There may only be a smoldering radioactive pile of rubble left of Ukraine in another week. Things are happening very quickly. The cities are being surrounded and shelled to pile of rubble, people and all. What do we have a military for if we can't protect free people of Europe from their continent being destroyed again? This is such a strategic blunder. We didn't maintain the high ground. Had we setup a no fly zone before they attacked, it would be they who were the aggressors starting a war the US. We just gave them a few missiles and said good luck buddy. Every Russian POW always says the same thing: "it was just a training mission, we didn't know we were going to Ukraine, and so on... Look that's what their trained to say, what Putin wants them to say. Likely so they might get sympathy from Ukrainian people, and by all accounts they get good food, water, and a phone call home. Sure nice of them to spend all that resource to treat them nice and give them food and water they might not have next week. I bet the Ukrainian POWs aren't being treated as nicely. I think we are underestimating Putin's chances of survival. He may in fact become the last person to be alive on this planet, hiding out in his bunker.
Look at the north and the stats Ukraine is putting out for Russian equipment losses and deaths. Some may say the figures are inflated, but the numbers are way higher than the Russians are admitting...
IMO the Ukraine / US /UK assessment of how the war is going is far closer to the truth than the Russian assessment.
This phase of the war just looks ugly because the Russians are hitting a lot of civilian buildings and their are civilian casualties,
The effect of those Russian strikes on the Ukraine military is minimal, mostly it just makes them more determined.
When the 2 militaries engage in close combat with anything like equal numbers it seems, Ukraine mostly wins.
There is an equipment imbalance, but the Russians are doing their best to even this up, by kindly donating some of theirs.
NATO and other countries are giving Ukraine a lot of equipment...
Russia is having a lot more success in the south than the north, capturing small villages, or demolishing some civilian buildings isn't success.
Any large city has lots of buildings, demolishing a few just makes the street to street fighting more complex..
If we were able to fly over the city, I bet more than 99% of buildings are standing, sure that number might come down a bit.
if there is any case for the US to do something extra, it is supply some of these:-
en.wikipedia.org
MQ-9 Reaper crews (Pilots and Sensor Operators), stationed at bases such as
Creech Air Force Base, near
Las Vegas, Nevada, can hunt for targets and observe terrain using multiple sensors, including a
thermographic camera. One claim was that the on-board camera is able to read a license plate from two miles (3.2 km) away.
[14] An operator's command takes 1.2 seconds to reach the drone via a
satellite link.
The MQ-9 carries a variety of weapons including the
GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb, the
AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles, the
AIM-9 Sidewinder,
[14] and the
GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). Tests are underway to allow for the addition of the
AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missile.[
cit
But if the invasion was success, that weapon would fall into Russian hands, IMO not likely but it is a risk.
Maybe supplying some MQ-9s to NATO allies, who in turn release MIGs, is a better bet...
Do do that, the Stinger air-to-air missile needs to work.
