Russia, Ukraine in ‘Consultations’ on Venue and Time for Negotiations

38 thoughts on “Russia, Ukraine in ‘Consultations’ on Venue and Time for Negotiations”

1. “the US would increase support for Kyiv.”

   Once again proving that it is the US egging Ukraine on, more than Ukraine itself. Also proven by the State Department recommending Ukraine not negotiate.

   And idiots want to blame Russia for this situation.

   Not to mention that the US no longer has the ability to “increase support” for Ukraine. Nothing from the US or NATO is going to be entering Ukraine any more. Russia will see to that. Ukraine is going to be lucky to survive as a state.

   I expect if talks do occur, Putin will lay down the conditions of surrender. They will include complete disarmament and essentially elimination or revamping of Ukraine’s military, the abolishment of all neo-Nazi movements, binding legal guarantees of Ukraine’s neutrality and binding legal guarantees that Ukraine will never seek NATO membership or cooperate with NATO in any way. They will include recognition of the independent status of the Donbass and possibly new elections for the Ukraine government. There may be other conditions I haven’t thought of. But these are the minimum Russia will accept.

   This will not be a “negotiation.” These are terms of surrender. Ukraine will either accept them or not. If they don’t, well, that should be obvious – the operation will continue until these conditions are created on the ground.

2. Russian Airborne Assault Force Holding Airport Near Kiev For 24 Hours Unblocked
   https://southfront.org/russian-airborne-assault-force-holding-airport-near-kiev-for-24-hours-unblocked/

   On the morning of February 24, a group of Russian paratroopers, consisting of a reinforced company of about 200 men, landed from helicopters and seized Gostomel airport, located 7 km northwest of Kiev, which is part of the Kiev agglomeration. For more than 24 hours, Russian paratroopers repelled attacks by the vastly superior Ukrainian army. As of 10:00 a.m. local time on Feb. 25, the paratroopers had been deblocked by an advancing mechanized column of the Russian army.

   Earlier, the Ukrainian side had twice reported the alleged elimination of the Russian landing force. However, numerous videos from the scene confirm that all this time the landing force continued to hold the airport and engaged in intense fighting with Ukrainian units.

   See the report for other actions the Ukrainians and Russians are doing around and in Kiev.

   It will be interesting to see how fast the city falls. I have no doubt that Russia wants to avoid heavy urban warfare, but I also have no doubt that Russia intends to suppress the command and control of the government. This could get messy – or not.

3. Comment from “Karlof1”, a well-informed commentator on Moon of Alabama:

   Today’s Global Times editorial [US’ real strategic color of selfishness, hypocrisy revealed in Ukraine crisis: Global Times editorial – https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253228.shtml%5D provides a different take on the event that is pointed at Taiwan and other nations of the Global South who think they can gain something by allying with an Outlaw:

   “As for Ukraine, which Washington uses as a pawn, in addition to reiterating that the US wouldn’t send troops there, Washington only simply said it ‘will support the Ukrainian people as they defend their country,’ and ‘will provide humanitarian relief to ease their suffering.’ Washington has once again displayed its selfishness and hypocrisy to the world. People have seen that after the US pushed Ukraine into the fire, it stood aside, pretending to care about the country and saying ‘I support you, keep fighting!’

   “It is fair to say the evolution of the situation in Ukraine until today is a geopolitical tragedy. From the very beginning, it’s a bitter result of the US’ strategic selfishness and shortsightedness. As early as 1998 when the US Senate approved NATO’s eastward expansion plan, the late senior US diplomat George Kennan had foreseen today’s tragedy. He said then, ‘This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves.’

   “However, the arrogant American elites always think they can profit from crises. For years, the US has incited conflicts, manipulated the situations from offshore and reaped benefits. It is accustomed to be the one who adds the fuel to the fire without paying any cost. What it wants is to realize its instant interests. The US shows no consideration for the suffering of the locals pushed into the forefront. When there is a real crisis, the so-called commitments it initially made will only become empty diplomatic rhetoric. Those politicians don’t care about the suffering of local people at all, but attempt to attract attention under the guise of ‘humanitarianism’….

