Russia-Ukraine War

Not to mention the biggest thing. Which is as most people suspected: That the Russian red lines are simply fashioned from whole cloth. We literally have Marders and Bradleys rolling around capturing internationally recognized Russian territory and Putin hasn't even declared war yet!

No nukes, not even a threat of mobilization. The drip drip escalation management strategy is now completely redundant.

Still it's incredibly frustrating to see Bidens administration still not allowing ATACMs and even the Brits not allowing Storm Shadow on Russian territory. Just imagine the great things Ukraine could be doing if they were actually let off the leash.

Zero chance of Russia accepting any responsibility. I can't think of many countries apart from Germany post WWII that accepted responsibility for what happened. And that only happened after much of their country was destroyed and under the complete control of the victors who were able to get the guilt trip going.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_collective_guilt

Even if this ends well for Ukraine, there's no chance of Russia paying reparations and I hope the sanctions remain in place until at some point in the future it fractures into its constituent republics, only capable of acting the bollix with each other and let the rest of us get on with our lives without their interference.

I have my doubts it crashed like this due to a fault. Personally I think the Ukrainians managed to take it out but Russia will never admit that unless it's absolutely obvious and even then sometimes they'd deny it.

In other news I see a HIMARS system was taken out by an iskander missile. It's incredible that in 2 and a half years of this war only 2/3 of them have been taken out. At that rate they're easily replaced and I believe one of the others taken out was sent away for repairs so not fully destroyed.

I don't understand why they don't just privately tell the Ukrainians that they can use those long-range weapons whatever way they want within the limits of the Geneva Convention. And then just pull a Putin and gaslight/ deny when the Russians start complaining.

There's no need to play the whole thing out in the world's media - we don't need a press conference with Biden/ Starmer announcing that those weapons can no be used.

Let Putin start shouting when it happens, and then just kind of "oh, we've no report of that… are you sure?… we'll investigate"…

The Russians have shown zero capacity to be able to conduct fast, effective mobile assaults to date. I'd almost like to see them try it, because I'm pretty sure they'd be dispatched without much trouble by the Ukrainians.

Can we deal with facts for a second - the 'day one of this war' you're referring to is the worst possible comparator as it was literally the opening shots of a lightening invasion which Putin had promised the world was not happening… just military exercises in Russia he said. Of course they were going to have a huge impact. But all it demonstrates is that even with every advantage conceivable, the Russian army is a relative shambles. And it's only degenerated since then.

There is almost no grounds to compare that event with this incursion by the UAF. The Ukrainians drove the Russians back through use of speed and adaptability. When have Russia shown any capacity for that in this war? They rely solely on (a) overwhelming numbers and (b) artillery firepower. As soon as that looks to be the threat to the Ukrainians in Kursk they can just withdraw to whatever defensive lines they've set without losing as much as a single metre of Ukrainian territory. Rinse and repeat.

we’ve gone from 1000 troops that Russians boasted to have stopped 8 days ago

To 10-12000

according to the guy who repeatedly lied to Irish population on our media

3 years into a 3 day war they stop an 8 day invasion on the 1st day 🤣

That works both ways tho

We’ve seen both missiles and drones traverse NATO on way to Ukraine, and just yesterday chemical attack on couple NATO bases water supplies

And an interesting point was made on Ukraine the Latest podcast, while Ukrainian hands are tied when it comes to long range weapons the Russians are daily lobbing missiles full of western microchips

whatever way you try to frame it this Kursk thing will Peter out and its probably damaged Ukraine's chances to hold on to all their lines, I dont see the Russians being in a hurry to negotiate

Reading this headline made me realise the obvious. Russia was never going to negotiate on any reasonable terms while they controlled large parts of Ukraine and Ukraine not none of Russia. This changes things. Maybe Ukraine over the next year will aim to claim more of Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8dpgeq01n0t

You think they are "claiming" it. I just think they are controlling it.

Who,with any sense wants any of Russia? Could they just stew in their own juice until such time as they are fit to meet the public?

Whatever. Your mind is once again clearly made up before the fact and you've no interest in discussing the nuanced points various posters have made.

I'll counter your reply with, "whatever way you try to frame it, Russia's invasion of a sovereign nation, committal of countless war crimes, disintegration of its military prowess, appropriation of Western assets in Russia and hobbling of its economy has definitely damaged Russia's chance of retaining its position at the top table of global nations and I don't see any major economic block being in a hurry to do business with them afterwards". Case closed, may as well close the thread.

Ukraine attacking Russia is the new "Sanctions aren't working". 🤦‍♂️