REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 14:15
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PAGE 168 of 168

Wednesday, May 21, 2025 12:49 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Russian Strike On Ukrainian Training Ground Results In Mass Casualties
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - 09:00 AM

Despite ongoing US-backed efforts to get Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table again, days after last week's Istanbul talks, both warring sides have on Wednesday ramped up tit-for-tat assaults on each other's territory.

Ukrainian drones have once again threatened the Moscow region, leading to the capital's four airports temporarily suspending nearly all flights for a period on Wednesday.

Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports halted inbound and outbound flights, and Sheremetyevo suspended arrivals, the country's Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed, after air defense missile systems downed three inbound drones on Moscow.
Russian MOD image: Russian ministry of defense video showed the training ground shortly before the missile strike.

"Emergency services are working at the crash sites," an official Moscow city statement said. The Defense Ministry had earlier in the day said it destroyed 159 Ukrainian inbound drones overnight. Drones threatened several regions across southern Russia, as well as at least 40 UAVs spotted over Crimea.

Ukraine on Wednesday announced that six of its servicemen were killed, and at least ten more were wounded when a missile attack struck a training camp in northeast Ukraine's Sumy region the day prior.


However, Russia's defense ministry said the death toll was much higher, according to its intelligence estimates. It indicated the missile attack "killed up to 70 Ukrainian service members, including 20 instructors."

Like many other such mass casualty events of late, it will likely be impossible to confirm which said has the accurate casualty numbers, given 'fog of war' and lack of journalistic access on the ground to many of these sites.

The location was reportedly a shooting range, according to Ukraine's national guard, which further said the commander of the unit had been suspended. The strike happened during the light of day.

Russia's MoD released a grim video which strongly suggests true casualty numbers are actually very high after the attack:
https://x.com/HavryshkoMarta/status/1924989853105615187?ref_src=twsrc%
5Etfw


Ukraine's military leadership has in some regions had a ban in place of large gatherings of troops or training which takes place out in the open, given the ever-present danger of missile and drone attacks from Russia. Reuters notes that "During more than three years of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow's forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings.

This large-scale attack on the training ground comes at a time of increased domestic division and infighting within Ukraine, including apparently within the military command.

For example, one high-ranking commander has within the past week reportedly resigned in disgust:

Oleksandr Shyrshyn, battalion commander of the 47 Separate Mechanized Brigade, has submitted his resignation, sharply criticizing Ukraine’s military leadership for what he described as senseless orders and unnecessary casualties.

"I have never received more stupid objectives than in the current direction," Shyrshyn wrote in a blunt Facebook post announcing his decision on May 16. "Someday I will tell you the details, but the stupid loss of people, trembling in front of a stupid generals, leads to nothing but failures."

"I hope your children will also serve in the infantry and carry out your orders," he added.



This is probably why Kiev authorities are taking such pains to investigate the Sumy training ground attack. The Zelensky government is trying to assure the population that it's war policy is not "senseless" - also at a time recruiters continue brutally rounding up fresh recruits, in some instances from off the streets or from inside cafes and restaurants.

This war of attrition is becoming increasingly unpopular among Ukrainians, and is certainly being met with 'war weariness' among Western populations, whose tax dollars have been propping up the Ukrainian war machine. This is also why President Trump has been urging both sides to end the "bloodbath" and senseless killing.



https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-strike-ukrainian-traini
ng-ground-results-mass-casualties


-----------
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Wednesday, May 21, 2025 1:58 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

When I look at the original information, translated into English, Medvedev did claim yesterday that Russia needs to consult Ukraine’s Constitution to identify who to negotiate with because, at the moment, there is nobody to negotiate with.


Zelensky issued a decree making it ILLEGAL to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is in power.

That decree has not been rescinded.

Altho Russia is negotiating with Ukraine, Russia runs the risk of having any negotiated agreement declared illegal by Ukraine bc their negotiators don't have legal authority to negotiate.

In addition, Zelensky has outstayed his term of office. I posted links to, and relevant parts of, the Ukrainian Constitution, and it doesn't allow for extending the President's term of office for ANY reason, so who can legally sign an agreement? I presume the head of the Rada.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


This BTW is exactly what Medevedev said, translated

Quote:

St. Petersburg, May 20 - RIA Novosti. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev called the lack of persons authorized to conclude a peace treaty in Ukraine a big problem. "It has been said more than once that among the main set of actors of the Ukrainian regime there are no persons who are authorized to conclude a peace treaty. And this is a big problem," Medvedev said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. The XIII St. Petersburg International Legal Forum is being held from May 19 to 21 in St. Petersburg. RIA Novosti is the general media partner of SPBILF 2025.




-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Thursday, May 22, 2025 6:41 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Zelensky issued a decree making it ILLEGAL to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is in power.

That decree has not been rescinded.

While it's a common misconception, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not issue a decree that explicitly makes it illegal for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia as long as Vladimir Putin is in power.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Zelensky+issued+a+decree+making+it+ILL
EGAL+to+negotiate+with+Russia+as+long+as+Putin+is+in+power
.+

Signym, you are ridiculous. So are the Russians. That is why you and they struggle so mightily against, in the final analysis, problems that normal people easily avoid.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 6:43 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Russian milbloggers argued that Russia needs to form private military companies (PMCs) like the Wagner Group to retain Russian officers and professional servicemen in military service.[37] A Russian milblogger claimed that Russia's war in Ukraine showed that the Russian military is "sluggish" and is incapable of quickly responding to the changes in combat tactics. The milblogger claimed that the number of disillusioned professional servicemen is increasing in all Russian security agencies and argued that the Kremlin should form special purpose detachments with officers and combat-experienced men outside of the Russian Armed Forces structure. The milblogger argued that the Kremlin should allow these detachments to elect their leaders. The milblogger acknowledged that Russia has significant problems with interdepartmental communication and claimed that Russia needs to form mobile units with advanced combat and technological experience. The milblogger argued that the Kremlin must allow these units the highest level of independence to ensure that these units are attractive to Russian professional servicemen and officers, who are increasingly disillusioned with the military bureaucracy. The Kremlin is unlikely to recreate PMCs with a high level of independence because it had launched a vast force centralization campaign in late 2022 and early 2023 to eradicate the regime threat posed by the increasing independence and influence of the Wagner Group.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-force-generation
-and-technological-adaptations-update-may-21-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 8:08 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


‘Take the commander and kill everyone else’: Listen to intercepted Russian radio transmissions

Intercepted Russian radio chatter obtained by CNN appears to correspond with drone footage showing the suspected execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war last year. The killing of surrendering Ukrainian troops is alleged by Kyiv and international experts to be part of an orchestrated Russian policy. CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh reports.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/take-the-commander-and-kill-every
one-else-listen-to-intercepted-russian-radio-transmissions/vi-AA1FgjfZ


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 2:02 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Zelensky issued a decree making it ILLEGAL to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is in power.

That decree has not been rescinded.

While it's a common misconception, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not issue a decree that explicitly makes it illegal for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia as long as Vladimir Putin is in power.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Zelensky+issued+a+decree+making+it+ILL
EGAL+to+negotiate+with+Russia+as+long+as+Putin+is+in+power
.+

Signym, you are ridiculous. So are the Russians. That is why you and they struggle so mightily against, in the final analysis, problems that normal people easily avoid.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

SECOND, you have a tactic of twisting a snippet or word out of context.
So I found an image of the ENTIRE decree on X, in Ukrainian, and its a page long. Haven't been able to get it translated, but here is Zelensky's rationale for the decree:


Quote:

According to the President, the document allowed to cut off all communication channels that the Kremlin was trying to establish through various politicians.

Zelenskyy emphasized that the decision had brought results, which is why dictator Vladimir Putin is so concerned about the decree. The president said this at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

The Guarantor noted that the Kremlin leader tried to put pressure on Ukraine through various agents and separatists. To stop these backroom negotiations, the National Security and Defense Council issued a corresponding decision.

"The decision of the National Security and Defense Council, why I signed this decree, is because Putin began to quickly build a large number of agents, together with separatists, together with representatives of other states, to influence Ukraine, our independence, and me directly. Many negotiations, shadowy ones, in the corridor, I stopped it quickly, I just stopped separatism in our country,"
Zelenskyy said.

The President also explained that Russia tried to exert pressure through MPs and even representatives of the EU and the US. A decision was made to take control of this process.

"They exerted pressure through the deputy corps of citizens of our country and the Euro deputy corps of our colleagues and the United States. There were many negotiation platforms. I just realized that we and our respective authorities could not control it. So I made an absolutely fair decision. I am the president of Ukraine,[is he?] I am the leader of certain negotiations, and I have banned everyone else, " the president explained.

The President hinted that one of those with whom Putin tried to establish contact was former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, who was later arrested and exchanged for Ukrainian soldiers. Moreover, the Kremlin tried to negotiate through representatives of certain institutions.

"I understand that Putin does not like this because he has many channels, there are channels that everyone knows about, because the relevant people were arrested, and then we exchanged them for our military. They also used other channels, even in some of our institutions, which I am not yet ready to talk about publicly," the head of state emphasized.
<MEDIA>@https://cdn.membrana.video

As a reminder, on January 24, dictator Vladimir Putin made a number of statements through Russian propaganda media about the Kremlin's alleged readiness to "negotiate on the Ukrainian issue." At the same time, he accused Ukraine of being unwilling to sit down at the negotiating table and hinted that he and US President Donald Trump should decide Ukraine's fate.

Earlier, the head of the OP, Andrii Yermak, said that the dictator is trying to promote the idea of negotiations with the United States on Ukraine but without Ukraine's participation. But this does not work in the modern world.



https://eng.obozrevatel.com/section-war/news-zelenskyy-explains-why-a-
decree-banning-negotiations-with-russia-was-issued-at-the-beginning-of-a-full-scale-war-video-25-01-2025.html




-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Thursday, May 22, 2025 2:15 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Fuck Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 5:42 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SECOND, you have a tactic of twisting a snippet or word out of context.
So I found an image of the ENTIRE decree on X, in Ukrainian, and its a page long. Haven't been able to get it translated, but here is Zelensky's rationale for the decree:

Don't ask Russians. Ask the man who wrote the decree about what it means. He will tell you:

Didn't Zelensky impose a ban on talks with Putin? Not really

by Kateryna Denisova May 12, 2025 11:03 PM

https://kyivindependent.com/didnt-zelensky-impose-a-ban-on-talks-with-
putin-not-really
/

Moscow has cited Zelensky's decree as a ban on talks with Putin and used it as an excuse for avoiding direct talks with Kyiv.

