News Forum - Ukraine’s Zelensky defies Russia’s ultimatum to lay down weapons

[oldschooler]

2 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

Its all going wrong aint it Fanta. Your boy Czar Putin simply bit off more than he can chew.

It was all supposed to be so easy. Capture Kyiv within 48 hours and set up a puppet regime. Big fail.

Then you claimed that was all a feint and the real attack was in the south. Making massive gains there aint they. Indeed they are getting pushed back. Ukrainian forces no driving towards Kherson (as I predicted). After that they will drive towards the Crimea and hold the land bridges there.

In the south east they will drive towards Mariupol. Huge number of Russian troops now trapped with no resupply and no help to the west of that city. Hemmed in by the sea and the river Dnieper. 

Over on the having cleared Kharkiv expect them to keep driving east threatening to isolate even more Russian thugs around Izyum. 

After that its virtually all over. Oh but hypersonic missiles and stuff will save the day!

Those things seem to be about as accurate as one of your posts.  

Send in the human waves of pot- bellied arctic border guards & untrained bewildered conscripts. Surely these patriots will turn the tide ?NOT

[EdwardV]

Russia threatens Finland: 

 

Russia again tried to warn Finland against joining NATO as the northern European state moves ever closer to joining the alliance. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Finland joining is "definitely" a threat to Russia, The Guardian reported. And Russia's foreign ministry said in a Thursday statement that "Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security arising in this regard." Russia's comments come after Finland's president and prime minister said in a joint statement on Thursday that they definitely want their country to join NATO, and want the application to be made as soon as possible.

Russia said Finland joining NATO is 'definitely' a threat and warned it would retaliate as the country moves ever closer to membership (msn.com)

Retaliatory steps what a joke. There isn't anything Russia can do. Send more troops to the border? Never mind Russia doesn't have any extras, otherwise they would be in Ukraine already. What would more troops at the border do to change Finland's mind? How about nukes (Russia's favorite playing card) in the Baltic? Oh that's right they already exist in Kaliningrad. I guess they have no other choice but to bitch and complain. Is there anything about this invasion that hasn't backfired on Russia? 

 

[EdwardV]

Looks like Ukraine might have hit another one:

Ukraine intel says #Ukrainian forces have struck another #Russian ship – recently acquired logistics ship of project 23120, either Vsevolod Bobrov or Elbrus caught fire on way to Snake Island, needs “major repairs”, posted a user on Twitter.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/05/12/breaking-news-russian-logistics-ship-vsevolod-bobrov-catches-fire-at-sea/
 

The Russian’s claim a fire mysteriously broke out and the ship just happen to be near snake island when it happened. 

[Fanta]

3 hours ago, EdwardV said:

The Russian’s claim a fire mysteriously broke out and the ship just happen to be near snake island when it happened

They really should ban smoking on those Russian tugboats. They’re more flammable than an oil rig. 

[EdwardV]

Russia takes it on the chin in Donbas, loses most of a battalion in a failed river crossing: 

 

Speaking about the moment the Severodonetsk ambush took place, Maxim said: 'Roughly 20 minutes after recon unit confirmed the Russian bridge was being mounted, heavy artillery engaged against Russian forces, and then aviation chipped in as well. I was still in the area, and I have never seen or heard such heavy combat in my life. 'After one day of combat, 9th May morning the bridge was down. Some Russian forces - roughly 30 to 50 vehicles and infantry - were stuck on the Ukrainian side of the river with no way back. They tried to run away using the broken bridge. Then they tried to arrange a new bridge. 'Aviation started heavy bombing of the area and it destroyed all the remains of Russians there, and the other bridge they tried to make. Rumors say it's 1,500 Russian dead. Their strategic objective was to cross the river and then encircle Lysychansk. They miserably failed.' Russian troop losses in the bombardment are almost impossible to estimate, but online observers have so-far counted 58 destroyed vehicles including at least seven tanks and dozens of armoured infantry carriers. At least one tugboat appears to have been wiped out, along with two pontoon bridges left floating in the river with shell-holes visible in the top of them.

