yeah it’s a lot. 3 years of war in chechnya saw 4500 official russian deaths. but this is a much larger quickly-developing conflict too.
it sounds like day 2 was an assault by most of their available forces. little reserves still waiting to go in.
Obviously I’m not a military planner/expert but 1/3rd of your forces seems like a lot, and you need some left over to occupy. Ukraine doesn’t seem like it will tolerate a peaceful occupation at this point.
The point is not to occupy, just to topple the government and then to allow Russian disinformation to form the next corrupt pro Russia government. Assassination of Zelensky and those around him and the annexation of Eastern Ukraine are the goals of Putin.
190k troops were never enough for occupation. putin thought he’d only need to capture zelensky, and then russian army got punched in the face.
a part of why putin is crazy, it’s one thing to push alternative history and fake news. but it’s absolutely bonkers that he thought this could be a quick war. that’s a guy who’s not all there
Oh so Putin thought he could do that without any sort of occupation? That seems… optimistic right? idk
“we’ll be greeted as liberators”
Sounds like they’re eager to fight a war on someone else’s soil 
We shouldn’t assume that people with unchecked power will act rationally. If everyone is constantly telling you that you’re the Baddest Man On The Planet and that you can do no wrong, eventually you will believe them.
And that’s different from the US how?
you stole that line from your boy Panarin!
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1497257680259497992
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1497135949180026881
He looks so young. Heartbreaking. Ukrainian bravery seems to be boundless.
picture of the ghost of kyiv. 6 kills.
Surround Kyiv and have special forces find and kill government officials and then withdraw. Claim victory in repelling the evil nazi Ukrainian government and say how the world should thank you and how heroic Russia is.
Step 2 Install pro Russian government in Ukraine
Step 3 Tell other countries the same thing will happen to them unless they are pro Russian and the West will do nothing to save them.
To beat a population into submission you will have to take out the Nazi Germany / Communist Russia playbook after they take over a country.
Be depraved, ruthless, and barbaric. He will most likely do it.
Would have thought that was reasonable a few days ago I guess. Just hard to see that happening now.
I am so tired of these almost we got thems.
They are invaded Ukraine. Just light them up.
just in: Ukraine regained control of Snake Island.
China eases restrictions on Russian wheat imports and Taiwan essentially says go fuck yourself, China.
https://twitter.com/Blake_Allen13/status/1497017882303254532