At the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia sought to negotiate with a peculiar assortment of Ukrainian politicians. Without specifying names, the president of Ukraine said that those involved in the behind-the-scenes efforts were later arrested and exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Presumably, Zelensky referred to Viktor Medvedchuk, the pro-Kremlin politician who was arrested and sent to Russia amid a prisoner swap in September 2022.

The president of Ukraine did NOT allegedly forbid himself from communicating with Putin. That would be illogical. The president of Ukraine forbade various Ukrainian traitors from negotiating with Russia.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 5:48 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Serial child rapist Zelensky is the only traitor in Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 8:47 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Serial child rapist Zelensky is the only traitor in Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

I'm pretty sure, just going on experience with a few thousand Trumptards, that they are tax cheaters, rapists, liars, and thieves, by which I mean they should not be trusted with any kind of responsibility, whether contractual, marital, or professional. That's probably why Trumptards' lives are difficult. Other Americans notice how irresponsible Trump and his Trumptards are and that has high costs for the Trumptards.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 9:02 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SECOND, you have a tactic of twisting a snippet or word out of context.
So I found an image of the ENTIRE decree on X, in Ukrainian, and its a page long. Haven't been able to get it translated, but here is Zelensky's rationale for the decree:

Don't ask Russians.

Those were quotes from Zelensky.
Is Zelensky Russian?
No.
Idiot.


Quote:

Ask the man who wrote the decree about what it means. He will tell you


And this is what the article really says ...

Quote:

In the fall of 2022, Zelensky signed a decree that "stated the impossibility of holding negotiations with Russian President Putin,"
"He (Putin) does not know what dignity and honesty are. We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with a different president of Russia," Zelensky said at the time.



Rule of thumb in rhetoric: "But" negates what came before. So, basically Ukraine was NOT ready to negotiate with Putin.
To continue ...

Quote:

Didn't Zelensky impose a ban on talks with Putin?
Well, yes. Yes, he did.

Quote:

According to a source [who?] in Ukraine's president's office, the decree was a "signal to those in Ukraine who wanted to speak (to Russians) bypassing the central government."

"Back then we stated the impossibility, now we can state the possibility, the president as the head of state determines this," the source added. "There is no ban as such, the Russians twisted it."

At the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia sought to negotiate with a peculiar assortment of Ukrainian politicians. Without specifying names, the president of Ukraine said that those involved in the behind-the-scenes efforts were later arrested and exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Presumably, Zelensky referred to Viktor Medvedchuk, the pro-Kremlin politician who was arrested and sent to Russia amid a prisoner swap in September 2022.

The president of Ukraine did NOT allegedly forbid himself from communicating with Putin. [He just forbade other people from communicating with Putin. Note: Ukrainian source just inadvertently confirmed that there WAS a "ban", since communication was "forbidden".] That would be illogical. The president of Ukraine forbade various Ukrainian traitors from negotiating with Russia.

Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, told the Kyiv Independent that the problem lies in the interpretation of the decree.

"This has given rise to false interpretations. The fact that the president allegedly forbade himself from communicating with Putin. No, that's illogical," he said.

According to Ukraine's constitution, the president represents the state in international relations, manages foreign policy, and negotiates and concludes international treaties on behalf of Ukraine.

"The constitution is always above a presidential decree," Merezhko said. "The constitution clearly says that he (the president) negotiates. That is, he decides with whom to negotiate, when to negotiate, and in what format," he added.

IS Zelensky President? Not according to their Constitution. So they're in a curious situation where he was President when issuing the decree, but may not have the power to rescind or modify it.

Quote:

"The decree was aimed at preventing attempts and prohibiting others from conducting any negotiations with Putin."


The reality is that the decree was meant to prevent deals from being made by some Ukrainian officials (MPs, military officers, governors, mmayors etc) with Russia. Since it would be highly unlikely that Putin himself would negotiate with a mayor, negotiations would have to be banned between Ukrainian at any level and Russians at any level. (Unless Ukrainians have Putin Derangement Syndrome, and imagine that Putin is everywhere doing everything by himself.)

So, back then nobody could negotiate with Putin, or with Russia. NOW Zelensky can. Says Zelensky.
But Zelensky wasn't negotiating with Putin, was he?

They're just twisting the meaning of the decree to suit whatever Zelensky feels like that day.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Thursday, May 22, 2025 9:54 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Serial child rapist Zelensky is the only traitor in Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

I'm pretty sure, just going on experience with a few thousand Trumptards, that they are tax cheaters, rapists, liars, and thieves, by which I mean they should not be trusted with any kind of responsibility, whether contractual, marital, or professional. That's probably why Trumptards' lives are difficult. Other Americans notice how irresponsible Trump and his Trumptards are and that has high costs for the Trumptards.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two



We all remember when you told us thousands of times that Democrats never get sick or die.

Chances are very good that you have no idea what a woman is too.

We don't have any faith in your judgement of anybody or any situation.



--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, May 22, 2025 10:04 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.




-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Friday, May 23, 2025 7:27 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Arms Race in Ukraine

New drone technology is transforming the battlefield in Ukraine—and demonstrating the obsolescence of much Western weaponry.

By Tim Judah | June 12, 2025 issue

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/06/12/arms-race-in-ukraine-tim-j
udah
/

As I was waiting outside Kyiv’s main military hospital at the end of April, I saw a man in a wheelchair come out of the main gate. He wove gingerly past seven “hedgehogs”—the large metal antitank traps that were deployed across the capital’s streets at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Now they have almost all been cleared away. Soldiers were walking out of the gate carrying bags of medicine and large flat folders with their X-rays, while visitors were checking in.

Amid this morning rush the man wheeled himself to the end of the short, blocked road leading to the street. There he lit a cigarette and watched the world go by. He was wearing a T-shirt in the yellow and pale blue Ukrainian colors. One of his legs had been amputated below the knee, and the other one was gone entirely. Both stumps were still bound with dressings. Maybe he suffered from phantom limb pain. In a few weeks perhaps he will be out of the wheelchair, learning to walk again on prosthetic legs.

The man was almost certainly one of the 380,000 Ukrainians who President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February had been wounded in this war. A few days earlier I had been in a bunker talking to a Ukrainian commander. We were watching live drone feeds from the front line when he showed me a grainy one zooming in on a wounded Russian solider. “See, he has lost his leg,” he said. “So, are you going to finish him off?” I asked naively. “No, no!” he replied. A badly wounded soldier was worse for Russia than a dead one, he explained. First he would endanger the lives of any men who tried to rescue him, who would be diverted from holding their positions, and finally he would need long-term care, rehabilitation, and a pension, just like the man at the Kyiv hospital. The next day I met a senior Ukrainian security official who told me something that he would never say in public. We were talking about the war and how it had consolidated Ukrainian identity for many for whom being Russian or Ukrainian had not mattered much before. He said that the Russians saw themselves as the heirs of the Imperial and Soviet legacies, but that Ukrainians were too. Then he told me, “I will tell you something very strange: we are twins!”

Like the legless man smoking his cigarette, all Ukrainians are wondering what the future holds for them. They have lost a fifth of their country to the Russians, and for now there is no prospect of getting any of it back. They feel the phantom pain of the loss of homes and families and memories, not to mention businesses and resources, in the Russian-occupied territories in the east and south. But while soldiers and civilians continue to die every day, the country, just like that man, is still very much alive.

This spring, as President Donald Trump tried to secure a cease-fire in a war that he once boasted would be so easy to end that he could do it in twenty-four hours, Ukrainians were left bewildered by his mood swings and the parroting of Kremlin propaganda about Ukraine by him and his team. One minute US officials were pouring bile on Zelensky and accusing him of being responsible for President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and the next Trump was grumbling about Putin’s “very bad timing” in killing thirteen civilians with a missile strike on Kyiv the night of April 24. He did not venture how the timing for these strikes could be improved.

When Zelensky asked to buy more Patriot missiles, which are crucial for defending Ukraine’s cities from long-range Russian drones and missiles, Trump mocked him. The assumption in Kyiv had been that whether a cease-fire happened or not, the US would no longer provide weapons and crucial intelligence to Ukraine. Then, on April 30, Kyiv and Washington signed a deal giving the US preferential treatment in future exploitation of Ukrainian minerals—something that may never happen. Trump’s argument is that an “American presence at the excavation site will help protect the country.” But since the deal comes with no security guarantees, no major company will invest before Ukraine is actually secure.

A Ukrainian business source described the deal as a “performative political act,” because it gave Trump something to present as a success to MAGA true believers. If it kept Trump happy, that was fine with him. At the beginning of May, Trump began selling weapons to Ukraine again, and it was reported that an extra Patriot missile battery was being transferred. All this was a big surprise. Russian commentators began to wonder if Trump, who they had been crowing was their man in the White House, was not going to deliver for them after all.

I like going to see the security official because, in the decade that I have known him, he has always had a clear-eyed perspective on what the future holds. Now he told me, “It is easier to predict what Ukraine will look like in ten years rather than in ten days!” Indeed, for days before this article went to press, everyone was wondering whether Putin would turn up for peace talks with Zelensky in Istanbul on May 15. He did not.

In Pobuzke, a three hours’ drive south of Kyiv, you can visit the Strategic Missile Forces Museum. On a gray and drizzly April day it can be hard to muster much enthusiasm for rusting old Soviet warplanes with dead wasps crushed against their cockpit windows or parking lots full of shattered Russian armor from this war. But those things are not really why people come here. In the Soviet period about one third of the USSR’s intercontinental ballistic missiles were based in Ukraine. As you enter the bunker, Yurii, the sixty-seven-year-old guide, who served in Soviet forces nearby, flicks a switch to turn on the air-conditioning. Then you squeeze into a tiny elevator with him and finally clamber down a ladder into the tiny control room from which the ICBMs in silos in this part of Ukraine would have been launched. There are bunks, a toilet, a samovar, a teapot, teacups, and an electric hot plate for one saucepan. Six men could have survived Armageddon in this complex for forty-five days.

Everything is perfectly preserved, and Yurii reels off numbers about missiles and payloads. You sit behind a desk with switches and buttons: Yurii explains that once orders to launch came through from Moscow, two people in that room would both have had to press a button, which my colleague and I were invited to do. On a screen we watched missiles being fired, circling the planet and destroying cities.

In 1994 the US helped Ukraine get rid of its nuclear missiles. All of its eighteen command centers, except this one, which was preserved as a museum, were destroyed. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the missiles in Ukraine could not have been launched by its government, because the command-and-control systems remained in Moscow. While those could have been recreated in Ukraine, it would have taken years and a lot of money. The ICBMs were sent to Russia, and in return the US, Russia, and Britain signed the Budapest Memorandum, which committed them to the territorial integrity of Ukraine. They agreed that they would seek UN Security Council action to help Ukraine should it “become a victim of an act of aggression.” Perhaps at the time the idea that Russia might attempt to conquer and annex parts of its neighbor was considered so outlandish that the absurdity of going to the Security Council, where Russia has a veto, never seemed important. It would be as futile as asking it to act if the US tried to use force to annex Canada or Greenland.

