Comments by "Arty" (@arty5876) on "TLDR News EU" channel.

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  2.  @jackroutledge352  Russia had very few wars with Japan. Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 was started by Japan. Japanese ships, without a declaration of war, had attacked Russian ships near port-Arthur. Second Russo-Japanese war also was started by Japan - Japanese forces had invaded Mongolian territory in 1939, while Mongolia was a puppet state, controlled by USSR. The third war with Japan had started after Allied proposal of help. USA and UK were fighting against Japan on the sea and in the air for a long time, and Western Allies asked Stalin for a help in the land war. Soviet troops de facto ended long and bloody war in China, and Soviet invasion of Northern China played little less role in the surrender of Japan, than nuclear bombings. Russia had very few wars with Finland - Soviet-Finnish war of 1918 was started by Finland - in 1918 communists were losing the civil war in Russia, and Finland literally invaded Russia. The second Soviet-Finnish war was started by USSR in 1939 and ended in 1940. Third Soviet-Finnish war was a Finnish attempt to revenge. After 1945 Russia and Finland had built good economical and neutral geopolitical relations. Last time when Russia had invaded Bulgaria - it was the time of Kievan Rus. Kiev had allied with Bythantine Empire to fight againt Bulgarians. Russia never invaded Albania. Russia never invaded Romania - in 1918 Romania, using the situation of civil war in Russia, simply occupied Russian territories, and in 1940 Stalin returned them back, forming the Moldovan Soviet republic. Western countries respected Soviet demands on Romanian territories. Later Romania, together with Germany, had invaded USSR, and after war Soviets established puppet government. Last time Russia had invaded the Ottoman Empire - late 19th century. In 19th century everyone was invading everyone. It was normal to invade other countries in 19th century.
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  5. Apparently Putin overestimated his army, underestimated the enemy, and judging by his words from the appeals of February 24, Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to "surrender or take power into their own hands," apparently Putin thought that the Ukrainian population was dissatisfied with their government, and that Russian soldiers would be greeted with flowers. And apparently we haven't actually prepared for the war. At the beginning of the war, there were cases when unarmed police units of the Russian Guard attacked first and were defeated by Ukrainian troops. Already at the beginning of March, the Russian army had troubles with supplies. The size of the invasion force is too low for the tasks set. And apparently Putin's calculation was that there would be no war, Ukrainian soldiers would surrender without a fight, and all of Ukraine would be taken in 3 days like Crimea, without a fight. All sorts of propagandists and pro-Kremlin analysts said about it. And Putin apparently thought that a quick, lightning-fast seizure of Ukraine would not provoke Finland and Sweden to join NATO, besides, they would be afraid of the fate of Ukraine, and such serious sanctions against Russia would not be imposed. Apparently Putin's plan is just the stupidest geopolitical adventure, probably the most adventurous adventure in history, he just put absolutely everything on the line. Even the gold and foreign exchange reserves were not withdrawn from foreign accounts and they were frozen. Putin just put everything on the line and lost it. That's the kind of strategist he makes. Putin thought that if he could quickly seize Ukraine, Finland and Sweden would not join NATO, and serious sanctions would not be imposed against Russia. But the reality is that Ukraine has become a trap and the Russian army is bogged down, and Russia will now lose half of the economy, and the very goals of the operation - the non-expansion of NATO, are crossed out by Finland and Sweden. In short, Putin is a misunderstood genius, no one could predict his actions, because he always acts to his own detriment and creates absurdity
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  6. Russians had invaded Ukraine without numerical superiority, while Ukraine is the largest land millitary in Europe after Russia. Ukraine have far more tanks, than Germany, Poland, Britain or France. If the quality of troops is equal, according to the law of millitary science attacking side is suffering more casualities. The major 3 reasons, why Russian invasion had failed in first few weeks: 1) Joung Russian conscript soldiers aren't motivated to fight against brother Slavic people, a lot of Russians have relatives in Ukraine, probably some Russian soldiers have relarives in Ukraine (Millitary crimes probably were commited by soldiers of Asian and Islamic nationalities or by Russian police forces, not by Russian troops of Slavic nationality, I heard that Bucha massacre was commited by Chechen troops) . Russian soldiers are mentally and morally supressed, most of Russians don't want to fight this war, some Russians don't want to fight against brother Slavic people. Opposite - Ukrainians have moral boom, they are fighting for their homeland, and Ukrainians aren't seeing Russians as brothers anymore. 