Where is Russia's Winter Offensive + President Biden Empty-Handed in Kiev (TheNewAtlas)

Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for February 22, 2023:

- Russian forces continue encircling Bakhmut, moving outward from Kremenna, and pressuring Vugladar;

- US President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev, Ukraine with little else but rhetoric;

- the most recent US military assistance package to Ukraine is meager with many items omitting the quantity being sent;

- US analysts believe Russia's winter offensive already began, that it is underwhelming, and will exhaust Russian combat potential giving Ukraine better chances of success for its own spring offensive;

- More likely Russia is conducting theater-wide spoiling operations to deny Ukraine a pause to put together significant offensive forces;

- Russian General S. Surovikin prepared extensive defenses to blunt Ukraine's offensive;



A theatre wide spoiling operation sounds about right. It would be good to see more footage of the Russian artillery striking Ukrainian positions to confirm their grinding strategy. Nevertheless the Ukrainians report heavy shelling everywhere.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, February 23, 2023.]