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The Russians seem to be having great success- against unarmed civilians, anyway. By all reports, the Ukrainian armed forces are dealing them setbacks daily.

The state of the Russian army makes me remember Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. They too were supposed to be top-of-the-line, battle-hardened, tough as nails, yet most of them folded attack in both Iraq wars.

Sadly, Ukraine is not the U.S. or the U.N., their troops are badly outnumbered by the Russians. It seems to me that the Russian "strategy", if such it is, is to wear Ukraine down with atrocities against civilians, in the hope that Ukraine will surrender in order to spare innocent lives. This is akin to hostage takers threatening to the hostages unless their demand are met. Yes, I'm comparing Putin to a criminal or terrorist. Actually, he now qualifies as both.

Paul4747 8 Mar 17
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Actually the numbers are about equal, if not slightly in favour of the Ukrainians. But the Russians may be better equipped, especially in air support, but then again it is said that in modern wars the attacker needs at least a three to one advantage.

"According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), Ukraine has 196,600 active military personnel.

This splits into 125,600 ground troops, 35,000 air personnel and 15,000 naval troops.

It can also call upon 900,000 reservists although, as recent images of civilians holding wooden training guns suggest, not all of these forces are necessarily well equipped."

"Russia’s military vastly outguns that of Ukraine, with a budget of between $40bn to $65bn and 900,000 active military personnel across land, sea and air.

The country also boasts around two million reservists, with this number potentially set to be bolstered as Russia is believed to be mulling whether to conscript more people into its armed forces."

[nationalworld.com]

They're also paying mercenaries from both Russia and other nations to shore up their numbers. Numbers actually facing off in Ukraine are close to even, but only because Russia bungled their deployments horribly and seemed to be overconfident, sending only a fraction of their force. But the numbers will tell eventually.

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The reports of Russian losses are encouraging, and are demoralizing the Russians. The Ukrainian army is bolstered by civilian volunteers, again, highly motivated. Terror is pretty much all the Russians have - - It's not as if the Ukrainians have that much in the way of military assets. Having put so much of their assets in jeopardy, the Russians may find their equipment roster steadily depleted and not that easy to replenish.

They may re-learn the lessons of Afghanistan. Let's hope it's not at the same cost to the people of Ukraine, or indeed the world.

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