Back aboveground I asked Yurii if he thought it had been a mistake for Ukraine to give up its missiles. Would Russia have dared to seize Crimea in 2014 and then tried to destroy Ukraine as a state if it still had them? Yes, he said, the fact that Ukraine had voluntarily given up the missiles “makes me a little depressed.” More to the point, as the demilitarization of Ukraine is now one of Putin’s main demands, along with its giving up all those areas of the four provinces in the east and south that Russia claims to have annexed but has not yet occupied, the Budapest Memorandum and the nuclear disarmament of the 1990s cast a dark shadow.

The lessons that most Ukrainians draw from this are that allies cannot be relied upon, that Russia, under Putin and probably under his successors too, will never give up the desire to subjugate their country, and that their country needs to be armed to the teeth to defend itself. But how to accomplish this? Without negotiating, Trump has already acceded to Putin’s demand that Ukraine never join NATO, and he says that the Ukrainians have no cards to play. He is wrong about that. They may not have as strong a hand as the Russians right now, but they still have plenty of cards, and they plan on having a lot more.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine’s formidable military industries went into a steep decline. Now Ukrainian missiles are striking Russian military and oil industry targets deep inside the country. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2014 and especially since 2022, Ukraine’s military industry has risen like a phoenix, and if there were more money, it could produce even more weapons. In 2024, according to Herman Smetanin, the Ukrainian minister of strategic industries, the country’s military production was $35 billion—thirty-five times more than in 2022.

In the autumn of 2022 Ukrainian forces routed the Russians and chased them out of much of the territory they had occupied after the initial February assault. That November the Russians were forced to retreat from the city of Kherson, which lies on the banks of the mighty Dnieper River. I wrote about the jubilation there a few days later. Crowds thronged its central Freedom Square, and Zelensky came to deliver a triumphant address. It is all very different today. The Russians pulled back across the river, and while they continue to shell the city, it is above all a drone war here.

Artem, a Ukrainian soldier, drove me through the city’s almost deserted streets. Close to the river we skirted a district that has become too dangerous for anyone to live in. When we passed Freedom Square the only person there was a lone pensioner with a shopping bag. Under the trees of an empty boulevard a woman was putting out food for birds or cats. In a nearby village, in a school basement that has now been converted into classrooms, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the region’s military administration, described the battle for Kherson as “Star Wars.” Both sides are testing their latest drones. Artem said that an “electronic curtain” had been erected along this part of the river for the jamming and spoofing of drones. When a drone is jammed it can be downed or is simply lost. Spoofing means that the enemy can change the drone’s home base and then divert it “home” to its destruction. As we talked, he showed me a live feed on his phone from a hacked Russian drone that was somewhere nearby. In theory, he said, this meant you could watch it fly toward you and kill you.

In February 2022 the Ukrainians had virtually no military drones. Last year they made 2.2 million, and this year they hope to make 4.5 million. The majority of these are “first-person view” (FPV) drones, which means that the operator wears goggles or controls them from a screen. Ukrainian forces, says Yevhen Hlibovytsky, the head of the Frontier Institute think tank, have been faced with recruitment problems, and this has forced the country “to turn to technology to compensate for that deficit.” The speed with which drones have emerged as the leading weapon of the war is a direct result of manpower shortages and having a homegrown industrial capacity to make them.

But jamming, accidents, and the lack of skilled pilots mean that two thirds or more of Ukrainian and probably Russian FPV and other drones don’t hit their target. The arms race is moving so fast, though, that things are already changing in reaction to these problems. Some 70 percent of battlefield casualties are now reported to be caused by drones. The new generation of drones is controlled by a fiber-optic filament up to fifteen kilometers long—akin to a fishing line—so they have no radio signal to jam. They also give the pilot a higher-quality picture. But even if fiber-optic drones dominate the battlefield by the end of summer, they are only a short-term solution.

So now the race is on for lasers to blind enemy drones and AI to make Ukrainian ones autonomous. When I first met Yaroslav Azhnyuk more than two years ago, he told me about Petcube, a successful company he had set up in 2012. It allowed you to watch onscreen as your dog jumped to grab a treat you had just launched remotely from a dispenser. I guess it is a logical progression from flying dog biscuits to flying drones. The Fourth Law, Azhnyuk’s new company, is working on drone autonomy, including, he said,

autonomous bombing missions, autonomous target recognition, and autonomous navigation towards a kill zone.

That is an area clear of your own troops and civilians and deadly for your enemy. What he foresees is that “in the end there will be operators operating maybe thousands of drones each.” Autonomous drones will transform the battlefield just as FPV drones have.

Ukraine has been testing laser weapons, and kill zones are already very much with us. Line of Drones is a program that aims to make it almost impossible for the Russians to move in a belt of up to fifteen kilometers along the front line. Ivan, a soldier I met whose unit has been fighting in Toretsk, gave me a graphic example of what it meant when they were in the kill zone and could not move. Two weeks earlier Ukrainian troops here had had to give ground, but five soldiers had found themselves marooned under the rubble of a house two and a half kilometers beyond the new front line and seventy meters from a new Russian position. The men were disoriented, injured, and asking to be rescued. Ukrainian drones were dropping them food and batteries and bombing the Russian position, but otherwise there was no way anyone could cross that stretch of land to rescue them.

While it is easy to drop small amounts of provisions to a position like this, logistics are becoming ever harder. Kamikaze drones can land and wait by a road, and when a surveillance drone spots a target such as a vehicle, they can take off and ambush it. Illia was a soldier, but now he is an engineer working with SkyLab, a company that has pivoted from making large bomb-dropping drones to smaller land drones. These are little unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that can transport cargo across a kill zone. Earlier in the war you could load up a car or armored vehicle with ammunition and drive it to the front, but drones have made that too dangerous. One of the reasons that in March the Russians were able to drive Ukrainian forces out of the part of Russia’s Kursk region that they had occupied was that fiber-optic drones had given them the edge.

Illia and Yevhenii Rvachov, the head of SkyLab, took me to some rough ground outside Kyiv, unloaded one of their meter-long UGVs, and sent it trundling off into the distance. This one had a mount into which they had slotted four land mines, which it proceeded to lay. When it came back, they took off the mount. Now it was ready to transport two hundred kilograms of ammunition or anything else. They said they thought there might be two thousand land drones currently at the front, but by the end of the year there could be tens of thousands. I remarked that these could become the equivalent of the donkeys of wars past, and they showed me a video of Russian troops using donkeys today. A drone does not need to be fed, they remarked, just charged for two hours. They were now working on AI for the next generation of UGVs, which will come with six lidar sensors to help them navigate around obstacles. The beauty of these land drones is that, being so small, they are hard to spot from the air, and they move so fast that they are hard to hit. If they are destroyed, however, no lives are lost, and they only cost the equivalent of a cheap car.

Olena, who runs military evacuation units for the wounded, told me that they were testing larger UGVs to extract injured men from the front. Surely they would be visible and liable to be targeted? I asked. True, she replied, but if someone would quickly bleed to death without being rapidly extracted, it was a gamble worth taking.

In Kyiv there is a sense of extreme excitement about all of these “miltech” developments. I met SkyLab’s people at a conference organized by Brave1, a government platform that connects start-ups and developers with the military. A few days later an event organized by an NGO called Invest in Bravery was packed with investors, inventors, and entrepreneurs. In speeches they emphasized that Ukraine, with more than a million men under arms, now had the largest, most experienced army in Europe (apart from Russia, of course), and people clapped when it was pointed out that Western countries needed Ukraine more than Ukraine needed them. On the face of it this is somewhat bizarre, since the country does not produce enough equipment itself to survive, but the point is this: the war has shown that much expensive hardware in Western armories is becoming obsolete. What matters now, apart from tech, is experience. Since the full-scale invasion began, Western armies have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops abroad. But, say Ukrainians, much of their instructors’ experience has been, as Olena put it pointedly, “fighting men in mountains with Kalashnikovs.” Lessons learned in Afghanistan or Iraq don’t help much here. That message may be starting to get through. In late April it was reported that British troops were now being trained in drone warfare by Ukrainian soldiers.

Let’s not get too carried away by tech, though. It is vital, it has changed warfare, and it has helped the Ukrainians hold back the Russians. But the issue is not whether you should forgo a $4 million Patriot missile and buy 10,000 FPV drones instead, but about finding the right mix of weaponry. It is also important not to lose sight of the human cost of the war. I was at the military hospital in Kyiv because I was waiting for Anastasiia Savova, a twenty-six-year-old who runs Always Faithful, an organization campaigning for naval POWs held by the Russians. Her father had been captured in May 2022 when Azovstal, the sprawling steel plant that served as the last Ukrainian redoubt in Mariupol, was taken. For two years she had had no news of him and did not know if he was even alive. On March 19 he had been included in a prisoner exchange, and she was bringing me to meet him.

Before we met, she sent me pictures of him on WhatsApp. Oleksandr Savov, forty-six, had come home gaunt and sick with tuberculosis. When I first saw him in person I did not recognize him, because in the six weeks since he had been released he had put on so much weight. As a prisoner, he said, he had thought about only two things: food and sleep. The POWs had been constantly beaten, and as a result he was always in pain. Physically he was recovering, but psychologically it was going to take a lot longer. The morning we met he said he had dreamed that he was sitting in the prison barracks wearing a military uniform and medals and a colleague said to him, “Take them off! If the Russians see you, they will beat all of us!” Rape had been frequent. The Russians assaulted the prisoners with soldering irons and caulking guns, the type used to squeeze silicone around the edge of a shower to seal it. “They will be our enemies forever,” he said. Was he in favor of a cease-fire? I asked. If Russia did not hand back the territory it had occupied, he said, “I think we should fight. There is no way back.”

Many, and maybe most, don’t agree with him. Russification of the occupied regions and the exodus of pro-Ukrainian residents from them means that they are “a different country already,” said a businessman who did not want to be identified. It was “best to be honest” and “forget about them.” In that case the rest of Ukraine would have a better chance of recovering and integrating with the rest of Europe. “Otherwise I don’t even see a chance.” He too, however, rejected legal recognition of Russian annexation, which would be politically unacceptable to Ukraine. A leaked draft of a US cease-fire plan suggested that the US would recognize Putin’s annexation of Crimea, which would be regarded as a stab in the back by most Europeans and a kind of 1938 Sudetenland 2.0. In 1940 the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states, and the US never officially recognized this.

