Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/am_misfit/status/1629230091279663106

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/status/1629228312345120769?s=20

[Anti-Trump Truth Socialite JD Vance Enjoying Juror]

Reading this thread is like stepping in a parallel universe where Ukraine is winning the war, except IRL Kiev might be taken tonight, 2 days after the war started. I understand you're all cheerleading for one side, but you should at least read some of the Tweets you're posting and realize that they actually reveal what dire straits Ukraine is in, like the post about the TV program showing how to make Molotov cocktails and the video of Zelensky on the street in Kiev vowing to fight to the end and saying how we may not see him again.

Tomorrow marks 365 days since the Fall of Kiev everyone. Oh, how the time flies...

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1629172418064396290?s=20

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1629148563253993472?s=20

It's also worth of note that with the anniversary they have parked a destroyed Russian tank right in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin.


https://twitter.com/rbb24/status/1629066073676066818?s=20

[jaichind]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/natos-biggest-european-members-float-defense-pact-with-ukraine-38966950

"NATO’s Biggest European Members Float Defense Pact With Ukraine"

Germany, France and Britain see stronger ties between NATO and Ukraine as a way to encourage Kyiv to start peace talks with Russia later this year, officials from the three governments said, as some of Kyiv’s Western partners have growing doubts over its ability to reconquer all its territory.

“We keep repeating that Russia mustn’t win, but what does that mean?” a senior French official said.

“If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine’s losses will become unbearable. And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.”

[Helsinkian]

https://twitter.com/vmedick/status/1629203370337509376

How can Macron and Scholz be so historically illiterate that they would advocate negotiations by referencing Germany and France in WWII? A war that did not end with negotiations but with an unconditional surrender of the country that started the war.

If Macron were in the place of De Gaulle, would he have negotiated peace with Hitler in the fall of 1944 by letting him keep Alsace-Lorraine?

[jaichind]

How can Macron and Scholz be so historically illiterate that they would advocate negotiations by referencing Germany and France in WWII? A war that did not end with negotiations but with an unconditional surrender of the country that started the war.

I think they are most likely referring to how after WWII was over FRG and France put aside a century of war and rivalries to form  ECSC which later became the basis of EU.  They could have gone back to a rival position like after 1871 or 1918 but choose another path.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

How can Macron and Scholz be so historically illiterate that they would advocate negotiations by referencing Germany and France in WWII? A war that did not end with negotiations but with an unconditional surrender of the country that started the war.

I think they are most likely referring to how after WWII was over FRG and France put aside a century of war and rivalries to form  ECSC which later became the basis of EU.  They could have gone back to a rival position like after 1871 or 1918 but choose another path.

It has to be that.
Within those prisms, it works well. Though it could well be misinterpreted obviously.
It's worth noting that enemity between Russia and Ukraine is very new and the countries are closer to each other on numerous levels than France is to Germany. But sometimes common cultural spheres can be crossed by implacable political divides; this is hardly unheard of. I mean, look at Germany during the Cold War...or the Indian subcontinent...

[Torie]

...

For the ages to come, the cliche of the right person in the right place at the right time, will have Zelinsky's face next to it. Just remarkable when you think about it. He's the Lincoln of the 21st century, no matter what happens next, for good or bad, but hopefully good of course. 

[KaiserDave]

On the 24th of February
Exactly at 4 AM
Kyiv was bombed, we were told
that the war had started

Kyiv was bombed, we were told
that the war had started

The war started at dawn
to kill more people.

Parents were sleeping, their children were sleeping
when Kyiv started getting bombed
the enemy went like big avalanches
there was not enough strength to held them back
As they entered the lands of native Ukraine
they started killing people

For the lands of the native Fatherland
the Ukrainian people rose up
every man went into battle
burning his home and factory
every man went into battle
burning his home and factory

Shells and mines burst
tanks were rumbling with armor
red hawks were circling in the sky
rushing to the east like an arrow
the winter cold began,
the enemies were near Kyiv
Guns were firing, mines were exploding
Tearing the Moskals to pieces
Guns were firing, mines were exploding
Tearing the Moskals to pieces

The battle for the capital is over
the Moskals rushed to run;
Tanks were abandoned, mines were abandoned
Along with several thousand soldiers
Remember Vlad and Yevgeny,
the time will come soon;
we will beat the lousy back of your head
you will remember us!
We will beat the lousy back of your head
You will remember us!

Based on a real song

[NOVA Green]

US SEN Minority Leader "Moscow Mitch" McConnell sounds like he is 100% doubling down on US Military support for Ukraine, regardless of his fellow Republicans in the US House.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday urged the United States and its allies to renew their resolve to help Ukraine as it stands up to Russian “thuggery,” tacitly pushing back against members of his own party who have become loudly skeptical of Ukraine’s fight as the conflict passes the one-year mark.

