Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 17:24
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 398353
PAGE 197 of 197

Sunday, February 22, 2026 11:25 AM

Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?

If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.

Nobody else does either, faggot.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Sunday, February 22, 2026 1:11 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:
Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?

If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.

Nobody else does either, faggot.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

“Hello!” Ilyukhina lunged forward and hugged Stratt. “I’m here to die for Earth! Pretty awesome, yes?!”

I leaned to Dimitri. “Are all Russians crazy?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile. “It is the only way to be Russian and happy at the same time.”

“That’s…dark.”

“That’s Russian!”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10857981-hello-ilyukhina-lunged-forwa
rd-and-hugged-stratt-i-m-here-to

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

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Sunday, February 22, 2026 2:07 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

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Monday, February 23, 2026 7:54 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:
Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?

If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.

Nobody else does either, faggot.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

Day 1461 of Putin’s Three-Day War
Courage, betrayal — and reasons for hope

Paul Krugman
Feb 23, 2026
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/day-1461-of-putins-three-day-war

Source: Institute for the Study of War

Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2002. Putin expected a quick Russian triumph — reports are that he expected the Ukrainians to fold in days. He never said “three days,” but this meme has become shorthand for his belief that it would be a walkover. Western military analysts who had bought into propaganda about Russia’s military strength shared his assessment.

U.S. right-wingers were especially enthralled with what they perceived as the toughness, masculinity, and anti-wokeness of Russian soldiers.

But Putin’s dream of a short, victorious war has turned — as such dreams usually do — into a long nightmare of blood, destruction and humiliation. Ukrainian courage and Russian incompetence — combined with the effectiveness of British and American man-portable weapons — ensured that the attempt to seize Kyiv became an epic debacle. The three-day war is about to enter its fifth year.

I am not a military expert. But I pay attention to those who are — especially Phillips O’Brien, who has been far more right about this war than anyone else I know. Furthermore, the future of the war will depend greatly on an issue I do know something about, Europe’s ability to provide Ukraine with the support it needs. So I thought I would use the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the war to talk about where we are right now.

First, about the military situation. The maps at the top of this post show how the area of Ukraine under Russian control — shaded pink — has changed over the past year. You may ask, what change? Exactly. The Ukraine war isn’t like World War II, in which breakthroughs could be exploited by armored columns sweeping into the enemy’s rear. It’s a war in which the battlefield is swarming with drones, where there isn’t even a well-defined front line, and the “kill zone” within which even armored vehicles are basically death traps is many kilometers wide.

Some observers still don’t understand how the reality of war has changed. Thus there have been breathless reports about the danger Ukraine would face after Russia seized the “strategic city” of Pokrovsk since July 2024. Russian forces finally entered Pokrovsk late last year and may now occupy most of the rubble. But it made no difference.

This reality shows how idiotic it is for the U.S. Department of Defense — sorry, Department of War — to decide that its mission is to embrace a “warrior ethos.” Bulging biceps and macho posturing won’t help you prevail in modern war, while bombastic stupidity is a good way to get many soldiers killed.

So if modern technology has turned war on the ground into a bloody stalemate — much bloodier for Russia than for Ukraine, but still indecisive — what will determine victory and defeat? The answer, which has been true in most wars, is that it will come down to resources and logistics.

If this were purely a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainians, for all their heroism, would be doomed. Russia, after all, has four times Ukraine’s population and ten times its GDP.

But Ukraine has powerful friends.

For the first three years of the war, the United States was the most important of these friends. Indeed, Ukraine wouldn’t have been able to resist Russia without U.S. aid.

Unfortunately, top Biden officials were too cautious. They didn’t want Putin to win, but they clearly lost their nerve at the prospect of outright Russian defeat. So they slow-walked aid and kept putting restrictions on the use of U.S. weapons. Without those restrictions, Ukraine would have been able to hammer Russian rear areas, and this war might well have ended in its first year.

