The German foreign intelligence service assesses that Kiev is losing a "three-digit number" of soldiers daily, according to a report in Der Spiegel. Berlin informed politicians of the assessment during a secret meeting this week.
Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is "alarmed" by the high number of losses Ukraine is suffering. The report says Berlin believes Ukraine was losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day during the battle of Bakhmut with Russian forces. The BND informed German politicians of the high number of injured and killed Ukrainian forces during a covert Bundestag meeting last week.
The BND believes the Ukrainian casualties will have severe consequences during future battles. The German intelligence service also believes that Russia is suffering high casualties and using its soldiers as "cannon fodder."
Reuters reported officials in Washington believe Kiev spent significant resources attempting to defend Bakhmut. The White House is currently advising Ukraine not to launch any major counteroffensives to recapture the city. The Joe Biden administration is additionally advising Kiev that continuing to pour soldiers into defending Bakhmut is preventing Ukrainian forces from attacking Russians defending other cities.
Ukraine is seeking tanks from its NATO partners. However, many countries, including the US and Germany have resisted sending their modern tanks to Ukraine.
Bakhmut is located in the Donetsk region. The BND believes if Russia takes the city, it will open the door for additional gains. Bakhmut has seen fierce fighting for several months, but the intensity picked up last week. Russian forces have made some gains in the city.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Bakhmut is a trap for Ukrainian army. Russians were capable to surround it completely a long time ago but they preferred to leave at least one road in Ukrainian (NATO) disposition which allowed Ukrainians to send more and more fresh reinforcements while Russian artillery was busy with the meatgrinder job.
About a couple of months ago Zaluzhny insisted that Ukrainian army must retreat from Bakhmut, but because of political reasons, Americans never allowed this. For American MIC lobbysts it was much more important to convince Congress that Ukrainian army is victorious. Otherwise it would be difficult to get the consent for more military help. So they let Ukrainian army to bleed dry in Bakhmut.
In light of the information coming here from the BND, what makes you think that the Americans decided that Ukraine could not withdraw from Bakhmut?
Indeed, I’m not sure, after being told to do so by the White House, that Zelensky intends to stop reinforcing Bakhmut even now.
I ask this because I have repeatedly watched Zelensky trade lives for territory. And, while Wagner Group IS using convicts as cannon fodder at Bakhmut, that is NOT the way they normally fight. Nor is it significantly different from what Ukraine did during the Kharkiv and Kherson counter-offensive operations.
Zelensky and all Ukrainian political elite are on American payroll. They do exactly what Americans want them to do. Zelensky and his team are keeping money in banks controlled by American oligarchy.
The difference between Ukrainian cannon fodder and Wagner soldiers is that all Wagner soldiers, including those whom Prigozhin got strait from the prison, are volunteers, while Ukrainians are forced into the army.
1/ Wagner group sends in ‘convict brigades’ to fight first? Not implausible – but not plausibly supported by western news either.
While not unbelievable that the “Wagner Group IS using convicts as cannon fodder,” I have only read unsupported assertions by anti-Russian sources making this claim.
For example, recently the NYT asserted the group uses “brigades made up of…convicts” as “throwaway soldiers.” [emphasis added] Source of claim? An anonymous military official asserts “they” are used before “better trained forces…behind them.”
“Made up of”? Really? Meaning all convicts? Who are all sent in a first wave? And the source for this claim – which the NYT reports as established fact – is one US military official – vs., e.g., texted/emailed/telephoned reports by convicts – or their families – as one would expect in the event of such a ruthless division of combat labor? NYT, 1/9, “Ukraine Goes Toe to Toe With Russia in Bakhmut
2/ Far less reported, Ukraine uses ex-cons too.
Newsweek 2/28/22, “Ukraine Releases Prisoners With ‘Combat Experience’ To Help Fight Russia”
Then too, when one looks at the maps of the fighting, even the ones based on Ukrainian sources, it seems pretty clear that the Russians, in Soledar, Bakhmut, and elsewhere, tend to, at first, use stand off weapons, and then to rely more on flanking and, eventually, encircling manoevers, than they do on frontal, much less “suicidal” or “human wave,” assaults. It is a racist trope designed to dehumanize the “other” that they fight in that way, and is often used against enemies of “the West,” such as the Soviets, the PRC, and North Korea.
” It is a racist trope designed to dehu-”
whoah…now hold on…pretty sure i’ve read how russkies’ unholy prehistoric coupling w/wolverines genetically produced that cruel and predatory slant-eyed slavic stare…yah, still a theory, but still…
The leader of the Wagner group responded to accusations of war crimes, asking evidence from Kiew, so far no response.
The tank issue, putting pressure on the Germans to release the leopard tanks, may be a business issue, 12 tanks or 100 make no difference, but nations sending their German tanks to Ukraine would be new customers to buy the American tanks from the AMIC.
Since war is big business, I think it is true. That is the plausible motivation for the implausible tank issue.
