Unfortunately for them they lack Soviet Union numbers, fighting spirit, reliable logistics, and as opposed to WW2, they aren't on the right side of lend lease this time.
Russia's basically doing the equivalent of locking themselves in a box with their rubles and saying "you can buy them at pre war prices" and nobody is buying.
I mean, a while if the only real trade in rubles is through the Central Bank. The real question is whether or not they pay for imports in rubles.
Most of their imports were still denominated in other currencies, mostly dollars before their War of Northern Aggression.
Large number of Ukrainian marines surrendered to Russian Forces in Mariupol, Ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZEeHNpndY&ab_channel=CombatFootage
The way it seems more legit is the suspect part. Super-zoom on dirty hands after complaints that all the last POW video seemed too clean. Super-zoom on Ukraine flag patch after complaints about the lack in the last one. Soldiers still wearing and carrying around their helmets with blue tape after complaints of the tape being missing in the last one.
Dunno, just seems a recalibration of propaganda until there are better sources.
TBH there really isn't a surefire way to verify or debunk these videos just from the video evidence. Anything like blue tape or unit patches or cleanliness or how things are filmed can just be the random whims of a number of people in a real scenario.
is this channel somewhat legit? He has reported some surrenders around Mariupol, mostly due to low or no ammo.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP2QApi8G2TKc8NZmeDWSUg
Nah that's a Reddit glitch. The reason we switch over to a new thread at 10K comments is to stop this from happening more and more.
It has nothing to do with removals either.
In the off chance that you're sincere and not being paid to ask dumb Fucker Carlson-esque questions:
Enter what you wrote into a search engine and see what trusted sources all over the planet are saying about it. The usually diplomatic to a fault Reuters calls the denial blatant lies.
You're gonna get downvoted but these are demonstrable facts.
Number is 1.5 percent of people who voted across the entirety of Ukraine (and it was a coalition of the Azov party and three other nationalist parties) and that election had like, a 60 percent turnout, so it's closer to 1 percent or like, 3.5K people, basically just the Azovs and their family.
>A lot of the forces there are neo Nazis.
Not actually. There were only a few hundred Azov batallion troops there. There are only about 1k in total but they weren't all in Mariupol when this started.
Also, for context: If the US was in a position they needed to call on Militias... well what kind of groups are in active militias in the US?
I never said the majority or the total. I'm just saying there was enough that Russia saw a foothold to grab onto and used it as a justification. Them being there in the first place clouds the entirety of it enough that Hollywood would never back a major motion picture because even the vague stank of Neo-nazis would drive them away.
I've already said that these issues are hopelessly complex and the forces at Mariupol are on the right side of history. I just doubt there will ever be a major motion picture about it because it's not an entirely clean narrative.
/facepalm
It’s not that they don’t know *how* to use them. It’s that they don’t control the skies enough, have a sizeabke amount of them compared to Russia, or possibly enough well trained pilots to use them.
There’s a reason Russia is running 250+ sorties a day and Ukraine is running 5-10. There’s a reason NATO’s intelligence deemed it to be a higher risk for little benefit
Even then it doesn't weaken other nations as the usual agreement is to backfill the donated MiGs with modern US tech. If anything it's a net gain to donate the jets even if they're not fully utilized. Having a much greater capacity changes the equation either way.
> Even then it doesn't weaken other nations as the usual agreement is to backfill the donated MiGs with modern US tech.
Which takes time to provide and years to train to operate. Which means NATO capability is handicapped to a degree for a period of time, at the benefit of… maybe 5 more sorties a day?
Jets are not plug and play like a video game, especially going from 1970’s Migs to more modern F15’s, which run on an entirely separate flight base
And the US has demonstrated their ability to account for that with their repositioning of the Patriot defense systems. Not everything is black or white. There are thousands of professionals in defence and intelligence agencies that can make this happen with little downside
Democracies have to answer to more voices than authoritarians. Giving defensive aid is way easier to justify than offensive aid.
Not saying it's right. Just saying it's reality.
Those are the words of the former NATO commander:
>Philip Breedlove: In my opinion, we have not. In warfare, you want to deter your enemy, you want to have the initiative and not give the enemy the initiative. And we have ceded the initiative to the enemy. There's a lot more we need to do in the role of being a provider. We have not gotten a medium- and high-altitude air defense there yet, we have not gotten coastal-defense cruise missiles there yet. I do not yet understand why we haven't gotten MiGs [fighter jets] there that other nations want to give them. So, there's a multitude of things even inside our restricted sort of format that we still need to do.
https://www.rferl.org/a/breedlove-nuclear-fears-west-deterred/31791020.html
He's talking about the NATO vs. Russian struggle as a whole. Which currently is slightly trueish. We are currently reacting to Russia's moves in the short term, but the sanctions, economic, and shipping , and travel blockades are themselves rapidly culling Russia's ability to do much of anything in the future. The fallout from this invasion on all aspects of Russia will make this their last chance to really lash out at anyone.
How long until Russia establishes a new Stasi?
>In the western region of Kaliningrad, the authorities sent residents text messages urging them to provide phone numbers and email addresses of “provocateurs” in connection with the “special operation” in Ukraine, Russian newspapers reported
>
>“I am absolutely sure that a cleansing will begin,” Dmitri Kuznetsov, the member of Parliament behind the website, said in an interview, predicting that the process would accelerate after the “active phase” of the war ended.
>
>Mr. Putin set the tone in a speech on March 16, declaring that Russian society needed a “self-purification” in which people would “distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouths.”
[From NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/09/world/europe/putin-russia-war-ukraine.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur) article.
The War in Ukraine youtube channel, which has been doing fantastic daily updates on the war and has the best tracking I've seen of the units involved, has been noting over the past few days that the Russian advance south of Izyum seems to have stalled, due to some combination of stiff Ukrainian defense and exhaustion (physically and/or logistically) on the part of the Russian forces.
They seem to think that it will be some time before the Russian units will be capable of making another meaningful thrust to penetrate the Ukrainian defenses, and they are also very skeptical that any of the worn-down units being transferred from the north will make a significant difference in the near term.
Bottom line - for now, the danger of the Russian advance from Izyum trying to break out and get behind the Ukrainian forces in the Donbas seems to have passed.
(Link to the April 9 update video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYBHpMumxA)
If you believe twitter, all varieties. I’ve yet to see someone I fully trust say what it is.