As it was, Ukraine was able to hang on but not triumph. And now we have a U.S. president who clearly wants to see a Russian victory. He’s unwilling or unable to openly throw America’s weight behind Putin, but he has effectively cut off all U.S. aid to Ukraine. That’s not hyperbole. Here are the numbers:

Source: Kiel Institute https://www.kielinstitut.de/fileadmin/Dateiverwaltung/IfW-Publications
/fis-import/dd24a73f-4270-46c5-9c40-bcc9df4f1672-KPB2023_EN.pdf

This is a betrayal of everything America used to stand for. We’re witnessing a war between freedom and tyranny, between an imperfect but decent government and a monstrous mass murderer — and the U.S. government is de facto backing the tyrannical monster.

Yet despite Trump’s pro-Putin policy, Ukraine is still standing, while Russia’s year-long offensive has been a bloody failure. While Trump may have thought that he could discreetly hand Ukraine over to Putin, it turns out that he didn’t have the cards.

Crucially, as you can see from the chart above, Europe has for the most part stepped up to the plate, replacing most of the lost aid from the United States. True, some of the military aid takes the form of U.S. weapons purchased by European nations and transferred to Ukraine. In particular, there is still no good alternative to Patriot air defense systems. And the Trump administration has been stalling some military deliveries even though Europe is paying.

But European — and, increasingly, Ukrainian — arms production has been ramping up. One indicator of European potential for arms manufacturing is that U.S. officials have gone ballistic over proposed buy-European provisions in Europe’s ongoing military buildup and threatened retaliation. This is quite rich: America in effect reserves the right to use its control over weapon systems to hobble other countries’ military efforts — on behalf of dictators the president likes — but is furious at any attempt to reduce dependence on those systems.

But does Europe have the resources to ensure Ukrainian victory without the United States? Mark Rutte, a Dutch politician who is currently secretary-general of NATO, made waves last month when he told people who believe that Europe can defend itself against Russia without the United States to “keep on dreaming.” One sees similar declarations of helplessness from some other Europeans. But it’s really difficult to see where this defeatism is coming from. Combined, the economies of the European nations that have strongly supported Ukraine are vastly larger than Russia’s:

Source: International Monetary Fund

It’s true that Europe has in the past had great difficulty acting like the superpower it is. But that may be changing.

So, how will this war end? Russia’s strategy now appears to be to terror-bomb Ukraine into submission, but as far as I know that has never worked. The more likely outcome is that European aid and Ukraine’s own growing prowess in arms production will gradually shift the military balance in Ukraine’s favor, and that Russia’s war effort will eventually collapse.

I hope that’s how it turns out. But even if it does, shame on America, for betraying a valiant ally.

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

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Monday, February 23, 2026 8:01 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

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Monday, February 23, 2026 8:24 AM

THG

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
An ultimatum is a demand with consequences if the demand isn't acted on: "Do X, or Y".

Deterrence is a stated response to the OTHER party's initiating action: "If YOU do X, we'll do Y".

You're dropping ultimatums bc you don't have a leg to stand on.

Logic. Not your strong point, is it?

Meanwhile, Russia keeps advancing along the entire front.

Too funny...

T

Animated map: Changes in Russian military positions in Ukraine

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/animated-map-changes-in-russian-m
ilitary-positions-in-ukraine/vi-AA1WSSCt?

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Monday, February 23, 2026 8:59 AM

SECOND

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

Russia threatens to aim nukes at Estonia — then claims it’s “not a threat”

By Olena Mukhina | 23/02/2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/russia-threatens-to-aim-nukes-a
t-estonia-then-claims-its-not-a-threat/

No better way to start the Russian work week than by making death threats against countries just across the western border of Russia. The Russians are hungover from a weekend of heavy drinking. Making threats makes them feel more alive.

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

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Monday, February 23, 2026 11:22 AM

THG

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T

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Monday, February 23, 2026 4:19 PM

THG

Keep it real please, and use a VPN

Love it...

