The Ukraine war thread
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Traditionally the Kremlin has always preferred Republican administrations for their consistency in policy. I recall during the Carter administration following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a Soviet diplomat once saying something to the effect that “while the Republicans say bad things about us, the Democrats do bad things to us”. It was no secret that Brezhnev and Gromyko got along famously with Nixon and Kissinger and that Reagan and GWH Bush got on well with Gorbachev. The apparent close relationship between Clinton and Yeltsin was something of an anomaly and was actually fraught with a lot of behind the scenes disagreements that eventually led to lasting resentment.
My feeling then is that Peskov and the Kremlin are blowing smoke. Putin insisted a week ago that he has never spoken with Biden since the meeting in Switzerland prior to 24 February 2022 or, at least, can’t recall the last time he did. As Dr. George pointed out the Kremlin’s statement is a campaign ad for the GOP.
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Report from BBC on the same:
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in The Ukraine war thread:
Russian blogger says Russia shot down hits own plane!
Russian forces have accidentally shot down their own £275 million spy plane over occupied Ukraine, pro-Kremlin military bloggers have said.
Vladimir Romanov said that the Beriev A-50 Soviet-built plane crashed near the Sea of Azov after it was hit by a missile fired from Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that Russian forces captured in 2022.
Link to video“The enemy has nothing to do with it again. The launches were from the Mariupol area,” he told his 140,000 followers. “After being hit by an air defence missile (not fired by the enemy), the A-50 broke into two parts.”
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Most embarrassing.
My congratulations to the Duty Officer and battery that fired that rocket. Mentions in despatches and field promotions for all.
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German Armed Forces has a communications security problem. Sloppiness. Seems that the Kremlin has its own cunning plans to take advantage of catching them with their trousers down:
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that the discussion betrayed the "cunning plans" of the German armed forces, which he said had committed "a blatant self-exposure".
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/air-force-ukraine-downs-another-russian-su-34-jet/ar-BB1jeo8h
“The East Air Command confirms the downing of a Su-34 fighter-bomber. Unfortunately, it was only one,” the Air Forcewrote on Telegram.
The destruction of the jet is the latest in a recent uptick of downed Russian planes. This list includes 12 Su-34 fighter bombers, two Su-35 fighter jets, and a rare A-50 military spy plane. Another A-50 aircraft was downed a month prior.
Three Su-34s were reportedly destroyed in a single day on Feb. 29 over eastern Ukraine. Another Su-34 plane was downed on the morning of March 1, the Air Force said.
The rapid destruction of aircraft comes amid Russia's attempts to advance on the battlefield after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troopsfrom Avdiivka and three villages in Donetsk Oblast, in addition to Ukraine's widely mentioned ammunition shortage.
Yuriy Ihnat, the Air Force's spokesman, has said that Ukraine now has "tools" to destroy planes "at quite long distances," explaining the recent uptick.
Russia's total losses during the all-out war amount to about 670 aircraft — 345 planes and 325 helicopters, according to Ukraine's General Staff.
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Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radislaw Sikorski, administers terse rebuttal and “Come to Jesus” moment directly to the Russian Ambassador to the UN at the Security Council Plenum ten days ago:
Video:
Transcript:
Doubt if they showed that on RT or any TV news report in Russia. Wouldn’t hurt if a few politicians and interest groups in the West watched or paid close attention as well.
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Hamas insists permanent ceasefire needed for hostage deal
Hamas publicly insisted Tuesday that a permanent ceasefire must be in place before any deal is implemented for the release of the remaining 134 hostages held in Gaza, in a statement that seemed to run counter to optimism from Washington that an agreement was possible before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
“In the past two days, the movement presented its position on the proposal put forward by the brotherly Qatari and Egyptian mediators,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in Beirut.
He spoke as ceasefire talks mediated by both Egypt and Qatar continued in Cairo with no sign of a breakthrough.
“We reaffirmed our conditions for a ceasefire: a full pullout from the Strip and the return of the displaced [Palestinians] from areas they left, in particular in the north,” he said.
Wasn't there a cease-fire in place on October 6?
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
