Posted on 01/10/2023 8:36:45 AM PST by Navy Patriot
Russian forces appear close to capturing a small but strategically important town on the front lines of the war in eastern Ukraine.
Russian soldiers and the Wagner group's mercenary fighters were engaged in bitter fighting for the mining town of Soledar, officials in Kyiv and its Western allies said Tuesday, control of which could finally hand them a breakthrough in their bid to seize the key nearby city of Bakhmut.
Moscow’s troops had escalated their assault on defensive positions around Bakhmut, the officials said, after months of fierce fighting that has left the once-thriving city in the industrial Donbas region largely ruined.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Ya cant keep it quiet forever.
A digression but interesting nonetheless: https://nypost.com/2023/01/10/ukrainian-soldier-has-live-grenade-removed-from-torso/
Well the media is playing it out about like I figured as are many people here but this town really doesn’t matter anyhow
About like I figured
I’m surprised the media is Admitting it though
Lindsey and Mitch will be asking for another $ 50 billion for Zelensky before the month is out.
They will need to spin it against Russia
Looks like “brutality” and “ruin” are going to be part of the narrative
(As if Ukraine is playing by Marquis of Queensberry rules and leaving Donetsk in good condition)
Is Russia still winning this war?
It’s been a while, but I recall FReepers belly aching about the propaganda and lies suggesting Russia was in trouble and would surely take Ukraine.
Tonight at the Golden Globes Zelensky will be fundraising on the frozen shattered corpses of men sent to die en masse with no retreat
Do know Constitutional America is Losing.
Badly.
I think Russia is fighting for the positions today they think they need to go to the world and ask for a ceasefire after 1 year of nearly nothing but destruction and wasted conscripts. If I were rich and powerful in Russia, I would be quite pissed with my puppets in the Kremlin.
The part of the price paid only by Ukraine:
“More than 7.9 million Ukrainians have become refugees from Russia’s war”
Can’t be true. Ukraine is winning everywhere on every day.
So pointless
Proxy war so much blood
“but this town really doesn’t matter anyhow”
My understanding is it give the Russians access to the labyrinth of underground tunnels in the area.
But I am curious...why do you think it doesn’t matter?
In fairness, “brutal” and “ruin” are two adjectives that fit this kind of warfare and the photographs at the front show an incredible amount of artillery hits and shell damage to structures.
This looks more like trench warfare vs “modern warfare” and it favors Russia more than the Ukrainians who would do well to not get sucked into it.
Every town matters to both sides.
It matters for the Ukes, because that’s their homeland.
It matters for the Russians, because unless they take these towns over, they can’t win.
For Ukraine it is survival as a nation period, for Russia, winning is survival for the existing government.
This war is in a stalemate and taking a town or two by either side isn’t a big deal at this point unless it can be exploited by further gains.
I think Russia is fighting because they have fewer John Kerrys than America does.
I would be happy to swap John Kerry for whomever the Russians want. In fact, we can pay them to take him!
In fairness, those terms apply to both sides, not just Russia
The problem we have with John Kerry (and his friends) is that foreign nations (including Russia), are too smart to take him, they profit from him remaining right where he is, and no one in America is tough enough to make him want to leave.
It matters for the Russians because most of these settlements have Russian-speaking Russian heritage citizens who have been persecuted by years from Kiev. After the failure of Minsk to protect them and allow some autonomy, they finally voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. Now Russia owes than protection.
Most of the Uke conscripts dragged unto the eastern battle are not from Eastern Ukraine, whereas the local DPR/LNR militias have developed into tens of thousands of men now fighting with and as part of the Russian army, for their own land and families. Plus the Russians have seen the retaliation launched on people when they leave an area and Ukes move in. Again, they owe these people protection.
Bucha being an early example, staged as a “Russian’ atrocity. Another possibly being prepared for staging in Kharkov.
Really curious why gung ho western analysts think they are going to gain support of locals to “ liberate” these areas, and Crimea, after their treatment by the nationalists dominating Kiev.
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