2) Russian command probably believed in its own propaganda, and commanders in Kremlin were thinking, that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days without resistance, and Russian troops would be met with flowers. And Russian command simply didn't prepared for a war - Russians didn't planned, that they would face the resistance, they thought that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days, like they took Crimea in 2014, and this is why Russians had poor logistics and preparation in first weeks of the war. Russians were invading Ukraine by moving in columns, very dangerous for ambushes. But at now, after 3 months since the start of war, Russians probably have normal logistics and normal amount of material, at now, in the May of 2022, there is no evidences that Russians have problems with logistics, so at now this problem is irrelevant, but in the start of the war Russians really had problems with logistics and this played the role. Russia have a population of 146 million people, while Ukraine have the population of 40 million. The life standarts, economy and corruption in Russia and Ukraine are in the same level, but Ukraine was fighting a Donbass war, and Ukrainians probably worked on corruption in their army, and also Ukrainian army was trained by Western specialists. Also, Ukrainians have modern Western anti-tank weapons and drones, but Russians also have such thing as air superiority and air-land and ballistic rockets. But aircrafts and rockets need aim. Also, Russia have superiority in amount of artillery. Russians have unteached radio crews and bad communication, but a lot of Ukrainian coscript regiments also have such problems. Conscripts, both Russian and Ukrainian, are unable to cipher frequency on their radio and they have awful quality of sound. 3) Also, the 3rd major reason of Russian failure is conscript system. Russia have very low salaries in army compared to life standarts in Russia, so Russian contract army is very unpopular in Russia, and no one wants to serve in it, except some poor provincial people, who didn't achieved anything in their life. So, Russia have the conscript army, where the 18-year old guys, that ended school yesterday, are serving for one year - in Russia one year military service means that you would be "trained" for 6 months, and later you would "serve" in military base for 6 months. You can't make the good soldier from 18 year old boy in 1 year. During Soviet times people were serving in army for 2 years, and Soviet government was working on health of boys in school period. Ukraine also have conscripts, but Ukrainian army is more contract, contract army means that adult 30-year old man are serving in the army volunturely. Who is better soldier - an 18 year old boy, that was serving for 1 year, or adult 30 years old man, that was serving in army for few years? Of course Russian untrained and joung conscripts completely useless against adult 30-years old Ukrainian contract soldiers, who were serving the army for years, while Russian contract soldiers are simply poor provincial people, who serve in army for low salary, and government isn't paying attention to them as to professional soldiers, but as to cheap cannon fodder. De facto the reason why salaries in the Russian army are so low is because Russian government use poor provincials as cheap cannon fodder. Russia don't have professional army, and Russian defense ministry knows about this. Some parts of Ukrainian army are also conscript and uncapable to fight. I chated with some Ukrainians, and saw video, that was made by Ukrainian soldiers - Ukrainian conscripts are also untrained and uncapable. But Ukraine have part of its army as contract soldiers, while Russia don't have normal contract troops. After 3 weeks Russians had stopped their invasion, they retreated from Kyiv, Chernigiv and Sumy, and replaced their troops with target of reinforcing and forming the frontline in the Donbass region, they made a pause. Russians are dasapointed of their first plan, and they refused it. This means that Russians aren't targeting occupation of all Ukraine no more, Russians refused their goal to occupie all of Ukraine, and at now fighting would go only in the East and South of Ukraine. From the middle of April Russians were trying to capture East of Ukraine. Also, because war wasn't declared, and Putin didn't even call this a war, there is no mobilization in Russia. After 3 months from the start of war Russia still didn't started the mobilization. Probably Ukrainian side already have serious numerical superiority over the Russian side, and Russians are unable to capture more Ukrainian land without serious and bloody fighting. This is the reason why Russians had removed their forces from Kyiv. Russian assault on Donbass is going on with very low speed, and it is failed, because you can provide operation of encerclement of enemy troops only if this operation in going very fast. Russians lost their top 2 naval cruiser, fighting a country without a fleet. I don't think that Ukraine would agree to peace. Putin made a mistake invading Ukraine, Russians don't have opportunity to achieve something withput mobilization and declaration of real war. In Russia at now people are afraid that Putin would announce massive mobilization, because this is the only way by which Russia could won, because Russian troops at now outnumbered in Ukraine. But this decision would also face problems - Ukraine started mobilization earlier, Ukrainian forces at now gaining experience of fighting, Ukrainians already have some experience of fighting. And if Putin would declare mobilization in Russia, very fast mobilized and untrained Russian conscripts would face Ukrainians soldiers, that already have combat experience. And this is problem. But Putin don't have choise, Ukraine wouldn't agree to a peace threaty. Also, because Russia didn't started mobilization and Russian troops are outnumbered, Russian army is suffering enormous casualities in tanks and vehicles, because tanks and vehicles are dependent on infantry suppourt and covering fire, and Ukrainians, having numerical superiority, ambush tactics and modern Western anti-tank weapons, are able to cause huge casualities to Russian vehicles. Russia have artillery and air superiority, so Russia is capable to cause casualities and damage to Ukrainian forces and infrastructure. So, without mobilization Putin is teaching Ukrainian army and disarming Russian forces, but in Russia even Putin suppourters wouldn't suppourt the mobilization. Putin really don't have normal exits from this situation, Ukraine became complete trap. I think that casuality ratio between Russia and Ukraine is ~1.5 to 1 in favour of Ukraine.
