300 miles is not a short journey from the border. Most have poor defensives set in place for Russia and Belarus troops to get that far.
This is starting to look really bad, really fast for Russia.
This will only harm the Russian Chinese relationship
China are extremely adept at playing the long game. They do not want some lunatic dictator dragging them into a war that they have nothing to gain from and have not prepared for.
China would hang Russia out to dry in an instant if they felt it was in their interests to do so.
In WW2 China focused almost entirely on defending their interests in Asia against the Japanese. They won't get involved in a European war unless somehow the war escalates and spreads into their zone of influence.
Absolutely. Felt a chill down my spine as I was reading it. Very proud too and hope we can do more to help Ukraine now financially and in a humanitarian sense
Ultimately it doesn't really matter wether we think they should fight on or not. It will be up to the people of Ukraine who will decide this.
If enough people continue the fight even past a conventional war into more of a guerrilla type warfare it may make Russia pull back somewhat from their initial objectives.
Maybe they wont end up as much of a pupet state like Belarus is at the moment?
Or maybe the people will have had enough of the bloodshed and decide to accept some form of Russian control again, maybe life goes back to the way it was before 2014, although its hard to imagine that happening.
But in those 2 day's they have lost a large amount of armour ,men and aircraft , were talking about Afghanistan types loses , If the figure is correct of them losing a thousand soldiers not including prisoners , they have already lost half the soldiers America did fighting in Afghanistan every single day for 20 years,add the figures over the last 8 years in eastern Ukraine thats 8-10 thousand.
How many militaries would be happy with those levels of loses
Looks like Zelenskiy was right, they are trying for Kiev tonight. Gunfire in the city
i am surprised with Brazil. Bolsonaro was in Moscow a few days ago. I thought that was a show of support.
UAE can get the f**k. Shite place that offers nothing to nobody.
I don't see how Russia can keep Ukraine under their thumb long term. 44m people and a massive land mass.
They'll have to keep Russian military there but they already overturned the russian puppet in 2014.
I really fear Zevelnyy will be murdered. I can't imagine how he must feel knowing enemies are coming that want to kill him. Thoughts must run through his head that he will be killed in the next days :(
Neither does Russia truth be told. When you view the world in a transactional way and have a 'heads I win, tails you lose' attitude dealing with everyone, things get lonely really quick.
For all the mistakes they make in the geopolitical world, America built consistent centuries-old alliances in key parts of the world. For instance, they have spent billions (trillions maybe?) of dollars and many thousands of lives backstopping the security of Europe, Japan, South Korea and (controversially) the oil-producing gulf states. These are places that matter, and these countries have grown wealthy under that security. They can act like boneheaded idiots depending who is president, but those relationships are going nowhere. That's one of the reasons that the US can project its power, which isn't just based on military prowess.
Definitely much more resistance than expected. And while NATO do not have boots on the ground, we all know they are giving a lot of useful weaponry to the Ukrainians in different shapes and sizes.
Only curious as to what the massive Turkish cargo plane which landed in South East Poland brought...... Goodies I hope. Maybe a few more suicide drones.
The attack proper has started in Kyiv apparently
thought Russia couldn’t Veto as they are a party to the issue.
They can't under the rules of the UN Charter, but....?
It's a common complaint that the UNSC don't follow their own rules.
This will be the worst night yet unfortunately.
There is something intrinsically wrong that someone that invades another country can engage in a veto on the un security council
Twice ....
Day 2 of an invasion that was fake news ,😭
Zelensky is a f***ing hero.
A real leader.
Not like that scumbag Putin, hiding behind everyone else; a sick and weak man.
His mother Russia project is dying before his very eyes.
And like every other Russian leader before him; Putin is an ugly, anemic-looking, wasted, f***face.
You think that's bad.
When Putin was making his unhinged address on Wednesday night announcing the beginning - at that exact same time - Russia were chairing the Security Council Meeting who knew nothing about it until after the meeting had started
Insult to injury
I wonder what is going on in the background to get Putin away from the levers of power. The contrast between zelensky of Ukraine keeping his people in the fight and looking forward and not defeated, and the demented, ridiculous Putin afraid of covid and looking back to zarist Russia. There will be revolts in Russia over this
No business tipping 50 ltrs into one of them yokes to get you to the nearest pumps.....
Remember when they shot down flight MH17 over ukraine , during the investigation Russia had the word shot down removed from the documentation involved and replaced with accident
Brazil have nothing to gain from Russia. I’d imagine they’d side with America when push would come to shove
Based on what, other than optimism?
I think we're basing these expectations on asymetric warfare, the 'shock and awe' campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. or the Israelis vs Palestine. This is not the case in Ukraine. The Russians do not have air superiority, and they did not have the element of surprise. and their military is not more advanced than their enemy. They have about equivalent military technology.
This means Russia need to be more precise in their movements to encircle their targets, this takes time.
The fact that Ukraine can hold off the initial assault is not an indication that the assault is not going to succeed.
I sincerely hope the Ukrainians can hold, but they are vastly outnumbered and we are shamefully leaving them to their fate
They want to get him tonight
If Ukraine comes out of this war intact, they should be offered fast-track membership to the EU. They'll have earned it with their own blood - and it would reinvigorate the European project. They are laying it all on the line for freedoms we take for granted.
Glory to Ukraine.
Can they only run on diesel?
The fog of war, a confusing state of affairs. Militaries on both sides can lie about people killed and equipment lost. Russia is using soviet tech, there not using the best stuff here. Its obsolete equipment Nato forces would simply destroy.. The fact is here though Russian forces outside Kyiv, that's all that matters is its center of power. If that topples command and control is disturbed?. If the elite generals are in the city making vital decisions they could all be rounded up by the weekend.,
Zelenskyy played the calm card beforehand and maybe was hoping intelligence was wrong but he'll be paying attention now, as will his generals. They'll have 100x the intel that they would have had 10 years ago.
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