Good response, but hard for me to get past the “make Ukraine think twice about doing this again “
Don’t recall Ukraine invading Russia, or do you mean instead of bending over, resisting? For part 3 of this story?
I will add one other question, is it you position that if the march on Kiev had taken Kiev that Putin would have goodwill gestured his way out of there.
Personally I think the “never wanted Kiev” is making lemonade out of lemons
Word on the street hitler never really wanted Stalingrad….
Good response, but hard for me to get past the “make Ukraine think twice about doing this again “
Don’t recall Ukraine invading Russia, or do you mean instead of bending over, resisting? For part 3 of this story?
The cause of this war:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-zelenskiy-holding-talks-with-biden-adviser-says-2021-12-09/
I assure you, anyone in Ukraines leadership and even most the populace there might think twice about making such a move in the future.
Good response, but hard for me to get past the “make Ukraine think twice about doing this again “
Don’t recall Ukraine invading Russia, or do you mean instead of bending over, resisting? For part 3 of this story?
The cause of this war:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-zelenskiy-holding-talks-with-biden-adviser-says-2021-12-09/
I assure you, anyone in Ukraines leadership and even most the populace there might think twice about making such a move in the future.
Occupying a people becomes a liability.
Russia went into Ukraine wanting to seize those areas that are majority ethnic Russian. Those areas will be much easier to hold in the long run with the majority of the local population neutral, sympathetic or even supportive of Russia's efforts.
Example, Azov as well as some of your saboteurs are being turned in by the locals, in fact when caught, in some cases the Russian FSB or military has to shield the Azov fighter from the locals who want to beat the guy in the street. One mans hero (as portrayed in the West) is another mans terrorist.
All you need to do is to look at a Ukrainian election map and what areas voted for the pro-Russian candidates, and where Russian is still spoken predominately or as a first language. Realize, the nationalists forbade Russian, so these statistics are muted. Also do not use any map post wars begin, the Ukrainians flooded the internet with new maps which show everyone wants to be a proud Ukrainian nationalist with the maps being all in blue and yellow. But those areas where they vote for the Russian candidate and speak Russian are the areas where Russia will have a much easier time.
Trying to take and hold Western nationalist Ukraine would be a royal pain in the @ss for Russia.
Kiev (>75% nationalist) is out of the area Russia wants to take. But yes, if Ukraine had not reinforced this area to fend off the Russian incursion, the Russians surely would have taken it. If you can sack the capital and with it humiliate the enemy, take out much of the senior cammand and control... A good diversion “forces” the enemy to react to you. In the process, in this case, Russia wanted forces pulled away from the Eastern and Southern areas where they actually want to take and hold the ground, where Ukraine knew the Russians are coming and had a well prepared plan, obstacles, cache sites, pre identified fighting positions, even had practiced/rehearsed...