Here we go again-Ukraine once again pt2

[Skybird]

Last night saw the most intense Russian air strike yet in this war, with the Russian air force striking in two dozen locations.

Could maybe be the beginning of the preparatory bombardment for their long expected spring/summer offensive.


This comes one day after Kyiv suffered one of the most heaviest bombardements of the war.

[Dargo]

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Last night saw the most intense Russian air strike yet in this war, with the Russian air force striking in two dozen locations.

Could maybe be the beginning of the preparatory bombardment for their long expected spring/summer offensive.


This comes one day after Kyiv suffered one of the most heaviest bombardements of the war.

Sure, but then you bombard the front not cities this has the same effect as Operation Linebacker II nil.

Originally Posted by Zelenskyy

It may be the weekend now, but the war continues. This cannot be ignored. America's silence and the silence of others worldwide only encourage Putin.

[Reece]

The situation in Ukraine is looking pretty grim, I keep praying for them!

[Skybird]

The nuclear option in dealing with frozen Russian assets

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/..._x_tr_pto=wapp

It seems to me that the West is never short of endless complicating worries by which it can prevent itself from actually doing anything effective.

Russia has stolen some hundred airliners of Western carriers at the beginning of the war, btw.

[Dargo]

Russia can not do an offensive on different parts of the front and certainly no ‘bewegungskrieg’ does not have enough drones to dominate the air, it is not all doom for Ukraine.

Originally Posted by Skybird

The nuclear option in dealing with frozen Russian assets

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/..._x_tr_pto=wapp

It seems to me that the West is never short of endless complicating worries by which it can prevent itself from actually doing anything effective.

Russia has stolen some hundred airliners of Western carriers at the beginning of the war, btw.

You have never flown in Russia my advice don't it was always bad very bad even with hundreds airliners of Western origin. There are days they do not drop off the air, but those are rare days. Russian airlines have been flying aircraft with no supply of spare parts from the manufacturers for almost 3 years. You can manage for a while with spare parts that were still in stock or taken from other aircraft. But sooner or later they run out, and have to be bought through parallel imports, where control is much less strict. Until before the war, Russian companies leased the bulk of their fleet from mostly Irish firms, which were also controlled by European authorities. But after the invasion, the Kremlin ‘nationalised’ the aircraft, suddenly requiring the Russian aviation agency to check almost 500 extra planes ‘impossible work’.

The Netherlands will send its last F-16 to Ukraine on Monday. Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans announced this on Sunday. This brings the total number of fighter aircraft supplied by the Netherlands to 24. In addition to supplying 24 F-16s to Ukraine, the Netherlands has also made 18 such fighter planes available for a training centre in Romania. At Fetesti airbase, Ukrainian pilots will be trained to fly F-16s in addition to NATO pilots. The Netherlands took the lead with Denmark and the United States for that training centre and is also helping with training at the base. The Dutch air force is currently flying the newer F-35s and therefore no longer needed the F-16s supplied to Ukraine.

[Reece]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Last F-16 fighter jet promised by Netherlands will be sent to Ukraine on May 26, - Defense Minister Brekelmans

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said that the country would send the last promised F-16 to Ukraine on Monday, May 26 .

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to WNL.

Thus, Brekelmans announced that the Netherlands would send the last promised F-16 to Ukraine tomorrow.

"This means that all 24 promised fighter jets will soon be present in Ukraine," he said.

Brekelmans emphasized that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin continues his aggression.

"He is demonstrating that he has no intention of seriously discussing a ceasefire," the minister emphasized.

The Dutch Minister of Defense added that, in addition to supplying aircraft, they are training pilots and technicians and sharing military doctrines "so that Ukraine can build a modern armed forces that is in line with the armed forces of NATO member states."

He also emphasized the importance of continuing to increase pressure on Russia and providing Ukraine with as much support as possible. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3554223

[Dargo]

Trump softens on Putin as Russia’s military edge weakens, officials say

Russia is actually culminating in its ability to conduct an offensive,” Barrons said. “It is very unlikely now that the Russian military have the equipment, the people, and the training and logistics to mount an offensive that would break the Ukrainian line and — even if they did — to exploit it immediately.”

