Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Monday, September 14, 2026 22:30
VIEWED: 567532
PAGE 110 of 111
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OMG, you STILL don't get it!
Do you still believe that someone spouting into a camera is providing FACTS?
Dood, I could get in front of a camera and spin a convincing yarn about ... a killer outbreak, a swarm of invading bugs, whatever.... and show flashes of irrelevant pictures and you'd never know that it was completely fabricated.
YOUR filter for whether something is true or not is whether it aligns with what you want. That's a piss poor way of learning the truth.
FACTS, dood.
You can't admit to facts. I get that. Nonetheless, I'm going to post them, and time will show all you've done by defending all things Russia is bury you head in the sand. And the people speaking into microphones that I listen to are honestly trying to report accurately. Not so much with you aye comrade?
T
T
I’m grateful for your posts because they will be around when your reality comes crashing down.
T
Russian Emergency
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian anti-war opposition had a 5-day run
By Katie Marie Davies | August 11, 2026 12:07 AM
https://kyivindependent.com/russian-anti-war-opposition-had-a-5-day-ru
n/
Russia's Supreme Court, on Aug. 10, barred the country's only anti-war party from taking part in parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The liberal Yabloko party had been approved to take part in the vote and was assigned a spot on the ballot five days prior.
Between the two dates, a few notable events took place — the largely obscure party received wide-ranging support from anti-war activists and the country's exiled opposition, and pro-Kremlin political projects went after it as a result.
The accusations, spearheaded by the nationalist pro-war Rodina party, circled around Yabloko's anti-war stance, which they viewed as a "support for extremism" and compared to calls for Russia to cede its sovereign territory.
"Part of Russia's territories are occupied by a neo-Nazi regime," a Rodina representative told the court, as cited by Russian news outlet Meduza, referring to Ukrainian territories that Russia views as theirs and has inscribed their ownership into its own constitution.
"Calls for an immediate ceasefire agreement constitute calls to stop the liberation of the occupied territories or to abandon their liberation."
A few other accusations were brought up against Yabloko, among them not asking OpenAI for permission to use an image generated by ChatGPT and violating campaign financing laws, Russian media outlets reported.
Russia's Central Election Committee, which greenlit Yabloko's place in the election days earlier, told the court that they had uncovered foreign sources of funding for Yabloko candidates.
Yabloko denied all of the charges. "(Young voters) support us simply because they want to live in Russia and do not want to be killed. I do not know how to explain this to the plaintiffs," Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov told the court. The party said they would appeal the decision.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko's co-founder and the chair of its political committee, said that the move exposed "the true nature" of Russia's political system.
"This decision speaks volumes about the importance of our platform — far more than any official election results could. It is evident that the public demand for peace and freedom today has proven far stronger than the authorities anticipated."
A safety valve for dissent
Yabloko is the only officially registered political party in Russia to promote a pro-peace platform.
Short and delicately worded, its manifesto calls for "a ceasefire agreement, diplomacy, and the achievement of peace." It does not directly reference Ukraine.
The text — which, in Russian, reaches just 43 words — shows the difficult line that Yabloko has chosen to walk in order to survive in Russia's increasingly repressive public sphere.
Several of Yabloko's leading members have been jailed for sharing information about Russia's war against Ukraine. Maxim Kruglov, one of the party's deputy chairs and a former member of the Moscow city council, was sentenced to seven years in prison in June after sharing information on Russia's killing of civilians in Bucha and Mariupol. Another deputy co-chair, Lev Shlosberg, is currently facing similar charges.
More high-ranking members have been legally designated as "foreign agents," or found guilty of "displaying extremist symbols" — a designation that in Russia can include images of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny or Facebook and Instagram logos — meaning they are unable to run for office.
But so far, the party itself has been allowed to survive.
For the Kremlin, Yabloko's place on the ballot paper helped to preserve the image of a competitive vote, says David Szakonyi, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.
Founded in 1993, the p
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
82% of Ukrainians believe Ukraine will win war with Russia, poll finds
By Alex Stezhensky | August 10, 2026, 09:35 AM
https://english.nv.ua/nation/poll-82-of-ukrainians-believe-ukraine-wil
l-win-war-with-russia-50631422.html
A large majority of Ukrainians — 82% — believe Ukraine will win the war against Russia, including 59% who are certain of victory and 23% who “tend to believe Ukraine will win.”
The findings come from a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, or KIIS, on July 16–31.
Only 3% believe Russia will win, while 16% were undecided.
In February 2024, a KIIS poll found that 89% believed Ukraine would win, including 60% who were certain of victory.
Only 7% of Ukrainians believe the current battlefield situation favors Russia, while 39% said it favors Ukraine. Another 32% believe neither side has the advantage, while 22% were undecided.
By comparison, in February 2024, when KIIS conducted a similar survey, 15% of Ukrainians believed Russia had the advantage and 24% believed Ukraine did. Another 47% said neither side had the advantage, while 14% were undecided.
Only 22% of Ukrainians expect the war to end by the end of 2026. Another 13% expect it to end in the first half of 2027, while 39% believe it will end in the second half of 2027 or later. Another 26% could not answer the question, further indicating that only a minority expect the war to end in the near term, the survey results said.
The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted the nationwide public opinion survey on July 16–31, 2026. The survey used a mixed-mode methodology: half of respondents were interviewed by telephone using computer-assisted telephone interviewing, or CATI, while the other half took part in face-to-face interviews using tablets.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
82% of Ukrainians believe Ukraine will win war with Russia, poll finds
Wow. Their propaganda machine was way better than yours was before it broke.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Polish MP calls for deporting unemployed Ukrainians
August 11, 2026, 07:07 AM
https://english.nv.ua/nation/polish-opposition-lawmaker-calls-for-depo
rtation-of-unemployed-ukrainians-50631700.html
Polish opposition lawmaker Andrzej Sliwka of the Law and Justice party said unemployed Ukrainians in Poland should be deported, arguing they could form at least one brigade to fight for their country, Polsat News reported on Aug. 11.
The lawmaker was commenting on a recent proposal by his party to deport Ukrainian men of draft age from Poland if they do not have legal employment in the country.
Asked whether his party had any proposals regarding "unemployed Georgians, Belarusians, Russians or Germans," Sliwka said his proposal was prompted by the fact that "Ukraine is facing a shortage of personnel in its military."
"I believe a deadline should be set for these people to return to Ukraine, and if they do not return, Polish authorities should take action in accordance with the law and deport them. To me, this is obvious," the lawmaker said.
On June 26, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said the European Commission was proposing to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians until March 4, 2028. However, the extension would not apply to recently arrived Ukrainian men ages 23 to 60 who are eligible for mobilization in Ukraine.
The same day, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, citing an anonymous EU official, reported that Ukrainian men eligible for military service could begin being denied temporary protection within weeks.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
At the end comrade signym he asks me to share this video with my friends. So, I'm sharing it with you and Gilligan.
T
How Ukraine retook Donetsk territory after four-hour assault I Battle Plans Exposed
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Aug. 11, 2026, 5:44 pm
If you’re not from Ukraine and Russia, then who cares. But if you know the region, what’s going on here is hugely embarrassing for Russia and Russian seashore defenses; it’s the equivalent of Xi Jinping sailing an explosives-packed robot cigarette boat back and forth past Mar-a-Lago while Trump was entertaining some of his business buddies, and the US Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard not even showing up to try and interfere with it.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/82150
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The petty loyalty beef behind the MAGA Ukraine revolt
Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes advantage of the America First split between Laura Loomer and Tucker Carlson
By Sophia Tesfaye | August 11, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)
https://www.salon.com/2026/08/11/the-petty-loyalty-beef-behind-the-mag
a-ukraine-revolt/
The spectacle of Laura Loomer touching down in a Kyiv bomb shelter to announce her sudden conversion to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia has been covered by much of the media as a sort of a political awakening. . . .
. . . There is no ideological conversion here. Loomer’s evolution comes at precisely the moment when the Republican coalition is undergoing a bitter fight over what “America First” is supposed to mean. The old MAGA formula — distrust Ukraine, NATO and GOP hawks, and view Putin as a potentially useful counterweight to American liberalism — is colliding with a newer reality related to Trump’s ongoing and unpopular war of choice against Iran. Russia is increasingly difficult to portray as a friendly or even neutral power while it cooperates with the Islamic Republic. Ukraine’s resilience and effective drone campaigns, meanwhile, have made it impossible for even the most hardened cynics to paint Moscow as the inevitable victor.
Loomer’s reversal is also inseparable from her rivalry with fellow podcasters Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly and other right-wing media figures who have become increasingly hostile to Trump over Israel, Iran and the use of American military power. Loomer herself has said the right-wing split over Iran prompted her to reconsider Ukraine, and she claimed to have noticed that people she regarded as opponents of Trump were simultaneously advancing Russia-friendly arguments. Now she worries those pro-Russian voices inside the MAGA coalition have become “the biggest detriment to social cohesion” heading into what, by all credible predictions, will be a brutal midterm cycle for Republicans.
Owens’ decision to travel to Putin’s marquee conference in St. Petersburg and Carlson’s ongoing pushing of lines amplified directly by Russian state media have provided Loomer with a tactical opening. She realized that her online nemeses had cornered the market on reflexive Kremlin apologetics. By pivoting to a pro-Ukraine posture wrapped in the language of America First security investments, she’s weaponizing patriotism against her rivals while positioning herself as the true guardian of the movement’s ideological purity. This evolving narrative frames support for Ukraine not as an act of charity or foreign aid, but as a hard-headed business transaction, one Trump appears to have welcomed. He publicly endorsed her meeting with Zelenskyy, and Loomer has said she spoke twice with Trump while in Ukraine. . . .
. . . Republican voters have also been moving in this direction. In January 2026, Pew Research Center found that 47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents described Russia as an enemy of the U.S, up from 40% the year before. Republican confidence in Zelenskyy also rose four points to 34%.
While Loomer works to convert MAGA to the Ukrainian cause, the press should stop treating her reversal as a heroic story about one brave influencer seeing the light. They should instead frame it for what it actually is: a split in MAGA media over Ukraine and Russia that is ultimately a domestic turf war disguised as statecraft.
Much more at https://www.salon.com/2026/08/11/the-petty-loyalty-beef-behind-the-mag
a-ukraine-revolt/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
'Hemingway Knows Nothing': Ukraine's writers are redefining literature of war
By Kate Tsurkan | August 12, 2026 1:07 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/war-faith-and-a-new-kind-of-literature-eme
rge-from-hemingway-knows-nothing/
When war, loss, and unimaginable suffering become routine, a book can offer a kind of lifeline — especially one by a writer who has lived through such an ordeal and tried to make sense of it.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale war, some Ukrainians speculated if they’d see the rise of their own Ernest Hemingway: a writer whose books would not only capture the experience of a generation but come to define it.
Yet it soon became clear that the old paradigms of war literature no longer spoke to them in quite the same way. Among those who sensed this was Artur Dron, a young writer who, after Russia invaded, joined the fight to defend the country.
“Hemingway knows nothing about (our) war. That’s it. For a long time, I believed in what Hemingway wrote, but I got a radically different war than the one he knew,” Dron writes in his essay collection “Hemingway Knows Nothing.”
“In 2022, it became clear that Ernest Hemingway couldn’t tell me the most important thing about what had been happening in my country since 2014.”
Originally published in Ukraine in 2025, Dron’s “Hemingway Knows Nothing” became a bestseller, with readers praising the book for how it explored the dynamics of front-line realities, the question of faith amid crisis, and how Russia’s war of total annihilation is compelling people to rethink everything they once thought they knew.
It is set to be released in Hanna Leliv’s English translation by Jantar Publishing on Sept. 10.
The strength of the book is arguably Dron's thoughts on faith. Among the book’s most arresting passages are those that circle a question that has haunted writers across generations: How does one go on believing in God after witnessing the horrors of war? Moreover, is being faced with the prospect of one’s own death enough to inspire a previously lacking faith in God?
It all boils down, as Dron explains, to choice: the greatest blessing and curse bestowed by God upon man. When confronted by evil in the world, it is too easy to conclude that God “allowed” it to happen. Dron, however, writes that when people commit atrocities, it is not because God has turned away, but because they have turned away from God.
“It wasn’t God who drove tanks into Northern Saltivka in Kharkiv. It wasn’t God who fired a bullet into (my brother-in-arm’s) chest. It wasn’t God who bombed hundreds of churches in eastern Ukraine. It wasn’t God who destroyed Bakhmut and Mariupol. Human beings did that,” Drone writes.
Yet amid the horrors of war, as Dron notes, God does not abandon us. The self-sacrifice, courage, and moral authority shown by people in Ukraine — who choose to protect, help, and care for others even as they long for the chance to return to their ordinary, pre-war lives — are qualities that reveal God’s continued presence, despite the suffering Russia has inflicted upon them.
“The habit of seeing the heroes as ‘someone else’ makes it easy to justify inaction.”
In the book, Dron also explores the inevitable rifts in a society between those who went off to fight and those who did not. It's a common wartime theme, but one he approaches with unique frankness.
While it’s important to honor and thank those defenders who show remarkable bravery in wartime, Dron warns there’s also an inevitable mental trap: we can come to see their courage as so exceptional that ordinary people begin to believe they could never rise to such acts themselves.
“The habit of seeing the heroes as ‘someone else’ makes it easy to justify inaction,” Dron writes. But “joining the army now isn’t quite heroism. It’s maturity and awareness of the new mechanism of existence. You may become a hero on the battlefield. Or you might not. Not every soldier is a hero; any soldier will tell you that.”
The harsh reality — one t
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
THGR, thank you for doubling down on bullcrap.
Here are a few issues in the first part of the video
The ship being buzzed by a drone is a grain ship. Do you know how to tell the diff between a grain ship and a tanker? I do bc I looked it up.
No mention of WHERE the "highly trained" Ukie soldiers took a position. No way to validate it.
Who was filming the drone chasing a fruit vendor? Bc, of course, there's always a handy videographer when you need one! (i.e. was thus staged? )
ONE instance of a French glide bomb? Hardly a stunning success. In addition, everyone knows that Ukraine has no air defenses to speak of.
Oh goodie. Ukraine is attacking Russia's equivalent of Amazon. That's pretty pointless.
And finally, the BIG LIE: @ appx 11:20 map shows Konstantinovka still under Kiev's control! Sorry dood. EVERYONE knows Konstantinovka is fully under Russian control! Either the video is a year out of date or the presenter is lying his ass off.
"*****
So here's what's really happening:
Since Ukraine started attacking Wildberries (fully civilian) warehouses and Russian grain ships, Russia has returned the favor by attacking all ships near Odessa area ports (Ukraine's ONLY port), destroying its facilities, preventing grain and iron ore exports and weapons imports, and damaging the bridges that connect Odessa to the rest of Ukraine, in addition to destroying Ukraine's fuel distribution network, the weapons sites that Ukraine thought were protected in Kiev, NATO sites etc. Plus, the front line has moved a lot farther than your sources admit.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
A $533 million factory in Texas was built to make 155mm artillery shells for Ukraine. It produced nothing because the machinery is defective.
By Jesse Coburn | August 12, 2026
https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-
failed
Extreme cases like this one could become more common if the Trump administration succeeds in boosting the defense budget from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
5% of US Patriot stocks gets Ukraine through winter, 10% ends the ballistic threat — and Zelenskyy has just 1%, he tells CNN
By Maria Tril
13/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/13/sell-us-10-of-your-patriots-and
-well-destroy-every-russian-ballistic-missile-zelenskyy-tells-cnn/
Ukraine holds only about a tenth of the Patriot interceptor missiles it needs from the United States to stop Russia's surging ballistic strikes, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN. Selling Kyiv 5% of the current US stockpile would carry the country through winter, he said, and 10% would let it "destroy all the Russians' ballistic missiles" — but he holds 1%.
The plea puts a number on a shortage that has run through Ukraine's diplomacy all summer and left its cities increasingly exposed. It is the concrete cost of near-empty interceptor stocks: on 5 August, Russia fired 28 ballistic and anti-ship missiles at Kyiv and Ukraine intercepted none of them, killing 17 people, and four days earlier launched 27 ballistic missiles with only one stopped. July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, according to the UN.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine’s new ballistic missile puts Putin within reach
Kyiv is developing its own domestic ballistics as Russia’s missile threat grows.
By Veronika Melkozerova | August 12, 2026 1:24 pm CET
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-fire-point-ballistic-missile-r
ussia-war/
KYIV — Ukrainian defense tech company Fire Point's first ballistic missile will be ready this fall, its CEO told POLITICO — a crucial development if Kyiv hopes to survive the growing ferocity of Russian missile attacks.
Iryna Terekh, who is also Fire Point's chief technology officer, said it is working on its tactical short-range FP-7 ballistic missile. With a 200-kilometer range and carrying a 150-kilogram warhead, the missile can hit ground targets and is also being reworked to be used in air defense systems.
Fire Point is also developing the FP-9 ballistic missile, carrying an 800-kilogram warhead with a range of up to 855 kilometers, putting Moscow well within range.
Both programs are crucial to Ukraine. Kyiv faces a growing shortage of Patriot interceptors, and the Pentagon is now scrambling to rebuild its own supplies. Ukraine also wants its own long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia, especially ballistic missile launchers. The lack of interceptors is allowing large numbers of Russian missiles to hit their targets, and Moscow's attack capabilities are now being boosted by its North Korean allies.
“Our FP-7 is already in a certification process. That requires a certain number of battle-testing launches performed under a special procedure,” Terekh said this week. “We’re going to do those launches, prove its effectiveness in real combat against our enemy, and after that it will be ready for contracting."
She added that if all goes well, "it is completely realistic to get it ready by this fall.”
Fire Point's timeline was backed up by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, although he said deploying the FP-7 will require significant international cooperation. "As for mass application, I cannot say, because there are things that do not depend on Ukraine... there are some elements from other countries."
The FP-7 is a key part of Europe’s first common anti-ballistic system, called Freyja. Fire Point will provide the missiles and launchers, while Ukraine's allies will work on components and surveillance and tracking radars.
“I can’t share the details because it’s a matter for the partners whether they want to talk about it. But everything is going quite quickly. All the partners work in the rhythm of Ukrainian defense companies,” said Terekh.
