Ukrainian troops have advanced up to 50 kilometers into Russian-occupied territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region and recaptured more than 20 villages, Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said on Thursday.
Gromov’s statement is the first precise information provided by the Ukrainian authorities on a shock counteroffensive in the northeast that appears to have wrong-footed Russian troops, while attention was focused on a separate Ukrainian drive to claw back land around the southern port of Kherson and isolate Russian troops there.
Ukrainian media outlets and social media users have speculated that a top Russian commander has been captured as Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces gathers pace.
Images and video shared on Twitter and Telegram purportedly show Lieutenant General Andrei Sychevoi among a group of Russian troops handcuffed on their knees with one social media user saying they were near Balakliya, in the Kharkiv region
This is really interesting. Do they trade him? Or put him on trial to execute him? I would say the latter. He is a mass murderer. He can dress up nice in a uniform but screw him.
The Atlantic article describes the Kherson battle to come very well. Ukraine’s bluster about preparing to attack Kherson forced Russians to concentrate on defending their troops in Kherson. This resulted in Russians taking their eyes off the Kharkiv area where the real Ukrainian attack surprised Russians. Ukrainians are being clever.
Back in my AFROTC days, one of the cadre told us “Art of War” was required study for anyone looking to make Major. Not sure if that was really true or not, but misdirection was certainly part of Sun Tzu’s book.
A lot of news today. Ukraine continues its rapid offensive in the east. Ukraine has reached the key hub city of Kupiansk (confirmed) and reportedly damaged if not destroyed the bridge there (Russian sources). If so, this will make resupply of Russian troops on the east bank of the river very difficult, as well as making evacuation difficult. It appears Ukraine is about to cut off all road connections to the city of Izuim which would trap the Russian troops stationed there.
Julia Davis reports that Russian state media are in full damage control mode:
In the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s top propagandists predicted a swift victory and derided the Ukrainian military as an unwilling bunch of incompetents. As the war dragged on, they continued to claim that Volodymyr Zelensky’s government was about to fall. Faced with Ukraine’s mounting counteroffensive, which is rapidly achieving impressive gains, Russian propagandists are now describing an enormous horde, armed with the best Western weaponry and swimming in foreign specialists.
With state TV studios full of doom and gloom, prominent pundits and experts seem to be preparing Russian audiences for future losses of occupied Ukrainian lands, which are being painstakingly reclaimed by the Ukrainian military. During Wednesday’s broadcast of the state TV show 60 Minutes, host Evgeny Popov said: “We wish courage to our warriors, who are indeed doing very important work, they are resisting an enormous horde that has been trained in the West.”
Ukraine has reached the key hub city of Kupiansk (confirmed) and reportedly damaged if not destroyed the bridge there (Russian sources). If so, this will make resupply of Russian troops on the east bank of the river very difficult, as well as making evacuation difficult.
Yes, the Ukrainians are being clever. Also agile, guileful, quick, and dangerous. I would not be surprised if they pull a few more surprises soon and end up taking Kherson and Kharkiv as well as a lot of prisoners and expensive Russian equipment.
I am still nervous about it. Germany won every battle for the better part of two years in WW 2 but ultimately got ground down by Stalin who was willing to kill tens of millions of his own soldiers in order to grind down the enemy with superior numbers and brute force.
Putin reminds me of Stalin in that regard.
I hope we have the fortitude to stand by Ukraine over the long haul.
I am still nervous about it. Germany won every battle for the better part of two years in WW 2 but ultimately got ground down by Stalin who was willing to kill tens of millions of his own soldiers in order to grind down the enemy with superior numbers and brute force.
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The big difference between then and now is that US supplied Stalin/Soviets with lots of weapons and aid to defeat the Nazis. The reverse is now true. US is supplying Ukraine with lots of weapons and aid to defeat Putin/Russians.
I hope we have the fortitude to stand by Ukraine over the long haul.
And I’m guessing Putin hopes the Chinese will stand by him with the same fortitude the US stood with the USSR during WWII. I hope not.
I’m also hoping the US does the same thing this time with the Ukraine. The present administration seems to be trying - not limiting their support to the short term.
I think the danger of NOT supporting the Ukraine is less than the danger of doing so.
And I’m guessing Putin hopes the Chinese will stand by him with the same fortitude the US stood with the USSR during WWII.
The US, UK and EU are using Ukraine to grind down Russian military infrastructure and equipment. It is reducing our (and our ally’s) “excess” ammunition and weapons. That is a fact which is not lost on China. If they do intend to make a military play for Taiwan, it would be prudent to do so after we have expended as many hardware options as possible.
The big difference between then and now is that US supplied Stalin/Soviets with lots of weapons and aid to defeat the Nazis. The reverse is now true. US is supplying Ukraine with lots of weapons and aid to defeat Putin/Russians.
Another important difference is that Germany fought a 2 front war, the Russians to the east and the Allies to the west.
That is a fact which is not lost on China. If they do intend to make a military play for Taiwan, it would be prudent to do so after we have expended as many hardware options as possible.
Jeff,
The Chinese are not going to make a play against the Chinese. Taiwan is part of China. The communists have not grasped that they make plays against China endlessly. It pays in China to be a communists so they do not face it. But to launch an all out against Taiwan goes against their ethic. The People of the Han are the People of the Han. The communist party is secondary.
The west can jam the Chinese entirely without showing up in the theater. The Taiwanese can defend themselves.
China has so many problems now with being overextended the government can not make a much larger bid to be much further overextended.
The western military budgets are rearming. The German budget tells you that. The American budget overwhelms that idea of non stop arming. The Chinese are not fools. The assumption you are making about attrition of arms is not taking that into account.
The world order is changing. You are predicating on the past. It does not add up.
That is a fact which is not lost on China. If they do intend to make a military play for Taiwan, it would be prudent to do so after we have expended as many hardware options as possible.
Except the weaponry involved in the two wars would be very different… Ukraine is a grinding land war, while Taiwan is an amphibious invasion. Sink the boats before they land, who cares what artillery’s around?
The American budget overwhelms that idea of non stop arming.
The war in Iraq was fought without a war tax, but by putting the costs on our national credit card. The war in Afghanistan, the same. We are now using our credit card to the tune of what it would cost to have free health care and higher education in the US to fund a war in Ukraine. Each trillion dollars that has (and will) be spent is the equivalent of $3,050 for every American who can fog a mirror.
Costs of the 20-year war on terror: $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths (includes Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria and close to 50 other nations.
So, that’s about $25 grand a pop or 100G per family of four - regardless of their income.
I’m not suggesting that it isn’t important to support Ukraine for a stack of reasons, but I am saying that, if you ask the average American how much he/she has taken on responsibility for paying (or giving up services which the government would have been able to afford giving to them and their children) and where/how that money was spent, they might not agree with the allocation. There is the assumption of our lawmakers that the population doesn’t “need to know” these facts because otherwise we might not agree with some of the ways our government has squandered the lives of our youngsters as well as the future of both our young and our old.
It’s not that I’m a pacifist, but I would still like to know what we were supposed to have accomplished during the Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syrian adventures (not to mention places like Mogadishu, Beirut, Grenada et al).