If Russia committed double the infantry to this war it would probably go more than twice as fast. The lines would simply be overwhelmed.
I would say committing more drones and more artillery would speed things up better without putting more Russian bodies in harms way.
If Russia can make a drone for every Orc soldier and hunt them down one by one then that makes more sense than sending more bodies into the firing line.
I think Paul Craig Roberts is right. Russia isn't committing that much infantry to this war. Listen to the play by play on this war with History legends. He talks about the battle for Avdiivka. Russia gains some bridge head. Ukraine command counters with reinforcements. 100 infantry and 3 tanks. (which did not repel the Russians) These dinky battles do not play to Russia's strength. Numbers would play to Russia's strength. As it always has. This war is a cluster of small battles going along the front.
Do you understand how stupid it would be to mass large infantry forces in places where the enemy has cluster munitions and artillery?
The Orcs are losing significant numbers of bodies every day while the Russian forces are building up and arming up... when the time is right they can strike, but until then you have to be patient.
Nobody gets the point, that a real economy of the whole west is not as powerful if clashes with real resources&industry driven economy of Russia.
Finally, one of my colleagues asked me openly, how do I predict the situation to look like in a year time period.
When I told him, that in my opinion Russia will consolidate, speed up processes of reorienting to the east, never in predictable future to return to the business as usual status with the EU and "west", they all laughed.
Well, I have nit discussed much with them for the last year +, must arrange some nice meeting there Laughing Laughing Laughing
But not sure if they will be interested
I suspect many in the west will bury their heads in the sand thinking Russia will collapse when they kick the door in... Europeans in particular think that way, but the ones that stick to their guns long after they have been proven wrong are not people who should be in charge... they will call the first who want to change tactics cowards or even rats deserting a perfectly fine ship, but it was rats that often knew first when a ship was taking on water so they knew to leave first.
Delaying finding out the truth just delays your corrections and new tactics which delays their effects... if there was no war on and western efforts were not openly murdering Russian citizens and soldiers then going back to "normal" would probably be what both sides want, but I dare say the recent western attempt to drive Russia back to the 1990s for the purposes of destroying their economy and perhaps even starting civil wars... I can't see them wanting to return to being best buddies any time soon.
Donetsk is again under Ukrainian shelling today. Multiple dead and wounded civilians.
Kiev has been murdering these people since 2014, it is no surprise that they continue being the terrorist state that the west funds and supports.
Just confirmation that this conflict is necessary and that the people guilty of these attacks are in the process of being tracked down and dealt with.
The Leningrad NPP is on the other side of the Bay of Finland ffs, some 100km as the crow flies. Geography much? And what kind of idiot would hope for that, anyway? Nuclear disasters are seldom localized events...
Which is why a real conflict with HATO would be much easier as there would be no possibility of collateral damage... there are no innocent civilians to worry about.
They think terrorism is acceptable... even nuclear terrorism...
So Mark Sleboda says the war will take another 2-3 years.
My cat said 4 to 5 years... but he is probably no better at reading tea leaves than Mark.
Its possible IMHO as long as russia does not take decisive action.
What is the rush... this conflict is bleeding the entire west and causing internal strife and arguments, why hurry to finish something that is clearly damaging the west and actually strengthening Russia.
When this conflict ends lots of western companies will want back into the Russian market to make money and expand their nefarious influence and spread their values and way of doing business. Russia needs that like a kick to the crotch.
Russia was worried about all those thousands of people working at Starbucks that would lose their jobs... **** coffee... train them to make aircraft or cars or useful things.
Imagine if the West provides Ukraine with small drones that operate like CBUs but guided and delivered by HIMARs.
The west has been supplying such drones since day one... why do you think the Russians deploy jammers and other equipment to deal with drones?
Sure Russia will have them too, but in the back and forth tech swings the carnage could be horrendous.
Russia seems to not only be outproducing them, but also creating smarter more capable models and even AI drones with day night and all weather vision to attack individuals. AI has the advantage of being able to deal with a large number of engagements at one time with the coordination to hit each target and then when the kill had been confirmed move to other targets, or if it is confirmed to not be a kill to hit the target again.
How the attack on the US based happened (impressive!!!):
That is something the Americans have been doing in Syria and other places for years... not impressive at all... impressive that they are so stupid as to drop their guard when their own drone returns and don't expect to be attacked...
Well, thing is, they usually (not always though) work as advertised but they only do so in very specific, ideal conditions, and they cost an effing shit ton of money at that.
Plus the Russians see what they do and how they do it and work out tactics and methods and equipment to stop them and to defend themselves.
IF, and I say "if" (because none has really impressed anyone so far) any western weapon introduced to the conflict actually would bother the Russians, they soon figure out how to counteract it and within the same timeframe also produce an analogy to strike back with. This for a mere fraction of the price.
The Russian military are probably the most expert military on the planet in on the ground day to day use of drones in warfare, and they are testing new drones and anti drone systems every day... perfecting it and getting it into service within a few months.
I wouldn't underestimate such nato drones. They can easily make hundreds per month. It's just they didn't turn into wartime mode economy so their production is low and price are too high for what they are.
The west is better at the bigger drones, which are only good against third world countries with no air force or large long range SAMs. They wont send UAVs into Ukraine airspace because their life expectancy would be minutes. The smaller drones are best if they are cheap because making them in enormous numbers means they are more widely deployed and used which makes them more effective.
Drones are like SAMs and ATGMs... western gold plated missiles look nice on paper but in combat seem to have some issues but cost so much you need a super power and its HATO cronies to be gifting them to you or you will simply never be getting enough.
Conversely a super cheap ATGM would be excellent for hitting a wide range of targets on the battlefield at distance with precision. The British loved the Milan ATGM in the Falklands because of its range and thermal sights, even though the Argentines didn't have any tanks... they had landing vehicles that the US Marines used but they were taken out easily with M72 LAWs.
Look at the Turkish drone. 2 years ago it was revolutionary, now a piece of trash. Its not possible to predict how this is gonna evolve, and when that is the case, there is a huge risk there will be times when you are on the back foot.
Too big and too slow and operates at a height where it is an easy target for a range of air defence systems the Russians use.
It was never going to do well.
all dirty evil tricks by a bunch of calculating psychopaths.
It is their nature, I would be more afraid if they started acting "nice".
Let them win their medals, the deceit involved makes the gold medal worthless when you are not competing against the best to win it.