There was a link a page or two ago to a story where a female Ukrainian soldier is on a goodwill tour. She is presenting members of congress and media with coins with an American flag engraved into them, made out of melted Russian armor destroyed in the kharkiv counteroffensive. Brilliant marketing. Beautiful symbolism. I’m not saying they are insincere but they play an impeccable PR game. Slava Ukraine.
Replying to myself - that would bring our aid so far to to about $30B, which is 5 - 6 times their annual defense budget. Just proud and happy we have the wherewithal to help see this through. And if need be, if we train them up, there is probably 100s of billions of dollars of additional and WAY better equipment we can “loan” them.U.S. Congress negotiators set nearly $12 bln in new Ukraine aid -sources
Negotiators of a stop-gap spending bill in the U.S. Congress have agreed to include nearly $12 billion in new military and economic aid to Ukraine, sources familiar with the talks said on Monday, reflecting continued bipartisan support for the Kyiv government in the wake of Russia's invasion.www.reuters.com
I think the Ukrainian defense minister said that if Ukraine was given 500 tanks, 1000 armored IFV/SPG, and aircraft, they could retake all of their territory in a month. Biden/Scholz etc keep saying that would be "escalatory." Well, "escalatory" is exactly what you call this referendum/annexation bs.Heavy-Hitting American Tanks Are ‘On the Table’ for Ukraine’s Army
The move would reflect a major change of policy, buoyed by Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in the east.www.yahoo.com
Some form of that is probably happening - at least some transfer of knowledge regarding our weapons to prep for transfer of weapons…
Another huge day for dead soldiers, tanks and APCs.
If those are east Ukraine DPR idiots being used as target practice, incredible neither can say “we made a mistake, Russia sucks” vs “we will see what’s next”. Further proof of how hard it is for people in a cult / nationalistic propaganda system to admit they were duped.
German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel reported that "the Nord Stream pipelines may have been damaged by targeted attacks and leaked as a result."
Die Welt, another German newspaper, reported the timing of the NS damage may suggest sabotage and was unlikely to be an accident.
" Energy analysts said it was not clear who would stand to benefit from the leaks at a time when neither line was operational. But some suspect a possible connection to the planned start-up of a new gas pipeline link between Norway — now Europe’s biggest supplier of gas — and Poland. Frederiksen is in Poland for the opening ceremony of the pipeline, which will deliver Norwegian supplies through Denmark to Poland for the first time. “The leak on Nord Stream 2 is very close to the new Baltic Pipe that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland for the first time . . . so there’s some heavy symbolism,” said Tom Marzec-Manser, at energy consultancy ICIS. “For EU gas imports it’s a new dawn for Norway and twilight for Russia.”
