Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Russia have moved their ships in the Black Sea in preparation for more missile attacks on Kyiv.

Utter scumbags.

And to kill not just 100'000 people, but to kill 5 or even 10 million would not bother the top brass either.

'Putin is a moderate'. That's quite the statement to make about the man who is the undisputed apex of the Russian power vertical and has total control over every initiative, home and abroad.

Maybe if you added the words 'compared to Stalin or Hitler'.....

They do it because whatever will happen down the road, for now they have to follow the Dear Leaders orders and be seen to be the best at it. Kadyrov is playing a different game, I think. Without Putin's support, his hold on Chechnya is tenuous, and there are plenty of Chechens who would like to see him gone. Speaking of Chechnya, in Grozny recently thousands turned up to watch the execution of two rapists. They were shot by members of the women's family. The Clan system is alive and well in the Caucasus generally, but especially in Chechnya, a fact that Putin's conscript recruiters would do well to remember.

Quite a few rumours that the Belarussian foreign minister was killed on the Kremlin's orders (there's talk he may have been reaching out to the West) and that Lukashenko now fears for his own safety.

Another persistent rumour doing the rounds is that Putin may be planning to annex Belarus. Stage some pseudo-Anschluss stunt where Belarus 'asks' if it can become part of greater Russia.

If the plan is genuinely for an 'Anschluss' of some description. then Lukashenko could be in big trouble (as Putin wouldn't even need him any longer). I doubt he would be okay with his foreign minister being murdered by the Kremlin and is probably freaked right now.

I can't think of any faster and more efficient way for Ukraine to destroy their Western support, it would be stupidity on a grand scale.

Ukraine is (as much anyone can in the fog of war) largely adhering to the Geneva Conventions and the rule of war. Russia is very demonstrably not. Part of the T&Cs of continuing Western support is that this situation continues. Any barbarism along the lines you are suggesting would likely gravely weaken Ukraine's strategic position. As we have seen throughout this conflict, Ukraine has been very smart in how it fights this war.

Saw an interesting one on RTEs Eurovision widget on their website few days ago ago (where they collect a selection of translations of articles & videos from different state media around Europe).

In other words in his judgement Putin/Russian regime have no intentions of giving up on the goal(s), or agreeing this "peace" some people dream of if only Ukraine/Zelensky "sees sense" etc.

As they are contained (which has been NATO approach so far), they adjust and try a new tactic while they can. Really the only way out of this (IMO) is for NATO to (edit: help Ukraine) to raise cost of war till it becomes intolerable.

Give Ukraine all the conventional weapons it needs with few limits to wreck the Russian military even more severely, in Ukraine, in the Black Sea, maybe even into Belarus/Russian airspace. Would change Russia's calcuations quite a bit if they could reach out over the border and down even just a handful of the old bombers firing missiles or sink a Russian ship or 2 further out in the Black sea (if there's some NATO weapon Ukraine could be provided to do this - no military/weapons expert me?). Turn the screw on Russia a couple more turns.

But Im sure it wont come as a big surprise to you either when you hear that the US will spend $142 billion over the 2021–2030 period to maintain their Nuclear arsenal - So just imaging what they've spent on their upkeep since the 70s

I would not say Putin is a moderate at all myself. the question is very much about Russia and not really who takes over after him. Putin's time in charge has done so much damage that it's almost impossible to predict what comes next. the real issue is if Russia falls apart which is a possibility, what becomes of its stockpile of WMD's? Putin mark 2 or a more west-leaning President who would have a hard time keeping the doors locked in certain WMD bunkers. Putin's legacy is Russia now has something like 100 very very rich old guys with no moral compass. Wagner, I would take an educated guess is not the only private army operating in Russia. The great irony in all this is... the international community may well have to consider going into Russia in the event of a total breakdown in law and order to stop WMDs from falling into the hands of every mad mullar and his dog. All this is on account of Putin's crazy notions of his own greatness.

Putin's gift to the world is he is halfway to creating 100 Osama Bin Ladens. That's what is worrying a lot of us.

Wagnerites making gains south of bakhmut

Who could have seen this coming...

And in an hour they are all dead ,and bakhmut is still under the full control of Ukrainian forces.

No victories today comrades

Well those tweets confirming russian gains were posted this morning - no news on a counter attack yet.

Also even liveuamap have updated the frontline to show the russian gain south of bakhmut - and they have a very pro-ua slant so its clearly not looking good there.

Just because you dont like something, doesnt make it not true