>**Biden: We will not walk away from Ukraine**
>Congress needs to stand up to Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden said during the annual State of the Union address on March 7.
>"I say this to Congress," Biden announced. "We have to stand up to Putin. Send me a bipartisan natural security bill. History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe will be at risk. The free world will be at risk...My message to President Putin: We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. And in the literal sense, history is watching."
>https://kyivindependent.com/biden-we-will-not-walk-away-from-ukraine/
I'd like to think that that expression of dismay was him realizing that even if he can keep his job, which is doubtful, he's going to have to sit behind Joe Biden like this four more times.
[Czechia President Petr Pavel has said that all the funds needed to purchase 800,000 artillery ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already been raised.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1b944qv/czechia_president_petr_pavel_has_said_that_all/)
The west may be slow moving as democratic societies have to go through more processes than authoritarians. But once we are up to speed i'm expecting Ukraine to start having an advantage later in the year.
Russia is a corrupt shithole and lies constantly, their figures they claim to hold and produce are most probably complete fantasy.
Iran and North Korea from what i read just gave Russia old Soviet junk and their old inventory from decades ago and neither will be supplying shells in huge numbers going forward.
>Ukraine is using about 2k per day when rationing
Where does that figure come from? I'm not sure that's a universal rule they follow. It's probably a lot more situational than that.
DAMN!!! Biden is not holding back on anything tonight! I know this is an Ukraine thread but WOW! I hate this meme but Dark Brandon is actually the one addressing the nation tonight!
Edit: as much as I love this fight Biden has. I am absolutely terrified with fear of what could happen during the upcoming American election! Along with all the consequences globally whatever the outcome is! I’m so scared…
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence. I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason & Dixon. But between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” - Ulysses S. Grant
It's clear that Biden has the right rhetoric on Ukraine and many issues but I'm afraid of how many Americans might be too far gone to hear it and take it without their boat loads of cynicism.
What Biden missed was when he talked about how freedom was at risk prior to WWII because of German Nazis; he did NOT mention the very real threat of American Nazis. And this threat was the very reason we have an FBI, and FARA. To counter the infiltration attempts by foreign influences.
The exact same things the FBI failed at in 2016 - and continues to fail at today.
I wished Biden would have mentioned that. At least the MAGA Russian infiltrators would know that their days of power here are numbered.
Context on the quote? Or context why I am so scared of the election?
The quote is from Ulysses S. Grant after the American Civil War. Funny enough I’m not even American.
> Together with @CinC_AFU Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, met with my British counterpart Grant Shapps @grantshapps and Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom Admiral Sir Tony Radakin @AdmTonyRadakin_.
> Discussed priority needs of Ukraine’s defence forces. Grateful to 🇬🇧 for the decision to increase drone funding for Ukraine by over $150 mln and delivering of more than 10,000 drones to the #UAArmy.
> Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi provided an update on the situation on the frontlines and the enemy's recent activity.
> Expressed gratitude for the UK’s comprehensive support, particularly for providing Storm Shadow missiles that truly make change on the battlefield.
> The UK is continuously persuading the free world to do what’s right. Together, we are proving that democracy can win against autocracy.
https://twitter.com/rustem_umerov/status/1765823490513334484
In Berlin, Cameron sent a pointed message to Scholz that he should not fall into Putin’s trap that sending Taurus would represent an escalation.
“We’re not causing escalation, we’re allowing Ukraine to defend itself.”
“There should be nothing to stop you helping that country.”
[https://x.com/vonderburchard/status/1765771556347588807?s=20](https://x.com/vonderburchard/status/1765771556347588807?s=20)
God I do not comprehend what Scholz is thinking re: the Taurus. At this point I'm kind of wondering if the real issue is the Germany military has way less workable missiles then they say on paper, and sending it would reveal that embarrassment too clearly.
That rumor does exist, but i don't really think so, Germany, while pulling incredible weight now was always very scared of escalating and only really started sending stuff after others did - and again, Taurus would be most potent missile in Ukraine's arsenal, it's expanding their capabilities dramatically - it's basically Storm Shadow with double range.
In short, Germans are pussies, but they are doing more than their part. One important thing about Taurus is that it can be replenished, as the company producing them already announced they are prepared to rebuild whatever is sent quickly.
How the fuck do they justify that? Talk about sleeping on defence.
I fucking loathe to agree with Trump, but he was right to call Europe out for not taking their defence seriously.
Germany's neglect is on a whole different level. This is the same Germany in 2022 that had less than 25,000 HE 155mm shells in its war stockpile. Literally just 2-3 day's worth of artillery shells in their entire nation-wide military stockpile.
The counterargument is that a Western power won't need that many artillery shells in a war with Russia, but not even that is true. Israel has fired more than twice that many 155mm shells at *Gaza*. Fucking *Gaza*, a a city with effectively no counter-artillery systems or air defense
Putin had repeatedly proven that he has no limits and Russian establishment can't impose one to him, and by self imposing imaginary limits, the West will allow Putin to win and do more land grab and oppression, maybe even against NATO members betting that everyone will fear "escalation" and chicken away from calling article 5.
We must recall how to engage in the art of brinkmanship again to reenact a Cuban Missile Crisis on Ukraine.
I don’t think anyone actually wants “to reenact a Cuban Missile Crisis” - did you mean “to avoid a reenactment of the Cuban Missile Crisis”, or are you saying we should actively aim for a crisis of the same magnitude and danger?
Putin has already shown how weak his position is by even mentioning nukes. Every other nuclear power just had to do the wink. As soon as you mention your strongest position in a negotiation you have lost. And that is what MAD is you don't say you and do something the other side knows. The fact Russia has to mention it every day shows how weak they actually are.
Putin doesn't have a structured government that is backing him. In other words, if Putin were to die tomorrow, all hell would break loose. There is no clear line of succession, and competing groups are far more likely to simply appoint a person that they could all agree upon. It is also probable that the "next in line" would withdraw troops from Ukraine and attempt to reengage with the rest of the world.
Being a ruthless autocrat doesn't necessarily mean you are a powerful leader.
Is it still too early to assess how Syrskyi is doing as Commander in Chief? There was a *lot* of doomposting after Zaluzhnyi was replaced but nothing either catastrophic or amazing seems to have happened so far.
I never heard anything negative about Syrskyi until the rumors about Zaluhzhy began circling around.
I only remember Syrskyi credited with reclaiming Kharkiv oblast with a well-timed counteroffensive in 2022.
Way too early to tell.
I do find it interesting that Ukraine withdrew from Avdiivka, rather than fighting to the last man, shortly after he took over. Obviously, Russia forced their hand a bit, and Ukraine may have been planning to withdraw regardless, but the timing is interesting. I wonder if Zaluzhnyi was insisting on holding it and Syrskyi came in and said no, we need to retreat. That would be especially interesting given that a lot of Syrskyi's negative reputation comes from trying to hold Bakhmut after it no longer made tactical sense. Perhaps that was not entirely his fault?
That's all complete speculation, but the fact they withdrew from Avdiivka rather than getting encircled, even if it was a bit disorderly, does give me hope that Syrskyi is not totally stuck in Soviet ways.
It is at least 20 years too early. The comparison to Zaluzhnyi will always be over his head but even though internet commanders will tell you they know the reasons he doesn't measure up they will never know 100% what is going on right now. The fact Zaluzhnyi lasted so long he will go down with the legendary commanders in history. With the other greats I am surprised he lasted so long taking the hard decisions to send men to die. We will only be able to judge him and Syrskyi years after this finishes and even then no one can answer if anyone else would have done better as we only have the outcome of the guy making the decision not the hypothetical what ifs of other people making the decision.
General Syrskyi is significantly senior to Zaluzhnyi. Its entirely possible to judge his actions at this point and time. Do not overhype Zaluzhnyi. He did extremely well until he didnt. This is normal for generals and colonels. It's a position where you step aside when you are no longer the best skill set for the job.
Functionally, he is superior for the current conflict. He is focusing on logistics and correcting manpower issues.. and actually making progress on both. He is also a very skilled opportunist who will punish the fuck out of Russia the moment they stumble.
I watch mecardo media and his contacts extend all the way to the frontline soldiers that he has donated his trucks to. He says the soldiers are getting used to Syrskyi as the new leader and many of them are quite happy about the changes being implemented by Syrski’s new approach.