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  12.  @MrMartinSchou  Yeah, tell that to Kennedy, who was ready to start a nuclear war because of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The situation with Ukraine is no different from the Caribbean crisis. And what makes you think that the expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia was necessary to protect against Russia, if Russia in the 90s, under Yeltsin, was a democratic state that pursued a pro-Western policy and did not attack anyone. In addition, the Americans and Germans promised that they would not allow NATO to expand further than Germany. But at the same time, they allowed, and moreover, placed nuclear weapons in Romania and Poland. The closer enemy missiles are to your borders, the worse your nuclear response and air defense systems react. It is crystal clear that Russia, due to economic and technological backwardness, could in fact lose its nuclear arsenal by 2030 as a guarantor of immunity, already in 2013 Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space industry, said that "we are 10-15 years behind the Americans in technology and doctrine. And the Americans have a nuclear war strategy such that they have developed satellite guidance and reconnaissance technology, and with the help of conventional missiles destroy the infrastructure of nuclear forces, thereby they can destroy most of the Russian nuclear forces in a matter of minutes, and then the Americans will launch their own missiles. Or they won't launch it. But in any case, Russia will no longer have a nuclear arsenal. Rogozin said that Russia has nothing like this, Russia has no missile defense either." And now judge for yourself - Putin comes from the special services. This man's worldview was shaped by the Cold War, he served in East Germany at that time. Yeltsin appointed Putin prime minister, in fact his successor, because the threat of separatism and Islamist terrorism (Chechnya) persisted in Russia. It is clear that this man, who also strengthened his personal power by filling the Russian parliament with people from the special services like him, is very concerned about the expansion of NATO. He may be exaggerating, but the fact is that Russia's relations with the West have been deteriorating since the late 90s, which was caused by the war in Yugoslavia. And now imagine what Russia feels - "we admitted our mistakes and abandoned the communist regime, we dissolved the USSR and gave everyone independence, we wanted to make peace and negotiate with the West, and the West bombed Yugoslavia, invaded Iraq, now we have bad relations again, and then the West completely broke its promises not to expand to our borders, and the Americans have placed their nuclear weapons near our borders, when we are gradually lagging behind them technologically and will soon lose our nuclear arsenal." What should Russia have done in such a situation?
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  24. In general, the most incomprehensible thing in this war is Putin's goals. Considering what price Russia is paying for the war in Ukraine, sanctions, etc., it becomes unclear - is it worth it? Putin is not crazy, is he? It seems to me that if we want to understand Russia's goals, we should still listen to what Putin said on February 24. Of course, he lied and exaggerated, but still the declaration of war speech contains the reasons for the war, albeit exaggerated in order to justify it. What if Putin is really right about something, or did he have no choice? Putin said that Ukraine wanted to join NATO. So, what if Ukraine, having joined NATO, and having received guarantees of independence from Western countries that have nuclear weapons, could use these guarantees to return Donbass, and possibly Crimea to its composition? And Putin, knowing this, decided to strike a screwing blow, to forestall the enemy. Judge for yourself - if Russia is hungry for expansion, then why was Georgia not completely captured in 2008? Why was peace concluded with Georgia after 5 days of fighting, although the defeat of the Russian army was not inflicted, but on the contrary - the Georgian army was defeated in Ossetia, and Russian troops on the fifth day of the war approached the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, after which peace was concluded on the Georgian initiative. This means that expansion is not the goal of Russia. And if Putin wanted to seize Ukraine, he should have attacked in 2014 or 2015, when Ukraine simply did not have an army. And so it turns out that Putin gave Ukraine 8 years to prepare for war. This means that the decision to invade Ukraine was made spontaneously, and before that, in 2021, 2020, 2019 and other years, Putin did not plan an invasion of Ukraine. What could make Putin make a quick decision? Well, only my point of view is logical here, that Ukraine, using NATO's protection guarantees, wanted to seize Donbass, and that Putin simply had no choice whether to invade Ukraine or not, because if he had not invaded, Donbass would have been taken by Ukrainian troops, and Russia, risking a clash with NATO, would have been sitting on the sidelines. In general, it is worthwhile to understand in principle what has been happening for the last 8 years.
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  33.  @megasin1  in 2014 Putin had more reasons to attack Ukraine than now. Firstly, the revolution in Ukraine, which took place in December 2013 - February 2014, was really carried out by right-wing radical Nazi groups. And when the government was overthrown in Kiev and there was a change of power, there really were right-wing radicals in the new government of Ukraine. But by 2016, the democratic institutions of Ukraine had spat them out from the top of power. In 2014, Putin had every reason to invade Ukraine just as the United States invaded Grenada in 1983 - "an unconstitutional overthrow of the legitimate government, and the seizure of power by right-wing radicals, the threat of destabilization of the region." And I will explain why Putin did not attack in 2014 - it was possible to negotiate with Ukrainian President Poroshenko, he was bribed. President Poroshenko has a lot of business in Russia. And Poroshenko guaranteed Putin non-entry into NATO and the EU, although Ukraine's policy was pro-Western. But in any case, the question is about NATO and the EU. Ukraine is a post-Soviet Slavic country, culturally and ethnically close to Russia. The post-Soviet space is a zone of life for Russia, from a cultural, economic and historical point of view, the post-Soviet space is a zone of influence of Russia. And the expansion of the Western World, both cultural and economic (EU) and military (NATO), is perceived by Russia as an existential threat. Again, America during the Cold War similarly did not allow communists to take power in the countries of South and Central America. The United States supported dictators in Latin America to prevent the Soviets from coming to power there. And when the USSR placed its nuclear missiles in Cuba, the United States raised a howl to the whole world and were ready to start a nuclear war. Russia also sees a threat in NATO and American nuclear missiles in Ukraine. On the other hand, it is impossible not to admit that Russia has lost fair economic competition to the West, since there was a revolution in Ukraine, where the revolutionaries' goal was to overthrow pro-Russian President Yanukovych and join the European Union
