Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I agree. They weren't too happy (people) to join the EU not long after a breakaway from another union, however after 2 decades in EU there is never even a mention of leaving EU. Not at least in Baltics.

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no the US hasnt said they want Ukraine to win,i dont think they can as it would be a huge diplomatic mistake and you can only imagine the fall out from that from all corners...i think Ukraine will eventually push the russians back to the original border,yes there will be heavy losses but one thing i think is important to keep in mind is they are fighting for their country,their land and their identity,i dont think they will give up any of that...yes from what ive seen over the last while the russians are fanatical and by christ some of the tactics make me shiver but to my mind anyway that seems to come from the top gangsters in charge and the officer class in the military and of course some of the ordinary soldiers but ive also seen the videos of the ordinary conscript and jeez they are in poor shape not at all what we've been led to believe over the years,and yeah the leaders do have the smugness about them but they had that since the 'special military operation' '3 days to take Kyiv' started...i really doubt that Zelenskyy and his advisors will do anything that will backfire on them,theyd lose all their support and their country....i think these last few days have seen Ukraine probing russian defenses,finding weak points and consolidating all that information,US/UK intelligence im sure are talking to the Ukraine military and wont be talking to us normal joe soaps,id also think theyd have a direct feed to those satalites/high flying drones they have...i genuinely cant see the russians having any kind of ace up their sleeves at all at this stage...all that is just my opinion.

I suppose this is why some people are a little concerned over the last few days. You are not the only ones.

I suppose the good point is Ukraine have only used 3 of their 12 assault brigades. There must a reason in regards the other 9. I suppose 2 options are there waiting for a break somewhere to get through and send the other 9 to go I to the breach, only problem is would take time to get forces to there. Or I wonder will they take a massive gamble and literally send the 9 assault brigades at some point and make 1 concentrated attack. Time will tell.

A nice fire to start the day

The mock show trials of POWs have begun

I don't know about this. Based on what we're seen so far, I get the feeling that we're going to be going back to a mostly attritional phase for awhile yet. I think the set back Ukraine had during the Robotyne assault has shaken them and they will be more reluctant to use the newly formed brigades in a risky attack. We've already seen a change of tactics from the Ukrainians in the last week, they are for the first time starting to use GLMRS against frontline targets. This is acknowledgement that the mainline of the Russian defences are currently too strong to assault.

You sat up all hours waiting for the lastest footage of people being killed! You seriously need to have a chat with someone about that kind of weirdness!

While other kids were learning for their spelling tests the next day....

That remarks speaks to them being invested in what they expect to be a long conflict. There is nothing there to indicate your spin on it - "than helping them to deliver a devastating blow".

Reports already of big increase in forces into Kupyansk, would be surprised if they didnt mount some form of attack in that direction this summer.

It's a very antiquated view (that Kermit displays) i.e. that the EU is primarily about economics. That might have been true 40 years ago but certainly isn't now.

Member states have already helped to integrate Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia. Not to mention East Germany.

Poland is forecasted to have a higher GDP per capita in 2030 than the UK. EU expansion is a win-win.

Integrating Ukraine is not the challenge people think. There is a well-established and very successful playbook for this. Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania are also in the process - and (apart from maybe Serbia, who need to clean their act in quite a few ways) will also gain accession.

Start the clock, we'll see if their training is done in 4 months, 6 months or 18 months.

One of the ideas that i saw mentioned by some Ukranian official was:

Part of the training packages is split between engaging aerial targets/ engaging marine targets / engaging ground targets. Under normal cicumstances, coupled with the basic training on the aircraft you would teach each pilot all of these skills. However in this case to expedite the timeline you could simply teach all of them the basic and then teach Pilot group A : Air, Pilot group B: Sea and Pilot group C: Land. Effectively giving you the capabilities but spread across your pilot base while significantly cutting the training time for each.

So I personally would definitely be leaning towards the shorter timespans.