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Comment by thow-58d4e8b | Hacker News Reader

That's how urban warfare goes. Either prolonged Sarajevo-style siege waiting for surrender, or brutal block by block demolition until there's no place where defenders can fire from. The logic of urban warfare hasn't really changed since Stalingrad or Berlin

It's also likely the reason the Russian advance stalled. Neither party really wants to go through that hell

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> That's how urban warfare goes.

Then the blame should be on who started the "warfare".

Exactly. I don't buy the current narrative in the media that Putin had 'expected to take over Kiev in a matter of days'. Urban warfare is a nightmare, unless the defender surrenders voluntarily there is no other way to win than to completely destroy the city.

> I don't buy the current narrative in the media that Putin had 'expected to take over Kiev in a matter of days'. Urban warfare is a nightmare, unless the defender surrenders voluntarily there is no other way to win than to completely destroy the city.

Unless they expected a surrender ( which seems to be the case - they had advanced paratroop drops and logistics and rations drastically unprepared for a longer term battle,potentially with the help of special ops murdering Zelensky), why even go there then? Nobody sane starts a war with the idea of long term destructive urban fighting. Especially live streamed urban fighting. There's nothing for Russia to win there, so if that was really their plan, it's even stupider.

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