Remember when I said once the ground freezes, Vlad's tanks and 300,000 fresh troops were coming? Nooooo, you didn't listen!
BTW, it's estimated that Ukraine's solder casualty rate is not about 9x of Russia's. Almost 140,000 of Ukrainian's 200,000 initial troops have been killed. Think this devastation is going to continue with a Russian loss?
Russia Claims Advances in Ukraine’s South as Allies Stall on Tank Deliveries
Claimed gains come as Germany and France’s leaders meet in Paris to discuss Ukraine aid
By Evan Gershkovich in Moscow and Ian Lovett, in Kyiv, Ukraine, WSJ
Updated Jan. 22, 2023 11:53 am ET
Moscow said its forces advanced in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region as Kyiv’s Western allies continued pressuring Berlin to allow deliveries of German-made tanks to Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that Russian troops had advanced in the partially occupied region and taken more advantageous lines and positions. The ministry’s spokesman, Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, didn’t provide further details.
It was the second time in two days that Moscow has said its forces were advancing in the south of Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin claimed the region as part of Russia’s territory in September despite continued fighting, and its defense is a priority for the Kremlin.
As in the eastern Donetsk region, which Mr. Putin has also claimed and where Moscow says it has taken several towns in recent weeks, Ukrainian officials said there was fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region but didn’t say any territory had been lost.
The claimed advances come as Russia has shown signs of turning the tide in the war after a string of losses in the early fall. Mr. Putin’s mobilization drive of 300,000 reservists along with the recruitment of inmates from across Russia’s vast prison system into the Wagner paramilitary group, whose forces now total about 50,000 in Ukraine, have shifted the war of attrition in Moscow’s favor.
The Russian claims add urgency to Ukraine’s pleas for more heavy weaponry from the West, particularly modern battle tanks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has resisted growing pressure to allow the country’s Leopard 2 tanks—among the most common in Europe—to be transferred to Ukraine. German officials initially said they wouldn’t approve sending Leopards unless the U.S. provided its own Abrams tanks, which the U.S. has so far declined to do, saying they are too difficult to maintain. Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, has told German television that German and U.S. tanks don’t need to be provided at the same time and indicated that his government was still considering what to do.
Mr. Scholz was in France on Sunday, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty between the two countries, which provided the foundation for a new era of cooperation in Europe. Speaking at Sorbonne University in Paris, Mr. Scholz said that Germany would back Ukraine for as long as necessary, according to local media. Later in the day, ministers from the two countries were scheduled to hold a joint cabinet meeting, with aid for Ukraine among the agenda items.
Over the past week, more North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have openly called for Germany to send the tanks.
The British government has already announced plans to send its Challenger 2 tanks to Kyiv. On Sunday morning, James Cleverly, the British foreign secretary, said that Ukrainian officials had been telling him that tanks were what they needed to push back Russians in the country’s occupied eastern and southern regions.
“I have been talking with my international counterparts about the provision of military equipment, particularly the Leopard 2 tank, which is an incredibly effective piece of equipment,” Mr. Cleverly said, speaking on Sky News. “I will keep having those conversations with our NATO allies and friends to facilitate the donation of the best military equipment to Ukraine.”
Russian officials, however, continued to warn the West against adding to Ukraine’s arsenal.
“Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” Vyacheslav Volodin, chair of the lower house of the Russian parliament, posted to the Telegram messaging app. “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”
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