I find the following worthwhile in posting here as it represents a major shift to the situation in the Ukraine specifically in the
Kharkiv region in the North. It appears a rout of Russian forces is at hand in that area as reported by MOD/DOD and some
very well-known military thinktanks. If so; this is very bad news for the South and possibly Crimea (Though for now that
might be a reach.).
What is important here is the clock has shifted in favor of the Ukraine. They need to keep pushing and maintain pressure on the Russian forces. And more importantly, it looks like they'll make it to
Winter as this will allow them to train, resupply, rearm and more importantly reduce the
OPTEMPO.
The "
suspicious" or "
contrarian" side in me is wondering if Russia is doing this on purpose. Maybe they might just want to consolidate some of their forces on the border and shift the rest to the South or just reenforce Crimea. As the article points out, "Amid the progress of Ukrainian forces,
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on
Sunday that Russia would be prepared to sit down for peace talks."
Russia's goal will be to sue for terms to reestablish the
2014 border. However,
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s President they intend to reclaim their rightful pre-2014 border which even Russia had
approved after the fall of the Soviet Union by UN resolution.
My answer would be to take down that bridge from
Crimea to Russia and "
bottle up" their Black Sea Fleet North of it and isolate the rest to the South of it unless Turkey will allow them to withdraw the remaining ships through the Turkish Straits (the
Bosporus and Dardanelles). Obviously, this would also
cripple their ability to
both reenforce and resupply their units. I would see what Russia offered, that being said if the terms aren't acceptable the bridge must go.
Of course, the
last 3 paras are my simple
analysis and opinion of the current situation.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...7f123421faca73
And related to the above...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...9c5699240ee9df
In war you'll find out who your friends really are by the weapons they supply you.
Regards,
Pat
