A question much asked is what is the toll the operational tempo is taking on airframes, barrels and equipment in general?
Do they have the maintenance and spare parts capability to keep this tempo up?
High speed tape only goes so far and worn out engines can’t be fixed that easily.
Barrels wear out, and condition of stored barrels is unknown, but it is safe to say that the best stuff has already been pulled. What kind of new production they have will greatly affect how hard they can continue to push.
As to avdiivka, the town is destroyed, the strategic value was tying down soviet troops, will be interesting to see how the shortened lines will effect both sides
It will be played as a “great victory” for putin(oh how the Wehrmacht would have loved for such”great” Soviet” victories, one small town after months of effort and large loses.
What the Soviet’s of today lack is the reserves of men and equipment to make massive gains ie1944, so IMO incremental gains at huge costs will continue.
Some well timed ammunition and equipment ie f-16s, artillery ammo, atacms, glsdbs…. will certainly help the Ukrainians
We will see
“As to avdiivka, the town is destroyed”
It has been under Artillery attack for months, and recently had 60 air strikes in a day, as well as bombardment by TOS-1 thermobaric artillery. It is probably another settlement that has been pounded beyond where it is likely to be rebuilt.
“incremental gains at huge costs will continue.”
That has been a growing trend for Russia through this war, for the reasons you cite, and the inexorable attrition of the old Soviet arsenal, that Speedy established this thread to track. (Speedy, come home. Post an anniversary thread or something).
They keep wearing deeper through their stockages, fleets and financial reserves, and continually keep increasing their burn rate of human casualties - an average increase of 300 more casualties per day over the course of 2023, according to British Intelligence.
That can’t go on forever. Those trends inevitably must reach breaking points.