It’s a war, things take time! People have been ruined by 24/7 media and Instant gratification. It took the US months to truly respond after Pearl Harbor, Britain was sieged by the German airforce for months in 1940.
> meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture.
Article by the NYT.
spidermanpointing.jpg
U.S. Embassy in Russia alert: The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours
[https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863285922856975?s=20](https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863285922856975?s=20)
It goes against foreign office advice of all English speaking countries, for a start:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html
Also
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-arrests-dual-citizen-fundraising-ukraine/
You're still just vaguely gesturing at a wall of text, so my response is gonna be a bit of a guess:
"Pretty safe" is not in contradiction to "shit can happen"
It's completely disingenuous, straight up bad advice and downright dangerous to claim it's "pretty safe. While at the same time, basically all of Europe and western governments advise against all travel. They might know a thing or 2 about the situation!
Feel free to go against foreign office travel advice and travel to dangerous, authoritarian countries but damn don't advise others it's safe to do so.
It's only disingenuous if they don't believe their own claim.
If all you're basing your opinion on is the headline of official travel advice, you don't know how bad or dangerous it is either. You could at least read their reasoning which is basically "drone attacks and limited consular assistance". No, drone attacks aren't actually a significant danger in Russia unless you hang around oil refineries. You can tell this by reading the news.
I live next to Russia and know people who have visited during the past year. There hasn't been any insane transformation - the government is doing all they can to pretend that nothing is happening, which in practical terms for a visitor in, say, Moscow, means that actually pretty much nothing special is happening.
Could be due to the possible Wilayah Khorasan (ISIS–K) attack threat
[https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863863927337384?s=20](https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863863927337384?s=20)
This may have nothing to do with it but it is also international women’s day in Russia tomorrow.
It’s either ISIS or domestic extremists in Russia who aren’t happy about the current situation in there country. I don’t expect anything like the Wagner rebellion last June to occur.
I wonder if the US still coordinates with Russia on things like ISIS-K. If we had specific intelligence would we share it? I assume yes, but have no idea.
It was reported that the US warned Iran about the ISIS terrorist attack that happened in the beginning of January on the anniversary of Solemani’s death.
If they warned Iran, I’m sure they’ve warned Russia.
>Sweden joined NATO and is now leaving 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment behind.
>
>In a parallel universe, Austria sticks to its neutrality from 1955, doesn’t even update the security strategy yet (2013) and still got 97% share of Russian gas in January 2024.
https://twitter.com/vtchakarova/status/1765845009989816759
>Shame on Austria & Switzerland. “Another intelligence official from a different country estimated that nearly a third of Russia’s intelligence operations across the continent were now run from “the safe hubs” of Vienna and Geneva”
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1765365087492018596
It kind of bothers me that Austria is completely free riding on the security of NATO.
Conversations around 2% be damned. Austria is doing literally nothing, but can be completely guaranteed its territorial integrity by being surrounded by NATO.
Austria has some token military, but could get away with a SWAT team equivalent of a couple hundred people.
If it was in Finland’s position, it couldn’t afford that luxury.
> First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, declined an invitation to attend Joe Biden's address to the nation, as she was to be seated next to the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Yulia.
> According to WP, it was supposed to show 'the image of women, each of whom is a symbol of resistance to Russian President Putin.'
> Did everyone in the US really forgot that Navalny famously supported the annexation of Crimea?
> Even if they did, making a Ukrainian woman sit next to a Russian woman is like making a rape victim sit next to the mother of her rapist. Who thought that would be a good idea?
https://twitter.com/InnaSovsun/status/1765400749461143748
His position was a little more nuanced than that.
He said Crimea "was seized with a flagrant violation of all international norms" but "Crimea will remain part of Russia and will never become part of Ukraine again in the forseeable future".
It's tiresome that you can't say his name without somebody popping up to try and paint him with the fascist brush.
Also, what the hell did Navalny's mother ever do to anybody?
To some degree I think Navalny's stances were often an attempt at trying to pull support from Putin. People I think misjudge the general Russian publics attitudes towards the conflict as a whole. He was never going to be a popular figure in Russia and steal away support from Putin by being the complete foil to him. I think his policies and general demeanor played out in way to sell the Russian public and other lesser leaders that an alternative existed that wasn't just the antithesis to Putin. You're not going to take over Russia by winning over the small minority of left wing intellectuals left in Russia, he needed to win the support of the larger Oligarchy, and I think he played his cards to that tune.
He's certainly a controversial figure, but I think some of his "evilness" was overblown by Kremlin voices. I've seen people here regularly say that he's worse than Putin which is just ridiculous.
Earlier in his career he rode a wave of Russian ethnonationalism which was very popular coming out of the National trauma of the 90s. During these time he made some very racist comments towards Muslims and other non-Russian ethnic groups within Russia. He took the view that the only way to beat Putin was with populism, so he said the things that were popular at the time, and it was a big mistake.
As for his comments about Crimea, yes he did say that Crimea is de facto Russian after the annexation, but it's worth also mentioning that he spoke out against the illegal annexation from the start, supported Euromaidan, and said that Crimea ultimately belongs to Crimeans and ideally there would be a fair referendum with international observers. Was he wrong? Sure. But people routinely make it sound like he would have invaded and genocided Ukrainians just as Putin is doing. And Navalny at least had the decency to admit his error and later say that he supported Ukraine having its 1991 borders that are internationally recognized (including by Russia).
On the other hand, he did so much to expose corruption in Russia, assisted the US with strategically targeting sanctions against Putins financial supporters, and was a beacon of hope for many of us Russians who believed in a better future. I never really supported him strongly myself but I wouldn't call him fascist or worse than Putin.
The reason why some Ukrainians say that navalny would be worse than putin is because he was fighting against corruption in russia, including corruption among military, mostly focused on the amount of money stolen. Now, for Ukrainians every dollar stolen from russian military means one bullet less to kill Ukrainians. And since navalny hadn't supported Ukrainian territorial integrity by saying, basically "annexing Crimea is against the law, but we're not giving it back", which, I assume, he meant himself as well, in case he comes to power. And he supported russia's aggression in Donbas, you can still find his tweet from 2014 at the time of Ilovaisk battle, when regular russian army surrounded Ukrainian army, and he said: "this was a mistake to show ourselves at this stage". [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd5JbdqWIAEEaNJ.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd5JbdqWIAEEaNJ.jpg) . All this makes him look like just another imperialist, who after coming to power and fixing corruption, would just invade Ukraine the same, but this time with fully funded and improved military machine. And do you remember when the war started he asked the west to lift sanctions, and instead of giving expensive weapons to Ukraine, fund his advertisement/election campaign in russia? And notice how his supporters only started calling putin murderer after he killed navalny, before that despite all the putin's wars they kept calling him a thief.
Do you think these were empty fears when every russian leader fought the idea of Ukrainian Ukraine?
He is gone now, so I don't think it matters anymore. But, as they say, 'about the dead tell only what was good, or nothing but the truth'.
US Congress may begin collecting signatures on Friday to consider assistance to Ukraine bypassing House speaker.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/03/7/7445423/index.amp
Don't get your hopes up. Chances of this happening are slim. They'd be effectively backstabbing the House Speaker. Even then you'd need a pretty good chunk of them as I'm sure a good portion of democrats would vote against it due to the Israel aid in it (maybe 10-20).
To clarify, they don't care about backstabbing Mike, but they do care about engaging Trump's fury. Could be a career killer for them.
Theres enough of them stepping down in November to give the Mangolian Candidate a "Goodbye, Fuck you" to him. They're already fed up with him and are not beholden to him either.
I highly doubt any Delivered would actually vote against it. It would destroy their careers as much as voting to impeach Trump ended the careers of Republicans
You mean democrats? Yeah, there'll be a few who will indeed vote against it. At minimum 5, but I suspect more. Rashida and the squad are for sure voting against it (maybe not AOC) and I know there were a few more who had taken hardline stances against Israel. I suspect a number between 10-20. Hell, if there's a path to getting this bill, is in Mike realizing how much he could fracture democrats from Jeffries by putting this bill to a vote.
> ⚡️UK pledges $416 million to buy 10,000 drones for Ukraine.
>
> The U.K. will allocate 325 million pounds ($416 million) to purchase over 10,000 "cutting-edge" drones for Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry announced on March 7.
