Russian advances are making the battle for the Donbas a ‘different story’ to the start of the war

NBC News via Yahoo ^ | May 27th, 2022 | Patrick Galey and Courtney Kube

[Mariner]

Russia is tightening the noose on Ukrainian troops in the country's east.

Moscow’s forces have advanced in a fierce ground and artillery assault, and they now appear close to encircling the last two holdout cities in Luhansk province. Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk form the Donbas region, which has become the key focus of the Kremlin’s war.

As Ukrainian officials voice concern that their troops are now outmanned and outgunned, the Russian push could prove decisive in the conflict.

In recent days Russian forces have used heavy artillery, airstrikes and infantry to close in on the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based military think tank, said in its most recent update on the situation.

A senior U.S. defense official said Thursday that the Russian military had seized most of northeast Severodonetsk and was trying to squeeze Ukrainian forces in the region to Lysychansk.

“The U.S. believes the Russians are trying to pinch off the far eastern elements of the Ukrainian forces that are basically positioned between Severodonetsk to north of Popasna,” said the official, who did not wish to be named without authorization to speak publicly about the matter.

[Mariner]

It looks like the battle for Donbas will be over soon.

[Nextrush]

Ukraine needs to move to the back pages now.

[gibsonguy]

I’m thinking Russia takes a third of Ukraine and calls it a win.

[Travis McGee]

Follows a typical MSM pattern.

Lie, lie, lie, then when the truth is going to be forced out, get ahead of it just in time to not look like total fools and stooges.

[TokarevM57]

...I believe that is already happening....it was until recently that all we saw on he evening news were talking heads from someplace in Ukraine; now, not much of anything...the abortion rights [sic] crowd and mass shootings seem to have taken over...

[Pxzftrnqfrn]

Translation: Our lies could only last so long. Now reality is taking over.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

So much for the $40 billion in aid. At least Zelensky can retire comfortably, if he can get out the country alive.

[FLT-bird]

So FreshPrince.....as I was saying........

[exinnj]

The gloating of Putinoids here is sickening.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

The gloating of Putinoids here is sickening.

And Zeloids as well.

You've both been rooting for dictators and drinking the koolaid.

[AAABEST]

Same with FReeper fools and stooges,

And all the media fools and stooges.

And our elected fools and stooges who just pissed away 40 billion.

And our fool/stooges war mongers like that ugly POS general Keene.

And the NWO fools and stooges who got way more people killed than necessary- and caused global strife.

They should all be made to pay.

[AAABEST]

Keep weeping, like some jilted b***h.

It’s like music.

[Fido969]

Russia won’t last another two weeks (in March)

Russia is getting beaten badly by the Ukrainian Army

Russia is running out of gas

Russia is running out of materiel

Russia is running out of troops.

... Gonna have to change the narrative.

[Republican Wildcat]

Something is going right for Russia literally months later and now you guys claim it is proof you were “right all along”?

You are really going do that?

[Nextrush]

How convenient but the Drive-Bys will be Drive-Bys.

[MercyFlush]

“It looks like the battle for Donbas will be over soon.”

Naw, this is just Hitler’s last offensive before the Allies cross the Rhein.

[Kazan]

FreshPrince isn’t the only one that has been living in denial. We can Speedy in Texas, Crons, UMCRevMon, MercyFlush and marcusmaximus to the list.

[freeandfreezing]

Something is going right for Russia literally months later and now you guys claim it is proof you were “right all along”?

The pro-Putin crew is desperate for some kind of victory. They started out claiming they would capture the whole country. And then they would cut off the entire east of Ukraine. And now the capture of a couple of villages near a main road is a big deal.

The Russian army may make progress for a while, and they have shown themselves experts at shelling civilians and wrecking cities, but ultimately their attack will fail.

[BeauBo]

"It looks like the battle for Donbas will be over soon."

This is just the battle to encircle the small cities of Luhansk Oblast - Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. It has been going on all month.

Then comes the grind of urban warfare, to actually occupy those cities. Each of them had a population of about 100K, so their combined urban area is about half of Mariupol.

The other Oblast of the Donbas (Donetsk) has significantly more terrain under Ukrainian control.

The size of the bite that Russia has been trying to take has been getting progressively smaller over time. To put it in perspective, the current Operation to encircle those cities, coming up from Poposna, is about half of of that labeled June in the graphic below:

[ModelBreaker]

“Russia takes a third of Ukraine and calls it a win.”

And a big win it would be. Control of the sea of Azov. Land bridge to Crimea. Control of large oil and gas reserves. Huge strategic victories.

The only important issue remaining is whether Russia decides it wants Odessa too and control of the entire northern shore of the Black Sea.