   “The US often talks about humanity, justice and morality, but what it really does is calculating interests. Washington’s strategic selfishness and hypocrisy have been laid bare again and again in international political practices. Reports indicate that at least 37 million people have been displaced in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria as a direct result of the wars fought by the US since September 11, 2001. There is even a saying that wherever the US ‘intervenes,’ conflicts, chaos and terrorism will appear….

   “For countries and regions that still have fantasies or act as pawns of the US, the Ukraine crisis is a good reminder: A “partner” who announces ‘good news’ when you are in difficulties is untrustworthy.”

   Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2022 16:47 utc | 24

4. Comment from “Karlof1”, a well-informed commentator on Moon of Alabama:

   Today’s Global Times editorial [US’ real strategic color of selfishness, hypocrisy revealed in Ukraine crisis: Global Times editorial – https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1253228.shtml%5D provides a different take on the event that is pointed at Taiwan and other nations of the Global South who think they can gain something by allying with an Outlaw:

   “As for Ukraine, which Washington uses as a pawn, in addition to reiterating that the US wouldn’t send troops there, Washington only simply said it ‘will support the Ukrainian people as they defend their country,’ and ‘will provide humanitarian relief to ease their suffering.’ Washington has once again displayed its selfishness and hypocrisy to the world. People have seen that after the US pushed Ukraine into the fire, it stood aside, pretending to care about the country and saying ‘I support you, keep fighting!’

   “It is fair to say the evolution of the situation in Ukraine until today is a geopolitical tragedy. From the very beginning, it’s a bitter result of the US’ strategic selfishness and shortsightedness. As early as 1998 when the US Senate approved NATO’s eastward expansion plan, the late senior US diplomat George Kennan had foreseen today’s tragedy. He said then, ‘This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves.’

   “However, the arrogant American elites always think they can profit from crises. For years, the US has incited conflicts, manipulated the situations from offshore and reaped benefits. It is accustomed to be the one who adds the fuel to the fire without paying any cost. What it wants is to realize its instant interests. The US shows no consideration for the suffering of the locals pushed into the forefront. When there is a real crisis, the so-called commitments it initially made will only become empty diplomatic rhetoric. Those politicians don’t care about the suffering of local people at all, but attempt to attract attention under the guise of ‘humanitarianism’….

   “The US often talks about humanity, justice and morality, but what it really does is calculating interests. Washington’s strategic selfishness and hypocrisy have been laid bare again and again in international political practices. Reports indicate that at least 37 million people have been displaced in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria as a direct result of the wars fought by the US since September 11, 2001. There is even a saying that wherever the US ‘intervenes,’ conflicts, chaos and terrorism will appear….

   “For countries and regions that still have fantasies or act as pawns of the US, the Ukraine crisis is a good reminder: A “partner” who announces ‘good news’ when you are in difficulties is untrustworthy.”

   Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2022 16:47 utc | 24

5. Interesting, since they were also in line for NATO membership

   Georgia won’t join West in sanctioning Russia over Ukraine
   https://www.rt.com/russia/550596-georgia-russia-ukraine-sanctions/

   1. Yeah, they’ve seen this film before and they weren’t happy how it turned out.

      1. LOL no they weren’t;-)

6. So we can hope that this ends here. Russia gives Ukraine a spanking and tells them if you ever think about joining NATO or having military installations pointed at us this will happen again. That’s the best case scenario. Worst case scenario is WW3 kicks off and nuclear weapons are exchanged and we all perish

7. This is how good German “intelligence” is…

   German spy chief evacuated from Ukraine – reports
   Special forces reportedly brought the head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service to Poland
   https://www.rt.com/news/550650-german-intelligence-evacuated-kiev/

8. Great post by Pacifica Advocate in today’s open thread on Ukraine over at Moon of Alabama, on the history of neo-Nazis in Ukraine and what the US knew about it.

   https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/ukraine-open-thread-2022-17.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0278806d8d21200d#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef0278806d8d21200d

   TL,DR: The people who now run Ukraine worship the memory of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, who was rescued by the CIA from Nuremberg because he was a convenient tool for them–this is the origin of the Azov Battalion. Meanwhile, the Galician/Ukrainian/Ruthenian diaspora–who now form the core of our foreign policy elite in Eastern Europea–are in total denial about what a monster the guy was, doubly so about their own ancestors, triply so about how their ancestors “earned” the privilege of being relocated to the US/Canada/Australia, and quadruply so about the ideology and intent of the current crop of “nationalist patriots” running Ukraine.

