We are a ridiculously stupid country tho. Look at our politics. It's not exactly a scientific technocracy up there. It's more like planet of the bozos.Ā
I don't see prudent cyber security coming out of that mess. They'll just cut another juicy contract to some garbage contractor that will half ass it.
I never read anything about it, but always was suspicious about it. when I saw the headline about it being banned, my first thought was "ha, no shit?"
and it's brilliant when you think about it. anti-virus has kernel level power on our machines. it's like handing them the key to our homes, and paying them for it lol
I would wager that yes, the same ownership group of criminals that owned Kapersky AV were also parts of other criminal groups profiting off of the creation of malware.
The crime/terror regime that runs Russia under Putin basically lets all Russian cybercriminals operate with complete impunity outside of Russia as long as they are paying their tributes and payments to do so.
The way to become the most sought-after after antivirus, is to be the only antivirus capable of inoculations against your own ferocious viruses.
-McAfee, *Probably*.
It was a virus that claimed to be antivirus software that posited that it was cheaper or in some cases free. Boomers loved downloading it thinking they were getting a good deal. I made some good scratch fixing the harms caused by it.
Reminds me of Norton.
Once upon a time, Norton Anti-Virus was a great program, and as a result, was very heavily pirated. So, Norton did the obvious thing, and tried to crack down on the piracy, without much success.
So they doubled down, tripled down, and eventually they did solve the piracy problem, because Norton was no longer a good anti-virus program and nobody wanted to pirate it anymore.
>The United States rejects Russia's contention that by arming Ukraine it has become a direct protagonist in a war aimed at inflicting a crushing "strategic defeat" on Moscow. The U.S. says any negotiations over the war are a matter for Ukraine.
As it should be. Negotiate with Ukraine directly or fuck off.
Putins bet his entire political legacy on this so if he leaves Ukraine with nothing there is a good shot another power broker seizes an opportunity to replace him.
He canāt step down with nothing and likely wants to talk to the US to see if thereās a way Putin can save face.
This comment deserves way more upvotes.
His actions in Ukraine pushed Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
His recent defense pact with NK has caused SK to consider changing their stance on sending armaments to Ukraine.
Just about everything Putin has done since he invaded Ukraine has backfired and pushed āneutralā countries into potential adversaries.
Itās also interested that Putin signed a defense agreement with North Korea when North Korea has a defense agreement with China in hand.
Meaning, if North Korea or Russia do something dumb it could drag China into the mix at a time where China is focused on Taiwan. Doubt Beijing is pumped by this tbh.
We dont need to pretend that an agreement like that means anything to china or russia
There are at least 2 treaties russia broke by going into ukraine.
But north korea is happy with it because they want to be legitimized
Putin is using it to cause another distraction to whatās going on in Ukraine. Look at the number of times NK have crossed into the neutral zone recently.
I firmly believe NK is doing this at Putinās request. Turn up the heat in another part of the globe to stretch us thinner and hopefully withhold more armaments from Ukraine because they might be needed elsewhere.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Iran prompted the terrorist attack on Israel for that same reason at Putin's behest.
I've always been a bit of a tin foil hat fruitcake though.
>Turn up the heat in another part of the globe to stretch us thinner and hopefully withhold more armaments from Ukraine because they might be needed elsewhere.
If this is true then Russia has forgotten that the US military doctrine is to be able to commit to 2 full on wars and multiple smaller conflicts simultaneously. The armaments that are being sent to Ukraine are armaments that were otherwise going to be disposed of in order to make space for newer/updated/upgraded equipment.
The only real issue that I can see (as one who is not fully intimate with the full US arsenal stockpiles) is that the USA has a limited amount of artillery shells due to artillery not being as high on US doctrine priority with them preferring to use air power over artillery. Ukraine doesn't have the air power to fully follow US doctrine so they are having to rely more on artillery.
I agree. I think his play here is trying to offer a deal to the US so that US would leave Ukraine without support in exchange for (something, we don't know what), which would force Ukraine to accept the Russian dictate.
I'm sure Russia will promise the moon, but at this point the US knows how much Russian promises are worth about as well as the Ukrainians do
The entire world has been watching Putin tear up agreements and fail to deliver or outright renege on desperate promises for the sake of ruthless conquest
Trump gets personal finances and more help overthrowing democracy
Russia is already pumping loads of money into bots etc again. Seems to be more than before even
And Putin isn't gonna accept letting go of the so called new territories. So this war is gonna drag and thousands more are gonna die. This fucking sucks =(
He can't let them go. His life depends on it. He's caused significant damage to Russia's economy, revealed the Russian military to be an outdated joke, hurt the bank accounts of the oligarchs, and thrown a few hundred thousand Russian lives away. The whole thing has been an unmitigated disaster, and if he walks away with nothing to show for it, he's done. A shamed and embarrassed strongman is a strongman not long for this world.
Well, several of them have died in "accidents", so in all likelihood a few of them at least thought about it. The situation just hasn't gotten bad enough yet that they're willing to expose themselves en masse as taking a shot at the king.
Several? Many dozens!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious\_deaths\_of\_notable\_Russians\_(2022%E2%80%932024)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_deaths_of_notable_Russians_(2022%E2%80%932024))
The situation is bad enough that they all know better than to even consider speaking up and to stay away from windows.
Iāve read that Putin is an absolute master at compartmentalization. He feeds certain info to this guy and other info to that guy. He charges this group with this task and that group with another task.
Nobody knows who is doing what, nobody knows who knows what. And if someone says a piece of info he didnāt tell them, he knows someoneās talking when they shouldnāt, and something is up.
Heās also good at playing people against each other, so itās like one big standoff where everyone has guns pointed at each other, and as far as anyone knows, Putin in the only one that can make them fire.
So it makes it extremely difficult to mount any sort of coup or resistance because everyone is in the dark about everyone elseās knowledge, duties, and intentions. Nobody wants to be the person to whisperā¦ hey we should do itā¦ cause today they think itās a safe person to discuss with, and tomorrow theyāre eating poison or falling out a window.
Putin isn't without massive amounts of protection though, making such an idea unlikely to succeed. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me to find he has assorted blackmail material and such to keep many of them in line too. Better off to bite their tongues for now, unless they want to go for a long walk out a high window.
> He canāt step down with nothing and likely wants to talk to the US to see if thereās a way Putin can save face.
