Russia-Ukraine War (continuing)

Ok let’s dissect this and before we start, I don’t deny your point or that you’re incorrect.

But if this is a genuine concern that we could hit innocent civilians then you’d wonder why they don’t have (or they do and don’t utilise it) an EMP to knock out whatever is a target?

Surely we can’t be sitting and justifying not taking out legitimate targets for fear of what may be below?
My point overall in my rant (and I’ve had some beers so forgive me) is that it is simply unacceptable that we as a state have absolutely nothing to deter or defend enemy actions regardless of intended outcome.

Ireland just approved the LNG storage off of Clare, what’s going to defend that?
we can’t keep going to Europe as Oliver Twist asking “please sir can we have more?” When it comes to defending us.

We are either sovereign or not. As it stands, ive have absolutely no confidence in the state lasting more than 12 hours if we were to be attacked.

8 Pilates trainers are not going to do a spit to anything it fired against.

I believe we don’t even have armed helicopters? It’s absurdity at its highest

Indeed. In World War 2 De Valera raised a Local Defence Force of 148,000 men. We were practically a Third World country then, but we are now told we can't have a large armed forces when we are one of the richest countries in Europe.

In response to the various security threats posed during World War II, known in Ireland as The Emergency, a new reserve force – the Local Security Force (LSF) – was created on 28 May 1940 as an auxiliary police service. Instituted under a Garda Síochána Act, its activities were to be devoted to auxiliary police and internal security work. Recruiting forms were dispatched to Garda stations on 31 May 1940 and by 16 June of the same year 44,870 members were enrolled.

On 22 June 1940 a decision was taken to divide the force into two groups;

"A" Group – to act as an auxiliary to the Army.

"B" Group – to continue as an auxiliary to the Police Force.

By August 1940 the strength had risen to 148,306 and by October of the same year detailed organisations for each group were issued and District Staffs were formed. By the end of 1940 the Army had more or less completed its expansion to a war-time footing and was then in a position to take over the control of "A" Group from the Gardaí. On 1 January 1941 it was handed over to the Command and control of the Army and was given the new title of "The Local Defence Force"/"LDF" (An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil / FCA).

The "B" Group continued as an auxiliary police force and retained its old name – "The Local Security Force" (LSF). From the military point of view the LDF was the equivalent of many additional battalions to the Defence Forces.

fascinating article about the slow demise of russia's massive rented shadow fleet - hopefully combined with strikes on oil refineries this can reduce russias budget for sustained war

Russia’s shadow fleet begins to collapse as Ukraine expands maritime campaign beyond Black Sea

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/05/frontline-report-2025-12-05/

Well, the Russian MoD is saying they have captured it. The Ukrainian soldiers trapped in Mirnograd are telling journalists the Russians have captured it. And Ukrainian MPs are telling the Rada that Russia has captured it. Maybe they're all lying? Meanwhile the Russians are saying they are already advancing north and west of Pokrovsk.

There is a denial narrative that re-occurs whenever a significant settlement is captured. 1. "They will never be able to take X" 2. "X is not surrounded" 3. "X has not been captured" 4. "X wasn't strategically important anyway". X is every major settlement between Bahkmut and Pokrovsk.

There is a tremendous amount of propaganda presented by the Ukrainian side to try convince its backers - particularly the US - that it is winning, or that it can win. Recently, the narrative was India was going to stop buying Russian energy and that would destroy Russia. Back in August, the narrative was the Russia was running out of petrol and that would destroy Russia. Before that inflation was going to bring down the Russian economy. Before that, Russian banks were all going to collapse under the weight of hidden debt. Before that, the USD-Ruble FX rate was collapsing and the Russian economy would follow it. All this in just the last 12 months. All those narratives promise that victory is possible, if Ukraine can just hold on another few weeks/months and if the US will send just a few more weapons and a lot more money. And then they get quietly packed up when Russia doesn't collapse, and then the next narrative is unrolled and everyone goes with the next story.

I don't blame the Ukrainians. They are at war, they are desperate, and they don't owe anyone a truthful account. But it is propaganda - up there with Ukrainian accounts that a grandfather shot down a jet with his hunting rifle (real story, reprinted by gullible UK papers) or that a ghost was singlehandedly shooting down the entire Russian airforce.