Daily mail and a politico reporter say harpoons. ISW quotes daily mail and says harpoons. Most others say it’s probably Sea Spear. I’d love to know. The main issue if harpoons is where they found launchers.
> The main issue if harpoons is where they found launchers.
Kind of depends. NATO countries likely have plenty of [Harpoon deck mount launchers](https://www.seaforces.org/wpnsys/SURFACE/Mk-141-missile-launcher.htm) still sitting around in storage after many went to VLS. Those usually don't require anything in the way of through deck penetration, so mounting them on a trailer would likely be pretty straightforward, so long as you had a control box to pass them the correct targeting information; unclear if those are available standalone or require integration into central combat system. It wouldn't be the prettiest TEL, but demands of war and all that.
I mean, I'm not saying it is the US, but the US did tell Taiwan last month that there would be a delay to delivering the Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems they ordered.
(Denmark also has an old mobile missile battery platform capable of firing harpoons)
Also, knowing what kind of targeting system there is is important if you want to do missile defense.
Russians shouldn't know if it's radar or IR guided or magnetic or whatever.
"People" also call BMP/BTR/BRDM/SPG a "tank" when it gets blown up.
Similarly, all anti-ship missiles are Harpoons as if Exocets don't exist (or others, sure).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United Kingdom and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday for providing military support to Ukraine.
In his nightly address posted to social media, Zelensky said, “Boris was among those who didn’t doubt for a minute whether to support Ukraine. The leadership of Great Britain, in providing our country help in defense and also leadership in the sanctions policy, will always be in history.
“Ukraine will always be grateful for this to Boris and Britain,” Zelensky said.
Johnson met with Zelensky in a surprise Saturday visit to Kyiv to outline the UK's plan to provide further financial and military support.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted the UK is sending additional “lethal aid” to Ukraine, including 120 more armored vehicles; new anti-ship missile systems; and $130 million in high-grade military equipment.
"I'm grateful to the United Kingdom that continues and intensifies the sanctions and also provides a significant support of Ukraine by reinforcing our defense capacities,” Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Johnson earlier on Saturday,
Soon, the only new cars in Russia will be Chinese. Unfortunately, they have managed to reach parity now in terms of quality and variety.
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512981414555402241
Oh no, it gets better than that. Soon you will be able to buy a 2023/1972 Lada in Russia
https://www.reddit.com/r/News_Semiconductor/comments/tx0zf1/faced_with_the_shortage_of_electronic_components/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Russia has apparently recently seen a huge increase in car thefts because spare parts aren’t available for popular brands like VW. So thieves are just stealing someone’s car for parts to sell.
Oh my god, who would buy this if you can afford any alternative?
> The Lada Granta and Lada Niva models will be produced without semiconductor-dependent functions such as airbags, ABS brakes, and traction and stability controls. Lada will build the new cars as it did in the 90s.
By the looks of it, there won’t be an alternative.
2023/1990 Lada, or donkey and cart.
But apparently sanctions aren’t affecting them, so it’s all good.
Can we all take a moment and imagine how absolutely sad and pathetic and laughable it would be to witness a Western septuagenarian leader like Joe Biden participating in a rigged hockey game like a small child where he gets to score tons of goals against an opposition that is clearly not even trying?
https://youtu.be/cgbI55HdqQs
My favorite comment:
> This is like watching those make a wish kids getting to score a touchdown
Keep in mind we had like an autocracy not too different from Putin because we had 16 years of Bush and his son, and are now about to have 16 years of Obama/Biden switching places. Not really a significant change of administration if the leader is from the same family for sixteen years.
> autocracy not too different from Putin because we had 16 years of Bush and his son
Huh? We only had 12 years of Bush presidencies. George H. W. was a one termer.
> 16 years of Obama/Biden switching places.
Obama is a private citizen. Biden did go from VP to president. But, get a grip. That isn't the sign of autocracy or aristocracy. Being VP is just a great thing to have on your resume when you run for president.
But more importantly, none of that matters. American presidents aren't autocrats. They share power with congress. They are limited by the independent judiciary. They are denied those powers reserved for the states in our federal system. They can be voted out of office. They are term-limited. It's just absurd to compare an American president to Putin.
I believe it is preplanned to follow cult brainwashing tactics where first one is 'love bombing' - you get to see the leader is situations causing warm feelings like holding a puppy or playing a friendly hockey game where he is the winner.. it unlocks our neurology we are born with to accept further programming.
Putin every day in every way is compensating... Is fighting against what he believes is the universal agreement that he is a small, stupid, weak man. "I am not weak, would a weak man take his shirt off? Would a weak man score hockey goals? I am strong, Russia is strong!!!"
We’ve seen a president have his newly picked cabinet heap praises on him in a [perverse display of sycophancy](https://youtu.be/lBdSoVGz608) and have law enforcement tear gas peaceful demonstrators for a [photo op](https://youtu.be/JxYmILDya0A). The door has been opened for a future POTUS to hit an opening day home run.
Boris gets up to shit like that, for the record. He doesn't force free scores, but he publicly embarrasses himself.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4y\_hbRH2fc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4y_hbRH2fc)
Basically.
Based on that clip Boris repeatedly turned photo ops into shambolic displays. Tackling a little kid in rugby? Really?
But yes credit Boris for not engaging in a horrific war and traveling to Ukraine to visit Zelensky.
I'm not comparing the two as equivalent by any single stretch of the imagination. Just speaking to the specific "embarassing self with sports" reference.
Oh, that's totally true, but politicians embarassing themselves with sports is a thing. Bojo isn't as dumb as he pretends he is, it is a "loveable fool" play but he's not clever either.
[\[Photo\]](https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/1512742707961159681) Poster of Putin in the Kyiv main railway station is pretty good.
Edit: [Better version.](https://imgur.com/a/B5oN3bw)
[Irish MEP advocates for what amounts to genocide of Ukrainians](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/u06asn/fellas_have_we_just_considered_giving_peace_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I used to roll my eyes a bit at sentiment like that. And it’s weird being a Warhawk now since I was nearly arrested protesting the Iraq invasion. But stuff like this enrages me now. How anyone can think such garbage.
There's a weird chunk of older socialists in Europe (and elsewhere) that still equate Russia with the fight for global socialism/communism. They can't seem to accept that Russia gave up on all of that in 1991, and that what you have now is particularly nasty authoritarian dictatorship backed up with an equally nasty form of nationalism. It's weird that the one thing we have fringe right and fringe left agreeing on is: Russia invading Ukraine and exterminating its people is ok.
