Teslag said:
Russia's problem is they can't take enough to really make Ukraine bleed. They were counting on no more US aid and completely didn't expect even Trump to get behind it. Russia had their greatest window to take a significant amount of territory and couldn't. Ukraine wasn't given offensive weapons. They were given superior NATO stand off weapons and Russia doesn't have anything offensively to counter those, not to mention any ability to maintain long supply lines to even support a successful offensive. Russia may gain a mile or two here or there over a course of many months. And then Ukraine may catch them off guard in places and take a few back.
Most people don't realize how massive Ukraine is. Russia spent 5 months taking about 5 miles in Avdiika. Avdiika is 450 miles from Kiev. Odesa is 435 from Avdiika. These distances are real. They aren't overcome by wish casting or Russian milblogger fantasy. Russia will need real offensive and logistical capabilities to conquer those distances and 5 miles in 5 months won't cut it. They need to show real ability and they simply haven't. It's no longer 1943. They need more than warm bodies and old weapons to throw at the problem.
What exactly is stopping Russia from taking 5 miles a year for 90 years? You're creating an urgency that just isn't there. & Ukraine isn't recapturing anything unless something major changes. That is fantasy at this junction.
To elaborate on appetite for war in general. Russia lost 27 million men defeating Nazi Germany. They think they are fighting Nazi's on their border again and they're nowhere close to losing 27 million men.