Ukraine 4

[Smokin Joe]

Was that Zelensky, or the people in his office?

If you support someone why charge $100,000?

Or do Agents for actors there skim 1/3 off the top routinely?

Because for 100K, it's just another acting gig.

[berdie]

Was that Zelensky, or the people in his office?

If you support someone why charge $100,000?

Or do Agents for actors there skim 1/3 off the top routinely?

Because for 100K, it's just another acting gig.

That's what it sounds like to me.

[Hoodat]

Danny Trejo refused a visit to Ukraine because the Office of the President wanted a “kickback".

Daaaaaaammn.  Ukraine could use him.

[mountaineer]

Was that Zelensky, or the people in his office?

Sounds like VZ's underling is the one profiting. No indication the president is involved, to my knowledge.

[Smokin Joe]

Sounds like VZ's underling is the one profiting. No indication the president is involved, to my knowledge.

That's my take, too.

[Elderberry]

Russian army destroys millions of documents on Nazi crimes in Ukrainian state archives

The Insider 11/30/2023

https://theins.ru/en/news/267241

The Russian army has destroyed or stolen millions of historical documents from the Nazi occupation and post-World War II period in Ukraine's state archives, according to a report by the Arolsen Archives, an internationally run centre for the documentation and research of Nazi persecution. The findings were reported on by independent investigative outlet Important Stories.

The documents related to the period of Nazi occupation of Ukraine (1941-1944), and concerned the theft of Ukrainian cultural assets, Holocaust crimes, the forced expulsion and deportation of “Eastern workers” (Ostarbeiter) and the management of the German army (the Wehrmacht). Documents relating to the actions of the Soviet authorities in Ukraine in the post-war period were also destroyed.

Interviews with dozens of employees of Ukrainian state archives revealed that at least five archives in the country have been affected so far — in Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Velyka Oleksandrivka and Vysokopillia in the Kherson region. The latter is booby-trapped and impossible to enter. Half of the Kherson State Archives have been looted. Many of the remaining documents in these archives will also soon be destroyed by damp and mould.

[kevindavis007]

https://twitter.com/MeaganABrown/status/1730833694745575666

[sneakypete]

Russian army destroys millions of documents on Nazi crimes in Ukrainian state archives

 

Documents relating to the actions of the Soviet authorities in Ukraine in the post-war period were also destroyed.

@Elderberry

THERE's a shock!

Let us not forget that the Soviets and the Nazi's were bestest "butt-bunny allies" right up until  the day that Hitler invaded Russia.

Call me cynical if you want,but I STRONGLY suspect the current neo-Soviet leadership  seriously wants to get THOSE documents in their possession so they can destroy  them.

There is NOTHING that communists love more than "re-creating history".

[Hoodat]

[Hoodat]

Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut and Andriivka

[Timber Rattler]

Ukraine's Security Service Alleges Russian Plot Involving Ex-President

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-12-02/ukraines-security-service-alleges-russian-plot-involving-ex-president

Ukraine's security service said on Saturday it had prevented former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on grounds that Russia planned to exploit a planned meeting with Hungary's prime minister to hurt Ukrainian interests.

Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, said the former president had scheduled only meetings in Poland and the United States and warned the SBU security service against becoming involved in politics.

Poroshenko was turned away at a border post on Friday.

The SBU said he had planned to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who maintains ties with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and opposes opening talks on European Union membership with Ukraine.

An SBU statement said Russia was preparing a series of "provocations" to discredit Ukraine among its foreign allies as the war against Russia stretches beyond 21 months.

It provided no evidence to support the allegations.

Of the possible meeting with Orban, the SBU said: "Russia planned to use this meeting (like other 'working meetings with ... representative of countries voicing pro-Russian narratives) in psychological operations against Ukraine."

EXCERPT

Something strange going on with Poroshenko...he used to be very hostile to Russia and was the one who ordered the Ukrainian "anti-terrorist" campaign against the Separatists in Donbas in the summer of 2014.  Zelensky crushed him in the 2019 election though, which pleased the Russians at the time.

Russian officials welcome comedian's win in Ukraine

https://abcnews.go.com/International/russian-officials-comedians-win-ukraine/story?id=62552468

[mystery-ak]

White House Warns U.S. Funding for Ukraine to Run Dry by End of the Year

Simon Kent 4 Dec 2023

The White House warned Monday that U.S. funds for Ukraine will run dry by the end of the year, bluntly declaring a failure by Congress to approve new support would “kneecap” Kyiv and hinder efforts to deliver more lethal aid from U.S. reserves.

The Financial Times reports the alert comes from Shalanda Young, the White House budget director. She set out her worries in a letter to congressional leaders in the most direct assessment yet of Washington’s waning financial and military support for Ukraine.

The White House is seeking $61 billion more for Ukraine aid in the latest tranche even as bipartisan support fades.

