Ukraine 4

[libertybele]

How about Zelenskyy the U.S. owes you nothing and Trump isn't the president.

Zelenskyy ready to take Donald Trump to Ukraine’s front line

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was willing to take U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump, a long-time skeptic of Washington’s support for Kyiv, to the war-battered front lines of Ukraine.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy on Saturday said that he had already welcomed the Republican frontrunner to see first hand the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but that the decision to come rests with Trump.

“I invited him [Trump] publicly, but it depends on his wishes,” he said in response to an audience question, asking whether Zelenskyy would ask Trump to come to Kyiv.

“If Mr. Trump will come, I’m ready to go with him to the front lines,” he added.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Trump has been highly critical of the U.S.’s continued financial and military aid for Ukraine, deeming it a non-American issue and suggesting that he would allow Russia to “take over” parts of Ukraine if he were re-elected in November.............

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/17/zelenskyy-ready-to-take-donald-trump-to-ukraines-front-line.html

[sneakypete]

How about Zelenskyy the U.S. owes you nothing and Trump isn't the president.

Zelenskyy ready to take Donald Trump to Ukraine’s front line

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was willing to take U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump, a long-time skeptic of Washington’s support for Kyiv, to the war-battered front lines of Ukraine.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy on Saturday said that he had already welcomed the Republican frontrunner to see first hand the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but that the decision to come rests with Trump.

“I invited him [Trump] publicly, but it depends on his wishes,” he said in response to an audience question, asking whether Zelenskyy would ask Trump to come to Kyiv.

“If Mr. Trump will come, I’m ready to go with him to the front lines,” he added.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Trump has been highly critical of the U.S.’s continued financial and military aid for Ukraine, deeming it a non-American issue and suggesting that he would allow Russia to “take over” parts of Ukraine if he were re-elected in November.............

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/17/zelenskyy-ready-to-take-donald-trump-to-ukraines-front-line.html

@libertybele

And he has never been more wrong about anything in his entire life.

Then again,this is the sort of thing you have to expect when a Presidential candidate has never served in the military and personally seen what happens when governments ignore aggression by other governments.

[PeteS in CA]

Putin is giving modern meaning to "Pyrrhic Victory". Avdiivka has little or no strategic value, and Putin expended months, rivers of blood, and hundreds of armored vehicles, but Putin "won" it.

[sneakypete]

Putin is giving modern meaning to "Pyrrhic Victory". Avdiivka has little or no strategic value, and Putin expended months, rivers of blood, and hundreds of armored vehicles, but Putin "won" it.

@PeteS in CA

Yes,but the good news for him is he is a dictator,and doesn't have to answer for anything he says or does.

[Hoodat]

Russia in flames as huge explosion engulfs Kalashnikov-owned drone factory

Richard Ashmore  •  6h



An apocalyptic explosion ripped through a building in Russia overnight obliterating a factory thought to have been manufacturing drones and guns for Putin's bloodthirsty war against Ukraine.

Smoke illuminated by the red and orange of an inferno engulfed the skyline of the city of Izhevsk on February 17 as firefighters desperately tried to combat the mammoth blaze.

It's reported the factory, owned by a member of the Kalashnikov firearms dynasty, was manufacturing weapons including Granat-4 drones, which are used for surveillance and to assist artillery fire.

It's not known if the cause of the fire at the facility was deliberate, but any loss of production is likely to hamper Putin's efforts to push forward any advantage from unseasonably warm weather on the battlefield  .  .  .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-in-flames-as-huge-explosion-engulfs-kalashnikov-owned-drone-factory/ar-BB1iqQbH

[Hoodat]

Russia Loses Two Su-34 Fighter Bombers and an Su-35 Jet in a Day: Ukraine

Aliss Higham  •  Feb 17, 2024 at 10:04 AM EST

Ukrainian officials have said that three Russian aircraft have been destroyed in the last 24 hours, but Newsweek has yet to verify this.

The Air Force Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a post on Facebook this morning that it had destroyed two Russian Su-34 fighter bombers and an Su-35 jet on the morning of February 17. The location where they were destroyed is not revealed in the post, nor the method of their destruction. Newsweek has contacted the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more details via email.

Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk also announced the news on Telegram, writing: "On the morning of February 17, 2024, in the eastern sector, units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed three enemy aircraft at once - two Su-34 fighter-bombers and one Su-35 fighter. Nothing will stop us! Thank you, warriors!"

Moscow has not confirmed or denied the losses.  .  .  .

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-su-34-bombers-su-35-shot-down-ukraine-1870910

[PeteS in CA]

Russia Loses Two Su-34 Fighter Bombers and an Su-35 Jet in a Day: Ukraine

Aliss Higham  •  Feb 17, 2024 at 10:04 AM EST

Ukrainian officials have said that three Russian aircraft have been destroyed in the last 24 hours, but Newsweek has yet to verify this.

The Air Force Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a post on Facebook this morning that it had destroyed two Russian Su-34 fighter bombers and an Su-35 jet on the morning of February 17. The location where they were destroyed is not revealed in the post, nor the method of their destruction. Newsweek has contacted the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more details via email.
...

Some partial confirmation and location info,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLLfE_60_o0 .

[sneakypete]

Russia in flames as huge explosion engulfs Kalashnikov-owned drone factory

Richard Ashmore  •  6h



An apocalyptic explosion ripped through a building in Russia overnight obliterating a factory thought to have been manufacturing drones and guns for Putin's bloodthirsty war against Ukraine.

Smoke illuminated by the red and orange of an inferno engulfed the skyline of the city of Izhevsk on February 17 as firefighters desperately tried to combat the mammoth blaze.

It's reported the factory, owned by a member of the Kalashnikov firearms dynasty, was manufacturing weapons including Granat-4 drones, which are used for surveillance and to assist artillery fire.

It's not known if the cause of the fire at the facility was deliberate, but any loss of production is likely to hamper Putin's efforts to push forward any advantage from unseasonably warm weather on the battlefield  .  .  .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-in-flames-as-huge-explosion-engulfs-kalashnikov-owned-drone-factory/ar-BB1iqQbH

@Hoodat

This isn't the first incident well inside the borders of Russia that I have read of that is  about resistance to the invasion of and war in Ukraine.

Things like this are just too "big to hide",but it does cause me to wonder about how many "little" Anti-Soviet actions are now taking place every day.

Yeah,Putin IS a "maximum leader",but even maximum leaders tend to  get nervous when they see things getting "out of control".

The upper-level brass in the Red Army can see this too,and it is they and their soldiers who are doing most of the bleeding and the dying.

Even a police state like Russia can't survive long if this keeps happening before "The natives start getting restless".

[sneakypete]

Some partial confirmation and location info,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLLfE_60_o0 .

@PeteS in CA

I sure don't  envy  the senior Soviet Air Force  General that will end up having  to "juggle" THAT hot potato.

[libertybele]

Ukraine withdraws from Avdiivka, Putin hails 'important victory'

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the capture of Avdiivka "an important victory" after Ukraine's military chief said on Saturday that his troops withdrew from the devastated town in the east of the country after months of intense combat.
Although the Russian defence ministry said that Ukrainian units were still entrenched at the town's coke plant, the advance on Avdiivka was Moscow's biggest advance since it took the city of Bakhmut last May.
It came days before the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine and amidst Ukraine's acute shortages of ammunition with fresh U.S. military aid delayed for months in Congress.
It is also the clearest sign yet of how the tide of the war has turned in Moscow's favour after a Ukrainian counteroffensive failed to break through Russian lines last year.
"The head of state congratulated Russian soldiers on this success, an important victory," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
U.S. President Joe Biden warned this week that Avdiivka could fall to Russian forces because of ammunition shortages following months of Republican congressional opposition to a new U.S. military aid package for Kyiv.
A White House statement on Saturday said Biden called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday to underscore the U.S. commitment to continue supporting Ukraine and reiterated the need for Congress to urgently pass the package to resupply Ukrainian forces.................

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-troops-withdraw-avdiivka-ammunition-shortage-bites-2024-02-17/

[PeteS in CA]

If Raand Paul really wants to know where US aid to Ukraine is going, maybe he should spend a little time on Suchmimus' GoogTube channel:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRlottU4N8o

An update:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jde8RKPEIY

[Hoodat]

Sweet.  Why do they have only two of these Patriot batteries?  For all the tens of billions that Biden spent in the name of Ukraine, you would think they would have been given more air defense batteries.  What did Biden do with all that money?

