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Ukraine’s counter-offensive is failing, with no easy fixes
The UK Telegraph ^ | July 21, 2023 | Richard Kemp

Posted on 07/21/2023 11:22:24 PM PDT by AmericaFirst101

With no significant breakthrough after six weeks, it is worth asking whether Ukraine’s counter-offensive can ever succeed, for it certainly doesn’t look to be succeeding now.

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The question to be asked is: are the Ukrainians prepared – militarily, politically, financially – to carry out months and potentially years of these (frontal assault) attacks to penetrate 1914-18 style defensive belts of tank traps, barbed wire, minefields, bunkers and trench lines? The UK Ministry of Defence has described these Russian fortifications as “some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world”.

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Ukraine is already outnumbered in every military capability. Its dire shortage of armoured vehicles means that Kyiv is approaching this counter-offensive with immense caution. Many Nato-supplied tanks and infantry fighting vehicles were knocked out during early probing attacks and they are consequently holding most of the rest of these assets back to avoid too many more losses. That is understandable – yet only a bold, concerted assault with massed armour is likely to overcome the Russians.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Russia; Ukraine; War
KEYWORDS: failure; foreignaffairs; richardkemp; war; weak
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To: AmericaFirst101

Biden is bankrolling World War One Redux in 2024.

Why would he do that-?? $$$


21 posted on 07/22/2023 4:39:36 AM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: AmericaFirst101

I have believed that NATO equipment and fighting style have largely depended upon at least parity, if not air superiority, over the battlefield. Simultaneously, I have felt that the west didn’t want to furnish Ukraine an Air Force, for fear of the destabilizing effects and some of the effectiveness of electronic warfare as well as SAM. More sinister, there seems to be a group that wants the war to continue as long as possible to deplete Russia and profit from weapons sales. Then there remains large swaths of multiple governments, in intelligence, that gain power, money, and pensions.

No average everyday citizen of Ukraine, Russia, or the United States has seen security or improvement in their lives. Like something from the Middle Ages, warlords, the rich, and ‘kings’ battle for control, while ‘peasants die’, and the remaining are tax burdened.

Russian path to victory involves a formula of continued trench warfare, death, until elections (potentially) change leadership in the west. Quick advances would only trigger better armed Ukrainians.

Ukraine path to victory is an effective Air Force, heavy in ground attack aircraft. Obviously more artillery and de-mining equipment. With this, large breakouts and movement is probable.

I feel that neither of these paths is realistic, peaceful settlement seems wisest for all parties. The problem blocking peace are 1) those profiting from the war 2) those that will be exposed after the war 3) those that have benefitted from local invasion financially in the past 4) those that cannot recognize that Russia has a long history and wants security as well 5) those to afraid of compromise.

After 500 days, the process looks much like Verdun, but the world threat and futility of both sides continues. China laughs….


22 posted on 07/22/2023 4:43:10 AM PDT by Pete Dovgan
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To: Paladin2

And then Kiev becomes a crater...


23 posted on 07/22/2023 4:50:31 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: Paladin2
--- "The BiXiden Crime family, Linda Grahmnasty and Pierre Delecto likely benefit."

Don't forget the Pelosi and Kerry kids were assisting in the pre-war ripoff of the Ukrainian people.

24 posted on 07/22/2023 4:57:08 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: AmericaFirst101

Hey Zelenskyy, play us a little tune on your pecker piano, will ya?


25 posted on 07/22/2023 4:59:21 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper
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To: Krosan

It isn’t going to work Krosan. Neocons and leftists expected a different result than our last 60 years of lost wars and the military industrial complex under Potato Head Biden isn’t going to deliver a different result.


26 posted on 07/22/2023 5:01:31 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (Biden will mess up the Ukraine worse than Afghanistan.)
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To: Neanderthal

Unless we are in this war for sex trafficked ukranian women and girls for our evil, perverted establishment this war is winning nothing.


27 posted on 07/22/2023 5:04:10 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (Biden will mess up the Ukraine worse than Afghanistan.)
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To: HighSierra5

Amid all the propaganda from all sides and the various statements made in support of either the Ukes or the Ruskies, I’d say your comment holds the most water. The clear winner here is the military industrial complex. That little goodie President Eisenhower warned us about.

And I may add, the clear loser here is the American tax payer.


28 posted on 07/22/2023 5:32:38 AM PDT by redfreedom (Joseph Stalin: "It does not mater how anyone votes, how votes are counted is what matters.")
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To: wildcard_redneck

It’s going to work even with Biden slow-dripping the weapons. ATACMS would certainly help Ukraine, but if Biden forbids these then the Ukrainians will find a way to do it with only Storm Shadow’s and SCALP-s.

I also don’t agree with your view of America. America has a history of winning. The great Ronald Reagan did the last great part of lifting it to it - How about a new strategy, we win they lose, he said.

Sending just a tiny amount of military gear to Ukraine means the Russian Army gets destroyed at a bargain price and therein lies the road to peace.


29 posted on 07/22/2023 5:41:06 AM PDT by Krosan
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To: Krosan
--- "America has a history of winning."

