Russia/Ukraine

[Pigeon 3000]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/worl...new-offensive/

[fxb88]

russia will be having their victory day parade on 9th of may 4 weeks from now, i am expecting something big to happen before that, massive attack perhaps

[KingshawI]

I feel like Russia has wasted so many resources already trying to take over this country that it may take another superpower to actually step in to make them see its time to leave Ukraine. The question is doe who will? Nations aren't fearing what Russia would do but instead China backing them secretly.

[Xineoph]

Russia has shown they do not intend on withdrawing until they get whatever it is they want. So far that seems to be all the parts of Ukraine that has mineral and gas deposits along with maritime trade. I'm still unsure what will happen if they get to Odessa and try to take transistra from Moldova/Romania

[Tzar Rob]

Originally Posted by Xineoph

Russia has shown they do not intend on withdrawing until they get whatever it is they want. So far that seems to be all the parts of Ukraine that has mineral and gas deposits along with maritime trade. I'm still unsure what will happen if they get to Odessa and try to take transistra from Moldova/Romania

From what I remember reading earlier, Romania said they would step in if anything happens in Moldova, and here comes NATO.

I think what Russia will settle for is Donbas and the surrounding provinces so they have a land bridge to Crimea. Russia has had HUGE losses and I think the price it will pay to capture all of Ukraine will weaken it for a long time. Russia already has an issue with an aging population - getting all of your young soldiers killed or shell shocked won't help with this.

The old timers with the "Glory to the Soviet Union" mentality are what got them into this mess.

[Illusion]

Originally Posted by Xineoph

Russia has shown they do not intend on withdrawing until they get whatever it is they want. So far that seems to be all the parts of Ukraine that has mineral and gas deposits along with maritime trade. I'm still unsure what will happen if they get to Odessa and try to take transistra from Moldova/Romania

Pretty much. Putin isn't interested in peace, never was. He wants to take as much territory as possible. Being surrounded by yes men, he's likely not getting the full picture on just how bad his forces are doing. Now with the longer range weapons the west has provided Ukraine, they're hitting weapon storage facilities hidden within civilian structures inside occupied territory. This really hurts Russia. It forces them to use conventional trucks instead of RR to rearm their already exhausted troops. Not only does this take much longer, but the trucks are exposed to ukrainian fire.

The dependence on RR is why Russia failed to take Kyiv. There was no weapon depot nearby. Russia is also running out of soldiers and hardware. They're reduced to using older, less accurate weapons. It's like a reversal from 2014, where Ukraine had the old soviet weapons vs Russia's more advanced arsenal. Now Russia is forced to use older weapons, old tactics vs more advanced Western weapons and strategic technologies.

So long as the arms flow continues into Ukraine from the West, Russia is going to gain very little, if anything. In fact, Ukraine is determined to take back occupied territory, and at this rate, it just might. If and when they go for retaking Crimea, it's going to get really ugly, as in Cold War ugly. I expect a nuclear stand off at that point.