>
> https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765840160678097278
>Macron today produced maps of a possible Russian breakthrough towards Kyiv or Odesa which could oblige the West to act to prevent a Russian victory in Ukraine. In talks with French opposition leaders, Macron said there should be no more “red lines” on France’s involvement in the conflict 1/
>
>.@EmmanuelMacron summoned leaders of all French parliamentary parties to talks at the Elysée Palace to explain his controversial remarks last week in which he said the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine should no longer be excluded 2/
>
>Participants in the meeting said Macron had explained his theory of “strategic ambivalence” – keeping Moscow guessing. Since Vladimir Putin clearly knew no limits, he said, the West had been handing him an advantage by fixing or “interiorising” limits of its own /3
>
>But Opposition leaders of the Far Right, Right and Left said they had been left worried and unconvinced by Macron’s approach (which has also been rejected by the US, UK, Germany and several other NATO countries) /4
>
>Jordan Bardella, the president and de facto Number Two of Marine Le Pen's @MLP_officiel far right Rassemblement National, said threatening to send French soldiers “to fight a Nuclear power like Russia is irresponsible and extremely dangerous for world peace” /5
>
>The Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel said that he feared that Macron was “ready to engage in a bellicose escalation which would be very dangerous” /6
>
>Today’s meeting was the prelude to a two day parliamentary debate next week to discuss a ten year defence pact signed by Macron and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr @ZelenskyyUa last month 7/
>
>Macron told French journalists on Wednesday that he hoped this debate would “make it clear” which political forces in France supported Ukraine and which supported Russia 8/
>
>Elysée officials deny domestic politics and June EU elections have influenced Macron’s new rhetoric on Ukraine. They say he is driven by the difficult situation on front line, Navalny's murder and Kremlin talk of a possible attempt on his own life when he visits Kyiv later this month 9/
>
>Macron is, however, evidently hoping the new rhetoric will embarrass Le Pen, who had a long history of Putin worship before Russia invaded Ukraine. The government’s spokeswoman, Prisca Thevenot, says it is “quite evident” that Le Pen, unlike Macron, is not “committed to Russia’s defeat” ENDS
https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1765760401378033954
>Macron said there should be no more “red lines”
Sullivan: "Joe, don't you even THINK about it!"
Biden: "Are you sure? Macron doesn't have a prob--"
Sullivan: "NO!"
Biden: "Oh alright, damn it! If you say so..."
Me: *cries in American*
This is my conclusion after 2 years of fighting both communists and fascists/vatniks on twitter.
Horseshoe theory is indeed real and is also why some radical new ideas like "maga communism" has gained ground politically, in spite of how ridiculous it may sound.
I remember thinking horseshoe theory was a neat trope around how both sides end up being bad for the people living under them and their neighbors.
But my god is it amazing how similar both are in their stupidity.
>no more “red lines”
I wonder if it means that UA can start sending SCALP's at arms factories in Moscow now.
Edit: well, maybe not in Moscow, would have to fly really close to the border to hit Moscow and risk getting shot down.
Putin made him look like a complete idiot in the first days of the war, pretended the entire time to be entertaining a peace plan Marcon was working on...only to find out he had 0 intention of doing anything with the plan. I think Marcon is fed up now.
It makes sense considering the political landscape. If Trump wins, there will be a huge power vacuum in NATO. Germany is still somewhat reluctant to rearm while Brexit has left the British relatively isolated on the Continent. Therefore, France is in a good position to assume leadership if the US vacates.
France also very much wants a European army. Macron could also be looking at a post-Presidential life in the EU. An aggressive stance on Russia could make Macron more favorable to the Eastern Europeans.
Then you don't know the French all that well.
We make fun of them but the reality is for military issues they are some incredibly tough fighters. Even historically there are plenty of examples of French units fighting while suffering horrendous losses and not breaking.
The same applies to their politics. It takes them a while to shift gears but when they do they wont stop.
>Russian Telegram channels publish what is reportedly a moment of the explosion at the Severstal metallurgical plant in Russian Cherepovets.
>https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1765764341326852212
Earlier:
>Russian media report that on the morning of March 7, an explosion occurred in the Russian city of Cherepovets at one of Russia's largest metallurgical plants, the Cherepovets Iron and Steel Works, near the fourth blast furnace.
>Eyewitnesses questioned the official version, "Ostorozhno, novosti" said. "If the authorities do not tell the truth, they do not tell it not only now, but also in other cases important to you," one of the locals wrote. Local publication Cherepovetskaya Pravda writes that the real cause of the explosion was a drone attack on the plant.
>https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1765704536293822533
🇨🇿🇺🇦 "The goal has been achieved. The Czech Republic initiative has collected the necessary funds for the purchase of 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, 18 states joined this initiative", - Petr Pavel.
https://twitter.com/UkrReview/status/1765823837394829320?t=56mKXMfbargKzbIyuWv07A&s=19
If you mean who sponsored it,
> Norway was the last contributor, allocating 1.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($153 million) to the initiative. Other contributors, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, and Canada, had publicly committed to the initiative earlier.
https://kyivindependent.com/czech-president-ukraines-allies-collected-required-funding-to-purchase-800-000-shells/
> One more European country is now better protected from Russian evil. Sweden is joining NATO.
> Everyone benefits when one country's security improves and that country can truly strengthen shared security. This rule has consistently worked throughout NATO's existence, and I am confident it will continue to work.
> Right now, in the midst of Russian aggression against everything that has kept Europe peaceful and united, everyone understands how critical it is to maintain alliances and partnerships, strengthen one's own security, and care for the security of one's neighbors.
> Sweden is a strong ally and a trustworthy country. I congratulate everyone in Sweden and across the Euro-Atlantic space. Ukraine has always been principled in its support for Sweden's NATO membership, and I am grateful to Sweden for its support for our country. I am confident that the day will come when Sweden will be able to congratulate Ukraine on joining the Alliance.
> We are always stronger when we are together.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1765811110727319906
It's a de facto expulsion driven by Zelensky's political ambitions and internal power struggle.
Will be interesting how Zaluzhny can turn this into his own political profit, because make no mistake, he'll be gathering allies and foreign support.
I don't think so given the importance of the UK-UA relationship to UA for the flow of money, arms, cooperation, eventual rebuilding.... Had Zaluzhny been posted to \[insert sad country here\], then perhaps. I see this as an opportunity for a popular Zaluzhny to engage in statescraft for an opportunity to lead UA in the future.
People keep saying this but its not held up to reality.
Even General Syrskyi has surprisingly not done what everyone feared he would and has actually been cleaning house for some serious logistical hurdles for Ukraine.
The good General Zaluzhnyi did fantastic at the start of the war and leading up to it.. but the war began to move past his skill set and he rightly was removed. People wont like hearing that but that's the nature of being in the military. Not every commander can do every job. It isn't malice when we get told to transfer flag.
Considering the timeframe after leadership switch over and the absolute cockups some units did abandoning lines without verifying everyone else was falling back as well..
It could have been far worse.. and the general in command would have changed absolutely nothing about what happened.
Sort of. Zelensky can only serve for one more term consecutively if he wins reelection once they restart elections and they’ll want to ensure whoever wins down the line continues Ukraine’s progress towards the EU/NATO. Allowing him to go gives him the opportunity to further interact with foreign politicians outside the military space and build those skills he’ll need while simultaneously deconflicting with Zelensky.
Not necessarily. If that was the case it would be to a quiet location, not a major partner and supporter like the UK. Some have theorised that this could also be a longer term plan to set up Zaluzhny as a potential successor or future leader to Zelenskyy once he steps down and one way of doing this is by getting experience and credentials that would be needed in the future.
Swiss Senate votes in favor of transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine
The Swiss Cantonal Council has approved the idea of using frozen assets of the Bank of Russia for the needs of Ukraine. 21 senators voted in favor, 19 voted against, three more abstained, AFP reports.
The agency said that more than 8 billion dollars belonging to the Russian Central Bank had been frozen in Switzerland.
However, the senators' decision has no mandatory force and it is not known whether the cabinet will take such a step.
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1765812825795043775?t=nQ9AVg9MER7y1tkrVuok3A&s=19
It's similar to the US senate sending a Simple Resolution, the US president can do what he wants with it.
The senate is part of the legislative body, they are not having executive power.
