This guy throws water on the theory, but it’s interesting that the question is being asked.
Meanwhile, it appears that the Russian forces have been pushed away from Kharkiv and are pretty much focusing on Donetsk.
Recent Comments
 | Just Watchin on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
| Just Watchin on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
 | Mitch on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
| Mitch on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
 | Eric Kirk on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
| Just Watchin on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
| Just Watchin on Much like being the cold war l… |
 | Bob Wallace on Much like being the cold war l… |
 | Jon Yalcinkaya on Much like being the cold war l… |
| Jon Yalcinkaya on Louisiana’s maternal mor… |
| Eric Kirk on Ukraine War Continues |
 | Henchman Of Justice on Ukraine War Continues |
 | Anonymous on Ukraine War Continues |
| Just Watchin on Ukraine War Continues |
| Henchman Of Justice on Ukraine War Continues |
Local Media
North Coast Blogs
- As it Stands
- Dirt
- Dreaming up Daily
- Forest Defender
- Fortuna Citizen
- Fred’s Humboldt Blog
- Humboldt Herald
- Joe Blow Report
- JohnChiv
- Matthew in the Middle
- Poets of the Western Trinity
- Rambling Jack’s Laboratory
- Reggae: Past, Present, and Future
- Samoa Softball
- Social Biking Blog
- Stephen Lewis
- Talking Tech
- Tom Sebourn Blog
- Tree Sit Blog
- Tuluwat Examiner
- Watchpaul
Progressive Media
Sohum Blogs
Archives
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
911
Al Franken
antisemitism
Arcata
big boxes
books
chess
Christianity
civil liberties
Clif Clendenen
Clinton
Community Park
conservatism
conspiracy theories
culture war
demonstrations
District Attorney
economy
education
Endorsements
environmentalism
Estelle Fennell
Eureka
Eureka City Council
feminism
film
food
Fox News
Garberville
gay rights
General Plan
Harbor District
history
Iran
Iraq
Islam
Israel
Judaism
KMUD
land use issues
Larry Glass
left history
liberalism
marijuana
Marina Center
Mark Lovelace
Mateel
McCain
media
medical marijuana
Mendocino County
movies
music
North Coast Journal
Obama
Palco
parenting
Paul Gallegos
peace movement
racism
Reggae on the River
Reggae War
religion
Richardson Grove
Rob Arkley
San Francisco
Sarah Palin
science
socialism
sports
television
universal health care
US 101
War
water
Sohum Parlance II 
46 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 14, 2022 at 8:53 am
Henchman Of Justice
Ukrainian coup is needed, but Ukraine likes getting gifted money, stuff it does not and has never needed… so continue on with the foreign victim projecting… because international conspiracies absolutely exist to PILFER USA into a lower-class society…
May 14, 2022 at 9:45 am
Eric Kirk
It’s the talk in a lot of places.
https://fortune.com/2022/05/14/does-putin-have-cancer-coup-underway-blood-cancer-ukraine-war/
May 14, 2022 at 9:52 am
Mitch
Of course I have no evidence other than my understanding or lack of understanding of reality, but I’d be disappointed if US and NATO-member spy organizations were not doing everything in their power to get a substitute for Putin into power in Russia. He’s broken whatever “deal” I imagine exists, by bringing up nuclear retaliation, or allowing it to become part of the conversation. So, I’d imagine, it’s generally accepted that he has to go, as soon as that becomes physically possible. And I’ll be glad to see him gone.
May 14, 2022 at 10:01 am
Eric Kirk
I know – where is the all-powerful CIA in all of this?
They don’t make CIA-backed coups the way they used to.
May 14, 2022 at 10:22 am
Bob Wallace
I see no one/power able to unseat Putin outside of the top ranking military officers. And I’m guessing that their likelihood of overthrowing Putin is rising.
Russian forces are now pulling back into one relatively small area which I do not think they can hold for long. Russian tanks and artillery pieces have ranges, the best I can determine, of less than 20 km/12 miles. And their fire is not extremely accurate. It’s the old ‘bracket and dial in’ type of shelling.
The West is sending in artillery with much longer range and very accurate ‘small shells’. Germany has just furnished ” a leading weapon in its class that can rapidly fire shells with great precision in a range of around 20 to 40 miles, depending on the type of ammunition used. The guns are capable of using smart laser-guided ammunition.” The US has sent in artillery with 20 mile and greater range and also has pinpoint type accuracy.
Russia does have missiles but may have already used much of their stock and without advanced electronics probably cannot manufacture more. Russia recently shut down their major tank production facility due to lack of critical parts they can no longer import. Additionally, Israel has started supplying Iron Dome systems which are fairly successful at taking down missiles.
