Posted on 04/08/2022 11:20:45 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
NATO estimates that Russia has lost 7,000 to 15,000 troops during the six-week war — a startling number — while Ukraine puts the toll at 18,600. Those figures rival, if not exceed, the 14,453 lost during the Soviet Union’s roughly 10-year war in Afghanistan and the 11,000 Russian service members who died in the two Chechen wars.
Russia puts the official military death toll of the Ukrainian campaign at 1,351.
[Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry] Peskov vaguely discussed the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine....
“Our military are doing their best to bring an end to that operation,” he told the publication. “And we do hope that in coming days, in the foreseeable future, this operation will reach its goals or will finish it by the negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegation.” ...
However, earlier this week while speaking in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the war could last “for weeks, but also months, and possibly also for years.”
“We have no indication that President Putin has changed his overall goal. That is to control Ukraine and to achieve significant military victories on the battleground. We don’t see a Russian retreat,” he said. “What we see is Russian regrouping and repositioning of their forces.” ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Russia is spending a lot of money in Ukraine with little return, money that it can't really waste
that can't keep up ...
But..but the Russian military excels at killing innocent women and children...
Reinforcements.
Without that 3rd "R" you're just stretching your forces thinner.
“Operation.” LOL
Yo Dmitri. Can you elaborate on what those “goals” are? Just curious.
Anyone know of progress - or even serious hope - of said negotiations?
It has captured the natural gas preserve in the south of the
Ukraine. It will more than pay off for them. (that is, if
they keep it) [I’m thinking they will, but I could be wrong.]
“Anyone know of progress - or even serious hope - of said negotiations?”
Russia seems pretty keen to extricate themselves from this mess and has made a series of concessions.
Ukraine has held firm that there is no peace until the return of Crimea, which Putin cannot agree to.
Ukrainian morale is sky high. They just won the battle of Kiev and your average Ukrainian soldiers believes it is a matter of time before they are marching through Red Square in Moscow. The men on the ground won’t accept a deal that surrenders a single inch of land to the Russians.
Burn the stinging pigs.
“What “R” is missing here? Reinforcements. Without that 3rd “R” you’re just stretching your forces thinner.”
There have been reports of troops coming from the east (Siberia) and some “allies” such as Syria to help bolster the Russian forces. But, always remember, “Nacht und Nebel.” So, who knows?
Yes, I’ve been following pretty closely. I just desperately hope for a settlement ASAP, but don’t hear much but speculation about the talks.
Gen. Milley is severely disappointed.
Sounds like they’re are looking for “face-saving” exit!
Wait! There must be a mistake? Both Biden and Blinken are saying this war could last years and years.
Starting a war is your option. Ending a war, well that takes an agreement from the other side. Now that could be a problem. That territory they’re trying to seize has a huge new oil and gas Discovery. Ukraine won’t give it up easily. Also, they won’t give up their access to the sea. And, none of the nearby countries will put pressure on them as they know they are next.
Here the real word: Recombining
Here’s the thoughts of a 3 Star:
Ex-Commanding General of the US Army Europe - recombining forces
https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/status/1511098973678972938?t=ciWK01lQq5UDGJklK6qw5w&s=19
Regardless of the outcome, numbers matter.
Usually nat gas and oil are quoted in % to avoid the outright numbers. “Europe gets 45% of its gas from Russia”. That sort of thing.
Well, here are the numbers. 175 billion cubic meters/year from Russia to Europe. There exist 550 LNG ships in the world, most fully employed in Asia. They are small and large, ranging from 40,000 cubic meters to 250K cubic meters. Far more of them are small than large.
If you call the average capacity 175K cubic meters (for ease of math sake), that’s 10,000 deliveries to roughly 20 European LNG ports, and only 3 of them are not already operating at capacity.
10,000 deliveries in a year.
Someone needs to think carefully about this before about 8 months have passed and winter arrives, because Russia isn’t going to be anxious to ship to enemies at any price. I can’t even imagine what price or array of apologies would suffice for Europe to get flow again.
They ship 110 billion cubic meters per year to China and another 50 billion to India. Both of whom are increasing consumption. Russia doesn’t HAVE to send gas to Europe. They will be plenty warm this coming winter. This is all excess over domestic consumption. And it’s pieces of paper Europe offers with ink printed on them, created from thin air by the ECB.
It’s paper. It’s not food or warmth.
How many troops do they have. Russian ground forces are about 260K. They’ve sent maybe 70% of their GF into Ukraine. Are a 1000 Syrians going to make a difference? This is the first timecsince’45 that Russia has engaged a First World military. One that seems trained, reasonably well equipped, supported by irregular forces, posessing modern arms , supplied from outside, and seemingly possessing high morale.
“How many troops do they have.”
I have no idea. I just said there were reports. Then I said “who knows?” re: any validity.
Exactly. The problem is that the Russians - and apparently General Milley as well - thought otherwise. So that reality has been a very nasty surprise for them.
But, but, but Miley just said it would last for years.
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