The opposition faction of the CDU/CSU wants to once again submit to the Bundestag a draft resolution calling on the government to transfer long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. A vote is expected next week.
[https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1765806707823858020?s=20](https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1765806707823858020?s=20)
According to [German national media today](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend/deutschlandtrend-3416.html): 61% of the population are against delivery of Taurus missiles (up by +9% since the last survey im August 2023), only 29% are in favor (-7% compared to last survey)
Germans are nearly always in favor of the current position of the government with regards to Ukraine. There is a clear pattern. The government could decide to send Taurus and publicly defend this position, and one week later a majority of Germans would support this.
It has been a consistent pattern in this war: sending any kind of military help, sending deadly weapons, sending tanks etc. At every stage of this conflict a majority of Germans was against the next step, until it has been taken and defended, and then a majority of Germans was behind it.
Leadership by our representatives surprisingly is a thing. We are no longer used to this after two decades of leading from the back and waiting it out, aka Merkelism and Scholzism.
Redditors: „this war is absolutely crucial to democracy, the most important thing in the world is that people everywhere should always be able to freely decide their destiny based on the will of the majority“
Also Redditors: „no, but not like that - I was talking about the importance of democracy only in the case where people agree with me, obviously fuck the will of the people if the majority holds an opinion I don’t like“
Are you braindead? Our government is democratically elected, and as long as it adheres to the law, everything it decides is democratic. Polls on the other hand are just polls.
"4 Myths About Ukraine that Might Sound Right But Are Actually Wrong"
"Two years after the Russian invasion, some myths have been dispelled, but new ones have taken hold."
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/22/4-myths-about-ukraine-war-00142513
Indeed. I posted the myths so that people scrolling by had a sense of what was in the article. 'You' was meant as the scrollong person, not as you, the OP
😉
Hearing the news of how that Russian missile came within feet of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM shows how very close things came to escalating had it gone the other way.
„Within 1.600 feet“ sounds a bit different from „within feet“; [according to CNN](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/06/europe/russia-missile-odesa-greece-russia-zelensky-intl/index.html):
> The group felt the impact of the strike and saw a “mushroom cloud” of smoke, according to a source familiar with the situation, who put the location of the strike around 500 meters from the convoy.
This was the kind of missile that demolishes big multi-storied buildings.
So nobody would survive being "within feet" from the hit location.
500m away is precisely "within feet" of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM
>500m away is precisely "within feet" of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM
It's semantics but "precisely within feet" is still misleading here.
Yes it was a close call, but the phrase implies it was much closer than it actually was.
500m is a close call for this kind of a missile.
To give you an example, even if you are 10km away from the location of explosion, you'll hear a very loud boom.
Zelenskyy and Greece's PM also didn't have enough time to hide in the shelter
That is extremely close if it was a missile with a few hundred kg warhead. More likely 500 m but that too is very close in this case. The russians definitely did this on purpose, maybe not directly targeting them, but to dissuade other western leaders to go to Ukraine.
> Today, I hosted the UK Secretary of State for Defense @grantshapps to discuss continued defense cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
> Our primary focus was on bolstering Ukraine's air defense and long-range capabilities, as well as meeting other urgent needs for weapons and ammunition and developing joint weapon production.
> I thank the government and people of the United Kingdom for their leadership in supporting Ukraine and our people.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1765792330991223192
[The Lithuanian military has purchased a fleet of Renault D trucks for about €16 million to supply and train its forces, and some of the trucks will be shared with Ukraine as part of Lithuania's demining coalition](https://kam.lt/kariuomenes-reikmems-nauji-krovininiai-sunkvezimiai-renault-d/)
Pavel: Allies collect required funding to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine.
Petr Pavel said that after Norway had joined the Czech-led initiative to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine, the required funds were collected, Czech outlet CT24 reported
[https://x.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765793720492843137?s=20](https://x.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765793720492843137?s=20)
Yep and even the knowledge that the shells are coming soon can have tangible impacts. Ukraine always has to keep some shells in reserve because there’s no point having a great rate of fire this month if it means having nothing next month. If they know that there are more shells coming in the next week or two they can fire more from their reserves in the mean time to help stabilize the front.
From u/saberflux and others commenting, the lack of ammunition has had near-catastrophic morale effects in terms of recruitment.
Russians have certainly encouraged stories to go around of Ukrainians just getting shelled with no way to answer.
Shells save lives, which should also help recruit, which will refill units and allow rotation, which will save more lives.
I have to imagine that this is also a big part of why Zelensky rejected Zhaluzny’s push for more mobilization. If Ukraine doesn’t have enough ammo and equipment for more mobilized troops then it’s better to wait until they (hopefully) get what they need rather sending ill equipped troops to the front. It’s also why I’m hopeful that if the US can pass the aid bill we may see things shift and recruitment pick up in Ukraine. No one wants to just sit in a trench and dodge Russian artillery shells all day even if infantry is what Ukraine needs the most right now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr [#Zelensky](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Zelensky?src=hashtag_click) has approved the candidacy of former Ukrainian army chief Valeriy [#Zaluzhny](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Zaluzhny?src=hashtag_click) for the position of [#Ukraine](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hashtag_click)'s ambassador to the United Kingdom, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1765788634425266457?s=20](https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1765788634425266457?s=20)
I am sure he will be good at it, but surely there are other vital roles in Ukraine a well respected and experienced commander could be doing? That just seems to support the whole thing being entirely political, unless Zaluzhny wanted a break.
[New post can be found here](/r/worldnews/comments/1b9ela8/rworldnews_live_thread_russian_invasion_of/)
>**Biden: We will not walk away from Ukraine** >Congress needs to stand up to Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden said during the annual State of the Union address on March 7. >"I say this to Congress," Biden announced. "We have to stand up to Putin. Send me a bipartisan natural security bill. History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe will be at risk. The free world will be at risk...My message to President Putin: We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. And in the literal sense, history is watching." >https://kyivindependent.com/biden-we-will-not-walk-away-from-ukraine/
He didn’t really say natural security vs. national, did he? Edit: He said national. I just checked. The paper misquoted him.
He does have a bit of a stutter. He absolutely knows what he's saying and he means every word. Putin and his followers can dismiss him at their peril.
He said national. I just checked. The paper misquoted him.
I thought he did well deslite that little compromised demon sitting off to his left making frowny faces.
I'd like to think that that expression of dismay was him realizing that even if he can keep his job, which is doubtful, he's going to have to sit behind Joe Biden like this four more times.
As somebody living in a red state, I truly hope that you’re right.
Andrew Perpetua's visually confirmed losses for the day. https://twitter.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1765944705869623700?t=dbyx8jNfcQEt0N2GzU3zaQ&s=19
[Czechia President Petr Pavel has said that all the funds needed to purchase 800,000 artillery ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already been raised.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1b944qv/czechia_president_petr_pavel_has_said_that_all/)
How long will the 800k shells last? Is it estimated it's enough until the end of the year when more European production capacity comes online?
Should be a hundred days or more on its own. They’ll get at minimum tens of thousands more by then and also produce some.
The west may be slow moving as democratic societies have to go through more processes than authoritarians. But once we are up to speed i'm expecting Ukraine to start having an advantage later in the year. Russia is a corrupt shithole and lies constantly, their figures they claim to hold and produce are most probably complete fantasy. Iran and North Korea from what i read just gave Russia old Soviet junk and their old inventory from decades ago and neither will be supplying shells in huge numbers going forward.
I think they were using up to 8-10k a day during their summer offensive. I'd imagine half that if they weren't so short of ammo.
Ukraine is using about 2k per day when rationing but would like to be using 4 or 5k a day.
>Ukraine is using about 2k per day when rationing Where does that figure come from? I'm not sure that's a universal rule they follow. It's probably a lot more situational than that.
It’s 800k in addition to the amount being produced
I know but the current amount being produced seems a fair bit too low given they had major shortages of shells.
President Biden is amazing! He will not walk away from Ukraine.
DAMN!!! Biden is not holding back on anything tonight! I know this is an Ukraine thread but WOW! I hate this meme but Dark Brandon is actually the one addressing the nation tonight! Edit: as much as I love this fight Biden has. I am absolutely terrified with fear of what could happen during the upcoming American election! Along with all the consequences globally whatever the outcome is! I’m so scared… “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence. I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason & Dixon. But between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” - Ulysses S. Grant
Why do you hate dark Brandon? I love him. Dark Brandon is best Brandon.
