Russians pressure Ukrainian cities as fighting continues

It is interesting how the coverage whipsaws between 'Russian forces are being stopped by fierce resistance' and 'Russian forces are speedily advancing crushing everything beneath their treads'.

That averages out to 'Russian forces are advancing at a deliberate pace' almost as if the goal wasn't conquest and slaughter, but rather to find the point where the walls of denial and bombasticy crack, and a reasoned discussion leading to (another) diplomatic treaty attempting to deal with the fallout from the overthrow of the last democratically elected nationwide government and President of Ukraine.

It is interesting how the coverage whipsaws between 'Russian forces are being stopped by fierce resistance' and 'Russian forces are speedily advancing crushing everything beneath their treads'.

That averages out to 'Russian forces are advancing at a deliberate pace' almost as if the goal wasn't conquest and slaughter, but rather to find the point where the walls of denial and bombasticy crack, and a reasoned discussion leading to (another) diplomatic treaty attempting to deal with the fallout from the overthrow of the last democratically elected nationwide government and President of Ukraine.

More literal Putin progaganda.

That averages out to 'Russian forces are advancing at a deliberate pace' almost as if the goal wasn't conquest and slaughter,

Yeah, not really. It’s pretty clear the Ukrainians are putting up a much stronger fight that Putin expected. Also clear that Russians on the whole are performing pretty poorly especially in the east. Doing a relatively better in the south

Trying to spin it as a “deliberate pace”.. yeah, no one’s buying that really.

And regardless of the made up reasons and falsehoods (“overthrow of the last democratically elected government “), Russia has no business in Ukraine. It’s a crime of aggression pure and simple. The thousands of killed and maimed are entirely on Russia.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said the country is building up its defense of key cities in the north, south and east as Russia’s advance has stalled.

After all the advances in information technology and networks, the fog of war about conflict is worse than ever for the public.

It’s pretty clear the Ukrainians are putting up a much stronger fight that Putin expected. Also clear that Russians on the whole are performing pretty poorly especially in the east. Doing a relatively better in the south

Russia is doing poorly in the east because the Ukrainian army has spent eight years building a defense in depth. The South they have greater freedom of movement off road as the ground is solid there, Up north the convoy cant leave the roads due to boggy ground ecpected to last another five months before it is solid enough for armored vehicles to operate on.

Russia expected a collapse like in Crimea and they didnt get it. A more battle hardened Army as the center of a defensive force expanded by tens of thousands of civilians with basic training and light arms is keeping Russian conscripts and contract soldiers at bay. The Russian soldiers were for the most part not ready for combat in what they considered a friendly country. Their motivation to fight is poor while the Ukrainians have high motivation and determination. Towns already overrun in the south have shown they continue to passively resist and ignore Russian instructions and orders. Ukrainians will not be subdued and will not cooperate. Puppet administrations will get little to no assistance and will be ignored.

It seems the West wants the war to continue for as long as possible, because a long war will be very costly to Russia and weaken Russia. Ukraine seems like a pawn to be sacrificed in order to weaken Russia.

Why not ask Ukraine to negotiate a settlement instead of sending missiles and weapons?

A 3:1 ratio of attackers to defenders is the military norm to achieve success, though the Paras in the Falklands did it the other way around.

It seems the West wants the war to continue for as long as possible, because a long war will be very costly to Russia and weaken Russia.

The West is doing everything it can to end the war now. Only Russia uses that narrative as propaganda.

Why not ask Ukraine to negotiate a settlement instead of sending missiles and weapons?

The Ukrainians have been negotiating to no effect. It seems Russia has no plan to negotiate, only to get its way or destroy the Ukraine. Sending missiles and weapons allows the Ukraine to defend itself from invaders.

My father always said none of his sons could every be in the military because they couldn't lower their IQ to the level needed.

Judging by the comments and inability of former military here I am now beginning to understand what he meant.

