[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/over-half-rus...00783.html

I agree we are going to need some time to allow all the data possible to come in. ATM, it appears the Russians have executed a maskirovka operation for the ages. As late as the morning of Friday Nov 11 Ukraine was still releasing things like the above.We do know the Russian claim that they evacuated 30,000 men and all their equipment without loss is false. How close to true it may be is TBD.

While I totally agree that Ukraine was not ready to operate like a NATO formation, it is not true that operating that way produces more casualties. The high mobility forces NATO deploys are designed to AVOID direct confrontations with a superior enemy force and maneuver to create situations of local superiority. Since Ukraine couldn't do that, they had to substitute closely perusing the retreating Russians to keep them off balance. It appears that they didn't quite do that, but we will see when more data becomes available. Ukraine has in the past been good at judging Russian strength, avoiding direct confrontation with superior forces but keeping up the pressure. The appear to have got it wrong this time, but we don't know yet for sure.

[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/over-half-rus...00783.html

I agree we are going to need some time to allow all the data possible to come in. ATM, it appears the Russians have executed a maskirovka operation for the ages. As late as the morning of Friday Nov 11 Ukraine was still releasing things like the above.We do know the Russian claim that they evacuated 30,000 men and all their equipment without loss is false. How close to true it may be is TBD.

While I totally agree that Ukraine was not ready to operate like a NATO formation, it is not true that operating that way produces more casualties. The high mobility forces NATO deploys are designed to AVOID direct confrontations with a superior enemy force and maneuver to create situations of local superiority. Since Ukraine couldn't do that, they had to substitute closely perusing the retreating Russians to keep them off balance. It appears that they didn't quite do that, but we will see when more data becomes available. Ukraine has in the past been good at judging Russian strength, avoiding direct confrontation with superior forces but keeping up the pressure. The appear to have got it wrong this time, but we don't know yet for sure.