She also underlined the complexity of shifting from a simple ground-to-ground missile to adapting the FP-7 to missile defense systems.
“Their aerodynamic form and production principles are similar, but their functions are different. One has to fly from point A to B and hit the target; another one has a more sophisticated assignment to find and intercept the target,” she said.
The future Freyja interceptor will be produced in two iterations. The first will be similar to the PAC-2s used by Patriots, which explode next to their targets; the other has the more complex task of finding and intercepting a missile, something done by Patriot's PAC-3 interceptors.
“It is way faster to produce a PAC-2-like missile,” said Terekh, adding: “We don’t have the luxury of spending decades to invent our own hit-to-kill [interceptors], so we decided to go in iterations ... and in the future, we will learn how to make our own hit-to-kill similar to the PAC-3.”
Building Ukraine's own missiles
While working to develop its own capabilities, Ukraine is also pushing to get a licensing agreement from the U.S. to make its own PAC-3s. U.S. President Donald Trump told Zelenskyy last month that such a deal would be possible, but he has since walked that back and is now pressing for the Pentagon to rebuild its own stocks after reports that the U.S. burned through huge numbers of missiles in the first days of the war against
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine’s new Tu-95 killer is a $48,000 copy of a drone China refused to sell
Ukraine went to China to buy the drone. China refused. Two years later, the MICH 2000 costs $2,000 less than the original—and just took out a Russian bomber.
By David Axe
13/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/13/mich-2000/
• Ukraine's state security service has its own special attack drone
• The MICH 2000 is a highly evolved copy of a Chinese drone China refused to sell
• There are at least eight versions of the 2,000-km drone, from $48,000
Whittling down the bomber fleet
Ukrainian drones are slowly chipping away at the Tu-95 fleet. A 2022 drone raid badly damaged one of the lumbering turboprop bombers at Engels-2, potentially leaving no more than 51 intact Tu-95s in the Russian air force inventory at the time. Smuggling tiny explosive drones across Russia in trucks on 1 June, 2025, the SBU hit at least seven more Tu-95s as well as four Tu-22Ms, among other aircraft.
Trending Now
The 16 July raid is the more recent Ukrainian effort to shrink the Russian bomber force, but it surely won't be the last. The Russians' roughly 120 bombers—Tu-95s, Tu-22Ms and Tupolev Tu-160s—launch the cruise missiles that routinely blast Ukrainian cities and power plants.
Struggling to intercept all Russian deep strike munitions in the target zone, in part owing to a deepening shortage of the best air defense missiles, Ukrainian forces increasingly aim to prevent the Russian munitions from even launching—by smashing munitions factories or, yes, destroying irreplaceable bombers. Of the three Russian bomber types, just one—the Tu-160—is still in production, albeit at a rate of barely just one every year or two.
Expect more MICH 2000 raids. The type's anonymous builder churns out 6,000 MICH 2000s a year but aims to boost output to 10,000 a year. And the firm customizes the drones to suit particular missions.
According to Oboronka, there are eight main versions. "Fighters can choose what kind of communication they need: analog, digital or Starlink. They can choose the warhead, the size of the fuel tank, the possibility of additional guidance." The navigation system can be made more jam-proof by adding additional jam-resistant controlled reception pattern antennas.
Drone strikes by MICH 2000s and other drone types aren't the only ways Ukrainian forces are trying to blunt Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and power plants. Ukrainian drone teams are also trying to take out the last five warships in the battered Russian Black Sea Fleet that can fire Kalibr cruise missiles.
On 11 August, drones struck at least three of the ships in the port of Novorossiysk in southern Russia. The frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov and the corvette Bykov all suffered visible damage.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine Is Done With the NATO Fairy Tale
By David Averre | Aug 12, 2026 at 05:50 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-nato-fairy-tale-zaluzhnyi-future-west
ern-security-12308372
In 2024, NATO members gathered to declare that, after two years of bitter war with Russia, Ukraine was on an irreversible path to NATO membership.
The statement still takes pride of place on the NATO website, but today the promise rings hollow. When alliance members descended on Ankara last month for the bloc’s summit, there were sweeping declarations of support and pledges of funding, yet not a word was uttered about when Kyiv could expect to be welcomed into the club.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cannot kick up a fuss about this. His words are scrutinized endlessly by his allies, his adversaries, and most of all his own people. The former commander in chief, Valery Zaluzhnyi, is under no such pressure to mince his words.
"I know NATO very well. For 12 years, I personally worked to ensure that we met NATO standards, and every year I listened to tales that we were about to join NATO. Unfortunately, we never will," Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, reportedly told fellow diplomats in Kyiv earlier this month.
This was met with jubilation in the Russian media, where the former general's words were paraded as a "belated epiphany" and evidence that the "corrupt Kyiv regime" had "betrayed its people."
Yet Zaluzhnyi, who successfully repelled Russia’s 2022 assault on Kyiv and spearheaded Ukraine’s rapid adoption of battlefield tech innovation to combat its larger adversary, is not capitulating to the Kremlin’s perspective; he is proposing a new approach to Western security—one in which Ukraine plays a leading role.
It Was All a Dream
Ukraine has been waiting a long time to be welcomed into the transatlantic security club. Eighteen years, to be precise.
It was at their summit in Bucharest in April 2008—an event attended by Vladimir Putin—that NATO allies first stood together and declared Ukraine and Georgia would one day be accepted into the alliance.
Russia went on to annex Crimea from Ukraine, armed separatists in the nation’s eastern Donbas region and then launched a full-scale invasion designed to conquer Kyiv. It was only in July 2024, at the alliance’s 75th anniversary celebrations in Washington, that the bloc finally confirmed it would continue to support Ukraine’s journey down the "irreversible path" to NATO membership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he addresses the media during a press conference on the third day of the NATO Summit conference in Bucharest, Friday April 4 2008.
...
Then America reset the game board. In February 2025, newly minted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States did not consider NATO membership a "realistic outcome."
Last month’s NATO summit in Ankara seemingly confirmed Ukraine’s NATO bid as a pipe dream: the declaration called Kyiv a contributor to transatlantic security and pledged €70 billion (over $80 billion) in military equipment and assistance—but the word membership was not mentioned once.
Formally, the door remains open, but Ukraine may never reach it. Zaluzhnyi, for one, says Ukraine must recognize this and seize the initiative to determine its own future.
Although he later stressed his enduring support for NATO and said Ukraine should still become a member, the former commander in chief offered a damning assessment of the security bloc as a hangover from the mid-20th century, arguing Ukraine’s innovation of battlefield tactics has surpassed NATO's outdated thinking.
"It is impossible to join an organization that possesses the doctrines of World War II with the level of development that exists in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he said at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv on August 3, according to a report by European Pravda. "Most likely, NATO will remain in the same form as it is, and will spend 12 years, like
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
THGR, did it ever occur to you to look for actual FACTS on the ground to either validate or refute the blah blah blah that that you fill your head with?
More blah for ya comrade.
T
F-35 slated to be a major element in U.S. Air Defense architecture !
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
During a briefing on August 12, 2026, acting Defense Minister Major General Yevhen Khmara confirmed that Ukrainian forces are rapidly expanding their long-range strikes. The strategy aims to force Moscow into a just peace by relentlessly crippling its supply networks.
By Daniel Wolfram | August 13, 2026 3:29
https://www.dagens.com/war/ukraine-vows-russia-will-burn-in-bold-new-s
trategy-to-cripple-moscow-and-end-the-war
. . . Escalating the war
Senior military officials recently met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to map out the next phase of these deep-territory strikes.
Khmara made the military’s intentions clear after the planning session. “Today, at a meeting chaired by the President, further joint steps were determined. Ukrainian operations will become increasingly complex to counter. Ukrainian weapons will only become more mass-produced. Strikes will be more precise. Russia will burn,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy and his advisors are beginning to outline a new, broader strategy. Ukraine and its international partners have established a joint action plan aimed at forcing Vladimir Putin to end the invasion.
Zelenskyy argued that ordinary Russian citizens must feel the consequences of the conflict on their own soil. Only then, he noted, will public pressure build against the Kremlin. As Moscow prepares for a crucial and grueling winter, Kyiv is urging Western allies to supply more air defense systems without delay.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine’s Deep-Strike Strategy
Deep Trouble
By Evan Spear, James P. Sutton, Daniel Sipes, & Ross Anderson | July 13, 2026
From The Dispatch.com newsletter
https://tinyurl.com/4tt3mc97
Russia’s Syzran Oil Refinery, located more than 500 miles from the front lines of the war with Ukraine, usually processes between 7 and 8.5 million tons of crude oil each year.
Over the weekend, waves of Ukrainian drones pummeled it for the third time since January, a bombardment that some intelligence analysts believed knocked out both the plant’s primary crude-distillation units.
On July 6, Ukraine sent long-range drones roughly 1,800 miles to strike the Omsk oil refinery—Russia’s largest, and its top gasoline producer—and attacked a primary crude-processing unit, setting a fire that halted the plant’s operations entirely. And on July 8, Ukrainian drones struck the Stavropol oil depot and the Krasnaya Zvezda oil depot, both located more than 300 miles from the war’s front lines. The campaign has also spread to Russian shipping. Over the weekend, Ukrainian drones hit a Russian oil tanker in the Don-Azov Canal, part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that transports sanctioned oil.
The deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure come as part of a 40-day influence operation, approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in June, to force Russia to the negotiating table. Zelensky is matching the military pressure with a political shake-up, announcing Sunday that Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko will step down as he pivots toward a more aggressive strategy. And although Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected calls to negotiate—Kremlin insiders say Putin is more likely to escalate the war than end it—the Ukrainians have done immense damage.
Ukrainian drones have successfully struck all 11 of Russia’s largest oil refineries (the Angarsk petrochemical plant in Siberia is the only major facility still untouched), and Russia’s diesel production fell by 1 million metric tons in April 2026 and then another 600,000 metric tons in May. Between July 6 and 12, Ukraine hit 90 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov, forcing Russia to suspend shipping operations in the connecting Kerch Strait, which it relied on to ship oil, grain, and steel to international markets and to feed its forces in Crimea. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s siege on its former territory has forced Russian authorities to declare a state of emergency.
Ukraine’s increased use of long strikes to hit energy targets deep behind Russian lines is partly the result of Zelensky’s decision to appoint former digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov, known as the architect of the country’s “Army of Drones,” to lead the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense; and, in recent months, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Pentagon have provided Ukraine with information on these targets.
But the shift also comes from the lessons learned after the failed 2023 counteroffensive. The Ukrainian high command had attempted to break entrenched Russian positions through massed frontal assaults with armor and infantry—and when that largely failed, the military leaders changed focus, instead attempting to collapse the army from behind.
Russia has layered air defenses along its front lines and around the areas it values most—Moscow and St. Petersburg chief among them—but given Russia’s size, it has been unable to cover the front line and a rear that spans 11 time zones at once. Interceptor shortages are forcing commanders to strip batteries from one region to reinforce another, leading to porous air defenses, which Russia’s vocal military bloggers have loudly criticized.
Ukraine has also changed the way it uses drones, emphasizing scale. It has started copying Russia’s own saturation tactic—sending enough drones at once to swamp any single Russian Pantsir air defense system, which can engage no more than four targets simultaneously.
“Russia’s air defense systems are not as poor as I think people make out,” Emily Ferris, a senior associate fellow in the International Security research group at the
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Two Years On From Kursk Offensive, Now Ukraine Has Real Leverage
By David Averre | Aug 13, 2026 at 05:01 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/zelensky-ukraine-leverage-trump-russia-novoro
ssiysk-12317123
Two years ago almost to the day, a cohort of Ukrainian soldiers launched a daring mission: to give Vladimir Putin a taste of his own medicine and seize some Russian territory.
They piled into tanks and armored vehicles, broke out of Sumy and surged across the border into Russia’s Kursk region, and quickly locked down more than 500 square miles of enemy soil.
It was widely billed as a stunning offensive, one that saw Russia’s borders breached for the first time since World War II, and gave Kyiv a valuable bargaining chip as rumors swirled that ceasefire talks might gather pace.
Fast forward a few months to February 2025, and Russia’s forces had practically erased all Ukrainian troops from Kursk, save for a thin wedge of territory, and a weary Volodymyr Zelensky headed to meet newly minted President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. We all remember how that meeting turned out.
Now, with U.S. negotiators expected to visit both Russia and Ukraine in the coming weeks, Zelensky has submitted a fresh peace proposal to Washington.
This time, his leverage is real, and although the prospect of a ceasefire with Russia materializing in the near future is vanishingly small, the Ukrainian president has a much better chance of focusing the Trump administration’s ire on Moscow to heap pressure on his opposite number in the Kremlin.
You Don’t Need Land To Have a Good Hand
The Kursk offensive was supposed to change the equation for Ukraine.
In January 2025, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken openly acknowledged that Kyiv’s foothold across the border would play an important role in any ceasefire negotiations as the Biden administration prepared to hand over the keys to the White House to Team Trump.
Instead, what started as an operation to secure vital leverage, while distracting Russian forces from pressure points on the front line and giving a middle finger to Moscow in the process, ended in a grisly defeat.
...
Ukrainian forces were eventually forced back out of Kursk, with soldiers and civilians alike later condemning the operation as "illogical" and "not worth the cost."
But Kyiv learned the lesson, and with the exception of a small cross-border operation into Belgorod, Ukraine’s armed forces have not attempted to set foot on Russian soil since.
They have, however, developed a new bargaining chip that does not have to be occupied, supplied or defended. Thanks to its extraordinary innovations in drone technology and increasing numbers of homegrown missiles, Ukraine’s forces can strike deep into Russian territory.
Since the start of the year, Kyiv has steadily ramped up the quantity and ambition of its strike campaigns to destroy oil refineries, energy and logistics infrastructure; it launched three times as many long-range attacks in July as it did in January, according to data gathered by independent conflict monitor ACLED. Last week, a drone attack hit a warehouse used by Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries in Yekaterinburg, more than 1,200 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Then came Novorossiysk. In a major overnight operation Wednesday, yet more Ukrainian drones and anti-ship missiles struck grain export terminals and Russian warships at the port city that, until this week, had been the only place Russian vessels in the Black Sea could shelter from Ukrainian fire.
Moscow claimed its defenses shot down more than 500 Ukrainian drones, yet still enough got through to cause significant damage. The numbers illustrate Kyiv’s emerging strategy: it does not necessarily need to defeat Russian air defenses so much as overwhelm and stretch them, according to an analysis by Emily Ferris, senior associate fellow for international security at the RUSI think tank.
Territory can change hands and be retaken, but the capability and will to destroy valuable targets deep
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
tick tock
T
PUTIN PANICS AS FRONTLINE COLLAPSE BEGINS, CRIMEA IN HUGE BLACKOUT!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine preparing full bill for Russia over war, Presidential Office says
Ukraine has expanded the list of costs it plans to seek compensation for from Russia
By Daryna Vialko | Fri, August 14, 2026 - 21:46
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-preparing-full-bill-for-russia
-over-1786732902.html
Ukraine is continuing to document costs incurred as a result of Russian aggression for future compensation from Russia. The International Register of Damage for Ukraine has begun accepting claims in new categories, according to Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
https://www.facebook.com/kyrylo.budanov.official/posts/pfbid0iFdUu9MHw
5LC8SPEGCABkHyGHGTPvXafbzrwhSdvTm7wD5nuXVXrt1HimAfMe5XEl
New categories of damages
The International Register of Damage for Ukraine (RD4U) has opened the submission of claims in categories related to government humanitarian spending to assist affected populations, as well as the costs of demining and clearing areas of unexploded ordnance.
According to Budanov, since the start of the full-scale invasion, state and local authorities have allocated significant funds for the evacuation of civilians, temporary accommodation, emergency medical care, rehabilitation and compensation for destroyed housing.
Ukraine is documenting expenses
Another category covers the costs of clearing areas contaminated by the fighting. Their cleanup also requires significant financial resources.
Budanov said international mechanisms for documenting damages should ensure that Russia is held accountable and prevented from avoiding compensation for the consequences of its aggression.
"Russia must pay for every crime it commits and compensate for every hryvnia spent on dealing with the consequences of its aggression," he said.
According to the head of the Office of the President, Ukraine continues to compile a comprehensive list of war-related expenses, documenting every individual category of damage.
"The enemy caused these damages, and the enemy will pay for them," Budanov stressed.
As previously reported, Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov said Ukraine would continue a special operation aimed at forcing Russia toward peace, adding that at this stage, the specific timeline of the operation is not the determining factor.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Weekend Update #198: Russia's Allies Are More Helpful Than Ukraine's
Actually, The USA Is Quite A Good Ally For Russia; Ukraine Is Slowly But Steadily Liberating Territory.
Phillips P. OBrien
Aug 15, 2026
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-198-russias-alli
es
This update will focus on the role of allies in the Russo-Ukraine War (which was the fascinating and distressing story of the last week). Ukraine’s allies (I use that word knowing it is loaded) should have helped Ukraine win the war by now. They are much richer, more technologically advanced, and, one would think, actually invested in Ukrainian victory—at least from a European perspective. And yet Ukraine’s allies have always tried to finesse their help, to limit it in certain perplexing ways that have forced Ukraine to fight a war that it did not wish to fight, and right now have left Ukraine extremely vulnerable in one area.
Russia’s allies, on the other hand, have actually offered Russia support that has allowed Russia to fight the war that Russia has wanted to fight. They have offered things such as Iranian drone technology (the Shahed which is the foundation of the Russian Geran), massive Chinese purchases of Russian oil and increasingly critical component supplies, and of course North Korean mass supplies of artillery shells, front line soldiers and now ballistic missile forces. These North Korean forces show that one does not have to have a large economy or wide technological base to be an extremely helpful ally. North Korea is providing effective forces to actually fight for Russia—which is far more than any of Ukraine’s partners have done.
This brings up the question of what exactly is the USA in this war? This week we got a very clear answer to that question. The US is using its leverage over Ukraine to help Russia. It does not have to do this, it chooses to.
Finally, the Ukrainians made a specific announcement about how much territory they have liberated over the last few months, and it is worthy of note, even as the reporting of the war has gone back to being quite pessimistic about Ukraine.
