Putin is holding back on bombing?
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It's very hard to sort propaganda from truth in this mess. According to this article, several cities and towns have fallen to Russia. But in a news story that aired last night, not a single city has fallen, Ukrainians have killed almost 10,000 Russian soldiers and wounded another 6,000, many Russian soldiers are abandoning their posts and running to Belarus to hide, Russian tanks and other equipment is being abandoned because they're out of fuel, the crew has nothing to eat, or the equipment is broken, etc. Than in another news story it was reported that there is only one tank manufacturer in Russia, and they can't get the parts to build tanks so tank production has stopped.
One portrays Russia as having the upper hand, another portrays Ukraine as having the upper hand. So we are left trying to decide what is true and what is not.
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I question if Russia has the industrial and munitions capacity to continue the war very long, much less start a mass bombing campaign.
I suspect the sanctions will not be substantially lifted while Putin is in office. Given their success so far, I can imagine they will go for regime change, assuming the war continues to go wrong.
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Or...Maybe Putin is smart enough to know that wanton death and destruction of civilian sectors is waiving a red flag in front of a NATO bull.
The last thing Vlad wants is a shooting war with countries that could establish air superiority over Ukraine, allowing the Ukrainians to resupply and operate under the umbrella of a No-fly Zone. And the next escalation after that is very sobering to think on, for all parties involved.
