Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I cant say wether they have or havent conscripted people into their military , the laws are definitely there that they can , the vast majority of ukrainian troops are volunteer's..

And its also illegal for fighting age men to leave the country ..

Edit . Just read pauls post above , a lot more accurate , and more info , and the fact that theres conscription and a draft .

Jesus man, you cannot read!

You are confusing a draft with conscription. A draft is a list, nothing more of men eligible to be conscripted. Some men are avoiding being placed on the draft, that is a precursor to conscription. A call up from the draft is conscription.

LETS BE VERY CLEAR. NO CALL FROM THE DRAFT HAS HAPPENED IN UKRAINE. A draftee is not conscript until he has been conscripted and no-one has yet been conscripted

The Ukrainian army today is a mixed professional, called up reservist and volunteer army.

Your failure to understand the difference between a draftee/a conscript/a reservist/a professional does not change the fact that Ukraine is not operating a conscript army.

http://archive.today/CexET

As early as March last year. Keep digging though, they might get you out to the trenches yet.

No, not reservists. Former servicemen, it is right there for you. Also there is the word forcibly, but no doubt you'll dance around that too so I say we agree to disagree.

Mraps , Bradleys and leopards stopped and abandoned or destroyed on the 8th

There was a video of some abandoned/damaged/stuck vehicles being recovered the other day by Ukraine. Video was posted after the Russian drone footage. But it's impossible to know when or where it was taken.

But if they were recovering vehicles, they appeared to have taken and secured that specific ground.

Its fine, we can agree to disagree. You know better than the multiple journalists for the likes of the Economist etc.

I think the thesis that the dam failed due to high water pressure alone is getting progressively weaker:

Russia lost 10 tanks in the last 24 hours...that's the average over the past few days. The actual number of tanks is likely to be much higher than the verified number and Ukr. are saying about 3,900 at this point.

The losses actually got even worse later on.

8 Bradley's all destroyed/disabled within a few metres of each other. What were they thinking?

For now, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt but armor losses are to be expected when Ukraine are on the offensive.

Also, I think it's worth bearing in mind that while the UAF's recent volunteers and reservics call ups may have received NATO level training, an awful lot of them are still going to be very green. There will be tactical mistakes made in the field and, sadly, lives and materiel lost as a result of those mistakes. It takes combat time for a battalion of soldiers to become battle hardened veterans. And those that become such are the survivors of the mistakes that build experience.

A different war and a different type of soldier but a group revered as some of the finest soldiers of all time (and which I happen to know the stats for): when Easy Company left England on the eve of D-Day they were 139 men strong. By the end of their time in Carantan, just 69 enlisted men and 5 officers were left (roughly a month later).

The counter-offensive is going to be similar: Ukraine are going to have to pay a heavy price to liberate their lands but it's quite clear it's a price they're willing to pay (and tbh, one they have little choice about unless they're happy to abandon their fellow countrymen and women to their fate at the hands of a brutal genocidal invader).