Western media have finally change course. They are now admitting that the much promoted Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed. In fact, the acknowledge that it never had a chance to win in the first place.
The Hill, the Washington Post and CNN now agree that the Ukrainian army will never achieve its aims.
western MSM has a rare encounter with reality!
That makes it difficult for the Biden administration to get Congress approval for $24 billion in additional 'aid' to Ukraine. It does not make sense to pay for a cause that is evidently lost.
b seems overly hopeful regarding the rationality of US congress, but i think hes right- why would we throw more money at them, US politicians have made it clear they do not support bringing Ukraine into NATO if they do not win this conflict. of course, US politicians are prone to lying and misleading
Nothing has come from the 'peace conference' which Saudi Arabia arranged on Ukraine's behalf
lol. lmao even. props to big dog MBS for trying
Despite the onslaught of bad news the Ukrainian army is still trying to take Russian positions in the south and east of Ukraine. But it simply does not have enough in men and material to break through the lines.
Even if they would manage to get a local breakthrough there are not enough reserves to push for the necessary follow up. Just one of the NATO trained brigades has still been held back. All others have been mauled in their various deployment zones.
nothing has changed it seems
In the northeast around Kupyansk the Russians have started their own offensive which has the Ukrainians on the run. Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of the area
But Kupyansk is a Russian city and people refuse to leave.
show this to the libs claiming Russians are committing genocide in the regions they capture. curious that these civilians are content with Russian occupation when you believe what western media claims
The Russian campaign is slowly speeding up. As the Ukrainian Strana.news reports (machine translation):
Also in Ukraine, it is recorded that from Kupyansk to Bakhmut, Russia has increased the number of attacks.
"Over the past month, the total number of attacks in the Kupyansk, Limansky and Bakhmut directions has grown significantly. In July, during the week there were 6-6.5 thousand attacks, during the last week-9 thousand attacks, " - said the representative of the National Guard Ruslan Muzychuk.
According to him, the Russian Federation does not experience "shell hunger".
Aviation is also actively used, and over the past few weeks, more than 50 air attacks have been taking place every day, and sometimes more than 80.
That is bad news for the Ukrainian side which lacks the reserves to counter the Russian onslaught. There are also less weapons coming in from the West. F-16 fighter jets will be delayed for another nine months due to training issues. Tanks and other material are in short supply.
these supply issues sure bode well for the west’s performance in WW3
Strana also report of an interview with a knowledgeable Ukrainian soldier (machine translation):
Continuing the topic of the situation at the front, an interesting interview was given by a Ukrainian sniper fighting near Bakhmut with the call sign "Grandfather". On the air of political scientist Yuri Romanenko, he was introduced as Konstantin Proshinsky (this is a pseudonym).
The fighter spoke in detail about his vision of the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian army.
- Mobilization. In his opinion, it is conducted incorrectly. Recruits are sent to the front who have never been trained, and they are often over 50 years old and with a whole bunch of diseases.
- No rotation. The soldier says that "the same brigades" are fighting at the front, and people are not taken out of the front line for six months or more. Whereas by Western standards, they can be kept in a war zone for no more than three months.
- Behavior of mid-and high-level commanders. According to Proshinsky, many of them are trying to arrange a "mini-Stalingrad" on the positions, forcing them to go into frontal assaults on well-fortified Russian positions.
- The Russian Army began to fight better.
- Proshinsky believes that Russia has not yet used much of what it has against Ukraine.
The soldier thinks that the Russians will not move from their positions and that a stalemate peace like in Korea would be the end result.
UAF in real dire times— recruiting the elderly, poor logistics, engaging the enemy at inopportune times, and Russia has yet to waver
I believe that to be wrong. Russia's aim is to liberate at least the four regions that it has claimed for itself. For political reasons it can not stop before that is done.
Should the Ukraine continue to fight after that, Russia is likely to set new aims and take more land.
more editorializing, but it doesnt seem unreasonable. i thought Russia would stick to its original goal of Donetsk and Luhansk, but if Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are receptive to Russian governance, it would be foolish for Russia to give them up
You seem nice enough, I'll tell you. It's personal for me. I have family back in Donbas. Ukraine has been at war with Donbas for 9 years now. There were repeated peace agreements that Ukraine signed, Minsk, Minsk 2, and the Trilateral peace agreement in 2020. None of them were upheld. Ukraine kept shelling Donbas for 8 long years, they sent in their right-wing paramilitiaries to terrorize the areas with separatist sentiments that hadn't managed to break away., I liked Zelensky when he was campaigning for an end to the war on Donbas. I watched him visit the paramilitary groups on the front to tell them to stop shelling Donbas, where he gave his "I am not some loser" speech. They didn't stop and he didn't do anything to them, he continued to provide shells for them to shoot at Ukrainians. When Russia acknowledged the Donbas republics as states, Ukraine responded by once again intensifying shelling. Russia then responded by invading Ukraine.
Every day the Ukrainian state still functions they are rounding up their own citizens to send to the trenches to die to Russian artillery. Peace or a collapse of the Ukrainian state would put a stop to this. Russia offered peace terms back in March, Ukraine responded by dragging one of their own negotiators into the street and shooting him in the head. Later Zelensky made it illegal to negotiate peace with Putin. NATO and the Ukrainian government have decided to fight this war until the last Ukrainian. I can hope for peace terms, but it just seems so unlikely. So I'm rooting for the central Ukrainian state to collapse, it would be the best outcome for the Ukrainian people.
My most controversial position is that I'm in favor of Russia annexing Ukrainian territory. The US and the IMF have provided Ukraine with a ton of cash and equipment, place Ukraine greatly in debt. They're going to take this debt out on the blood and flesh of the Ukrainian people. I'm worried that it's going to the harshest round of privatization and "shock therapy" that the world has ever seen. It might be worse than Ukraine in the 90s after the Soviet Union fell. The more people that can be spared from that the better. Hell if Putin had the balls to annex Donbas back in 2014 we might not be in this situation. I was jealous of Crimea for getting to join Russia instead of being shelled for 8 years. I know that Russia was more vulnerable to sanctions back in 2014 but it still hurts. Peace would be preferable but again, Ukraine has done everything possible to make negotiations impossible.
Maybe I'm wrong and the US, NATO, and the IMF will forgive all debts and Marshall plan Ukraine into a first-rate economy. I just think that's very unlikely.
I am really sorry to hear about your family, and I can see why you'd resent Ukraine so much for doing such awful things
I can see your point more clearly and I honestly can't think of anything to argue against you... I guess the only thing I can say is, Russia doesn't have a history of being very nice to its minorities, and all the Ukranians living in annexed territory will probably become second class citizens, I don't really think their lives would be much better, most would probably try to flee and only those who failed to or were pro-Russia before the war would stay