Russian-Ukrainian War: Live Thread

[BenDhyan]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/30/zelenskyy-fires-aides-in-reshuffle-russia-launches-air-attack-at-ukraine?traffic_source=rss

Zelenskyy fires aides in reshuffle

Zelenskyy dismissed top aide Serhiy Shefir from his post of first assistant, where he had served since 2019. The Ukrainian president also let go of three advisers and two presidential representatives overseeing volunteer activities and soldiers’ rights. It included the dismissal on Tuesday of Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, and Valerii Zaluzhnyi as head of the armed forces on February 8.

No explanation was given immediately for the latest changes in a wide-reaching personnel shake-up over recent months.

[BenDhyan]

https://www.voanews.com/a/zelenskyy-talks-of-gradual-retreat-if-ukraine-does-not-get-promised-us-aid-/7549446.html

Zelensky's Strategic Shift: Opening Door to Peace Talks Without Pre-1991 Borders

President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated a willingness to engage in peace discussions with Russia, even if this means setting aside the long-standing demand that talks could only commence with the restoration of Ukraine's borders as they stood in 1991.
This strategic pivot, revealed in an interview with CBS News, marks the first time the Ukrainian leader has opened the door to dialoguing with Moscow without the precondition of regaining territories, including Crimea and parts of Donbas, which have come under Russian control. Previously, Kyiv's firm stance on reclaiming its territories as a prerequisite for any peace talks effectively placed a moratorium on negotiations, demanding the return of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and the republics in Donbas. However, Zelensky's recent statements suggest a potentially more pragmatic approach, hinting at a readiness for discussions that could see Ukraine's borders revert to their status at the end of 2021.





Well folks, are we nearing the end???

[JackRiddler]

On the brink of an inevitable Russian victory and surrender from Kiev (in whatever form that state will take), Zelensky reverts (or is about to, according to VoA) to asking for the peace deal he got at Instanbul but then rejected on orders from Boris Johnson. Bon chance.

Coming from VoA, this article is a signal that soon as The Bill passes the Congress and a final round of delicious cash plunder for the MIC and Blob is locked in, the capitulatin' can safely begin.

Meanwhile, feed a few more thousand poor bastard children into the death pits.

[stickdog99]

https://twitter.com/JeffWellsRigInt/sta ... 06262094#m

[stickdog99]

NATO Humiliated by Crushing Electoral Defeat in Macedonia

Macedonia just voted out its pro-NATO government and replaced them with a new, pro-Russian president. Kit Klarenberg breaks it down.

[BenDhyan]

I am inclined to think that this war has reached critical mass, WWIII is coming.

https://www.rt.com/russia/598388-austria-russian-nuclear-deterrence/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

US may have secretly approved attack on Russian nuclear radar – Austrian military

A reported Ukrainian attack on a Russian early-warning radar installation may have been approved by the US and poses the risk of a nuclear escalation, an analysis published by the Austrian armed forces has warned.

Ukrainian sources claimed last week that Kiev had delivered a strike at a Voronezh-DM site in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region, near the city of Armavir. The alleged operation is significant, considering that the facility is part of Russian nuclear deterrence, according to a text by Colonel Markus Reisner and posted by the Austrian military on Sunday.

It is unlikely that attacking the radar station had direct military value for Kiev, Reisner argues. Disabling it would reduce the amount of intelligence that Russia collects on Ukrainian launches of US-donated ATACMS ballistic missiles, he added. But the station is designed to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles that fly at altitudes much higher than the tactical weapons used by Ukraine.

[BenDhyan]

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-macron-weapons-e308755a31716ee0123b441bb9b548b0

France’s Macron urges a green light for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Western weapons

France’s president has joined the head of NATO in pushing for a policy shift that could change the complexion of the war in Ukraine — allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated long-range weapons provided by Western partners.

The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with Western-supplied weaponry has been a delicate issue since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Western leaders have mostly shrunk from taking the step because it runs the risk of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned that the West’s direct involvement could put the world on a path to nuclear conflict.

But the war has been going Russia’s way recently as the Kremlin’s forces have exploited Ukrainian shortages in troops and ammunition after a lengthy delay in U.S. m“If we tell (the Ukrainians) you do not have the right to reach the point from which the missiles are fired, we are in fact telling them that we are delivering weapons to you, but you cannot defend yourself,” Macron said late Tuesday on an official visit to Germany.

His remarks came a day after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the alliance’s members to lift some of the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons. “The right to self-defense includes hitting legitimate targets outside Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said at a NATO meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria on Monday military aid, and Western Europe’s inadequate military production slowed crucial deliveries to the battlefield.

[BenDhyan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/us/politics/biden-ukraine-russia-weapons.html

From Allies and Advisers, Pressure Grows on Biden to Allow Attacks on Russian Territory

President Biden is edging toward what may prove to be one of his most consequential decisions in the war for Ukraine: whether to reverse his ban on shooting American weapons into Russian territory.

He has long resisted authorizing Ukraine to employ American weapons inside Russia because of concern it could escalate into a direct American confrontation with a nuclear-armed adversary.

Now, after months of complaints about the restrictions from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House has begun a formal — and apparently rapid — reassessment of whether to take the risk. Approving further uses of U.S. weapons would give Kyiv a way to conduct counterattacks on Russian artillery and missile sites that now enjoy something of a safe haven just inside Russia.

[BenDhyan]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/think-tank-close-kremlin-says-164723170.html

Think tank close to Kremlin says Russia should consider a 'demonstrative' nuclear explosion

A senior member of a Russian think tank whose ideas sometimes become government policy has suggested Moscow consider a "demonstrative" nuclear explosion to cow the West into refusing to allow Ukraine to use its arms against targets inside Russia.

The proposal, by Dmitry Suslov, a member of the Moscow-based Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, was issued a day after President Vladimir Putin warned the West that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire by proposing to let Kyiv use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, something he said could trigger a global conflict.

Ukraine's leadership says it needs to be able to strike Russian forces and military targets inside Russia with long-range Western missiles to be able to defend itself and prevent air, missile and drone attacks, a view which has found some support among some Western countries but not yet with Washington.

Russia, which possesses the world's largest nuclear arsenal, has warned it would view such a step as a grave escalation that would pull NATO and the countries concerned into a direct conflict with Moscow, increasing the risk of nuclear war.

[SonicG]

Putin, in his May 28 press availability in Tashkent, once again warned the West that they are playing with fire by thinking that he is bluffing. “So, these officials from NATO countries … should be fully aware of what is at stake…. The focus is on the developments on the outskirts of Kharkov. But they were the ones to provoke those events. I made it clear publicly, I think it was six months ago, that if they continue to target residential neighborhoods, we will have to create a security area. Not long ago, we started doing what I said back then.

“They first provoked us in Donbass.… Then, they deceived us during the negotiating process and decided that they would defeat us on the battlefield by inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. We warned them against making incursions into our territory, shelling Belgorod and neighboring areas, or else we will be forced to create a security area.…

“The only thing they are talking about is Russia opening a new front and attacking Kharkov. Not a word. Why is that? They did it with their own hands. Well, let them reap the fruits of their ingenuity. The same thing can happen in case the long-range precision weapons which you asked about is used.

“More broadly, this unending escalation can lead to serious consequences. If Europe were to face those serious consequences, what will the United States do, considering our strategic arms parity? It is hard to tell.

“Are they looking for a global conflict? I think they wanted to agree upon strategic arms, but we do not really see them being really eager to do so. They are talking about it but are not doing much to make it happen. We will wait and see what happens next.”
https://eir.news/2024/05/news/putin-aga ... fing-line/

We sure are not getting further from WWIII...