Posted on 11/17/2023 10:56:28 AM PST by Chad C. Mulligan
Russia might have the advantage in numbers, but that’s it
their weapons are inferior, geography is the same for Ukraine, history is irrelevant, and Ukraine has more staying power
Russia can’t even advance 100 miles from their borders after 21 months
Russia can’t even advance 100 miles from their borders after 21 months
********************
Your assumption is they intended a complete conquest and occupation of Ukraine.
They didnt have the capability of that course of action, nor did they even try.
Stalemate and a piecemeal approach is what’s happening now.
I was told several months ago that "They’ve just been given more F-16s than they had MiG-29s and Su-27s"...
I know people who have left Russia and moved to other countries just to escape the effects of this war with Ukraine.
“Investigation: Russia Violates Promises Of Pay, Pardons For Contract Soldiers”
Ukraine is still Ukraine after two years of invasion by the biggest country in the world. If that isn’t winning nothing is. That invading Russian Nazis have managed to genocidally erase bits of the Ukrainian nation matters little in the end. Potemkin Russia has lost its Super Power status. Forever.
“Hey, Yuri, did you hear we’re at war with NATO!”
“Astounding, Ivan, how are we doing?”
“We’ve lost 80,000 men, the storied 1st Guards Tank Army has been wiped out, more than 1,000 of our latest tanks are burned out hulks, we have to get old T62s out of storage to stay in the war, we’ve lost more generals in war than any nation ever, our flag ship is at the bottom of the Black Sea, we’re losing airbases hundreds of kilometers behind lines, land it took us 3 months to take was taken back from us in 3 days, our fleet has retreated from Sevastopol, and we can’t come within 300 kilometers of Ukraine’s coast without getting one of our few remaining warships blown up!”
“That’s terrible, Ivan! How is NATO doing?”
“Oh, they haven’t even started to fight.”
They're either stupid, or lying - or both.
And now the rasputitsa is here to put the kibosh on their "offensive operations".
IMO integrating Link-11 or especially Link-16 into the UKR command and control environment is a formidable obstacle. If/when UKR can do that they will essentially be a NATO-integrated military.
The Elite Division same as the Meat (Z-) Division.
Because the MSM and some freepers said so.... see?
Consider this:
The —(((military objectives)))— of Ukraine were to stop Russia from seizing the Eastern ethnic Russia areas. Everyone knew that is what Russia will go for, especially the industrial area in the Donbas and the port city of Mariupol with it’s steel production.
Ukraine has NOT accomplished their (military objective), but Russia has. Today 18% of what was Ukraine in 2020 is Russian. Likewise, the Industrial area of the Donbas and port city of Mariupol are under Russian control.
Here is an up to date map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36a7f6a6f5a9448496de641cf64bd375
The —(((political objective)))— was for Ukraine to join NATO. That was the ultimate cause of this war: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-zelenskiy-holding-talks-with-biden-adviser-says-2021-12-09/
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, nor will they be for the foreseeable future, hence their political objective has not been met, but Russia has achieved theirs in blocking Ukraine from joining NATO.
***How is failing in achieving your stated military and political objectives, while the other side achieves theirs, victory?
As to the rest.
Sadly for Ukraine, when they gambled with NATO and didn’t back down, they also lost any chance they had with full EU membership which was entirely in their reach before the war.
If you want to compare who is damaged more from this war, you might want to look at Ukraine’s GDP which shrunk by 37% since wars begin (far worse than Russia), 27% inflation (far worse than Russia), debt which is exploding (far worse than Russia). Have you looked at the demographics of Ukraine lately? That was a country of 41 million living in Ukraine before the war. It’s now a country of 28 million living in Ukraine today. They have broken every record when it comes to demographic decline. Do you know what the birth rate is for Ukraine? 1.3. Russia, 1.825.
Who do you think suffered more infrastructure damage? Russia or Ukraine? Do you think St Petersburg is without water, power, Internet? Do you think it’s Russia that has had major damage across the entire nation in regards to transportation, communications, etc?
While Russia is waging this war, Ukraine today is insolvent, not able to pay for their civil servants and retirements were it not for EU and US money infusions.
Sure, this is merely an argument of who gets hurt more, but the bottom line is that your economic victory argument is a self defeating one since Ukraine is FAR worse off than Russia in that aspect.
We can't just give them planes. The Russians have an advanced air defense system so they can shoot down the planes flying over their territory.
I'm going with door number 1 Monty.
You’re welcome. 🤣
Aircraft will be lost. People will die. The thing is, the proximity of the fighting is going to make air defenses visible and susceptible when they fire to even artillery. Tactical bombing of artillery positions, trench lines, and mine fields, would change it from stagnation to Ukraine advancement. The war ends when Russia is off Ukrainian soil, Ukraine doesn’t need to overfly Russia.
The u.s. will give mentally ill transvestites $100,000 to enlist.
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