RolStoppable said:
August is the updated target date for the start of Ukraine's large scale counter-offensive (previously it was June). Western weapons as well as Ukrainian personnel who are able to use them should be deployed to the battlefields by then. It really sounds like they are planning a coordinated strategy where Russians will get hit hard in different crucial areas simultaneously, making them unable to defend themselves sufficiently. Given that the military spending of NATO nations has been heavily outpacing Russia for many decades, Western weapons should be far more efficient than their Russian counterparts. Predicting the end of the war sure is a difficult task, but when Ukraine managed to hold back Russia with first and foremost old weapons so far, then optimism for turning the tide of the war with modern weapons isn't misplaced. Morale continues to be in favor of Ukraine anyway. |
The greatest challenge for Ukraine remains the huge disparity in artillery vis-à-vis Russian forces, not to mention the Russian air force. Even though it was never going to happen, the only equaliser would have been NATO's aviation enforcing a no-fly zone.
As it stands, Ukraine is on the verge of losing the entirety of the Lugansk oblast that will free up thousands of Russian forces. The unfortunate thing for the Ukrainians is that it appears to be too late to withdraw from Lysychansk without being hit hard by Russian artillery and aviation. I would have thought that the Ukrainian leadership would have ordered troops to withdraw and reinforce a defensive line around the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk line but I guess the aim is to delay the Russians for as long as possible in Lugansk.
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