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UKRAINEFAN
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The scenes from nine years ago today that no Ukrainian will ever forget.
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Putin ups tensions over Ukraine, suspending START nuke pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the U.S., announcing the move Tuesday in a bitter speech where he made clear he would not change his strategy in the war in Ukraine.
In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast his country — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said it was Russia, not Ukraine, fighting for its very existence.
“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin said in a speech days before the war’s first anniversary on Friday. “The Ukrainian people have become hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”
The speech reiterated a litany of grievances that the Russian leader has frequently offered as justification for the widely condemned military campaign while vowing no military let-up in a conflict that has reawakened fears of a new Cold War.
On top of that, Putin sharply upped the ante by declaring that Moscow would suspend its participation in the so-called New START Treaty. The pact, signed in 2010 by the U.S. and Russia, caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads the two sides can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons.
Putin also said that Russia should stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. does so, a move that would end a global ban on such tests in place since the Cold War era.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Moscow’s decision as “really unfortunate and very irresponsible.”
“We’ll be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does,” he said during a visit to Greece.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and made a dash toward Kyiv, apparently expecting to quickly overrun the capital. But stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces — backed by Western weapons — turned back Moscow’s troops. While Ukraine has reclaimed many areas initially seized by Russia, the two sides have become bogged down in tit-for-tat battles in others.
The war has revived the old Russia-West divide, reinvigorated the NATO alliance, and created the biggest threat to Putin’s more than two-decade rule. U.S. President Joe Biden, fresh off a surprise visit to Kyiv, was in Poland on Tuesday on a mission to solidify that Western unity — and planned his own speech.
Observers were expected to scour Putin’s address for any signs of how the Russian leader sees the conflict, where he might take it and how it might end. While the Constitution mandates that the president deliver the speech annually, Putin never gave one in 2022, as his troops rolled into Ukraine and suffered repeated setbacks.
Much of the speech covered old ground, as Putin offered his own version of recent history, discounting arguments by the Ukrainian government that it needed Western help to thwart a Russian military takeover.
“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia,” Putin said in the speech broadcast by all state TV channels. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.”
He added that Russia was prepared to respond since “it will be a matter of our country’s existence.” He has repeatedly depicted NATO’s expansion to include countries close to Russia as an existential threat to his country.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was in Ukraine on Tuesday, said she had hoped that Putin might have taken a different approach.
“What we heard this morning was propaganda that we already know,” Meloni said in English. “He says (Russia) worked on diplomacy to avoid the conflict, but the truth is that there is somebody who is the invader and somebody who is defending itself.”
Putin denied any wrongdoing, even as the Kremlin’s forces in Ukraine strike civilian targets, including hospitals, and are widely accused of war crimes. On the ground Tuesday, the Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces shelled southern cities of Kherson and Ochakiv while Putin spoke, killing six people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented that Russian forces were “again mercilessly killing the civilian population.”
Many observers predicted Putin’s speech would address Moscow’s fallout with the West — and Putin began with strong words for those countries that have provided Kyiv with crucial military support and warned them against supplying any longer-range weapons.
“It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it,” Putin said before an audience of lawmakers, state officials and soldiers who have fought in Ukraine.
Putin also accused the West of taking aim at Russian culture, religion and values because it is aware that “it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.”
Likewise, he said Western sanctions would have no effect, saying they hadn’t “achieved anything and will not achieve anything.”
Underscoring the anticipation ahead of the speech, some state TV channels put out a countdown for the event starting on Monday.
Reflecting the Kremlin’s clampdown on free speech and press, this year it barred media from “unfriendly” countries, the list of which includes the U.S., the U.K. and those in the EU. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said journalists from those nations will be able to cover the speech by watching the broadcast.
He previously told reporters that the speech’s delay had to do with Putin’s “work schedule,” but Russian media reports linked it to the setbacks of Russian forces. The Russian president postponed the state-of-the-nation address before, in 2017.
Last year, the Kremlin also canceled two other big annual events — Putin’s press conference and a highly scripted phone-in marathon where people ask the president questions.
Analysts expected Putin’s speech would be tough in the wake of Biden’s visit to Kyiv on Monday. In his his own speech later Tuesday, Biden is expected to highlight the commitment of the central European country and other allies to Ukraine over the past year.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden’s address would not be “some kind of head to head” with Putin’s.
“This is not a rhetorical contest with anyone else,” said.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-politics-de0af48be7ea480ccb0175f55a065363
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the U.S., announcing the move Tuesday in a bitter speech where he made clear he would not change his strategy in the war in Ukraine.
In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast his country — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said it was Russia, not Ukraine, fighting for its very existence.
“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin said in a speech days before the war’s first anniversary on Friday. “The Ukrainian people have become hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”
The speech reiterated a litany of grievances that the Russian leader has frequently offered as justification for the widely condemned military campaign while vowing no military let-up in a conflict that has reawakened fears of a new Cold War.
