General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUkraine War Update #4- Air War in Focus
Another pretty good update and overview to share with you all.
Good and unbiased info for anyone interested.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)OnDoutside
(19,908 posts)stating that they're pulling their troops back, maybe in the hope that the Ukrainians wouldn't attack them.
The question I would wonder is, shouldn't Ukraine keep attacking them all the way back to the border ? Thus
1 Make their retreat as miserable as possible
2 Perfect time to attack is when they aren't in a defensive position
3 Reduce the equipment available to Russia for a later counter offensive
4 Revenge for what they did to civilians
ForgedCrank
(1,723 posts)guess what they do next.
I would expect Ukraine may resist the opportunity, at least at the moment since this -appears- it may be the setup to begin serious negotiations. At this point, both sides may be ready for this to end before the destruction escalates further.
But like I said, I don't think anyone really knows what comes next for certain. It's possibly a chance to put an end to it as long as neither push to escalate for the time being. But unfortunately, we all know that Russia can't be trusted to do what they say so who knows for sure what comes next. Will Putin pull troops out only to reorganize, replenish, and move in again?
Putin has the means to level the entire country in a few days. To me, it is interesting that he hasn't done so, and most likely a result of global response to his actions there. It tells me that he wants an agreement, not utter destruction. Otherwise, he would have already done it. He wants the ground and he wants it intact.
I'm just hoping for an end to the violence and that it doesn't come at the cost of Ukraine losing half of it's territory.
OnDoutside
(19,908 posts)including Lviv. Seeing what he did in Chechnya, he came back a second time and levelled the place. I have little doubt he will do the same, if for nothing else than to prove that cruelty is the point. For now, they're in such disarray on the ground, that they're re-grouping and will come back for revenge, as a result of the humiliation they are currently suffering. There's a chance he might respect them more if Ukraine attacks while they are retreating.
ForgedCrank
(1,723 posts)could predict accurately, but we are talking about Putin. It's just my assessment based on the little accurate information coming out of the region.
But keep in mind, the Russians have taken a serious black eye here. The once feared military might that they always proclaimed has been seriously challenged (on the ground at least) by a small satellite nation. Image is a very big part of their strategy overall, it always has been. They have ALWAYS overstated their capabilities, and will probably continue. That aside, the proof is in the pudding, and their ground operations just failed in spectacular fashion. Suffering further defeat is not something they will want to allow for.
I've been saying this all along and I still believe it holds true: Putin will pull back and let this die off if he is given a path to do so and save face. The Russians need to maintain that image, or at least what is left of it. It is how they operate, and it is very important to them.
They are still a very powerful full-force technical military and can destroy the entire planet if they needed to. But their traditional combat effectiveness was just proven insufficient and nearly ineffective offensively. They will have to live with that, at least short term.
In addition, I fully expect there to be some very big changes on the horizon in how the Russians organize and fund their military. What has happened here is completely unacceptable by any standard. The only way that can be countered is to basically starve them out with a global effort and deny them the funds required to fix it. All of this will likely lead to the end of Putin in the very near future. He is going to bankrupt the country trying to rebuild his military, and the citizens very well could revolt since they will be the ones to suffer in the end.