War in Ukraine

I see this thread being the last holdout …

 

Russian army depleted, down to shovels, but much stronger than the army which invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022 …

 

I mean, if the training is basically throwing green troops onto live battlefields within their first few weeks, and if their military tactics are as awful as they appear, is Russia really wrong in claiming that these "soldiers" died during a training accident?

I'll provide my own answer:

 

Ironically, most of my information I get from American and British commentators. This against my disputants getting their information from a Ukrainian sources as shaped by American and British propaganda.

How do I known my side isn’t propaganda and yours is ? Basically, reading between the lines a bit, the Zelensky regime admits it’s getting thoroughly wrecked.

 

New Russian casualty estimates from the Brits: 70k dead (including 20k Wagner troops), and about 250k wounded. The 320k total is slightly less than the 332k that Ukraine is currently claiming.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia loses estimated 320,000 troops in Ukraine

 

320k likely higher than the number of troops that the Russians have had anywhere near the frontlines the whole duration of the war.

Translation: outlandish.

Note: I think estimates of 500k Ukrainians dead are high. But I wouldn’t be shocked if the Russian kill ratio is 10:1.

 

The U.S. estimate is north of the British and south of the Ukrainian. Even the British estimate is more than than all U.S. KIA during the eight years of major combat operations in Vietnam plus all KIA since. Russia’s conquest of Ukraine is less than two years old.

 

Western arms manufacturers have failed to increase production capacity in the face of increasing demand. This is on Biden, in my opinion. The companies needed capital, and were likely unwilling to spend their own money because the high demand could end at any time. Biden could have provided financial persuasion for these companies to increase production. Biden has done a good job of supporting Ukraine, but a poor job of explaining the urgency and the need to support Ukraine. European countries have done a poor job in general.

Watchdog: Western arms companies failed to ramp up production capacity in 2022 due to Ukraine war

 

The responsibility for not adequately increasing munitions production is squarely on the President, yes. He has had the authority and has not done so for reasons that make sense only to him and the advisor he listens to (Sullivan). Like with Afghanistan, all of his other advisors (the ones who do this for a living and are not just milquetoast, political hack lawyers posing as national security professionals) all told him what he should do as early as April 2022, but he continued with a strategy of hope instead. Same goes for fuel and food production.

 

Context please ... no other view but that one tweet... who said what about what?

 

You know what it is... it's complicated and often conflicting becasue their lies don't always add up.

 

Should have done rhat 18 months ago

 

I was saying it 18 months ago. It’s in this thread. More importantly, Sullivan was being told 18 months ago, but his typical “hope as a strategy” response was “The war might be over before that has any effect.”

 

WaPo preparing its readers for another proxy war defeat …

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/04/ukraine-counteroffensive-us-planning-russia-war/

 

Many of us have been calling for a ramp up in defense production since the war started. The western world needs to be on more of a war footing, it just is what it is, and a big part of that is making sure the defense industry can pump out weapons at a reasonable replacement level, and as we all know after almost 2 years of fighting in Ukraine, neither side is close to that, but the western world is about to lose the war for Ukraine if they don't do something about it soon, and in fact, it may already be too late. The Fact that Ukraine is now asking for the money to ramp up production themselves is a sign of how desperate things are probably getting.

 

Ah, so Russia is winning.

The bravado on this thread is in its death throes.

 

An intelligent person would understand that a Russia weakened by this war would not immediately invade more neighbors. Russia would consolidate its gains, including the $12 trillion worth of minerals it would get from Ukraine, and rebuild its army. THEN it would invade other countries.

But you don't use intelligent sources to prove your points, now do you? You rely exclusively on propaganda and snarky commenters who are willing to distort the truth to serve their (or Russia's) purposes.

 

Neither side is winning right now. It is fairly close to a stalemate, with a slight edge to Ukraine for having made a minor breakthrough in the Kherson area and for killing thousands of Russians advancing on Avdiivka. If Ukraine runs out of people, ammo, or the will to fight, then Russia will be winning. None of that has happened yet.