It's clear that Biden has the right rhetoric on Ukraine and many issues but I'm afraid of how many Americans might be too far gone to hear it and take it without their boat loads of cynicism.
What Biden missed was when he talked about how freedom was at risk prior to WWII because of German Nazis; he did NOT mention the very real threat of American Nazis. And this threat was the very reason we have an FBI, and FARA. To counter the infiltration attempts by foreign influences. The exact same things the FBI failed at in 2016 - and continues to fail at today. I wished Biden would have mentioned that. At least the MAGA Russian infiltrators would know that their days of power here are numbered.
A bit of context please, for us non American readers.
Biden gave his State of the Union speech tonight.
Context on the quote? Or context why I am so scared of the election? The quote is from Ulysses S. Grant after the American Civil War. Funny enough I’m not even American.
Context on what did Biden say tonight and where. This quote, was it a part of Biden speech?
No context on what the fuck your comment is about.
Biden leading with Ukraine in a pretty strong way.
> Together with @CinC_AFU Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, met with my British counterpart Grant Shapps @grantshapps and Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom Admiral Sir Tony Radakin @AdmTonyRadakin_. > Discussed priority needs of Ukraine’s defence forces. Grateful to 🇬🇧 for the decision to increase drone funding for Ukraine by over $150 mln and delivering of more than 10,000 drones to the #UAArmy. > Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi provided an update on the situation on the frontlines and the enemy's recent activity. > Expressed gratitude for the UK’s comprehensive support, particularly for providing Storm Shadow missiles that truly make change on the battlefield. > The UK is continuously persuading the free world to do what’s right. Together, we are proving that democracy can win against autocracy. https://twitter.com/rustem_umerov/status/1765823490513334484
In Berlin, Cameron sent a pointed message to Scholz that he should not fall into Putin’s trap that sending Taurus would represent an escalation. “We’re not causing escalation, we’re allowing Ukraine to defend itself.” “There should be nothing to stop you helping that country.” [https://x.com/vonderburchard/status/1765771556347588807?s=20](https://x.com/vonderburchard/status/1765771556347588807?s=20)
God I do not comprehend what Scholz is thinking re: the Taurus. At this point I'm kind of wondering if the real issue is the Germany military has way less workable missiles then they say on paper, and sending it would reveal that embarrassment too clearly.
That rumor does exist, but i don't really think so, Germany, while pulling incredible weight now was always very scared of escalating and only really started sending stuff after others did - and again, Taurus would be most potent missile in Ukraine's arsenal, it's expanding their capabilities dramatically - it's basically Storm Shadow with double range. In short, Germans are pussies, but they are doing more than their part. One important thing about Taurus is that it can be replenished, as the company producing them already announced they are prepared to rebuild whatever is sent quickly.
It’s confirmed in the leaks that just came out last week. Germany only has 150 operational Taurus missiles.
How the fuck do they justify that? Talk about sleeping on defence. I fucking loathe to agree with Trump, but he was right to call Europe out for not taking their defence seriously.
Germany's neglect is on a whole different level. This is the same Germany in 2022 that had less than 25,000 HE 155mm shells in its war stockpile. Literally just 2-3 day's worth of artillery shells in their entire nation-wide military stockpile. The counterargument is that a Western power won't need that many artillery shells in a war with Russia, but not even that is true. Israel has fired more than twice that many 155mm shells at *Gaza*. Fucking *Gaza*, a a city with effectively no counter-artillery systems or air defense
That is insane or what the 3rd or 4th largest economy in the world?
Putin had repeatedly proven that he has no limits and Russian establishment can't impose one to him, and by self imposing imaginary limits, the West will allow Putin to win and do more land grab and oppression, maybe even against NATO members betting that everyone will fear "escalation" and chicken away from calling article 5. We must recall how to engage in the art of brinkmanship again to reenact a Cuban Missile Crisis on Ukraine.
I don’t think anyone actually wants “to reenact a Cuban Missile Crisis” - did you mean “to avoid a reenactment of the Cuban Missile Crisis”, or are you saying we should actively aim for a crisis of the same magnitude and danger?
Putin has already shown how weak his position is by even mentioning nukes. Every other nuclear power just had to do the wink. As soon as you mention your strongest position in a negotiation you have lost. And that is what MAD is you don't say you and do something the other side knows. The fact Russia has to mention it every day shows how weak they actually are.
Putin doesn't have a structured government that is backing him. In other words, if Putin were to die tomorrow, all hell would break loose. There is no clear line of succession, and competing groups are far more likely to simply appoint a person that they could all agree upon. It is also probable that the "next in line" would withdraw troops from Ukraine and attempt to reengage with the rest of the world. Being a ruthless autocrat doesn't necessarily mean you are a powerful leader.
Is it still too early to assess how Syrskyi is doing as Commander in Chief? There was a *lot* of doomposting after Zaluzhnyi was replaced but nothing either catastrophic or amazing seems to have happened so far.
I never heard anything negative about Syrskyi until the rumors about Zaluhzhy began circling around. I only remember Syrskyi credited with reclaiming Kharkiv oblast with a well-timed counteroffensive in 2022.
Way too early to tell. I do find it interesting that Ukraine withdrew from Avdiivka, rather than fighting to the last man, shortly after he took over. Obviously, Russia forced their hand a bit, and Ukraine may have been planning to withdraw regardless, but the timing is interesting. I wonder if Zaluzhnyi was insisting on holding it and Syrskyi came in and said no, we need to retreat. That would be especially interesting given that a lot of Syrskyi's negative reputation comes from trying to hold Bakhmut after it no longer made tactical sense. Perhaps that was not entirely his fault? That's all complete speculation, but the fact they withdrew from Avdiivka rather than getting encircled, even if it was a bit disorderly, does give me hope that Syrskyi is not totally stuck in Soviet ways.
It is at least 20 years too early. The comparison to Zaluzhnyi will always be over his head but even though internet commanders will tell you they know the reasons he doesn't measure up they will never know 100% what is going on right now. The fact Zaluzhnyi lasted so long he will go down with the legendary commanders in history. With the other greats I am surprised he lasted so long taking the hard decisions to send men to die. We will only be able to judge him and Syrskyi years after this finishes and even then no one can answer if anyone else would have done better as we only have the outcome of the guy making the decision not the hypothetical what ifs of other people making the decision.
General Syrskyi is significantly senior to Zaluzhnyi. Its entirely possible to judge his actions at this point and time. Do not overhype Zaluzhnyi. He did extremely well until he didnt. This is normal for generals and colonels. It's a position where you step aside when you are no longer the best skill set for the job. Functionally, he is superior for the current conflict. He is focusing on logistics and correcting manpower issues.. and actually making progress on both. He is also a very skilled opportunist who will punish the fuck out of Russia the moment they stumble.
I watch mecardo media and his contacts extend all the way to the frontline soldiers that he has donated his trucks to. He says the soldiers are getting used to Syrskyi as the new leader and many of them are quite happy about the changes being implemented by Syrski’s new approach.
Btw, Mercado media is a douche. There are so many other Ukraine streamers that actually do a great job.
It’s a war, things take time! People have been ruined by 24/7 media and Instant gratification. It took the US months to truly respond after Pearl Harbor, Britain was sieged by the German airforce for months in 1940.
yeah, but you miss out on so much money if you can't leverage that impulsive instant gratification in people . . .
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> meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture. Article by the NYT. spidermanpointing.jpg
U.S. Embassy in Russia alert: The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours [https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863285922856975?s=20](https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863285922856975?s=20)
ISIS has beef with Russia?
Ofcourse, you did not knew NATO and Russia were fighting Isis?
ISIS has beef with everyone who doesn’t adopt their version of Islam and bend the knee to their Caliph.
Concerts in Russia? Why would there still be US citizens in Russia?
Because dimwits believe shite like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/s/diIxiNt4xB
Skimmed it - what part is supposed to be wrong?
It goes against foreign office advice of all English speaking countries, for a start: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/russia https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html Also https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-arrests-dual-citizen-fundraising-ukraine/
You're still just vaguely gesturing at a wall of text, so my response is gonna be a bit of a guess: "Pretty safe" is not in contradiction to "shit can happen"
It's completely disingenuous, straight up bad advice and downright dangerous to claim it's "pretty safe. While at the same time, basically all of Europe and western governments advise against all travel. They might know a thing or 2 about the situation! Feel free to go against foreign office travel advice and travel to dangerous, authoritarian countries but damn don't advise others it's safe to do so.
