Look at a map of Russia. How many other warm water shorelines do you see? If it’s the only beach in a country of 143 million people, then of course people will want to go there, war or no war.
Moderating:
And that is enough about the beaches of Crimea. New thread please if you want to continue.
A major explosion at a munitions depot in Crimea apparently caused by Ukrainian strikes. This comes at the same time as a large Russian assault on Odessa, which itself was called a “ mass revenge strike” for the damage done to the Kerch bridge.
Anything to keep the war machine going, I guess.
how does the SD read the “russians cruise missiled the cemetery in Odessa”?
are their cruise missiles so unprecise (to a degree of really not being very helpful) … i cannot fathom this being the planned destination…
… unless they went for the headline “Cruise missile impacts Odessa, hundrets of deaths found around te impact crater”
To be fair, suddenly seizing the assets of Western corporations on the flimsiest of excuses has been standard practice by Putin for his entire tenure. This is nothing new.
I wasn’t aware of that fact. Thank you!
The bridge damage has already backed up traffic. Now 2000 have to be evacuated and another road is temporarily closed.
This reminds civilians that the war isn’t going well for Russia. The tourists will return home and spread the news throughout Russia.
Prigozhin Is welcoming a lot of Wagner fighters officially into Belarus. I wonder what “disgrace” he’s talking about on the Russian front lines? Lack of ammo?
Latest US aid package. Unlike Presidential Drawdown authority, which DoD has continued to utilize to deliver equipment to Ukraine from DoD stocks at a historic pace, USAI is an authority under which the United States procures capabilities from industry or partners to then send to Ukraine.
The capabilities in this announcement, which totals $1.3 billion, include:
- Four National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions;
- 152mm artillery rounds;
- Mine clearing equipment;
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
- Precision aerial munitions;
- Counter-UAS and electronic warfare detection equipment;
- 150 fuel trucks;
- 115 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
- 50 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
- Port and harbor security equipment;
- Tactical secure communications systems;
- Support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities.Biden Administration Announces Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine > U.S. Department of Defense > Release
Russia, the state that cries “terrorism” when its own military-related targets are struck, has launched attacks on Odesa grain terminals and port infrastructure.
One of the problems with this situation is that some of the RU/UA borders are strictly survey lines with no substantial geographical reference. Most of Europe does not rely on non-geogrphical borders, and it is difficult to imagine this special military operation resolving satisfactoriily while leaving lines-between-wheatfields to mark the difference between what is Ukrainian Donetsk and Russian Rostov / Voronezh.
And Zelenskyy sends the message, “Hey, China? This hurts you too!”
60,000 tonnes of agricultural products destroyed by Russian missiles were to be sent to China – Zelenskyy
Might be propaganda on his part, but screw it, take that 60,000 tonnes out of China’s part, no matter what.
Here is a fairly lengthy link with a headline that seems appropriate: “sobering”: They make it seem like the war will go on for a long,long time.
The link is from “the Institute for International Strategic Studies” and “the Center for New American Security,”**
(I assume that this last quote assumes that the US ground forces would have a difficult time. As if the US army would not use its air power. But since Ukraine has no real air force, maybe the comparison is okay)
–
** Both of these are organizations that I know nothing about . A quick google doesn’t provide much help, (vague descriptions such as “a non-partisan think tank”)–but they do seem to be reasonable sources.(some connections with C-span, none with Foxnews)
Has there ever, anywhere or anywhen in history, been a military force for which this is not a true statement? Don’t give me truisms; give me numbers. Is this problem any worse for Ukraine than anywhere else? How much worse?
Ukraine needs paratroopers. Avoid the defensive fortifications by dropping troops in the rear. Then attack from both directions.
General Schwarzkopf used a pincer attack from the rear. Except he didn’t use paratroopers. It did require incredible combined forces coordination.
You’ve apparently missed the fact that ground-based air defense is dominating the air war in this conflict. Trying to fly troop transports into a position where they could parachute into the enemy’s rear would be a good way to kill a bunch of paratroopers in a Pantsir or Buk fireball.
That could be a problem. 
This war will probably drag on for years. It seems extremely unlikely Russian forces will ever totally withdraw. Ukraine will have to claw back whatever territory they can get.
As was learned in WWI and several times since then, modern warfare favors the defense and almost always devolves into attrition. The Gulf wars were the exception.
Russian ultranationalist, Donbas war instigator and indicted war criminal Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, who has been highly critical of Russia’s performance in the war, has finally been arrested. While Girkin is an extremist, “extremism” in the Russian sense means being critical of Putin.
‘Я никогда не думал, что леопарды съедят мое лицо!’ (I never thought leopards would eat my face!)