US has no good options in Ukraine

[Anonymous]

Great run down in the r/worldnews subreddit:

In Ukraine

👉🆕 Ukrainian pilots have left for Poland to pick up new fighter jets

👉🆕 First truck(s) with Starlink terminals arrived in Ukraine from SpaceX and Elon Musk after Ukraine Foreign Minister requested it several days ago

👉🆕 Some Russian field rations found in Ukraine by civilians are apparently expired since 2015

👉🆕 A large part of port city Mariupol is without power after a Russian strike on a substation

👉🆕 Russian column of 96 tanks, 20 Grads and 8 fuel tracks was supposedly destroyed near Lebedyn in the Sumy area. No official confirmation. 2 tanks are also reported destroyed in Derhachi, Kharkiv

👉 Russian fuel train allegedly hit by TB-2 Bayraktar drone strike, possibly on Russian soil

👉 Headquarters of Ukrainian military intelligence GRU was confirmed hit today but officer reports it is still operational/surviving

👉 Air raid reported in Dnipro

👉 Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant confirms Russian forces are in the area but have not entered the site

👉 Ukraine's defense minister says Russian soldiers who lay down arms will get amnesty and money

👉 Repeated air raids in Kyiv as inhabitants hunker down in shelters

👉 Heavy bombardment in Kharkiv continues. At least 11 confirmed civilian deaths there today, 3 children wounded

👉 More vehicles reported to have join the long stretched out Russian convoy that is at least 20 miles from capital. Convoy is not yet moving

👉 In Kyiv the central train station and a TV station are reported to be hit by the bombardment

👉 The 400 Wagner group mercenaries sent into Kyiv to assassinate President Zelenskyy have reportedly been there in some number for a month already, some allegedly flown in from African conflict zones

👉 Heavy shelling/missile strikes of Kyiv and Kharkiv reported in the early evening

👉 Reports of Russian convoy stretched out over 17 miles with some breaks in-between groupings, 20 miles north of Kyiv

👉 U.S intelligence believes Russian forces will attempt to encircle Kyiv in coming days, reports main Russian forces in the north has only come 5km closer to Kyiv in the past 24h and also that they believe Russia still lacks air superiority

👉 Ukraine still holding Mariupol despite heavy fighting

👉 Kharkiv attacked by cluster bombs in civilian areas

👉 Chernihiv supermarkets and other civilian buildings hit by rockets

👉 At least one more successful TB-2 drone strike against a Russian convoy reported

👉 Mounting worries of food shortages in Kharkiv. Also reports from Kyiv of food quickly selling out in supermarkets

👉 Ukrainian crowds protest against occupiers in Berdyansk

👉 Mayor of Kupyansk in Kharkiv oblast arrested for treason, had cooperated with Russian occupiers

👉 More than 500,000 refugees are believed to have passed the borders with many more on the way

Politics/Diplomacy

👉🆕 The United States is expelling 12 Russian 'diplomats' at the United Nations for 'undiplomatic activities' (espionage)

👉🆕 The international criminal court in The Hague will be opening a probe into the recent allegations of warcrimes perpetrated by Russian forces

👉🆕 A NATO official today said that Article 5, the collective defense clause, could be triggered by a cyber attack on NATO

👉🆕 Canada intends to halt all imports of crude oil from Russia

👉🆕 Finnish policymakers will officially begin discussions of NATO membership tomorrow.

