Quote (Santara @ Oct 11 2022 03:06am)
(On Russia not wanting to occupy/annex western and northern Ukraine) You can't possibly make such a claim with any degree of certainty. They absolutely tried for a decapitation win right from the outset.
They made a play for forcing Ukraine to the table. Didn't work.
Anyone, even the colossal Russian megaminds who dreamed up this whole 'limited operation' thing, could see that the social/ethnic divisions in Ukraine are such that attempting to occupy all these Galician radicals on their home turf would be a disaster. The only people suggesting Russia had that in mind are the types who say Putin is going to use Ukraine as a springboard to invade Germany and reestablish the USSR.
It's absurd.
As to missiles, I can't find a source for this (don't know how to read or search in Russian), but a mostly realistic Russian doomer account I follow says that Russia produced 12 Kalibr missiles per day some months ago, suspecting this has since expanded more. (Also says that the 6.5mln dollar cost is a joke, more like 45-60mln rubles.) Given that this morning saw another large wave of Kalibrs and other types of weapons hitting transformer stations, it doesn't seem like Russia is all too worried about "running out" for the 80th time since March.