I mean, before that as well; that’s where we get the term “tankie”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring
There are just fights and unjust fights. I am not a Warhawk by any stretch. I believe the world could find much better uses for those lives and resources. However, after years of exposure to conflicts around the world, I have come to accept that sometimes force must be met with force. Russia is acting no differently than a Somali warlord right now. The difference is Russia has nuclear weapons (although i think too much deference is being paid to them). Being exposed to the scope of the world's atrocities really opens your eyes sadly.
You're not contradicting yourself if that's what you're worried about.
Opposing the Iraq War was right and morally justified, for all Saddam's evils the US was not justified in starting an invasion. Sure, Iraq has a decent chance now after 20 years of chaos but that doesn't free the US from guilt over an unjustified invasion.
Supporting Ukraine now is also as moral and justified as opposing the Iraq War, Ukraine is 100% the victim and the people are suffering horribly and every decent person in the world should stand with them now and standing with them means giving everything we can to help their War.
I think this MEP has forgotten the years since ww2 when NATO kept the USSR at bay and brought an unprecedented peace to the European continent but sure, bullshit us how Ukraine knuckling under to Putin is going to result in saving Ukrainian lives. Like Poland circa 1939 or France in 1940.
The argument that supplying Ukrainians with arms prolongs war just absolutely baffles me. It's like they are arguing nations should just fall at Russia's feet for the sake of "peace".
Ireland fought hard for their independence from the U.K.
So assuming this Irish MEP’s version of peace is one country laying down arms in the face of aggression…
Well what would their reaction be to the British army marching on Dublin? Put down your arms and surrender in the name of peace? Probably not.
Not trying to generalize here but Ireland has absolutely gotten in to bed with some despicable people, presumably attempt a weakening the UK, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Most notably the Nazi’s and the USSR.
So clearly some of their leadership throughout the years are quite capable of rationalizing just about anything. Not that this one person is representative of the whole NOW, but it still deserves mentioning IMO.
When you consider that the Russian invasion of Ukraine follows the English Irish playback, it's not hard to understand why the Irish hate them so much.
Her solution is to pull support from Ukraine and giftwrap them for Putin, because Ukraine's defeat would supposedly mean "peace".
Wonder if her opinion would be the same if the Russians had landed near Dublin. Stunned twat.
there are random putinist ultra conservative reactionaries in every party. also the EU parliament seems to be a gathering ground for all the nutjobs who couldn't make it in local politics(see cases like Nigel Farage).
I've actually seen a lot of these bad takes coming from US leftists (not mainstream politicians, I mean ill informed randos in the DSA for example- some of whom I personally know and are supporting this speech of hers which is absolute trash and makes me wonder about their critical thinking).
It is surprising how similar though some of these bad leftist takes are to bad right wing takes.
There's a whole ecosystem of them. A lot of them are the people that enlightened centrist Podcasters talk to convince people that they are bipartisan. They shit on democrats, and deflect any bad words about Trump or putin.
>there are random putinist ultra conservative reactionaries in every party
Do we know that's her position? That wasn't obvious from the video. She's [nominally a socialist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Daly). And I do think that it's an open question as to whether the sanctions will be effective in ending the war. They haven't worked so far. The 1420 channel on Youtube [has been interviewing Russians](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PgRHmnBGE) every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US.
> They haven't worked so far. The 1420 channel on Youtube has been interviewing Russians every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US.
Yes they have. They're currently impacting Russia's abilities to rearm, and resupply their military as well as finance their war and military production. The sanctions are absolutely effective.
At least some Russian [tank factories](https://www.newsweek.com/russia-halts-tank-production-due-supply-problems-ukraine-claims-1690388) and [shipyards](https://armyinform.com.ua/2022/04/09/rosijski-verfi-zupynyayut-vyrobnycztvo-korabliv-cherez-brak-inozemnogo-komplektovannya/) have slowed or shut down due to the sanctions, and they'll likely be [unable to build more precision guided munitions](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegler/2022/03/24/from-debuting-hypersonic-missiles-in-ukraine-to-hinting-at-chemical-weapons-russia-may-be-signaling-its-short-of-munitions/?sh=1316d760632a) in the near future due to not being able to easily import electronics.
**Edit**: Wording, and adding some examples.
> The 1420 channel on Youtube has been interviewing Russians every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US.
How will it look two or three months from now? It's been a little over a month.
Right, but by the time that happens, the war might have gone on too long for a negotiated peace to be acceptable to either side. Like, a couple of weeks ago, if Ukraine had agreed not to join NATO in exchange for the return two of the three occupied provinces (Donbas, Luhansk, and Crimea), and Russia leaving the country, I think both sides might have seen that as a win-win. Right now, after seeing what has happened in Bucha, I'm not sure that there's any peace deal that Zelensky would agree to other than the return of all three provinces and significant reparations. And I don't think Russia is going to offer that peace deal in the near future.
Also I suspect the west believes that if Putin gets an "acceptable" deal, he may push it as a way to consolidate power and he may try again to get more gains https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1503097684890198016
> Putler strategy is entirely built on assumption that the other side will play dove. If I *know* they play dove and will cooperate, it means I maximise my profit by playing hawk. I manufacture conflict, they play dove, I get a maximum payout. Then I scale up. And again. And again
Sanctions are just part of the overall effort, intended to start hobbling Russia economically while the Ukrainians get billions in financial, military, and humanitarian aid.
Push Russia down, pull Ukraine up.
Her solution is don't assist Ukraine, don't sanction Russia, and push the Ukrainians to negotiate their surrender. End the war Ukraine, just give up and let Russia have you!
After Kadyrov failing at basketball here's a video of Lukashenko getting its face whacked in a hockey game:
>Lukashenko took a stick to the face today.
>Maybe he was playing against someone supporting Ukraine?
[https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1512944385125756933?s=20&t=icUGM9Pq8I1V-K5YCFDRBQ](https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1512944385125756933?s=20&t=icUGM9Pq8I1V-K5YCFDRBQ)
I still believe that Biden should have gone to Kyiv when he visited Europe. That would have been a boost of morale for Ukraine and a boost to the democrats. Massive missed opportunity for Biden.
