The Ukraine war thread

[Renauda]

@George-K

More:

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/belgorod-raid-sparks-border-alarm-for-russia-ahead-of-ukrainian-offensive/

[George K]

@Renauda said in The Ukraine war thread:

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/belgorod-raid-sparks-border-alarm-for-russia-ahead-of-ukrainian-offensive/

Interesting article. Basically re-iterates what the blogger said - this will divert Russian troops to a defensive posture, further impairing their effectiveness elsewhere. "Whack-a-Mole," indeed.

Also, I don't think one should forget about the psychological impact of an attack on Russian soil - and not just by haphazard drone attacks.

ETA: Also, looking at a map, it appears that Bolgorad is only about 20 km from the Ukraine border. Makes it a nice, easy-to-reach target.

[Mik]

Worked for D-Day. Why not here?

[Renauda]

Indeed, it appears to be a special military operation of some sort. It is certainly ramping up Russian paranoia and hysteria:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65696731

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/05/23/how-are-pro-kremlin-figures-responding-to-the-belgorod-incursion-a81246

[Mik]

It's much easier to ignore goings on in someone else's yard.

[Wim]

Putin and maps...

https://glavcom.ua/publications/velikij-konfuz-malenkoho-kartohrafa-putina-929447.html

Also on CNN via Youtube

Dumb-dumber-(fill in whatever suits you) 🥴

[Mik]

I'm thinking that's not going to pluck anyone's emotional strings.

[George K]

@Wim said in The Ukraine war thread:

https://glavcom.ua/publications/velikij-konfuz-malenkoho-kartohrafa-putina-929447.html

Wanna go back a few centuries? Have at it.

[Renauda]

If Putin wants to look at old maps he should have a look at one or two from more recent history that would show his Kaliningrad enclave belonging to the Germany. It was called East Prussia.

[Renauda]

Putin’s expertise in historical geography is leading to mirthful memes:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/05/24/putins-antique-map-stunt-stirs-meme-storm-a81260

[George K]

I still maintain that Ragnar Lothbrok has a greater claim on Rus than Putin has on Ukraine.

[Renauda]

Vilnius and Warsaw have the strongest claims after the Varangians. Prior to that for all we know it could have been the Huns and Khazars.

Putin’s claim is a best tenuous, but then so was Henry Tudor’s claim to the English throne.

[Mik]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukrainians-claim-to-have-destroyed-large-russian-warship-in-berdiansk/ar-AA1bHpzO?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=75e0c85711214e11bcb276bcae939c0b&ei=21

[Jolly]

Storm Shadow...

https://eurasiantimes.com/its-official-ukrainian-su-24-fencer-fighter-jets-are-launchin/

[George K]

Russia's 'conditions for peace.'

---

The deputy to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “Ukraine must”:

• Refuse to join NATO and the EU
• Commit to a ‘neutral, non-aligned status’
• End the resistance of its Armed Forces
• Cease the supply of Western weapons
• Recognize the ‘new territorial realities’ (Moscow’s euphemism for the illegal occupation of Ukrainian lands)
• Make Russian a state language ‘at the legislative level’

He also characterized Russia’s genocidal war of aggression against Ukraine as “the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination”, co-opting decolonialist language from the United Nations.

Read also: Russia abandons several villages in Belgorod Oblast, Russian partisans now fighting in Moscow Oblast – HUR
While these positions are obviously unacceptable to Ukraine – even before the thousands of war crimes Russia has committed against Ukrainians – Galuzin listed them as conditions “for achieving a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.”

Galuzin claimed that the Kremlin has not changed the initial goals of its criminal war, falsely labeling them as "protecting the residents of Donbas, demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine, and eliminating threats to Russia's security that originate from its territory."

[Renauda]

All Lavrov needed to say was there was one condition. Unconditional surrender of Ukrainian sovereignty to the Russian Federation.

Long winded, bastard.

[George K]

[Mik]

I suspect Putin has Lukashenko's successor picked.

[George K]

I wonder if he's been "Litvinenko'ed".

[Renauda]

@George-K

Or maybe Putinolini made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.