I was just reading an NYT piece about a Russian deserters. According to one deserter conscripts we’re frequently drunk and during training one conscript killed another in his barracks.
A heavy blow by Ukraine against Russia's Black Sea fleet and their forces in Crimea. Ukrainian Kamikaze drones crash into huge Russian oil silos, causing massive damage. Russia's vaunted anti-air missile batteries apparently "missing in action."
I suspect a good portion of what we see about the war is disinformation, so I try to not form any firm opinions on the particulars of what's going on.
Which actually allows you to draw some pretty stark conclusions about the state of the Russian military compared to what we thought it was prior to February 2022. EDIT: just realized i missed a golden opportunity to quote lyrics from a Crowded House song, and I wanted to acknowledge in writing how sorry I am to all of you for that grave omission
On the other hand, Ukraine had been struggling with proxy separatists for years and looked completely inept in squashing them. The capabilities of the Western-backed 2023 Ukraine military is orders of magnitude more capable than the, say, 2021 version.
