Posted on 08/30/2022 3:28:47 PM PDT by Timber Rattler
At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most experts expected that Kyiv would fall quickly. Ukrainian forces were fighting against a military that was bigger and better armed. Russia’s troops had more combat experience and funding. The question was not if Moscow’s forces would depose the Ukrainian government but when regime change would happen.
Of course, Kyiv didn’t fall. Instead, the Ukrainian military stopped Russia’s assault on the capital and forced a retreat. Russia downsized its initial mission from wholesale conquest, and the war now mostly consists of grinding offensives and counteroffensives in Ukraine’s east and south. The question is no longer how long Kyiv can hold out. It is whether the Ukrainian government can reclaim occupied land.
There are several reasons for Ukraine’s surprising success. The Russian military’s logistical incompetence, its puzzling inability to secure early air superiority, and low troop morale all played a part. So did Western support for Ukraine and the sheer tenacity of the country’s soldiers. But these explanations do not tell the full story. The Ukrainian military deserves recognition not just for its troops’ motivation but also for its technical savvy. It has used cutting-edge technologies and adapted existing capabilities in creative new ways, on and off the kinetic battlefield. It has deployed loitering munitions—missiles with the ability to stay on station until an operator locates a target—and modified commercial drones that can destroy Russian troops and equipment on the cheap. It has tapped commercial satellite data to track Russian troop movements in near real time. And Kyiv has wisely used artificial intelligence, in conjunction with this satellite imagery, to create software that helps artillery locate, aim, and destroy targets in the most efficient and lethal manner possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignaffairs.com ...
You tell yourself whatever story makes you happy.
Ceterum (autem) censeo Ruthenia esse delendam.
I've made many posts where I I've chided the bloodthirsty over the killing of young Ukrainian and young Russian men.
Most of the people on this board cheering on the slaughter are old enough to be safe from having any skin in the game [too old to fight].
I haven't watched a single TV news source since a week before the last election and I don't plan on watching any in the future.
Do you deny that the consensus here was Russia would obliterate them in less than a week?
I predict it will continue until we run out of money.
You may not believe this but Freeper lie too. I don't watch TeeVee news at all, since a week before the last election, probably never will again.
In my 25 years on FR, I've learned not to count the chickens before they've hatched.
You're talking about the eggs of other people, not mine.
You can examine my posts around that particular time period, if you like.
I was more concerned about the outrages against the Canadian truckers, if I recall correctly.
I haven't watched a single TV news source since a week before the last election and I don't plan on watching any in the future.
I cut my cord to the TeeVee in 2004.
I never accused you of believing TeeVee news.
Never thought about it before, but cable unplugged here well before 1998.
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