In these last decades, Clinton-forward, what wars have we won such that a permanent peace or stable government was established where we won? The question is in earnest.

30 posted on 07/22/2023 5:50:47 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: JustaTech
Such a program would be very costly for NATO in terms of pilots, planes and political capitol.

May it never come to open war for the sake of our men and women who serve.

But if it does, strikes will be outside Russia also - including our aircraft carriers.

31 posted on 07/22/2023 5:53:15 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

Bob Dole lit a fire under Clinton’s ass so he was finally forced to sort out the Balkans.

George Bush brought peace to most of Europe by overseeing the acceptance of the Eastern countries, who desperately wanted to be in NATO.

Obama was a huge step backward. He drew a red line and then did nothing when a tin pot dictator Assad crossed it.

The job isn’t finished yet. There is a rogue state called Russia and they need to be sorted out too.


32 posted on 07/22/2023 5:56:12 AM PDT by Krosan
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To: Paladin2

Smart. This will create even more massive profits for the defense industry along with the contractors who have to deal with the nuclear fallout!


33 posted on 07/22/2023 5:59:09 AM PDT by Tea Party Terrorist (Eat the Rich)
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To: Krosan
An interesting reply. So no assertion about wars being won in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Yemen and more?

"George Bush brought peace to most of Europe by overseeing the acceptance of the Eastern countries, who desperately wanted to be in NATO?" Europe was not at war with itself in that time. George Bush also brought Afghanistan into our twenty-year adventure which ended with Biden's idiotic withdrawal.

As to Clinton with Dole's participation being "forced to sort out the Balkans," you do know that the "war" there was bombing Serbia into giving up Kosovo to the Albanian Muslim population. And that "sorting out" isn't sorted out?

One reads in 2023, "Kosovo: Why is violence flaring up again?"

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/62382069

Or "Understanding the crisis in Kosovo"

Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/01/understanding-the-crisis-in-kosovo_6028725_4.html

What is there about the Balkans that is "sorted out?"

34 posted on 07/22/2023 6:08:55 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Krosan

From Wiki:

The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin.

Unit cost $1,476,000 FY2022
No. built 3,700

Mass 3,690 pounds
Length 13 feet
Diameter 24 inches
Wingspan 55 inches
Maximum firing range 190 mi
Flight ceiling 160,000 ft
Maximum speed In excess of Mach 3
Guidance system GPS-aided inertial navigation guidance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM-140_ATACMS


35 posted on 07/22/2023 6:25:54 AM PDT by Brian Griffin (ARTICLE I SECTION 2....The President...may require the opinion, in writing)
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To: Krosan

“There is a rogue state called Russia and they need to be sorted out too.”

Russia has more people than Germany.

Russia has more people than Japan.

Russia has more people than South Korea.

Russia has more natural resources than all of them put together.

Russia can be a major industrial power.

Putin is trying to Make Russia Great again. This has widespread support in Russia, from the Duma on down.

Is the man who wants to Make America Great Again been hit with another legal roadblock today?


36 posted on 07/22/2023 6:38:42 AM PDT by Brian Griffin (ARTICLE I SECTION 2....The President...may require the opinion, in writing)
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To: FreedomPoster
I thought Moscow was about to fall!
Was I lied to!?

YES!

The only thing our government does well is chronic LYING!

37 posted on 07/22/2023 6:41:17 AM PDT by icclearly
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To: AmericaFirst101

Remember - the Maginot line actually worked as intended. The Germans only broke through after the French pulled out most of the trained troops. For that matter, the largely 19th century defenses at Metz were able to hold off Patton for 3 months, and the fortified cities on France’s Atlantic coast held out for almost a full year and were never taken by storm.

Fixed defenses have gotten a bad rap in recent decades but they can still be effective.


38 posted on 07/22/2023 6:46:00 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: AmericaFirst101

“The UK Telegraph”

Yea, RIGHT. They’ve been in Putin’s pocket since the beginning the war! Otherwise they wouldn’t allow this obvious FAKE NEWS article to be written.

...by the way, has Ukraine made it to Moscow’s suburbs? - CNN said they were closing in.


39 posted on 07/22/2023 6:52:05 AM PDT by BobL (Trump has all the right Enemies; DeSantis has all the wrong Friends)
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To: Paladin2
30 seconds over Putin’s Dacha seems like the only proposal

The Ukraine war implicates Russia's vital interests. Why do you presume that killing Putin ends the war?

Putin's offensive scheme has been quite moderate, compared to what his probable replacement(s) will carry out.

Putin had a naive, almost American faith in "shock and awe" collapsing the state. But failure hasn't led to surrender, any more that the enormous Soviet losses in the first 18 months of Barbarossa did.

Russian armament production is now on line, they can take 10:1 losses in the field and stay even (but in fact Ukraine's losses are unsustainable), the war is over.

Our 30-second attention span people can't tolerate any war objective than "Get Osama, get Saddam, get Qadaffi, get Assad, get Soleimani, get Putin" when in fact these people are risen to the top as representatives of broad national trends and goals, and can be replaced by perhaps dozens of similar and possibly more effective leaders.

40 posted on 07/22/2023 6:52:52 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Make the GOP illegal - everything else will follow)
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