Russia and Ukraine

[The Grand Nudger]

Russia appears to be running low on landmines. Counterintuitively, this is bad news for Ukraine. Russia has been placing new mines in a more irregular pattern, which is a headache for Ukrainian sappers.

Boru

Odd assortments of mines are harder to defend than a concentrated minefield, and an undefended minefield is not a defense, it's simply a delaying tactic. Minefields only matter if the defense is zeroed in on them.

I think our groundpounder is right, the Russians have it all in the shop-window.

There was no reason not to do it that way, and every reason to do it that way, if you knew that you were depending on freezing the conflict through other means in the near future.  Put it all out front and hope it gets you to that calendar date. Wouldn't you know it, russia has started babbling about negotiations again. The kind where their demands are met and ukraine is treated as a non entity. Exactly as the russian state views ukraine and ukrainians, as it so happens.

Ukraine, for it's part, expects and is experiencing token defense beyond the lines which stymied them so much they reverted to soviet tactics at the outset. Turns out Elon fucking Musk has been a more potent defensive obstacle than the surovkin lines. They don't feel comfortable enough to take advantage of this - proven by how they systematically leveled every standing building in robotyne, for example, before they poured light infantry into the russian trenches and overwhelmed them - but that's the current situation as independant observers, ukranian partisans and russian telegraph describe it.

Russia is, presently, hoping that they don't run out of meat before ukraine runs out of grind. There will be another wave of mobilization to that end. AKA, all is going well in day 500 and whatever of putins three day war, and he remains a master strategist.