Soldiers told me that the lack of manpower meant they were not rotated for rest and recreation as they should be, and while Putin still wanted to crush Ukraine, a truce would save lives. Olena, who runs the evacuation units, thinks that too many people have already tuned out of the war and that a cease-fire would lead to demobilization and make the country complacent and vulnerable to attack again. A cease-fire would mean a return to the kind of frozen conflict that existed between 2015 and 2022, and the Russians would only wait for the day when they were ready to try to take more of the country.

Things may change, but no Ukrainians I met believed Putin even wanted a cease-fire. “It is not going to happen,” said Hlibovytsky, the head of the Frontier Institute.

They think they have the upper hand. They might try some tactical moves like a three-day cease-fire or whatever just to get some sanctions lifted, but otherwise there is no change of heart. There is no disillusionment in Russian imperial thinking.

According to the political analyst Andrii Buzarov, if there is a cease-fire and normal political life returns to Ukraine, the conflict will not be over. Disinformation and propaganda would be used to divide society, he says.
Today, unlike in the past, there is no viable “pro-Russian” option, but Russian soft power in the country is not only about language and issues of religion that divide the Orthodox faithful. “It is also about history and heroes,” he says. The Russians will work on destabilizing a traumatized society in which people will rapidly be blamed for what they did or didn’t do during the war. They will also use issues such as gay rights to paint the West as degenerate. If Trump is seen to have definitively betrayed Ukraine, which is already the widespread view, and Europe can’t or won’t do enough to take up the slack, then the question will be, “So, what did the West give you, what do you have?”

In the taxi on my way to the station to catch the night train leaving Kyiv for Poland I chatted with Andrii, my driver. He said that he was sixty years old, that “the war will last for the rest of my life,” and that just as, in his view, Arabs had wanted to destroy Israel for eighty years, although conflict had ebbed and flowed, Russia wanted to destroy Ukraine. Then he told me that his day job was as an astrologer and that business was very good because people want to know what the future holds.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Friday, May 23, 2025 7:33 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


A Funny Thing Happened: We Are Still Married Because The Divorce Papers Were Not Properly Signed

Russian authorities are renewing their years-long narrative rejecting the legality of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, possibly to deny Ukrainian and Belarusian sovereignty and independence in the future. Russian State Duma Committee on the Protection of the Family, Fatherhood, Motherhood, and Childhood Head and member of the Communist Party Central Committee Nina Ostanina stated on May 22 that Duma deputies are ready to raise the issue of the alleged illegality of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[14] Ostanina agreed with Russian Presidential Advisor Anton Kobyakov's May 21 claim that the Soviet Union's founding body was not involved in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and that, therefore, the Soviet Union still legally exists.[15] Ostanina further claimed that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was illegal because "no one gave authority" to then Belarusian Parliament Chairperson Stanislav Shushkevich, then Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic President Boris Yeltsin, and then Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk to sign the December 1991 Belovezha Accords, the internationally recognized document in which the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union.[16] Russian authorities have intermittently revived false narratives about the illegality of the Soviet Union's dissolution and calls to reestablish the Soviet Union since at least 2014, and promoted this informational effort in 2021 and 2023.[17] The Kremlin has been pursuing its strategic effort to de facto annex Belarus through the framework of the Union State of Russia and Belarus and consistently denies Ukrainian sovereignty.[18] Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin, have frequently invoked the "trinity doctrine" — the ideological concept suggesting that Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians are a "triune" and forcibly separated people.[19] The Kremlin may be instructing lower-level officials to reinject the narrative about the allegedly illegal dissolution of the Soviet Union into the Russian information space in order to set conditions for the Kremlin to withdraw its recognition of Ukraine and Belarus as independent states in the future and call for a united Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian state. Russian officials have notably not acted upon past calls for the reestablishment of the Soviet Union, and the most recent iteration of this information campaign is similarly unlikely to have any near-term effects.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-22-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Saturday, May 24, 2025 5:20 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded that any future peace agreement in Ukraine include conditions to prevent the election and establishment of future pro-Western governments in Ukraine. Lavrov insisted on May 23 that any peace agreement must include conditions preventing the "repetition of what brought putschists to power through a bloody revolution," referring to Ukraine's 2014 Euromaidan protests and the Revolution of Dignity, which drove out Ukraine's former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.[1] Lavrov also reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin's repeated claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not the legitimate leader of Ukraine and claimed that Russia could negotiate with the leadership of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) instead of Zelensky.

Russian officials often deliberately misread the Ukrainian Constitution to claim that Zelensky's government is illegitimate since Ukraine did not hold presidential elections in 2024, although the Ukrainian Constitution and law prohibit the government from holding elections during times of martial law and external aggression.[2] Russian officials have repeatedly characterized Ukraine's Euromaidan protests and Revolution of Dignity as a "coup," and leverage this narrative to reinforce Russia's claims that the current Ukrainian government is not legitimate and thus cannot negotiate with Russia.[3] Lavrov's statement is also an explicit demand for regime change in Ukraine as a condition of any future peace agreement – a demand that Russian officials routinely make under the guise of demands for "denazification" in Ukraine.[4] Russian officials will likely falsely frame any future pro-Western government in Ukraine as inheriting the illegitimacy of all Ukrainian governments since 2014 and set conditions to claim that any agreement that Russia concludes with Ukraine is non-binding.

Lavrov also rejected US President Donald Trump's recent suggestion that the Vatican could host negotiations on Russia's war against Ukraine.[5] Lavrov claimed that negotiations in the Vatican would be "unrealistic" and that it would be "uncomfortable" for the representatives of "two Orthodox countries" to meet in the Vatican.[6]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-23-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Saturday, May 24, 2025 1:45 PM

THG


Hey SECOND. Putin wants us to think he deployed troops around Moscow because of drone attacks. I doubt those troops were there to defend against outside attack, but instead to prevent a coup.



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Saturday, May 24, 2025 1:53 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by THG:
Hey SECOND. Putin wants us to think he deployed troops around Moscow because of drone attacks. I doubt those troops were there to defend against outside attack, but instead to prevent a coup.





Putin has no care what you think about anything, Theodore.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Sunday, May 25, 2025 6:25 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Russian forces appear to be reducing their use of cruise missiles, indicating that increased Russian drone production and innovations to long-range drones and related strike tactics are providing Russian forces with a cheaper alternative to cruise missiles.[4] Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Colonel Yurii Ihnat stated on May 24 that Ukrainian forces are struggling to use Patriot air defense systems to down modified Russian Iskander-M ballistic missiles due to recent Russian improvements, including enhancements that enable the missile to change trajectory and perform maneuvers rather than flying in a straight line.[5] Ukrainian aviation expert Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi reported on February 11 that Russian forces had reduced their use of Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles and were increasingly using Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles.[6] ISW has observed Russian forces rarely using Kh-101, Kh-55, and Kh-555 cruise missiles against Ukraine since February 2025 and infrequently using Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles since March 2025. Russian forces most recently used almost 60 cruise missiles against Ukraine on April 24, but Russia typically uses large numbers of Shahed and decoy drones to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses in nightly strikes and has recently relied on small numbers of ballistic missiles to conduct more targeted strikes against Ukrainian cities.[7] Russian forces appear to be increasing their use of long-range drones and decreasing their use of cruise missiles in strikes against Ukraine, possibly to conserve the fixed-wing airframes that Russian forces use to launch cruise missiles.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-24-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Sunday, May 25, 2025 6:42 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Putin has no care what you think about anything, Theodore.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Fiona Hill: Trump is terrified of Putin, I’ve seen it first hand

25 May 2025 10:30am BST

When Vladimir Putin unveiled Russia’s first hypersonic missile to the world, he did so with a simulation of the weapon plummeting into an unnamed peninsula bearing an uncanny resemblance to Florida.

The similarity was not lost on Donald Trump whose face whitened as he watched on, presumably with visions of his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort reduced to an atomic wasteland, flashing before his eyes.

Standing next to him on that day in March 2018 was Fiona Hill, the president’s Russia tsar at the time.

“That got Trump’s attention,” she said. “Trump was like, ‘Why did he do that? Real countries don’t have to do that.’”

For Hill, a long-term Kremlin watcher who once sat so close to Putin at dinner she could smell the detergent used to launder his clothes, the episode revealed much about how Mr Trump views the Russian leader. “He is deferential towards Putin because he really is worried about the risk of a nuclear exchange,” she said.

Yet unlike the US president, whom she said remains trapped in a 1980s mindset, both in his foreign policy approach and his musical tastes (see his penchant for YMCA), Hill is at pains to stress that the biggest global threat is no longer a nuclear strike, but more clandestine methods of warfare.

“It’s not the likelihood of a Russian tank coming across the Suffolk Downs or a nuclear weapon taking out Sheffield,” she said, speaking over Zoom from her office in Washington DC. “Now it’s much more about critical national infrastructure and acts of sabotage, poisonings and assassinations.”

That is not to say she believes the world is a safer place today. Far from it. In fact, she believes World War Three is upon us. “World wars are when you have global sets of conflicts that become intertwined,” she said. “That’s where we are.”

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and even more so following Mr Trump’s return to the White House, her expertise has been in greater demand than ever.

With large chunks of the front lines in stalemate, and Russia on track to reclaim its territory seized by Ukraine in last year’s daring counter-offensive, all eyes have turned to Washington. Mr Trump pledged to end the war on “day one” of his presidency. And as the conflict drags on, the giant question mark hovering over western Europe is how long it will take for the US to make good on its promise.

So, when the two presidents shared an “excellent” phone call on Monday, Hill was uniquely placed to read the tea leaves of the paltry briefings from each side.

How did Mr Trump fare? “Terrible. Let’s give him a pass for effort,” she said, matter-of-factly, as if marking the president’s report card. A former Harvard researcher who serves as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, an influential foreign policy think tank, Hill is a career academic with the manner of a firm but fair head teacher.

“What Trump is doing is answering the wrong exam question,” Hill added.

“Trump thinks it’s just about real estate, about trade and who gets what, be it minerals, land or rare earths,” she explained. What the president doesn’t understand is that “Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire”.

“He wants a neutered Ukraine, not one that is able to withstand military pressure. Everybody sees this, apart from Trump,” she said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/05/25/fiona-hill-intervie
w-trump-terrified-putin-seen-firsthand
/

6ixStringJack, Putin told Trump: "Fuck off you fat creep" and Trump did and whimpered away.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Sunday, May 25, 2025 10:23 AM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Putin has no care what you think about anything, Theodore.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Fiona Hill: Trump is terrified of Putin, I’ve seen it first hand
25 May 2025 10:30am BST

When Vladimir Putin unveiled Russia’s first hypersonic missile to the world, he did so with a simulation of the weapon plummeting into an unnamed peninsula bearing an uncanny resemblance to Florida.