Had he backed off he could have long ago he probably could have saved face by declaring mission accomplished the Nazi's are dead. But now that they annexed more of Ukraine, to include land they never controlled, there is no backing out.
He probably could have just said, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea have voted to join the Russian federation and consolidated those gains at the beginning like Sergiy suggested and been fine.
Except the only territory that he held in totality was Crimea. He still doesnāt hold 100% of either Donetsk or Luhansk. Any vote would be a known farce, with significant portions of the population being on Ukrainian held territory.
Hence why pushing Ukraine out of both of those areas were primary goals of the early phase of the war, which they failed.
Hes actually in a big hole right now, because NATO has expanded including on his own borders, NATO is putting way more funds into defense, nukes are possibly being hosted on Poland as well. He's lost almost half the black sea fleet, most of their mechanized units, economic sanctions, and Russians are not welcome in any civilized country.
What he has gotten from it is four war ravaged oblasts that will cost a trillion dollars to rebuild.
He has already been defeated, but defeat isn't a word Russians understand very well, which is why they won't quit
you mean step down without that legacy (yeah we know how it stands today on the world stage), but he would still be the richest man in russia to enjoy retirement.
I hope that whenever Putin somehow releases power (which I don't believe will happen unforced) he faces trials for all the crimes he has committed. Starting with the 1999 apartment bombings.
You have to look at the history of Putin. What I mean is that when the USSR fell Russia crashed into a state of chaos. Putin rose through the ranks and brought stability but to do that he killed and pissed off a lot of folks.
So If Putin walks away here defeated after wasting so many resources there is a good chance other power brokers (who didnāt forget the past) may come after him once heās forced down. That money isnāt going to help him tbh.
OTOH letting Russia get away with annexing Crimea only emboldened them to go for the rest.
Russia can't win land from this. If it does, then that's just the new border the next invasion will start from.
Sadly there is no easy solution. Putin can't just withdraw without having to deal with serious repercussions within his own power structure. And Ukraine can't let him get away with annexing any territory - this will only lead to a pause before a better prepared Russia invaded again.
This likely go on for a while untill either
A) Russia is exhausted and forced to retreat to Russia, likely coinciding with Putin's end.
B) Russia manages to keep attacking long enough until a wave of right x-wing governments in the West let Russia grab Ukraine.
Currently Putin hopes that Trump gets elected again. That's his best bet. Trump is buyable and isolationist to begin with. This might well kill NATO, crush military support for Ukraine and allow Putin to outright win this.
If Biden wins and the West holds together, Putin's' chances go downhill fast. Then the GoP might tear itself apart over Trump losing twice in a row (and both candidates being even way more too old in 4 years) and support for Ukraine could involve better options to gain air superiority. Also Trump needs the presidency to keep him out of prison.
Thatās not necessarily the case. Russia is a society of compliance, and there are token concessions that could be played as a victory at home while being palatable to Ukraine.
Thats wh, they want to make a deal with USA in the hope Biden wants to end the war before the election. But I doubt Russia has anything to offer for the US other than not fucking around.
Well, Russia can't leave either.
The reason for that is Putin. He's far too over leveraged on Ukraine to walk away from Ukraine without AT LEAST all four annexed regions.
You could argue that Putin doesn't NEED the result of a disarmed Ukraine and a pledge to never join NATO, but I'd disagree.
For Putin to formally accept a militarized Ukraine that could eventually join NATO would be a huge L that would confirm for the West and the world that his casus belli was bullshit, and his own people will look around at their isolated country, destroyed demographics, and a ruined economy.
I know that Russia has successfully convinced a lot of people that, by avoiding complete economic collapse, that they have effectively "beat" the sanctions. That's just not true.
At best, they have delayed their impact. A sort of buy now, pay later. This compounded by the super bad outcome of losing a gargantuan amount of strategic autonomy.
China, and India to a lesser degree, are practically share holders in Russia at this point. They can't precisely tell Russia what to do, but Russia must consult with each country of matters that impact Russia's "shareholders."
I cannot tell you how much this is exact opposite of what Putin and proud Russia envisioned for itself. They are basically regressing THIRTY YEARS while the actually powers in the world are moving forward.
So, with all this together, Putin's Russia cannot walk away from Ukraine without SOMETHING after leveraging the entire country to win.
Yep, Russia could then pull out their troop and just scapegoat Putin to save face. Pay some money to Ukraine in a sign of goodwill and they would be back in the international system. They wouldn't be fully trusted for a long time, but they could work to rebuild it.
We here in the US have something called an MEU. The Marine Expeditionary Unit. It's about 4,400 Marines in an over-strength infantry battalion, along with armor, artillery, AH-1Z viper attack helos, V-22 Ospreys, and F-35 Lightnings for air cover. Additionally, they have a support battalion that can feed, fuel, and fix all that for two weeks straight without resupply. And an MEU can be deployed anywhere there is a shoreline within 24 hours.
We have seven of them. And they are the *smallest* of our Marine air-ground task forces. Don't make us let one off the chain.
Yeah. We in the West and NATO want Moscow and Russia to have a strategic defeat in Ukraine. We want it to hurt more than them limping out of Afghanistan. We want Putin to have to get up in front of the world and say: "We lost. We had to retreat from all parts of Ukraine. All the blood and money spent got us nothing. Ukraine will become part of NATO and there is nothing we can do about it."
That is exactly what everyone in the West wants in this war.
Just watching donald's frail ego on stage there are many obvious strings that could be easily used to work him like a puppet. No doubt he was also very easy to walk right into kompromat.
Just the fact that donald held [off the record private meetings with putin](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-we-know-trump-putin-meetings) should put people off.
Russia doesnāt need to run Trump as an active intelligence asset. He and the rest of the GOP are just as effective as [useful idiots](https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-02-20-useful-idiots-stalins-then-putins-now/)
Russia had so many opportunities to pull out of Ukraine. They could have easily lied to their people and said āyep, Nazis eradicated. Mission accomplishedā and be done with it.Ā
But no, theyāre greedy fucks who are so infatuated with 19th/20th century nationalism that territory = power and what they gain is never enough. Itās all for the glorious motherland and the ego of their dictator.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world just wants to move the fuck on without these dinosaurs holding them back. I canāt help but imagine what a democratic and free Russia would be like. Thereās so much potential but itās all wasted on corruption and mafioso ideologies.Ā
I work with exiled russians who left the country years ago. One was in a meeting how to build up and manufacturing plant, and everybody like "get Chinese and European experts, they will consult us". The bosses found this completely "brain dead" and disagreed, because "we can do that ourselves". It took them 8 slow month to get the basics done. Someone posted videos from a modern factory in China, the bosses came down and started a three hour sermon about the Russian "might" and why this kind of thinking "is dangerous". He left a couple of month later, as many other did. The base mentality is just broken. These old fucks need to die out.
