Quote (ownyaah @ 21 May 2023 04:19)

a lot of rumours going around about Zaluzhnyi

Quote (Black XistenZ @ May 20 2023 06:25pm)

Winning a battle can totally be a strategic loss if it took too much time or resources. The history books are full of examples.
In reality, Russia's forward momentum has slowed down significantly from where it was 2 or 3 months ago.

I have no idea if the Ukrainian counteroffensive will ever materialize, or if it will be successful. Still, as of today, I would assign a higher likelihood to Russia losing territory in the coming months than to Russia ever reaching, let alone actually capturing, Kharkiv, Dnipro or Odessa.

Quote (Norlander @ May 21 2023 02:31am)

In December 2013, Soyuzneftegaz signed a deal with the Syrian government to explore, drill, develop and produce oil and gas in Block 2 with an area of 2,977 square kilometres (1,149 sq mi) off Syria's coast. In July 2014, the deal was ratified with the Panama-registered Soyuzneftegaz East Med. In August 2017, an amendment to the contract was approved, to include Russian company East Med Amrit S.A., a sub-company of Soyuzneftegaz. Those changes in names and origins were to avoid International sanctions on dealing with the Syrian regime. However, Soyuzneftegaz could not meet its contractual agreement in Syria.

"In 2019, two Russian companies, Mercury LLC and Velada LLC, signed deals with the Syrian government to explore and develop gas and oil fields in Block 7 with an area of 9,531 square kilometres (3,680 sq mi) and Block 19 in the northeastern region, and in Block 23 with an area of 2,159 square kilometres (834 sq mi) in the region to the north of Damascus respectively. Moreover, companies such as JSC Zarubezhneft, JSC Zarubezhgeologia, STG Engineering and Technopromexport started their survey to explore land and sea energy resources in Syria, with the prospect of gas exploration in the regions of Qara and al-Bureij.

In March 2021, Russian company, Capital Limited, and Syrian government represented by the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Reserves, signed a contract to grant the Russian company the exclusive rights to explore natural oil and gas in Block 1 in the eastern Mediterranean with an area of 2,250 square kilometres (870 sq mi) off the coast of Tartus."

Syrian people

Quote (ofthevoid @ 21 May 2023 05:22)

People are still thinking in the wrong terms of how Russia is approaching this war. The goal is not to capture as much territory as fast as possible. The goal has been evident for awhile now which is to exhaust and grind the enemy down. It's a slow burn and Russia is betting it can outlast western support for Ukraine.

The resources you're talking about that were expanded in Bakhmut were largely contract mercenaries and prisoners. I read a few Twitter opinions that Russia is actually preserving the integrity of it's armed forces with most of them basically being in static positions with very little losses. But regardless, if Russia expanded resources taking Bakhmut, it's logically consistent to acknowledge so did Ukraine. There were dozens of Ukrainian battalions in and around Bakhmut, who knows how many of those soldiers are still alive or the amount of ammunition that was expanded in the defense of the city.

I'm curious to see what happens next though. Will Wagner/Russia keep pressing west with Chasiv Yar next or do they dig in and wait for the counteroffensive that tbh seems to be getting less likely by the day and who knows how big of an impact the Bakhmut grinder had on that capability.

Quote (Norlander @ May 20 2023 10:49pm)

So Russian troops storming Kyev on day two were trying to exhaust and grind enemy down?

Quote (Norlander @ May 20 2023 10:49pm)

So Russian troops storming Kyev on day two were trying to exhaust and grind enemy down?

Quote (ofthevoid @ 21 May 2023 05:59)

I'm talking about the more recent phase of the war where the style clearly evolved. The Kiev offensive was about trying to get a quick capitulation, when that didn't happen, the 2nd phase of the war morphed into the slow grind.

Quote (ofthevoid @ 21 May 2023 04:22)

People are still thinking in the wrong terms of how Russia is approaching this war. The goal is not to capture as much territory as fast as possible. The goal has been evident for awhile now which is to exhaust and grind the enemy down. It's a slow burn and Russia is betting it can outlast western support for Ukraine.

Quote (Ironfister @ 21 May 2023 00:03)

If you actually read, you will see that most of the note is a quote from Russian officials, in example:
"Lavrov emphasized that Russia was convinced that
enlargement was not based on security reasons, but was a
legacy of the Cold War"
Ambasador is not the president, not the Foreign minister. He basically transfers received messages back to HQ, decision center.
It doesnt matter who this guy is now, his job at the time was to be an ambasador.
Clearly Lavrov (Russian foreign minister, still in office) was lying because they attacked Ukraine later, so there were valid security reasons to join nato.
Russians fooled the Western people, lied because they needed to have Ukraine outside of nato so that they could eat them oneday.

Quote (bogie160 @ 21 May 2023 05:00)

No, then they were trying to quickly overthrow the Kyiv regime. But what was true then is not true now. Russia has accepted that they cannot win the war quickly, and they're no longer trying to.