Of course this ratchets up Putin’s frustration and anger and makes the war even more gruesome. I doubt Putin has a way to save face in such a situation. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Just think back to how in WWII they resorted to destroying whole cities, civilians be damned.
Connecting this to the Finland analogy, Stalin stopped his offensive on Finland because he determined that he would never be able to subjugate the people–similar to Ukraine. He claimed and eastern territory of Finland as part of Russia–one could draw the parallel to Ukraine giving up the Donbas region.
The big difference is that Stalin had bigger fish to fry and could easily justify taking a pass on Finland–there was a whole world war going on elsewhere.
Putin doesn’t have such an easy excuse. Getting Donbas and some kind of promise that Ukraine wouldn’t join NATO wouldn’t be enough. That said, he will just lie to the Russian population no matter what happens, so maybe it would be if he felt it was the best way to stay in power.
British MP Jacob Rees-Mogg gave a good explanation for why it makes sense for NATO to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine but not offensive weapons like the Mig-29
This is the most difficult thing to explain to the Ukrainians (our neighbor and her extended family living in our houses). NATO wants to help but not escalate. They don’t understand that escalation will also make it worse for Ukraine. They think it can’t get worse, but it can clearly get worse.
Unfortunately, escalation or not, it will probably get worse simply because things are not going as planned for Putin.
Connecting this to the Finland analogy, Stalin stopped his offensive on Finland because he determined that he would never be able to subjugate the people–similar to Ukraine.
Finland lost both wars against the Soviet Union. The Winter War ended in 1940 on Soviet terms with Finland agreeing to the cession of western Karelia and to the construction of a Soviet naval base on the Hanko Peninsula. The Continuation War was fought with the aid of the Nazis. Germany lost the war and so did Finland. They signed an armistice in 1944, barely avoiding an occupation of Finland and losing more territory to the Soviets.
At any rate, were you referring to the first or second war?
At any rate, were you referring to the first or second war?
The first war. The Finns don’t like talking about that time they allied themselves with the nazis.
For the Finns, remaining independent was a victory. Yes, they paid a heavy price and lost some territory, but they were never part of the Soviet Union.
Just think back to how in WWII they resorted to destroying whole cities, civilians be damned.
At that time Russia might have had over 10 million battle tested men in uniform. The relative budget for defense was much larger in several ways, ie people were starving instead and money was actually spent on the military…Putin was never spending nearly enough money to support an invasion like this.
The times are different. Explaining to young Russians in uniform the need to commit mass murders of civilians wont play with a significant portion of them. Clamping down at home on freedom of speech is already a massive risk of a revolution especially as the cost of goods in Russia soars and the Ruble bites the dust.
Even if Putin drafts a million or more boys to fight in the theater he probably can not arm them fast enough with armor. Or arm them effectively enough for self defense.
This is different than Chechnya. That was against Muslims rebelling. The world did not decimate the Russian economy because it was internal to Russia. The Russians saw it as a minority uprising. The equipment being used then is being used again and probably breaking down.
- Go for the first and last tanks in a convoy. The tanks in between are trapped and easier kills.
I noticed that is what the Ukrainians did in the drone footage of the attack on the tank column. It looks like the tanks were southbound, on the left side of the road, came under fire, turned around into the northbound lane, then sat for a while, (my guess waiting for permission to retreat). As they were sitting, the Ukranians dropped a round on the south end of the column, and dropped the next round on the north end.
Sky News has a better video of the attack, with some clarifying notes, including a direct hit on an APC.
Drone footage shows a Russian tank column coming under fire on the outskirts of Kyiv.
General Mannerheim was both Finnish and Swedish. The Mannerheim name comes from his Swedish ancestors. I am also a relative of General Mannerheim by marriage (not a blood relative) via my Estonian-Swedish relatives.
Jaak
My DNA shows I have (29% Finnish and 15% Swedish)