Posted on 05/15/2022 12:54:57 PM PDT by MercyFlush
Right now as I write this there are significant elements of the Ukrainian forces located within 40km of the strategic Soviet city of Belgorod.
This city is a critical transshipment and distribution hub for all manner of logistical support for the Soviet Army that is currently trying to steal more land from Ukraine.
The foolish Soviets have left this city all but undefended as they've moved their forces to concentrate on preventing the encirclement and capture of 20,000+ orc forces at Izyum, Ukraine.
The Ukrainians don't have to even seize the city. They may not even need to cross into enemy territory at all. But by at least threatening Belgorod and taking it under artillery fire the Ukrainians can force the Soviets to move precious forces to defend the city.
The return on investment for the Ukrainians for crossing into Russia to harass this city or maybe even capture it is great. They can readily retreat across the border after their objectives in Belgorod are achieved and they will get the added benefit of secondary objectives:
1. Vladimir Putin will be humiliated for leaving a critical Soviet city vulnerable to attack. 2. Supplies to Soviet combat forces in Ukraine will be disrupted. 3. Soviet forces will be degraded yet again as a permanent force will be required to garrison and protect Belgorod from future Ukrainian incursions. 4. That permanent garrison can then be targeted by long range artillery.
Putin could of course declare war and call for a general mobilization of Soviet forces. The problem for Putin is that doing so makes Ukraine look strong and the Orcs look weak in the eyes of the Soviet people who were told to expect a short and glorious war of conquest.
The added psychological effect of this stupid war leading to the first foreign forces on Soviet soil since World War Two will be huge...and it will be blamed on the failures of Pidor Putin.
Regardless of what Ukraine decides to do here Belgorod is critical and vulnerable and it is a legitimate target.
“Any escalation at this point would probably risk dragging in border nations and Russian ‘allies’ (Belarus, Libya, Turkey, Iran).”
Exactly how is the currently failed state of Libya going to be involved, aside from maybe a few mercenaries?
Belarus quite possible. Turkey (Erdogan) will stay neutral as much as possible to be in position to broker a peace deal and steal some prestige from France (Macron). Iran will not waste resources but use any diverted attention to further its own agenda.
How about just wrecking the rail lines?
It’s a trap! Left undefeated for a reason. You just do not leave an important military hub not defended.
Nah. Your slush fund with the Democraps with our hard earned $40 billion is being wasted on a sh*tty child smuggling and money laundering country like Ukraine.
I always find Democraps on FR pretending to be conservatives on FR every week..I hope Ukraine falls sooner so we can keep our money.
Serieslee- what would a day on FR be without the Zelensky butt bois and their rah rah - ism ?
Using long range weapons the supplies moving out of Belgorod can be interdicted without entering Russia.
First, you can be a bit of an ass at times. Most of the time that’s what I like about you.
Second, very time I see the Russian armor advancing they do so without air support and without infantry support and then they wonder why they’re taking such heavy losses. “Combined arms” has been a philosophy in the West for decades and it is a proven force multiplier.
For whatever reason the Orcs are stupidly refusing to implement a proven technique that would reduce their losses and improve their effectiveness. I suppose the Ukies should be grateful.
In any case this is not an exaggeration on my part that something known to every US NCO would save Russian lives.
Nobody likes a suck up.
What you waiting for? The Linda Graham/ Joe Biden proxy war will be over before you even see any action. Get some, warrior - letzgo- chop chop
It’s just not full a day until we get the daily Russian nuclear threat.
The Ukrainians need to take the war to the Russians.
The daily nuclear threat from Putin and Russia is exactly why it’s good to have the Ukrainians the leading rusher dry.
Russia needs to be overthrown.
I deeply agree. But it should be done for a strategic reason and not just for show. Belgorod as an objective currently satisfies those aims.
Xi calls Putin his bossom buddy.
Every pro Putin and Russia Freeper lends credence to Adam Schiff’s claims of Russian involvement in trumps election.
“No. Stay in your own country and defend.”
You should give this sage advice to the scumbag Russians.
I absolutely do. This is such a stupid, unnecessary, unjust and illegal war . They started it
Then you have my sincere respect.
Ukraine is doing the dead cat bounce.
Don’t you think that Russia has many divisions for backup not far from the border. Russia did not send there whole army to Ukraine. Some said they did not send their best equipment in. Reserve forces would be more than enough to take Ukraine. The deep state news media is putting out so much false information that they can not be trusted.
Glad you brought in some history since that seems to be ignored. The Red Army initially did very poorly against the Wehrmacht. They finally overwhelmed the Germans with numbers, masses of equipment, and commanders who arose from merit rather than politics. They absorbed mass casualties in a war of attrition the Nazis couldn’t match. Russians are not as zealous as they were then, but the Ukrainians should not interpret doing well for a couple of months to mean the Russian can’t overwhelm them eventually. The Russians likely will eventually declare war, mobilize and become more competent; Ukraine would do well to delay as long as possible.
No, you'd be fighting for a foreign country whose interests diverge sharply from ours.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.