Y'all keep going back and forth at each other, whatever. "Ukraine" got smaller today as it has almost all year every day, has less ammo and supplies than yesterday, and is losing the war of attrition in the proxy war Biden's administration facilitated. It's remaining citizenry is much less free today than before the conflict started, with no hope for a free election to change the course of their totalitarian, corrupt government.
Interestingly, f
rom the Russian perspective, many claim Putin has just been too flexible/deferential to Ukraine over the past 10+ years:
Quote:
Sovereign opportunism
Since coming to power 24 years ago, Putin has developed an image as an uncompromising fighter against the enemy, and his promise (of the Chechen war-era) to "waste them in the shi*thouses" tends to be applied to everything, including Ukraine. However, in relations with the West and Kiev, Putin has always been a man of compromise. The principle of his policy in Ukraine (as indeed throughout the post-Soviet region) has been to press for an agreement.
From the gas wars under ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to the Black Sea Fleet deal under his successor, Viktor Yanukovich, from the Minsk agreements under Pyotr Poroshenko to the Istanbul epic under Vladimir Zelensky, Putin has never beaten Ukraine to death, but has confined himself to slaps in the hope of making his opponent see the point.
This approach is often criticized, but Putin, like Russian elites in general, fundamentally and organically regards Ukraine as a separate country and has always recognized its right to exist. In this paradigm, Kiev itself has to accept an offer that cannot be refused, and, as insurance, Putin has always created a plan B: In order not to depend on Ukraine for gas, bypass pipelines were built; in parallel with the naval treaty, the Crimean operation was developed (and implemented in March-April 2014), and so on.
I dunno. I think it's been a brutal war from both sides. I still fail to see how the 'investment' is worth it to the US, Europe, or Ukraine at this point (nominally for 'freedom' of some sort of notion).
In any case, Russia has expanded their territory this calendar year:
Russia:
January 7: Podgorodnoye
January 10: Soledar
January 11: Opytnoe
January 16: Sol' station
January 19: Kleshcheevka
January 21: Krasnopolye
February 1: Sacco and Vanzetti
February 2: Nikolaevka
February 12: Krasnopolye
February 17: Paraskovievka
February 24: Berkhovka
February 25: Yagodnoye
March 8: eastern part of Bakhmut
March 9: Dubovo-Vasilievka
March 15: Zaliznyanskoye
April 2: Russian flag in the center of Bakhmut
May 20: Bakhmut
May-November: gains more territory than Ukraine during the counteroffensive while being on defense.
December 12: Marinka
December 2023: Andiivka (Pending)
But, hey, Ukraine conquered Robotyne. So, yeah, that village of 4 structures counts, on the other side of the ledger. They have a beach head on the Russian side of the Dnepr. Yay.
Ukraine is left with around 20 million inhabitants today, with horrific demographics.
The Russian's goal wasn't simply territory, but to de-nazify Ukraine and eliminate a hostile power from their doorstep. As such, they consider the operation a success, with more pending as the UFA is self-admittedly now reduced to inducting ineffectual conscripts, who are elderly/female/unwilling and combat ineffective. Biden and American financiers could care less to support them if it means they have to cut off the invasion here (also backed by China, oh by the way).
The war is largely over. Only semantic online diatribes, frontline deaths, and exciting videos remain.
