Quote:
Originally Posted by Vespers War
One factor is probably that the age limits for conscription are 27 to 60, I believe in part because Ukraine is trying to avoid future demographic issues if men who are statistically unlikely to have had children are killed in combat. There is talk of lowering the lower limit to 25, but one of the things they're trying to avoid is not having a workforce in 20-25 years because too many young men got killed and there were no children to grow up to become workers. There's a need to balance immediate needs against long-term needs, and while I have no doubt they'd drop that conscription age if there was significant advancement by the Russians, as long as things are mostly static I don't expect much change.
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That's remarkable foresight. I don't envy the Ukrainians this sort of lesser-of-two-evils calculus, but if the younger generation doesn't start pulling its weight here soon, there's a good chance they'll be enjoying their middle age in Russia's westernmost province.
Speaking of Russia, at least one Russian army seems to be evolving- or remembering, since the Soviet general staff developed 'Deep Battle' doctrine prior to WW2- their operational-level warfighting, launching an offensive on multiple, mutually-supporting axes. Why they've waited two years to launch an attack like this is pretty mind-boggling.
If you don't mind rather dry reading, the ISW does some really detailed analysis of the war on a fairly regular basis. See February 22 for the article mentioned above.
https://www.understandingwar.org/
In good news, the Ukrainians are claiming another A-50 Mainstay AWACS. That makes two destroyed, at least one damaged (on the ground, by a small drone).
Slava Ukraini!
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