https://archive.is/avbh1
Russia’s shortages of soldiers and supplies have also grown worse, Western officials and other experts said. And its gains in the war have come at great cost.
I don't follow the situation very closely, but I'm hesitant to believe this at face value.
It's not terribly believable given that Russia enjoys roughly 10:1 artillery advantage and around 80% of the casualties come from artillery fire. Also, Cavoli just admitted two weeks ago that Russian army is now stronger which is completely at odds with the above statement
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/ukraine-krieg-nato-oberbefehlshaber-und-generalinspekteur-ueber-folgen-und-perspektiven-a-9cb8d225-8bd8-454d-830d-009c9f46dfc9
They have alwaya portrayed it as a stalemate and Russia being in a bad position but the truth is while the war has definitely been more 2 sided than expected thats because its a proxy war vs the USA and Russia has still been winning.
Russias tactics in Ukraine reflect their tactics in Syria too. They dont just charge in and to a blitz. They tend to take things slow and encircle their enemy. Which you see them doing as they advance now. So the speed of their advance doesnt really tell us much.
Im sure Russia has taken casualties but i highly doubt any numbers from the US or Ukronazis. and those casualties will be balanced out by the number of new recruits who are now veterans of a real war. Their military is the only one thats fought a real war in the modern age. Experience means a lot.
Exactly, it was never a stalemate, but as long as the lines weren't visibly moving that was a convenient narrative. I recall there was a BBC/Mediazona project that actually had some methodology behind it to track Russian casualties. They'd trove obituaries, social media posts, funerals, etc. All they managed to come up with was around 40k. Obviously, that's still a lot of people, but a far cry from 500k that the US keeps peddling.
I very much agree that the experience gained by the Russian military is invaluable though. Not only do the troops have real combat experience now, but also the logistics have been ironed out. Russia is now able to produce vast amounts of weapons and ammunition at a rate the west simply isn't able to keep up with.
while the war has definitely been more 2 sided than expected
Depend by whom. Ukrainian army was probably the second strongest army in Europe in 2022, they have been building up greatly since 2014 and was armed by NATO. Ever since the 2022 escalation they lost and rebuild their army 2 times and NATO countries were even stripping their own line units to arm AFU. So not counting soldiers (and even that can be arguable as a lot of foreign mecenaries and "volunteers" were and still are there, and i'm not talking about reddit cannon fodder but possibly even regular forces) it is two sided war because one side is Ukraine+NATO.
Are they waiting for after the US election to quietly pull out any remaining support from Ukraine?
that would be my guess, especially given that things are escalating with Iran as we speak.
