Russian Invasion of Ukraine[In Progress]

[Branko]

1 - Yes, in fact there are many who openly critizice the government, even in Youtube.
2 - No, adult Ruzzian are not free to oppose Putin, that is my point, they should and that is why Ukraine should not be under the Moscow regime.
3 - No, Snowden is not free to speak because he signed off not to do so. He is a spy, so not free to divulge any information (criminal or not) he got access in that capacity.

Many in Norther Ireland would disagree and many other would not. Scotland had their referendum and many overseas territories opted for independence without any fuzz.

1. Yes, you can do it on youtube. This is what happens when you do:

https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/7/233896.pdf

Yana, victim’s wife on SBU officials:
They have beaten him to death simply. When they came — they took him away to torture him. When they brought his body back — the heels were blue, the feet were blue.
 He’s got some traces of punctures on his hands... I don’t know... what they did to him, punctured him or drove the needles under his nails — there were holes on his hands.
Each bone has a hole in it. They tortured him like... when there was a real war no one has tortured people the way they tortured him.

I guess its like Idi Amin said:

“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.”

[1714767770]

1714767770

[paxmao]

1 - Yes, in fact there are many who openly critizice the government, even in Youtube.
2 - No, adult Ruzzian are not free to oppose Putin, that is my point, they should and that is why Ukraine should not be under the Moscow regime.
3 - No, Snowden is not free to speak because he signed off not to do so. He is a spy, so not free to divulge any information (criminal or not) he got access in that capacity.

Many in Norther Ireland would disagree and many other would not. Scotland had their referendum and many overseas territories opted for independence without any fuzz.

1. Yes, you can do it on youtube. This is what happens when you do:

https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/7/233896.pdf

Yana, victim’s wife on SBU officials:
They have beaten him to death simply. When they came — they took him away to torture him. When they brought his body back — the heels were blue, the feet were blue.
 He’s got some traces of punctures on his hands... I don’t know... what they did to him, punctured him or drove the needles under his nails — there were holes on his hands.
Each bone has a hole in it. They tortured him like... when there was a real war no one has tortured people the way they tortured him.

I guess its like Idi Amin said:

“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.”

Oh, and I would believe you if I had not seen youtube channels, newspapers,... criticising the Ukrainian government, from Ukraine, with identified authors saying that Zelensky is not performing and not delivering.

Now, I read the report, which would need to be read along with the thousands of others, but it does not speak of systematic torture or state torture. Can you say honestly that filtration, torture and kidnapping are not a state policy in Ruzzia? I mean, if you want to trust eh OSCE...

https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/6/1/541623_1.pdf

Summary: The event is devoted to the presentation of the report “NINE CIRCLES OF HELL. PLACES
OF DETENTION IN UKRAINE UNDER THE RUSSIAN OCCUPATION”. In the year since Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, a constant flow of images and accounts has painted a
horrifying picture of the human rights violations and international crimes that appear to be strategies of
Russia’s war.

The report covers a wide range of places of detention, notably
penitentiary institutions (correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers), police establishments and
social and healthcare institutions. In addition, it covers unofficial places of detention such as makeshift
torture chambers. Within these places of detention, the report documents numerous violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law, including torture and other inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, wilful killings and military strikes. Building on 725 documented episodes, the
report outlines key patterns and trends.

I am sure you understand what means "pattern", but just in case, it means many similar cases pointing to a common cause.

You are trying to make look the same things that are simply not the same. The level of freedom of speech in the west is 1000 times higher than in Ruzzia, or China or under any of your favourite dictators. It simply goes with the system - a dictatorship is weak by definition because it usually can only be ended by violence or death (with rare exceptions), so "speaking" puts the guy at risk of death. In participative systems, change IS the system, so speaking about change is everyday.

[suchmoon]

if you want to trust eh OSCE...

The report that Branko linked to is not an OSCE report... it was done by a Russian propaganda outfit "The Foundation for the Study of Democracy".

Typical Kremlin trollfuckery, prepare some powerpoint for some meeting at the UN or OSCE or whatever, get it published on the "official" website, have gullible morons like Branko spread it all over the intertubes.

[Branko]

Yes, we know

[paxmao]

if you want to trust eh OSCE...

