Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for January 30, 2023:

* Russian forces continue encircling Bakhmut in the east and pushing toward
Vugladar in the south;

* pro-Ukrainian Western volunteers admit the bleak situation Ukraine faces
overall and specifically in Bakhmut;

* one volunteer admits that Wagner is better trained, better equipped, better
organized and lead than Ukrainian forces fighting in Bakhmut;

* this volunteers admits Wagner is surrounding and may possibly cut of Bakhmut
like in Mariupol;

* this volunteer admits Ukraine suffers from immense corruption and incompetence
coupled with Western sponsors indifferent to their growing crisis;

* this volunteer admits that tanks are a "secret acknowledgement that things
aren't going well;"

* the volunteer would like to see more Western advisors leading Ukrainian units
in battle, a slippery slope toward direct NATO intervention;

* growing skepticism continues to surround pledged Western main battle tanks;

* US policy makers appear to suggest this strategy may be essentially a bluff to
convince Russia it is more prepared than Moscow for a long-term conflict;