[Goose]

Something up in the Belgorod region. 

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/m...ge-kozinka

Supposedly Russian partisans called the “freedom of Russia legion” have seized a few villages outside Belgorod and attacks are ongoing. Ukrainian army denies involvement 

While I doubt they have the men or materiel to push too far, it certainly could be an effective diversion of Russian forces, and I suspect it was coordinated with Ukrainian military to that effect. If they move fast they could also disrupt the logistics hubs in the region, which could be a significant impact.

To me it seems like Ukraine is trying to walk the line of supporting these kinds of raids into Russian soil while being unable to do it themselves at risk of losing western support (which is ridiculous in my view).

There is another potential serious problem with the actions of the “freedom of Russia legion”. It creates the illusion for the Russian public that the "State" really is in danger and that Ukraine (by extension) is behind all this and therefore the war is "necessary". All patriotic Russians must support it. IMO there is a non-zero chance some of the alleged “freedom of Russia legion” actions are in fact Russian false flag operations. Not all, but some, especially the ones that make a lot of noise but don't do much real damage.

There is a real inherent problem with how the current war is being fought. At some point, Ukraine is going to need Russia to stop using Russian airspace as a sanctuary to launch weapons into Ukraine. If Russia just "quits", that problem solves itself. If they don't, eventually that line must be crossed. I am very concerned that nobody in "the West" is really considering how to do that. The current situation may indeed be "unreasonable" in that it gives Russia a big free pass. However, the US has fought several wars in which the enemy had one or more "sanctuaries". The problem with this war is that it may not end as long as those "sanctuaries" exist. What then?

[Goose]

Something up in the Belgorod region. 

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/m...ge-kozinka

Supposedly Russian partisans called the “freedom of Russia legion” have seized a few villages outside Belgorod and attacks are ongoing. Ukrainian army denies involvement 

While I doubt they have the men or materiel to push too far, it certainly could be an effective diversion of Russian forces, and I suspect it was coordinated with Ukrainian military to that effect. If they move fast they could also disrupt the logistics hubs in the region, which could be a significant impact.

To me it seems like Ukraine is trying to walk the line of supporting these kinds of raids into Russian soil while being unable to do it themselves at risk of losing western support (which is ridiculous in my view).

There is another potential serious problem with the actions of the “freedom of Russia legion”. It creates the illusion for the Russian public that the "State" really is in danger and that Ukraine (by extension) is behind all this and therefore the war is "necessary". All patriotic Russians must support it. IMO there is a non-zero chance some of the alleged “freedom of Russia legion” actions are in fact Russian false flag operations. Not all, but some, especially the ones that make a lot of noise but don't do much real damage.

There is a real inherent problem with how the current war is being fought. At some point, Ukraine is going to need Russia to stop using Russian airspace as a sanctuary to launch weapons into Ukraine. If Russia just "quits", that problem solves itself. If they don't, eventually that line must be crossed. I am very concerned that nobody in "the West" is really considering how to do that. The current situation may indeed be "unreasonable" in that it gives Russia a big free pass. However, the US has fought several wars in which the enemy had one or more "sanctuaries". The problem with this war is that it may not end as long as those "sanctuaries" exist. What then?