The report that Branko linked to is not an OSCE report... it was done by a Russian propaganda outfit "The Foundation for the Study of Democracy".

Typical Kremlin trollfuckery, prepare some powerpoint for some meeting at the UN or OSCE or whatever, get it published on the "official" website, have gullible morons like Branko spread it all over the intertubes.

Thanks, yes, I did have a look at the "outfit", it is Washington based and yes does not look anything like verifiable ... but it was perfect to illustrate that there actually credible reports of a state sponsored widespread machinery of filtration, kidnapping and torture going on sponsored by Ruzzia.

Branko usually likes making things look the same so that everything is the same shit, it does not matter who governs... It is a general modus operandi of the trolls: Fud, all is the same, the others do it too... And unfortunately it does work with many people.

On the front new, two massive Ruzzian attacks have resulted in zero gains and brigade-level bmps an tanks loses. Not much change in the terrain, but a lot of attrition going on.

[BADecker]

The US is losing its direct power over the world. This is being shown by the fact that Russia has bypassed the sanctions. Even the US is purchasing Russian products indirectly, from other countries who purchased them from Russia.

The question remains, what does this mean for the so-called free world?


Russia has almost fully bypassed Western sanctions on oil exports


https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-10-03-russia-bypassed-western-sanctions-oil-exports.html
Western sanctions against Russian oil exports have proven to be unsuccessful as Moscow continues finding ways to completely bypass them.

Revenue from Russian oil sales represents a significant share of the Kremlin’s budget, and Western countries hoped that sanctioning exports would dry up funding for their invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and the EU have mostly barred imports of Russian oil, and the G7 and Australia joined with the EU to ban services involved in the movement of Russian oil products unless they are purchased below a price cap. The prominent role played by the G7 in insuring, shipping and financing Russian oil exports meant, at least in theory, that Russia would suffer financially as a result. The price cap approach was chosen as a way of limiting Russia’s ability to profit from the invasion while helping Russian oil continue to make its way into global markets to avoid price jumps and supply issues.

However, a report by the Financial Times shows that nearly three fourths of seaborne Russian crude oil flows moved without western insurance last month, up from 50 percent in the spring. This indicates Russia is getting better at finding ways around the G7’s oil price cap of $60 a barrel and is managing to sell it at prices that are approaching international market rates. As Zero Hedge points out, it also means that most Russian clients are simply not concerned about potential retaliation by the Biden administration for buying Russian oil.

Meanwhile, analysis by the Finnish think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) of the eight months following the implementation of the price cap supports these findings and shows that Russia is still relying on EU vessels to bypass sanctions so it can continue to sell oil on the world market and raise funds for its efforts in Ukraine.

Media reports in recent months have pointed to a fleet of “shadow” tankers owned and insured in countries that are not part of the price cap helping to transport Russian oil. Shipping data from Equasis shows that nearly half of these shadow tankers are registered in the United Arab Emirates, and they are responsible for moving nearly 40 percent of the total exported volume of crude oil from Russia.

...

Russia is also finding ways around financial sanctions
...

[Branko]

At least USA taxpayers now know where their money goes

https://thenationonlineng.net/olena-zelenska-spends-1100000-on-cartier-jewelry-gets-sales-employee-fired/

[Mr. Tom]

A recent interview of Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBsSuW2c1pQ

[BADecker]

It's like I have been saying for a long time now. Consider the Biden regime in Washington. They said that the sanctions were designed to weaken Russia. And they showed reasons why. But do you think that they were so stupid as to not understand what the sanctions would really do? The whole sanction thing was designed to strengthen Russia, BRICS, and maybe a new Russo-Ukraine State that is about to appear.

Zelensky suddenly found some 'overlooked' money in his banks. Where did it come from? It came from the people of the free world - Western Europe, the US, and Canada... and maybe Australia and a lot of other countries. How did it get into Zelensky's banks? It was sent there from the owners of the Federal Reserve Bank and similar banks (Euro) of the free world.

These banks have been quietly 'screwing' the people of the free nations out of money for a long time. They have been doing it in many ways, but especially by creating new money that they have been socking away for a time like this. The money they have quietly created is easily more than double that of the total visible money in all the free world countries. And they are using it to take over the world through Zelensky... if they can. The only thing that might stop them is a unification of all the BRICS countries under a unifying BRICS agreement.