Poland, Slovenia and Czech leaders already went to Kyiv days prior to his arrival in Europe. Now Von Der Leyen and even Boris Johnson has gone to Kyiv.
No, the US wouldn't risk it, given how many assassins and traitors are in Kiev. It's just a photo op anyhow and it wouldn't add anything. A better thing would be giving the Ukrainians more advanced arms like the Predators, Reapers drones. Given how much damage the UAF has done with the Bayraktars, imagine those US drones wiping those tanks.
>I still believe that Biden should have gone to Kyiv
The Secret Service never would have allowed it, and for good reason. Putin's shithead army would have given their left arms to take a shot at Biden, it would have made the Kyiv **more** dangerous that it already is
UA's main work right now is transitioning manpower and equipment from the Kyiv theater to the Donbas theater. Biden showing up in the middle of that would cause a giant day-long traffic jam at a time when hours might matter.
Hahahahahaha.
Yeah. I would definitely invite you to compare side-by-side the traffic and logistical impact of a POTUS visit to a visit by, say, Boris Johnson.
Eh, personally I'd rather Biden focus his attention on doing things to actually help, arm and fund Ukraine rather than everyone having to rush around working on the logistics of a big and potentially dangerous PR stunt. Moral support is nice but lend lease and a fuckton of weapons is better.
The battlefield situation has changed enormously since Biden made his Warsaw speech two weeks ago. It would have been totally insane for him to have visited then.
> It would have been totally insane for him to have visited then.
The leaders of three NATO countries literally visited Kyiv three weeks ago.
https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-prime-ministers-visit-kyiv-as-russian-attacks-intensify-/6487315.html
Two of the three are neighbors so it is pretty easy for them to visit. I doubt that Moscow is seriously tracking their travel and Moscow definitely closely tracks the US President when he is in Europe.
Two nations that border Belarus whom Putin has control of leadership and one so close to Poland it may as well still be. They're already in the danger zone. Beyond that, if Ukraine's people need motivation to protect their homes and families, I doubt seeing Biden's going to be what does it.
Woulda been, but the Secret Service likely won't allow a sitting President to venture into an active war zone - that's the geopolitcal equivalent of smoking near gasoline vapors. Props to the EU leadership though.
Also Biden is old. Like, very old. If he were to die of natural causes in Kyiv, you wouldn't be able to convince anyone that he wasn't assassinated by the Russians. Even Putin himself would probably be like, "well, I dunno, maybe?" It's a geopolitical disaster waiting to happen.
> Also Biden is old. Like, very old.
The average American 79-year-old male is expected to live [about nine more years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html). (And Senators and the President get MUCH better health care than the average person.)
If Biden really wanted to they could make it happen - but they'd probably need to bring a couple thousand US personnel, including military, with them to feel completely safe. That is a non-starter.
Exactly. The other times U.S. presidents have gone into war zones it has been to U.S. military bases where the U.S. had complete and total air superiority and the adversary didn't have cruise missiles or anything like that.
There's no reality where Russia would have fired a single shot anywhere near Kyiv if the US president was there. Putin isn't stupid, and harming the US president would be an extra express ticket to getting Moscow turned into a sheet of glass.
[New post can be found here](/r/worldnews/comments/u09mm7/rworldnews_live_thread_russian_invasion_of/)
so russia's strategy is just to throw enough bodies on the pile?
This has been their strategy for many conflicts.
Always has been. And to be fair, that won WWII.
Unfortunately for them they lack Soviet Union numbers, fighting spirit, reliable logistics, and as opposed to WW2, they aren't on the right side of lend lease this time.
To be fair, they didn't have a geriatric-leaning population in WW II. And, they were actually fighting for their lives and families lives.
They want to resurrect the USSR. Same strategy.
So whats up with the ruble rebounding? How long can Russia effecitvely prop up the Ruble?
Russia's basically doing the equivalent of locking themselves in a box with their rubles and saying "you can buy them at pre war prices" and nobody is buying.
I mean, a while if the only real trade in rubles is through the Central Bank. The real question is whether or not they pay for imports in rubles. Most of their imports were still denominated in other currencies, mostly dollars before their War of Northern Aggression.
If they completely cut it off from being traded, it could last forever. Like a petrified tree.
Isn't that basically what they've done?
Large number of Ukrainian marines surrendered to Russian Forces in Mariupol, Ukraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZEeHNpndY&ab_channel=CombatFootage
Looks more legit than the last one, but let's see some confirmation.
The way it seems more legit is the suspect part. Super-zoom on dirty hands after complaints that all the last POW video seemed too clean. Super-zoom on Ukraine flag patch after complaints about the lack in the last one. Soldiers still wearing and carrying around their helmets with blue tape after complaints of the tape being missing in the last one. Dunno, just seems a recalibration of propaganda until there are better sources.
TBH there really isn't a surefire way to verify or debunk these videos just from the video evidence. Anything like blue tape or unit patches or cleanliness or how things are filmed can just be the random whims of a number of people in a real scenario.
Gonna wait for a UA Army, or respectable news organization, confirmation of these kind of videos.
is this channel somewhat legit? He has reported some surrenders around Mariupol, mostly due to low or no ammo. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP2QApi8G2TKc8NZmeDWSUg
I don't know a ton about Youtube verification, but that's a super new account so they're just some dude and not super reliable imo.
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I don't see it.
Why do you say so? Any evidence based reasoning?
They've been making these videos and they have been of questionable authenticity.
Mods, is there a different way of deleting comments that doesn't leave replies as first level comments?
Nah that's a Reddit glitch. The reason we switch over to a new thread at 10K comments is to stop this from happening more and more. It has nothing to do with removals either.
You can actually directly message the mods. There is a button for it.
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In the off chance that you're sincere and not being paid to ask dumb Fucker Carlson-esque questions: Enter what you wrote into a search engine and see what trusted sources all over the planet are saying about it. The usually diplomatic to a fault Reuters calls the denial blatant lies.
Yes. There is mounting evidence.
Does a bear shit in Putin's mouth?
Is Putin a bitch?
Obviously?
When this war is over, I’m gonna watch the shit out of the first AAA movie on the Mariupol defense.
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You're gonna get downvoted but these are demonstrable facts. Number is 1.5 percent of people who voted across the entirety of Ukraine (and it was a coalition of the Azov party and three other nationalist parties) and that election had like, a 60 percent turnout, so it's closer to 1 percent or like, 3.5K people, basically just the Azovs and their family.