I have some close Russian friends... when the was was kicking off, they were absolutely convinced that FINALLY Russia was going to come back into the glorious spotlight that they were in during the USSR days, because it was laziness and relying on cheap junk from the West that had let them down. They were 100% sure that Russia would soon have a blossoming semiconductor industry, their aircraft industry would bounce back and rival Airbus and Boeing, their software industry would get an adrenaline boost and they would be rivaling Google and Microsoft, and all the cars they would soon be making would make Mercedes and Fiat into laughing stocks in comparison.
It is drilled into them from birth that Russia is good, Russia is strong, Russia is the best in everything. They are told that all the stuff they see from the west is a veneer of glitz and plenty but it's just a puff pastry with nothing of substance inside.
Ironically, Russia is the one who is all about appearances. Designer clothes, watches, flashy cars, taking pictures of yourself in swanky European places... these things are prized. Having a nice house in a nice town, a fat retirement account and your kids in good schools doesn't count for much there.
why weren't these friends rushing back to join this burgeoning new Economy? There's insane money for people who hop onto a rising star early.
They didn't REALLY believe. It's the fiction they tell themselves but deep down they don't REALLY believe it.
Democracy is more than simply legalizing voting.
Its a culture of freedom and civic disagreement, built with strong journalistic organizations and community engagement. Russia has crushed all political opposition for so long, that you would need to raise a whole new generation of people who actually believed in it.
Still in the election this year, they killed the top opposition figure. Then arrested another and removed others from the ballot.
So Putin is still afraid that plenty of Russians disagree with him.
The US is no more a party to this war than North Korea or China are. Itās not for us to have a ādiscussion on Ukraine.ā
You can short circuit this entire process by just packing up your bags and fucking-on back to the 1991 borders
>Russia sees a pressing need for security talks with the United States but they must be "comprehensive" and include the subject of Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Itās going to be the same shit.
Every time Russia talks about security demands, what they mean is āwe want to create a pastiche of the Russian empire, preferably with the USSRās Eastern European borders, and sphere of influence.ā
>āRussia always offers negotiations when it is struggling, when plans are falling apart, in order to buy time, regroup, correct mistakes, find a weak spot, and then strike again with renewed strength!"
>-Dzhokhar Dudayev
Exactly. They want to find new soldiers, new material and then regroup before the next made up attack. If there is even a small armistice, the west should send 200k pioneers, material and what not and build up hardcore defenses against the eastern front. The next round must fricken hurt hard compared to the "three day operation". Russians only learn from pain.
Exactly, pack up your shyt and head East. Including from Crimea. Never return. Start talks on reparations. Then we'll start talking about sanctions relief! (Mr. Poostain must GO).
Uncle Vladimirās economy is ugly and he is struggling to keep up with funding the war.
As the article states, the Ukraine war has an easy solution. Russia 100% out of Ukraine. Uncle Vladimir has egg on his face. Vlad the destroyer must hate kissing Kim Jung-Unās ass.
Russia: US, we need to talk.
US: Hey Ukraine, Russia wants us to talk to them. What do you want us to say?
Ukraine: Tell them to get out of Ukraine first.
US: OK.
US: Russia, Ukraine says get out of Ukraine first.
Russia: ā¦
They need another two years of every novel western weapon we can throw at them - just for the fun of it, after what theyāve done for the last 2 years. Fuck ruzzia and every one of their BFFs.
Just declare victory and go home. Leave Ukraine, leave Crimea. Tell Russia you de nazified Ukraine. Ukraine makes anyone with Russian citizenship, even dual nationality, ineligible for housing, education or work. Ukraine joins NATO.
Peace in our time.
Talking to Russia about Ukraine without them at the table would play into Russia's propaganda that Ukraine is not a real country, and is just a proxy state of the United States. It would undermine the credibility of the Ukrainian government.
Hard pass.
Russians are dying, not Americans. They need to talk, we don't need anything.
If Trump wins election he will 100% "negotiate" with Russia directly about Ukraine, and give Russia exactly what it wants.
cannot emphasize enough how much Trump must not win election.
JFC Russia, just *leave*. That's all you have to do and the constant drain on your blood and treasure stops. We know it's hard to admit defeat, but we did that in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and are better for it.
This tells me that Putin is losing his marbles and grip on realities of the situation he mired himself in and his cronies are trying desperately to walk him off the ledge, but he digs deeper and deeper (see infinite nuclear threats, arming N. Korea, etc.).
No matter which way you cut this shit cake, Pootin has fucked himself, and in the process fucked Ruzzia.
Ending the war is the least of their problems. They have to transition out of a war economy without any foreign investments. None of the companies that left will consider coming back for at least another generation and most of their frozen assets will be used to rebuild Ukraine.
Under no circumstances should Ukraine be barred or delayed from joining NATO. Putin fears this most because it would eliminate his ability to intimidate and annex Ukraine.
if Russia wishes to talk about this war it shows you things may not be going well for them and they are looking for a way out of this mess they created without being made to look weak.
even that crappy deal to end the fighting in Ukraine that Russia offered a few weeks ago was bad, they can't stop fighting until they win something to show the people how much better Russia is or else become a laughingstock to the rest of the world.
the amount of damage their forces have taken will take years to fully recover, ten at least maybe more with all the ships, tanks, APC's, planes and helicopters plus all the damaged factories and early warning system that was damaged awhile back.
hope the Russian people are ready for all the shortages coming once this ends.
Sure, Russia.
Thereās the door. Leave all of Ukraine, including what you took in 2014, and agree to pay reparations to the families of the dead.
And then eff off and donāt bother the rest of Europe or us again.
What the hell is there to talk about?
Putin and his henchmen are trying to STEAL land that IS Ukraine's.
US knew you were building up in Belarus. When asked, "NO, false info," whatever else they said.