“America and our friends need to finish waking up from our holiday from history, welcome Finland and Sweden into NATO by this summer, and make significant investments in military modernization and our defense-industrial capacities that are commensurate with the major challenges we face,” McConnell said in a statement, shortly before appearing alongside President Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki to support Finland’s bid to join NATO.

But nearly 50 U.S. lawmakers, including McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), traveled to the Munich Security Conference in Germany last week to reassure European allies that Congress, which is split between a GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, will continue to support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with weapons and funds.

“If Putin were given a green light to destabilize Europe, invading and killing at will, the long-term cost to the United States in both dollars and security risks would be astronomically higher than the minuscule fraction of our GDP that we have invested in Ukraine’s defense thus far,” McConnell said in the statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/24/mitch-mcconnell-tells-us-wake-up-threat-russia-ukraine-war-anniversary/

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1629204514862661635?s=20

[Torie]

Regarding Germany and France pressuring Zelensky to cut a peace deal (the idea that Putin is ready to give up what he has taken in the past year, plus suck up some more formal military alliance with the West, that makes any further Russian mischief vis a vis Ukraine unrealistic, is ludicrous anyway - so I am not sure what the point was other than an act of self therapy), unlike the US, I don't think France and Germany have much power to coerce Zelensky to do much of anything that he is not otherwise persuaded is the right thing to do.

They should spend more time trying to persuade team Biden on the way forward to try to achieve their goal. He's the only guy that counts much. Good luck with that as well.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1629422086547439616
It’s insane it’s just the same pointless human wave attacks over and over

[jaichind]

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russia-halts-pipeline-oil-supplies-poland-pkn-orlen-ceo-says-2023-02-25/

"Russia halts pipeline oil supplies to Poland, PKN Orlen CEO says"

[jaichind]

https://www.barrons.com/news/no-g20-joint-statement-after-china-objections-on-ukraine-war-73ed9b37

"No G20 Joint Statement After China Objections On Ukraine War"

Just to be clear, it was both PRC and India together that blocked a joint statement.

[jaichind]

https://thehill.com/newsletters/1230-report/3866563-the-hills-1230-report-inside-bidens-surprise-trip-to-ukraine/

This article has a link to a picture of Biden's trip where if you look at the bottom of the stairs you can see a Zelensky double.


Another version of this picture where the double is more visible

[Torie]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/25/world/russia-ukraine-news#macron-says-he-will-visit-china-and-praises-beijings-efforts-on-a-peace-plan

Macron must have a very low regard for the perspicacity of his French constituents. He called “Beijing’s engagement in peace efforts for Ukraine “a good thing” and said that he would travel to China in early April.” … And then in the next breath says that … “he made clear that peace would be possible only if Russian aggression were stopped, its troops withdrawn and the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and its people respected.” And this is all in the face of “Beijing … considering giving Russia lethal aid for use in Ukraine, and signs that China’s leadership is disinclined to distance itself from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.”

I don’t know who Macron is fooling. Perhaps it is himself. Or maybe he just likes seeing his handsome face in the limelight. I have to assume that Macron is not an idiot, and thus is not under any illusion that Xi really gives a damn what Macron thinks. Why should he?

[CumbrianLefty]

...

For the ages to come, the cliche of the right person in the right place at the right time, will have Zelinsky's face next to it. Just remarkable when you think about it. He's the Lincoln of the 21st century, no matter what happens next, for good or bad, but hopefully good of course. 

Churchill, shurely?

[Torie]

That is another worthy choice.

[Hindsight was 2020]

So the new kremlin bot talking point is the war is fake/staged event because you don’t see vid of it on the news every night….
https://mobile.twitter.com/DylanBurns1776/status/1629240770778525699
https://mobile.twitter.com/DylanBurns1776/status/1629502873410076675
https://mobile.twitter.com/catturd2/status/1629175986733416450
https://mobile.twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1629263036367216645

[Logical]

Please don't give the mouth breathers more oxygen than they deserve.

[jaichind]

Ukraine brought a disabled Russian tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin.  It seems counterprotesters start to put flowers on the tank.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629533339295129604
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629534563109072896
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629536875466637313
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629539396562108419
The long hyped Russian offensive to nobodies shock seems to be a dud that changed nothing on the front lines

[oldtimer]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629533339295129604
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629534563109072896
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629536875466637313
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1629539396562108419
The long hyped Russian offensive to nobodies shock seems to be a dud that changed nothing on the front lines

Russians from the start of the war, assault urban settlements and strong points without encircling them, usually moving as slow as possible on exposed roads while relying on artilery, failed WW1 tacticts.

While NATO trained armies are trained to move as fast as possible with air or missile cover through fields or deserts , encircling and bypassing urban settlements and points of high resistance and letting the upcoming infantry to take care of that, blitzkrieg.

I'm pretty sure the russians have not even watched a single western WW2 movie to even understand the basics of war, much less read a millitary manual.