Comments by "Dale Crocker" (@dalecrocker3213) on "NATO aid allows Ukraine to target 'the one thing Russia would not want to lose' | Sean Bell" video.

And the $60 billion is really only $13.9 billion after deductions. It won't go far
2
@strictlysport3624 That might be a trifle optimistic.
1
@dpelpal It isn't quantity, it's quality. Russia was quite happy to lose thousands of acres of farmland as long as Ukrainians were dying on it. The land they're holding on to now has $14 trillion of minerals underneath it.
1
@boink800 Not at all. The land and what's beneath it belong to Russia.
1
@cog600 Russia is making substantial advances even now. If Ukraine wants to force them back it must act very quickly and forget such mad schemes as attempting to recapture Crimea.
1
@boink800 The mineral extraction and steel-making industries in Eastern Ukraine have been developed and run by Russians ever since salt was found there well over 300 years ago. That's why there are so many Russians there and that's why Russia won't allow Ukraine to sell it off. You can see their point. It was mistakenly included in the new country of Ukraine because it happened to have been included in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine. That mistake is now being rectified.
1
@boink800 I was talking more about the last couple of weeks. And it isn't square miles that count it is, as I said, what's underneath it that counts. Russia doesn't need any more farmland. That was just used for fighting on. It does need what it's holding on to now though. As you rightly say the Donetsk border is still some way off but the main line of defence is crumbling and Ukraine will have to make pretty rapid use of the somewhat limited extra resources donated by America if it is to stop Russia reaching it very soon.
1
@cog600 Yes. This whole line is heavily defended. Russia has broken down the fence and is now in the garden. Kharkiv could fall very soon unless Ukraine can quickly gain some benefit from this rather vague new gift of weaponry and cash from America.
1
@cog600 Size isn't everything! Russia wants what's under the land, not the land itself. And it wants it permanently and it wants it to be populated by Russians. They just won't stop until they have control of all the mineral riches of Eastern Ukraine and they will destroy everything in their path to get it. This was always going to be a war of attrition and Ukraine is near exhaustion. This new aid package - whatever it amounts to - had better start having an effect very quickly if that isn't to happen.
1
@cog600 You have to admit that Russia has made more advances in the past couple of weeks than it has for months - as you rightly say at a time when Ukraine has been starved of munitions. The question now is whether or not this advance can be stopped. The size of the villages isn't of great importance, it's their tactical positions that are important. And because its taken 9 months to move 5km doesn't mean that Russia can't move 30km in nine weeks if the Ukrainians have nothing left to defend them with.
1
@cog600 I said nothing about destroying people. Very many have fled the war zone, and most to Russia. I suppose the plan is for them to return and to help rebuild once the whole area is secured. Progress has certainly been slow. The Russian army is not very competent and this whole stretch of land is very heavily fortified with deep trenches, tank traps and bunkers, put in place long before this present stage of the conflict began. This phase of the war has clearly been predicted by both sides. Realistically though there is no way Ukraine can withstand Russia's steady progress without a considerable injection of both men and materiel. Whether this new aid package from America fits the bill I don't know, but I tend to doubt it.
1
@boink800 On the other hand being stolen from by clever lawyers is just as bad.
1
@boink800 The Russian army is not the best in the world, I'd freely admit, but this whole area has been heavily fortified in anticipation of what is happening now. As in World War I there have been many months with very little progress on both sides but, as was the case in that conflict, the losers will the side which runs out of support first. It is hard to judge the impact of this latest package from America but I tend to doubt it will do more than needlessly extend the suffering.
1
@cog600 I'm not aware of having changed my argument. What do you mean exactly?
1
@boink800 What's the USSR got to do with it? Ukraine was a SSR but included parts of Russia, purely for administrative reasons. The fact that these areas were allowed to be integrated into the new country of Ukraine is the root cause of the present problems.
1
@boink800 International law, so called, was created after the Second World War to protect American interests. It has no validity and can be safely ignored.
1
@boink800 I'm sure you know by now that this is a complete myth. Russia news show hosts are just as dim as ours.
1
@boink800 Well no-one can know for certain, but I think it's very much the other way around.
1
@5400bowen Much of it stays in the US for now. $13.4 billion to replace armaments already sent over,$7.3billion to allow the US to continue monitoring operations, and $13.9 billion to be spent on procuring new advanced weaponry. In the immediate future Ukraine gets $13.7 billion, some in the form of unspecified equipment from America's depleted armouries, and the rest in the form of credit to enable Ukraine to buy weapons elsewhere.
1