Russia has previously stated that they would consider this an act of war [0]. Troubling.
[0]: https://russiabusinesstoday.com/economy/russia-would-conside...
[0]: https://russiabusinesstoday.com/economy/russia-would-conside...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Securit...
Dictators are liars, and accepting "I'll stop hitting you if you do X" from abusers only works in the short-term.
They are paying a hefty price with every single day this situation goes on. The goal is to reach the point of "too painful to continue" as quickly as possible.
>https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/49/765
Their soldiers aren't even properly trained, experienced soldiers: they're just 18-19-year-old conscripts fresh out of basic training. There are videos of Russian soldiers breaking down and crying in the middle of the street when Ukrainians make it clear they're not wanted here. There are reports that Russia had to resort to beatings and even deception to even get them to go to Ukraine; supposedly a few of them were put on a plane and told they were going to a training field for mock battle.
I don't expect Russia to be able to be able to sustain a war on a second front against countries with even larger militaries and economies.
Hahaha this is the most out of touch thing I read since the start of the war.
You believe this? HAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It seems that the outcome of this week is a full reprise of the Cold War, with the first and second world economies operating in a largely disjoint manner. The USSR didn't have access to SWIFT either, so it sounds like it'll have to suck it up.
Putin wants a "might makes right" world. Well, he's getting one, and he gets to live with the consequences.
Unfortunately, this desperation will not open up diplomacy, it will likely be at the cost of the people. They are not in a situation to take on such a large military force if they attack EU or NATO.
The point of these damaging sanctions is to not need war ever again in the future. If Russia, a nuclear power, cannot take Ukraine and cannot weather the sanctions toward success. It will tell the entire world that war is not needed anymore. That is a thing of the past for humanity.
Additionally, there's some very unusual resistance to Russian troops. It was Spetsnaz blue berets who airborne dropped to take this airport: https://news.yahoo.com/russian-forces-attack-airport-outside...
But were routed so quickly? The probability that normal Ukrainian troops could do this is quite low.
The probability that many other countries have their special forces operating in Ukraine is 100%. Obviously nobody will admit to this. The Russians probably don't realize this and is suffering these massive casualties because of it.
"Magic CIA Drones" is stealing the credit from self sacrificing self defense malitia.
What I don't know is if the technology matters in a war. But it does seem possible. The US has been fighting a proxy war with various Islamic militia for over a decade now, with the US "combatants" sitting in the USA piloting drones taking out one target after another. And it looks like after a decade they were largely successful. So perhaps technology does matter. A similar thing happened to Russia in Afghanistan. They were holding their own until the west put SAM's in the hands of an rebels. Then Russia did the same thing to the US.
If it is happening, I'm not sure we or Putin would know. These smart weapons are launched from km's away so no one knows who pulled the trigger, and Ukraine would have some anyway. Earlier it was looking like the Western leaders wouldn't have the collective will do to it, but the financial markets have shown otherwise. Maybe that dilly dallying they put on was just for show, as it isn't in the Western leaders interests for Putin to think they are attacking him directly. But I'm guessing the nuclear threat means Putin already suspects.
If technology does make a big difference, it's likely to be a blind spot for entire Russian military. They are so far behind technology wise they have no experience with it. It would likely be as much of a surprise to them as it is to me, and they would have reported the odds of winning as though it didn't exist.
Oh for sure. so many awacs and global hawks in the air. This 'ghost of kyiv' ace without question had downlink or at least specific real time intel to know exactly how to put himself on their 6.
Ironically, the russian media denies the ghost of kyiv exists. says the footage is all DCS. Frankly it's impossible given so many different points of view. The best argument they can really say is that its more than 1 pilot. But the first reality of nato intel is far more plausible.
What is much more fascinating is how weak Russia is. I long suspected that corrupt state like Russia cannot produce modern weapons at scale. Instead it produces a few items and tons and tons of propaganda. Ukraine has outdated aircrafts, Russia on paper has last gen aircrafts. Yet Russia didn’t get air superiority, the likely reason it simply does not have enough precise missiles to destroy Ukraine air defense and does not have enough modern aircrafts either.
I would not be surprised to find out that today’s Russia tactics is the same as it was in Afghanistan almost 40 years ago. It is severely outdated but Russia has no other choice because it cannot produce modern weapons.
One or the reasons the Blitzkrieg worked so well for Nazi Germany was because many of their soldiers were experienced combat veterans from the international brigades during the Civil war in Spain.
Ukrainian soldiers have been in active combat since 2014, and they are fighting to defend their own country.
That being said, I don’t think any of us really have much of a clue as to what is going on, I just hope the best for Ukraine.