The proposal is part of a $106 billion supplemental package Biden sent lawmakers in October for additional funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Pacific and the U.S.-Mexico border.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/04/white-house-warns-u-s-funding-for-ukraine-to-run-dry-by-end-of-the-year/

[Timber Rattler]

Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/04/ukraine-counteroffensive-us-planning-russia-war/?fbclid=IwAR0Mj5YhF4Q55P_d6hg0VnWBPzTE7Z5v7YuiPrHCM1RD-r4p3_lTTVReZyA

On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, flanked by top U.S. commanders, sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv. The room was heavy with an air of frustration.

Austin, in his deliberate baritone, asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault, or using smoke to conceal their advances. Despite Russia’s thick defensive lines, Austin said, the Kremlin’s troops weren’t invincible.

Reznikov, a bald, bespectacled lawyer, said Ukraine’s military commanders were the ones making those decisions. But he noted that Ukraine’s armored vehicles were being destroyed by Russian helicopters, drones and artillery with every attempt to advance. Without air support, he said, the only option was to use artillery to shell Russian lines, dismount from the targeted vehicles and proceed on foot.

“We can’t maneuver because of the land-mine density and tank ambushes,” Reznikov said, according to an official who was present.

Key elements that shaped the counteroffensive and the initial outcome include:

● Ukrainian, U.S. and British military officers held eight major tabletop war games to build a campaign plan. But Washington miscalculated the extent to which Ukraine’s forces could be transformed into a Western-style fighting force in a short period — especially without giving Kyiv air power integral to modern militaries.

● U.S. and Ukrainian officials sharply disagreed at times over strategy, tactics and timing. The Pentagon wanted the assault to begin in mid-April to prevent Russia from continuing to strengthen its lines. The Ukrainians hesitated, insisting they weren’t ready without additional weapons and training.

● U.S. military officials were confident that a mechanized frontal attack on Russian lines was feasible with the troops and weapons that Ukraine had. The simulations concluded that Kyiv’s forces, in the best case, could reach the Sea of Azov and cut off Russian troops in the south in 60 to 90 days.

● The United States advocated a focused assault along that southern axis, but Ukraine’s leadership believed its forces had to attack at three distinct points along the 600-mile front, southward toward both Melitopol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov and east toward the embattled city of Bakhmut.

● The U.S. intelligence community had a more downbeat view than the U.S. military, assessing that the offensive had only a 50-50 chance of success given the stout, multilayered defenses Russia had built up over the winter and spring.

● Many in Ukraine and the West underestimated Russia’s ability to rebound from battlefield disasters and exploit its perennial strengths: manpower, mines and a willingness to sacrifice lives on a scale that few other countries can countenance.

● As the expected launch of the offensive approached, Ukrainian military officials feared they would suffer catastrophic losses — while American officials believed the toll would ultimately be higher without a decisive assault.

EXCERPT

[libertybele]

Enough is enough.  Ukraine has been given plenty -- I get that funds have been siphoned off (probably on both sides) -- Ukraine needs to stand on their own.  The U.S. and others have been pouring money to try to help them win against Putin.  Rumor has it that munitions and $$ made it into the hands of Hamas who used it to brutally and savagely attack Israel.

Big risk Ukraine loses war without US weapons - Zelensky aide

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff has warned that his nation is in danger of losing its war against Russia if more US military aid is not forthcoming.

Andriy Yermak said there was a "big risk" of Ukrainian defeat without continued US support.

"It will be difficult to keep in [the] same positions and for the people to really survive," he added, in a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Mr Yermak's dire assessment was given just hours before Mr Zelensky pulled out of a scheduled video conference with US senators to brief them on the war effort. Majority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer said the Ukrainian leader was occupied with a "last-minute" matter, without providing further detail.

It also comes on the heels of a renewed push by the White House on Monday for additional support for Ukraine. The US Congress, however, is still not close to a deal on a compromise spending package that would help fund the war effort.

"We are out of money - and nearly out of time," wrote Shalanda Young, the White House budget director, in a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders published on Monday.

She warned that a failure by Congress to approve more military aid to Ukraine before the end of the year would "kneecap" the nation in its fight against Russia and that there was no "magic pot of funding" left to draw from.

On Monday, however, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, seemed dismissive of the latest pleas to provide tens of billions of dollars more in funding.

"The Biden Administration has failed to substantively address any of my conference's legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers," he wrote on social media..................

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67585902

[sneakypete]

White House Warns U.S. Funding for Ukraine to Run Dry by End of the Year

Simon Kent 4 Dec 2023

The White House warned Monday that U.S. funds for Ukraine will run dry by the end of the year, bluntly declaring a failure by Congress to approve new support would “kneecap” Kyiv and hinder efforts to deliver more lethal aid from U.S. reserves.

The Financial Times reports the alert comes from Shalanda Young, the White House budget director. She set out her worries in a letter to congressional leaders in the most direct assessment yet of Washington’s waning financial and military support for Ukraine.

The White House is seeking $61 billion more for Ukraine aid in the latest tranche even as bipartisan support fades.

The proposal is part of a $106 billion supplemental package Biden sent lawmakers in October for additional funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Pacific and the U.S.-Mexico border.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/04/white-house-warns-u-s-funding-for-ukraine-to-run-dry-by-end-of-the-year/

@mystery-ak

Slow Joe and Company have already blown though all the money they stole from Ukraine funding?