Ukraine war: Russia suffers heavy losses in failed Donbas river crossing | Daily Mail Online

There are several pictures in article, pretty brutal. Wait "aviation"? I thought Russia shot down all the Ukrainian planes?  

 

 

[Fanta]

7 hours ago, Poop said:

Peoples attitudes in the eastern parts of Ukraine are now finding that Putin resulted in a never ending war, killed their sons and destroyed their homes and livelihood. 

The Donbas region has been in a state of war for at least the last 8 years. Attitudes were cemented long ago and many may view the Russian’s arrival with at least hope that the conflict there will end, if only for a while. You should look up a language map of Ukraine and if you correlate support for Russia with language usage you might learn something surprising. Unlike others I don’t claim to know how the affected Ukrainian people think or the politics that led up to this. The conflict in Donbas does beg the question why Russia is so keen to take those areas as it is not as if it needs more land or a war ravaged region to rebuild. Your “rounding up the traitors” and “very patriotic” comments are disturbing for anyone that enjoys freedom of speech and democracy.

[Fanta]

7 hours ago, EdwardV said:

Russian forces are slowing being pushed out of the Kharkiv area to the other side of the border: 

I found an option to view the progress of the Russian invasion to date. Go to https://liveuamap.com and click the Clock icon in the top menu bar, then click a date and an event and then go to map. Doing this every couple of weeks shows alarmingly fast progress at the beginning but a distinct slowdown over the last 2 weeks. That’s to be expected in Donbas but not so much in the north-east. 

[Fanta]

39 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

Wait "aviation"? I thought Russia shot down all the Ukrainian planes?  

Aviation as in those drones perhaps? Or maybe those cunning Ukrainians rebuilt their Air Force from the boxes of nuts and bolts the US recently sent. 

[EdwardV]

 

When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks. The unit, stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces. “It soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. Many of us simply did not want to go back,” said Dmitri, a member of the unit who asked not to be identified with his real name. “I want to return to my family – and not in a casket.” Along with eight others, Dmitri told his commanders that he refused to rejoin the invasion. “They were furious. But they eventually calmed down because there wasn’t much they could do,” he said. He was soon transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border with Ukraine, where he has been stationed since. “I have served for five years in the army. My contract ends in June. I will serve my remaining time and then I am out of here,” he said. “I have nothing to be ashamed of. We aren’t officially in a state of war, so they could not force me to go.”

While the exact number of soldiers refusing to fight remains unclear, such stories illustrate what military experts and western governments say is one of Russia’s biggest obstacles in Ukraine: a severe shortage of infantry soldiers. Moscow initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces – 150,000 men – into the war in February, according to western officials. But significant damage has been done to that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance. “Putin needs to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst. “Russia lacks sufficient ground units with contract soldiers for a sustainable rotation. The troops are getting exhausted – they won’t be able to keep this up for a long period.”Lee said one option for the Kremlin would be to authorise the deployment of conscript units to Ukraine, despite Putin’s earlier pledges that Russia would not use any conscripts in the war. “Conscripts could fill some of the gaps, but they will be poorly trained. Many of the units that are supposed to train conscripts are fighting themselves,” Lee said.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/12/they-were-furious-the-russian-soldiers-refusing-to-fight-in-ukraine
 

interesting to say the least. 

[Fanta]

10 hours ago, vlad said:

how do you delete a video ?

Report your post to the mods and they can do it.

[Fanta]

41 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

“Putin needs to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst

This again. Conscripts to rebuild a shattered army…. sigh…Where is the footage of 1,000s of Russian POWs and wounded or at least a few hundred deserters? Where is the footage of the 1,000s of Russian dead? The Ukrainian priests of propaganda would be “accidentally” leaking these and more with glee if they existed. I am surprised the remnants of the Ukrainian phone system isn’t overwhelmed by compassionate Ukrainian soldiers calling Russian mothers to tell them their sons had died. 