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  38. In general, the most incomprehensible thing in this war is Putin's goals. Considering what price Russia is paying for the war in Ukraine, sanctions, etc., it becomes unclear - is it worth it? Putin is not crazy, is he? It seems to me that if we want to understand Russia's goals, we should still listen to what Putin said on February 24. Of course, he lied and exaggerated, but still the declaration of war speech contains the reasons for the war, albeit exaggerated in order to justify it. What if Putin is really right about something, or did he have no choice? Putin said that Ukraine wanted to join NATO. So, what if Ukraine, having joined NATO, and having received guarantees of independence from Western countries that have nuclear weapons, could use these guarantees to return Donbass, and possibly Crimea to its composition? And Putin, knowing this, decided to strike a screwing blow, to forestall the enemy. Judge for yourself - if Russia is hungry for expansion, then why was Georgia not completely captured in 2008? Why was peace concluded with Georgia after 5 days of fighting, although the defeat of the Russian army was not inflicted, but on the contrary - the Georgian army was defeated in Ossetia, and Russian troops on the fifth day of the war approached the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, after which peace was concluded on the Georgian initiative. This means that expansion is not the goal of Russia. And if Putin wanted to seize Ukraine, he should have attacked in 2014 or 2015, when Ukraine simply did not have an army. And so it turns out that Putin gave Ukraine 8 years to prepare for war. This means that the decision to invade Ukraine was made spontaneously, and before that, in 2021, 2020, 2019 and other years, Putin did not plan an invasion of Ukraine. What could make Putin make a quick decision? Well, only my point of view is logical here, that Ukraine, using NATO's protection guarantees, wanted to seize Donbass, and that Putin simply had no choice whether to invade Ukraine or not, because if he had not invaded, Donbass would have been taken by Ukrainian troops, and Russia, risking a clash with NATO, would have been sitting on the sidelines. In general, it is worthwhile to understand in principle what has been happening for the last 8 years.
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  43. Russians had invaded Ukraine without numerical superiority, while Ukraine is the largest land millitary in Europe after Russia. Ukraine have far more tanks, than Germany, Poland, Britain or France. If the quality of troops is equal, according to the law of millitary science attacking side is suffering more casualities. The major 3 reasons, why Russian invasion had failed in first few weeks: 1) Joung Russian conscript soldiers aren't motivated to fight against brother Slavic people, a lot of Russians have relatives in Ukraine, probably some Russian soldiers have relarives in Ukraine (Millitary crimes probably were commited by soldiers of Asian and Islamic nationalities or by Russian police forces, not by Russian troops of Slavic nationality, I heard that Bucha massacre was commited by Chechen troops) . Russian soldiers are mentally and morally supressed, most of Russians don't want to fight this war, some Russians don't want to fight against brother Slavic people. Opposite - Ukrainians have moral boom, they are fighting for their homeland, and Ukrainians aren't seeing Russians as brothers anymore. 2) Russian command probably believed in its own propaganda, and commanders in Kremlin were thinking, that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days without resistance, and Russian troops would be met with flowers. And Russian command simply didn't prepared for a war - Russians didn't planned, that they would face the resistance, they thought that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days, like they took Crimea in 2014, and this is why Russians had poor logistics and preparation in first weeks of the war. Russians were invading Ukraine by moving in columns, very dangerous for ambushes. But at now, after 3 months since the start of war, Russians probably have normal logistics and normal amount of material, at now, in the May of 2022, there is no evidences that Russians have problems with logistics, so at now this problem is irrelevant, but in the start of the war Russians really had problems with logistics and this played the role. Russia have a population of 146 million people, while Ukraine have the population of 40 million. The life standarts, economy and corruption in Russia and Ukraine are in the same level, but Ukraine was fighting a Donbass war, and Ukrainians probably worked on corruption in their army, and also Ukrainian army was trained by Western specialists. Also, Ukrainians have modern Western anti-tank weapons and drones, but Russians also have such thing as air superiority and air-land and ballistic rockets. But aircrafts and rockets need aim. Also, Russia have superiority in amount of artillery. Russians have unteached radio crews and bad communication, but a lot of Ukrainian coscript regiments also have such problems. Conscripts, both Russian and Ukrainian, are unable to cipher frequency on their radio and they have awful quality of sound. 