Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Yeah and it's straight back to what matters. The battlefield. Trump isn't happy with his gains and without the rest of the Donbass he can't sell a propaganda victory for the Russians. This is the bare minimum he'll want but I suspect he'll want everything east of the Dnipro.

Reuters ran an article a few days back which highlights the reality of the losses Ukraine is suffering, titled "Band of brothers: how the war crushed a cohort of young Ukrainians".

They tracked a few dozen young Ukrainian volunteers who signed up to fight in March 2025. They were given a short training course and then sent directly to the frontline. By November 2025 (8 months later), Reuters could only track down 11 of them - 4 were seriously wounded, 3 are MIA (officially at least), 2 are AWOL, 1 is sick and the 11th killed himself. Of the others on the training course Reuters could find no evidence of their fate. The Ukrainian military refused to co-operate with Reuters on the status of the missing men: there was a line in the article where the wife of one of the survivors said the experience was very tough on her husband because "Almost all his fellow servicemen disappeared", which implies the men Reuters cannot track down are likely dead.

These young men were part of recruitment campaign Ukraine launched in February to encourage young Ukrainians who weren't subject to conscription to volunteer to fight, promising financial benefits and excellent training. It largely failed, only attracting a few hundred volunteers. They were rushed through training and thrown straight into a fight against an enemy with a massive advantage in firepower, tactics, training, numbers and leadership.

Meanwhile Yermak and others in Zelensky's circle continued to profit. It seems the madcap scheme of stealing the Russian funds at Euroclear has been dealt a final blow with the ECB refusing to cover the certain losses Euroclear would face when taken to court. Reports are that funding for Ukraine will dry up at some time in February/March 2026 and Europe is struggling to find any more money - hence the desperate theft scheme. The recent spurt of corruption investigations appears to be an internal Ukrainian struggle to grab control of the remaining money before it finally runs out.

Yermak has said he will go to the front, but this seems to be another cynical trick. Ukrainian law allows for investigations of crime to be suspended (for the duration of the conflict) if the suspect joins the military. So Yermak will find a spot on some military units personnel list, escaping any further investigation, while never actually risking his life.

Even when you think the Russians can't sink to a new low

He should have been asked if he supported Trump, and whether Trump would deserve the Nobel peace prize if his attempt to bring the wrong to an end were successful, and if he would them welcome Trump to Dublin and host him at the Dail

Mind boggling numbers of casualties being inflicted by Ukrainian drones

(Before any russian bots comment….Even assuming the above numbers are out by 50% due to ukranian propaganda,they would be still mind boggling casualties).

Europe spends billions upon billions on foreign aid to 3rd world through various programs and spends billions supporting refugees in Europe. If push comes to shove they'll redirect revenue to keep supporting Ukraine.

As for your post on that ill fated group of Ukrainians. Do you think it goes much better for a fresh batch of Russian recruits? It's a brutal war, what do you expect.

Rubio hinting, very little left of Donbas to fight over. Ukraine can prosper, draw a line. Also make it final, no more war in Ukraine

Two to tango, ''worked out with Ukraine, very satisfied '' I guess Putin is getting seen as the b u ll s h iter agian. All talk, no action.

Simple, firstly he's an idiot then etc.

7000 Russian soldiers aren't being killed a week.

It's 7000 casualties which might be a 1/4 killed.

Russians have no intention of peace.

They've calculated they'll win by attrition in a few years.

The frontline and border is 1000s of kms so they'll break through eventually.

Then it'll get really bloody.

I think it is true that figures from the Ukrainian side published just show what they think casualties in putin's terrorist forces have been without breaking them down into the number confirmed to be killed, but you seem to imply casualty numbers somehow mean three quarters of these victims of putin's disregard for life are just fine to keep on fighting and carrying on with their efforts to murder Ukrainians. Survivors in the casualty figures are likely to be seriously injured and not much help to putin's terrorist forces and repeatedly we have seen disregard for injured amongst putin's forces so that many of these injured do not receive treatment needed to help them recover.

I do not know where the Trump mouthpiece gets his figures from but the casualty figures from Ukraine often are over a thousand in a 24hour period and we do not know if putin's terrorists are loosing additional numbers to brutal disciplinary action within their own ranks or failures to adequately supply isolated units on the front lines. Rubio could be right in what he said about the numbers being killed and also maybe the losses already incurred in putin's forces mean a break in the lines no longer carries as great a risk of a significant breakthrough as militarily putin's terrorists lack the equipment and trained forces to exploit a breakthrough:

Ukraine is in a desperate position financially, the Economist ran a piece on this recently too. This is not Russian propaganda, it's a fact. The frozen assets are desperately needed and should be given to Ukraine, but even they won't cover what it actually needs. Yes Russia is in a bad position financially too, but Ukraine's position is worse and anyone denying it is living in fantasy land

What's being attrited is the Orc economic capacity to wage war. They don't have 26 months in them, let alone the ±260 years it would take them at the current rate of territorial gain.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4065291-russias-losses-in-ukraine-rising-for-three-consecutive-months-uk-intelligence.html