👉 Russia issues warning to all who supplies Ukraine with weapons to be used against Russian forces there, saying they will be held to account

👉 Turkey blocks military ships from Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits

👉 More sanctions coming against Belarus, including visa bans and asset freezes for Belarus officials. Potential SWIFT ban for Belarus to be discussed tomorrow

👉 Putin reportedly assured President Macron he'll stop strikes against civilian targets and that he'll preserve infrastructure such as roads

👉 Canada preparing a third shipment of lethal aid

👉 Czech officials announced arrival of lethal aid shipment safely into hands of defenders

👉 Negotiations held on border of Belarus completed for the day. Delegates withdrawing to their respective capitals for consultations before new round of negotiations may begin in the coming days. Next round to be held on Polish/Belarus border

👉 President Zelenskyy has signed an application for joining the E.U and will ask for fast tracking

👉 U.K confirms yesterday's deliberations, Russian ships now banned from their ports

👉 36 countries close airspace to Russian planes

👉 U.S closes embassy in Belarus, also advises all U.S citizens to leave Russia

👉 Finland to send arms. 2500 assault rifles with 150k rounds, 1500 anti-tank weapons, 2000 helmets, 2000 body armour and 75k combat field rations

👉 Italy pledges arms and relief aid, with details to come

👉 Norway to send 2000 M72 anti-tank weapons

👉 EU orders its Satellite Centre (SatCen) in Madrid to report Russian troop movements directly to Ukrainian armed forces

Financial

👉🆕 The Guardian correspondents in Moscow report in an article that Russian economy face economic point of no return and that 'the damage is done'

👉 Monaco freezes Russian assets and imposes sanctions

👉 Russian bank ATMs reportedly emptied of foreign currency

👉 The Russian Central Bank issued a statement saying that Moscow stock exchange will remain closed on Tuesday as well

👉 NASDAQ/NYSE halts trading of all Russia-based companies

👉 Ukraine set to auction war bonds to fund armed forces

👉 Ruble crashed up to 31% during height of trading

👉 Russian interest rates hiked from 9.5% to 20%

👉 JP Morgan analysts think Russian economy will contract by a fifth during second quarter

👉 U.S freeze on Russian central bank funds, affecting their foreign currency reserve

👉 Canada joins U.S in stepping up sanctions, bans all Canadian financial institutions from transacting with Russia's central bank

👉 Switzerland joins EU/US sanctions, supports the full package

👉 Trading in several Russian stocks temporarily halted on NYSE/NASDAQ

Other notable events

👉🆕 Pentagon says in a press briefing that it cannot verify the survival of the Snake Island 13

👉🆕 Governor of Texas asked retailers to pull all Russia made products pulled from shelves the other day, many are now doing so

👉🆕 Analysis by CNA in a Washington Post article points out that while Russian logistical problems are extensive, it in no way spells the doom of the invasion

👉 At least four superyachts owned by oligarchs are on the move to escape impending asset seizures, purportedly headed to Maldives and Montenegro

👉 BP (British Petroleum) joins Shell in exiting partnership/investments with Gazprom and other Russian oil & gas companies

👉 Canada joins other countries in pulling all Russia made liquor from stores

👉 Twitter marking more accounts as "Russia state-affiliated media". Several such accounts seen complaining on Twitter

👉 Russia claims only officers and contracted soldiers participating in conflict, no conscripts

👉 Belarusian Army convoys moving near border, marked with red squares on vehicles. U.S defense officials say they see no indication that Belarus forces will join the conflict

👉 Shipping giant Maersk considers suspending Russian container shipping

👉 Putin lost his black belt in Taekwondo

👉 International Olympic Committee wishes to stop all Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions, implores member countries to not invite them

👉 Finnish poll results historic, majority of population now in favour of joining NATO

👉 Greece's Prime Minister posts statement of solidarity with Ukraine, welcomes idea of Ukraine joining EU

👉 U.S General suggests on CNBC that Russian logistics may be overwhelmed/insufficient, could limit operative abilities to less than a week

👉 Ukrainian civilians upload TikTok videos on how to operate captured or abandoned Russian vehicles

👉 FIFA and UEFA suspend Russian teams and clubs from international soccer

👉 Shell will exit its equity partnership with Gazprom entities and end its involvement in Nord Stream 2 pipeline

👉 Both Facebook and Twitter has removed disinformation accounts purporting to be Ukrainian officials

👉 Finnish and Swedish alcohol stores reportedly stopping sales of all Russia made liquor

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/t3pr7i/comment/hytt003/

[Anonymous]

I don't get the 17 mile convoy. Can't Ukraine just take out the road and there is a huge backup?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zelenskyy is my hero. Putin would have taken the ride.

