"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (2 Viewers)

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Admiral Beez said:
Is invading Ukraine and destroying their own economy the worst miscalculation in Russia's history? Others could be provoking war with Japan in 1904, or war with Germany in 1914, or the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, or purging its officer corps just before Barbarossa in 1941? Any others? Had cooling heads in London not prevailed, Russia's attacking of British shipping in 1904 might have made the list.
Click to expand...

You might also add the Afghanistan war. And as I've written much earlier in this thread. I suspect that this too might be a quagmire that brings down a regime.

I definitely think that this is Putin's worst, and possibly fatal, miscalculation. If he backs away, he alienates the hard-liners; if he stays in nose-deep, the general polity may well pull out support, as the economy is suffering inflation and deprivation.

Both the Tsars and the Politburo learnt the hard way that even a dictatorship must pay attention to the will of the people.
 
According to German Newspaper Bild

Putins Winter-Offensive scheitert
Which I guess means something like Putin's Winter Offensive Has Failed

Anyway for English speakers here are some news reporting directly from bild
www.dagens.com

Report Shows: Russia's Winter Offensive in Ukraine Has Failed

Russia's Winter Offensive in Ukraine Has Failed According to Report.
www.dagens.com www.dagens.com
mind.ua

"Except for thousands of deaths, we have achieved nothing": Bild writes that the Russian army's winter offensive has failed | Mind.ua

Despite thousands of dead soldiers and hundreds of lost armored vehicles, the Russians have not advanced even a kilometer, the newspaper writes.
mind.ua mind.ua
english.nv.ua

Russia’s winter offensive in Ukraine has failed — report

Russian forces have been engaged in large-scale offensives in Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts for the past three months without making significant gains, German newspaper Bild reported on Jan. 9.
english.nv.ua english.nv.ua
 
On a side note, what follows is what someone in contact with 2 Russian friends reported. Source is unknown, so take with a grain of salt, but to me it makes sense.

I'm still in contact with 2 x friends i made in Moscow while i was there in 2012

Both are serving on the front lines, in different units, in different areas of operations.

Both have told me the same thing, and the messages are so similar its almost spooky, this is by the way with them not knowing each other or in contact with the other.

They have both separately asked me if i can help them in someway if they desert and manage to somehow make it to an EU country, and both have said the amount of armoured vehicles they have lost is staggering, and entire tank crews are deserting rather than advance. They are more terrified and low on morale than the infantry. They mention entire armoured groups with barely a serviceable vehicle available at the moment, and one tells me of his unit having to report back to command on fictitious attacks they invent as they simply cannot follow many of the orders they are given. He lives in constant fear of being found out and executed / imprisoned for disobeying orders.

Take that for what you will, but they have no reason to lie, and to me it speaks volumes as to how things are really going. They've sent me pictures and these poor guys are unrecognisable from the men i got to know, and they are I imagine like many troops on the Russian side who are desperately looking for any way to get out.
 
GrauGeist said:
The "I Want To Live" hotline is still active, too:
kyivindependent.com

Over 220 Russian soldiers surrender through 'I want to live' hotline

More than 220 Russian soldiers have surrendered to Ukraine via the "I want to live" hotline as of December, HUR spokesperson Vitalli Matviienko said, and another 1,000 cases are pending.
kyivindependent.com kyivindependent.com
Click to expand...
220? Ukraine likely eliminates that many Russians in an afternoon. FWIW, Russia has suffered an estimated 320,000 dead or wounded since Feb 2022, or 685 days ago. That's 467 Russians every day taken out of the fight. This hotline seems like a waste of resources, beyond the obvious propaganda value.
 
Admiral Beez said:
220? Ukraine likely eliminates that many Russians in an afternoon. FWIW, Russia has suffered an estimated 320,000 dead or wounded since Feb 2022, or 685 days ago. That's 467 Russians every day taken out of the fight. This hotline seems like a waste of resources, beyond the obvious propaganda value.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say it's a waste.

So far, that's 220 people saved from potentially being dead, plus valuable Intel.

As it stands, Russian morale is sinking lower and lower and this hotline may see more activity as winter wears on.
 
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