Looking at the miles-long convoy outside Kiev now, as well as the entry of the Chechens on the playing field, I suspect that both are meant to keep the Ukrainians in check, while the real goal is the aforementioned takeover of the eastern part of the country.
The thing about the Chechens is that, unlike a conventional army, they aren't exactly "deployed", as much as they are unleashed - and all hell breaks loose afterward. I suspect they're already getting restless, and even Putin can't fully control them - which is exactly what he's banking on, because it makes for a far greater threat. It's basically a tool to prod Zelensky into quicker negotiations, giving up Donetsk and Lugansk in order to keep Kiev from getting ransacked by the real-life Uruk-Hai.
Now, negotiations are supposedly set to resume tomorrow. (The very fact that they're taking the weekend off is already suspicious but that's neither here nor there.) If what I suspect is true, Zelensky will either wisely back off and let the secession take place... or he'll do something stupid to provoke more bloodshed as a last resort. Either way, I'm not seeing this stalemate continuing after that week. Not with the Chechens in sight anyway.
Thank you, that is a fair assessment. And a polite and detailed response.
But it's not one I agree fully with.
The convoy is positioned and likely awaiting further convergence from any Eastern positions which are still catching up. Some strongholds are taking longer, and are still holding out. But are possibly virtually broken, or still breaking in a few places. Like Kharkiv. There are also more troops and equipment incoming from Siberia, etc, and it potentially takes a week or more to move. These likely reinforce and also are used to hold. As a front line moves forward. Reports are of older equipment. Some of the immediate waves and initial rush had been repelled, although fighting is still happening around a vital supply line for Kiev, the airport. Not quite sure who has it now. Because it is harder gaining accuracy. Look at the map in Western news of Russian positions, any analyst will tell you it is wrong. Pockets from front line, and surrounding cities are massively out. Nonsensical.
Kiev you're right is pivotal and a surrender is presumably favoured, but each side wants what the other cannot give. Also played up by opposing interests. How can he surrender anything? It would play into Russian hands. He is as committed to defending. Russia wants him to surrender. He will deny it until otherwise, supported by continued armaments and likewise foreign mercs.
Your assessment of just the Eastern region. I cannot agree with. It is past that. Russia hasn't got much more to lose now by being as sanctioned. Seemingly, it is all in objectively. More, and it starts to commit the opposition. Resources, like oil and gas are much harder upholding from a united global front. Meanwhile fighting is increasing in the West from air and missile strike possibly even troops now. They're on Odesa, columns are moving across, and up from Kherson.
Kiev like other cities needs encompassing before it yields. That isn't the position yet at all. But perhaps terms may still be brokered. Dubious. They've mostly been on some aid corridors, ceasefire, and have stalled.
Again, I don't have that situation. Who fully does. It's not in the press yet. Except as statements from both. Meanwhile the information above isn't accurate when played entirely by competing propaganda. But from both mouths, they are committed to their causes. It was seemingly described as all or nothing.
All or nothing... I'll have to consider that possibility as well.
From the start, I thought the operation was more of an intentional ploy to get Russia sanctioned, so that it would have an excuse to detach its economy from the west (with China and India following suit), without having much strategic value on its own. The tactics are unlike any I've seen, what with the dumping of arms and equipment on the territory, by both sides no less - if the Chechens do their thing in the big cities, half the country could become Somalia 2.0, and used as a buffer with the west.
But the situation now - it's like they're not even waiting for tactical support, but more like they're... stalling. Waiting for some event elsewhere. Same goes for the negotiations, which in all reports have been described in the vaguest terms, and which have proceeded at a pace I might even call leisurely, especially given the stakes at hand.
In short, somethin's fucky. For all the propaganda news about such and such vehicles or buildings being destroyed or people getting captured, both the conflict and the current stalemate seem artificial. And yet the political consequences are rapid and comprehensive, as if even the corporate players had a designated plan for this exact occasion, legal contract contingencies and all.
Time will tell how long this stalemate endures, and what precise event will happen just before it breaks up... though not necessarily with any direct attributable ties. It's a curious coincidence this happens at the exact same time as the Freedom Convoy in the US, which is now at D.C., and which has been mostly ignored by even the non-mainstream media.