Much more at https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-198-russias-alli
es
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 15, 2026
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Russian milbloggers continue exaggerating Russian advances in the Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole directions as part of the systematic Russian cognitive warfare effort to propagate claims of expansive Russian gains for informational effects.
ISW has reason to assess that much of the footage posted by Voin DV is not credible, as some pieces of footage are likely AI-generated or AI-altered, while other footage features older footage falsely presented as recent.[4]
The Russian MoD’s and Russian milbloggers’ reporting patterns are consistent with the Kremlin’s systematic cognitive warfare effort to fabricate claims of Russian tactical successes in areas where Russian forces do not maintain enduring positions to falsely portray the frontline as collapsing, contrary to available evidence.[7]
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-august-15-2026/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine’s quiet counteroffensive took 745 square km. Russia’s dead Starlink is how
Six months, 26 settlements, and almost no video. Russia lost its battlefield communications three days in, and Ukrainian armor drove through the gap.
By David Axe | 14/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/14/southeastern-counteroffensive-2/
• In six months of unheralded advances, Ukrainian forces liberated a wide stretch of the southeast
• The collapse of Russian communications turned a local push into a six-month advance
• Now the Russians may mobilize yet again, so the Ukrainians are digging in and consolidating their gains
. . . But the momentum was unsustainable. As the Russians gradually restored command and control through the summer, the Ukrainians encountered more resistance. Now the gray zone is stabilizing again. Observer Moklasen predicted new Ukrainian commander in chief Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi will order his corps and brigade commanders "to dig in positions, consolidate and strengthen more army corps" instead of continuing to attack.
After all, the Russians are pushing hard in Donetsk, and the resources the Ukrainians had devoted to the southeastern counteroffensive could boost the defensive effort in the east. Moreover, there are worrying signs the Kremlin may attempt another mobilization soon, potentially surging hundreds of thousands of fresh troops into Ukraine.
The Ukrainians may soon prioritize holding over attacking.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
SECOND is a propaganda- spreading bot.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:This was confirmed by the mayor of Moscow. Is it propaganda soon forgotten? Or will it happen every week, never to be forgotten?
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND is a propaganda- spreading bot.
Ukraine launches one of its largest attacks of war
By Richard Connor | August 16, 2026
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-launches-one-of-its-largest-attacks-of-w
ar/a-78386779
Hundreds of drones targeted the Moscow region in a sustained overnight assault that killed at least six people, according to the Russian capital's mayor, as Ukraine steps up long-range attacks deep inside Russia.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 600 drones had been flying toward the Moscow region between Saturday evening and 6:30 a.m. local time (0330 UTC) on Sunday, adding that 201 were destroyed over the region.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
March for Fedorov reinstatement held in Kyiv as protests enter second month
By Martin Fornusek, The Kyiv Independent news desk, Olena Goncharova | August 16, 2026 7:31 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/march-for-fedorov-reinstatement-held-in-ky
iv-as-protests-enter-second-month/
People gathered in Kyiv on Aug. 16 for a protest march demanding the reinstatement of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, more than a month after his unexpected dismissal. At 7 p.m., a couple of thousand demonstrators assembled at Kyiv’s Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People, Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground reported.
The participants then marched along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main street, to Ivan Franko Square.
The march aims to "remind the president of the importance of dialogue between the authorities and society, as well as of the fact that the president himself must bear responsibility for the consequences of all questionable personnel decisions," said Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a war veteran and one of the protest's organizers.
Kozyatynskyi read out a petition that he urged participants to support. It called for reforms in the defense sector and the continuation of reforms launched under Fedorov.
Kozyatynskyi also criticized the appointment of Rustem Umerov as head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service despite having no relevant experience, as well as the appointment of Vitaliy Kim as veterans affairs minister despite lacking experience in veterans policy. He also stressed that Ukraine still had no appointed defense or foreign ministers.
"For a month now, the state administration has been without permanent leaders in key areas essential during wartime: a defense minister and a foreign minister. Nominating candidates for these positions is the exclusive responsibility of the president under Article 106 of Ukraine’s Constitution," the petition reads.
"With this appeal, we want to put it on record: responsibility for the consequences of all these disgraceful decisions lies solely with you, Volodymyr Zelensky, as president of Ukraine. Given the duration, scale, and, in particular, the risks involved in holding protests during a full-scale war, we as a society believe that we have done everything we could to make ourselves heard."
The petition was later handed to a representative of the President’s Office.
Fedorov, a popular ex-minister praised for his reforms and spearheading the expansion of Ukraine's drone capabilities, was fired by President Volodymyr Zelensky in a chaotic government reshuffle in mid-July.
Protesters have been rallying in Kyiv and other cities since then, demanding that Zelensky reinstate Fedorov.
The latest march takes place as the Ukrainian parliament is set to return from its summer recess on Aug. 18, with protesters waiting to see whether Zelensky will officially nominate acting Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara to the position.
Zelensky has yet to respond directly to the protesters' demands regarding Fedorov, leading to an impasse between the Presidential Office and the organizers.
The protests have lost some momentum in recent weeks — especially after Zelensky dismissed Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, which was one of the protesters' demands — with later rallies drawing only a few hundred people.
Fedorov's future remains uncertain. The president said on July 21 he had offered the ex-minister "a prominent position in the government" focused on strengthening Ukraine's technological sector.
According to a person close to Zelensky, the proposal envisioned either making Fedorov a deputy prime minister for military innovations or appointing him to lead Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's state-owned defense conglomerate.
Fedorov has rejected those options, making clear that he wants to return only as defense minister.
Yevgeniya Doruda contributed reporting.
Why Zelensky fired Ukraine’s defense minister, explained
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decis
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The Ukrainian offensive that wasn't.
Kiev released a bunch of Ukie flag- planting videos in Zaparhozia region about a week ago. Close examination showed that at least some of the videos weren't current.
Russia just released videos ALSO showing flag planting, in the same places that Ukraine supposedly captured. The Russian explanation is that Ukrainian soldiers were allowed to sneak into what effectively is a cauldron.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Putin expects as much as another 16 months of war
Putin sets deadline to seize full control of Donbas - NYT
Ukraine's partners and analysts expect an escalation of the war
By Kateryna Serohina | Mon, August 17, 2026 - 00:40
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/putin-sets-deadline-to-seize-full-cont
rol-1786915341.html
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin expects to fully capture Donbas by the fall of next year. Otherwise, negotiations will become more likely, according to sources cited by The New York Times.
"Mr. Putin has said that Russia must at the least obtain complete control over the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. If the Russians cannot do that by autumn 2027, officials and analysts said, talks would be more likely. And key decisions must be made in advance," the material reads.
The article also reported on the expectations of Western officials and analysts, who say that Russia will escalate the war in winter. Putin will target Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, exploiting Kyiv's shortage of air defense missiles.
In addition, mobilization in Russia is expected to be announced after the parliamentary elections scheduled for mid-September.
"And some even worry that Mr. Putin, feeling cornered, might try to escalate the war and test the solidarity of NATO, beyond hybrid attacks in Europe," the NYT added.
Europe's expectations regarding the war
The article also states that European allies nevertheless count on the US to pressure Russia into getting Putin to sit down at the negotiating table with Ukraine.
At the same time, the settlement in Ukraine and relations with Russia are too important for Europe to hand this matter over indefinitely to the increasingly unpredictable US administration.
NYT added that they want to ensure that Washington and Moscow do not strike any deal without their involvement.
Current state of the war
As is known, Russia continues to ramp up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian forces are intensifying strikes on enemy military facilities and logistics in their rear.
In July, Russian troops suffered some of their heaviest losses since the start of the full-scale war.
As for negotiations, Russia and Ukraine are currently pinning their hopes on the efforts of mediators, particularly the US, which has focused its attention on the war in Iran. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry recently said that Kyiv is interested in continuing talks with Russia if there is a substantive discussion about a ceasefire.
The Kremlin, for its part, continues to demonstrate a complete unwillingness to compromise, presenting Ukraine with demands to cede a significant portion of its territory.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Chief economist at key Russian state development bank reportedly fired after warning of economic defeat to West
by Olena Goncharova | August 17, 2026 12:00 am
https://kyivindependent.com/russian-state-bank-chief-economist-reporte
dly-fired-after-warning-of-defeat-in-economic-war-with-west/
Andrei Klepach, the chief economist at Russian state development corporation VEB.RF, was reportedly fired on Aug. 16, a day after Russian media widely circulated his warnings that Russia was losing its economic and technological competition with the West.
Russian independent media outlet The Bell reported Klepach’s dismissal on Aug. 16, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report came two days after The Moscow Times published excerpts from Klepach’s May remarks, which were subsequently picked up by other Russian media.
The Kyiv Independent can't immedately verify the claims.
Speaking at an event organized by the Moscow Exchange’s Nikitsky Club, Klepach reportedly said Russia would be unable to sustain competition with the West in a prolonged confrontation and predicted that the country would eventually face a social crisis.
According to one of The Bell’s sources, VEB.RF head Igor Shuvalov dismissed Klepach following an order "from above." A second source confirmed that the firing was connected to Klepach’s May remarks. The Bell said it had requested comment from VEB.RF.
Klepach had served as VEB.RF’s chief economist for 12 years. Before joining the state development corporation, he spent a decade at Russia’s Economic Development Ministry. He joined the ministry in 2004 as head of its macroeconomic forecasting department and served as deputy economic development minister from 2008 to 2014 under Elvira Nabiullina, Andrei Belousov, and Alexei Ulyukayev.
"We are falling behind. We are losing both the technological and economic competition in the world. And, as I have already said, we are losing it not only to China and the United States — in some respects, we are losing it to Ukraine," Klepach said.
"Ukraine’s economy has, of course, been partly destroyed, and there is a demographic catastrophe. But again, despite everything, the Ukrainian economy is surviving. Of course, it receives enormous financial assistance. (…) With that support, their military spending and their own expenditures amount to almost 50% of our budget," he was quoted as saying.
"We will not win this competition in a war of attrition," Klepach continued. "We have this illusion that everything there will collapse. It has not collapsed, and it will not. Our costs are growing."
"I believe Russia will not fall apart, but I am almost certain that we will arrive at a social crisis," he concluded. "Economically, we will not collapse, but we will continue to fall further behind, with all the consequences that entails."
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russia has figured out how to stop Ukraine’s most powerful cruise missile
The Flamingo cruise missile is Ukraine’s hardest-hitting deep strike munition. But what good is it if Russia usually shoots it down?
By David Axe
August 12, 2026
• Russia has found a way to defeat Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles
• Russian air force A-50U radar planes see the missiles coming
• One mapper counts 10 of the last 11 Flamingos shot down
Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/12/fp-5s-shot-down/
The story above is 5 days old.
Despite the Flamingo being easy for Russia to shoot down, Ukraine keeps firing them in this story from today:
Ukraine dramatically steps up Flamingo missile strikes on Russia
Data from the enemy's Ministry of Defense indicates the intensification of strikes with these missiles
Mon, August 17, 2026 - 02:50
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-dramatically-steps-up-flamingo
-missile-1786920790.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russia Is Paying Five Times More for Every Dollar Ukraine Spends on Strikes
By Vlad Litnarovych | Aug 17, 2026 12:54
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russia-is-paying-five-times-m
ore-for-every-dollar-ukraine-spends-on-strikes-21755
Ukraine’s Armed Forces are inflicting losses on Russia worth several times more than the cost of the weapons used to cause them, according to data tracked by the Mission Control module of Ukraine’s DELTA battlefield management system, the Ministry of Defense reported on August 17.
The numbers offer a detailed look at the economics of Ukraine’s battlefield strikes.
According to Mission Control data for June, every $1 Ukraine spent on engaging Russian targets produced approximately $5 in estimated losses for Russia.
Mission Control was launched six months ago and has rapidly become a major source of battlefield data for Ukrainian commanders.
The system now processes around 50,000 combat missions every week, along with more than 230,000 reports documenting their results.
Every mission is recorded, allowing Ukrainian units to examine whether an operation succeeded, identify what worked and what failed, determine why, and adjust tactics for future missions.
The system also calculates how much Ukraine spends, on average, to engage different types of targets.
In June, the average cost was approximately $3,032 per Russian servicemember targeted, $2,674 per piece of military equipment, and $1,487 per infrastructure target, according to the Defense Ministry.
For comparison, Mission Control estimates that sustaining a single Russian servicemember costs Moscow approximately $65,000.
That cost disparity is particularly important for Ukraine, which is increasingly trying to maximize the battlefield effect of relatively inexpensive drones, precision weapons, and other strike systems against higher-value Russian personnel, equipment, and infrastructure.
Mission Control does more than calculate the cost of individual strikes.
The system categorizes missions by purpose, including reconnaissance, strikes, logistics, and evacuation. It also tracks how deep units operate, including missions conducted beyond 20 kilometers and 50 kilometers from the front.
Commanders can examine which weapons and systems individual units are using, how effectively they are employing them, and how much each successful engagement costs.
The platform separately records Ukrainian equipment losses, allowing military planners to determine the conditions and distances at which vehicles, drones, and other systems are most likely to be lost.
That creates a feedback loop in which battlefield performance can be measured not only by whether a target was hit, but by how much it cost, which weapon worked best, how far from the front it was used, and what Ukraine lost in the process.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says the growing pool of data allows units to adapt faster as battlefield conditions change and improve the efficiency of future combat missions.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russia suffered nearly 43,000 battlefield casualties in July 2026, making it the Russian military’s highest monthly loss figure since January 2025, while Ukrainian forces recorded their largest territorial gains in more than a year.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The Ukrainian offensive that wasn't.
Kiev released a bunch of Ukie flag- planting videos in Zaparhozia region about a week ago. Close examination showed that at least some of the videos weren't current.
Russia just released videos ALSO showing flag planting, in the same places that Ukraine supposedly captured. The Russian explanation is that Ukrainian soldiers were allowed to sneak into what effectively is a cauldron.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
What the fuck do you know? You were completely coned by Trump. You still claim Russia is a democracy. Holy shit comrade. Fooled by Trump and again, fooled by Putin. This doesn't make you wrong. Nope, it makes you a moron. You know, like a flat earther type moron.
"On paper, Russia is a federal democratic state. In practice, it functions as a highly centralized system dominated by President Vladimir Putin, who has held power in the Russian Federation in various roles since 2000. While Russia maintains formal democratic institutions, many analysts argue that these structures have been reshaped to strengthen executive authority and limit political competition. As a result, experts widely characterize modern Russia as an authoritarian regime in which power is concentrated around Putin and a close circle of allies."
T
Victory no longer possible for Putin, Dmitry Muratov tells Steve Rosenberg | BBC News
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Whaddayathink comrade?
T
Russian Infrastructure Collapses
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Analysis: Russia doubles down, setting stage for new phase of total war
By Francis Farrell | August 17, 2026 7:53 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/analysis-russia-doubles-down-in-ukraine-se
tting-stage-for-total-war/
Two large and heavily armed states locked in an existential armed struggle. Hundreds of thousands of casualties. Mass mobilization. Systematic long-range strike campaigns against the enemy's economy and infrastructure. Defense budgets swallowing huge proportions of state spending.
All these factors evoke an image of "total war" — the kind of interstate conflict where state, society, and economy are all not only an active part of the war effort but also a target of enemy strikes.
Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine is now one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century and one of the most brutal, drawn-out interstate wars since 1945.
Yet the term "total war" has barely been raised in the otherwise lively intellectual discourse.
"Total war is a synonym for a complete national effort, employing all the elements of national power in your war effort."
For as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to refrain from announcing sustained forced mobilization in Russia, and for as long as economic activity in both countries continued in a somewhat normal pattern, it didn't always feel like both sides were all in.
But many of the restraints that have kept it from becoming total war are beginning to disappear.
For Kyiv, the fifth year of the full-scale war has undeniably seen many positives, especially compared to the same period last year.
Back then, Ukraine was in survival mode, reeling from the prospect of being abandoned, or even pressured into capitulation, by the Trump administration, riding a fraught diplomatic rollercoaster while Russian forces maintained pressure and advanced across the front line.
Most crucially, while Russian battlefield casualties have largely stayed steady, territorial gains on the front line have been miserly.
Now, Ukraine's scaled-up strike campaign in the Russian rear has brought strategic offensive pressure on Moscow for the first time, both at "middle-strike" range (50-200 kilometers) on Ukraine's occupied territories and with longer-range attacks on oil refineries, energy export facilities, and warehouses.
"It's already a kind of boxing match with no fixed number of rounds," said Mykola Bielieskov, Research Fellow at Ukraine's National Institute for Security Studies and Senior Analyst at the Come Back Alive foundation.
"Each side frames its victory as the ability to stay on their feet till the last round hoping that the opponent would crumble given sheer destruction and accumulated social, economic, political problems."
What is total war?
Total war lacks an agreed-upon academic definition.
While some draw links all the way back to Prussian officer Carl von Clausewitz’s idea of "absolute war," the term itself was first popularized by WWI general Erich Ludendorff in his 1935 book Der totale Krieg (The Total War).
Ludendorff's work, while reflecting on aspects of Germany's war effort on the battlefield and at home, did not attempt to create a new theory of war.
In the decades following, the modern idea of total war took shape, based on the experience of the world wars of the 20th century.
Total war implies a conflict in which belligerents focus not only on battlefield success but also on the degradation and destruction of the enemy state's warfighting capacity in the rear, from military production and sources of revenue to infrastructure and, in turn, society's will to fight.
"Total war is a synonym for a complete national effort, employing all the elements of national power in your war effort," retired Australian Army Major-General Mick Ryan told the Kyiv Independent.
"It means you are utilizing every element of your nation to fight this war, either in the defensive or offensive
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Signym, comrade, more propaganda oh no...
T
RUSSIAN ECONOMIST TURNS ON PUTIN: STUNNING CRITICISM ON LIVE TV Vlog 1504: War in Ukraine
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine War Damage Rises to $197.5B, KSE Institute Says
In brief: KSE Institute estimates direct damage to Ukraine at $197.5 billion as of February 2026, up 16% from November 2024. Housing remains the hardest-hit sector at $65.9 billion, followed by transport at $42 billion. Energy-sector damage rose 25% to $18.3 billion.
By Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute | Aug. 17, 2026, 5:01 pm
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/82522
The full report can be found here:
https://institute.kse.ua/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/kse_institute_dama
ges_report_2026_eng_august_2026.pdf
Damages to Ukraine’s infrastructure from the war have risen to $197.5 billion, KSE Institute estimated as of February 2026.
The total amount of direct damage inflicted on Ukraine’s real estate, other infrastructure, vehicles, and inventories as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion has risen to $197.5 billion. Compared with the previous estimate of $169.8 billion as of the end of 2024, the total damage has increased by 16%.
The research was published on August 17, 2026.
The housing stock has sustained the greatest damage, estimated at $65.9 billion. Nearly 416,000 residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Damage to transport infrastructure is estimated at $42 billion, while damage to the assets of enterprises in industry, construction, and the services sector amounts to $18.4 billion, and damage to the energy sector totals $18.3 billion. A further $12.2 billion accounts for damage to educational infrastructure, and $12.1 billion for damage to the agricultural sector and land resources.
In absolute terms, the largest increase was recorded in the estimated damage to the housing stock, which rose by $5.9 billion. Damage to the energy sector increased by 25% compared with the previous estimate. More than 29,000 km of national, local, and municipal roads have been damaged or destroyed.
Damage incurred after February 2026, including as a result of intensified Russian missile attacks during the summer months, is not included in this estimate. KSE Institute continues to refine its assessment of direct damage, working on additional categories as well as scenario-based estimates of the potential scale of further destruction.
-----------------
Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute
KSE Institute is an analytical center at the Kyiv School of Economics. In 2005, KSE / EERC and the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) established the Kyiv Economics Institute (KEI) to provide scientific economic facts for economic policy-making and changing the policy-making process based on data and facts.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, KSE Institute analysts have focused on key wartime projects (LeaveRussia, participation in the Yermak-McFaul International Sanctions Group, Reconstruction projects), actively cooperating with the Ukrainian government in assessing damages, the effectiveness of sanctions against the aggressor and the development of scenarios for the recovery of Ukraine’s economy after the war.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Book review for The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World by Bojan Pancevski
Download the book for free from https://z-lib.gl/s/Bojan%20Pancevski or https://annas-archive.gl/search?q=Bojan+Pancevski&check=1
The Audacious Plot to Blow Up the Nord Stream Pipelines
By Malcolm Forbes | Aug. 18, 2026, 11:23 a.m. ET
https://www.csmonitor.com/Arts-Culture/Books/2026/0818/nord-stream-con
spiracy-bojan-pancevski
In September 2022, seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a series of explosions in the Baltic Sea alarmed seismologists across Europe. The blasts destroyed Nord Stream 1 and 2, the world’s largest offshore pipeline system, which transported gas from Russia to Germany. Great geysers almost a kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter erupted, unleashing methane. The cost of the leaked gas amounted to almost $2 billion dollars. Experts determined that the damage was not caused by an underwater earthquake. NATO then declared that the pipelines had been deliberately targeted.
So began a blame game, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin accusing the CIA of terrorism and Western intelligence officials branding Russia the culprit. Who was responsible for one of the biggest and most audacious acts of sabotage in modern history?
Bojan Pancevski, the chief European political correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, embarked on a mission to unravel the mystery. His book, “The Nord Stream Conspiracy,” is a compelling account of his detective work. Drawing on years of interviews with a range of individuals, Pancevski tells an in-depth, multistranded story about a daring operation that rocked lives, destabilized economies, and shook the world order.
Why We Wrote This
Shadowy figures, deep-sea sabotage, and geopolitical skulduggery come together in a fascinating exposé by Wall Street Journal reporter Bojan Pancevski. His depiction of both the preparation of the mission and its execution keeps readers hooked.
The book opens with the German response to the pipeline attack. Aware that this could be the biggest case of his career, Dieter Romann, head of the Germany’s Federal Police, puts his best man on the job. An officer referred to only as The Chief Investigator assembles a team. Two theories emerge: First, that the pipelines were destroyed by a minisubmarine or drone; the second, more fanciful, hypothesis was that a small team of professional divers was involved. As the investigators probe further, they discover that some countries – supposedly Germany’s allies – are proving secretive and obstructive.
From here, Pancevski turns his focus on Ukraine and introduces a different set of protagonists. We meet a man called The Colonel, whose career as a law enforcement, intelligence, and military officer has involved everything from fighting corruption and organized crime to battling pro-Russian warlords. We also encounter his compatriot and brother-in-arms, The General, “another mastermind of crazy clandestine operations,” including a notorious plot that infiltrated Russia’s security apparatus. Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the two men formed an elite combat group they named The Startup. “You could say we became a tiny little deep state,” The General tells Pancevski.
When Russian forces finally invaded in 2022, The Startup offered effective resistance. But trading blow for blow wasn’t enough: To protect their homeland, the men knew they needed to hit the aggressor where it hurt the most, and that meant attacking the economy. A plan was devised and a target decided upon. “Nord Stream was Putin’s perfidious tentacle,” The Colonel says, “and it was wrapped around Europe’s neck.” Destroying the pipeline network would force the extrication of Europe from Putin’s stranglehold and, in the process, eliminate a critical source of Russia’s revenue. But Operation Diameter, as it was called, would be dangerous. It would involve a team
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Putin Knows More Than We Realize
By David Averre | Aug 18, 2026 at 10:21 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-knows-kremlin-economy-failing-klepach-e
conomist-warning-12335948
"I am almost certain we’ll come to a social crisis…under the current macroeconomic policy being pursued, the economy will stop, and society is unlikely to accept it."
These are the words of Andrei Klepach, the chief economist of Russia’s state development bank (VEB), at a Moscow meeting of top economists and scientists in May. There, he delivered a scathing report on the Kremlin’s monetary policy, predicted Moscow will be more dependent on Beijing than it ever was on Europe, and openly admitted Russia is losing the technological and economic battle to Ukraine.
And nothing happened. For three months, Klepach continued his work at VEB undisturbed—until Russian media got a hold of the contents of his report last week. By Sunday, he was gone.
A common Western assumption is that Vladimir Putin is shielded from bad news by subordinates too afraid to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear. But the Russian president was clearly aware of this dire prognosis, fielded by one of the nation’s leading economists, before the media cottoned on.
That Klepach was abruptly removed only after his findings went public means something different. Putin knows he’s running his country into the ground; with elections around the corner, he just needs to make sure the people don’t.
The Future According to Klepach
Andrei Klepach was hardly a fringe economist preaching Russia’s downfall. He was among Moscow’s most reputable experts, a man who’d served 10 years in Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development as a forecasting director and then deputy minister before joining VEB as chief economist in 2014.
During his glittering career, for which he was awarded the Order of Honor, he also held positions on the boards of Russia’s largest scientific and military-technical state companies, including Rosatom, the United Shipbuilding Corporation and the United Aircraft Corporation.
This made him uniquely qualified to deliver his assessment of Russia’s technological and economic future; and what an assessment it was. In his report entitled "The Russian Economy and Geopolitical Challenges," he delivered four bleak conclusions, the last of which will have set alarm bells ringing in the Kremlin.
...
First: Russia’s current economic model cannot sustain a long confrontation with the West.
Moscow, he argued, is trying to fight a costly war while simultaneously throttling the civilian economy with punishing interest rates and tighter budgets.
"Under the macroeconomic policy being pursued…we will not withstand the confrontation," he said. "The economy will stop, and society is unlikely to accept it."
VEB’s own forecast put Russian growth at just 0.3 percent in 2026—in line with Central Bank forecasts of between 0 percent and 1 percent growth—with investment falling 2.5 percent.
Second: Putin’s war is handing Beijing huge influence over Moscow.
Klepach openly wondered whether Russia could even remain a sovereign power, or become a country with a "non-sovereign economy, overwhelmingly dependent on China."
Its trade structure, he said, already showed an "extremely high degree of dependence" on Beijing; "in many respects higher" than Russia’s former reliance on the European Union.
"The only question is how far we will comply with various Chinese regulatory requirements and allow Chinese business to control different sectors of the Russian economy," he concluded.
Third: The war in Ukraine is killing Russia’s broader technological and economic progress—as much as the economist didn’t want to admit it.
"We are losing both the technological and the economic competition in the world," Klepach said, "not only to China and the United States, but in some respects even to Ukraine, however unpleasant that may be even for me personally."
His fourth
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine said its June data shows it costs about $3,000 to take out a Russian soldier. In 2024, Ukrainian troops said they spent about $20,000 on drones to kill one Russian soldier, highlighting the improving cost-effectiveness of Ukrainian drone operations...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/general/taking-out-a-russian-sold
ier-costs-twice-as-much-as-hitting-the-kremlin-s-infrastructure-ukraine-says/ar-AA2alof4
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Belgium open to transferring Russian assets to Ukraine, but with one condition
Belgium is ready to take this step
By Roman Kot, Kateryna Shkarlat | Tue, August 18, 2026 – 16:22
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/belgium-open-to-transferring-russian-a
ssets-1787059352.html
In December 2025, the European Commission proposed that Belgium unblock a €210 billion reparations loan for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets. However, Brussels ultimately decided not to take that step.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said Belgium is open to using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine but insists that EU countries first agree on a mechanism for sharing the legal and financial risks.
Belgium explains its position
Prévot stressed that Brussels' caution regarding Russian assets does not mean it is unwilling to support Ukraine or that it is prepared to assist Russia.
According to him, Belgian legal experts have identified risks that could affect not only the country itself but also Europe's financial system.
"Belgium's reluctance, or even refusal, to use these frozen Russian assets should in no way be understood or interpreted as a refusal to help Ukraine, let alone as a desire to provide any support to Russia," the minister said.
What Brussels is concerned about
According to Prévot, if Belgium were ordered in 10–15 years to return more than €200 billion to Russia, the country would be unable to shoulder such costs on its own.
"Otherwise, if in 10 or 15 years Belgium is ordered to return all the funds, it will not be able to bear the burden of repaying more than €200 billion on its own. Proportionally, that is unthinkable for our budget," he said.
What Belgium proposes
Prévot said European countries need to agree in advance on a shared responsibility mechanism to deal with any potential consequences.
At the same time, Belgium supported the EU's decision to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan in 2026–2027.
"The risks we identified at the time have not miraculously disappeared. But we have no fundamental objections to using these funds to support Ukraine's cause," the Belgian foreign minister said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russia has fielded a tank defense that can shoot down Ukrainian FPV drones.
The Russians have begun deploying tanks fitted with the Arena-M active protection system (APS), which detects incoming FPVs and automatically fires a small projectile at them.
By David Axe | August 17, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/17/arena-m-works/
Tank-led assaults have been rare in the last year of fighting as Russian forces have pivoted to infantry-led infiltration tactics. That may change as commanders gain confidence in the Arena-M to protect tanks from drone attack.
The protection systems shot down drone after drone, and only stopped shooting down drones when they ran out of projectiles. "In general, it took from 15 to 20 FPV drones to destroy a tank," Ukrainian drone operator Dmytro Putiata reported.
The Arena-M installation is bulky but it's not heavy. With Arena-M, a tank can defend itself from drones without sacrificing its mobility. If an Arena-M had, say, 24 rounds instead of just 12, an attacking tank might be able to fend off drones long enough to reach its objective across the disputed gray zone.
But only barely. "15 to 20 FPV drones to destroy a tank is a perfectly viable rate," Czech analyst Jakub Janovsky noted in a comment on Putiata's social media. "At those numbers, Russia could throw its entire [armored fighting vehicle] fleet at the Ukrainian front line over a few months without achieving much more than creating a future low-grade iron ore deposit."
What if the Russians could fit 36 rounds in an upgraded Arena-M installation? Would that be enough?
No one knows for sure until they try. What we do know is that "the Russian military is learning and is experimenting in how to employ armor on a drone-saturated battlefield," explained Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. "The Arena-M APS demonstrated effectiveness and will likely be improved."
And those improvements could unlock those thousands of tanks the Russians have parked for want of drone defenses.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Wiretaps, a mocking codename, and a seized playbook—Ukraine’s anti-graft bureau reaches the President’s Office again
Media reports place a deputy head of the presidential office among those searched, while investigators decline to confirm any identities.
By Yuri Zoria
19/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/19/wiretaps-a-mocking-codename-and
-a-seized-playbook-ukraines-anti-graft-bureau-reaches-the-presidents-office-again/
Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau and anti-corruption prosecutors opened a special operation against an alleged criminal organization reaching into the Office of the President, the two agencies said on 19 August 2026. Detectives said a sitting and a former lawmaker led the group, released a wiretap recording that points to the presidential administration, and seized a document laying out a plan to shape public opinion around the anti-corruption fight. Media reports place a deputy head of the President's Office among those searched, though investigators have not confirmed any names.
Corruption keeps surfacing close to the top in wartime Ukraine, and the country's young anti-graft agencies have shown they can act on it — even reaching the president's circle. Their independence has been fought over too: when the government moved to rein them in last year, Ukrainians took to the streets to defend them, and each new case tests whether the watchdogs still have teeth.
Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/19/wiretaps-a-mocking-codename-and
-a-seized-playbook-ukraines-anti-graft-bureau-reaches-the-presidents-office-again/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian Jet-Powered ‘Shahed’ Drone Reaches Western Ukraine for First Time
In brief: A Russian jet-powered “Shahed” drone flew roughly 900 kilometers (nearly 560 miles) from Crimea into western Ukraine on Tuesday, Aug. 18, marking the farthest such strike recorded so far. According to Ukrainian monitoring systems, the flight path was designed to avoid air defenses.
Air defense monitors say the drone’s record range exposes gaps in Ukraine’s anti-aircraft coverage across western regions.
By Kyiv Post | Aug. 18, 2026, 9:47 pm
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/82616
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
There, he delivered a scathing report on the Kremlin’s monetary policy, predicted Moscow will be more dependent on Beijing than it ever was on Europe, and openly admitted Russia is losing the technological and economic battle to Ukraine.
To UKRAINE???
He means that region to Russia's southwest that is entirely dependent on no-interest, no- payback "loans" from the west? That region entirely dependent on western drones and intell? That region whose only port area is entirely blockaded?
THAT region?
What world is he living in?
*****
SECOND, your bot posts crap. And the only time YOU post is to name call and threaten.
You're stupid. Worse, you're boring.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Pessimism reaches record levels
In July 2026, 66% of Russians said they believe "difficult times" are still ahead for their country. Since the beginning of the year, the share of those expecting difficulties has risen by one-third, or 16 percentage points.
According to a state poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), similar figures (66–67%) were recorded only in 1991, several months before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in 1992, during a period of 2,500% hyperinflation.
For comparison, a higher level of anxiety was recorded only in April 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (72%). Even during the economic crisis of the mid-1990s, the pessimism rate was lower, ranging from 46% to 60%.
What is driving sentiment in Russia
The psychological state of Russians, particularly in major cities, is being heavily affected by the prolonged war, a deteriorating economy, and regular long-range drone strikes on oil refineries and storage facilities from Moscow to the Urals.
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-s-public-mood-falls-to-ussr-col
lapse-1787169613.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine's Defence Intelligence provides Ukrainska Pravda with data on Russia's missile stockpiles and production rates
By Anastasia Prots — 20 August, 11:06
Ukrainska Pravda has learned that Russia has no shortage of missiles and has the capacity to produce more than 200 cruise and ballistic missiles per month. Its largest stockpiles are made up of Oniks and Kalibr missiles as well as RM-48U missiles for S-400 air defence systems, which Russia has adapted for use against ground targets.
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/08/20/8049494/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Putin’s Mach-10 wonder weapon misses by 30 meters. Russia stopped building it in April.
Putin unveiled it as unstoppable in 2018. Ukrainian intelligence says the line stopped in April, and the fuel now goes to Iskanders.
By David Axe
19/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/19/kinzhal-sidelined/
It's possible the only way the Russians can boost production of their best deep strike munitions is to cut production of the underperforming ones. According to the pro-Ukrainian Conflict Intelligence Team, the savings in fuel, components, and funds from the suspended Kinzhal and Kh-32 assembly lines "were redirected to other types of missiles."
Production winners and losers
That's how, in July, Russia reportedly produced 65 Iskanders, surpassing its target of 60 by nearly 10%. Meanwhile, production of Kh-101s reached 140% of the monthly target. Kalibr production 111%. Across its main missile lines, Russian industry is running at 110 to 120% of plan. Certain Russian munitions may soon disappear from the sky over Ukraine, if they haven't already. But only because more copies of better munitions are taking their place.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russia Has 600+ Oniks, 450+ Kalibr and 120+ Zircon Missiles—and Keeps Building More
By Vlad Litnarovych | Aug 20, 2026 13:10
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russia-has-600-oniks-450-kali
br-and-120-zircon-missiles-and-keeps-building-more-21856
Russia is not only maintaining substantial missile reserves but also replenishing key weapons at a rapid pace despite their continued use in attacks against Ukraine.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Why Putin refuses peace talks: Ukraine's presidential office explains
The Russian leader is resorting to terror against Ukraine's civilian population
By Daryna Vialko | Thu, August 20, 2026 - 19:40
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/why-putin-refuses-peace-talks-ukraine-
s-presidential-1787243545.html
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace talks. He believes that Ukrainians will not survive the next winter, Sergiy Kyslytsya, First Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said.
Putin does not want negotiations
Kyslytsya explained the logic behind the Russian leader’s approach to negotiations.
"Putin now has no desire to sit down at the negotiating table, and after the start of winter and until its end, that is, until mid-March, he will have even less motivation," the official said.
Putin will believe that Ukrainians are not strong enough as a nation to survive this winter, Kyslytsya said.
At the same time, he added that Ukraine continues to consider diplomatic ways to end the war.
"Diplomacy must work under any circumstances because our opponents and enemies are trying to impose the idea in various world capitals that it is Ukrainians who do not want to end the war and are seeking escalation," Kyslytsya said.
Ukraine continues to tell its partners that it is ready to sit down at the negotiating table, to listen to the American side, to talk to the Russians and to present its arguments as to why this war must end.
Peace talks details
The official also stressed the importance of a visit to Kyiv by negotiators from US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has already been postponed several times.