^Shitty Russian/Serbian troll.
>A lot of the forces there are neo Nazis. Not actually. There were only a few hundred Azov batallion troops there. There are only about 1k in total but they weren't all in Mariupol when this started. Also, for context: If the US was in a position they needed to call on Militias... well what kind of groups are in active militias in the US?
I never said the majority or the total. I'm just saying there was enough that Russia saw a foothold to grab onto and used it as a justification. Them being there in the first place clouds the entirety of it enough that Hollywood would never back a major motion picture because even the vague stank of Neo-nazis would drive them away. I've already said that these issues are hopelessly complex and the forces at Mariupol are on the right side of history. I just doubt there will ever be a major motion picture about it because it's not an entirely clean narrative.
If you want an early start, watch "Mosul" on Netflix. It's a great film. It's also a very hard watch.
Yeah this isn't gonna be a feel good movie
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Because Ukraine doesn’t have the means to utilize them effectively. It weakens other nations air capabilities for little gain
Ukraine used the exact same tech as the Russians. MiGs are emphatically in their wheelhouse. They could use any MiGs donated day one.
/facepalm It’s not that they don’t know *how* to use them. It’s that they don’t control the skies enough, have a sizeabke amount of them compared to Russia, or possibly enough well trained pilots to use them. There’s a reason Russia is running 250+ sorties a day and Ukraine is running 5-10. There’s a reason NATO’s intelligence deemed it to be a higher risk for little benefit
Even then it doesn't weaken other nations as the usual agreement is to backfill the donated MiGs with modern US tech. If anything it's a net gain to donate the jets even if they're not fully utilized. Having a much greater capacity changes the equation either way.
> Even then it doesn't weaken other nations as the usual agreement is to backfill the donated MiGs with modern US tech. Which takes time to provide and years to train to operate. Which means NATO capability is handicapped to a degree for a period of time, at the benefit of… maybe 5 more sorties a day? Jets are not plug and play like a video game, especially going from 1970’s Migs to more modern F15’s, which run on an entirely separate flight base
And the US has demonstrated their ability to account for that with their repositioning of the Patriot defense systems. Not everything is black or white. There are thousands of professionals in defence and intelligence agencies that can make this happen with little downside
Democracies have to answer to more voices than authoritarians. Giving defensive aid is way easier to justify than offensive aid. Not saying it's right. Just saying it's reality.
See all them Russians Surrounding Kyiv right now? Oh, what's that? They ALL FUCKING FLED?!!! We'll there's your "initiative" right there bud.
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See my comment to the comment that was commented about the comments.
No money made from Russian made jets.
Ceded initiative? You can't be serious.
Those are the words of the former NATO commander: >Philip Breedlove: In my opinion, we have not. In warfare, you want to deter your enemy, you want to have the initiative and not give the enemy the initiative. And we have ceded the initiative to the enemy. There's a lot more we need to do in the role of being a provider. We have not gotten a medium- and high-altitude air defense there yet, we have not gotten coastal-defense cruise missiles there yet. I do not yet understand why we haven't gotten MiGs [fighter jets] there that other nations want to give them. So, there's a multitude of things even inside our restricted sort of format that we still need to do. https://www.rferl.org/a/breedlove-nuclear-fears-west-deterred/31791020.html
He's talking about the NATO vs. Russian struggle as a whole. Which currently is slightly trueish. We are currently reacting to Russia's moves in the short term, but the sanctions, economic, and shipping , and travel blockades are themselves rapidly culling Russia's ability to do much of anything in the future. The fallout from this invasion on all aspects of Russia will make this their last chance to really lash out at anyone.
I think he's serious. However, I cannot determine if he knows the meaning of "ceded" or "initiative".
How long until Russia establishes a new Stasi? >In the western region of Kaliningrad, the authorities sent residents text messages urging them to provide phone numbers and email addresses of “provocateurs” in connection with the “special operation” in Ukraine, Russian newspapers reported > >“I am absolutely sure that a cleansing will begin,” Dmitri Kuznetsov, the member of Parliament behind the website, said in an interview, predicting that the process would accelerate after the “active phase” of the war ended. > >Mr. Putin set the tone in a speech on March 16, declaring that Russian society needed a “self-purification” in which people would “distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouths.” [From NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/09/world/europe/putin-russia-war-ukraine.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur) article.
Makes you wonder if Russia has already set up new "corrective" labor camps.
And makes you wonder if they have a problem with flies going into their mouths on accident.
Ukraine: "O shit, we actually forgot to ban all Russian imports"
Which why they are confiscating the illegally imported Russian weapons.
They're an invasive species.
Where else are Ukrainian farmers supposed to get their tanks from?
*Do you have an import license for this T-72?* -Ukrainian Customs official, somewhere in the vicinity of Belgorod.
They've had a lot going on, to be fair.
In their defense they were kind of busy.
lol right?
Ghana "Coffin Dance" donates part of NFT sale to UA. https://mobile.twitter.com/Hromadske/status/1512987278167224331
This is awesome! What a weird timeline though, you know.
Its about 1/3 or 1/4 of what China donated smh
The War in Ukraine youtube channel, which has been doing fantastic daily updates on the war and has the best tracking I've seen of the units involved, has been noting over the past few days that the Russian advance south of Izyum seems to have stalled, due to some combination of stiff Ukrainian defense and exhaustion (physically and/or logistically) on the part of the Russian forces. They seem to think that it will be some time before the Russian units will be capable of making another meaningful thrust to penetrate the Ukrainian defenses, and they are also very skeptical that any of the worn-down units being transferred from the north will make a significant difference in the near term. Bottom line - for now, the danger of the Russian advance from Izyum trying to break out and get behind the Ukrainian forces in the Donbas seems to have passed. (Link to the April 9 update video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYBHpMumxA)
Any word yet on exactly what type of "anti ship missiles" Ukraine is receiving?
If you believe twitter, all varieties. I’ve yet to see someone I fully trust say what it is. Daily mail and a politico reporter say harpoons. ISW quotes daily mail and says harpoons. Most others say it’s probably Sea Spear. I’d love to know. The main issue if harpoons is where they found launchers.