T

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Monday, February 23, 2026 4:33 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

_______ Insert nobody gives a fuck emoji here.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Monday, February 23, 2026 5:52 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 THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T

This thread works fine, and it is important to remember precisely what was happening 4 years ago. Signym has been predicting Russia's victory for all the years this thread has existed. Victory might actually arrive in two, maybe four, months:

Hungary blocks EU sanctions AND $106 billion loan for Ukraine, risking a domino collapse

By Peeter Helme | 23/02/2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/hungary-blocks-eu-loan-sanction
s-ukraine-imf-domino/

“Without that support from the EU and the IMF, Ukraine’s economy would most likely collapse,” Maksym Samoiliuk, an economist at Kyiv’s Centre for Economic Strategy, told the Financial Times.

The Centre for Economic Strategy and DiXi Group warned in December that Ukraine needed to start receiving EU tranches by the end of March 2026. That deadline is five weeks away.

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

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Monday, February 23, 2026 6:18 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 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:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

Looking back in this thread and discovered 6ixStringJoker has been writing "Nobody cares" for four years. Obviously, he does care that the Russians win.

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 6:37 AM

SECOND

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

KYIV, Ukraine, Feb. 23, 2026 — Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an updated joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5) released today by the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations currently estimates that as of 31 December 2025, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is almost $588 billion (over €500 billion) over the next decade, which is nearly 3 times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for 2025. https://tinyurl.com/4zj4v46y

Of the total long-term needs, reconstruction and recovery needs are the highest in the transport sector (over $96 billion (€82 billion)). This is followed by the energy sector (nearly $91 billion (€77 billion)), the housing sector (almost $90 billion (€77 billion)), commerce and industry sector (over $63 billion (€54 billion)), and agriculture sector (over $55 billion (€47 billion)). The cost of explosives hazard management and debris clearance is almost $28 billion (€24 billion), despite some progress in surveying and demining that helped to contain losses in this sector.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/world-bank-maps-ukraines-deepes
t-scars-195b-in-direct-damage-and-a-588b-bill-for-survival/

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 6:42 AM

SECOND

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

Editorial: Trump’s theater and Europe’s fear could bring 4 more years of war

By The Kyiv Independent

February 24, 2026 10:46 AM

https://kyivindependent.com/editorial-this-war-can-last-another-4-year
s-but-it-doesnt-have-to/

The year is 2030.

With spring around the corner, Ukraine has just endured the toughest winter of the war yet. It was Russia’s eighth winter campaign against the country’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s air defenses have improved. Its grid has grown more resilient. But Russia’s weapons are deadlier, its drone swarms larger, its tactics more adaptive — inflicting severe damage and forcing millions to live in darkness.

Another U.S. administration has come and gone after promising to end the war swiftly. European leaders are once again renewing sanctions and announcing aid packages on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The United Nations has just released a report calling 2029 the deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since 2022, when the full-scale invasion started.

Sounds impossible?

It shouldn’t.

Because here we are in 2026, marking four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion — and the pattern is already set. Russia escalates. Ukraine adapts. The West deliberates. Talks resume. Talks stop. The war grinds on — and Ukraine buries its dead.

In 2022, it was hard to imagine this level of destruction lasting more than a year. In 2023, it was hard to imagine it lasting three. Today, the idea that it could continue until 2030 feels unbearable — but not unrealistic.

Both Ukraine and Russia have demonstrated unwavering determination — one to attack, the other to defend — resulting in a war of attrition that has now lasted for years.

Backed by China and buoyed by continued global demand for its oil, Moscow has sustained its war effort, paying lucrative bonuses to volunteer recruits, upgrading its weapons, and scaling up their production.

With Western — or at this point, European — support, Ukraine has received enough financial and military assistance to keep its guns firing, expand its drone industry and largely hold Russian forces at bay, suffering only incremental territorial losses that come at enormous cost to Russian soldiers.

But what about the peace deal that U.S. officials insist is just around the corner?

When U.S. officials boast about the progress they are making in peace negotiations, they omit an inconvenient but crucial detail.

