They said they weren't invading.
Basically anything they say they'll do they won't. And anything they say they won't do they will. It's the only way to rationalize their utterances.
There are a number of people on this thread and elsewhere who just cannot admit that Russia are making any progress in any area of Ukraine.
Plenty of independent and pro-Western organisations and analysts admit that Russia is making some progress in some areas of Ukraine and has made some positive adaptations after their initial failures.
Here is one example with some key quotes over the past few days from https://www.understandingwar.org/:
Russian forces have adopted a sounder pattern of operational movement in eastern Ukraine, at least along the line from Izyum to Rubizhne. Russian troops are pushing down multiple roughly parallel roads within supporting distance of one another, allowing them to bring more combat power to bear than their previous practice had supported.
Russian forces made minor but steady advances both from Izyum and in continued assaults along the line of contact in eastern Ukraine on April 27.
I mean Russia has focused tens of thousands of troops and thousands of pieces of equipment around Izyum so it's hardly all that surprising they're making some gains there; but apparently even mentioning this fact on this thread is enough to warrant repeated claims of being a Putin supporter or bot or whatever.
Good on Australia; but do you really have to use every post about military aid to whine about Ireland's lack of weapons supplies to Ukraine?
"Punching above their weight": their yearly defence budget is some 50 times greater than Ireland's Defence Forces. And they actually have 155mm artillery which Ireland does not.
Looks like further Russian advances last night in the Izyum area. Looks to be slow but steady progress. The big question is just how much damage the Russians are taking. They are assaulting prepared and well defended territory. Both sides are taking a lot of punishment I'd say.
Yes buts theres also plenty of suggestions that many of the advances are due to Ukrainian tactical retreats. There are plenty of areas its not advantageous to engage in battle as the losses you incur aren't worth it but 20km further down the road might be ideal ambush territory, so you give them their victory and as they get further into the territory the supply chains become weaker and the geographical situation is more beneficial to you. No doubt they are gaining territory but its a week now with no real advance and the NATO weapons are only just starting to arrive. This could go in reverse for the Russians at a rate of knots in the near future.
I had read that they want to sell these rounds and not just send them for free; in which case I don't see why it wouldn't. The US is fronting a lot of money for Ukraine to buy ammunition so maybe they'll add this batch to the list.
To be fair, I'd have my doubts about the Satan missile if they're pronouncements about previous weapons are anything to go by. It would probably circle the planet before landing in Moscow. Exploding in a shower of purple bubble bath.
We are far better off and of more use doing what we are doing rather than sending a a pittence worth of weapons and trying to "save the world" in our attempt to make ourselves feel better
Yes helping taking refugees is critical and Irelands efforts are acknowledged. But you are saying lets do one but not the other.
Why cant we do both?
If we dont have any weapons, why cant we fund purchase of such for Ukraine?
Im sure Daly & Wallace could answer that!
Zelensky's messaging is unambigious.
They need weapons to defeat the invaders. Otherwise we are going to be housing a lot more Ukrainians for a lot longer.
Newly erected in St. Petersburg, made from the first letters of company logos who have left Russia.
Translates to 'We will replace.'
Because one would take away from the other, why sacrafice funding that could be used to help refugees to send a meager few weapons? I mean the rest of the world is pumping in the weapons and money as is?
Our role and most effective role is humanitarian, could we help out with military aid? Probably to some extent should we focus on that over other help? No.
I don't think any military aid we could muster would be significant enough to "defeat the invaders"
Yep it's very hard to know for sure whether Ukraine are genuinely being forced from areas or if they're just engaging in delaying actions. Which doesn't change the fact that Russia are making some territorial gains.
Also the area south of Izyum is a problem for Ukraine because Russia is very close to taking key rail lines which are reportedly used to supply Ukrainian troops to the east and south of Izyum; so it's much less likely Ukraine are just letting Russia advance in that direction.
We also don't know what Ukraine's longer term strategy might be: for example whether they want to force Russia to have to assault every single large suburban/urban area or if they're going to intentionally shift the front lines on their own terms.
Because one would take away from the other, why sacrafice funding that could be used to help refugees to send a meager few weapons?
Govt can fund it like it does everythine else by borrowing.
There is already talk that the Finance Minister is considering using the €3bn remaining in a Covid contingency fund housing refugess.
Why cant we borrow another billion and fund weapons? You could get a few bang bangs for that!
Simple.