Ukraine suddenly discovers money to manufacture its own weapons as U.S. funding dries up


https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-10-04-ukraine-manufactures-weapons-us-reduces-money-donations.html
Ukraine is now reportedly scrambling to replenish its armory stockpiles and recently announced its intention to manufacture its own weapons, driven by a massive reduction in foreign funding, particularly from the United States. Independent news outlet Politico reported on Monday that President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as top government officials in Kyiv acknowledged that they found money in the federal budget to fund the manufacture of some weapons.

The said measure came after the passing of a clean stopgap funding bill by the U.S. government at the House of Representatives on Saturday. The short-term spending bill is a move to avoid a government shutdown, if the Senate adopts the measure, as the federal debt reached $33 trillion for the first time in history in September. If it's expedited in the Senate, Congress could just narrowly avoid seeing thousands of federal employees furloughed and nonessential government programs paused.

According to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the bill includes the $16 billion disaster relief aid that President Joe Biden requested over the summer, which means no additional taxpayer funds were allocated for Ukraine. Some Republican lawmakers cited concerns about corruption within the Ukrainian military. The funding patch will last for 45 days past the end of the fiscal year, which concludes at midnight Sunday, Oct. 1.

Without referring directly to the U.S. bill, Zelensky said in a recorded speech released on the Defenders Day holiday on Sunday, that nothing would weaken his country's fight against Russia and that no one could "shut down" Ukraine's stability, endurance, strength and courage.

So, when Ukrainian leaders huddled with hundreds of defense industry officials and policymakers from allied countries, they also decided that Kyiv was open for business. "It's a survival issue," said Pavel Verkhniatskyi, managing partner at COSA Intelligence Solutions in Kyiv. Zelensky told the audience during the meeting that co-production deals are "already being negotiated with partners" and that he has established funding in the national budget to help finance those collaborations. (Related: NATO's ammo shortage worsens due to skyrocketing prices and Ukrainian troops’ overconsumption of artillery shells.)
...

[paxmao]

At least USA taxpayers now know where their money goes

https://thenationonlineng.net/olena-zelenska-spends-1100000-on-cartier-jewelry-gets-sales-employee-fired/

The Nation is a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria. According to a 2009 survey it was the second-most-read newspaper in Nigeria,

Whose article is this Borat's (you know, the second best journalist of Kazakhstan)?

Look, this is a newspaper, but it is not read in Nigeria, so I am not sure you will like it:

2013
https://www.politico.eu/article/armenia-chooses-russia-over-eu/

Armenia chooses Russia over EU - Armenia says it will join the Eurasian Customs Union, rather than enter free-trade deal with the EU.

2023

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has turned down a European meeting in Spain with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan this week, because of European support for Yerevan, a government official told AFP on Wednesday.

Interesting how things can change. It may be the case that not only Ukraine wishes to try something different from the Moscowian regime?

Frontline update: Things are getting really hard in the front. The Ruzzian army is throwing in elite troops to man trenches and trying attack with nearly no possibility of success. Losses are massive. Ukraine is advancing 50 meters at at time. It seems that it is going to be an even harder winter.

[DaRude]

At least USA taxpayers now know where their money goes

https://thenationonlineng.net/olena-zelenska-spends-1100000-on-cartier-jewelry-gets-sales-employee-fired/

The Nation is a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria. According to a 2009 survey it was the second-most-read newspaper in Nigeria,

Whose article is this Borat's (you know, the second best journalist of Kazakhstan)?

Look, this is a newspaper, but it is not read in Nigeria, so I am not sure you will like it:

2013
https://www.politico.eu/article/armenia-chooses-russia-over-eu/

Armenia chooses Russia over EU - Armenia says it will join the Eurasian Customs Union, rather than enter free-trade deal with the EU.

2023

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has turned down a European meeting in Spain with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan this week, because of European support for Yerevan, a government official told AFP on Wednesday.

Interesting how things can change. It may be the case that not only Ukraine wishes to try something different from the Moscowian regime?

Frontline update: Things are getting really hard in the front. The Ruzzian army is throwing in elite troops to man trenches and trying attack with nearly no possibility of success. Losses are massive. Ukraine is advancing 50 meters at at time. It seems that it is going to be an even harder winter.

