This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...
- Thread starter Nole Lou
- Start date
"Hungary has joined other EU countries in supporting a €35bn EU loan package for Ukraine, backed by interest accrued on frozen Russian central bank assets held in Europe. However, Hungary and Slovakia continue to block the freezing of Russian assets in Europe for 36 months, which looks likely to rule out US participation in the G7 initiative.
After the meeting of EU finance ministers earlier this week, Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga told journalists that Hungary’s position was that prolongation of the Russian sanctions should be postponed until after the US elections in November. Varga denied reports by Euronews that Hungary wanted to block extending the freeze of Russian assets held in Europe.
Varga said the related legislation is expected to be adopted in October after the negotiations between Coreper (the member states' permanent representatives to the EU) and the European Parliament.
The up to €35bn package, which will be funded by the EU's common budget, is the bloc's share of a $50bn defence loan for Ukraine announced by the G7 in June. It was passed by majority, with neutral Malta abstaining.
The United States wanted to participate in the loan scheme if the Russian assets were frozen for 36 months, which cannot be guaranteed by the EU, due to the resistance of Budapest. Hungary has blocked the extension for longer than the six-month period, arguing it wants to wait until after the US presidential election in November. If Republican candidate Donald Trump were to win, he has said he would stop aid to Ukraine.
Around €210bn in Russian assets have been frozen in EU banks, generating an estimated annual yield of €2.5bn-3bn"
www.intellinews.com
After the meeting of EU finance ministers earlier this week, Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga told journalists that Hungary’s position was that prolongation of the Russian sanctions should be postponed until after the US elections in November. Varga denied reports by Euronews that Hungary wanted to block extending the freeze of Russian assets held in Europe.
Varga said the related legislation is expected to be adopted in October after the negotiations between Coreper (the member states' permanent representatives to the EU) and the European Parliament.
The up to €35bn package, which will be funded by the EU's common budget, is the bloc's share of a $50bn defence loan for Ukraine announced by the G7 in June. It was passed by majority, with neutral Malta abstaining.
The United States wanted to participate in the loan scheme if the Russian assets were frozen for 36 months, which cannot be guaranteed by the EU, due to the resistance of Budapest. Hungary has blocked the extension for longer than the six-month period, arguing it wants to wait until after the US presidential election in November. If Republican candidate Donald Trump were to win, he has said he would stop aid to Ukraine.
Around €210bn in Russian assets have been frozen in EU banks, generating an estimated annual yield of €2.5bn-3bn"
Hungary approves €35bn EU loan package for Ukraine
Hungary has joined other EU countries in supporting a €35bn EU loan package for Ukraine, backed by interest accrued on frozen Russian ...
www.intellinews.com
You'd think the Russians would hit the breaking point sooner or later...but they keep pouring bodies into the meat grinder.
Russia has made slow but steady gains in recent weeks against Ukraine but at a steep cost — the bloodiest month in the nearly three-year war, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Casualties from the offensives in the Donbas have brought Russia’s total number of dead and wounded to over 600,000, according to officials granted anonymity to brief reporters at the Pentagon on the course of the war.
The estimate of the casualties — more than 40 times Russia’s losses during its decade-long invasion of Afghanistan in the 1990s — is in line with previous Ukrainian estimates, but tells only part of the story.
Russian forces have seized ground over the past several months in eastern Ukraine, capturing several key towns that the Ukrainians have stubbornly held in the face of massive Russian onslaughts.
The plodding and bloody gains are nearing the town of Pokrovsk in Donbas, a major transportation hub for front-line Ukrainian forces, one of the officials said. The loss of the town would be a major blow to Ukrainian forces fighting along hundreds of miles of contested front line.
The Russian offensives since the summer have consisted of massive artillery attacks followed by large troop movements rushing headlong toward well-entrenched Ukrainian positions, resulting in thousands of casualties as Moscow’s commanders seem to have decided on a strategy of trading bodies for ground.
Russian gains have been the most sustained and significant since its initial invasion in February 2022, and Moscow appears to be betting that casualties are sustainable, at least in the short-term.
“They have attempted to overcome [Ukrainian] fires with massive maneuver,” a military official said. “If you look at the salient around Pokrovsk the number of Russian forces there is astounding. It’s tens of thousands of forces that they’ve put into that very small area. As you know, when you have that many forces in a very small area … it’s a target rich environment” for the Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian government has rushed troops to fill gaps in their front lines, but have continued to fall back since the summer, unable to fully counter the Russian assaults.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been shopping his “plan for victory” to leaders in Washington and Europe but has managed to generate little enthusiasm for its key tenets — more weapons and a lifting of restrictions by the U.S., U.K. and Germany to allow their long-range weapons to be used deep inside Russia where Kyiv sees fit.
A civilian defense official at the briefing said there has been no change in U.S. policy on the use of western-supplied weapons.
The issue had been expected to come up this weekend at a summit of NATO heads of state slated in Germany. But the meeting was canceled after President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pulled out due to preparations for Hurricane Milton.
NATO defense ministers are scheduled to meet in Belgium next week.
