The War in the Ukraine

plawolf said:

Given what he did, I would not at all be surprised if his social media is monitored 24/7 for any actionable intel on his location, or even hacked with viruses planted just waiting for him to log on so it could download onto his phone and send his exact location to the Russians, with a Spetsnaz team deployed shortly afterwards to his suspected location.

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Ukraine will not stop fighting until it has "liberated" Crimea, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – its liberation," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

"We will never give it up ... the Black Sea region cannot be safe while Crimea is occupied," he said, repeating his government's position that Crimea would have to be returned to Ukraine.

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Most German howitzers in Ukraine out of order – MP​

Most German PzH 2000 howitzers that have been supplied to Ukraine by the West have already broken down and are in need of repair, according to German Bundestag member Marcus Faber, who recently visited Ukraine.

In a Wednesday interview with the German news outlet NTV, the politician claimed he was surprised to learn from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense that only five of the 15 German-made PzH 2000 howitzers supplied to Ukraine by Berlin and Amsterdam were still operational. He added that the cause of the failures was not Russian fire, but the fact that the guns were “massively used” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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With Ukraine’s defenders slowing Russian forces’ advance, the economy is showing signs of stabilizing at a depressed level. The government expects GDP for this year to be around 30% lower than last year. But the economy depends on how the military effort fares, just as sustaining the war depends on bolstering Kyiv’s finances.

Lack of money threatens to become Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel. Before the war, the government’s budget was roughly balanced. Now, tax revenues only cover around 40% of government spending. War costs are more than 60% of the budget. Mr. Marchenko has cut nonessential spending to the bone.

The government needs about $5 billion a month to cover nonmilitary spending. Western governments have promised to support the civilian budget with grants and loans, leaving Kyiv able to use more of its own resources for the war.

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Abominable said:

Interesting article from WSJ


If $5 billion a month is spent on non military spending, that puts Ukraine's annual budget to $150 billion, more than double the pre war cost.

That means this war dwarfs spending on both Iraq and Afghanistan combined, and is even higher than the overall rate Vietnam war spending was at. All of this is happening after Europe has had zero economic growth for 15 years with no signs of improvement and America is entering a recession of their own.

What's NATO's plan going to be if this war lasts 5-10 years?

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Overbom said:

That Ukraine still has money to cover a big part of its expenditures only shows how useless and incompetent Russia is.
That Ukraine still has bridges, communications, mines, ports, tunnels, factories, electricity, water also shows Russia's idiocy.

Putin and his military are so incompetent that it is not even worth it to make jokes about them. The PLA should be x100 vigilant and review their strategy and operational tactics in case they picked up any kind of Russian bs habits during their joint military exchange/training programs

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Anlsvrthng said:

Destroying the Ukrainan state and econmoy would do nothing else just generating lot of new fighters against the russians.

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