• ElHexo [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Ukraine will not receive F-16 fighter jets from its allies this year as hoped, a spokesman for the country’s Air Force said late Wednesday, confirming that, as expected, the advanced planes won’t play a role in the current counteroffensive.

    However, American officials have said that Ukraine has identified only eight combat pilots — less than a single squadron — who speak English well enough to start a period of training expected to last at least a year.

    If D-Day was reliant on eight fighters being operational in June 1945, I don’t think the chances of success would be very high.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/world/europe/ukraine-f16-jets-nato.html

    • Syldon@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Precisely the point. The allies had air superiority. Ukraine does not, therefore you cannot expect the same gains.

      • ElHexo [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        I would add that D-Day involved what, 200k soldiers? While the eastern offensive at that time involved 3.5 million soldiers.

        Ukraine has what, a couple hundred thousand Russian soldiers? Blunting the initial offensive and signing a peace treaty was always the best option for Ukraine itself.

        • Syldon@feddit.uk
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          1 year ago

          It was because of the Russian offensive that the Germans were defeated. Anyone with an interest in history knows that. Without Russia there was no beating Germany.

          D-day landings were 175k men, the invasion force was a 3m strong multinational force.

          I disagree that Ukraine should defer to a peace treaty, while the west supports them. It is western hardware that is making the difference. Ukraine knows this. It states it publicly and often. Russia are not making any gains against Ukraine now the Wagner have left the field. What Wagner committed in Bakhmut was unsustainable, and arguably the limits of where it was going to get to. Since Russia is nothing more than a crumbling obstacle now, why would Ukraine give ground to Russia. The Ruble has collapsed. There is dissent at the top now with daggers out for scapegoats. The damage Prigozhin did is still making its mark. All the war is doing is making Russia more and more indebted to China. China is happy to sell Russia arms to watch it destroy itself.

          Russia’s best outcome right now would be to be able walk away without incurring reparations cost for the carnage they have reaped. However, I doubt this will be seen as acceptable.

          • duderium [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Sacking all of your recruitment officials (as Zelensky did days ago) is always a sign of imminent victory and definitely not a sign of desperate exhaustion. The Russians are (probably) waiting for the Ukrainians to destroy what remains of their armed forces on those impossible fortifications. Once this is done, Russia will retake whatever territory it has lost and snap up any land with a Russian-speaking population (Odessa for instance).

            • Syldon@feddit.uk
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              1 year ago

              A bit of a stark difference between the belligerents isn’t it. One has a corrupt army that cannot fight due to the restrictions that corruption that has caused. The other stamped on corruption when it was revealed. The only win Russia will see from this travesty is if they decide en masse to remove the corrupt blight that infects their country.

              • duderium [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                1 year ago

                The only win Russia will see from this travesty is if they decide en masse to remove the corrupt blight that infects their country.

                The Russian Federation and the government of Ukraine are both creations of the USA. Are you saying that we should bring back the USSR? Before you answer with the usual liberal nonsense, please google the terms “yanks to the rescue” and “Siberian intervention.”

                • Syldon@feddit.uk
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                  1 year ago

                  What?

                  It was a 100 years ago. No one had any dealings with Russia for near fifty years between then and now. And outside of NATO Ukraine wishes to be in the EU, which is a competitor to the USA.

                  • duderium [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    1 year ago

                    You don’t know what you’re talking about and should really sit back and listen when people who have spent years learning about these subjects discuss them.

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          They’d have lost Kharkiv and Kherson if they’d done that. So clearly in hindsight that was not the best option.