They say Russia is warmongering then go on about NATO should do something ignoring the reality that this would mean all out war between nuclear powers ,

They ignore the inconsistencies in reporting with one day Ukraine claiming it has crushed the Russians then the next day begging for help saying the Russians have advanced!

Which story are we to believe?

Ukraine wants humanitarian corridors Russia says okay only to Russia or Belarus people say well that's not right but then at the same time Ukraine says it's going to use neighboring countries to build their forces up for resistance so they expect Russia to agree to a humanitarian corridor to those countries?

Agree or disagree with Russia you can understand that if Ukraine says they're going to use neighboring countries to build their armed forces up in the Russians are not going to let people go there.

If you crane shows pictures and publicly declares that it's arming its civilians well then Russia is not going to let them just walk by.

Sure Russia is wrong Putin is wrong but try being a little bit realistic and try to look at the inconsistencies and use your brains to ask if the rhetoric coming from each side makes any sense at this point neither make any sense to me with regard to the fighting.

KniknaknokkaerToday  06:42 pm JST

^^^^ Because Ukraine doesn't want to be dictated to by a fascist dictator

If that were true Ukraine would have distanced itself from the far right nationalist flying the UPA/OUN flag of WW2 Nazi Ukraine, not tried elevating a Nazi, anti-semite Stepan Bandera to National hero status.

The west had warned Ukraine to distance itself from these people but chose not to.

Despite these groups being a tiny portion of the population by letting them seem legitimate Ukraine gave a crazy man like Putin one more thing to his crazy list of excuses to supposedly justify the invasion.

Still as we speak the red and black UPA flag is seen in nearly every rally and protest against the invasion and no one say a thing imagine if it was the Nazi swastika flag would we just ignore it? But it is no different just far less know In the west but in the east they know very well the meaning of that flag.

If you crane shows pictures and publicly declares that it's arming its civilians well then Russia is not going to let them just walk by.

Yes because children, the elderly, mothers and the sick and injured will pose a huge threat to professional Russian soldiers if they get a gun shoved in their hands and an hours instructions. The camo clothes make all the difference.

Humanitarian corridors to the enemy just means the prisoners come to you. Using them to ensure their fathers and sons do not fight or you will do something to their families. As if anyone would fall for that. Anyone saying otherwise is showing they wouldn't have a high enough IQ to get into any decent military.

Peter14Today  07:39 pm JST

So you are telling me that you or your superiors would permit the enemy to evacuate to a location you cannot attack and where they are openly saying they plan on usinfg as a staging ground to counter attack!

Are you being serious?

Ukraine military are preparing for urban warfare. But i don't think the russians are that stupid to enter the city and fight it out with them. Instead the most rational thing to do is bomb the heck out of them. Reduce every large building they can hide in into rubble, while at the same time cutting off their food, water, communication and electricity. It's brutal and inhumane, but in war, this strategy is gonna eventually be very effective after a few weeks once medicine and supplies runs out in the city.

And don't think Russia won't have the stomach for a long war. They are use to enduring a lot of hard times throughout the ages. They are now the largest producer of supply in agriculture and food too. Add that with their abundant of gas and oil, is more likely that the west will break than the other way around. They actually can keep this up from months to years if they had too. And that is the depressing reality.

Antiquesaving

My father always said none of his sons could every be in the military because they couldn't lower their IQ to the level needed..

That is, with respect to your Father, a quandary, a misnomer.

Mercifully you have a grip on the realities if this deteriorates.

The Russian forces were ordered to engage and yes invade.

Get out, take your family.

All the pro Russian propaganda that is allowed to be posted on this site gets a bit sickening.

Making excuses for murder and invasion, lies about the West to justify murdering children, using illegal munitions which have already been documented. It is just crazy. Putin has proven he is one of the worst people in history along side Hitler and Stalin.

I dont care what anyone says to deflect from what this is. Russia trying to make a sovereign nation and it's people a slave to Putin's ideals and wishes. This stand alone invasion can never be justified in any terms. Blaming third parties is both factually wrong but also irrelevant.

Russia has turned a peaceful nation into a destruction zone with mass murder on its hands.

