🎓 Doc Freemo 🇳🇱 @freemo@qoto.org

@freemo

We did suspend them too, they just returned the favor :)

I havent not fact checked this. Apparently the attached letter was found in some rubble in Rasha and was written by a 10 year old boy who was found dead.

Translation:

“Please don’t cry for me, as it would make me sad. I hope my clothes can go to those in need, and my accessories to Rahaf, Lana, and Batool. The bead boxes should go to Batool. As for my monthly allowance of 50 shekels, I want half to go to Rahaf and the other half to Ahmad. I’d like Batool to have my toys. Lastly, please don’t shout at my brother Ahmad. Please follow these wishes.”

#Gaza #Palestine #Israel

@freemo In the real world (but possibly a lesser film pitch), the horror would be a physicist discovering a true free energy source, and going mad trying to track down the non-existent error.

The numerical superiority of Russian forces over Ukraine on the battlefield will likely begin to decrease by the end of this year, according to American military analyst Michael Kofman.

Kofman believes that while the Kremlin continues to pressure Ukraine, suffering high levels of attrition, it is now beginning to struggle under “very significant constraints.”

“Battlefield advantage is likely to diminish as we enter this winter and look toward 2025,” said Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

However, he cautioned against expecting Russia to run out of equipment or personnel soon. Still, he believes Moscow will not be able to sustain its current pace of attack for long.

Kofman’s first explanation is that Moscow is replacing significant losses of equipment with Soviet-era weapons, but even these reserve stocks will not last indefinitely.

“Russia is depleting its Soviet-era assets, and the production rate of new equipment is quite low compared to the battlefield losses. This means that the Russian military is increasingly forced to adapt tactics to minimize losses, which also reduces their ability to achieve any operationally significant breakthroughs,” says the expert.

High payments to contract soldiers in Russia indicate that recruitment efforts are under pressure, he points out. Kofman believes that the Russian government will struggle to maintain the surge in bonuses and benefits it offers to new recruits.

“It’s clear that, at this rate of losses, Russia’s contract recruitment campaign will not be sustainable. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Russia will face a manpower shortage soon, but it’s evident they are encountering difficulties,” Business Insider quotes Kofman.

For instance, the British Ministry of Defense has estimated that the Kremlin will lose 1,000 soldiers daily during the coming winter, after suffering record daily losses in May and September.

The slow and costly pace of hostilities has consequences not only for the front lines in Ukraine but also for Russia’s wartime economy. It remains unclear how long Moscow can continue increasing its war budget.