Biden letting it slip Ukraine is running out of ammunition isn’t helpful.
More like vocalising that support has to be constant and consistent; a few once off gestures won't suffice if America is serious about support in the medium to long term. Stating the obvious that Ukraine is gonna run low - armies win battles but logistics win wars.
You said one rule for the west, and another for everyone else. You oppose western double standards. Well done. To reiterate this does not mitigate against ongoing Russian Human Right abuses in Ukraine .
It is Ukraine deploying these munitions. Clearly they are morally entitled to determine if using these weapons is the right call versus being Infested with the current worst human rights abusers in the world.
Nope, what I said is one rule for the west where it is meant to stringently uphold “human rights” of various groups with very tenuous claims on victimisation, while Russians, Saudis or whoever else have no care in the world resolutely NOT upholding “human rights” and at the same time find no impediment to chairing the UN Security Council or its ahem Human Rights Council. Those, worldwide-set, double standards is what I meant.
It has nothing to do with the human rights of Russian soldiers. The issue is the threat that cluster munitions present to the civilian population long after they are deployed. In other words Ukrainians are putting their own population in danger by resorting to these weapons. Places where cluster munitions are used at scale become uninhabitable for years.
Russian soldiers attacking Ukraine have no human rights. If they don't see fit to surrender or turn around and go home, then they should be rendered 'combat ineffective' in whatever way is most efficient. Preferably, if they die, their deaths should be so swift as to be essentially painless, but I think Ukraine should prioritise Russian casualties over the most merciful method of inflicting them, unless these two things are one and the same.
There is a way to save these Russian lives, however, and it rests in mr. Putin's hands. Call off this war - let these young men go back to their families, work, and raise families of their own. Let them live lives of relative happiness and peace.
I would trust Ukrainians with any and all decisions regarding their land, the well-being of their people and the future of their children, as a matter of course but especially so at this juncture in time. I am sure no decision in that government is taken lightly. If they don’t want the cluster ammunitions, they will say so.
What's more concerning is the manner in which the offensive is taking place.
People mocked Wagner for the slow pace of their advance at Bakhmut and the tactics they employed. Ukraine have been doing something very similar in the counter attack at the same place for the last 2 months. There are many videos and clips out there, you can go back in time in the Deepstate map to see the daily advances. What we're seeing is well-trained Ukrainian forces going trench to trench where advances in a day if they happen are measured in metres.
You can see some of the formations involved with the current assault on Klishchiikva. The Azov Brigade, Aidar, 5th assault, the forces Ukraine are using aren't insignificant.
It would seem to me that the war is being fought on Russian terms. The attrition that an attacking force will suffer is greater than the territorial gains that are being made.
USA is sending MORE guns that need more ammo which they are also sending in the form of cluster shells of which they have millions in storage. Ukraine should have artillery superiority eventually. Russian troops misery just multiplied. I wouldn't be concerned about unexploded munitions as the entire country will be intensely demined anyway they'll get the duds.
Russia has mined much of the Ukrainian lands anyway. The whole eastern part of the country will need to be carefully demined afterwards so a few extras won't matter much.
Besides, they could always drop a few on the mine fields and help things along.
The Kremlin's tactic for dealing with Prigozhin are becoming clearer and clearer
Putin probably thought if he eliminated him immediately after the revolt then there would be a danger that he could become a martyr. Instead he's letting his propagandists tear down Prigozhin's reputation first. I had to laugh at the performance of the main goober in this video - his "surprise" and "outrage" that they found a few handguns in the house and then the host clearing playing devil's advocate.
Speaking of Prigozhin - The last audio message from him was about a week ago and I don't believe there has been any video footage of him since he left Rostov. His plane is flying all over the place but there's no guarantee that he's actually on it. The Belarussians are saying he's not there and the new Wagner camp there is entirely empty. He could very well be either dead or in captivity right now.
Deepstate map is your friend.
If they have a need for the cluster bombs on specific targets, they will use them and should.
Listening to a Muppet on sky talk about bit of NATO fracturing over their use. What boll78.
As your man on Sky News said, the clusters will be used a lot in areas that are mined anyway. Also, I believe, they will make a map of where they are used to make cleaning up easier.