Looking at the miles-long convoy outside Kiev now, as well as the entry of the Chechens on the playing field, I suspect that both are meant to keep the Ukrainians in check, while the real goal is the aforementioned takeover of the eastern part of the country.
The thing about the Chechens is that, unlike a conventional army, they aren't exactly "deployed", as much as they are unleashed - and all hell breaks loose afterward. I suspect they're already getting restless, and even Putin can't fully control them - which is exactly what he's banking on, because it makes for a far greater threat. It's basically a tool to prod Zelensky into quicker negotiations, giving up Donetsk and Lugansk in order to keep Kiev from getting ransacked by the real-life Uruk-Hai.
Now, negotiations are supposedly set to resume tomorrow. (The very fact that they're taking the weekend off is already suspicious but that's neither here nor there.) If what I suspect is true, Zelensky will either wisely back off and let the secession take place... or he'll do something stupid to provoke more bloodshed as a last resort. Either way, I'm not seeing this stalemate continuing after that week. Not with the Chechens in sight anyway.
Thank you, that is a fair assessment. And a polite and detailed response.
But it's not one I agree fully with.
The convoy is positioned and likely awaiting further convergence from any Eastern positions which are still catching up. Some strongholds are taking longer, and are still holding out. But are possibly virtually broken, or still breaking in a few places. Like Kharkiv. There are also more troops and equipment incoming from Siberia, etc, and it potentially takes a week or more to move. These likely reinforce and also are used to hold. As a front line moves forward. Reports are of older equipment. Some of the immediate waves and initial rush had been repelled, although fighting is still happening around a vital supply line for Kiev, the airport. Not quite sure who has it now. Because it is harder gaining accuracy. Look at the map in Western news of Russian positions, any analyst will tell you it is wrong. Pockets from front line, and surrounding cities are massively out. Nonsensical.
Kiev you're right is pivotal and a surrender is presumably favoured, but each side wants what the other cannot give. Also played up by opposing interests. How can he surrender anything? It would play into Russian hands. He is as committed to defending. Russia wants him to surrender. He will deny it until otherwise, supported by continued armaments and likewise foreign mercs.
Your assessment of just the Eastern region. I cannot agree with. It is past that. Russia hasn't got much more to lose now by being as sanctioned. Seemingly, it is all in objectively. More, and it starts to commit the opposition. Resources, like oil and gas are much harder upholding from a united global front. Meanwhile fighting is increasing in the West from air and missile strike possibly even troops now. They're on Odesa, columns are moving across, and up from Kherson.
Kiev like other cities needs encompassing before it yields. That isn't the position yet at all. But perhaps terms may still be brokered. Dubious. They've mostly been on some aid corridors, ceasefire, and have stalled.
Again, I don't have that situation. Who fully does. It's not in the press yet. Except as statements from both. Meanwhile the information above isn't accurate when played entirely by competing propaganda. But from both mouths, they are committed to their causes. It was seemingly described as all or nothing.
All or nothing... I'll have to consider that possibility as well.
From the start, I thought the operation was more of an intentional ploy to get Russia sanctioned, so that it would have an excuse to detach its economy from the west (with China and India following suit), without having much strategic value on its own. The tactics are unlike any I've seen, what with the dumping of arms and equipment on the territory, by both sides no less - if the Chechens do their thing in the big cities, half the country could become Somalia 2.0, and used as a buffer with the west.
But the situation now - it's like they're not even waiting for tactical support, but more like they're... stalling. Waiting for some event elsewhere. Same goes for the negotiations, which in all reports have been described in the vaguest terms, and which have proceeded at a pace I might even call leisurely, especially given the stakes at hand.
In short, somethin's fucky. For all the propaganda news about such and such vehicles or buildings being destroyed or people getting captured, both the conflict and the current stalemate seem artificial. And yet the political consequences are rapid and comprehensive, as if even the corporate players had a designated plan for this exact occasion, legal contract contingencies and all.
Time will tell how long this stalemate endures, and what precise event will happen just before it breaks up... though not necessarily with any direct attributable ties. It's a curious coincidence this happens at the exact same time as the Freedom Convoy in the US, which is now at D.C., and which has been mostly ignored by even the non-mainstream media.