Armenians were literary killed by drones from a NATO country. I guess that's one way for NATO to win influence, just to attack them with drones from a NATO country, and then blame Russia for not protecting them well enough literary to bomb them into NATO submission


September 6, 2023

Armenia to exercise with US troops next week in sign of frustration with Russia

September 25, 2023

Baku had already formed an effective alliance with Turkey that provided the Bayraktar TB2 drones that helped it win the last war in 2020, a 44-day autumn conflict in which Azerbaijan took control of the skies, bombing Armenia’s Soviet-era tanks and its allies in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Some kind of 4d chess moves for Armenian president

[be.open]

Meanwhile, when the Ukrainian offensive seems to have exhausted its potential, the initiative once again passes to Russia. The main interest is now focused on the Kupyansk direction, at least this is clearly indicated by a series of successful bomb attacks on road bridges across the Oskol River. As a result, all Ukrainian positions between Oskol and Zherebets become extremely inconvenient for defense from a logistics point of view, and I think here in the near future we can expect directed efforts to level the front line and increase pressure on Seversk from the north. The timing of the political crisis in the United States was chosen quite well.

[shield132]

Most surprising is what the man who was UK defense secretary throughout most of the war (in office until Aug.31st of this year) had to say about the status of Ukraine's forces. He called for Zelensky to enact a different policy and to essentially inject younger blood into the fight.

"The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40. I understand President Zelensky's desire to preserve the young for the future, but… just as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, perhaps it is time to reassess the scale of Ukraine's mobilization," Wallace wrote

Kill your men, left women without men at first and then bring hundreds of thousands of black people in your country to pleasure women and have babies and ruin ethnicity. What a solid plan man. I sometimes think that it's done for purpose.

The US is losing its direct power over the world. This is being shown by the fact that Russia has bypassed the sanctions. Even the US is purchasing Russian products indirectly, from other countries who purchased them from Russia.

War is a business where the product are people and weapons. I woudn't say that the US is losing its power. If the US manage to destroy ethnicity of Russia and Ukraine, left them without men, then America is the winner.

It's like I have been saying for a long time now. Consider the Biden regime in Washington. They said that the sanctions were designed to weaken Russia. And they showed reasons why. But do you think that they were so stupid as to not understand what the sanctions would really do? The whole sanction thing was designed to strengthen Russia, BRICS, and maybe a new Russo-Ukraine State that is about to appear.

Are you really sure that life is getting better in Russia and sanctions don't work? Are you from Russia? Did you feel the positiveness of sanctions on your pocket? Some of my friends are in Russia and they don't feel better since this war.

[paxmao]

Meanwhile, when the Ukrainian offensive seems to have exhausted its potential, the initiative once again passes to Russia. The main interest is now focused on the Kupyansk direction, at least this is clearly indicated by a series of successful bomb attacks on road bridges across the Oskol River. As a result, all Ukrainian positions between Oskol and Zherebets become extremely inconvenient for defense from a logistics point of view, and I think here in the near future we can expect directed efforts to level the front line and increase pressure on Seversk from the north. The timing of the political crisis in the United States was chosen quite well.

You certainly have something wrong in your brain speaking of potential "exhausted" when the Ruzzian loses of this month are higher than ever. do not overestimate what the maps and your trolls tell you, the meat grinding and artillery destruction are at the peak - not to mention the increasing difference in technical means. These bridges you speak about (two) are pretty much irrelevant to the logistics and can be re-built elsewhere in a day.

"Meanwhile", your chief psychos have bombed civilian infrastructure with zero military value - this is just plain terrorism. What do you think? All will be forgotten?? And Putin tries to cover the shit with threats to abandon the nuclear proliferation treaties... what a suprise.

There were no military targets in the village that was hit by a Russian missile strike Thursday, a top Ukrainian police official said, in what was one of the deadliest attacks against civilians since the conflict began and which the country’s president called “inhuman” and “deliberate.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/06/europe/ukraine-hroza-russian-missile-attack-civilians-intl-h

[be.open]

Meanwhile, when the Ukrainian offensive seems to have exhausted its potential, the initiative once again passes to Russia. The main interest is now focused on the Kupyansk direction, at least this is clearly indicated by a series of successful bomb attacks on road bridges across the Oskol River. As a result, all Ukrainian positions between Oskol and Zherebets become extremely inconvenient for defense from a logistics point of view, and I think here in the near future we can expect directed efforts to level the front line and increase pressure on Seversk from the north. The timing of the political crisis in the United States was chosen quite well.

