Russia and Ukraine

[Belacqua]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that:

Some Ukrainian soldiers are starting to question why they are being asked to fight for Bakhmut when the city is nearly surrounded and a retreat, at some point, appears inevitable.

One special forces soldier who recently fought in Bakhmut said the Ukrainians are taking heavy casualties, including some of there best and most experienced soldiers; morale is taking a hit as a result.

"The city is almost surrounded. It's incredibly hard to protect. Casualties are huge. What's the point?" he said. "For all the soldiers who are holding these positions -- at least the ones I spoke to -- all of them say we have to withdraw. No one understands what so many troops are dying for."

(I'm assuming the Wall Street Journal will be acceptable to Leonardo, as it isn't social media.)

The reporting here seems like a change to me, as earlier reports tended to downplay Ukrainian losses and mention only Russian casualties. Earlier on I don't think they would have quoted discouraged Ukrainians.

I suppose the purpose is to motivate the US to hurry up and provide more weapons. The promised tanks are still many months away; the US tanks likely won't arrive until next year, if at all. The Germans are saying that the tanks they have promised to give ceased manufacture in 1984, and they are having trouble finding enough ammunition.

At the same time, realistic reports about how Ukraine is in bad shape, and the Russians continue to advance, may be preparing public opinion for a negotiated settlement. Until recently we were told that the Russians have no more weapons, that the remaining soldiers are elderly quadriplegics, that they only shoot each other, etc. Now that this fiction can no longer be maintained it may allow some realism to creep in to mainstream media.