Posted on 07/14/2022 11:46:34 AM PDT by Dr. Franklin
Lt.Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the US Army in Europe, told Insider that Russia lacks the resources and capabilities to make significant advancements in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region — where the 20-week-long war has turned into a grinding campaign.
... Russia's arsenal of artillery and rockets is the "only advantage" that President Vladimir Putin's forces have right now and said this is reflected in attacks on Ukrainian defense positions and civilian areas, which cause lots of casualties.
A key to Ukrainian success will be to neutralize these weapons, he said. Without them, Russian victories will be hard to come by.
"It's all about firepower," Hodges said. "The ability to destroy or disrupt Russian firepower advantage is what's going to make the difference."
"Even with the huge advantage that the Russians have in terms of firepower, they've not been able to make meaningful progress over the past several weeks." Hodges said, adding that Russia has also failed to demonstrate "the ability to integrate air operations with ground operations."
Another issue Russia faces is a lack of military personnel. According to recent UK intelligence, this issue may force the Kremlin to recruit prisoners to fight on its behalf.
Hodges said, "the overall weakness of the Russians" can be told through their inability to break through the frontlines in eastern Ukraine and advance west toward major cities like Odesa, Mykolaiv, or Kyiv — the capital city that Putin's troops failed to capture in the early weeks of the war.
Since Russian forces retreated from Kyiv — a much sought-after conquest that Putin and Western intelligence predicted would fall in a matter of days after the February 24 invasion — the conflict has turned into a bloody and slow-moving affair in the Donbas region, with shifting frontlines and constant artillery exchanges.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Now waiting for the Russian trolls to appear to deny it.
Preliminary Ukraine ping.
Someone else can do the rest.
For the most part Russia has taken everything they tried for and haven’t been stopped.
Not really.
“For the most part Russia has taken everything they tried for and haven’t been stopped.”
They tried to take Kharkiv, and were stopped.
They tried to take Kiev, and were stopped.
They tried to take Sumy, and were stopped.
They tried to take Mykolaiv, and were stopped.
They tried to take Snake Island, and were stopped.
For the most part Russia has taken everything they tried for and haven’t been stopped.
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Vlad has just taken Siversk. Western MSM of course is not reporting that- yet.
They are to busy reporting Ukraine’s million man army BS. The taking of Siversk validates your statement- much to the disappointment of Biden’s Ukie war cheerleaders.
You’re right and that squares with the reports of Russian arms depots and storage sites blowing up the past month or two. Some of the ‘accidents’ like at the Perm Powder Plant were most likely the result of guerilla or special ops actions.
The real damage being done here is found in the fact that the Russians can’t replace these factories.
It is now a war of logistics. Both sides have “long” supply lines. Ukraine through NATO and Russia via distance.
There are now only three logistic fronts: weapons (tanks, artillery, air support etc), ammo (bullets, artillery shells, grenades, etc) and men (food, clothing, will to fight, trigger fingers, etc)
The side that runs out of any one of those three .... looses.
Russia already tried shock and awe and failed- type 1 battle
Maneuver and engagement - Type 2 battle is rapidly falling apart
Static lines and entrenchment - type 3 battle is becoming more likely
There will be a revolt if Putin forces real Russian boys to go fight in Ukraine. So Putin will continue to give huge bonuses to poor ethnic minorities such as Buryats and Dagestanis to go fight in Ukraine.
Laughable propaganda.
“Russia lacks the resources and capabilities to make significant advancements in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region”
Right. Russia just got control of all of Luhansk Oblast and is advancing forward in Donetsk Oblast. That is, Russia appears well on its way to taking control of all of the Donbass region.
At some point, people are going to realize that they can’t write and fantasize themselves to imagined “victory” on the battlefield.
Stories like The Ghost Of Kiev and The Snake Island Resisters are fun and good for morale, but they don’t hold up in the end.
They wont stop. They were laughing at us when we boogied out of Afghan thanks to a certain senile Uncle Brandon, and they dont want to be in the same position.
Unequal countries will never fight on equal footing I mean that’s just stupid
Russia is no where near full mobilization.
Russia has taken 20% of Ukraine despite endless money and weapons from NATO and Uncle Sucker.
Look at videos of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and you’d never know there was a war going on.
Ukraine has lots of personnel and a sprinkling of superior weapons but lacks training for most of their potential troops and lacks low tech heavy weapons.
Russia has lots of low tech heavy weapons but lacks motivated troops and flexible logistics.
Ukraine’s training difficulties can be solved with time and their lack of lower tech heavy weapons can be solved by NATO countries if those countries so choose.
Russia’s lack of motivated troops can be solved if the west screws up.
If you read Russian sources, they constantly claim they are in a limited war. They are not going USA-style “shock and awe,” and are being particularly cautious, because these people are their slavic/Russian brothers, and they will rule and control these areas some day. They would love the Zelensky Government to collapse, but that’s not happening, so they will go for a long fight if necessary.
Something can be said for that - the lights are still on all over Ukraine, Zelensky has foreign visitors who simply fly into Kiev airport, Consulates have returned to Kiev, Lviv, etc... trains are running, etc. etc.
could they turn Ukraine to dust, and choose not to for such reasons, or simply because they are too weak to do so?? Time will tell.
As a side note, I trust US Generals speaking on US mainstream media about as much as I do any Russian propagandist, probably much less depending on who it is and what network he’s speaking on.
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