On top of that, Putin sharply upped the ante by declaring that Moscow would suspend its participation in the so-called New START Treaty. The pact, signed in 2010 by the U.S. and Russia, caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads the two sides can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons.
Putin also said that Russia should stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. does so, a move that would end a global ban on such tests in place since the Cold War era.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Moscow’s decision as “really unfortunate and very irresponsible.”
“We’ll be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does,” he said during a visit to Greece.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and made a dash toward Kyiv, apparently expecting to quickly overrun the capital. But stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces — backed by Western weapons — turned back Moscow’s troops. While Ukraine has reclaimed many areas initially seized by Russia, the two sides have become bogged down in tit-for-tat battles in others.
The war has revived the old Russia-West divide, reinvigorated the NATO alliance, and created the biggest threat to Putin’s more than two-decade rule. U.S. President Joe Biden, fresh off a surprise visit to Kyiv, was in Poland on Tuesday on a mission to solidify that Western unity — and planned his own speech.
Observers were expected to scour Putin’s address for any signs of how the Russian leader sees the conflict, where he might take it and how it might end. While the Constitution mandates that the president deliver the speech annually, Putin never gave one in 2022, as his troops rolled into Ukraine and suffered repeated setbacks.
Much of the speech covered old ground, as Putin offered his own version of recent history, discounting arguments by the Ukrainian government that it needed Western help to thwart a Russian military takeover.
“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia,” Putin said in the speech broadcast by all state TV channels. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.”
He added that Russia was prepared to respond since “it will be a matter of our country’s existence.” He has repeatedly depicted NATO’s expansion to include countries close to Russia as an existential threat to his country.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was in Ukraine on Tuesday, said she had hoped that Putin might have taken a different approach.
“What we heard this morning was propaganda that we already know,” Meloni said in English. “He says (Russia) worked on diplomacy to avoid the conflict, but the truth is that there is somebody who is the invader and somebody who is defending itself.”
Putin denied any wrongdoing, even as the Kremlin’s forces in Ukraine strike civilian targets, including hospitals, and are widely accused of war crimes. On the ground Tuesday, the Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces shelled southern cities of Kherson and Ochakiv while Putin spoke, killing six people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented that Russian forces were “again mercilessly killing the civilian population.”
Many observers predicted Putin’s speech would address Moscow’s fallout with the West — and Putin began with strong words for those countries that have provided Kyiv with crucial military support and warned them against supplying any longer-range weapons.
“It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it,” Putin said before an audience of lawmakers, state officials and soldiers who have fought in Ukraine.
Putin also accused the West of taking aim at Russian culture, religion and values because it is aware that “it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.”
Likewise, he said Western sanctions would have no effect, saying they hadn’t “achieved anything and will not achieve anything.”
Underscoring the anticipation ahead of the speech, some state TV channels put out a countdown for the event starting on Monday.
Reflecting the Kremlin’s clampdown on free speech and press, this year it barred media from “unfriendly” countries, the list of which includes the U.S., the U.K. and those in the EU. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said journalists from those nations will be able to cover the speech by watching the broadcast.
He previously told reporters that the speech’s delay had to do with Putin’s “work schedule,” but Russian media reports linked it to the setbacks of Russian forces. The Russian president postponed the state-of-the-nation address before, in 2017.
Last year, the Kremlin also canceled two other big annual events — Putin’s press conference and a highly scripted phone-in marathon where people ask the president questions.
Analysts expected Putin’s speech would be tough in the wake of Biden’s visit to Kyiv on Monday. In his his own speech later Tuesday, Biden is expected to highlight the commitment of the central European country and other allies to Ukraine over the past year.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden’s address would not be “some kind of head to head” with Putin’s.
“This is not a rhetorical contest with anyone else,” said.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-politics-de0af48be7ea480ccb0175f55a065363
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‘Treason!’ Wagner boss slams Russia’s military leaders
They want to ‘destroy’ Wagner, says Yevgeny Prigozhin about Russia’s defense minister and army chief.
A feud in the Russian military is beginning to boil over.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the private Wagner Group, has claimed that the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, are trying to “destroy” Wagner — marking an escalation in hostilities between the influential paramilitary boss and Russia’s military establishment.
“The chief of the general staff and the minister of defense are giving away orders to the left and right, which say that Wagner PMC should not only not be given ammo, but also no help with air transport,” Prigozhin is heard saying in a voice message posted on the Telegram channel of his company Concord’s press service Tuesday.
“There is a direct counterwork,” he said, and an “attempt to destroy PMC Wagner.”
Prigozhin also said that the military leadership’s actions could amount to “treason” at a time when his group is fighting to capture Ukraine’s Bakhmut with hundreds of its fighters.
