“If they are then I believe in spite of Ukie courage, NATO weapons, Russian blunders that Putin gets his dream, the entire Black Sea coadt all the way to Moldava.”
Correct.
And the Battle of Odessa will be the stuff of military legend for decades to come. Russia is doing what the US always believed is correct, but didn’t have the courage to pursue:
When military forces embed within populated cities, those forces are still legitimate targets under the rules of war...a nonsense construct to begin with. It’s likely Russia will surround Odessa with artillery and build new train track to the firing positions to keep the ammo coming.
Every tube can fire once per minute indefinitely. As few as 1,000 tubes can fire a million 152mm rounds in less than 18 hours.
I believe Russia will present Ukraine with that ultimatum in Odessa...once they have all forces in position later this summer.
Let us hope Ukraine surrenders Odessa.
Ukraine without the Black Sea a just a big Austria without the scenert and the opera house. One reason I tjink they’ll fight. Putin will likely win but what he wins will look like Germany in 1945 and no Marshall Plan to rebuild.