3) Also, the 3rd major reason of Russian failure is conscript system. Russia have very low salaries in army compared to life standarts in Russia, so Russian contract army is very unpopular in Russia, and no one wants to serve in it, except some poor provincial people, who didn't achieved anything in their life. So, Russia have the conscript army, where the 18-year old guys, that ended school yesterday, are serving for one year - in Russia one year military service means that you would be "trained" for 6 months, and later you would "serve" in military base for 6 months. You can't make the good soldier from 18 year old boy in 1 year. During Soviet times people were serving in army for 2 years, and Soviet government was working on health of boys in school period. Ukraine also have conscripts, but Ukrainian army is more contract, contract army means that adult 30-year old man are serving in the army volunturely. Who is better soldier - an 18 year old boy, that was serving for 1 year, or adult 30 years old man, that was serving in army for few years? Of course Russian untrained and joung conscripts completely useless against adult 30-years old Ukrainian contract soldiers, who were serving the army for years, while Russian contract soldiers are simply poor provincial people, who serve in army for low salary, and government isn't paying attention to them as to professional soldiers, but as to cheap cannon fodder. De facto the reason why salaries in the Russian army are so low is because Russian government use poor provincials as cheap cannon fodder. Russia don't have professional army, and Russian defense ministry knows about this. Some parts of Ukrainian army are also conscript and uncapable to fight. I chated with some Ukrainians, and saw video, that was made by Ukrainian soldiers - Ukrainian conscripts are also untrained and uncapable. But Ukraine have part of its army as contract soldiers, while Russia don't have normal contract troops. After 3 weeks Russians had stopped their invasion, they retreated from Kyiv, Chernigiv and Sumy, and replaced their troops with target of reinforcing and forming the frontline in the Donbass region, they made a pause. Russians are dasapointed of their first plan, and they refused it. This means that Russians aren't targeting occupation of all Ukraine no more, Russians refused their goal to occupie all of Ukraine, and at now fighting would go only in the East and South of Ukraine. From the middle of April Russians were trying to capture East of Ukraine. Also, because war wasn't declared, and Putin didn't even call this a war, there is no mobilization in Russia. After 3 months from the start of war Russia still didn't started the mobilization. Probably Ukrainian side already have serious numerical superiority over the Russian side, and Russians are unable to capture more Ukrainian land without serious and bloody fighting. This is the reason why Russians had removed their forces from Kyiv. Russian assault on Donbass is going on with very low speed, and it is failed, because you can provide operation of encerclement of enemy troops only if this operation in going very fast. Russians lost their top 2 naval cruiser, fighting a country without a fleet. I don't think that Ukraine would agree to peace. Putin made a mistake invading Ukraine, Russians don't have opportunity to achieve something withput mobilization and declaration of real war. In Russia at now people are afraid that Putin would announce massive mobilization, because this is the only way by which Russia could won, because Russian troops at now outnumbered in Ukraine. But this decision would also face problems - Ukraine started mobilization earlier, Ukrainian forces at now gaining experience of fighting, Ukrainians already have some experience of fighting. And if Putin would declare mobilization in Russia, very fast mobilized and untrained Russian conscripts would face Ukrainians soldiers, that already have combat experience. And this is problem. But Putin don't have choise, Ukraine wouldn't agree to a peace threaty. Also, because Russia didn't started mobilization and Russian troops are outnumbered, Russian army is suffering enormous casualities in tanks and vehicles, because tanks and vehicles are dependent on infantry suppourt and covering fire, and Ukrainians, having numerical superiority, ambush tactics and modern Western anti-tank weapons, are able to cause huge casualities to Russian vehicles. Russia have artillery and air superiority, so Russia is capable to cause casualities and damage to Ukrainian forces and infrastructure. So, without mobilization Putin is teaching Ukrainian army and disarming Russian forces, but in Russia even Putin suppourters wouldn't suppourt the mobilization. Putin really don't have normal exits from this situation, Ukraine became complete trap. I think that casuality ratio between Russia and Ukraine is ~1.5 to 1 in favour of Ukraine.
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  48. In general, the most incomprehensible thing in this war is Putin's goals. Considering what price Russia is paying for the war in Ukraine, sanctions, etc., it becomes unclear - is it worth it? Putin is not crazy, is he? It seems to me that if we want to understand Russia's goals, we should still listen to what Putin said on February 24. Of course, he lied and exaggerated, but still the declaration of war speech contains the reasons for the war, albeit exaggerated in order to justify it. What if Putin is really right about something, or did he have no choice? Putin said that Ukraine wanted to join NATO. So, what if Ukraine, having joined NATO, and having received guarantees of independence from Western countries that have nuclear weapons, could use these guarantees to return Donbass, and possibly Crimea to its composition? And Putin, knowing this, decided to strike a screwing blow, to forestall the enemy. Judge for yourself - if Russia is hungry for expansion, then why was Georgia not completely captured in 2008? Why was peace concluded with Georgia after 5 days of fighting, although the defeat of the Russian army was not inflicted, but on the contrary - the Georgian army was defeated in Ossetia, and Russian troops on the fifth day of the war approached the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, after which peace was concluded on the Georgian initiative. This means that expansion is not the goal of Russia. And if Putin wanted to seize Ukraine, he should have attacked in 2014 or 2015, when Ukraine simply did not have an army. And so it turns out that Putin gave Ukraine 8 years to prepare for war. This means that the decision to invade Ukraine was made spontaneously, and before that, in 2021, 2020, 2019 and other years, Putin did not plan an invasion of Ukraine. What could make Putin make a quick decision? Well, only my point of view is logical here, that Ukraine, using NATO's protection guarantees, wanted to seize Donbass, and that Putin simply had no choice whether to invade Ukraine or not, because if he had not invaded, Donbass would have been taken by Ukrainian troops, and Russia, risking a clash with NATO, would have been sitting on the sidelines. In general, it is worthwhile to understand in principle what has been happening for the last 8 years.
