Great interview with Ukraine's top general. Basically saying Why do people say our offensive going too slow when they haven't given us the F-16's, the long range rockets and enough tanks, fighting vehicles and ammo to do the job well? “This is not a show,” Zaluzhny said Wednesday in his office at Ukraine’s General Staff headquarters. “It's not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/30/valery-zaluzhny-ukraine-general-interview/
As to the F-16s, the pilots are not yet prepared to fly them because it takes months of training to do so...Ukrainian pilots are used to mainly flying Russian made jets instead. Plus, Ukraine reportedly does not yet even have runways suitable for F-16s.
Ukraine would have been happy to have their pilots start training in March 2022 or even in 2014, if it had been offered. I have not read anything about Ukraine not having suitable runways. If that was a problem , I have no doubt that Ukraine could build a suitable runway within 30 days. Also, I believe Poland would allow them to use their runways. Although I am a big fan of what Biden has done to support Ukrainian military. really he is the one person most responsible for them not getting jets a long time ago.
Agreed, I gotta believe that Biden may have been convinced earlier by our military that if the US supplied jets to Ukraine it could result in a dangerous situation/confrontation between the US and Russia, especially if those jets intentionally or unintentionally enter Russian air space. I have little doubt that Ukraine will eventually get those F-16, but Biden is secretly hoping for Russians troops will somehow be withdrawn before the jets are delivered to Ukraine. Just my opinion.
This is kind of an experiment. Musk has blcoked sharing of twitter videos to people who don't have a twitter account, This a great gopro combat video.
It's funny how Musk is doing the exact opposite of what he should have done to make Twitter better and more popular...
Saw a report that the leader of the Wagner group has gone radio silent once he reached Belarus and most of his media groups went silent this weekend. Wonder if he tripped and fell out a upper story window.
No, he is apparently walking around St Petersburg without a care in the world. All the money and arms and armored vehicles that were confiscated from him have been returned to him.
This whole thing is weird...I wonder why they would take everything from him, only to turn around and give it back again?
Only thing I can think of is that Wagner group is the only force that made gains in the last year, although accomplished by using terrible tactics that cost the lives of 10's of thousands to gain a few kilometers. They may be hoping he will lead his troops back to the front again. Incidentally Ukraine is now in the process of retaking that city (Bakhmut) that Wagner took. Ukraine. using entirely different tactics (using HIMARS to destroy russian artillery, where before it had been used only for bigger targets, and attacking on the flanks instead of a frontal assault), is limiting their casualties.
That makes sense but correct me if I'm wrong , what about the Russian troops? I mean, from what I understand, they are mostly green troops or criminals who either don't seem very willing to fight or ill-prepared to do so. What I'm wondering is whether Russia can Russia still be a formidable force with Prigozhin's mercenaries alone? Edit; Also, if Putin kills off Prigozhin, will his mercenaries then align themselves with Putin?
The russian army is still a formidable force with or without Wagner troops. There is some disorganization in their army which leads to some troops not getting enough training, enough supplies and enough artillery support but I believe most of their troops do get proper support and as the green troops get more experience they become better soldiers. Right now they are on the offensive in certain areas, they have large amounts of troops massed in the north especially. They have huge supplies of mines which they are using effectively and also big supplies of the Lancet suicide drone. (I'll post a link to that). I think we should bear in mind that most of the armored equipment that Ukraine has been given is second line that has been in storage and then rehabbed. The weapons that have really been first class and most useful are the HIMARs and Britain's Storm Shadow long range missiles. Not sure if they have the number of either of these that they would like. I don't think russia will kill Prigozhin but if they did I would guess most of his mercenaries would fight for russia, as long as they are well paid. https://www.rferl.org/a/lancet-dron...AHnVJEDjSFpsKpuNRkp8yDNMAM1fGILzoXk43ZKvp0U5Y
Yes, Phillip Morris, Pepsi, Proctor and Gamble and Cargill all in top 20 by revenue in russia 2022. all paying taxes that help russia's war.