Just like the implausible Russian sabotage of the NS pipelines and the Russian shelling of the NPP.
I heard from a pro-Russia source that the Wagner offered convicts a deal. Serve for 6 months, and your sentence is served. It’s not like Russia is 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 them to serve.
When they run out of Ukrainians in this meat grinder will we start to see the 101st Airborne coming home in body bags?
And when 4 some odd thousand US soldiers can’t stop the Red Army, then what?
The 101st Airborne is not designed to fight a war of attrition with Russia. They will only come into play once the USA and Russia are fighting a hot war that will go nuclear within hours.
The war is at least lukewarm right now. Hard to say exactly what the involvement of the 101st would look like but I think we could safely rule out things like good or coherent. Maybe they’re supposed to be a mini speed bump in case the war isn’t nuclear. Something like that.
Only that dark evil cabal that runs the planet knows, Ted.
And who are the members of this cabal?
They’re the same folks who gave us 9/11 and all the wars of this century, Jake. You take it from there.
Calling them a planet running cabal is giving them too much credit, they’re more like Spanky and Alfalfa and Buckwheat thinking they run the planet, except they have nuclear weapons so the comparison breaks down there.
They are indeed a planet-running cabal that longs for WWIII to happen. It will be the end of the USA, Russia, and most of humanity. Sometimes I wonder if “they” are even human anymore.
No, poles go first.
Only after every last European NATO soldier has been put through the meat grinder first. At that point Europe is in ashes and no danger to the US and they can leave and go home, like they always do. They leave Freedom and Democracy and scorched earth behind and never look back. Maybe, if there are some people still living, they will impose some sanctions on them, to be on the safe side, like Biden did in Afghanistan. /s
BND has to finess the message, of course. Why else to make it public?
It comes out that White House is now advising Ukraine not to recapture the city, assuming Soledar. Or did Bakhmut become indefensible by now?
All this confirms what Russia was saying all along. Russian positions never moved, but Ukraine was according to Ukrainian sources bringing in reinforcements all the time. And losing personell. As Russian sources were claiming all along.
Russian forces clearly had no reason to push advance for as long as Ukraine was willing to bring more troups to the front. The town of Soledar was taken after it was not defended any more. Ukrainian military does not seem to issue withdrawal orders, leaving some soldiers stranded as they do nor realize that no more forcces are coming,
Naturally, BND has to give its opinion on Russian force loses, but did not venture numbers. Since BND knows that Russian infantry has not been involved yet, it will be hard for them to speculste.
Before mibilization, only forces from Lughansk, Donetsk, volunteer groups and Wagner private military have conducted Special Operations. It seems that now the mobilized forces are ready, but there is no guess as to their mission.
For that reason, US is changing orders to Ukraine.
Either there is an intelligence available on Russian plans, and Ukraine needs to refocus from Bakhmut in order to prepare for Rusdian advance or there is a genuine concern about the readiness of Ukrainian forcess.
Reports from the front indicate that 20% of the AFU has been destroyed. And its predominantly veteran forces that have been lost.
Dance Macabre comes to mind.
It seems plausible that Ukraine is taking heavy losses in the Bakhmut fighting. We don’t know what the Russian losses are, although Ukraine claims they are heavy. i asymmetric wars of national resistance the defender usually suffers heavier casualties than the invader. But in the end the indigenous defender prevfails if the resistance enjoys widespread popular support, as appears to be the case in Ukraine.
The widespread popular support in the Donbass is for Russia. The NATO Banderites are an invading force holding territory only through unmitigated brutality against local populations.
The people of Ukraine have become hostages of the US/NATO ruling Nazi regime………….Ukrainian men are being drafted by force. Once at the front NATO anti retreat forces murder anyone who refuses to fight.
NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses; 376 Aircraft, 203 helicopters, 2931 UAV’s, 401 Anti Aircraft systems, 7601 tanks inc. APC’s, 985 multiple rocket launchers, 3887 rocket launchers and 8144 military automotive equipment.
The Russian strategy is very simple: Russia will kill NATO soldiers and hardware faster than NATO can provide reinforcements and this will continue until NATO surrenders.
The Russian MOD strategy is a very successful war of attrition disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense.
“In asymmetric wars of national resistance the defender usually suffers heavier cas-”
Laughably ignorant. Educate yrself – look up ‘asymmetric warfare.’
And thus the “epistemic closure” or confirmation bias is complete! If the Russians were losing more troops than the Ukrianians, then “Skywalker” would surely point to that as evidence that the Ukraine was winning. If the evidence, as here, and even as gathered by pro Ukrainian allies, suggests the opposite, ie that the Ukrainians are losing more troops than the Russians, that also means, according to “Skywalker,” that the Ukranians are winning, as it conforms to his jejune notion of “asymetrical wars of national resistance.”
