F-22Raptor
Elite Member
Zelensky at Kupyansk
You would never see Putin anywhere near the front line
Russia - Ukraine war part ll. News and Discussions
- Thread starter Fatman17
- Start date
Zelensky at Kupyansk
You would never see Putin anywhere near the front line
F-22Raptor
Elite Member
Ukraine continues to strike Russian oil refineries
Nuffle
Registered Member
Zelensky can roam freely even through the terrain where the Russians are, so why would they kill their unconscious asset?
The same goes for Syrsky.
Nuffle
Registered Member
It seems like a great feat, considering that Ukraine launched several simultaneous attacks around Kupyansk and simply overwhelmed the city through sheer numbers. The Russians don't have many troops in western Kupyansk due to the difficulty of reaching and supplying the city, so they can't cover all sides, leading to many gaps.
It wouldn't be considered absurd for Ukraine to retake western Kupyansk through these attacks, but the problem is that this isn't enough.
Russia wants to crush the Kupyansk pocket, which means cutting off supplies to internal units, all of which involves several floating bridges within Kupyansk.
Russia took most of western Kupyansk a few months ago and managed the last one, but they also took most of eastern Kupyansk as well. So, even if Ukraine manages to recapture all of western Kupyansk, their supplies to the pocket will still be cut off, and Russia can still pressure the remaining floating bridges.
Ukraine had great difficulty counterattacking the western half of Kupyansk, despite having a wide range of angles to approach from and no supply restrictions, so you can imagine the impossibility of retaking eastern Kupyansk, which would require channeling troops over floating bridges into a pocket or an incredibly risky river crossing within the city.
Retaking western Kupyansk also doesn't impede Russian operations in Kharkiv, as they already have a solid base on the western side of the Oskil River to the north and across the international border, so once the pocket is gone, Russia can simply rotate its units and ignore western Kupyansk until later.
F-22Raptor
Elite Member
Nuffle
Registered Member
The decision to invade was the biggest mistake of this war. Today it is more than certain that Russia desired a quick campaign and expected minimal resistance, considering how they invaded and the late response of partial mobilization in October, but the Ukrainian side also made numerous mistakes, for example, if they had mobilized months before the invasion and had built a series of fortifications in the south, this would have prevented the largest Russian advance in the war, resulting in avoiding the second biggest mistake of this war: the failed Ukrainian counter-offensive of 2023.
F-22Raptor
Elite Member
Anothet Russian assault destroyed
vizier
Registered Member
Even a data-link without guiding air to air missiles would give huge advantage to Ukr F16s considering Russia cannot use awacs in the same sector and we are not seeing any Russian awacs activity for a long time. As the conflict drags on there will be more risks like these.
Yommie
Elite Member
F-16 would not be a match for Su-35 or Su-57 armed with R-77M, with or without AWAC.
