re: The Official Thread: Russia invades Ukraine

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he's doing exactly what he should be doing

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By taking money/arms from the West without a guarantee of safety, he doomed his people to death.

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I'm pro Ukraine, anti Russia.

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So you like many others will beleieve anything Ukraine says which is perfectly fine

Whats interesting is you cry about others calling out BS or lolin at fact that you ate up the Ghost of Kiev.

Whats the ultimate is being called a putin puppet for such things but you cant be called a Zelensky blower

What sets you (and others) apart is how you respond to any post that is positive about Ukraine. You can't respond without throwing insults into your response. It's juvenile and tedious.

I am absolutely pro Ukraine, I think Putin should be tried for war crimes, not because of any presumed love of Zelensky (I don't particularly like him but think he's managing the current situation well) or Azov (whose views I don't agree with) but because what Russia has done is just wrong, the evil and violence they have wrought upon the people of Ukraine is terrible and deserves a reckoning that I'm not at all sure they will receive. When it comes to Azov, I can not agree with any of their views; however, I can still want them to beat the Russians. Basically along the lines of the enemy of my enemy is my friend..that's Azov to me.

I think the Ukrainian military has performed superbly against a much larger and stronger enemy. There is more than enough anecdotal evidence to support the stance that so far in this war Ukraine has bested Russia on the battlefield. A HUGE part of their success is the support they have received from NATO countries. The training, weapons, munitions, and most importantly intelligence have made a difference in the war so far.

The next few weeks are going to be critical. It won't take long for battlefield results to start showing up on social media. I think we will know fairly quickly if Ukraine is going to continue its success or not. Russia is going to have to get its act together on the battlefield or it's going to get its teeth kicked in again. If Russia can regroup and demonstrate competence in arms, then Russia will probably achieve its current objective of taking full control of the Donetsk region.

It is interesting how small us Westerners tend to view the world. If only we could realize about 2/3rds of the world thinks we are wrong most of the time.

Our "truth" is most certainly not a shared truth in say India, China, Turkey, ME, Russia, Africa....

There are several interesting items in today's ISW assessment. Some of this is from the Ukrainian government & military so consider what you read with that in mind.

This paragraph discusses morale in the Russian army. The news that Russia is offering varying payments for the destruction of Ukrainian assets has been circulating for a bit.

Because this could well be Ukranian propaganda, I will simply ask rhetorically, what if this is true? What does that signal? Is it just poor communication and execution on the Russian militaries part? It doesn't seem real smart to offer a reward for something that requires people to put their lives on the line and then not keep up your end of the deal.

I wonder if the 1st Tank Army mentioned below is the Elite 1st Guards Tank Army or a different unit? Does anyone know?

It will be interesting to see if this type of information begins to appear from sources other than the Ukrainian military.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-12

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The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence also claimed on April 12 that Russian troops continued to struggle with low morale and that promised financial incentives to participate in combat in Ukraine have not been delivered to some units as promised.[2] The report stated that servicemen of the 47th Guards Tank Division of the 1st Tank Army failed to receive promised additional payment for participating in operations in Ukraine and that military leadership ignored appeals for payments.[3] The Ukrainian GUR claims that Russian troops are refusing to participate in fighting due to the number of bodies returning to Russia from Ukraine and that the Russian military is shipping bodies in smaller batches to avoid causing panic in local communities.

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This paragraph discusses morale in the Russian army. The news that Russia is offering varying payments for the destruction of Ukrainian assets has been circulating for a bit.

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Paying off like a video game. No wonder Russia is having problems.

I tend to agree with you; however, I am not counting Russia out of this yet. They took a big step in the recent appointment of an overall commander. If he slows down, allows his forces to refit and gets set up in typical Russian battle formations, then they can use their mass to overwhelm Ukraine.

If they didn't learn anything from the first time, they will rush and probably get their teeth kicked in again. I guess it depends on how badly Putin wants to declare victory ahead of next month's parade.

Just normal course of war. The North didn’t just outright steamroll the south. Germany looked liked it was going to kick Russia’s arse at the beginning of the war.

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Ya'll are falling into the trap. Just when you think Russia "lost" too much you will be surprised at how much more just keeps coming.

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It’s kind of like seeing a halftime score where the cupcake is upsetting the big dog. We are definitely intrigued, but we know the second half will probably get ugly.

But then every once in a while .........