When one points out to “Skywalker” that the Ukranians are not fighting an “asymetrical war” at all, (which, by definition, involves guerilla war, terrorism, or some other form of unconventional war), but are instead going to “toe to the toe” with the Russians, both on offense and defense, in completely conventional style, he simply ignores that message. More epistemic closure!
Similarly when one points out, as has been done on this thread, that the Ukrainians do not have the “hearts and minds,” are not seen as “national liberators” and so on, at least not by the Russian speakers in the Donbass and southern Ukraine, again, he simply ignores the message. Even more epistemic closure!
Nope, the Ukraine is fighing an “asymmetrical war of national resistance,” according to “Skywalker,” no matter how much you demonstrate that they are, in fact, fighting no such thing. Arguments don’t matter. Just like evidence doesn’t matter, and evidence that the Ukies are being slaughtered is seen as “a good thing,” because that too allegedly conforms to the model in “Skywalker’s” childish paradign.
“National resisters” always win, no matter the actual result of battle, because they are using “asymetrical warfare.” QED. End of discussion.
The communist rebels in Malaysia were crushed,as were anti-American resisters in the Phillipines. The MauMaus killed many of their own people and few Brits-they were wiped out.
When a national resistance movement has popular support, the resistance will persevere until the invader loses the will to fight or the war produces a political crisis in the invader’s homeland. In asymmetric wars of national resistance the determinative variable is hearts and minds, not force of arms. Invaders can prevail when the resistance does not have popular support or where the indigenous regime is very unpopular. Examples are the 1971 Indian invasion of East Pakistan of the US invasion of Iraq in 1991 where the Shiite majority rebelled against the Sunni Baathist dictatorship. The invader can also prevail when the invader uses holocaust level terror tactics, as the Allies did against Germany and Japan in WWII to break the will of the Germans and Japanese to resist the subsequent occupation.
Yes, we all understand that. It just doesn’t apply here.
Russia invading Ukraine is a lot like England invading Ireland. It will not end well for Russia. There is always a reason for war. But rarely a justification.
The reasons and the justifications are not even the point. The war is simply not being fought in a asymetrical manner. Nor is it being fought primarily as one of “national liberation.” It’s a conventional war being fought by conventional armies (rather than one conventional army and one “national liberation force”). It’s partly a border war. And it’s partly a separatist/secessionist war.
Your endless analogies and repetitions, and your pompous predictions, can’t change basic facts.
You are simply wrong. And not merely as a matter of opinion, nor simply because you are rooting for the “wrong” (whether defined morally or practically) side.
If it is a border war, then it is a war of aggression.
If it is a secessionist war, then it is a Ukrainian internal matter.
Either way, Russia should get back to their side of the internationally recognized border.
No ifs…that’s what it is. Which means it is not an “asymetric war of national liberation.” Which means your entire analysis is faulty. Again, no matter who you think is morally to blame and who “should” do what.
What is your fixation with Putin about? Isn’t he just another wannabe imperialist dictator?
Classic distraction, ground shift, red herrring, poisoning of the well, etc. If it weren’t for fallacious arguments you would have none at all!
The Russian army wasn’t so inept, they would be losing a guerrilla war. But with conscripted slaves who don’t want to fight painting their positions with cell phone calls and soldiers abandoning tanks in the drive to Kyiv and surrendering territory in Donbas and Kherson, the Russians haven’t even been able to drive the Ukrainian military to ground – something which I expected the Russians to accomplish before the end of March. So until the Russians get an army that is able to fight an effective conventional war, they will continue getting their asses kicked by the highly motivated Ukrainian military (you see,hearts and minds applies to conventional military as well as irregular forces). The biggest danger for the Ukrainian resistance now is in getting cocky and trying to go blow for flow with the Russian invaders in fixed positions. Mobility is the key to indigenous forces prevailing in asymmetric warfare. In any event, even if US/NATO cut off aid, Putin has delivered Russia into a forever war that will drag on until the Ukrainians drive the Russian troops out of their country.
The point of this thread is the German intelligence service communicating its “alarm” to the German parliament re the massive, three figure a day losses, of your allegedly wonderful Ukie army, on just one battelfield. Somehow, that leads, in your imagination, to a scenario in which the plucky Ukies are getting tired of winning so much, and are in danger of getting “cocky!”
You are now just so completely full of crap, and so divorced from reality, that you are not really even worth responding to.
Are inane insults the best you could do?
“Even if US/NATO cut off aid”….your notion is ridiculous.
The US and NATO are the very reason for prolonging this war.
There are multiple parties involved in this prolonging this war. The Russian regime leaders could stand down any time. They choose not to. Everyone’s responsible for what they do.
