Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Is this line of thinking not making the mistake of assuming Putin's interests align with those of Russia itself? I've seen a lot of analysts positing that the only reason Russia hasn't retreated back to their own borders is because Putin would be signing his own death warrant if he gave the order?

And this surely is their Achilles Heel. By contrast Ukrainian units have received training from other western armies, have fewer personnel and officers have to box clever. They may not be making rapid progress but once they keep applying pressure, stressing the Russian defences, reducing their personnel, taking out officers - this is smart tactics and will promote collapse.

I dunno - one thing the Russian state and media manipulating and controlling the narrative on the home front. But at the sharp end, soldiers even Russian mobilised conscripts want to live and would be sharing information between themselves.

The same is true of Ukraine. Both sides have limited amounts of men and weapons

"The simple fact is, the miserable war is about to enter year 3 because neither side is able to deliver a decisive blow to the other and nobody can predict which way it will go in 2024."

Not looking to make any predictions but I am not convinced that neither side is able to deliver a decisive blow. Whatever the truth is about counteroffensive targets for the armed forces of Ukraine it is clear that they are making striking progress in destroying putin's military. In the 24 hours before yesterdays high number of infantry eliminated there was a figure of 58 pieces of putin's artillery eliminated which was higher than average and I suspect was linked with increased offensive actions by putin's forces that without artillery support led to even higher infantry losses. Not sure which tactics Ukraine is using most to destroy the artillery systems of putin's troops in Ukraine but I have seen many comments on how putin's troops depend on heavy use of artillery to prepare the way for offensive actions.

The figure of 58 artillery systems eliminated in one day indicates to me that Ukriane may have developed methods of striking a decisive blow to putin's forces by eliminating their ability to use artillery in Ukraine. Without artillery support putin's troops are likely to be much more limited in what they can achieve and if F16s become active for Ukraine as seems to be close, the support his forces might get from their air force will be even more limited. I think Ukraine is in the process of delivering a decisive blow in the conflict by destroying the capacity putin's troops have to fight effectively. The economic power of the military supporters of Ukraine is also much greater than the countries providing military support to putin and the capacity of the russian federation itself so even if it takes a few years I can't see how he hopes to get anything positive from the war he started in Ukraine.

Has anybody noticed the serious lack of russian helicopters attacking the front line the last week?

Those cluster ATACMS having a major impact on the battlefield. I'm sure Russia will come up with a new plan to get the heli's they've left involved again but it won't be as effective as before.

If only Russia had a few more million citizens like this brave artist and a few less million like the evil granny who turned her in:

even the soldiers of real world experience never fought a meaningful war and it showed when things kicked off last year. whole columns taken out as they bunched up and dopes driving straight into urban areas without due care. anyone remember the infamous column of vehicles which trailed from the belarussian border towards kyiv and became the biggest military traffic jam at the time? the bayraktar drone had a field day back then.

someone i know was recently training ukrainian troops in a european country. the base he was stationed in has alone trained over 65k ukrainian troops. an officer permanently stationed there said losses are high. one batch of troops had a 60% casualty rate within a few weeks of returning to the frontline.

i just hope the constant erosion of the russian war machine eventually causes a catastrophic collapse sooner rather than later because a trump win in the US election next year will be disastrous for ukraine and europe as a whole.

Significance of Biden's meeting with the Chinese? Attempts to sideline Russia, even slightly, from their biggest ally?

Sadly something in that..

a) Not as successful as I and some others thought (not a failure though)

b) Russia has huge losses but doesn't care (at least Putin)

c) Arms supply to Ukraine are slow and need to improve

d) Biden may well lose God help us all if Trump wins.

Any good that came from the meeting Biden went and blew when he called him a dictator.

They are hoping and praying that Trump will be elected next year, and funding and support for Ukraine will dry up. Putin has placed every thing on this last gamble, and its pure desperation, because he has no other cards left to play. Because even if ( and its a big IF) Trump does get elected, there's no guarantee which way he will jump. Trump being Trump, he could just as easy turn out to be Putin's worst nightmare come true ! ( wishfull thinking, I know....but still.....)

Putin's whole premise and justification for invading Ukraine was under the guise of "protecting" Russians from the evil Nazi hordes in Ukraine who are threatening Russia. To be seen to be retreating ( as against the more commonly used " Moving to a better strategic position) would be admitting that he is no longer capable of protecting Russians. and therefore needs to be replaced by some one who can protect them.

Trump has stated before (can’t find the exact quote ) that he would pressure Putin into a ceasefire and if he refused he would dramatically increase aid to Ukraine. But that also means he would pressure Ukraine into a ceasefire and basically give up crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

The whole point is that Putin cannot allow even the faintest glimmer of protest to exist. His life literally depends on it. Just imagine...to day one protest, tomorrow, 5, the day after 15 etc, etc. And it would quickly reach mass protest level's, were it not for Putin's massive clamp down, he would have been dethroned a long time ago. Bring on the day when Russians finally over come their fear of Putin's criminal gang, and take to the streets is numbers that even Putin's militia's cannot control.