Ukrainian Helicopters Reportedly Strike Fuel Depot Over Border In Russia
Apr 1, 2022,04:48am EDT Robert Hart, Forbes Staff Forbes link
TOPLINE A fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod is on fire Friday after Ukrainian helicopters reportedly crossed the border and attacked the facility, the governor of the region said on social media, claims that have not been independently verified but if true would mark the first Ukrainian airstrike on Russian territory and a major embarrassment to Moscow.
KEY FACTS Two low-flying military helicopters conducted an airstrike on the oil depot, setting the facility ablaze and injuring two workers, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
Gladkov did not provide evidence for the claims and they have not yet been independently verified or claimed by Ukrainian officials.
If true, the attack would mark the first Ukrainian airstrike on Russian territory since the war began and comes after Moscow claimed to have “practically” destroyed Ukraine’s air force last week.
The reports add to growing indications of strong resistance against Russian forces, with Ukraine continuing to “make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv” and retaking two villages south of Chernihiv, according to the latest update from the British defense ministry on Friday.
Late on Thursday, the defense ministry said Russia is “redeploying elements” of forces stationed in Georgia to reinforce the invasion.
The ministry said it was “highly unlikely” Moscow planned to generate reinforcements like this, which is “indicative of the unexpected losses it has sustained during the invasion.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR Russian attacks switching focus. Moscow vowed to reduce military activity in northern Ukraine this week and claimed it would now focus on securing the eastern Donbas region. Analysts and officials are skeptical of Russia’s claims, which they suggest could be an effort to regroup and conceal military failures. Reports suggest attacks in eastern Ukraine are intensifying and also show few signs of reprieve for western Ukraine, where cities including Kyiv have still been subject to airstrikes. In addition to redeploying Georgian troops, Russian forces have also been forced to return to Belarus and Russia to resupply and reorganize, according to the British defense ministry, adding pressure to already “strained logistics” of its military operation.
TANGENT Russian soldiers have reportedly left the Chernobyl power station after receiving high doses of radiation while digging trenches in the surrounding area, according to Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom, which said the plant has been placed back under Ukrainian control. The reports have not been independently verified and the UN atomic watchdog said on Friday it is investigating the matter.
FURTHER READING Russian regional governor says Ukraine strikes fuel depot in Russia's Belgorod (Reuters)
IAEA investigates claim Russians fled Chernobyl with radiation sickness (Guardian)
The possibility of the Russians War on the Ukraine could be taking step toward expanding beyond the Ukraine's borders with this strike in Russia. It might not be what the United States wants to see, an expansion of the war, but putting ourselves in the shoes of the Ukrainian military..THEY ARE AT WAR..!!
Where is it written that it's ok for Russia to launch attacks from Russia and Belarus but the Ukrainians can't strike targets in Russia and Belarus..?
The possibility of the Russians War on the Ukraine could be taking step toward expanding beyond the Ukraine's borders with this strike in Russia. It might not be what the United States wants to see, an expansion of the war, but putting ourselves in the shoes of the Ukrainian military..THEY ARE AT WAR..!!
Where is it written that it's ok for Russia to launch attacks from Russia and Belarus but the Ukrainians can't strike targets in Russia and Belarus..?
Seems that the rules HAVE CHANGED...
this is probably a worst-case scenario. Ukraine just gave mother Russia has a reason to fight.
A former Russian official now working with an opposition leader says Putin could lose his grasp on power in a few months
A former Russian deputy energy minister who is now an adviser to opposition leader Alexy Navalny said Russian President Vladimir Putin's time in office is numbered.
Vladimir Milov told CNN's Erin Burnett on Saturday that top officials in the Russian government are "personally devastated" by Putin's aggression in Ukraine.
"For the first time ever, we are moving in a backwards direction. We had a lot of difficulties in the 70s, and the 80s, and the 90s, but we were still somewhat opening to the world and the direction was very different," Milov said. "Now Russia is being disconnected from global markets, global financial architecture, technology, logistics, and so on."
Milov said this disconnection isn't something that's happened before and those in positions of power recognize that.
"So, when I say devastated, I mean it," Milov said.
In a March 18, op-ed in the Journal of Democracy, Milov wrote that Putin's "days are numbered."
He told Burnett on Saturday, that Putin still maintains a strong grip on power but most likely not for long.
"He can hang on for some time, but few weeks, months, down the road, many more people inside the system will begin questioning what he's doing, ordinary Russians will express discontent with deteriorating economic situation, huge losses in the war. This is something Putin never experienced," Milov said.
Milov said Russian elites will start questioning the direction of the country and if Putin is the right leader.
Right now, however, he said communication between government officials is monitored significantly, possibly even greater than surveillance of opposition. Opponents are afraid to speak up about Putin's policies in Ukraine.
"If like two people, three people, or more will start to discuss that Putin is taking the country in the wrong direction, this is with large certain going to be recorded and reported to Putin," Milov said.
Russian people are feeling the affects of Putin's personal pursuit to take over the Ukraine by force.
Some updates below...
Given the direction Putin's War is heading, the Russian people will turn on him as news such as below reaches the Russian public. At some point I would expect Putin to become a target for arrest by The Hague and put on trial for War Crimes.
...that is, if Putin is not brought to justice by his own people, first.
Live updates | Ukraine: 410 civilian bodies found near Kyiv
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | PUBLISHED: April 3, 2022 at 2:50 p.m. | UPDATED: April 3, 2022 at 2:50 p.m. link
By The Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s prosecutor-general says the bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian troops.
Iryna Venediktova says on Facebook that the bodies were recovered Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She says 140 of them have undergone examination by prosecutors and other specialists.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says the mayor of the village of Motyzhyn in the Kyiv region was murdered while being held by Russian forces. Vereshchuk adds that there are 11 mayors and community heads in Russian captivity across Ukraine.
In a video address Sunday, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the allegedly targeted killings of civilians in towns that the Russians occupied, calling the killers “freaks who do not know how to do otherwise.” He warns that more atrocities may be revealed if Russian forces are driven out of other occupied areas.
International leaders have condemned the reported attacks in the Kyiv-area towns after harrowing accounts from civilians and graphic images of bodies with hands tied behind their backs.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has rejected the claims of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with bodies
— US, UK secret intelligence has unusually public role in Ukraine war
— Lithuania weans itself completely off Russian gas, 1st EU nation to do so
— Drug shortages persist in Russia after start of Ukraine war
— Pope still working on meeting Russian Orthodox patriarch
BALAKLIYA, Ukraine — The governor of the Kharkiv region says Russian troops fired on a convoy of buses that was trying to evacuate patients from a hospital that had been heavily damaged in shelling a day earlier.
The governor, Oleh Synyehubov, said Sunday that about 70 patients needed to be taken away from the damaged hospital in the town of Balakliya but that the buses were not able to enter the town.
He said there was preliminary information that one of the bus drivers was killed.
Balakliya is about 75 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of the city of Kharkiv, which has been heavily hit by Russian attacks.
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BERLIN — Germany’s defense minister says European officials should talk about halting gas supplies from Russia in light of the alleged attacks on civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Sunday night on German public broadcaster ARD that “there must be a reaction. Such crimes must not go unanswered.”
So far, Germany and several other European governments have shied away from an immediate boycott of Russian natural gas over fears of the impact it would have on their economies.
Europe gets 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia, and since the war, has scrambled to set out proposals to reduce its dependency. Russia is just as reliant on Europe, with oil and gas its dominant sector and paying for government operations.
Estimates of the impact of a gas boycott or embargo on Europe vary but most involve a substantial loss of economic output.
__
JERUSALEM __ Israel’s foreign minister is condemning the reported atrocities in Ukraine, saying deliberate harm to civilians is a war crime.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter that one “cannot remain indifferent” after seeing images from the town of Bucha near Ukraine capital.
Israel has walked a tightrope since Russia invaded Ukraine, simultaneously denouncing the invasion while avoiding taking too strident a stance out of concern of angering Moscow, with whom it has security coordination in neighboring Syria. Israel has good relations with both countries and has mediated between them since the invasion on Feb. 24.
Lapid says that intentionally harming a civilian population is a war crime and strongly condemned it.
___
MOTYZHYN, Ukraine — A resident says the mayor of the Ukrainian town of Motyzhyn was killed in an execution-style slaying along with her husband and son.
Another resident of the town 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Kyiv told the The Associated Press on Sunday that Russian troops targeted local officials in a bid to win them over and killed them if they did not collaborate. That man, Oleg, declined to give his full name for security reasons.
The mayor, Olga Sukhenko, and her family were shot and thrown into a pit in a forest behind a plot of land with three houses where Russian forces had slept. A fourth body was not yet identified.
The mayor and her family had been reported by others as kidnapped by Russians on March 23 and taken in an unknown direction.
I guess we’ll see. Russia is an awfully hard nut to crack. They’ve been used to isolation and despotic brutality - often extreme - for over 100 years. Unfortunately, it’s not like Ukraine where people got a taste of what it’s like to control the government and now cling to that ideal.
In my eyes, it’s more close to North Korea on the spectrum of “no matter how bad it gets, we need to grin and bear it” vs what we are accustomed to from our lens.
In Putin we have a modern day Hitler. People are saying he has mental problems. We have backed him into a corner with sanctions, all but destroying his economy. His army has been completely embarrassed. He will be charged as a war criminal when this is over. His ego badly bruised. What does he have left in order to save face?
What would Hitler have done, when he was going down, if he had Nukes?
I actually agree with you up until the nukes part. I guard against the use of sensationalism, although I don’t believe your point there to be extreme or far-fetched. I just depart from it because 1) Firing off a nuke is actually far more complicated than people realize, both functionally and practically and 2) I think right now it’s about putting the horse before the cart to focus on the next phase.
Like you said, the initial plan has failed, to a horrible proportion. His military, thought to be second best in the world, has shown itself so far to actually be the second best in Ukraine.
He has pivoted now to consolidating his forces in the east the separate Ukraine. It’s a much more attainable goal for him where he can still say it was the plan all along if he wins. I think Ukraine will take more of an offensive role in this portion, which is also more difficult for their military. If they have success at retaking the occupied eastern territory, I fully expect things to get horrifically brutal, albeit not nuclear. Chemical and biological? That would seem more likely.
Putin came out threatening nukes at the beginning. Since then, it has been all bad news and the world has ganged up on him with sanctions. And he is desperate, but there are others under him that would have to follow his orders to launch nukes. From the looks of his army, men are losing confidence in his orders/leadership at a rapid rate. I'd say, because it's all conjecture at this point, that Putin ends up ousted or dead as Russia tries to claw its way back to a civilized form of government and a modicum of world respect. The Russian people might be ruled by a dictator, but they are still a very proud people, and I can't see a way Putin's regime survives these sanctions. Of course Putin is brutal af, so it could go absolutely any way, including the worst possible way too.
Haven't they already been successful in retaking territory they previously lost?
Great question. They did and that was awesome. Most of their ability to do so, however was based on Russia’s inability to advance and “culminating” in those regions (say around Kiev). Ukraine had a very asymmetrical and advantageous defensive strategy in those fronts. They were also more overextended from their own location and had to work the logistics through Belarus at that point.
In the East, they’re working with more of a strong base, with the separatist region that Ukraine has already been having its own issues with since 2014, in combination with the annexed Crimea region and the fact it buts up against Russia’s own border. That combined with the fact that their forces are now consolidated gives them a greater strategic advantage than their initial strategy of trying to win everywhere and winning nowhere.
That all being said, I sure as hell was wrong when it came to the initial invasion’s chances of success and the Ukrainians are one hell of a scrappy bunch, so I hope they can somehow retake the whole damn country.
Imagine thinking that Ukraine should roll over for clowns like this. Imagine thinking Ukraine shouldn’t have pursued NATO or EU membership because of clowns like this.
But, it was Ukraine’s fault Russia invaded because they wanted to join NATO. Russia justifiably was threatened there. We should have just stayed out of it from the get-go to save more Ukrainian lives.
Imagine if Russia is regrouping, fixing their problems, reinforcing, and preparing to attack again in force.
Imagine if we do not do everything possible by supplying Ukraine the weapons needed to keep Russia in retreat.
Imagine if this war drags on for years giving Putin time to slowly grind Ukraine down, firing missiles and artillery, dropping bombs and laying waste to one city at a time.
Imagine the West not stepping it up in hopes of a negotiated peace.
Imagine if Russia is regrouping, fixing their problems, reinforcing, and preparing to attack again in force.
Imagine if we do not do everything possible by supplying Ukraine the weapons needed to keep Russia in retreat.
Imagine if this war drags on for years giving Putin time to slowly grind Ukraine down, firing missiles and artillery, dropping bombs and laying waste to one city at a time.
Imagine the West not stepping it up in hopes of a negotiated peace.
Imagine senate and house republicans voting against bills in congress that punish Putin more. Wait, you don’t have to imagine it. That’s exactly what’s happening. There is a GOP Putin caucus on Capitol Hill right now.
Swish, I hope this helps-I think it will Looking up the S300, it can fire missiles hundreds of miles, take down cruise missiles and if this is the defense system they were talking about on the news when I was coming home last night from work, it can reach planes up to 80,000 feet in the air
Biden says U.S. facilitated Slovakia's transfer of air defense system to Ukraine
Zachary Basu
Slovakia has transferred an S-300 missile defense system to Ukraine, fulfilling one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's top requests to help the country defend itself against Russia's bombing campaign.
Why it matters: Zelensky pleaded in an address to the U.S. Congress last month for the U.S. and its European allies to impose a no-fly zone or give Ukraine the ability to "close the skies" itself by facilitating the transfer of Soviet-era fighter jets or anti-aircraft systems.
The latest: President Biden thanked the Slovakian government in a statement Friday and said the U.S. will reposition a Patriot missile system to Slovakia.
The Patriot missile system will be manned by U.S. service members at the invitation of the Slovakian government. "This deployment of Patriot capabilities to Slovakia aligns perfectly with our previous efforts to bolster NATO’s defensive capabilities and to demonstrate our collective security requirements under Article 5 of the NATO treaty," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. What they're saying: "I would like to confirm that Slovakia has provided #Ukraine with an air-defence system S-300. Ukrainian nation is bravely defending its sovereign country and us too. It is our duty to help, not to stay put and be ignorant to the loss of human lives under Russia’s aggression," Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger tweeted.
The big picture: In addition to the S-300, Ukraine has received tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from the Czech Republic, as the Donbas region braced for a major Russian offensive.
"As the Russian military repositions for the next phase of this war, I have directed my Administration to continue to spare no effort to identify and provide to the Ukrainian military the advanced weapons capabilities it needs to defend its country," Biden said in his statement Friday. U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told reporters Thursday that NATO countries had expressed support for providing "new and heavier equipment" to Ukraine as outrage builds over Russia's atrocities against civilians. "The battle for Donbas will remind you of the Second World War with large operations, thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, planes, artillery," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the NATO meeting Thursday, pleading for allies to accelerate their military aid.
Slovakia confirms Patriot, S-300 air defense systems are heading to Ukraine By The Associated Press Apr 8, 12:55 PM
An S-300 missile launches during a Greek military exercise in 2013. Slovakia has confirmed it sent Ukraine an S-300 air defense system (Costas Metaxakis/AFP via Getty Images) BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad says the United States will deploy a Patriot air defense system in his country next week.
Friday’s announcement came shortly after Slovakia donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine at its request. Nad previously said his country was willing to provide its S-300 to Ukraine on condition it has a proper replacement.
Additionally, Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to send troops armed with Patriot missiles to Slovakia as part of 2,100-strong force made up of soldiers from several NATO members states, including the U.S. The force will form a battlegroup on Slovak territory to boost NATO defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank.
NATO members Bulgaria, Slovakia and Greece have S-300s, which can fire missiles hundreds of miles and knock out cruise missiles as well as aircraft.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger recently visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with top European Union officials, ahead of a planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
Zelenskyy had mentioned S-300s by name when he spoke to U.S. lawmakers by video last month, appealing for defense systems that would allow Ukraine to “close the skies” to Russian planes and missiles.
The S-300 is a very good SAM. The Russians also have an S-400. But - for whatever reason - they weren’t able to bar the Ukrainians from flying or attacking by UAV. I hope it stays that way.
WH says they know what to expect in Ukraine based on Putin's choice of new general Russian Gen. Alexander Dvornikov known as 'Butcher of Syria'
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reported appointment of a new general known as the "Butcher of Syria" to oversee the invasion of Ukraine is a choice that shows the Biden administration exactly what to expect as Moscow’s bloody aggression continues, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday.
Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, commander of Russia’s southern military district (SMD), was reported to be Putin’s pick as the new commander to lead operations in Ukraine. U.S. officials have said the 60-year-old general has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war.
Ukraine War: Russia's flagship crippled in the Black Sea
Former Chief of Defence Intelligence and a Director at Universal Defence and Security Solutions, Air Marshal Phil Osborn takes a look at the claims Ukrainian forces hit and badly damaged the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet with cruise missiles.
Russia acknowledged the crew was forced to evacuate, but said this was as a result of a fire, after onboard ammunition detonated.
Analysts say Russia continues to consolidate its forces ahead of an expected assault in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
well, if it limped to port and then sunk, that port is now closed, lol
How embarrassing, to lose your fleet's flagship to a country you tried to steamroll and commit genocide in… Major egg on Putin's face. I just can't get over the fight in these Ukrainians. They must have been the soviet muscle in the old USSR.
I think there is another important point to be made here- this botched land grab has exposed the vaunted Russian military as the paper tiger it apparently has been for decades.
Putin and his cronies have been siphoning off Russia's assets for 20 years, hollowing out all manner of Russia's infrastructure, including the military. The Russian military's "new reputation" has been made from carpet bombing Syrian cities and running unopposed into the Crimean peninsula. 'Blunt Force Trauma' against helpless, powerless victims. Their last major military initiative was an abject failure in Afghanistan (take note- those people were also tough and unyielding...). It has now been made apparent that Russia's world image as a major military force was mostly propaganda, propped up by smoke and mirrors. They have 'big boy toys'- but only a few (to serve as runway models for propaganda footage). Mostly, they have 1990's era gear. Why? Because Putin came to power during Y2K- and that's when his grift got off the ground. Those megayachts and European villas come at a price.
As a result, Putin's military have now been exposed as undisciplined, poorly-trained, poorly-informed, poorly-equipped, poorly-fed and poorly-led. #secondrate. All this leads to the point I want to make: Regardless of how this military campaign plays out, Vladimir Putin has played his last cards as a major player on the world stage. There is no nation on this planet that isn't seeing what's happening, which means that every day this thing drags on, Putin looks weaker and weaker. His currency is valuable only as toilet paper, every Western 1st world country is aligned in solidarity against him, his personal offshore assets are frozen, his people are starting to grumble... and now, his world stage 'tough guy image' is taking a public beat-down. This is the kind of de-pantsing a short little man with Napoleon Complex does not come back from.
We are witnessing history- the demise of a despot.
Every bully on the schoolyard has his way- until that one quiet, skinny kid stands tf up, and punches him square in the nose. In front of the entire school. Ukraine ain't givin' up Her lunch money.
No. Just effing no.
Putin rolled up his sleeve, flexed his navy bicep, and Ukraine said:
Schoolyards... international politics... jackals/hyenas/cats on the Serengeti plains- the dynamics never change. Everyone sees that moment when The Alpha... ain't. His crew- and other crews, as well. That's when s# gets really ugly and interesting.
Watch every minute of this, my friends. History is being written right this moment.
This, in my opinion, means: Russia knows they've failed so far, and Russia is afraid of losing more.
I read somewhere, I'm sure other's have, that russia has said there will be severe consequences if the u.s. or other countries supply higher tech weapons.
To me, that is an admission of failure on russia's part, but possibly also an indication russia will up the ante - daring other nations to continue in an effort to thwart a loss.
Escalation on the russian part could easily happen, but I am convinced, with the history of this short, yet terrible unjustified war and the senseless and needless killings, IF russia escalates, all hell will reign down on them.
