Russia - threadbanned users in OP

"Now the 2 potential states appear to be, stalemate or a war of attrition which the Russians by virtue of their size are more likely to win."

I know russia by land area is big but with only 9 people per square kilometer does it actually have the economic and labour resources to utilise that physical size particularly with thousands being sent to their deaths by putin and many more running away from the country in recent years?

The economy of the russian federation is a fraction of that of the EU and putin in invading Ukraine has in reality declared war on all of the EU which has the military support of all of NATO while putin can only rely on the military support of Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Iran with other neighbours that continue to trade with putin fully aware that to support him militarily would lead to their own economies and people suffering because of putin's dreams of empire building. Even before the war and imposition of sanctions the economy and the industrial resources putin had to work with mean a long conflict in spite of your opinion does not give him a better chance of victory in my opinion.

If nothing else, it would be another check mark under 'WW1 w/ drones'.

Neither side is going to be able to break the stalemate as things stand.

Tunnel warfare was,I think huge in WW1.They tunneled and did a Guy Fawkes number under the other side's troop concentrations.

One particular undermining operation at Messines took out something like 10,000 in a single explosion,the Lochnagar crater is huge which you can visit today

And something the Ukrainians know a thing about between coal and salt mines

There's a good movie called Beneath Hill 60 about that.

It's been done in Eastern Ukraine since 2014 when Russia invaded there.

Been done by both sides.

No doubt the Russians have huge underground concrete bunkers and probably the Ukrainians have too in the longer timeframe front areas.

A very good thread on how Russia imports microchips for military and the lengths they go to traverse the sanctions.

There's an Irish element mentioned in past imports.

Also how they will pay and favour business through cash and women.

The capacity and willingness of Ukrainian citizens to carry on the fight will also be an important factor. At present they still seem strong and possibly as well motivated as at any time.

Whatever the eventual outcome, surely the political geography of this part of the world is changed. And that along with continuing sanctions will have a big impact on Putin's Russia. Their propagandist portrayal of Russia v The West will come to pass and the penny will drop at some stage that this was all self inflicted by the imperialist ambition of their elite.

Russians have always paid with cash, women or blackmail. Its how they have always worked and its what has always worked for Russians in Russia, so why not elsewhere in the world??? ( and unfortunately it is working too......)

I don't think I've posted in this tread before but I've followed it from the start and read pretty much the whole thing.

Can someone explain how Russia can take such monumental losses? Most countries in the world don't have armies the size of what they have lost. But yet they don't appear to be losing ground.

According to Ukraine Russia have lost over 300k soldiers. For reference the UK has an army of something like 80k! How is this possible? What kind of numbers do Ukraine need to eliminate to win this war?

There was a reason they were considered a super power. They do have a large army. Few realised quite how ineffective it would be but it is still very large. There will be no quick win for the Ukraine for this reason but that it has lasted this long and that Russia is now largely lost the ability to move forward shows that the long term war will be won by the Ukraine.

Fear. Plain and simple.

Culturally, the vast majority of Russian people have never known anything other than serfdom. First under the Tzars, then under the Communist Party, now under Putin's Mafia. Vast amounts of money and personnel have been invested in to keep the serfs beaten down and a brutal response to any attempt to protest or rise up over the past few decades has the Russian people too afraid to fight for their own interests. It took a long time for me to understand it to tbh.

I'd absolutely recommend this documentary on the fall of the Soviet Union (which I came across thanks to another poster on this thread) to help get your head around it somewhat: TraumaZone: What It Felt Like to Live Through The Collapse of Communism and Democracy

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSjQL8MYniTTLA3wnZ25U-s6RgR4uJNvL

It's a seven-part BBC documentary television series by Adam Curtis that use's archival footage from the BBC's Moscow bureau to brilliant effect. There's a few good documentaries on Channel 4 on Putin that show the more recent history.

The Adam Curtis documentary is fascinating. The raw footage is very powerful.