@ickplant They will benefit massively in the context of the current offensive. Yet, I am not sure about how big this window of opportunity will be.
I do not think Ukraine (as pretty much anyone else) expected things to escalate to this level. They just had different plans - rather not stick head in (Ukraine is currently barely using any western made heavy equipment right now - they seem to be saving it for later - and no reserve troops).
On the flip side, the Wagner rebellion really toppled the whole situation and left Russian forces pretty much without a command - and this is important as, just as it has been seen previously, the Russian Army lower ranks are less autonomous than the Ukrainian one - after being trained by NATO standards.
(my 2c)
The cracks are beginning to show to the everyday russian who had their head in the sand.
Man, I hope so. I was thinking how great it was that Prigozhin talked about the war justification and how people were lied to. Of course, he didn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart, but hey, a broken clock is right twice a day! Maybe, just maybe some brainwashed Russians will get curious and start asking questions.
I’m Russian myself, moved here in 2001, but my parents are still there. Very antiwar, but I finally had to tell them to shut up about it after cops stopped my mom on the street in an area of a demonstration and looked through her phone, where she had FB, Instagram, WhatsApp - and plenty of antiwar content that they thankfully didn’t look through. She is 78 and could have ended up in jail. She now carries a dummy empty phone with her on my encouragement.
She tried so hard to talk to people she thought were friends at the start of the war, and she was horrified to learn that some of them supported the war. Lost decades-old friends, which is so hard to do at her age. I’m so pissed at the 24/7 propaganda, and I understand that it rots your brain… but damn, people, think for yourselves.
All of this to say, I hope people start waking up… but I have to be honest, I lost hope for my country a looong time ago. I just hope they stop killing people in Ukraine already.
