Ukraine - somebody explain to me

[Northwestcoug]

Least surprising airplane crash ever.

[The_Tick]

If anyone doesn't think that Putin is a sociopath...they are crazy.

The MAGA folks are going to be fine with this though, because this is how King Trump would like to be able to deal with his detractors.

[Bo Diddley]

Holy smokes! He was listed as a passenger.

[myboynoah]

Least surprising airplane crash ever.

The only surprise is that it took this long.

Oh, and SU-wish!

[myboynoah]

Video shows what appears to be most of the fuselage just floating/falling down from the sky. Either a bomb on board or shot down by another aircraft.

[myboynoah]

If anyone doesn't think that Putin is a sociopath...they are crazy.

The MAGA folks are going to be fine with this though, because this is how King Trump would like to be able to deal with his detractors.

Bingo!

Just waiting for Trump to opine on what a smart move this was by Putin and lamenting that he didn't have similar power when he was president.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The only surprise is that it took this long.

Oh, and SU-wish!

Perfect use of the "SU-wish". Taking credit for something anyone could have predicted. Haha.

[myboynoah]

[Goatnapper'96]

If anyone doesn't think that Putin is a sociopath...they are crazy.

The MAGA folks are going to be fine with this though, because this is how King Trump would like to be able to deal with his detractors.

Putin is far more Russian than he is an sociopathic anomaly. This is par for their course.

When this war ends and the West re-engages Russia diplomatically and as a member of the international community lets structure the external Russian world to understand that eventually Russia is going Russia. Don't make it easy to blame this on Putin and believe this behavior is an anomaly.

[Bo Diddley]

Morale is low among the Russian forces.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates...is-intercepts/

I'm thinking the counter offensive will be picking up steam soon.

[Goatnapper'96]

Morale is low among the Russian forces.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates...is-intercepts/

I'm thinking the counter offensive will be picking up steam soon.

I don't think Russian morale has been high since this fight was a few weeks old, or ever. I think Ukraine continues to attrit the Gawdless Commies capacity to fight successfully.

Still tough to really determine the extent and depth of the defenses Ukraine faces. Clearly, they have broken through on their advance toward Melitopol/Sea of Azov but they still have yet to take a significant amount of real estate back. Winning wars is always about gaining and maintaining territory. We keep hoping that the breakthrough will come in which Ukraine can get large scale maneuver units attacking, but it has yet to materialize.

I believe Ukraine is taking more territory than Russia and I don't think that trend will stop as long as Ukraine is willing to do what it takes to retake territory. Russia's hope is the rate won't satisfy Western allies and they will eventually withhold support. It doesn't seem to me that Russia wants to do much more than slow down Ukraine and exhaust Western Support.

I hope you are right about the counteroffensive picking up steam but I think Ukraine has learned they can retake their territory without significant losses if they are willing to to it methodically. Most analysts seem to believe the follow on defensive fortifications won't be as strong as the first line, but I am not convinced Ukraine is going to pick up the tempo. I think they think their allies are willing to patiently stand by while it takes Ukraine years to get this done. Further, my guess is they think time is not on the Putin regime's side. Occasionally, Ukraine will talk about speeding it up to satisfy Western allies, but why would they pick it up if all intel indicates Russia has no plans to mobilize any further than they are mobilized and Western allies are willing to be patient. It may take 10 years to low crawl at nighttime through minefields rather than busting into them with armor battalions behind de-mining equipment, but it can be done with far less loss of life. At this point I don't think there is any tactical or strategic reason for Ukraine to hurry. Russia's capacity to fight is choked by sanctions and their inability to get the Chinese to help. Their only friends are Iran and North "Pay me some attention" Korea. I am not sure Russia in 10 years will be any better equipped to fight Ukraine than they are now, so I just don't think the Ukrainians can see any compelling reason to change their tactics.

[Bo Diddley]

So who breaks first? Western support or the Kremlin status quo?

My hope in picking up the pace comes from them having broken through the first line. Now it becomes a different fight on that front.

[Goatnapper'96]

So who breaks first? Western support or the Kremlin status quo?

My hope in picking up the pace comes from them having broken through the first line. Now it becomes a different fight on that front.

I think that regime change in Russia is how this fight will eventually end. I don't think Ukraine has the appetite to lose the lives necessary that a massive main effort assault against Russian defensive positions would cost and they are confident that Western Support will continue until Russian regime change happens.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I love Ukraine, but some phone calls from July leaked as Ukrainian propaganda doesn't even move the needle for me. This is meaningless.

I see a long war of attrition but I don't see any willingness on the ukranian side to back down. And I am not sure I see another russian offensive in the cards.

[Bo Diddley]

Civilians in Ukraine continue to pay a high price.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66731927

I'm encouraged by the progress happening in the South.

https://www.understandingwar.org/sit...205%2C2023.png

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