Ukraine has developed inexpensive drones which can fly in close to the ground, below radar range, pop up, and drop explosives that will take out anything short of a modern tank. Fuel trucks, personnel carriers, etc.
This means that Ukraine forces can sit back outside the range of Russian guns and systematically pick off whatever Russia puts into the field. Take out Russia’s heavy weapons and their fuel trucks. Russia will have to pack up and go home.
Russia’s air force has largely been neutralized. Russian ships have been shown to be vulnerable to Ukrainian drones so they can’t safely sit offshore and lob in rounds. And my guess is that the West has some ‘interesting’ anti-ship ordinance they could provide to Ukraine if needed.
The generals and admirals do not live in a “Putin bubble”. Many of them are forced to be on the front line due to Russia’s incredibly poor command structure and communications systems.
If the military continues to lose I think they can see that their next assignment will be a jail cell. Putin has already sent some loser generals to prison. Their choice might be a comfortable retirement, maybe in a warm country, or a small concrete room in a miserable place.
I won’t be surprised if they decide to remove Vlad.
May 14, 2022 at 10:27 am
Just Watchin
“They don’t make CIA-backed coups the way they used to.” …..yep, that Bay of Pigs was a real precision operation…….
May 14, 2022 at 10:44 am
Eric Kirk
JW – good point only that wasn’t a coup. But they did try to assassinate Castro half a dozen crazy ways, including poisoning his toothbrush.
Also the coup Bush announced in Venezuela failed.
May 14, 2022 at 10:47 am
Just Watchin
CNN really seems to be turning on magoo lately…..
May 14, 2022 at 10:51 am
Eric Kirk
May 14, 2022 at 10:53 am
Eric Kirk
In the old days, this would seem like a waste of an expensive missile, but the Bayraktars have taken out numerous Russian tanks.
May 14, 2022 at 10:55 am
Eric Kirk
The howitzers are probably the most modern offensive equipment the U.S. has sent with the exception of the switchblades.
May 14, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Just Watchin
Even MSNBC is kicking magoo while he’s down…..
May 14, 2022 at 10:59 pm
Eric Kirk
May 15, 2022 at 6:06 am
Anonymous
Latest assessment from British defense ministry:
May 15, 2022 at 6:15 am
Anonymous
Not a surprise at this point, but it’s official: Finland will apply to join NATO
Heckuva job, Putin!
May 15, 2022 at 6:23 am
Anonymous
Sweden expected to announce the same today; likely to make formal application Tuesday along with Finland.
May 15, 2022 at 8:03 am
Henchman Of Justice
Personally, Ukraine/Russia is a Huge Political Misdirect… cautiously observing…
May 15, 2022 at 9:18 am
Bob Wallace
I’m assuming these numbers are roughly correct. It should be easy to verify destroyed tanks. They are easily identified and are being hauled away for scrap.
Russia, prior to invading Ukraine, had 2,800 active tanks. As of May 12, 2022 1,195 (43%) of those tanks had been destroyed.
Now with much longer and much more accurate artillery being supplied by the West the remaining tanks will be largely useless. They don’t have the range to compete with field guns.
Russia had several thousand tanks “in storage” but those seem to be mostly WWII tanks that haven’t been maintained. And Russia’s tank production has been shut down due to their inability to import critical parts.
May 15, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Eric Kirk
May 15, 2022 at 3:36 pm
Eric Kirk
I don’t understand why so many tanks are caught in the open, and by themselves. I had always thought that they were accompanied by soldiers on foot.
May 15, 2022 at 3:51 pm
Eric Kirk
May 15, 2022 at 4:20 pm
Bob Wallace
“I don’t understand why so many tanks are caught in the open, and by themselves. I had always thought that they were accompanied by soldiers on foot.”
Two things.
1) Failure of Russian military command to put protective screens of foot soldiers out to protect their tanks. They just failed to do what they should have done.
There’s been a massive, massive failure of Russian command. They’ve failed to create a command structure like that of Western armies. They have no lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals who are trained to carry out a mission, to problem solve. And they don’t have permission to make command decisions when problems crop up.
There’s apparently been massive stealing of military funds that should have gone to equipment upkeep. Frequent claims that very large amounts of military equipment have been ‘sold on eBay’. Sold to someone.
It turns out that the Russian military is rotten to the core. And, I suspect, alcoholism has played a big role. Russia has a vodka problem.
2) Drones and satellites. It’s now much, much, much easier to spy on the other side. A really inexpensive drone can fly out several miles and take pictures with little risk of it being shot down.
