Russia Invades Ukraine. Volume 4

Quite early on, we discovered that ruzzia would have considered the first day of the Somme to have been an overwhelming success. We advanced and gain some ground. So what if 20,000 died - we gained some ground.

Even if they are forced to hand back everything bar a lonely cattle shed, they will consider it a victory.

Earlier on today, they sent a tank down a road to deliberately set off a mine. Tank destroyed, crew dead, mine cleared - job done.

These are not "normal" people. Don't try to judge them by our standards.

Recent times have reminded me of the speech that M gives the snotty out of touch politician in skyfall.
How there are no more border wars and fighting is now in the shadows.
How ironic

Absolutely, your comment of 'the russians had gained little ground' does need to be put into context also. Yes, this is a valid statement if we look at the longer timeframe - yes, the Russians have gained ground since Feb 2022 and for the last year or so, they have gained very little at massive expense.

Context is critical and we should all make sure we add it where we can. But often emotion gets in the way and we fail to add it. Thats OK, but it does happen.

I didnt reference that at any point am afraid - I just asked a question, so not sure what the point is. My question was open ended, what happens if Russia manages to advance fully into Ukraine - its not difficult to read my post to see that I didnt specifically agree/disagree with their troop numbers or capability.

If you are going to pick on something I said then make it relevant to what I asked please.

My bad. I mentioned the 500,000 troops reportedly being amassed on the front line, based on some media reports. I sincerely hope this is just misinformation or propaganda because the alternative would be dire.

While Ukrainian forces are well-trained and well-armed, a war of attrition where Russia can deploy ten times more troops would be catastrophic. Various combat footage shows Ukrainian defenders constantly outnumbered but still managing to hold the line. However, if Ukraine cannot rotate its frontline troops, combat fatigue will inevitably set in.

https://twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/179100141914...

Ukrainian perspective on the latest Russian offensive.

Judging by what I'm reading in the Slovak press, I'd say the story is significantly more nuanced than your statement implies. And for the record, there's no indication he's pro Russia; Fico is though.

That is a significant change of tune from the US and echoes what Cameron (I think) said recently about UK weapons. Finally seems that the NATO/Supporting countries are really seeing the gravity of the situation and understand that being “worried about escalation” is folly.

Great to see ATACMS being used deep in to Crimea…another S400 battery cops it as well as aircraft, fuel and munitions. Seems like there’s nothing the Russians can do to stop ATACMS, maybe just maybe things might be about to get much more difficult for the Russians. I remember when HIMARS started being used the quoted impact on Russian logistics was huge….ATACMS has twice the range and with the cluster munitions will be more effective I imagine.

Wonder if that will precipitate apologies for some of the more snide response aimed at those mentioning the 500k number.

Good report in the DT today on the latest offensive

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/16/...