Quote (chopstickz777 @ Apr 11 2022 03:00pm)
Russia did not have enough forces around Kiev to physically storm the city, so they withdrew to focus on Donbass. Taking Kiev isn't necessary to secure DPR/LPR and will lead to massive losses of life on all sides, especially civilians, so why bother?
Odessa is a likely target in the coming months and will be taken by storm, like Mariupol if necessary.
Kharkiv is a large city with a sizeable Nazi contingent & forced conscription, it won't be easy to take and there have been no serious attempts as of yet to storm it.
There are 60-80 thousand Ukrainian soldiers occupying the parts of Donbass that have not yet been liberated. There are no "important" cities in their area according to you, and yet Russia obliterating them would still be a massive victory, and a crippling loss of tens of thousands of troops for Ukraine.
Point is, it's not all about Kiev.
What does Odessa, Mariupol, and Kharkov have to do with the Donbass? That's right, they don't. This whole operation is just a land grab by a failing empire.
Quote (babun1024 @ Apr 11 2022 03:02pm)
https://t.me/rian_ru/158246https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/04/11/7338843/