I was worried about him using nukes more at the beginning than now. He's busy getting his ass handed to him now and this screams desperation IMHO. Biden should tell him to put up or shut up. NO, I don't want war with Russia, but the only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. And I think Putin is more bark than bite these days. Of course Zelenskyy and Ukraine probably have a different take.
This, in my opinion, means: Russia knows they've failed so far, and Russia is afraid of losing more.
I read somewhere, I'm sure other's have, that russia has said there will be severe consequences if the u.s. or other countries supply higher tech weapons.
To me, that is an admission of failure on russia's part, but possibly also an indication russia will up the ante - daring other nations to continue in an effort to thwart a loss.
Escalation on the russian part could easily happen, but I am convinced, with the history of this short, yet terrible unjustified war and the senseless and needless killings, IF russia escalates, all hell will reign down on them.
It might also reign down on everyone. That's the problem. How far as you willing to kick the dog in to a corner before the dog bites? Usually you find out a kick late.
I have no real idea how this will play out going forward but the impression I get from Russia's troop movements seem relatively clear. From the way Russia went about this war at the beginning it seems they thought they could just steamroll the entire nation of Ukraine quickly. A general attack in several parts of Ukraine simultaneously. That failed miserably. So now by all reports their troops are gathering in eastern Ukraine. So it seems they plan to take a bite by bite approach by focusing on taking over sections of Ukraine at a time. I think that will be much harder for Ukraine to defend against.
World Central Kitchen restaurant destroyed in Kharkiv
A restaurant operated by celebrity chef José Andrés’s non-profit World Central Kitchen (WCK) was destroyed by a missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Saturday, officials said.
WCK CEO Nate Mook shared a video from the site that highlighted extensive damage around the building that housed the restaurant.
Mook said in a video on Twitter that staff members were wounded, adding that nobody was killed in the restaurant but “we are told that one person was killed in this strike.”
He also said that the missile strike was a “big hit” and showed the shells of burnt cars, debris and the carnage around the neighborhood.
“Just a tremendous amount of carnage left behind for no reason. In this area, there are offices there are residences. People live here. People work here people cook here and it’s absolutely horrific brutality,” Mook said.
He added that this is the reality for so many in Ukraine right now.
“Coming to work, cooking for people that are hungry is an immense act of bravery.”
In another tweet, he added that the restaurant team is moving all food products and non-damaged equipment to another kitchen location in Kharkiv.
“The injured staff are doing well—and all the team here wants to continue cooking,” he said.
Andrés also tweeted after the strike was reported.
“To everyone caring and sending good wishes to the team in Kharkiv, thank you, the injured are fine, and everyone is ready and willing to start cooking in another location,” he said. “All our friends are TRUE heroes! Many ways to fight, we do it with food!”
Andrés also said that “Russian attacks must stop against civilian buildings and markets and churches and schools.”
He told CNN last month that his non-profit organization has provided more than 4 million meals to refugees since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine more almost two months ago.
World Central Kitchen aims to establish feeding systems in disaster and war zones.
Chef José Andrés is one celebrity I like for what he is doing with his fame. We need more like him, and to see this happen is just sad. Another reason to hate Putin, and anyone who supports him.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — New satellite images show apparent mass graves near Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place in the ruined port city that’s almost entirely under Russian control.
The images emerged just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol, despite the presence of an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters who were still holed up at a giant steel mill. Putin ordered his troops to seal off the stronghold “so that not even a fly comes through” instead of storming it.
Putin’s decision to blockade the Azovstal steel plant likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an assessment Friday.
Satellite image provider Maxar Technologies released the photos, which it said showed more than 200 mass graves in a town where Ukrainian officials say the Russians have been burying Mariupol residents killed in the fighting. The imagery showed long rows of graves stretching away from an existing cemetery in the town of Manhush, outside Mariupol.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused the Russians of “hiding their military crimes” by taking the bodies of civilians from the city and burying them in Manhush.
The graves could hold as many as 9,000 dead, the Mariupol City Council said Thursday in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Boychenko labeled Russian actions in the city as “the new Babi Yar,” a reference to the site of multiple Nazi massacres in which nearly 34,000 Ukrainian Jews were killed in 1941.
“The bodies of the dead were being brought by the truckload and actually simply being dumped in mounds,” an aide to Boychenko, Piotr Andryushchenko, said on Telegram.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin. When mass graves and hundreds of dead civilians were discovered in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv after Russian troops retreated three weeks ago, Russian officials denied that their soldiers killed any civilians there and accused Ukraine of staging the atrocities.
In a statement, Maxar said a review of previous images indicates that the graves in Manhush were dug in late March and expanded in recent weeks.
After nearly two lethal months of bombardment that largely reduced Mariupol to a smoking ruin, Russian forces appear to control the rest of the strategic southern city, including its vital but now badly damaged port.
But a few thousand Ukrainian troops, by Moscow’s estimate, have stubbornly held out for weeks at the steel plant, despite a pummeling from Russian forces and repeated demands for their surrender. About 1,000 civilians were also trapped there, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russia of launching attacks to block civilian evacuations from Mariupol.
At least two Russian attacks on Thursday hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, a way station for people fleeing Mariupol. No one was wounded, the regional governor said.
Among those who arrived in Zaporizhzhia after fleeing the city were Yuriy and Polina Lulac, who spent nearly two months living in a basement with at least a dozen other people. There was no running water and little food, Yuriy Lulac said.
“What was happening there was so horrible that you can’t describe it,” said the native Russian speaker who used a derogatory word for the Russian troops, saying they were “killing people for nothing.”
“Mariupol is gone. In the courtyards there are just graves and crosses,” Lulac said.
The Red Cross said it had expected to evacuate 1,500 people by bus, but that the Russians allowed only a few dozen to leave and pulled some people off of the buses.
Dmitriy Antipenko said he lived mostly in a basement with his wife and father-in-law amid death and destruction.
“In the courtyard, there was a little cemetery, and we buried seven people there,” Antipenko said, wiping away tears.
Instead of sending troops to finish off the Mariupol defenders inside the steel factory in a potentially bloody frontal assault, Russia apparently intends to maintain the siege and wait for the fighters to surrender when they run out of food or ammunition.
All told, more than 100,000 people were believed trapped with little or no food, water, heat or medicine in Mariupol, which had a prewar population of about 430,000. Over 20,000 people have been killed in the siege, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The city has seized worldwide attention as the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war, including deadly airstrikes on a maternity hospital and a theater.
Boychenko rejected any notion that Mariupol had fallen into Russian hands.
“The city was, is and remains Ukrainian,” he declared. “Today our brave warriors, our heroes, are defending our city.”
The capture of Mariupol would represent the Kremlin’s biggest victory yet of the war in Ukraine. It would help Moscow secure more of the coastline, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, and free up more forces to join the larger and potentially more consequential battle now underway for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas.
At a joint appearance with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin declared, “The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success,” and he offered congratulations to Shoigu.
Shoigu predicted the Azovstal steel mill could be taken in three to four days. But Putin said that would be “pointless” and expressed concern for the lives of Russian troops in deciding against sending them in to clear out the sprawling plant, where the die-hard defenders were hiding in a maze of underground passageways.
Instead, the Russian leader said, the military should “block off this industrial area so that not even a fly comes through.”
The plant covers 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) and is threaded with some 24 kilometers (15 miles) of tunnels and bunkers.
“The Russian agenda now is not to capture these really difficult places where the Ukrainians can hold out in the urban centers, but to try and capture territory and also to encircle the Ukrainian forces and declare a huge victory,” retired British Rear Adm. Chris Parry said.
Russian officials for weeks have said capturing the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas is the war’s main objective. Moscow’s forces opened the new phase of the fighting this week along a 300-mile (480-kilometer) front from the northeastern city of Kharkiv to the Azov Sea.
While Russia continued heavy air and artillery attacks in those areas, it did not appear to gain any significant ground over the past few days, according to military analysts, who said Moscow’s forces were still ramping up the offensive.
Despite Russia’s renewed focus, its troops are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict, according to the British assessment. In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, the Russians have resorted to sending inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair, it said.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment, said the Ukrainians were hindering the Russian effort to push south from Izyum.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden pledged an additional $1.3 billion for new weapons and economic assistance to help Ukraine, and he promised to seek much more from Congress to keep the guns, ammunition and cash flowing.
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Associated Press journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Felipe Dana in Kharkiv, Ukraine; Danica Kirka in London; and Robert Burns and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report, as did other AP staff members around the world.
I wish to share with all of you, this opportunity to spend time on the ground in Kyiv, Ukraine. War has global implications, to be sure. War is also personal af.
1. Go here. 2. Click/stab/tap/jab the arrow in the circle, to get a listen. 3. Gain some new perspective about the Eastern European people who are now in our news every day.
These people have made a Democracy that is roughly the same age as America's, when we fought our War of 1812. They are fighting for not only their lives, but their principles, ideals, and sovereign status as a free people. I was happy I encountered this story, and I wanted to give My Dawgs a chance to experience it, as well. If we are going to discuss this subject/these people, we owe them the courtesy of hearing them personally tell the tales of their lives. We have a daily diary here, folks. Let's better know Ukrainians through the eyes of those who are living it.
The Russian Navy has to hate these drones. Imagine thinking you are state of the art and then get taken out with something small and invisible to radar.
Screw Putin, if he's going to use nukes there is nothing we can do to stop him that is not against our worst interest in the long run. You don't let thugs and bullies have what they want, or they never quit taking. A dead world would be better than one run by Putin era fascists.
Haunting and thought provoking. On the one hand so down to earth, so ordinary (taking your dog for a pee who then wants to poop ! LOL) - and the situation and reality of living in a war zone. Touching lives and connecting with people in our community suddenly on a different level. Great piece. Makes me think the USA needs something to shake us all up and reconnect on a human level instead of where we are with politics, social media, sensationalism and so many decisions based on convenience instead of what is right and best regardless of how hard or the challenge. jmo
Isn't it odd how those who once claimed so strongly to stand for upholding democracy and fighting against communism now want to us to kiss the communists ass and back down just because of which political party happens to be in power at the time?
Screw Putin, if he's going to use nukes there is nothing we can do to stop him that is not against our worst interest in the long run. You don't let thugs and bullies have what they want, or they never quit taking. A dead world would be better than one run by Putin era fascists.
Not true. We have the ability to find solutions that don't involve Nukes.
You have to allow the bully a way out when he has a gun to your head.
You've given nothing to twist but vague statements without really saying anything.
We have solutions that don't involve nukes. Only Putin has mentioned nukes.
The bully has a way out.
So what are your solutions and ideas? As of now there's no way Putin leaves without Ukraine conceding land he has occupied. So is that your solution? Open the door for Putin to attack democracies and then give him part of their countries in concession?
You see, you just throw out BS without actually saying anything.
Screw Putin, if he's going to use nukes there is nothing we can do to stop him that is not against our worst interest in the long run. You don't let thugs and bullies have what they want, or they never quit taking. A dead world would be better than one run by Putin era fascists.
Not true. We have the ability to find solutions that don't involve Nukes.
You have to allow the bully a way out when he has a gun to your head.
Or die.
Choose.
If there is a gun to your head, you're dead already... you're just breathing through it. Attempts to appease in the hopes that it means you're not dead is just weakness and fruitless, wishful dreaming.
Reagan would get on Johnny Carson and mock Putin, say that he's too weak and soft-backboned to seek peace and leave Ukraine.... and he'd be right to because he's smarter in that you give the gift of saying that seeking the peace IS him being the strong ruler. You get to take your shot AND publicly steer him to your goal while also giving him the face-saving words he needs to not escalate.
You do NOT give ground just because the freaking Soviet trash tosses out threats.
If we would have started with sanctions and tough talk when Putin was amassing troops on the border, he may not have moved on Ukraine.
But we lead from behind, chasing his every move. We chased him with sanctions that failed because he spent the last bunch of years stocking up on Gold to protect his economy.
Even now we could threaten him, with the gun to our heads, that any radioactive cloud that passes over a NATO country will be considered an attack on NATO.
it has never passed. You can ALWAYS draw a line in the sand.
and, I agree on the weak ass sanctions... the bunch of Neville's leading the circus really screwed the pooch on that, but that doesn't mean the opportunity is gone.
it has never passed. You can ALWAYS draw a line in the sand.
and, I agree on the weak ass sanctions... the bunch of Neville's leading the circus really screwed the pooch on that, but that doesn't mean the opportunity is gone.
Imagine where we would be, if the men of America, acted like that in the 40s. Such a spineless tragic de evolution of American manhood.
it has never passed. You can ALWAYS draw a line in the sand.
and, I agree on the weak ass sanctions... the bunch of Neville's leading the circus really screwed the pooch on that, but that doesn't mean the opportunity is gone.
Putin did exactly that when he threatened Nukes over those Polish Jet Fighters and we backed down.
Putin has been threatening Nukes ever since because he had us where he wanted us. Scared.
According to you we are being too tough on him now and should back off to give him options so he doesn't use nukes. Seems like an odd question for you to be asking now since you refused to answer this.....
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So what are your solutions and ideas? As of now there's no way Putin leaves without Ukraine conceding land he has occupied. So is that your solution? Open the door for Putin to attack democracies and then give him part of their countries in concession?
I remember how broken and busted up their ships were at the end of the Cold War... if that is any indication, then I'd bet that half their nukes would blow up in their silos if they tried to launch anything at all.
They clearly haven't updated much of their military, and they've never been all that big on spending to maintain equipment, either. They probably have duct tape sealing up dry-rotted fueling hoses on half that junk.
agreed. have you seen the recent reports of their most advanced tanks getting wrecked, as well as one of their ships being destroyed?
bro at least we see the cool ass toys we developed with all the military spending. where exactly has the money been spent on with regards to their military?
Like always you want to talk out of both sides of your mouth at once.
Biden is weak and enabling. Biden is heavy handed and provoking Putin.
Your perspective on any topic is through a political lens - whatever the issue, whatever the policy, whatever the result: Democrats evil, weak, bad. Trump genius, good.
Nobody picked this battle. Putin decided to use it as a threat. You either stand up to him or back down from him. If you back down you set the precedent that he can just invade democracies and steal them. Nothing American about that concept. But then again I never expected you to have an opinion that stands up for the freedom of others.
So now our Intelligence Agencies have helped Ukraine to sink Russia's Flagship and target and kill 12 Russian Generals. We deny targeting them but we admit to providing the Intel for Ukraine to do as they wish.
I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Russia had done the same with North Vietnam or Iraq, to the United States, sinking our Flagship and killing our Generals?
Seems to me the war is widening.
I think Putin will be letting us know his thoughts come May 9th.
lol imagine being Russia and having ukraine sink two of your ships already.
Dude has spent the past 20 years parading around like he's the cock of the block. Then he just couldn't help himself. Had to go pick on the quiet kid next door. Now his pants are down around his ankles, he's displayed to the world his 'shortcomings, ' and Zalenskyy just steady spankin that azz...
International clout: evaporated. Bro- his rep is wrecked forever. He should be 'putin in his retirement papers' before one of his own boys retires him for us.
So now our Intelligence Agencies have helped Ukraine to sink Russia's Flagship and target and kill 12 Russian Generals. We deny targeting them but we admit to providing the Intel for Ukraine to do as they wish.
I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Russia had done the same with North Vietnam or Iraq, to the United States, sinking our Flagship and killing our Generals?
Seems to me the war is widening.
I think Putin will be letting us know his thoughts come May 9th.
40...you appear to be upset by the losses Putin and Russia are suffering in the WAR THEY STARTED..?
Russia is not an ally or even a friend of the United States and would do to "our country" and "our people" exactly what they are doing to Ukrainians...if they could.
40, it is so obvious that military history is not something you know much about. Russia "did support and supply" Vietnam with intelligence and weapons to help kill American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Russia supplied and provided support to Sadam and Iraq and more recently Putin and Russian helped the Taliban in Afghanistan..helped the Taliban kill American soldiers...
Russia's Victory Day parade in Moscow went ahead without a promised display of airpower in which warplanes were expected to do a flyover in a "Z" formation.
Aircraft rehearsing for Monday's event had been seen flying in the "Z-shape", which is also used to identify Russian armoured vehicles fighting in Ukraine.
But at the last minute, the Kremlin cancelled the planned display in Moscow due to "bad weather". The explanation caused widespread bafflement as conditions in Moscow were neither rainy nor particularly windy or overcast. Similar displays in Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Samara were also cancelled, prompting speculation that Russia was concerned about Ukrainian sabotage.
The scrapping of the air display added to a sense that Vladimir Putin's much-vaunted May 9 Victory Day extravaganza was something of a damp squib.
The Russian president had been widely expected to make a full-scale declaration of war against Kyiv, which would entail a mass mobilisation of Russian citizens. Instead, Mr Putin issued no such orders - nor did he make any new threats to the territorial integrity of the Baltics or Finland, as some feared he might.
In the run-up before live coverage started, a computer hack of Russian broadcasters also led to millions of Russians receiving anti-war messages on their screens.
“The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of their children is on your hands," the message read. "TV and the authorities lie. No to war.”
The Victory Day parade is held every year to celebrate the Soviet defeat of Hitler in World War II - a campaign Mr Putin claims he is now finishing off by mopping up "Nazis" in Ukraine.
As well as today's huge turnout in Moscow, where battalions of soldiers marched past the Russian leader, smaller events were held in 28 other Russian cities, involving more than 60,000 participants in all. However, for all the pomp and ceremony, it should have been an even bigger event than it was.
Had Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine gone to plan, he would have had sister parades arranged in Kyiv today, put on by the Moscow-friendly government he intended to install.
Instead, with the Russian campaign in Ukraine faltering, even Ukraine's pro-Russian breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk - normally keenest parade-holders - had to cancel this year for security reasons.
Also cancelled was the planned parade in the Russian-captured city of Mariupol - most likely because it is far too bomb-damaged to be fit for TV screens.
Even Mr Putin seemed to lack his usual truculence, painting himself as the innocent party rather than aggressor.
Russia had had no choice but to invade Ukraine, he insisted, because the West was "preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea". “That is absolutely unacceptable to us,” he declared.
The "heroic" Russian soldiers he had despatched to Ukraine, he insisted, were fighting the same Nazi enemies that their forefathers had battled at Stalingrad. The only difference was that these days, those “Nazis” were controlled by Nato rather than Hitler - which was also armed with atomic weapons.
"In Kyiv, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons," he claimed - blithely forgetting he himself has been the main one delivering nuclear-tipped threats.
Yet by Mr Putin's usual blood-curdling standards, this was something of a mild-mannered address. For some Russians - and, of course, most Ukrainians - the speech will have been something of a relief.
Didn't wake up to nuclear winter, so far so good 40. smh.
But I did hear that Trump will be re-installed in Sept., so there's that. Maybe Q moved the date for Putin's grand victory too. It feels like October might be the new target for that...
So now our Intelligence Agencies have helped Ukraine to sink Russia's Flagship and target and kill 12 Russian Generals. We deny targeting them but we admit to providing the Intel for Ukraine to do as they wish.
I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Russia had done the same with North Vietnam or Iraq, to the United States, sinking our Flagship and killing our Generals?
Seems to me the war is widening.
I think Putin will be letting us know his thoughts come May 9th.
It's basically the rest of the world helping Ukraine vs Russia. Russia invaded a sovereign nation for who knows what reasons, and is now suffering the consequences of their decisions. Putin is a fraud and a half. Their military is getting handled by a country with 1/3 the population. Russia is supposedly a military powerhouse, but their getting all they can handle and more from Ukraine even not considering the international help. Putin thought he could walk right in and Ukraine would bow down to Almighty Russia and Putin, but he was sorely wrong.
The US has military/government has done a pile of wrong over the years, but helping fight Putin, even indirectly, is the right choice. If he takes Ukraine, he just continues with likely Poland next.
i mean...watching my northern neighbor get his ass kicked by an inferior country, as well as realizing that his military ain't crap, losing personnel and equipment by the hour, going broke by the hour, and becoming toxic in the business world?
something tells me that if i invade....the EU and the US wouldn't care all that much, as long as I sold them the energy on the cheap, like everything else we sell.