9. Moon of Alabama new post on Ukraine…

   Disarming Ukraine – Day 2
   https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/disarming-ukraine-day-2.html

   The Russian operations in the Ukraine continue at a moderate pace. Some more troops were committed today. In all the Russian military may have now introduced some 20-40% of its prepared forces.

   The Ukrainian military is not so much holding a line but concentrating in and around its bigger cities. It has destroyed some bridges north of Kiev to make an approach more difficult. That will slow down the Russian moves but will not prevent them. Russia’s military is famously good at setting up combat bridges.

   So far the Russians have used their artillery sparsely. An exception was last night near Kharkiv in the northeast of Ukraine where a strike by multiple launcher artillery systems (MLRS) hit some area target with yet unknown results.

   A 13 minutes long video from a highway drive near Kherson, a city north of Crimea, shows nearly 100 destroyed Ukrainian trucks and tanks. These are likely victims of air attacks.

   If this map from a Turkish think tank source is correct the Russian troops did not attempt much deeper strikes today but mostly consolidated their frontline…

   Facebook now allows to praise Ukrainian Nazi groups like the Azov battalion. This was prohibited with Azov previously being in the same category as ISIS. Now these are ‘our guys’…

   NATO has said it will continue to deliver weapons, including air defenses, to the Ukraine. NATO does not have any weapons but some NATO countries seem to strive for a larger war. The U.S. seem willing to sacrifice the Ukraine to create a quagmire for Russia.

   Syria was also supposed to become a quagmire for Russia when Russia came to its help. It didn’t turn out that way.

   1. Russia did all the work from the air in Syria.
      All the dirty, painful ground work was left to Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah. Very different from Ukraine. If they want to take the country and the capital, it will be very costly.

10. Anything to avoid Zelensky “negotiating” with Russia. Even Zelensky should be smart enough to see that the US continues to egg him on to destroy Ukraine.

    U.S. stands ready to evacuate Zelensky, Russia’s ‘target No. 1’
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/25/russia-ukraine-president-zelensky-family-target/

11. Paul Craig Roberts
    Ukraine Update #2
    https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/02/25/ukraine-update-2/

    There were and are no strikes on civilian populations. The Kremlin’s operation contrasts starkly with Washington/NATO indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Pakistan. Hypocritical Western “leaders” shedding crocodile tears for the few casualties in Ukraine never showed even fake concern for the tens of thousands of civilians they slaughtered in their illegal wars based on lies such as “Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.” Western presstitutes such as CNN have tried to create the impression that Russian forces are attacking civilian populations by showing at a distance smoke plumes rising in a city. In reality the smoke is from precision hits on military communication or storage locations. The Russian weapons are extremely precise, so the Russians don’t need to bomb everything in sight, leveling every building in order to achieve military purpose. Russia will get no credit for this humanitarian policy, and might be forced to abandon it, a question I will explore later in this report.

    I disagree with his further comments on Russia’s “commitment to globalism.” However, I don’t have good arguments, just the assessments of others that Russia is now “abandoning the West.” We shall see.

12. Post from an apparently well-informed person over at The Saker. Says that the Russian advance may be one of, if not the, fastest military advance in history. Also Ukrainian citizens are leaking the position of Ukrainian military units to the Russians via social media (I’ve seen some of those.) Very interesting stuff.

    Nightvision on February 25, 2022 · at 4:10 pm EST/EDT

    I have been following the conflict very closely. A few very important but random updates on KEY ISSUES:

    1. Russia is now confirmed to have captured both british NLAW and American JAVELIN systems. The NLAWS they have captured multiple, and Javelin only 1 so far.

