Ukrainian War VI: Pyrrhus Returns

[Phoeniae]

(durius_ well, I omitted the notice that my description, while it can be said of vigorous seriousness and dedicated for sure, it may not be absolutely true and contain prejudice and misjudgement.

in regards to mine I feel can confirm, durius_ review also much approved and reasonable. specificaly yes, I meant eu ‘conservatives’ party as closer to ukraine, while oppositely for other two partners cited.

only for ‘league’ party, permit me to sentence without appeal, that they constitute pure collaborationists and fifth column, kgb paybook.. apart them previously being traitorius secessionists and .. censored .. ..

and they .. again .. unrepeatable .. hate speech .. mafia .. these lasts ideas and personal quest of mine)

[The Jamesian Republic]

I don't understand how NatCons in the West see milquetoast western politicians as deeply corrupt nazi pedophiles, but Russia who does have serious problems with corruption (funds for the invasion getting stolen)and ultranationalists (land annexation is fine), not to mention it has serious problems related to human trafficking (a large part of CSEM comes from Russia), is a deeply moral country who has the interests of its citizens in mind

Because it owns the libs. Or it rebels against the elites.

[Stellar Colonies]

Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage (Politico)
An early burst of patriotic fervor saw draft centers swamped with volunteers, but that has waned with Vladimir Putin’s war in its third year.

KYIV — The 28-year-old is one of thousands of young Ukrainian men keeping their heads down, dodging conscription and avoiding registering their details as required. Artem is cautious when he ventures out, and avoids places like metro stations where police mount document checks looking for draft-dodgers.

“Some of my friends are more paranoid — they never go out,” he says.

Artem has the air of a fugitive, with his baseball cap pulled down firmly and shielding his eyes even on an overcast day. Before entering the coffee house in downtown Kyiv to meet with POLITICO he gazes up and down the street, and once seated talks in a low voice so as not to be overheard.

When Russia invaded their country two years ago, young and old Ukrainians swamped recruitment centers to volunteer. Some were frustrated not to be drafted immediately, and complained loudly. The Ukrainian military couldn’t take everyone owing to a lack of resources and equipment, but managed to muster new units, expand established ones and improvise to halt Russian armor bearing down on Kyiv.

But that early burst of patriotic fervor has waned with the war now in its third year, the body bags filling, and men returning home injured and disfigured.

Pessimism about the future of the conflict is also taking hold, with ever more people questioning whether Ukraine is capable of defeating Moscow's forces.

'Sensitive' issue

Ukraine needs to draft many more men for a battlefield that is chewing up bodies, but authorities are conflicted over whether to cajole or coerce, and fear the political fallout if they choose the latter. Since the Russian invasion two years ago around 9,000 draft-evasion proceedings have been opened, according to the Ukrainian interior ministry, but that's just scratching the surface of the draft-dodging and the evasion of registration so enlistment notices can't be issued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the issue is “sensitive.” Even in the weeks leading up to Russia's February 2022 invasion, he resisted calls from opposition lawmakers in Kyiv to announce a general call-up.

The most immediate need now is to enlist more soldiers that can be deployed along the 1,000-kilometer front line ahead of an expected major Russian push toward either Kharkiv in the northeast or Odesa in the south. With the winter mud starting to dry and spring around the corner, Ukrainian military officials fear a concerted Russian offensive will start in the next few weeks or months.

Ukraine is perilously short not only of ammunition — especially artillery shells and air defense missiles — but also of soldiers to see off a Russian attack. The average age of Ukraine’s frontline soldiers is 43 — and evidence of draft-dodging is mounting.

The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.

Last year nearly 1,300 draft-dodgers found themselves before the courts, but officials acknowledge this is just a small fraction of those avoiding enlistment. A draft system is in effect to supplement the ranks of volunteers, but lawmakers say it is dysfunctional and is hampered by the failure of thousands to register their details and whereabouts. Enforcement is haphazard, depending largely on random spot checks of documents by police, who are more vigilant in some areas of the country than in others.