No. It is the Ukrainian national resistance that is prolonging the war. If US and NATO aid could motivate people to fight, then the Afghan Northern Alliance would still be fighting the Taliban and the ARVN would have defeated the PAVN. The US and NATO have their usual nefarious motives. But they are supporting a fight for self determination. I don’t like the choices the Ukraine made. But that doesn’t give Putin the right to invade another coutry. BTW, why do you think Putin’s motives are less nefarious than the US/NATO? He is an authoritarian dictator who bullies smaller nations. He was gung-ho to join NATO and the G7 to pyut down China until he realized they wanted to put down Russia too. Putin is less successful at imperialism than US/NATO. And sometimes he supports good people who are fighting against US/NATO. But he is a wannabe imperialist, not a freedom fighter.
If it’s a conventional war being fought by conventional armies, then I suppose Daria Dugina’s death was due to a defective part in her car, the explosion on the Kerch Bridge happened because of a leaky fuel tanker, etc., right?
Don’t forget the Saratov that the Russians say they scuttled to prevent munitions explosion after a fire broke out on deck.
Or the Moskova . Russians claim that was a munitions fire too. Or the guerrilla attacks on the Crimean air bases.
It is not to Ukrainians’ fault that the Russian army is too unmotivated, poorly led, ill supplied and inept to take out the Ukrainian regular army. It is still an asymmetric war, even though the invader is inept.
Attacks on warships are not “asymetrical warfare.” You are clueless.
Asymmetric war is indigenous David against invading Goliath. Whehter the defender uses Neptune missiles or Molotov cocktails. Often in the last stage of the asymmetric war the indigenous defenders are strong enough to effectively field conventional forces, like the PAVN did in 1975 after a years of defeats by the US and the ARVN. In Ukraine, the Russains have failed to convincingly defeat the Ukrainian Army. At this point, the war is a lost cause for Putin. Even if Russia could keep the occupied territory (which they can’t in the long run) the war has given a dying NATO a burst of energy and exposed the weakness of the Russian military.
The entire war has been conventional. Again, you are simply wrong.
Also, to repeat, if the Russians are doing so badly, why are the Ukies experiencing three digit losses daily on just one battlefield? Is this really the best thread, even from your POV, for your “the Russians are losing” BS?
Asymmetric wars are won by hearts and minds, not force of arms. Defenders typically take copious losses. Vietnamese lost a million combatants and another million civilians against 58,000 US casualties. In Algeria the French lost 27,000 military and 6,000 civilians compared to losses of 500,000 (French estimate) or 1.5 million (Algerian estimate). The indigenous defender fight to the end because retreat is not an option. When the going gets tough over a protracted period of time, the invading troops become demoralized, like the Russians are now, and eventually leave. No doubt the Ukrainians are taking heavy losses as are the Russians. As Knapp has said, we won’t know the true figures for either side until after the war is over and the archives opened.
In neither war did the national liberation forces pour men into front line, Verdun-like battles, like the Ukies are doing. “Indigenous defenders” fighting wars of national liberation “retreat” all the time! Retreats, Fabian tactics, guerillas strategies, these are the hallmarks of aysmetric wars. NOT sending endless, outgunned reinforcements into fixed positions to get slaughtered. You just have no idea what you are talking about. Yes, the defenders suffered losses, but they didn’t make that a deliberate strategy!
Frontal assaults are tactics sometimes used in asymmetric wars, like the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the Viet Minh assault on Dien Bien Phu and the Iran-Iraq war. In general, the indigenous defenders take heavier losses than the invader.
Racist claptrap.
“Racist claptrap.”
From a Philadelphia lawyer to a guy who was with MLK on the Selma to Montgomery march. LOL!
Don’t you see that Putin is just a wannabe imperialist dictator? Putin was gung-ho to join NATO and the anti-China G7 until he realized that the big boys were out to take down Russia as well as China. He is no better than Biden, Johnson and their ilk. And yes, Ukraine has to deal with its neo-Nazi problm. But a Russian invasion by Ukraine’s former imperial overlords is not a solution to a racist Nazi problem that exists in all the Slavic countries as well as Germany, the USA and UK. In Russia, de-Nazification should start with the Wagner group.
“From a Philadelphia lawyer to a guy who was with MLK on the Selma to Montgomery march. LOL!”
Someday, perhaps, you will learn how to construct a proper argument. But that day is not today. Claims of “I marched with Dr. King 60 years ago!!!!” (even if true, which, as an anonymous internet poster, you have no way of proving) do not insulate from charges of racism in the here and now.
So why do you sympathize with Putin? Is he any better than Biden or Johnson? He is a dictartor and a wannabe imperialist. Do you disagree?
That’s not the point, nor the proper way to view the subject.
I disagree with my country’s (the USA’s) endlessly and recklessly beligerent policies. Putin needn’t be “better” than anyone else for that to be true.
I support liberation – human freedom. My father taught me to look out for the underdog. I try to live by Malcolm X’s teaching:
“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it.
I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against.
