Ukraine - Media war, who is winning, who is losing

Ukraine has acknowledged losing control of some towns and villages there since the assault began last week, but says that Moscow's gains have come at a massive cost to a Russian force already worn down from its earlier defeat near the capital.

"We have serious losses, but the Russians' losses are much much bigger ... They have colossal losses," presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, without elaborating. Western officials said that Russia had been suffering fewer casualties after narrowing the scale of its invasion, but numbers were still "quite high".

Ukrainian officials said that Russia was pounding the whole frontline in the eastern Donetsk region with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft to stop the Ukrainians from regrouping.   CNA

Listening to the western media, the narrative is that the Russians are suffering heavy losses, low morale, now even fatigue after 2 months of playing war games in Ukraine. The Americans were in Vietnam for 30 years before giving up, oops, chased out of Vietnam, no fatigue? Then they spent another 20 years massacring Afghan tribesmen with only rifles, before fatigue set in, and after spending US$3 trillion in the genocide of Afghanistan.

How could anyone believe that the Russians are suffering from fatigue when what they were doing in Ukraine were like playing war games on computers. They just send in the bombs, missiles, rockets, drones etc to flatten the enemy position before moving in to mop up the place and clear he dead bodies.

In traditional conventional war, the attackers would suffered big losses trying to take a heavily defended position as they needed a force 3 times that of the defender to win a battle. The price for victory was heavy. Today's warfare is very different. The attackers used technology to attack, fire power, heavy bombarbments before going in for the clean up. How could the Russians be suffering heavy losses when they are sitting in their camps, in Russia, and flying bombs and missiles over to Ukraine?

Putin is now playing the mouse and cat game, sitting there and waiting to pounce on the rats hiding in Mariupol. No one can leave without the approval of the Russians. As for Kiev and other big cities, Putin is sparing them because of the civilian casualties he is trying to prevent. But he could hit them as and when he likes, with precision bombs from the air. No need to send in the foot soldiers or pilots. How can there be heavy casualties on his side when he is sending in the bombs? Kiev is still not destroyed not because the Ukrainians fought bravely, but because Putin is holding his fire. But when Kiev or Zelensky starts to misbehave, more missiles would arrive in Kiev to tell him to behave.

Putin is also prepare to sit out this war for as long as he could. Time is on his side. Everyday the war is going on, everyday the Ukrainians would suffer from a dysfunctioning economy and social life. Europe too cannot afford to have this war going on for more months and years. Their economies too would suffer immensely, and so would their people. Without Russian oil and gas, coal and food and essential supplies, inflation in Europe would become too prohibitive and unsustainable.

Putin need not risk his men in this war. Just keep the lid on, and the pressure inside the pressure cooker will cook the Ukrainians and the Nato mercenaries holing up in Mariupol. No matter what the western media claimed that Ukraine is winning, it is an absolute lie. Ukraine and Ukrainians would be the absolute losers in this war. Period.