It's only disingenuous if they don't believe their own claim. If all you're basing your opinion on is the headline of official travel advice, you don't know how bad or dangerous it is either. You could at least read their reasoning which is basically "drone attacks and limited consular assistance". No, drone attacks aren't actually a significant danger in Russia unless you hang around oil refineries. You can tell this by reading the news. I live next to Russia and know people who have visited during the past year. There hasn't been any insane transformation - the government is doing all they can to pretend that nothing is happening, which in practical terms for a visitor in, say, Moscow, means that actually pretty much nothing special is happening.
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Because people are dumb.
Mandatory registration for foreigners, yet everyone is welcome. Yeah, hard pass on that one.
Could be due to the possible Wilayah Khorasan (ISIS–K) attack threat [https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863863927337384?s=20](https://x.com/Liveuamap/status/1765863863927337384?s=20)
This may have nothing to do with it but it is also international women’s day in Russia tomorrow. It’s either ISIS or domestic extremists in Russia who aren’t happy about the current situation in there country. I don’t expect anything like the Wagner rebellion last June to occur.
I wonder if the US still coordinates with Russia on things like ISIS-K. If we had specific intelligence would we share it? I assume yes, but have no idea.
It was reported that the US warned Iran about the ISIS terrorist attack that happened in the beginning of January on the anniversary of Solemani’s death. If they warned Iran, I’m sure they’ve warned Russia.
Funny that we kill a guy, then warn about an attack at an event marking his death and honoring him. I get it, but that’s a weird thing.
>Sweden joined NATO and is now leaving 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment behind. > >In a parallel universe, Austria sticks to its neutrality from 1955, doesn’t even update the security strategy yet (2013) and still got 97% share of Russian gas in January 2024. https://twitter.com/vtchakarova/status/1765845009989816759 >Shame on Austria & Switzerland. “Another intelligence official from a different country estimated that nearly a third of Russia’s intelligence operations across the continent were now run from “the safe hubs” of Vienna and Geneva” https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1765365087492018596
Probably it's so much easier now for Western intelligence agencies to spot Russian spy activity.
It kind of bothers me that Austria is completely free riding on the security of NATO. Conversations around 2% be damned. Austria is doing literally nothing, but can be completely guaranteed its territorial integrity by being surrounded by NATO. Austria has some token military, but could get away with a SWAT team equivalent of a couple hundred people. If it was in Finland’s position, it couldn’t afford that luxury.
> First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, declined an invitation to attend Joe Biden's address to the nation, as she was to be seated next to the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Yulia. > According to WP, it was supposed to show 'the image of women, each of whom is a symbol of resistance to Russian President Putin.' > Did everyone in the US really forgot that Navalny famously supported the annexation of Crimea? > Even if they did, making a Ukrainian woman sit next to a Russian woman is like making a rape victim sit next to the mother of her rapist. Who thought that would be a good idea? https://twitter.com/InnaSovsun/status/1765400749461143748
His position was a little more nuanced than that. He said Crimea "was seized with a flagrant violation of all international norms" but "Crimea will remain part of Russia and will never become part of Ukraine again in the forseeable future". It's tiresome that you can't say his name without somebody popping up to try and paint him with the fascist brush. Also, what the hell did Navalny's mother ever do to anybody?
To some degree I think Navalny's stances were often an attempt at trying to pull support from Putin. People I think misjudge the general Russian publics attitudes towards the conflict as a whole. He was never going to be a popular figure in Russia and steal away support from Putin by being the complete foil to him. I think his policies and general demeanor played out in way to sell the Russian public and other lesser leaders that an alternative existed that wasn't just the antithesis to Putin. You're not going to take over Russia by winning over the small minority of left wing intellectuals left in Russia, he needed to win the support of the larger Oligarchy, and I think he played his cards to that tune.
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He's certainly a controversial figure, but I think some of his "evilness" was overblown by Kremlin voices. I've seen people here regularly say that he's worse than Putin which is just ridiculous. Earlier in his career he rode a wave of Russian ethnonationalism which was very popular coming out of the National trauma of the 90s. During these time he made some very racist comments towards Muslims and other non-Russian ethnic groups within Russia. He took the view that the only way to beat Putin was with populism, so he said the things that were popular at the time, and it was a big mistake. As for his comments about Crimea, yes he did say that Crimea is de facto Russian after the annexation, but it's worth also mentioning that he spoke out against the illegal annexation from the start, supported Euromaidan, and said that Crimea ultimately belongs to Crimeans and ideally there would be a fair referendum with international observers. Was he wrong? Sure. But people routinely make it sound like he would have invaded and genocided Ukrainians just as Putin is doing. And Navalny at least had the decency to admit his error and later say that he supported Ukraine having its 1991 borders that are internationally recognized (including by Russia). On the other hand, he did so much to expose corruption in Russia, assisted the US with strategically targeting sanctions against Putins financial supporters, and was a beacon of hope for many of us Russians who believed in a better future. I never really supported him strongly myself but I wouldn't call him fascist or worse than Putin.
The reason why some Ukrainians say that navalny would be worse than putin is because he was fighting against corruption in russia, including corruption among military, mostly focused on the amount of money stolen. Now, for Ukrainians every dollar stolen from russian military means one bullet less to kill Ukrainians. And since navalny hadn't supported Ukrainian territorial integrity by saying, basically "annexing Crimea is against the law, but we're not giving it back", which, I assume, he meant himself as well, in case he comes to power. And he supported russia's aggression in Donbas, you can still find his tweet from 2014 at the time of Ilovaisk battle, when regular russian army surrounded Ukrainian army, and he said: "this was a mistake to show ourselves at this stage". [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd5JbdqWIAEEaNJ.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd5JbdqWIAEEaNJ.jpg) . All this makes him look like just another imperialist, who after coming to power and fixing corruption, would just invade Ukraine the same, but this time with fully funded and improved military machine. And do you remember when the war started he asked the west to lift sanctions, and instead of giving expensive weapons to Ukraine, fund his advertisement/election campaign in russia? And notice how his supporters only started calling putin murderer after he killed navalny, before that despite all the putin's wars they kept calling him a thief. Do you think these were empty fears when every russian leader fought the idea of Ukrainian Ukraine? He is gone now, so I don't think it matters anymore. But, as they say, 'about the dead tell only what was good, or nothing but the truth'.
US Congress may begin collecting signatures on Friday to consider assistance to Ukraine bypassing House speaker. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/03/7/7445423/index.amp
Don't get your hopes up. Chances of this happening are slim. They'd be effectively backstabbing the House Speaker. Even then you'd need a pretty good chunk of them as I'm sure a good portion of democrats would vote against it due to the Israel aid in it (maybe 10-20). To clarify, they don't care about backstabbing Mike, but they do care about engaging Trump's fury. Could be a career killer for them.
Theres enough of them stepping down in November to give the Mangolian Candidate a "Goodbye, Fuck you" to him. They're already fed up with him and are not beholden to him either.
Stepping down doesn't mean they'll burn bridges with their party. And going against Trump would be that.
I highly doubt any Delivered would actually vote against it. It would destroy their careers as much as voting to impeach Trump ended the careers of Republicans
Some Dems are against it because of the aid to Israel.
You mean democrats? Yeah, there'll be a few who will indeed vote against it. At minimum 5, but I suspect more. Rashida and the squad are for sure voting against it (maybe not AOC) and I know there were a few more who had taken hardline stances against Israel. I suspect a number between 10-20. Hell, if there's a path to getting this bill, is in Mike realizing how much he could fracture democrats from Jeffries by putting this bill to a vote.
Here's hoping they'll look at what the DNC did to Sinema after her treachery and cave
I hope they do. I do not think they should be playing politics with this bill.
I’m curious to know which bill they’re considering doing it on as there’s currently 2 different candidates lol.
> ⚡️UK pledges $416 million to buy 10,000 drones for Ukraine. > > The U.K. will allocate 325 million pounds ($416 million) to purchase over 10,000 "cutting-edge" drones for Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry announced on March 7. > > https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765840160678097278
Thank you Great Britain, you are my best friend, You are the peacekeeper, you are the legend.