I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
-Malcolm X
Autobiography p. 366
That means I am usually opposed to what this government does. But this is one of the rare occasions where the US, for selfish and evil reasons, is supporting a national resistance movement fighting resurgent Russian imperialism. Even Noam Chomsky supports US military aid to Ukraine. I also agree with Chomsky that Russia has legitimate security concerns that should be addressed. But Putin’s war has hurt Russia’s security more than if he had continued the frustrating diplomatic process. Check out Chomsky on Lex Fridman’s podcast:
Sorry, but I simply disagree. With your entire POV. And I don’t feel that this is the time or place to explain in detail why that is so.
Too bad. I was hoping to understand your idealization of Putin and his rotten regime and your insensitivity or ignorance of the history of Ukraine’s past and present relationship with Russia..
Last word?
The attack on the bridge was standard conventional warfare, even though the Russians claimed otherwise. I’ll “grant” you that the attck on Daria Dugina (or her father) was an act of terrorism. But I don’t think one isolated act turns a conventional war into an asymetric one.
Clearly, the fighting in the Donbass in conventional. As were the Ukie counteroffensives in Kharkov and Kherson. As are the missile exchanges from both sides.
Indiginous? In Bskhmut Russians and few other minorirmties such as Greeks, Serbs and Geotgiabs were indigenous populatiin. Until after 2014 Kiev rulers turned the place into a fortress of concrete bunkers and a maze of trenches. Ammunition storage in mines and dozens of kilometers of tunnels. It is a bullwark of Ukrainian Donetsk front. It was supplied by three corridors. With the loss of Soledar , second of the three corridors is in the line of fire.
The third one will be hard for Russia to disable as the open terrain does not allow for stealth access. But Russia can harrass it — and being the last, makes Bakhmut in spite of its formidable fortificatiins not viable.
And where will the Ukraine line withdraw to? That I do not know..
I do know one thing for sure – in spite of all the available information our thick heads still do not comprehend that there is a civil war going on in Ukraine. And when we talk of “indigenous” we better find out who they really are in any given place and whose side they are on.
“It seems plausible that Ukraine is taking heavy losses in the Bakhmut fighting.”
“Plausible”? Really?
Given the number of western military sources that have repeatedly, publicly aired what is presented as a tactical concern (exhausting troop force needed elsewhere)…
…and given the absence of claims to the contrary…
…it is dead certain that Ukraine is “taking heavy losses” in B.
So maybe stick to the ‘as long as it takes!’ and ‘to the last Ukrainian!’ script…and argue, ‘yea, but Russkie’s gettin’ blown up too’?
(e.g., NYT, “B…a Bloody Vortex for Two Armies”)
Anything “western military sources have repeatedly, publicly aired” that you don’t like the sound of, you’ll raise the bullshit flag on.
And as soon as it’s something you like the sound of, it’s dead certain to be accurate.
I don’t trust either side’s casualty reports on their own casualties or on their opponents’ casualties. And I don’t trust NYT on anything except Wordle, if that.
You really can’t see the difference, in terms of credibility, between Western sources doing the same ol, same ol cheerleading for the Ukraine and Western sources reporting bad news for the Ukraine?
As an aside, Wordle is fun!
This is a fog of war issue, and I learned the hard way — in one of them — not to just assume that bomb damage assessments, casualty reports, even map overlays are accurate even at the tactical level. By the time something appears in the mainstream western media, it’s been through a long game of “telephone” that results in the medium delivering the message the regime wants delivered. It doesn’t follow from the regime wanting it delivered that it is correct.
It is likely that the Ukrainians are taking heavier casualties in that area than in others? Absolutely. But the proof will be in the pudding — whether Bhakmut is held or lost, and where things go from there. Only large-scale or exceptionally openly/transparently documented events on the ground are even remotely reliable indicators.
You’re not even addressing the basic issue: statements against interest are more credible than self serving statements.
True.
“The Ukrainians are taking lots of casualties” is a self serving statement.
The US line the whole time is that the Ukrainians are beset by a formidable opponent and that only constant infusions of arms, ammunition, etc. can save them.
Yes, they’ll talk up “Ukrainian victories” — and when doing so they will always emphasize the high casualties involved in achieving those “victories.”
No it isn’t. The official line is that the Ukies are winning. And the Western media NEVER emphasizes or even mentions Ukie casualties. Rather, it is the Russian casualties which are always emphasized (not to mention obscenely exaggerated) in the MSM.. You are completely wrong.
In other words, you’ve decided what you want the MSM to be saying, and by God that’s what the MSM must be saying because you waaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnttttttt it to be that way.
Good luck with that, I guess.
I agree with this to a point. Unfortunately, in this conflict the US media has lied a lot. When they report good news for Russia, it is understated with a lot of talk about huge Russian losses along the way and it being a pyrrhic victory.
The pro-Russian sources are more or less accurate. In many cases, they trump up US successes better and more believably than the US media does.
The most pro-US pro-war trustable source of detailed information is you. It is one thing for CNN to take on the role of patriotic pro-war cheerleader, but they distort so many messages and breathlessly emotionally repeat so many lies that it is painful to hear their rants.