How anyone who backs these actions could expect anyone to ignore the real truth of the matter and to still have any respect for apologists is astounding.

This Russian administration are now criminals. International criminals and guilty of war crimes, of murder and this is unacceptable in any way shape or form.

Just took a good look at the top picture, and it is sad , a few old men, ski goggles, no helmet, a rag tag force brings up the images Volkssturm I would see in WW2 documentaries poorly equipped old men and young boys sent off to fight the advancing Soviets.

Antiquesaving

So you are telling me that you or your superiors would permit the enemy to evacuate to a location you cannot attack and where they are openly saying they plan on usinfg as a staging ground to counter attack!

I do not consider women, children, the elderly and infirm to be armed combatants and my nation, unlike Russia has laws about treatment of non combatants and civilians. No military is perfect and all have people in time of war who "forget" the rules and proper conduct. That is how atrocities happen and my nation is not immune to such abhorrent behavior. I would allow civilians to leave the combat zone. I would not want the deaths of children or civilians on my conscience.

If Adults turn up in combat zones with weapons they would be fired upon. If anyone turns up with weapons they would be fired upon. You do not condemn the innocent to death on the presumprion that everyone is a combatant or may one day become one.

My nation has rules for war fighting. You may not believe it or care. I do. I served, luckily not during any conflict. But I would have followed the laws laid down by the Geneva conventions and the restrictions laid out by my nation.

Ukraine military are preparing for urban warfare. But i don't think the russians are that stupid to enter the city and fight it out with them. Instead the most rational thing to do is bomb the heck out of them. Reduce every large building they can hide in into rubble,

The Germans tried doing that at Stalingrad and that did not work well as Rubble is a great place to hide in and fight from. Sooner or later if they want control they will have to go into the cities, rubble or not. They will find armed survivors and they will die in the process, just as what happened in Stalingrad.

What amazes me about the abandonment of the Russian equipment is that the ukrainians can just drive off with them, repurpose them if able and use them against the Russians even farmers are taking the opportunity to pick up abandoned equipment.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1501293371071123456?s=20&t=NPFu2w5tuAV6_u2kQsV9pg

Why not ask Ukraine to negotiate a settlement instead of sending missiles and weapons?

if the far right nationalistic government had just let the oppressed Donbass Russian speaking people be independent, and the rest of Ukraine be independent, then things would of been OK. But when have western backed coups, things are not good for ordinary citizens.

if the far right nationalistic government had just let the oppressed Donbass Russian speaking people be independent, and the rest of Ukraine be independent, then things would of been OK.

And if Russia had let those wanting independence in Chechnya break away then the tragedy of Russia bombing Grozny to dust would never have happened. If it is OK for Russia to eliminate independence seekers in Russia why can the Ukrainians not do the same in their country? Double standard much?

"The Germans tried doing that at Stalingrad and that did not work well as Rubble is a great place to hide in and fight from. Sooner or later if they want control they will have to go into the cities, rubble or not. They will find armed survivors and they will die in the process, just as what happened in Stalingrad."

Conversely, the Soviets did just that to Berlin.

And won.

No Americans, no British, no rest of the World to do the pounding

Ukraine will be no different.

"This Russian administration are now criminals. International criminals and guilty of war crimes, of murder and this is unacceptable in any way shape or form." And I can guess what the higher-up in the inner circle will do about it. Putin, if he is lucky, will be sent to some obscure village in the middle of Siberia. If he is not so lucky he won't ever have a chance to bother anyone ever again.

"Putin wants to destroy Ukraine and its people and turn it into a wilderness." No, I think Putin want to ethnically cleanse Ukraine and repopulate it with Russian speakers. I believe the man is insane in the way Hitler was insane.

William LivingstoneToday  08:08 pm JST

What amazes my is that people believe the Twitter post you liked.

Ukraine is using mostly old Soviet equipment, if Russia had abandoned all that equipment the Ukrainians would be using it because it is stuff they know how to use.

The fact they aren't makes the whole story suspicious