Comments by "William Morris" (@williammorris584) on "Exclusive interview with Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies | Ukraine: The Latest" video.

How does Ukraine take back any meaningful amount of their occupied territory? Their demographics preclude the casualties incumbent on the attacker, to say nothing of the other difficulties. They are not merely dependent on Western materiel, they are going to need other nations’ troops.
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@mattsapero1896 That was the last time Ukraine had numerical superiority. Last year, Ukraine was in its best position of the war since 2022 relative to Russia in personnel, equipment and logistics, and their offensive quickly broke down against a deeply entrenched enemy. Now, even with new aid incoming, Ukraine has no prospects for an offensive this summer, and possibly not this year. The Russians apparently have the means and the intention to maintain offensive operations this summer. As great as their dependence for materiel is, what Ukraine needs most of all is something that cannot be bought or sent by the West: more Ukrainians. Look at Ukraine’s 2023 population pyramid; there are virtually no young men. As bad as Russia’s demographic pyramid is, it is better than Ukraine’s, and several times larger. The materiel situation will probably look favorable for Ukraine sometime next year, but when a deeper conscription proves insufficient to recover any meaningful tranche of their territory, Ukraine will be asking for combat troops and aerial support.
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@johnanderson3731 The same as last year, defense in depth with reserves to counter attempted incursions. Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory are fewer in number and weight than the Russians inside Ukraine. I’d worry more about Ukrainian productive capacity in the context of serious deprivation of electricity. It’s less serious since they are a supplicant of the West, but some self-sufficiency would be desirable. Russia continues to build its own aircraft, missiles and armored vehicles and other big things painted green, as well as having willing sellers. The arrival of sixty F-16’s will bring the Ukrainians all the way up to a 11-to-1 disadvantage in multirole fighter aircraft, so the Ukrainians won’t be attacking with air superiority, or even parity.
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@stream2watch Which is why Ukraine’s offensive broke swiftly last year, and why they wont be be able to sustain one going forward without someone else’s troops.
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@mindbomb9341 There are idiot Tubers on both sides making clickbait- Mercouris, Davydov, Rehi, etc.
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