MontyPython
Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!
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Forbes:
...The Fire Information for Resource Management System, or FIRMS, satellites registered a very telling pattern of fires around Hostomel and Irpin, just west of Kyiv.
The blazes signaled intensive fighting along the roads threading through Hostomel and Irpin toward the capital. A similar pattern of fires was evident farther to the northwest, along the main supply routes connecting the Russian army to its railheads in Belarus.
The flames tell a story—of sustained clashes between reinforced Ukrainian battalions and idling, exhausted Russian battalions. The advantage appears to be with the Ukrainians, who on Wednesday claimed they had liberated Makariv, a town 30 miles west of Kyiv.
As the Ukrainians close in on the Russians from the west while maintaining a strong defensive line to the east, they’re creating a pocket, surrounding the very Russian vanguard that, just a couple weeks earlier, had threatened to surround Kyiv.
This pocket, reportedly containing around 10,000 Russian troops from the 35th and 36th CAAs, is extremely vulnerable. As the Russians run out of food and ammunition, they may begin surrendering en masse—or risk annihilation.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive isn’t limited to the region west of Kyiv. A separate effort on the other side of the city is under way, as well. On Tuesday, the Russians were just 12 or so miles from eastern Kyiv. Two days later, they’d retreated 20 miles farther to the east and north, according to the Pentagon.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive around Kyiv doesn’t immediately relieve pressure on the besieged cities of Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the east and Mariupol in the south. It doesn’t immediately help Ukrainian forces fighting to liberate the southern city of Kherson from Russian occupiers.
But that could change. If the Ukrainian army can close and eliminate the pocket of Russian troops west of Kyiv, commanders might be able to shift forces east and south in order to launch or bolster counteroffensives there.
More broadly, the Ukrainian operation around Kyiv underscores the conclusion many observers of the war reached after just two weeks. Russia is no longer is winning. And it might actually be losing.
...The Fire Information for Resource Management System, or FIRMS, satellites registered a very telling pattern of fires around Hostomel and Irpin, just west of Kyiv.
The blazes signaled intensive fighting along the roads threading through Hostomel and Irpin toward the capital. A similar pattern of fires was evident farther to the northwest, along the main supply routes connecting the Russian army to its railheads in Belarus.
The flames tell a story—of sustained clashes between reinforced Ukrainian battalions and idling, exhausted Russian battalions. The advantage appears to be with the Ukrainians, who on Wednesday claimed they had liberated Makariv, a town 30 miles west of Kyiv.
As the Ukrainians close in on the Russians from the west while maintaining a strong defensive line to the east, they’re creating a pocket, surrounding the very Russian vanguard that, just a couple weeks earlier, had threatened to surround Kyiv.
This pocket, reportedly containing around 10,000 Russian troops from the 35th and 36th CAAs, is extremely vulnerable. As the Russians run out of food and ammunition, they may begin surrendering en masse—or risk annihilation.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive isn’t limited to the region west of Kyiv. A separate effort on the other side of the city is under way, as well. On Tuesday, the Russians were just 12 or so miles from eastern Kyiv. Two days later, they’d retreated 20 miles farther to the east and north, according to the Pentagon.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive around Kyiv doesn’t immediately relieve pressure on the besieged cities of Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the east and Mariupol in the south. It doesn’t immediately help Ukrainian forces fighting to liberate the southern city of Kherson from Russian occupiers.
But that could change. If the Ukrainian army can close and eliminate the pocket of Russian troops west of Kyiv, commanders might be able to shift forces east and south in order to launch or bolster counteroffensives there.
More broadly, the Ukrainian operation around Kyiv underscores the conclusion many observers of the war reached after just two weeks. Russia is no longer is winning. And it might actually be losing.
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