[PeteS in CA]

Ukraine withdraws from Avdiivka, Putin hails 'important victory'

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the capture of Avdiivka "an important victory" after Ukraine's military chief said on Saturday that his troops withdrew from the devastated town in the east of the country after months of intense combat.
Although the Russian defence ministry said that Ukrainian units were still entrenched at the town's coke plant, the advance on Avdiivka was Moscow's biggest advance since it took the city of Bakhmut last May.
It came days before the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine and amidst Ukraine's acute shortages of ammunition with fresh U.S. military aid delayed for months in Congress.
...

Some perspective on the Russian "victory" in Avdiivka:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AJcVgjW9eg

[Timber Rattler]

Some perspective on the Russian "victory" in Avdiivka:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AJcVgjW9eg

It was just another Bakhmut-style meat grinder, with the Russians winning another Pyrrhic victory.  The Ukrainians had to withdraw because they ran out of ammunition to shoot back with.  Thanks Republicans! (spit!)

[libertybele]

So, how is it that NATA and the EU have give Ukraine $35 billion and the US has chipped in $75 billion as of November of last year and they don't have $$ for ammo??  Something isn't right.

I still strongly contend that we need to secure our borders first BEFORE we give another penny to secure Ukraine's.  There is no good valid reason as to why we let our border remain open yet are protecting theirs. None.  If the US goes because of attacks from ILLEGALS from within, we won't have to worry about sending Ukraine another penny. We go and so do they.

[libertybele]

This is our war?

No. It. Is. Not. Our. War!!

[Hoodat]

It's our war.  We sold out Ukraine in 2014.  If they had been ushered into the EU back then and given a NATO invite, we wouldn't be in this situation.  But the Obama regime was more interested in profiting off of Ukrainian corruption instead of siding with those working to do away with it.

[Timber Rattler]

This is our war?

It absolutely is our war, like it or not.  Putin has bigger plans than simply stopping at Ukraine.

Putin approves new foreign policy doctrine based on 'Russian World'

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-approves-new-foreign-policy-doctrine-based-russian-world-2022-09-05/

Putin is trying to track down overseas properties that the Soviet Union owned and stake claims on them

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-putin-orders-search-claim-overseas-properties-soviet-union-empire-2024-1

Putin demands to find property of Russian Empire abroad

https://news.yahoo.com/putin-demands-property-russian-empire-103608070.html

Russian Politician Hints at Alaska Annexation

https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/russian-politician-hints-alaska-annexation

Putin Ally Hints at Russian Plot to Reclaim Alaska

https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-hints-russian-plot-reclaim-alaska-1851019

Russian cadets sing their vows to help Putin take Alaska back from United States

https://mustreadalaska.com/russian-cadets-sing-their-vows-to-help-putin-take-alaska-back-from-united-states/

Russian House Speaker Threatens to ‘Take Back’ Alaska

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/07/russian-house-speaker-threatens-to-take-back-alaska-a78230

After Crimea, Russians Say They Want Alaska Back

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2014/03/31/after-crimea-russians-say-they-want-alaska-back-a33489



These stupid neo-isolationist Republicans better get their heads out of their butts, listen to what Putin is saying and take him at his word, and help the Ukrainians destroy the Russian military by winning that war.  Or else, our kids and grandkids will have to fight a much larger and more destructive and bloodier war against those same Russians in the near future. 

Have they forgotten their history about how World War II started?

[Timber Rattler]

So, how is it that NATA and the EU have give Ukraine $35 billion and the US has chipped in $75 billion as of November of last year and they don't have $$ for ammo??  Something isn't right.

Because they are defending a 600-mile front against an army that is at least twice their size, going into the third year. 

Follow the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/russia-ukraine-front-line-map/

During World War I, the Western Front ran roughly 475 miles, in comparison.

I still strongly contend that we need to secure our borders first BEFORE we give another penny to secure Ukraine's.  There is no good valid reason as to why we let our border remain open yet are protecting theirs. None.  If the US goes because of attacks from ILLEGALS from within, we won't have to worry about sending Ukraine another penny. We go and so do they.

