"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (6 Viewers)

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Conversely, Ukraine is starting to receive tanks which were specifically designed to counter the Russian types with the Leopard II, Abrams, and Challenger II being a match for the best Russian tanks and far superior to older types.
Without a big leap forward in artillery/drone-resistant mine clearing and breaching capability I don't think having more advanced MBTs can accomplish much. I hope over the winter Ukraine will build up an epic supply of armoured MCLC launch vehicles. Getting through the lines of defences must be a priority in 2024.

Envision twenty of these moving forward under cover of AWACS-guided F-16s, counter-battery drones and HIMARs, with columns of MBTs and IFVs behind, ready to exploit the breach.


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KgP_EkuTpeI
 
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The other side of that is they can accomplish much by stopping Russia from accomplishing much.
 
Much is made in the press of the tanks given to Ukraine. However from what I have seen the one vehicle which always seems to make a mark is the Bradley. I sometimes wonder which would Ukraine prefer to have, 200 new tanks or three hundred Bradley's. The bigger number as presumably they are cheaper
 
Both...though I tend to agree with Bradleys being potentially more useful if one had to choose.
 
Tanks, Bradleys, troops. All are required and it's called combined arms for a reason. NATO tanks are stand off and support
weapons designed to be tough and to hand out destruction to attacking enemy AFV's. They are also quite capable of going
in to an attack. This allows AFV's of the Bradley type to do their job and so on.

Ukraine is on the way to having this capability sorted whereas Russia is struggling. The much vaunted tank production facility
in Russia cannot produce in large numbers at all.

Looking at losses shows Russia is losing too much that can't be replaced;

Armored combat vehicles in 2022, 13,000+ . Losses to now, 10,000+ . Replacements - ????

Operational tanks in 2022, 3,300. Losses to now, 5,500+ (includes tanks since reactivated from storage). Replacements
mostly from storage.

Artillery pieces of all types in 2022, 5,600+. Losses to now, 8000+ (includes reactivation of older equipment).

Aircraft of all types lost number 600+ along with 20+ naval craft. Capability to replace ? Don't know.

Then we have the latest and greatest such as the T14 Armata. 14 because that is the year it was first announced with
2,300 to be in service by 2020. This was nine years ago. The T14 is now the Bachman Turner Overdrive of tanks. The
great sages of BTO predicted this in the 1970's with their song - You ain't seen nothin' yet.

We ain't and we ain't likely to see a lot of anything.

Don't assume the war will be over in the near future either as it may go on for years or until one side collapses
politically. Hopefully, things will unravel fairly quickly at some stage in the near future in Russia itself.
 
Russia has already accomplished a lot, and if they can hold onto the territory they now have until 2025 I'd say there's a good chance that they'll keep it postwar.
No, this will not happen.

It has been said time and again that Ukraine will not rest until Russia has been removed from it's sovereign land.

As for Russia taking more land in 2023, at what cost?

How many tanks, AFVs, artillery, missile launch systems, control centers, ships and men (including senior officers) has the former world's number two super-power had to sacrifice for that marginal gain?

In addition, how much of that gain did Russia "win back" from their staggering loss in 2022?

The recap, Zelensky and the Ukrainian people will not agree to anything but Russia's retreat. To Steele Ukraine's position, Putin has made it clear that he will not accept anything less than Ukraine's unconditional surrender - so Kyiv is in it to the bitter end, regardless.
 
I woundn't call it complete coordination, but both parties have similar goals. To regain territory lost to Western expansion. The defeat of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan has emboldened our enemies. They know that the West doesn't have the stomach for long, costly wars. Which is why Putin invaded Ukraine, Hamas launched a war against Israel, Iranian backed militants are threatening international shipping in the Red Sea, oh, and China is bullying its neighbors.
Neither Ukraine, nor Israel can last without Western aid. And if the West blinks, China has that much more leverage against our allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
Whether we like it or not, we are in WW3.
The only question is, how hot will it get?
 

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