Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Ukraine need up to 500k additional soldiers this year according to Zelensky. Not much use if they are not even in the country. Most of the people who would volunteer are in already, dead or injured, hence conscription, hardly unusual in an existential fight.

That's war, it is brutal and not nice. It ain't Russian voluntary labour that are going in to the meat grinder in Putins vision of a rebuilt Soviet Union.

Ukraine are facing an existential threat

I see no lessons were learned in over two years and people still overestimate Russia based on their propaganda and think of them as a big massive bear with endless resources

Russia economy is only 2.5x more than Ireland’s (maybe less as they lie lie lie), It is 20x less than EU, 50x less than “west”, 2% of NATO gdps is larger than whole Russian economy

Not only can the west outspend Russia especially in long term but we have done it before bringing down the much larger USSR (that included Ukraine and more) who in their final days also started a colonial war they lost and were not able to keep up with western economies

Edit: ISW puts it much more eloquently than I can here

They will probably be asked again to go to Ukraine in order to commute their sentence in prison again.

Thought this was interesting

There are numerous examples of the above over the last 3624 pages, tho thankfully there are also multiple posters who repeatedly burst the Russian reality distortion bubbles (farts?) being blown, by pointing out that the emperor is not only naked but is an enuch

And it seems that not only has the Lada been phased out as reparations for a deceased family member, but the bag of spuds also and has been replaced by a bar of chocolate……

I know the military people are filming that to prove that they did the hand over and gift. It's still wrong for them to be releasing that moment to the online world. The couple look to be living in poverty as is. It's like they are being made fun of and mocked. By both the gift and how it was done.

I reckon that even if the US and Western Europe completely succumbed to Russian propaganda and stopped all aid there is enough resistance between Ukraine , Poland , Finland , Sweden etc to keep Russia boxed in . It’s a hopeless situation for them and only a matter of time. Even when things have been ‘ going well’ for them, with the world distracted by other theatres of war , in the second half of 2023 early 24 what progress have they made ?? Hitler had reached the Caucasus by this stage in world war 2. This is one of the most pathetic invasions in history and would be comical if it wasn’t so vicious.

Maybe it's just that we became accustomed to seeing wars panned out in a certain way. I grew up in the era of "desert storm" and it seemed unimaginable then that modern militaries could revert to a WW1 style trench warfare.

Yet here we are.

Both sides posses anti-tank and air defences that have nullified their use on a large scale in this war.

If I'm not mistaken the officer handing over the letter would appear to be air force, so presumably the fallen son was not some "worthless" poor, untrained casualty of a human wave attack, either?

Putin canceled this years victory parade as he is afraid it showcase more Ukrainian equipment than Russian

Interesting video discussing artillery shell production, it explains very well the difficulties faced by both sides in the war.

It's not as black and white as people here suggest.

Putin will continue on the same path, because for him, it's a do or die situation. The US coming through with the 60Billion, and discussions ongoing about future aid was a massive kick in the teeth to Putin. Ordinary Russians (and the Silovicki and Oligarchs too) are feeling more and more the bad effects of the costs of the war, and it will get worse for them as the available cash fund dwindles. The next 6 mths will be critical, especially when the effects of the new armament's make themselves felt.

Ah, but there was a plan, including the end game, all thought out and organized. Just like Crimea, the Russian military would " Blitzkrieg" Ukraine, it would all be over in a week or two, and the new Putin Government installed. The new rulers had already picked out which buildings and apartments they would occupy (after the rightful owners were ejected, of course) and they had even packed their dress uniforms for the celebratory ball. And then came Zelenski……and as they say, the rest is history. So now, it's all on Putin's head.