On the surface, the main barrier to ending the war is a piece of land – specifically, the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast that Russia wants, and that Ukraine refuses to surrender.

But the impasse is not the land itself.

Russia continues to openly seek nothing less than military-political capitulation from Kyiv, and demanding the bloodless handover of Ukraine’s most fortified strongholds is just the first step. Ukraine, meanwhile, sees Russia’s real intentions for exactly what they are, and has no intention of capitulating.

For Russia, this war is about imperial restoration — whatever name the empire takes this time. Without Ukraine, that project will never materialize.

For Ukraine, the stakes are existential — its sovereignty, its statehood, its identity are on the line.

When both sides view the war in existential terms and both retain external backing, a multi-decade-long conflict is not far-fetched. History offers plenty of such precedents.

So yes, this war could last until 2030 — if the West’s current strategy remains unchanged.

In 2022, the West helped Ukraine survive but not win. Too many decisions that could have shifted the balance early — from advanced weapons systems to sweeping sanctions — were delayed, diluted, or delivered incrementally.

The logic behind this caution was clear: escalate gradually and leave space for Russia to reconsider its course before facing harsher consequences.

Thanks to this, visions of a truly just end to the war, with the return of all occupied territories, have faded.

Four years of full-scale war later, Ukraine is fighting again for survival, and the most important lesson still remains to be learned. Russia does not respond to incentives. It responds to pressure.

The only way to end this war is to make it militarily and economically impossible for Moscow to continue it.

That would require decisions Western leaders have hesitated to take — from cutting off the remaining lifelines of Russian oil exports, to seizing frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense, to assuming a far greater share of the burden rather than outsourcing the risk almost entirely to Ukrainians – yes, boots on the ground.

Such steps demand true leadership and political courage — the courage to explain difficult choices to voters, to accept short-term costs, and to act with strategic clarity rather than perpetual caution.

It is the kind of courage Ukrainians showed in the first days of the full-scale invasion, when they chose resistance over surrender and altered the course of history.

After four years of Ukraine doing the impossible, the question is still whether its allies can finally match that resolve.

The next chapter of this war is not predetermined.

It can be another four years of hesitation, incrementalism, and tens of thousands more Ukrainian graves.

Or it can be the chapter in which the West finally decides that managing the war is no longer enough — and chooses instead to help Ukraine end Russia’s aggression once and for all.

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 9:32 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 10:05 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:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Evil. Be a dick.

I presume you are unaware that every comment you have made reveals personal failure and the certainty of a shortened life. Kind of like everything the Russians do reveals that they cause their own suffering, their own relative poverty compared to Europeans, and their shortened lives on the actuarial tables of life expectancy.

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 10:05 AM

SECOND

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

What is Putin hiding? 115 Russian statistics suddenly go dark

By Kathrine Frich | Feb 24, 2026

https://www.dagens.com/war/what-is-putin-hiding-115-russian-statistics
-suddenly-go-dark

Economic transparency in Russia is shrinking, according to Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Dozens of key statistical indicators have stopped being updated, while others have disappeared from public databases altogether.

Kyiv now claims the move is an attempt by the Kremlin to conceal the real state of Russia’s economy.

Data disappears

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says Russian authorities have stopped updating 115 statistical indicators since the end of 2025.

According to the agency, 168 statistical tables have either been removed or reduced in official data collections.

The Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistics System reportedly no longer provides current figures for dozens of categories.

New entries are instead marked as “temporarily closed.”

The Kremlin has not publicly explained the changes.

Income and spending classified

The SVR claims that household income and expenditure data are now classified. This includes figures on public sector wages for teachers, doctors, nurses, researchers and cultural workers.

Information on social benefit payments has also reportedly been restricted.

As a result, it is no longer possible to see how much Russian households spend on essentials such as food, utilities, housing and medicine.

War and prison figures hidden

The Ukrainian intelligence service further alleges that data related to what Moscow calls its “SVO” campaign in Ukraine is no longer publicly available.

According to the SVR, figures on troop numbers and funeral costs have been removed. Media reports also indicate that data on prison populations is again being withheld.