If you think I’m pro-US or pro-war, that thing you’re doing that you think is “thinking” isn’t.
I do not think that. You do a decent job of finding good in US actions, or at least decent rationales.
Much better than the pro-war posters here that are good at sound bites and buzz words.
I don’t find any moral good in the actions of the US regime (or any other regime).
When it comes to rationales, I do my best to figure out the incentives involved, but that doesn’t imply sympathy for any of the regimes.
In this war as in all others, my sympathies are entirely with the noncombatants being robbed (including through taxation), raped, murdered, etc. by the belligerents.
“pro-US”
In your imagination, perhaps. In reality, my position has always been crystal clear:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b12eb7de587bcd9c0fbf5dfae8536df6dd341426ef79a1d9cd720e608004c804.jpg
I did not want to write it like that. Once it was written, I was much interested in seeing what your response would be.
However, compared to others, you do the best job of finding bits of decency out of what the US says and does with respect to Ukraine.
Thank you for your response here. And keep finding the decency that exists. Makes everything seem a little less hopeless.
Or, in the case of your explanation of the value the Bradley vehicles would serve, your insight helps a lot.
Thanks, I guess, but I don’t see any moral decency in what the US is saying and doing with respect to Ukraine. It’s just a cash and carry proposition. The US regime thinks it’s getting something for its money and support.
1/ the point re military sources on this one is it’s something they normally wouldn’t want to say – like the repeated, likewise tactic-based concerns re using up their artillery too fast
2/ plus, as i said, on this one there is no ‘division of opinion’ where another group is saying otherwise – some ukrainian military says r. is getting worst of it…but the article cites ukrainian military who also say ukrainian losses are high
3/ upshot?
a/ skywalker does not cite a source supporting his claim that high ukrainian losses are merely one “plausible” account; and
b/ the reason s. does not support this ‘merely plausible’ claim – by argument or by sources – is because s. cannot support it (anymore than you can).
c/ this kind of ignorant assertion is evidently typical of this poster – hence, his ignorant blather about ‘asymmetric warfare,’ which he clearly knows jack about
That didn’t work out very well ( unfortunately) in Gaza, did it?
Zionism is a tough nut to crack. But the Palestinians will eventually win if they maintain their will to resist. We are already seeing cracks in the support for Israel among US [members of the religion that cannot be named] diaspora. The Irish resisted for 800 years before they got their country back. The Ukrainians have been resisting Russian imperialism almost as long. The people who support Putin among the commenters on this site just don’t understand what the Ukrainians are fighting for or what they are fighting against because they have a collapsed view of the history of Russian imperialism in Ukraine. Ukrainians remember the White Terror of the early 1920’s and Stalin’s Holodomor famine where between 3 and 5 million Ukrainians starved in what most Ukrainians believe was a deliberate genocide aimed at crippling the Ukrainian independence movement. And Ukrainians still resent the forced assimilation of the 18th and 19th century czars and the depredations of the Cossacks who acted as Czarist. functionaries.
“Germany: Ukraine Losing Hundreds of Soldiers Every Day Washington believes Kiev is expending significant resources in the battle for Bakhmut”
The movie Best in Hell warfare in 2022 and 2023 in Ukraine:
The script writer of the film Best in Hell died in Bahkmut fighting on the Russian side. He had a long history of military service, wounded in Syria and fighting in Ukraine as a Russian.
Just as the movie “Top Gun” is not a documentary “Best in Hell” is not a documentary. Unlike industrial warfare between Germany and Russia in the 1940s, the use of drones are a new ripple in European land warfare.
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) has evolved with more real time tactical and strategic data available to commanders. In addition, counter-battery radar has evolved along with drone use to make ISR even more effective against enemy positions.
This film does an outstanding job exploring a range of weapons from T-72 tanks, BMP-3 fitted with a 2A42 30 mm auto cannon, mortars, artillery, and Su-25 ground attack aircraft.
This movie shows evolving ISR technology of drones and counter-battery radar on the battlefield in 2022/2023. I agree with some analysis of unrealistic small unit tactics such as breaching walls with explosive charges and weapon destructive power of grenades.
However, the movie does reinforce the difficulty of urban warfare between units. The slow advance of Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine is understandable if these battlefields are anywhere near reality.
https://youtu.be/d4ZxWaRHhnQ
Abrams tanks are highly complex and prone to break down, they can’t be operated by Ukrainians. And they won’t help Ukraine occupy western Donbass, which they are now losing.
Leopard tanks are good tanks but made for German roads and cities. Not for the plains. They are too heavy and would get stuck. And Ukrainians don’t know how to operate those either.
So why all this talk about tanks?
1. As Alex Mercouris points out on YouTube, it’s a way to sever the Germans from the Russians, prevent any rapprochement between them in the future. Just like Biden blowing up Nord Stream 2, as he said he would. “There will be no Nord Stream 2.” “We have the means to do it.” That way there could be no deal where Germany would lift sanctions and get the gas flowing again.