    2. The citizens of many Ukrainian cities are actually posting secret ‘ambush’ locations of Ukrainian forces online in order to notify the Russian army (yes this “treason” is dangerous and brave for them to do). This has happened so far both in Kiev and Kherson/surrounding areas. This shows that many Ukrainian citizens in fact support the Russian army in liberating them from the Nazi regime.

    3. Some people in the enemy sphere are commenting on the fact that initial Russian SEAD/DEAD suppression strikes were not as effective as they hoped because Ukraine continues to have some air capabilities. The reason for this is very simple, the U.S. gave Ukraine intelligence on exactly when the invasion would occur, and it has now been confirmed that the large majority of Ukrainian air assets took off on the night of the first airstrikes, went to the air, and many of them were transported to nearby Poland for safekeeping and are NOW coming back to safety. This includes (allegedly) the infamous Turkish TB2 drones as the Ukrainian side is now reporting they still have some left that have returned from hiding in Poland. There’s not much Russia can do about that, the fact that neighboring countries give aid to the enemy. When U.S. attacks a country in its many invasions unfortunately those countries usually don’t even have the luxury of having neighboring “allies” to help them conceal weapons like this, as U.S. generally turns everyone against said country via global hegemonic pressure.

    4. Another important topic that many enemy analysts have been incorrectly spouting off about. Some are saying that Russia is showing inferior capabilities because they have been ‘bogged down’ and haven’t taken Kiev as quickly as they intended. I’ve prepared some numbers to give you a comparison for the purpose of context.

    Russia is currently utilizing only a tiny fraction of its forces, roughly 20-30 Battalion Tactical Groups (BTG’s) out of the roughly 60 it has prepared for this operation (which sit on the Russian side of the border still, waiting). This is equivalent to anywhere in the 20-40k troops count, roughly the same amount of troops as the late stage of Georgian operation. Keep in mind Russia’s entire Armed Forces is in the region of 800,000 – 1,000,000 troops (of all 3 branches) so you can get an idea what tiny fraction of Russia’s full potential is currently being used. The reason most experts are giving at the moment is Russia did not want to create mass casualties even amongst Ukrainian military/soldiers because they know that their fight is not against even the average Ukrainian soldier but rather specifically the more radicalized Nazi types. This is why Russia has held off on true “shock and awe” style campaign and has not even targeted troop massings, mostly targeting materiel and command objectives. In short, Putin is trying to achieve this campaign as “cleanly” as possible without creating generation blood-libel hatred between Ukrainians/Russians as the ultimate goal is to have the two countries as brotherhoods once again down the line, once the Nazi’s and such have been cleaned out.

    So to give you an idea of how Russia’s progress so far compares:

    Russia as I’ve said is using so far anywhere between about 20-50k troops vs. a Ukrainian armed forces that has total probably 200k++.

