Ukraine slaughter still continues!

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/NJZz8KQu-os" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/NJZz8KQu-os</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJZz8KQu-os

Key Takeaways:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined the conditions that must be met to push Russia to agree to a "just peace."
  
• Ukrainian officials continue to signal that Ukraine is working to further increase its drone and missile capabilities in support of this goal.
  
• Zelensky reiterated on January 2 that the Ukrainian Constitution and Ukrainian law prohibit Ukraine from holding presidential and parliamentary elections during periods of martial law.
  
• Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that several Russian ships will soon arrive at the Port of Tartus in Syria to evacuate Russian military assets to Libya.
  
• Russian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Vuhledar.
  
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continues to support its official “Glaz/Groza” reconnaissance and strike unit coordination software package despite Russian soldiers’ continued reliance on other ad hoc communications systems.

https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-3-2025

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/mx7Ud2b1EZU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/mx7Ud2b1EZU</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx7Ud2b1EZU

Key Takeaways:

• Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed or damaged over 3,000 Russian tanks and almost 9,000 armored vehicles in 2024 as Russia continues to accrue vehicle losses that are likely unsustainable in the medium-term.
  
• Russian forces have reportedly been using fewer armored vehicles in assaults in the most active areas of the frontline in recent weeks, possibly in order to conserve these vehicles as Soviet stocks dwindle.
  
• Ukrainian forces struck a gas terminal at the Ust-Luga port in Leningrad Oblast on the night of January 3 to 4.
  
• Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions near Kreminna and likely maintain positions near Kurakhove.
  
• Russian forces recently advanced near Kreminna, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Kurakhove.
  
• The Russian government continues to increase financial incentives in order to boost the recruitment of military personnel.

https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-4-2025

As you can see the Russian military still hasn't learned the lessons of the First World War when it comes to supply!

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/R9FLNcV03yI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/R9FLNcV03yI</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9FLNcV03yI

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/zpImt5eEuNA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/zpImt5eEuNA</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpImt5eEuNA

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/5HTcL6tckgQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/5HTcL6tckgQ</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HTcL6tckgQ


Key Takeaways:

• Ukrainian forces resumed offensive operations in at least three areas within the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast and made tactical advances on January 5.
  
• Russian forces also advanced southeast of Sudzha and counterattacked against intensified Ukrainian attacks southeast of Korenevo and north of Sudzha on January 5.
  
• Russian sources expressed concern about the Russian military's ability to react to Ukraine's ongoing combined arms efforts to integrate electronic warfare (EW) and long-range strike capabilities with ground operations.
  
• Russian forces recently advanced east of Pokrovsk amid renewed offensive operations in the area likely aimed at supporting the envelopment of Pokrovsk from the northeast.
  
• The recent intensification in the Russian 41st CAA's area of responsibility east of Pokrovsk indicates that the Russian military command is still considering the envelopment of Pokrovsk as one of their key operational objectives in this area.
  
• Russian forces may also be exploiting comparatively weaker Ukrainian defensive positions further east and south of Pokrovsk as part of an ongoing effort to seize any territory, regardless of such territory’s relative tactical insignificance.
  
• Elements of the Russian 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade (51st CAA, formerly 1st Donetsk People's Republic Army Corps) are reportedly split between the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions — Russia's two most prioritized sectors of the frontline.
  
• Russian forces recently advanced near Borova, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Kurakhove.
  
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kursk salient and regained lost positions near Chasiv Yar.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-5-2025

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the hesitation on the part of outgoing President Joe Biden to preventatively sanction Russia before the 2022 full-scale invasion of his country in an interview published on Sunday, describing threats to sanction Moscow only after an invasion “bullshit.”

Zelensky made the comments in a three-hour interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that the Ukrainian government-run United24 platform described as “bold” and candid, focusing much of its time on the ongoing invasion of the country and Kyiv’s relationship with America – under both Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.

Ukraine has been in some form of war with Russia and its proxies for over a decade – since Russia colonized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, under President Barack Obama. The “annexation” of Crimea was accompanied by an ongoing war in the eastern Donbass region, which began as a conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists but after 2022 has become a direct war between the Russian military and Ukraine. Zelensky, a comic actor with no prior political experience, won the 2019 presidential election largely on public sentiment souring against the corrupt establishment, which in the West was considered “pro-Europe” and resulted in Zelensky being branded “pro-Russian.”

As president, Zelensky maintained a friendly relationship with then-President Donald Trump that continues to this day and later struggled to establish a functional relationship with Biden. The February 2022 Russian “special operation” to oust Zelensky preceded Biden’s decision the summer before to lift sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which would have given Russia a stranglehold on natural gas sales to much of western Europe.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/06/zelensky-torches-biden-on-the-way-out-refusal-to-sanction-putin-bullshit/

Democrats continue to prove themselves the party of bullshit!