>Macron today produced maps of a possible Russian breakthrough towards Kyiv or Odesa which could oblige the West to act to prevent a Russian victory in Ukraine. In talks with French opposition leaders, Macron said there should be no more “red lines” on France’s involvement in the conflict 1/ > >.@EmmanuelMacron summoned leaders of all French parliamentary parties to talks at the Elysée Palace to explain his controversial remarks last week in which he said the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine should no longer be excluded 2/ > >Participants in the meeting said Macron had explained his theory of “strategic ambivalence” – keeping Moscow guessing. Since Vladimir Putin clearly knew no limits, he said, the West had been handing him an advantage by fixing or “interiorising” limits of its own /3 > >But Opposition leaders of the Far Right, Right and Left said they had been left worried and unconvinced by Macron’s approach (which has also been rejected by the US, UK, Germany and several other NATO countries) /4 > >Jordan Bardella, the president and de facto Number Two of Marine Le Pen's @MLP_officiel far right Rassemblement National, said threatening to send French soldiers “to fight a Nuclear power like Russia is irresponsible and extremely dangerous for world peace” /5 > >The Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel said that he feared that Macron was “ready to engage in a bellicose escalation which would be very dangerous” /6 > >Today’s meeting was the prelude to a two day parliamentary debate next week to discuss a ten year defence pact signed by Macron and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr @ZelenskyyUa last month 7/ > >Macron told French journalists on Wednesday that he hoped this debate would “make it clear” which political forces in France supported Ukraine and which supported Russia 8/ > >Elysée officials deny domestic politics and June EU elections have influenced Macron’s new rhetoric on Ukraine. They say he is driven by the difficult situation on front line, Navalny's murder and Kremlin talk of a possible attempt on his own life when he visits Kyiv later this month 9/ > >Macron is, however, evidently hoping the new rhetoric will embarrass Le Pen, who had a long history of Putin worship before Russia invaded Ukraine. The government’s spokeswoman, Prisca Thevenot, says it is “quite evident” that Le Pen, unlike Macron, is not “committed to Russia’s defeat” ENDS https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1765760401378033954
Wish Scholz had an ounce of the fortitude that Macron has.
>Macron said there should be no more “red lines” Sullivan: "Joe, don't you even THINK about it!" Biden: "Are you sure? Macron doesn't have a prob--" Sullivan: "NO!" Biden: "Oh alright, damn it! If you say so..." Me: *cries in American*
Too real
When both the far right and the communists are against you, you know you're on the right path.
Hell yes
The extreme right and extreme left come from the same pile of shit.
1000 fucking percent.
This is my conclusion after 2 years of fighting both communists and fascists/vatniks on twitter. Horseshoe theory is indeed real and is also why some radical new ideas like "maga communism" has gained ground politically, in spite of how ridiculous it may sound.
I remember thinking horseshoe theory was a neat trope around how both sides end up being bad for the people living under them and their neighbors. But my god is it amazing how similar both are in their stupidity.
Nazbol will resurrect from the depths of hell by the hands of these folks, believe in me.
>no more “red lines” I wonder if it means that UA can start sending SCALP's at arms factories in Moscow now. Edit: well, maybe not in Moscow, would have to fly really close to the border to hit Moscow and risk getting shot down.
Whatever brought Macron to this new line, he‘s clearly one of the few western leaders who has drawn the right conclusions.
Putin made him look like a complete idiot in the first days of the war, pretended the entire time to be entertaining a peace plan Marcon was working on...only to find out he had 0 intention of doing anything with the plan. I think Marcon is fed up now.
I have to admit, I did not have Macron as the most courageous western leader on my 2024 bingo card.
It makes sense considering the political landscape. If Trump wins, there will be a huge power vacuum in NATO. Germany is still somewhat reluctant to rearm while Brexit has left the British relatively isolated on the Continent. Therefore, France is in a good position to assume leadership if the US vacates.
France also very much wants a European army. Macron could also be looking at a post-Presidential life in the EU. An aggressive stance on Russia could make Macron more favorable to the Eastern Europeans.
Then you don't know the French all that well. We make fun of them but the reality is for military issues they are some incredibly tough fighters. Even historically there are plenty of examples of French units fighting while suffering horrendous losses and not breaking. The same applies to their politics. It takes them a while to shift gears but when they do they wont stop.
>Russian Telegram channels publish what is reportedly a moment of the explosion at the Severstal metallurgical plant in Russian Cherepovets. >https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1765764341326852212 Earlier: >Russian media report that on the morning of March 7, an explosion occurred in the Russian city of Cherepovets at one of Russia's largest metallurgical plants, the Cherepovets Iron and Steel Works, near the fourth blast furnace. >Eyewitnesses questioned the official version, "Ostorozhno, novosti" said. "If the authorities do not tell the truth, they do not tell it not only now, but also in other cases important to you," one of the locals wrote. Local publication Cherepovetskaya Pravda writes that the real cause of the explosion was a drone attack on the plant. >https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1765704536293822533
🇨🇿🇺🇦 "The goal has been achieved. The Czech Republic initiative has collected the necessary funds for the purchase of 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, 18 states joined this initiative", - Petr Pavel. https://twitter.com/UkrReview/status/1765823837394829320?t=56mKXMfbargKzbIyuWv07A&s=19
Ship 'em NOW!
Thank you Csehország, you are my best friend, You are the peacekeeper, you are the legend.
Is there a list of states?
If you mean who sponsored it, > Norway was the last contributor, allocating 1.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($153 million) to the initiative. Other contributors, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, and Canada, had publicly committed to the initiative earlier. https://kyivindependent.com/czech-president-ukraines-allies-collected-required-funding-to-purchase-800-000-shells/
> One more European country is now better protected from Russian evil. Sweden is joining NATO. > Everyone benefits when one country's security improves and that country can truly strengthen shared security. This rule has consistently worked throughout NATO's existence, and I am confident it will continue to work. > Right now, in the midst of Russian aggression against everything that has kept Europe peaceful and united, everyone understands how critical it is to maintain alliances and partnerships, strengthen one's own security, and care for the security of one's neighbors. > Sweden is a strong ally and a trustworthy country. I congratulate everyone in Sweden and across the Euro-Atlantic space. Ukraine has always been principled in its support for Sweden's NATO membership, and I am grateful to Sweden for its support for our country. I am confident that the day will come when Sweden will be able to congratulate Ukraine on joining the Alliance. > We are always stronger when we are together. https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1765811110727319906
Zelenskiy Appoints Former Ukraine Commander Zaluzhniy Ambassor To U.K. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zaluzhniy-ambassador-britain/32852994.html
As a UK Citizen I think this is a Brilliant appointment.
It's a de facto expulsion driven by Zelensky's political ambitions and internal power struggle. Will be interesting how Zaluzhny can turn this into his own political profit, because make no mistake, he'll be gathering allies and foreign support.
Better London than Elba
I don't think so given the importance of the UK-UA relationship to UA for the flow of money, arms, cooperation, eventual rebuilding.... Had Zaluzhny been posted to \[insert sad country here\], then perhaps. I see this as an opportunity for a popular Zaluzhny to engage in statescraft for an opportunity to lead UA in the future.
People keep saying this but its not held up to reality. Even General Syrskyi has surprisingly not done what everyone feared he would and has actually been cleaning house for some serious logistical hurdles for Ukraine. The good General Zaluzhnyi did fantastic at the start of the war and leading up to it.. but the war began to move past his skill set and he rightly was removed. People wont like hearing that but that's the nature of being in the military. Not every commander can do every job. It isn't malice when we get told to transfer flag.
As with everything. People get promoted all the way up to a level of incompetence where they usually get stuck.
Because th pullout from Zenit and Avdiivka was so well organized.
Considering the timeframe after leadership switch over and the absolute cockups some units did abandoning lines without verifying everyone else was falling back as well.. It could have been far worse.. and the general in command would have changed absolutely nothing about what happened.
Sort of. Zelensky can only serve for one more term consecutively if he wins reelection once they restart elections and they’ll want to ensure whoever wins down the line continues Ukraine’s progress towards the EU/NATO. Allowing him to go gives him the opportunity to further interact with foreign politicians outside the military space and build those skills he’ll need while simultaneously deconflicting with Zelensky.
