Other countries manage to change their head of state without all the acres and acres of largely meaningless ceremonial stuff. There are people already starting to line the route her coffin is going to take to Westminster Hall and they’re prepared to wait day and night in the rain! I am truly amazed.
My parents were staunch monarchists and I remember my old man taking me and my sister to watch the coronation of Elizabeth II on film in the cinema (we didn’t have a telly until about 1957). But I honestly think they would be surprised at the amount of coverage devoted to her funeral, I really do.
Anyway, elsewhere things continue to develop apace. The Russians seem to be simultaneously falling back in disarray, maintaining everything is still going to plan and calling for negotiations to restart. It’s very confusing but points increasingly to a catastrophic defeat for Putin. A few articles are beginning to appearing hinting that we may be looking at the end for mad Vlad. Let us hope so.
Details of the Ukrainian offensive are set out in this article by Mykola Bielieskov. It shows their stunning success was not down to luck but very clever tactics: "In approximately one week, Ukraine liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers (km) of its sovereign territory in Kharkiv region—much more than Russia has managed to occupy since mid-April 2022."
What they lacked in armour was more than made up by focusing on cutting communications and supply lines and exploiting geographical features like rivers and reservoirs. It was smart stuff.
The Ukrainians have learned quickly and are probably being helped with American intelligence and advisers as well as better NATO standard weapons. It s all in contrast to the plodding and destructive tactics used by the other side. The Kremlin is paying the price of trying to pretend they're a world superpower on the GDP of Texas.
After tremendous success in the Kharkiv oblast where the vast majority of territory was retaken, I see on social media reports of Russians negotiating a surrender in the west bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson. This is the only regional capital taken by Russia so its loss would be a disaster.
Ukraine hit the Antonovsky bridge used to resupply the occupiers multiple times, so Russian forces are in deep trouble. Apparently, Russian advisers, intelligence officers and the families of Russian soldiers around Melitopol are also withdrawing en masse to Crimea.
The tide is turning in Ukraine's favour but fighting in and around Kherson is likely to become far more difficult and much slower. The Russians had moved troops from Kharkiv to strengthen the front line in Kherson apparently. But morale is said to be low, Russia has announced it has no plans to send more troops and they don't even have the option of rotating the forces now defending themselves in Kherson.
I think it's been obvious for some time that Russia cannot win this war but for the first time it is now looking as if, with western help, Ukraine can. And if that happens Putin is finished.