You certainly have something wrong in your brain speaking of potential "exhausted" when the Ruzzian loses of this month are higher than ever. do not overestimate what the maps and your trolls tell you, the meat grinding and artillery destruction are at the peak - not to mention the increasing difference in technical means.

In the conditions of aggressive propaganda on both sides of the conflict, only maps can be trusted. The fact that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has completely fizzled out is already a fait accompli. Ukraine never managed to reach Tokmak, and all other areas of military activity are distracting and media (Zelensky’s painful fixation on Bakhmut is generally a topic for a separate study, but I’m not a psychiatrist to deal with this). The weather factor also cannot be discounted; with the autumn rains, it becomes physically impossible for Ukraine to continue the offensive in the Zaporozhye direction.

These bridges you speak about (two) are pretty much irrelevant to the logistics and can be re-built elsewhere in a day.

In a couple of weeks, Russian aviation bombed four road bridges across the Oskol River, in Kupyansk and downstream (in Senkovka and Kovsharovka); there are no more bridges in this area. Oskol is not the largest river, but it is very specific - with a bunch of branches, bends, and separate “puddles”. That is, it is not so easy to guide pontoons through it; the overall width there is quite large and the area is marshy. To you it may seem like an accident or a coincidence that all the bridges on a short section of the front were destroyed in a short time, but I don’t think so. This looks more like purposeful preparation for increasing Russian pressure in the Kupyansk direction or for a tactical offensive with the goal of pushing Ukraine beyond Oskol. We'll see soon.

[paxmao]

Meanwhile, when the Ukrainian offensive seems to have exhausted its potential, the initiative once again passes to Russia. The main interest is now focused on the Kupyansk direction, at least this is clearly indicated by a series of successful bomb attacks on road bridges across the Oskol River. As a result, all Ukrainian positions between Oskol and Zherebets become extremely inconvenient for defense from a logistics point of view, and I think here in the near future we can expect directed efforts to level the front line and increase pressure on Seversk from the north. The timing of the political crisis in the United States was chosen quite well.

You certainly have something wrong in your brain speaking of potential "exhausted" when the Ruzzian loses of this month are higher than ever. do not overestimate what the maps and your trolls tell you, the meat grinding and artillery destruction are at the peak - not to mention the increasing difference in technical means.

In the conditions of aggressive propaganda on both sides of the conflict, only maps can be trusted. The fact that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has completely fizzled out is already a fait accompli. Ukraine never managed to reach Tokmak, and all other areas of military activity are distracting and media (Zelensky’s painful fixation on Bakhmut is generally a topic for a separate study, but I’m not a psychiatrist to deal with this). The weather factor also cannot be discounted; with the autumn rains, it becomes physically impossible for Ukraine to continue the offensive in the Zaporozhye direction.

These bridges you speak about (two) are pretty much irrelevant to the logistics and can be re-built elsewhere in a day.

In a couple of weeks, Russian aviation bombed four road bridges across the Oskol River, in Kupyansk and downstream (in Senkovka and Kovsharovka); there are no more bridges in this area. Oskol is not the largest river, but it is very specific - with a bunch of branches, bends, and separate “puddles”. That is, it is not so easy to guide pontoons through it; the overall width there is quite large and the area is marshy. To you it may seem like an accident or a coincidence that all the bridges on a short section of the front were destroyed in a short time, but I don’t think so. This looks more like purposeful preparation for increasing Russian pressure in the Kupyansk direction or for a tactical offensive with the goal of pushing Ukraine beyond Oskol. We'll see soon.

Just to make things cleat: what are in your view the Ruzzian losses per ay? What logistics did those TWO bridges filmed two times served and how many armoured brigades has Ukraine in reserve? Why are elite paratrooper Ruzzian troops in Verbove?

You can trust video evidence, I suggest for anyone interested following this guy. Pro-Ukranian but only showing evidence based facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8vZfZXFCrQ&t=850s

[be.open]

Why are elite paratrooper Ruzzian troops in Verbove?

