Posted on 05/14/2024 4:38:13 AM PDT by hardspunned
Ukraine’s military is confronting a “critical” situation in the country’s northeast, facing troop shortages as it tries to repel a Russian offensive that has been advancing for several days, a top Ukrainian general said on Monday.
Russian troops surged across the border last week to open a new line of attack near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city after Kyiv, capturing at least nine settlements and villages and forcing thousands of civilians to flee.
“The situation is on the edge,” Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said in a video call from a bunker in Kharkiv. “Every hour this situation moves toward critical.”
His bleak assessment echoed those of other Ukrainian officers in recent days, that the country’s military prospects were dimming. In addition to being outnumbered, the Ukrainians face critical shortages of weapons, especially artillery ammunition, and $60.8 billion worth of arms from the United States — approved three weeks ago after months of congressional gridlock — has barely begun to arrive.
Like most Ukrainian officials and military experts, General Budanov said he believes the Russian attacks in the northeast are intended to stretch Ukraine’s already thin reserves of soldiers and divert them from fighting elsewhere.
That is exactly what is happening now, he acknowledged. He said the Ukrainian army was trying to redirect troops from other front line areas to shore up its defenses in the northeast, but that it had been difficult to find the personnel.
“All of our forces are either here or in Chasiv Yar,” he said, referring to a Ukrainian stronghold about 120 miles farther south that Russian troops have assaulted in recent weeks. “I’ve used everything we have. Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone else in the reserves.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Stop Painting and FIGHT
$60 billion aid that won’t get there for years because the idiots in DC thought the deindustrialization of America was a good thing. How many burger flippers and HR priestesses does it take to make a Patriot missile?
Ukraine never stood any chance in a drawn out conflict with Russia... Z and the idiots who fed him the BS from NATO and the WEST should all be drawn out and shot.
Once Ukraine stopped the initial advance and showed Russia it would not be a cakewalk they should have pushed for peace. Instead they have a clown running Ukraine, and clowns in Nato and the US Administration lying to Z and feeding this imbecile lies and garbage.
Z’s complete lack of understanding of the geopolitical realities of his nation and its region has led to the destruction of countless lives.
No, Russia should not have invaded, No, I am not apologizing or condoning their actions, but there was never an end game possible in this conflict in which Ukraine would win and fully repel Russia from its lands, never... The only way you get that possibility is for NATO to commit troops on the ground and no matter what whispers they were telling the little doofus in Kiev, that was never a legitimate option, unless Russia was foolish enough to spread the theater to the rest of Europe.. The NATO nations were NEVER going to risk the conflict of their countries being the battlefield to “save” Ukraine... Politically none were going to spend the capital to send their boys off to die, etc.
Watching the NYT and others in the media come to the obvious reality that was self evident from the start, is just a shameful disgrace to an already disgraced “news” industry.
It would make no difference long term even if it got there yesterday.
Ukraine, cannot beat Russia in a head to head conflict, period.
All the west is doing is using Ukraine as an excuse to launder more of your tax money to the military industrial complex.... Short of NATO actually putting troops on the ground, the end game here was self evident from the start.
All of this has been a complete waste of time, money and lives... and its shameful.
Z’s inability to understand the geoplitical realities of his nation, and his gullible stupidity to buy into the nonsense folks in the west have been feeding have destroyed countless lives.
Once Ukraine repelled the initial invasion and showed Russia it would not be the cakewalk they believed it would be, they should have started to pursue peace.. and understand that peace was never going to be the full expulsion of Russia from its territory.
No, this doesn’t justify Russia’s actions or excuse them, but that’s the reality of the situation.. Ukraine cannot, and never had any chance of winning this war... no amount of money given to this country would change that outcome.
“Apparently the fighting will continue until the very last Ukrainian.”
And Z being an complete moron is the reason why.
As soon as they repelled the initial invasion, and showed russia it would be costly and not the cake walk they believed, they should have began pursuing peace. Ukraine cannot and never could stand up to Russia alone and all the wester money and weapons in the world will never change that reality.
No, Russia should not have invaded, and honestly had Z not been a moron, and we didn’t have a demented senile old man in the White House it may not have happened.. but it did, so once it did, your option as a leader is to pursue the best outcome... Z chose poorly and listened to idiots in the west feed him lies and was played like the fool he is.
How many lives have been destroyed needlessly.... as far as I’m concerned, Z, and all the western world fools who fed him lies to convince him to stay this course should all be dragged out and shot.
You can get a non MSM look at the realities of stories about Russian exodus of men.
On youtube, there are channels of non Russian citizens who have had channels since before 2022. They are less likely to be propaganda because they were around before the war. They usually just walk around supermarkets to show prices and talk about where the fruits and vegetables come from, and sometimes typical apartments.
But none of that really matters. What matters is looking behind them when they are on camera talking. You can see who is walking around. I have done this and I do not see any absence of military aged men. They are in the stores shopping like everyone else.
Russia has had a draft for decades. It is universal for young men. They serve 1 year, all of which is training, and at the end of the year they can enlist (this is called contract soldier) or they return to civilian life, being placed in the Reserves. They are already trained, like US reservists. When you hear the word mobilization, it does not mean conscription (draft). It means some number of Reservists are activated, sent for refresher training of a few weeks, and deployed to duty.
So no, you can do your own research. The videos are pretty clear. There has been no huge exodus of Russian young men.
The stat that I have heard is that almost 2/3 of those men who left have already returned. Most of these men panicked at the mobilization order and made a reflexive decision to leave. Now, faced with the vastly different quality of life abroad, and the fact that no one is being mobilized anymore, they are missing home and yearning to return.
Kudos to Budanov for leading from the front, but I wouldn't mind seeing this nazi get got.
Yeah, what you said.
We had better hope that Russia annexes them so we don’t have to pay to rebuild the place....
Misinformation.. criminal “leaders”...graft...corruption. This is modern government. Invest in rope...lots of rope.
The Ghost of Kiev flies again
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