CA, what makes you think Pootie-Poot is the guy calling the shots?
Russian troop strength in the area was reported at about 150,000.
The Ukrainian forces are reported at 200,000 on active duty, and about a million reserves (sort of like our National Guard).
The equipment is lopsided, so that is difficult to determine.
How many Javelins equal a Russian tank? How many Turkish drones make up for a Russian jet?
If Russian forces are at the gates of Kiev making further headway means urban combat. For what purpose? To get a Big Mac at a Kiev McDonald’s?
Once a city is surrounded the invader should let the stomachs of the residents of the city fight the battle.
Putin can win. It just depends on how brutal he wants to be on the battlefield and in governing the conquered land. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it’s doable. We’ll see how far he’s willing to go.
Waiting to see if anyone takes the fight into Russia.
I have no idea what assets could reach Russian cities from afar (let’s leave nukes out of the equation for sake of discussion).
All the Russians have to do is dig trenches around surrounded cities and wait.
Americans generally lack patience.
Russian patience exceeds Ukrainian city food supplies.
It seems the Russian forces are holding back to minimize the Ukrainian casualties... a sort of minimal incursion that will be tolerated. It is fun to watch the anti gun people praising normal citizens taking up arms to defend their freedoms... d’oh
I still think the attacks outside of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk are to drive Ukraine into talks that result in Ukraine relinquishing those areas. Putin may take Kyiv, he may rain destruction on Kyiv, but I do not believe that he has ever had plans to hold Kyiv. Resistance may be tougher than Putin expected, but I think his goal remains the same. Sanctions won’t bother him enough in the short-term to affect things, and I think this is a short-term war.
I hope Ukraine causes Russia so much pain that Putin won’t try something like this again, but I bet Russia gets Luhansk and Donetsk.
There is something else going on because this move is very out of character for Putin in that he has gambled everything on a 50/50 proposition at best and the downsides for him and Russia appear to outweigh any short-term gains.
The Oligarchs in Russia don’t support this move as much of their wealth is in the West.
It risks his energy exports to Europe and pushes them to a partner they historically distrust and have had conflict with (China). It risks exposing his military as a less than formidable force.
It erases any traction Putin had on the world stage or within the UN. It harms Putin’s popularity at home. Putin’s “reputation” is in tatters.
We are missing something here because this move is irrational based on what we know. Putin had achieved much of what he wanted prior to invading and it looks like an “all-in” hand in poker with a pair of 7’s.
Too many threads here on FR about Putin involve some other issue such as wokeism or other social issues but as a pure strategic problem I don’t understand why he did this....
He is a vain man who tries to rule with an iron fist but he has always been pretty careful. This is anything but careful.
We already know Putin’s goal. Force Ukraine to surrender, de-militarize, and accept a puppet government with Russian occupiers.
Putin wants Ukraine to become a “country in name only.”
“Americans love a winner and can not tolerate a loser!’’.- General George Patton.