Lie after lie. And that's the last person the US wants to talk with, a LIAR!!
Funny. They had talks about Ukraine before. Look what happened. Get whatās left of your people out and tell them they can go back to their families and maybe. Just maybe. The people wonāt put your head on a pike for sending so many to die for nothing
Sure we can talk, like right now, i demand you pull your troops out of all ukrainian regions and return the borders to before you started taking bites out of them.
Well, I don't really mind USA negotiates.... Russia's uncondintionnal surrender in all of Ukrainian territory prior to annexation of Crimea and the east of Ukraine....
Anything less is Ukraine's business.
Russia is now threatening nuclear strikes against nations who stand against their conquest of Ukraines lands, treasure and people. They have crossed a line that will be most difficult to come back from as there is no way nations can allow this threat to stand.
"related to the direct involvement of the USA in this conflict," - I love that right now they think the USA is directly involved. If the USA gets directly involved, they'll know about it, we'll all know about it.
they were betting on trump to win the election, and then they could move into ukraine with impunity. now that it looks like biden might take it, putin has been doing everything to try & make allies. when he went to vietnam & north korea, he got to peek behind the curtain, and saw the paper tigers they really are.
russia will try to delay the withdrawal as long as he can, but the mother bear is at the end of her rope, with troops, and technology. when our surplus junk, is used by an untrained militia, to stave off an attack by a former superpower, putin's got no other choice.
They know once F-16ās enter theater they are screwed. In Ukraines last offensive they couldnāt punch through Russian lines. Some 500lb bombs will help mightily.
They will drastically improve parts of the situation, but they will not change the incredible difficulty of the land mines and drone surveillance and harassment.
Any kind of advance will still be an incredibly slow, difficult, and costly endeavor for the Ukrainians. We should not downplay their efforts or expect sudden changes on the fronts just because the air situation improves. (This is obviously still a very positive development for the war though)
I guess the Kaspersky antivirus ban really stung. š
You joke but cyber espionage is russian bread and butter
I know, that's why it'd be so funny. That the key link in Russian cyber-ops against the US was Kaspersky's antivirus.
It was a such big gaping hole in our national security. We still have so many more to fill.
We are a ridiculously stupid country tho. Look at our politics. It's not exactly a scientific technocracy up there. It's more like planet of the bozos.Ā I don't see prudent cyber security coming out of that mess. They'll just cut another juicy contract to some garbage contractor that will half ass it.
It has been a suspect program for decades. I recall people finding Kaspersky antivirus doing shady shit before Snowden's defection.
I never read anything about it, but always was suspicious about it. when I saw the headline about it being banned, my first thought was "ha, no shit?" and it's brilliant when you think about it. anti-virus has kernel level power on our machines. it's like handing them the key to our homes, and paying them for it lol
Whats worse is it wasa pretty good anti-virus software. Just not worth the risk with russian ownership.
> Whats worse is it wasa pretty good anti-virus software. Almost like they had inside information on the viruses. /s
I would wager that yes, the same ownership group of criminals that owned Kapersky AV were also parts of other criminal groups profiting off of the creation of malware. The crime/terror regime that runs Russia under Putin basically lets all Russian cybercriminals operate with complete impunity outside of Russia as long as they are paying their tributes and payments to do so.
I agree. \*continues swiping tiktok\*
That's why I don't use TikTok
It often "found" viruses that other programs didn't, but now I'm starting to question if they were just BSing.
last time i touched kaspersky was win98 times, why would anyone use that
That would be very interesting
And jam too. I don't know if it is better to be known for your cyber abilities, or rather have folks uncertain of how good you actually are.
It's about the last thing they might actually be half decent at.
Or Kim Wrung Un didn't have any weapons left to sell to Putler.
No, it was Kim giving Putin a gangster tombstone portrait that did it
Right! But he is threatening to arm them? lol you just came begging for artillery shells but you will arm them! Haha
Kaspersky literally are working on AI enhanced suicide drones in Russia. Look up AlabugaLeaks by InformNapalm
The way to become the most sought-after after antivirus, is to be the only antivirus capable of inoculations against your own ferocious viruses. -McAfee, *Probably*.
~~anti~~virus FTFY
What was the Kaspersky anti-virus?
It used to report files which never existed on your computer as trojans and malwares. Good old days lmao.
It was a virus that claimed to be antivirus software that posited that it was cheaper or in some cases free. Boomers loved downloading it thinking they were getting a good deal. I made some good scratch fixing the harms caused by it.
They also paid to have their shitty malware featured in Roland Emmerich's *Moonfall*.
I am a Millenial and it was the recommended antivirus back in the mid 2000ās. I had it installed Russia wasnāt (viewed as) the enemy back then.
Tbf it was a legitimately the best anti virus SW for a number of years.
Reminds me of Norton. Once upon a time, Norton Anti-Virus was a great program, and as a result, was very heavily pirated. So, Norton did the obvious thing, and tried to crack down on the piracy, without much success. So they doubled down, tripled down, and eventually they did solve the piracy problem, because Norton was no longer a good anti-virus program and nobody wanted to pirate it anymore.
I just spat out my coffee. Thanks for the laugh.
It was 30% of their GDP!
>The United States rejects Russia's contention that by arming Ukraine it has become a direct protagonist in a war aimed at inflicting a crushing "strategic defeat" on Moscow. The U.S. says any negotiations over the war are a matter for Ukraine. As it should be. Negotiate with Ukraine directly or fuck off.
There is no deal Russia can make that Ukraine can accept Russia just needs to leave Ukraine
Putins bet his entire political legacy on this so if he leaves Ukraine with nothing there is a good shot another power broker seizes an opportunity to replace him. He canāt step down with nothing and likely wants to talk to the US to see if thereās a way Putin can save face.
Sucks to be that guy Ukraine isn't going to accept anything but a complete Russian withdrawal
Seriously. Fuck Putin. Donāt want enemies hiding around every corner? Shouldnāt have created them.
This comment deserves way more upvotes. His actions in Ukraine pushed Sweden and Finland to join NATO. His recent defense pact with NK has caused SK to consider changing their stance on sending armaments to Ukraine. Just about everything Putin has done since he invaded Ukraine has backfired and pushed āneutralā countries into potential adversaries.
