More air defense of any kind is good. I don't know how well Patriots will work on the ballistic missiles, they will work on most other threats. I hope the deployment of laser-guided APKWS rockets will get hurried up. Those should do well on the Shaheed-136 and if true, the An-2 biplanes getting converted to improvised cruise missiles. The sooner the air defenses get increased, the more costly it becomes for Russia to launch weekly to biweekly missile attacks.
As for Bakhmut, I hope Russia does not capture it, if it falls it falls. Ukraine has had months to prepare for this. Now matter how much Russian shills like Alexander Mercouris will crow about it and act like Russia winning, after taking Bakhmut Russia is not going to go anywhere fast.
ДСНС України [State Emergency Service of Ukraine]
Heroes of Bakhmut!
•Who if not us?
This is an axiom for those who have remained to serve in the night shift in Bakhmut and despite the constant threat of not returning from the next call, again and again goes to help people.
• It’s about our desperate rescuers who are under constant shelling to extinguish fires and deliver humanitarian aid to the city residents - water, bread and even baby food.
• Yes, the other day, during another delivery of food and water to citizens whose house the day before a fire broke out after a Russian missile hit, the rescuers of the SSNS came under fire from the occupiers. The wreckage damaged a car and our guys fortunately were not injured.
However, even such a development of events - to see the arrival of a missile two meters away - does not stop those whose duty to protect people as long as there is strength.
In order to support personnel warehouse and identify the urgent needs of the unit, this week the head of the SSNS Sergey Kruk visited Bakhmut and awarded rescuers with distinguished honors.
https://www.facebook.com/MNS.GOV.UA
Details: https://bit.ly/3BEE06B
“after taking Bakhmut Russia is not going to go anywhere fast.”
This analyst (@Tendar on Twitter), thinks that the commitment of so many Russian resources to capture Bakhmut, is politically driven from the Kremlin, rather than driven by Military Strategy.
@Tendar
“Instead of trying to encircle Bakhmut and slowly taking it, the Russian High command seems to have decided to launch a frontal attack on the city itself, proving my suspicion that Putin wants the city as fast as possible even when this means highest rate of own casualties.
It is the Russian version of shock and awe where everything is thrown into the meat grinder in order to overwhelm the enemy because there is no better option. This tactic is as reckless as it is desperate. You chose this only when you have a very limited time window.
I believe that the haste comes from two reasons.
1.) The Russian reserves are limited. You cannot sustain such a high intensity operation for a long time.
2.) Winter hasn’t fully arrived yet. The Russian army is not ready for it. A snow storm would scythe them entirely.
Putin assumes that if he can achieve a victory in Bakhmut that it can be presented to the Russian people while also offering the operational pause from a position of (perceived) strength. It would also serve as Potemkin village for the devastating defeats of the last months.
Putin’s problem, however, is that this is extremely risky. Bakhmut is not only heavily fortified but also easy to supply from West and North. The city could be effectively defended even if the East and South falls to the Russian advance.
If Ukrainians delay them long enough then both problems will catch up. Russians will run out of troops, ammunition, and will be caught by the winter, similar to what happened to the German troops in Moscow in December 1941. Temperatures will fall in 7 days, considerably. (My comment: This was posted on Dec 9, 2022, and temps increased a bit from that forecast, but will inevitably drop to hard freezing soon).
But even when we assume that Russians might take Bakhmut, what would be the aftermath? If Ukrainians do not accept a ceasefire then Russian troops would find themselves instantly being forced to defend their hardly taken city. It is unlikely that they would be able to do that.
Bottom line is that whether Russians will or will not take Bakhmut that it won’t improve their situation. In the contrary, the waste of their troops and reserves will hamper them to effectively defend the occupied areas, opening up more counteroffensives as witnessed before.”