That’s the good news (for the Ukraine).
Bad news (for the Ukraine) is that the new battalions are now battle-hardened and motivated.
Maybe.
They still have reconnaissance and signal intelligence help from the US and UK, complete with “advisors” working with Ukrainian troops.
JMO, take it for what you paid for it. :)
“Bad news (for the Ukraine) is that the new battalions are now battle-hardened and motivated.”
Composite battalions composed of remnants from an ass kicking retreat do not tend to be very motivated. Especially when the ass kicking came as the result of incompetent leadership. They are more likely to be exhausted and frustrated. Which is currently being reflected in very little progress in their “major offensive” in the Donbas area.
Donbas offensive has stalled. Not a surprise.
Putin using the same troops that got their asses kicked in Kiev.
“Bad news (for the Ukraine) is that the new battalions are now battle-hardened and motivated.”
The corollary to that, of course, is...so are the Ukrainians.
This fight is going to last longer than most thought. And, if Russia DOES ultimately prevail, it will become embroiled in a resistance fight that will make the French equivalent of the 1940s pale in comparison. And there will be perpetual bad blood between Russians and Ukrainians, even more than there is now; and much more than there was before the invasion.
“Bad news (for the Ukraine) is that the new battalions are now battle-hardened and motivated.”
For some exposure to battle will be a formative experience like turning iron into steel. For others it may be like repeatedly bending aluminum. The problem for the new units is they haven’t been given a chance to rest and recover. They are going directly from one fight, where they got beaten, to another, but with people they’ve never worked with before.
Peter Zion opined that the soldiers in the Donbas (former Ukrainians) who may have initially been in favor of Russia have been forced into the trenches for several years with no letup and may now not be so in favor of Russia. Zion described them as “the entire adult, male population.” If I’m Russian, these aren’t the men I want behind me. Also, the new Russian general, who has reportedly had a few heart attacks, will be at the front where other generals have been killed. (Probably not a good move.)
So are those of the Ukrainians. It’s folly to think they’re not also adjusting and reconsolidating resources for a long fight. When this settles into an insurgency.. and it will.. that will sap the Russians’ abilities even more.
What evidence on motivation?
But these units are not properly coordinated as in working as one unit. Too, morale will not be any better. There remains the big issue of logistics.
But these units are not properly coordinated as in working as one unit. Too, morale will not be any better. There remains the big issue of logistics.
Exactly, Putin’s plan was all the while to have half the guys in each battalion killed, in order the merge the two in one battle-hardened battalion.
More Putin genius:
1. Have thousands of armored vehicles destroyed in order to sink Ukraine!
Remember the ... the ... you know, that ship!
2. Give militias of the People’s Republic of Donetsk vintage weapons worth thousands of dollars to collectors.
Can Putin help it if the Donetsk fighters aren’t aware of the value of these things on eBay?
3. Exhaust the limited supplies of western anti-tank guided missiles by sending obsolete T-72s into Ukraine.
Now what does NATO have to stop the 14 Armata tanks? I mean, the Armata-14 tanks?
4. Send an entire army of Russians into Ukraine to drink all the vodka.
What, no vodka? Quick, let’s join back to Russia. Who can stand German beer or - my God! - French wine?
5. Cut off gas sales to western Europe.
You can stop buying gas from us! We are stopping sales of gas to you.
They aren’t battle hardened. They lost badly and haven’t improved on why they failed in the first place