[sneakypete]

Enough is enough.  Ukraine has been given plenty -- I get that funds have been siphoned off (probably on both sides) -- Ukraine needs to stand on their own.  The U.S. and others have been pouring money to try to help them win against Putin.  Rumor has it that munitions and $$ made it into the hands of Hamas who used it to brutally and savagely attack Israel.

@libertybele

So Jewish lives are important,and to hell with Christian lives?

That IS the message you are sending out,and if that is NOT what you mean,you need to clear this up.

[Hoodat]

The U.S. and others have been pouring money to try to help them win against Putin.

Other nations have been providing weapons to help them win.  The US has been pouring in money to the rest of Europe while denying Ukraine what is needed to win.  The official US policy is to drag this war out.

[libertybele]

@libertybele

So Jewish lives are important,and to hell with Christian lives?

That IS the message you are sending out,and if that is NOT what you mean,you need to clear this up.

No @sneakypete that is NOT what I stated; that is your purely your ridiculous assumption.  I definitely did not state or imply; "to hell with Christian lives" - your words not mine.

Hopefully as you ordered, I have clarified things.

[libertybele]

Other nations have been providing weapons to help them win.  The US has been pouring in money to the rest of Europe while denying Ukraine what is needed to win.  The official US policy is to drag this war out.

Yes, it is becoming obvious that the US is going to drag this out as long as they can; evil Joe and others are pocketing some serious change.

[kevindavis007]

Yes, it is becoming obvious that the US is going to drag this out as long as they can; evil Joe and others are pocketing some serious change.

@libertybele


Do you have proof or are you spouting the Pro-Putin crap that is usually spouted by the MAGA minions? Also for someone who claims not to be a MAGA minion, you sure do act like one.

[mystery-ak]

Ukraine is running out of men to fight
December 7, 2023 | Micaela Burrow

Ukrainian military planners are worried about a dwindling supply of fighting men as a failed counteroffensive and rocky Western support forebode months or years more of brutal combat with the larger Russian army, according to experts and reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with top military and defense leaders and experts largely agree the much-vaunted counteroffensive that built up throughout the summer and fall failed to culminate in the strategic achievements that were hoped for. Now, Ukraine is struggling to maintain a supply of soldiers to fight against Russia, which has a population three times that of Ukraine from which to draw troops.

“When you take two grindstones, and one is significantly larger than the other, even if they wear each other down to the same size, the larger one is going to win,” George Barros, an analyst for the Institute for the Study of War, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Moscow will be able to outspend Kyiv in almost every aspect, from military production to being able to sustain higher losses,” of men and equipment, Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan Consulting firm tracking the war, told The Financial Times.

more
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2023/12/07/ukraine-is-running-out-of-men-to-fight-1418007/

[libertybele]

@libertybele


Do you have proof or are you spouting the Pro-Putin crap that is usually spouted by the MAGA minions? Also for someone who claims not to be a MAGA minion, you sure do act like one.

Interesting accusation @kevindavis007   I have posted several articles questioning and suggesting that Z and Brandon are siphoning off money.  How that makes me a MAGA in your books, I don't know and I truly don't care.

I stand by my opinion that I don't believe that we should continue to send BILLIONS to Ukraine -- I have posted as to why several times along with time lines, Glenn Beck's research, some history of Ukraine/Russia war that has been on going for decades, etc.  Also -- it has been 'rumored' that some of the $$ wound up in the hands of Hamas.

It is hard to discern the truth as to what is currently taking place - to refute the validity in either direction with certainty one would have to have first hand experience and obviously I don't and I would assume neither do you.  It then boils down to what you believe in based on what you have read, including research what you believe to be true. MSM isn't going to give the full picture -- so backtracking and doing a little research of the history of Ukraine sheds a little light on what may be the bigger picture.  Just my opinion.

The atrocities committed against Ukraine's people and also Russia's people is horrific and I don't think that is in dispute.

I do agree that we need to close our own border IMMEDIATELY, and stop ALL migration into this country. That should have been done decades ago. The billions that we have spent on Ukraine could have been used to build an almost impenetrable wall, having armed guards along the wall and drones.  Securing our own border should be paramount.

Nothing I haven't posted before.  Like it or not, that is my opinion. If you want to label me as MAGA, go right ahead.

[mountaineer]

How many times do we need to say that not supporting the USA's limitless funding of Ukraine's war is not the same as supporting Putin? It really shouldn't be that difficult, assuming there's any critical thinking involved.

[sneakypete]

How many times do we need to say that not supporting the USA's limitless funding of Ukraine's war is not the same as supporting Putin?

Well,YES,IT IS.

The neo-Soviets see this  as an indication that  the west will help them conquer Ukraine by holding back on weapons,food,and money to pay  the troops as well as make other purchases necessary.

It really shouldn't be that difficult, assuming there's any critical thinking involved.

Oh,the  irony!

@mountaineer

[mountaineer]

Baloney.