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  60.  @prod_krisztian  Russia interfered in Ukraine's own's matters since early 2000s? Really? What weed are you smoking? In 2014 Victoria Nuland, head of USA State Department came to Kiev to give cookies to the protesters. American special services and CIA interfered in Ukrainian own matters, supporting ILLEGAL, ANTI CONSTITUTIONAL COUP in Kiev. You are talking about Russian interference into Ukraine's matters, while in reality it was USA who organized coup and change of power in the entire Ukraine. Russia interfered into own matters of Ukraine only after America alteady did this, and Russia in fact interfered in NOT Ukrainian territories of Ukraine - in Crimea, Donbass, Zaporojie and Kherson. This is not Ukrainian lands, this is Russian lands with Russian people living on it, that were given to Ukraine by Russophopic Jewich Soviet government as a result of i justice and mistake. This territories never belonged to Ukraine, majority of population of this territories are Russians, not Ukrainians, and they were given to Ukraine in 1918 and 1954, and in 2014 Russian people protested and wanted to separate from Ukraine. They had all rights to do it because if Ukrainian people in Kiev had a right of self determination, then Russian people in the Crimea and Donbass also had the same right of self determination. If Ukrainian people in Kiev protested and organized an illegal anti constitutional coup with help of CIA, then why the Russian people in Crimea and Donbass didn't had the same right of self determination? This is hypocrisy and double standards. Ukrainians in Kiev organised a COUP and ILLEGAL change of power in the entire country, while not all people were agree with this coup and Russians from Crimea and South East Ukraine wanted to be with Russia, not West. Russians in Crimea and Donbass had the same right of self determination as Ukrainians in Kiev, but what Ukrainians did? Ukrainian army and nazi batallions came to kill Russian people in the Donbass. It is not Russian interference into Ukraine, it is American and NATO interference organizing coup in Ukraine, and later Ukrainian and NATO interference into Russian lands of Crimea, Donbass, Kherson and Zaporojie which are Russian lands that should never belong to Ukraine.
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  62. Apparently Putin overestimated his army, underestimated the enemy, and judging by his words from the appeals of February 24, Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to "surrender or take power into their own hands," apparently Putin thought that the Ukrainian population was dissatisfied with their government, and that Russian soldiers would be greeted with flowers. And apparently we haven't actually prepared for the war. At the beginning of the war, there were cases when unarmed police units of the Russian Guard attacked first and were defeated by Ukrainian troops. Already at the beginning of March, the Russian army had troubles with supplies. The size of the invasion force is too low for the tasks set. And apparently Putin's calculation was that there would be no war, Ukrainian soldiers would surrender without a fight, and all of Ukraine would be taken in 3 days like Crimea, without a fight. All sorts of propagandists and pro-Kremlin analysts said about it. And Putin apparently thought that a quick, lightning-fast seizure of Ukraine would not provoke Finland and Sweden to join NATO, besides, they would be afraid of the fate of Ukraine, and such serious sanctions against Russia would not be imposed. Apparently Putin's plan is just the stupidest geopolitical adventure, probably the most adventurous adventure in history, he just put absolutely everything on the line. Even the gold and foreign exchange reserves were not withdrawn from foreign accounts and they were frozen. Putin just put everything on the line and lost it. That's the kind of strategist he makes. Putin thought that if he could quickly seize Ukraine, Finland and Sweden would not join NATO, and serious sanctions would not be imposed against Russia. But the reality is that Ukraine has become a trap and the Russian army is bogged down, and Russia will now lose half of the economy, and the very goals of the operation - the non-expansion of NATO, are crossed out by Finland and Sweden. In short, Putin is a misunderstood genius, no one could predict his actions, because he always acts to his own detriment and creates absurdity
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  68. Russians had invaded Ukraine without numerical superiority, while Ukraine is the largest land millitary in Europe after Russia. Ukraine have far more tanks, than Germany, Poland, Britain or France. If the quality of troops is equal, according to the law of millitary science attacking side is suffering more casualities. The major 3 reasons, why Russian invasion had failed in first few weeks: 1) Joung Russian conscript soldiers aren't motivated to fight against brother Slavic people, a lot of Russians have relatives in Ukraine, probably some Russian soldiers have relarives in Ukraine (Millitary crimes probably were commited by soldiers of Asian and Islamic nationalities or by Russian police forces, not by Russian troops of Slavic nationality, I heard that Bucha massacre was commited by Chechen troops) . Russian soldiers are mentally and morally supressed, most of Russians don't want to fight this war, some Russians don't want to fight against brother Slavic people. Opposite - Ukrainians have moral boom, they are fighting for their homeland, and Ukrainians aren't seeing Russians as brothers anymore. 