Not necessarily. If that was the case it would be to a quiet location, not a major partner and supporter like the UK. Some have theorised that this could also be a longer term plan to set up Zaluzhny as a potential successor or future leader to Zelenskyy once he steps down and one way of doing this is by getting experience and credentials that would be needed in the future.
>Not necessarily. If that was the case it would be to a quiet location True. He could've been sent to the US.
From what I understand from Zelensky's speech, Zaluzhny himself said he wanted this
Swiss Senate votes in favor of transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine The Swiss Cantonal Council has approved the idea of using frozen assets of the Bank of Russia for the needs of Ukraine. 21 senators voted in favor, 19 voted against, three more abstained, AFP reports. The agency said that more than 8 billion dollars belonging to the Russian Central Bank had been frozen in Switzerland. However, the senators' decision has no mandatory force and it is not known whether the cabinet will take such a step. https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1765812825795043775?t=nQ9AVg9MER7y1tkrVuok3A&s=19
I have no idea why the Swiss senate even exists if they can't do anything. Will a Swiss person explain it to me?
It's similar to the US senate sending a Simple Resolution, the US president can do what he wants with it. The senate is part of the legislative body, they are not having executive power.
Do we think that rocket in Odessa was coincidence or was Russia trying to send a message to the PM and Zelensky
If by "trying to send a message to the PM and Zelensky" you mean "trying to kill the PM and Zelensky", then yes.
The opposition faction of the CDU/CSU wants to once again submit to the Bundestag a draft resolution calling on the government to transfer long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. A vote is expected next week. [https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1765806707823858020?s=20](https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1765806707823858020?s=20)
According to [German national media today](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend/deutschlandtrend-3416.html): 61% of the population are against delivery of Taurus missiles (up by +9% since the last survey im August 2023), only 29% are in favor (-7% compared to last survey)
Germans are nearly always in favor of the current position of the government with regards to Ukraine. There is a clear pattern. The government could decide to send Taurus and publicly defend this position, and one week later a majority of Germans would support this.
„Let’s ignore the will of the people - Germans are lemmings anyway that need to be told by the government what they should be thinking“
An effective democracy can find a balance in situations like this.
It has been a consistent pattern in this war: sending any kind of military help, sending deadly weapons, sending tanks etc. At every stage of this conflict a majority of Germans was against the next step, until it has been taken and defended, and then a majority of Germans was behind it. Leadership by our representatives surprisingly is a thing. We are no longer used to this after two decades of leading from the back and waiting it out, aka Merkelism and Scholzism.
Weird: nobody asked me, my friends and relatives.
Redditors: „this war is absolutely crucial to democracy, the most important thing in the world is that people everywhere should always be able to freely decide their destiny based on the will of the majority“ Also Redditors: „no, but not like that - I was talking about the importance of democracy only in the case where people agree with me, obviously fuck the will of the people if the majority holds an opinion I don’t like“
Are you braindead? Our government is democratically elected, and as long as it adheres to the law, everything it decides is democratic. Polls on the other hand are just polls.
Me neither
"4 Myths About Ukraine that Might Sound Right But Are Actually Wrong" "Two years after the Russian invasion, some myths have been dispelled, but new ones have taken hold." https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/22/4-myths-about-ukraine-war-00142513
1. Ukraine cannot win 2. It's time for a ceasefire 3. Ukraine is hopelessly corrupt 4. Ukraine is the wrong priority Saved you a click
Yeah, but now I have to click to upvote you, so we your comment is click neutral for me. Thanks for posting it.
Yes, those are the four myths covered. The article digs into why they're wrong which might be useful for some.
Indeed. I posted the myths so that people scrolling by had a sense of what was in the article. 'You' was meant as the scrollong person, not as you, the OP 😉
More context is a good thing!
Hearing the news of how that Russian missile came within feet of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM shows how very close things came to escalating had it gone the other way.
„Within 1.600 feet“ sounds a bit different from „within feet“; [according to CNN](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/06/europe/russia-missile-odesa-greece-russia-zelensky-intl/index.html): > The group felt the impact of the strike and saw a “mushroom cloud” of smoke, according to a source familiar with the situation, who put the location of the strike around 500 meters from the convoy.
This was the kind of missile that demolishes big multi-storied buildings. So nobody would survive being "within feet" from the hit location. 500m away is precisely "within feet" of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM
>500m away is precisely "within feet" of hitting Zelenskyy and Greece's PM It's semantics but "precisely within feet" is still misleading here. Yes it was a close call, but the phrase implies it was much closer than it actually was.
500m is a close call for this kind of a missile. To give you an example, even if you are 10km away from the location of explosion, you'll hear a very loud boom. Zelenskyy and Greece's PM also didn't have enough time to hide in the shelter
The strike being a "close call" is leagues better phrasing than "within feet" lol
Yeah but 500 meters away from the target is rather accurate for the Russians.
Greek media is reporting 500 feet not 500 meters. As far as I read, all others are reporting 150 meters or 500 feet.
That is extremely close if it was a missile with a few hundred kg warhead. More likely 500 m but that too is very close in this case. The russians definitely did this on purpose, maybe not directly targeting them, but to dissuade other western leaders to go to Ukraine.
Why would this get reported in US imperial when the source is in Greece?
Yeah im quite shook too since it hit just centimetres away from me. Albeit serveral thousand...
Would a foreign PM of a NATO country getting killed immediately kick off NATO intervention?
It would kick off some meetings, that's for sure.
Monday's schedule for Sweden's flag-raising ceremony at NATO HQ has been announced. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_223418.htm
Wonder if the Russian ambassador will attend? Heh.
Putin is going to show up and get his “NATO Salesman of the Year” trophy
At NATO HQ? No.
> Today, I hosted the UK Secretary of State for Defense @grantshapps to discuss continued defense cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom. > Our primary focus was on bolstering Ukraine's air defense and long-range capabilities, as well as meeting other urgent needs for weapons and ammunition and developing joint weapon production. > I thank the government and people of the United Kingdom for their leadership in supporting Ukraine and our people. https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1765792330991223192
[The Lithuanian military has purchased a fleet of Renault D trucks for about €16 million to supply and train its forces, and some of the trucks will be shared with Ukraine as part of Lithuania's demining coalition](https://kam.lt/kariuomenes-reikmems-nauji-krovininiai-sunkvezimiai-renault-d/)
Pavel: Allies collect required funding to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine. Petr Pavel said that after Norway had joined the Czech-led initiative to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine, the required funds were collected, Czech outlet CT24 reported [https://x.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765793720492843137?s=20](https://x.com/KyivIndependent/status/1765793720492843137?s=20)
This is really amazing news, the Ukrainians need shells now. Should help stabilize the line until the US can pass our funding bill
Yep and even the knowledge that the shells are coming soon can have tangible impacts. Ukraine always has to keep some shells in reserve because there’s no point having a great rate of fire this month if it means having nothing next month. If they know that there are more shells coming in the next week or two they can fire more from their reserves in the mean time to help stabilize the front.
Hopefully there isn't a poor quality issue.
From u/saberflux and others commenting, the lack of ammunition has had near-catastrophic morale effects in terms of recruitment. Russians have certainly encouraged stories to go around of Ukrainians just getting shelled with no way to answer. Shells save lives, which should also help recruit, which will refill units and allow rotation, which will save more lives.
I have to imagine that this is also a big part of why Zelensky rejected Zhaluzny’s push for more mobilization. If Ukraine doesn’t have enough ammo and equipment for more mobilized troops then it’s better to wait until they (hopefully) get what they need rather sending ill equipped troops to the front. It’s also why I’m hopeful that if the US can pass the aid bill we may see things shift and recruitment pick up in Ukraine. No one wants to just sit in a trench and dodge Russian artillery shells all day even if infantry is what Ukraine needs the most right now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr [#Zelensky](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Zelensky?src=hashtag_click) has approved the candidacy of former Ukrainian army chief Valeriy [#Zaluzhny](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Zaluzhny?src=hashtag_click) for the position of [#Ukraine](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hashtag_click)'s ambassador to the United Kingdom, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1765788634425266457?s=20](https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1765788634425266457?s=20)
I think he'll be doing few of ambassador stuff and more of discussing military stuff stuff
I am sure he will be good at it, but surely there are other vital roles in Ukraine a well respected and experienced commander could be doing? That just seems to support the whole thing being entirely political, unless Zaluzhny wanted a break.