FancyCat

Russia is making moves, one would assume the pro-Russian accounts would be excited. Also, goddamn if this is current and actually in the Donbas, the amount of audacity to operate...

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Actually, the video makes a pretty good point I think is being ignored in this discussion. Ukrainians took part in the defense of the Soviet Union, Ukraine as a successor state to the Soviet Union took part in the destruction of the Nazi regime. Why shouldn't Ukraine take back her heritage, her tanks to be used once more in a battle against the same sort of opressors Nazi Germany was? She shares the same Soviet victory heritage as Russia, so implying Ukraine is desecrating it is washing away the Ukrainian contribution to victory over Nazi Germany. Considering how Russia heavily distorts history to make it seem like Ukraine was alongside Hitler, makes it very important for pushback. All the successor states of the Soviet Union can rightfully claim their heritage of Nazi defeat, not just Russia.

I'm rolling my eyes right now, it's not like they blew up the Tiergarten memorial or melted down the Russian soldier on top for bullets, all they did was take the tanks to use them since the West won't supply any. Hardly desecrating a memorial, and maybe making a decent point if the idea of tearing down a memorial to be used as a weapon for war offends you instead of the idea that Ukraine needs to think of using a T-34 to defend for the 5th Battle of Kharkov.

What's the timeline for when a monument becomes legitimate? Does the Lenin statue raised in Kherson automatically get to stay as virtue of it being a monument? Is it 5 years, 10 years, 50 years? Remember history by all means, but if you consider the raising of the Lenin statue by Russia in Kherson to be fine to be torn down once Ukraine retakes it, ask yourself if it was remembance that caused the statue to be raised in the first place or victory?

On one hand, had the full scale invasion been successful, the world would be getting a reminder at how brilliant Putin was for undertaking a action no one in the West expected to occur. On the other hand, his gamble has taken the other route, the destruction of his military, the loss of immense amount of prestige and he looks more closer to his fear of a broken Russia than ever before. What makes me think he lost his touch, his ability to come out on top is the fact that once the gamble failed he didn't immediately recover and regroup and cut his losses. I also think had he done the middle option of merely invading he Donbas, the Western backlash, the Ukrainian unity, and the glaring Russian miscalculations would have been minimized. That he opted into pushing into a action that mauled some of the most elite units of the Russian military and now forces him to consider mobilization is undoubtedly a huge mistake. One he could have backed away after beginning it.

Come now, I hate to wade into this, but Trump literally requested Zelensky to give him political dirt or threatened future cooperation with the United States, he stated many times NATO isn't useful and the U.S should withdraw from NATO. I strongly fail to see how Putin would react to Trump vs Biden concerning Ukraine in any difference concerning the recent invasion. Are you saying Putin would have been warned away from invading Ukraine? By what, pray tell would have Trump done differently than Biden? Anyway, I'm sure Imperial Russia looks great to Russia but to Ukrainians, maybe not?

It's astounding how much they treat their personnel like crap. Imagine how bad morale might be on the rest of the Black Sea Fleet, knowing even if you die, the money that can never replace your loss to your loved ones won't show up.

COVID and his cancer and his impending morality probably hit him during trump's period, likely he was counting on him being reelected and with that security for trump to undertake more chaos domestically and foreign policy wise, Putin would would do the same invasion only Biden got elected instead. The unfortunate part about of this destruction of Russian imperialism and colonialism is that it could have been avoided had Russia been able to look inward and recognize the agency of her colonized and imperial ruled peoples and therefore with the reset of the fall of the Soviet Union undertake a more cooperative framework that may well have led to joining NATO and the EU in the future. DMS really does not give much consideration to Ukrainians asking for agency or the Baltics, seems to consider the Russian sphere of influence to be the only important factor in the relations with Eastern Europe. Does he believe the bombings of Belgrade to be legitimate? Seems no, he seems to think the genocide of Kosovo is fake or maybe not a justification for the intervention of NATO. Ultimately, accepting the genocide attempt occurred in Kosovo means accepting the bombing of Belgrade was legitimate, which means the attempted wiping of Ukraine by Russia is the same sort of action that brings about the bombing of Moscow. I still want him to answer whether he thinks the rhetoric calling for the erasure of Ukrainian culture is justified, just overblown rhetoric or if he considers it a overstep. ^ If nothing else, the shock of Russia being defeated by Ukraine is going to hit Russians hard, NATO assistance regardless, DMS is right, it will be utterly humiliating. What Russia, many pro-Russians argue is that allowing the humiliation to take place is going to unleash even worse outcomes from Russia and the Russian people. As others have stated, Russia is acting like a abusive ex-, trying their best to threaten and beat their partner back into their world. This cannot occur anymore. I'm sorry but the West cannot let Russia brutalize it's former colonies to retain their sense of being. Like many abusive people, part of the framework for their justification for their actions rests on being the victim, and being the maligned party.