    In 2003, the U.S. and “allies” had a force of 309,000 that invaded from the south of Iraq on March 21. They finally captured Bagdad in the north about 450km on April 10th. Now, Iraq is a country of about 24 million people, Ukraine is 50 million. Ukraine is also 50% larger than Iraq by pure territorial area. So it took the U.S. with 300k troops almost 3 weeks, about 20+ days to go 450km and capture the capital.
    After only a single day of fighting Russia with its 20-50k troops has already reached Kiev and mostly encircled the capital.
    Now onto the speed, some are claiming Russia is going “slow” and is ‘bogged down’. At the height of the famed German Blitzkrieg in June 1944, the Nazi’s progressed as much as 50km per day into Soviet Territory. But when you average their rate of progress over the course of the entire Operation Barbarossa (up until they reached Moscow) the famed “Blitzkrieg” averages to about 9km per day.
    If you compute the numbers of U.S.’s invasion of Iraq that I gave, the U.S. did about 20km a day with a force of 300k troops against an army far smaller and weaker and less equipped than the Ukrainian army.
    In one plus days so far, Russia on some axes, such as the southern axis from Crimea towards Mariupol or Kherson which it is now storming, has averaged approximately 50-100km per day. This is so far DOUBLE THE RATE of advance that U.S.’s allied force of 310k managed to do in beaten down Iraq and upwards of double the rate of the famed “Blitzkrieg” of WW2. You can easily see this for yourself, just go on googlemaps and use the measurement tool of kilometers towards known captured cities like Melitopol, which is 125km from Crimea (reached in about a day) or Kiev which is 110km from Belarus border and has already been encircled on at least 2-3 sides. On other axes like border to Konotop (80km) Russia progresses at a rate of 50-60km a day. Folks, these are record breaking numbers. No force in history progresses this fast. The U.S. took 3 weeks to take Bagdad which is less than 450km from Kuwait and had a force of 300k troops. Russia is doing 60-100km a day with less than 50k men. This is astounding progress on the modern battlefield that I don’t think has ever been seen before, and Russia is using only a tiny fraction of its capabilities. The forces represented here are about 10% of Russia’s entire armed forces, and anywhere from 30-50% of the forces that have been mobilized for this specific operation in general.

13. From Twitter. This looks like the shoe is about to drop on Kiev. Probably reinforcements for the paratroopers and tank units in Kiev.

    Christopher Miller@Christopher
    JMNEW satellite images show nearly 150 attack and transport helicopters, as well as support equipment in southern Belarus, some 20 miles from the border with Ukraine and less than 100 miles from Kyiv, Ukraine. 📸: @Maxar, Feb. 25

14. Facebook Allows Praise of Neo-Nazi Ukrainian Battalion If It Fights Russian Invasion
    https://theintercept.com/2022/02/24/ukraine-facebook-azov-battalion-russia/

    According to internal policy materials reviewed by The Intercept, Facebook will “allow praise of the Azov Battalion when explicitly and exclusively praising their role in defending Ukraine OR their role as part of the Ukraine’s National Guard.” Internally published examples of speech that Facebook now deems acceptable include “Azov movement volunteers are real heroes, they are a much needed support to our national guard”; “We are under attack. Azov has been courageously defending our town for the last 6 hours”; and “I think Azov is playing a patriotic role during this crisis.”

    Not that I think that *any* censorship is permissible, but this is clearly Facebook taking sides.

15. LOL US Taxpayers, take notice!

    Russian MoD: Large Amount of Weapons Supplied by West to Ukraine Has Been Seized

    https://sputniknews.com/20220225/russian-mod-large-amount-of-weapons-supplied-by-west-to-ukraine-has-been-seized-1093374079.html

    The cache included American-made FGM-148 Javelin and British-made MBT NLAW anti-tank missiles, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

    1. I’m sure I have asked this before but, can I get my money back?! Preferably with interest… And perhaps throw in one of those Javelin thingy majigs (for home defense)….

16. Vladimir Putin invites the Ukrainian Army to overthrow the Banderists
    https://stolzuntermenschen.blogspot.com/2022/02/vladimir-putin-invites-ukrainian-army.html

    Russian has no desire to fight an extended war with Ukraine and has, so far, acted with leniency and professionalism towards Ukrainian military units. Defence Minister Shogui has instructed all units to treat Ukrainian prisoners with care and professionalism. Ukrainian troops are invited to stand aside and let the Russians pass. Many Ukrainian units, especially on the border and conscripted units, have eagerly surrendered and been escorted from the war zone. Evidence of this cooperation can be observed at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where Russian troops negotiated with their Ukrainian counterparts and plant workers to establish joint security patrols for the protection of the plant and its stockpile of plutonium. Neo-Nazi militia however, are a different matter and can expect little mercy…

    [Putin’s address:]

    The main clashes of the Russian Army, as expected, are not taking place with regular units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but with nationalist formations, which, as you know, are directly responsible for the genocide in Donbass and the bloodshed of civilians in the people’s republics.

    In addition, the nationalist elements embedded in the regular Ukrainian units not only incite them to offer armed resistance, but, in fact, play the role of blocking units.