2. They have nothing else. Russia fires 20,000 rounds of artillery per day, Ukraine is down to 1,200. Russia fires nineteen times as much artillery. What difference do a few tanks make then? None, they’ll burn like the rest. In the summer Biden claimed they could reach parity with the Russians in terms of artillery, but Russia has the most powerful artillery in the world. The U.S. arms manufacturers refuse to produce ordinary artillery shells and will only make guided artillery, extremely expensive for the Pentagon to buy. Russians have guided artillery AND ordinary artillery. Leftist Western media have ridiculed Russia for using “old!” unguided artillery shells, which work just fine, can be produced in far greater numbers, and are pounding the Ukrainians to bits.
It is estimated that perhaps half of Ukraine’s fighting forces are in Bakhmut, the lynchpin of their occupation in Donbass, and in all this time they have failed to break out. Forces sent to attack Russian positions from outside have also failed. Because Russia’s artillery is far superior, and of course also they have a massive advantage in aircraft and drones. Ukraine lost the heavily fortified Soledar, and THREE attempts to reoccupy it have failed. (All three ordered by Zelensky against the wishes of the military.) So yeah, let’s hope the most modern tanks can come in and change things. Because NATO has given up on matching Russian artillery.
In the south now, men in their sixties are found in Ukraine’s trenches. Just like in the summer in Lyzychansk and the rest of Ukraine’s first defense line that was taken. Zelensky sends in retirement-age men to fill the trenches and die while younger men are being trained.
That situation breaks my heart.
I’m trying to visualize men a mere eight years younger than my husband manning those trenches. And I can’t do it.
I’ve said it before: it’s reminiscent of the waning days of the Confederacy. And we know how that ended.
All this human sacrifice for…what? It didn’t need to be this way. And to offer up grandfathers who should be home with their grandchildren!
Garland Nixon yesterday on Youtube: “Ukraine is not winning the war by tweeting that they’re winning. They have to actually win this war against the Russian army.”
Germany: Ukraine Losing Thousands of Soldiers Every Day
But, then again who is counting anyway?
To the last Ukrainian, forward!
They ash canned your comment about Poland but truth is, the 101st Airborne is already in Romania. They will not fight a war of attrition with Russia. After a 9/11-style false-flag attack on wherever. they will be the point men for WWIII, which will go nuclear within hours.
Wow, you are right, content unavailable.
Was that really offensive?
The thing is, I said nothing new in that comment, oh well…
Regarding the paratroopers, we all love the smell of nuclear war in the morning!
“The German intelligence service also believes that Russia is suffering high casualties and using its soldiers as ‘cannon fodder.'” See how smart we are and how dumb they are? Our enemy uses their soldiers as “cannon fodders,” while we use the Ukrainians as…….. Let me think…. I found it. We use Ukrainians as “freedom fighters.” Here you go… What’s that? They’re also used as cannon fodders? ENOUGH. One word out of you and we’ll use the Poles as cannon fodders. (Sarcasm Alert)
In asymmetric wars the stronger invader has superiority at a fixed point in time and space. The indigenous defender usually relies on mobility, surprise attacks and the ability to hid among the people. In this war the Ukrainian army has demonstrated unexpected resilience and has been gaining ground in conventional battles. But in the long run, the Russia is a bigger co0untry and can replenish its losses over time. Bakhmut can be a danger for Ukraine if their past success leads them to make an all out stand there. The Russians can’t win the war in the long run. But it the short run, Russia can prevail at a given point in time and space. They will just be unable to hold territory against a motivated Ukrainian resistance with popular support.
Except the areas Russia is working on securing are mostly full of Ukrainians who want protection from the regime in Kyiv, so much of that ‘motivated Ukrainian resistance’ helps Russia get their self determination.
And, of course, in most if not all of the territory that the Russians have taken, there is no internal, guerilla opposition to their holding the territory at all. Indeed, the locals are pro Russian at best and neutral at worst. IF the Russians were to try and take and hold territory without significant numbers of Russian speakers, territory in which the Kiev government is seen as the legitimate, national government, then, perhaps, “Skywalker’s” war of “national resistance” might take an asymetrical form (such as a guerilla movement or urban terrorist cast, or even non violent political opposition). But, so far, that is simply not what is happening, no matter how many times “Skywalker” blithely insists to the contrary.
You are right. Those four regions which last year reunited with Russia are definitely pro-Russian. The other four pro-Russian regions are currently under Kiev regime. The rest of Ukraine is pro-western.
It is remarkable how warm Ukrainians were greeting president of Poland Duda recently in streets of Lvov. One could think, Duda is their president.
“then, perhaps, ‘Skywalker’s’ war of ‘national resistance’ might take an asymetrical form”
he/she’s confusing battlefield w/greater, long-term occupation – which, beyond the pro-russian east, doesn’t seem an r. objective…
…declarations of ‘after ukraine, nato’s next’ to the conrary.
