Staying warm and dry I hope.
Posted on 12/12/2022 1:33:15 PM PST by dennisw
NATO's head said earlier this month that Russia may want the fighting to slow, seeking a "freeze" in the fighting so it can better prepare for a bigger assault next year.
"What we see now is Russia is actually trying to have some kind of 'freeze' of this war at least for a short period of time so they can regroup, repair, recover," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
"And then try to launch a bigger offensive next spring."
The UK Ministry of Defence predicted on Monday that Russian forces will not see any big gains over the winter, even as Ukraine said its own attacks would ramp up as the ground freezes.
The British defense ministry said in an intelligence update on Monday that "Russian ground forces are unlikely to make operationally significant advances within the next several months."
It added that Russia is likely still aiming to extend control over all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, with Russian military planners likely aiming to prioritise advancing deeper into Donetsk Oblast.
However, "Russia's strategy is currently unlikely to achieve its objectives: it is highly unlikely that the Russian military is currently able to generate an effective striking force capable of retaking these areas," it said.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Sunday that the weather turning freezing would make Ukraine's operations easier by hardening the ground.
He said Ukraine's army will resume "active counteroffensive actions" when the ground freezes and "becomes firmer for easier passage of equipment," CNN reported.
"The weather conditions, the transition from a dry autumn to a not-yet-freezing winter ... we encountered rain and very difficult conditions for attacks from either side."
"Therefore, we are taking advantage of the moment when the ground becomes firmer," Reznikov said, according to CNN.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
RE: it will probably not be able to take much territory in Ukraine for ‘the next several months’,
What happens after ‘the next several months’?
The translation here is that Russian and Ukrainian forces will hunker down for this winter. There will be artillery exchanges. A few minor battles. BUT the real action/war resumes in the Spring.
I agree with this.
Correction:
False in your opinion. All you have are your opinions. Who do you think you are? An all knowing, omnipotent Tsar, like Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) ?
Let’s all cheerlead for Putin! Putin is my hero! We should all kiss his ass!
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for December 12, 2022.
- Russia continues its war of attrition - focusing on exhausting and overwhelming critical Ukrainian defenses around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine/western Russia;
- Despite claims that Russian missile stockpiles are depleted, Russia continues carrying out regular, large-scale missile barrages against Ukrainian infrastructure;
- Latest US assistance package for Ukraine continues the trend of dwindling, inadequate support for Ukraine;
- US government procurement numbers over the course of the next 2-5 years indicates that at no time in the near future will the US be capable of producing let alone supplying Ukraine with the number of weapons and ammunition it requires;
- While Russian production data is not available, the fact that Russia’s stockpiles and military were configured for large-scale protracted and intense combat suggests its military industrial output is likewise configured for such demands;
- The Western media is now admitting that Ukraine can neither win, nor is there any moral imperative to ensure that it does...
Hmmm. “the training and tactical leadership required to conduct complex offensive operations does not exist inside Ukraine’s army” Maybe so, maybe not. Yet such a capability plainly does not exist in the Russian army.
“take much”?!? With no army, no equipment, no ammo and no hope, how can they take anything? I wish you’d get with the FR Biden spokespeople before you post this Putin stoogery. They’ll explain to you how Russia was beaten in April and has been totally beaten again each subsequent week.
Amen.
As Bannon says, “signal to noise.”
On all things US MIC/NATO/EU/Ukraine/Russia, Free Republic is almost all noise, no signal.
Time will tell, results will out.
Staying warm and dry I hope.
“How’s your bros doing in Bakhmut?”
Pretty well from all reports. Four months of being the main focus of the entire Russian Army, and yet the town has held.
And the Russians say, “Keep feeding your army into the insane meat-grinding machine.” Saves Russians the trouble of going out to find and destroy their enemies. Conservation of force that will be studied for generations. Mosquitos who will keep flying into the bug zapper light until there are no more of them.
You really should take the time to listen to the conversation between Colonel Douglas Macgregor and Dr. Michael Vlahos.
{Or, just stay in your bubble of sublime unconquerable ignorance, until it bursts.}
[I’m not really directing this to you, but lurkers who might read it. I know you are in the bubble.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIIM043x_FI&t=01s&ab_channel=DouglasMacgregor
Six days ago, you made the claim in this thread that Russia was out of drones (citing British sources):
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4114470/posts
_________
You are correct on that one. There had been no Russian drones over Ukraine for 5 weeks or so. So Russia had indeed run out of drones. But the Iranians replenished them. There was Russian drones action the day after the truthful article was published.
They were in the thick of our Presidential coup. Act of war!!!
Though I hate seeing Russia attacking Ukraine the thought that they’re Military is being destroyed is not good. Not good for Russia and Not good for Europe.
The Chinese Military also sees the weakness being shown by Russia and they are chomping at the bit just waiting to take out western Russia. There is No way that Russia will be able to defend its Western territories against a Chinese invasion without the Use of nuclear weapons.
I think Russia has more to fear from China than Taiwan does.
What I am anxious to see is whether Russia follows through on the big offensive that they have been preparing for since late summer. Or whether based on how successful they have been recently they just keep up the de-nazifying and de-militarizing for as long as Zelensky keeps feeding large numbers of additional troops into the grinder in his desperate bid to achieve some offensive victory in order to keep his “partners” on board.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”...:-) They may want to maintain their impressive manpower and material advantage in case NATO (read U.S.) makes the foolish decision to directly engage.
And now the fresh Nuland Neocon Gang provocation in Serbia adds a twist.
The weather is warmer in Crimea. So it would make sense for Ukraine to wait until Spring. Right now it is damp and muddy so it wouldn't make sense to try to seize Crimea right now.
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