Dear Ttbn,

Not a proxy war - a war of example for the West, and a lukewarm test-case for China.

Had the brave Ukrainians failed to stop Russia at the gates of Kiev, or had the West failed to support Ukraine with arms and sanctions, then for sure China would have by now already attacked Taiwan, and should they been successful there, God forbid, then next in line are Japan, then Australia (what's left of 25 million slaves digging this rich continent for free for all China ever needs).

The Ukraine war made China hesitate, think twice and thrice before attacking a free country, it also gave more courage and boosted the morale of the Taiwanese people, which was pretty low following the collapse of Hong Kong.

Y,

The war in Ukraine has some aspects of a proxy war in that no NATO soldiers are actually on the ground fighting mostly because NATO does not want this to escalate to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. However, NATO is gradually escalating the amount and lethality of the weapons it supplies to Ukraine. In addition, US Satellites and surveillance systems also provide up-to-the-minute information on Russian movements and logistics and the ever-tightening sanctions are beginning to strangle Russia's economy and ability to supply its army.

While Putin has been able to hold onto his ill-gotten gains so far the civilised world has gone a long way to ensure that there is a huge cost to Russia in both blood and treasure and as the stream of body bags returning to Russia becomes a torrent, there are indications that the support for the war in Ukraine is beginning to falter.

"Leaked internal Russian government polling recently indicated that as few as one in four Russians may be in favour of the war in Ukraine. Analysts believe that the forced mobilisation of over 300,000 civilians and the high level of casualties have all contributed to waning support for Russia’s war effort.

The polling, which also found that more than half the Russian people hope their government will enter peace talks, was reportedly conducted for the Kremlin’s Federal Guard Service (FSO) and published by the exiled dissident news website Meduza."

Fighting reported on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar.
Operational encirclement of Bakhmut.
http://twitter.com/squatsons/status/1616404348673880067/photo/1

Zaluzhnyi has apparently advised Zelensky to withdraw from Siversk, but hes refusing to do so.

AC,

If you look at the map, Siversk is miles away from the fighting. I would suggest you look for more reliable sources. Bakhmut has still well-protected supply lines and certainly for now are not operationally encircled.

As for Kreminna, Russia is shelling the west of the city of Kreminna, which either means that either Russians are very bad shots or Ukrainians are already in the city.

"If you look at the map, Siversk is miles away from the fighting. I would suggest you look for more reliable sources."

The info that Zaluzhnyi has apparently advised Zelensky to withdraw from Siversk, is from Ukrainian sources and discussed yesterday here:
Russia Captures Kleshcheyevka, Bakhmut Cauldron Looms, Zaluzhny Warns Siversk, Biden Scholz Quarrel
http://youtu.be/eVTRhDsEMRw

"Bakhmut has still well-protected supply lines and certainly for now are not operationally encircled."
I saw the info on twitter at 2am last night and commented about it here, and sure enough what was todays Alexander Mercouris video about?

Bakhmut Operationally Encircled, Russia Advance Zaporozhye; West Talks Tank Deliveries Ramstein
http://youtu.be/WIjBt4-Bqn4

Currently I know there's been an offensive started by the Russian forces (not Wagner PMG) attacking numerous towns on the Zaporizhzhia front, with the objective of taking Orikhiv - some of these towns have been captured.
http://twitter.com/squatsons/status/1616503901121052672/photo/1

Russian Forces Capture 2 Villages and Pushes Further Towards Orikhiv
http://youtu.be/IVAaWfMwWKw

From what I understand they're trying to disrupt supply lines that come across the Dnieper headed towards front lines in the east.

Ukraine. Military Summary And Analysis 20.01.2023
http://youtu.be/IaTDbMcCQgY

US General Mark Milley warns it will be 'very difficult' to eject Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces from war-torn Ukraine in 2023

http://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/us-general-mark-milley-warns-it-will-be-very-difficult-to-eject-russian-president-vladimir-putins-forces-from-wartorn-ukraine-in-2023/news-story/b48c4929e31e593f5cac20ca7fe1feb2

Hang on, I thought Putin was running out of missiles and ammunition?
- Russia's on the verge of collapse, any day now right?
And foolishly sending in human waves to be decimated?
- Surely Ukraine's had some impact with all these fields littered with Russian corpses?

Well not so, according to the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff Gen. Mark Milley.

"But United States General Mark Milley has added to concerns the aggression will not end this year, telling reporters it was not realistic Ukraine will win the war.
Gen Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and principal advisor to President Joe Biden and the Secretary of Defense, flagged the leader of the free world and many European leaders believe the only way the conflict will end is through negotiation."

(So why then are Western leaders in a p*ssing contest over tanks if they acknowledge the path to ending the conflict is through negotiations?)

- Basically Milley's saying Ukraine are losing and they're not going to win the war, but the West will keep supporting the war and escalating anyway.
They are prying Europe away from a reliance on Russian energy and selling lots of weapons.
$$$ Ka-ching Ka-ching $$$

Just got to get the Germans to send their Leopards 2's to put an end to that relationship permanently.