I will only answer this question. Pskov paratroopers were transferred to the Zaporozhye direction not to stop a local Ukrainian breakthrough to Verbovoy (because this breakthrough does not threaten Tokmak and therefore has no special strategic significance, and the Ukrainian military located there are in a fire bag in an extremely uncomfortable position), but to threaten a flank attack and turning the fire bag into a cauldron.

[DaRude]

Some of the latest news coverage. Is there anyone left who still doesn't see where all of this is going?

Ukraine is ‘freaking out’ as McCarthy chaos threatens US aid

After the ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, there is concern in Kyiv that Ukraine has become a tool of US domestic politics.

In Kyiv, officials are at a loss as to what might happen next. Their staunchest military ally suddenly looks unreliable, despite assurances from President Biden and others the U.S. will remain steadfast until Ukraine’s invaders are defeated.
...
“We are freaking out. For us it is a disaster,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a senior Ukrainian MP who chairs the committee on the country’s integration with the European Union.
...
However, now that McCarthy is out, all future U.S. funding for Kyiv is in limbo. It is not clear when a new speaker will be chosen and without one, the American law making machine is stalled.
...
“Well, that’s a setup,” one Ukrainian MP told POLITICO.

“Honestly, we are watching for now,” said one Ukrainian government official, who asked not to be identified while discussing sensitive matters.

Ukrainian officials typically avoid expressing public criticism of partners so as not to seem ungrateful. But this week some have expressed shock.

“There is nothing good, but, objectively, we have simply become hostages of their internal politics,” said Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak, first deputy chairman of the parliament committee on finance, after the emergency U.S. budget deal was announced.

Britain has ‘run out of arms to send to Ukraine’
We’ve given away all we can afford and other countries should step in, says senior military chief
...
The Western alliance has suffered a series of blows in recent days, with support for Ukraine dropped from a US stop-gap budget bill, election success for a pro-Russian party in Slovakia and rows between Poland and Kyiv over grain supplies.
...
Last night a senior military source told The Telegraph that the onus should not be on the UK to provide the “billions” Mr Wallace has called for.
...
“We’ve given away just about as much as we can afford,” they added.
“We will continue to source equipment to provide for Ukraine, but what they need now is things like air defence assets and artillery ammunition and we’ve run dry on all that.”
...
‘Every tank we give is one less we have’
The military chief said there was no prospect of providing more British tanks to Ukraine.
“We’ve given away pretty much everything we can afford to give,” they added.
...
Brussels last month overtook the US in promised aid to Kyiv, with European commitments now twice as large, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank that has been tracking funding for Ukraine.
...
Hungary, whose leader celebrated Mr Fico’s victory, was also holding up a planned €500 million tranche of funding to help EU member states pay for weapons donations.
Its opposition has also dealt a blow to a planned €20 billion war chest from EU nations for Ukraine to buy weapons for the next four years, highlighting the challenges faced by the West.

‘It’s a survival issue’: Ukraine looks to arm itself as Western support slips
...
Ukraine finds its supporters running out of weapons to send while others are increasingly wary of committing more money to the conflict.

With the charm offensive directed at weapons-makers around the world, the country is effectively trying to take matters into its own hands.
...
“It’s a survival issue,” said Pavel Verkhniatskyi, managing partner at COSA Intelligence Solutions in Kyiv, since there is only so long Ukraine can expect to rely on donations from partners whose support can be switched off with a single election.
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It’s all part of a larger and growing refrain among Ukrainian officials, which is “we will have to become an Israel in Europe — self-sufficient but with help from other countries,” said Daniel Vajdich, president of Yorktown Solutions, which advocates on behalf of Ukraine in Washington.
...
Leaders in Kyiv want that day to come sooner rather than later, an urgency that’s been bolstered by comments from several Western officials over the past few weeks that weapons are running out and allies haven’t significantly ramped up their production lines to keep up with demand.

“We cannot keep on giving from our own stockpiles,” said one European official, who like others quoted in this story was granted anonymity to speak frankly about a politically sensitive issue.

The official added that there is still robust public and political support for Ukraine’s fight, but “we’ve given everything that will not endanger our own security.”

