The truth is that Russia might be deliberately killing women and children to defeat Ukraine psychologically, make them think that resistance is hopeless, or make them think, "If we give up now, we can save our families and get clean water and electricity again." Or it might be the desperate revenge of a madman who wasn't expecting to be humiliated on the battlefield. Whatever it is, it is not completely logical.
Germany could continue to produce their own tanks to make up for what they send to Ukraine. We may learn once Ukraine starts using these two tanks, that there are some things that the Leopard does better, and some things that the Abrams does better. Germany's military might be better served by having two types of tanks available. The main downside is the additional logistics, maintenance and training costs of having two types of MBT.
They need to be free to fire in to Russia at will. Almost certainly their targets will be military, they are the highest value targets especially when you have limited resources, but if they take out some babies and women and pensioners so be it. Inflict physiological pain back at them
win or lose Russia still needs sanctions dropped at some point. Hopefully resolution of war crime charges is one of the conditions to resolving sanctions
Ukraine is using an anti-drone gun to take down Russian drones without damaging them, and then recovering useful data from them to use against Russia. The gun uses electronic jamming signals to take down the drone. They can find out where the drone was launched from, as well as what other things the drone was looking at. How Ukraine uses high-tech anti-drone guns to down Russian drones and recover intelligence from them
Wagner group reduced to begging for ammunition and showing videos of corpses to get attention. Apparently, Ukraine is not the only one facing shortages of ammunition. Wagner Group releases graphic video of corpses in desperate plea for more ammunition
They’re trying to play both sides. A weakened Russia is in their interest but not so much if it collapses. Plus they want to poke the bear..
China wants to provide military aid to Russia, but they do not want to get caught. US warns allies at Munich that China may increase support for Russia | CNN Politics
Catching up here: I'm not sure I agree with the idea of cruise missle-ing Russian society. I get the strategic value in blowing up strictly military targets. Blasting a target rich, border area, full of queued up assets prepping for invasion? I could probably be convinced. But I don't think it's worth lobbing/launching munitions into cities with military targets. This will inevitably end in civilian deaths and create an easy sell of an existential crisis for the Motherland. Rather, let's plow battlefield winning tech and assets into Ukraine to win on (near) the field without kneecapping any chance of a popular uprising.
The Brits estimate 40-60k Russian dead in Ukraine. A higher percentage of soldiers are dying than normal because of Russia's piss-poor medical care of fallen troops. Artillery injuries may also be more deadly than rifle injuries, also. Russian death toll in Ukraine war could be up to 60,000: UK intelligence
I suppose if I was the President I would tell the Ukrainians to not give Belarus the excuse of attacking them first, to give fair warning that another attack from their territory makes Russian forces in Belarus a legitimate target, then to do what they need to if Russia does it again. I think that still gives Russia a disproportionate advantage to stage its forces, but it also mitigates Belarus from playing victim. I don’t see a realistic scenario where President Biden sanctifies a Ukrainian first strike on Belorussian territory without fair warning.
I understand what you mean, of course. Setting emotion aside, I think the infrastructure (bridges, power grid, etc) is a legitimate target of war, and Russia gives next to zero consideration to collateral damage. You cannot expect them to fight the way we do. They are a different people with a different military culture. On the hospitals, apartment complexes, etc, I see no military value, and I think it’s far more likely you can put those down to either technological or professional incompetence. We again assume that because our weapon systems work and our targeting process (mostly) works that the same is true with a near-peer force like Russia. But I think their missiles are not nearly as accurate and/or their intelligence sucks. And let’s remember that we, too, have hit the wrong buildings in our day (the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, for instance). But you are seeing those kinds errors amplified on a massive scale due to Russian inability to replicate our accuracy and intelligence. And that does not, by the way, excuse even a little the results that Russia produced. I just don’t think it’s a matter of Russia trying to kill civilians as much as not trying to do otherwise.
Regarding the Bradley’s we’re sending. Other articles covering the Abrahams tanks weren’t overly positive on their impact. However the Bradley’s are frequently mentioned as having a bigger impact. I wish we were sending more than 50. We have 4-6k Bradley’s in inventory for some reason. Plus what we’re sending is at least 1 generation back, and we’re moving to a whole new armored fighting vehicle. Ukraine is of course desperate for armed vehicles. We sent them 200 Vietnam era M113 APCs which they readily used. “More than three decades later, 50 Bradleys will be part of a tranche of western armored vehicles, which also includes French AMX-10 RC heavy armored cars and German Marder 1 infantry fighting vehicles, that will now be heading to the embattled country. One Bradley expert we spoke with said the firepower, maneuverability, and durability the Bradley exhibited at 73 Easting and during Operation Iraqi Freedom over a decade later are exactly what Ukraine needs as it contemplates further offensives against a foe that still has a sizeable amount of Soviet-era tanks and other armor,” This Is What Bradley Fighting Vehicles Will Bring To The Fight In Ukraine (Updated)
I agree and in that vein, Ukraine needs to send covert sabotage teams into Mother Russia and start taking out its power stations, water and sewer treatment plants, cell phone towers and internet infra structure.
German dumbass ... German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock: "If Putin decides that tomorrow he changes his course by 360 degrees, the whole world will be happy."