The similarity was not lost on Donald Trump whose face whitened as he watched on, presumably with visions of his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort reduced to an atomic wasteland, flashing before his eyes.

Standing next to him on that day in March 2018 was Fiona Hill, the president’s Russia tsar at the time.

“That got Trump’s attention,” she said. “Trump was like, ‘Why did he do that? Real countries don’t have to do that.’”

For Hill, a long-term Kremlin watcher who once sat so close to Putin at dinner she could smell the detergent used to launder his clothes, the episode revealed much about how Mr Trump views the Russian leader. “He is deferential towards Putin because he really is worried about the risk of a nuclear exchange,” she said.

Yet unlike the US president, whom she said remains trapped in a 1980s mindset, both in his foreign policy approach and his musical tastes (see his penchant for YMCA), Hill is at pains to stress that the biggest global threat is no longer a nuclear strike, but more clandestine methods of warfare.

“It’s not the likelihood of a Russian tank coming across the Suffolk Downs or a nuclear weapon taking out Sheffield,” she said, speaking over Zoom from her office in Washington DC. “Now it’s much more about critical national infrastructure and acts of sabotage, poisonings and assassinations.”

That is not to say she believes the world is a safer place today. Far from it. In fact, she believes World War Three is upon us. “World wars are when you have global sets of conflicts that become intertwined,” she said. “That’s where we are.”

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and even more so following Mr Trump’s return to the White House, her expertise has been in greater demand than ever.

With large chunks of the front lines in stalemate, and Russia on track to reclaim its territory seized by Ukraine in last year’s daring counter-offensive, all eyes have turned to Washington. Mr Trump pledged to end the war on “day one” of his presidency. And as the conflict drags on, the giant question mark hovering over western Europe is how long it will take for the US to make good on its promise.

So, when the two presidents shared an “excellent” phone call on Monday, Hill was uniquely placed to read the tea leaves of the paltry briefings from each side.

How did Mr Trump fare? “Terrible. Let’s give him a pass for effort,” she said, matter-of-factly, as if marking the president’s report card. A former Harvard researcher who serves as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, an influential foreign policy think tank, Hill is a career academic with the manner of a firm but fair head teacher.

“What Trump is doing is answering the wrong exam question,” Hill added.

“Trump thinks it’s just about real estate, about trade and who gets what, be it minerals, land or rare earths,” she explained. What the president doesn’t understand is that “Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire”.

“He wants a neutered Ukraine, not one that is able to withstand military pressure. Everybody sees this, apart from Trump,” she said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/05/25/fiona-hill-intervie
w-trump-terrified-putin-seen-firsthand
/

6ixStringJack, Putin told Trump: "Fuck off you fat creep" and Trump did and whimpered away.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two





I think Putin has shit on Trump. He was best friends with Jeffery Epstein. Epstein trafficked in underage girls. He even found some at Mar a Lago. I think Putin knew this and had an agent cozy up to them both. He may even have Trump on film having sex with children. Maybe Jack was there?

It was Russian money that kept Trump afloat in the past. Russia laundered money through Trump; through properties. And I have no doubt if Putin told Trump he would have him killed; Trump would shit himself.

This list of Trump and his family's connection to Putin is endless.

T


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Sunday, May 25, 2025 12:54 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by THG:
Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Putin has no care what you think about anything, Theodore.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Fiona Hill: Trump is terrified of Putin, I’ve seen it first hand
25 May 2025 10:30am BST

When Vladimir Putin unveiled Russia’s first hypersonic missile to the world, he did so with a simulation of the weapon plummeting into an unnamed peninsula bearing an uncanny resemblance to Florida.

The similarity was not lost on Donald Trump whose face whitened as he watched on, presumably with visions of his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort reduced to an atomic wasteland, flashing before his eyes.

Standing next to him on that day in March 2018 was Fiona Hill, the president’s Russia tsar at the time.

“That got Trump’s attention,” she said. “Trump was like, ‘Why did he do that? Real countries don’t have to do that.’”

For Hill, a long-term Kremlin watcher who once sat so close to Putin at dinner she could smell the detergent used to launder his clothes, the episode revealed much about how Mr Trump views the Russian leader. “He is deferential towards Putin because he really is worried about the risk of a nuclear exchange,” she said.

Yet unlike the US president, whom she said remains trapped in a 1980s mindset, both in his foreign policy approach and his musical tastes (see his penchant for YMCA), Hill is at pains to stress that the biggest global threat is no longer a nuclear strike, but more clandestine methods of warfare.

“It’s not the likelihood of a Russian tank coming across the Suffolk Downs or a nuclear weapon taking out Sheffield,” she said, speaking over Zoom from her office in Washington DC. “Now it’s much more about critical national infrastructure and acts of sabotage, poisonings and assassinations.”

That is not to say she believes the world is a safer place today. Far from it. In fact, she believes World War Three is upon us. “World wars are when you have global sets of conflicts that become intertwined,” she said. “That’s where we are.”

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and even more so following Mr Trump’s return to the White House, her expertise has been in greater demand than ever.

With large chunks of the front lines in stalemate, and Russia on track to reclaim its territory seized by Ukraine in last year’s daring counter-offensive, all eyes have turned to Washington. Mr Trump pledged to end the war on “day one” of his presidency. And as the conflict drags on, the giant question mark hovering over western Europe is how long it will take for the US to make good on its promise.

So, when the two presidents shared an “excellent” phone call on Monday, Hill was uniquely placed to read the tea leaves of the paltry briefings from each side.

How did Mr Trump fare? “Terrible. Let’s give him a pass for effort,” she said, matter-of-factly, as if marking the president’s report card. A former Harvard researcher who serves as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, an influential foreign policy think tank, Hill is a career academic with the manner of a firm but fair head teacher.

“What Trump is doing is answering the wrong exam question,” Hill added.

“Trump thinks it’s just about real estate, about trade and who gets what, be it minerals, land or rare earths,” she explained. What the president doesn’t understand is that “Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire”.

“He wants a neutered Ukraine, not one that is able to withstand military pressure. Everybody sees this, apart from Trump,” she said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/05/25/fiona-hill-intervie
w-trump-terrified-putin-seen-firsthand
/

6ixStringJack, Putin told Trump: "Fuck off you fat creep" and Trump did and whimpered away.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two





I think Putin has shit on Trump.



Grow up while there's still time.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Sunday, May 25, 2025 2:09 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Zelensky and Budanov better watch their asses.

Quote:

Ukraine Tried To Attack Putin’s Helicopter Mid-Flight, Russia Alleges, Responds With Massive Strikes On Kiev

The Kremlin as well as Russian state media are alleging a huge, potentially conflict-altering incident which will surely escalate the war in Ukraine - an attempted attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

A high-ranking Russian military commander on Sunday described that last week, as Putin traveled to the Kursk region for the first time since is liberation after 6+ months of Ukrainian occupation, Ukraine tried to attack Putin's helicopter mid-flight, sending a wave of drones to swarm the flight path of the chopper.

The presidential helicopter was caught in the "epicenter" of a massive Ukrainian drone attack, commander of an air defense division in Kursk, Yury Dashkin, told Russian media. The headline is the top featured story of English-language RT on Sunday, something which suggests the allegations are largely aimed at grabbing the attention of the West.

The incident is said to have happened Tuesday as the helicopter transported Putin to tour Kursk - a southern oblast which has suffered much destruction since the initial Ukrainian cross-border incursion of last August.

Commander Yury Dashkin told Russia 1 in an interview which aired Sunday said that Putin’s helicopter had found itself "in the epicenter of an operation to repel a massive drone attack by the enemy" in Kursk Region.

He went on to describe that this "unprecedented" attack was successfully repelled by anti-air defenses in the region. Air defense units in the area had to "simultaneously conduct anti-aircraft combat and ensure the safety of the president’s helicopter in the air. The task was accomplished," Dashkin stated. "The attack of the enemy drones was repelled, with all aerial targets being hit."
. . .
The drones are being launched on Russia in record numbers, with literally multiple hundreds [over a thousand by now] sent over the past week, in some cases halting inbound and outbound flights at major airports, including in the Moscow area. Ukrainian officials have boasted that the operations is trying to disrupt and destabilize daily life in Russia, in hopes that the government could lose control.



In other words, Ukrainians are purposely targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. As a consequence...

Quote:

Russia's military pummeled the Ukrainian capital of Kiev again overnight, with emerging images showing raging fires and devastation in city neighborhoods and populated areas. Other regions were hit as well, in a second straight night of some of the largest strikes of the war.


MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-tried-attack-putins-hel
icopter-mid-flight-russia-alleges-responds-massive


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Monday, May 26, 2025 6:41 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Zelensky and Budanov better watch their asses.

In other words, Ukrainians are purposely targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. As a consequence...

MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-tried-attack-putins-hel
icopter-mid-flight-russia-alleges-responds-massive

Signym, for years more, mighty Russia will still be fighting Ukraine, regardless of who dies in the Ukrainian leadership. But if present-day Russian leaders die, the next leaders in Russia will know that the Ukraine War was another Afghan War, which was not a either-Russia-wins-or-it-dies kind of war. The next Russian leaders might wisely take all the Ukrainians who unwisely switched citizenship to Russian back to Russia, where they always belonged. Keep your Russian language and your Russian Orthodox Church, you Russian robots obeying Putin's commands transmitted electronically to your robot brains. But you aren't taking Ukrainian land with you.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is leveraging long-range strikes against Ukrainian cities, aggressive rhetorical campaigns, and excessive pessimism in the West about the battlefield situation in Ukraine in a multi-pronged effort to degrade Ukrainian morale and convince the West that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable and that supporting Ukraine is futile. Russian forces have intensified long-range strikes against Ukraine over the last eight months and have conducted seven of the largest drone and missile strikes during the war to date since January 2025.[1]

Russian officials are currently inundating the information space with calls for Ukraine to make concessions on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, although most of these statements are consistent with long-standing Russian war demands and in fact demonstrate that Russia's demands have not changed over the last three years of war.[2] These demands ignore the fact that the battlefield situation has shifted dramatically since early 2022, and that three years of manpower and materiel losses have significantly degraded the Russian military's ability to conquer Ukraine.

Russian advances have significantly slowed as Russian forces continue to suffer personnel losses and increasingly rely on poorly trained and equipped infantry to make gains. Putin remains deeply committed to distracting from the realities of the battlefield situation, however, as bringing about the cessation of Western military assistance to Ukraine is Russia's only real hope of winning this war.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-25-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, May 26, 2025 7:47 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


The Gaslighter In Chief

How we went from everyone knowing Trump would not sanction Putin to fooling ourselves that he would

By Phillips P. Obrien | May 26, 2025

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-gaslighter-in-chief

Since Trump was elected, he has acted like he could at any moment impose sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for the Russo-Ukraine War. Just last night, we had another example of this. After a weekend of Russia attacking civilian targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing many innocents, Trump once again wielded the threat of sanctions in a tweet.

