Russia - threadbanned users in OP

No need for this but as posted before, I kind of think NATO countries should agree with Ukraine to protect this particular border area with air defences based in Romania. I believe it is now critical for storage + export of Ukraine's grain (that is why the drones are being rained down on it).

edit: Maybe in my ignorance there's other reasons I have not considered why that can't be done, but only reason I can think of is fear/caution either of Romania, or other NATO members who probably would have to provide the air defences.

Would save Ukraine's military having to do this job. Also Russia/Putin has to escalate once again if they want to attack any air defences located outside Ukraine. Puts the ball back in their court.

Good thing Russia has lots of other allies like eh North Korea

In a twisted way I guess it can work against already captive populations or weak opposition.

If Ukraine take over the first and second lines around Roboytne and the other village's nearby before the year is out would it prove almost impossible for Russia to ever take it back? Ukraine would use the Russian defenses against them which they would strengthen. The terrain is mostly flat open fields, they'd have a field day with their cluster munitions.

It's important any hard fought gains for Ukraine are even harder for Russia to regain.

I think you're right and there's a strong case for Romania and NATO and the EU to operate air defences from the Danube side, to help protect these ports and their capacity to export grain etc. If that means attacking incoming Russian ordnance over Ukrainian territory, so be it.

1. It seems too powerful to be an anti air missile. Sounds like a cruise missile.
2. They're saying on the net that an anti air missile launch was heard 2 seconds before impact. Anti air only 2 seconds away? Also, how could an anti air missile reach such speed in 2 seconds? The missile coming in was going really fast. I'm no expert but I have questions. No doubt it will all come out in the wash.

Looks at best like this will be a stalemate heading into the winter. Neither side seems to have the ability or the willingness to take bigger risks to make real progress. It's worth remembering that when Russia first sent a merry band of thugs in to the Donbass in 2014 the aim wasn't to win a conflict but to create a permanent state of destabilised perception.

That could be Russia's aim here as well as they show no signs of moving anywhere on the front despite reportedly having the means to do so in the east.

The strategy may be to just keep Ukraine destabilised and by extension NATO at arms length.

You could argue the current situation is just a continuation of destabilisation since 2014.

You could argue but you'd be wrong.

It makes complete sense if you understand what Russia has done in the Donbass prior to this conflict.

They didn't want to win a conflict in the Donbass since 2014. That wasn't the aim. They wanted the place destabilised. This is pretty obvious and well documented. That why, like I said, they sent in "soldiers" to "liase" with local seperatists - only no one ever quite knew who the "soldiers" were or where they were from. Of course everyone knew Russia was pulling the strings. They didn't even wear standard uniforms or use standard military equipment.

Why do you think they did that if not to destabilise the region? They've been doing that since 2014.

that is why I don't read those posts. The authors usually come from same place.

Yeah, how's that going for them? Russia's border with NATO is 1,340km longer now than it was before the invasion, pretty much doubling in size.

Yikes.

Russia isn't particularly effective in moving forward, this is generally because their troops are god awful, and their tactics are to either bombard the crap out of an area, or suicide units in, or just yoyo some units forward and back again.

Ukraine on the other hand are actually making progress, gradually, but it's slow-going to the sheer number of mines and defenses, also the battlefield is becoming very overgrown which actually benefits the defenders (Russia), plus other factors.

The current situation isn't a continuation of 2014, it's a massive escalation of it. From proxy war, to full war.

Maybe it grinds right down to a halt, maybe Ukraine keeps creeping forward, maybe something else happens. For now, Ukraine is moving forward, they are also getting through to areas that with less defenses and have less dense minefields.

I can't imagine the morale of the average Russian soldier who knows he'll likely be sent to die in an absurd attack, won't be taken care of properly if injured (even abandoned), might not even get paid, possibly won't be given leave, not to mention will have terrible equipment and equally terrible commanders. Oh and possibly have a freezing winter in a trench to look forward to.