Moscow’s troop strength inside Ukraine currently exceeds 400,000 soldiers, with another 100,000 near Ukrainian territory. Overall Kyiv has around 680,000 active military personnel with around 200,000 on the frontlines; Russia, meanwhile, has 1.2 million, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Ukrainian army general staff said last year they feared Russia could be considering mobilizing 400,000 to 700,000 additional troops.

In December Zelenskyy said 450,000 to 500,000 extra soldiers would be needed to resist Russia in 2024. The Ukrainian parliament has for weeks been considering fresh mobilization legislation, which would see the minimum conscription age lowered from 27 to 25. The age was in fact lowered in separate legislation last July and approved by parliament, but Zelenskyy never signed it into law. He hasn't fully explained why.

The new draft legislation has been re-written several times and envisages a call-up of another 400,000 Ukrainian troops. It has stalled in the parliament, however, with lawmakers objecting to some punitive measures they regard as unconstitutional, such as restricting the property rights of draft-dodgers, impounding their cars and blocking their bank accounts.

'Hot political potato'

“That’s highly unpopular,” said Mykola Kniazhytskyi, an opposition lawmaker from Lviv. “Truth be told, mobilization is a hot political potato, and no one wants to be holding it. The army needs many more people. But Zelenskyy doesn’t want to take responsibility for the mobilization and says it is up to government ministries, and they’re afraid of getting their hands burned and say it is up to the parliament, which then passes the buck back.

“Even most lawmakers from Zelenskyy’s own party [Servant of the People] are against the legislation, saying it falls foul of European human rights conventions,” Kniazhytskyi added. “This is becoming a real mess. In Lviv, people are buying apartments but don't sign a purchase agreement to avoid it being formally registered, or they register it in a friend’s name because they’re afraid later it could be confiscated. Others are emptying bank accounts in case legislation is approved and their money [is] frozen.”

What isn’t helping, he and other lawmakers say, is the frequent talk from the frontlines about the lack of weapons and artillery shells. “You have officers going on television saying if we don't get more money and ammunition from the United States and Europe everyone at the front is going to get killed in a matter of weeks because the Russians produce many drones and have more shells,” Kniazhytskyi fumed. Such prognoses aren’t helping persuade reluctant Ukrainians like Artem to join up.

“There’s no real political will to pass a legislation that would actually work efficiently — it has been postponed so many times already,” said former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, now an opposition lawmaker.

“The Western hesitation in providing the military resupply and weapons we need isn’t helping in terms of mobilization,” she added. “If the only thing you hear from the front is that they don’t have enough weapons to fight, then obviously it makes people even more skeptical about enlisting.”

'One-way ticket'

Artem says he and his friends dodging the draft are also afraid of being stuck in combat for months or years on end. “I’m young and want to live my life, and to go there without knowing when I will return to my normal life is hard. I have friends who volunteered at the beginning of the war and they're still there fighting. So it is like a one-way ticket,” he says.

Prolonged time on the frontlines is also drawing bitter complaints from battle-weary Ukrainian combatants demanding to be demobilized or rotated out with lengthy recuperation time. Their relatives want the same thing: On Sunday, dozens of families of frontline soldiers crowded into Kyiv’s Maidan Square to demand their husbands, fathers and boyfriends be relieved from combat, arguing they’ve done their bit and now must be demobilized or given considerable rest and relaxation.

But that can’t happen until more Ukrainians sign up and are trained.

Some lawmakers are pushing for the duration of military service proposed in the draft mobilization bill to be cut from 36 to 18 months; service is currently open-ended.

Last month, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, said people will have to determine for themselves the price they are willing to pay for Ukraine’s independence. He told POLITICO it would help if ordinary Ukrainians didn’t feel Western support was flagging, and queried whether Ukraine is that much different from other modern European countries.

