Ukraine making progress in counteroffensive, U.S. officials say
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukrain...-us-f16/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=230501841
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
The one thing that worries me is, what sort of siege is it going to be and if Ukraine is victiorious, what state the city will be left it by russians. Don't think it will be Kherson type retreat this time around.
The Washington Post has a different angle re: Melitopol:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/17/ukraine-counteroffensive-melitopol/
Damn... 
6 figure KIA for Russia.
6 figure KIA for Russia.
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^From the NYT article.
If true, that is awful for Ukraine, Russia has 3 times the population after all, if they can't even achieve twice the kill ratio, they are in trouble in the long run.
That 120,000 killed in action number seems roughly equal to US KIA numbers in the Pacific theater. It's just madness.
http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/a/Casualties.htm#:~:text=Total U.S. combat casualties in,1,740,000 were killed or missing.
15,000 Soviet soldiers killed over the course of eight years in Afghanistan.
I dont believe this number either
Yep. It is just unconscionable to think one country can lose this many soldiers on the attack in 18 months of war, especially when history buffs like us know that the Pacific theater saw some of the bloodiest and harshest battles known to man. One tenth (1/10) of those total American KIA were lost in Okinawa alone.
I refuse to believe they're anywhere near that high.
Russia is fighting a war of attrition here, its obviously very costly for them, but in a war of attrition, it helps to have a population much larger than your opponent.
Having said that, they may never run out of men, but equipment? Thats more difficult, at some point, they have to run out of the soviet-era equipment, only question is when.
The US were also fighting a war of attrition during WW2, but it became glaringly too much as the conflict entered in the few chapters prior to its end. The casualties at Iwo Jima and Okinawa followed by the projections of Operation Downfall were the reasons why the usual strategy could no longer carry on in a possible invasion of Japan.
The main difference between the US then and Russia now is that the latter have stopped making progress and are even backing off in certain areas. That is even worse from any military standpoint.
Because? Not that I necessarily believe them. However, this is coming from Western officials whose estimates tend to be usually more conservative than Ukraine's own reported numbers.
Because the last credible western estimates we had were a tenth of that (maybe an exaggeration, I don't remember the exact numbers). It seems weird that there are so many killed compared to wounded, isn't the difference usually much larger?
That assumes most Russian men are willing to go and fight in Ukraine. I think Ukraine has actually more men willing to fight than Putin. I don't say that all of Ukrainians are ready to fight of course, but it's natural that people are more willing to risk their lives to defend themselves and their loved ones than to attack. There are also many women serving in Ukraine's forces, in contrast to Russia. Putin might increase his propaganda to try and find more willing slaves or mercenaries, but there's only so much he can say that he hasn't said yet.
I believe time is in Ukraine's favor here, as long as the west doesn't stop it's support.
I think the NYT article pointed out that treating and evacuating the wounded has been very hard because of the nature of the war.
The UK MoD last estimates in February were about 40-60K Russian killed. We're about 6 months further now with a Ukrainian counter-offensive going on as well. I do think 120K is on the extremely high side of the range of estimates though.
Well, the more the merrier.
And a new war crime. So far 7 dead and over a 100 wounded. I'm sure Useless Nations will condemn this attack.
You can be disappointed in how ineffective it is in doing anything about this invasion, but the UN has improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people since it was founded.
During the cold war it definitely had more impact. The stakes were higher and it seemed like both blocks used it is as a place to wage ideological duels.
In the last years though, it does seem like an organisation without any real power. Wonder when this downfall started ? Maybe after Bush invaded Iraq without a security council resolution ?
Sure, but the UN does a lot more than (fail to) manage geopolitics. We all wish it could do more, but I think we shouldn't forget all the good it actually does.
It certainly used to but most of those achievements were during the last half of 20th century , I believe.
It began when the UN failed to get things done in Sierra Leone, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and then Kosovo. The 1990s was the decade that convinced me of how useless the United Nations are when they were needed the most.
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I know people involved in humanitarian relief in africa who tell me in some places unicef is the only thing stopping an absolute disaster.
Both my cousins worked on the UN and one of them managed a humanitarian organisation in south Sudan and she has always said everything is a million times worse than people think because nearly all journalists are afraid to venture in there and report.
An impressive number from the Netherlands. MH17 sends its regards.
Together with some other countries, Ukraine can get a three-digit number of F-16s.
edit: okay, it seems like these are their planes in total and the exact amount is not clear yet. But it shouldn't be too far off.
Together with some other countries, Ukraine can get a three-digit number of F-16s.
edit: okay, it seems like these are their planes in total and the exact amount is not clear yet. But it shouldn't be too far off.
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They're well under way with the F35 replacement so I'd think they will let all of them go to Ukraine. They're all MLU models too so will be a great tool if Ukrainian pilots can operate them properly.
Denmark confirms the donation of 19 F-16s to Ukraine. The aircrafts will be donated in 3 batches during 2024 and 2025 so it won't affect the Danish airforces transition to F35s.