2) Russian command probably believed in its own propaganda, and commanders in Kremlin were thinking, that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days without resistance, and Russian troops would be met with flowers. And Russian command simply didn't prepared for a war - Russians didn't planned, that they would face the resistance, they thought that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days, like they took Crimea in 2014, and this is why Russians had poor logistics and preparation in first weeks of the war. Russians were invading Ukraine by moving in columns, very dangerous for ambushes. But at now, after 3 months since the start of war, Russians probably have normal logistics and normal amount of material, at now, in the May of 2022, there is no evidences that Russians have problems with logistics, so at now this problem is irrelevant, but in the start of the war Russians really had problems with logistics and this played the role. Russia have a population of 146 million people, while Ukraine have the population of 40 million. The life standarts, economy and corruption in Russia and Ukraine are in the same level, but Ukraine was fighting a Donbass war, and Ukrainians probably worked on corruption in their army, and also Ukrainian army was trained by Western specialists. Also, Ukrainians have modern Western anti-tank weapons and drones, but Russians also have such thing as air superiority and air-land and ballistic rockets. But aircrafts and rockets need aim. Also, Russia have superiority in amount of artillery. Russians have unteached radio crews and bad communication, but a lot of Ukrainian coscript regiments also have such problems. Conscripts, both Russian and Ukrainian, are unable to cipher frequency on their radio and they have awful quality of sound. 3) Also, the 3rd major reason of Russian failure is conscript system. Russia have very low salaries in army compared to life standarts in Russia, so Russian contract army is very unpopular in Russia, and no one wants to serve in it, except some poor provincial people, who didn't achieved anything in their life. So, Russia have the conscript army, where the 18-year old guys, that ended school yesterday, are serving for one year - in Russia one year military service means that you would be "trained" for 6 months, and later you would "serve" in military base for 6 months. You can't make the good soldier from 18 year old boy in 1 year. During Soviet times people were serving in army for 2 years, and Soviet government was working on health of boys in school period. Ukraine also have conscripts, but Ukrainian army is more contract, contract army means that adult 30-year old man are serving in the army volunturely. Who is better soldier - an 18 year old boy, that was serving for 1 year, or adult 30 years old man, that was serving in army for few years? Of course Russian untrained and joung conscripts completely useless against adult 30-years old Ukrainian contract soldiers, who were serving the army for years, while Russian contract soldiers are simply poor provincial people, who serve in army for low salary, and government isn't paying attention to them as to professional soldiers, but as to cheap cannon fodder. De facto the reason why salaries in the Russian army are so low is because Russian government use poor provincials as cheap cannon fodder. Russia don't have professional army, and Russian defense ministry knows about this. Some parts of Ukrainian army are also conscript and uncapable to fight. I chated with some Ukrainians, and saw video, that was made by Ukrainian soldiers - Ukrainian conscripts are also untrained and uncapable. But Ukraine have part of its army as contract soldiers, while Russia don't have normal contract troops. After 3 weeks Russians had stopped their invasion, they retreated from Kyiv, Chernigiv and Sumy, and replaced their troops with target of reinforcing and forming the frontline in the Donbass region, they made a pause. Russians are dasapointed of their first plan, and they refused it. This means that Russians aren't targeting occupation of all Ukraine no more, Russians refused their goal to occupie all of Ukraine, and at now fighting would go only in the East and South of Ukraine. From the middle of April Russians were trying to capture East of Ukraine. Also, because war wasn't declared, and Putin didn't even call this a war, there is no mobilization in Russia. After 3 months from the start of war Russia still didn't started the mobilization. Probably Ukrainian side already have serious numerical superiority over the Russian side, and Russians are unable to capture more Ukrainian land without serious and bloody fighting. This is the reason why Russians had removed their forces from Kyiv. Russian assault on Donbass is going on with very low speed, and it is failed, because you can provide operation of encerclement of enemy troops only if this operation in going very fast. Russians lost their top 2 naval cruiser, fighting a country without a fleet. I don't think that Ukraine would agree to peace. Putin made a mistake invading Ukraine, Russians don't have opportunity to achieve something withput mobilization and declaration of real war. In Russia at now people are afraid that Putin would announce massive mobilization, because this is the only way by which Russia could won, because Russian troops at now outnumbered in Ukraine. But this decision would also face problems - Ukraine started mobilization earlier, Ukrainian forces at now gaining experience of fighting, Ukrainians already have some experience of fighting. And if Putin would declare mobilization in Russia, very fast mobilized and untrained Russian conscripts would face Ukrainians soldiers, that already have combat experience. And this is problem. But Putin don't have choise, Ukraine wouldn't agree to a peace threaty. Also, because Russia didn't started mobilization and Russian troops are outnumbered, Russian army is suffering enormous casualities in tanks and vehicles, because tanks and vehicles are dependent on infantry suppourt and covering fire, and Ukrainians, having numerical superiority, ambush tactics and modern Western anti-tank weapons, are able to cause huge casualities to Russian vehicles. Someone would say, that Russia have artillery and air superiority, so Russia is capable to cause casualities and damage to Ukrainian forces and infrastructure. But reality shows to us that Russian missiles and artillery are simply blind and uncapable to reach the target. So, without mobilization Putin is teaching Ukrainian army and disarming Russian forces, but in Russia even Putin suppourters wouldn't suppourt the mobilization. Putin really don't have normal exits from this situation, Ukraine became complete trap. I think that casuality ratio between Russia and Ukraine is ~1.5-2 to 1 in favour of Ukraine.
