Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "DW News" channel.

4:43 The reason the Russians cannot launch an attack with tanks supported by infantry is because they have pretty much gotten rid of infantry in the sense that the US and Britain have infantry. Not only have they mechanized things to the point of absurdity, but their infantry does not seem to have the ability to coordinate with their armor, and their artillery seems incapable of supporting either the infantry or the armor during attacks. Russia has basically lost its ability to conduct combined arms warfare by over-mechanizing its forces.
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That is what I have been saying to a lot of the armchair trolls, but all I get back is that "it is a clever strategy to gradually take ground" etc., etc. Well, now those trolls can see how a properly trained military can fight, and how useless the Russians truly are without their artillery.
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@alexcisneros2980 There is one, of sorts, run by Russia. It's called the CSTO. Doesn't work very well for some reason.
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It's a goodwill gesture to the Ukrainian army.
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@GENBOGA I think you are overlooking the fact the news reports this is happening at multiple border crossingS, plural. Not singular. This is but one of at least four crossing points from Russia or Russian-held territory into Georgia that I can see on a map. By your math, this means that up to 28,000 people could have left Russia.
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From what I have seen, in January and February of this year Russia spent 80% of its entire 2023 budget! Oil and gas revenues are down around 40%, and spending is up by 50%. Several economists and some oligarchs have said that at this rate Russia will expend its financial reserves by the end of this year.
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Look up Russkiy Mir. It might help explain it.
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What do they mean "No European country has supplied Ukraine with battle tanks"? What do you call the 250 Polish T-72s?
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In addition to what Lee Nick said, you need to store the fuel rods somewhere, maintain cooling so you don't get the rods exposed and creating hydrogen gas (which is what happened at Fukushima). It is a very complex procedure.
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@funda298 Easier said than done. But, if Europe can tap into Ukraine's enormous oil and gas reserves, that could change. It is also one of the reasons that Putin is attacking Ukraine. The other was the threat of losing Crimea due to the Ukrainians shutting off their water supply back in 2014.
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@johnbox271 I know that Ukraine had make a few minor advances (1/2 km here, a kilometer there) in this area, so I suspect they hadn't had time to do more. Also, Russian High Command was laser focused on fronts where they could score political victories: Kherson, Donetsk, Bakhmut and Kharkhiv. Nothing much was happening near Balakliia, so they got complacent.
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This does beg the question as to how the Russians feel when they turn on the TV in Turkey and see the news as we see it (depending on how Turkey presents the news).
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Ukraine may also be stockpiling ammunition and training troops for an offensive operation. If so, they don't want to tip their hand too early, or fritter away any armored forces they have assembled. I don't know if this is indeed happening, and it is excruciating waiting to see if Ukraine can manage a "Hail Mary pass".
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I thought the attack to occur near Zaporizhzhia, to split the Russian forces in two by taking Melitopol and Mariupol. However, this collapse does not surprise me, I have been expecting something like this for a couple of months now, ever since Ukraine virtually silenced the Russian artillery. After all, it was their artillery that gave them the edge - the rest of their military sucks.
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Pretty much what I have been saying for about 3 months now. Of great importance is also training the officers who can coordinate all the elements (infantry, armor, artillery and air power) to create a combined arms attack. They also need training on how to command units larger than the brigade level (which is as far as Ukraine had managed to get in NATO exercises before the war). It would take 3-4 months for the new officer corps to be trained, and I suspect this offensive is going to be, in part, on the job training for the new and improved Ukrainian army.
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Notice how the Russians have painted bullseyes on their vehicles for Ukrainian target practice.
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@Gantali9305 The Russians also moved all their reserves from this region to Donetsk and Kherson, so when the Ukrainians attacked and penetrated the front lines, there was nothing left to stop them. I suspect that Ukraine has been waiting for something like this for a while now.
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One thing that Nina Khruscheva might be unaware of that may have been on Putin's mind: Crimea. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, they made the mistake of not taking control of the entire length of the North Crimean Canal (up to the Donetsk River). This waterway supplies the bulk of water to Crimea, and the Ukrainians blocked the canal in 2014. Without this key source of water, the supply of fresh water in Crimea has been compromised. During the last 8 years the reservoirs in Crimea have gone from 100% capacity to 7% capacity, even with severe water rationing. At this rate, by around mid-summer Crimea would be out of water! Having spent billions of rubles on military infrastructure and the Kerch Strait Bridge, Russia was on the verge of having to either return Crimea to Ukraine, having to virtually evacuate the entire region, or attack Ukraine to take control of the canal. In addition, Ukraine is sitting on large reserves of oil and natural gas, which happen to lie underneath Crimea and the Donetsk regions. If Ukraine joins the EU and starts tapping into those reserves, the EU might start weaning itself off Russian hydrocarbons for a friendlier market that won't use it's resources for political leverage. If Russia loses that revenue, they could end up being in dire financial straits.
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@internetw4nk3r74 You obviously have not watch numerous videos of Russian troops running around in bunches like the Keystone Cops when under artillery fire (they should be spreading out and going to ground). Or how in ambushes they immediately dive for cover or run off, without returning fire. Or how an entire brigade group got thrashed during a river crossing. Sorry, but the facts do support their complete lack of coordination and inability to conduct combined arms warfare.
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@prodigiii712 You obviously missed the 1st and 2nd Gulf Wars (at least the start of the latter). Both of these showed modern combined arms warfare. What you are talking about is the follow-up to the first couple of months of the 2nd Gulf War, where things switched from conventional warfare to asymmetric warfare. The latter is a different thing altogether.
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@lancebaker6095 Carrying the analogy a bit further, Russia strikes me as being like a heavy weight boxer who has been doing publicity tours for 30 years, with the occasional demonstration match. Now they are taking on a light- or middle-weight opponent who has been trained in Judo and Karate. Practically every offensive has ended up being thrown to the mat after the initial gains.
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@longandshort6639 Agreed.
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Putin is a psychopath, willing to kill 1,000 Russian citizens to provoke a war (2nd Chechen War) and get elected.
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@MaheshAdhikari Sadly, war often brings out the worst in people. And some people put political and personal agendas ahead of the good of the majority. I agree that we have to be careful and not judge things from first appearances. However, one also has to remember that if the individual in question is a citizen of Ukraine and is helping the enemy in time of war, that is treason. It is up to the courts to decide how to handle it, hopefully justly and humanely. After all, Ukraine will also be judged on how they treat people they accuse of aiding and abetting the enemy.
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@TeddyKrimsony Sorry, no. Too many Russians believe in the new virulent form of Russkiy Mir. Rather like the Germans in Austria and Sudetenland believed in the whole German race theory preached by a certain political party in the 1920s and 1930s.
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@jol6540 Absolutely correct. In fact, in 2008 there were many RUSSIAN media reports showing that Russian had placed special forces troops into both Abkhazia and South Ossetia over 24 hours BEFORE they openly came to "protect the people of the region". It was the same as Crimea, an openly hostile takeover of foreign territory.
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