Russia and Ukraine

[Thumpalumpacus]

Senior Russian officer warns Ukraine conflict could escalate into full-scale war in Europe

Colonel-General Vladimir Zarudnitsky has warned that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a full-scale war in Europe and said the probability of Moscow's forces becoming involved in a new conflict is increasing "significantly."

"The main source of military threats to our state is the anti-Russian policy of the United States and its allies, who are conducting a new type of hybrid warfare in order to weaken Russia in every possible way, limit its sovereignty and destroy its territorial integrity," he was quoted as saying.

"The likelihood of our state being purposefully drawn into new military conflicts is significantly increasing."

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sen...024-03-07/

[Fake Messiah]

France seems to be preparing for full-scale war in Europe

French soldiers train for the killing fields of Europe

French troops are preparing for a high-intensity conflict against an enemy who can match them with firepower — a big change for an army that's spent the past decades fighting counterinsurgency campaigns in places like Mali and Afghanistan.

The hostilities in Ukraine, in their third year, have brought full-scale war back to the Continent, said Colonel Axel Denis, who runs the combat training center (CENTAC) at Mailly-le-camp in eastern France.

“The world has revealed its true nature: unstable, dangerous, and not everyone is a friend. We're gearing up for a culture of alert, of being ready at short notice,” he told POLITICO during a visit to the camp. "CENTAC is the only place [in France] where you can see what war is like."

The main lesson from Ukraine, CENTAC’s officers said, is to avoid frontal head-on assaults that result in huge casualty counts and fail to push the enemy back.

Instead, infantry, armor, engineers and artillery, integrated with new technology like drones that stream information back to the troops and provide killing power on the battlefield, must work together seamlessly.

https://www.politico.eu/article/french-s...r-is-like/

[Fake Messiah]

Bergoglio's pedophile mentality of blaming the victims and supporting the invaders is showing

Pope says Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations

Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands.

"But I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates," Francis said, adding that talks should take place with the help of international powers.

"The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate," Francis said.

It was believed to be the first time Francis has used terms such as "white flag" or "defeated" in discussing the Ukraine war, although he has spoken in the past about the need for negotiations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pop...024-03-09/

[Fireball]

The RCC should wave the white flag right after they return all the stolen goods and fairly compensate all the victims of abuse. I realize that compensatory damages for victims of thing like, oh, the Inquisition are going to be difficult. Those people being dead, and all.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Bergoglio's pedophile mentality of blaming the victims and supporting the invaders is showing

Pope says Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations

Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands.

"But I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates," Francis said, adding that talks should take place with the help of international powers.

"The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate," Francis said.

It was believed to be the first time Francis has used terms such as "white flag" or "defeated" in discussing the Ukraine war, although he has spoken in the past about the need for negotiations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pop...024-03-09/

Weird that he's not calling on Russia to wave the white flag, then.

Boru

[Leonardo17]

 
500+ companies have gone bankrupt in Russia since the starting of the war. The economy is really not as resilient as Putin would want his electoral basis to believe:
 
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/russi...47655.html

Not sure that's the flex that yahoo wants it to be...

US bankruptcies hit 13-year peak in 2023

There were 642 total filings in 2023, significantly above the previous two years and marginally more than in 2020, which saw a flurry of COVID-19 pandemic-related filings. Although investors expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as early as March, companies will still have to contend with relatively high interest rates and robust wage growth in the near term.

   Many people have fled the country. And only around 10% of those who remained actually believe in the propaganda of the Kremlin.
 
   Even their military Industry is not doing so well. They are increasingly relying on 30-40 years old weapon stockpiles from the Soviet era because they are becoming less and less able to produce newer weapons.
 
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/russi...17539.html
 
   + They are attempting to buy back some of the military equipment they sold to third countries.
 
Still: Many fear, (and that includes Pope Francis) that Ukrainian resistance might collapse too soon because of the dire situation on the frontline.
 
Still others (like Zelensky) are saying that Russian advance has been halted + Now Ukrainians are building their own “Dragon teeth” defenses that should stop a major Russian offensive that might happen this summer.
 
This is a bit weird: How come Russia has already built very robust defenses in occupied Ukraine and the Ukrainians are now racing against time to build their defenses now?

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   Russia cannot attack NATO. It’s as simple as that. Still I think Emmanuel Macron has had it with Putin. I think he is simply exasperated and that’s his way of saying it

 
And that’s a man who said that he “admired Donald Trump” and that “Russia should not be humiliated”.
 
Putin is reckless. He even threatened the British PM Boris Johnson with a nuclear strike while talking to him on the phone.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The All-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), and Siberian Battalion conducted a limited cross-border incursion into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts on the morning of March 12. Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Spokesperson Andriy Yusov stated on March 12 that elements of the RDK, LRS, and the Siberian Battalion were involved in clashes in Belgorod and Kursk oblasts.[1] Russian sources initially denied reports of the incursion but later claimed that Russian forces repelled Russian pro-Ukrainian forces with tank, armored vehicle, and drone support attacking near Odnorobivka, Kharkiv Oblast and Nekhoteevka and Spodaryushino, Belgorod Oblast.[2] Footage published on March 12 shows Russian pro-Ukrainian forces operating near Nekhoteevka and Spodaryushino in Belgorod Oblast and in Tetkino, Kursk Oblast.[3] LSR forces reportedly seized Tetkino, although Russian sources claimed that Russian airborne conscripts repelled all the assaults in Tetkino.[4] ISW has previously observed reports that Russia uses conscripts to defend its border with Ukraine against limited incursions and assessed that this is likely due to Russia’s unwillingness to transfer forces away from the frontline elsewhere in Ukraine.[5] Russian milbloggers noted that the incursion came days before the Russian presidential election on March 17, and several Russian milbloggers warned that there might be additional incursions in the coming days.[6]

[...]

