NATO troops will be invited by the Govt of Ukraine, so Russia will be on pretty thin ice if they attack them.
The mercenaries that fought for Kiev were not treated any different, they were invited there too... are you saying that US forces in Syria wont fire on Russian troops because Russian troops were invited?
Kiev can invite anyone they please into the country but those invited that accept the invitation need to be aware Kiev is currently involved in a conflict and if HATO wants to send troops into that conflict then they become part of that conflict... and therefore also become fair game for the Russian military to kill.
HATO advisors have already been killed in this conflict... I would think one of their attacks on that naval facility in Odessa after the Kiev attack on the Crimean bridge probably killed a few Brits too.
HATO didn't respond by declaring war on Russia, in fact they seem to be being very careful to avoid starting such a conflict because they know it will escalate to a nuclear war very quickly, which is why HATO wont be sending any forces into the Ukraine... peace keepers or any other type of soldiers... some Polish politicians might suggest it but it will not happen because Russia will make a point of taking such forces out as quickly as possible.
They will have the same status as Russian troops in Syria.
Which is fair game for the terrorists... that the US and west support.
This is exacerbated by the refusal of Russia to declare war on Ukraine. since its an SMO there is no state of war, ergo NATO troops can be invited in as peacekeepers.
The US didn't declare war in Syria... they still do as they please... and are actually stealing resources from the country...
i am not guessing at the outcome. I am saying the overwhelming advantages of Russia have to be translated into a decisive win, if not it will be a failure due to incompetence. its a statement of opinion. Not a prediction of any outcome.
But they are talking about 200 to 400 thousand enemy soldiers... do you think the line the Russian soldiers will not move an inch and the enemy will just get mowed down? Ukrainian artillery will do nothing? Will they spread out their forces along the line of contact and slowly march forward into Russian guns and artillery and not fire back?
400 thousand soldiers is more than Russia initially committed to this conflict against a much larger force of Ukrainians, many of which were battle hardened from 8 years of war.... it is probably double what the Russians invaded with...
I am impressed with your opinion of competence... you set the bar incredibly high... do you think the Russians are Spartans?
Or perhaps John Wick?
If Russia holds all or even most of the territory they will be defending then this war is probably over within a year.
If Russia holds its positions there will be a large vacuum created by the enormous loss of Orcs so pushing forward would actually be rather much easier and more territory could be taken before any consideration of talks could begin.... taking out Kievs leadership would probably be a good idea too... at the end of course.
If the Russians were attacking entrenched troops, then I might agree with you. But attacking troops with no air cover, attacking entrenched defenses with massive artillery, air support and armour, should stop the Ukrainians before they even get too close.
The Orcs will have been stockpiling artillery shells and rockets to use in large numbers during their attacks and they will do some damage, and most likely they will concentrate their forces in specific locations to have local numbers advantages, but as mentioned above with Russian air power on their toes and carrying lots of bombs this is going to be very bloody.
Yep, pretty stupid frankly that it took them months to figure that out.
The Russians seem to have learned to coordinate the use of drones with artillery and even automatic grenade units and tank units which appear to use a drone operator to find targets in real time like in a video game.... videos showing tanks getting direct hits on troops in trenches and grenade launchers dropping rounds very accurately on target at troops in trenches suggests they are getting very good at such things... which does not bode well for large concentrations of enemy forces because heavy fire power is not as effective as people think when delivered blindly, but when targets are spotted it is devastating... vastly more effective than armed drones because a drone not carrying weapons can carry more fuel and remain on station much longer and the amount of weapons a single drone could carry is pathetic, but the amount of ammo an artillery battalion can carry is rather more able to stop a charge and drive it back.