I agree. I’ve wondered why the Russians seem to have a propensity for assaulting heavily defended fortress cities rather than simply encircling them and starving them out. I suppose the Zeeper non-answer would be “because they are stooopid.” But a more rationale response would be that they find assaulting the cities preferable to fighting over the countryside, all things considered. I suspect when all is said and done, we’ll find the cities really were a meat-grinder, but not for the Russians.
They have been assaulting fortresses because they can. FAB bombs, in particular, can wreck the high rise buildings prior to any ground assaults. This also tends to demoralize the UAF soldiers (many of whom are conscripts from Russian speaking regions, which led to discipline problems, most notably in the disorganized escape from Avdeyevka).
That’s what is interesting to what Big Serge is saying about Russia wanting to fight in urban areas.
It seems insane, for Western militaries who want to do wars of maneuver in open country.
But if the battle plan is massive pulverization by artillery, troops in a city can’t spread out enough, so maybe there is a logic to it.
The reason is simple: a siege takes time. Time Putin doesn’t want to spend. So he doesn’t mind Russians dying for his hubris