So now our Intelligence Agencies have helped Ukraine to sink Russia's Flagship and target and kill 12 Russian Generals. We deny targeting them but we admit to providing the Intel for Ukraine to do as they wish.
I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Russia had done the same with North Vietnam or Iraq, to the United States, sinking our Flagship and killing our Generals?
Seems to me the war is widening.
I think Putin will be letting us know his thoughts come May 9th.
I hate this administration just as much as the next guy and I'm probably more conservative than most, but dude... you're living in fantasy land and are focused more on partisan rhetoric BS than anything.
What would have happened if Russia had done something with North Vietnam or Iraq???? Have you ever paid attention to our history during The Cold War? Vietnam was a freaking PROXY WAR with the Soviet Union/Russia. We also poked the Bear in Afghanistan by supplying the Afghans with tons of weapons via the CIA. Russia made billions selling arms to Iraq and continuously took their side in U.N. debates.
Absolutely NONE of this is uncharted waters, and tensions were WAAAAAAAAAY higher back in the day. Hell, the simple fact that no news agency has reported on The Doomsday Clock in decades is proof enough. Hell, most of the kids under 40 on here probably don't even know what the Hell that was/is.
So now our Intelligence Agencies have helped Ukraine to sink Russia's Flagship and target and kill 12 Russian Generals. We deny targeting them but we admit to providing the Intel for Ukraine to do as they wish.
I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Russia had done the same with North Vietnam or Iraq, to the United States, sinking our Flagship and killing our Generals?
Seems to me the war is widening.
I think Putin will be letting us know his thoughts come May 9th.
I hate this administration just as much as the next guy and I'm probably more conservative than most, but dude... you're living in fantasy land and are focused more on partisan rhetoric BS than anything.
What would have happened if Russia had done something with North Vietnam or Iraq???? Have you ever paid attention to our history during The Cold War? Vietnam was a freaking PROXY WAR with the Soviet Union/Russia. We also poked the Bear in Afghanistan by supplying the Afghans with tons of weapons via the CIA. Russia made billions selling arms to Iraq and continuously took their side in U.N. debates.
Absolutely NONE of this is uncharted waters, and tensions were WAAAAAAAAAY higher back in the day. Hell, the simple fact that no news agency has reported on The Doomsday Clock in decades is proof enough. Hell, most of the kids under 40 on here probably don't even know what the Hell that was/is.
The doomsday clock was moved; In January 2020, it was moved forward to 100 seconds before midnight. Science has our democracy/world on its last legs, at the edge of the end. I think that is over dramatic, or did until January 6th 2020. Now I can see it going either way, honestly.
BTW 40, Putin was quiet all day today. I didn't think the May 9th rhetoric held much weight. But like you, I still think Putin is a huge threat, even just talking about using nukes.
bruh, do you see these reports of all these unexploded bombs russia dropped? crap doesn't even work half the time. seeing these rockets laying on the ground like an art piece in a public square is crazy.
and now they just launched another hypersonic missile in odessa. lots of damage, but their weapons keep missing their intended targets.
i know we NEVER want to see this play out in real life, but in a different universe, this makes me want to see what China's military is really about now. no doubt they *should* be more effective....but by how much?
i've been trying to tell people for years that countries who do these dumbass military parades are weak countries. if you're really that dude, you don't need to display your arsenal. you let your enemies find out about your capabilities the hard way.
Honest question for you and prp: Is the U.S. what we're told, militarily?
yes. if anything we're underhyped. put it like this: We're Tyson in his prime. The only ones capable of stopping us is ourselves.
and not saying you don't know this, but in general: there's a huge difference between an invasion/fight and occupying. when you look at our invasion into iraq and afghanistan, it was quick. what screwed us was the occupying aspect, which we shouldn't be doing anyway.
Just a few minutes ago I read an article, which I can't find right now, that the u.s. has shipped so many stingers and some other weapon to Ukraine, that it has functionally almost depleted our supply. And, it could take up to 2 years (supply chain able) to replenish.
Honest question for you and prp: Is the U.S. what we're told, militarily?
yes. if anything we're underhyped. put it like this: We're Tyson in his prime. The only ones capable of stopping us is ourselves.
and not saying you don't know this, but in general: there's a huge difference between an invasion/fight and occupying. when you look at our invasion into iraq and afghanistan, it was quick. what screwed us was the occupying aspect, which we shouldn't be doing anyway.
I'd say that, in a lot of ways, we're aren't what we used to be. In a lot of ways, we're a lot softer and we don't take care of our stuff the way we used to and that affects combat readiness, but balancing that out a little is the fact that we have a TON of leadership with combat experience and in terms of technology and going toe-to-toe with any other standing army in the entire history of the world, there is nobody even remotely in our class. Tyson in his prime may not even be a strong enough comparison..... and I'm basing what I'm writing on what I saw from us close to 20 years ago when the US went into Iraq, which was leaps and bounds ahead of our capabilities when I was dropping Marines ashore in Kuwait City ten years before that in '93. The M1 Abrahms tank is still a veritable God on the battlefield. The M1A1's that were everywhere when I was in have since been replaced by M1A3's and M1A2 SEP v4's that are supposedly in testing since last year. They're almost not even the same tank. Our ability to "reach out and touch someone" is nearly unmatched. Looking at Ukraine right now, our gear from the 80's and 90's is still superior to most of what we're seeing used there, and what we have today is just so far ahead it would be like the Germans in WW2 fighting the Polish cavalry..... or, the U.S. and the highway of death in Kuwait. We can destroy equipment faster than anyone could replace it.
To what Swish said about the difference between fighting and occupying; the better comparison, instead of Tyson, may be Achilles: We're all but unkillable on the battlefield, except for that one little thing (occupying), but that's simply because no army is built to occupy. That's the work of a police force. A military force is built to destroy another military force.
Just a few minutes ago I read an article, which I can't find right now, that the u.s. has shipped so many stingers and some other weapon to Ukraine, that it has functionally almost depleted our supply. And, it could take up to 2 years (supply chain able) to replenish.
Does that, if true, worry anyone?
Nope. We *REALLY* should be upgrading our shoulder-fired surface to air arsenal anyway. We had a Stinger crew on my ship when I last deployed, and that was before half the people in the service today were even born. Use 'em up, and replenish our stockpiles with something better.
weren't you the one for years pointing out that the military always seems to ask for more funding no matter what's going on?
Pretty sure the answer is "NO". I do not believe I have EVER said the military is over funded. I DO believe I have said something along the lines of "there is some waste, but fund them, because we'll need them."
I think you may have me mistaken with someone else.
NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France (Reuters) - The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.
Marat Gabidullin took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin's behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before deciding to go public about his experience inside the secretive private military company.
He quit the Wagner group in 2019, but several months before Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24 Gabidullin, 55, said he received a call from a recruiter who invited him to go back to fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
He refused, in part because, he said, he knew Russian forces were not up to the job, even though they trumpeted their arsenal of new weapons and their successes in Syria where they helped President Bashar al-Assad defeat an armed rebellion.
"They were caught completely by surprise that the Ukrainian army resisted so fiercely and that they faced the actual army," Gabidullin said about Russia's setbacks in Ukraine.
He said people he spoke to on the Russian side had told him they expected to face rag-tag militias when they invaded Ukraine, not well-drilled regular troops.
"I told them: 'Guys, that's a mistake'," said Gabidullin, who is now in France where he is publishing a book about his experiences fighting with the Wagner Group.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know who Gabidullin was and whether he has ever been a member of private military companies.
"We, the state, the government, the Kremlin can not have anything to do with it," he said.
The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
Gabidullin is part of a small but growing cohort of people in Russia with security backgrounds who have supported President Vladimir Putin's foreign incursions but now say the way the war is being conducted is incompetent.
Igor Girkin, who helped lead a pro-Kremlin armed revolt in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been critical of the way this campaign is being conducted. Alexei Alexandrov, an architect of the 2014 rebellion, told Reuters in March the invasion was a mistake.
Gabidullin took part in some of the bloodiest Syrian clashes in Deir al-Zor province, in Ghouta and near the ancient city of Palmyra. He was seriously injured in 2016 when a grenade exploded behind his back during a battle in the mountains near Latakia.
Gabidullin spent a week in a coma and three months in a hospital where he had surgeries to remove one of his kidneys and some intestines. Reuters has independently verified he was in the Wagner Group and was in combat in Syria.
Wagner Group fighters have been accused by rights groups and the Ukrainian government of committing war crimes in Syria and eastern Ukraine from 2014 onwards. Gabidullin said he had never been involved in such abuses.
DIFFERENT PROPOSITION
Moscow's involvement helped turn the tide of the Syrian war in favour of al-Assad, but Gabidullin said Russia's military restricted itself mainly to attacks from the air, while relying on Wagner mercenaries and other proxies to do the lion's share of the fighting on the ground.
The Russian military's task was easier too. Its opponents — Islamic State and other militias — had no anti-aircraft systems or artillery.
Fighting Ukraine, he said, was a different proposition.
"I've seen enough of them in Syria... (The Russian military) didn't take part in combat directly," he said in an interview in Paris to promote his book, which will be published by French publishing house Michel Lafon this month.
"The military forces .... when it was needed to learn how to fight, did not learn how to fight for real," he said.
Wagner Group is an informal entity, with — on paper at least — no offices or staff. The U.S. Treasury Department and the European Union have said the Wagner Group is linked to Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin has denied any such links.
Concord Management and Consulting, Prigozhin’s main business, did not respond to a request for comment.
President Vladimir Putin has said private military contractors have the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not break Russian law. Putin has said the Wagner Group neither represented the Russian state nor was paid by it.
Gabidullin said although he had known the Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming, he did not expect it to be on such a scale.
"I could not even think that Russia will wage a war on Ukraine. How could that be? It's impossible," he said.
Russia warns NATO there’s a risk of ‘catastrophic’ conflict; Ukraine counterattack near Kharkiv continues
The former president of Russia has warned NATO that military assistance for Ukraine risks sparking a wider conflict.
Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the supply of weapons to Ukraine “increased the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy’.”
It comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was the “most direct threat” to the international order.
Russia warns NATO there’s a risk of ‘catastrophic’ conflict; Ukraine counterattack near Kharkiv continues
The former president of Russia has warned NATO that military assistance for Ukraine risks sparking a wider conflict.
Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the supply of weapons to Ukraine “increased the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy’.”
It comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was the “most direct threat” to the international order.
Oh well in that case we should do What Donny would have done from the start, bend over and give them anything they want and then ask politely "Is there anything else sir?"
Russia warns NATO there’s a risk of ‘catastrophic’ conflict; Ukraine counterattack near Kharkiv continues
The former president of Russia has warned NATO that military assistance for Ukraine risks sparking a wider conflict.
Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the supply of weapons to Ukraine “increased the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy’.”
It comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was the “most direct threat” to the international order.
Just please tell me out loud that you are not rooting for the Ruskies... I don't think you are but some of these posts seem like it. I'd rather ask you than speculate.
Ridiculous! I report the News and Libs call me Rooskie.
Go back to living in your fantasy world where Socialism works!
Perhaps you want to know if CNBC, where I found the article, is a Communist Hive.
lmao@u, it was a serious honest question. But hey, whatever. Must have hit a nerve, secret Trumpian nerve. It's probably just how you trick out all your Russia reports in 14 point yeller fontz.
You know what would be crazy? St petersburg getting annexed. Close to the Finnish border, and the region decides it wants to be part of Finland, or more likely it's own sovereign state. Estonia helps push the borders up, and NATO expands Finland out NE to the white sea.
yea i've trapped a rat in the corner. and then i killed it with a blunt object before it could do anything.
My blunt object was one of those big, wide, fat-mouthed coal shovels you see at all those ground-breaking photo-ops. And my rat wasn't trapped- (s)he was right in the middle of my garage door- and ready to bolt in any direction. I froze. We locked eyes. And then it was over.
Bro- I was Bruce Lee with that tool. It was direct, decisive... and left a real mess I had to clean up afterward. Similar to what we're prob gonna see in this Ukraine/Russia outcome.
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They lash out with everything they have.
Which is considerably less than Putin rocked 3 months ago. He juked his entire load with his first attempt at penetration... and Zalenskyy's Ukraine said: "Wait-that's it? That's all you got? This is the best grind you can bring? B#, please...."
After 20 years of absolute reign through intimidation, lies and strongman tactics, this is the mistake that will end Vladimir Putin's time at the top. It will take time to see it all play out, but the die is already cast:
1. His vaunted military has been exposed as the second-rate Paper Tiger it has been for more than 30 years. 2. Russia's national economy is in shambles, and his people are feeling the hardship. 3. He's managed to make himself and his country a pariah on the Legitimate World Stage. His cred as a legit international politician is totally wrecked. 4. Ukraine's display of vertebrae and skeletal structure has emboldened other new countries to apply for NATO membership... at a time when NATO is actually performing to design. 5. The consequences of his ill-advised (read: fatally stoopid) dork-waving land grab will be profound and lasting. Russia as we know it, will be digging herself out from this Putin-dug hole for at least 2 generations. They will be scrabbling their way back from this for at least 20-30 years. We should hold out hope for them, once Putin is excised from the world's body politic. It's a lesson for any country who toys with the idea of electing its own Vladimir Putin (read: Bolsonaro in Brazil, Al-Assad in Syria, Erdoğan in Turkey, etc.).
____________________________________
Folks- we are witnessing a major watershed Historical event. A textbook Authoritarian is falling apart before our very eyes. Like they always do.
.02 here:
I personally believe that if Vladimir Putin ever became 'cornered rat' enough to actually consider opening his nuclear briefcase, Russian higher-ups/lesser-ups (who understand the ramifications of an active nuclear option) would move Heaven and Hell to shut him down. Deranged, delusional demagogues always leave the stage in ugly fashion. Putin's exit will be.... ugly, to say the least.
Rand Paul stalls Senate passage of $40 billion in Ukraine aid
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul defied leaders of both parties Thursday and delayed until next week Senate approval of an additional $40 billion to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia's three-month old invasion.
With the Senate poised to debate and vote on the package of military and economic aid, Paul denied leaders the unanimous agreement they needed to proceed. The bipartisan measure, backed by President Joe Biden, underscores U.S. determination to reinforce its support for Ukraine's outnumbered forces.
The legislation has been approved overwhelmingly by the House and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Final passage is not in doubt.
Paul, a libertarian who often opposes U.S. intervention abroad, said he wanted language inserted into the bill, without a vote, that would have an inspector general scrutinize the new spending. He has a long history of demanding last-minute changes by holding up or threatening to delay bills on the brink of passage, including measures dealing with lynching, sanctioning Russia, preventing a federal shutdown, the defense budget, government surveillance and providing health care to the Sept. 11 attack first responders.
Democrats and McConnell opposed Paul's push and offered to have a vote on his language. Paul was likely to lose that vote and rejected the offer.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked by CBS News' Ed O'Keefe about Paul's insistence on the inclusion of an inspector general — and whether the Biden administration would establish some kind of watchdog entity to track the spending.
"I would say that we agree oversight is critical," Psaki replied. "That's why the package already includes millions of dollars to support additional oversight measures, including additional funding for existing inspectors general and we encourage all senators to promptly pass the bill as it stands, we feel what's in there sufficient."
Paul, who unsuccessfully sought his party's 2016 presidential nomination, argued that the added spending was more than the U.S. spends on many domestic programs, was comparable to Russia's entire defense budget and would deepen federal deficits and worsen inflation. Last year's budget deficit was almost $2.8 trillion but is likely headed downward, and the bill's spending is less than 0.2% of the size of the U.S. economy, suggesting its impact on inflation would be negligible.
"No matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America," Paul said. "We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy."
Democrats said they were objecting to Paul's plan because it would expand the powers of an existing inspector general whose current purview is limited to Afghanistan. That would deny Mr. Biden the chance past presidents have had to make an appointment to the post, they said.
"It's clear from the junior senator from Kentucky's remarks, he doesn't want to aid Ukraine," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York. "All he will accomplish with his actions here today is to delay that aid, not to stop it."
Schumer and McConnell stood nearly side-by-side as they tried pushing the legislation forward.
"They're only asking for the resources they need to defend themselves against this deranged invasion," McConnell said of the Ukrainians. "And they need this help right now."
The House voted 368-57 on Tuesday to approve the measure. All Democrats and most Republicans backed it, though every "no" vote came from the GOP.
The bipartisan backing for Ukraine has been partly driven by accounts of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians that have been impossible to ignore. It also reflects strategic concerns about letting Putin seize European territory unanswered as his assault on his neighbor to the west grinds into its 12th week.
"Helping Ukraine is not an instance of mere philanthropy," McConnell said. "It bears directly on America's national security and vital interests that Russia's naked aggression not succeed and carries significant costs."
Biden administration officials have said they expect the latest aid measure to last through September. But with Ukraine taking heavy military and civilian losses and no sense of when the fighting might end, Congress will ultimately face decisions about how much more aid to provide at a time of huge U.S. budget deficits and a risk of recession that could demand added spending at home.
The latest bill, when added to the $13.6 billion Congress approved in March, would push American aid to the region well above $50 billion. For perspective, that would total $6 billion more than the U.S. spent on military and economic aid around the world in 2019, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Paul pointed out that if the Senate approves the spending, the U.S. will have authorized $60 billion in total spending for Ukraine. "Kyiv would become the largest yearly recipient of U.S. military aid over the past two decades," Paul said. He added, "It is more than any other country spends on their entire military expenditures...our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia."
The push toward passage came as Russia continued blasting Ukrainian forces and cities in southern and eastern portions of the country. Reflecting international concerns prompted by the assault, Finland's leaders announced their support for joining NATO and Sweden seemed not far behind.
Mr. Biden asked Congress for $33 billion two weeks ago. It didn't take lawmakers long to add $3.4 billion to his requests for both military and humanitarian programs.
The measure includes $6 billion for Ukraine for intelligence, equipment and training for its forces, plus $4 billion in financing to help Kyiv and NATO allies build up their militaries.
There's $8.7 billion for the Pentagon to rebuild stocks of weapons it has shipped to Ukraine and $3.9 billion for U.S. troops in the region.
The measure also includes $8.8 billion to keep the Kyiv government functioning, more than $5 billion to provide food to countries around the world that rely on Ukrainian crops devastated by the fighting and $900 million to teach English and provide other services to Ukrainian refugees who have moved to the United States.
The biggest hurdle to rapid approval of the assistance was cleared this week when Biden and Democrats dropped their demand to include billions more in the measure to bolster U.S. efforts to counter the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans want separate COVID-19 legislation to be a battleground for an election-season fight over immigration that divides Democrats.
Thank you Rand Paul for demanding oversight in legislation that already had oversight written into it. Your supreme leader Vladimir Putin also thanks you for making it harder for Ukraine to defend it's sovereign nation against his invading forces comrade.
For some reason I'm not surprised by this. Giving Putin a free pass to attack sovereign nations and delivering him at the front door of our NATO allies is exactly what I expect from certain people.
On one hand, just pass the thing already. On the other, I get Rand's point about how much aid we'll have given relative to entire annual budgets for military's in the region. To balance that, however, is that large chunks of that money are for non-military use.
The sneaky bit is how they're allocating money to give weapons and stuff, then also allocating more money to replace what they're giving away and have already allocated money for. "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" -S. R. Hadden, 'Contact'
At least they managed to control themselves enough to pull the Covid spending from a Ukraine relief bill. That *almost* counts as progress for Washington.
Maybe I've misunderstood your position from the start. It seemed like you thought Putin was too unpredictable and this war was too far away for the US to support. My take away from your posts all along has been they you wanted to abstain from any direct involvement - money, support, aid etc.
Maybe I've misunderstood your position from the start. It seemed like you thought Putin was too unpredictable and this war was too far away for the US to support. My take away from your posts all along has been they you wanted to abstain from any direct involvement - money, support, aid etc.
