putin Broke
OpinionJulian Lee
A network of gas fields and pipelines developed at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars has been effectively thrown away.
Russia spent almost 50 years building its energy market in Europe. President Vladimir Putin destroyed it in under 50 weeks. Finding a replacement will be almost impossible.
While Russia has found alternative markets for its crude oil, mostly in India, switching sales of refined products and — perhaps even more so — natural gas will take years and come at huge cost. That’s if it’s even possible to create markets as the world turns away from fossil fuels.
That's from Bloomberg. This idea that they can keep this going for years is a fantasy. The west can and will outspend them and if they try to compete, their economy will collapse as it did before when they tried competing against just the US and Starwars.
Amazing interview there. Geoffrey Roberts is off the wall.
He thinks that by Russia taking more Ukrainian Territory leaves Ukraine in a stronger position to negotiate and that Wester Weapons leaves Ukraine worse off.
From the Guardian:
"A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who is seeking asylum in Norway has apologised to Ukrainians living in the country who object to his presence there.
Andrey Medvedev fled his unit and crossed the border into Norway near the Pasvikdalen valley, where he was arrested and detained by border guards. He is the first known soldier from the Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine to flee abroad.
Speaking to Norwegian broadcaster NRK and reported by AP, Medvedev said:
I’m a scoundrel to you, but I only ask you to take into account that I have come to realise that, albeit belatedly, and I spoke against all that.
He added:
I ask you not to condemn me, and in any case I apologise.
In an interview conducted in December with the Guardian, Medvedev spoke of how he feared for his life and said he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
He is currently living in a centre for asylum seekers in Oslo."
On a scale of one too ten I will genuinely give u a generous score of two. There are a number of well argued books/ videos which would give you other arguments re a more full picture as to how Ru has ended up where it is today IMO
Why is the Croat president then out batting for a Ukraine climb down. There must be a sympathetic audience for his rhetoric. He's not a nobody.
Populist right-wing mouthpieces in the USA might say that the country needs to pull back on Ukraine, but there would be questionable wisdom in such a move especially if European countries endeavour to take up the slack. What the USA does not want is militarisation in Europe lest they have another superpower to vie with for global influence and resources. That's where having those countries under the NATO umbrella comes in so handy for America. They get an awful lot of return in terms of global stroke for paying all that money into the organisation which Trump so moronically complained about.
It's that blatant BS that gets people banned... just saying.
Anyway, NATO is supplying plenty and will provide much more... don't worry about that. They are ramping up production just so Ukraine can counter Russia.
The advances could be measured with a skipping rope. Nothing to get giddy over. Calm down. Wait until the Many MBT's etc maker their way to Ukraine... but, time yet for you to buy spare underwear.
To sum up, Russia has three times the population of Ukraine (I've not looked up the demographic breakdown) - so has an advantage there, but Ukraine has the homefield advantage that pretty much negates this. The rest Ukraine will have the advantage, modern tech Vs WW2 stuff. It wont be easy, but there is only going to be one winner. Slava Ukraini!
Oh sure, or they figure they're going down anyway so they may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Even if they bleed out what reserves they have, of men and resources. Before this kicked off they were shaky, their demographics made it look like this could be the last big war they can actually fight and they stupidly went in anyway. Logic and foresight aren't exactly their forte. That's why I'd be hoping for one for all concerned, including even their own cannon fodder, I'd not be predicting a sudden collapse any time soon.
A ha ! I figured out that word puzzle
Increadible precision there, almost shocking everytime I saw that flash pointing right at them. The stuff of nightmares, I almost feel bad for those mobniks who got hit. (Almost...until I remember what they will likely do to civilians if they got their hands on them) They must be living in total fear of these things...and I hope enough of them choose to exit the battlefield on thier own feet based on that fear.
just to put that in some kind of context that we can all understand, when you speak of Russia 'making advances' and Ukraine 'being pushed back' - can you quantify that in terms of square kilometres won\lost please?
Usual disclaimers about Johnson, but he is over in the US pressing Republicans on Ukraine. US partisan support is (unfortunately) vital for the future of Ukraine. Putin is banking on the West losing interest or getting mired in divides over this.
The Ukrainans aren't being pushed back the way it's being made out ,the Russians destroyed several towns leaving very little to fight over,the gains are minimal at best , but several posters seem to have completely wrote off the Ukrainans,it's bs
6 months of bakhmut is going to fall ,the situation is dire ,the situation is critical,the situation is untenable,
But
The Ukrainans are broken, their morale is gone ,the Russians are smashing through everywhere,it's all over as we predicted...
Silly stuff.