"I believe that the past two and a half months have been very active because the president has had very productive discussions — both remotely and in person — with the President of the United States," Kyslytsya said.
In his view, "the atmosphere and level of mutual understanding between Ukraine and the United States, at least as it formally appeared, were unprecedented between June and August."
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that the Kremlin once again confirmed that it does not plan any "freeze" of the war against Ukraine. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov made the statement.
In addition, Russia will never agree to a "freeze" of hostilities in Ukraine without eliminating the "root causes" of the war. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin made the statement.
It was also reported that despite significant progress in the peace talks, Ukraine and Russia failed to reach a compromise on key contentious issues, according to Kyslytsya.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Inside Russia's Banderol missile, a hybrid drone-bomb-missile
Russia is increasingly using Banderol loitering munitions to strike Ukraine — weapons that function as de facto cruise missiles and whose attacks are destructive and dangerous.
Editor: Bohuslav Romanenko | August 20, 2026, 09:54 AM
https://english.nv.ua/nation/banderol-technical-specifications-range-w
arhead-and-risks-infographic-and-description-50634405.html
A supplier of several components for the Banderol cruise missile is the joint-stock company Chip and Dip, which is on the U.S. and Ukrainian sanctions lists but is not sanctioned by Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, or the European Union as a whole.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
'Land for peace' won't stop Russia's war on Ukrainian identity
By Vincent Artman | August 20, 2026 6:55 PM
https://kyivindependent.com/land-for-peace-wont-stop-russias-war-on-uk
rainian-identity/
As Russia's war against Ukraine grinds on with seemingly no end in sight and the Russian leadership rejecting any talk of ceasefires or meaningful negotiations, there has been a growing chorus arguing that Kyiv must face reality, admit that military victory is impossible, enter negotiations, and agree to territorial concessions.
"Land for peace" might be a "difficult choice," or so the argument goes, but it is the only way to avoid a crushing defeat.
Even setting aside the question of whether such unilateral concessions would actually produce a just and durable peace, what is strangely absent from "land for peace" proposals is any acknowledgment that what is at stake is more than "border adjustments."
Territory, after all, is not empty. Indeed, as Olga Burlyuk has argued, the "pornography of land concessions" requires us to imagine a Ukraine without people: since it's "just land" being traded away, "there is no harm in losing some."
But even if for some, "land for peace" may appear to be a tidy formula, reality is far messier: millions of Ukrainians live under an occupation regime that is designed to eradicate their identity.
Much more at https://kyivindependent.com/land-for-peace-wont-stop-russias-war-on-uk
rainian-identity/
--------------
An estimated 3 to 6 million Ukrainians live under Russian occupation, though precise numbers are hard to verify due to ongoing conflict and mass displacement. https://voxukraine.org/en/false-the-same-number-of-ukrainians-live-in-
russia-as-in-ukraine
Current Estimates
• Ukrainian Government Estimates: Ukrainian officials, including former reintegration ministers, have stated that up to 6 million Ukrainians (including 1.5 million children) live in areas seized by Russia since 2014 and 2022.
• Independent and International Estimates: Other tracking groups and general consensus estimates place the active population remaining in the occupied territories (including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia) closer to 3 to 5 million, noting that roughly half of the original population fled or was displaced following the 2022 full-scale invasion.
• Broader Context: Total population inside Ukraine's internationally recognized borders is roughly 35 million, with about 29 to 30.5 million living in territory controlled directly by the Ukrainian government.
Factors Impacting the Numbers
• Displacement and Flight: Millions fled westward or abroad at the start of the war.
• Deportations: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been forcibly deported or transferred deeper into Russian-controlled regions.
• Inflow of Russian Citizens: Russia has systematically moved Russian citizens and administrative workers into occupied zones like Crimea and parts of the Donbas, altering the demographic balance.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine Planned to Swarm Moscow Airports With AI-Guided Drones
By Simon Shuster | August 20, 2026, 12:03 PM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/08/ukraine-moscow-a
irports-ai-drones/688337/
Early this year, Ukrainian officials came to President Volodymyr Zelensky with a risky new plan to end the war with Russia. It would require expanding their bombing campaign to include a set of targets and a class of weapons they had long avoided. In addition to Ukraine’s ongoing strikes against Russian military bases, oil refineries, supply lines, and logistics hubs, the officials wanted to launch waves of AI-enabled drones at Moscow’s airports, hoping to stop international carriers from flying in and out of the Russian capital, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the plan, which has not been previously reported.
Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive military operations. If executed, the plan would mark a terrifying milestone in the history of warfare: an attack in which swarms of autonomous drones equipped with AI guidance systems would seek out and hit their targets without a human pilot controlling their movements. Such systems have been tested by various countries in recent years, including the United States. But the legality of their use has been vigorously debated as a possible violation of the laws of war, and they have never been deployed at scale.
When officials presented the plan to Zelensky this winter, he expressed strong reservations, one of the sources said. He worried that it could be seen as “piracy” if the drones hit a civilian airliner in Moscow, especially if the strikes killed or injured passengers, airport staff, or members of the flight crew. But in his desperation to find a Russian pressure point that could restart the peace process, Zelensky allowed preparations for the strikes to continue for several months this spring and early summer, both sources said.
A spokesperson for Zelensky declined to comment. Another official in the president’s office denied the existence of a plan to launch swarms of AI-enabled drones at Moscow’s airports. “That’s total nonsense,” the official told me, asking not to be named in an article about this topic. Ukraine has long sought to force the closure of Russian airports, the official added, and its drone strikes against various targets in Russia have often achieved that goal for short periods of time. But Ukraine does not have long-range weapons that are precise and reliable enough to hit Russian airports without posing an undue risk to civilians, the official said.
According to Russian aviation authorities, airports across the country were forced to close 114 times during a one-month period last summer, from June 28 to July 28, usually due to the threat of Ukrainian drones. Moscow was affected by the highest number of shutdowns—at least 17 in total at its four main airports. The Russian association of travel agents reported more than 290 of these incidents nationwide in the first quarter of this year. The airport closures, which Russians refer to as a kovyor, meaning “carpet,” usually last a few hours before authorities give the all-clear and allow flights to resume. “We’ve only ever had one operation against the airports,” the official said. “Force the Russians to declare ‘carpets’ all the time.”
By the middle of spring, the plan to force a more permanent shutdown of Moscow’s airports had advanced far enough to receive a code name: M&Ms, a reference to the many small, cheap, and nearly identical drones that the mission would require. To overwhelm Russian air defenses, the operation would need to send as many as 1,000 drones a night to airports in and around Moscow, said one of the sources familiar with it.
Attacks of that size would not be far outside the norm in this conflict. Earlier this week, Russian authorities reported shooting down 791 Ukrainian drones in a single night, one of the largest attacks of the war; more than 600 of them were flying toward the Moscow region, according
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Kuchma names three fatal mistakes in Ukraine's years of independence
August 21, 2026 11:14
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4156202-kuchma-names-three-f
atal-mistakes-in-ukraines-years-of-independence.html
Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has identified the removal of Ukraine's tactical nuclear weapons, the decision not to sign an EU Association Agreement in Vilnius, and the failure to prevent Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014 as three fatal mistakes during Ukraine's years of independence.
Kuchma, Ukraine's second president, expressed this view in an interview with Ukrinform.
"Among the unquestionable mistakes, I would definitely name the catastrophic decision not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union in Vilnius. But, emotionally, the hardest thing for me personally to accept is the de facto surrender of Crimea in February-March 2014. There was no response to the actions of the 'little green men,' who calmly and brazenly took control of the Ukrainian peninsula. Let me remind you: formally, they were not even identified as Russians. They were unknown terrorists, and they should have been dealt with accordingly. A decisive response in Crimea could have stopped the attempted annexation at its very beginning," Kuchma said.
He also separately mentioned the loss of Ukraine's nuclear weapons. According to the former president, agreeing to the removal of Ukraine's tactical nuclear weapons in 1992 was a fatal mistake. He said that by 1994, when the Budapest Memorandum was concluded, there was essentially nothing left to decide regarding Ukraine's strategic security – everything had already been settled two years earlier.
"The point is that the Budapest Memorandum deprived Ukraine of strategic weapons whose condition and characteristics would not have allowed them to provide nuclear deterrence anyway. But at the beginning of our independence, we did have the weapons needed for that. We had about 3,000 tactical nuclear warheads. In principle, we could have used them to defend ourselves against Russia at that time. They had an optimal range of operation and included nuclear aviation bombs, artillery shells and naval torpedoes – in other words, the entire range of tactical nuclear weapons. And unlike the strategic arsenal, Ukraine could control and deploy them itself," Kuchma said.
As reported, the removal of all tactical nuclear weapons from Ukrainian territory to Russia was completed on May 7, 1992. About 2,500 tactical warheads were transferred under pressure from international partners and because Ukraine lacked the technical and financial resources to maintain them.
At a Cabinet meeting on November 21, 2013, the Ukrainian government adopted a resolution titled "Issues Concerning the Conclusion of the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other," suspending preparations for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The decision triggered mass protests that eventually grew into the Revolution of Dignity.
On February 20, 2014, Russian troops without identifying insignia began landing in Crimea. On March 16, 2014, a so-called referendum on Crimea's status was held in the temporarily Russian-occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in violation of Ukrainian and Crimean legislation. It took place under pressure from Russian troops and paramilitary "self-defense" groups and with the support of Russian propaganda media.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The US Does Not Understand Air Power, But Does Ukraine?
The Wildberries Campaign And The Fallacy Of Signalling
Phillips P. OBrien
Aug 21, 2026
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-us-does-not-understand-air-
power
This piece might be a little technical. It is about conceptions of air power, and in particular how states are using it now (particularly the USA and Ukraine). It is built on the ideas that I have mentioned in a number of places before, from books to articles, but not brought together in this way. I hope that it makes sense.
The piece is built around the idea that the US has (once again) revealed that it does not understand how to use air power, and as such has terribly bungled a war—and ended up weakening itself. It then moves on to Ukraine. I would say Ukraine shows signs that it grasps how to use air power better than the USA—though those signs are not as clear as many would have thought. There has been, at times, an overly celebratory discussion of the Ukrainian use of air power—when their campaign is, imho, more uneven than people realize. By that, I mean that to this point they might have been able to achieve more if they had used their air power more methodically. By looking at the Ukrainian air campaign against the Russian company Wildberries, I will try and provide some illustration of what I mean.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Putin is threatening Britain again – this time he could be cornered enough to do something reckless
It isn’t the first time the Kremlin has warned of consequences for the UK over its support for Ukraine. From arson to sabotage, Russia has been testing Britain’s defences for years. But desperation could lead to a real attack, and it is something we are in no way prepared for, writes Owen Matthews
Thursday 20 August 2026 14:09 BST
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-threat-uk-drone-
ukraine-war-b3035606.html
The Kremlin’s reaction to news that British-built long-range drones had been used in the latest Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russian territory was predictably furious. And once again it came with a threat of retaliation.
“The United Kingdom is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis,” thundered the Russian Embassy in London in a statement. “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer … The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support of Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.” . . .
. . . So far, such an escalation remains remote – but only because Putin believes that his army’s slow advance across Donbas means that he will eventually crush Ukraine’s resistance. However, as I wrote last month for The Independent, trouble for Putin is much closer to home, with increasing tensions inside Russia’s elite between business interests exhausted by the war and those securocrats who owe power and incomes to continued conflict.
A cornered, desperate Putin will be far more dangerous, and more unpredictable and last month two senior Kremlin sources, one of whom meets regularly with the president, were quoted as saying they predicted a “high probability” of escalation in the coming months.
Two things are clear – one, that Britain is extremely vulnerable and unprepared for attack, whether it’s in cyberspace or on its critical infrastructure. The other is that Russian spies and soldiers have been methodically probing our weaknesses, ready to strike if and when the Kremlin grows sufficiently reckless to give the order.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian Occupation Update, August 21, 2026
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-occupatio
n-update-august-21-2026/
Russian and occupation officials are highlighting Russian efforts to militarize schools in occupied areas ahead of the 2026-2027 school year. Russian Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov visited School No. 25 in occupied Simferopol, Crimea, on August 17 to review preparations for the upcoming school year.[8] Images from the visit show Kravtsov and Crimea occupation head Sergei Aksyonov looking at rifles and ammunition, which are likely part of teaching materials for the now mandatory “Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense (OBZR)” course. Aksyonov highlighted the fact that School No. 25 has opened a museum dedicated to Russia’s war in Ukraine and has integrated military-patriotic programming into the school’s operations, including through visits by active-duty Russian personnel, volunteer activities, and “Lessons on Courage.” Russia has used the Lessons on Courage program to expose children and youth in occupied Ukraine to active-duty and veteran Russian military personnel as a way of normalizing Russia’s war in Ukraine.[9] Chair of the Commission of the Public Chamber of occupied Crimea for Education, Science, and Educational Activities Natalia Reznichenko told pro-Russian radio station Radio Sputnik Krym on August 16 about other preparations in Crimean schools in advance of September 1.[10] Reznichenko stated that the Russian Ministry of Education is trying to standardize education across Russia and occupied Ukrainian regions, and has introduced the new mandatory “Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia” and OBZR courses in line with presidential decrees. Reznichenko also noted that schools in occupied Crimea will begin testing a behavioral assessment model for grades two through eight, which Ukrainian officials have warned could endanger schoolchildren and impose punishment for any perceived anti-Russian sentiment or behavior.[11] Russia has been institutionalizing the militarization of schools in occupied Ukraine since 2014 but has significantly scaled up these efforts since 2022.[12] Federally mandated courses such as the Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia and OBZR represent the increased formalization of militarization programs for children and youth.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine Launched Record 8,477 Drones and 26 Flamingo Missiles in One Week, Russia Claims
By Vlad Litnarovych | Aug 22, 2026 11:11
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukraine-launched-record-8477-
drones-and-26-flamingo-missiles-in-one-week-russia-claims-21900
Ukraine carried out what appears to be its largest weekly long-range strike campaign of the war, launching 8,477 drones and 26 Flamingo cruise missiles at targets inside Russia, according to figures released by the Russian Defense Ministry, cited by Russian outlet Interfax on August 21.
If accurate, the numbers would mark a record for the amount of Ukrainian aerial strike weapons deployed against Russia over seven days. Ukrainian public officials have not commented on these figures. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry does not publicly release the number of aerial targets launched against Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed Ukraine launched 70 guided aerial bombs and 17 rockets fired from HIMARS and Vampire systems during the same period.
Moscow asserted that Russian air defenses intercepted all of the weapons listed in its report. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Russia further claimed that its Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet during the week and destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian Navy boats in the Black Sea. Neither Ukraine nor any other sources have confirmed those losses.
For example, in mid-August, Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missiles struck a space-industry facility in Samara involved in producing rockets for a Russian satellite communications project intended to serve as an alternative to Starlink.
Previously, reports emerged that Ukraine is turning its homegrown Flamingo cruise missile from a rare deep-strike weapon into a recurring threat for Russia.
Ukraine has sharply increased its use of domestically produced Flamingo cruise missiles against targets inside Russia this summer, with the pace of attacks nearly doubling over the past six months.
Moscow also claimed that Ukraine has set another record for the scale of its drone attacks on Russia, with Russian sources claiming that its air defenses shot down 1,671 UAVs in just 24 hours.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Putin Can’t Stop Russians Peeking Behind the Curtain Forever
By David Averre | Aug 21, 2026 at 09:39 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-russia-war-economy-fuel-shortages-drone
-strikes-12352005
The scale of their suffering is considerable. But Ukrainians never thought this was anything other than a full-scale war. Almost immediately, the population understood they were locked in a battle for their statehood and survival.
The Russian public was sold something very different: a lightning offensive so precise and effective it was not classed as war, but merely a special military operation. Within weeks, if not days, Ukraine would be conquered, the troops welcomed as heroes, and Russia’s status as a great power restored.
That has not transpired.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
There’s a Better Way To Measure How Much Russians Support Putin
By Alexander Shulga | August 21, 2026
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/08/21/theres-a-better-way-to-measu
re-how-much-russians-support-putin-a93558
Every time new trust ratings for President Vladimir Putin are released, some commentators point out that public support for Putin’s course of continuing the war remains unchanged; others note that this support is on a slow downward trend. These arguments distract from the main point and, let us be honest, suit Putin’s administration perfectly well.
It should be stressed from the outset that the methods used cannot be considered valid and cannot provide a snapshot of Russians’ real attitudes on this question. Russian sociologists are unlikely to be unaware of this. Quite the opposite.
If, after four and a half years of the full-scale phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, after hundreds of thousands of Russian deaths, after trillions of dollars in economic losses, after the country’s expulsion from major global markets, all manner of restrictions and bans imposed on citizens, hours-long queues for gasoline and so on, around 70% of Russians say they fully or mostly trust the Kremlin usurper, then his power is truly sacred: neither Western economic sanctions nor Ukraine’s kinetic sanctions have shaken the people’s love or their credit of trust.
However, the closed nature of the polling — choosing between a set selection of answers and the explicit question of whether they trust Putin —only measures the ability of Russians to work out what is the most acceptable answer.
Of course, the decline of this indicator is also extremely important. In regimes that are moving from consolidated autocracy toward totalitarianism, support for the father of the nation must be maximal. Anything below 80% is acceptable but undesirable, while a figure below 55% is cause for panic. In such regimes, all procedures of real democracy are replaced by acclamation of the de facto sacredness of the head of state’s power.
This, incidentally, is one of the main reasons why Lev Shlosberg was sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison. Speaking out in favor of peace and stopping the war is to commit heresy against what the usurper is carrying to the masses. Maintaining a totality of public support requires reminders of what is permitted and what is not, even for those who had previously seemed to be allowed to say such things.
What looks like an incredible success in Western democracies in terms of trust levels is, for the Russian regime and others like it, a failure and a reason to replace the head of the presidential administration at a minimum, or to start a small victorious war in the most extreme case. An even greater problem arises when the war has already been started, but is neither small nor victorious.
That is why Putin’s trust ratings, obtained through closed questions, are still regularly published despite the authorities being well aware that they don’t show the full picture. They allow the authorities to demonstrate a minimally acceptable level of what is passed off as trust. These indicators also allow attention to be diverted from the real level of trust in Putin.
