[Zhang Fei]

The Russians will likely win as they did in Grozny, with the block-by-block destruction of the city with artillery. The way this kind of thing works is they do a probe in force, note where incoming fire is coming from and demolish those areas with artillery. They are using MLRS strikes (Grads), not smart bombs to accomplish this, because smart weapons are expensive, whereas dumb bombs, whether Grad rockets or artillery shells, are cheap.

[dfwgator]

He could get away with it in Grozny, since nobody really cared about Grozny, most cheered it because it was Chechens.

This is a whole other thing, the optics matter a lot more here.

[dfwgator]

And one has to wonder if his Generals are really up for this. It wouldn’t take much for them to go “Operation Valkyrie” on Putin.

[wardaddy]

I doubt Ukes will fight as Chechnyans

Few do besides Houtis and Vietnamese

And their govt is so fractious ....how many Ukes wish to die ....I just don’t see it

Recent electoral history there is simply banana republic

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

To be blunt, they were killing muslim Chechens in Grozny, which is something that the Russian people might be more willing to accept. And whether it was fake or not, there were some underlying events that made the Russian people very unfavorably disposed to Chechens.

I think mass bombardments killing large number of Ukrainians -- along with many ethnic Russians -- may be a completely different story. Kharkiv is 3 times the size of Grozny, and I'm just not sure the Russian military would be willing to do that.