“Is there any country where everyone will participate fully in the type of war Ukraine is in?" he asked. "It seems to me that it would be very difficult to carry out such mobilization in any European country, to put it mildly, and much harder than even in Ukraine. You must consider that people are invested in their careers and the good life,” he told POLITICO.

Podolyak added: "It is different for Russians — many people are enduring uncomfortable lives and are unemployed and they are paid a good salary in Russian terms to fight and then they are also told they can kill and steal with impunity.”

He also said that seeing the issue purely through the lens of mobilization misses the point. “It is nonsense to think in terms of sheer numbers when fighting against Russia. We live in the age of high technology. Why should people have to fight if you have enough precision weapons — drones, jammers, long-range missiles? The more tools we have in the form of precision weapons, the less gunfights we have,” he said.

But Ukraine doesn’t have enough of those high-tech weapons. Until they do, sheer numbers may well win out — and even if they do get the supplies, they still may not compensate for Russia’s greater manpower.

For Artem, there’s little that could persuade him to enlist. “My mother is a nurse and she sees the wounded and tells me firmly to stay out of it,” he says.

...
The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.
...

I hope even more Russian men are able to escape from the draft.

[Phoeniae]

in a ‘government dictated by necessity’, also we may call it legitimate dictatorship in perils of war, draft ‘escape’ can not be dismissed with mere moral condemnation or accusation of selfishness.

surely draft always deemed to be contradictory, since realistically you have to accept a degree of costraint where duty viciously glitters into unfair treatment. other hand, draft is useless if purely imposed.

this is also a way for people to politically manifest theirselves, when no elections can be held, and the right to civil disobedience can not be wholly curbed.

what I wish to claim, without further taylor of words, is that draft disobedience shall be seen and studied as worthy and honest portray of the real situation and political conduction of war.

higher than reasonable draft espace, widespread tiny corruption, most of all methods employed and degree of iron grip necessary to break these feature, is case study judgement of the conduction of war.

it comes as indication, sample given of uselessness of aim of war, of the strategy of war (the ‘attrition costs’..) of obstacles to betterment society, of gear for infantry, and finally of insufficient air cover.

and we have to stress, most of all insufficient air devense and coverage, insufficient air support. good part of these men I am convinced they can turn to duty in unfortunate case, at conditions.

since dawn of conflict, we learned how infantrymen incredibly intuitive when they feel their lives be wasted. poor command political and tactics is incredibly felt, it is duty of ierarchies to give them worth.

in a war perspective, not an harm when people spare precious lives in unadequate choices, and turn their ways to pressure allies to give them air support before, so they can fight effectively.

[Hrstrovokia]

Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage (Politico)
An early burst of patriotic fervor saw draft centers swamped with volunteers, but that has waned with Vladimir Putin’s war in its third year.

KYIV — The 28-year-old is one of thousands of young Ukrainian men keeping their heads down, dodging conscription and avoiding registering their details as required. Artem is cautious when he ventures out, and avoids places like metro stations where police mount document checks looking for draft-dodgers.

“Some of my friends are more paranoid — they never go out,” he says.

Artem has the air of a fugitive, with his baseball cap pulled down firmly and shielding his eyes even on an overcast day. Before entering the coffee house in downtown Kyiv to meet with POLITICO he gazes up and down the street, and once seated talks in a low voice so as not to be overheard.

When Russia invaded their country two years ago, young and old Ukrainians swamped recruitment centers to volunteer. Some were frustrated not to be drafted immediately, and complained loudly. The Ukrainian military couldn’t take everyone owing to a lack of resources and equipment, but managed to muster new units, expand established ones and improvise to halt Russian armor bearing down on Kyiv.

But that early burst of patriotic fervor has waned with the war now in its third year, the body bags filling, and men returning home injured and disfigured.

Pessimism about the future of the conflict is also taking hold, with ever more people questioning whether Ukraine is capable of defeating Moscow's forces.