No, not at all. I just want a little control
Are other NATO countries doing the same as a proportion? I agree with Paul that at some point we need to also do what is right for our country. It's not like we don't have some serious issues on the home front.
I am not sure that money can fix all of them, but even cutting back on spending is helping.
Let's just take a look rather than simply rubber stamp money requests from the White house or whatever other agencies are making the request. Is the money going to Ukraine or is some of it going to Ukraine and some going elsewhere?
I agree with Paul that at some point we need to also do what is right for our country
peen...so it's your opinion that by sending material and financial support to help Ukraine fight their war against Russia IS NOT RIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY..?
Most Americans realize the present approach is in the best interest of the United States. Deliberately causing delays in the present approach by holding up the process so one individual can play his brand of politics will cost Ukrainians lives and allow Putin and Russia time to recover from their recent losses.
I've seen enough of Rand Paul and his tactics to recognize that he is simply feeling ignored and is willing to pull any kind of stunt to gain attention.
Helping the Ukrainians win the war against Russia without risking American soldiers lives is IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES...even the GOP realizes we need to continue the tactics that are working. I would think most Americans would realize it too.
You must believe the overwhelming support from other Republican lawmakers are wrong and only Rand Paul is getting it right. Either that or Rand Paul is doing nothing more than acting as an obstructionist. As I said, the oversight he claims is needed is already baked into the bill.
Here's something I think everyone should consider. When a nation enters a war the costs are magnified like you wouldn't believe. When someone else is fighting your enemy your costs are far less. When and if Putin were to invade a NATO nation our costs would multiply. We would have troops coming home in body bags. We would be paying for support systems like we had to do with Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of now helping to fund Ukraine to weaken Putin is a bargain. To embolden Putin by allowing him to simply walk over Ukraine is the expensive way to deal with it. I'll endorse the bargain.
Final communication from the Moskva cruiser: Two holes, lying on its side
OLENA ROSHCHINA - SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2022, 13:17
Pivden (South) Operational Command has posted a recording of communications from the Moskva cruiser that took place as the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was sinking.
Source: audio recording on the Pivden Operational Command page on Facebook
Quote: "The final recording of communications aboard the Moskva cruiser: shouting about two hits, rolling to the side, need to save the crew."
Details: The communications officer informs the tugboat that there is an emergency on the ship: "Moskva-1 - two holes, propeller stalled, sinking, lying on its side."
The man shouts that there is a hole below the waterline and a roll of 30 degrees.
He says "there is no way to get closer" to the tugboats.
"We’re doing our best to save the crew," he says from the Moskva cruiser.
Background:
In the evening of 13 April, it became known that Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles had hit the Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. After that, the cruiser with its 16 cruise missiles was forced out of action and sank.
Experts analysed satellite images and determined the exact coordinates of the Moskva cruiser at the time when it was hit by the Ukrainian Neptune missile and concluded that half of the crew had been killed or wounded.
CNN and The New York Times reported that the US had allegedly helped Ukraine with intelligence regarding the location of the Moskva cruiser. The Pentagon denied this: "The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case."
Investigative journalists believe that the crew of the Moskva cruiser may have been two-thirds conscripts. Relatives of the Moskva sailors searched for them and were told that the cruiser was not on a combat mission and the sailors were missing in action. Survivors, however, said that the cruiser was on its way to Odesa with a landing force.
Forbes estimated that the sunk Moskva cruiser was worth US$750 million.
The Ukrainian postal service issued stamps commemorating the sinking of the cruiser that included the Ukrainian border guards’ phrase "Russian warship, go f#ck yourself".
Coup to remove cancer-stricken Putin underway in Russia, Ukrainian intelligence chief says
A coup is underway to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is "very sick" due to cancer, according to Ukraine's head of military intelligence.
"It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation. This process has already been launched and they are moving into that way," Ukrainian Major Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told the UK's Sky News in an exclusive interview.
An interviewer asked if a coup is underway, to which Budanov replied, "Yes. They are moving in this way and it is impossible to stop it."
Putin has cancer and other ailments, he said, dismissing the suggestion that he was spreading propaganda.
The Sunday Times recently reported that Putin has blood cancer, citing an unnamed Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin. And a video recently resurfaced showing Putin shaking while welcoming Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in mid-February, according to The Independent, fueling speculation that the despot has Parkinson's disease.
While this isn't something that is directly happening in the war it's certainly consequences directly due to this war....
NATO expects Turkey not to hold up Finland, Sweden membership
BERLIN/STOCKHOLM, May 15 (Reuters) - NATO and the United States said on Sunday they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden in the Western military alliance, as the two Nordic states took firm steps to join in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed on Sunday that his country would apply to join NATO, while Sweden's ruling Social Democrats announced an official policy change that would pave the way for their country to apply within days.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she will go to parliament on Monday to assure support for an application, which NATO allies expect to be made jointly with Finland.
"Today the Swedish Social Democratic Party took a historic decision to say yes to apply for a membership in the NATO defence alliance," tweeted Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has deteriorated the security situation for Sweden and Europe as a whole."
The country's defence minister, Peter Hultqvist, warned that Sweden would be in a perilous situation if it was the only country around the Baltic that remained outside NATO. "We would be left behind," he said.
Turkey, which had surprised its allies in recent days by saying it had reservations about Finnish and Swedish membership, laid out its demands on Sunday on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin. Ankara said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt support for Kurdish militant groups present on their territory, and lift bans on some sales of arms to Turkey.
"I'm confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn't delay the membership," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to go into details of closed-door conversations in Berlin but echoed Stoltenberg's position.
"I'm very confident that we will reach consensus on that," Blinken told reporters, adding that NATO was "a place for dialogue".
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said talks with Swedish and Finnish counterparts in Berlin had been helpful. The two countries had made suggestions to respond to Ankara's concerns, which Turkey would consider, while he had provided them proof terrorists were present on their territory, he said.
He singled out Sweden in particular, saying the Kurdish militant group the PKK, banned as terrorists by the United States and EU, had held meetings in Stockholm over the weekend.
Nevertheless, he said Turkey did not oppose the alliance's policy of being open to all European countries who wish to apply.
Any decision on NATO enlargement requires approval by all 30 allies and their parliaments. Ankara, a NATO member for 70 years, will be under immense pressure to yield, NATO diplomats said, because the alliance considers that the accession of Finland and Sweden would hugely strengthen it in the Baltic Sea. 'CALM AND COOL'
Sweden and Finland were both neutral throughout the Cold War, and their decision to join NATO would be one of the biggest changes to Europe's security architecture for decades, reflecting a sweeping shift in public opinion in the Nordic region since Russia invaded its neighbour Ukraine in February.
The announcement of backing for membership from Sweden's Social Democrats paves the way for Prime Minister Andersson to launch a formal application within days.
Once vetted by NATO allies - and if Turkish objections are addressed - approval could come in just a matter of weeks, although ratification by allied parliaments could take up to a year, diplomats and officials have said. read more
Moscow has responded to the prospect of the Nordic states joining NATO by threatening retaliation, including unspecified "military-technical measures".
Finland's Niinisto, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, said their conversation was measured and did not contain any threats.
"He confirmed that he thinks it's a mistake. We are not threatening you. Altogether, the discussion was very, could I say, calm and cool," Niinisto said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union."
If it is in fact true, it might explain why he tried to do this insane thing at this time. Tried to cement his legacy, but severely overreached. Now, he'll be remembered as the loser who FAILED to recreate the U. S. S. R.
If it is in fact true, it might explain why he tried to do this insane thing at this time. Tried to cement his legacy, but severely overreached. Now, he'll be remembered as the loser who FAILED to recreate the U. S. S. R.
It'll be interesting to see who's next in line. If they're working with Putin, they still most likely will have a hard left ideology. Hopefully though, they will acknowledge what an idiotic move this war in Ukraine is.
If it is in fact true, it might explain why he tried to do this insane thing at this time. Tried to cement his legacy, but severely overreached. Now, he'll be remembered as the loser who FAILED to recreate the U. S. S. R.
Or the loser that first pushed the big red button. If he's on his way out, what's he have to lose? A coup most likely means his death anyway, and if he has blood cancer... He knows this is his last shot to MRGA.
Somebody is gonna make a ton of money selling wheat to the world so they don't starve.
Ukraine is all torn up so they won't be exporting much wheat, if any.
India announced they fear running out of food this year and they had extra hot weather, killing much of their wheat. They won't be exporting any. They used to export most of it.
Russia is one place that exports enough wheat to feed a big chunk of the world.
The other big wheat exporter is North America, (US/Canada)
Problem is, our farmers don't have enough fertilizer to grow the needed crops.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of fertilizers, accounting for 23% of ammonia exports, 14% of urea exports, 10% of processed phosphate exports, and 21% of potash exports, according to data from The Fertilizer Institute. Prices are SOARING!
Here are the 5 countries with the most wheat exports:
Russia (37,267,014 Tons) United States of America (26,131,626 Tons) Canada (26,110,509 Tons) France (19,792,597 Tons) Ukraine (18,055,673 Tons)
Looks like a hungry year coming up for most of the world.
Pray.
Also: The Chinese and India among others are already buying much of Russia's oil and now Russia has all that wheat for sale at top prices. India has bought more than twice as much crude oil from Russia in the two months since its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the whole of 2021, according to Reuters. China, the world's largest oil importer, is the top buyer of Russian crude at 1.6 million barrels per day.
I think the left is still all in, but the rah rah interest is sure waning. Some on the right seem like they'd be okay if Putin wiped them out. Don't get that at all. But have to agree with you to a point, because America has ADHD when it comes to focusing longer than a minute on anything not under our noses.
I was just asking a friend today... does anyone even really care about Ukraine anymore? Seems the people have moved on to other things.
Given the fact that Finland and Sweden have decided that it would be in their best interest to join NATO, the subject of the Ukraine War is of interest to most of the world, with the exception of a few right wingers in the USA.
Somebody is gonna make a ton of money selling wheat to the world so they don't starve.
Ukraine is all torn up so they won't be exporting much wheat, if any.
India announced they fear running out of food this year and they had extra hot weather, killing much of their wheat. They won't be exporting any. They used to export most of it.
Russia is one place that exports enough wheat to feed a big chunk of the world.
The other big wheat exporter is North America, (US/Canada)
Problem is, our farmers don't have enough fertilizer to grow the needed crops.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of fertilizers, accounting for 23% of ammonia exports, 14% of urea exports, 10% of processed phosphate exports, and 21% of potash exports, according to data from The Fertilizer Institute. Prices are SOARING!
Here are the 5 countries with the most wheat exports:
Russia (37,267,014 Tons) United States of America (26,131,626 Tons) Canada (26,110,509 Tons) France (19,792,597 Tons) Ukraine (18,055,673 Tons)
Looks like a hungry year coming up for most of the world.
Pray.
Also: The Chinese and India among others are already buying much of Russia's oil and now Russia has all that wheat for sale at top prices. India has bought more than twice as much crude oil from Russia in the two months since its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the whole of 2021, according to Reuters. China, the world's largest oil importer, is the top buyer of Russian crude at 1.6 million barrels per day.
Russia's economy is a tough nut to crack.
40...wow, did Putin and Russia ever miscalculate how the world would respond to their illegal war against the Ukrainian people...!
Given the performance of the Russian army fighting in the Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have decided it would be in their best interest to join NATO to protect themselves against the lying Russians and Putin. In an odd way, the world should be thanking Putin for starting his ill-advised war against the Ukraine..it was Putin who pushed for the expansion of NATO.
No it's not. Who made you the boss of cowardly and weak? I think it's cowardly and weak to NOT take a stance on serious issues that affect American lives. You don't always do that in plain terms, so who's wrong? Nobody. Again, he has every right to post what he wants, how he wants, without you going at him FOR THE POST. Now you can disagree, but you don't seem to be doing that. You seem to be taking shots from 10,000 feet, instead of just stating your stance and getting dirty with the rest of us. I mean if you are into that for some odd reason, go for it, but I think you have enough ideas, thoughts, or personal positions on topics in here to fully participate. Just because you don't agree or think something is not how you would do it, doesn't make it wrong, it just means you disagree, so say that.
Somebody is gonna make a ton of money selling wheat to the world so they don't starve.
Ukraine is all torn up so they won't be exporting much wheat, if any.
India announced they fear running out of food this year and they had extra hot weather, killing much of their wheat. They won't be exporting any. They used to export most of it.
Russia is one place that exports enough wheat to feed a big chunk of the world.
The other big wheat exporter is North America, (US/Canada)
Problem is, our farmers don't have enough fertilizer to grow the needed crops.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of fertilizers, accounting for 23% of ammonia exports, 14% of urea exports, 10% of processed phosphate exports, and 21% of potash exports, according to data from The Fertilizer Institute. Prices are SOARING!
Here are the 5 countries with the most wheat exports:
Russia (37,267,014 Tons) United States of America (26,131,626 Tons) Canada (26,110,509 Tons) France (19,792,597 Tons) Ukraine (18,055,673 Tons)
Looks like a hungry year coming up for most of the world.
Pray.
Also: The Chinese and India among others are already buying much of Russia's oil and now Russia has all that wheat for sale at top prices. India has bought more than twice as much crude oil from Russia in the two months since its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the whole of 2021, according to Reuters. China, the world's largest oil importer, is the top buyer of Russian crude at 1.6 million barrels per day.
Russia's economy is a tough nut to crack.
40...wow, did Putin and Russia ever miscalculate how the world would respond to their illegal war against the Ukrainian people...!
Given the performance of the Russian army fighting in the Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have decided it would be in their best interest to join NATO to protect themselves against the lying Russians and Putin. In an odd way, the world should be thanking Putin for starting his ill-advised war against the Ukraine..it was Putin who pushed for the expansion of NATO.
We are happy with the way this turned out.
New NATO members, one third of Russia's military destroyed and defeated, Putin the war criminal dying.
The fact remains that tens of millions might starve to death as a result of this war.
Here are some Youtube channels that I've been following. I'm on my second bout of COVID and have been pretty sick, just sitting around and looking for stuff to watch. You really have to sift thru a lot of flotsam and jetsam to get to stuff that appears accurate, reliable and interesting. This first one consists mostly of intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers. The second has interviews with captured Russian soldiers, videos of Russian atrocitites and interviews with Ukranian troops at the fronts. The third has news and combat footage.
America has ADHD when it comes to focusing longer than a minute on anything not under our noses.
yep that is what I am referencing. Ukraine isn't even trending on Twitter.
Amber Heard is and Biden sending 100's of Special Forces to Somalia & to kill a dozen Al Shabab leaders
We agree on American focus for sure. TBH, it's also why the big lie and other misinformation get spread better than the facts. Truth is usually boring unless it is specific to the reader's interests. Telling people what they want to hear instead, well that is always of interest. Truth is we all live in bubbles we create to separate us from the things we dislike. Some bubbles have many layers, twists, and turns; others not so much.
...with the exception of a few right wingers in the USA.
Attaching a label to those who have different ideas than yours is cowardly and weak.
Pretending it's not true is cowardly and weak. Just because you haven't been keeping up with the growing sentiment among some republican politicians and their talking points is no excuse to point the finger at others because you don't know what's going on.
Just last week Rand Paul delayed a spending bill to help Ukraine. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri made statements about it. J.D.Vance in Ohio has made statements about Tim Ryan supporting aid to Ukraine.... In total 57 Republicans voted against the funding bill for Ukraine. Just because you've made yourself totally unaware of what's going on here gives you no reason to point the finger at those who do.
Most Republicans did, have and still support funding for Ukraine. But the statement you are lecturing him about is factual no matter how much you dislike people saying it.
I wanted to edit this to add that I fully understand there are extremists within both parties. I'm not a big fan of either extreme. I also understand that there are posters on both sides of the political spectrum that only point out the other extreme. But let's not pretend that isn't a two way street. Yet you seem to have chosen to only point the finger in one direction. I'm not really surprised by that because that's very typical here on Dawgtalkers. But maybe if you expect to be taken seriously you might wish to point your finger in both directions.
Yeah, claiming there were a "few right wingers" in and of itself shows it wasn't lumping them all together which is the very definition of stereotypical.
stereotypical
a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.
So qualifying it as "a few" is a stereotype? I think you may wish to look at what stereotype means. It means lumping people into a group. Not pointing there is a small, limited number of people.
So qualifying it as "a few" is a stereotype? I think you may wish to look at what stereotype means. It means lumping people into a group. Not pointing there is a small, limited number of people.
I feel like you always want to get in the middle of things and argue.
I said I was not one of " those people" and was saying that "those people" who use the word "Libtards" and "Communists"are also stereotypical.
Russian Military Commentator Breaks Rank And Reveals Reality Of War In Ukraine
Hint: It's not looking good for Putin. By Kate Nicholson 17/05/2022 12:31pm BST | Updated 5 hours ago link
Russia’s propaganda machine faltered this week after a military analyst broke ranks and admitted the war was not going to plan – and that Ukraine has the advantage.
Ever since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine in February, Moscow has been clamping down on any form of dissent which cast doubt on the war effort, with protesters being mysteriously arrested across the country.
Instead, the Kremlin maintained that Russia had no choice but to start a war – falsely accusing their European neighbours of being run by neo-Nazis.
As the weeks drag by, Russia has left a trail of destruction through Ukraine but ultimately has not been able to declare any concrete victories.
Military analyst Mikhail Khodarenok has subsequently made headlines around the world for being the first senior Russian commentator to reveal the Kremlin is on the back foot and likely to lose.
Speaking on Russian state TV, he said: “Let’s not consume info-sedatives.
“Sometimes information is being spread about some sort of psychological breakdown in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, suggesting some sort of a breakthrough is imminent.
“None of this has a basis in reality.
″Of course, there are separate incidences with prisoners of war, some divisions, but those are separate incidents.
“We should be looking at the totality of circumstances.”
He continued: “Ukraine’s Armed Forces can arm one million men. One million of armed Ukrainian soldiers should be accepted as a result of the near future.
“We should consider that in our strategic calculations.
“The situation in that sense for us will keep worsening.
″As far as the desire to defend their Homeland, according to the understanding that exists in Ukraine, it’s most definitely present there.
″It is a component of an Army’s high combat capability, it’s one of the most important components.”
As the TV host and hardline propagandist Olga Skabeyeva tried to undermine his claims, he replied: “The most important thing is remain realistic.”
Suggesting that Russia needs to be aware of just how strong the Ukrainian resistance is, he explained: “If you don’t then sooner or later reality will hit you so hard you won’t know what’s hit you.
He said the Ukrainian Army’s professionalism stems from its level of training and “its morale and readiness to shed blood” for their country.
Despite his words, the anchor maintained that Russia’s entire existence is on the line and that they had “no choice” in invading Ukraine.
Khodarenok just pointed to the geopolitical isolation Russia is now facing, explaining that “the whole world is against us, even if we don’t want to admit it″, urging the Kremlin to resolve it as soon as possible.
Th BBC’s Francis Scarr, who translated the video, called it “damning” take on the war.
This is not the first time Khodarenok has spoken out against Russia.
Ten days ago, the analysis dismantled the idea that Russian mobilisation would work, pointing out: “We don’t have the reserves, the pilots or the planes, so the mobilisation would be of little help.”
He added: “Sending people armed with weapons of yesteryear to fight against global-standard Nato weapons would not be the right thing to do.”
Other commentators, such military analyst Konstantin Sivko, have also pointed out that the conditions are not favourable for a Russian victory right now.
He said: “Current economic market system is unfit to meet the needs of our Armed Forces and of the entire country under the conditions.”
It appears morale is flagging among the general public in Russia, too.
One local told The Guardian: “I look at my government totally different since the war started. There are some very harsh things I would like to say about our leadership, but maybe best if I don’t because they would put me in prison for it.”
In late March, Moscow admitted that around 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded in the first month.
Since then, Russia has only said that the subsequent casualties are “significant”, although some Western estimates suggest the death toll could now be up to 30,000 soldiers.
