Just my guess but I suspect Putin would rather gain control without flattening infrastructure and killing masses of people. I'm guessing the plan is to neutralize the military command, gain control of the government and see if the vast majority of people will accept this fate and go back to work, leaving Ukraine in his control. He can probably tolerate small pockets of resistance. If there is widespread mass resistance, it could get ugly. I'm guessing he is hoping people will just accept the Russian control and ready if they don't.surprise_i'm_armed wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 3:21 pm I saw some video recently of Ukraine citizens who had just received their AK's.
They were laying prone on the ground, pointing downrange, but not actually firing. A white haired grandmother and a teenage/young 20's woman were 2 of the new shooters. Bless their warrior spirit hearts.
Russia will prevail in conquering Ukraine, but Russian troops will probably be sniped in small numbers continuously, IMHO.
SIA
No question there is a population, primarily in the eastern provinces (self proclaimed rebel provinces and russian backed rebel groups) that still align with Russian and feel Russian. Many of those are likely supporters and at least comfortable with the move and probably in many cases, happy as we have read from personal accounts on this thread.