>>520321977
A quick victory was simply not possible because Ukraine had a significant numerical advantage. Russia took the territories it got in a surprise attack. When the Ukrainian forces consolidated, Russia had to retreat and secure what it could. The Ukrainians attacked Kharkiv with mere two brigades and overran the city in less than a day because only a few groups of rebel militia held the place. It's a miracle that the Russians could pull off what they did with the few troops they had. They were lucky that Zelensky constantly interfered in the strategic decisions of his general staff, making effective work impossible for the Ukrainian side. The war only turned in late 2022, when Russia started recruiting and training additional men.

The EU aristocrats want this war to last forever. Because the moment it ends, Russia is stronger than ever before while Europe is still laugably weak, militarily and politically. The moment chancellor Merz orders a total defense mobilization is the moment chancellor Merz's political career ends. The people hate him and everything he stands for, they're not going to war for his corrupt clique. So the Russians just have to threaten one of the Baltic chichuahua countries and the EU collapses in mass unrest and rebellion. Only a defeat of Russia can prevent that. So they're rather desperate to prop up Ukraine. Of course they're going to lose, but they can at least delay the inevitable until after the next elections, so it's someone else's problem. Under the pretense that Europe needs time to rearm. Which realistically take at least 10 years, maybe even 20, so it's never going to work quick enough.

>>508970761
There are basically two types of people:
Those who are smart enough to do their own research and understand what's going on, and those who are stupid enough to entrust the research to newspaper journalists. Meaningful communication between both groups is not possible. The intelligence gap is simply too high. You see it yourself in the comments.