[Huntingwhale]

The war is definitely a slog at this point. But I am not buying the doom 'n gloom at the counteroffensive has a been a failure. Unless people were expecting a COD romp (which very clearly some people were), this has ALWAYS been the the predicted outcome; very slow, very steady and days/weeks that don't go well . Dilly dallying around making decisions to send tanks, equipment, training, etc, gave the enemy time to dig in and mine every square inch they can. Ukraine knew this and was pleading for faster speeds in deliveries. Prior to that the West should have a made a very public decision to go all in. Half measures that are the bare minimum only serve to portray the west as disorganized, weak and open to persuasion by russian disinformation.

This isn't surprising at at the pace is what it is, and it's obvious why Ukraine reports very simple gains such as a few hundred meters, or a few kilometers. There has to be SOME good news to report, no matter how small, so people don't lose patience. There are obviously politicians out there who don't seem to like the pace, even though they are the very ones who put silly restrictions such as not using their equipment to hit legit targets in russian territory, or having to approve strikes by Ukraine in case a "high profile" target is there. Silly, stupid restrictions imposed that they themselves would NEVER adhere to if it was them fighting, yet being "disappointed" when Ukraine doesn't pull of a COD speedrun.

And I am still unclear as to WTF is going on with the F-16s. Training has begun...right? Every day I read something about so and so approving training. But are Ukrainians actually at a training facility somewhere training on the damn things? Has there even been an official announcement of F-16s being sent over on a specific date? As in, someone with authority specifically saying in a press conference "yes we have approved x number of jets and they will be sent on this date". I see a lot of people (aka. former generals or armchair twitterers) saying it's a done deal. But a link to an exact announcement by a top official would be good to see.

It's dancing around like that, that plays right into russian hands. And people STILL haven't learned this, that it benefits one side only to dance around like this. Ukraine is doing the best they can, with what they were given, with the restrictions imposed on them, with the timelines they were given, against the very enemy NATO has spent 70+ preparing to fight. To me it's a miracle they have lasted this long and are still in the fight. Nobody said it would be easy.