Except for the 75% of the attack brigades they have withheld for the breakthrough. They are like a live man walking, ready to defeat what's left of Russia's military. Only one side in this war is running out of money, and it ain't Ukraine. Ukraine is getting financed from both Europe and the U.S., while Russia is burning through its war savings chest (which is the one thing that Russia had been successful with during this war--their war savings is now at a deficit). Putin's only option for financing the war is to print money, which will stoke the fires of inflation. Looks like Russia is a dead man walking. You just aren't sending enough of your money to keep Putin afloat.
There is no quitting while you are ahead in a war. The wolf is not at your door--he's in the living room eating your children. "Well, Timmy was going to be on the short side anyway, so I guess we can do without him. How about we call it a draw, Mr. Wolf? What--still hungry? I only have two kids left. I'll put barbeque sauce on the little one if you leave the big one alone. No deal?"
For someone who keeps proclaiming victory on the horizon for the Russians, you sure make a lot of excuses for why Russia might lose.
Russia's inflation is now reported to be 60%, which is slightly higher than the 3.6% that Russia has been claiming. It seems like someone has been claiming that Russia would start seeing high inflation, but I can't remember who . . . Russian inflation is raging at 60%, not the reported 3.6%, thanks to the ruble's 'freefall', top economist Steve Hanke says (yahoo.com)
Net loss in capital (removed from Russia), 2022: $239 billion. That's how much in assets were removed from Russia last year. That's more than the GDP of Greece. Russia pocketed a surplus of $227 billion last year, primarily on oil and gas sales to Germany and other European nations, but that has largely been eliminated (both the sales and the surplus). Russia now has a deficit on their hands. Welcome to Poverty City. Next stop on the Ukraine Express: Inflation-ville. Russia's not just seeing an exodus of people — it saw a record $239 billion worth of assets being pulled out last year (yahoo.com)
Stormshadows doing work. Too bad the bridge is still out of range MSN On Monday, it exploded. According to Russian sources, a British-made Storm Shadow cruise missile, fired by a Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-24 bomber, was responsible for the blast. How many vehicles were at the site at the moment of the Ukrainian strike is unclear. How many vehicles the strike destroyed also is unclear. In the best-case scenario for Ukraine, a single cruise missile may have destroyed a hundred or more vehicles, inflicting nearly as much damage on Russian forces as the entire Ukrainian southern command has inflicted in the seven weeks since it launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts.
On the end of power projection … And over there, the Russians have all the time continued to plan and prepare for the kind of war which is happening now, which explains why NATO is scared to death to fight them. The End of Power Projection?
Financing the war IS part of the war. Running out of money means running out of food and bullets for the troops.
Ukraine starts committing some of their reserves to the battlefield to accelerate the counteroffensive. Ukraine sends fresh troops into the battlefield in new push against the Russians
And just like that the dead general is giving an interview on Russian TV today. I firmly believe that you have to shield yourself, from other than Ukrainian sources, to belive that Ukraine is winning.
Interesting the reference to the Alaskan crab fisherman. It's almost as if the Ukrainian MoD is marketing short commercials to Americans. Hmmm...wonder why?
This is a great listen about how realistically to assess the counteroffensive. It says a few things that I had not heard before. First, the worst performing units have been the Western trained ones that lack unit cohesion and despite undergoing training, just could not work through the combined arms maneuvers. The upgraded tanks are great, but they're still vulnerable to mines and anti-tank weapons. The most effective units have been the more experience Ukrainian units which have unit cohesion and are also long-trained in Ukrainian tactics, which brings to the second point. Western military doctrine is based upon air power being the primary delivery system, whereas Ukraine is a successor military that is based upon land forces and long range artillery. The change just cannot happen overnight. Accordingly, even if the F-16s get there, they will help, but they won't make as much of a help as many believe. He said that the performance of even European Air forces in Libya would suggest that they would be no more effective. Only the US and the Israeli Air forces could operate successfully in the anti-aircraft environment with Russia's integrated air defenses. He does think that the Ukrainian improvisation to go back to their older tactics and use attrition does have a great chance of long-term success. And despite the fact that they are the aggressor, they are suffering less losses than the defenders, which is unusual. But they also have less resources completely available and each success takes them into a deeper defense. They've mainly succeeded in designed crumple zones. He did mention that the Russian Air Force is not performing that well either against Ukrainian defenses. Again, only the US and Israeli Air forces would automatically perform much better in this environment. Really informative listen. An Inflection Point in Ukraine’s Counteroffensive - War on the Rocks
