Posted on 11/18/2023 5:19:49 AM PST by McGruff
Ukrainian forces say they have secured several positions on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river, and their leaders have been keen to talk up their progress.
The marines have spoken of gaining a foothold on "several bridgeheads" on the left bank, as they try to push the Russians back in a bid to protect civilians on the opposite side of the river from constant Russian shelling.
...
The few hundred soldiers are outnumbered and surrounded in three directions, yet have managed to dig in for the best part of a month. This isn't the thousands needed to potentially liberate swathes of territory which Kyiv so desperately wants to do.
The front line has barely moved for a year and Ukraine finds itself in a tricky cycle. It needs Western help to deliver battlefield progress, but it also needs battlefield progress to convince western helpers.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Still going!
Still dying for nothing.
No peace deal yet
because there will have to be some sort of guarantee of Ukraine’s future security, to prevent inevitable future Russian attacks
so Ukraine will probably have to be in NATO (Moldova too)
Just like George Washington’s troops were “dying for nothing” in 1776-83
uh, except saving their country ...
and you must doing Krokodil, like Putin is
The Ukrainian military said it had taken a sliver of Russian-controlled land, a move that might offer some hope but was unlikely to lead to a rapid breakthrough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/world/europe/ukraine-dnipro-river-raid-russia.html
This is strange. The Ukrainian news I saw yesterday made it sound like the breakout from Normandy. I guess not?
However, there is a salient that penetrates the Russian defenses through which two armored battalions have moved
Still going nowhere....
except towards Russia
The west bank is high ground with the Dnipro River next to it.
Across the river, there is typically 2 to 3 km of marsh before the ground rises. This marshland was flooded when the Kakhova Dam was breached. It has now dried out enough for the Ukrainians to attempt to occupy it.
The main Russian lines are further back. They can still command the river crossing with artillery and drones, as well as shell the west bank.
Redefining Success in Ukraine
A New Strategy Must Balance Means and Ends
By Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan
Ukraine's counteroffensive appears to have stalled, just as wet and cold weather brings to a close the second fighting season in Kyiv’s effort to reverse Russian aggression. At the same time, the political willingness to continue providing military and economic support to Ukraine has begun to erode in both the United States and Europe. These circumstances necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal of the current strategy that Ukraine and its partners are pursuing.
Such a reassessment reveals an uncomfortable truth: namely, that Ukraine and the West are on an unsustainable trajectory, one characterized by a glaring mismatch between ends and the available means. Kyiv’s war aims—the expulsion of Russian forces from Ukrainian land and the full restoration of its territorial integrity, including Crimea—remain legally and politically unassailable. But strategically they are out of reach, certainly for the near future and quite possibly beyond.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/redefining-success-ukraine
‼️Breaking:
🇺🇦 Possible Coup in Ukraine
According to Zelensky, Russia is attempting to orchestrate a coup in Kiev. The Ukrainian dictator stressed that it's not safe anymore in the country and the west seems to have turned it's back.
Ukrainian "intelligence" claims that in… pic.twitter.com/UVakANdayw— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) November 17, 2023
Why, sir, these "slivers of land" are far, far bigger than anything in WWII, We have the enthusiasts to thank for this clarification ( < s a r c > ).
As the BBC notes, "Ukrainian forces say...."
Wiki states, "In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over by the belligerent forces."
If the BBC report is to be accepted, then "The few hundred soldiers are outnumbered and surrounded in three directions, yet have managed to dig in for the best part of a month. This isn't the thousands needed to potentially liberate swathes of territory which Kyiv so desperately wants to do."
Not a "bridgehead" for a native English speaker.
An interesting aspect to this is the "provenance" of the information. "Ukrainian forces say" → BBC → MSN.
Reading to the bottom of the article ---
From his position, as a rank-and-file soldier on the front line, Denys has seen a horrifying human cost on his own side of the incremental breakthroughs in recapturing territory. "The commander throws anyone - cooks or drivers - into the furnace. They simply die there in their hundreds.""Those commanders will have to be arrested and tried after the war," he says.
It won’t be the Kremlin doing it. Wasn’t Gates just there?
Something smells. As usual with Ukraine I might add.
This weasel Zelensky is selling out his country. The weasel is going to flee soon with the cash.
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