I was expecting that sooner or later. Sort of like what Boris Yeltsin did. And the kid in Tienanmen Square.
I was expecting that sooner or later. Sort of like what Boris Yeltsin did. And the kid in Tienanmen Square.
I was expecting that sooner or later. Sort of like what Boris Yeltsin did. And the kid in Tienanmen Square.
I think if Putin had tried to pull one where he recognized those breakaway areas and occupied them he probably would have gotten away with it, both politically and militarily. Instead he decided to go big and it blew up in his face.
That being said it does seem highly likely this still ends in Russian military victory at least in the short term. People shouldn’t get overly optimistic despite the surprisingly good Ukrainian performance so far.
that doesn't look good
He and other elected officials refused to cede power to the military coup that happened in 1991. There he and others blocked Parliament with their bodies and refused to move for Russian tanks. He stood up for democracy in a dangerous time. He should be remembered for that.As I remember it Boris Yeltsin launched a war with Chechnya because he was a "Great Russian" chauvinist and a drunk. He also helped pave the way for Putin - in part by using tanks to shell parliament. No way should he be mentioned in the same category as the Tiennammen guy.
I think there's a continuity from Stalin to Putin that goes by way of Yeltsin.
It looks like someone hit an ammo depot.That was an Iskander pretty sure. Could have been conventional, thermobaric, or like a 5-10 kiloton mini. Whomever was around on the receiving end is probably gone now.
This would have been obvious to anyone who has visited the Ukraine in the last 5 years. Maybe it would have been a viable strategy in 2014, but even then, I don't think he would have been able to pacify the western parts, and they would serve as a reservoir or resistance. Those guys were itching for a chance to fight Russia even then. Crimea and Donbass were the exceptions. He couldn't even pull off this stunt in Kharkiv and Odessa in 2014. To try it on whole country now is insane. Would need a million Russian level troops minimum and a long term occupation with corresponding losses from resistance. Russian military should be thinking very hard about taking care of the Putin problem now, before he orders them to commit war crimes on Ukrainian civilians for which even the Russian people won't forgive them.Most likely Putin was hoping for “shock and awe” strategy to force defenders to retreat, making widespread strikes in depth to achieve it. Ukranians would despair that this conflict isn’t just in the east, it’s everywhere. Fearing there’s no safe place for them, they’d agitate for regime change to save themselves. He installs his stooge regime and Putin waits it out to see if Trump gets elected again. I’m struggling to see how this ends with Ukraine being less of a threat to Russian national security after this war than it was before. Putin has erred in his assumptions on how the Ukrainians and the west would respond.
It seems there is a morale problem, a training problem, a leadership problem, and a will-to-fight problem. None of these are factors that can be easily or quickly fixed. The Ukrainian people have overthrown Russian puppet regimes twice in the last twenty years. They’re not going to roll over for another puppet just because he promises to make the trains run on time, especially not after what Russia has done to them now.
It looks like someone hit an ammo depot.
Looks like an ammo dump blew.
that doesn't look good