Ständigt denna ammunition! Till skillnad från Ryssland backas Ukraina upp av två ekonomiska stormakter. Det märks i allt större utsträckning på slagfältet.The New York Times skrev:After months of pouring soldiers into eastern Ukraine, Russia’s progress essentially adds up to this: three small settlements and part of the city of Bakhmut, a high-profile battlefield with limited strategic value.
Compare that with what Moscow had hoped to achieve from its winter offensive by now: to seize the entire Donbas region — which contains dozens more settlements, some of them much larger than Bakhmut. To do that, Russia would have to recreate and win battles at the scale of Bakhmut again and again.
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“The Russian military doesn’t have the force quality,” Mr. Kofman said. “It doesn’t necessarily seem to have the ammunition either. And it can’t replace junior leadership in such a short amount of time.”
Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation
Ständigt denna propaganda! Dokumenten visar hur USA planerar att förse Ukraina med vapen, men lyckligtvis inte hur själva offensiven ska genomföras.The New York Times skrev:Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed.
The modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow, the analysts said. But the disclosures in the original documents, which appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans, represents a significant breach of American intelligence in the effort to aid Ukraine.
Russia’s Ruble Slides on Capital-Flight Fears
Rubeln ligger och plaskar. Efter annekteringen av Krym gick växelkursen från cirka 30 rubel per dollar till 70 rubel per dollar. Nu faller kursen ytterligare.WSJ skrev:The ruble was recently down 1.7% against the U.S. dollar and was on track for its lowest closing level since April 21, 2022, with 81.6 rubles buying $1. The currency has fallen 4.4% this week against the dollar and 5.2% against the euro. The ruble’s weakness runs counter to a broader trend among global currencies, which have gained against the dollar in recent weeks.
Ruble watchers attributed the currency’s latest decline to a report in Russian newspaper Kommersant that Russian President Vladimir Putin will allow gas producer Novatek to purchase Shell PLC’s stake in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural-gas project in Russia’s Far East for 95 billion rubles, equivalent to $1.2 billion.
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Analysts had widely expected the ruble to weaken this year as energy sanctions eat into Russia’s revenues. But the currency’s fall in recent months has been swifter than expected. Capital Economics had expected the ruble to weaken to 75 per U.S. dollar by next year. It traded as low as 81.8 per U.S. dollar on Thursday.
Russian Economic Prospects 'Foggy' as Sanctions Cut Deep
Klockan tickar.The Moscow Times skrev:Dubien estimated that Putin could afford to bankroll the offensive in Ukraine for another "three to four years" but warned that the economy faces years of further backsliding.
"It has already lost the equivalent of a decade of development since 2014," he said, referring to the year when the West pummeled Russia with sanctions over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
In Moscow, Putin’s future is all about the money
Trots stora motgångar på de militära, ekonomiska och politiska planen - som bekant pågår det åtminstone tre krig - är det fortfarande många ryssar som stödjer invasionen. Moralisk dövhet är ju ett sätt att överleva i Putins diktatur. Däremot vill en majoritet numera ha fredsförhandlingar, vad det nu innebär.The Australian Financial Review skrev:The last article the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow correspondent Evan Gershkovich wrote before he was arrested on “spying” charges a week ago was about the state of Russia’s economy. For a Russian, it did not make pretty reading.
He painted a picture of sinking oil and gas revenues, soaring expenditure, stuttering industry and a weakening domestic economy. Not the kind of tidings Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to hear.
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Ferris says many Russians do not hold the military in particularly high regard – its failings in Ukraine might not come as a total surprise – but “the ideology of dying for your country is very deeply inculcated”.