Good morning, here is another news post. It is Thursday, March 3. It is the 8th day of the Russia-Ukraine War.
Having utterly failed to quickly dominate and topple the government in Kyiv, Russia is determined to slowly grind the country down. The US and other Western officials warn of a "slow anihhilation."
Despite the aid from other states, Ukraine's military will eventually run out of supplies to keep up the fight. Will to fight counts for a lot, but it cannot magic supplies where none exist. Russia has lost about 3-5% of tanks and other equipment, but Ukraine has a higher attrition rate at 10%.
Russian mishaps suggest that curroption in the armed forces means equipment in poor repair, so some of Russia's troubles here are of their own making. But in the end, they have sheer numbers in a way Ukraine does not. The longer this goes, the more time they have to learn from and correct those errors.
To wit, instead of encircling cities, which has failed, Russia has switched to massively bombarding them.
Russian forces are squeezing the south and trying to establish control over the entire coastal region. It hasn't happened yet, but it's very bloody.
China had asked Russia to hold off the invasion until the Olympics were over. This certainly does fly in the face of China's whole *thing* over territorial sovereignty.
Round two of talks between Ukraine and Russia begin today. I am not holding my breathe.
Various international businesses continue to pull out of Russia, further isolating and bankrupting the state. The ruble is worth about one penny. Most of the wealth of the state and its oligarchs are not in the ruble. Those assets are frozen, but not gone.
The USA is debating a massive aid package to Ukraine, of $10 billion.
The massive forty mile convoy is right where left it last: stuck outside Kyiv.