And in the conditions of today’s Russia, the real level of trust in the head of state can only be attempted through open-ended questions that give respondents room to maneuver and express their own opinion rather than repeat what they currently consider to be a socially acceptable answer.
This is precisely the approach chosen by the Institute for Conflict Studies and Analysis of Russia when conducting two sociological surveys in the Krasnodar and Rostov regions. Respondents were asked the same question: “Which Russian politician or statesman do you trust most of all?”
The question was not multiple choice, so respondents had to choose the first politician who came ot mind. In both regions, respondents’ answers were quite similar: Putin was named by 39% in the Krasnodar region and 37% in the Rostov region, far below the 68-70% quot
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Wow, biased much SECOND?
Tell your bot to find more credible sources instead of having it splatter all the crap it can find all over the board.
Better yet, why don't YOU do some REAL ANALYSIS instead of being such a Johnny one-note?
SIX's departure from the board exposed that you and THGR aren't DOING ANYTHING with your lives. You're not even thinking. Both of you are utterly static and BORING. As a result, the board is immensely boring.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Departure? I hope the corpse of that little Nazi is rotting in the heat of a swampy basement. Same for Russians. Presumption of death in Russia requires that 6ixStringJoker has been dead five years, but if he does not return to gloat or mourn about Putin's/Trump's victories/defeats in 11 weeks, shortly after the November 3, 2026 election, I'd presume he is dead.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, biased much SECOND?
SIX's departure from the board . . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_death#Russia
ALL POSTS BY 6IXSTRINGJACK http://fireflyfans.net/mthreaduser.aspx?u=20928
6ix's most recent post on Russia
http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=64887&mid=12493
88#1249388
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
82% of Ukrainians believe Ukraine will win war with Russia, poll finds
Wow. Their propaganda machine was way better than yours was before it broke.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
See what I mean?
All hate, all the time.
Not a smidgen of insight or intelligence.
BORING!
You probably sent a threatening email to SIX and scared him off.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Signym, I have seen enough Trumptards die from excess alcohol, tobacco, obesity, drugs, sex, and stupidity to know what will happen to 6ix. If he is not already dead, he will have a shortened lifespan because of his beliefs and behavior. The same is true for Russians.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
See what I mean?
All hate, all the time.
Not a smidgen of insight or intelligence.
BORING!
You probably sent a threatening email to SIX and scared him off.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Weekend Update #199: Ukraine’s Campaign Against Russian Oil Infrastructure Should Be The Focus
Phillips P. OBrien
Aug 23, 2026
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-199-ukraines-cam
paign
On Friday I sent out this piece on airpower that caused a little stir. People have called it the anti-Wildberries campaign, which I suppose is partly right. However, the key thing was that it called for focus in airpower and argued that signalling (showing capabilities) is usually a failure and that the best way to use airpower is to deconstruct strategic systems which underpin warfighting.
The article made the point that Ukraine needed to focus continually on Russia’s fuel system (refineries, pipelines, shipping) and that campaigns against Wildberries and the like often have much less strategic effect than understood (in that they do not damage warfighting potential). This week there were a number of examples and arguments about just how vulnerable Russia’s fuel system happens to be and it makes sense to lead on that.
Ukraine’s Campaign Against Russian Oil Infrastructure Should Be The Focus
On August 21/22 the Ukrainians hit the Russian Novokuibyshevskyi oil refinery in Samara Oblast. This facility is located about 1000 miles from Ukraine. This attack came just one day after the Ukrainians attacked another major refinery in Perm, which is also located about 1000 miles from Ukraine.
It is an indication of a recent uptick and return to refinery attacks, which is sometimes overlooked in the discussion of the Wildberries campaign, etc.
However, as this week showed, not so much in these attacks but in some other data that has been emerging, the campaign on Russia’s oil infrastructure is beginning to have strategic effect. If Ukraine can keep it up, expand it, and hit the same targets multiple times (either preventing repair or degrading quick repairs) Russia’s oil system could head towards failure.
Almost two and a half years ago (yikes, has it been so long?) I summarized both the advantages and challenges of such a campaign against Russian fuel, showing that the key thing was not flashy one off attacks, but repeated attacks to stop repairs and reconstitution.
Ukraine is Waging a Strategic Air Campaign Against Russian Oil Production
Phillips P. OBrien
Mar 15, 2024
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/ukraine-is-waging-a-strategic-a
ir
Here was a summary from that piece.
In other words, don’t get fooled by dramatic pictures. An oil production system can be repaired and slack in the system can be made up for what is temporarily lost in other areas. That’s why I harp on stocks above. Ukraine has to keep this up for a while and attack (and re-attack) numerous facilities for this to work. It is not easy.
Now, the issue Ukraine has faced is from that point it has not consistently and repeatedly hit the same refineries to put them out of action for good. It has ramped up the campaign and then ramped down the campaign, hit new refineries but then, frustratingly, seemed to forget about other refineries that it had earlier hit.
Finally in the last few months, the Ukrainians have started doing what needs to be done. Here is a chart from Bloomberg data that I included in the Friday piece.
Now the attack rate is still not ideal. There was a severe and regrettable decline in attacks on refineries for two months in the Spring of 2026, but the focus on the whole oil infrastructure system is now clearer and the refineries, pipelines, and port attacks are starting to cause a buckling of the system.
When it comes to the refineries, as I tried to say a few years ago, the repeat attacks are finally eating away at Russia’s ability to repair these facilities. Here is a chart I put together of attacks on Russia’s largest 11 refineries this ye
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ex-Defence Minister Fedorov Says Corruption Is Preventing Ukraine From Ending War From Position Of Strength
By Kateryna Tyshchenko | 22 August, 20:25
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/08/22/8049868/
Former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said that corruption is preventing Ukraine from ending the war from a position of strength, and there are not just a few people involved, but "hundreds of people".
Source: Fedorov in an interview with 24 Kanal
Quote: "Corruption is preventing us from ending the war from a position of strength. There are a large number of people who have constructed various schemes and pursued their own interests, and they are holding back the adoption of the right decisions. I experienced this at the Defence Ministry, I fought it, I dismantled those schemes there and I stopped them. A large number of law enforcement officers support them, and a large number of people are building these schemes.
This isn't about one project or one branch of government. It's about a new social contract. Let's find people who make effective decisions to stop the war, let's give them the opportunity to work, let's assess them through the subsequent democratic process. Because when there is no such process… We are no longer surprised by the latest NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau] recordings. Even if they appear every week, it seems now that the whole of society understands: 'Everyone steals.' But this is not normal."
Details: Asked why he did not name the corrupt individuals concerned, Fedorov said: "The time will come when all Ukrainians will learn their names. Some will learn them from recordings made by the law enforcement agencies, some from journalistic investigations, and some for other reasons. We are also doing our homework in this area. And eventually all the names... everyone in our country will find out everything; it has always been this way. That is our culture. And it will happen in this case as well."
Fedorov went on: "We are not talking about one or two people, or just some senior officials; we are talking about hundreds of people who over the years have become accustomed to making money from the state budget."
When the interviewer asked why these people have prevailed, given that Fedorov has not been reinstated as defence minister, he replied: "I think these people will lose, because that was a battle for the Defence Ministry, whereas this is a war for the development of the country, and they will definitely lose that war. I see a lot of evidence of this – both the activity of our citizens who took to the streets in protest and the work of the anti-corruption agencies."
Asked whether he is still in contact with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Fedorov said: "I think we haven't spoken for a few weeks, definitely."
Background: In a video address on 18 August, Fedorov said that Ukraine is facing a "systemic crisis of governance" and criticised the influence of private interests on the work of parliament, particularly with regard to defence, pharmaceuticals, gambling and taxation.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Casualty Evacuation Remains Improvised Chaos In Most Ukrainian Units
By Olena Mukhina | 22/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/22/evacuation-is-force-majeure-tha
t-no-one-is-ready-for-in-most-ukrainian-units-and-robots-are-too-slow-to-fix-it-commander-says/
A Ukrainian officer says the army still has no proper system for getting its wounded off the battlefield. Tetiana Chornovov, the commander of a platoon of anti-tank guided missile systems, has called for systemic reform of casualty evacuation in Ukraine's Armed Forces, saying that in the fifth year of the full-scale war, evacuating soldiers from the battlefield remains in most units "a force majeure that no one is ready for."
Most Ukrainian units lack dedicated evacuation groups and specialized armored transport, so evacuations happen in chaos with improvised means, with exceptions only in individual brigades, she says.
Amid public debate over whether ground robots can do the job, Chornovol argues the problem is larger than any single technology, and that the absence of a reliable way out shapes how soldiers fight.
The psychological stakes
Chornovol said the certainty of rescue matters as much as the rescue itself.
"You can't imagine how the existence of professional evac groups would improve the psychological atmosphere at the front. Everyone wants to hope that someone will come for them, will save them," she said.
Her own fear is concrete. Fighting in her fifth year, she said her greatest fear is "that something happens to my people and we'll be helpless, because the evacuation problems will be my problems, and in a small platoon I can't allocate resources to create my own evac group."
One evacuation, seven casualties
Chornovol has backed her argument with a case from a year ago, when her Stuhna anti-tank missile crew was subordinated to a neighboring brigade. At four in the morning, she was told of one killed and one wounded by an enemy chemical-weapons strike, with the evacuation placed entirely on her crew despite weak coordination and unfamiliar terrain.
The rescue attempts compounded the toll.
"My combat vehicle with excellent electronic warfare and an anti-mine grader, which set out for the evacuation, blew up on an anti-tank magnetic mine dropped from a drone," she recalled.
The grader saved lives, but four of her best soldiers were badly concussed. A second vehicle from the brigade, with one of her men as a guide, hit another anti-tank mine, but without a grader: "the mine exploded under the hood, the driver lost his legs, the others were concussed." A third vehicle made it through by luck and took out the wounded and the dead.
"So one evacuation, seven casualties. One severe, without legs," she said, noting the brigade simply had no normal evac group or evac protocol.
She organized the Stuhna evacuation herself, bringing in border guards to control the road, waiting for a window in drone flights, and repairing the electronic-warfare gear stripped from the first knocked-out vehicle.
What Chornovol wants built
Chornovol believes that creating separate staffed evacuation units within brigades is the most necessary reform now, each with an autonomous team and special transport.
"There should be the best drivers, with salaries like assault troops, but also medics, pilots, EW specialists, sappers to defuse mines dropped by drones, and pros: hunters with shotguns to down drones," she said.
On equipment, she argued against relying on ground robots, which she agrees are too slow for evacuation and often easy targets for enemy drones. The main transport, she said, should be a small, fast, lightly-armored vehicle with an anti-mine bottom, light enough to survive the anti-tank mines the enemy drops.
"For a platoon, such equipment is too much, but I don't understand why the whole brigade we were attached to didn't have such an evac vehicle," she said.
She nearly lost five of her m
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
‘I don’t think beyond tomorrow’: How Russians in occupied Crimea are surviving one of the hardest summers of the war
August 21, 2026, 7:55 am
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/08/21/i-don-t-think-beyond-tomorrow-
how-people-in-occupied-crimea-are-surviving-one-of-the-hardest-summers-of-the-war
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine has five years to turn battlefield survival into lasting independence
By Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2021 -2024)
August 23, 2026, 08:12 AM
https://english.nv.ua/opinion/ukraine-at-35-five-decisive-years-to-mak
e-independence-irreversible-50635023.html
Valerii Zaluzhnyi: Instead of building the Ukrainian state that thousands fought and died for, we got a clan-based oligarchic republic.
How can we cross this desert without turning on one another or losing ourselves in a changing world?
An exclusive essay for NV.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or dread them, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will not leave or abandon you.” — Deuteronomy 31:6
Remember the past without losing sight of the future.
Thirty-five years of Ukrainian independence are not only an occasion to reflect on the road we have traveled. More importantly, they are a chance to decide where we go next.
If we compare our journey with the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt to the “land flowing with milk and honey,” then we have five years left in the desert.
Those five years may prove the hardest. They will demand unity, concentrated effort and the determination to remain free. We must fight not only an external enemy, but also the “sandstorms” of lies, exhaustion, disappointment and fading hope.
As Ivan Franko wrote in his poem Moses: “And the people lost faith and said, ‘The prophets lied! We are to live and die in the desert! What else are we waiting for? And how long?’”
Ukraine today may be closer than ever to the point at which doubt about the road ahead begins to seep into society. The questions “What are we waiting for?” and “How long?” are already appearing with growing frequency, now written not on stone tablets but on cardboard signs.
To answer the question of what comes next — and how we avoid losing our way before finally emerging from the darkness of the desert — we must look honestly at the road Ukraine has traveled over the past 35 years and identify the strategic priorities for the decisive stage ahead.
The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geostrategic turning point of the 20th century. Russian President Vladimir Putin calls it the greatest mistake. That choice of words is no accident. A geopolitical rupture cannot be reversed. A mistake, however, can supposedly be corrected.
In much of the West, the Soviet Union’s collapse is understood as an objective historical process: Empires eventually decline and disintegrate. The Kremlin sees it differently. In Moscow’s view, the collapse should never have happened.
As long as that conviction shapes Russian policy, Moscow’s refusal to accept Ukrainian independence will remain fundamental. It leaves little room for compromise, whether through the illusion of elections or promises of a durable peace.
The “prophets” must not lie about that.
But Russia’s leadership has also made a grave mistake of its own. Its obsession with correcting history has already led to a full-scale war in which there can be no true winner — and one that Russia itself is incapable of winning.
Ukrainian independence emerged from the collapse of an empire, but it was also the culmination of decades and centuries of struggle by our ancestors for freedom. We must remember that.
At the very least, we must remember the price paid by those who, in the 35th year of the independence they fought for, were finally laid to rest in their native soil.
Today’s defenders must see and remember this as well. Will they, too, become victims of political manipulation and begin looking for peace somewhere else, as thousands who have not yet returned already have?
In 1991, history shifted like tectonic plates, producing an earthquake in the heart of Europe. It is difficult to know how much hope and expectation that moment generated among the political elite of the time. It is even harder to know whether that elite was capable of turning those expectations into the practical
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 23, 2026
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-august-23-2026/
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to set unrealistic deadlines for the Russian military to seize the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, likely in part because of his misunderstanding of the battlefield realities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on August 23 that Putin most recently ordered the Russian military to complete the seizure of Donetsk Oblast by December 31, 2026 and noted that Putin’s main operational objectives in Ukraine remain the seizure of Kostyantynivka, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk cities in Donetsk Oblast — all part of Ukraine’s heavily fortified Fortress Belt defense line.[9] Zelensky stated that Russian forces have suffered around 267,000 personnel casualties, including about 155,000 killed, along the entire frontline since the beginning of 2026 and that roughly 70 to 80 percent of all Russian losses occur in the Kostyantynivka direction. Zelensky added that the Kremlin is preparing to mobilize around 300,000 servicemembers following the September 18-20 State Duma elections in part to reinforce Russian positions in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Putin has given Russian forces 15 separate deadlines since 2022 to seize the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, and Russian forces have failed to meet any of them.[10] Russian forces control roughly 21,170 square kilometers (or roughly 79.89 percent) of Donetsk Oblast and roughly 26,624 square kilometers (or roughly 99.77 percent) of Luhansk Oblast, according to the evidence that ISW has observed. ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin’s deadlines for its military objectives remain divorced from the reality of Russian forces’ battlefield performance and that Russian forces are highly unlikely to seize Donbas by the end of 2026, if at all.[11]
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine Got Independence as a Gift in 1991. Now We Pay In Blood
Ukraine escaped the empire in 1991. The empire struck back.
It took 22 years of Moscow holding the strings, and then an invasion, to make Ukrainians fight for the real thing.
By Cyril Hovorun | August 24, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/24/ukraine-got-independence-as-a-g
ift-in-1991-now-we-pay-in-blood/
In 1991, Ukraine did not shed a drop of blood. It was a transition of power. We raised a flag, we declared ourselves independent, and we received our independence as a gift.
Now we are shedding rivers of blood for real independence.
That is the difference between this Independence Day and the ones before it, and I do not think we have absorbed it yet.
Colonial theory has a name for what happened to us thirty-five years ago. It is called flag independence. You raise the flag, you declare the state, and for a while you believe that was it—that this was the end, and now we simply continue as an independent nation.
In theory it was believed to be like that. In practice, every decolonized nation eventually discovered the same thing: it is not the end. It is the beginning.
The nations that gathered at Bandung in Indonesia in 1955 worked this out before us. They had their flags. They also had the former metropolis still holding the strings—to their economies, their cultures, their political classes. They named it: neocolonialism.
Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/24/ukraine-got-independence-as-a-g
ift-in-1991-now-we-pay-in-blood/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I read shit like this and wonder how anyone can get thru the first para...
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 23, 2026
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-august-23-2026/
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to set unrealistic deadlines for the Russian military to seize the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, likely in part because of his misunderstanding of the battlefield realities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on August 23 that Putin most recently ordered the Russian military to complete the seizure of Donetsk Oblast by December 31, 2026
And nobody thought to ask
How could Zelensky possibly know? ?
Does the Russian General Staff consult him? Does Putin brief Zelensky once a week? Did Ukrainian intelligence torture this out of some poor sod of a Russian soldier who wouldn't even know next week's objective?
I thought "Understanding War" was supposed to be a THINK tank. But they can't ask basic questions?
Apparently not much thinking going on!
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Signym, you're fundamentally acting as if the Russian Army has no deadlines. That their job is only to show up and die forever or until Ukraine is conquered. But the Russian Army does have deadlines, you stupid asshole Signym. And if the Russian Army knows its deadlines, the Ukrainians will know, with a delay. Alternatively, if the Russian Army is as poorly managed as the US Army, their schedules will be non-existent, much like Trump's schedule for his military operations. Trump cannot fail if he never sets goals, deadlines, budgets, or other criteria for measuring success versus failure.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I read shit like this and wonder how anyone can get thru the first para...
And nobody thought to ask
How could Zelensky possibly know? ?
Does the Russian General Staff consult him? Does Putin brief Zelensky once a week? Did Ukrainian intelligence torture this out of some poor sod of a Russian soldier who wouldn't even know next week's objective?