Russian troops’ recent attempt to cross the Ukrainian Donets River – which failed, dramatically – alone left more than 485 Russians dead and up to 80 vehicles destroyed, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Russia has also been accused of hiding the real number of dead from its public, to keep people on side.
There have been reports that Vladimir Putin is now commanding various elements of the war himself, despite his senior position – suggesting he is conscious that the conflict is not going as he had hoped.
My theory is Putin looked at the equipment he had and realized is was in a bad way so he sent it to Ukraine to let them blow it all up. He doesn't have to find a place to throw it away and now he has room for shiny new toys.
How does that change the fact that by saying it was a "few people" in no way fits the definition of the word stereotype? And how is asking that question something you twist into an argument?
I understand why people do that however. Because saying it was a few people is the opposite of what stereotype means and answering that question wouldn't add up to what your accusation was. So blaming me for asking the question is a much better road for you to travel.
My theory is Putin looked at the equipment he had and realized is was in a bad way so he sent it to Ukraine to let them blow it all up. He doesn't have to find a place to throw it away and now he has room for shiny new toys.
Frank...The problem with "your theroy"...some of the tanks are Russia's best/newest ...
Ukraine Blows Up Russia's Best Tank With Help From Sweden BY ZOE STROZEWSKI ON 5/10/22 AT 12:04 PM EDT link
You would think that standing up for democracy and standing against Putin invading a sovereign nation would be something that would unite a nation and not become political. But it's slowly becoming just that.
11 Republican Senators Vote Against $40 Billion In Security Assistance For Ukraine
Eleven Republican senators bucked their leadership and voted against a motion advancing a $40 billion security assistance package for Ukraine on Monday, a sign of growing GOP opposition to U.S. efforts aimed at countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody three-month-old invasion there.
The security package isn’t expected to pass until later this week because a single Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky, is objecting to a quick vote on the measure.
Paul has demanded the legislation give an inspector general authority to oversee spending, which he called unprecedented and fiscally unsound. But Democrats said that would require a re-vote in the House and burn precious time given Russia’s daily bombing of Ukrainian cities that is causing horrifying scenes of death and devastation.
In his floor speech earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed Paul’s efforts to delay passage of the bill as “totally unacceptable,” saying that it “only serves to strengthen Putin’s hand in the long run.”
Ten other Republican senators joined Paul in voting against the motion to advance the security package on Monday; many of these senators made supportive statements about Ukraine’s plight following Russia’s invasion:
Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)
John Boozman (Ark.)
Mike Braun (Ind.)
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Bill Hagerty (Tenn.)
Josh Hawley (Mo.)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Roger Marshall (Kan.)
Tommy Tuberville (Ala.)
The list of lawmakers hindering aid to Ukraine has been steadily rising over the past month. Last week, 57 Republicans voted against the Ukraine assistance bill in the House. Two months ago, only three GOP House members voted against a separate security package.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump and right-wing pundits, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have ramped up rhetoric against U.S. support for Ukraine aid. Trump also called into question the spending measure last week, linking it to the shortage of baby formula that has been attributed to a safety recall and supply chain issues.
“The Democrats are sending another $40 billion to Ukraine, yet America’s parents are struggling to even feed their children,” Trump said in a statement released by his super PAC.
Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) argued that spending $40 billion on Ukraine is “not in America’s interests,” adding on Twitter that it “allows Europe to freeload, neglects priorities at home (the border), allows Europe to freeload, short changes critical interests abroad and comes w/ no meaningful oversight.”
But Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.), a deficit hawk and, like Hawley, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, voted in support of the bill. The top Trump ally called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a threat to our national security and the security of our democratic allies.” He added: “America must always protect our interests and support democracy over tyranny.”
Monday’s vote to advance the Ukraine package came on the heels of a trip to Kyiv by Senate Republican leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). After meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, McConnell told reporters he assured him “that support for Ukraine and this war against the Russians is bipartisan,” including from “an overwhelming majority of Republicans.”
McConnell also addressed the opposition to Ukraine aid from the Trump wing of his party in a statement released after the trip.
“Ukraine is not asking anybody else to fight their fight,” he said. “They only ask for the tools they need for self-defense.”
“America’s support for Ukraine’s self-defense is not mere philanthropy,” he added. “Defending the principle of sovereignty, promoting stability in Europe, and imposing costs on Russia’s naked aggression have a direct and vital bearing on America’s national security and vital interests.”
For anyone still confused, this is not a stereotype of Republicans. The vast majority of them still voted for and support aid to Ukraine. But there is a grwing fringe element within the party that do not. And when reading the article you can see who their views align with.
I'd say this is very significant and BIG news. Russian General on Russian TV saying the 'War' is going to get worse. Indicating the Russians are fighting for politics and Ukrainians are fighting for their motherland and with higher Morale. Not to mention the 42 countries all supporting Ukraine against Russia....
Would love to think of this as the beginning of the end !
But maybe if you expect to be taken seriously you might wish to point your finger in both directions.
You should take your own advice. You are complaining about Republicans voting against Ukraine bill. The squad voted against the first Ukraine bill back in March, never heard a peep out of you.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Signs of Republican resistance are mounting over a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, a reemergence of the Trump-led isolationist wing of the GOP that's coming at a crucial moment as the war against the Russian invasion deepens.
The Senate voted late Monday to advance the Ukraine aid bill 81-11, pushing it toward President Joe Biden's desk by week's end to become law. But more vocal objections from Republicans in Congress are sending warning signs after what has been rare and united support for Ukraine as it desperately battles hostile Russia. All 11 no votes came from Republican senators.
It comes as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell led a delegation of GOP senators to visit the region over the weekend in a show of support, vowing to push past detractors, finish up the aid package and vote this summer on expanding NATO to welcome Sweden and Finland. The leader finds himself holding down the GOP's more traditional foreign policy approach, in direct confrontation with the GOP's "America First" flank, including Donald Trump, the former president.
“There’s always been isolationist voices in the Republican Party,” McConnell told reporters on a conference call over the weekend from Stockholm. “It won’t create a problem, we’ll get the job done."
The shift in Congress opens a new political phase in Ukraine’s fight for its survival against the Russian invasion, offering a wake-up call for the Biden administration about its strategy as it resists direct U.S. military troop involvement and depends on votes in the House and Senate to fund the military and humanitarian relief effort.
While a strong bipartisan majority is poised to approve the latest round of Ukraine aid, bringing the U.S. total to $53 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion, it’s clear that Republicans, and some Democrats, are wary of a prolonged intervention and demanding a more fulsome accounting of the U.S. role overseas. While the House overwhelmingly approved the $40 billion package last week, 57 Republicans voted against it.
The most vocal lawmakers are insisting Congress will not become a blank check for overseas action amid domestic needs as they move away from the U.S.'s longstanding role of championing democracy abroad.
“We have got to take care of things here at home first,” said Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, the former Trump administration’s ambassador to Japan, on Fox's “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri tweeted of his no vote: “That’s not isolationism. That’s nationalism.”
It’s stronger pushback than just a few months ago, at the start of war in February, when Congress made a rare show of bipartisan unity against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion and rushed to Ukraine’s aid.
And it comes as the midterm election season is underway in the U.S., with Trump’s influence looming large, particularly with Republican lawmakers desperate for his campaign endorsements and support and afraid to go against him.
“We have a moral obligation to pass this aid as soon as we can,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday ahead of the procedural vote.
Trump weighed in, breaking the civic norm in the U.S. that former presidents traditionally step aside to allow one president at a time to lead, particularly on foreign policy.
The former president, whose “America First” strategy sought to pull back from U.S. commitments around the world and criticized the NATO military alliance confronting Russia, complained that Democrats are “sending another $40 billion to Ukraine, yet America’s parents are struggling to even feed their children.”
Trump had been impeached by the House in 2019 after he withheld military aid to Ukraine and pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a favor digging up dirt on Biden ahead of the U.S. presidential election, though he was later acquitted by the Senate.
On the campaign trail in Ohio, the U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Tim Ryan and Trump-backed Republican JD Vance, have been brawling over the Ukraine assistance.
Vance, who quipped some months ago that he doesn't really care what happens in Ukraine, tweeted last week that Ryan “is pushing billions in foreign aid while the communities he serves in Congress have been decimated.”
Ryan's team released an ad suggesting Vance as a venture capitalist had profited off a social media platform that is used to spread Russian propaganda.
The Senate was set to begin voting Monday evening on the $40 billion package, pushing past a Republican filibuster to advance the bill toward approval by Thursday.
The first round of Ukraine aid, $13.9 billion, was swiftly approved by Congress in March as part of a broader bill to fund the government. It came just before Zelenskyy delivered an address at a joint meeting of Congress to several standing ovations.
“Tonight, we are all Ukrainians,” said Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts during the floor debate on the bill's passage.
But as months drag on, the lawmakers, particularly Republicans, are more assertive in their resistance, posing questions for the U.S. strategy ahead.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky single-handedly blocked a vote on the latest package last week as he demanded an inspector general's report on how the money is being spent.
The libertarian-leaning Paul routinely blocks spending bills with a filibuster, but he is also a non-interventionist when it comes to foreign policy who had great sway during the Trump era, encouraging the then-president's instincts against engaging in overseas actions.
“While I sympathize with the people of Ukraine, and commend their fight against Putin, we cannot continue to spend money we don’t have,” Paul said in a series of tweets about his blockade.
“It’s frankly a slap in the face to millions of taxpayers who are struggling to buy gas, groceries, and find baby formula.”
Outside groups influential with Republicans, including Heritage Action, have raised questions about the Ukraine spending. Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show last week he was calling every senators' office to see where they stood on the issue, putting pressure on the lawmakers.
McConnell a longtime advocate of the U.S. commitment to the NATO western military alliance and its broader role overseas, was the highest-ranking Republican to meet with Zelenskyy over the weekend in Kyiv.
McConnell said the Ukrainian president and people have been an inspiration as they fight the Russian invasion, and vowed the U.S.'s continued support and swift approval of Sweden and Finland's requests to join NATO before August.
How the Trump Era Is Dividing Republicans Over Ukraine Aid
Republican lawmakers are openly fighting about giving aid to Ukraine as Tucker Carlson shames Republicans who support sending funds to fight against Russia.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it became immediately clear that the Republican Party was going to have to have a reckoning; after four years of Donald Trump, the party’s America First, isolationist faction feels emboldened, and in direct opposition to the establishment conservative ethos calling for robust military intervention against Vladimir Putin’s incursion. As the war escalates, and Congress pushes through more and more funding to aid the Ukrainian defensive—with broad bipartisan support—this divide within the Republican Party keeps boiling over.
Look no further than a Twitter spat this week between two of the GOP’s most outspoken up-and-comers, Representatives Dan Crenshaw and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The clash began when Crenshaw defended his vote in favor of the funding via tweet. “Investing in the destruction of our adversary’s military, without losing a single American troop, strikes me as a good idea,” the Texas Republican tweeted.
While the majority of GOP House members still support the Biden administration’s position to send money to Ukraine without involving actual American troops––which includes sending state-of-the-art missile and drone systems––57 House Republicans voted against this week’s aid package. Among those opposed to the measure was Greene, who criticized Crenshaw’s tweet. “So you think we are funding a proxy war with Russia?” the Georgia lawmaker wrote. “You speak as if Ukrainian lives should be thrown away, as if they have no value. Just used and thrown away. For your proxy war? How does that help Americans? How does any of this help?”
“Still going after that slot on Russia Today huh?” Crenshaw fired back at Greene. Greene continued to prod Crenshaw, asserting that U.S. sanctions against Russia are only “driving [up] inflation and fuel prices,” adding, “I refuse to vote for useless measures that cause problems but solve none. While you send $40 billion for your proxy war against Russia, I’m focused on baby formula for American babies.” She then seemingly described Crenshaw as just another “America last” politician. (It should be noted, these two politicians have a history of vitriol; in January, Crenshaw suggested Greene might be an “idiot” for opposing a COVID-19 relief bill that would mobilize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up testing sites.)
Greene’s viewpoint is espoused regularly by big right-wing pundits like Tucker Carlson, a leading voice among Republicans who think the United States shouldn’t get involved in the war in Ukraine—a coalition in the party that Ben Jacobs aptly called the “‘Putin Is Bad, But’ Republicans” in The Atlantic: "The broad consensus: Putin is bad, but why is that our problem?" Jacobs writes.
On Wednesday night, Carlson spent his show’s opening monologue shaming Republicans who backed aid to Ukraine and claiming that they believe “protecting Ukraine is way more important than protecting you, than protecting America.” He also aired a recent clip showing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling the war in Ukraine “the most important thing going on in the world” while standing with Republican senators John Thune, John Barrasso, and Joni Ernst. Carlson reacted to the video by urging a “sincere billionaire…[to] fund a primary challenge against every single of those Republican senators standing by Mitch McConnell.”
This Tucker Carlson wing of the party––or those who simply “don’t care,” as the Fox News host has put it in the past––might still be in the minority but their viewpoint is gaining ground. In late April, only 10 House GOP members voted against a measure to provide military equipment to Ukraine.
But maybe if you expect to be taken seriously you might wish to point your finger in both directions.
You should take your own advice. You are complaining about Republicans voting against Ukraine bill. The squad voted against the first Ukraine bill back in March, never heard a peep out of you.
If youn haven't seen me speak out against the fringe elements of both parties you haven't been paying attention.
Globalist George W. Bush Just Dropped the Mother of All Gaffes By J.D. Rucker • May. 18, 2022
The guilty conscience of an old man who spent most of his life either drunk or engaged in the globalist New World Order agenda (or both) slipped out in spectacularly awkward fashion for George W. Bush today. While attempting to condemn Vladimir Putin, he accidentally took his speech in a different direction.
Watch:
“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq… I mean Ukraine,” he said.
Oops.
Thousands of American lives, trillions of taxpayer dollars, and nearly two decades of wasted time can be attributed to Bush’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Between him and his Vice President and Deep State handler, Dick Cheney, they set the United States in motion towards the disastrous withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last year, men and women who never should have been there in the first place.
For him to attempt to condemn Vladimir Putin is hypocritical. For him to fail miserably in his attempt was pure George W. Bush.
Didn't you know that GWB, his dad and even Reagan are and would be considered RINO's now? They're no longer "one of them" when it comes to the fringe like Super is..
None of this has anything to do with Ukraine so I really dislike going along with your unrelated tangent. But at the present time we are facing a problem on two levels. What may shock you is I agree we need comprehensive immigration reform. We can't just allow millions and millions of people to cross our borders with setting a number to it and controlling the flow.
But the current law we're using to do that is crazy. I mean let's look at it for a minute. The current law on the books was an emergency measure put in place because of Covid. Now we can argue about whether Covid is a legitimate reason to continue with a law written strictly on that basis alone or not. But let's look at the Republican standpoint on Covid for a minute. They fight against health mandates due to Covid because we don't need them. They fight against any further spending on Covid because we don't need it. To them Covid no longer seems like much of an issue in regards to every other part of the discussion. That is until it comes to immigrants. Then suddenly a law put in place strictly because of Covid is still needed.
So I'm certainly for controlling immigration and having a strong immigration policy. That takes a rewrite of our entire immigration policies. What I'm not for is continuing to use some excuse to circumvent fixing our immigration policy by flying a false flag to do so.
Still no content on Ukraine. Hasn't anyone explained to you how to start a new thread?
Dude, go check a mirror. You think you run this place, but you aren't the owner or mods. Maybe if thread drift is against the rules they would step in. Not doing it? I suppose it is fine then. Stop trying to control everyone's conversation.
In case you missed it I'm not the poster who has been going around posting "To the powers that be" whining to the moderators. I've never seen you call out the actual poster who does that yet blaming me for it.
You can post anything you like anywhere you like. Don't blame me for pointing out the obvious.
In case you missed it I'm not the poster who has been going around posting "To the powers that be" whining to the moderators. I've never seen you call out the actual poster who does that yet blaming me for it.
You can post anything you like anywhere you like. Don't blame me for pointing out the obvious.
More spin, more deflection.
You try to control the conversation here. You use snide comment, insults, your little laughing guy... You tell people the owners haven't stopped off topic comments so they must be ok.
Zelenskyy's global food crisis prediction may be 10 weeks away, UN official says: 'Seismic' Ukraine and Russia account for 30% of the world's wheat supply
A food supply expert warns that the world faces a global crisis in just 10 weeks, echoing a warning from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things," Zelenskyy said Saturday. "There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia."
"Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products," he added.
My company just shuttered all business in Russia over this. Russian employees have been offered a severance package and we have closed our business there. Since the invasion, employees were on paid administrative leave and operations had ceased, but now we are actually pulling the plug. This isn't a small thing; we're a global industrial technology company that worked with Russian aerospace, advanced building modeling, and structural engineering as well as being an 800lb gorilla in the agricultural automation and freight/transportation worlds.
Meet the Guardsman Helping Ukrainians Blow Up Russian Tanks over the Phone Steve Beynon Fri, June 3, 2022, 2:49 PM
Steve Beynon Fri, June 3, 2022, 2:49 PM Sgt. 1st Class Chris Freymann never thought he'd have such a direct role in the fight against Russian forces invading Ukraine. But as the war raged, he became a kind of ad hoc, over-the-phone tech support for Ukrainians trying to use Javelin missiles while under fire.
They messaged with questions; Freymann sent answers. In return, he got photos and videos of the Russian tanks they destroyed.
Before the war, Freymann, a cavalry scout in the Washington state National Guard, had been the lead instructor in the U.S. military's program that trained soldiers in Ukraine how to use the shoulder-fired tank-killing missiles. He trained about 200 Ukrainian troops during his months with the program.
Russia launched its invasion in February, after U.S. trainers left. But the relationships Freymann made remained. His former students -- now troops fighting on the front lines -- again reached out for help on operating the Javelins as they encountered technical issues or forgot details.
"When the war started, I had a lot of guys hitting me up on WhatsApp," Freymann told Military.com. "One of our linguists, her husband was one of the few soldiers who were left. A lot of the students trained by the other [Guard units] died."
Freymann would relay information on operating the Javelin to the linguist. Her husband, who was in the fight, would then send Freymann photos and videos of destroyed Russian tanks. Freymann says at least four tanks were destroyed after some of his over-the-phone coaching.
Capt. John Bartkowski, a Washington state infantry officer, was in command of the Javelin course Freymann instructed along with a handful of other soldiers.
The pair adopted much of their doctrine from Fort Benning, Georgia's Heavy Weapons Leaders Course. Typically, Javelin training for U.S. soldiers might take about a week, but it took two to three weeks to train the Ukrainians. For one thing, training manuals and PowerPoint presentations had to be translated.
"The language barrier did present challenges," said Bartkowski, who commanded the training between April and December 2021.
Bartkowski said it has been a "surreal" experience training the Ukrainians and watching them fight against the Russian invasion, which was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin despite international condemnation and a raft of sanctions from the U.S. and other nations.
"We never thought six months later they'd be at war with a near-peer enemy. We didn't think it would be so soon," he said. "Seeing the impact we had make a difference in the war is astounding."
Freymann's previous students worked through the linguist, who had assisted the National Guard during the earlier deployment, to get past the language barrier. Though some Ukrainians reached out to him directly, Freymann said he often had to use Google Translate to make sense of their questions.
A key problem Ukrainians were having centered on the massive battery used to power the Javelin and its optics, the Command Launch Unit, or CLU. That optics system is used for the missile but is also employed to observe enemy movements from a far distance.
"They were running out of the brick batteries and were using motorcycle and car batteries to power the CLUs," he said.
The technical support and over-the-phone retraining is all on Freymann's own time. Toward the end of his deployment in Ukraine, he had a stroke and is still recovering at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
Meanwhile, the Javelin has become the signature weapon of the war in Ukraine, playing a massive role in the underdog military halting the movement of Russian armor and killing scores of soldiers -- forcing Putin to move his forces east and abandon plans to take the capital, Kyiv.