[EdwardV]

39 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Where is the footage of 1,000s of Russian POWs and wounded or at least a few hundred deserters? Where is the footage of the 1,000s of Russian dead?

Well besides the fact western media try’s to not show dead bodies. It’s not really that hard to find plenty of pictures of dead Russian soldiers. You do realize when Russian tanks and AFVs brew up, they vaporize the crew right? Whatever is left wouldn’t be something the media is going to show. POWs? Didn’t Ukraine get in a lot of trouble over that? No doubt why we don’t see many anymore. Last it’s been well documented the Russians don’t retrieve their dead. Can’t have Russian TV showing funerals, doesn’t fit with the storyline. 
 

I didn’t write the story, although there are more of them if you want to see. 

[birdman]

For this illegal war or against it,there are some very interesting things going on.

Putin uses the argument that he does not want a Nato member next to Russia.

I said before that if he invades all of the Ukraine he will have moved his on borders

closer to Nato but he probably wanted to be able to use the Ukraine as a buffer so a war

would not have to be fought in Russia it self.

He made a few more assumptions that proved to be wrong and even backfired on him.

Now that Finland is going to be  a Nato member real soon Putin has effectively created

a new very long border with Nato .

A very well armed border i may add.

If Putin decides to move part of his army to the Finnish border he will have to withdraw troops from elsewhere.

That is not looking good for him.

I hope and believe Putin is running out of options,he is also losing support inside of Russia.

If he does not come up with something smart really soon he will be removed from the inside?

[Fanta]

10 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

I didn’t write the story, although there are more of them if you want to see. 

I am sure there are plenty more stories like that. Don’t get me wrong, any step backwards for Russia is a good step. My point is that these stories all feed the narrative that Russia is getting absolutely hammered and imply that they want to conquer Ukraine in it’s entirety. I don’t buy that story for many reasons. I think Russia will take Donbas, do a role call, visit cnn.com to check their popularity rating and then trundle off back home. Mission failed successfully. 

[Fanta]

22 minutes ago, birdman said:

Putin uses the argument that he does not want a Nato member next to Russia.

Putin used a few arguments to justify his invasions. The oft stated NATO argument is the easiest to dispute so it gets the most press. There is the neo Nazi, liberating Donbas and demilitarizing Ukraine arguments.  The rest of your post explains, to me, why Putin’s goal is not to conquer and occupy Ukraine. 

[Rookiescot]

26 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Putin used a few arguments to justify his invasions. The oft stated NATO argument is the easiest to dispute so it gets the most press. There is the neo Nazi, liberating Donbas and demilitarizing Ukraine arguments.  The rest of your post explains, to me, why Putin’s goal is not to conquer and occupy Ukraine. 

Which neo Nazis? The Wagner group? They are Czar Putins private army. 

Ah yeah lets free Donbass by shelling cities and killing civilians. They should feel really liberated after that.

Its Russia thats getting demilitarized. The Ukraine is being supplied by the west.

Czar Putins goal is NO LONGER to conquer the Ukraine since he got his ass kicked at Kyiv. His goal now is a much smaller conquer the Donbass so he can sell the entire thing as a victory to the Russian people. Except thats not going well either.

[Poop]

 Fanboy Putin says - Unlike others I don’t claim to know how the affected Ukrainian people think or the politics that led up to this.

I have family in the Donbass so the reality of the situation is you are the one making up opinions of whatever is pro Putin while I actually have knowledge of what is really going on. I know it is your opinion that a language map explains everything but as usual you are clueless. Peoples attitudes in that region used to be very pro Russian but that is no longer the case....

Fanboy Putin said - Your “rounding up the traitors” and “very patriotic” comments are disturbing for anyone that enjoys freedom of speech and democracy.

