08-05-2022, 05:20 AM
Some intel from my business partner with software and graphic design team in Ukraine...
Most of her team are in Vinnytsia, which is about 2 hr drive SE from Kyiv. Ever since the start of the war, they had heard air raid sirens but never really been hit with anything. Yesterday I talked with her and she told me last week two missiles hit the town, a medical building, and I think she said an office or municipal one. One of the missiles hit just .3 miles from her lead developer's home. He speculates that because it is a pivot point for traffic to and from Poland, that's why it was hit, who really knows. The upshot is her team that can get out of Ukraine are now doing so.
Unfortunately, this means women only. Healthy men of tithing age are not allowed to leave. And Yuri (lead engineer) now believes that the plan in Ukraine is to basically draft all fighting age men into the army or security forces this Fall or Winter.
I do not know if this is good news or bad. For my partner and me it sucks, because Yuri is a damn good engineer and a great dude, but is it good or bad for Ukraine, and of course, Russia, maybe even Europe and the world? If women mostly leave and all fighting age men are drafted to fight, what happens to the country's fragile economy and is NATO/EU going to fund Ukaine's government - that will see tax receipts plummeting while seeing war costs escalate - while continuing to provide military aid?
Then again, if Ukraine's fighting force expands by I don't know 500k-1,000k more fighters, could they overwhelm Russia and/or weaken its forces so much it has no choice but to retreat?
Most of her team are in Vinnytsia, which is about 2 hr drive SE from Kyiv. Ever since the start of the war, they had heard air raid sirens but never really been hit with anything. Yesterday I talked with her and she told me last week two missiles hit the town, a medical building, and I think she said an office or municipal one. One of the missiles hit just .3 miles from her lead developer's home. He speculates that because it is a pivot point for traffic to and from Poland, that's why it was hit, who really knows. The upshot is her team that can get out of Ukraine are now doing so.
Unfortunately, this means women only. Healthy men of tithing age are not allowed to leave. And Yuri (lead engineer) now believes that the plan in Ukraine is to basically draft all fighting age men into the army or security forces this Fall or Winter.
I do not know if this is good news or bad. For my partner and me it sucks, because Yuri is a damn good engineer and a great dude, but is it good or bad for Ukraine, and of course, Russia, maybe even Europe and the world? If women mostly leave and all fighting age men are drafted to fight, what happens to the country's fragile economy and is NATO/EU going to fund Ukaine's government - that will see tax receipts plummeting while seeing war costs escalate - while continuing to provide military aid?
Then again, if Ukraine's fighting force expands by I don't know 500k-1,000k more fighters, could they overwhelm Russia and/or weaken its forces so much it has no choice but to retreat?