We're coming up on Month 5 of the fabled four week Ukrainian offensive that was to have pushed the Russians back to Moscow by August. The Ukranians are estimated to have taken more than a quarter of a million casualties, are almost totally out of armored vehicles and are largely down to attacking in waves like zombies by drugging their conscripted soldiers with methamphetamine. We've even seen the most blatant attempt at a CIA color revolution in our lifetimes in the form of the hastily aborted Wagner rebellion, and the company has since largely been absorbed into the Russian Ministry of Defense. And we've finally started seeing fatigue set in within the US political system as the normally cowardly cuckolds of the Republican party are now suggesting that pouring a third of the defense budget into the most corrupt country on earth might have been a bad idea.
Thus I ask, how do you think the conflict will be resolved?
One small caveat, since I haven't seen this mentioned much on the site. The Russians officially consider the United States a belligerent in the war, and won't accept negotiations brokered by the US government. Turns out lend lease isn't a trick that works twice.
Now that the average age of a frontline Ukraine soldier is like 40; Meaning 20-60 year olds being black-bagged off the streets and thrown into the artillery grinder, I would think it wont be too long before Zelenskyy is hauled out into the streets by his own people and flayed, or he sees it coming and flees to Switzerland to one of his new mountain homes.
Barring that, the proxy war only ends when the US stops sending billions.
Yeah they are running into a serious manpower problem and no matter how many arms are give that doesn't change that. I fear eventually this will result in NATO ground forces being thrown into the fray because once the manpower runs out this proxy war can't continue at that point.
I think you raise an interesting point. We know that they're going to run out of people soon. The bigwigs in NATO know that too.
And as TriangleGang pointed out, Russia has probably warned them against putting boots on the ground. So what do they do? Try to negotiate before it's too late? Russia might not accept anything but unconditional surrender.
What's left for NATO? Hiring private military operators? Is that even feasible?
Now with current situation I see an eventual disavowing of them and probably a push for them to eventually agree to Russia's terms. This middle eastern conflict about to kick off has already started a transfer of arms and bodies to Israel instead of Ukraine. The Ukrainians of course are complaining but israel is far more important to politicians than them.
The Russians seek to be steamrolling Avdiivka and from what information is coming out there's not the defense the Ukies put up at Bakhmut.