The current state of play looks like this war will drag on for a long time, leaving more and more people dead and displaced. There is a lot being asked whether the west will continue to be able to supply Ukraine over a long term conflict, and the what the cost would be in weapons and economic terms.
The west could end this war in a week if it really wanted to. Crush the russian army where it sits, and leave no doubt as to where Russia's place in the world really is.
If the FT are right then looks like I guessed wrong about the companies potentially paying in roubles, Hungary aside, the companies are allegedly Slovakian, Austrian and a German company. It's all a little bizarre as it contradicts their government stance - unless they are opening these accounts for technical/contingency reasons.
The EU head and the Germans have said they will not pay in roubles, I have no idea how a company makes a unilateral decision to breach that (and possibly breach sanctions). I suspect we aren't getting the full picture here.
Post war strategy; denuke and we'll buy your gas.
The weather is not helping the Ukrainians, no rain forecast for the next 10 days at least
More occupation measures from the "liberators"
I can't imagine a more marked man
Vlad won’t want his thieves paradise turned into a nuclear wasteland. His motivations are more venal and avaricious than than the ideologically driven Soviet Union. Unless NATO are at the gates of Moscow he won’t press the red button. I’d be more fearful of oppressed Russian people somehow precipitating a nuclear conflict in desperation . They are the ones who really have nothing to lose.
Again I'm pretty sure the mechanism being used is that payments are being made in dollars and euros as per existing contracts; but there is additional processing on the bank's side which results in those funds being converted to rubles. In other words neither the contracts nor sanctions are technically being breached.
Here's a decent article from a think-tank which does a lot of work on energy and gas supplies:
Ukraine has captured quite a few tanks, but careful not to get carried away. Russia has vastly more artillery and just because it doesn't have air superiority doesn't mean it's not using it's powerful air-force. Ukraine in the East is still in a precarious position, they are having big supply issues of their own, also supply issues down the South, some of their men still don't have helmets or body armor. Good weather suits Russia right now and clear skies suits it's air-force.
Tank season in the Steppe usually runs from May all the way through to the end of October. The weather is no longer an ally of Ukraine.
"We are far better off and of more use doing what we are doing"
Eh, what exactly are we doing??
Taking in some war refugees. Sending a few helmets and first aid kits. Saying we support (for the moment) Ukraine entering the EU sometime in the future. Sitting on the UN Security Council, a council and organisation that has been shown up to be absolutely useless in stopping this illegal invasion & war.
Net result - minimalist.
FFS stop believing the English myth that Napoleon was some little guy with a chip on his shoulder over his height.
He was 5' 5" or 5' 6" where the typical height of a French man in 19th century was between 5'2" and 5' 6".
Oh and in the French measurement system 5' 6" was 5' 2". (think of how European shoe sizes different to UK/Ireland - same idea)
The reason he looks small in pictures was because his personal guard were always overly tall for the time.
You can't compare the technology of modern armoured vehicles or aircraft with that of those of WW2 era, especially those at the the start of the war.
Hell one of the most successful and fastest aircraft of WW2 (before the German jet), the Mosquito was part built by furniture makes, carpenters in little workshops throughout Britain.
Tanks were very simple back in WW2 in comparison to those of today, weapons control systems, optics, communications systems, engines were less complicated and could be built in half the time of those today.
A kind of Soviet Union if you will
I think the Ukrainian Embassy will assist you in signing up to volunteer your services over there if you want to.
As long as the gas keeps flowing, there seems to be little impetus to do anything regardless of the inhuman horrors being perpetrated by the Russians in Ukraine. See the loophole organised between Scholz and Putin so that the Germans "depositing roubles" in Gazprombank and having them converted to rubles, provides a handy loophole that apparently doesn't break EU sanctions regarding acceding to Russian demands to pay in rubles.
Germany’s Bundestag lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a petition on support for Ukraine, backing the delivery of weapons including heavy arms to the country to help it fend off Russian attacks.
“Alongside the broad economic isolation and decoupling of Russia from international markets, the most important and effective means to stop the Russian invasion is to intensify and speed up the delivery of effective weapons and complex systems including heavy arms,” the petition read.
Reuters reports the petition was backed by the three parties in the ruling coalition as well as the opposition conservatives, passing with 586 votes in favour, 100 against with seven abstentions.
Talking about Russian thievery. Saw this 😅
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wc.vanillicon.com/v2/c635d680d76ce16e490d61f21d7a1353.svg)