Medvedev has published a new telegram post accusing Poland of preparing to seize Western Ukraine, something they have been spouting for a bit now.

Germany benefits a lot from the trade imbalance and EU. https://www.politico.eu/article/eurozone-problem-country-germany-coronavirus/ Of course the above article does not apply to Ukraine, but the boatloads of Russian gas and oil that help feed Germany do, and fed Russian delusions about European inaction do. End of the day tho, investing in Ukraine, and assisting the European south, aside from being the right thing to do, will ultimately ensure the economic growth and prosperity that the EU is associated with remains true.

why is he holding cooking oil, a can and bread? i saw photos of people holding money and a caption that it was payment for the deaths of their relatives but tbh, i ignored it as fake cause, it looked absurd.

I wouldn't be so harsh on DMS, what he's listening to and what we are listening to are vastly different. Russian state media has been painting a narrative of Russia being surrounded by NATO and co who want to partition and destroy it for a long time, and that has been a part of Russian thinking since during the USSR. Again, DMS, the reason why Russia will never be invaded, or partitioned, or destroyed is cause Russia has nuclear weapons, and there isn't anything to stop a nuclear war from destroying both sides when started, and Russia has made clear that actions that threaten the existence of it as a state constitutes a valid reasoning to initiate nuclear war. Unless you can explain how NATO and Ukraine are going to denuclearize or partition Russia without having Putin launch the nukes, please stop asserting that Russia is fighting to preserve its existence as a state, as again, if Ukraine or NATO invade Russia, Russia can start the process of Mutual Assured Destruction.

If Russia wants to seek out normalization with the West, overthrowing Putin would do it, not necessarily handing him over. But realistically, its doubtful at this time that Putin will be overthrown, you need a lot more conditions for that to occur. More likely, the most probable result is Ukraine retakes all territory, including Donbas and Crimea, and either Russia comes to the table to settle that reality, or Ukraine and Russia simply spar at the borders, but Ukraine will probably never invade in force. Ideas like partitioning Russia, disarmament of nuclear weapons are just fantasy ideas, and not entertained seriously by anyone in government in the West or Ukraine. I would suggest anyone talking seriously here should explain how this is possible, yes Russia can't win a war against Ukraine, but certainly crushing internal revolts and dissent is well within the wheelhouse. Kamil Galeev has a winding thread on mobilization, some things to take away, LNR and DPR are already at full-scale mobilization, to act as cannon fodder, (literally crap equipment), but his last idea, that if mobilization is declared, will be localized to the nearby regions of the border with Ukraine, will avoid revolt, I seriously contest that is better than mobilizing regions closer to Moscow. Why? Imagine if conscripts are sent to fight, break and flee, and try and return home to their regions just over the border? It would be way more achievable than the current Russian forces largely taken from poorer, minority areas further away from Ukraine. Would also produce tons of discontent when they don't come back home, or disappear and their bodies aren't returned.