Putin should bring this war to a close by hitting ports and air ports and any military bases starving the Ukrainians of weapons ect the longer Putin hold off the longer the Americans will continue the proxy war .
Maybe be honest “Ukraine Losing Hundreds of Human Lives Every Day”? For what?
They are fighting for the unipolar world. They believe it will be fine if American oligarchy rules the planet.
This is just politically correct BND creating some sugar rush — so Germany will approve tanks for Ukraine.
Germans don’t mind to provide tanks for Ukraine but they want US to do it first. They think, Americans are too crafty. The point is, Americans want Germans to give their Leopards to Ukrainians free, while Germans themselves, according to American plan, should buy American Abrams tanks for market price.
I thought maybe it was the other way around…the BND being “alarmed” about the Ukies even when they are on the defensive would seem to indicate that what the Ukies need is artillery pieces and ammo, not tanks. This seems to reflect the reality on the ground, too.
So, when does the 101st Airborne show up? They are practically next door in Germany.
Last time I heard, the 101st was in Romania.
Good. Even closer.
Did they bring their horses this time? Probably better in the mud.
How can anyone think that after a US-orchestrated 2014 coup that replaced a democratically elected President of Ukraine that this war has the backing and support of Ukrainians? I’m sure it doesn’t and I’m also sure that MOST Ukrainians would rather see Americans and their “proxy” fighters killed on the battlefield than Russians or Ukrainians! Ukrainians are proud people, with a long history, and they don’t want to be America’s whore!
Of course you are right. Those other Ukrainians are thrown into trenches to die. War is an easy way to get rid of unsedirable population.
one can be anti-war without being delusional.
Turns out Ukraine, just like every other country on every other issue, is split pretty closely to 50-50 on the issue. Guess where the half for the west are? in the west. Guess where the half for russia are? right by russia.
There are many many many Ukrainians who do want to fight this war.
Maybe they don’t want to be America’s whore, but actually, they are.
Hey man these are human beings that are being slaughtered in Ukraine on both sides. Many of them are still in their teens, basically innocent babes compared to those of us who have been around awhile. If we let this travesty continue unchecked God have mercy on all of us. It’s not Zielinski who is sending his soldiers to their deaths, it’s us the USA. We are out to destroy Russia at any cost and Zielinski is a mere puppet and does what we tell him to do. The saints of God are crying out for an end to the bloodshed, for mercy, for compromise.
All I can say is, what a goddamned shame that so many individuals are losing their lives FOR NO GOOD REASON. Other than the fact that their egoistical leader, who fancies himself as some kind of “hero”, refuses to negotiate and is egged on by the stupendously hypocritical West not to do so.
What a waste. None of this needed to happen, but for the actions of Amerikkka.
The prerequisites for “negotiation” are:
1) Things on the table that everyone wants; and
2) Things off the table that no one would agree to; and
3) Things off the table that would likely lead to someone being dragged out back and getting shot in Kyiv or suffering a fatal accidental fall from a window in Moscow.
Those prerequisites have been in short supply since errand boy Boris Johnson apparently either convinced Zelenskyy that he could get more or threatened to have him replaced.
Russia isn’t going to give up Crimea or, if it can ever secure them, Donetsk or Luhansk. As long as those demands are in play, Putin isn’t coming to the table, and Zelenskyy might get shot for even appearing to consider negotiating them.
Ukraine isn’t going to give up Kherson or Zaporizhia. As long as those demands are in play, Zelenskyy isn’t going to come to the table, and Putin might suffer a fatal fall for even appearing to consider negotiating them.
In order for those things to resolve, the Russians are going to have to convincingly secure Donetsk and Luhansk, and the Ukrainians are going to have to make it clear that it can and will clear Russian forces from Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Until and unless that happens, all sides are going to keep doubling down.
“Ukraine isn’t going to give up Kherson or Zaporizhia.” i agree these are totally unrealistic demands.
These Oblasts are already gone just like Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. Once NATO has been defeated in Donbass then Kherson and Odessa Oblasts will be liberated.
“Putin might suffer a fatal fall for even appearing to consider negotiating them.” Moscow will not negotiate they will impose conditions after the NATO surrender.
Russia has said that the West are “Not Agreement Capable” hence the only solution is a military one. Any agreement the western powers make will immediately be broken, Minsk1 and Minsk2 for instance.
I agree with your assessments Thomas, particularly the fact that Ukraine ain’t a-gonna get Crimea back…
It is all now uo to Germany to save Ukraine! Go for it Germany, step on that rake for the third time. Here is an opportunity Germany for another Drang Nach Osten. First Ukrainians then Poles should thin themselves against Russians — you just waltz in.
It will end in tears.
The worst thing Prussia did was unite Germany. Two incompatible parts dragging the whole repeatedly into abyss.