The National Guard has been training Ukrainians since 2015, with units from numerous states rotating through on generally nine-month missions. The Florida National Guard was pulled from Ukraine just before Russia invaded but has continued training fighters in Germany.
"I'm sitting here still getting messages of 'thanks' from these guys and that's the payoff," Freymann said.
The Russians are desperate. They don’t have an advantage. Their generals are getting killed left and right, Russian soldiers continue to go AWOL, and now Putin is drafting 65 year olds to fight in the war.
Russia is exposed to a historic debt default after the U.S. Treasury Department last week allowed a key sanctions exemption to expire.
The waiver had allowed Russia to process payments to foreign bondholders in dollars through U.S. and international banks, thereby avoiding default.
So, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov reportedly told Russian newspaper Vedomosti on Monday that Moscow will continue to service external debts in rubles, but foreign eurobond holders will need to open ruble and hard currency accounts with Russian banks in order to receive payments.
Will the big boys refuse payment? I doubt it.
In the meantime, Russia continues to pound Ukraine infrastructure, destroying their economy.
The Russians are desperate. They don’t have an advantage. Their generals are getting killed left and right, Russian soldiers continue to go AWOL, and now Putin is drafting 65 year olds to fight in the war.
Yea, great advantage.
Putin is suicidal. He’s playing my gun is bigger than urs and he’ll take it to the limit. Better bunker up. And all those guns we have on the streets ain’t going to protect Jack sh.
The Telegraph Ukraine morning briefing: Russia loses ground in strategic city of Severodonetsk
Good morning. Ukrainian troops have pushed back Russian forces in the besieged city of Severodonetsk, according to local officials.
Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of the eastern Luhansk region, said that Kyiv's forces had gained control of around half of the city, but that the situation had "worsened a little" once again on Monday.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, praised Ukraine's defenders as he visited two cities near the front line.
1. Britain pledges missiles after Putin’s threats Britain has promised to send its first long-range missiles to Ukraine after a similar US pledge, which on Sunday triggered Vladimir Putin to threaten to strike new targets.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: "As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine.
"These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities."
Meanwhile, President Zelensky took time to congratulate the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee, and also thank her for supporting his country: [insert unavailable]
2. Russia strikes Kyiv for first time in weeks Russia took aim on Sunday at Western military supplies to Ukraine, launching airstrikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad.
Vladimir Putin warned that any Western deliveries of longer-range rocket systems would prompt Moscow to hit "objects that we haven't yet struck". The Russian leader's cryptic threat of military escalation did not specify what the new targets might be.
Ukraine said the missiles aimed at Kyiv hit a train repair shop.
Elsewhere, Russian airstrikes in the eastern city of Druzhkivka destroyed buildings and left at least one person dead, a Ukrainian official said. Residents described waking to the sound of missile strikes: "It was like in a horror movie."
Ukraine's General Staff also said Russian forces fired five X-22 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea towards Kyiv, with one destroyed by air defences. Four other missiles hit "infrastructure facilities."
3. Ukraine pushes back Russians in Severodonetsk Ukrainian troops pushed back the Russian forces to control half of the besieged city of Severodonetsk, local officials said.
Ukraine's gains in the eastern city represent a significant advance by Kyiv's troops, who days earlier appeared on the verge of being driven out of the city.
"The Armed Forces have cleared half of Severodonetsk and are moving forward," said Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of the Luhansk region.
However, he warned on Monday morning that the situation in the city had "worsened a little" again.
"Our defenders managed to undertake a counter-attack for a certain time; they liberated almost half of the city. But now the situation has worsened a little for us again," he said.
4. Zelensky visits the front lines President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he visited Lysychansk and Soledar, two cities very close to some of the most intense fighting on the eastern front line between Ukrainian troops and Russian forces. The beleaguered city of Lysychansk is just a few miles south of Severodonetsk, where one of the war's biggest ground battles continues to rage.
"I am proud of everyone whom I met, whom I shook hands with, with whom I communicated, whom I supported," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address after his visit. "Each family has its own story. Most were without men.
"Someone's husband went to war, someone's is in captivity, someone's, unfortunately, died. A tragedy. No home, no loved one. But we must live for the children. True heroes - they are among us."
[b]5. Russia has moved air defences to Snake Island, claims MoDt/b] Russian forces have likely moved multiple air defence assets to Snake Island in the western Black Sea in the wake of the Moskva ship being destroyed in April, Britain's Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said that the weapons - including SA-15 and SA-22 systems - are intended to provide air defence for Russian naval vessels operating around the island.
It added that Russia's activity on the small island is contributing to its blockade of the Ukrainian coast and is hindering the resumption of maritime trade, including the export of grain.
not gonna lie....if a high ranking US politician ever said to us that "we must return back to the days of the 13 colonies", i'm absolutely selling all my assets on the stock market and buying all kinds of weapons. not because i'm scared of the government.
nope, because i'm scared of the clowns in this country that would cheer that crap on.
What's racism like there? Almost non-existent? And are women equal or property like GOPers want?
it's kinda there....but it's really hard to explain. i'll try my best.
they don't discriminate based on skin tone. it's straight up nationality. for example, they don't like polish people all that much. they have a bad rep of stealing cars, driving them across the border and selling them for profit. polish are 'white' by american standards, but in Europe, nobody calls themselves white. you can't tell the difference between a french man and a german man based on looks. but the french and germans don't get along like that (for obvious reasons).
when the refugee crisis was a big deal, the Germans had issues, but all of that really calmed down lately. but it's not a middle eastern thing, because Turkish people are the largest minority group in Germany, and everything is normal. there's some issues with African migrants, but black Americans are TOTALLY different. for black and latino americans, Germany might as well be a paradise, and i'm not exaggerating whatsoever. when my wife's grandmother found out she was pregnant, she wa happy as hell talking about "imma have beautiful mixed german grandbabies!"
uhhh.....lol
even when we went to east Germany, where there's still a lot of right wingers there (by european standards), i never caught any heat. they were cool with me and all that, but because i was American, not from Africa or the middle east. it's actually kind of sad because Germany seems to know american history better than americans. and that's where the skin tone thing starts coming into play. because boy, my homeboys who were white did not enjoy Germany all like that. they caught a lot of heat because of them being white americans and how they act overseas, and black and latino americans were damn near immune from any of that crap. i know only one white dude who is currently living in germany after he got out the army. i know exactly 15 of my boys who are black and latino that currently live there either married or still having a blast.
the thing is, the children of the migrants who are born and raised in Germany are perfectly fine, because they grow up in German culture. there aren't a ton of private schools like here in the US. all the public schools teach the same things no matter which state in germany you live in. also, a big thing is the neighborhoods. you see wealthy germans living in the same neighborhoods as a poor or middle class german, as well as turkish etc. there's very little segregation in housing based on race. my wife's family is wealthy, but they're well off. she lived in a really nice neighborhood, but you still saw all kinds of people in said neighborhood. and in school, it's mandatory that they learn a 2nd language starting in elementary school, and what ends up happening is that the majority of germans know 2-3 languages fluently.
there's a lot more to it, and i'm not an expert on the entire culture so i know im missing some details. but overall, yea it's a safer country by a long shot compared to the US. way less racist, more of a melting pot than America, which we tend to just be a collection of demographics.
i literally had ONE issue with a german. and he didn't call me the N word or anything. he called me a stupid American. caught me off guard too, cause im standing there like "wait, thats it? stupid american?" lol i can deal with that all day everyday.
What I have noticed is that many of the countries in Europe do not espouse the melting pot philosophy. The melting pot idea would seem to suggest that we all melt together and be the same. That, at least to me, suggests we leave our individualism and lineage behind and conform into one people. From the limited experience I have in conversing with people from Europe, they describe their nations more like a mosaic. Differing cultures, races and linage living together as parts of the puzzle to create the complete picture.
that's very true. i didn't know the word for what you just described so i just said melting pot. but from birth, you're either german or you're not. skin tone or genetics means absolutely nothing when it comes to what's considered german, or french, or british etc.
last time i went to Oktoberfest, there were black and middle eastern dudes wearing lederhosen and drinking with everyone else. and nobody except my ignorant american ass noticed nor did they care. you're either german or you're not.
That was just my opinion based on what I had heard with little interaction to base it on. You on the other hand have far more experience interacting with Europeans. My hope was more to see if you, who have far more experience with them had any input on my opinion. Thanks for responding.
and your opinion is correct. it's both a great experience to live over there, but unfortunate because it really opens your eyes to what our own country is and isn't.
For example, i learned from germans that Hitler was inspired by the US's jim crow and segregation policies on how to enact them in Germany. I also learned from germans that FDR and congress passed policies due to a big debate on what was essentially moral authority. like how could the US speak out about germany when we had our own racism thriving at the same time. that's why i take history so seriously than before i got stationed over there, because it was made clear that history isn't just story time to tell the kids before they go to bed; history is supposed to be taught to learn how situations in the past affect our society today, what did and didn't work, what went wrong, what went right, how to rectify the mistakes and build on the decisions that turned out well.
Germany ofcourse isn't perfect. no country is. but i really appreciate a country who doesn't lie about it's past and tries to ignore a problem instead of solving it. wish we had some of that in our country, bro.
Yeah, the "we are perfect and the good guys always" version of history is what I was taught in school and what people are still fighting to preserve in schools. It's no wonder we never face our issues head on. People want to hide them all away like they never happened and still don't exist.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to force the West to end its sanctions by causing a widespread famine, Yale historian Timothy Snyder argues.
Snyder, a Levin professor of history at Yale University, pointed to Russia's ongoing blockade of Ukrainian grain, which shows no signs of stopping. Ukraine is a major global producer of grain, supplying mainly Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
Snyder argues that Putin's plan is not only to destabilize Ukraine by cutting off exports but also destabilize the European Union by generating "refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, areas usually fed by Ukraine."
yea but the problem for Putin is that we have plenty of food to give. Americans just by ourselves throw away something like 40% of our food. very plentiful.
it'll just end up with Russia having more sanctions placed upon them, because Putin just admitted he's attempting to a geonice of ukrainian people by starving them to death.
His trash ass planning and statements says this is exactly how Trump would run this country if allowed. no direction, no plan, no policies, just "do what i say or else".
as ive been saying, you dont bow down to clowns like him just because he threatens nuclear strikes. Putin has now basically threatened everybody with nukes. some of yall with zero backbone was all "omg he said he might nuke us we need to maybe not back ukraine uuurrrgggg"
This dude is a joke. all this talk about Russia being this big baddie ended up being completely off base. This dude would threaten jesus with a nuclear strike if given the opportunity.
Remember, he thinks he’s Peter the great, wanting to unify all the former Russian territory. Not just Soviet, but imperialist Russia. That Chinese opium he’s smoking must be that grade A stuff.
China white? Naw, sounds more like krokodil. That eats their brains and bodies. And I'm pretty sure its cheap crudeness and nasty contribution to the world came from the same place they are from, Russia. Pretty much like this dumbass war and the inflation it has created. Except it actually eats people instead of eating them financially. And more than a handful of Russians living under Putin, as well as some having gotten out from under him, have now called him and this war out. They are calling him nuts pretty regularly and I don't think he will last much longer, especially if he takes a nuclear action. I don't think those birds would ever fly, even if he gave the direct order at this point. His army has said many times on Ukrainian tv that they were lied to and sent there to die for his crazy plans. There were no nazis in Ukraine and it's just Putin's greed and or, he's simply gone mad. Can't imagine that news didn't make it into Russia.
Looks like this war has settled into a stalemate with the advantage to Russia.
Russia is picking off Ukrainian infrastructure with missiles, attacking them economically which they feel will hurt more than killing soldiers.
Rail stations, power companies and fuel are priorities.
‘Surrender or die,’ militia leader tells Ukrainian fighters in Severodonetsk; Pope says war perhaps ‘provoked’ Pope Francis has again criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but also said that the war was “perhaps somehow ... provoked.”
In the text of a conversation he had last month with the editors of Jesuit publications, Pope Francis said “what we are seeing is the brutality and ferocity with which this war is being carried out by the troops, generally mercenaries, used by the Russians.”
But, he added, “the danger is that we only see this, which is monstrous, and we do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented,” he said, adding that the “interest in testing and selling weapons” was perhaps a contributing factor to the conflict.
“Someone may say to me at this point: so you are pro-Putin! No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing,” Pope Francis said, adding: “I am simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good guys and bad guys without reasoning about roots and interests, which are very complex.”
Looks like this war has settled into a stalemate with the advantage to Russia.
Russia is picking off Ukrainian infrastructure with missiles, attacking them economically which they feel will hurt more than killing soldiers.
Rail stations, power companies and fuel are priorities.
‘Frozen conflict’: Ukraine war could last 10 years or more if Russian forces aren’t pushed back
-Analysts fear that Ukraine could be losing the upper hand in the Donbas, leaving it vulnerable to being wholly seized by Russia. -Russia initially focused its invasion of Ukraine on the south, east and north but later changed its strategy to focus on eastern Ukraine. -Russia has seen far more “successes” in eastern Ukraine, where most of its resources are deployed.
A Russian lawmaker on Wednesday said Moscow will look to repeal its recognition of the independence of former Soviet nations like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in an attempt to revoke their NATO protections.
State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov told a Latvian news outlet that reversing Russia’s decision to recognize the Baltic States as sovereign would allegedly create legal grounds to force the alliance to divert to 1997 borders.
"The NATO Charter contains clause six, according to which the disputed territories cannot be included in the alliance. As soon as the territories of the Baltic countries are recognized as disputed, this will become the basis for the exclusion of the Baltic countries from NATO," Fedorov said.
Last week Fedorov introduced legislation targeting Lithuanian sovereignty and claimed it illegally left the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
Lithuania became the first republic to announce it would restore its independence from the collapsing USSR in March 1990 after being under Soviet control since 1940.
Moscow, under President Mikhail Gorbachev, acknowledged Lithuania's sovereignty by September 1991.
Fedorov claimed that Lithuania was Russia’s first NATO target as it posed the greatest threat to Moscow and claimed it was "NATO's gateway to the Baltics."
But the Russian lawmaker also said that other former Soviet states could be next.
"The Commander-in-Chief determined that our ‘red lines’ run along the borders of NATO in 1997. This means that we need, at a minimum, to push NATO beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union," he said in reference to an era before eastern European nations were invited to join the alliance.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all of which share borders with Russia or Belarus – which has been described as a Russian puppet state – joined the NATO alliance in 2004.
The only nations to join between 1997 and 2004 were Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and Russia has repeatedly called for the disarmament of these nations – a move NATO has flatly rejected.
"If countries do not pose a threat, then we will not change anything with them - there will still be peace and friendship," the state deputy claimed.
Fedorov threatened that should Russia decide to reverse its recognition of independent Baltic States then NATO should boot them from the alliance or accept that a "Third World War will begin."
NATO has not publicly commented on Russia’s potential move to repeal its recognition of Baltic States’ sovereignty.
But in an address Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged to bolster security efforts within alliance and beyond.
"President Putin's goals goes beyond Ukraine, and that's the reason why we need to both provide support to Ukraine as we do, but also strengthen our deterrence and defense not least in the eastern part of the Alliance," he told reporters.
Despite Russia’s unveiled threats to NATO allies, experts told Fox News there was no chance Moscow would be able to dictate NATO membership.
"First, NATO would not ‘boot’ any nation out of the Alliance. NATO is the result of a treaty, the Washington Treaty, so the only way for a NATO member to leave the Alliance is by their own choice," Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO, Michael Ryan, said. "Second, the United States never recognized the incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union.
"Just because a Russian Duma member suggests that Russia does not recognize them as independent nations, all the members of NATO do, so nothing changes," he added.
Similarly, former intelligence officer for Russian doctrine and strategy with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Rebekah Koffler, told Fox News that this was another example of "Putin using his propaganda machine to scare the people of the Baltic States, to foment discord, and ratchet up the tensions with the West."
"NATO will absolutely not consider kicking out the Baltics," she added.
________________
ummm.......does Russia realize that the plan isn't gonna work since they just publicly admitted to try and game the system with some legal loophole?
"we no longer recognize these states as part of NATO!!"
I thought that, too, when I read it. My guess is it's another ploy for them to try and call Europe's bluff at their willingness to actually react. Scholz and Macron are showing their underbellies right now and that doesn't help the situation.
On the flipside, it doesn't seem like Russia should try to open another front at this point, for their own good.
It's a wonder how the railroads changed things. Praise God. Halelujah, the Kingdom of Heaven is so precious. There will be wars and rumors of wars until the end of time.
That is not to support one country or another country, all countries are on one side, and God is on the other side. The day of the LORD is approaching.
honestly it's just embarrassing for russia. they have. this city under occupation for now, but the EU is already gonna try and bring Ukraine in. Russia is now beefing with lithuania, and word of default in the russian economy looms.
Putin deserves everything that is happening to him, He is costing the world trillions and great hardship with his BS. I wish congress would do MORE for them since we've committed. Taking down Putin would be a huge score, but then you have to worry about who replaces him and what that will look like. I'd love to see the people there install a true democracy. If they had a democracy, I know some GOPers that would probably move there.
Putin isn't going to be taken down from outside. When you lose the economy, you lose the people. When you lose the people, it's time to pull the trigger on your exit strategy, 'go bag' at the ready.
Swish, I know you realize we're watching history right now. This pimp has been on the streets since you were in Underoos®... and now, it's all unravelling on him like a cheap KMart sweater. It's fascinating, in a sick, apocalyptic, "I don't know what's next" kinda way.
We hear stories of his failing health. We hear stories of failed plots to take him out. We hear stories of his increasing isolation and paranoia.
This is a prime example of what I've said before. Dictatorships always end in one of three ways:
assassination/coup massive popular uprising flight to obscurity
I don't yet know how this dood's story ends... but the end is near. All the signs are there.
I’m actually concerned by the gains he’s been making in the eastern provinces. My hope, however is that he’s overextending himself. They are taking a plodding, WWI attrition approach it seems, given that they don’t know how to successfully operate advanced logistics, but they do out-muscle the Ukrainians. What I’m curious about, though, is for how long he can keep up the bombardment. I have to imagine they’re burning out their candle wick on that front rather quickly.
As far as the default goes, I’m really paying attention. It’s up to the creditors from everything I’ve read. Russia will make the payment in roubles, which is against the rules. The creditors can either choose to accept or reject the payment (which would cause the default). At least I think that’s the case. We’ll see.
One area I’m really weak in my understanding is the whole currency issue. Russia I guess he figured out a way to implement strict currency controls to prop up the value of the rouble. It’s touted as a success on their part, but I’d have to think there’d be a downside to that. Anyone with a better economic background than me able to explain that?
honestly it's just embarrassing for russia. they have. this city under occupation for now, but the EU is already gonna try and bring Ukraine in. Russia is now beefing with lithuania, and word of default in the russian economy looms.
Maybe it's just my distrust of our politicians and media, but coverage of an illegal invasion and war is not good for politics when they are trying to reform gun control in our own country.
But what's the impact of that debt default? They're already sanctioned anyhow. I suppose creditors could go after or foreclose on their foreign assets to recover, but what do they really have that's recoverable. Would they still be shut off from financing elsewhere, like China?
Keep in mind that my understanding of this is not at a very high level, admittedly.
But what's the impact of that debt default? They're already sanctioned anyhow. I suppose creditors could go after or foreclose on their foreign assets to recover, but what do they really have that's recoverable. Would they still be shut off from financing elsewhere, like China?
Keep in mind that my understanding of this is not at a very high level, admittedly.
at this point your understanding is as good as anyone else's. Russia has exposed so much about them, good and bad. i think an immediate benefit would be to take over their oil industry as a restitution/reparation for invading ukraine, which then drives down energy cost in Europe, which *should* have a trickle down effect on the rest of the global economy. we could do that without taking over Russia, because puppet governments don't work, and definitely won't work in a country like Russia. so maybe we lift sanctions after imposing heavy austerity measures and policy requirements the Russian government must put in place? just speaking out loud here.
Maybe it's just my distrust of our politicians and media, but coverage of an illegal invasion and war is not good for politics when they are trying to reform gun control in our own country.
