Putin MIA for 3rd day in a row...
He should wait until they actually capture it. Because they haven’t yet.
Seems to be suckering Prigozhin into wasting more of his own troops.
I had in the past referred to this as a Civil war, in which we have interests in but don’t need to get kinetically involved in.
I was wrong, this is now a pissing contest.
Ukraine will run out of men before Russians do, but in any event both countries will be deeply wounded for years to come.
Russia may lose Asia east of the Urals. Ukraine will never get Crimea back, but both countries will be wide open to economic poachers.
Russia must be laughing at Ukrainians flooding the Bakhmut area with more troops to be chewed up by relentless Russian bombardment.
Why chase the Ukrainian Army when they are all rushing into the range of your guns?
Napoleon had this right: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
“would allow Moscow’s forces to mount further offensive operations deeper inside the country”
Except it’s spring now, which means the Russian vehicles will just get stuck in the mud and abandoned again if they try that. So maybe in 3 months, if they can hold on to their gains that long.
A totally predictable conflict wherever you have a mixture of regular army and mercenaries in the same campaign. It is the task of the high command and political authorities to keep those conflicts limited. Correct management will leave both sides unhappy, but still effective.
In his latest criticism, Prigozhin accused Shoigu of hobbling the Bakhmut offensive by not supplying his Wagner forces with enough ammunition.
Probably a valid complaint. Success for the mercenaries is a perceived failure for the regular army commanders and vice-versa. The political authorities have failed to properly manage the conflict else these complaints would never have been made in a public fashion.
The Wagner troops were being used as expendable ammunition in the Bakhmut campaign. They have run out of convicts to use in that role and are losing their more skilled fighters now. I believe the organization is being intentionally reduced so that it will not be seen as a potential threat to any of the poltical factions that control Russia.
If Bakhmut falls, the army will swoop in and claim the victory. If Bakhmut holds, the Wager group will take the blame.
Meh...a couple of Capos playing dozens.
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Russia has lopped off the arms and legs of the Ukrainians and President Zelensky and General Zalushny insist it is only a flesh wound. This absurdity would normally be great grist for a comedy sketch. But there is nothing humorous about this war, it is a profound tragedy. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are being sacrificed needlessly because NATO wants to use Ukraine as a proxy to fight Russia. And behind these horrendous casualties there are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian mothers, fathers and siblings mourning the loss of a loved one.
🇷🇺 advanced further in the south of the city.
🇷🇺 continue to secure areas of the eastern bank abandoned by 🇺🇦.