Speaking solely as a tactical warrior, poking your opponent hard I the nose when you have the opportunity is a key to winning the fight....
What he does next will be responsive/ defensive and likely cost him combat power, agility and initiative.
Take it from him. I would.
When I asked a similar question the answer was that as long as mother Russia wasn’t threatened then Putin would have a politically hard time moving the country from a special military action to a war footing. Once Russia was threatened he could call up the reserves and he’d also have some other powers he can’t call on now. Ukraine has a delicate balancing act and they understand what works and where the red lines are better than us armchair warriors. It does appear that the way we see the war and the way most Russians (who have more limited access to the world) see it are vastly different.
I think this would be a mistake, it would give the Russian Army motivation to fight that has been lacking so far.
Clearly you should be in charge of the Russians since you're so much smarter.
They would call you General Smarty Guy and give you medals.
Ukrainians could capture Belgorod and win the battle. But it would be a pyrrhic victory. Russia is a totalitarian country. They would use propaganda to fully mobilize and get the population behind the war. Putin would welcome the attack.
Ukrainians keep it a defensive war in their country. They will continue to make sure that the morale in the Russians military is low.
Yes, MercyFlush?
They should limit themselves to cross border raids on specific targets, as they have done so far. A full-on invasion is probably beyond their ability and isn’t necessary. The Russians are coming to them. They don’t have to go looking for them.
Trying to take a Russian city would be a mistake imo. But damaging the city so that it is less useful as a staging point has value. All such cities need to lose all their public utilities and their ability to resupply military convoys. In fact every Russian city within 50 miles of the Ukraine border should probably be a target. And every road that crosses the border as well.
Ukraine needs to concentrate on the upcoming Battles of Severodonetsk and Izyum, which will be key in the overall Battle of Donbas. If they can win at Izyum and Severodonetsk, Russia is at serious risk of losing the Battle of Donbas.
Of course, I’m no military tactician, so my opinion is worth what you paid for it...
You do know the Soviet Union ceased to exist 30 years ago, don’t you?
Probably not a good idea.
This would highly motivated the Russians, likely they could declare total mobilization and all attack Ukraine.
Russians love Mother Russia and would give anything in defending it! When attacked they all unite around the leader and fight back.
See e.g. WWII. Most Russians hated Stalin. The war with Finland went terribly wrong.
But then, they were attacked by Germany and suddenly all united around Stalin, went through terrible suffering and defeated the Germany.
Any escalation at this point would probably risk dragging in border nations and Russian ‘allies’ (Belarus, Libya, Turkey, Iran).
It does look like that is where we are headed towards regardless. I imagine Poland and Romania becoming proxy targets soon as well as Finland and Sweden.
Ukraine has nothing to lose by going on the offense.
The EU and the rest of the civilized world will not like Russia’s response.
No. Stay in your own country and defend . They cannot be condemned .
Remember General Robert E. Lee’s experience at Gettysburg .
Why don’t you go there and help them?
OTOH I’ve read that russia has something like a NATO self defense agreement with countries too, like Belarus,Georgia,Kazakstan maybe syria or others and i don’t know what could trigger that but i’d be cautious when it comes topoking the bear with a sharp stick.One nuclear bomb could ruin your whole day.
Mother Tussia , the great ‘babushka’
Wow! 14 Minutes since the last Pro-Ukrainian Post! The Zelensky fan club can’t stop posting!
“Is it time for Ukraine to attack and occupy Belgorod?”
Officially no. Just send the little green men, denazify the area and start setting up the Democratic Republic of Belogrod.
Nah. Your slush fund with the Democraps with our hard earned $40 billion is being wasted on a sh*tty child smuggling and money laundering country like Ukraine.
I always find Democraps on FR pretending to be conservatives on FR every week..I hope Ukraine falls sooner so we can keep our money.