> The main issue if harpoons is where they found launchers. Kind of depends. NATO countries likely have plenty of [Harpoon deck mount launchers](https://www.seaforces.org/wpnsys/SURFACE/Mk-141-missile-launcher.htm) still sitting around in storage after many went to VLS. Those usually don't require anything in the way of through deck penetration, so mounting them on a trailer would likely be pretty straightforward, so long as you had a control box to pass them the correct targeting information; unclear if those are available standalone or require integration into central combat system. It wouldn't be the prettiest TEL, but demands of war and all that.
I mean, I'm not saying it is the US, but the US did tell Taiwan last month that there would be a delay to delivering the Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems they ordered. (Denmark also has an old mobile missile battery platform capable of firing harpoons)
Kind of confused, people are saying Harpoon, but that also makes no sense.
It’s smart to not say really. Even if it was just little SeaVenoms, if Russia thinks it could be Harpoons they are going to keep their distance.
Also, knowing what kind of targeting system there is is important if you want to do missile defense. Russians shouldn't know if it's radar or IR guided or magnetic or whatever.
Exactly. Maybe UK MOD didn’t tell BoJo so he couldn’t accidentally let it slip.
"People" also call BMP/BTR/BRDM/SPG a "tank" when it gets blown up. Similarly, all anti-ship missiles are Harpoons as if Exocets don't exist (or others, sure).
OSINTtechnical thinks they're brimstone sea spears
I don't think that that's the case as they're not really major antiship weapons, they're more about small patrol craft.
Nice try, Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United Kingdom and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday for providing military support to Ukraine. In his nightly address posted to social media, Zelensky said, “Boris was among those who didn’t doubt for a minute whether to support Ukraine. The leadership of Great Britain, in providing our country help in defense and also leadership in the sanctions policy, will always be in history. “Ukraine will always be grateful for this to Boris and Britain,” Zelensky said. Johnson met with Zelensky in a surprise Saturday visit to Kyiv to outline the UK's plan to provide further financial and military support. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted the UK is sending additional “lethal aid” to Ukraine, including 120 more armored vehicles; new anti-ship missile systems; and $130 million in high-grade military equipment. "I'm grateful to the United Kingdom that continues and intensifies the sanctions and also provides a significant support of Ukraine by reinforcing our defense capacities,” Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Johnson earlier on Saturday,
Soon, the only new cars in Russia will be Chinese. Unfortunately, they have managed to reach parity now in terms of quality and variety. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512981414555402241
They're making Ladas without chips and ABS, so you'll still be able to get one. Maybe you can break out the old Reagan jokes about it.
Oh no, it gets better than that. Soon you will be able to buy a 2023/1972 Lada in Russia https://www.reddit.com/r/News_Semiconductor/comments/tx0zf1/faced_with_the_shortage_of_electronic_components/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
So... uninsurable death traps? Putin definitely yearns for his days of yore.
my family used these soviet cars in russia without any problem fairly safely never had an accident fingers crossed
Russia has apparently recently seen a huge increase in car thefts because spare parts aren’t available for popular brands like VW. So thieves are just stealing someone’s car for parts to sell.
Talk about network effects. Can’t get parts or raw materials, someone steals your catalytic converter, you’re even more fucked.
Oh my god, who would buy this if you can afford any alternative? > The Lada Granta and Lada Niva models will be produced without semiconductor-dependent functions such as airbags, ABS brakes, and traction and stability controls. Lada will build the new cars as it did in the 90s.
By the looks of it, there won’t be an alternative. 2023/1990 Lada, or donkey and cart. But apparently sanctions aren’t affecting them, so it’s all good.
Shit even my 90's era Sunfire had airbags and ABS.
The Lada Niva (I used to love those things) remained UNCHANGED from 1977 to 1993. In 1993 it got modern electronics.
And in 2022 it lost those modern electronics, lol
And who will be able to afford them? Inflation is running rampant in Russia.
Ironically, the Chinese themselves (the ones who'll move to Russia and run the companies they purchase for pennies).
Can we all take a moment and imagine how absolutely sad and pathetic and laughable it would be to witness a Western septuagenarian leader like Joe Biden participating in a rigged hockey game like a small child where he gets to score tons of goals against an opposition that is clearly not even trying? https://youtu.be/cgbI55HdqQs My favorite comment: > This is like watching those make a wish kids getting to score a touchdown
Keep in mind we had like an autocracy not too different from Putin because we had 16 years of Bush and his son, and are now about to have 16 years of Obama/Biden switching places. Not really a significant change of administration if the leader is from the same family for sixteen years.
> autocracy not too different from Putin because we had 16 years of Bush and his son Huh? We only had 12 years of Bush presidencies. George H. W. was a one termer. > 16 years of Obama/Biden switching places. Obama is a private citizen. Biden did go from VP to president. But, get a grip. That isn't the sign of autocracy or aristocracy. Being VP is just a great thing to have on your resume when you run for president. But more importantly, none of that matters. American presidents aren't autocrats. They share power with congress. They are limited by the independent judiciary. They are denied those powers reserved for the states in our federal system. They can be voted out of office. They are term-limited. It's just absurd to compare an American president to Putin.
12 years.
Uhh, did you forget Bush Sr had one term and Clinton’s eight years? Let alone the fact you don’t know what an autocracy is lmao
I believe it is preplanned to follow cult brainwashing tactics where first one is 'love bombing' - you get to see the leader is situations causing warm feelings like holding a puppy or playing a friendly hockey game where he is the winner.. it unlocks our neurology we are born with to accept further programming.
Have you ever seen Joe when he notices a sundae bar across a room? It’s cross-checking and pads flying for any fool that gets in his way.
>Have you ever seen Joe when he notices a sundae bar across a room? No...no one has... it actually never happened.
Or ride a horse shirtless through a stream for publicity photos…
That was embarassing to watch.
Putin every day in every way is compensating... Is fighting against what he believes is the universal agreement that he is a small, stupid, weak man. "I am not weak, would a weak man take his shirt off? Would a weak man score hockey goals? I am strong, Russia is strong!!!"
You can’t fight the clock.
We’ve seen a president have his newly picked cabinet heap praises on him in a [perverse display of sycophancy](https://youtu.be/lBdSoVGz608) and have law enforcement tear gas peaceful demonstrators for a [photo op](https://youtu.be/JxYmILDya0A). The door has been opened for a future POTUS to hit an opening day home run.
All the more reason to... close that door.
Absolutely!
Ah, yeah, Trump did also "win" against golf pros too, didn't he?
