Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Who doesn't love a good Balloon

I've estimates showing that the Russian gain rate over almost four years would need to continue for nearly a century before they take all of Ukraine, but does anyone have a projection of when they'd run out of soldiers at the current attrition rate?

It just seems the that Russian tactics never changed so the Ukrainian drone wall of death simply has to retreat and advance when and where needed.

Difficult to predict what will happen here. Putin views Ukraine as Russian and as part of the Russian Federation. Many analysts suggest they can't imagine a permanent ceasefire happening soon, no matter what Marco Rubio is saying currently. The Ukrainians themselves are sick of war and would like it to stop immediately, but the Russians and Putin are the fly in the ointment.

An agreement to end the war just doesn't seem viable. I think both sides are paying lip service to the proposals because neither want to upset Trump or be seeing to oppose peace. Legal recognition of Russian claims on occupied territory is going to be the key sticking point. The Russians will insist on this and the Ukrainians will oppose it completely. Neither side is going to back down on this, so I don't see how an agreement is at all possible.

All the headlines today are about talks between Ukraine (who want peace), the USA (who want peace) and Europe (who want peace). And lo and behold, Trump says we are seeing "big progress" !

I can't see any other possible stumbling blocks to peace, so probably the war ends tomorrow ? 🤔

Exactly. They can't be relying on tomahawks or any other uncertain or limited missile source. They need their own.

They've already seen from the drones that Russia is unable to defend the skies across its vast territory, these missiles can do some proper damage.

I think everyone now works on the "distract Trump" schedule. Trump pronounces a totally unacceptable reiteration of whatever was last said in his ear, now Zelensky knows to say "thank you for such deep insight, lets discuss detail".

Trump does't do detail but it gets everyone to the following week when he's moved onto something completely different so this weeks vomit is forgotten. rinse and repeat until he has a stroke.

A little tangential/retrospective but was Trump's 24 hr claim built on disinformation whispered to him by Russian agents /Putin in the runup to the last election?

Were they playing him then when he was at his most vulnerable ?

Gave him false comfort that there was a real chance of an early ceasefire if he won?

Well that may be something that affects many people.

Personally,I always try and check the date of any article -and don't understand why they are not datestamped on the "outside" but I can't say how common it is for the average person to do that.

On these threads it is not that uncommon for a poster to have to be told that their link is out of date or ,worse historically shown to be false (eg the recent Trump one where he says the Reublicans are dumb-the poster did not retract btw)

GDP is not the metric that the US uses to evaluate Russia. It is land area and location and natural resources. A border with China and all that coastline along the Arctic ocean. It probably has substantial undiscovered rare mineral resources.

I doubt anyone fooled by this amateur hour was predisposed to the Ukrainian side to begin with. The stupidity on the American side, from the Axios journalist to Lil Marco, is breathtaking.

Another problem - the soldiers who do make it home to a ruined economy. Their patience with yet more government lies will be limited.

The progress of the war shows what happens when one side has told itself lies for years.

I read somewhere last week that they were running so short of men from some areas that they stopped recruiting and just sent the recruiters to the front instead. Its like a company saying sales are down, sack all the salesmen and send them on to the factory floor to make more product. Sounds like an implosion is coming in some areas quickly and then they have to grasp the nettle of Moscow.