'Sensitive' issue

Ukraine needs to draft many more men for a battlefield that is chewing up bodies, but authorities are conflicted over whether to cajole or coerce, and fear the political fallout if they choose the latter. Since the Russian invasion two years ago around 9,000 draft-evasion proceedings have been opened, according to the Ukrainian interior ministry, but that's just scratching the surface of the draft-dodging and the evasion of registration so enlistment notices can't be issued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the issue is “sensitive.” Even in the weeks leading up to Russia's February 2022 invasion, he resisted calls from opposition lawmakers in Kyiv to announce a general call-up.

The most immediate need now is to enlist more soldiers that can be deployed along the 1,000-kilometer front line ahead of an expected major Russian push toward either Kharkiv in the northeast or Odesa in the south. With the winter mud starting to dry and spring around the corner, Ukrainian military officials fear a concerted Russian offensive will start in the next few weeks or months.

Ukraine is perilously short not only of ammunition — especially artillery shells and air defense missiles — but also of soldiers to see off a Russian attack. The average age of Ukraine’s frontline soldiers is 43 — and evidence of draft-dodging is mounting.

The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.

Last year nearly 1,300 draft-dodgers found themselves before the courts, but officials acknowledge this is just a small fraction of those avoiding enlistment. A draft system is in effect to supplement the ranks of volunteers, but lawmakers say it is dysfunctional and is hampered by the failure of thousands to register their details and whereabouts. Enforcement is haphazard, depending largely on random spot checks of documents by police, who are more vigilant in some areas of the country than in others.

Moscow’s troop strength inside Ukraine currently exceeds 400,000 soldiers, with another 100,000 near Ukrainian territory. Overall Kyiv has around 680,000 active military personnel with around 200,000 on the frontlines; Russia, meanwhile, has 1.2 million, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Ukrainian army general staff said last year they feared Russia could be considering mobilizing 400,000 to 700,000 additional troops.

In December Zelenskyy said 450,000 to 500,000 extra soldiers would be needed to resist Russia in 2024. The Ukrainian parliament has for weeks been considering fresh mobilization legislation, which would see the minimum conscription age lowered from 27 to 25. The age was in fact lowered in separate legislation last July and approved by parliament, but Zelenskyy never signed it into law. He hasn't fully explained why.

The new draft legislation has been re-written several times and envisages a call-up of another 400,000 Ukrainian troops. It has stalled in the parliament, however, with lawmakers objecting to some punitive measures they regard as unconstitutional, such as restricting the property rights of draft-dodgers, impounding their cars and blocking their bank accounts.

'Hot political potato'

“That’s highly unpopular,” said Mykola Kniazhytskyi, an opposition lawmaker from Lviv. “Truth be told, mobilization is a hot political potato, and no one wants to be holding it. The army needs many more people. But Zelenskyy doesn’t want to take responsibility for the mobilization and says it is up to government ministries, and they’re afraid of getting their hands burned and say it is up to the parliament, which then passes the buck back.

“Even most lawmakers from Zelenskyy’s own party [Servant of the People] are against the legislation, saying it falls foul of European human rights conventions,” Kniazhytskyi added. “This is becoming a real mess. In Lviv, people are buying apartments but don't sign a purchase agreement to avoid it being formally registered, or they register it in a friend’s name because they’re afraid later it could be confiscated. Others are emptying bank accounts in case legislation is approved and their money [is] frozen.”

What isn’t helping, he and other lawmakers say, is the frequent talk from the frontlines about the lack of weapons and artillery shells. “You have officers going on television saying if we don't get more money and ammunition from the United States and Europe everyone at the front is going to get killed in a matter of weeks because the Russians produce many drones and have more shells,” Kniazhytskyi fumed. Such prognoses aren’t helping persuade reluctant Ukrainians like Artem to join up.

“There’s no real political will to pass a legislation that would actually work efficiently — it has been postponed so many times already,” said former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, now an opposition lawmaker.

“The Western hesitation in providing the military resupply and weapons we need isn’t helping in terms of mobilization,” she added. “If the only thing you hear from the front is that they don’t have enough weapons to fight, then obviously it makes people even more skeptical about enlisting.”