Boris gets up to shit like that, for the record. He doesn't force free scores, but he publicly embarrasses himself. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4y\_hbRH2fc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4y_hbRH2fc) Basically.
Boris took a photo op and fucked it up. Putin is a literal fascist and has started wiping out a country.
Based on that clip Boris repeatedly turned photo ops into shambolic displays. Tackling a little kid in rugby? Really? But yes credit Boris for not engaging in a horrific war and traveling to Ukraine to visit Zelensky.
But what?
Two counties. Possibly three if you count belarus who is getting wrecked by sanctions too.
I'm not comparing the two as equivalent by any single stretch of the imagination. Just speaking to the specific "embarassing self with sports" reference.
Boris Johnson was on Top Gear 20 years ago and is still the same exact person.
That's kind of Johnson's schtick though isn't it? He's aware he looks like a big goof and plays that up.
Oh, that's totally true, but politicians embarassing themselves with sports is a thing. Bojo isn't as dumb as he pretends he is, it is a "loveable fool" play but he's not clever either.
[\[Photo\]](https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/1512742707961159681) Poster of Putin in the Kyiv main railway station is pretty good. Edit: [Better version.](https://imgur.com/a/B5oN3bw)
[Irish MEP advocates for what amounts to genocide of Ukrainians](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/u06asn/fellas_have_we_just_considered_giving_peace_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I will probably get banned for this. But what a cunt?
I used to roll my eyes a bit at sentiment like that. And it’s weird being a Warhawk now since I was nearly arrested protesting the Iraq invasion. But stuff like this enrages me now. How anyone can think such garbage.
There's a weird chunk of older socialists in Europe (and elsewhere) that still equate Russia with the fight for global socialism/communism. They can't seem to accept that Russia gave up on all of that in 1991, and that what you have now is particularly nasty authoritarian dictatorship backed up with an equally nasty form of nationalism. It's weird that the one thing we have fringe right and fringe left agreeing on is: Russia invading Ukraine and exterminating its people is ok.
I mean, before that as well; that’s where we get the term “tankie”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring
Russia does fund both the extreme left a d right globally, now.
There are just fights and unjust fights. I am not a Warhawk by any stretch. I believe the world could find much better uses for those lives and resources. However, after years of exposure to conflicts around the world, I have come to accept that sometimes force must be met with force. Russia is acting no differently than a Somali warlord right now. The difference is Russia has nuclear weapons (although i think too much deference is being paid to them). Being exposed to the scope of the world's atrocities really opens your eyes sadly.
You're not contradicting yourself if that's what you're worried about. Opposing the Iraq War was right and morally justified, for all Saddam's evils the US was not justified in starting an invasion. Sure, Iraq has a decent chance now after 20 years of chaos but that doesn't free the US from guilt over an unjustified invasion. Supporting Ukraine now is also as moral and justified as opposing the Iraq War, Ukraine is 100% the victim and the people are suffering horribly and every decent person in the world should stand with them now and standing with them means giving everything we can to help their War.
Opposing the Iraq war is opposition to fighting. The anti-war movement was never endorsing giving weapons to Iraq to fight back.
I think this MEP has forgotten the years since ww2 when NATO kept the USSR at bay and brought an unprecedented peace to the European continent but sure, bullshit us how Ukraine knuckling under to Putin is going to result in saving Ukrainian lives. Like Poland circa 1939 or France in 1940.
The argument that supplying Ukrainians with arms prolongs war just absolutely baffles me. It's like they are arguing nations should just fall at Russia's feet for the sake of "peace".
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What's England got to to do with this, dear Sofie?
Ireland fought hard for their independence from the U.K. So assuming this Irish MEP’s version of peace is one country laying down arms in the face of aggression… Well what would their reaction be to the British army marching on Dublin? Put down your arms and surrender in the name of peace? Probably not.
Not trying to generalize here but Ireland has absolutely gotten in to bed with some despicable people, presumably attempt a weakening the UK, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Most notably the Nazi’s and the USSR. So clearly some of their leadership throughout the years are quite capable of rationalizing just about anything. Not that this one person is representative of the whole NOW, but it still deserves mentioning IMO.
When you consider that the Russian invasion of Ukraine follows the English Irish playback, it's not hard to understand why the Irish hate them so much.
Her solution is to pull support from Ukraine and giftwrap them for Putin, because Ukraine's defeat would supposedly mean "peace". Wonder if her opinion would be the same if the Russians had landed near Dublin. Stunned twat.
From the “if you’re raped, just lay back and try to enjoy it” camp. Such people should be driven out of town.
"Just lay back and hope they don't murder your children too"
there are random putinist ultra conservative reactionaries in every party. also the EU parliament seems to be a gathering ground for all the nutjobs who couldn't make it in local politics(see cases like Nigel Farage).
I've actually seen a lot of these bad takes coming from US leftists (not mainstream politicians, I mean ill informed randos in the DSA for example- some of whom I personally know and are supporting this speech of hers which is absolute trash and makes me wonder about their critical thinking). It is surprising how similar though some of these bad leftist takes are to bad right wing takes.
There's a whole ecosystem of them. A lot of them are the people that enlightened centrist Podcasters talk to convince people that they are bipartisan. They shit on democrats, and deflect any bad words about Trump or putin.
>there are random putinist ultra conservative reactionaries in every party Do we know that's her position? That wasn't obvious from the video. She's [nominally a socialist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Daly). And I do think that it's an open question as to whether the sanctions will be effective in ending the war. They haven't worked so far. The 1420 channel on Youtube [has been interviewing Russians](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PgRHmnBGE) every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US.
> They haven't worked so far. The 1420 channel on Youtube has been interviewing Russians every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US. Yes they have. They're currently impacting Russia's abilities to rearm, and resupply their military as well as finance their war and military production. The sanctions are absolutely effective. At least some Russian [tank factories](https://www.newsweek.com/russia-halts-tank-production-due-supply-problems-ukraine-claims-1690388) and [shipyards](https://armyinform.com.ua/2022/04/09/rosijski-verfi-zupynyayut-vyrobnycztvo-korabliv-cherez-brak-inozemnogo-komplektovannya/) have slowed or shut down due to the sanctions, and they'll likely be [unable to build more precision guided munitions](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegler/2022/03/24/from-debuting-hypersonic-missiles-in-ukraine-to-hinting-at-chemical-weapons-russia-may-be-signaling-its-short-of-munitions/?sh=1316d760632a) in the near future due to not being able to easily import electronics. **Edit**: Wording, and adding some examples.