He is your hero as long as Russia doesn't aim their missiles towards the US.. Or as long as they don't target your area with the massive cyber attacks to make it uninhabitable for a while. Once your kids are cold and hungry, we will see how you will cheer foreign officials bravery that may drag us into a war we were trying to avoid for many decades. I will admire from afar.. as long as we don't get deeply involved

Frankly, I would die for Ukraine (I live in DC). So yes, I stand with Zelensky against insane bully monsters. They must go even if I die.

Great, I will buy you a one way ticket so that you could go die for Ukraine I am not willing to even lose a finger for them if it means that our country will be attacked and we have to live under the shadow of constant extermination threat. why do we care about this country so much more than other horrible places we had abandoned and condemned their residents to tortuous lives (hello, Afganistan?) Is this because you are more likely to die for European white people, because it's ok for brown people to suffer all over the world? You are all hypocrites.

DP. Are you asking why anyone in the US cares about Ukraine? We don't especially care about Ukraine. We care about Putin and his aggression.

Zelensky, whatever his imperfections, is doing a great job as a war president. He's not my hero, but I can admit that he's admirable. And if Putin starts launching nukes at DC, it won't be because Zelensky is charismatic. It will be because Putin is an insane idiot who went nuts during the pandemic.

He is dragging other countries into his war, he said he wants volunteers from other countries. Fine, but I am sorry, it's not OUR war. USA has no business going into a full blown war with a nuclear power to save another "democracy" that had its own basket of problems all these years and in fact, had a civil war type of situation in its eastern parts for a while now. This wasn't our business then and it's not our business now. We shouldn't go beyond sanctions and humanitarian aid for the citizens of Ukraine and trying to save innocent civilians from this situation. If we stick to this and don't send troops beyond civilian evacuation asistance, if we don't threaten any military action or cyber attacks, I think we'll be fine. I doubt Russians want their country flattened. Even if we have more power to flatten them first, they have enough to flatten some of our cities too, this isn't giving me warm fuzzies. There are 3 countries that would be totally idiotic for us to get into war with: Russia, China, North Korea. You cannot console yourself with the citizens of these countries trying to control their despots, we have to be more diplomatically savvy and avoid direct conflict. The end.

This is a great scenario for the 2A "freedom fighters" to go in and show us how it's done. Show us that you are fighting FOR democracy and not against it.

The idiot MAGAs will go over and join the Russian side.

Where are our resident 2A advocates?

You wouldn't fight for Putin, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the 17 mile convoy. Can't Ukraine just take out the road and there is a huge backup?

I don't understand this either. They should be strafing that convoy nonstop with Ukrainian fighter jets and drone bombings.

I think the thermobaric rockets are part of the convoy, so it's extremely important that the convoy is destroyed. Those rockets have a very short range - only 6km or so. They need to get quite close to Kyiv to use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zelenskyy is my hero. Putin would have taken the ride.

He is your hero as long as Russia doesn't aim their missiles towards the US.. Or as long as they don't target your area with the massive cyber attacks to make it uninhabitable for a while. Once your kids are cold and hungry, we will see how you will cheer foreign officials bravery that may drag us into a war we were trying to avoid for many decades. I will admire from afar.. as long as we don't get deeply involved

Frankly, I would die for Ukraine (I live in DC). So yes, I stand with Zelensky against insane bully monsters. They must go even if I die.

Great, I will buy you a one way ticket so that you could go die for Ukraine I am not willing to even lose a finger for them if it means that our country will be attacked and we have to live under the shadow of constant extermination threat. why do we care about this country so much more than other horrible places we had abandoned and condemned their residents to tortuous lives (hello, Afganistan?) Is this because you are more likely to die for European white people, because it's ok for brown people to suffer all over the world? You are all hypocrites.