'One-way ticket'

Artem says he and his friends dodging the draft are also afraid of being stuck in combat for months or years on end. “I’m young and want to live my life, and to go there without knowing when I will return to my normal life is hard. I have friends who volunteered at the beginning of the war and they're still there fighting. So it is like a one-way ticket,” he says.

Prolonged time on the frontlines is also drawing bitter complaints from battle-weary Ukrainian combatants demanding to be demobilized or rotated out with lengthy recuperation time. Their relatives want the same thing: On Sunday, dozens of families of frontline soldiers crowded into Kyiv’s Maidan Square to demand their husbands, fathers and boyfriends be relieved from combat, arguing they’ve done their bit and now must be demobilized or given considerable rest and relaxation.

But that can’t happen until more Ukrainians sign up and are trained.

Some lawmakers are pushing for the duration of military service proposed in the draft mobilization bill to be cut from 36 to 18 months; service is currently open-ended.

Last month, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, said people will have to determine for themselves the price they are willing to pay for Ukraine’s independence. He told POLITICO it would help if ordinary Ukrainians didn’t feel Western support was flagging, and queried whether Ukraine is that much different from other modern European countries.

“Is there any country where everyone will participate fully in the type of war Ukraine is in?" he asked. "It seems to me that it would be very difficult to carry out such mobilization in any European country, to put it mildly, and much harder than even in Ukraine. You must consider that people are invested in their careers and the good life,” he told POLITICO.

Podolyak added: "It is different for Russians — many people are enduring uncomfortable lives and are unemployed and they are paid a good salary in Russian terms to fight and then they are also told they can kill and steal with impunity.”

He also said that seeing the issue purely through the lens of mobilization misses the point. “It is nonsense to think in terms of sheer numbers when fighting against Russia. We live in the age of high technology. Why should people have to fight if you have enough precision weapons — drones, jammers, long-range missiles? The more tools we have in the form of precision weapons, the less gunfights we have,” he said.

But Ukraine doesn’t have enough of those high-tech weapons. Until they do, sheer numbers may well win out — and even if they do get the supplies, they still may not compensate for Russia’s greater manpower.

For Artem, there’s little that could persuade him to enlist. “My mother is a nurse and she sees the wounded and tells me firmly to stay out of it,” he says.

...
The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.
...

I hope even more Russian men are able to escape from the draft.

I think about 900,000 have left Russia since the invasion started, 300,000 of those were supposed to have left with the first mobilisation. It's just that Russia has a much larger population, so not sure how much it will affect them.

Another aspect to consider is that, for every soldier fighting, it takes even more taxpayers to feed, cloth, train, and arm that soldier. I may have read before that Zelensky says every soldier needs 5 or 6 taxpayers. So taxpayers who shouldn't be leaving the country puts a further burden on those who stay and puts further pressure on Ukraine to subsist on western aid which, from some sources, is not guarenteed or is in limbo.

Those who are dodging the draft must be made to return.

[Turenia]

Polish official says NATO considering shooting down Russian missiles that approach its territory

Good. Just shoot the fucking things down already.

[Tarsonis]

Polish official says NATO considering shooting down Russian missiles that approach its territory

Good. Just shoot the fucking things down already.

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

[Khardsland]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

[The Apollonian Systems]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

Y’know this option may actually have meant something if it wasn’t coming from a person who thinks that Russian imperialism isn’t actually imperialism.

[Tarsonis]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

A. The forbes article quoted a source saying that, they didn't say that themselves. But that sort of comprehension continues to elude you.

B. We're talking about Poland, not Ukraine. Poland which is a NATO member, has unfettered access to NATO recourses, (and coincidentally already fields 48 F-16s and is set to receive F-35s) and is now the most air defensed country in eastern Europe.