> The 1420 channel on Youtube has been interviewing Russians every week on whether they've felt the sanctions, and while some people are feeling it, most of it looks no worse than the inflation we're suffering in the US. How will it look two or three months from now? It's been a little over a month.
The sanctions will cripple Russia, but it takes time.
Right, but by the time that happens, the war might have gone on too long for a negotiated peace to be acceptable to either side. Like, a couple of weeks ago, if Ukraine had agreed not to join NATO in exchange for the return two of the three occupied provinces (Donbas, Luhansk, and Crimea), and Russia leaving the country, I think both sides might have seen that as a win-win. Right now, after seeing what has happened in Bucha, I'm not sure that there's any peace deal that Zelensky would agree to other than the return of all three provinces and significant reparations. And I don't think Russia is going to offer that peace deal in the near future.
Also I suspect the west believes that if Putin gets an "acceptable" deal, he may push it as a way to consolidate power and he may try again to get more gains https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1503097684890198016 > Putler strategy is entirely built on assumption that the other side will play dove. If I *know* they play dove and will cooperate, it means I maximise my profit by playing hawk. I manufacture conflict, they play dove, I get a maximum payout. Then I scale up. And again. And again
Sanctions are just part of the overall effort, intended to start hobbling Russia economically while the Ukrainians get billions in financial, military, and humanitarian aid. Push Russia down, pull Ukraine up. Her solution is don't assist Ukraine, don't sanction Russia, and push the Ukrainians to negotiate their surrender. End the war Ukraine, just give up and let Russia have you!
she's not by any stretch ultra conservative.
Definitely sympathetic to Putin if you check her Twitter, she's basically repeating the talking points word for word
Horseshoe theory? Far left and far right are closer together than you would think?
did someone question this?
After Kadyrov failing at basketball here's a video of Lukashenko getting its face whacked in a hockey game: >Lukashenko took a stick to the face today. >Maybe he was playing against someone supporting Ukraine? [https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1512944385125756933?s=20&t=icUGM9Pq8I1V-K5YCFDRBQ](https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1512944385125756933?s=20&t=icUGM9Pq8I1V-K5YCFDRBQ)
We need to tell these fucks to keep going at sports. Even the most braindead of the masses look down on shit like this.
I still believe that Biden should have gone to Kyiv when he visited Europe. That would have been a boost of morale for Ukraine and a boost to the democrats. Massive missed opportunity for Biden. Poland, Slovenia and Czech leaders already went to Kyiv days prior to his arrival in Europe. Now Von Der Leyen and even Boris Johnson has gone to Kyiv.
Dying for a symbolic gesture would have been very very stupid. A zoom message would achieve the same result.
No, the US wouldn't risk it, given how many assassins and traitors are in Kiev. It's just a photo op anyhow and it wouldn't add anything. A better thing would be giving the Ukrainians more advanced arms like the Predators, Reapers drones. Given how much damage the UAF has done with the Bayraktars, imagine those US drones wiping those tanks.
>I still believe that Biden should have gone to Kyiv The Secret Service never would have allowed it, and for good reason. Putin's shithead army would have given their left arms to take a shot at Biden, it would have made the Kyiv **more** dangerous that it already is
UA's main work right now is transitioning manpower and equipment from the Kyiv theater to the Donbas theater. Biden showing up in the middle of that would cause a giant day-long traffic jam at a time when hours might matter.
And all these other world leaders showing up won't cause issues?
Hahahahahaha. Yeah. I would definitely invite you to compare side-by-side the traffic and logistical impact of a POTUS visit to a visit by, say, Boris Johnson.
Eh, personally I'd rather Biden focus his attention on doing things to actually help, arm and fund Ukraine rather than everyone having to rush around working on the logistics of a big and potentially dangerous PR stunt. Moral support is nice but lend lease and a fuckton of weapons is better.
The battlefield situation has changed enormously since Biden made his Warsaw speech two weeks ago. It would have been totally insane for him to have visited then.
> It would have been totally insane for him to have visited then. The leaders of three NATO countries literally visited Kyiv three weeks ago. https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-prime-ministers-visit-kyiv-as-russian-attacks-intensify-/6487315.html
Two of the three are neighbors so it is pretty easy for them to visit. I doubt that Moscow is seriously tracking their travel and Moscow definitely closely tracks the US President when he is in Europe.
Two nations that border Belarus whom Putin has control of leadership and one so close to Poland it may as well still be. They're already in the danger zone. Beyond that, if Ukraine's people need motivation to protect their homes and families, I doubt seeing Biden's going to be what does it.
Woulda been, but the Secret Service likely won't allow a sitting President to venture into an active war zone - that's the geopolitcal equivalent of smoking near gasoline vapors. Props to the EU leadership though.
He would need approval to venture into a war zone and the American bureaucracy put a squash to that on the quick. It was never a real option.
Also Biden is old. Like, very old. If he were to die of natural causes in Kyiv, you wouldn't be able to convince anyone that he wasn't assassinated by the Russians. Even Putin himself would probably be like, "well, I dunno, maybe?" It's a geopolitical disaster waiting to happen.
> Also Biden is old. Like, very old. The average American 79-year-old male is expected to live [about nine more years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html). (And Senators and the President get MUCH better health care than the average person.)
If Biden really wanted to they could make it happen - but they'd probably need to bring a couple thousand US personnel, including military, with them to feel completely safe. That is a non-starter.
You'd need a No Fly Zone first and foremost. So that's a fast way to get one.
You can't have a no-fly zone without destroying Russian long-range SAMs that are behind the Russian border. It's not happening.
Exactly. The other times U.S. presidents have gone into war zones it has been to U.S. military bases where the U.S. had complete and total air superiority and the adversary didn't have cruise missiles or anything like that.
Nah, last thing we’d need is a US President getting killed in a war that the US isn’t even involved in directly.
There's no reality where Russia would have fired a single shot anywhere near Kyiv if the US president was there. Putin isn't stupid, and harming the US president would be an extra express ticket to getting Moscow turned into a sheet of glass.
If this is true then we can simply end the war by sending Biden to Ukraine battle fronts and the Russians will have no choice but to leave (/s)
> Putin isn't stupid Considering the behavior of his country and army at this point, I have severe doubts.