There have been reports Ukrainian forces have outnumbered the Russians by 8 to 1 in this offensive. Regardless of how well trained or equipped they are I find this a little hard to believe given how large Russia's army is and how much victory means to Putin.

I wonder whether the Russians are as incompetent as they appear, or whether they're falling back in the hope Ukraine overstretches it's supply lines so they're vulnerable to the counterattack before winter sets in.

I'm genuinely hoping it's because the Ukrainians have trained and mobilized a very large assault force and the Russians are just really cr@p and totally incompetent.

Unfortunately their long term strategies in both Africa and South America would suggest otherwise. This could be a long cold winter for many regardless of Putin preventing Russia's gas and oil flowing West.