[Herador]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

I'm a nice guy, and unlike Tarsonis up there, I'm going to help you understand why that link is wrong. In the image below I've circled these things called "quotation marks", now typically a quotation mark is used in writing to indicate that someone is talking, so I can see why you might have gotten confused and assumed Forbes was speaking directly to you like God himself, but in this instance, it's actually a literal quotation quoting someone else. If you go down below to the article, you'll find that the person they were quoting was a Telegram channel. Isn't that neat? (If needed I can provide an image guide to find the actual quotation in the article itself, just let me know, I'm here to help).

[Hrstrovokia]

The next source of western/eastern weapons to Ukraine? Japan is set to ease restrictions on weapon exports.

Unfortunately this article indicates that "Tokyo doesn’t plan to export co-developed lethal weapons other than the new fighters, which aren’t expected to enter service until 2035." An interesting development all the same.

I did a little more digging, and was able to find out that Japan won't ship weapons to countries already at war, but, it has transferred Patriot missiles to the US, who presumably shipped them to Ukraine, so I imagine something like that would work in the future.

[The Selkie]

[...]
I did a little more digging, and was able to find out that Japan won't ship weapons to countries already at war [...]

There was once a similar regulation in Germany. We don't do that anymore.

[The Lone Alliance]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

Are you seriously trying to claim that Technology created in the 40s and perfected by the west in the 60s and 70s is somehow seen as some sort of never before seen Wonder Weapon when Russia finally learns how to use it over 50 years later?

Why do you keep lying?

[Tarsonis]

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

Are you seriously trying to bullshit us by saying that Technology created in the 40s and perfected by the west in the 60s and 70s is somehow seen as some sort of never before seen Wonder Weapon when Russia finally learns how to use it over 50 years later?

Can you do anything on this website other than lie?

The real fucked up thing is it's not a lie if you believe it. And when one's perspective is so divorced from reality after mainlining Kremlin propaganda for years, you really can't expect much else.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

Are you seriously trying to claim that Technology created in the 40s and perfected by the west in the 60s and 70s is somehow seen as some sort of never before seen Wonder Weapon when Russia finally learns how to use it over 50 years later?

Why do you keep lying?

*inserts unknown_teknologie.png here*

[Hrstrovokia]

Guys I’ve got a foolproof plan to take out the Kerch bridge, just get the same ship that took out the Baltimore bridge and ram it. Boom! No more Kerch bridge.

[Picairn]

Guys I’ve got a foolproof plan to take out the Kerch bridge, just get the same ship that took out the Baltimore bridge and ram it. Boom! No more Kerch bridge.

Brilliant, now we just need a captain who's suicidal enough to enter Russian-occupied waters.

[Turenia]

Guys I’ve got a foolproof plan to take out the Kerch bridge, just get the same ship that took out the Baltimore bridge and ram it. Boom! No more Kerch bridge.

Brilliant, now we just need a captain who's suicidal enough to enter Russian-occupied waters.

They found a truck driver for the truck bomb a while back, so i doubt it'd be too hard.

[Turenia]

Russia not using damaged Crimean Bridge to transport weapons - SBU chief

I don't know if anyone else has been posted, as it's a couple of days old, but this is some good news.

[Dtn]

you'll find that the person they were quoting was a Telegram channel. Isn't that neat?

DeepStateUA is a Ukrainian organization operating under a formal information-sharing agreement agreement with the Ukrainian MoD, not some random guy on Telegram. They're more knowledgeable about the situation on the front than Western journalists and certainly anyone in this thread.

[Fractalnavel]

Russia not using damaged Crimean Bridge to transport weapons -SBU chief

I don't know if anyone else has been posted, as it's a couple of days old, but this is some good news.

I think that's saying "this is not a legitimate military target". Bullshit on both counts.

[Tarsonis]

Russia not using damaged Crimean Bridge to transport weapons -SBU chief

I don't know if anyone else has been posted, as it's a couple of days old, but this is some good news.

I think that's saying "this is not a legitimate military target". Bullshit on both counts.

