Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, claims victory against Russia

Nypost ^ | 02/27/2022 | Ben Kesslen and Lee Brown

[ChicagoConservative27]

Ukraine claimed a major victory Sunday against invading Russian forces, saying its military had fought back and retaken full control of the nation’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, amid heavy warfare.

“Control over Kharkiv is completely ours!” regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov crowed in a triumphant Facebook post.

[ChicagoConservative27]

Kiev is surrounded but in Kharkiv they won. My anxiety is through the roof. I need the real story.

[VeniVidiVici]

Who cares? 200k Russian troops should have rolled over Ukraine and here they are still dicking around.

[Zhang Fei]

The Russians will likely win as they did in Grozny, with the block-by-block destruction of the city with artillery. The way this kind of thing works is they do a probe in force, note where incoming fire is coming from and demolish those areas with artillery. They are using MLRS strikes (Grads), not smart bombs to accomplish this, because smart weapons are expensive, whereas dumb bombs, whether Grad rockets or artillery shells, are cheap.

[Godebert]

Most Ukranian claims of success have proven to be total lies.

[bankwalker]

My anxiety is through the roof. I need the real story.

You'll probably have to wait a week or so. The bullshYt flying around is a mile deep ... from all sides ...

[dfwgator]

He could get away with it in Grozny, since nobody really cared about Grozny, most cheered it because it was Chechens.

This is a whole other thing, the optics matter a lot more here.

[McGruff]

Gov. Oleh Synyehubov crowed in a triumphant Facebook post.

Must be true then.

[ConservativeMind]

Why are you anxious?

[dfwgator]

And one has to wonder if his Generals are really up for this. It wouldn’t take much for them to go “Operation Valkyrie” on Putin.

[Zhang Fei]

[Who cares? 200k Russian troops should have rolled over Ukraine and here they are still dicking around.]

---

This kind of thing takes time. Iraqi Freedom took a month, and American logistics are far superior - thanks to his sheer economic heft, Uncle Sam has a ton of money to throw at anything he sets his mind to. I am hopeful that the Ukrainians will pull off the same thing that Finland and Poland did in the past - prevail against the Russians, but these are long odds. The least we can do is resupply them, and I understand even the Germans are pitching in, big time.

[EEGator]

I declare myself Lord Humungus Ruler of the Wasteland, the Ayatollah of Rock n Roll-a...

[DarthVader]

I have seen a few videos of what is going on today. This report is doubtful. The Russians are throwing some serious ordnance around now.

[marcusmaximus]

Message to Russian troops from Kyiv’s Defenders.

Great video from the defenders of Kiev/Kyiv. They know they’re surrounded and they’re not afraid.

Video at Link (Language Warning)

https://twitter.com/EnglishUkraine/status/1497986717470580744

[EEGator]

As you pointed out to me before, Claus von Stauffenberg did not prevail.

[Arcadian Empire]

Chris Jericho should be the Minister of War Rhetoric.

[windsorknot]

Obviously you care. The Russians need to step up their game.

[Zhang Fei]

The Germans have done a head-spinning U-turn. The analogy would be to the Pope suddenly declaring that he's really a devout Hindu (although that wouldn't surprise me). I suspect the appearance of 100,000 demonstrators in Berlin forced the chancellor's hand.

Up until now, the US was pushing the reluctant EU. Now the EU and Germany are out in front. The sanctions WILL hurt Russia, a lot, especially the rich. The weapons that the EU is paying for and sending will hurt Russia. Putin is like Japan at Pearl Harbor – he has awakened the sleeping eagle (albeit the German one) and it wasn’t a good idea to do so.

When the German chancellor, who has acted like Putin’s personal valet throughout suddenly does a U-turn - that’s when you sit up and take notice. When the Green weenies in Germany start talking about reviving coal, you know these people have seen the elephant, and are acting accordingly.

German chancellor Scholz in a fairly long formal speech in parliament an hour ago has announced five steps that the German government is taking:

1. Support Ukraine with weapon deliveries from Germany and Allies as an answer to Putin's aggression
2. Deter Putin from further aggression through sanctions and embargos, both against the country, its private business and "responsible individuals".
3. continue to increase deployed Bundeswehr units to support Eastern-European NATO allies.
   1. Maintain Battlegroup in Lithuania (being expanded with reserve forces).
   2. Contribute to second Battlegroup in Slovakia being built up (Germany will also take command of this second Battlegroup).
   3. Continue current adhoc-formed Air Policing deployment in Romania (training deployment with Italy was transformed to that)
   4. Continue current adhoc deployment of German Navy ships in patrols in Baltic Sea and Mediterranean.
   5. Ready air defence forces for deployment on NATO eastern borders if required.
4. Invest to increase Bundeswehr capabilities:
   1. Establish an immediate 100 billion Euro budget for 2022 to increase Bundeswehr capabilities.
   2. Permanently raise defence budget above 2% GDP.
   3. Prioritize projects with European partners, in particular France for new MBTs, future Eurofighter replacement and just signed Eurodrone project. Replace Tornado with SEAD-enabled Eurofighters and consider F-35 for nuclear delivery (and yes, he named the thing usually not named). Procure Heron UCAV from Israel.
   4. Increase hybrid warfare and cyber resilience.
   5. (Seek increased energy independence from Russia by expanding coal and gas reserves and building two LNG terminals.)
5. (didn't quite catch that - lots of bla about "ceasing naive exterior politics" of recent years and about alliances and "defending a peaceful Europe")

There was a lot of serious pathos and patriotistic platitudes throughout the speech, going as far as "we shall defend every square meter of NATO" and a "do not ask what you can get out of Brussels for your own country, but ask what is the best decision for The Union". The speech was accentuated by standing applause from most of the plenum (except the right-extremist pro-Putin AfD faction).

[ETCM]

Kiev is surrounded but in Kharkiv they won. My anxiety is through the roof. I need the real story.

The Mayor of Kiev already announced that the "surrounded" quote was bogus and not true. I would take this story, just like the "surrounded" story with a huge grain of salt. Both sides are furiously spinning tales of victory and defeat.

Russia can obviously prevail in this war if they press their military advantages. The question is how far Putin will go and what political price is he willing to pay.

[dfwgator]

The question is how far Putin will go and what political price is he willing to pay.

And how far his Generals will let him go.

[EEGator]

He’d be solid.

“I have a journalism degree, but I’d rather be the person who is being written about rather than the person who is writing.”
Y2J