Even if Russia succeeded in gaining more Ukrainian territory, the Kremlin is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of seizing full control of the four regions it illegally annexed in the fall of 2022 — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — according to Dara Massicot, senior research fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

“There’s a difference between pushing the Ukrainians back five to 10 kilometers at a time at high cost versus having the assembled manpower and armor behind that to exploit a breakthrough and to occupy and push through all of those obstacles, even though the Ukrainians are having issues,” Massicot said. “That’s still a really large bill in terms of equipment that they need, and I just don’t see that concentration anywhere.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...efire-ukraine/

Intel sees 50.000 that is not enough Russian meat to exploit, they need at least twice that much to even make a dent in the front.

[Jimbuna]

Over week, enemy lost 7120 people and 2247 pieces of equipment. INFOGRAPHICS

During the week, Ukrainian defenders destroyed about 7120 Russian invaders and 2247 pieces of enemy weapons and military equipment.

According to Censor.NET, this was reported by Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk on Telegram.

"For the week from May 18 to 25, 2025, enemy losses amounted to about 7120 personnel," the message says.

It is noted that significant losses were suffered by weapons / military equipment of the Russian troops:

22 tanks;
76 armored combat vehicles;
289 artillery systems;
9 MLRS;
2 air defense systems;
851 units of motor vehicles;
10 units of special equipment. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3554229

[mapuc]

How many times have we heard this ?



Markus

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

Either can Ukraine...as it is now both are in a deadlock on the frontline.



Markus

[Skybird]

I stick to what I say about this war since almost three years now. Its not so much about wether Russia can win the war, but whether Ukraine can hold out as long as the Russians can. There is no doubt that both sides suffer heavy losses - BOTH sides. And there is no doubt that Russian losses are heavier than Ukrainian losses. But is the difference such that Russia will run out of steam before Ukraine, or not? The Ukrainians make the Russians pay. But not decisively so so far. And their own losses hurt them more than the Russians are hurt by theirs, becasue Russia can better digest them, has a significantly greater personnel pool.

And one question lurks in the background nobody has an answer to for sure. Will Russia, when it sees it cannot win conventionally anymore really just call it quits and stop - or will it put out the real big, the nuclear sticks next? Everybody rules that out, but I have not heard a reasonable, a convincing argument for that otimism so far. Hence nobody prepares for that scenario, basing on "it cannot be what I do not want to be".


Hence everybody seems to refuse preparing an answer for this worst case. Russia escalates since three years, even against NATO states themselves. Russia'S only reaction to anythign ALWAYS was to escalate even further. See recent events in the Baltic. They do so under the eyes of NATO, and NATO lets them get away with it. The Russian leadership is trapped in its narration, cant walk out of it anymore. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy now.

So here it is: "What will the West do once the first Russian nuke explodes on Ukrainian soil? What options, what readied options that are realistically possible, will form the reaction of the West then?

Mind you, Russia has changed its nuclear doctrine in such a way that from it it can take that using nukes in wars of aggression that take foreign land are allowed. They only must call the targetted land "Russian land", anbd forn that they only need a group of Russians living the smallest of the small coimmuntiies already suffice for this defitnion as a "Russian land that must be defended". They could invade Poland and the Czech Republic and even Germany , and by that doctrine it still would be a defensive war against their victim's aggression. And thats exactly what Putin did with Ukraine form all beginning on: denying its right to self-exiostence and claimin g it indeed is Russian land and is no separate ethnicity and culture, but is Russia. The Russian nuclear doctrine is not defensive, it is absolutely aggressive.

I do not say we should fall back here. We should carry on, so that must be clear. But we must prepare for the worst, we mjust maker answers ready for the case of "what if". Right now - we would seem to be totally helpless and "surprised" by this scenario.

And the US. Listen to Trumps whining wishy-washy babbling on that his best buddy Vladimir does not listen to him. Listen to Trumps reactions to the devastating air attacks of the past two or three nights, the heaviest in all the war so far. Listen to the deafening silence from Washington, and how the silence yells in the ear.

Nobody in the political realm has the worst possible scenario on his list of possibilities that could materialize. Not Europe. Not Trump. Not China.

Nobody.