No it's Ukraine saying they damaged the bridge to the point that Russia isn't risking its arm shipments across it. As he said, once the fix it they'll be ready to hit it again.

[Stellar Colonies]

NATO must create ‘more strategic difficulties for Russia’, Sweden’s FM says (Euractiv)

The West should aim to create more “strategic difficulties” in a bid to reign in Russia’s behaviour, with the first priority being to “stop the aggression against Ukraine”, an area where NATO is not doing enough, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström told Euractiv.

“We have to understand that Russia is a neighbour that is behaving irresponsibly, which is threatening the world with irresponsible nuclear threats and the idea of recreating its former empire at the expense of independent sovereign states (…) We have to put an end to that,” Billström said.

“We have to create more strategic difficulties for Russia,” he added.

His comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for ‘strategic ambiguity’ towards Russia and hinted at the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine, which opened a fierce debate among Europeans.

Billström said Paris’ idea would be going too far for Sweden, which joined NATO only in March, ending 200 years of military non-alignment.

“Regarding the French proposal to train Ukrainian personnel on Ukrainian soil, it’s not on the table for Sweden,” Billström said, hinting that Stockholm found the unfolding debate around Macron’s comments untimely and distracting.

‘Not enough’

“In order to [stop Russia], we first of all have to stop the aggression against Ukraine,” Billström said. “Not all countries understand the sense of urgency to act that there is.”

“Those countries need to understand that the conflict is here and that we need to deal with it.”

Given their geographic proximity, the Nordic and Baltic states have been warning all the more vigorously about the threat emanating from a Russian victory.

“NATO is not doing enough for Ukraine,” Billström said, adding that Kyiv’s armed forces need “more of almost everything”.

Providing more military equipment for Ukraine “is not a question of industrial capacity,” he said.

“[This] comes down to political leadership and political will,” Billström added, pointing out that the United States and Europe had far more joint production capacity than Russia.

Sweden’s security pitch

Billström said he sees his country play a key role in ramping up Europe’s own security, given its strategic location and capabilities in AI and space.

Sweden became the 32nd member of NATO earlier this month, almost two years after it submitted its application, which was delayed by wrangling with Turkey and Hungary.

Stockholm will push for greater deterrence and leverage its strategically important role in the Baltic Sea, Billström said.

Billström also stressed that Sweden was firmly in the camp of governments that wanted to concentrate on organising European defence jointly with NATO and “in relation to the transatlantic link”.

“We cannot develop the EU’s defence strategy independently of the United States,” he stated.

Installing a separate EU defence commissioner is thus “not the first thing we should think about,” he said, referring to a proposal first floated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in February.

Reviving Baltic Council

With all Baltic states bar Russia inside NATO, Sweden also aims to discuss how the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) could be repurposed to address security issues, Billström said.

While the forum was originally created after the fall of the Iron Curtain to foster economic cooperation between countries around the Baltic Sea, as Russia was opening up, its suspension has deprived the CBSS of its core purpose.

An upgrade to the forum would “get Germany and Poland, two key states for European security, to sit at the same table”, Billström said.

“There is no formal proposal on the table yet, and we don’t want to regionalise NATO. But the security dialogue (…) is a good thing,” he added.

The German foreign ministry told Euractiv that it is aware that the Finnish CBSS presidency prioritises “security, crisis readiness, and resilience” but that the agenda for the next meeting has not yet been settled.

It emphasised that it is looking forward to “further deepening the close cooperation with Finland and Sweden as NATO partners in the Alliance [NATO]”, stressing that “the CBSS is a forum for political dialogue”.

[The Rich Port]

If nothing else, it's good practice for all that new shit they just bought

Given that Western media is calling Russia's glide-bombs 'miracle weapons' while Ukraine still hasn't fought back with F-16s - I seriously doubt it. But I must say, using the term 'banzai charges' to describe Russian assaults is hilariously childish and NATO-wave.

Your reading of this article is very Tankie-wave.