    Moreover, according to the available information, and this is confirmed by the results of objective control, we see that Bandera supporters and neo-Nazis are deploying heavy weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems, right in the central regions of large cities, including Kiev and Kharkov. They plan to provoke return fire from Russian strike systems on residential areas. In fact, they act in the same way as terrorists do around the world, hiding behind people in the hope of later blaming Russia for the civilian casualties.

    It is known that all this is happening on the recommendation of foreign instructors, primarily American advisers.

    Once again, I appeal to the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Do not allow neo-Nazis and Bandera supporters to use your children, your wives, and elderly people as human shields. Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of junkies and neo-Nazis, who settled in Kiev and took the entire Ukrainian people hostage.

17. Having problems getting RT.com any sugestions , or has it been banned and i missed it ?.

    1. It’s up and down. They have front page you now have to pass the test.

18. Will someone at Disqus PLEASE FIX THIS EDITOR! Every time I enter text on the first line and then hit return to go the next line, the stupid editor deletes everything I entered. This is driving me insane. I have to compose the text in an external editor and copy and paste.

    1. Interesting. I’m unable to reproduce the problem as you describe it. Is it a new problem for you, or has it been going on for a long time? If it’s new, have you recently updated whatever browser you use?

19. In fact, I can’t even copy and paste into the first line without first entering some text there. Stupid.

20. From Twitter:

    George Szamuely @GeorgeSzamuely
    “The world is united against Russia!” Media barely notice that the two most populous nations on earth–India and China–both abstained in the UN Security Council vote condemning Russia.

    George Szamuely Retweeted
    Aaron Maté @aaronjmate
    This is where I feel a lot of sympathy for Zelensky. He’s governed under the threat of these psychos since being elected on a campaign of making peace. It hasn’t helped him that his patrons in Washington have effectively sided with the neo-Nazi position: no peace with Russia.
    Quote Tweet
    Oleksiy Kuzmenko @kooleksiy

    Internationally active far-right Azov movement, its military wing the Azov Regiment (National Guard of Ukraine) call on “foreign volunteers” to join as the leader of Azov brands Ukraine president “servant of the Russian people” after Zelenskiy indicated he’d negotiate with Moscow

21. The State Dept saw no problem conducting diplomacy and elections in Iraq and Afghanistan at gunpoint under US military occupation. How strange that they suddenly have a problem with it now. Maybe we have so much practice doing diplomacy at gunpoint that we know how to do it right.

22. Russia has to stick for de-Nazification, otherwise the rest, neutrality, will be just more instrumentalized verbosity, …same as here with all our Victoria Nuland, Judith Miller … Neocons.

23. The Pentagon said the US wants to send more weapons to Ukraine and is looking at ways to do so. The White House asked Congress for $6.4 billion to be spent on military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and other countries in the region.

    Very intelligent, lucid and responsible decision to begin real diplomacy with Russia and stop the bloodshed and destructions as Boris Johnson said by giving gently weapons and systems to Ukraine, it will surely make Russia retreat and abide to the real diplomacy and fair agreements for both sides. Oh, that is not even Ukraine asking for that free help, but the Pentagon itself! Charity donations to stop more and more deaths every hour and lead to a cessation of the hostilities.

    1. I thought the Minsk accords were diplomacy…

24. I’ve read Anatole Lieven before and generally agreed with his opinions. Andrei Martyanov considers him an idiot.

    Now I do, after this unhinged piece. Guys is obviously having an emotional breakdown.

    The Catastrophe in Ukraine
    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/02/24/the-catastrophe-in-ukraine/

    Whatever may be the legitimacy of at least some Russian grievances about Western and Ukrainian policy, nothing can justify this flagrant violation by Russia of international laws and norms to which Russia itself has repeatedly appealed. And while Russia has had legitimate grounds to protest against Ukrainian discrimination against the linguistic and cultural rights of Russian-speakers in Ukraine, nothing remotely justifies President Putin’s grotesque lies about Ukrainian “genocide” and “Nazism.”

