(November 10, 2022 at 12:51 pm)Deesse23 Wrote: In face of the original objectives of the whole campaign, the importance to actually hold an area which you claim to have annexed, and that area you cant hold being a key to holding another area you already have annexed a few years back, in light of all this the future still may look bleak.
Right, which means that the question then devolves to "will this rear-guard retreat accomplish the usual aim of such operations?" -- to wit, will the forces they've saved be sufficient to halt the advance? I don't know enough about the Russian order of battle to have an informed answer.
I know there are two Russian airborne units retreating which may be of decent combat value (or may not!) It may be intended to use them to stanch the flow into Crimea proper (as I would think is the intention) -- or it may only have been intended to rescue them from destruction in the potential pocket.
In any event, the HIMARS/MLRS systems now have deeper reach into Russian logistical arrangements, so it may be possible to keep hustling the defeated forces southeast. This certainly implies great danger to Russian forces in Crimea in either event.