The Belgian prime minister did something very unusual for an EU leader this week - he told the truth to the public when he said Russia is not going to lose the war in Ukraine: "But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It’s a fable, a complete illusion”

The reality is Ukraine is wreaked. Even if the war stopped right now, Ukraine's future is very grim - Reuters has run a story this week highlighting the demographic death spiral Ukraine is in. For every birth, three deaths are recorded. Life expectancy has dropped by 8 years for men since 2022. Millions of young Ukrainian men and women have left the country, and only a fraction will ever return. And the EU has no plan or solution other than more of the same.

When you say evidence, do you mean faked AI generated images like Ukraine's 425th "Skala" regiment posted earlier this week on its social media portraying to show Ukrainian troops raising their flag in the same spot as Russian troops had a day earlier? The fake was so obvious that even the heavily compromised deepstate team came out criticising it as an obvious fake. That sort of evidence?

There are multiple, independent, named sources on both sides of the conflict confirming Pokrovsk is captured. Dont trust me, trust them. Or dont. It makes no difference.

and whats your plan .. hand over all of ukraine to putin and while we're at it the baltics, finland, georgia and perhaps poland to boot .. maybe he will call it quits then

The fortress belt Ukraine built in the remainder of Donbass cost $1bn and has proven its worth against the largest armed forces in Europe. The ISW has estimated it would take Russia 4 years to take it at the current rate of advance.

Beyond it is not much fortification. There is a small Russian advance in Dnipropetrovsk, a region that is an industrial powerhouse and unfortunately for its defenders largely flatland. I believe Putin wants the fortress belt, just like Hitler wanted the Czech fortresses in the Sudetanland, in order to have a free pass to take over the rest of Eastern Ukraine.

Demilitarising the fortress belt, as proposed in the Trump (or should that be Dmitriev) deal would not necessarily mean the people of the region would not be terrorised by the savage paramilitaries like the Rusich group or Wagner.

There are two types of shadow fleet sanctions:

1. European. This involves sternly worded letters.
2. Ukrainian. Boom.

Ukraine is telling its European friends that it has lost patience with the first option.

Russia stole and rigged referendums in 19% of Ukraine, and was blockading and bombing Ukrainian cities 24/7 for nearly 4 years. This doesnt include their illegal support for proxies and fake referendums at gunpoint in 2014-5. They have destroyed countless lives and stole peoples private property to reward Putin and his oligarchs.

Bombing the Chernobyl plant is an act of criminality. Im old enough to remember the fallout reaching the Cooley peninsula after the last Chernobyl disaster. How anyone can support someone who would bomb nuclear plants escapes me. If Russia bombed Sellafield would they support that?

Authoritarian regimes do not have a modern European horror of war. For your average tyrant the killing never stops, a bloodbath on multiple fronts:

1. Suppression of dissent.
2. Power struggles within the regime.
3. War with an external state.

Saddam’s reluctance to admit he didn’t have viable weapons of mass destruction was in part because of his fear that elements within his own country would sense weakness. A small external war can be a blessing in that it unifies the country and, initially at least, suppresses the chance of coups from within the regime. Of course, that’s if things go well. Putin is past such a happy stage in Ukraine, unable to win and fearful of a peace deal that would discredit him with the hardliners.

Imagine using the Russian MOD as your source.

Could you give us those other sources ? You keep repeating it but there's a distinct lack of you know... proof.

Edit: A quick look shows you're full of it. Russia has claimed for almost a week now that they've captured the city and then when you look at it there's still actual fighting going on and Ukraine still maintains a presence above the railroad.

Do you genuinely think nobody will check your claims ?

Reports Germany has brought Israel's Arrow 3 System into service in Germany. It can intercept ballistic missiles in space.

At 20 minutes into this video, 64% of Americans support increasing aid to Ukraine. Under Trump there has been zero aid all year.

This is disgusting. Trump pressuring EU governments to block the loan for Ukraine secured on frozen Russian central bank assets. The EU Commission has said Ukraine will run out of money next Summer without the loan.