It used to be necessary to send out scouts to find the enemy. And they had no ability to send back a very accurate lat/long that could be used for targeting. And there were no ‘smart’ shells and bombs that could identify a tank vs. a house/whatever and zero in on it.
If you look at some of the videos of Russian tanks getting blown up they are in the woods. They probably wouldn’t be spotted by a pilot flying over and a soldier on foot would need to get really close in order to spot them. A slow moving drone can safely get much lower and see into the trees or backroads much easier. And a drone shooting video can spot tanks on a road and video them as they move into concealment. Even if they don’t show in the final frame it’s clear where they are.
The destruction of 70(?) tanks at the crossing? A well planned ambush. The Ukrainians were fairly sure there would be a river crossing and, apparently, stationed guns close to places where the crossing was most likely.
They could hear tugs moving the pontoons into position. They waited until some tanks had crossed. They shot the tanks at each end of the convoy and blew the bridge. The remaining tanks had nowhere to go. Narrow road though the forest blocked by destroyed tanks.
Shooting gallery.
May 15, 2022 at 4:29 pm
Bob Wallace
“When Nato bases appear in Sweden & Finland, Russia will have no choice but to neutralise the imbalance & new threat by deploying tactical nuclear weapons.””
Empty threat. Russia has no ability to stand up to NATO. They’ve proven it.
Russia can deploy tactical nuclear weapons, I.e., move them closer to the border. But if Russia used a tactical nuclear weapon they would get smacked back into the 18th century.
There was a discussion by retired generals a few days ago about what the likely response would be were Russia to use a nuke in Ukraine. The common assumption was that NATO would immediately wipe out every Russian asset in Ukraine and sink every Russian vessel in the Black Sea.
And that would be accompanied by massive cyber attacks and the destruction of the Russian economy.
May 15, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Mitch
> But if Russia used a tactical nuclear weapon they would get smacked back into the 18th century.
I don’t disagree with this argument at all, but I wish it had been heard back when we could have saved an awful lot of Ukrainian lives and infrastructure. Maybe NATO didn’t know that Russia was fielding a Potemkin military until Putin showed his cards.
May 16, 2022 at 8:11 am
Henchman Of Justice
Mitch, those who sell the goods and services to rebuild destruction do not want you and others to hear stuff too soon, wink wink…🤷♂️
May 16, 2022 at 1:16 pm
Eric Kirk
The Russian loss at Kharkiv finally made it to the mainstream media this morning, but again, on open source, I’ve been watching it happen for weeks.
May 16, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Bob Wallace
“Maybe NATO didn’t know that Russia was fielding a Potemkin military until Putin showed his cards.”
I wonder what NATO and the US knew. We’ve got lots of information sources. We understood the poor structure of the Russian command system, the theft problem, and the alcohol problems. We had to know how poorly most Russian equipment was maintained and how many of their tanks were just rusty metal. We knew how poorly many Russian soldiers are trained. I’ve read posts by ordinary US soldiers who were aware of how badly the Russian army is run.
I think what we might have missed out on is how Zelenskiy would step up and be such a wise and inspirational leader. He didn’t have a background that would lead one to guess that he has Churchillian capabilities. And I don’t think we realized how well Ukrainians would rise up to defeat Russia.
I’ve watched some interviews with captured Russian soldiers and they are simply not ‘high quality’ people. Almost all are kind of dull young guys who signed up for the military because their families were broke and it was pretty much the only job available. Zero allegiance to the Russian war effort.
Many of the Ukrainians who I’ve seen interviewed are bright, accomplished people who have set aside their jobs as engineers, tech workers, factory managers, etc. and are all in on kicking Putin’s butt.
May 17, 2022 at 4:00 am
Just Watchin
Interesting result…..
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russian-oil-gas-prices-exports-triple-current-account-surplus-2022-5?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sf-markets-insider&fbclid=IwAR1RVslZXZRxreTrlTqem6aJA0daJOQ19hmDnJL50ikqeOErlNFAum7WR3s
May 17, 2022 at 6:50 am
Just Watchin
Looks like she has her own version of “circle back”…..
May 17, 2022 at 7:26 am
Just Watchin
Looks like magoo just lost 11 million fans…..
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/half-of-joe-biden-s-twitter-followers-are-fake-audit-reveals/ar-AAXnmEq?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=1ae6ae20b03a4f97901dd5bba9ae0b61
May 18, 2022 at 12:52 pm
Eric Kirk
First war crime conviction in Ukraine. Plenty more to come.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/18/russian-soldier-guilty-ukraine-war-crimes-trial-00033357
May 18, 2022 at 6:18 pm
Anonymous
The mother of all Freudian slips…
May 18, 2022 at 6:44 pm
Eric Kirk
And nobody was even throwing a shoe at him!