Maybe a new thread is required for the pro Russians to tell everyone how well they are doing in parts of Ukraine
The last now banned guy even namechecked satan. Which made me blink I have to say. Even if all of the Russian narrative was 100% correct and it was all the "West's" fault for this. 1) Russia walked straight into it eyes open. 2) Even the highest possible figures for dead and wounded in the 14-22 Donbas war were overrtaken within the first weeks after Russia's invasion and have been multiplied by at least a factor of twenty. Well over 100,000 Ukrainians and Russians, military, seperatists, loyalists, from newborns to the elderly, men, women and children dead, tens of thousands more crippled, millions displaced, towns and villages and their whole communities extinct under rubble, farmer's fields left like the Somme and that figure will almost certainly double if not more as this wears on.
That's ALL on Russia. When you've killed and are killing multiples more of your own people and driving more to the slaughter than your enemy did, or even could, as an excuse/reason for this war, well if there's a satan in the room, look in a mirror.
Yes but NATO aren’t supplying near enough if this equipment.
Thats why Russia are making advances and Ukraine are being pushed back.
Have ye a ship, fit to sail the high seas?
Wasn't the US navy famously paying $435 for a hammer - back in 1982? Set against that kind of bloat, 3k for a shell seems like a positive bargain!
It's the 21st century - not WW2.
'Throwing men into the fight' doesn't move the needle in modern warfare. Modern military technology, allied with the ability to use it effectively, is the key. Russia has consistently demonstrated how far behind the NATO weaponry they are, as well as being demonstrably led by blithering idiots.
Wow, I naively thought a 155mm shell would cost around €200. I mean it's just a dumb shell, the same kind that's been manufactured for a 100 years. The internet tell me they currently retail for over €3,000 a pop.
Croatia isn't (despite what their president might be saying - the actual government is very pro-Ukraine and has sent military assistance)
Its like June/July 2022 again. Russia was the only one making progress before HIMARS arrived and then BAM Kharkiv, BAM Kherson.
Rhemmeintal in Germany is also ramping up production of shells for artillery and other systems, along with the Koreans
But as you are fond of pointing out Wibbs, it all comes back to economics too. That is a significant factor, more than one way of bleeding a military offensive dry.
Apart from that, who's lining up with the Russians now in Europe? Hungary, Serbia and Croatia?
You left out these...
Totally evil. Comrade Putin is right.
Take your pick why Russia invaded ukraine
Doubtful, I wouldn't put much stock in someone who fawned over Stalin
Russia had been fighting Ukraine for 8 years prior. During which time the Ukrainians completely changed from Russian style military doctrine, to a Western/US style, and became significantly better as a fighting force.
A negotiated peace last year with autonomy for Donbass and constitutional ban on joining NATO would have been the best outcome for everyone except weapons company shareholders.
Russia has never tried to genuinely negotiate, so far they have just used talks as a ruse, and systematically broken international treaties. They annexed Crimea, and started a proxy war in East Ukraine. Probably the best outcome would have been if Ukraine joined NATO prior to 2013, which was completely within it's rights as a sovereign nation, and prevented all of this.
The propaganda is strong though. NATO/UAF have almost total dominance on that front.
The US warned of the invasion and were shown to be correct. So far most Western analysis and information has been relatively spot on for a war. Ukraine and Russia engage in their own forms of propaganda, with Russia, of course, at the extreme end of the spectrum.
The main thing that people are clinging to at this point is the *apparent* success of the territory capture Ukraine had mid/late 2022 when in fact what they paid for in lives and equipment wasn't worth what they got - a morale boost but most of their reserves at the time expended. Next morale bump was the promise, as that's all it is for now, of new game changing hardware. The horrible reality continues, the daily chewing up of a dug in force facing overwhelming firepower.
There's no "apparent" about it. The Ukrainians held back one of the most powerful militaries in the world and have obliterated Russia armor at a rate of at least 4 to 1. All of this has been done with their own man-power. Someone can be sent all the military equipment in the world, it doesn't mean jack if they don't fight with it (Afghanistan).
They have one of the world's largest navies cowering in the Black sea and sank it's flagship - without a navy. They have a tiny air-force, yet have denied Russia air superiority. They don't have cruise missiles like their enemy. They can't strike at infrastructure and logistics bases in Russian territory. They aren't just fighting one of the largest militaries in the world, they are doing so with one arm tied behind their back. Be interesting to see how they'd perform with proper equipment (MBTs, ATACMS, F16's, etc)
Russia is still a highly potent force, gradually they are learning and adapting, I wouldn't be surprised to see them make gains in the short term. However they are having to empty prisons, force people to fight, rely on mercenaries, ask North Korea for shells, use cold war missiles, dig up ancient tanks and equipment - all of that whilst losing their main source of revenue, having to sell resources for rock bottom prices to the East, being heavily sanctioned and a global pariah.
In terms of morale, Russians are fighting for money, the Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, families, culture and identity - no contest there
Didn't have to be this way.
Who will be blamed?
Putin, He is the decision-maker in Russia, and decided to invaded a neighbouring country in a war of choice (which he can exit at any time).
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