re: #65 No Malarkey!

After the weeks of hard fighting, the Ukrainian units around Kyiv will need a lot of R&R before redeploying to Donbas. I expect the Russian units retreating from Kyiv and northern Ukraine are in much worse shape, however.

I agree with you that many Russian units around Kyiv appear to have lost much of their combat power.

You bring up several interesting points.

First, I suspect that you are correct that the Ukrainian units are organized on the European rather than the US model. Which generally dictates pulling a unit out of the line for refitting.

Second, there is also the question regarding where such a unit could safely refit. Ukrainian bases have been hit multiple times, with large loss in life and equipment.

The Russians have large conventional warhead missiles that can reach all bases in Ukraine. They also have the satellite and drone coverage to see where Ukrainian units would stop to refit.

Third, do the Ukrainians have enough military resources to take major units out of combat for significant periods of time.

My answer to all three is:

I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.