THE APOCALYPTIC REALITY OF RUSSIA'S SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE UKRAINE

Former Reality TV-Star and now Performative Politician Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Western countries of lacking “unity” over the war, citing differing positions on weapons supplies to Kyiv and disagreements within the NATO military alliance.

>> Here are snippets from an Aljazeera report https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/26/nato-general-putin-has-8-9-months-to-win-the-war  yesterday:

Former NATO general says Putin has 9-month window to win war

Russia gains ground as it focuses its military offensive and Moscow’s vast resources of men and material exact a toll.

John Psaropoulos

aljazeera.com

 

"A resurgent Russian army has refocused its hitherto lumbering efforts to claim Ukraine’s east, making its first significant advances there in the 13th week of the war. . .Russian forces appear to be attempting a pincer movement from Izyum and Popasna to isolate Ukraine’s entire tactical army of about 50,000 men in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to the east.

On May 21, the battle for Severodonetsk, the easternmost Ukrainian-held city, began in earnest. To the city’s east, a punishing bombardment began. To its west, Russian military bloggers said Russian forces destroyed one of two bridges connecting the city to Lysychansk across the Siversky Donetsk river and complicating Ukrainian lines of supply...

[    ] Russia’s tactics are now notorious in the southern port of Mariupol, which finally surrendered on May 21 after more than two months of aerial and artillery bombardment that have reduced the city to rubble.

Armies cannot turn on a dime

Ukraine has fought valiantly and driven the Russians back from the northern cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv in recent weeks, but its counteroffensive has not been sustained because Ukrainian forces need time to assimilate Western military equipment, a retired NATO commander said. . .

“Tanks and armoured vehicles need an initial stage of personal training and team training for the driver, gunner, reloader and commander,” said Lt-Gen Konstantinos Loukopoulos, who has taught tank warfare at military academies in Kyiv and Moscow.

“They need tactical training, including test firing and exercises, which cannot be done in a few weeks. The training cycle is at least six months, and that doesn’t change in wartime,” he said.

“After [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illusions about winning the war in 96 hours, the illusions began on the Western side,” he added.

The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and the Czech Republic are among those who have pledged various types of armour and artillery, and that complicates matters, Loukopoulos said.

For instance, out of 90 howitzer M777 artillery pieces sent by the US to Ukraine, about 18 have been absorbed, he said, adding that it is unknown how many of the 12 or 14 César self-propelled howitzers sent by France are in use.

“For Ukraine to absorb the weapons from the West and make them operational, form the right units, and train them, it needs eight, nine months. It can’t pull active units from the front to train them,” Loukopoulos said.

That is the timeframe, he believes, within which Putin must win the war on the ground and reach a negotiated settlement.

“Under the present balance of forces, the general trend is in favour of the Russians. Right now nothing can change that,” he said. . .

“Can the Ukrainians create a fact on the ground to counter Russian gains? Right now they cannot,” he said.

“Whether we like it or not, Russia has the political and military initiative. The West is reacting to what Putin is doing. . [   ] The apocalyptic reality of the Russian victory at Mariupol may drive Ukrainian determination to fight along the eastern front. The question is whether Ukrainian material shortages will be insurmountable."