25. Wow. Right on a busy street!

    A Russian Mi-24 attack helicopter destroyed the Ukrainian Buk-M1 9A310M1 TELAR earlier today with rockets.
    https://t.co/1GlP5DVnPF

    1. Thanks that’s amazing.

26. The Saker’s end of day 2 update on the situation. Recommend everyone read it to learn what all the “Russian advance slowed” BS is about in the US media.
    Russian operation in the Ukraine – end of day 2
    https://thesaker.is/russian-operation-in-the-ukraine-end-of-day-2/

    Before I go further, I want to remind you that during WWII the Soviet Military freed a whopping 1’200 (one thousand two hundred!) cities from the Nazi forces. Russians know how to do this better than anybody else….

    The bottom line is this. These are things which the Russians are trying to achieve:

    Destroy the Ukie armed forces but kill the absolute minimum number of Ukrainian soldiers (real Nazi will probably be destroyed no questions asked). Why? Because these surviving Ukrainian soldiers and officers are the ones who will play the main role in finally cleaning the Ukraine from the Nazi scum.
    Get to the outskirts of as many major Ukrainian cities and gradually begin the steps I outlined above.
    Convince civilians to flee and convince Ukrainian solders to lay down arms
    Delay any Russian penetration inside the cities until the moment is “just right” (not too early, not too late)

    Why?

    Because Russia has ZERO intention of occupying or, even less so, rebuild or police the Ukraine, that’s why. The LDNR (in its legal borders) is as far as the Russians will go (with only a few possible exceptions)…

    So, today was “we get to our staging positions” day.

    So what did not happen (yet)?

    The operational envelopment of the Ukrainian forces along the LOC with the LDNR forces has not happened yet, there is still a corridor by which these forces can withdraw. The Russian could have shut it down already “by maneuver by fire” but, apparently, they want to keep it open for a little longer.
    The Russian Black Sea fleet has not engaged in any major combat activities (that I know off, so take that with a grain of salt).

    Will that happen tomorrow? Maybe, it all really depends on whether the regular Ukrainian units will agree to surrender or whether they will fight to their last solider. It also depends on how the Ukrainian civilians will react at the sight of approaching Russian forces.

    So what to look for tomorrow?

    A further penetration of Russian forces deeper inside Ukie territory, with cities bypassed.
    The gradual penetration of Russian forces into blocked/surrounded cities
    The intervention of the Black Sea Fleet in combat operations (with maybe Odessa as a strategic target, not necessarily to take, but at least to threaten and weaken).
    A western false flag (some “Russian atrocity” no doubt)…

    The US decided to impose personal sanctions personally on Putin (and others) which will result in a full termination of any diplomatic relations (as Russians warned the US many times). Note: such sanctions are entirely symbolic but maximally offensive, so a full break with Russia is what the US wants.

    Twelve thousand Chechens will be sent to the LDNR if needed, so promised Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnia. Actually, I think that this is a very good idea, like in Syria, the Chechens should get involved in policing and public security operations. FYI – when the “toughest” and “NATO trained and equipped” Georgian brigade heard that the Chechen battalion Vostok was approaching, they all ran abandoning all their fancy (and secret) equipment. Russia then organized exhibits of all that NATO kit.

27. Any aid to Ukraine should be economic and provided on condition it declare its neutrality and renounce its ethnic nationalism. Saving Ukrainians lives, though, has never been US policy, which has exploited Ukrainians susceptibility to aggrandize a nonexistent ethnic superiority to provoke Russia and destroy their independence.