May 18, 2022 at 7:04 pm
Anonymous
After he says “I mean Ukraine” he actually mumbles “Iraq too.”
I’m not kidding…watch the video.
After that he makes a reference to his age: “75,” which gets a laugh.
But it’s the mumbled “Iraq too” that’s the buried headline here.
May 18, 2022 at 7:12 pm
Bob Wallace
Something interesting may be starting up.
Recently a retired Russian officer who is a regular talking head on Russian TV talked long and plainly about the Russian military’s poor performance in Ukraine. And there have been some small acknowledgements of non-success on government controlled Russian TV. (All TV is Russia is government controlled.)
My guess is that Putin is starting the process of admitting defeat and setting up the generals and admirals to take the fall.
I don’t see how Russia hangs on too much longer. They’ve lost close to 50% of their operational tanks. Their air force isn’t really flying. Ukraine now has howitzers that have far more range than what Russia has in the field. Ukraine should be able to sit back in the safe zone and wipe out Russian weapons. Plus Ukrainian soldiers are moving closer to Russian forces and firing very accurate missiles and suicide drones.
Putin isn’t stupid. I think he sees defeat as a clear possibility, if not a certainty. And he’s trying to create a situation where someone else takes the blame and he hangs on to power.
May 18, 2022 at 7:51 pm
Anonymous
About that retired Russian officer…
May 18, 2022 at 8:11 pm
Bob Wallace
I saw the video of the attack on the 777 earlier. The Russians dropped what looks to be a grenade or small bomb in the general location of the gun. Shrapnel might have struck some of the troops. They’re going to have to get better than that.
And neither Russian field pieces nor ship mounted guns have anywhere close to the range of the 777 and the even more capable German guns being supplied.
I wonder how many long range missiles Russia has left. And I assume they are limited in producing more due to a lack of computer hardware. The reason they ceased manufacturing tanks.
If a non NATO ship sailed into Odessa to transport grain later in the year I wonder if Russia would attack it. I bet we could rig a vessel so that it could be piloted remotely.
May 18, 2022 at 9:13 pm
Anonymous
Yeah it was kinda funny that he was saying how they’re going to destroy all these howitzers but the only video they had shows them missing.
But that wasn’t why I posted that video. It was just interesting to note how dramatically this guy’s tone changed from the other day, and how quickly. As Francis Scarr oponed “It appears that someone’s given him a bit of a talking to.”
May 18, 2022 at 9:52 pm
Anonymous
As I think I’ve made plenty clear in my comments here, I think Ukraine will eventually win this war, at least in the sense of defeating most of Putin’s aims.
And I hope that the following comments will be taken in the spirit of discussion, not as aany sort of personal attack, but to be candid I find myself really wincing at statements like…
“Ukraine should be able to sit back in the safe zone and wipe out Russian weapons”
It’s just not remotely that easy. Ukrainian troops are dying every day, not just Russian troops. Russia’s progress in taking territory in the Donbass is slow, and they are reportedly taking heavy losses doing so, but so far they are still pushing forward, albeit, again, slowly.
We don’t know how heavy the Ukrainian losses have been as they fight this rearguard action, but I would assume they’re significant.
There is still a significant risk that Ukrainian forces in the center of the front (where their position looks like a “peninsula” in the middle of the Russian forces; see map in Tweet below) could be forced to retreat quite a bit to avoid being encircled and cut off if the Russians continue to advance.
The hope is that the losses being suffered by Russian forces, the attrition in both manpower and equipment, will lead to them running out of offensive capability before they capture all of the Donbass region, and hopefully that “culmination” takes place sooner rather than later.
But even with all the weapons and supplies from the West, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that any of this is easy, or that it is especially likely to be quick.
Just as with the battle for Kiev, before the Ukrainians can hope to push the Russians back, they first have to stop the Russian advances. I am pretty confident they will be able to do so — they have been fighting hard and smart, are getting good weapons and supplies from the West, their morale appears to be strong and they’re fighting for their own land — but it’s not a given that they stop the Russians before the Russians take all of the Donbass, and even if, as I hope, they do manage to do this, it’s not going to be a walk in the park.
If and when the Russians can no longer advance, then the question becomes whether the Ukrainians, who are currently suffering some unknown amount of attrition as well, marshall the forces needed to launch a major counteroffensive, and whether they can do so before the Russians are well enough dug into defensive positions that they can extract too heavy a price on the counterattackers.
