>>526828I think this guy also supported the glowie protests in Cuba. I've heard quite the opposite anyways with polls showing that Russians who miss the USSR mostly do so because of economic reasons and much less so because of the "empire."
>>526849My speculation is that a lot of the fireworks we heard along the Donbass line of contact on the first day were an attempt to "fix" Ukrainian positions there while the maneuver elements from Crimea and around Kharkov moved behind them in a pincer movement. That would encircle the Ukrainian troops facing Russian and DPR/LPR forces in Donbass and cut them off.
>>527297>>527327Russian military doctrine also accepts higher casualties than is acceptable in Western armies. The point is to drive hard and "get onto the objective" even if the cost is most of the initial forces getting wiped out with the expectation that they'll be replaced with fresh reserves that pulverize the enemy which has always been worn down from the initial fighting. The setbacks that the Russians are facing are part of their overall strategy.