Vladimir’s meat grinder
By 
Another military conflict is understandably taking up most of the oxygen right now, but it’s worth remembering what a compound of grotesque bloodthirsty immorality Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is:
The Russian push in eastern Ukraine this fall and winter was designed to sap Western support for Ukraine, according to a newly declassified American intelligence assessment.
The drive has resulted in heavy losses but has not led to strategic gains on the battlefield for Russia, said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
Since the beginning of the war Russia has suffered from a staggeringly high number of losses, according to another newly declassified assessment shared with Congress. At the start of the war the Russian army stood at 360,000 troops. Russia has lost 315,000 of those troops, forcing them to recruit and mobilize new recruits and convicts from their prison system.
Moscow’s equipment has also been crushed, according to the assessment. At the start of the war, Russia had 3,500 tanks but has lost 2,200, forcing them to pull 50 year old T-62 tanks from storage.
If there are any lives Putin values less than those in countries he wants to subjugate, it’s those of the citizens of the country he rules with an arbitrary iron fist.