Russia has shown very real weaknesses and poor strategy and tactics. But they are still a massive country with considerable military resources. And they may be more committed to taking and holding territory in the Donbass than they were in the North.
So far there is no real sign Putin has concluded that he’s bound to lose and should cut his losses and withdraw from Ukraine’s borders. Hopefully that day comes, and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later. But I wouldn’t rule out this dragging on for a pretty long time, quite possibly years rather than months.
I hope that doesn’t turn out to be the case, and I hope that Russia can be driven out of Ukraine relatively quickly.
But I also get the sense that much of the coverage we get here in the US — such as lots of videos of Russian tanks being blown up by ATGMs and drones, the Ukrainian advances east of Kharkiv, etc — may be somewhat overplaying Ukrainian successes and leading to an exaggerated impression of the potential for a rapid Russian military collapse, while downplaying Russia’s slow but nonetheless real advances on the Donbass front, and underestimating how long and hard a slog it could be to try to push them back even once those advances can be halted (which I very much hope will be soon).
Here are a few Tweets that speak to the reality on the ground, which from my reading is certainly not great for Russia, but also no picnic for the Ukrainians:
May 18, 2022 at 9:53 pm
Anonymous
May 18, 2022 at 9:58 pm
Anonymous
Again, I present these not as evidence that Russia is “winning” or that Ukraine is “losing,” but rather as a counterpoint to what I see as perhaps overly optimistic views of the situation on the ground and the prospects for a relatively rapid Russian military collapse / retreat. Which, again, I truly hope does happen the way we saw it happen after their failure to take Kiev…I’m just not convinced it’s anywhere near imminent in the Donbass.
May 18, 2022 at 10:07 pm
Anonymous
I very much hope the unnamed military official referred to above is correct in their assessment that “the momentum has shifted in Ukraine’s favor,” and I feel like “cautious optimism” may well be warranted, but I will feel a lot better about it when I see that Russia is no longer making any forward progress on the Donbass front, and not continuing to make “slow but steady” advances.
May 19, 2022 at 4:55 am
Jon Yalcinkaya
Wow that Bush slip and joke is something. History is rough for the legacies of those on the wrong side of it. It always seemed to me that HW wasn’t a huge supporter of his son’s brutal invasion of Iraq, and it seems his son might understand that too. Maybe even consciously.
May 19, 2022 at 5:17 am
Anonymous
I have to admit I did not know much about this.
(And still don’t know too much…but thanks to Canada’s action I know a little more.)
May 19, 2022 at 7:29 am
Henchman Of Justice
PHPA, when did Ukraine not have momentum…surely you are mistaken…again…
…Since Day 1 of invasion, Ukraine never needed assistance…but leaders of countries do know how to pilfer the world’s taxpayers, private sector…
May 19, 2022 at 8:17 am
Bob Wallace
Yes, Col. Talking Head did sing a different tune. But a breach has opened.
I don’t think Ukraine will rapidly defeat Russia, nor to I think their victory guaranteed. What I see is Russia contained and over some period, perhaps a couple of years, will be bled dry of the ability to attack.
Several EU countries along with Israel and the US are sending in some of their own weapons. You can be assured that factories are already working hard to replace what has been sent and what will be sent going forward.
Russia seems to not have the ability to manufacture sophisticated weapons as they need American computer chips and they’ve been cut off.
Ukraine has millions of citizens and most of them want to kick Russia out of their country. Russian citizens don’t really have a dog in this fight. They have been fed a line about nazis in Ukraine but what’s that to an ordinary Russian whose life is getting much harder due to sanctions and scarcities.
Videos have started to appear online of Russian shopping centers with most of their stores shuttered and very few people walking around. Almost no one is carrying a bag, indicating few purchases. Food prices have soared.
Russian soldiers are basically poorly educated boys from the sticks who have had hardly any training and are not fighting with any sense of purpose. The Russian army is very poorly structured and they continue to lose generals because of that.
Ukraine is being furnished with weapons more capable of anything Russia has in the field. And, I expect, Western powers will give the Ukrainian army more sophisticated weapons as we go along. Ukraine is now receiving “ghost drones”. These seem to be Switchblade drones fitted out with night vision cameras which means that they can operate over Russian troops in the dark. No rest for the tank and artillery units while the Sun is down. If you can’t see a drone it’s very hard to shoot it down.
The EU has just started a massive program of replacing Russian natural gas with renewable energy and some imported liquid petroleum gas. The world is moving to EVs faster than almost everyone realizes. Over the next couple of years Russian fossil fuels will no longer be needed. And that’s over 80% of Russia’s income from exports.