I largely agree with you but he has a point in that conditions now favour the Russians, it's always easier to be the poor soldier behind 6 feet of reinforced concrete shooting at the professional soldier running across the field.
That doesn't mean that Russia will hold what they have, they might or might not, but freeing it will be difficult and very costly in terms of Ukrainian lives.
Hopefully the cluster bombs will make up for the chronic shortfall in artillery shells being sent to Ukraine.
Hopefully as well, we'll see a collapse in the Russian lines and people fleeing but that is not probably going to happen.
No. I think you were right the first time. They are dismantling his reputation bit by bit, the wigs story is a testament to that also. If Prigozhin does not have dirt on Putin he will fall out a window or get food poisoning in a few months time. I wonder what is going on with the General? I read an article that said if he was charged with anything it would cause further dissension within the Russian Army.
To be honest I think the cluster munitions will prove decisive in breaking Russian resistance. I can see morale in the Russian Army decreasing even further as a consequence. I won't be surprised if we hear about Russian soldiers being shot by their own commanders because they want to surrender
The place is (a) littered with scum of the earth Russian soldiers and (b) littered with mines and booby traps put there by Russia.
I don't see any valid basis to assert they are putting their own population in any more danger than they currently face, either short or long term.
Rishi Sunak has said the UK "discourages" the use of cluster bombs after the US agreed to send them to Ukraine.
**** off.
Russia are using them, fight fire with fire.
Wish these idiots would just keep their mouth shut.
I reckon they will be that tightly controlled as to where and where they can't be deployed,they might not be the game changer people are thinking, Western tanks and IFVs haven't been effective as people originally thought either, they need to keep changing tactics until they find the right ones for the right situations
Where on the map does it display Ukrainian tactics?
Ukraine needs more tools in the armory for any chance of an even fight
Russia is throwing manpower at this war cluster the fcuk out of them they are better dead or maimed
I suspect prigozen is dead but civil war is brewing Russian way is about strength putin's is finished.
I'd be reluctant to say that any one weapon or system will be the one to make the Russians break. After all the Russians have been using cluster bombs and thermobaric munitions (TOS-1) since the start of the war and have found it very difficult to break Ukrainian defensive lines. They'll certainly help the Ukrainians, especially if the alternative was running out of ammunition but I think it's wise to manage expectations about what they can achieve.
I also wouldn't bank on Russians breaking. If there's one thing they are experts in it is unquestionably absorbing suffering, often at the hands of their own leaders and commanders. Even when Russian units upload videos complaining about their conditions and leadership they often show an immense subservience to higher authorities. They either address the President directly or else they ask their relatives to petition local Governors or military officials. It's like they think that the problem is at a unit command level but the people higher up are either competent or compassionate. They don't seem to grasp that the entire system is rotten to the core.
That goes for the people back in Russia too. All you have to do is watch a few 1420 videos to realise that people are either buying the propaganda or have completely checked out. Zero chance or a grass roots revolution there anytime soon.
I would absolutely love to be proven wrong on any above by the way but that's my reading of the situation as it stands.
Yes, I imagine Ukraine has been told only to use them on Russian positions that are not near civilian areas. It's clear the counter offensive is going slower than some would like due to the time Russia has had to dig in, but I think the cluster bombs will lead to speedier gains by Ukraine once they start being deployed on the battlefield.
I think once it dawns on the average Russian Soliders that they are fighting for a loss cause many of them will fold. Putin at the moment is able to invoke the Stalingrad and Stalin doctrine of the heroic sacrifice for mother Russia but I feel a tipping point is coming. We have seen the cracks emerge with the Prigozhin rebellion. I feel once facts on the ground clearly demonstrate that Russia is on a hiding to nothing there might be a mass surrender of Russian troops and another attempt to remove Putin. I honestly can't see a halfway house solution here whereby America forces Ukraine to compromise and surrender territory. Putin has started something he can't finish and a day of reckoning is coming one way or the other for him. America has invested too much politically in all this for Putin to be able to declare any kind of Victory, which he will do if Ukraine does not claim back all of its territory.
It sounds like these cluster bombs are ideal for Ukraine right now, as they grapple with a dug-in force. it’ll be very interested to see what difference they make.
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