I went looking for Irelands 131st latest city and all the lists stop at 100.
Athenry, population under 4000.
And how many would have died by now had Putin managed to take Ukraine??
Keep trying, Its a futile excercice.
Now, back to the point I asked you what bad tactics Ukraine used while defending Bakhmut and Adviika?
And why do you persist in incorrectly using the word futile? Is getting surrounded futile at worst? is having to retreat futile? if so why?
Why is creating kill zones and killing thousands upon thousands enemy soldiers from a relatively easy to defend position not a smart defence?
Mutual unwritten agreement not to kill each others leadership? I doubt that very much, seeing that there has been several assassination attempts on Zelenski's life. Best chance of killing Putin will come either from his inner circle, or the military. No one else will even get close. As for a sniper taking him our say during the may day parade at the Kremlin when he's on the balcony, more than likely it will be one of Putins doubles that gets killed / injured. At this stage, when you think of all the assassinations Putin has ordered, and the different methods used, he's beyond paranoid himself now I'd say.
I hope this is going somewhere
You ever hear of strategic retreat, Rogber? Now had that been Putin, he would keep keep pumping Russians into it to try and hold it, same as Stalin did in Stalingrad. There's a time to fight, and a time to fold. The Ukrainians made the right decision, under the circumstances. Adrviika will still be there when they come back for it.
It doesn't but it's a sad reflection how Russia can make gains when supporting drops. The next big Russia assaults will be telling. They're lining up for Kupyansk, Chasiv Yar and Robotnye. Time will tell how successful they'll be.
We don't want a similar scenario to 2022 when they captured Popasna and started to make progress.
Clearly the USA need to start thinking like Putin, what is their hard focus. Are they in for this and if not, what are the consequences for the US if Russia prevails.
On another note I hear it reported that our own president https://president.ie/en/media-library/news-releases/statement-by-president-michael-d-higgins-on-the-death-of-alexei-navalny has stated that "The freedom to express dissenting views, be it on the structure or administration of society, is a fundamental tenet of a democracy and any accountable system."
Does our Michilín think that Russia is a democracy?? Kind worrying that this might be his idea of democracy, hopefully not a sign of things to come here.
I don't really think capturing the 131st largest city in Ukraine in about 10 years is a display of Russian military might.
Excellent if somewhat depressing article in the guardian about the response to Navalny's death both within and outside Russia
But not negotiated with Putin. He has to be gone.
Great news if true
I suppose it depends on what Ukraine lost in terms of manpower in adviika and if a lot of equipment was left behind and wasn't at least put out of commission before they left then it was a hasty retreat. I just hope they didn't lose a crazy amount of there crack troops in the last few days as I can see that they were sent in only within the last wk.
The problem with the bleed the Russians strategy in places like Avdviika is Putin has the Stalin mindset. Unless the war economy reaches a cliff edge or some sort of popular revolt takes place in Russia , Putin will just keep going with the current strategy which is to outlast the Ukranians by sheer force of numbers. Unless the Americans give Ukraine all it needs to win the war, then it's difficult to see any outcome other than an eventual negotiated settlement to this conflict.
How long will the world let Russia be like this?' Zelenskiy asks world leaders in Munich
“How long will the world let Russia be like this?” That was the question Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked world leaders on Saturday as he underlined the threat Russia’s war poses to nations beyond Ukraine.
Speaking at the the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskiy underlined that Ukraine can still win the war and that it was vital for the world that it does. He called for security to be made a “reality again”, warning that “there is no one for whom the ongoing war in Europe does not pose a threat”.
He warned that Ukraine’s shortage of weapons was strengthening Russia. “Unfortunately, keeping Ukraine in an artificial deficit of weapons, particularly in deficit of artillery and long-range capabilities, allows Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war,” he said.
He concluded his speech with a plea: “Please, do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself, why is Putin still able to continue it.”
.....
Powerful words from Zelensky, let's hope the Western leaders, while paying tribute to Navalny, honour him by giving Ukraine more support
Ukraine needs to keep fighting, and to choose its battles wisely, but what it really needs is change within Russia. Which means Putin dead or gone or both and something better to replace him.
Many here seem extremely pessimistic about that, I actually hope it'll be possible
its not about territory lost or gained as such, that just the end conclusion to things, it more about who is fighting at an advantage or disadvantage. The Ukrainians were clearly fighting at a disadvantage during the summer, and in Avdiivka they have been fighting at a disadvantage ever since they had to defend on 3 sides.
So now instead of Russia will collapse in 2 weeks or 2 months you're giving a time limit of 10 years? Nice shifting of the goalposts. I think it's you who needs your morning coffee...
Funnily enough you're now saying what I've always said: Ukraine will only regain its rightful territory when Putin is either dead or gone. Might be 2 years, might be 10 years. We'll see. Can't come soon enough
Intermission:
Not claiming to be any way expert in military tactics but if one side can get the other to concentrate their attacks on one area and suffer huge losses in trying to take that area while their forces fall back in a well planned way that allows continued heavy losses in the attacking forces it sounds to me to be actually a good tactic and an effective way of draining the offensive force of putin's troops while limiting the damage to large parts of Ukraine which could have suffered more if the offensives by putin's troops had not been channeled towards these fortified strongholds. I'm not going to claim mistakes have not been made by the armed forces of Ukraine but they are fighting for the survival of their people and not fighting would simply see more widespread murder and genocide in their country so on balance more Ukrainian lives will be saved even if the defense they put up to putin's terrorism is not perfect.
You're still misusing the word futile, you should really stop digging on that one.
At worst, Ukraine could have better organised the fallback, militarily, russia came out a lot worse (as in Bakhmut).
You realy don't seem to have a clue about military tactics when reading your reply. But I will try once more, What is bad about a tactic that will force an attacking Army to spend/commit huge amount of resources to an area which the defending army can defend relatively easy, thereby preventing the attacking army the possibility to utilise their forces in other regions.
Of course both armies made mistakes.. A Battlefield is fluid, to many variables,
This this is a good long read of the situation and the future.
I called the summer offensive a failure during the summer, Im happy with my armchair generalling thank you very much. Its simple logic here, you never want to be fighting on 3 sides unless its part of breakout. You do realise in the drone age and the landscape they are fighting in that there is no where to hide, everything can be observed and resupply is difficult.
the only way attrition can work in Ukraine's favour is where they are defending (Surovikin style) and Russia is actively attacking.
Bad tactics, getting surrounded and having to retreat is at best ineffective, at worst futile, certainly not a smart defence. We've seen it with the Russians countless times, and the Ukrainians more than a few times now. Both armies have made big mistakes, only the deluded on both sides still deny it
Anytime you can hold the enemy in one position for a year is never a failure. Better to whither them down than having them going all directions raping and pillaging. Ukrainians will just fall back and let the russians crash against another defence to be slaughtered just like bahkmut.
Its not ideal for the Ukrainians but its the best worst option and costliest fir the russians.
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