Replies

1. It was not a full-scale invasion by Russia. It was very limited in scope based off of bad assumptions.

2. Ukraine is not at all united in not negotiating with Moscow.

3. The end game is very, very much in sight.

Based on those three lies, this article has no credibility.

Salavida

1. It was not a full-scale invasion by Russia. It was very limited in scope based off of bad assumptions.

A simple glance at the Russian invasion of February 2022 proves you wrong

They went straight for Kyiv with their elite paratroopers with an aim to decapitate Ukraine. They also immediately targeted all areas that were easily accessible to them by land or sea.

It was a full-scale invasion - one in which Putin thought he would get a walkover like Crimea in 2014

2. Ukraine is not at all united in not negotiating with Moscow.

Ukraine and all the Ukrainians I've met who are or were refugees here in south-east Poland have said that they do not trust Putin to not come back to attack in a few years time. Ukraine has said it is open to peace discussions, but Putin says that can only happen AFTER Ukraine gives up the four provinces he grabbed - that is not negotiations.

3. The end game is very, very much in sight. -- for Russia, the end game has changed from a. Capture Kyiv to b. capture the black sea coast to c. Capture left-bank Ukraine (i.e. east of the Dnipro to d. keep what it has as of January 2023

Sala - to your first false point about "it was not a full-scale invasion"

Russia opened up the invasion of Ukraine with an airborne assault on Hostomel airport, just outside of Kyiv. The unit tasked by capturing the airport was 331st Airborne Regiment of the VDV.

The unit was effectively wiped out, with the commanding officer and his second in command dead. Between 200 and 400 men died when either one or two planes carrying soldiers to the airport were shot down out of the sky. There were also heavy losses on the ground, as Ukrainians fought to retake the airport.

The Russian forces around Kyiv suffered a total failure to achieve all military objectives while simultaneously enduring staggering numbers of casualties in an unbelievably short window of time, including the utter destruction of the once-vaunted Russian VDV Airborne forces, which have lost complete Combat effectiveness— for the sum total of diddlysquat Russian military gains, anywhere in Ukraine.

The northern invasion spearhead to capture Kyiv was formed of the most capable Russian combat formations, including the majority of the best units in the entire Russian Armed forces and yet it was completely decimated, to the point that these units couldn’t continue to fight effectively.

The Russian push in the North of Ukraine was a disaster for Putin, it exposed the incompetence of the Russian military

Calling this a tactical distraction or military feint, is a joke. In reality, it was nothing short of a catastrophic Russian military disaster that will echo for decades to come.

“We have significant losses of troops and it is a huge tragedy for us.” - Dmitry Peskov, Spokesman for Putin, in Moscow, 07/04/22.

Who sends their elite formations into a feint, I wonder? Especially if that feint is so ill prepared the entire elite unit loses combat effectiveness and needs to be reconstituted? Who uses paratroopers to hold ground anyway, they’re notoriously bad at it.

Russia attempted a ‘100 hours to Baghdad’ at the start of the invasion to capture Kyiv. Once they had either captured Zelensky or caused him to flee a puppet government would have been installed.

However, the old Soviet military was a hollow shell of its Cold War strength. Having badly trained troops and ancient badly maintained equipment caused the capture of Kyiv to fail. And this the current meat grinder.