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced an emergency military aid package valued at $300 million for Ukraine on March 12.[20] Sullivan stated that the aid package is comprised of new funding made available by cost saving measures in unspecified Pentagon weapons contracts.[21] Unnamed US officials told CNN that the new funding is a result of “good negotiations” and “bundling funding across different things” but noted that this is not a sustainable long-term solution to aiding Ukraine, calling the package a “one time shot.”[22] This funding does not appear to be part of the reported $4 billion in presidential drawdown authority fund still available for Ukraine.[23] Sullivan stated that the aid package would provide Ukrainian forces with enough ammunition to last “a couple of weeks” and noted that this package “does not displace and should not delay the critical need” to pass a supplemental aid package for Ukraine.[24]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgro...ct-updates

Also, there's this:

As Ukraine has scrambled to source ammunition, arms and equipment for its defence, Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial production over the last two years that has outstripped what many western defence planners expected when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.

Total defence spending has risen to an estimated 7.5% of Russia’s GDP, supply chains have been redesigned to secure many key inputs and evade sanctions, and factories producing ammunition, vehicles and equipment are running around the clock, often on mandatory 12-hour shifts with double overtime, in order to sustain the Russian war machine for the foreseeable future.

The transformation has put defence at the centre of Russia’s economy. Putin claimed this month that 520,000 new jobs had been created in the military-industrial complex, which now employs an estimated 3.5 million Russians, or 2.5% of the population. Machinists and welders in Russian factories producing war equipment are now making more money than many white-collar managers and lawyers, according to a Moscow Times analysis of Russian labour data in November.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/f...r-planners

[Leonardo17]

Russians are using something called Glider Bombs that can be fired from distance from airplanes without being exactly above the targets. Ukrainians are unable to shot those plane with ordinary air-defenses. They need F-16’s + air superiority to shoot down those planes firing from distance. But these will start coming in significant numbers only in the second half of this year. Ukraine might be facing the most difficult part of the war this year. So I am part of those who think that Emmanuel Macron might simply be right about sending troops (If necessary) to Ukraine. Actually, this year there is a real possibility for the entire Ukrainian front to collapse. No matter how much aid the EU is still providing.
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-sol...46885.html

[Thumpalumpacus]

This is infuriating:

KYIV, March 22 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian deputy prime minister said on Friday Russian oil refineries were legitimate targets for its forces, after a media report said the United States, a close ally, had asked Kyiv to stop conducting drone strikes on refineries.

Ukraine dramatically stepped up its attacks on Russian energy facilities this month, launching numerous long-range drones to strike Russia's biggest refineries, resulting in the temporary suspension of production at some of them.

"We understand the calls of the U.S. partners, but at the same time we are fighting with the capabilities, resources, and practices that we have," Olha Stefanishyna, the minister, told the Kyiv Security Forum.

She said energy facilities were legitimate targets from a military point of view.

The Financial Times cited people familiar with the matter saying Washington had urged Kyiv to halt strikes, warning of the risk of provoking retaliation and driving up global oil prices.

The attacks helped boost oil prices that have risen nearly 4% so far since March 12, when Ukraine hit a major oil refinery.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukr...024-03-22/

I wonder if these are the same collaborators who are holding up the next aid package we should be sending.

[Leonardo17]

Ukrainians have started to receive their M1117 that were pledged to them in 2022 (250 in total). These are infantry fighting vehicles that are more armored and more capable than the Humvees:



 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/video-appears...12395.html
 
It’s not that I am criticizing anyone but that number is nothing when you thing that 7 Billion $ worth military equipment was left in Afghanistan including some 100,000 military vehicles that include 12,000 Humvees.
 
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/27/polit...index.html
 
So after gifting so many weapons to an “Afghan Government” who simply didn’t care about its own survival I don’t know why Trumpists are so hesitant about providing more support to Ukrainians who are dying perhaps every few minutes or so to protect their independence.
 
+ I read somewhere that Ukrainian defense would collapse without military support from the U.S.
 
I don’t agree with that. Europe will still continue to support them no matter what and Ukrainians will not give in to Russia (not after some 70 years of Soviet Oppression).
 
On the U.S. being opposed to the delivery of long range systems: Once there was this event in my life. A weaker man was about to be beaten by two other guy (one of them tall and strong, the other one smaller and weak) So when I stepped in the taller guy backed up a little so what we did was (basically) to allow the two other weaker guys sort the issues out among themselves.
 
So no one wants an escalation that can include a nuclear escalation. In the end of the day Ukrainians will have to fight for themselves. By I still want to salute Mr Macron going more macho on Putin. Somebody has to do that after all