Against all odds, the Ukrainian counteroffensive is inching forward

Jerusalem Post ^ | July 15, 2023 | Jonathan Spyer

[devere]

...In early July, I set off eastward from Odesa to the Donbas, with the intention of taking a close look at this third phase of the war. I spent time with infantry, armored and artillery units in the frontline areas, and with various support elements. I concentrated mainly on the Bakhmut front, where the Ukrainians are currently making slow and grinding progress, reversing Russia’s declaration of the full conquest of the town on May 20.

Overall, as has been widely reported, the current counteroffensive has failed to make the rapid progress that Ukrainians and Western observers had hoped for.

So far, there have been no large-scale breaches of the Russian lines by Ukrainian armor, followed by a rush to deepen and widen the gap. Instead, artillery duels are taking place along the 1,200 km. frontline, with small and incremental gains recorded by the Ukrainians...

Despite the largely static nature of the fronts, this is a war that the Ukrainians at present appear to be winning. The latest figures suggest that Kyiv’s forces, using modern Western equipment and methods, have destroyed four times as many Russian howitzers as they have themselves lost...

Barring a major shift in this picture in the remaining two months or so that are available before the autumn rains begin, the prospect appears to be for an ongoing, grinding, war of attrition in eastern Ukraine.

For Ilya, Oleksandr, Oleg, and thousands like them – mobilized civilians crewing one of the most combat-hardened forces now in existence anywhere – it seems that it will still be a long fight ahead.

[devere]

A recent mildly optimistic account of the war by an eyewitness.

[EEGator]

Against all odds? That wasn’t the initial narrative.

Anyway, Yellen says dead white people is good business.

[dfwgator]

Yes, they love those Brother Wars, with whites killing each other.

[blueunicorn6]

How many Ukrainians must die to cover up Democrat crimes in Ukraine?

[EEGator]

All.

[AndyJackson]

inching.

I don't remember that being the narrative either. I seem to remember words like Russia collapsing.

[Mount Athos]

I am hearing from friends in Kiev that there is real terror now in Ukraine, many recruitment age men are hiding and refusing to go out for fear of being grabbed on the streets and thrown into a van for the meat grinder.

Many families are right now desperately trying to save their sons.

Men in Ukraine are now not even allowed to leave their city without permission from the military, a new rule.

The press and governments in the west seem not to care one bit about these tens of thousands of Ukrainian men, and pretend that all Ukrainians are very enthusiastic to die for this proxy war.

There will be no more elections in Ukraine, Zelensky is now president for life.

[EEGator]

Wladimir Klitschko needs to bare knuckle punch Zelensky in the temple…

[Sacajaweau]

They've been stopping them from leavung since the beginning of the war...taking them out of line and away from their fleeing family...

Then they present him with a uniform and food for a day...and put him on a truck aimed for the front. 8 million have left...probably more...

[Jim Noble]

Blinken, Nuland, and Yellen - all with family ties to, and ancestors from, Western Ukraine / Eastern Poland, all carrying out OUR foreign policy based on ancient ethnic or tribal hatreds that most Americans do not share.

It’s a disgrace.

[EEGator]

It’s criminal.

[Salohcin]

The reason Russians are killing Ukrainians is so they can uncover Democrat crimes? Do you really want to go with that narrative? 🙄

[lasereye]

Yellen does foreign policy?

[Rockingham]

In modern warfare, battles often have relatively static phases. That may persist — or a side can suddenly collapse, as the Germans did after months of tough fighting in Normandy.

[dfwgator]

Now the sun’s gone to hell and
The moon’s riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it’s written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

-Dire Straits

[No name given]

Brass knuckles would work too. Or we could just put Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in the same room together and let the two of them fight it out.

[Mount Athos]

Yes, but there is a new rule now that they cannot even leave their city without permission from the military.

This new rule even applies to men who are a couple years younger than the recruitment age.

[crz]

“I am hearing from friends in Kiev that there is real terror now in Ukraine”

With good reason. Since the Biden cabal has decided to supply cluster munitions which will continue to kill even after this conflict is over, the Russians have moved their newer TOS-2 thermobaric systems on site and are hitting the Ukrainians with those.

There is NO hiding from those things. Even if they drop those yards away, the blast will KILL everything within the blast zone. No trench, no bunker, no armored vehicle is safe from them.
Convey that to them.
They might be better to give up if forced into the Ukrainian military against their will.

Past time for this conflict to end. Thanks to the Biden cabal and his globalists/military industrial complex, Boris Johnson went over and forced the Ukies to reject the deal they had with Russia a year ago last March.

[EEGator]

But it’s good for the economy…

[wildcard_redneck]

“Advancing slowly” in trench warfare is, by its very nature, a defeat. With the Russian advantage of playing defense while under cover of trenches fortifications the Ukrainians are paying a very heavy price for very little. There appears to be no want of fuel or food in Russia so we can assume the production of weapons is going full tilt. This war is over except for the propaganda.