Despairing Headlines Reveal Ukraine's Counteroffensive Struggles – Flopping Aces

the despairing article headlines continue to roll in.

The only notable change in the new spate of headlines is that they’re now demonstrating a newfound brazenness in actually naming specifics—what won’t be achieved, what should be done instead. The difference is, before they merely stuck to giving the obvious—the counter-offensive is not going well—but kept things ambiguous under the tactic of hoping people would still maintain belief in its ultimate success. If you vaguely say “it’s not going as well as planned” but don’t mention that the specific objective of reaching the sea, or Melitopol, etc., can’t possibly be completed, then people will keep hope alive.

But now, they’re outright naming the key objectives with the admission that they will not be achieved. One of the main reasons for this switch is that a new “leaked intelligence report” has made this determination: