Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

I don't think the Potatoes north of Kyiv are much of a threat. I also read some sources which say Russian can manage a sustained offensive for around 120 days. Its now day 108 of what was supposed to be a quick three day operation. I think the major push from Russia right now is just try and complete the occupation of the Donbass. If they can't accomplish that and hold what they got things might start going downhill for Russia.

Absolutely right, Russia has shown us it is a paper tiger like the Chinese would say give it a month and Russian offense is totally stopped already has gone in to an 90% defense front Russia is trying to hold the ground they occupied, and we will see it turned into regions of the Russian Federation in the future if they can keep it.

[Rockstar]

I'm aware Ukraine soldiers are going the same thing we just don't get to hear too much about it.

[Jimbuna]

Russian shelling has caused a huge fire at a chemical plant in Severodonetsk as "non-stop" fighting rages in the city, the region's governor says.

Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that the fire at the Azot plant started after a leak of tens of tonnes of oil from damaged radiators.

Ukrainian officials estimate that as many as 800 civilians are hiding in underground bomb shelters at the chemical plant.

President Volodymr Zelensky has again asked for more weapons, amid fears his soldiers are running out of ammunition.

Ukraine says its forces have recaptured areas from Russia in the southeastern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Fifteen former McDonald's restaurants have reopened in Moscow today under new ownership and a new name that translates as "Tasty and that's it"

[Jimbuna]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced hope that his country will be granted EU candidate status.

In an late-night video address, Zelensky said the final phase of the "big diplomatic marathon" started today.

"And in this marathon we are actually together with the European Union - in one team, and this team has to win.

"I am convinced that this decision can strengthen not only our state, but also the entire European Union," Zelensky said.

He added he is sure that the country will soon receive an answer. Yesterday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who held talks with him in Kyiv, said Ukraine will be told next week if it can progress to the next stage of joining the bloc.

Zelensky also spoke of his pride for Ukrainian troops who are defending the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, adding that "fierce" street fighting continues in the city.

"I am proud of all our defenders who managed to stop the advance of these hostile people... and keep our defence strong," he said.

[Jimbuna]

Vladimir Putin's admiration for Peter the Great is well known but he now seems to have ideas of "Great"-ness himself.

He has openly compared himself to the Russian tsar, equating Russia's invasion of Ukraine today with Peter's expansionist wars some three centuries ago, and making his strongest acknowledgment yet that his own war is a land grab.

Mr Putin's apparent empire-building ambitions bode ill for Ukraine and have irked other neighbours, including Estonia, which called his comments "completely unacceptable."

Russia's president was meeting young scientists and entrepreneurs when he made the remarks. Before talking IT and tech development he talked politics and power: the new battle he sees for geopolitical dominance. In that, he told his select audience that Peter the Great was a role model.

"You might think he was fighting with Sweden, seizing their lands," Mr Putin said, referring to the Northern Wars which Peter launched at the turn of the 18th Century as he forged a new Russian Empire.

"But he seized nothing; he reclaimed it!" he said, arguing that Slavs had lived in the area for centuries.

"It seems it has fallen to us, too, to reclaim and strengthen," Mr Putin concluded, with a near-smirk that left no doubt he was referring to Ukraine and his aims there.

Peter's rule, he suggested, was proof that expanding Russia had strengthened it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61767191

[Rockstar]

I’m seeing in our media headlines a shift. Many major outlets are now writing Ukrainian prospects now look dim, Zelensky didn’t listen, Ukraine running out of ammo. Etc etc.

[Skybird]

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

BOTTOM LINE kids: WWIII is well under way with another two-front war alà 1937(Japan in China started WWII) of "the world order" vs "snatch and grab"(Crimea-2014) Stalinist empirialism by Putin, now styling himself as a Peter the Great leader...and China, having acquired Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea, now eyeballing Taiwan. As we learned in WW I & II, appeasement is not a permissible response. We need to settle the issue ...in Ukraine!

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Vladimir Putin's admiration for Peter the Great is well known but he now seems to have ideas of "Great"-ness himself.

He has openly compared himself to the Russian tsar, equating Russia's invasion of Ukraine today with Peter's expansionist wars some three centuries ago, and making his strongest acknowledgment yet that his own war is a land grab.

Mr Putin's apparent empire-building ambitions bode ill for Ukraine and have irked other neighbours, including Estonia, which called his comments "completely unacceptable."

Russia's president was meeting young scientists and entrepreneurs when he made the remarks. Before talking IT and tech development he talked politics and power: the new battle he sees for geopolitical dominance. In that, he told his select audience that Peter the Great was a role model.

"You might think he was fighting with Sweden, seizing their lands," Mr Putin said, referring to the Northern Wars which Peter launched at the turn of the 18th Century as he forged a new Russian Empire.

"But he seized nothing; he reclaimed it!" he said, arguing that Slavs had lived in the area for centuries.

"It seems it has fallen to us, too, to reclaim and strengthen," Mr Putin concluded, with a near-smirk that left no doubt he was referring to Ukraine and his aims there.

Peter's rule, he suggested, was proof that expanding Russia had strengthened it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61767191

I'd imagine that now sanction'd & rumored preggers ladyfriend, Alina Kabaeva, doesnt think "Vlad the rapist's" Peter is that Great!

[mapuc]

It looks like that Putins Bodyguard is doing more than protect his person.

From Norwegian Aftenposten

The fear that the Russian president's DNA will go astray means that security guards collect feces and fingerprints while traveling.

One can get a lot of information about a human being through the body's natural waste. Russian security authorities are also aware of this.
And they pay particular attention to what President Vladimir Putin leaves behind. Many are concerned/interested about/on his health.

During Putin's trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2019, it was revealed that employees of the Federal Russian Security Service (FSO) collect the president's urine and feces. When traveling abroad, the waste is collected in special bags and taken home in a suitcase to Russia. This writes the online newspaper Paris Match which cites sources in the Middle East. Failure to do so will also have occurred when Putin visited French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017.

Markus

[Aktungbby]

/\ no doubt attended to by "the Groom of the Stool"....nuthin good goes outta style!

[Skybird]

DER SPIEGEL:

Natural gas supplies from Russia to Germany and Western Europe are likely to fall drastically in the summer. This was announced by the head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, on Monday.

"NorthStream 1 will be serviced in summer, there will probably be no injection," Müller tweeted in response to a SPIEGEL article about EU countries' still-high gas imports from Russia.

This will make it more difficult for Europeans to fill up their gas storage facilities to at least 80 or - as in Germany, for example - even 90 percent before winter. Currently, EU reservoirs are filled to an average of just over 51 percent, with a few percentage points more in this country.

"Last #gasreservoirfilling was 53 percent, which is better than in previous years, but still not good enough," Müller tweeted.

Russia is still one of the leading sources of gas supply for Europeans, with around 1.6 billion cubic meters per week at last count, or about one-fifth of all EU imports.

And Nord Stream 1 is currently by far the most important pipeline for Russian gas supplies to the West.

According to an analysis by the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, the state monopolist Gazprom recently sent a good 70 percent of its total volume destined for Europe through this pipeline: around 1.2 billion cubic meters per week. By comparison, Germany consumes around 1.6 billion cubic meters in an average week, though much less in the summer.

Whether the Baltic Sea pipeline actually needs maintenance is unclear. Gas market insiders also believe a tactical maneuver by the Kremlin is possible. After all, the worse the Europeans' storage facilities are filled for the winter, the more dependent they will then be on Russian gas. And the greater the fear of bottlenecks on the gas markets, the higher the prices will rise.

On the European wholesale reference market TTF, a megawatt hour for delivery in July rose from 81.25 to 83.90 euros between eight and ten in the morning. However, the price is still a long way from its record highs at the beginning of March, when a megawatt hour cost 300 euros at times.

It is also questionable whether other suppliers can step in and compensate for the shortfall in deliveries. Most recently, Europeans imported the most gas via tankers, according to Bruegel: in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Norway was the second most important supplier.

It is not yet known how long the maintenance work will last. The head of the Federal Network Agency, Müller, said late Monday morning that maintenance usually takes about two weeks.

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BBC:

New research shows Russia earned nearly €100bn from exports of oil and gas during the first 100 days of the conflict in Ukraine – although its revenues declined in May.
The report, from the independent Centre For Research on Energy and Clean Air also warns about potential loopholes in efforts by the EU and the US to limit imports from Russia.
Exports of Russian oil and gas are falling and Moscow’s revenues from energy sales have also declined from a peak of well over $1bn a day in March.
But they remain very high by historical standards – and still exceed widely publicised estimates of the cost of the Ukraine war.
The report says the EU’s planned oil embargo will have a significant impact. But it warns that large quantities of Russian crude are now being shipped to India, where they are being refined and sold on – often to customers in the US and Europe.
The report also points out that as Russia seeks new markets for oil, much of it is being transported by ship – and the majority of the vessels used are European owned.

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I cannot help it, I think this idea of sanctionising Russia to weasel around a direct confrontation simply - again - does not work as intended. And btw, the Russians have reopend the McDonald restaurants again.

The Europeans learn it the hard way these days. Weakness does not pay off, cannot get compensated by words and glorious ideas.

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Russian forces seem to have dirven out Ukranain milutary form tneh centre of Severodoenzk. With just one bridge still intact, the city now is at high risk to get fully isolated and unsuppliable. Its often said the Russaian advance has come to a standstill, but it does not seem so. They do advance - slowly, but notoriously, mercilessly. Step by step.

Bubble-Olaf finally seems to plan visiting Kyiv. Tiegther with, and herein lies the threat - Macronman and Draghi. What do these three have in common? They delay, brake, and try to not deliver much. All three want a negotiated peace treaty, and so by that imply the Ukraine should make Russia concessions. It worked great 2014, so why not doing it again? If I were Selensky, I would consider to not let them in...

[Jimbuna]

Severodonetsk will be "cut off" from the rest of Ukraine if Russia destroys the last remaining bridge to the city, regional governor Serhiy Haidai says.

The battle is continuing in the key eastern city, with fighting for "literally every metre", Ukraine's President Zelensky says.

Ukraine says its forces have been "pushed out of the city centre", due to a significant advantage in artillery.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has called for modern missile defence systems, saying more than 2,600 cruise missiles have landed in Ukraine since the start of the war.

Up to 1,200 bodies found across Ukraine, including some found in mass graves, have not yet been identified, the head of the national police says.

Russia is continuing to earn huge amounts by selling oil and gas, despite facing tighter sanctions around the world since the invasion, research suggests.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]