No lesson learned from Henry Ford and others.
Victory Day in Moscow is coming up in a little over a month.
If Russia concentrates all of its effort in Donbass I cannot see them losing. Part of the problem with taking over Ukraine was it's size. Donbass is only about 4% of the landmass of Ukraine. I wonder if Putin would count winning that region as a victory?
Putin wants the oil, which is eastern and southern Ukraine. He basically already had the Donbas region, he's really pushing for the south at this point (best guess) - this is where all the oil is.
Could the Ukrainians move forces to counter the “Soviets” from taking the oil fields now that Kyiv is a victory?
I'm not sure the oil is the motivating factor. Rather than fighting on two fronts, he's concentrating all effort on one front with intentions of advancing west until he consumes the whole of Ukraine. It's still all of Ukraine that Putin wants.
There's no doubt that's what he wants. He doesn't begin to have enough army, effective army, to accomplish it. Some of the generals advising on CNN were saying that from the beginning, and they were right...
Sure, he's 'losing', but someone posted an article earlier in this discussion about whether Putin was rebuffed by the Ukrainians or was planning this all along in order to weaken the infrastructure so the east and south were easier to take.
hir.harvard.edu
Depends entirely on whether the wins we've seen so far are legitimate or part of the 'show'.
I've heard the "show" theory, but I don't buy it. He paid too high a price in men and material for that to be true. What I believe is that he had no idea, not being a strategist, that the advice he was receiving was as rotten as his short-term army. When it became obvious that all he could do was batter it to the ground, as he has other cities, For him, Kyiv is the birthing cradle of Russian culture. He's written extensively on it and Ukraine's right to exist, other than as a dialect region of Russia. I don't think he's given up on acquiring it long-term, just not by this operation. He can declare it "victory" at any point now, if, as you say, he can hold on to his gains in the south. One thing's for sure. Ukraine is not safe so long as Putin lives...
The theory is likely incorrect - the logical answer is he didn't expect to get his butt kicked - but I don't think he cares at all about the loss of men or equipment. Not one bit.
Agreed.
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