Ukraine

Silvanus

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Yet more direct survivor (civilian) testimony of torture at the hands of Russian occupying forces, this time in Balakliia. Methods including electrical cables and hammers.

 
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Kwak

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The UN Commission if inquiry has submitted its report to the General Assembly, detailing the findings of UN investigators: widespread targeting of civilians by Russia, torture, rape, and deportation of children to the Russian Federation.


(Article links directly to the report itself as a PDF).
Can't wait for them to dismiss it as lies and the UN to do absolutely nothing about it and for China to veto the joint statement condemning the actions of Russia.

Lock Putin in a room with the videos and testimony being read out on repeat until he breaks.
 

Silvanus

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Since October 7th, Russian propaganda on social media has included faked/manipulated videos attempting to link Ukraine with either side of the Israel/Palestine conflict.

There doesn't seem to be consistency in the narrative: some fakes accuse Ukraine of exporting arms to Hamas, while the most recent one alleges that the IDF is recruiting from the AFU. Presumably the idea is just to throw everything and see what sticks.

In both cases the fakes consist of footage from other stories taken out of context, then overlaid with faked audio/ misleading captions.

 
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Thaluikhain

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I like the idea that Ukraine has enough weapons and troops that it can send some off.
 

gorfias

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I'm thinking Ukraine is a lost cause. I hear they have to grab any old fellow off the street and draft him into service as they're running out of people.
I guess you gotta laugh or your gotta cry.
"These guys showed up cause they heard there's going to be free soup"...

 

gorfias

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I think there's a lot of people who want us to believe that - nearly all of them are people who oppose or resent the USA and EU.
Are you writing that you don't think the Ukraine effort is likely a lost cause? It always seemed odd to me to think they would ever amount to much resistance to Russia. At best, I thought Russia might decide it wasn't worth the effort.

A tale of the tape:

 
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Ag3ma

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Are you writing that you don't think the Ukraine effort is likely a lost cause? It always seemed odd to me to think they would ever amount to much resistance to Russia. At best, I thought Russia might decide it wasn't worth the effort.
No, I don't think it's a lost cause. I don't think Ukraine can necessarily recover all its lost territories, but the West can certainly help it mitigate the loss, and overall the West should.

I think a lot of Western citizens do not trust, or are even outright hostile to, their own governments. This in ways makes some sense, because governments can do plenty of awful things that justifiably squander public trust. However, it can also be excessive, to the point where governments are suspected of anything or everything, or resisted even where governments' actions do align with national and general public interest. Much of the hostility to supporting Ukraine is thus a lot more about domestic politics than it is clear-sighted foreign policy.
 

Thaluikhain

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Are you writing that you don't think the Ukraine effort is likely a lost cause? It always seemed odd to me to think they would ever amount to much resistance to Russia. At best, I thought Russia might decide it wasn't worth the effort.
"Not worth the effort" is how the Vietcong drove off the Americans, the Americans drove off the British, etc. Make it too much trouble, the other side finds some face saving solution and goes home. Much of Ukraine will likely be de-facto owned by Russia, but a lot less than all of it.
 
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Silvanus

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Russia launched the largest drone attack since the start of the war this morning: 75 kamikaze drones, mostly aimed at Kyiv, alongside at least one cruise missile. Ukrainian air defence claims to have downed 71 of them.

It did so on Holodomor Remembrance Day: marking the time the Soviet Union under Stalin weaponised mass starvation to crush Ukrainian aspirations of independence.

 
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The Rogue Wolf

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Are you writing that you don't think the Ukraine effort is likely a lost cause? It always seemed odd to me to think they would ever amount to much resistance to Russia. At best, I thought Russia might decide it wasn't worth the effort.
This war has had one enormous, unrecoverable cost to Russia: Showing that its army truly is a paper tiger. The fact that this war is still going on, even with the West's help, is a kick in the nuts to Russia's stature. The humiliation of the world seeing Ukrainian farmers driving abandoned Russian military vehicles around had to have bruised Putin's ego and caused his allies to do some recalculation. All Putin has now is rattling the nuclear saber to try to frighten off more decisive action.
 
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