Holien

For those interested in listening in on two world leaders talk about Ukraine before the war. More to follow....

Hmmm unless they have a way to get it past the dogs in the manger they could promise anything and it ain't going?

It could be that to protect the bridge they need the ships out patrolling... Who wants to bet that Ukraine has more Drones than Russia has ships...

Well then I suggest that those Germans who are reading this, and want Ukraine to be supported get involved and get in touch with their elected representative.

Yep Jon has a very dry sense of humour. It is the same level of Joke that with Leopards earlier the war would be already be over... We are where we are. Hindsight and rewritten history is inevitable, humans being human. Doesn't mean that there shouldn't be pushback on those spinning a message so it does have to be countered.

Yep... Hindsight a wonderful thing.... As if we even knew Russia WAS going to invade... Going forward Europe is showing every intention of upping it's support despite some folk saying otherwise... Ukraine is NOT out of the fight and if it addresses some weaknesses it will certainly stay in the fight longer than Russia has...

Capt, Simple answers is all people want... Make peace - Simple problem solved Send more tanks - Simple problem solved Capt keep up the good work - it ain't simple...

There we go with simple answers and simple statements.... How would the logistics worked with all those tanks? You do know the tip of the spear needs a decent length of well crafted wood behind it to make it effective. Look Steve earlier has as ever given a far more detailed effective response. Sure there could have been things we should have done sooner and more effective. Sure Germany could have stepped up sooner. It would certainly have helped but there were / no easy answers, hindsight is easy...

Could have been worse than where we are now as Ukraine would have had to take more troops off the front line to learn and integrate an influx of equipment. You clearly forget the discussions at the time that we needed to send soviet era kit as easily used by Ukraine. We could not just dump modern kit into Ukraine and expect it to be used effectively. People want easy answers. This war isn't easy and there is no magic wand. Sure we need to better upgrade Ukrainian military forces, but that ain't easy...

Perun does a bit of a deep dive on Arty towards the end of the video.

It will be interesting to see what options that opens for Ukraine. It could be more Russian planes shot down if they still want to risk flying without an eye in the sky to watch over them. I am hoping it opens a vulnerability that Ukraine ready to exploit.

Hmmmm I think you need a new set of eyes... What I see is Ukraine still fighting and doing immense damage to Russia be it loss of men, hardware or industrial machines. As long as Ukraine has the will and resources to continue doing this Russia will never "win". Just look at Afghanistan for an example where the will to continue fighting has out stayed the ability of those attempting to change the country. Why is that model not possible for Ukraine?

Hmmm now you have finally admitted it is possible, your previous statement said absolutely impossible. No one is saying it's easy, but you said it is impossible yet Ukrainian forces are proving you wrong. So why were you wrong? Let's see if and when Russia removes the bridgehead. If it was that easy Russia would have done so already. If it was that well fortified Ukrainian forces would have failed to establish a bridgehead.

The Trump Effect? Europe is upping its game... Long may it last... I truly hope Ukraine can hold on and the aid truly arrives in time.

Thanks for keeping us grounded. It will be interesting to see if can get confirmation of accurate numbers. I guess without pilots ejecting we can't rely on COSPAS and if they go into the sea no satellite proof possible. Just maybe in months time obituaries of the pilots if they pop up on social media.

Hmmm Any scale of operation? Would you like to take a crack at explaining how Ukraine has managed to maintain such a bridgehead which has been in existence for months?

Fixed it for you... It would be like me saying that about America at the moment..

I just checked AWACs to see what crew would be needed just to get an idea... So your right seems like they were a 3rd down on crew and the crew they had 50% were Majors, sure seems like they might have problems getting trained folk as crew...

Hmmm I think he was fairly clear off camera about his views and he was interviewing folk with guns so he was never going to challenge them strongly, especially as he got quite a bit of hostility towards him. I found it interesting that Wagner were operating ahead of the Russian forces in Kyiv and his assertion that there was no killing blatantly untrue. So from my POV it was worth watching. The details I picked up just watching the images we're worth it. YMMV

Talking as we have been about real journalism I managed to watch this available in UK on ITV. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/19/uk-documentary-listens-to-both-sides-on-ukraines-frontline-with-russia YouTube promo above. He got access to the Russian side and it isn't Russian BS propaganda but does interview those fighting for Russia and the separatist. He even gets into "Sherwood Forest" just after it was taken by Russian forces. He sees the aftermath of the rout of one of the Russian collapses. The interviews with a couple of the civilians are worth watching, especially the crazy / lovable large lady who nearly kidnapped him. No stunning information but it kinda of backs up (I hate to say) the Capt pov that it might be better for Ukraine to cut Donbass loose. An interviewed Russian doctor sums it up war destroys everything. - Russian medical care not great but interesting to see a "field hospital". Not sure of distribution outside of the UK, but if you do get a chance to watch it, I think it's worth it.

Please don't feed the troll...

As others already noted yesterday, now the BBC reporting in the murder of the Russian pilot. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68337794 Another Russian killed by the Mafia running Russia.

Is that now 5 aircraft in recent days?

I hope so, the Glide Bombs seemed to be the key in breaking the Ukraine defences. The loss / reduction of artillery to break up attacks didn't help.

@Grigb A post from Panzer Martin a year ago after Bakhmut. He has form... Just FYI Hey maybe he will be right one day...