The amazing thing is that after six months of toothless threats, people were still talking about Trump sanctioning Russia, when he has no intention of doing so. To give you an idea of the extraordinarily repetitive nature of the threats, and why people should have never taken them seriously in the first place, I think it's worthwhile going through the last year chronologically—to see just how preposterous the sanctions threat pantomime has become. Apologies if this is long—but it's been an extraordinary process and does need to be understood.

The dozens of times Trump threatened to sanction Russia (but did nothing) are listed at https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-gaslighter-in-chief

Trump’s threats are helping Putin. They are part of Trump’s plan to gaslight Europeans into thinking he might do something, and are delaying tactics to keep others from acting.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, May 26, 2025 12:59 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Signym, for years more, mighty Russia will still be fighting Ukraine, regardless of who dies in the Ukrainian leadership. But if present-day Russian leaders die, the next leaders in Russia will know that the Ukraine War was another Afghan War, which was not a either-Russia-wins-or-it-dies kind of war. The next Russian leaders might wisely take all the Ukrainians who unwisely switched citizenship to Russian back to Russia, where they always belonged. Keep your Russian language and your Russian Orthodox Church, you Russian robots obeying Putin's commands transmitted electronically to your robot brains. But you aren't taking Ukrainian land with you.


And you base this on what?

How do you know that the war doesn't end like the fall of Berlin?


Quote:

The amazing thing is that after six months of toothless threats, people were still talking about Trump sanctioning Russia, when he has no intention of doing so. To give you an idea of the extraordinarily repetitive nature of the threats, and why people should have never taken them seriously


SECOND, there is almost nothing left to sanction. We cut the Russian central bank and other large banks off from SWIFT, froze $300 billion of their assets (which the Europeans are stealing piecemeal), blew up Nordstream, blocked insurance on tankers and cargo ships, blocked tech goods .... Western businesses left. We tried suppressing the price of oil. There've been something like 17 sanctions packages by now.

The only thing left are secondary sanctions: tariffs or sanctions on nations that we think are buying Russian oil, fertilizer, grain, or other goods. Starting with China and India.

Yanno, we JUST tried 135% tariffs on China, and that didn't work so well FOR US. Do you really think that taking another run at tariffs, this time at 500%, is going to work any better? All that will do is propel dedollarization.

Sure, Ukraine can harass Russia with swarms of 500 drones, but all that will do is speed up the Russian offensive and cause them to creare a buffer zone. The Baltic states are trying to blockade Russian shipping, but turned tail when they saw a destroyer coming at them. There are few cards left to play.

Get a grip.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Monday, May 26, 2025 1:10 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


The Hill: How many more useless deaths before we admit Trump was always right on Ukraine?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-many-more-useless-deaths-160000500.
html


Quote:

Now, three years later, to Trump’s point, “more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers” are being killed per week. For what? How many dead or wounded before those advocating that Ukraine fight to the last Ukrainian admit that an immediate ceasefire is the right and humane solution — and has always been?

Haters are going to hate, but if Trump had been listened to three years ago, 1 million people would not have been killed or wounded. What is the worth of those lost and maimed lives?



Second doesn't care. Second never cared.

Every post he makes in 2025 starts with the word Trump.

And now, there have been just about as many deaths in this Clinton/Obama/Biden* manufactured war as there were allegedly Covid deaths, and Second and Ted just keep cheering for more death.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Monday, May 26, 2025 3:52 PM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by THG:

Hey SECOND. Putin wants us to think he deployed troops around Moscow because of drone attacks. I doubt those troops were there to defend against outside attack, but instead to prevent a coup.





T

Putin's Helicopter ATTACKED By Ukrainian Drones; NATO Approves DEEPSTRIKES



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Monday, May 26, 2025 7:51 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SECOND, there is almost nothing left to sanction. We cut the Russian central bank and other large banks off from SWIFT, froze $300 billion of their assets (which the Europeans are stealing piecemeal), blew up Nordstream, blocked insurance on tankers and cargo ships, blocked tech goods .... Western businesses left. We tried suppressing the price of oil. There've been something like 17 sanctions packages by now.

Signym, there are millions of targets inside Russia to destroy. It is time for Europe to do unto Russia as Russia has done to Ukraine. Europe has noticed how soft Russia is and how much it deserves the same punishment that Russia has been giving Ukraine:

Merz lifts range limits on Ukraine weapons to hit targets inside Russia

Germany is under pressure to supply Ukraine with its powerful long-range Taurus cruise missiles.

By Chris Lunday | May 26, 2025 5:37 pm CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-merz-lifts-range-limits-ukrain
e-weapons-russia-taurus-missiles
/

BERLIN — Germany and its key allies have lifted range restrictions on weapons sent to Ukraine allowing Kyiv to hit targets inside Russia with no external limits, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday.

That announcement by the German leader could clear the path for Berlin to finally deliver its powerful Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv . . .

The chancellor has also shifted course on transparency: Future weapons deliveries will largely be kept confidential, in an effort to keep Moscow in the dark about what Ukraine is receiving.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, May 26, 2025 8:21 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
The Hill: How many more useless deaths before we admit Trump was always right on Ukraine?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-many-more-useless-deaths-160000500.
html


Quote:

Now, three years later, to Trump’s point, “more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers” are being killed per week. For what? How many dead or wounded before those advocating that Ukraine fight to the last Ukrainian admit that an immediate ceasefire is the right and humane solution — and has always been?

Haters are going to hate, but if Trump had been listened to three years ago, 1 million people would not have been killed or wounded. What is the worth of those lost and maimed lives?



Second doesn't care. Second never cared.

Every post he makes in 2025 starts with the word Trump.

And now, there have been just about as many deaths in this Clinton/Obama/Biden* manufactured war as there were allegedly Covid deaths, and Second and Ted just keep cheering for more death.

6ix, your understanding of why Russia invaded Ukraine and kills Ukrainians does not harmonize with Putin's understanding:

'They forced us': Putin complains that Russia is being blamed for the invasion of Ukraine

By Kateryna Shkarlat | Mon, May 26, 2025 - 19:08

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/they-forced-us-putin-complains-that-ru
ssia-1748275709.html


Russian President Vladimir Putin complained that Russia is being blamed for the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin leader's statement being circulated by Russian Telegram channels.

Putin is once again trying to justify the war against Ukraine. During a meeting with businessmen, he spoke of a "coup in Ukraine in 2014" and claimed that Ukraine was allegedly "suppressing Donbas."

"People there were being killed from helicopters and planes. They forced us to do what we are doing now. And they are trying to make us the ones to blame," Russian President said.

What is known about the goals of the so-called SVO (Special Military Operation)

Before launching the invasion of Ukraine, Putin recorded an address in which he announced the start of the special military operation. At the time, he claimed that the Russian army would be carrying out the "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine.

From the very beginning, these so-called "goals" were not achieved, and the Russian army failed in its offensive. That is why Putin and other top officials in Russia constantly invent new goals to justify continuing the war against Ukraine.

Moreover, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated that he is supposedly ready to discuss ways of achieving Russia's goals by means other than the military special operation in Ukraine.

At the end of December, Putin even said he regretted not launching the special military operation earlier.

Peace negotiations

In recent months, the US has been trying to push Russia toward peace talks with Ukraine. In particular, on May 16, the first direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the past three years took place in Türkiye.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also traveled to the country, planning to meet with Putin in person, but Putin ignored this opportunity.

Ukraine was represented at the talks by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian delegation was headed by Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky.

In the past few days, Russia has significantly intensified its attacks on Ukrainian territory. Details about the strikes on the night of May 26 can be found in the RBC-Ukraine report.

Against the backdrop of these attacks, US President Donald Trump stated that Putin has gone crazy.

"Something has happened to him (Putin). He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump said about Putin on Truth Social, referring to Russia’s assault.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, May 26, 2025 8:28 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
The Hill: How many more useless deaths before we admit Trump was always right on Ukraine?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-many-more-useless-deaths-160000500.
html


Quote:

Now, three years later, to Trump’s point, “more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers” are being killed per week. For what? How many dead or wounded before those advocating that Ukraine fight to the last Ukrainian admit that an immediate ceasefire is the right and humane solution — and has always been?

Haters are going to hate, but if Trump had been listened to three years ago, 1 million people would not have been killed or wounded. What is the worth of those lost and maimed lives?



Second doesn't care. Second never cared.

Every post he makes in 2025 starts with the word Trump.

And now, there have been just about as many deaths in this Clinton/Obama/Biden* manufactured war as there were allegedly Covid deaths, and Second and Ted just keep cheering for more death.

6ix,



Excellent. We have established that Second is capable of learning.

Starting a post with Trump will result in the immediate end of anybody reading the rest of said post.

Quote:

your understanding of why Russia invaded Ukraine and kills Ukrainians does not harmonize with Putin's understanding:



I have no more interest in Putin's understanding of why Russia invaded Ukraine than I do for your interpretation of my own.

So...

Where do we go from here other than me disregarding the rest of your post because I simply do not care?


I know you tried man. Keep it up. You'll come up with a post worth reading soon. I have faith that you will.



--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Monday, May 26, 2025 8:51 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Debunking Putin’s ‘root causes' claims

By Andrea Januta | May 26, 2025 9:15 PM

https://kyivindependent.com/why-did-russia-invade-ukraine-moscows-clai
ms-of-root-causes-unpacked
/

As Russia continues to bombard cities and towns across Ukraine, Russian officials have hardened their position against a ceasefire, continuing to repeat the obscure demand that the war’s "root causes" be addressed before agreeing to any truce.

For months, the phrase "root causes" has become a go-to talking point repeated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his deputies, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, to justify their continued aggression.

"In (Russia’s) telling, they ascribe these root causes to an aggressive West," said Robert Person, an expert on Russian foreign policy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

"The most concrete thing that you’ll hear, when they’re talking about the root causes that they refer to, is the enlargement of NATO."

Russia has named the alleged threat from NATO in its attempts to justify its invasion of Ukraine, among other reasons, and has demanded that a peace agreement include a ban on Ukraine ever joining the alliance.

But Russia’s framing is a red herring, Person and other experts argue.

"What Putin is after in Ukraine and beyond is not just a rollback of the prospect of NATO membership. It’s not about securing Ukraine’s neutrality," he said. "It’s really about turning Ukraine into a subservient vassal state with a puppet government that does his bidding."

