HN Reader

You can see the decline in combat footage videos through the years. Videos from 2022 to 2024 are showing tanks, IFVs and other armored vehicles striking Ukrainian positions (or being wiped out by drones, artillery) after 2024 there is steady decline to IFVs only, then MRAPs, then Chinese ATV (called golf carts) started showing up while logistic lines were held together with lot of Buchankas (UAZ-452 Civilian van). By the end of 2025 we hit another milestone where Russians are starting to use horses and donkeys for logistic lines and attacking in trucks, ATVs and dirt bikes and very rarely there is a tank heavily covered in garbage to protect against drone strike.

Two countries with extremely low fertility rates just wiped out hundreds of thousands of their young boys. And hundreds of thousands of people fled including a significant fraction of young girls. I wonder who actually benefits from this?

The article's conclusion is that Russia's slowdown and high casualties are due to its poor economy and military power. However, another interpretation is that drones have changed war greatly, and have essentially brought back the trench warfare of WW1 with heavy casualties for little territorial gain. Time will tell if this situation is unique to the Ukrainian war or not.

Isn’t this how Russia always fights going back to the Czars?

It’s anyone’s guess how long they can keep at it. They’re one black swan away from imploding, but that day might be 20 years away.

Is GDP growth useful? I heard it only considers production. if the produced stuff quickly gets blown up in the fields it still counts for GDP even if in reality it's a negative for economy.

The whole business of invading neighboring countries to grab their land seems a bit out of date these days. After WW2 most countries decided it was a bad idea and signed agreements to not do it and there hasn't been that much since.

Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait but that didn't work out well for him. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan didn't work out that well for the invaders. About the only one I can think of that worked ok for the invaders was China taking Tibet in 1950.

I think Putin doesn't use the internet and was reading history books from a century ago before the invasion. I'm not sure the strategy works very well anymore.

It's frustrating how much we need coverage like this. Because the us keeps trying to end the war by giving Russia a huge amount of what it wants.

Russia Russia Russia was correct correct correct. Watching the US attempt a pratfall of democracy to rival the fall of communism is the best returns on investment Putin could ever have hoped for. The USA bring hostile to Ukraine & constantly trying to adopt Russian terms & Russian framing is bonus. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-peace-plan-written...

The world direly needs good accounting like this article, to keep the delusional disreality of these Russian-agent madmen at the White House from demolishing Ukraine.