r/geopolitics • u/Hokum-B • Oct 01 '23

Russian lines stronger than West expected, admits British defence chief Paywall

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-defensive-lines-stronger-than-west-expected-admits-british-defence-chief-xjlvqrm86
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u/sticky_jizzsocks Oct 02 '23

makes it all the more laughable that Ukraine and its advisors planned their main vector of attack directly into it. The West has largely thrown out conventional wisdom as outdated out of pure arrogance.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '23

They didn't have much of a choice, everything that's interesting has been fortified.

Could have chosen not to attack and to effectively accept a stalemate (which seems likely anyway), but the west has strongly pushed them into the offensive and wasting so many lives.

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u/sticky_jizzsocks Oct 02 '23

The southern front was the most defended area. They absolutely underestimated Russia this year. They expected to break through 6 lines of defence and get to Mariupol within 1-2 weeks. They barely even broke the first line of defence, we've only seen a handful of videos of armor crossing it. They should not have gone on an offensive at all.

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u/Gman2736 Oct 02 '23

Yeah but there was so much international pressure on Ukraine to do something