I thought "Understanding War" was supposed to be a THINK tank. But they can't ask basic questions?
Apparently not much thinking going on!
Suddenly, I realize that is why the US Army got its ass-kicked in famous Forever Wars such as Vietnam and Afghanistan, where the US Army's real job was only to show up and die forever or until North Vietnam was conquered, whichever came first.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian drone with Nvidia chips signals dawn of lethal AI
The New York Times reports:
The young woman ran for her life, but it was too late.
A small Russian drone resembling a model airplane swooped down from the sky last month in the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. As it tried to navigate toward a gas station, it crashed into a wall and exploded in a hail of shrapnel, killing Tetiana Bubynets, 19, a university student, and two others.
They were among the thousands of Ukrainian civilians who have died in Russian airstrikes, but the circumstances of their deaths came with an ominous twist. The drone that killed them was guided by an experimental artificial intelligence system, not a human pilot, according to drone experts, Ukrainian military commanders and the forensic team that examined wreckage from the deadly strike and others in the city.
The drone was programmed by human operators to travel toward a particular gas station, but once it got close, it chose its exact target — most likely propane tanks — on its own, based on its training to recognize such tanks and strike them, the experts and military officials said.
It is a development long watched for in the war in Ukraine, presaging a dystopian future in which killer robots roam the skies making life-or-death decisions that reduce targets to data points.
“This is a risk for the whole world,” said Col. Serhiy Minaiev, the commander of air defenses in Zaporizhzhia. “In a few years, we will be living in a ‘Terminator’ movie. It’s no joke. Machines are making decisions to strike.”
Analysis of debris from this attack and others in Zaporizhzhia found that the drones had onboard minicomputers, sold commercially by Nvidia, that made their targeting decisions, the experts and military officials said. Nvidia produces a majority of the chips powering the world’s most advanced A.I. systems.
The presence of Nvidia modules and a lack of antennas on the drones led Ukrainian air defense commanders to surmise that the weapons were guided by an autonomous A.I. system, which was confirmed on further investigation.
More at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/world/europe/russia-drones-autonomo
us-ai-kill-ukraine-war.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Court sets bail at $448,000 for Zelensky's ex-deputy chief of staff suspected of money laundering
August 25, 2026 4:15 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/court-sets-bail-for-zelenskys-ex-deputy-ch
ief-of-staff-in-graft-case/
Sure would be nice if the US would put in jail some politicians who are getting rich quick from their official positions. For example:
1) Donald Trump's Net Worth Surges by $600 Million in Less Than a Month: What's Driving the Jump?
August 1, 2026
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/donald-trumps-net-wo
rth-surges-123018814.html
2) Trump Is Making Three Times As Much In White House As He Did In Business
As he returned to office, America’s salesman-in-chief capitalized on the most lucrative pitch of his life. Now Trump is selling something else—the myth that he doesn’t know how he made so much money.
Jul 15, 2026, 01:12 pm EDT
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2026/07/15/trump-is-making-t
hree-times-as-much-in-white-house-as-he-did-in-business/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Signym, you're fundamentally acting as if the Russian Army has no deadlines. That their job is only to show up and die forever or until Ukraine is conquered. But the Russian Army does have deadlines, you stupid asshole Signym. And if the Russian Army knows its deadlines, the Ukrainians will know, with a delay. Alternatively, if the Russian Army is as poorly managed as the US Army, their schedules will be non-existent, much like Trump's schedule for his military operations. Trump cannot fail if he never sets goals, deadlines, budgets, or other criteria for measuring success versus failure.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I read shit like this and wonder how anyone can get thru the first para...
And nobody thought to ask
How could Zelensky possibly know? ?
Does the Russian General Staff consult him? Does Putin brief Zelensky once a week? Did Ukrainian intelligence torture this out of some poor sod of a Russian soldier who wouldn't even know next week's objective?
I thought "Understanding War" was supposed to be a THINK tank. But they can't ask basic questions?
Apparently not much thinking going on!
Suddenly, I realize that is why the US Army got its ass-kicked in famous Forever Wars such as Vietnam and Afghanistan, where the US Army's real job was only to show up and die forever or until North Vietnam was conquered, whichever came first.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Zelensky is, as usual, speaking out of his ass. You can flush what he says without fear of missing info.
Up until a month ago, I would have said that Russia had objectives, strategy, and tactics but no timeline. But if there IS a timeline, most ppl pin it to the upcoming Russian parliamentary elections in late September.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Signym will love this message, which I believe is true:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Zelensky is, as usual, speaking out of his ass. You can flush what he says without fear of missing info.
Up until a month ago, I would have said that Russia had objectives, strategy, and tactics but no timeline. But if there IS a timeline, most ppl pin it to the upcoming Russian parliamentary elections in late September.
Ukraine is slowly losing, but failure isn't inevitable if only the Ukrainians would stop being stupid about simple ideas and change their ways of fighting.
Ukraine needs changes to avoid losing war, ousted defence minister says
By Max Hunder | August 25, 2026 10:09 AM CDT
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-needs-chang
es-avoid-losing-war-ousted-defence-minister-says-2026-08-25/
Summary
• Fedorov: Ukraine has a window of several months
• Cites corruption, lack of innovation hobbling war effort
• Zelenskiy has rejected ex-ally's election call
KYIV, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Ukraine appears to be slowly losing the war against Russia, ousted Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters, warning that Kyiv has a window of several months to make key decisions needed to turn the tide in its favour.
Fedorov, a young reformer whose dismissal last month sparked weeks of protests, said Ukraine lacked any overall vision for how to win the four-year-old conflict, and was hobbled by its failure to innovate.
Ingrained corruption and patronage networks, as well as a lack of political independence in government institutions, were also holding the country back, he said in an interview.
"I think that there's now a turning point which will determine our future trajectory, but it looks as though we're gradually, slowly losing," Fedorov said in a marked departure from Kyiv's official rhetoric.
Ukraine still had "every chance" to win but urgently needed a plan to end the war, he added.
Ukraine’s presidential office said in response to Fedorov’s comments that he had been positive about the conduct of the war when he was at the ministry and the only thing that had changed was his personal status.
LACK OF INTERCEPTORS HINDERS UKRAINE
Russia is hammering Ukrainian factories and warehouses with dozens of ballistic missiles a month, which Ukraine is mostly unable to take down as interceptors run low. Although Russia is gaining less ground than last year, it is still slowly crawling forward in the Donbas, while Ukraine's sparse frontline infantry dugouts are manned mostly by unmotivated conscripts.
Ukraine, in turn, has ramped up its own drone and missile attacks deep into Russia, hitting some key military factories, causing serious damage to oil refineries and creating nationwide fuel shortages.
A poll conducted at the end of July found 82% of Ukrainians believed Ukraine would win, although most expected fighting to carry on into 2027 or later.
Fedorov, 35, was fired six months after his appointment, having initiated reforms around procurement and mobilisation that put him on a collision course with the military establishment and political rivals.
Last week, he rocked Ukrainian politics by becoming the first major political figure to demand wartime elections, decrying a "systemic" crisis of governance.
In an interview on Monday, he emphasised the importance of developing autonomous drones guided by artificial intelligence, cheap interceptor missiles to stop Russia's air attacks and Ukraine's own ballistic missile program to turn the tide of the war.
Ukrainian manufacturers are already working on those technologies, but Fedorov said the country needed a joined-up strategy to maximise their effect once deployed.
He laid out a vision for a frontline covered by electronic sensors to detect enemies, with drones on land and in the air to minimise human presence.
"Technologies exist already which could completely stop the Russians, but our absence of vision ... means we do not a
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ousted Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov says Ukraine is ‘slowly losing’ the war against Russia
August 25, 2026, 2:12 pm
Source: Reuters
https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/08/25/ousted-ukrainian-defense-minister
-mykhailo-fedorov-says-ukraine-is-slowly-losing-the-war-against-russia
Ukraine’s leadership has no overall vision for how to win the war against Russia, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters. Corruption and the slow adoption of new technology are also holding the country back, he said.
“I think that there’s now a turning point which will determine our future trajectory [in the war], but it looks as though we’re gradually, slowly losing,” Fedorov said.
Fedorov said developing AI-controlled drones, cheap interceptor missiles, and ballistic missiles could turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor. Ukrainian manufacturers are already working on these technologies. What Ukraine lacks, Fedorov said, is a unified strategy to use them as effectively as possible once they are deployed.
“Technologies exist already which could completely stop the Russians, but our absence of vision … means we do not apply them,” he said.
Fedorov also criticized the Ukrainian state for its inefficiency, saying it operates at only “5% effectiveness.”
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
17 charts show how full-scale war reshaped Ukraine’s economy and living standards
August 25, 2026, 08:08 AM
https://english.nv.ua/business/code-of-independence-17-charts-on-how-w
ar-changed-ukraine-s-economy-50635549.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The European Union is considering allocating up to €100 billion in its future budget for a new cooperation program with Ukraine.
European Council President António Costa said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
He noted that the new political season in the EU, which begins in September, will be marked by the adoption of the European Union’s next important budget and progress in the enlargement process for Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans.
Regarding funding for support to Ukraine in the future budget, Costa said: “Right now, this is under discussion by the member states, but the European Commission's proposal includes a new program of cooperation with Ukraine worth up to 100 billion euros.”
As reported, the draft EU budget for 2028–2034 envisages record spending of around €2 trillion.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-economy/4157809-eu-discusses-new-prog
ram-of-cooperation-with-ukraine-for-up-to-100b-costa.html
Read also: EU speeds up €90 billion loan to support Ukraine’s air defense, energy – Costa
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4157340-eu-speeds-up-eur-90b
-loan-to-support-ukraines-air-defense-energy-costa.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, biased much SECOND?
Tell your bot to find more credible sources instead of having it splatter all the crap it can find all over the board.
Better yet, why don't YOU do some REAL ANALYSIS instead of being such a Johnny one-note?
SIX's departure from the board exposed that you and THGR aren't DOING ANYTHING with your lives. You're not even thinking. Both of you are utterly static and BORING. As a result, the board is immensely boring.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
Oh no comrade, I have no life and I'm so sad. Too funny...
T
Russia Starts to Panic
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The Wall Street Journal writes about
The Russia-Ukraine air war has entered a new, deadlier phase
Story by Marcus Walker | August 26, 2026
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-russia-ukraine-air-war-has-en
tered-a-new-deadlier-phase/ar-AA2b0zdN
Click the link to see maps, graphs, a video and pictures.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian officials believe Putin could launch nuclear strike on Ukraine, media reports
In Moscow, the most dangerous scenario for the war is being discussed more and more often
By Daryna Vialko | Wed, August 26, 2026 – 21:20
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russian-officials-believe-putin-could-
launch-1787767662.html
According to sources close to the Kremlin, the intensification of the fighting is leading more Russian officials to believe that Russian leader Vladimir Putin could at some point consider using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly used nuclear rhetoric during the full-scale war "to intimidate Ukraine’s western allies into reducing support for its defense."
"An extreme response is viewed as possible because the only outcome worse than continuing the war for Putin would be losing it," Bloomberg writes. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-26/putin-moves-to-esca
late-war-in-ukraine-with-talks-at-dead-end
Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former national security adviser to three US presidents, believes Putin is still testing how far he can go in his confrontation with the West.
She said this is why coordinated action by Ukraine’s allies and consistent diplomatic pressure remain important.
Meanwhile, Alexander Gabuev, Berlin-based director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, considers the risk of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons extremely low.
In his view, such weapons have limited military value on today’s dispersed battlefield, while the political cost of breaking the nuclear taboo would be extremely high.
"As long as Moscow has room to escalate with conventional weapons, including by intensifying missile strikes, it has little incentive to cross the nuclear threshold," Gabuev said.
----------------------------------------------------
Kremlin sources tell Bloomberg that Putin is preparing to escalate the war in Ukraine.
A growing number of Russian officials believe that could eventually mean a tactical nuclear weapon.
August 26, 2026, 3:49 pm
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/08/26/kremlin-sources-tell-bloomberg
-that-putin-is-preparing-to-escalate-the-war-in-ukraine-a-growing-number-of-russian-officials-believe-that-could-eventually-mean-a-tactical-nuclear-weapon
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine’s edge in war: Esprit de (military) corps
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
Aug. 26, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0826/Ukrai
ne-s-edge-in-war-Esprit-de-military-corps
News about the wars in Iran and Gaza has lately eclipsed that of a more consequential war: the one in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. Yet that conflict could soon take a turn against the aggressor, Russia – less on the battlefront and more on the homefront.
By various reports, young Russians are showing more bravery through subtle opposition to the war, while young men have become less brave about joining the military – actively avoiding coercive new ways of recruiting them to replace the vast number of soldiers lost on the front lines.
The contrast with Ukraine could not be more stark. While Ukrainians often complain about their country's enforced conscription, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the rank and file this week: “You are the best army in Europe. Period.”
“And that is the plain truth,” he added, “because our military stands not only on doctrines and standards, but also has a heart that needs no additional order to be brave.
“We fight as a country, we laugh and cry as a country, and we love as a country. And this makes us a hundred times stronger than Russia.”
In recent days, reports that the Kremlin is preparing a new mass mobilization – estimated to amount to 300,000 troops – has led to frantic calls by young men for help in emigrating out of Russia. The previous mobilization, in September 2022, was very unpopular and led to hundreds of thousands of men leaving the country. A new law attempts to punish such political émigrés by blocking their access to banks and to the renewal of passports.
By most expert accounts, Russia is losing more soldiers to war than it is able to replace. President Vladimir Putin “knows that unless Russia can somehow maintain its manpower advantage on the battlefield, the invasion of Ukraine will devolve into a bloody quagmire,” wrote Mykola Bielieskov of the National Institute for Strategic Studies.
Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukrainians have a “force holding us firmly by the hand,” namely, “support for one another, freedom from doubt about the person beside us, faith in all Ukrainians.”
“In all his plans for Ukraine, Putin got the most important thing wrong,” he added. “The enemy counted our resources, our stockpiles, our equipment, but failed to take into account what was key: people.”
Now, somewhat late, Mr. Putin wants more of his people to fight in a war of conquest that fewer see as justified. The war might well be one of the most technologically advanced in history. Yet the edge for Ukraine lies in morale, reflected in better ease of recruiting young men who have the heart to defend a country they love.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
EU States Push to Revive Russian-Asset ‘Reparations Loan’ for Ukraine
By Kyiv Post | Aug. 27, 2026, 12:56 pm
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/83212
In brief: EU countries are pushing Brussels to revive a stalled plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, as Kyiv faces a €23.1 billion defense funding gap. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland are urging the European Commission to find ways around Belgium’s opposition to the proposed “reparations loan.”
The plan collapsed in December after Belgium objected. Almost all of the €210 billion ($244 billion) in Russian assets frozen in Europe are held at Euroclear, a Brussels-based securities depository.
Instead, the EU agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion ($104 billion) loan backed by the bloc’s budget. EU governments also pledged to keep working on a separate reparations loan based on cash balances linked to the frozen Russian assets.
But little has changed since then, according to one FT source.
The renewed push comes as Ukraine faces mounting financial pressure after bringing forward spending to sustain its military campaign.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that the defense ministry faces a €23.1 billion ($26.8 billion) funding gap that needs to be covered to keep the war effort going.
Ukraine shifted spending originally planned for the second half of the year into the first six months, helping fund a major campaign of medium- and long-range strikes against Russian military positions, logistics hubs and supply routes, including those serving occupied Crimea.
The strikes come amid a widening campaign targeting major e-commerce warehouses, with billions of rubles in potential losses reported.
The move has now left the defense ministry short of cash for military salaries, social support and weapons purchases. It also needs about €6 billion ($7 billion) in advance payments for weapons deliveries planned for early 2027.
-----------------
For comparison, the war in Iran costs America two billion dollars each day, says war budgeting expert Linda Bilmes—and will cost at least one trillion overall. President George W. Bush fired his economic advisor, Larry Lindsey, for predicting that the Iraq War might cost $200 billion (it ended up costing $5 trillion).
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/internation
al-relations-security/why-war-iran-so-expensive
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
EU States Push to Revive Russian-Asset ‘Reparations Loan’ for Ukraine
By Kyiv Post | Aug. 27, 2026, 12:56 pm
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/83212
In brief: EU countries are pushing Brussels to revive a stalled plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, as Kyiv faces a €23.1 billion defense funding gap. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland are urging the European Commission to find ways around Belgium’s opposition to the proposed “reparations loan.”
HA!
This is how to interpret this article...
Nobody in the EU has any weapons that they can give up or even sell to Ukraine.
So the EU decided to cough up a $90 billion no-interest "loan' to Ukraine (which nobody realistically expects to be paid back) which was supposed to last two years.
Ukraine burned thru that money in six months. But the EU'S pockets are as empty as its weapons stockpiles. Its finances and economies are sinking. They have no more cash to give, so they're now focusing on outright theft, dressed up as a "loan".
Even if Zelensky gets that money, what is he going to do with it?
Aside from buying more mercs from Colombia and drones from the UK, the ONLY THING that could happen with that cash is big payouts to Zelensky's supporters and hangers-on and potential enemies (disappointed Azov fighters, political and military rivals) to keep himself in power.
Grift.
It's a grift that keeps on giving, and isn't going to make a bit of difference to the war.
Honestly, corruption is the death of nations. Once you have government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy, that nation/ kingdom/ empire is doomed.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Before diving into tonight’s featured article I want to offer a brief comment on John Ratcliffe’s strange visit to Moscow. The key for me is the C-17. Why use that plane? The CIA Director has a Gulfstream V (GV), which has a published maximum range of about 6,500 nautical miles, more than enough to reach Moscow. Commodore Steve Jermy has offered up the best possible explanation… Ratcliffe was picking up the bodies of dead CIA officers that the Russians had collected. Coffins travel better on a C-17 than a GV.
MORE AT
https://sonar21.com/nodes-not-poles-why-the-new-geoeconomic-order-is-m
ultinodal-not-multipolar/
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine to get 90% of drones under planned Finnish production deal, Finland’s president says
Three Finnish defense firms signed letters of intent in Kyiv this week, and Stubb says only the state-to-state framework is left to finish before the assembly lines can start building weapons.