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  76. Russians had invaded Ukraine without numerical superiority, while Ukraine is the largest land millitary in Europe after Russia. Ukraine have far more tanks, than Germany, Poland, Britain or France. If the quality of troops is equal, according to the law of millitary science attacking side is suffering more casualities. The major 3 reasons, why Russian invasion had failed in first few weeks: 1) Joung Russian conscript soldiers aren't motivated to fight against brother Slavic people, a lot of Russians have relatives in Ukraine, probably some Russian soldiers have relarives in Ukraine (Millitary crimes probably were commited by soldiers of Asian and Islamic nationalities or by Russian police forces, not by Russian troops of Slavic nationality, I heard that Bucha massacre was commited by Chechen troops) . Russian soldiers are mentally and morally supressed, most of Russians don't want to fight this war, some Russians don't want to fight against brother Slavic people. Opposite - Ukrainians have moral boom, they are fighting for their homeland, and Ukrainians aren't seeing Russians as brothers anymore. 2) Russian command probably believed in its own propaganda, and commanders in Kremlin were thinking, that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days without resistance, and Russian troops would be met with flowers. And Russian command simply didn't prepared for a war - Russians didn't planned, that they would face the resistance, they thought that they would take all of Ukraine in 3 days, like they took Crimea in 2014, and this is why Russians had poor logistics and preparation in first weeks of the war. Russians were invading Ukraine by moving in columns, very dangerous for ambushes. But at now, after 3 months since the start of war, Russians probably have normal logistics and normal amount of material, at now, in the May of 2022, there is no evidences that Russians have problems with logistics, so at now this problem is irrelevant, but in the start of the war Russians really had problems with logistics and this played the role. Russia have a population of 146 million people, while Ukraine have the population of 40 million. The life standarts, economy and corruption in Russia and Ukraine are in the same level, but Ukraine was fighting a Donbass war, and Ukrainians probably worked on corruption in their army, and also Ukrainian army was trained by Western specialists. Also, Ukrainians have modern Western anti-tank weapons and drones, but Russians also have such thing as air superiority and air-land and ballistic rockets. But aircrafts and rockets need aim. Also, Russia have superiority in amount of artillery. Russians have unteached radio crews and bad communication, but a lot of Ukrainian coscript regiments also have such problems. Conscripts, both Russian and Ukrainian, are unable to cipher frequency on their radio and they have awful quality of sound. 3) Also, the 3rd major reason of Russian failure is conscript system. Russia have very low salaries in army compared to life standarts in Russia, so Russian contract army is very unpopular in Russia, and no one wants to serve in it, except some poor provincial people, who didn't achieved anything in their life. So, Russia have the conscript army, where the 18-year old guys, that ended school yesterday, are serving for one year - in Russia one year military service means that you would be "trained" for 6 months, and later you would "serve" in military base for 6 months. You can't make the good soldier from 18 year old boy in 1 year. During Soviet times people were serving in army for 2 years, and Soviet government was working on health of boys in school period. Ukraine also have conscripts, but Ukrainian army is more contract, contract army means that adult 30-year old man are serving in the army volunturely. Who is better soldier - an 18 year old boy, that was serving for 1 year, or adult 30 years old man, that was serving in army for few years? Of course Russian untrained and joung conscripts completely useless against adult 30-years old Ukrainian contract soldiers, who were serving the army for years, while Russian contract soldiers are simply poor provincial people, who serve in army for low salary, and government isn't paying attention to them as to professional soldiers, but as to cheap cannon fodder. De facto the reason why salaries in the Russian army are so low is because Russian government use poor provincials as cheap cannon fodder. Russia don't have professional army, and Russian defense ministry knows about this. Some parts of Ukrainian army are also conscript and uncapable to fight. I chated with some Ukrainians, and saw video, that was made by Ukrainian soldiers - Ukrainian conscripts are also untrained and uncapable. But Ukraine have part of its army as contract soldiers, while Russia don't have normal contract troops. After 3 weeks Russians had stopped their invasion, they retreated from Kyiv, Chernigiv and Sumy, and replaced their troops with target of reinforcing and forming the frontline in the Donbass region, they made a pause. Russians are dasapointed of their first plan, and they refused it. This means that Russians aren't targeting occupation of all Ukraine no more, Russians refused their goal to occupie all of Ukraine, and at now fighting would go only in the East and South of Ukraine. From the middle of April Russians were trying to capture East of Ukraine. Also, because war wasn't declared, and Putin didn't even call this a war, there is no mobilization in Russia. After 3 months from the start of war Russia still didn't started the mobilization. Probably Ukrainian side already have serious numerical superiority over the Russian side, and Russians are unable to capture more Ukrainian land without serious and bloody fighting. This is the reason why Russians had removed their forces from Kyiv. Russian assault on Donbass is going on with very low speed, and it is failed, because you can provide operation of encerclement of enemy troops only if this operation in going very fast. Russians lost their top 2 naval cruiser, fighting a country without a fleet. I don't think that Ukraine would agree to peace. Putin made a mistake invading Ukraine, Russians don't have opportunity to achieve something withput mobilization and declaration of real war. In Russia at now people are afraid that Putin would announce massive mobilization, because this is the only way by which Russia could won, because Russian troops at now outnumbered in Ukraine. But this decision would also face problems - Ukraine started mobilization earlier, Ukrainian forces at now gaining experience of fighting, Ukrainians already have some experience of fighting. And if Putin would declare mobilization in Russia, very fast mobilized and untrained Russian conscripts would face Ukrainians soldiers, that already have combat experience. And this is problem. But Putin don't have choise, Ukraine wouldn't agree to a peace threaty. Also, because Russia didn't started mobilization and Russian troops are outnumbered, Russian army is suffering enormous casualities in tanks and vehicles, because tanks and vehicles are dependent on infantry suppourt and covering fire, and Ukrainians, having numerical superiority, ambush tactics and modern Western anti-tank weapons, are able to cause huge casualities to Russian vehicles. Russia have artillery and air superiority, so Russia is capable to cause casualities and damage to Ukrainian forces and infrastructure. So, without mobilization Putin is teaching Ukrainian army and disarming Russian forces, but in Russia even Putin suppourters wouldn't suppourt the mobilization. Putin really don't have normal exits from this situation, Ukraine became complete trap. I think that casuality ratio between Russia and Ukraine is ~1.5 to 1 in favour of Ukraine.
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