Ukraine - Russia Conflict
- Thread starter randomradio
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"People's Satellite" Helped Ukraine Hit Over 1,000 Targets Spy Agency Says
A crowd-funded satellite has enabled Ukraine to have a much better independent view of the battlefield, as well as targets in Russia.
www.twz.com
Ukraine Situation Report: North Korea May Send Forces To Occupied Territories
Even sending hordes of laborers, let alone troops, to Ukraine would mark a new phase in North Korea's mutual aid relationship with Russia.
www.twz.com
"Russia entered the third year of its war in Ukraine more confident. While the Ukrainian counter-offensive had generally failed and Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were dwindling, Russia was beginning to reap the first rewards of its massive investment in arms production, giving it a greater capacity to regenerate equipment than the opposing side. At the end of the first half of 2024, however, the prospects appear to be less lopsided in favour of Ukraine, whose Western support seems to be picking up again.
For Russia, this means that the industrial effort will have to continue, although it is not certain that this will fully compensate for the loss of equipment in all segments. The question therefore arises as to the sustainability of this effort, against a backdrop of constant adaptation to Western sanctions and questions about the risks of an excessive concentration of the Russian economy on the needs of the army. The stocks of old equipment that Russian industry renovates and retrofits at reasonable prices, which have contributed to Russia's advantage over Ukraine, are not infinite. There is no obvious answer to the question of whether Russia will be able to produce sufficient quantities of new equipment.
On this subject, economists are perhaps the most "neutral" in their assessments and assume that Russia can maintain its current momentum over the next two years, perhaps three[28]. Russia's leaders probably had this timetable in mind when they opted in May 2024 for a new government organisation seeking to ensure that the money poured into the arms industry would be put to good use and to better articulate the economy's efforts in the service of defence".
For Russia, this means that the industrial effort will have to continue, although it is not certain that this will fully compensate for the loss of equipment in all segments. The question therefore arises as to the sustainability of this effort, against a backdrop of constant adaptation to Western sanctions and questions about the risks of an excessive concentration of the Russian economy on the needs of the army. The stocks of old equipment that Russian industry renovates and retrofits at reasonable prices, which have contributed to Russia's advantage over Ukraine, are not infinite. There is no obvious answer to the question of whether Russia will be able to produce sufficient quantities of new equipment.
On this subject, economists are perhaps the most "neutral" in their assessments and assume that Russia can maintain its current momentum over the next two years, perhaps three[28]. Russia's leaders probably had this timetable in mind when they opted in May 2024 for a new government organisation seeking to ensure that the money poured into the arms industry would be put to good use and to better articulate the economy's efforts in the service of defence".
There is an obvious answer, it is "no".
86% of the tanks that russia sends into Ukraine are oldies taken from the soviet stockpiles. Once those dry up -- and the three years estimate is based on the assumption that all the tanks in storage can be restored -- they'll be left with just the 14% that are new production.
Worse, this also supposes that nothing else will break in russia. But other things will break. A lot of other things. Such as, for example, their economy:
Remember the nice growth figure that were published? That's just brute-force Keynesianism from russia spending its reserve funds on the military. If you inject a lot of money that you had put aside, it does give you growth of the economy. But it's not a sustainable growth since your funds will run out eventually, and you're not investing it on stuff that gives positive results for your economy; you're just investing it on sending tanks for explosive scrapping and decommission with their crew still inside. That's not how you build a successful economy.
But hey, success is an alien value to russia.