Russia-Ukraine SITREP for 17 MAR 2023 23:59* - Putin Gets a New Title

Hey Sebas - great question that got its very own post as a response.

Ah in that perspective. Yes that would make sense then.

They can launch an offensive but it has to be very small or won't be effective. Any offensive they launch won't likely change the course of the war or alter strategy. for example a football team could launch an offensive, and might even be able to blow up something and cause casualties, but it won't matter.

Ethan Stein

I get that part, but what I don't get is how they can be both combat ineffective (and thus have only offensive capabilities in a small area like Bakhmut) while at the same time asses that theyhave sufficient combat potential to launch new offensives?

The caveat in the "no longer combat effective" line is that they "are only capable of effective attacks on a small area of the front." They're clearly able to defend territory, but they can't come anywhere close to making sweeping offensives across vast swathes of Ukraine like they could at the start of the war. They can only make marginal progress in (relatively) tiny sections like Bakhmut.

One part of the sitrep that I don't get. On one hand you asses that Muscovy's forces are combat ineffective, yet you also asses that they have available combat potential to launch new offensives. Aren't these two mutually exclusive?

When asked about her criminal war crime warrant, Maria Lvova-belova, the one directly responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children, said she was glad her work placing children in loving homes was getting attention. Indeed it has. In fact we have a big award for you! The Baroness Bombast award for all your fine work. There will be a party and everything! The address is Oude Waalsdorperweg 10, 2597 AK Den Haag, Netherlands. Say about noon Monday?