Russia - threadbanned users in OP

There's, literally, millions of Russians who already live in great hardship and have done for many, many, years. Long before Putin got to the Kremlin. They are the people who live outside of the main western urban areas like St. Petersburg, Moscow or Volgograd. Sanctions to them will probably mean very little. Who's in power means very little to them also.

In the short term, it'll be the average urbanite in the cities that will feel the pinch first as items will become harder and harder to get hold of and the power of their money continues to drop. But we'd be fooling ourselves if we think that the Russian people are just going to suddenly rise up against Vlad's rule. They have a long history of being able to put up with bad leadership and hardship. In living memory they have been through deprivation.

Maybe the younger folk, who have never known anything other than the last 25 years might be the first to move. But it'll take longer than we might think.

The thing is, the sanctions have to be consistent and they have to stay the course. But even now we see that the likes of Shell will talk a big game, but they still made the "tough decision" to by Russian goods anyway and once this has all blown over, I've no doubt that they and many others wagging their fingers will just go back to business as usual.

The smaller punisher drones that the Ukrainians are using are apparently having good success. Undetectable by radar also.

.....

US/NATO/EU moving serous amount of kit into Ukraine, WP reporting 14 wide-body jets landing per day to deliver Javelins, Stingers, etc

I think, reading between the lines, this is part of the off ramp from the war for Russia.

Have Ukraine sign meaningless anti nuclear weapon pledge, get neutrality and claim that this is the great victory with the Russian people.

It's a clever parachute actually.

Expect to hear a lot more about Ukraine's dastardly nuclear threat and negotiations on it in coming days.

When people say invest in the armed forces, this is the type of stuff you'd invest in.

There's no point in fighter jets if your airfields are bombed.

One wonders how many of those are on "extended leave" from their "day jobs" 😉

Indeed, however these smaller drones are limited to only lighter ordinance, and Russia will adapt, but they are definitely viable and if Ua start using them in numbers could have an impact. The larger Turkish drone is doing extraordinary damage to Russian armor.

Still no solid info on that convoy up the north

1. It's a diversion from the Southern attack?
2. They genuinely got bogged down in the mud and had fuel issues
3. It's a staging area for the encirclement of Kyiv?
4.