There has been some concern that the thousands of troops Ukraine poured into the Kursk region of Russia since August has led to shortages in other areas. But the military official said analysts believe Ukraine can keep up the fight inside Russia for months before the Russians can fully organize a response.
The Ukrainians have been able to resupply troops inside Russia, but the Russians, due to poor coordination and planning, “have significant logistical issues on their side in terms of repositioning troops and organizing themselves” to go on the offensive, the official said.
“There’s been nothing that would indicate to me that they’re ready to make a major play toward taking Kursk back, and I don’t think they’ll be able to do it anytime soon.”
Russia gains ground in Ukraine, but at steep cost
Russia has made slow but steady gains in recent weeks against Ukraine but at a steep cost — the bloodiest month in the nearly three-year war, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Casualties from the offensives in the Donbas have brought Russia’s total number of dead and wounded to over 600,000, according to officials granted anonymity to brief reporters at the Pentagon on the course of the war.
The estimate of the casualties — more than 40 times Russia’s losses during its decade-long invasion of Afghanistan in the 1990s — is in line with previous Ukrainian estimates, but tells only part of the story.
Russian forces have seized ground over the past several months in eastern Ukraine, capturing several key towns that the Ukrainians have stubbornly held in the face of massive Russian onslaughts.
The plodding and bloody gains are nearing the town of Pokrovsk in Donbas, a major transportation hub for front-line Ukrainian forces, one of the officials said. The loss of the town would be a major blow to Ukrainian forces fighting along hundreds of miles of contested front line.
The Russian offensives since the summer have consisted of massive artillery attacks followed by large troop movements rushing headlong toward well-entrenched Ukrainian positions, resulting in thousands of casualties as Moscow’s commanders seem to have decided on a strategy of trading bodies for ground.
Russian gains have been the most sustained and significant since its initial invasion in February 2022, and Moscow appears to be betting that casualties are sustainable, at least in the short-term.
“They have attempted to overcome [Ukrainian] fires with massive maneuver,” a military official said. “If you look at the salient around Pokrovsk the number of Russian forces there is astounding. It’s tens of thousands of forces that they’ve put into that very small area. As you know, when you have that many forces in a very small area … it’s a target rich environment” for the Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian government has rushed troops to fill gaps in their front lines, but have continued to fall back since the summer, unable to fully counter the Russian assaults.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been shopping his “plan for victory” to leaders in Washington and Europe but has managed to generate little enthusiasm for its key tenets — more weapons and a lifting of restrictions by the U.S., U.K. and Germany to allow their long-range weapons to be used deep inside Russia where Kyiv sees fit.
A civilian defense official at the briefing said there has been no change in U.S. policy on the use of western-supplied weapons.
The issue had been expected to come up this weekend at a summit of NATO heads of state slated in Germany. But the meeting was canceled after President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pulled out due to preparations for Hurricane Milton.
NATO defense ministers are scheduled to meet in Belgium next week.
There has been some concern that the thousands of troops Ukraine poured into the Kursk region of Russia since August has led to shortages in other areas. But the military official said analysts believe Ukraine can keep up the fight inside Russia for months before the Russians can fully organize a response.
The Ukrainians have been able to resupply troops inside Russia, but the Russians, due to poor coordination and planning, “have significant logistical issues on their side in terms of repositioning troops and organizing themselves” to go on the offensive, the official said.
“There’s been nothing that would indicate to me that they’re ready to make a major play toward taking Kursk back, and I don’t think they’ll be able to do it anytime soon.”
Ukraine war briefing: End the war in 2025 through ‘decisive action’, says Zelenskyy
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Croatia on Wednesday that the war could be ended no later than next year. Addressing the third Ukraine-South East Europe summit in Dubrovnik, the Ukrainian leader said: “In October, November and December, we have a real chance to move the situation towards peace and long-term stability,” he said. “The situation on the battlefield creates an opportunity to make this choice – a choice in favour of decisive action to end the war no later than 2025.” Zelenskyy did not spell out how and why he perceived such an opportunity. Russian forces now hold just under 20% of Ukraine’s east and south.
- Ukraine’s president will be in London on Thursday to meet the new Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer. The hastily arranged meeting comes after a Ramstein summit where Zelenskyy was going to present a “victory plan” to western leaders was formally postponed after Joe Biden, the US president, cancelled his trip in order to stay at home to respond to Hurricane Milton, as Dan Sabbagh reports.
- Organisers said the Ramstein meeting of about 20 world leaders in Germany would be rescheduled. Ukrainian sources said Zelenskyy would travel to meet the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in Berlin on Friday. Zelenskyy was in Croatia on Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Pope Francis on Friday. At the Croatia summit, Zelenskyy told the press: “I will meet separately in each country with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany.”
- A Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa region killed six Ukrainian people and wounded 11 others on Wednesday, authorities said. The attack struck a civilian container ship flying the flag of Panama, according to the region’s governor, Oleg Kiper. “This is the third attack on a civilian vessel in the last four days.”
