This is nonsense. Russia has shifted to limited territorial objectives after it failed in its first objective. Your narritive only shows how deluded you are by your blind love for Russia.Cult Icon wrote: ↑15 Aug 2022, 15:00The Russian goal is to destroy the Ukrainian ground forces with artillery, airstrikes, and missile strikes while inflicting vastly disproportionate human and material losses. The territorial goals are ostentatious and of secondary relation to that. They continue to have very few infantryman and want to continue to fight the war with a small expeditionary force in order to avoid political risk. Examples of this, operationally, can be found in WW2 but nothing this extreme.
The war in Ukraine is a very unique and interesting case study in that regard as no country has attempted to invade another with such a strange force structure.
It's a little like the Allies in Normandy in that respect as they attrited the German army with artillery and airstrikes & limited advances. The Russians expect to "break out" after they attrit them to death.
The technique right now is the similar as the Luhansk Oblast, but larger. In the Luhansk oblast, they spent most of their time shooting them up and making limited advances. Then, after they attrited them sufficiently, they shifted operational reserves into Popasna and broke out. Halted, spent 5 weeks again repeating the same technique and fixed all 1st tier Ukrainian units away from the Eastern side of the salient. Shifted more operational reserves to reduce the salient. Then went after the exposed salient, which lead to the collapse of the Ukrainian forces.
The twin cities of S-K were meant to be another major urban battle but it didn't happen as the Ukrainian formations retreated into the Sivesk-Soledar-Bakmut defense line defense line, which we are are at now. The Russians initiated the artillery offensive against this line last month 7/5-6 and are still shooting everyday, with a short operational pause last month. I anticipate the remainder of this phase to continue well into Sept and possibly Oct. Essentially the Ukrainians have stuffed the Donbass with their army and there are a lot more targets to shoot at than at Luhansk.
Their focus right now is not just at the Donbass though, but improving positions at the Kharkiv axis (they just did so on 8/13) and possible limited movements in the South, which they have been on the strategic defensive for months.
Russia is not going to obliterate the Ukrainian army with artillery fire only because the Ukraine has now too many weapons systems that can take out Russian artillery. And you do not win with artillery only. Attrition is always a bad costly method. Shows how incompetent the russian army is.