The reality for Russians is going to be different than the reality for someone in the West. Just off the top of my head, you have to deal with: 1. NATO vs Russia was never a contest. 2. Ukraine vs Russia was never a cakewalk. 3. Ukrainians are not accepting of Russian rule. Couple with a very long paranoia of invasion that comes from pre-Soviet history till now, and its a very difficult worldview to break out of cause its very comprehensive. Let's just get the most dangerous and obvious one out of the way, "derussification", there is no attempt to wipe out Russian culture, or the Russian people. If you see the calls to do so, they stem as a emotional response to the Russian attempt to wipe out Ukraine, and Ukrainian culture. But derussification has no basis in reality, nuclear weapons ensure external actors cannot overthrow or destroy Russia. MAD, mutual assured destruction. The same principle underlying MAD, ensures Finland, the Baltics, Poland, or Ukraine can not become launching points for the invasion of Russia, cause again, MAD. As for Ukrainians expressing their contempt for Russia and their society, I have no idea what DMS thinks of the repeated assertions by Russian state media, and the Russian government to crush Ukrainian culture. I'm not sure if he agrees that it isn't real, or that it is anti-Russia in its entirety and therefore needs to be destroyed to ensure Russian security, or whether its just bombastic rhetoric. You have to deal with the emerging reality that Russia isn't as strong as it figured itself to be, that Ukraine isn't as weak, nor Ukrainians as accepting of Russian brotherly embrace as Russians have been led to believe. Now, I'm not sure what DMS means by this, is he saying that yes, its real, yes, the government of Russia admits it, but Ukraine should hide the information to ensure the population isn't angered and out for blood? Or just that Russia is lying about this, but...is lying to strike terror into Ukrainians? And since its a lie, Ukraine should censor it and not spread the lie around?

Intermarium. It would be nice for all the prior conflicts between Eastern European states to get firmly buried like in Western Europe in a united anti-Russian, pro-EU future forward. I was skeptical of Kamil Galeev on Lukashenka but you know strip out the idiocy, strip out the obvious rhetoric supporting Russia and the dude sounds very much like he wants to get away from Putin's decisions, wants Putin to give up in Ukraine, warns the West that Putin won't fight NATO and therefore I think, if your saying the threat of nuclear war is fake and the war should end, your saying to NATO, hurry the **** up and finish it, give Ukraine all the weapons you want, and publicity placed himself against nuclear weapons being used in Ukraine, I think a good sign if Putin uses nukes, Belarus is gonna beg Ukraine to not invade it and Lukashenka would stab Putin in the back. As is, he is definitely stabbing him a bit with that war with NATO comment. Clown he needs to be, Putin has been cleaning up oligarchs for less.

A extremely important thread, where the NCO training provided by the West is actually less impactful than stated by some, if already posted, should be posted again to emphasize the agency of Ukrainians independent of the west in warfighting. Interviews with members of the Ukrainian military emphasize that the model of NCOs was too early to be widespread, and that the model of rotating units and conscripts and specialists allowed widespread training to be undertaken despite being a weaker country than Russia for example with more resources and manpower, Ukraine has been able to seemingly equalize the equation. In this sense I think emphasis on unity of purpose and morale is very important. Russia and Ukraine both have conscripts, but so far the reserves Ukraine is bringing up are showing higher quality than that of Russia's contract personnel.

OBrien thinks this is aimed at Russia, but I'm of the opinion it's Lukashenko doing his best to persuade the West to restrain Ukraine from walking into Minsk after finishing the war.

I saw some Twitter replier state that when the Ukrainian General Staff announced a offensive in Kiev, Russian forces began withdrawing within a week later. Interesting if really true this occurs again. This is being reported from Ukraine so grain of salt is important. 4th Guards Tank Division, or the Kantemirovskaya Division is the same unit that got kicked out of Trostyanets in Sumy Oblast no? Christ, the pain Russian elite units are taking must be huge. I hope the Ukrainians are doing better. I also hope we get a chance to learn more about the units on the Ukrainian side from a western perspective. I'm sure Ukrainians know things like brigades and units that fight hard as hell (tho I'm sure all do) but unfortunately aside from Azov, the Ukrainian Marines, JFO, and TDF, I can't name anything else off the top of my head.

According to this reporter, these SU-25s are Ukrainian, and in Eastern Ukraine. Some nice visual confirmation that the Ukrainian Air Force are active still.

A nice visual showing the front lines changed by the recent Ukrainian action near Kharkov.

I'm very surprised that Ukraine is launching a counteroffensive at Izyum, isn't that where supposedly the Russians placed a ton of offensive power? It must mean that power is exhausted.

Even if i ignored these accusations of rape, (which I ain't) I think I'm comfortable calling Russian soldiers savages when they go thru town and kill every male below the age 50. Or bomb a theater full of civilians. Or deport thousands of Ukrainians to Russia without proper ICRC supervision and monitoring. Or any other number of warcrimes being done with evidence piling up.