Yet not trying to take anyone's guns away. Like you know, everyone against being a responsible gun owner keeps screaming about.
One area I’m really weak in my understanding is the whole currency issue. Russia I guess he figured out a way to implement strict currency controls to prop up the value of the rouble. It’s touted as a success on their part, but I’d have to think there’d be a downside to that. Anyone with a better economic background than me able to explain that?
My recollection is it's due to a "hold on to your butts" massive interest rate hike. I also don't know how that works, but that doesn't sound too good for your average everyday Russian. He's sacrificing "main street" in order to prop up his currency.
"aight they officially broke as hell lets go run up in them, boys!!!" was my first initial reaction.
They're not really broke though, they can send the money due to Western lenders not being able to accept payments under sanctions. But we can see their military is broken.
My understanding (which is probably at least somehwat wrong, TBH) is that the default is much more tied to the avenues that they (don't) have to pay out what they owe to bondholders. Those avenues are cut due to sanctions, and also to step(s) the US govt has taken to isolate Russia financially (I thought there was a move, additional to the official sanctions) that an office of the US govt has taken to further impede Russia paying its debts. It wasn't called out in the articles I read, but it actually kinda sounds shady as hell if I understand things correctly. Nobody cares because it's Putin and Russia and it furthers the goal of the sanctions that everyone agreed to... but it's just kinda weird when some Russian clown says something entirely to do with Russia is actually the fault of the West, and he's right.
I read one of those articles right after another that said Russia has more oil money than they know what to do with right now due to high prices and India and China filling the demand vacated by the US and others.
I'm the furthest thing from an expert, but that doesn't look legit at all. The buggy shoots something up in the air and then each individual vehicle in the convoy explodes.
I'm the furthest thing from an expert, but that doesn't look legit at all. The buggy shoots something up in the air and then each individual vehicle in the convoy explodes.
Some people tend to think that propaganda is only used by those they consider to be the enemy. I realized that wasn't true by taking American History in high school.
I'm the furthest thing from an expert, but that doesn't look legit at all. The buggy shoots something up in the air and then each individual vehicle in the convoy explodes.
Don't think I've seen this posted. Looks to be legit.
quote further down in tweets
Dear English-speaking friends, this is a high-quality CGI work by an author unfamiliar to me. But the war in Ukraine is real. And right now you can help a small public initiative to rebuild Ukrainians' housing, destroyed by the army of Russian invaders.
Wanted to make sure we keep this thread going, as we really shouldn't lose sight of everything going on there.
Russia is receiving RPAs from Iran. It's not a good thing for Ukraine, for sure, but goodness, it also reeks of desperation. Can you imagine if we were 5 months into a war with an inferior opponent (on paper) and we asked some place like Italy for help with obtaining adequate weapon systems?
It's certainly not a good look for Russia. But at the same time I think Russia will receive enough support from their friends who are our enemies that there's really no chance Ukraine can win in a war of attrition. I certainly hope I'm wrong there but there is no logistics issue with Russia bordering Ukraine and the size of their military alone far outweighs Ukraine's.
I think it all depends (which I know is a non-answer). I figured that Russia would do much better in the current iteration than they had done initially, and they have. However, they're still not doing nearly as well as they should. They can still encounter logistics issues, even though the materiel doesn't have as far to go and it should relatively be in a straight line. For them, it's about getting the items off of the assembly line, or out of storage, and then allocating it precisely where it needs to go, when it needs to go there. That all has to be coordinated with an advancing front, as well, even despite the fact that front isn't really advancing that quickly. On top of that, it looks like their depots have been hit and currently still exist in the range of the HIMARS, and we're sending more of those to Ukraine. Logistics are also further complicated the more they get into urban settings. It's hard to effectively maintain a depot within city limits when you have a population that is hostile to you, but you also can't keep stuff too far away in case ish gets real.
Another logistical problem they have is actually maneuvering the terrain of Ukraine. From what I’ve read recently, Ukraine is blowing up bridges and whatnot to help stall the Russian advance, and it seems to be having somewhat positive results.
The other problem is that they could run out of steam really quick. That goes beyond materiel and straight to the boots on the ground. They've been on an offensive - albeit slow - for quite some time now. From everything I've read, they have manpower issues and it's never a good thing if you leave the same people on the front for way too long, especially when they're away from home, not exactly fighting for a life-saving cause, against an enemy who is protecting its homeland and way of life. They seem to try and combat that asymmetry by going after the Ukrainian morale by bombing hospitals and schools and whatnot, but that could also backfire as well.
That all being said, I agree with you for the most part. Russia tried to be cutting edge with its approach initially and failed miserably. They showed that they are not a modern superior military. The "Big 3" turned into the "Big 2.5." That being said, they are still far more capable than Ukraine and have pretty much just assumed the role of trying to be the elephant who sits on a lion. They're going to take their claw marks against a fierce opponent, without much strategy other than just using their sheer weight to try and crush it.
I think for Ukraine to succeed, they need to hold out long enough to exhaust the over-taxed Russian front and receive enough weaponry to start a counter-offensive, especially when the weather gets cold (ironic to do that against Russia). One advantage of the HIMARS is that you can launch a massive barrage and be gone seconds later. They need to keep doing that to keep the Russians guessing. That’s a big morale factor. My guess, though, is that the Russians are purchasing the Iranian UAVs to try and find the HIMARS vehicles to take them out. There needs to be some type of counter put in place to combat the UAVs, especially the kind that the Iranians have. It doesn’t take a whole lot to shoot them down, since they’re by-and-large prop planes without pilots, and they’re not stealth. Hopefully they still have enough stingers to get the job done.
I certainly can't and won't attempt to dismiss the points you made. All are very real possibilities. I do however feel if we're looking at it from a logistics standpoint it's far less complicated to get weapons from right next door than from across the Atlantic Ocean.
Or even through Belarus, which they had done before, and did poorly. I'm guessing they're applying lessons learned now as well.
The funny thing is when I started in my first office on base, I saw a whole bunch of logisticians and logistic specialists. I always wondered why we had so many people doing that stuff. Now I know without a doubt.
Moreso, I think the change in pace favors the Russians as well. The news snippets I've been seeing lately has the Russians doing a lot more shelling vs taking ground. I would think logistics issues won't be as big when movement slows way down.
As for morale, I doubt it's gotten any better for the Russians, but the Ukrainians have to be feeling it by now.
One thing we haven't heard about in a while is economic sanctions. Did we empty our gun? Are we just waiting for the full effect? That probably has stalled with oil prices being what they are, but Russia is still pumping oil to Germany. How do we reconcile the different time scales (turning off Russian oil was never going to be an overnight thing, but the idea was to do something that would have a positive effect for Ukraine in a timely manner)?
That's a really good question. I'm guessing most of the remaining economic cards to play are with Europe now. They - Germany especially - wanted to dance with the proverbial devil, and now they're paying for it. It would be great if we had the silver bullet to drop oil prices too.
I'm sure the Ukrainians are feeling it morale-wise, especially after the early on success. Russia now seems content to proverbially sit behind its walled fort and shoot off cannons against Ukraine's melee forces. Hopefully we can keep the influx of long range weaponry flowing into Ukraine so they can not only keep targeting the "fort" but also what's behind it.
I think I saw whispers of A-10's on Yahoo as well. I don't know how much truth there would be to something like that, but those could have a pretty devastating effect on an entrenched position.
In regards to sanctions I think they have very limited abilities. You have places like India that are desperate for resources and make up a huge population. They are still doing a hardy business with Russia. Then you have a great economic powerhouse like China with their huge population that will never go along with many of the sanctions if any. China actually lifted Russian import restrictions on wheat after the war in Ukraine stated. I'm not saying restricting trade with the west doesn't have an impact. Surely it does. But I don't see it as the crippling impact the western world made it out to be.
Russia using 85% of fighting force in Ukraine: senior US defense official Liz Friden, Caitlin McFall Fri, July 22, 2022, 9:05 AM·2 min read A senior U.S. defense official told Fox News Friday that Russia is using 85% of its fighting force in Ukraine as the war continues for a fifth month.
"They can’t keep it up forever," the official said. "They have expended a lot of smarter munitions. Their capabilities are getting dumber."
The U.S. defense official assessed that Russia has not only deployed its missile forces, Air Force and its special operation forces known as "Spetsnaz," but it has removed troops from other areas near its borders and stationed across the globe.
The official added the Pentagon has assessed that Ukraine has taken out more than a hundred "high-value" targets in attacking Russian command posts, ammunition depots, air-defense sites, radar and communications nodes, and long-range artillery positions.
Additionally, more than just military targets, Moscow is grappling with a substantial number of causalities daily.
The senior defense official said that "thousands" of lieutenants and captains, "hundreds" of colonels, and "many" generals have been killed in the fighting since the war began.
"The chain of command is still struggling," the officials added. "They are still not effective at combined arms."
CIA Director William Burns estimated this week that some 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the last five months and that as many as 45,000 have been wounded.
"Quite significant set of losses," Burns said during the Aspen Security Forum. "The Ukrainians have suffered as well, probably a little less than that. But, you know, significant casualties."
Russian forces are reportedly relying on "rolling barrages" – which is an artillery-based strategy that bombards large swaths of area – but a method that has not proven particularly effective, the senior defense official told Fox News Friday.
Russia, which has heavily relied on missile strikes is believed to be launching tens of thousands artillery rounds per day; however, Russian forces have yet to be able to take out single High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) – which allows Ukraine to deploy multiple rocket launches effectively.
The official said that at some point they will "get lucky" and hit at least one U.S.-supplied system.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced this week news plans to send four more HIMARS to aid Ukrainian forces.
Russian troops have largely occupied the eastern regions of Ukraine, but the fight for Donetsk is expected to "last through the summer" with Russia achieving slow gains at high costs.
This could also make things interesting. I'm not sure what the likelihood of something happening is, but if Chechnya wants to go for another shot at breaking away, now might be the time:
Wanted to make sure we keep this thread going, as we really shouldn't lose sight of everything going on there.
Russia is receiving RPAs from Iran. It's not a good thing for Ukraine, for sure, but goodness, it also reeks of desperation. Can you imagine if we were 5 months into a war with an inferior opponent (on paper) and we asked some place like Italy for help with obtaining adequate weapon systems?
Hopefully, Biden will ask the world to hit Iran with the same level of sanctions Russia has gotten. Aiding a war criminal in the committing of further war crimes should be punished on the same level as the original bad actor, IMHO.
Estonia's prime minister has a message for the West: 'Don't worry about Putin's feelings' Michael Weiss Mon, July 25, 2022, 6:36 PM·10 min read
TALLINN, Estonia — Sitting in her office in Stenbock House, a well-appointed neoclassical building in the heart of Tallinn's medieval Old Town, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wanted to discuss the last 80 years of European history. But she had only 20 minutes.
An attorney by training and a former member of the European Parliament, Kallas's position was tenuous when she met with Yahoo News on July 8, so much so that she nearly had to cancel her interview. "There’s a chance I won't be here tomorrow," she said, referring to the collapse of her coalition government days earlier and her round-the-clock negotiations to cobble together a new one, something she managed to do on July 18 after briefly resigning.
Despite the turmoil in her own government, Kallas was intent on sending a message to the rest of the world about yielding to Russian demands on Ukraine.
"I think a fundamental mistake was made after the Second World War," Kallas said, sitting beneath a painting of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. "While the Nazi crimes were widely condemned, the communists’' crimes never were. So we see a strong revival of Stalinism right now in Russia. Seventy percent of Russians support Stalin, despite his having murdered 20 million people, despite the deportations, the prisons camps, war, everything. History books in Estonia were rewritten after communism, whereas Russians are still being taught the same history that we had to read during the Soviet period, which was total crap."
Kallas is Estonia’s 13th prime minister since the Baltic country declared its independence in 1991, although arguably the 45-year-old, who was 12 when the Berlin Wall came down, has already proved among the most troublesome for Moscow.
Her government has been staunchly supportive of Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. In fact, the smallest of the three Baltic states, with a population of just 1.3 million, Estonia has so far sent more than $270 million worth of military assistance to Ukraine, the equivalent of more than 30 percent of its annual defense budget.
In addition to armored personnel carriers, antitank mines and a wide variety of small arms, Estonia has been an eager supplier of the U.S.-made Javelin antitank missile system, one of a slew of extremely effective shoulder-launched weapons that have helped Ukraine withstand the initial thrust of the Russian invasion.
Now that Ukraine has moved from a strategy of mobile defense into a grinding artillery war against the Russians, Estonia, a NATO member-state since 2004, has helped modernize Kyiv's arsenal with a number of FH70 155-millimeter towed howitzers, plus the MAN Kat 6x6 heavy trucks to tow them. When considered alongside their humanitarian and financial assistance, the Estonians donated the equivalent of 0.81% of their gross domestic product to another nation at war, a staggering metric.
Kallas is keen to emphasize that security assistance is not charity. "I was asked in Parliament by our far-right party why we’re doing this," she told Yahoo News. "And I answered that Ukraine is literally fighting for us. When Russia is at war with them, they're not at war with us. And we have peace here."
Maintaining that peace is of existential necessity for Estonians, who share an uneasy 182-mile border with a revanchist power currently occupying 20% of Ukraine and threatening to permanently gobble up much, if not all, of that territory. Estonia itself was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler agreed to the mutual carve up of Eastern Europe under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Then it was invaded and occupied by the Nazis when Hitler double-crossed Stalin and launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941, his doomed World War II attack on the Soviet Union that included modern Ukraine.
Until 1991, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania remained under Soviet rule. Tens of thousands were killed, imprisoned or deported to Siberia. Among the deportees in 1949 was Kallas’s mother, just 6 months old at the time, who was dispatched in a cattle car along with Kallas’s grandmother to the Russian tundra and raised in exile until she was 10.
Kallas’s great-grandfather, Eduard Alver, was a commander of the Estonian Defense League during the 1918-1920 Estonian War of Independence, which resulted in the country’s first emancipation from Russia. Her father, Siim Kallas, served as both foreign minister and prime minister of Estonia in the 1990s, after the country gained its independence a second time.
Since then, Estonia has often found itself struggling against geographical fatalism. One can drive the length of the country in just over two hours and it could quickly be overrun again by its much-larger next-door Russian neighbor. In 2004, Estonia joined the European Union and NATO to be firmly in the Western camp and insusceptible to a recurrence of past victimhood —the very ambition Ukrainians are dying on native soil to achieve.
Kallas’s sense of history is inextricably wedded to her own genealogy; her family’s suffering can be read in every bullet and flak jacket her government has shipped to Ukraine.
Kallas caused a moderate stir in late June, just before the NATO summit in Madrid, when she told reporters that the alliance had to revamp its plans for fortifying its eastern flank. Under the current strategy, NATO views Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as trip wire states that could be occupied for up to 180 days before the alliance moved in to defend them. As Kallas pointed out, Ukraine at that time was only 100 days into its defensive campaign against Russia and thousands of civilians had died, millions had been displaced (including as many as 1.6 million Ukrainians who had been deported to Russia) and cities such as Mariupol had been reduced to rubble. Kallas’s point was obvious: Given that Estonia is one-thirteenth the size of Ukraine, Kallas might not have a country to lead after 180 days of occupation. Wasn't that the contingency NATO membership was meant to forestall?
"When I was in Paris, driving around, I saw all those monuments to Napoleon and it made me think: for a small country, war always means destruction, pain," she told Yahoo News. "But for a bigger country, it's not always so. War also means glory, new riches."
Her allusion to France hardly seems accidental. Kallas has been an explicit critic of French President Emmanuel Macron's insistence that the West not "humiliate" Vladimir Putin, something she sees as a dangerous non sequitur. In a March 24 op-ed in the New York Times, she wrote, "Putin cannot win this war. He cannot even think he has won, or his appetite will grow."
"I keep reminding my colleagues who want to pick up the phone and talk to Putin," she said, in another unmistakable reference to Macron. "OK, fine — talk to him. But don't forget he is a war criminal. Right now he's stealing Ukraine's grain and threatening famine to get sanctions lifted. His state propagandists talk openly about hunger as Russia’s last hope. This is who you’re dealing with."
The prime minister wholeheartedly agrees with historian Timothy Snyder’s argument that Putin doesn't require any face-saving concessions to withdraw from Ukraine. He rules in "virtual reality," she said, and because Russia’s information ecosystem is his plaything, he can pack up his army and go home whenever he chooses and dress up military defeat as a popular victory. "His people will believe him," Kallas said. "Don’t worry about Putin's feelings."
The flip side of Putin's capricious fail-safe is that he can also drag out the war as long as he wants and suffer little to no domestic blowback, Kallas added.
"In the Western world, we'd want to recover every one of our soldiers on a foreign battlefield; our instinct is not to leave anyone behind," Kallas said. "In autocracies, they don't care because soldiers' mothers aren't going to protest as they would in democracies."
To drive those points home, at a recent meeting with a top foreign diplomat, Kallas offered as a gift a copy of "The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics," by political scientists Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. The book’s underlying message is crystal clear: You can’t deter or outplay the tsar by assuming he will act as you would under similar circumstances.
While debate has erupted in Estonia about how much money and weaponry the government should be sending to Ukraine, Kallas still enjoys overwhelming domestic support on her handling of the situation. "We were thinking eventually that people would get tired and start asking, 'Why do you do all this for Ukraine when we need help over here?'" she said. "But if you look at the surveys we've done, it's something like 91% of Estonians say we have to support Ukraine, we have to help refugees. This is so very clear."
She is markedly less confident that the rest of Europe agrees. For the past five months, the European Union has managed something approaching unity about sanctions against Russia and aid for Ukraine, even as it stares down a particularly cold forthcoming winter owing to Russia’s energy blackmail. Putin may be fighting one war of attrition on the battlefield, but he’s fighting another against the longevity of European resolve.
"I won’t mention any names, but the leader of one big country who is very supportive of Ukraine told me, 'My political situation back home is that the overall view is that the war is NATO’s fault.'" Kallas said. "It’s hard for him to keep the support going because the public pressure is 'give in, stop this.'"
Kallas is particularly sensitive to the moral ambiguities and geopolitical contradictions the West has trafficked in since the war started. "It’s very interesting. We went from saying, 'Ukraine must not lose' to saying, 'Ukraine must win and Russia must lose,'" she said. "But let's be clear about something: if we stop helping Ukrainians militarily, then they won't be able to defend themselves. So on the one hand, we say it's up to them to decide their fate, but on the other, we are making that decision for them with our own policies."
Another concern for Kallas is what will happen politically in the United States — both at the congressional and presidential levels. Could Estonia, along with Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom — other stalwart defenders of Ukraine with large degrees of domestic consensus on the issue — supply Kyiv with sufficient weapons and ammunition on their own, should Washington's patronage dry up?
the EU has for more ability to withstand a recession than Russia does. Russia is also losing money AND manpower, as well as military equipment. the EU isn't bowing down to Putin because of gas prices lol. neither is Biden, and thank god for that. so many "patriots" in this country feel a tight squeeze and start panicking and taking putin's side.
It seems like the sanctions are going to have less of a short-term impact, but do more long-term damage to Russia's economy. I wonder if that was the original intention.
I think it was. Perhaps they wanted it to have more of a short-term deterrence, but that obviously didn't happen. Putin is very patient, though, and I'm pretty sure he's confident in his ability to maintain a long-term iron grip vs the whims of the Western countries.
I suppose one thing he overlooked is - if there is one country that seems to know how to bounce back from adverse circumstances - it's Germany.
Crazy to think they were an economic powerhouse, then destroyed, then they became an economic powerhouse again, and were destroyed even worse. Then they were divided into 2. Now...they're the economic powerhouse of Europe again.
I have my doubts because those sanctions all happened when it was a foregone conclusion that Russia was going to steamroll Ukraine. I highly doubt they rolled out those sanctions with the intention of the true pay-off not happening until months/years down the road. I REALLY REALLY HOPE they didn't roll out sanctions knowing what it would end up doing to gas prices so that Russia could briefly line its pockets.
