Bakhmut is an Orc-killing cauldron with little strategic value.
[QUOTE=Riina;2794188]Z and his cronies need to be rounded up for this human tragedy.[/QUOTE]It's doubtful you can find a single military analyst who would view the taking of Bakhmut as a big deal. It's of political value to Russia because of the enormous pressure to show SOME positive result. And also because Putin has ordered his generals to retake territory to the Donetsk and Luhansk administrative borders. Even though taking Bakhmut won't accomplish that second goal, it's a step toward it.
But the bigger question is, assuming Bakhmut changes hands, at what cost was it achieved? It's a well-established military precept that it always requires more resources to attack than to defend. And, from all reports, Russia is short of armored vehicles and tanks, so they've resorted to throwing warm bodies at the defensive line and thousands of those are now lifeless and frozen.
If Ukraine decides to pull back, they'll do so to defensive positions they've already prepared, and Russia will have to try again, except with fewer resources. It's a classic attritional strategy often employed by a smaller country defending against a larger aggressor.
Remember how you and all the Putin Fan-Boyz were cheering about the missile strikes against Ukraine's electrical infrastructure? Well, Ukraine's grid is fully up and running, with no significant outages in quite a while. And those missile barrages have become more rare, if not stopped altogether. While it's not possible to know the exact reason (because Russia obviously isn't going to say) the most likely reason is that Russia expended limited missile resources for no net positive gain. Russia wrongly thought Ukrainians would cave to terroristic attacks. Those kinds of miscalculations, and repeating them over and over again, clearly demonstrate Russia's inherent weaknesses.
Ukraine is more unified against Russian aggression than ever before. And Ukraine's allies continue to contribute resources. Meanwhile, Russia has to cannibalize washing machines and such just to scavenge a few microchips. I wonder when they'll start emulating North Korea and be reduced to eating dog soup, with grass on the side?
BTW, no matter what anyone thinks of Zelensky, the plain fact of the matter is that he's visited the front lines on multiple occasions. That's something Putin, the coward who stays comfortably at home, has never done. Also, even though it's reported that Putin has a double he uses for public gatherings, he hasn't even sent his puppet to visit the front.
That's an argument from the same crowd who predicted Kyiv's fall in 3 days.
[QUOTE=DramaFree11;2794508]You might be right, But sooner or later Ukraine will run out of men and resources, they can just not keep it up.
The next couple of months will determine who wins the war. Ukraine has done an amazing job, but I am afraid they are about done. I just want the war to end, I do not care who wins.[/QUOTE]If I had a dollar for every prediction that Ukraine was "about done," I'd have a shitload of dollars. Even those who supposedly have good expertise and information sources have been wrong more often than right. And pretty much every pundit who underestimated Ukraine now has egg on their face.
As I've posted multiple times, rather than make predictions I prefer to observe the facts on the ground and then use those facts as a starting point for the various ways things could play out, and which paths might be more or less probable. Here's an observation I think is significant that I'm not seeing discussed anywhere:
We've just passed the 1 year anniversary of the war. One thing we know about Russia and Putin is that they hold anniversaries, and other special dates, in high regard. So, what I find HUGELY significant is that this notable anniversary passed without so much as a whimper from the Russian military. No giant barrage of missiles, no major offensive operation, nothing. It's hard for me to believe that, if Putin had the resources and ability, he wouldn't have ordered some large-scale show of force. The fact that he hasn't means (IMO) that he most likely couldn't. And this conclusion is supported by two other facts. First, missile barrages targeting infrastructure have largely stopped. There may be one or a few here and there, but nothing like before. Second, Russian forces have been trying to take Bakhmut for about 10 months. Nearly everywhere else they've been either on the defensive or not doing much offensively. Bakhmut is of little strategic value but politically important (to Russia) which explains why they keep trying. If Russia loses thousands of men to gain a few hundred meters, or even a kilometer, it still shows that they have offensive capability. And, if they can make some incremental gains, those can be trumpeted as "successful" and serve as a distraction from their lack of gains elsewhere.
All of the above would seem to indicate that it's Russia that's feeling the strain, more so than Ukraine. Meanwhile, Western support continues at a good pace, and tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in Western countries. I won't make a prediction here, but the probabilities are not trending favorably for Russia. And I would argue their performance (lack thereof, actually) and their current behavior are evidence that they're not doing well.
BTW, I also want the war to stop. But I care who wins because, if Ukraine wins, Russia will be deterred from future aggression. If Russia wins, not only will they become more aggressive but the clock will start ticking for the next conflict. The Baltics, Nordics, and Poland all know this, which is why they're 100% in support of Ukraine.
All the men who die, on both sides, are Putin's fault.
[QUOTE=Riina;2794599]You only care about the pussy in Ukraine. No biggie for you if all the men die.[/QUOTE]He started the war and he can stop it any time he wants.
Who gives a shit about juvenile videos?
[QUOTE=Questner;2794742]The Cook v. The Clown. Take a look at the clowns' volkssturm at the second part of the video: [URL]https://rutube.ru/video/1e7806c6ecf18091c12df8e3ef2a56ad/?r=wd[/URL].
(youtube is actively taking down this video).
- Was it you lover's husband back home unexpectedly?
- Much worse, it was a drafting officer![/QUOTE]What kind of moron thinks that this shit has any effect, or any relevance, to an actual war in which people are dying?
Do you masturbate when you watch these? Wouldn't PornHub be a more efficient option? At least that way you wouldn't be parading your cretinism for all the forum to see.