I first noticed the London based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) being quoted by the BBC in articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Then I checked and RUSI has many more articles online. I just hope some Western Govts are getting real lethal aid thru into the hands of the the amazing Ukraine fighters and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When news of the Putin invasion of Ukraine first hit I expected Russian armour supported by air cover would quickly slice through Ukraine pretty much wherever they wanted and that the war would be mostly over in a fortnight. How wrong I was.
It would be nice to think there is some source of accurate and unbiased news but i doubt it.
Zooming out from this to see who benefits and who looses apart from national pride and ethnic cleansers, I see a resource/currency war against children.
On both sides children are fighting children for the benefit of oil companies, arms manufactures and foreign access to the wealth of Ukraine. People worldwide now have video recordings of the duplicitous media part of the encouragement and training of young kids to use Molotov cocktails against the Russian kids. By training and arming kids like this media is part of a war crime.
The Russian kids were tricked into this by being told they were on a training exercise. They seem to have been used to dispose of old ww1 worthy equipment as a distraction. Meanwhile the food shortages in Ukraine will mainly harm the kids as will the shortages in Russia caused by sanctions.
BBC map of areas of Russian control –
Ukraine war: Russian forces regrouping for attack – Nato
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60945068
I just hope the west somehow is keeping up flow of aid to all inside Ukraine who need help.
Including the remarkable members of Armed forces Ukraine who need lethal munitions to keep Vlads legions back where they can do least harm. I trust Vlad and all the Russians enjoy knowing that Western Intell is all over them 24/7 and probable knows when he picks his butt. Interesting info on GDP per capita.
Russia GDP per capita 2020 = US$11,786.62
tradingeconomics.com/russia/gdp-per-capita
Ukraine GDP per capita 2020 = US$3,115.86 – only 26.4% of Russia
tradingeconomics.com/ukraine/gdp-per-capita
Australia GDP per capita 2020 = US$58,020.45 – 5 times as wealthy per capita as Russia
Fascinating – imagine how wealthy Russia could be – with their huge resources – if their economy was run on stock standard capitalist/democracy principles!!
tradingeconomics.com/australia/gdp-per-capita
I thought that the Russian plan was to give the impression that they were going to attack Kyiv to draw Ukrainian fighters away from their real target, Donbas and the eastern area, especially land access to Crimea.
Just remembered I blogged on Ukraine Christmas Day 2017 –
Our disgusting ABC sweet talks Russian invasion of Ukraine
www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=5486
If Vlad was feinting with his efforts to encircle Kiev – he sure put a lot of effort into it. That 64km line of his tanks & vehicles.
For sure feeding deception to your enemies is a big part of war. D-Day is a classic example of a huge operation in plain view of air recon for months even years yet wrapped in a cocoon of often fairly cheap spoofs and feints. Rubber tanks, fake army signals from imaginary units, RAF bombing way away from Normandy. I wonder how many lives it saved on the day that German Panzer units were a long way away from the right beaches where they could have wreaked havoc.