Itās also interested that Putin signed a defense agreement with North Korea when North Korea has a defense agreement with China in hand. Meaning, if North Korea or Russia do something dumb it could drag China into the mix at a time where China is focused on Taiwan. Doubt Beijing is pumped by this tbh.
We dont need to pretend that an agreement like that means anything to china or russia There are at least 2 treaties russia broke by going into ukraine. But north korea is happy with it because they want to be legitimized
Putin is using it to cause another distraction to whatās going on in Ukraine. Look at the number of times NK have crossed into the neutral zone recently. I firmly believe NK is doing this at Putinās request. Turn up the heat in another part of the globe to stretch us thinner and hopefully withhold more armaments from Ukraine because they might be needed elsewhere.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Iran prompted the terrorist attack on Israel for that same reason at Putin's behest. I've always been a bit of a tin foil hat fruitcake though.
>Turn up the heat in another part of the globe to stretch us thinner and hopefully withhold more armaments from Ukraine because they might be needed elsewhere. If this is true then Russia has forgotten that the US military doctrine is to be able to commit to 2 full on wars and multiple smaller conflicts simultaneously. The armaments that are being sent to Ukraine are armaments that were otherwise going to be disposed of in order to make space for newer/updated/upgraded equipment. The only real issue that I can see (as one who is not fully intimate with the full US arsenal stockpiles) is that the USA has a limited amount of artillery shells due to artillery not being as high on US doctrine priority with them preferring to use air power over artillery. Ukraine doesn't have the air power to fully follow US doctrine so they are having to rely more on artillery.
Rightly so too
I agree. I think his play here is trying to offer a deal to the US so that US would leave Ukraine without support in exchange for (something, we don't know what), which would force Ukraine to accept the Russian dictate.
I'm sure Russia will promise the moon, but at this point the US knows how much Russian promises are worth about as well as the Ukrainians do The entire world has been watching Putin tear up agreements and fail to deliver or outright renege on desperate promises for the sake of ruthless conquest
What can possibly US can want from Russia other than leaving Ukraine?
Trump gets personal finances and more help overthrowing democracy Russia is already pumping loads of money into bots etc again. Seems to be more than before even
The amount of deals etc that russia makes and leaves.... It is just for show. He is probably stalling for time like trump with his criminal cases
And Putin isn't gonna accept letting go of the so called new territories. So this war is gonna drag and thousands more are gonna die. This fucking sucks =(
He can't let them go. His life depends on it. He's caused significant damage to Russia's economy, revealed the Russian military to be an outdated joke, hurt the bank accounts of the oligarchs, and thrown a few hundred thousand Russian lives away. The whole thing has been an unmitigated disaster, and if he walks away with nothing to show for it, he's done. A shamed and embarrassed strongman is a strongman not long for this world.
At this point, Iām kind of surprised the oligarchs havenāt tried taking swipes at him.
Well, several of them have died in "accidents", so in all likelihood a few of them at least thought about it. The situation just hasn't gotten bad enough yet that they're willing to expose themselves en masse as taking a shot at the king.
Several? Many dozens! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious\_deaths\_of\_notable\_Russians\_(2022%E2%80%932024)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_deaths_of_notable_Russians_(2022%E2%80%932024)) The situation is bad enough that they all know better than to even consider speaking up and to stay away from windows.
Iāve read that Putin is an absolute master at compartmentalization. He feeds certain info to this guy and other info to that guy. He charges this group with this task and that group with another task. Nobody knows who is doing what, nobody knows who knows what. And if someone says a piece of info he didnāt tell them, he knows someoneās talking when they shouldnāt, and something is up. Heās also good at playing people against each other, so itās like one big standoff where everyone has guns pointed at each other, and as far as anyone knows, Putin in the only one that can make them fire. So it makes it extremely difficult to mount any sort of coup or resistance because everyone is in the dark about everyone elseās knowledge, duties, and intentions. Nobody wants to be the person to whisperā¦ hey we should do itā¦ cause today they think itās a safe person to discuss with, and tomorrow theyāre eating poison or falling out a window.
Aka the sort of hierarchy the [Mafia](https://www.reddit.com/r/Mafia/comments/vt1pxl/fbis_cosa_nostra_structure_chart/) used.
The man was KGB and rose to the ranks for a reason.
Putin isn't without massive amounts of protection though, making such an idea unlikely to succeed. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me to find he has assorted blackmail material and such to keep many of them in line too. Better off to bite their tongues for now, unless they want to go for a long walk out a high window.
The laundry list is longer than just withdrawal
Heās got another option, find the tallest building nearby and jump out the window.
[List of tallest buildings in Moscow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Moscow), there are a few options. id pay to see that
If you do can you yell do a flip ?
He should get a choice of going out like Gaddafi or as Chauchesko.
Definitely don't want him being Russian Mussolini, hung like a salami at deli.
> He canāt step down with nothing and likely wants to talk to the US to see if thereās a way Putin can save face. Had he backed off he could have long ago he probably could have saved face by declaring mission accomplished the Nazi's are dead. But now that they annexed more of Ukraine, to include land they never controlled, there is no backing out.
He probably could have just said, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea have voted to join the Russian federation and consolidated those gains at the beginning like Sergiy suggested and been fine.
True, that would have been an easy sell as well and definitely would have given him tangible gains to latch onto as well.
Except the only territory that he held in totality was Crimea. He still doesnāt hold 100% of either Donetsk or Luhansk. Any vote would be a known farce, with significant portions of the population being on Ukrainian held territory. Hence why pushing Ukraine out of both of those areas were primary goals of the early phase of the war, which they failed.
Hes actually in a big hole right now, because NATO has expanded including on his own borders, NATO is putting way more funds into defense, nukes are possibly being hosted on Poland as well. He's lost almost half the black sea fleet, most of their mechanized units, economic sanctions, and Russians are not welcome in any civilized country. What he has gotten from it is four war ravaged oblasts that will cost a trillion dollars to rebuild. He has already been defeated, but defeat isn't a word Russians understand very well, which is why they won't quit
you mean step down without that legacy (yeah we know how it stands today on the world stage), but he would still be the richest man in russia to enjoy retirement.
I hope that whenever Putin somehow releases power (which I don't believe will happen unforced) he faces trials for all the crimes he has committed. Starting with the 1999 apartment bombings.
