This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...
- Thread starter Nole Lou
- Start date
The tone shift in the news from Syria is interesting.
They call them 'rebels', or 'pro-Turkish forces'.
They're actually designated terrorist organizations by our State Department.
ISIS is on the march, who celebrates this?
"225th Assault Battalion "Black Swan"- 5 units BMP;- 1 tank;- a Russian running away from a disabled tank"
Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv must use diplomacy to reclaim territory, Zelenskyy says; Germany urges China to help end war
In an interview with the Japanese news agency, Kyodo News, Zelenskyy said it is difficult to reclaim some of the Russian occupied parts of his country by force, including the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as things stand.
“Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” Zelenskyy said. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.”
He stressed that such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough” to prevent Russia from launching new aggression against Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s comments indicate a shift away from his long-held stance that his country will fight to regain all territory seized by Russia.
Zelenskyy has called on the outgoing Biden administration to help convince Nato members to invite Ukraine to join the alliance, as Russia continues to make battlefield gains. He said the conflict has entered a “complicated period”.
In October, he revealed a so-called victory plan, which contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.
www.theguardian.com
Ukraine must find diplomatic solutions to retake occupied territory, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that retaking parts of Ukrainian territory may have to be achieved through diplomatic means, rather than military force.In an interview with the Japanese news agency, Kyodo News, Zelenskyy said it is difficult to reclaim some of the Russian occupied parts of his country by force, including the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as things stand.
“Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” Zelenskyy said. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.”
He stressed that such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough” to prevent Russia from launching new aggression against Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s comments indicate a shift away from his long-held stance that his country will fight to regain all territory seized by Russia.
Zelenskyy has called on the outgoing Biden administration to help convince Nato members to invite Ukraine to join the alliance, as Russia continues to make battlefield gains. He said the conflict has entered a “complicated period”.
In October, he revealed a so-called victory plan, which contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.
Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv must use diplomacy to reclaim territory, Zelenskyy says; Germany urges China to help end war
Ukraine president says Ukraine army lacks strength to retake occupied parts of his country by force; Annalena Baerbock wary of Beijing’s support for Moscow
"Norway is sending approximately 100 soldiers, NASAMS air defence systems, and F-35 fighter jets. The mission will take place between December and Easter, and will operate within Polish airspace. Various NATO allies take turns in providing Poland with such protection."
As someone that doesn’t follow this thread closely. Is it safe to say it’s a war of attrition. And that Russia seems to be better at finding people willing or unwilling to die. That their country doesn’t mind losing.
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Western Europe gets it, and is preparing for a future with a wobbly Trump.
Kellogg should be asked how many times the US ceded sovereign land to an aggressor? Or, how many times ceding territory to a hostile aggressor led to lasting peace?
This simply cannot be sustained by Russia, especially with the downward pressure on oil and gas.
Interesting read about the rise of alcohol consumption in Russia, partly fueled by the war. Lots of survivors of Putin's folly are coming home to binge drink. Alcoholism, war deaths, and a drop in the birth rate will have long lasting consequences for Russia.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...010 and 2021, the,the figure rising to 54,200.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...010 and 2021, the,the figure rising to 54,200.
I suspect the recent changes regarding negotiations is a combination of trump coming in and Ukraine losing ground faster than before.
On the other hand,
" Nato chief warns Donald Trump of ‘dire threat’ to US if Ukraine pushed into bad peace deal. Mark Rutte says risks to America will increase if China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are empowered."
On the other hand,
" Nato chief warns Donald Trump of ‘dire threat’ to US if Ukraine pushed into bad peace deal. Mark Rutte says risks to America will increase if China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are empowered."
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Erin Burnett from CNN continues to do solid reporting on Ukraine. Putin facing huge casualties in Ukraine, serious territorial losses in Syria, and major economic concerns at home. But he does have Trump.
Read up the Soviet-Finnish Winter War and eventual Treaty of Peace with Finland, 1947.
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Running out of Ukrainians is another ingredient in what you see baking.
Biggest question is whether the final deal is worse than what was on the table in April '22.
You’d love that, wouldn’t you?
Nope.
I hate this whole thing happened.
I'm not part of the tiny coterie that profits from this misery ever having happened, or being extended.
You probably aren't either, we'll just pay.
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And most likely hundreds of thousands more dead people to throw at war.
"On 18th November, hours after two communication cables were severed in the Baltic Sea, 30 NATO vessels and 4,000 military personnel took to the same body of water for one of northern Europe’s largest naval exercises.
The 12-day ‘Freezing Winds’ drill was part of a push to step up the transatlantic defence alliance’s protection of infrastructure in waters that carry 15% of global shipping traffic and are seen as increasingly vulnerable to attack.
