The Ukraine Crisis

[Skjellyfetti]

The Kherson counteroffensive was an utter failure. There is no denying that.

[Silenoz]

Anyone want to take bets on the rationalization we hear?

[kalm]

The Kherson counteroffensive was an utter failure. There is no denying that.

Lol.

I was just gonna say…at least the alt right still has Kherson!

[UNI88]

I'm taking Putin in the 2023 Death Pool. Anyone else takes him they're a copycat.

[Skjellyfetti]

Anyone want to take bets on the rationalization we hear?

"Kherson was a feint."

"Abandoning Kherson was an gesture of goodwill."

[SeattleGriz]

Anyone want to take bets on the rationalization we hear?

"Kherson was a feint."

"Abandoning Kherson was an gesture of goodwill."

How about it was a difficult place to defend and supply, so it's wiser to retreat to ground where they won't be isolated if the dam is blown?

[Skjellyfetti]

"Kherson was a feint."

"Abandoning Kherson was an gesture of goodwill."

How about it was a difficult place to defend and supply, so it's wiser to retreat to ground where they won't be isolated if the dam is blown?

Well, they had a pretty defensible position along the Inhulets River when the offensive started that SDHornet was really excited about (before Ukraine broke through ).

Yeah, SDHornet is going to eat his words. The Russians West of the Dnipro have no resupply route. Ukraine is advancing slower in Kharkiv but the Kherson counteroffensive isn't over and certainly not an "utter failure." Lol.

Anyone claiming the Kerson counteroffensive wasn't a failure just isn't paying attention. At best you can claim it was a feign for the Kharkov counteroffensive.

Ukraine make their push past the Oskil River yet?

Speaking of rivers, Ukraine manage to set new pontoon bridges to get their forces over the Inhulets River yet?

Looking forward to y'all having to justify their retreat from the Dnipro River next. My guess is in the Spring... but, you never know.

[GannonFan]

"Kherson was a feint."

"Abandoning Kherson was an gesture of goodwill."

How about it was a difficult place to defend and supply, so it's wiser to retreat to ground where they won't be isolated if the dam is blown?

Difficult? To defend from whom? You said they were having an easy time of it and that Ukraine's military was being cut to pieces. What possible strength could the Ukrainian army even have left considering the significant blows the Russian machine has already inflicted on them.

[GannonFan]

Anyone want to take bets on the rationalization we hear?

"Kherson was a feint."

"Abandoning Kherson was an gesture of goodwill."

Maybe Kherson is too muddy. Who wants it anyway.

[SeattleGriz]

How about it was a difficult place to defend and supply, so it's wiser to retreat to ground where they won't be isolated if the dam is blown?

Difficult? To defend from whom? You said they were having an easy time of it and that Ukraine's military was being cut to pieces. What possible strength could the Ukrainian army even have left considering the significant blows the Russian machine has already inflicted on them.

Ukraine's military is not inept and I've never implied that. In fact they have been prepping for war with Russia for eight years. They simply don't have as good a weapons/capabilities. All the newer equipment they receive also requires them to learn new systems and isn't what they have practiced with.

There will always be situations where they can negate this advantage like here or in urban settings. Russia is chewing them up in areas where it's an artillery battle, which was a large portion previously. That fighting has now slowed down due to the sloppy conditions.

[kalm]

Difficult? To defend from whom? You said they were having an easy time of it and that Ukraine's military was being cut to pieces. What possible strength could the Ukrainian army even have left considering the significant blows the Russian machine has already inflicted on them.

Ukraine's military is not inept and I've never implied that. In fact they have been prepping for war with Russia for eight years. They simply don't have as good a weapons/capabilities. All the newer equipment they receive also requires them to learn new systems and isn't what they have practiced with.

There will always be situations where they can negate this advantage like here or in urban settings. Russia is chewing them up in areas where it's an artillery battle, which was a large portion previously. That fighting has now slowed down due to the sloppy conditions.

Retreat (all who have survived) so we can chew them up from over there. Master strategist!

[SeattleGriz]

Ukraine's military is not inept and I've never implied that. In fact they have been prepping for war with Russia for eight years. They simply don't have as good a weapons/capabilities. All the newer equipment they receive also requires them to learn new systems and isn't what they have practiced with.

There will always be situations where they can negate this advantage like here or in urban settings. Russia is chewing them up in areas where it's an artillery battle, which was a large portion previously. That fighting has now slowed down due to the sloppy conditions.

Retreat (all who have survived) so we can chew them up from over there. Master strategist!

