OK, The title clues you in that the Russians still haven't given up. This is despite their being walloped both militarily and economically. I diverge from a lot of Ukrainians in that I think a lot of Russians are against this war, but it's hard to make your voice heard in a totalitarian state.
That said: Let's discuss the numbers.
My belief in the credibility of Ukraine's numbers for Russian losses are not coloured by my attitude toward toward Ukraine. I make it pretty clear that I am the LEAST Ukrainian of my family members. On the other hand, I do feel for the country and my family members there. So...
I thought they were pretty inflated early on, but the Russians talking about peace early in the game is a big hint that those numbers might be correct. If asked early in the war, I would have predicted that the Russians would have been able to make a foothold in the East to about the Dnipro River in the south up to Dnipro (city) and then a line northward to Kharkiv. The fighting would have been heaviest in that area. There would also be action in Kyiv.
The reality is that the Russians are basically holding close to the Russia-Ukraine border and they don't even hold that much of the territory there. Kyiv is hit by sporadic artillery and missile fire. The Russians are keeping their distance from Ukrainian territory with the exception of a few cities.
I know that the equipment losses are verified by Western intelligence agencies using satellites. But most of those numbers are released days after the numbers from the Ukrainian defence forces. There are independent groups that verify the losses on both sides as well.
[EDIT]And I forgot to add that I mentioned the leaked report by the FSB member early in the war that said:
A report thought to be by an analyst in the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, said that the Russian dead could already number 10,000. The Russian defence ministry has acknowledged the deaths of only 498 of its soldiers in Ukraine.[EDIT]
There are a lot of reasons that Russia is getting pounded heavily by Ukraine. Ukraine 2022 is not Poland 1939, but that doesn't mean people outside Ukraine should take this war lightly.
Putain would not have launched this if he didn't feel that the West would once again do nothing about Russia's imperialist ambitions. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, says "the degree of progress falls short of what we would like and how the dynamic of developments demands of the Ukrainian side" – meaning Russia's ongoing assault on its cities.
OK, Ukraine can hold out until it has destroyed Russia's military. And that time is coming soon.
I find it funny that some of the people who like Red Dawn are cheering the Russian forces in Ukraine. It's amazing they are too ignorant to see what exactly they are doing. Same team: different colours. Putain is still a KGB agent.
