Yes.. RT is claiming that Russian forces are victorious near Mariupol and will take the Azovstal steel mill factory shortly. Obviously Putin is no longer trying to take the factory.
Russia looking to replenish troops by conscripting Ukrainians. What could go wrong there? ================================================= Ukrainian military officials warned Friday that Russia is looking to "replenish" its personnel by conscripting Ukrainian men in southern regions, amid reports of heavy Russian losses. "To replenish their personnel there have been preparations for so-called mobilization in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblast," Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense spokesman Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters. "Russian troops are blocking local people from leaving occupied territories in particular, those males of conscript age." https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukrai...y-conscripting-ukrainians-in-southern-regions
Russia knows the people and the territory, and they aren't going to do something unless chances for success are high. By the way, Russian conscripts largely haven't been used yet.
Just sayin, that conscripting young Ukrainian men to go up the road and kill grannie and grampa or the families of their relatives and friends is not necessarily a winning formula, and - your comments about russia and chances for success being noted- they have not exactly figure out how to motivate even the russian soldiers yet.
Putin & the Russians started with giving a deadline (which got delayed daily) that the Ukraine soldiers in the factory need to come & surrender -- otherwise they would be executed like dogs. Then after failing to capture the factory -- even after dropping bunker busters, etc. -- reverted to "we will just starve them out" while trying to declare they are completely victorious in Mariupol. Will the Russians be able to starve them out of the factory before a Ukraine counter-offensive takes most of the east?
My take on the situation is that's a bad misperception. Ukraine's military is largely destroyed at this point (most of it was massed in the southeast), the promised new weapons are 1500 miles away, and Russia controls the airspace.
Yes. The Ukrainians are in a very bad situation and are living off of good press in many areas while the reality on the ground and the arrival of weapons are more dire than reported or need more time. Time which they do not have. But the Russians have lots of problems that will wear on them bigtime after the first month. They already have wall to wall problems but they have brute force that cannot be minimized even if there are lots of clowns in their troops. Ukrainians need to work on fighting and surviving for the next month rather than going on the offensive. Time is more on their side than the Russians. Russians could find that they have fixed all their supply and logistic problems or - equally- it could turn out that they are low on ammo- or that someone has blown out all the rail and road bridges coming into the donbass. No one knows yet. But yeh, no one should get cocky about the Ukrainians overall chances. They are in a tough spot. The Americans are on the ground doing things that cannot be talked about in the light of day in regard to setting up missiles and being there to help with the firing and targeting. So the Ukrainians will take severe beatings but also surprising successes appearing out of nowhere as well. Refer to the sinking of the Russian warship for more on this. More to come. Americans not on the ground.
If true, not good. Let the viewers decide. Russian troops ordered to kill POWs in Donbas, Ukraine says Russian troops in the strategically important Donbas region of Ukraine were ordered to kill prisoners of war — with chilling directions to make sure no one ever “sees them again,” according to audio intercept obtained and distributed by Ukrainian intelligence services this week. “What the f–k can I tell you?” one soldier says to his comrade, according to a translation published by The Times of London. The first soldier then suggests that the eldest captive can live, but instructs the other: “Let the rest of them go forever.” more at link. https://nypost.com/2022/04/22/russian-troops-ordered-to-kill-pows-in-donbas-ukraine-says/