This is just a really stupid counter argument that I am tired of hearing.  These are two SEPARATE issues and should be treated SEPARATELY.  BOTH can be done at the same time if only the Biden Administration wanted to do so.  It's NOT an "either/or" proposition.  And the conspiracy theories about how that funding works grows wearisome too.

[Timber Rattler]

It's our war.  We sold out Ukraine in 2014.  If they had been ushered into the EU back then and given a NATO invite, we wouldn't be in this situation.  But the Obama regime was more interested in profiting off of Ukrainian corruption instead of siding with those working to do away with it.

That is 100% correct!

And then there is this matter of guaranteeing their security in exchange for them giving up their nukes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum

https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=0800000280401fbb

[Cyber Liberty]

It was just another Bakhmut-style meat grinder, with the Russians winning another Pyrrhic victory.  The Ukrainians had to withdraw because they ran out of ammunition to shoot back with.  Thanks Republicans! (spit!)

I have heard a lot of talk on Twitter it's a Pyrrhic Victory.  This is costing Russia more than it's worth.

[libertybele]

Because they are defending a 600-mile front against an army that is at least twice their size, going into the third year. 

Follow the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/russia-ukraine-front-line-map/

During World War I, the Western Front ran roughly 475 miles, in comparison.

This is just a really stupid counter argument that I am tired of hearing.  These are two SEPARATE issues and should be treated SEPARATELY.  BOTH can be done at the same time if only the Biden Administration wanted to do so.  It's NOT an "either/or" proposition.  And the conspiracy theories about how that funding works grows wearisome too.

Stupid?  OK.  What's stupid is a country who allows an invasion and does nothing!  Yes, they are two flippin' separate issues, but the fact both still boil down to $$$ and political gain! 

There are many countries with border walls. Ukraine being one of them .... so... again...we are giving them $$$ to protect their border while not protecting our own.   That's what's stupid and just plain outrageous.  Militants, Chinese nationals, Hamas, gangbangers, murderers, rapists, Islamic terrorists...etc., are now in our country. It has been reported several times that those crossing over are mostly men of military age.  Migrants from over 100 countries are now crossing over. Who the heck is going to help us when we implode from within??  Or do you think we're all going to join hands and sing Kumbaya? Doubtful that the Islamic terrorists crossing over would agree to that.  Maybe Zelenskyy will send troops over or give us some $$ and munitions?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_barrier

https://nypost.com/2023/05/13/migrants-from-over-100-countries-have-crossed-into-mexico/

[Timber Rattler]

Stupid?  OK.  What's stupid is a country who allows an invasion and does nothing!  Yes, they are two flippin' separate issues, but the fact both still boil down to $$$ and political gain! 

There are many countries with border walls. Ukraine being one of them .... so... again...we are giving them $$$ to protect their border while not protecting our own.   That's what's stupid and just plain outrageous.  Militants, Chinese nationals, Hamas, gangbangers, murderers, rapists, Islamic terrorists...etc., are now in our country. It has been reported several times that those crossing over are mostly men of military age.  Migrants from over 100 countries are now crossing over. Who the heck is going to help us when we implode from within??  Or do you think we're all going to join hands and sing Kumbaya? Doubtful that the Islamic terrorists crossing over would agree to that.  Maybe Zelenskyy will send troops over or give us some $$ and munitions?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_barrier

https://nypost.com/2023/05/13/migrants-from-over-100-countries-have-crossed-into-mexico/

What part of "two separate issues" do you not understand???

 

[Hoodat]

Russian Pilot Who Defected to Ukraine Shot Dead in Spain -Reports

Reuters  |  Feb. 19, 2024, at 2:23 p.m.

KYIV/MADRID (Reuters) - A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, his body riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported on Monday.

Spain's state news agency EFE reported that a body found on Feb 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain, belonged to pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who had landed in Ukraine with his Mi-8 helicopter last August. He had been living in Spain with a Ukrainian passport under a different name, it said.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's GUR military intelligence confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death. Ukraine's Ukrainska Pravda newspaper also reported that he had been found shot dead.  .  .

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-02-19/russian-pilot-who-defected-to-ukraine-shot-dead-in-spain-reports

[Timber Rattler]

Not surprised that the FSB or GRU hunted him down and offed him as an example.  Sounds like he didn't do enough to keep his profile low and Spain is probably not a good country for a Russian to hide in.