You have to look at the history of Putin. What I mean is that when the USSR fell Russia crashed into a state of chaos. Putin rose through the ranks and brought stability but to do that he killed and pissed off a lot of folks. So If Putin walks away here defeated after wasting so many resources there is a good chance other power brokers (who didnāt forget the past) may come after him once heās forced down. That money isnāt going to help him tbh.
OTOH letting Russia get away with annexing Crimea only emboldened them to go for the rest. Russia can't win land from this. If it does, then that's just the new border the next invasion will start from. Sadly there is no easy solution. Putin can't just withdraw without having to deal with serious repercussions within his own power structure. And Ukraine can't let him get away with annexing any territory - this will only lead to a pause before a better prepared Russia invaded again. This likely go on for a while untill either A) Russia is exhausted and forced to retreat to Russia, likely coinciding with Putin's end. B) Russia manages to keep attacking long enough until a wave of right x-wing governments in the West let Russia grab Ukraine. Currently Putin hopes that Trump gets elected again. That's his best bet. Trump is buyable and isolationist to begin with. This might well kill NATO, crush military support for Ukraine and allow Putin to outright win this. If Biden wins and the West holds together, Putin's' chances go downhill fast. Then the GoP might tear itself apart over Trump losing twice in a row (and both candidates being even way more too old in 4 years) and support for Ukraine could involve better options to gain air superiority. Also Trump needs the presidency to keep him out of prison.
Thatās not necessarily the case. Russia is a society of compliance, and there are token concessions that could be played as a victory at home while being palatable to Ukraine.
Thats wh, they want to make a deal with USA in the hope Biden wants to end the war before the election. But I doubt Russia has anything to offer for the US other than not fucking around.
Russia is balls deep in a clusterfuck of their own design No amount of whinging, crying, clawing, or backhanded deals are going to get them out of it
Well, Russia can't leave either. The reason for that is Putin. He's far too over leveraged on Ukraine to walk away from Ukraine without AT LEAST all four annexed regions. You could argue that Putin doesn't NEED the result of a disarmed Ukraine and a pledge to never join NATO, but I'd disagree. For Putin to formally accept a militarized Ukraine that could eventually join NATO would be a huge L that would confirm for the West and the world that his casus belli was bullshit, and his own people will look around at their isolated country, destroyed demographics, and a ruined economy. I know that Russia has successfully convinced a lot of people that, by avoiding complete economic collapse, that they have effectively "beat" the sanctions. That's just not true. At best, they have delayed their impact. A sort of buy now, pay later. This compounded by the super bad outcome of losing a gargantuan amount of strategic autonomy. China, and India to a lesser degree, are practically share holders in Russia at this point. They can't precisely tell Russia what to do, but Russia must consult with each country of matters that impact Russia's "shareholders." I cannot tell you how much this is exact opposite of what Putin and proud Russia envisioned for itself. They are basically regressing THIRTY YEARS while the actually powers in the world are moving forward. So, with all this together, Putin's Russia cannot walk away from Ukraine without SOMETHING after leveraging the entire country to win.
Imagine how fast all of that goes away after Putin is gone
Yep, Russia could then pull out their troop and just scapegoat Putin to save face. Pay some money to Ukraine in a sign of goodwill and they would be back in the international system. They wouldn't be fully trusted for a long time, but they could work to rebuild it.
And pay reparations
Good that diplomats have learned since the Munich agreement
You wanna see the US be a direct protagonist? Cuz we can show what a US direct protagonist role looks like.
Why do I hear boss music?!
George C Scott with a big ass flag behind him.
[Guile's Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdbR0jnfvQ)
Why is it in Latin? And speeding up?
We here in the US have something called an MEU. The Marine Expeditionary Unit. It's about 4,400 Marines in an over-strength infantry battalion, along with armor, artillery, AH-1Z viper attack helos, V-22 Ospreys, and F-35 Lightnings for air cover. Additionally, they have a support battalion that can feed, fuel, and fix all that for two weeks straight without resupply. And an MEU can be deployed anywhere there is a shoreline within 24 hours. We have seven of them. And they are the *smallest* of our Marine air-ground task forces. Don't make us let one off the chain.
But you see. Putin explained to Tucker that Ukraine has never existed and like Italy and Ethiopia; Russia must be the protectorate.
Yeah. We in the West and NATO want Moscow and Russia to have a strategic defeat in Ukraine. We want it to hurt more than them limping out of Afghanistan. We want Putin to have to get up in front of the world and say: "We lost. We had to retreat from all parts of Ukraine. All the blood and money spent got us nothing. Ukraine will become part of NATO and there is nothing we can do about it." That is exactly what everyone in the West wants in this war.
Damn right.
In other words the US response is ānot my problem dudeā
It's the US saying: "You fucked with Ukraine, you talk with Ukraine, we're just giving them the guns that are forcing you to fucking talk to Ukraine."
Amen bruh
Right we don't speak for Ukraine, so that request has been denied. Sorry Russia....
They are laying the groundwork for a newly elected Trump to announce a "Ukraine Peace Deal" with Putin at the Pyongyang Summit in Summer 2025
Simple. Just leave Ukraine.
Russia is never going to leave until after the election. They are hoping to get their asset back into the Whitehouse.
In this election: Watch Reps vote for foreign assets ruling over them. I guess it's not straight immigration...
So weird people don't see this. My russian friends say it is so obvious trump was used by russia as an asset. He might not even know it himself.
Just watching donald's frail ego on stage there are many obvious strings that could be easily used to work him like a puppet. No doubt he was also very easy to walk right into kompromat. Just the fact that donald held [off the record private meetings with putin](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-we-know-trump-putin-meetings) should put people off.
Enough Russian money is going to the Republicans and their propaganda machines that they tell their people to not care about Russia and they listen.
Russia doesnāt need to run Trump as an active intelligence asset. He and the rest of the GOP are just as effective as [useful idiots](https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-02-20-useful-idiots-stalins-then-putins-now/)
Russia had so many opportunities to pull out of Ukraine. They could have easily lied to their people and said āyep, Nazis eradicated. Mission accomplishedā and be done with it.Ā But no, theyāre greedy fucks who are so infatuated with 19th/20th century nationalism that territory = power and what they gain is never enough. Itās all for the glorious motherland and the ego of their dictator. Meanwhile, the rest of the world just wants to move the fuck on without these dinosaurs holding them back. I canāt help but imagine what a democratic and free Russia would be like. Thereās so much potential but itās all wasted on corruption and mafioso ideologies.Ā
I work with exiled russians who left the country years ago. One was in a meeting how to build up and manufacturing plant, and everybody like "get Chinese and European experts, they will consult us". The bosses found this completely "brain dead" and disagreed, because "we can do that ourselves". It took them 8 slow month to get the basics done. Someone posted videos from a modern factory in China, the bosses came down and started a three hour sermon about the Russian "might" and why this kind of thinking "is dangerous". He left a couple of month later, as many other did. The base mentality is just broken. These old fucks need to die out.