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/_IMlbkEZgxw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/_IMlbkEZgxw</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IMlbkEZgxw

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In late-December conversations in Kyiv, I found Ukrainians determined to resist Russian aggression but tired of war. No one, however, spoke of ending the fight, exhaustion, or permanent cessation of land to Russia. A negotiated peace was thought to be beyond reach, but even a ceasefire might be difficult to achieve. Left unsaid was that the West could risk resentment if it pressed Ukraine into a negotiation likely to fail.

Ukrainians saw other positive signs. One leader recalled that Trump was the first to provide lethal weapons (Javelin anti-armor missiles), and he opposed the Russian Nord Stream II gas pipeline. Trump would not want to preside over a failed negotiation, the leader surmised. If Friedrich Merz became Germany's next Chancellor, another leader said, he and French President Emmanuel Macron would strengthen European leadership with more forceful support forUkraine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-is-determined-but-tired/ar-AA1xbbHO?ocid=BingNewsVerp

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/ylPteWPSjts" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/ylPteWPSjts</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPteWPSjts

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Have you noticed there have been no successful encirclements of Ukrainian forces?

The Ukrainians are playing a long game of attrition!

Putin thinks of himself as a great military leader but consistently fails!

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/o-EaxlHSV00" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/o-EaxlHSV00</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-EaxlHSV00


Key Takeaways:

• Russian forces recently advanced in northwestern Toretsk following several weeks of higher tempo Russian offensive operations and gains in the area.
  
• Russian forces likely intend to exploit their advances in northwestern Toretsk to push further west of Toretsk and Shcherbynivka and along the T-05-16 Toretsk-Kostyantnivka highway towards the southernmost point of Ukraine's fortress belt in Kostyantynivka.
  
• Russian forces may attempt to leverage tactical gains within and near Toretsk and east of Pokrovsk to eliminate the Ukrainian salient southwest of Toretsk.
  
• Russian forces are likely attempting to break out of Toretsk's urban environment and advance into more open and rural areas that are similar to the areas where Russian forces have made significant gains in other sectors of the front in recent months.
  
• Russian forces are unlikely to pose a significant threat to Kostyantynivka unless the Russian military command reinforced the existing force grouping in the area with troops from other frontline areas.
  
• The Ukrainian General Staff stated that Ukrainian forces struck a command post of the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade (Black Sea Fleet [BSF], Southern Military District [SMD]) in Belaya, Kursk Oblast on January 7.
  
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast, and Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk and in Kursk Oblast.
  
• The Kremlin continues to promote the "Time of Heroes" program, which aims to place veterans of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in positions in local, regional, and federal governments.

https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-7-2025

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Key Takeaways:

• Ukrainian forces struck Russia's state-owned Kombinat Kristal oil storage facility near Engels, Saratov Oblast on the night of January 7 to 8.
  
• Ukrainian forces struck a command post of the Russian 8th Combined Arms Army (CAA) (Southern Military District [SMD]) on January 8 in occupied Khartsyzk, Donetsk Oblast.
  
• Russian forces advanced in Kursk Oblast, in Toretsk, and near Kurakhove.
  
• Russian forces are increasingly using drones attached to fiber optic cables in Ukraine.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-8-2025

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/gTutLQbwHZw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/gTutLQbwHZw</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTutLQbwHZw

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Key Takeaways:

• Ukraine's Western partners reiterated their support for Ukraine and their commitment to the development of Ukraine's defense industrial base (DIB) at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on January 9.
  
• Ukraine's Western partners announced additional military aid packages at Ramstein Air Base on January 9.
  
• Russian elites and high-ranking security officials are reportedly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to wage a full-scale war in Ukraine with half measures and are increasingly concerned with Putin's timeline to end the war.
  
• High-ranking Russian security officials appear to be assessing that Russia needs to intensify its war in Ukraine rather than seek an exit via negotiations.
  
• Russian elites' reported diagnosis of the main problem with Russia's conduct of the war is inaccurate, as Russia's failure to restore maneuver to the battlefield — not a shortage of manpower — is the main factor causing Russia's relatively slow rate of advance.
  
• Meduza's report indicates that Russia's security elite — like Putin himself — is uninterested in a negotiated and peaceful resolution to the war in the near future.
  
• A Russian opposition investigative outlet reported that Russian authorities have turned a pretrial detention center (SIZO) in Taganrog, Voronezh Oblast into a torture center for Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and imprisoned Ukrainian civilians.
  
• The UN condemned the recent surge in Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs.
  
• The Armenian government approved a draft law on January 9, beginning Armenia's accession process into the EU.
  
• Russian forces recently advanced near Borova and Pokrovsk and in Kursk Oblast.
  
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Sudzha.
  
• Russian officials continue to indicate that the Kremlin intends to further militarize the Russian government and Russian society in the long term.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-9-2025