Yes, with the river at their backs and no way to retreat quickly if Ukraine comes at them, it makes perfect sense to sit there and wait. I'm just wondering why Russia isn't following your guys theory of just throwing bodies into the buzzsaw.

[Silenoz]

Russia is chewing them up in areas where it's an artillery battle, which was a large portion previously.

It's okay. Admitting one is wrong is a terribly difficult process. Especially on the internet. And god knows no one on CS has ever admitted to being wrong about anything.

[Silenoz]

Those conscripted troops with zero training will save the day!

[SeattleGriz]

Russia is chewing them up in areas where it's an artillery battle, which was a large portion previously.

It's okay. Admitting one is wrong is a terribly difficult process. Especially on the internet. And god knows no one on CS has ever admitted to being wrong about anything.

As I've said, I'll admit I'm wrong if Ukraine is able to pull out the victory. I just simply don't believe they have the weapons overall to beat Russia and with that, would hope negotiations start soon.

I was in the Army Reserves for 10 years. In that short period, I worked with two individuals who went over to Kuwait in combat arms positions. Needless to say, they did not want to talk about the war at all. I had to assume they either saw people being killed or had to "pull the trigger" themselves. The one guy was our company commander's son, who went to West Point. All that training and after one trip to Iraq, he was changed.

In addition, when my Reserve returned from being sent to the United Arab Emirates, somewhere around 10 nurses resigned their commissions and left the Army. Our unit was stationed over 1500 miles away from any sort of action, but the constant worry got to them. I can't imagine how awful fighting this war must be. It's why I signed up for medical. I knew there was no way in hell I could kill someone else.

Edit: I'm referring to the Gulf war in both.

[Silenoz]

Yes and my brother had a real fun time in Afghanistan and my surgeon buddy had a great time being repeatedly rocket'd in Iraq. Now imagine those experiences, only 80,000 (and counting) of your buddies and brothers-at-arms were blown apart next to you. Our Middle East fiascos are peanuts compared to what is happening here.

Define win

Preventing the regime change or assassination of Zelenskyy?
Stopping the invasion of Kyiv?
Taking back territory? Taking back ALL of the territory? Taking back Crimea?

Look at prognostications in February. Ukraine is pilling up the wins.

[UNI88]

Retreat (all who have survived) so we can chew them up from over there. Master strategist!

Yes, with the river at their backs and no way to retreat quickly if Ukraine comes at them, it makes perfect sense to sit there and wait. I'm just wondering why Russia isn't following your guys theory of just throwing bodies into the buzzsaw.

Maybe they're running out of bodies to throw "into the buzzsaw" and that's the real reason for the mobilization.

[Skjellyfetti]

Lol

[kalm]

Retreat (all who have survived) so we can chew them up from over there. Master strategist!

Yes, with the river at their backs and no way to retreat quickly if Ukraine comes at them, it makes perfect sense to sit there and wait. I'm just wondering why Russia isn't following your guys theory of just throwing bodies into the buzzsaw.

1). They are.

2). Who backed them into that corner?

[Silenoz]

Anyone want to take bets on the rationalization we hear?

And the results are in!

"Genius tactical repositioning" is our winner!

Goddamn, how does Russia make it look so easy?

Hopefully our generals are over there taking notes. I wonder if we could invade Mexico and use Russian tactics to pull it off with only 100K+ KIA. We may only end up with like 10% of the country, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Plenty of warm bodies in the South that need to be put to use anyways!

[dbackjon]

I'm taking Putin in the 2023 Death Pool. Anyone else takes him they're a copycat.

Quick, I need a list of Russian Generals!

[Silenoz]

Sounds like the Russians had a great time over the last few hours. I look forward to reading about it tomorrow

[SeattleGriz]

One would expect Ukraine to make a huge push right now if Russia is retreating, wouldn't you think? Kinda makes you wonder why Russia would announce such a move in advance.

I read someone asking that elsewhere and it does make some sense. Not sure what, but just doesn't seem to square.

[∞∞∞]

Kinda makes you wonder why Russia would announce such a move in advance.

I think you're overthinking this. Why has any military, in the history of warfare, announced retreats in advanced (including the US)?

It's as simple as: enemies (and people in general) are less likely to attack those retreating. You save your resources. For your enemy: they've already won so there's no point in sacrificing their own resources, and sometimes they look benevolent.

The general rule of thumb is that people don't like killing each other. Announcing retreats plays into that psychology.

[kalm]

I'm taking Putin in the 2023 Death Pool. Anyone else takes him they're a copycat.

Quick, I need a list of Russian Generals!

Lol