Officials in Kyiv argue the data blackout is aimed at limiting public reaction to economic hardship.

In 2025, 31% of Russians reportedly said they did not have enough money for groceries, while 39% described the economic situation in their region as worsening.

Sources: Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SVR), Dialog.ua, LA.lv.
https://www.la.lv/115-statistikas-raditaji-vairs-netiek-atjauninati-pa
t-dati-par-partiku-klaisifceti-ko-kremlis-slepj#google_vignette

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 4:06 PM

SECOND

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

Most of Ukraine lacks defense against ballistic threats, Zelenskyy says

By Liliana Oleniak | Tue, February 24, 2026 – 13:10

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/most-of-ukraine-lacks-defense-against-
ballistic-1771931443.html

Most of Ukraine's territory remains without air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in an interview with Tagesschau.

80% of Ukraine's territory remains unprotected against Russian ballistic missiles

According to Zelenskyy, his previous statements on air defense were not a criticism of partners, but an attempt to draw attention to the real situation.

"I will not say where our Patriot systems are located. But 80% of our country's territory does not have such anti-ballistic missile systems," the President says.

He stresses that Ukraine continues to seek opportunities to strengthen its defenses.
Ukraine finds funds for air defense systems

The President emphasizes that even in the absence of a sufficient number of systems, Kyiv, together with its partners, is working to finance their purchase.

"Even if we are not given the systems, we have found the money for them together with our partners," Zelenskyy says.

According to him, he personally held negotiations with representatives of Germany, Norway, Northern European countries, and Canada. The President notes that air defense systems are extremely expensive.

"They cost between 1.5 and 2 billion per system. And a missile costs between two and three million," he explains.

Zelenskyy says that he agreed on the allocation of additional funds for these needs.

Ukraine calls on European countries to combine their technological efforts to create new means of countering ballistic missiles.

Colonel Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, also said that Russian mass attacks on Ukraine often combine several types of air threats at once. These include ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as strike drones. Under such conditions, even modern air defense systems are operating at the limits of their capabilities.

Read also: Russia sets record for ballistic missile launches at Ukraine in January
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-sets-record-for-ballistic-missi
le-1771262538.html

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 4:09 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 5:34 PM

SECOND

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

Moscow accused France and the U.K. of seeking to provide Ukraine with nuclear arms.

Offering no evidence, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on Feb. 24 that the "British and French elite" are helping Kyiv acquire nuclear weapons technology and delivery systems to secure "more favorable terms" in peace talks.

Fact-check: Russia pushes nuclear claims to derail peace talks, distract from war anniversary

By Martin Fornusek | February 24, 2026 7:48 PM

https://kyivindependent.com/fact-check-russia-pushes-nuclear-claims-to
-derail-peace-talks-distract-from-war-anniversary/

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

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026 8:23 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?

T
This thread works fine

Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.

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

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 1:24 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
What is Putin hiding? 115 Russian statistics suddenly go dark

By Kathrine Frich | Feb 24, 2026

https://www.dagens.com/war/what-is-putin-hiding-115-russian-statistics
-suddenly-go-dark

... according to Ukrainian intelligence officials.. Kyiv now claims ... Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says ... According to the agency ... The Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistics System reportedly ... The SVR claims ... Information on social benefit payments has also reportedly ... The Ukrainian intelligence service further alleges ...
According to the SVR ...
Officials in Kyiv argue ...

-----------

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

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 8:02 AM

SECOND

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

Ukraine learned four things in four years of war. You won’t like any of them.

We know because we lived it.

By Euromaidan Press Staff

24/02/2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/24/four-years-of-war-taught-ukrain
e-four-things-you-wont-like-any-of-them/

1. Russia won't stop—and negotiations are how it buys time.

Russia has signed 26 ceasefires with Ukraine. It has violated all 26. It is a strategy. Putin applies the playbook of Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko: stall, demand the impossible, blame the other side, rearm while the world talks.

The only thing that has ever made Russia retreat has been military force. History has no example of an unconfronted aggressor stopping on its own. Rhineland led to Austria led to Sudetenland led to Poland. Chechnya led to Georgia led to Crimea led to Donbas led to the full-scale invasion.

A bully only stops when somebody stops him.

2. Russia can be stopped—but not for free

Russia came with the world's supposedly second-strongest army. We forced it to retreat from Kyiv. We drove it out of Kharkiv Oblast. We made it abandon Kherson—the only regional capital it ever captured. Ukraine had no navy—Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is gone, anyway. It has suffered 1.2 million casualties for 11% of our territory. We destroyed one-third of its nuclear-capable bomber fleet in a single operation. No retaliation came.

Russia is beatable. But stopping evil costs money, weapons, political courage. It costs blood—people willing to put their lives on the line for freedom. Ukrainians are already paying that price. The question is whether the rest of the world will share it, or keep hoping the problem goes away while Ukrainians do the dying.

Experts in Norway did the math: equipping Ukraine to win costs Europe roughly half of what a Russian victory would.

The uncomfortable truth is that for four years, the West has chosen not to.

3. The red lines are in your head.

Leopards were "escalatory." They weren't.
ATACMS were "escalatory." They weren't.
F-16s were "escalatory." They weren't.
Striking inside Russia was "escalatory." It wasn't.

Every Western red line was imaginary—fed by Russian threats designed to trigger exactly that paralysis.

A senior European official admitted it at GLOBSEC: "We are good at deterrence, but even better at self-deterrence."

Estonia's Defense Ministry put it bluntly in 2023: the fear of escalation is "unnecessarily high," and drip-feeding Ukraine aid doesn't create a strategy—it merely drags the war out "at an immense cost, primarily for Ukraine." Lithuania's foreign minister asked why NATO is protecting Russian bombers better than it is protecting Ukrainian civilians.

The logic is perverse. The West chose four years of half-measures to avoid a nuclear threat that Russia has never acted on, despite Moscow’s repeated threats.

And what did caution buy? A destroyed energy grid. Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. The deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since the full-scale invasion began. And a precedent every dictator is studying: threaten nuclear war, and democracies will let you grind your neighbor to dust at a pace they can tolerate.

4. Russia wants you to think this is only about Ukraine.

Firebombs at DHL hubs in Leipzig and Birmingham. A German navy ship sabotaged in Hamburg. Five Dutch rail lines hit during the NATO summit. Sabotage attacks in Europe tripled in a single year. These weren't random. Russia is rehearsing.

Four years of fighting us taught Russia priceless lessons: exactly where NATO breaks. Which leaders fold. How many months the debate takes. That 32 nations will argue themselves into paralysis while drones fly every night.

Now imagine we fall. Russia absorbs our defense industry, our resources, and the most combat-hardened army in Europe. Thirty-seven million Ukrainians learn that the West watched them be erased rather than act. Who fights for you then?

Our power grid is at 20%. Our children grow up in bomb shelters. We face 200 drones every night. And we are still fighting—because we learned four years ago that wishing this away doesn't work.

You're still learning.

The choice is the same one it was on 24 February 2022, when Russia invaded. Help stop Russia, or deal with what grows in its place. Alone.

There is no third option. There never was.

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

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 9:53 AM

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

Hungary’s Orbán stakes his reelection on anti-Ukraine message

By Justin Spike | February 25, 2026

https://apnews.com/article/hungary-orban-anti-ukraine-campaign-electio
n-2f729cf3694dc06fb8bc564c123c80e2

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Facing tough odds in an upcoming election, Hungary’s pro-Russian prime minister is trying to convince voters that the greatest threat to the country is not economic stagnation — the focus of his top opponent — but neighboring Ukraine.

Viktor Orbán is running an aggressive media campaign replete with disinformation whose central message is that Hungarians should refuse to align with the rest of Europe in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. That path, he argues, risks bankrupting the country and getting its youth killed on the front lines.

Billboards erected across the country show AI-generated images of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flanked by European officials, holding out his hand as if demanding money. It’s a not-so-subtle reference to the European Union’s efforts to help Ukraine financially and bolster its defenses as the war enters its fifth year.

“Our message to Brussels: We won’t pay!” the publicly funded billboards read.

Orbán, who retook office in 2010, faces the strongest challenge to his power in an election set for April 12. The EU’s longest-serving leader and his right-wing Fidesz party are trailing in most independent polls to an upstart center-right challenger, Péter Magyar. His rise was aided by political scandals that have damaged the credibility of Orbán’s party; a presidential pardon given to an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case led to a public outcry, prompting the president and justice minister to resign.

Orbán and Fidesz have sought to change the conversation. They have blanketed the country with taxpayer-funded billboards, as well as advertisements on radio, television and social media. A petition mailed to every Hungarian of voting age claimed the EU’s plans to help Ukraine financially would bring economic ruin.

In a video Fidesz released on social media last week, a little girl asks her forlorn mother: “Mommy, when is daddy coming home?” In the next frame, the fictional father — bound, blindfolded and kneeling on a muddy battlefield — is approached by a [Ukrainian] soldier and shot in the head.

Much more at https://apnews.com/article/hungary-orban-anti-ukraine-campaign-electio
n-2f729cf3694dc06fb8bc564c123c80e2

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

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 12:14 PM

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

Declining birth rates could spell economic disaster

Feb 24 2026

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/24/russia-ukraine-birth-rate-fertility-ra
te-war-women-children-demographics-economy.html

In 2021, Ukraine’s total fertility rate stood at 1.22 but this has since dropped to 1.00 in 2025, according to United Nations population data. Some have cited a more dire metric, with the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, warning in December that the fertility rate in the country had plunged to 0.8–0.9 children per woman, with the war and insecurity across Ukraine causing this “critical decline.”

For a society to replace itself from one generation to the next, without relying on migration, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is necessary.

Russia, too, has also seen a longer-term trend downwards in its fertility rate exacerbated by the war. In 2021, Russia’s fertility rate was 1.51 but by 2025, it had dropped to 1.37 children per woman, down from 1.4 recorded the year before.

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

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 12:33 PM

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

Ukraine Battlefield Dead Could Reach 500,000 in Fifth Year, Estimates Suggest

Russia has lost as many as 325,000 troops, according to some estimates, with more than 200,000 deaths verified by researchers.

By Paul Sonne and Constant Méheut | Feb. 24, 2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/europe/ukraine-war-deaths.htm
l

Paul Sonne reported from Berlin, and Constant Méheut from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Even as President Vladimir V. Putin hails Russia’s advances on the battlefield, four years into his invasion of Ukraine, his force has suffered perhaps the worst losses any major power has seen in a conflict since World War II.

There is little sign that the conflict is getting any less deadly, as Ukraine looks to harness new battlefield technology to raise the cost of Russia’s gains. Estimates suggest that the death toll for the entire war among both Russian and Ukrainian fighters could rise beyond half a million this year, with deaths adding up particularly on the advancing Russian side. By some counts, the toll could even have already topped that figure.

The number of soldiers killed in the war remains a heavily guarded secret on both sides, as Moscow and Kyiv aim to avoid projecting weakness.

Some estimates indicate that Ukraine has lost more soldiers as a proportion of its wartime population than Russia has, even if Russian losses have been far larger overall. Estimates put the number of Russian troops killed at more than five times the losses that the U.S. military suffered during the Vietnam War.

Journalists from the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service published new results on Tuesday of their effort, dating to the early months of the invasion, to compile the number of Russian soldiers who have died. Their count is based on verified names in obituaries, cemetery burials, social media reports from relatives, probate records and other Russian state data.
https://en.zona.media/article/2026/02/24/casualties_eng-trl

The outlets updated their tally of verified Russian deaths to 200,186 but emphasized that the figure “remains a conservative floor, not a ceiling.” They identified nearly 27,000 Russian cities, towns and villages that sent soldiers to Ukraine who were ultimately killed.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, based in Washington, recently said that Russia had suffered up to 325,000 deaths on the battlefield. The number appears to be a reasonable projection, given the confirmed numbers from Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, which do not fully capture battlefield deaths from 2025 and 2026.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-grinding-war-ukraine

“No major power has suffered anywhere near these number of casualties since the Second World War,” said Seth Jones, a co-author of the C.S.I.S. study, noting that one exception could be Chinese losses during the Korean War, though estimates from that conflict vary widely. “It is just short of shocking.”

The center’s study estimated the number of wounded and killed on the Russian side, often referred to together as casualties, to be as many as 1.2 million.

On Tuesday, Mr. Putin marked the fourth anniversary of the war with a speech to the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B. He said that the Russian intelligence service needed to do more to protect the Russian homeland from Ukrainian attacks. A day earlier, Mr. Putin met with widows of fallen soldiers at the Kremlin.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an address highlighting Ukrainians’ perseverance, hosted senior European leaders in Kyiv, and visited a makeshift memorial in the capital’s central square, where he said he hoped that President Trump would visit the country to see its suffering.

The authorities in Ukraine, like Russian officials, have been secretive about army losses. Ukraine has restricted access to demographic data that could help estimate the number of Ukrainians killed in action, and it has released casualty figures in the tens of thousands that most observers consider understated.

The C.S.I.S. report estimated that between 500,000 and 600,000 Ukrainian troops have been wounded, have been killed or have gone missing since the start of the war. The report said that between 100,000 and 140,000 of those were fatalities, roughly two to three times higher than figures released by Mr. Zelensky earlier this month.

Kyiv has struggled to make up for losses as its army conscription system falls behind and desertions further strain manpower. Ukrainian officers say they cannot properly man their defensive lines as a consequence.

By contrast, Russia has largely managed to replace its losses with a recruitment system that relies on big enlistment bonuses and signing up convicts.

“The big issue the Ukrainians face is numbers right now,” said Mr. Jones, the co-author of the C.S.I.S. study. “There is no question about it.”

To offset this disadvantage, Ukraine has sought to inflict losses on enemy forces at a rate equal to or greater than what Russia can replace. While that goal proved elusive for much of the war, Ukrainian and European officials say the balance may now be shifting.

In January, 225 Russian soldiers were wounded or killed for each square mile of territory seized, according to the Institute for the Study of War. https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-february-14-2026/

Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian defense minister, said that Ukraine had killed or seriously wounded 35,000 Russian soldiers in December. That is about as much as Russia’s average monthly recruitment last year, based on data released by Russian officials.

Mr. Fedorov said Ukraine aimed to raise the number of Russian losses to 50,000 per month. “The objective is to impose costs on Russia that it cannot bear,” he told reporters in January.

Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine.

Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.

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

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026 5:24 PM

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

Prosecutor details scandal rocking Ukraine's defense

February 25, 2026

https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukraine-detains-air-force-logistics-chief
-in-aircraft-shelter-corruption-probe-50586999.html

As Ukrainska Pravda reported on Feb. 25, authorities detained the commander of logistics for the Ukrainian Air Force, Col. Andrii Ukrainets, and the head of the SBU directorate in Zhytomyr Oblast, Col. Volodymyr Kompanichenko.

In May 2025, 1.4 billion hryvnias were allocated to build prefabricated arched shelters. Inspections later found that the projects did not meet safety standards, the shelters failed to protect aircraft adequately, and the cost of the work was significantly inflated.

Despite those findings, advance payments under the contracts were transferred.

The Air Force logistics commander approached the head of the SBU directorate to conceal the embezzlement of budget funds and halt inspections.

He asked to “facilitate” the bribery of the leadership of military counterintelligence.

According to investigators, the officials proposed transferring about 13 million hryvnias — 1% of the project financing — in exchange for concealing the misappropriation of budget funds. They also planned to involve “loyal” auditors to prepare fictitious reports on the quality of construction.

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

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