Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Even so, Ukr. seem to be using them more frequently as well.

Why is this such a big victory for Russia?

Does it make the rest of the country vulnerable?

No intention on my part to insinuate anything critical of the armed forces of Ukraine or insult them in any way. I also never used the term experts when mentioning those who are deciding on what gets sent to Ukraine. I was just trying to make the point that I think there is information on the decisions of what is being sent to Ukraine that is not freely available particularly to people who are just relying on social media for their information on the topic. To my limited view on what is happening in the war there could be russian weapons that could be quite effective against a fighter aircraft that needs to be based in a specifically equipped airfield. The russians have been preparing for a war against NATO for decades so to think they have not prepared anything to combat the air superiority that NATO forces would try to achieve is a bit naive in my opinion. The footage I have seen of Ukrainian helicopters seems to frequently show them at dramatically low altitudes which I imagine is a deliberate attempt to keep them under the sights of radar that the russians could use to target them for anti aircraft missiles. Maybe you're right that F16s would be the key weapon to help remove the russians from Ukraine but its my guess that something less flashy like highly accurate artilary in conjunction with massive numbers of drones to help with targeting might be a more effective form of assistance.

I really hope that Russian gains in Soledar / Bakhmut are actually "tactical yields" by Ukraine, designed to keep the Russians interested in that area.

Lots of UK & US chat show guests (mostly ex military, high rank) now making a case for heavier tanks - this may be intended to get the voting citizens on board with such a development. In other words, it's already a done deal.

I think the key weapon the US should supply Ukraine with is drones like Reaper, Predator and Gray Eagle. If supplied, the latter should be renamed for the utterly delicious prospect of Orc media having to announce it's significant losses as being due to 'Gay' Eagles.

As mentioned, I basically take the position that no one is more expert on Ukraine's needs than Ukrainians, and that they are very serious about their needs when they state them.

The problem with your synopsis is that it assumes Russia can't keep up throwing bodies at battles when it evidently can. Whether they want to or not, countless Russians will be ferried to the front lines. Given a task and some PCP and away they go. Putin will gladly see 2 million Russians die in Ukraine so long as he gets some sort of result.

It also assumes that the west will actually do what they need to do and give Ukraine some serious modern weaponry. IFVs won't cut it in soledar and bakhmut. 100s of suicide drones would have ended this battle long since but for some reason they're rationed.

I've always been very upbeat about Ukraines prospects in this war but the last 2 weeks has shown some worrying signs of life on the Russian side. It needs to be snuffed out immediately and the US and EU hold the power to do that in their hands.

Suicide drones vs IFVs who can operate and fight 24/7 vs fairly light weight drone that can only Operate in ideal conditions,

They have hundreds of various attack drones already but they don't seem to be using them in soldar ,for whatever reason technical or other wise,

They need IFVs ,tanks and aircraft along with suicide drones operating together, suicide drones won't stop thousands of Russians being sent to the grinder in soldar and bakhmut,

I reckon they made a miscalculation not pushing the advantage when they forced the Russians to retreat from Kherson,they should have gone straight though them, instead they stopped and consolidated positions and built defenses mean while the Russian brought free reinforcements by the tens of thousand and continue to build up another large force in Belarus.

This could get dangerous

Its not so much the location ( but that's important too. Having said that, militarily I'm sure that there's far more valuable targets) But after a long series of heavy defeats, Putin ( or his military) badly needs to show a victory, and that's why they are now and will continue to feed thousands into the meat grinder that is the Ukrainian military in Bakhmut and Soledar, Modern Stalingrads.

Actually, I believe that this is good. Ukraine have had a pretty good run ar things so far and, with any large scale operation, the eye can leave the ball.

This is a very much needed wakeup-call to both the West and Ukraine. It's just a battle in one huge war in a massive country. But its a symbolic win for Russia.

Now, I figure we shall see some very focused minds from leaders in the West with the associated increase in military aid.

Remember, the gloves haven't remotely come off NATO's hands with respect to aid. It's a delicate balancing act, but NATO needs Russia to lose, and lose badly. Is it to whatever cost? In the short term, I would say yes, the cost being the relative destruction of Ukraines cities and infrastructure within the battle zone. But, what comes after the war, the rebuilding of Ukraine and the development of a standing army similar to Turkey, will be watched by Russia with great fear and all involved will ask themselves, "was it worth it?"

According to the R&D departments in Lockheed, General Dynamics, Boeing, etc...absolutely.

A couple of European countries need to wake up.

Ukraine would be gone already if it weren't for the US, Poland, UK and the Baltic's some who are next on the list.

We will see luco die and Belarus annexed sooner or later

There was a time when Russia never reported airline crashes in Russia- involving Aeroflot planes especially- because it was seen as negative re Russian engineering , a perception of weakness, etc. weakness in not a word in rather Russian vocabulary. . “ Our airlines are safer than those in the west” !!!!!!!!!! . I expect that it was relatively easy in ‘the good old days’ to keep things quiet before the whole ICT sector took ff - think mobile phone , etc.

It was probably the same with internal wars, internal special missions, internal conflicts, internal uprisings, internal etc,etc, etc, etc.. that probably explains ALL THOSE MEDALS !!!!!!!!!!!

Think you're getting carried away there - 2 million Russian losses acceptable to domestic Russia. No way. This despite the controlled narrative in their society is 2023 with modern communications. We've already seen local protests at mobilisation and these likely just the tip of the iceberg of muttering and discontent. As this continues, there will be a breaking point for ordinary Russian society when the citizens will have had enough.

Sad to see many here sh1ting their pants while the Ukrainians remain very calm and measured! None of the orc propaganda can be believed. Ukraine will still win this.

I can see them bring up some HIMARS and having an extra crispy orc BBQ. Very easy then to take back the city after the orc hordes are vaporized.