The false narratives serve a useful purpose for Russia’s government, however, said Mercedes Sapuppo, assistant director in the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

"When Putin discusses the 'root causes' of his war, he is calling up a framework that he claims justifies Russia's aggression in Ukraine by falsely placing blame on Ukraine," said Sapuppo. "Putin and the Kremlin are using these narratives to frame Ukraine as the instigator of the Kremlin’s war."

Even U.S. President Donald Trump has bought into the idea, saying as recently as last month, "I think what caused the war to start was when (Ukraine) started talking about joining NATO."

NATO: a ‘nonsensical’ explanation for the war

Alongside NATO expansion, Russia has at times named additional reasons for its invasion — including propaganda claims of Nazi extremism, and protecting the status of Russian language speakers or the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church — but it has placed outsized emphasis on NATO.

In 2018, Ukraine enshrined its goal of NATO membership in its constitution and has since argued that membership in the security alliance is needed in the future to deter further Russian aggression.

Yet the idea that NATO is the root cause of this conflict is "nonsensical," said Stephen Hall, assistant professor in Russian and post-Soviet politics at the University of Bath.

"It’s a narrative that’s pushed by the Kremlin to try and get so-called 'useful idiots' to play it up in the media and elsewhere."

One sign that Putin’s concerns go beyond NATO, notes Hall, is the limited resistance that Russia put up when Poland joined NATO in 1999 and when Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia followed in 2004 — four countries that share a border with Russia.

"Then fast forward to when the state with the longest border (in NATO) with Russia, Finland, joins in 2023. There’s barely a peep from Moscow," he added.

While NATO is relevant, it is only in highlighting to Putin that Ukraine is slipping away from Russian influence, Hall said. Additionally, if Ukraine were to make independent decisions based on the will of its people, it could send a signal to Russian citizens that democracy is a viable option for them, as well.

"That, obviously, is a problem for Putin’s autocracy, or any autocracy for that matter," Hall said.

"It’s very clear that the root cause for him, really, is just Ukraine’s existence."

Before Russia’s 2014 invasion, the idea of NATO membership was deeply unpopular with Ukrainian citizens, with only around 15 to 20% of Ukrainians supporting it at the time.

Since Russia’s invasion, however, support has skyrocketed. According to a poll last year by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 84% of Ukrainians would like to see their country join NATO.

Evidence that NATO is a smokescreen for Putin’s motivations is seen not just in how Putin treats other NATO members, but also how it has treated Ukraine for decades, Person of CFR said.

"For over twenty years, Putin has very aggressively been targeting Ukrainian sovereignty and Ukrainian democracy," Person said, citing Putin’s interference in Ukraine during the 2004 Orange Revolution as an example.

In the lead-up to the Orange Revolution, Putin heavily promoted pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych ahead of the 2004 presidential election, including visiting Ukraine to push his preferred candidate. His attempts to interfere with Ukraine’s politics prompted a backlash, helping to spark protests over a rigged election that resulted in Yanukovych’s defeat.

"Then in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, when they invaded the Donbas, membership in NATO was nowhere on the immediate agenda — for NATO or Ukraine. There was a constitutional provision at the time that prohibited it, and required neutrality," Person noted. "How does that somehow spark or cause the Russian invasion of 2014?"

What this means for peace negotiations

Sapuppo, of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, says understanding Putin’s motivation for the war is necessary for informing the West’s strategies for negotiations with the Russian leader.

"It’s very clear that the root cause for (Putin), really, is just Ukraine’s existence. This should make it clear to Western leaders that any agreements to end the war need to be very forward-looking when it comes to security guarantees," she said.

If Western leaders were to fall into the trap of focusing on NATO limitations, this would not only fail to address the true reasons for the invasion, but would also allow Russia to establish a revisionist history, she said.

But recognizing the underlying motives for Russia’s invasion also means recognizing that they are far more difficult to solve than a question of neutrality, Person added.

"You could draw lines on a map all day long. No line, unless it incorporates, at least all of Ukraine up to and including Kyiv and its government, is going to satisfy Putin’s demands," he said.

"At the end of the day, what Putin cannot tolerate is a sovereign Ukraine that chooses its own foreign policies and partnerships, its own economic relationships."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, May 26, 2025 9:09 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


If you care, go fight for them or put your own money up.

Nobody else cares. Just like I told you years ago.

Most of you dummies stopped putting Ukraine flags in your bio 2 years ago, yet here you are, still wasting everyone's time every single day in 2025.

No. Body. Cares.

Fuck Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Monday, May 26, 2025 9:33 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SECOND, there is almost nothing left to sanction. We cut the Russian central bank and other large banks off from SWIFT, froze $300 billion of their assets (which the Europeans are stealing piecemeal), blew up Nordstream, blocked insurance on tankers and cargo ships, blocked tech goods .... Western businesses left. We tried suppressing the price of oil. There've been something like 17 sanctions packages by now.

Signym, there are millions of targets inside Russia to destroy


Too bad the west doesn't have a million missiles, then!

Quote:

Merz lifts range limits on Ukraine weapons to hit targets inside Russia
Germany is under pressure to supply Ukraine with its powerful long-range Taurus cruise missiles.


The Taurus is air- launched (BTW so is the Storm Shadow/ Scalp missile). So, what are they going to launch them from? Ukraine's non-existent jets?

I think this is mostly narrative/ media hype.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 4:32 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
If you care, go fight for them or put your own money up.

Nobody else cares. Just like I told you years ago.

Most of you dummies stopped putting Ukraine flags in your bio 2 years ago, yet here you are, still wasting everyone's time every single day in 2025.

No. Body. Cares.

Fuck Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Russian forces conducted one of their largest drone and missile strikes of the war against Ukraine on the night of May 25 to 26 after three nights of record strikes. The May 25-26 strike is now the second largest combined strike of the war, after Russian forces conducted the largest combined strike on the night of May 24 to 25. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched nine Kh-101 cruise missiles from the airspace over Saratov Oblast and 355 Shahed and decoy drones from the directions of Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol cities; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; Shatalovo, Smolensk Oblast; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai; and occupied Cape Chauda, Crimea.[1] The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces shot down all nine Kh-101 missiles and 233 drones over northern, eastern, southern, western, and central Ukraine and that 55 drones were "lost." Ukrainian officials reported that the Russian strikes targeted Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Kyiv oblasts.[2] Ukrainian officials stated that the strikes caused civilian casualties and damaged civilian infrastructure and private residences.

Russia has launched three of its largest strike packages against Ukraine over the last three days, including its two largest combined strikes, and eight of the largest strikes of the war since January 2025.[3] Russian strikes against Ukraine continue to disproportionately impact civilians and civilian infrastructure.[4] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on May 26 that Russia launched over 900 drones against Ukraine over the last three days and that intensified Russian strikes have a significant political meaning.[5] Zelensky stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is choosing to continue the war rather than engage in meaningful peace negotiations and that there is no evidence that Russia is considering a diplomatic end to the war.[6] Russia may be increasing strikes against Ukraine as part of a cognitive warfare effort to weaken Ukrainian resolve and to undermine Western support for Ukraine.



https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-26-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 4:38 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

The Taurus is air- launched (BTW so is the Storm Shadow/ Scalp missile). So, what are they going to launch them from? Ukraine's non-existent jets?

I think this is mostly narrative/ media hype.

Are you sure? Because googling Can Taurus Missile be launched from the ground? gives an answer:
Quote:

the weapon has evolved into a family of missiles that can be launched from a wide range of land, sea and/or airborne platforms.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Can+Taurus+Missile+be+launched+from+th
e+ground%3F


The philosophical problem has always been that so-called "good" people won't readily kill evil people because that switches their "good" status to "evil". (War seems to confuse the brains of "good" people.) The main consequence is that the number of truly evil people, and those who approve of evil people, grows and grows when "good" people won't murder them, making them die screaming for mercy as they burn to death because of missiles.

It would be exactly the same in engineering if evil parts weren't melted down in a fire, but were installed into machinery. (Engineers like to be neutral by renaming evil/bad as defective, but good continues to be called good) Pretty damn soon the machinery malfunctions, as we are seeing in real life, because the foolish engineer had mercy on the defective, letting them live.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 7:08 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

The Taurus is air- launched (BTW so is the Storm Shadow/ Scalp missile). So, what are they going to launch them from? Ukraine's non-existent jets?

I think this is mostly narrative/ media hype.

Are you sure? Because googling Can Taurus Missile be launched from the ground? gives an answer:
Quote:

the weapon has evolved into a family of missiles that can be launched from a wide range of land, sea and/or airborne platforms.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Can+Taurus+Missile+be+launched+from+th
e+ground%3F


The philosophical problem has always been that so-called "good" people won't readily kill evil people because that switches their "good" status to "evil".

I think the philosophical question is payload v range.

If you try to ground launch a missile originally develooed as air launched, you'll pay a price of having to increase the propellant and decrease the range.

So,yeah ... still mostly hype.


Quote:

(War seems to confuse the brains of "good" people.) The main consequence is that the number of truly evil people, and those who approve of evil people, grows and grows when "good" people won't murder them, making them die screaming for mercy as they burn to death because of missiles.
The difference between good people and bad people isn't whether they kill, bc there are circumstances where you legally and morally are prepared to kill. The difference is how you react to the fsct. I heard a quote from the military that 90% of the kills are credited to 10% of the soldiers. They've identified those people as natural born killers... i.e. sociopaths or psychopaths.

Given your claimed history, that must be you.

Quote:

It would be exactly the same in engineering if evil parts weren't melted down in a fire, but were installed into machinery. (Engineers like to be neutral by renaming evil/bad as defective, but good continues to be called good) Pretty damn soon the machinery malfunctions, as we are seeing in real life, because the foolish engineer had mercy on the defective, letting them live.
So, since you're defective, unsuited to human society, what should be done with you?

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA


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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 10:59 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


A Senior Republican Speaks: Part 3
The State Of Trump And The GOP After Four Months

By Phillips P. OBrien | May 27, 2025

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/a-senior-republican-speaks-part
-3


Q: What chance do you believe there is that Trump will be willing to sell weapons to Ukraine?

This would be a brilliant move by Trump—one that could bring the war to a swift and favorable conclusion while staying firmly within the MAGA framework. It would stimulate the U.S. economy, expand transatlantic defense trade, and reassert American influence.

But so far, there’s no sign that Trump is considering this. That is disappointing—and baffling.

Q: Can Europeans trust Trump to defend NATO members any more?