The Wagner Group has brought in tens of thousands of prisoners from Russia to fight on the Ukrainian front line to help Moscow boost its eastern offensive.
Prigozhin’s remarks are another sign of infighting in the Russian military. Ultranationalist figures such as Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov have long pushed for a restructuring of the top echelons of the military command.
The Wagner boss has been continuously increasing power in the shrinking inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, detailed in cables and documents obtained and analyzed by POLITICO.
https://www.politico.eu/article/yev...ias-top-military-leaders-for-alleged-treason/
They want to ‘destroy’ Wagner, says Yevgeny Prigozhin about Russia’s defense minister and army chief.
A feud in the Russian military is beginning to boil over.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the private Wagner Group, has claimed that the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, are trying to “destroy” Wagner — marking an escalation in hostilities between the influential paramilitary boss and Russia’s military establishment.
“The chief of the general staff and the minister of defense are giving away orders to the left and right, which say that Wagner PMC should not only not be given ammo, but also no help with air transport,” Prigozhin is heard saying in a voice message posted on the Telegram channel of his company Concord’s press service Tuesday.
“There is a direct counterwork,” he said, and an “attempt to destroy PMC Wagner.”
Prigozhin also said that the military leadership’s actions could amount to “treason” at a time when his group is fighting to capture Ukraine’s Bakhmut with hundreds of its fighters.
The Wagner Group has brought in tens of thousands of prisoners from Russia to fight on the Ukrainian front line to help Moscow boost its eastern offensive.
Prigozhin’s remarks are another sign of infighting in the Russian military. Ultranationalist figures such as Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov have long pushed for a restructuring of the top echelons of the military command.
The Wagner boss has been continuously increasing power in the shrinking inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, detailed in cables and documents obtained and analyzed by POLITICO.
https://www.politico.eu/article/yev...ias-top-military-leaders-for-alleged-treason/
UKRAINEFAN
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UKRAINEFAN
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Here is a video about a really nice young Ukrainian man whose hobby is dropping grenades from drones onto russian soldiers. He believes has killed way over 500 in the last six months. I estimated that for the cost of one F16, 4600 of these Mavic3 drones could be purchased, Seems obvious where the money should go...
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UKRAINEFAN
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yankeesince59
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Putin's house of cards will hopefully soon come falling down around him...while he's trying to force his will on Ukraine, he's also ruining his own country.
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Belarusian foreign minister died by suicide after meeting Putin’s officials: report
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...d=hpmsn&cvid=f081c87341944c59a127e991b6e35a26
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...d=hpmsn&cvid=f081c87341944c59a127e991b6e35a26
UKRAINEFAN
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@Tince must not read this thread cuz my math was off by one digit. I think that 40,000 of these $1600 drones could be bought for the price of a 64 million dollar F16. This guy kills or wounds about 50 russians a day. What if there was just 100 guys trained to use these and they lost two a day. They could operate for 200 days. Let's say they are only half as efficient as this guy. That would be 2500 russians a day. In 200 days that would be 500,000 russians. They only have at most 350.000 in Ukraine so even if some were able to go back into combat, for practical purposes they would be wiped out.
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Tince
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LOL keep me out of these threads. Enough people hate me already!
Phatguysrule
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Some good points on why the nuclear threat from Russia is incredibly low.
Phatguysrule
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UKRAINEFAN
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It's insane and criminal what they do to their own soldiers.
UKRAINEFAN
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Day 365. Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. Vuhledar under heavy shelling. Prigozhin showed a photo of killed Wagner mercenaries and accused Russian leadership of a lack of ammunition.
UKRAINEFAN
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This clown is on his way out. Unfortunately he sacrificed tens of thousands in suicidal attacks.
UKRAINEFAN
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Month by month summary of the first year of war.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/02/24/one-year-of-russias-war-against-ukraine-as-it-happened/
https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/02/24/one-year-of-russias-war-against-ukraine-as-it-happened/
UKRAINEFAN
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On the war anniversary, Ukraine reminded russians why it was a bad idea to invade. Almost a thousand Orcs, 13 tanks, 11 artillery systems, 3 MLRS and 3 air defense systems.
Phatguysrule
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noknobs
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Unfortunately he's once again getting ammunition and it's looking like a foregone conclusion that they'll eventually surround Bakhmut.
UKRAINEFAN
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Day 366. One year since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over 80% of Ukrainians believe in victory over Russia.
UKRAINEFAN
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Probably so, but I never count the Ukrainians out.
ehizzy3
RIP mgb
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dont trust Xi
yankeesince59
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Riv, I've thought for a long time now that Xi is just sitting back and closely watching what's going on in Ukraine. And whatever we and the rest of the world do to show that Putin can't/won't get away with bullying other countries is key, because if we don't put Putin in his place, make no mistake about it, Xi will do the very same thing with Taiwan.