You don't think that this wasn't exactly the reaction the Ukrainians wanted?
It's clear the Ukrainians are also acting with some restraint. They have only attacked one of the most important chokepoints in the war twice. But it's clearly an easy target when the appetite is made.
Russia cutting of grain exports is going to rile up a lot of countries.
And Russia has been blowing holes in Ukrainian infrastructure and acting like a terrorist regime since they started the war. Its hardly unfair of Ukraine to strike back and damage the Russian war machine in any way they can.
No, M1A2. No, I don't think it is.
I can't wait to hear how you're going to try to sell this one to me. This isn't going to push NATO countries into the conflict. It's not going to help Ukraine get into NATO. All it's going to do is increase inflationary pressure in Europe and make the continuation of the war more unpopular than it is--which is considerably.
There's no 4D chess being played here. Ukraine is a desperate, cornered animal doing desperate, cornered animal things. The counteroffensive has been a bust. They've made no significant progress, and Russia has over 100k fucking troops deployed and ready to roll. They're also back to annexing territory. And now Ukraine has lost control of and access to its last major port. Are you really so deluded that you can't see that a Ukrainian victory would ostensibly be a miracle at this point?
It would be unbelievable to me that you can't see the writing on the wall if this was easily explainable by the fact you're now in the inescapable position of having to confront the fact that you backed the wrong horse, and drunk the kool aid. Will you still be here arguing that Ukraine has the upper hand, even when Odessa is occupied by Russian forces? Probably.