After 18 months of intense, industrial-scale combat, European stockpiles are running dry, though hope is rising that countries can work together to find more solutions, one Biden administration official said.

“After two years we need now to have another discussion because we cannot give, give, give and see our systems going down for Ukraine,” Gen. Stéphane Mille, chief of staff of the French Air and Space Force, recently told reporters in Washington.

Adding to the troubles was Poland’s recent declaration that it would pause donations to Ukraine in order to shore up its own capabilities.

The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for U.S.-made weapons systems to be placed under contract, has already run out of money. The Defense Department still has $5.4 billion worth of weapons available to send to Ukraine, but is fast running out of money to replenish its own stockpiles, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.

There are still plenty of questions over how much defense production can happen in Ukraine while Russian missiles and Iranian drones continue to target critical infrastructure, but the war shows no signs of slowing even as partner nations worry about what they have left to give.

Western-made armor is failing in Ukraine because it wasn't designed to sustain a conflict of this intensity, a military analyst told The Wall Street Journal.
...
"If you throw it into a mass offensive, it just doesn't perform," he said.

Chmut went on to say Ukraine's Western allies should instead turn their attention to delivering simpler and cheaper systems, but in larger quantities, something Ukraine has repeatedly requested, the newspaper reported.
...
Less than 5% of tanks destroyed since the start of the war had been taken out by other tanks, Ukrainian officials said in the Journal report, with the rest falling to mines, artillery, antitank missiles, and drones. This means the relative sophistication of a tank is no longer as important, the paper says.

Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding, Germany's director of planning and command staff, said Western military strategists had not yet accepted that quantity trumps quality.

"You need numbers; you need force numbers. In the West, we have reduced our military; we have reduced our stocks. But quantity matters; mass matters," he told the Journal.
...
A July report compiled by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Ukraine's allies had only delivered about half of the heavy weapons that had been promised.
...
Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank European Resilience Initiative Center, previously told Insider that Ukraine was stepping up its domestic production in part because of concern that Western deliveries would not keep up with its military needs.

And now Israel will be competing for resources, funds, intel satellite time etc... Politicians will act surprised and will be convincing people that no one could've possibly predicted such outcome, blame games will ensure, and everything will be done to prevent Ukrainians from even questioning any of this

[paxmao]

Some of the latest news coverage. Is there anyone left who still doesn't see where all of this is going?

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And now Israel will be competing for resources, funds, intel satellite time etc... Politicians will act surprised and will be convincing people that no one could've possibly predicted such outcome, blame games will ensure, and everything will be done to prevent Ukrainians from even questioning any of this

My appraisal of where is this going is that Iran has done a favour to Ukraine. If there were some GOP members playing with the idea of reducing the support to Ukraine, they may be quite convinced now that "playing soft" gets their Israeli brothers killed (Hamas is an Iran proxy). Israel is unlikely to need much "resources" other than their usual sources - the Jewish community of US, UK,...

[DaRude]

Some of the latest news coverage. Is there anyone left who still doesn't see where all of this is going?

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And now Israel will be competing for resources, funds, intel satellite time etc... Politicians will act surprised and will be convincing people that no one could've possibly predicted such outcome, blame games will ensure, and everything will be done to prevent Ukrainians from even questioning any of this

My appraisal of where is this going is that Iran has done a favour to Ukraine. If there were some GOP members playing with the idea of reducing the support to Ukraine, they may be quite convinced now that "playing soft" gets their Israeli brothers killed (Hamas is an Iran proxy). Israel is unlikely to need much "resources" other than their usual sources - the Jewish community of US, UK,...

Riiiight, I'm sure Zelenskyy is very happy that the world has another war to occupy front pages and attention of already war fatigued world audience. What's next from your "whatever happens is good for Ukraine because..." narrative, how great would it be for Ukraine if China attacked Taiwan now? Then all of those Republicans would surely forget about their home audience and Trump would personally send more money to Ukraine? No, what be good for Ukraine if it's just a one day event, everything calms down and everyone could forget about Israel in a week, so Zelenskyy can get his news coverage back, Israel wont require more funds, worlds eye ball time, Ukraine's lobby in US won't have to compete with Israel's lobby, and Ukraine won't be covered as that "old" war.