28. From Southfront, news, videos and images…

    Battle For Mariupol: Joint Forces To Trap Ukrainian Nazi Units (Videos)
    https://southfront.org/battle-for-mariupol-videos/

    The Russian Special Operation: An Early Strategic Overview
    https://southfront.org/the-russian-special-operation-an-early-strategic-overview/

    Strong forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples Republics engaged the Ukrainian Armed Forces all along the Line of Contact from the outset. They have continued to do this, while achieving minor breakthroughs in two areas, Lopaskino in the North and Nikolaevka/Viktorovka in the South. While I believe that the DPR/LPR forces will exploit any breakthroughs, their real objective is to keep the UAF forces in place and engaged as much as possible. They will act as the anvil that the Russian hammer will strike the UAF against. Highly mobile armored formations attacking out of the proximity of Kursk and Belgorod southwest towards Kharkov and Sumy will likely form the northern pincer of envelopment, while similar forces advancing out of the Crimean Peninsula will form the southern pincer. These forces will envelope the majority of UAF forces positioned in the East, along and close to the Line of Contact. These forces will be contained and slowly eliminated. Having lost their mobility, they will play no part in confronting further Russian movements within Ukraine.

    Kiev Regime Instigates Chaos In Ukraine’s Capital (Videos 18+)
    https://southfront.org/kiev-regime-instigates-chaos-in-ukraines-capital-videos-18/

    At the same time the level of insecurity in Kiev was significantly increased by the decision of the local authorities to distribute weapons to civilians. The military mainly did not ask for any documents or permissions to carry weapons. Various spots of distribution were almost robbed by scared civilians as well as angry nationalists….Uncontrolled distribution will definitely lead to an increase in crime and looting in a city where the law enforcement agencies are not carrying out their duties anymore.

    As a result, shootings are heard in various regions of the city. Looters began to rob residents of the city….

    “Witch hunt” began in the city. Civilians as well as servicemen are killing anyone they suspect of Russian saboteurs…

    In the current situation, it may be difficult to blame those residents of Kiev who are free to use weapons against someone they consider aggressors.

    At the same time, the obvious fact is that Zelensky’s regime is cowardly hiding behind the civilians.

    The military equipment is deployed in residential areas in Kiev as well as in other cities.

    Ukrainian S-300 Missile Destroyed Building In Kiev As Zelensky Office Dreams To Dictate Terms In Talks With Moscow
    https://southfront.org/ukrainian-s-300-missile-destroyed-building-in-kiev-as-zelensky-office-dreams-to-dictate-terms-in-talks-with-moscow/

    Check out the video of what is claimed to be a Ukrainian air defense missile hitting a building in Kiev.

    In the early morning, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration, claimed in comments to TSN TV channel that after last night, Ukraine will dictate terms in negotiations with Russia.

    “The positions in this negotiation process will be completely different. These will be terms that Ukraine will dictate. It will set some conditions for what will happen next. That’s it, period. After the events of the recent days, and especially last night, it is clear who is who.”

    Yeah right… In reality, it will be the exact opposite.

    Gangs created in Kiev by giving automatic assault riffles to so-called ‘territorial defense units’ (i.e. anybody who wants to get a weapon) already turned the capital into the battleground despite the fact that Russian forces are not entering the city itself. ‘Ukrainian patriots’ shoot at each others, eliminate ‘groups of Russian saboteurs’ (i.e. ordinary civilians, other units of ‘territorial defense’ and even pro-Kiev troops) and loot properties….

    Social media outlets of the Kiev regime’s defense ministry claim that Russia suffered ‘thousands of casualties’. From their reports, it seems that Kiev forces have almost achieved the victory and in a few days they will launch an advance towards Moscow.

    This comes amid reports by MSM, the US and the UK that the Russians ‘have not reached any goals’ and are ‘suffering major casualties’ referring to numbers and claims of the Kiev regime.

    After only 48 hours of the operation, Russian forces eliminated multiple objects of the military infrastructure of the regime, reached and blocked Kiev from several directions, penetrated defenses of Kiev forces in multiple areas in the southern, eastern and northern parts of Ukraine and allowed DPR and LPR forces to develop an effective operation in Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Nonetheless, Kiev apologists and MSM are in a full-scale advance on Russian forces in Twitter, Facebook and social media.

    LOL Nice trolling, SouthFront!

29. As I see it, Putin and most Russians see US foreign policy towards them as identical to how hardliners in Israel see Iran’s. Our total inability to comprehend what it would be like if any other nation acted that way towards us could indeed result in ALL our demises. To them, this is even MORE than the Cuban missile crisis was to us.

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