The Baltic Sea is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia. There have been at least three incidents of possible sabotage to the 40-odd telecommunication cables and critical gas pipelines that run along its relatively shallow seabed since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“NATO is stepping up patrols, … allies are investing in innovative technologies that can help better secure these assets,” said Commander Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesperson for NATO’s Allied Maritime Command.
Yet the ease with which a ship’s anchor can slice through a cable, coupled with the often-treacherous sea conditions, makes actual prevention of such attacks almost impossible." (more)
https://bharatshakti.in/nato-steps-up-efforts-to-secure-the-baltic-sea/
Ukraine war briefing: Nato invitation highly unlikely at this stage, say diplomats
- Nato is highly unlikely to heed Ukraine’s call for a membership invitation at a meeting on Tuesday, diplomats have told the Reuters news agency. “It will take weeks and months to get consensus,” a senior Nato diplomat said on Monday, Reuters reported. “I don’t see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised.” The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will be in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday for the probably last high-level Nato foreign ministers’ meeting before Donald Trump takes over from Joe Biden as president.
- In a letter to his Nato counterparts ahead of the meeting, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said an invitation would remove one of Russia’s main arguments for waging its war – namely, preventing Ukraine from joining the alliance. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has started pushing in recent days for the free part of Ukraine to be placed under the “Nato umbrella” to end the fighting, saying he would then seek the return of Russian-occupied territory through diplomatic means.
- The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Monday that stepping up support for Ukraine was essential to put it in the strongest position for peace talks as he conceded in the clearest terms that there could be a negotiated end to the war. “We must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes … to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future.” Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s upper legislative house, said on Monday in a pro-Kremlin newspaper that she expects Russian-Ukrainian peace talks next year.
- An overnight attack by Russia targeted energy facilities in Ukraine’s western Rivne and Ternopil regions, local officials said on Tuesday morning. The head of Ternopil’s regional defence headquarters, Serhiy Nadal, said a drone struck an energy facility, leaving part of the city without power. The Rivne governor, Oleksandr Koval, said emergency services were working on site and reported no casualties. It comes after one person was killed and several were wounded on Monday in a Russian drone attack on Ternopil. A week ago, power across much of the Ternopil region was lost in Russia’s largest ever drone attack on Ukraine.
- The US and Ukrainian defence chiefs on Monday discussed Russia’s use of new ballistic missiles, preparations for the next meeting of arms donors and plans for Washington’s military aid next year, both sides said. The meeting came as the US said it will send Kyiv another $725m of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons. The Ukrainian defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said the call also focused on “strategic planning for 2025, particularly regarding the supply of weapons, equipment, and equipping of our units”. Umerov said he and the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, discussed preparations for an upcoming meeting of the Ramstein group, an alliance of Nato, the European Union and countries that have supported Kyiv.
- A Ukrainian military spokesperson told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that Russia has fired at least 60 North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles during the war. “Their accuracy, in principle, is not very high. We understand that the technology with which they were manufactured is outdated,” said Andrii Cherniak, answering questions about the likelihood of Russia’s use of KN-23 ballistic missiles.
- Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, warned her Chinese counterpart that Beijing’s support for Moscow would impact ties and instead urged China to help end the war in Ukraine. “The Russian president is not only destroying our European peace order through his war against Ukraine, but is now dragging Asia into it via North Korea,” she told a press briefing. “My Chinese counterpart and I have therefore discussed in depth that this cannot be in China’s interest either.”
- Swiss parliamentarians voted on Monday to significantly restrict access to a special temporary protection status granted to Ukrainians since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The lower house accepted, with 96 votes in favour and 87 opposed, a motion from the hard-right Swiss People’s party (SVP) tightening the requirements for Ukrainians seeking special protection in Switzerland, after a similar vote by the upper house earlier this year. A second motion which passed 120-60, will make it easier to crack down on abuses in the system. Switzerland’s government opposed both motions and has said that it will not lift the status until there is lasting stability in Ukraine, and that it is expected to remain in place until at least March 2026.
Ukraine war briefing: Nato invitation highly unlikely at this stage, say diplomats
Nato foreign ministers to hold likely last meeting before Trump returns to presidency; talk of peace negotiations rumbles on. What we know on day 1,014
One thing I hope the ATAACMS are being used for is to hammer forward air bases used by helicopter and ground attack aircraft.
Add in the collapsing Russian economy and we have the makings of a negotiated settlement on the horizon...
I pray that Ukraine can outlast Russia. If the stories about Putin not being seen in awhile are true maybe there is even more hope.