Hate to break it to you Fanboy but Democracies have police. They also have intelligence agencies. And the reason is because countries like Russia love to place spies, buy off locals or get insurgents working against a government to achieve their war criminal objectives.  The US did not catch the perpetrators of 911 in time but that is what happens when you do not round them up. Many innocent die.... Everyone in my country does not want Russian or Chinese spies for that matter running amuck so ya we have government agencies to protect the people and I am glad we do. Ukraine rounding up traitors is necessary though I know you hate to see it happen because it is getting harder and harder for Putin to find spies to help him infiltrate the country and accomplish his war criminal activity. Why do you think Putin is failing? War is not just about boots on the ground but there is also an intelligence war going on as well.  Russia is actively trying to wreck Ukraine from within and Ukraine is doing the opposite by rooting out these spies and traitors to prevent that. The reality of what is really disturbing for you is Ukraine winning the war so you will say anything to try to prevent that from happening.  Please post intelligent comments and grow up....

[Rookiescot]

19 minutes ago, Fanta said:

/username checks out. Call babushka and tell her to go see those misguided separatists and give them a good talking to. They’ll see the error of their ways and switch sides. War over! Get to it Internet warrior and save some lives!

ps: your mascara is running

Your argument about a common language being indicative of someones wants regarding citizenship are feeble.

Look at how many countries left the British empire. Now most of them speak English. It did not mean they want to be British.

[Fanta]

19 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Look at how many countries left the British empire. Now most of them speak English. It did not mean they want to be British.

 Valid point. As I have previously stated I neither understand nor particularly care about the politics involved. Why do you think the 7+ year long war in the Donbas region started and still continues? (because Putin is a bad man is not an answer).

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

[Rookiescot]

8 minutes ago, Fanta said:

 Valid point. As I have previously stated I neither understand nor particularly care about the politics involved. Why do you think the 7+ year long war in the Donbas region started and still continues? (because Putin is a bad man is not an answer).

Because it was only ever a very small part of the Donbass region and it was encouraged, financed and equipped by Czar Putin. Evidently it suited his purposes as he now points at the whole of the Donbass and claims he is "liberating" it. If the people who lived there wanted to be part of Russia the whole region would have been in revolt not just a tiny part of it next to the Russian border.

And to my knowledge the people in that tiny part of Donbass have never been asked which country they wanted to be part of.

[Fanta]

18 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Because it was only ever a very small part of the Donbass region and it was encouraged, financed and equipped by Czar Putin. Evidently it suited his purposes as he now points at the whole of the Donbass and claims he is "liberating" it. If the people who lived there wanted to be part of Russia the whole region would have been in revolt not just a tiny part of it next to the Russian border.

And to my knowledge the people in that tiny part of Donbass have never been asked which country they wanted to be part of.

Tiny part? You are confusing the city names with the regional names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas 

[vlad]

15 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Because it was only ever a very small part of the Donbass region and it was encouraged, financed and equipped by Czar Putin. Evidently it suited his purposes as he now points at the whole of the Donbass and claims he is "liberating" it. If the people who lived there wanted to be part of Russia the whole region would have been in revolt not just a tiny part of it next to the Russian border.

And to my knowledge the people in that tiny part of Donbass have never been asked which country they wanted to be part of.

Today a war criminal will be in front of a Ukrainian court for war crimes. A 21yr old Tank Commander Vadim Shysimarin is charged with shooting a 62yr old Ukrainian  Civilian. There are currently over 11,000 cases already lodged against the Russian Army for war crimes committed in Ukraine. If you want the link to this i will supply it. 

[vlad]

8 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Tiny part? You are confusing the city names with the regional names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas 

How can Putin celebrate liberating Mariupol? no one can live there.

[Rookiescot]

8 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Tiny part? You are confusing the city names with the regional names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas 

Oh good grief here we go with the semantics again.

OK the Russian supporting terrorists controled less than half of the Region of Donbass.

[Fanta]

7 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Oh good grief here we go with the semantics again.

OK the Russian supporting terrorists controled less than half of the Region of Donbass.

Semantics - the study of reference, meaning, or truth.
I see you clicked the links.  Learning some thing every day. Well done!
I also wonder why Ukraine never held a referendum. Russian referendums are dismissed as coerced so that explains your point of view. I don’t know. I’ll leave that for others to debate. I wonder how babushka is getting along….