- Ukraine’s military said it made a “direct hit” on a base storing Shahed drones in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region. A statement said the attack near a village called Oktyabrsky was carried out jointly by naval forces and the SBU intelligence service. “According to available information, nearly 400 strike drones were stored there,” the statement said. “Based on objective control results, a direct hit was made on the target. Secondary explosions were observed at the site.”
- Earlier, the Ukrainian military said one of its drones struck an important depot storing North Korean arms along with glide bombs and other munitions in Russia’s Bryansk border region. Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in the area after “detonations of explosive objects”. Three weeks earlier, another drone blasted a major Russian armoury and this week a drone smashed into a key oil terminal in Russia-occupied Crimea, leaving it burning for days. Analysts have said the strikes on the Kremlin’s armouries have noticeably hit Russian ammunition supplies and reduced the margin by which they outgun the Ukrainians on the battlefield.
- Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has accused Viktor Orbán of a historic failure to support Ukraine, economic mismanagement and making his country a “back door for foreign interference”. At the European parliament in Strasbourg, she pointedly criticised Orbán’s stance on Ukraine, Jennifer Rankin reports from Brussels. “There are still some who blame this war not on Putin’s lust for power but on Ukraine’s thirst for freedom, so I want to ask them: would they ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion [of Hungary] in 1956?” Von der Leyen criticised Orbán for failing to follow through on an EU pledge made in 2022 to end dependency on Russian fossil fuels. “Instead of looking for alternative sources [of energy], in particular, one member state just looked for alternative ways to buy fossil fuels from Russia.”
- Von der Leyen was speaking after Orbán set out the priorities for Hungary’s six-month EU presidency. The usually routine moment in the EU calendar became a boisterous session. Orbán’s MEPs in the far-right Patriots for Europe group applauded him while pro-European parties clapped for von der Leyen. Orbán also had to listen to a rowdy rendition of the anti-fascist song Bella Ciao from a small group, prompting the speaker, Roberta Metsola, to intervene to bring order: “This is not Eurovision.”
- Britain on Thursday launched an Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation with new powers to penalise companies that fail to comply with restrictions on exports services to Russia. The government said that the OTSI would have powers to fine companies that breached sanctions, and also be empowered to publicise them – essentially “naming and shaming” the firms involved
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...n-2025-through-decisive-action-says-zelenskyy
The Kompromat here must be astonishingly bad...
Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna dies in Russian custody - MP | УНН
УНН War ✎ Viktoria Roshchina died while being transferred from Taganrog to Moscow. The journalist was taken hostage in August 2023, and her father was informed …
"There is much talk about the Ukrainian brigade "Anne of Kiev" trained in France. Some thoughts on this training, the capacity choices, the strengths and weaknesses of the model. "
First, THE great strength of the thing: forming a large unit, as a block. Not only is the training homogeneous for all the soldiers on an individual level, but above all we have a coherent collective training, which was lacking in Western training. 2/
The brigade (from 2500 to 4500 men) is the "basic pawn" of the Ukrainian operational controller. The relevance of the format can be discussed, but this is how the Ukrainian army is organized. Forming the unit as a single block ensures cohesion and synergy. 3/
We can also hope for a large "training in planning and conducting operations" component. The J3/J5/J7 is a Ukrainian weakness that is often noted, due to a lack of staff officers. 4/
Another strength of the system is to ensure consistent training with French equipment. All of this is consistent: our equipment is designed to work together. Many common parts, common standards and norms. Handling and support will be simplified. 5/
Another strength: realistic training. We listened to the Ukrainians and we train them as closely as possible to the need: trenches, drones, omnipresent shell explosions. No training for a theoretical Western "air land battle". A retex that works, therefore. 6/
Another French strong point: a high rate of supervision. It is announced that 1,500 French pax will be mobilized to train 2,300 Ukrainian pax. A very good rate of trainers and OPFOR, which promotes local mentoring and human interaction. 7/
In the end, we will deliver a "turnkey" unit to the Ukrainian command, which will have been trained individually and collectively, according to a need expressed by Ukraine, but "in the French way". This is also a first, so there will certainly be areas for improvement. 8/"
(Even more!)
I’d be worried they’re loaded with tapeworms and other parasites.
Not linking, but I heard an interview on NPR last week with a former US general who said he’s convinced by his analysis the death toll for Russia is 200,000. Pretty steep for a 3 day mop up operation.
"5th day of burning of Feodosia oil terminal and its storage tanks.This morning the fire reached another warehouse."
I take them to be casualties, and even if they are off by 50 percent they are staggering. Plus, the Russian health care system is horrible. The equipment I believe is accurate. Given the use of drones it’s easy to geo locate a burned out piece of equipment and count it. Sometimes they may guess that if a tank gets hit and immediately cooks off that’s 4 casualties. Sometimes some may make it out. But, that tank isn’t going anywhere and gets counted.
Poland knows they are next to have, “A deal cut”, that gives up their territory in the name of Russian aggression.
FWIW-could not find other source. He is now retired,
Again, Poland gets it.
Latest posts
-
HawkCast Ep. 108 QB Health a MESS, Seydou Traore SHOULD Start, RANK WBB!- Latest: Eliot Clough
-
-
-
-