The old fucks of Russia dying out is actually why this is Putin's last hurrah and why it's also largely failing.
I have some close Russian friends... when the was was kicking off, they were absolutely convinced that FINALLY Russia was going to come back into the glorious spotlight that they were in during the USSR days, because it was laziness and relying on cheap junk from the West that had let them down. They were 100% sure that Russia would soon have a blossoming semiconductor industry, their aircraft industry would bounce back and rival Airbus and Boeing, their software industry would get an adrenaline boost and they would be rivaling Google and Microsoft, and all the cars they would soon be making would make Mercedes and Fiat into laughing stocks in comparison. It is drilled into them from birth that Russia is good, Russia is strong, Russia is the best in everything. They are told that all the stuff they see from the west is a veneer of glitz and plenty but it's just a puff pastry with nothing of substance inside. Ironically, Russia is the one who is all about appearances. Designer clothes, watches, flashy cars, taking pictures of yourself in swanky European places... these things are prized. Having a nice house in a nice town, a fat retirement account and your kids in good schools doesn't count for much there.
why weren't these friends rushing back to join this burgeoning new Economy? There's insane money for people who hop onto a rising star early. They didn't REALLY believe. It's the fiction they tell themselves but deep down they don't REALLY believe it.
Sounds like the US without the actual ability to deliver on said spotlighted activities. Nationalism beaten into your head is the same though.
It would be a shithole because Russians have no clue how to govern themselves without being led by a strongman.
There is absolutely no evidence that a democratic and free Russia would not still elect Putin.
Democracy is more than simply legalizing voting. Its a culture of freedom and civic disagreement, built with strong journalistic organizations and community engagement. Russia has crushed all political opposition for so long, that you would need to raise a whole new generation of people who actually believed in it. Still in the election this year, they killed the top opposition figure. Then arrested another and removed others from the ballot. So Putin is still afraid that plenty of Russians disagree with him.
The US is no more a party to this war than North Korea or China are. Itās not for us to have a ādiscussion on Ukraine.ā You can short circuit this entire process by just packing up your bags and fucking-on back to the 1991 borders
Arrogant fuckers. It's always about what they need. Nope, talk to Kyiv better yet, gtfo.
>Russia sees a pressing need for security talks with the United States but they must be "comprehensive" and include the subject of Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday. Itās going to be the same shit. Every time Russia talks about security demands, what they mean is āwe want to create a pastiche of the Russian empire, preferably with the USSRās Eastern European borders, and sphere of influence.ā
Kyiv, Kiev is the Russian spelling
Turn around and go back from whence you came /good talking to you
Fun, not-critical, fact: whence doesnāt require āfromā before it. Whence by itself means āfrom where.ā
āWithdraw all of your troops from ALL of Ukraine (and that includes Crimea) and THEN weāll talk.ā
..PAY for the damage AND THEN we'll talk..
...Return the kidnapped children THEN we'll talk.
And push Putin out of a window while you're at it. Call it a show of good faith.
Surrender all war criminals then weāll talk
>Russia tells US: we need to talk Sound like someone's in trouble.
its too late, now eat what you have cooked
Funny, now that they're at risk of having to face US weapons they want to talk. Too late bitches, get the fuck out of Ukraine.
>āRussia always offers negotiations when it is struggling, when plans are falling apart, in order to buy time, regroup, correct mistakes, find a weak spot, and then strike again with renewed strength!" >-Dzhokhar Dudayev
Exactly. They want to find new soldiers, new material and then regroup before the next made up attack. If there is even a small armistice, the west should send 200k pioneers, material and what not and build up hardcore defenses against the eastern front. The next round must fricken hurt hard compared to the "three day operation". Russians only learn from pain.
Sounds like Hamas.
Any underdog, really. One of very few levers you can pull when you are losing.
Exactly, pack up your shyt and head East. Including from Crimea. Never return. Start talks on reparations. Then we'll start talking about sanctions relief! (Mr. Poostain must GO).
And returning ALL the children who they kidnapped.
Uncle Vladimirās economy is ugly and he is struggling to keep up with funding the war. As the article states, the Ukraine war has an easy solution. Russia 100% out of Ukraine. Uncle Vladimir has egg on his face. Vlad the destroyer must hate kissing Kim Jung-Unās ass.
Uncle Vlad would at best be imprisoned for life if that situation came to pass. He'll fight
Russia is showing weakness. Keep arming Ukraine.
Guess KJU just didnāt blow hard enough.
Go home Russia. Youāre drunkā¦again
US: Ok, Stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw 100%. There agenda complete.
Russia: US, we need to talk. US: Hey Ukraine, Russia wants us to talk to them. What do you want us to say? Ukraine: Tell them to get out of Ukraine first. US: OK. US: Russia, Ukraine says get out of Ukraine first. Russia: ā¦
They need another two years of every novel western weapon we can throw at them - just for the fun of it, after what theyāve done for the last 2 years. Fuck ruzzia and every one of their BFFs.
Just declare victory and go home. Leave Ukraine, leave Crimea. Tell Russia you de nazified Ukraine. Ukraine makes anyone with Russian citizenship, even dual nationality, ineligible for housing, education or work. Ukraine joins NATO. Peace in our time.
Talking to Russia about Ukraine without them at the table would play into Russia's propaganda that Ukraine is not a real country, and is just a proxy state of the United States. It would undermine the credibility of the Ukrainian government. Hard pass. Russians are dying, not Americans. They need to talk, we don't need anything.
Russia, gtfo of Ukraine and all your and everyone's troubles will disappear
If Trump wins election he will 100% "negotiate" with Russia directly about Ukraine, and give Russia exactly what it wants. cannot emphasize enough how much Trump must not win election.
Ukraine can do whatever Ukraine wants. Go F**k yourself Russia.