DP. Are you asking why anyone in the US cares about Ukraine? We don't especially care about Ukraine. We care about Putin and his aggression.

Zelensky, whatever his imperfections, is doing a great job as a war president. He's not my hero, but I can admit that he's admirable. And if Putin starts launching nukes at DC, it won't be because Zelensky is charismatic. It will be because Putin is an insane idiot who went nuts during the pandemic.

He is dragging other countries into his war, he said he wants volunteers from other countries. Fine, but I am sorry, it's not OUR war. USA has no business going into a full blown war with a nuclear power to save another "democracy" that had its own basket of problems all these years and in fact, had a civil war type of situation in its eastern parts for a while now. This wasn't our business then and it's not our business now. We shouldn't go beyond sanctions and humanitarian aid for the citizens of Ukraine and trying to save innocent civilians from this situation. If we stick to this and don't send troops beyond civilian evacuation asistance, if we don't threaten any military action or cyber attacks, I think we'll be fine. I doubt Russians want their country flattened. Even if we have more power to flatten them first, they have enough to flatten some of our cities too, this isn't giving me warm fuzzies. There are 3 countries that would be totally idiotic for us to get into war with: Russia, China, North Korea. You cannot console yourself with the citizens of these countries trying to control their despots, we have to be more diplomatically savvy and avoid direct conflict. The end.

I'm glad other countries didn't have your attitude when the US was fighting for their freedom from the British.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Russian soldiers admitting war crimes to their mamas back home. Ooops, he wasn't supposed to have his phone!

Absolutely heartbreaking. These soldiers are victims as well. I hope the Moscow Monster gets his just deserts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zelenskyy is my hero. Putin would have taken the ride.

He is your hero as long as Russia doesn't aim their missiles towards the US.. Or as long as they don't target your area with the massive cyber attacks to make it uninhabitable for a while. Once your kids are cold and hungry, we will see how you will cheer foreign officials bravery that may drag us into a war we were trying to avoid for many decades. I will admire from afar.. as long as we don't get deeply involved

Frankly, I would die for Ukraine (I live in DC). So yes, I stand with Zelensky against insane bully monsters. They must go even if I die.

Great, I will buy you a one way ticket so that you could go die for Ukraine I am not willing to even lose a finger for them if it means that our country will be attacked and we have to live under the shadow of constant extermination threat. why do we care about this country so much more than other horrible places we had abandoned and condemned their residents to tortuous lives (hello, Afganistan?) Is this because you are more likely to die for European white people, because it's ok for brown people to suffer all over the world? You are all hypocrites.

DP. Are you asking why anyone in the US cares about Ukraine? We don't especially care about Ukraine. We care about Putin and his aggression.

Zelensky, whatever his imperfections, is doing a great job as a war president. He's not my hero, but I can admit that he's admirable. And if Putin starts launching nukes at DC, it won't be because Zelensky is charismatic. It will be because Putin is an insane idiot who went nuts during the pandemic.

He is dragging other countries into his war, he said he wants volunteers from other countries. Fine, but I am sorry, it's not OUR war. USA has no business going into a full blown war with a nuclear power to save another "democracy" that had its own basket of problems all these years and in fact, had a civil war type of situation in its eastern parts for a while now. This wasn't our business then and it's not our business now. We shouldn't go beyond sanctions and humanitarian aid for the citizens of Ukraine and trying to save innocent civilians from this situation. If we stick to this and don't send troops beyond civilian evacuation asistance, if we don't threaten any military action or cyber attacks, I think we'll be fine. I doubt Russians want their country flattened. Even if we have more power to flatten them first, they have enough to flatten some of our cities too, this isn't giving me warm fuzzies. There are 3 countries that would be totally idiotic for us to get into war with: Russia, China, North Korea. You cannot console yourself with the citizens of these countries trying to control their despots, we have to be more diplomatically savvy and avoid direct conflict. The end.

I'm glad other countries didn't have your attitude when the US was fighting for their freedom from the British.