Russia's economy is crumbling under sweeping sanctions and a corporate exodus, a Yale study found.
The study stands in contrast to economic releases from the Kremlin.
"The Kremlin has a long history of fudging official economic statistics," the Yale authors wrote.
Five months into the invasion of Ukraine, Russia's economy is imploding from sweeping international sanctions and a corporate exodus, a Yale University analysis has found. The analysis, released July 20, was led by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management.
The study's findings stand in contrast to studies of Russia's economy that show it's holding up better than expected. Many of those analyses, forecasts, and projections draw from Russian government economic releases, which are becoming "increasingly cherry-picked; partial, and incomplete, selectively tossing out unfavorable statistics while keeping favorable statistics," the Yale team wrote. "Indeed, the Kremlin has a long history of fudging official economic statistics, even prior to the invasion."
Russia's economy has not rebounded and is in fact "reeling," the Yale authors found. They used private Russian-language data sources and sources like high-frequency consumer data for their analysis.
"From our analysis, it becomes clear: business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy," the authors wrote.
One reason Russia appears so resilient is because the Kremlin has been flooding the economy with "artificial liquidity" and propping up the ruble with "draconian capital controls," wrote the Yale team.
In reality, the corporate exodus out of Russia has reversed nearly 30 years worth of foreign investment, as those foreign companies accounted for 40% of the country's GDP, the Yale authors added.
"Putin is resorting to patently unsustainable, dramatic fiscal and monetary intervention to smooth over these structural economic weaknesses, which has already sent his government budget into deficit for the first time in years and drained his foreign reserves even with high energy prices," they wrote.
In April, Russian Finance Minister Anthon Siluanov said the country will draw from its rainy-day fund to cover the deficit. The move, the Yale team wrote, points to a Kremlin that is "fast running out of money, despite intentional obfuscation."
The report's authors call on the international community to keep pressure on Russia over the Ukraine war: "Defeatist headlines arguing that Russia's economy has bounced back are simply not factual — the facts are that, by any metric and on any level, the Russian economy is reeling, and now is not the time to step on the brakes."
So I think it was over the weekend, something happened.
The daughter of an important Putin advisor/ally was killed in a bombing. I'm pretty sure this occurred within Russia. The story is that a previously unknown anti-Russia group operating within Russia is taking credit for the bombing, and that their intended target was Putin's advisor (and not family members). There seems to be skepticism, though, that this group was actually the one behind it simply because not much is known about them. They kinda came out of nowhere.
Kinda funny, however, is Russia's official response condemning the death of an innocent and launching a murder investigation. It's funny in a twisted sort of way.
So I think it was over the weekend, something happened.
The daughter of an important Putin advisor/ally was killed in a bombing. I'm pretty sure this occurred within Russia. The story is that a previously unknown anti-Russia group operating within Russia is taking credit for the bombing, and that their intended target was Putin's advisor (and not family members). There seems to be skepticism, though, that this group was actually the one behind it simply because not much is known about them. They kinda came out of nowhere.
Kinda funny, however, is Russia's official response condemning the death of an innocent and launching a murder investigation. It's funny in a twisted sort of way.
Curious about what folks think about this. I assume this increase in size is to continue/bolster the campaign in Ukraine while presuming something akin to readiness in other areas. What'll be interesting is how this will be carried out. Supposedly, only volunteer soldiers are sent to Ukraine. I've also read that even Putin knows he has to walk a tight line between replenishing his fighting force and NOT implementing a draft... which would be extremely unpopular. As time goes on though, I don't know how much of any of that I actually believe.
Skepticism rules my thoughts on this as well. This hasn't been going the way Putin envisioned and he has refused to even so much as call it a war. The Russian people are questioning what's going on now as well. They are seeing their troops coming home in body bags and don't buy into what he's saying at this point. I think the pressure is growing for him to put an end to this fast.
Curious about what folks think about this. I assume this increase in size is to continue/bolster the campaign in Ukraine while presuming something akin to readiness in other areas. What'll be interesting is how this will be carried out. Supposedly, only volunteer soldiers are sent to Ukraine. I've also read that even Putin knows he has to walk a tight line between replenishing his fighting force and NOT implementing a draft... which would be extremely unpopular. As time goes on though, I don't know how much of any of that I actually believe.
the thing is that they're already having an unofficial draft. trying to get people as old as 65 to join, "highly suggesting" that prisoners sign up for a reduced sentenced, etc.
on top of recruiting mercenaries from the middle east. looking at everything that's happened so far, russia will make some territory gains, but then lose it because of trash logistics, self-sabotage efforts, and poor military strategy. hell, not even 3 months in, and they lost more troops than the US did in BOTH iraq and afghanistan combined.
From everything I've come to know (so take it with a grain of salt), I've wholly stopped paying attention to the words, laws, gestures, and any combination therein that come from the Russian government. Everything has an ulterior motive, even if that ulterior motive is nothing other than trying to confuse everyone else. Nothing they say can be trusted. This strategy was a problem from W all the way through Obama and Trump.
I actually think the Biden administration has meted out one of the better responses to Russia, especially during the Putin era. Hopefully they keep up with it. Not a whole lot of focus on the inner workings, gestures, and words of the Russians, but a quick declassification (done the right, normal way) of Russian movements to show what they are actually doing, and that information is shared with strategic partners and allies to create an objective picture that shows words vs actions. It adds a good amount of degradation to the Russian disinformation strategy.
To circle back to what you specifically posted, I won't pay the decree much attention until there are some sort of corroborating actions. If he does implement some type of a draft or conscription, I think it'll show that desperation has truly set in. The problem with new recruits going to an attrition-style battlefield is that they don't really know what they're doing all that well, compared to the vets. That would likely send casualty rates notably higher, which would garner more public dissent. The problem with Russia, however, is public dissent has to reach a fever pitch to garner any traction against a regime that demonstrates Putin's magnitude of despotism and draconian responses.
Zolenssky should have every military unit, town, and village play a message on the battlefield, drop leaflets, or put leaflets all over the path the Ruskies are taking. The offer should be to surrender and live or to switch sides and become a citizen of a great democracy after the war. Place the Russian dead and destroyed Russian equipment in their path too. They would probably turn half his army.
Heavy fighting rages in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied south
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine claimed to have destroyed bridges and ammunition depots and pounded command posts in a surge of fighting in the Russian-occupied south, fueling speculation Tuesday that its long-awaited counteroffensive to try to turn the tide of war was underway. Russia said it repelled the attack and inflicted heavy casualties.
The clashes took place in the country’s Kherson region, where Moscow’s forces rolled up major gains early in the war. But Ukrainian authorities kept the world guessing about their intentions.
While independent verification of battlefield action has been difficult, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence report that several Ukrainian brigades had stepped up their artillery fire in front-line sectors across southern Ukraine.
The port city of Kherson, with a prewar population of about 300,000, is an important economic hub close to the Black Sea and the first major city to fall to the Russians in the war that began six months ago. The port remains at the heart of Ukraine’s efforts to preserve its vital access to the sea, while Russia views it as a key point in a land corridor extending from its border to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
Occupation forces have spoken of plans to hold a referendum on making the Kherson region a part of Russia and have pressured residents to take Russian citizenship and stop using Ukraine’s currency.
Ukraine’s presidential office reported that “powerful explosions continued during the day and night in the Kherson region. Tough battles are ongoing practically across all” of the area. Ukrainian forces, the office said, destroyed ammunition depots and all large bridges across the Dnieper River vital to supplying Russian troops.
The Ukrainian military also reported destroying a pontoon bridge on the Dnieper that the Russian forces were setting up and hitting a dozen command posts with artillery fire.
Russian state news agency Tass reported that explosions rocked Kherson on Tuesday morning — most likely caused by air defense systems.
Alluding to the talk of a major counteroffensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Monday that one “won’t hear specifics from any truly responsible person” about Kyiv’s intentions, “because this is war.”
The British said that most of Russia’s units around Kherson “are likely under-manned and are reliant upon fragile supply lines” while its forces there are undergoing a significant reorganization.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov maintained that its forces stood up well and that Ukraine lost hundreds of troops, tanks and other armored vehicles in Monday’s action. His claim could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian independent military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press that “it will be possible to talk about the effectiveness of Ukrainian actions only after large cities are retaken.” He added that Ukrainian forces had breached the first and the second lines of defense in the Kherson region several times in the past, “but it didn’t bring about results.”
“The most important thing is Ukrainian artillery’s work on the bridges, which the Russian military can no longer use,” Zhdanov said.
The war has ground to a stalemate over the past months, with casualties and destruction rising and the population bearing the brunt of the suffering during relentless shelling in the east and south.
In other battlefield reports, at least nine civilians were killed in more Russian shelling, Ukrainian officials said, from the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv to the northeastern industrial hub of Kharkiv, where five were killed in the city center.
Amid fears that the fighting around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could lead to a catastrophe, a U.N. atomic energy agency team set out on a mission to inspect and safeguard the complex. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the area over and over.
Nikopol, a city just across the Dnieper from the plant, again came under a barrage of heavy shelling, local authorities said, with a bus station, stores and a children’s library damaged. And a Russian missile strike targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the plant, Ukraine said.
In other developments:
—The first ship carrying grain from war-torn Ukraine for people in the hungriest parts of the world docked at the Horn of Africa port of Djibouti as deadly drought and conflict grip East Africa. The grain is going to Ethiopia.
—European Union ministers debated ways to ramp up weapons production, boost military training for Ukraine and inflict heavier costs on Russia.
—German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country is well prepared to tackle a possible energy shortage because of Russia’s squeeze on European gas supplies. Russia has cut off or reduced the flow of natural gas to a dozen EU countries, raising fears ahead of winter.
When Viktor Zolotov, director of the Russian National Guard, briefed his boss, President Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday on the status of military operations in Ukraine, one remark in particular stood out.
“I especially want to emphasize that we feel the support of the population in the liberated territories,” Zolotov told a stone-faced Putin.
In reality, Russia has been struggling to rally the support of its own troops, according to internal government documents obtained exclusively by Yahoo News that detail drunken acts of insubordination six months into Putin’s invasion.
The documents include an incident and homicide report by the Russian Investigative Committee’s Military Investigations Department for the Black Sea Fleet regarding a June 19 incident in which three Russian soldiers were shot and killed and two others wounded in a gun battle with officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the KGB, at a bar in Kherson City, on the banks of the Dnieper River.
The city lies at the epicenter of an oblast that has been occupied by Russian forces since late February and which Ukraine yesterday appeared to launch operations to recapture. Details of that operation are hard to obtain, as Kyiv has announced a media blackout of ongoing military activities. But videos posted to social media show a series of Ukrainian artillery strikes on military installations, weapons and ammunition depots and key bridges have continued throughout the last 24 hours. In response, Russian air defenses have been activated throughout the oblast.
Kherson Stremousov, the Russian-appointed governor of Kherson, has fled the region and even recorded a video Tuesday from a hotel in Voronezh, Russia. Meanwhile, there have even been unconfirmed reports of gunfire in the Pivnichny and Tavriiske neighborhoods of Kherson.
Russia’s equivalent of the FBI can at least attest to gunfire in Kherson city two months ago — between Russians.
According to the Investigative Committee’s report, at about 8 p.m. on June 19, Igor Yakubinsky, Sergei Privalov and D.A. Borodin, three officers attached to the sub-division Military Task Force No. 9 of the FSB entered the Food Fuel cafe on Ushakova Avenue when they discovered two contract soldiers, Sgt. Sergei Obukhov and Junior Sgt. Igor Sudin “idly spending time, consuming alcoholic drinks,” according to the Investigative Committee documents.
The FSB officers remonstrated with the enlisted men for drinking while in uniform. Obukhov responded by removing his sidearm and firing rounds into the floor, the report stated. Privalov tried to grab the gun, whereupon Sudin started spraying the security servicemen with rounds from his AK-74 assault rifle, as Privalov and Yakubinsky returned fire.
Obukhov, Privalov and Yakubinsky “died on the spot,” according to the documents, while Borodin and Sudin were “hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees of severity at Federal Naval Clinical Hospital No. 1427 of the Russian Defense Ministry, located in Sevastopol,” in occupied Crimea. A fourth FSB officer, unidentified in the documents, fled the site.
Obukhov, 28, and Sudin, 31, both belonged to a Russian military unit known as the 8th Artillery Regiment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The shootout, which is now subject to a criminal case under the purview of V.O. Savchenko, an official in the Military Investigations Department, is the latest example of problems involving military discipline among Russian soldiers in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Reports of Russian soldiers’ alcoholism have been rampant in Ukraine and morale has suffered as Putin’s war drags on without achieving its primary goal of regime change.
In Kherson, especially, Russian occupiers have been the targets of presumed Ukrainian guerrilla activities including assassinations and patrol ambushes. Earlier this month, Sky News quoted a local Ukrainian journalist in Kherson who told the outlet that in the suburbs of the city Russian soldiers parade around hammered, “a bottle of alcohol in one hand, a machine gun in the other.”
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for those who need a summary, russian soldiers continue to be outed as jokes, and the wheels continue to fall off internally.
Ukraine seems to be beginning to cash in on the work they've put in degrading Russian logistics/supply. Their counteroffensive seems to be going well, though there are reports of heavy costs in terms of casualties.
Russia seems to be unable to focus on more than 1 area at a time, allowing Ukraine to capitalize when Russia shifts it's A team (or at least what's left) to it's main priority.
Reports that Russia is now getting equipment from North Korea. Jeez....
I'd say at the current time your synopsis is accurate. I just can't help but wonder that with Russia having so many more people and the ability to send more and more troops the battle of attrition over the long haul won't take its toll on Ukraine. I'm just wondering how long Ukraine can afford to take on heavy casualties with a much smaller manned military.
I read somewhere that they've been laying back and letting Russia over-extend itself while they were going to work on supply lines and strategically degrading Russia's front line. Now they're trying to cash in on those body shots.
The article in Forbes I read about Ukrainian casualties was about a specific battle for Kerhson. To your point, they're going to have to limit those costly wins if they're going to successfully push Russia all the way out. Most of the reporting is actually being done on Russia and its ability to maintain a capable fighting force.
I've noticed that there is tremendous hesitancy to report any sort of negative news regarding how Ukraine is doing, and anything is that is reported is very measured. My hope is that is because they are actually doing that well. They do seem to do a really good job of dictating the pace and flow of the conflict now that Russia has established static lines.
That lack of details you mentioned is also what I've seen. That's why it makes me have to guess and wonder the details of what's going on with the Ukraine side of things.
It does appear that the Russians are experiencing hefty issues when it comes to manpower issues, as there have been multiple reports that they are looking to recruit out of prisons, and raise the cap on recruitment age. I think I also saw they were trying to get the wounded back into battle. Here is just one article to bolster that:
I like you, was somewhat confounded when this was reported, because, like you mention, Russia has put a lot of resources and focus into the size of its military forces.
I was actually talking about this with some colleagues of mine and we noted the potential areas of asymmetry which play in Ukraine's favor:
1. The main military focus of Russia is Ukraine, but with their military size and prowess, they also have other areas that require their attention (Syria, drills with China, the shear land mass of their country, the Pacific, etc.). Ukraine can just focus on Ukraine.
2. Where the war is being fought. Russia is close to home, but it is not at home. It's still the invasive force. This requires a lot more manpower to not only man the front line, but also to supply the front lines. They have really struggled on this logistics front. Their lack of efficiency and proper planning means they need to throw more manpower at the situation now than if they had properly done so in the first place.
3. Manning the battlefield asymmetry. Russia obviously has a lot more tanks and a lot more of your conventional weaponry, columns, movements, etc. This in and of itself requires a lot of manpower just to move, let alone to fight. However, all the Ukrainians need is a guy with a mounted, shoulder-fire weapon to destroy a tank manned by 3 people. It seems like this might be compared to the Vietcong vs US Armed forces dynamic.
In any event, I hope that they both retake ground and especially trigger the "demoralization" factor for the Russians. At some point, I hope more and more of their front line troops just start to ask themselves "why the eff are we here????"
That was a good video. Really shows the clunkiness of the Russians in terms of their logistics and agility.
I do have to imagine Kherson and Crimea is an ultimate goal and will be more difficult. With Russian forces already allocated there, I’ll be interested to see what their plans to retake it are.
Ukraine is doing great for a relatively small country....they CAN'T sustain manpower losses for long period. Unless they have thousands of volunteers....who fills the void when a guy or gal is wounded, killed, or captured. Who knows....their manpower has a limit.
Good video, get real. I watched it and it showed three vehicles destroyed on road- looked like SUVs- and a tank ran around and a SQUAD of guys watched a flag go up....a US local national guard company would be more impressive- and most active duty guys LAUGH at NG troops.
Ukraine is doing great for a relatively small country....they CAN'T sustain manpower losses for long period. Unless they have thousands of volunteers....who fills the void when a guy or gal is wounded, killed, or captured. Who knows....their manpower has a limit.
Asymmetric warfare with really good Western-supplied weaponry can carry them quite far. We bled the Soviet Union dry that way in Afghanistan. It's proving even easier to do to Russia in Ukraine.
The big Russian bear is being exposed. Putin wants Russia to be a "super power again". Like his buddy, Trump- "Make America Great Again". My biggest fear- Putin is dying and he wants what he wants. What is keeping him from using "tactical nukes"? JMHO, we are the only country to use nukes/ what keeps him from using them to save face? Pray it doesn't happen.
the difference between projecting strength and actual strength is being broadcast for all to see. i keep saying it and will continue to do so: this aint Nam. this aint WW2. modern warfare is not fought like that anymore. this is what happens when you're stuck in your ways, you become incapable of growth. now you out here buying equipment from - LMFAO - NORTH KOREA, still trying to recruit mercenaries from other countries, your own FULL time soldiers are jumping ship or getting they asses beat, and so many other failures.
seriously, how trash you gotta be that you can't even keep supply lines in tack and you literally live RIGHT BY the country you're invading? that should be the ONE advantage you have that's a layup. but nope, fumbled that too.
and once again, gotta threaten nuclear strikes over and over again, because the reality is, Vlad and the Russian military got exposed as frauds.
they should, but i wonder if they're hoping that someone else does it for them. if they do it, could be civil war, nasty fight for control of the state. someone else does it, say a strike or staged battle, can play off a peaceful transfer of power, and maybe avoid serious domestic decline and keep stability.
but whatever happens internally, i don't care. thats a russian problem. nevermind ukraine, the russian generals needs to be worried that Putin would try to drop one on his own country.
It's more their style to say he came down with a serious disease which requires hospitalization, and then 3 days later, he's dead.
They could also take a page out of his book and talk about how he fell from the top floor of the Kremlin, or fell overboard during a fishing expedition.
It's more their style to say he came down with a serious disease which requires hospitalization, and then 3 days later, he's dead.
They could also take a page out of his book and talk about how he fell from the top floor of the Kremlin, or fell overboard during a fishing expedition.
damn, vlad can't even get a badass death, huh? disappointing all around.
It's more their style to say he came down with a serious disease which requires hospitalization, and then 3 days later, he's dead.
They could also take a page out of his book and talk about how he fell from the top floor of the Kremlin, or fell overboard during a fishing expedition.
wonder how russian refugees will be treated in the coming months compared to middle eastern and african refugees.
If I meet any Russian refugees I’ll ask them why they didn’t have the nads to stay and revolt the murderous bloody dictator and instead ran away like cowards. But then again, no Russian outside of Russia with half a brain would admit they are Russian now. Pfffft Russians.
why are russian men trying to leave the country? i thought Russia was an anti-woke, real masculine society who stand for their nation and ethnicity? we shouldn't be seeing russian men fleeing but throwing themselves at military recruiting offices.
![[Linked Image from maritime-executive.com]](https://www.maritime-executive.com/media/images/article/Photos/Vessels_Large/dilbar.78b13c.jpg)
Maybe Q moved the date for Putin's grand victory too. It feels like October might be the new target for that... 