I would not trust Trump to defend a NATO country if attacked by Russia. I could foresee a situation where Putin invades a part of a country such as the Russian-speaking portions of Estonia and dares Trump to commit U.S. troops to push out the Russian army. In that scenario, I do not believe Trump would support invoking Article V to justify a collective military response.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 11:00 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


As Putin’s Russia brutally hammers Ukraine, Trump confronts put-up-or-shut-up test

The American president said he's "not happy" with his Russian counterpart, but he's said this before — and the rhetoric usually amounts to nothing.

By Steve Benen | May 27, 2025, 7:59 AM CDT

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/putins-russia-brut
ally-hammers-ukraine-trump-confronts-put-shut-test-rcna209162


Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has repeatedly vouched for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, assuring the world that his counterpart in Moscow is sincerely interested in peace. The evidence to the contrary has long been overwhelming, and in recent days, it’s become even more devastating.

On Friday night, Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack, and the offensive — described by Ukrainian officials as the largest aerial assault on the country since the war began — continued throughout the weekend. The New York Times, quoting the Ukrainian Air Force, reported that over the past week, “Russia has directed at least 1,390 drones and 94 missiles at targets across Ukraine.”

The offensive came almost exactly a month after the American president published an item to his social media platform that read, “Vladimir, STOP!” It was a directive that Putin ignored. It also came just days after Trump had a two-hour phone meeting with Putin — a discussion the Republican described as “excellent” — that he boasted would “immediately” lead to new diplomatic negotiations.

With this in mind, Trump expressed a degree of predictable dissatisfaction with Russia’s latest offensive. The New York Times reported:

President Trump on Sunday condemned the decision by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to unleash one of the largest offensives in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and said he was considering imposing more sanctions on Russia in response. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey before boarding Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he was “not happy” with Mr. Putin escalating his attacks, especially as the two countries negotiate a cease-fire deal to bring the three-year war to an end.

In comments to reporters, the Republican said, “He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”

Trump added that he was “surprised” by the renewed military offensive from Russian forces, which dovetailed with an online item in which the American president said Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY” and was targeting Ukrainian cities “for no reason whatsoever.”

Of course, in the same social media missive, Trump also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and suggested the Biden administration bore responsibility for Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked invasion of his neighboring country.

All of which left the world with a familiar question: What exactly does Trump intend to do now?

The circumstances are hardly unfamiliar. In March, for example, NBC News reported that Trump was “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin, though his administration failed to follow through with action. A month later, the American president let the world know he was “not happy” with his Russian counterpart, which again proved to be hollow rhetoric.

Four times in four months, Trump threatened to impose new economic sanctions on Russia. In each instance, the comments sparked a fresh round of headlines. But also in each instance, Putin ignored the threats, and the White House responded by doing nothing.

All of which brings the “watch what he does, not what he says” adage to mind.

To be sure, perhaps this time will be different. Perhaps Trump is getting tired of looking foolish. Perhaps the White House will, any minute now, announce new economic penalties on Moscow, new security aid for U.S. allies in Ukraine, or both. Perhaps Putin pushed his luck once too many times, and it's finally jolted the American president who has been far too eager to align his administration with the Kremlin.

But this would be a dramatic shift from Trump’s record and recent history.

As a New York Times analysis summarized over the Memorial Day weekend, the White House has effectively created “a strategic void in which Mr. Trump complains about Russia’s continued killing but so far has been unwilling to make Mr. Putin pay even a modest price.”

Much of the world has waited for Trump to adopt a stronger and more effective posture. Will he ever overcome his affection for the Russian leader and try following through on his rhetoric for a change? Watch this space.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, May 27, 2025 1:03 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
If you care, go fight for them or put your own money up.

Nobody else cares. Just like I told you years ago.

Most of you dummies stopped putting Ukraine flags in your bio 2 years ago, yet here you are, still wasting everyone's time every single day in 2025.

No. Body. Cares.

Fuck Ukraine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Russian forces



No. Body. Cares.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:36 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

No. Body. Cares.

If you keep this attitude, 6ix, you are going to get your cowardly ass murdered. Nobody cares when 6ix is dead. Not Signym, not your neighbors, definitely not your relatives, since your estate is worthless.

Russia demands halt to Western military aid as ceasefire condition — Sybiha

May 27, 2025

https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-demands-end-to-western-military-ai
d-as-condition-for-ceasefire-ukraine-s-fm-sybiha-50517336.html


Why doesn’t Russia demand, as a precondition to a ceasefire, that Ukraine surrender? Because not even cheese-eating surrender monkeys of the EU are stupid enough to fall for that trick.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:39 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Ukraine should destroy the ZNPP power plant that Russia wants.

Next step, destroy many power plants inside Russia. Russia can easily purchase 40,000 new soldiers per month, but it cannot build even one new power plant per month.

The Kremlin is setting conditions to establish permanent control over the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

Greenpeace's Ukraine service reported on May 27 that satellite imagery from early February 2025 to May 23, 2025 shows that Russia has laid 90 kilometers of powerlines near the Sea of Azov in occupied Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts.[1] Greenpeace reported that these new powerlines are the first observed indications that Russia is acting upon its long-held plans to connect the ZNPP to the Russian power grid.[2] Russian state nuclear energy operator Rosatom Head Alexei Likhachev claimed on May 21 that Rosatom had developed a plan to bring the ZNPP to "full capacity," suggesting that Russia intends to bring the ZNPP's reactors out of their current cold shutdown state.[3] Likhachev claimed in May 2024 to agree with the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) assessment that restarting the ZNPP was currently "impossible" and that the first condition for restarting the ZNPP must be to ensure its security, either with a security guarantee or after the frontline had shifted away from the ZNPP.[4]

US President Donald Trump's April 2025 seven-point peace proposal to Ukraine included a provision for Ukraine to regain control over the ZNPP with US involvement, and the proposed Ukraine-European peace plan also contained this provision.[5] Russian officials have repeatedly rejected giving up control over the ZNPP, however.[6]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campai
gn-assessment-may-27-2025


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 6:46 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

No. Body. Cares.

If you keep this attitude, 6ix, you are going to get your cowardly ass murdered. Nobody cares when 6ix is dead.



Stop talking and come at me, pussy. I'm here waiting for you.

You're the billionaire. Why don't you know where I live when I know where you do?

Quote:

Not Signym, not your neighbors, definitely not your relatives, since your estate is worthless.


Not what my ever-increasing property tax bill says.

I have more net worth than you'll ever see in your actual sad little life.

Quote:

Russia


Nobody cares, faggot.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 9:19 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


What is the life expectancy of a Russian soldier in Ukraine?

The average life expectancy for a Russian soldier in Ukraine is estimated to be between two weeks and four and a half months, with some estimates placing it as low as four hours on the front lines. Some sources report that Russian soldiers have a life expectancy of one month, while others state that in certain areas, like near Myrnohrad, the life expectancy has plummeted to two weeks.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+life+expectancy+of+a+russi
an+soldier+in+ukraine


Whatever the life expectancy is, it is short. In WWII, Russians died by the tens of millions. Nobody knows how many tens, since even the Russians don't want to know. That tradition of a short life in combat continues 80 years after the Great Patriotic War.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 9:36 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
What is the life expectancy of a Russian soldier in Ukraine?



At least you're asking a question worth asking for once.

Although, I suspect the reason that you bring it up is devious, rather than coming from a place of concern or caring, which is what we're always told that the Democrat voters and the Democrat Party represents.

I just... hear that about you guys all the time, but I just never actually see it in practice anywhere anymore.




Here's a question you might want to consider asking yourself...



--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, May 28, 2025 2:15 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Putin made 'one of the biggest mistakes in military history' says NATO rival Finland

Finnish President Alexander Stubb says his country is keeping "cool, calm and collected" in the face of Russian aggression, with Moscow building up forces on the border

By Carrington Walker | 12:51 ET, Wed, May 28, 2025

https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/173104/vladimir-putin-told
-he-s-made-one-biggest-mistakes-military-history


A European nation feeling the heat from Vladimir Putin's incursion into Ukraine has labeled it "one of the biggest strategic and tactical mistakes in recent military history".

Finland's leader Alexander Stubb has observed Russian forces amassing along the Finnish-Russian border, yet he maintains his country, now a NATO member, remains "cool, calm and collected" in the face of aggression.

The head of strategy for Finland's defense forces confirmed last week their vigilance over border activities and a commitment to "prepare for the worst".

With an 832-mile border with Russia - the longest in Europe - Finland is geographically close to major Russian cities like Saint Petersburg, which lies about 500 miles away.

In 2023, Finland became the 31st member of NATO, joining alongside Sweden after Russia's aggressive moves in Ukraine prompted security concerns, reports the Express.

Moscow has vehemently contested this expansion, apprehensive about the prospect of NATO forces being stationed near Russian soil.

"We Fins are cool, calm and collected," President Stubb declared on CNN. "Sometimes when you see things in the international media, it's perhaps a little bit twisted. We have the border under full control.

"Russia has always had military bases along our border and there is a normal build-up. You have to remember that four brigades were moved from the Leningrad district when the war began in Ukraine.

"And, our expectation is that there will be a build-up as the war is over and that build-up will continue."

President Donald Trump held discussions with his Finnish counterpart at his Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this year, and notably sat alongside the 57-year-old during Pope Francis's funeral service.

President Stubb acknowledged their communication, saying: "We speak over the phone fairly regularly. It's (the conversations) normal diplomatic exchanges of ideas, and I'm glad that I can do that because I come from a small country. And, whenever the president of a small country is able to speak with the President of the United States, it's a good part of our diplomacy."

Regarding the Russian military presence, Stubb explained: "The reason is very simple. We have one of the largest militaries in Europe, together with Turkey, Ukraine and Poland.

"And, on top of that, we have just doubled NATO's border, so that is normal Russian activity."

With mandatory military service bolstering Finland's defense force by adding 900,000 individuals to its potential wartime reserve, plus its formidable arms cache including the recent addition of 64 F-35 fighter jets, the country stands prepared.

Stubb said: "We don't have it because we're worried about Sweden, we have it because we want to create a deterrent against Russia."

"One of the borders that the French should be least worried about is the Finnish border - we've got this, with our allies."

When questioned about Moscow's assertion that Ukraine's NATO aspirations prompted the war and whether Finland had similar concerns after joining the alliance, Stubb offered his perspective.

"I don't think Finland would have joined NATO if Putin had not attacked Ukraine. Of course, Finland and Ukraine are a different kettle of fish and we have a very different history."

"The second reason is I think Putin actually made one of the biggest strategic and tactical mistakes in recent military history - he underestimated the power of the Ukrainian military.

"He overestimated his own army and he underestimated the resolve of the unity of the West. He was trying to make Ukraine Russian, well, it became European. He tried to split the European Union, I've never seen it more united."

"He tried to split the transatlantic partnership, especially NATO, and ended up with neutral Sweden and Finland joining NATO."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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