FancyCat

The Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, asked why Kazakhstan's embassy was helping Ukrainian civilians with what is essentially a place to charge phones, get hot food and be warm, and was told by Kazakhstan that the yurt was not set up by them, but also why is the yurt a issue in the first place? A telling admission of the aims of the Russian air campaign especially for a MFA, aren't those where doves usually reside in?

I wouldn't say the U.S approved of sending this stuff to Ukraine, Turkey likes to hedge bets.

Painful to see. We really should have sent IFVs earlier. Every delay of equipment costs lives.

I can't recall a visit by a senior figure from the West to Kharkiv, Odessa, Kiev yes but not Kharkiv I believe?

FT article linked but I'll post the tweets. If China really did not know of the full invasion, or even did know beforehand, the signal of running from Russia is a indication of good news for Ukraine and very bad news for Russia.

O.o you do realize that dehumanization had to occur in order for Putin to wage war on Ukraine, and Ukrainians? That the acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing enacted on Ukraine by Russia is done due to this dehumanization, that it is ongoing and continuing right now?

The one quoted is head of the same organization who got the Russian paratrooper to Paris who then promptly turned his back on his rescuers. I am inclined to believe his words as a result. The west cannot calculate Russian collapse, Russian exhaustion, the potential for Russia to wage war if we fail to understand the difference between Russia and the West.

No rhetorical climb down, I cannot emphasize enough that if Putin and co want to deescalate, they need to prime public opinion to accept it, and we are seeing none of that. Sky News is reporting that maybe 10 Challenger 2 tanks may be on the table for Ukraine. Token contribution but if it gets the Leopards free, so be it. If it does pan out that Ukraine was correct in the 2nd mobilization, it should definitely be remembered as a sign of Ukrainian ability to hear the Russian state.

On one hand, we must not fall victim to ideas that denote Russians as different than the west or be prejudiced. On the other hand, we must recognize that any other country in the west, would have long since gone insane over the current state of the toll of this war. Therefore, we must walk away from Western views of suffering and damage caused by war and invasions and violence incurred by other parties on its armed forces, as Russia clearly isn’t operating along the same parameters.

The movement of hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee mobilization denies the idea of being rounded up and forced to fight. Your last comment, please recall the immeasurable war crimes committed by Russia, with both top down and bottom up participation, and the acts of ethnic cleansing bordering on genocide being committed on occupied Ukrainian soil. sometimes I wonder if people just resent that Ukraine is succeeding in not getting turned into a complete failure of humanity and horror show. It just boggles my mind people are acting like Ukrainians (most music is added by the original creators) are bloodthirsty and inhumane meanwhile, cities near the frontlines smolder, hallowed out of life by Russian artillery, and the rest of Ukraine sits perilously close to freezing to death by Russian missiles.

Might be time to look at the “great man” at the central point of this conflict, and consider if his motivations and wishes aren’t driving this war. It is extremely important to not fall into the trap of thinking one figure can be decisive, but I think it’s also essential to review the position of Putin and his place that drives the war. He is near the end of his life, and had decided to cap his legacy with the resurrection of the Russian Empire with the conquest of Ukraine. As for why Russia and the elites, and the population seems intent on not getting off this bus, that’s a big answer, and I’m certainly unable to answer that in a meaningful way.

I wish nothing but suffering on Russia and all Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Exceedingly war crimey especially in comparison to the "less powerful" Ukrainian military and their campaign to force out Russia from Kherson.

Fog of war is a pain. we don't know what targets Russia is hitting that aren't terror bombing that are affecting the ability of the UKR government and industry focused on the war, and Ukraine isn't likely to say anything, and has penalized any independent information within Ukraine and with the amount of Russian lies, it can be hard to find the truth kernels with them. Certainly, we know that Ukraine has continued production of various war materials and equipment, what we don't know is if Russia has knowledge and capability to strike them, and if they have, but we can probably guess they do on either count due to prior history of Russian internal infiltration into Ukraine.

Real nice of Greece to do this.

just a quote taken from article discussing Moscow's elite adjusting to the war. I remain skeptical that the elite will rise against Putin to end the war. To better wage it, sure, but not end it.

Hopefully, Ukraine can counterattack in Soledar, but how important can it be? Also, isn’t it like completely leveled? At some point it might be cost prohibitive to keep defending it. If a counterattack occurs, it would be once it gets colder right? Best of luck to all Ukrainians, I hope you get thru the cold as good as possible.

I won't rehash the same peace negotiations discussed before, only point out the Ukrainian people have shown no indication of being the type to passively disagree with their government and Zelensky was by no means popular before the invasion. Also, again considering Russia's current proposals around beginning talks is requiring the concession of lands currently occupied by Russia pretalks, any notion of trading away lands is gonna let Russia think that it has a chance of winning this conflict. We can harp all we want on sanctions and such destroying Russia as a country but clearly Russian pov is that the west is weak and will fold and beg for Russian gas and oil soon enough and since they will fold, conceding anything to Ukraine is premature and foolish.

It seems clear to me that the West has been giving Putin time to consider his options, and having watch Putin literally doing nothing except double down and insist on escalating the conflict by continuing moves to keep Russia in the war, it's time to escalate to match.

No western government is falling for Russian claptrap.

I saw something that said Ukraine might be switching to using a held back force to counterattack that they keep in reserve to prevent piling front line units into Russian artillery range. Could be cope, and we won't know how dire or managed the situation is until much later in time but interesting premise. Supported by that counterattack in Bakutut that pushed the Russians back no? Weather is weather but dang that is a bit karmic.

Eh, I recall people being fine with Russia expending offensive potential because that would weaken them in the face of further Ukrainian offensives. Unless Russia actually takes a city wholly, Ukraine just like in Bakumut can counter attack and push them back.