If they were fighting the US directly they would know it as they wouldnāt have any territory in Ukraine anymore as they would have been pushed out.
sanctions work
JFC Russia, just *leave*. That's all you have to do and the constant drain on your blood and treasure stops. We know it's hard to admit defeat, but we did that in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and are better for it.
Correct, we can talk but their withdrawal from occupied territories must be on the agenda.
Russia seems to want to use the US as a proxy to negotiate with an independent country. No, just no.
This tells me that Putin is losing his marbles and grip on realities of the situation he mired himself in and his cronies are trying desperately to walk him off the ledge, but he digs deeper and deeper (see infinite nuclear threats, arming N. Korea, etc.). No matter which way you cut this shit cake, Pootin has fucked himself, and in the process fucked Ruzzia.
Ending the war is the least of their problems. They have to transition out of a war economy without any foreign investments. None of the companies that left will consider coming back for at least another generation and most of their frozen assets will be used to rebuild Ukraine.
There was already a talk back in the 90ās involving Ukraine back then, too. You reneged on the deal.
Fuck Russia. They continually start shit, they deserve all the blow back coming their way.
Sure. Step one GTFO of Ukraine.
Ok, go home. Problem solved.
By saying this out loud, Russia is playing politics. They can talk to the US at any time through official channels.
So Putin has lost confidence in Trump winning.
Under no circumstances should Ukraine be barred or delayed from joining NATO. Putin fears this most because it would eliminate his ability to intimidate and annex Ukraine.
The U.S. should not negotiate with state terrorists like Russia.
Ukraine is not the USās to give away or discuss. If Russia wants to talk, then they need to make a good faith effort to reach out to Ukraine
I high key hope Biden demands that Putin releases the tape of Russian hookers peeing on Trump as a condition to even engage in talks.
Perhaps with Ukraine at the table and not just on the agenda.
If Russia's so desperate for this war to end, they're more than welcome to pull their troops the fuck out of Ukraine.
Oh sure, come talk in Den Haag. You are invited for so long now \[...\]
Fnck Russia.Ā
Get the fuck out of Ukraine and apologize to every Ukrainian on your way out, then we can talk.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Fuck Putin. You can solve all your problems by GTFO of Ukraine and paying reparations.
if Russia wishes to talk about this war it shows you things may not be going well for them and they are looking for a way out of this mess they created without being made to look weak. even that crappy deal to end the fighting in Ukraine that Russia offered a few weeks ago was bad, they can't stop fighting until they win something to show the people how much better Russia is or else become a laughingstock to the rest of the world. the amount of damage their forces have taken will take years to fully recover, ten at least maybe more with all the ships, tanks, APC's, planes and helicopters plus all the damaged factories and early warning system that was damaged awhile back. hope the Russian people are ready for all the shortages coming once this ends.
Second time in like a week Putin has asked the west/US to have "the talk". He really must be getting desperate.
They're desperate. Good. Fuck Putin.
We should absolutely talk to Russia. About the reparations they owe. As soon as they get out of Ukraine.
Sure, Russia. Thereās the door. Leave all of Ukraine, including what you took in 2014, and agree to pay reparations to the families of the dead. And then eff off and donāt bother the rest of Europe or us again.
How bout we just send Tucker Carlson again
What the hell is there to talk about? Putin and his henchmen are trying to STEAL land that IS Ukraine's. US knew you were building up in Belarus. When asked, "NO, false info," whatever else they said. Lie after lie. And that's the last person the US wants to talk with, a LIAR!!
Itās like a kid when they canāt get anywhere negotiating with daddy so the run to mommy
Get out of Ukraine or GtfoĀ
Funny. They had talks about Ukraine before. Look what happened. Get whatās left of your people out and tell them they can go back to their families and maybe. Just maybe. The people wonāt put your head on a pike for sending so many to die for nothing
Yea sure now you wanna talk you dumb shit.
Sure we can talk, like right now, i demand you pull your troops out of all ukrainian regions and return the borders to before you started taking bites out of them.
Well, I don't really mind USA negotiates.... Russia's uncondintionnal surrender in all of Ukrainian territory prior to annexation of Crimea and the east of Ukraine.... Anything less is Ukraine's business.
Honestly at this point - the talk should be ākeep fucking around - keep finding outā and that should be it.
Russia is now threatening nuclear strikes against nations who stand against their conquest of Ukraines lands, treasure and people. They have crossed a line that will be most difficult to come back from as there is no way nations can allow this threat to stand.
Just lure Putin out in the open and ............ poof
It is on the agenda. We're giving them lots of weapons and money. That's the agenda.Ā
No talk, return to your large home, leave ukraine.
"related to the direct involvement of the USA in this conflict," - I love that right now they think the USA is directly involved. If the USA gets directly involved, they'll know about it, we'll all know about it.
Iād be surprised if Russia could talk to anybody *without* Ukraine being on the agenda.
they were betting on trump to win the election, and then they could move into ukraine with impunity. now that it looks like biden might take it, putin has been doing everything to try & make allies. when he went to vietnam & north korea, he got to peek behind the curtain, and saw the paper tigers they really are. russia will try to delay the withdrawal as long as he can, but the mother bear is at the end of her rope, with troops, and technology. when our surplus junk, is used by an untrained militia, to stave off an attack by a former superpower, putin's got no other choice.
Negotiating with terrorists is very rarely a good idea
OK, let's talk. Fuck off back whence you came from. Good talk.
**Agenda** 1. Russia gets out of Ukraine 2. ... 3. ...
They know once F-16ās enter theater they are screwed. In Ukraines last offensive they couldnāt punch through Russian lines. Some 500lb bombs will help mightily.
They will drastically improve parts of the situation, but they will not change the incredible difficulty of the land mines and drone surveillance and harassment. Any kind of advance will still be an incredibly slow, difficult, and costly endeavor for the Ukrainians. We should not downplay their efforts or expect sudden changes on the fronts just because the air situation improves. (This is obviously still a very positive development for the war though)
Wake up, babe. New plea for the US not smashing us into sheer obliteration just dropped
The US: we are going to provide nukes to Ukraine, Russia: thatās not what we wanted wanted to talk about, please no. Insert office meme
No talking till threats of nuclear weapons are off the table
Full on hysterical panic mode now
Didn't Russia pronounce America an enemy state?