You are aware King George III didn’t have nukes, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So Russia has hypersonic missiles that fly at 8 times the speed of sound. And the US doesn't have hypersonic weapons?

We for example have 400 nuclear-tipped LGM-30 Minuteman III ICBMs which fly at 23 times the speed of sound.

No. Our own military admits that Russian hypersonic technology is superior to ours.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-vladimir-putin-hypersonic-missiles-weapons-u-s-tsirkon-1655789

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russian soldiers admitting war crimes to their mamas back home. Ooops, he wasn't supposed to have his phone!

Absolutely heartbreaking. These soldiers are victims as well. I hope the Moscow Monster gets his just deserts.

This has always been the Russian war strategy throughout history: The Meat Grinder

They just keep throwing more and more men at the enemy until the enemy runs out of weapons, ammo, and food. Then the remaining Russian fighters over run the enemy. Russian military history is all about sustaining huge losses, but they eventually win the war.

Those young men were just the first wave of bodies. No real training, no food or fuel to last more than three days. Most of them had their phones taken from them by their commanders. They were lied to about the intent. They didn't figure it out until they were rolling across the Ukrainian border and taking enemy fire.

Can you imagine the shock and panic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the 17 mile convoy. Can't Ukraine just take out the road and there is a huge backup?

This is why there is a rush to match Ukrainian pilots with airplanes, of whatever provenance. Air superiority in this conflict is key, and by some miracle Russia fumbled and did not snatch it in the first few days. There is a short window of time left for Ukrainians to seize it back and annihilate the convoys before they reach key cities, kill thousands of people, including leadership, and cripple command and operational structures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Russian soldiers admitting war crimes to their mamas back home. Ooops, he wasn't supposed to have his phone!





Absolutely heartbreaking. These soldiers are victims as well. I hope the Moscow Monster gets his just deserts.



This has always been the Russian war strategy throughout history: The Meat Grinder

They just keep throwing more and more men at the enemy until the enemy runs out of weapons, ammo, and food. Then the remaining Russian fighters over run the enemy. Russian military history is all about sustaining huge losses, but they eventually win the war.

Those young men were just the first wave of bodies. No real training, no food or fuel to last more than three days. Most of them had their phones taken from them by their commanders. They were lied to about the intent. They didn't figure it out until they were rolling across the Ukrainian border and taking enemy fire.

Can you imagine the shock and panic?

No wonder Russia has always been a poor and corrupt place.

[Anonymous]

Putin is succeeding... in uniting ALL of Europe against him.

[Anonymous]

Looking at the Putin pics, I now support the theory that the pandemic, plus long-standing and worsening paranoia, have isolated this man from healthy human contact so that he's lost all sense of proportion and all capacity to accurately evaluate situations.

And that is quite dangerous for his people and the rest of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Speaking of DWTS I’ve been following Maksim Chmerkovskly’s Instagram account since Thursday and IMO it’s pretty incredible. He’s stuck in central Kyiv at a hotel and I believe was supposed to fly out Thursday but then the war started. He posts regularly.

The importance of social media from him and from anyone else in Ukraine has never been seen before during a war conflict. The entire world can see, every person with a phone becomes a journalist.

Why isn’t he fighting for his country?

[Anonymous]

Since I follow sports, what has been impressive is the Ukrainian athletes with "something to lose" who have abandoned their endeavors and joined the fight. Thinking in particular of athletes like Lomachennko (top 10 p4p boxer), Usyk (heavyweight champ), Klitschko bros (though they are politicians now), Amosov (Bellator MMA welterweight champ). These guys should be training for bigtime fights and seemingly dropped everything to fight for their country, and not from afar. This has to be invigorating for the sense of common purpose and linked fate.

I have a hard time envisioning comparable American figures stepping up like this. Usually the fighting is left to the poor enlisted. But perhaps this wouldn't be needed due to the size of our military and our general military superiority. Also, as they say, necessity is the mother of virtue, so perhaps I should give the Americans more benefit of the doubt.