Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I think if you put it to Putin that invading Ukraine has destroyed relations with the West, he'll just shrug his soldiers and say, '...good...'.

There are war crimes and mass murder of civilians in Ukraine but genocide has a very technical, legal definition. It is about the eradication of a nation or ethnic/religious group. Look it up on Wiki. I don't know if it is genocide but it is looking more like it every day.

This is disputed by the way. Ukrainian sources say there are areas of resistance throughout the city and it's just the usual Russian lies and propaganda that there are just a few fighters left at the Azovtal plant.

Ukraine said a little over 100 men had been captured in that event, Russia was claiming ~1,500.

In relation to mercenaries operating in Mariupol, what evidence do you have of this ?

Keeping in mind the two Britons who've been captured have been living in Ukraine for several years and appear to be part of their regular military, and not their for financial reasons.

So what other foreign fighters are operating in Mariupol, primarily there with the intention of making money (as opposed to moral reasons) ?

Must be easy enough to run a news agency when all you have to do is report whatever the government tells you to. You don't even need to hire actual journalists; just send out a few morons with cameras to wave around and point at burning stuff and make up stories about what happened.

Turkey hates Russia, I'd love to see Turkey go after them. They can't blame the West for that if it were to happen.

War is won by gaining new territory.. (the Russian army is so far taken new territory) annexed it.

This is a war taking place on multiple fronts, with heavy fighting taking place in cities and big towns, and a big obstacle for the fight to not be over quickly is the Ukrainian army is not a small army. There were allegedly 300,000 soldiers- which means they had a 2-1 advantage over the Russians and probably a higher number today since men not part of the army joined up after the invasion and the foreign mercenaries came to the country to help Ukraine. Plus now Nato providing the logistics to keep Ukraine stay in the fight. Did the Iraq army and Afghanistan army receive this kind of support from world powers? No, they did not. This is substantial support to fight Russia and can now be viewed as an American proxy war ( the Ukraine military used as the boots on the ground to stop the Russian advances cold) Ukraine receives real-time intelligence and assessments from Nato about Russian movements and their concentrations of forces inside Ukraine so its lot harder for the Russians to take Ukraine army by surprise on the battlefield.

The reality is this. Ukraine was adding on Twitter they had launched a counter-offensive to retake Kherson weeks ago, but nothing had actually shifted on the actual front line. While Russia on the other hand about to take another city in the south of the country- Mariupol ( a city that Russia actually wanted to take) at the beginning of the war.

Hold three important cities previously occupied by Ukraine forces hows is that examined as a failure? Only in the west would it be after only a month of fighting.

The offensive in the Donbas if successful achieves most of the aim here to demilitarise the Ukrainian military in the east and south. Ukraine's army would then be forced back North to Kyiv in hurry ( if they can get out that is). The defeat in the Donbas means Odessa will be an easier target for the Russian military to take.

If they have the coast could they get in a few fast boats with supplies/reinforcements?

If they had spent more time fighting and less time looting white goods and raping toddlers they may have made advances worth talking about. Instead they took a tiny part of Ukraine which was already in conflict and only succeeded in mariupol by leveling it. So they effectively 95% took a wasteland. If that's winning how do you spin the complete failure that was the Kyiv offensive.

That would be video that's 2,980 bodies short of your 'few' thousand.

As expected, bizarre views.

Russia had more territory 6 weeks ago than it has now. They are losing equipment at the rate of 3 to 1. They've lost more men than the US lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, combined, in 20 years. What was supposed to be a quick "operation" has turned into a quagmire. They still have a large potent army but they are struggling to match their week 1 gains, they have been struggling to take one key city for 6 weeks now. A country with a much smaller (on paper) military is holding them almost to a stalemate.

Maybe they suddenly start clawing more than a few kilometres a day and they take a much larger swathe of East Ukraine, then what? How does a sanctioned country with an economy smaller than Texas and such a demoralised army hold so much hostile territory?

Going to be interesting mental gymnastics performed over this by the Kremlin and their supporters that's for sure.

Five attack fronts. With the bulk of the Russian army attacking the east and the south of the country.

Have a solid point if Putin send the majority of his army at Kyiv but he did not. This was never the main target for the operation.

Keep ignoring Putin’s war aims. Demilitarise the Donbas and denazify the Ukrainian military.

Why do you think it is the Russian tv channels keep saying daily declare war on Ukraine? Know this is a not real total war against Ukraine. There surrounded cities, but there not bombed and destroyed by the Russians. Look at every war for the last century, cities are bombed until all is left is rumble. Russia actually being civilized with the attacks.What stopping them from leveling Kharkiv and Odessa or any small city?

Expectation you had Putin would occupy Kyiv with 40,000 soldiers?. Kyiv has 3 million people. I dont know what the goal was but certainly wasn’t to take the city. I think ( viewpoint) it was probably to lock down the bigger force holding the north so it could not help turn and help the smaller force to the east and south. Maybe the 40,000 forces performed poorly or could be they were given orders to be mindful of civilians and buildings which hindered their progress. Russia got vast amounts of artillery not much of it was used.