Comments by "Dale Crocker" (@dalecrocker3213) on "Retired general on why Bakhmut could be a symbolic defeat for Russia" video.

They don't want the entire country.
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@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 They simply didn't. They just told that to the raw recruits by way of encouragement. This has always been a war of attrition, designed to destroy as much of the Ukrainian army as possible and with little regard for losses of raw troops and ancient equipment on the Russian side.
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@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 Why? They can't hold it. They can hold Crimea and Donbass though, because they have large Russian populations.
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@glintongordon6811 Agreed.
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Russia is in the business of destroying Ukraine's army by any means available. At this stage, territory means nothing to them.
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@ange6580 Why would he? It would mean an endless civil war. He just wants the bits with large Russian populations which incidentally sit on all the mineral resources. Around 15 trillion dollars worth by all accounts.
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@albatros12 I'm a free man.
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@Intentspunk19 In their dreams possibly. But Putin has said time and time again that it would be impossible and really not all that desirable. I believe he is sincere in this. It would make no sense.
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@corneliusantonius3108 How likely does that sound? They want to keep Crimea and Donbass and will spend years on this if necessary. Stop believing the crap on TV.
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@aristophanesghost3839 They can try.
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@ghazanfaryaq6776 I don't think so.
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@foilhat1138 Kherson is really only needed to protect the land route between the Russian mainland and Crimea. If Crimea was officially recognised as part of Russia, as Putin requested, it could have remained Ukrainian. This is now no longer the case.
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@ramadankadriu5336 Never. There will be nuclear holocaust if the West pushes Russia much further.
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@josemonteiro5988 So that the war could be fought in the main part of Ukraine, rather than the part occupied by Russia.
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@foilhat1138 Sham referendums are a tradition in both Russia and Ukraine.They mean very little. For practical purposes the parts of the Kherson oblast to the south of the Dnieper are all that is needed to protect the land route to Crimea. Russia decided it wasn't worth losing men and equipment to hold the rest. Depending upon how the war proceeds my guess is that Kherson will either be lost entirely, conquered entirely or used as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations..
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@foilhat1138 At this stage I don't think Russia is at all bothered about gaining territory. It just wants to grind Ukraine down sufficiently to guarantee possession of what it already has. Putin 's original peace proposals were simply autonomy for Donbass, recognition of Crimea as Russian and a commitment for Ukraine to stay out of NATO. The war has forced him to extend these demands but this is doubtless his default position. As far as I can judge he is on his way to success. His army is crap and he knows it. He has to rely on Wagner, the Chechen mercenaries, the Donbass patriots and afew battle-hardened units from the Syria conflict to do te real fighting. The rest are just blotting paper. As long as he can repel any Ukrainian advances into Crimea and the rebel-held major part of Donbass he is on a winner. Clearly he hopes that the West will run out of willingness to continue supplying Ukraine and that Ukraine will run out of effective manpower. In this he could well be right. It's jsta question of hanging on - and traditionally Russia has always been rather good at that.
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@michaeljohnston980 They didn't "go for Kiev". They went into Ukraine simply to draw the Ukrainians into battle and to destroy its multi-million dollar US and NATO financed army. Which they have done.
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@alexko2877 They know exactly what they want - or rather Putin knows exactly what he wants. I suggest you read his 2021 essay on Russia/Ukraine relations for clarifications.
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@alexko2877 Mein Kampf is exceptionally silly and disgusting. Putin's essay is neither. You really can't understand this war without reading it, even if you have to skip some of the detailed history
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@joemagarac405 The more you pay attention to CNN the less informed you will be.
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There is some evidence that one of the Patriot batteries was destroyed and another severely damaged. The whole Russian attack was designed to overwhelm the air defences by sheer numbers, using a variety of missiles, not all them with warheads, but just decoys.
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