By Zoriana Katola | 27/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/27/ukraine-to-get-90-of-drones-und
er-planned-finnish-production-deal-finlands-president-says/
The planned arrangement follows a broader European shift toward co-production with Ukraine rather than supplying weapons from existing stockpiles. Drones have shaped much of the fighting on both sides since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and Russia has repeatedly struck defense plants inside Ukraine—a Bayraktar plant under construction in Kyiv was hit four times in six months by August 2025—pushing Ukrainian makers to expand production into allied countries, Finland among them.
"I think the deal will follow approximately the so-called 90/10 proportion. So 90% of the output is supplied to Ukraine, and 10% stays in Finland," Stubb said.
Zelenskyy said the cooperation would combine Ukrainian combat experience with Finnish technology. Stubb said Finland already faces Russian hybrid attacks, from undersea cable sabotage to drones, and treats sabotage as a standing risk to the plants, adding that Finland ranks among the largest per-capita suppliers of military equipment to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the agreements cover drones built in Finland for Ukraine and Europe, expanded maritime unmanned systems, and a plant for ground robotic systems, and Stubb said the documents signed during the visit concerned air, land, and sea.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Zelensky is a dead man. Ukraine is finished.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Gee Whiz
T
RUSSIA FUEL COLLAPSE: LUKOIL REFINERIES SHUT DOWN AFTER
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 28, 2026
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-august-28-2026/
Russian budgetary challenges resulting from its costly war effort, Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign, international sanctions, and economic mismanagement are manifesting in concrete operational problems. Bloomberg reported on August 28, citing insider sources, that Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in April 2026 about a negative budget balance in the Russian Federal Treasury budget account, prompting immediate spending restrictions.[4] The Russian Federal Treasury budget account reportedly ran a 5.5 trillion-ruble (roughly $63.8 billion) shortfall in April 2026, causing a temporary operational problem for Russian authorities. Bloomberg reported that authorities imposed austerity measures in April 2026 that required 35 percent cuts in funding for spending other than for the war effort and that the Russian government instructed federal agencies to prepare for a 15 percent reduction in staffing. Bloomberg had previously reported that Russian authorities unsuccessfully petitioned Russian President Vladimir Putin to cut defense spending amidst Russia’s growing budgetary crisis.[5] ISW has observed numerous indicators that these issues — which reportedly came to a head in April 2026 — continue to trouble Russian officials, prominent Russian economists, and ordinary Russians.[6]
This operational problem was reportedly short-term and apparently manageable, but it indicates that structural flaws and chronic economic mismanagement are requiring Russian authorities to engage in more complex and challenging fiscal management than is necessary under normal economic circumstances. The economic and fiscal challenges resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine, compounded by the effects of Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign, are imposing significant economic hardship on Russian society, including in the major urban centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg that Russian President Vladimir Putin has traditionally sought to protect from the effects of the war.[7] Putin continues to renege on his tacit social contract with Russians in which he would shield them from the impacts of the war in return for their continued support. That such reports are emerging less than a month before the September 20 State Duma elections that Putin has turned into a high-stakes referendum on his war in Ukraine emphasizes the magnitude of the fiscal challenges that the war is presenting to the Kremlin.[8] Putin’s choice to prioritize the war effort is generating avoidable operational problems for Russian officials who will have to continue to react dynamically and with painful mitigations to increasingly adverse economic conditions. Russian officials will likely remain able to respond such that Russia will be able to continue its war effort even as the economy struggles for a considerable time, and there is no near-term or imminent likelihood that the Russian economy will collapse.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
THGR, you've been posting about Russian fuel collapse for quite a while now.
So. When is it going to happen, really?
Any day now?
Tick tock on your predictions.
******
SECOND, "Understanding War" used to be at least closer to the truth, but the worse things go for Ukraine the further it goes off the rails. Russian people aren't suffering. What a crock.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oh boy! Russia is COLLAPSING!!!!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!
TED'S CLICKBAIT BRAINROT SAYS SO!!!!!!
You are a fucking joke, Ted.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
"Quantity has a quality all its own." The underlying concept—that a large enough accumulation of quantitative change creates a qualitative difference—comes from Marxist dialectical materialism and Hegel’s logic.
Zelensky calls for Ukraine to launch 1,000 drones at Russia daily
By Anna Fratsyvir | August 29, 2026 12:51 am
https://kyivindependent.com/there-must-be-more-zelensky-calls-for-ukra
ine-to-launch-1-000-drones-at-russia-daily/
President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Ukraine to increase the frequency of its long-range drone strikes against Russia on Aug. 28, setting a goal of launching 1,000 drones a day.
Zelensky said in his daily evening address that Ukraine currently launches more than 300 long-range drones on average each day, but needs to significantly increase that number as Russia intensifies its aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities.
"The main priority is to strengthen our defense against jet-powered Shaheds and to step up the frequency of our deep strikes against Russia," Zelensky said. "The task is a thousand drones for long-range strikes against Russia every day. Right now, the average is over 300 of our long-range strikes; there must be more. We have a very specific goal, and we will achieve it."
Zelensky's comments came as Ukrainian forces have stepped up attacks on Russian energy and military infrastructure.
He also pointed to growing pressure on Russia's fuel and export sectors, saying Moscow was already experiencing economic consequences from the war.
"They (Russia) already have less gasoline, fewer exports, and fewer logistics," Zelensky said. "For the first time in its history, Russia is importing gasoline and is in fact using budget funds to support its oil companies."
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil infrastructure as part of its long-range strike campaign. Ukrainian forces launched a strike on Aug. 28 targeting one of Russia's largest oil refineries in the Yaroslavl region. Ukrainian officials also said a Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber was damaged at Engels air base in the Saratov region.
The General Staff confirmed the target of the attack on Yaroslavl was the Slavneft-YANOS refinery, one of Russia's largest oil-processing facilities.
On Aug. 26, Ukrainian forces struck production facilities at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodorgsintez oil refinery, also known as NORSI, in Kstovo in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region. Ukraine's General Staff said the strike hit its target and caused a fire.
The overnight attack damaged several processing units, inter-unit infrastructure, and other plant facilities. The refinery subsequently halted crude oil processing.
Zelensky said Ukraine would continue expanding its long-range strikes if Russia refused to negotiate an end to the war.
"There will be even more such losses for them if Russia does not want to talk rationally about ending this war," he said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
If he's got money for 1,000 drones a day, he doesn't need to always whore himself out for more.
Fuck Zelensky. He is a dead man walking.
Fuck Ukraine. Nobody cares.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ukraine has five ways to stop Russia’s Iskanders. Only one arrives before the strikes on the grid begin
It means finding a launcher in a forest during the twenty minutes it spends above ground.
By David Axe | 29/08/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/08/29/stop-iskanders/
Desperately short of missiles for its roughly 10 Patriot air defense batteries, Ukraine has just a few options as colder weather looms—and the Russians prepare to fire even more hard-to-intercept Iskander ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities and power plants.
The Iskander is a unique threat, and Ukraine is uniquely vulnerable. The Patriot is one of just a few systems that stands any chance of hitting an incoming Iskander as the Russian missile barrels in at six or seven times the speed of sound. And the Patriot is, or was, the most plentiful anti-ballistic interceptor. It usually takes two or three of them to bring down one Iskander.
Then came Iran. Coalition forces fired an average of 225 interceptors a day during the first four days of the war against Lockheed Martin's production rate of 1.7 a day, the Foreign Policy Research Institute calculated—a 132-to-one gap between use and manufacture. Lockheed built 620 Patriots in all of 2025. And every Patriot the Americans fire at an Iranian missile is a Patriot Ukraine won't be able to fire at a Russian missile.
Ukrainian batteries have so few missiles that air defenders can do little more than watch as the 3.8-ton Iskanders and other heavy Russian missiles barrel in. "This is a really heartbreaking sight when you have equipment but you're not able to intercept any missile," Dmytro, the chief engineer of Ukraine's Patriot fleet, told CNN. "Ballistic missiles are flying over your head and you are not able to do anything with it, and behind you, there are civilians." He first ran out of interceptors in December 2025.
Across the 39-day campaign, CSIS estimates 1,060 to 1,430 Patriots were expended—more than half the US prewar inventory. At Lockheed's rate, replacing them takes three years.
And a Patriot cannot be conjured. A single PAC-3 MSE takes about 24 months to build, its solid rocket motor 30. In January the Pentagon signed a seven-year deal for Lockheed to reach 2,000 Patriots a year—by 2030, by which point the Russo-Ukrainian war will be eight years old. Far too late to save Ukraine from the coming hard winter.
The Ukrainian air force has two other batteries that can intercept ballistic missiles, both French-Italian SAMP/Ts, and they are short of missiles too. France agreed in November to send eight next-generation SAMP/Ts over two years—a schedule, not a stockpile.
Winter looms
The interceptor crisis will only worsen as winter looms and the supply of electricity for residential heating once again becomes a matter of life and death for millions of Ukrainians. Iskanders "could hit all significant non-nuclear electricity generation," explained Jakub Janovsky, a Czech military analyst. The Kremlin has cut production of several other missile types—including, as Euromaidan Press reported this month, the Kinzhal—to pour more into the Iskander.
"I wanted to secure 300 missiles for the Patriot systems as part of the winter package. The request from our Air Force is for 360," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists on 23 August, in remarks posted to X. "But when only 600 are produced a year, 360 is not easy to obtain." He has asked Washington for 5% or 10% of the US stockpile, and says Ukraine will pay. By his own account it holds about 1%.
What are Ukraine's non-Patriot options?
Its own ballistic interceptor
Frantic for air defenses, Ukraine is developing its own. In May, Kyiv munitions-maker Fire Point unveiled Freya, a pan-European anti-ballistic project built around the FP-7.x—a 7.25-m composite interceptor derived from the company's FP-7 surface-to-surface missile. Cued by European radars and guided in the final moments by an infrared seeker from Germany's D
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Weekend Update #200: Summer Is Ending, The Russian Offensive Is A Failure So Far
Why Fuel Attacks Need To Be Prioritized, An Update;
Phillips P. OBrien
Aug 30, 2026
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-200-summer-is-en
ding
From Update #1: And the political section was a warning that if the GOP captured both houses of congress in the upcoming midterm elections, it would be bad for Ukraine as the Republicans had a growing anti-Ukraine wing. It is worth noting that I did not mention Trump by name in the piece, but did mention that there was a “pro-Russian” wing in the Republican Party that looked to be growing in influence.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Speaking just the other day to faculty and students at a Moscow University, Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine with a truly wild analogy.
“There are killer whales living nearby. They eat these bears up like small fry. Yes, they just attack as a pack – boom! – and tear them to pieces. It’s all very interesting. Yes, that’s the food chain.
Children need to be told about this too, so they understand what kind of world we’re living in and why we are carrying out the special military operation.”
First of all, this is wrong. Orcas do not kill polar bears (at least according to an internet search). However what is even worse is that it makes no sense. Is Russia the polar bear and NATO the orcas? Or is Ukraine the polar bear and Russia (with China and Iran perhaps) a pack of orcas.
And you know the great tragedy of international relations? It is that there are serious scholars, or at least those who some take seriously, who articulate this kind of a “realist” framework as automatic when it is far from it. If there is one thing we can say that has been shown, it is that states do not behave like this by nature. The US actually put together a brilliant alliance system that for 75 years was the exact opposite of a pack of killer whales attacking a polar bear. If it had wanted to, it could have crushed Russia. It did not.
Today’s Europe is also based on the reality that states do not have to do this to each other.
One of the reasons that Ukraine must win this war is to undermine this way of thinking. If Putin wins, with the help of Donald Trump, the orcas might actually start ripping the polar bears to pieces.
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-200-summer-is-en
ding
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Unrealistic optimism isn’t helping Ukraine
Kyiv said it needs to mobilise at least 30,000 people a month to maintain troop levels, suggesting losses higher than officially admitted
By Owen Matthews | 30 August 2026 6:29pm BST
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/30/unrealistic-optimism-isnt-
helping-ukraine/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/unrealistic-optimism-isn-t-helpin
g-ukraine/ar-AA2bdYmw
Ukraine is “gradually, slowly losing” the war. Those are not the words of a Kremlin propagandist but Ukraine’s own Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s recently dismissed defence minister, speaking to Reuters last week. In the days after he made that grim prediction, Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine to near-apocalyptic levels.
In a fiendishly effective move, the Kremlin switched from mass drone and missile strikes to continuous, 60-hour-long waves of bombardments which saw nineteen air-raids on Kyiv in a single day, exhausting defenders and dwindling stocks of air-defence missiles alike.
A strike on an ammunition warehouse in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha – the site of some of the war’s most notorious massacres of Ukrainian civilians in April 2022 – killed at least 38 civilians, including most of the inhabitants of an old people’s home. Russia has also targeted food warehouses, hypermarkets, postal terminals, warehouses storing books and other businesses around the capital. “Russia aims to make Kyiv a dead city,” says Sergej Sumlenny, a Ukrainian soldier and activist.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian claims that they are turning the tide of the war in their favour with deep strikes on refineries and logistics warehouses deep inside Russia are being hollowed out by Russia’s massively larger campaigns of retaliation and revenge.
Ukrainian long-range drones burned an estimated 20 per cent of Wildberries – Russia’s equivalent of Amazon – to the ground. But according to Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s minister of agrarian policy and food, Russian counter-strikes have eliminated some 90 per cent of Ukraine’s modern warehousing stock. This comes after earlier waves of concentrated Russian strikes on Odesa and other ports which have crippled Ukraine’s capacity to export grain and other agricultural goods by sea.
At the same time the Kremlin’s strategy of making Ukrainian cities unliveable seems to have claimed its first terrible success. In August Russian ballistic missiles destroyed the main power station serving the front-line city of Kherson, on the mouth of the Dnipro river. As a result local authorities have warned the remaining residents that they should evacuate large swathes of the city, which can now not be heated in winter.
The cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, both just a few miles from Russian lines, are also getting it in the neck from a barrage of “aerial bombs, Shaheds, first-person-view drones, drones on fibre optic cables, Vampires, GRAD multiple rocket launchers, cluster munitions, artillery, sabotage groups. Everything,” reports Piotr Kaszuwara Dziennikarz, a Polish correspondent.
Since June, Ukraine has been inflicting serious but not fatal damage on the Russian economy using swarms of low-tech drones, plus Flamingo cruise missiles. A Ukrainian-made ballistic missile is due to come soon. Last week Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, delivered blueprints for local production of Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
But Russia’s offensive capacities are rising much faster than Ukraine’s, according to recent Nato reports. Jet engines have been fitted to an air-launched version of the workhorse Geran drone (modelled on the Iranian Shahed) which doubles its range to nearly 620 miles and triples its speed. Realising that mass is more important than accuracy, Russia claims it is ready to produce 10,000 of its new cheap Dan-T missiles next year, which have a similar warhead and range to a Storm Shadow but cost a sixth of the price.
Another cheap and effective new Russian weapon is the air-launched Banderol cru
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
From the Wall Street Journal
The geopolitical mismatch driving Russia to threaten the West
By Yaroslav Trofimov | August 30, 2026
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/the-geopolitical-mismatch-driv
ing-russia-to-threaten-the-west/ar-AA2bfiuE
Russia faces a fundamental asymmetry as it seeks to beat Ukraine into submission with intensifying airstrikes on shopping malls, power stations, ports and other infrastructure. Kyiv can rely on a secure hinterland beyond its borders—its European neighbors—for economic resilience and for military logistics.
The Kremlin, whose refineries, ports and defense industries are also under attack by Ukrainian missiles and drones, has no such backup. Hits to Russia’s militarized economy translate more directly into damage to the country’s ability to keep the war going.
This lopsided geopolitical setup offsets, to a significant degree, Russia’s advantage in firepower. It has also become the key reason driving what Western officials say is a widening Russian campaign of sabotage, hacking and other hybrid operations aimed at intimidating European leaders and voters.
Warning Russia against taking hostilities to North Atlantic Treaty Organization members in Europe was a key message delivered by Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe on his recent trip to Moscow, according to people familiar with the matter.
Russian officials have long described their war as one against the “collective West,” and not just Ukraine. Russian threats have become increasingly strident this summer, including warnings of military strikes against the Baltic states and even the U.K.
Ukraine’s economy and military effort were funded by $105 billion in new European assistance approved this year, money that came on top of vast amounts of aid and arms received from the U.S. and other NATO members since the 2022 full-scale invasion. European officials are already talking about another package of comparable size, perhaps to be funded with frozen Russian assets.
Russia, however, has to pay for its own war at a time when its economy is under pressure from Ukrainian strikes and Western sanctions. Two of Moscow’s closest allies, Iran and North Korea, are broke. China is taking advantage of Russia’s predicament to negotiate lower oil and gas prices, and is facing its own economic headwinds.
Russian leaders believe that they need to reverse this imbalance, fast, said Sergey Lagodinsky, a German member of the European Parliament and a Russian native. “They see that Ukraine can survive and can continue to fight because it has access to outside resources and outside solidarity, and that is what they want to cut or damage,” he said.
Much of Russia, up to the middle of Siberia, is now within range of Ukrainian drones, and Ukrainian attacks on energy installations and logistics warehouses occur nightly—as do Russian strikes on Ukraine.
In one illustration of the disparity in consequences, Russia is struggling with a full-blown fuel crisis because Ukrainian drones have disabled more than one-third of the nation’s refining capacity. By contrast, gas stations are functioning normally in Ukraine because of fuel imports from Europe—even though Ukraine’s own refineries were heavily bombed as far back as 2022.
Ukraine’s military uses logistics hubs in countries like Poland, Germany and Romania, while Ukrainian defense companies have established production lines across Europe, including a plant making ballistic-missile fuel that is under construction in Denmark.
With the exception of Belarus and North Korea, none of Russia’s neighbors, including its formal defense allies in Central Asia, are openly helping its war effort. Even Belarus is careful these days not to provoke more sanctions from the West or a military response from Ukraine.
Seen from the Kremlin, the situation is intolerable: NATO countries are inflicting strategic blows on Russia’s economy and military capacity, including its space program, ballistic-missile industry and strategic bomber fleet, with Ukrainian hands—and without
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME