The front lines where Ukraine and its allies had hoped for a summer breakthrough now epitomize the bleak, dark winter ahead — of Russian resurgence and Kyiv’s mounting losses.
“As we like to say in the army, the plan was good on paper, but we forgot about the trenches,” joked Ihor, a commander in the 15th National Guard. CNN is only using his first name to protect his identity for security reasons. Speaking with CNN deep in a command post in Orikhiv, in southern Ukraine, he is interrupted by panicked noises in the radio room.
…
The Ukrainians face relentless waves of Russian convict recruits, properly trained and equipped, backed by armor, and often – they believe – given a mix of drugs to bolster their attack. Ukrainian soldiers showed CNN drone footage of an injured Russian, his legs severed, yet a ghoulish smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the pain.
Those fighting in besieged Ukrainian trenches say they now face another threat: the use of gas as a weapon. Nine incidents have been recorded in recent weeks in this area, one Ukrainian combat medic told CNN, in which a caustic and flammable gas had been dropped by drones onto Ukrainian lines, causing one fatality. The gas is used to cause panic and followed by conventional shelling or drone attacks, soldiers impacted said.
Most people thought the ‘2nd largest superpower in the world’ would have an invasion of the poorest country in Europe wrapped up in a few weeks. After Ukraine defended themselves and took back huge swaths of their territory, people readjusted to Russia’s (lack of) power.
Now the primary driver is making sure Ukraine stays armed so every invading Russian is forced to go the fuck back home.
Yeah, but people also thought Ukraine could take back Crimea and see how that’s going.
Their rhetoric was the same, too. Ukraine just needs these weapons and they’ll be able to accomplish this goal.
I’m waiting for everyone who was gungho about that to come out and admit they were wrong.
It’s been awhile, but I see no shortage of posters like you telling me Ukraine just needs more weapons and they’re be able to accomplish a different goal.
Wars invariably take longer than expected. There’s a reason “home by Christmas” is a meme. That doesn’t change the fact that Ukraine has liberated huge swathes of their territory since the beginning of the invasion. I’m all for more weapons for them; giving up aid just sends all the despots of the world the message that all they need to do in order to take whatever they want is out wait the fickle west.
Gee, how come I never see this in response to “3 days”?
Oh right, propaganda.
Because people like to mock the obvious Russian hubris? They’re getting worked by a country with hand me down weapons from 40 years ago, of course people laugh at “Kyiv in 3 days”.
So… russians are woefully incompetent and should be made fun of for that.
When Ukrainians are losing against russians… “wars take longer than expected.”
This war should really teach rational people how powerful modern propaganda is, and how ignorant its perpetrators are of its existence.
You’re trying to make an equivalence between the poorest European nation and the previously believed second most powerful army in the world. That’s not a rational stance. If anyone was told on February 25th 2022 that in two years time Ukraine would hold all territory on the right bank of the Dnipro and still contest territory in Luhansk and Donetsk it would rightfully be considered a miracle. Shit, Russia has moved a huge portion of their Black Sea fleet to Novorossiysk to avoid Ukrainian attacks against an opponent with no Navy. They can’t even use the port they stole. Do you not recognize the power imbalance is a factor? I’m not even sure what your point is other than acting like you’re smarter than the rest of the room.
Thanks for proving my point.
“Some people on Reddit, a site I’m not even on right now, were wildly overoptimistic and thus all aid to Ukraine was a waste.”
This is what you sound like.
Cowards are using gas
Why do you guys keep calling Ukraine the poorest nation in Europe? They must be burning enough money to compare with a top 10 military expenditure. It’s gone impressively well for them, but the way they are glorified like this is blatant propaganda. It’s another front in the fight, but with the dishonesty, it makes it hard to judge the nobility of the cause.
Because they are according to GNI per capita? Never heard of international aid?
I mean, just look at the list of countries by GDP/capita: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
Sort by rank, scroll all the way down. There it is.
We have visual confirmation Ukraine has destroyed over 13,500 Russian vehicles, including 2,500 Russian tanks. They are doing a damn good job and next goal needs weapons. An army doesn’t run on wishes alone.
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Classic case of a vatnik being incapable to see the bigger picture. Your propaganda narrative went from “Ukraine has no chance of winning since they’ll be overthrown in two weeks tops” to “Ukraine has no chance of winning since they failed to retake Crimea”.
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I’m pro-Ukrainian, but “huge swathes” of regained territory is absurdly inflating UA’s achievements. They’re fighting off the imperialist invaders, but only just and only for now.
Edit: typo
Do you not remember how much land Russia stole at first?
Russian forces tried to blitz across the country in 2022 - I remember that failure, but all recent developments in this invasion are minimal. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682 - this is a pretty decent overview I think we could both agree on.
Granted, recently they have been going more slowly, I would too without true combined arms warfare and with shackles on my combat ability.
Maybe we should take off their chains and allow them to fight for real, if shit started happening in Russia proper, people would start losing their shit there.
Let them take the battle to the homes of the oppressors.