A Russian deputy military commander said Moscow could seize Ukraine’s Black Sea coast to create a corridor to a breakaway region of Moldova.
On Friday, Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, said, "control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed." He added, "One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine.”
Nearly 500,000 people live in Transnistria, a narrow section of Moldova that borders Ukraine. While no countries recognize its sovereignty from Moldova, it has been self-ruled since 1992. Russia has about 1,500 peacekeepers in Transnistria.
The Moldovan said the comments conflict with Russia’s stated policy. “These statements are unfounded and contradict the position of the Russian Federation supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders,” the Moldovan foreign ministry told the Washington Post.
It is unclear if Minnekaev’s comments represent official Kremlin policy. On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the key city of Mariupol, giving Russia control of Ukraine’s Sea of Azov coast. Moscow recently announced a new phase of its military operations in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
Seizing the Black Sea coastline would likely be a more ambitious task, requiring the capture of the port city of Odesa. Since beginning the "special military operation" on February 24, Russia has captured only a small portion of Ukraine’s southwest.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Count it as obvious. Russia is not going to let NATO run Odessa. Get serious.
Possibly, now with Mariupol taken. But even with most of the Zelensky regime’s forces beaten, Odessa is a whole new task.
The Russians could free Russian-built Odessa from the regime’s Azov-style battalion in the city, or they could at least surround it, but I guess they’ll do so only to have a bargaining chip to get sanctions lifted. Because while the regime doesn’t need Russian Donbass, they definitely need access to the Black Sea. The sea traffic is high and they are used to trading that way.
I think Russia is playing this for keeps.
They will not try to bargain for sanctions. Those can be always reinstated by inventing another comical Skripal or Navalni case.
Russia will get what it wants — payment for energy in Rubles. The mechanism has been created by one Russian bank that will facilitate using Euros to purchase rubles,
Eventually other commodities could be purchased same way. The only way Russia can de-Nazify Ukraine by cutting off the region these militants were coming from.
And the Western regiion is the route fron O
Poland to Odessa.
They will not try to bargain for sanctions. Those can be always reinstated
Apparently a whole lot of amateurs here get furious at the idea of Russia negotiating for an end to sanctions. “Nooo! You mustn’t write that, that would be Russian weakness, take it back!” I hope that your post is actual adult thinking instead of that kind of childishness.
And of course Russia could negotiate for an end to the sanctions that have been imposed because of this war. Of course they want those gone. “No, they can just come back again.” Okay. By that logic no one would ever negotiate about anything, because it can just be done again.
USA does not negotiate . It doesnt knwo how to. It has demands and it expects other to respect and fullfill. No ,Russia has nothing to bargain for because Russia has establsihed the fact that the weaknes runs in the US system . Libya learnt .NK learnt . Iran has and is learning again .
There is no point trying to explain. It is not my wishful thinking. And personal attacks are the sure sign of the loss of logic on your part.
It is my opinion that the escallation ladder has not reached the treshold of pain on either side. Russia is not likely to ever return Azov Sea coast or Kherson region. There are other considerations — particularly Galicia’s influence in Kyiv.
We are also insensible to subtle chaged in positions of our closest allies. Biris Johnson’s position serms to shift — advising Zelenski to pull back and reposition his defences.
Germany seems to be growing more concerned about its economy. Most polls show drop in support for funding Ukrsinian war, Most people are concerned about the dangers of nuclear confrontation that will not spare anyone. Important thing to remember — Russia is not the only one affected by the war, and assuming automatically that Russia is eagerly waiting for an opportunity to negotiate the release from sanctions, is an oversimplification.
Armchair cheerleaders always forget two things. One, in war every co-belligerent
suffers. And NATO is a co-belligerent. Two, those who cherfully participate in bringing the war about, do not neccesarily prevail,
When this started, Putin said WWIII would be nuclear. Around the same time frame, he said that they were going to go right for the throat by decapitating those that started all of this. Draw your own conclusions. Gonzalo Lira did a video a few months back admonishing those in the West to leave it. He stated economic reasons for leaving, but I think the US has put a nuclear bullseye on its back. The Russians have created lots of fallout shelters in their major cities, as I have been in one, as the St. Petersburg metro system doubles as fallout shelter, as they are just over 200 ft deep. Moscow, etc have the same set up. We have jack shit in the US, unless you live by a mine or far enough from a blast center to survive radiation. Only places that offer that is the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and parts of Northern New England
Many problems with that hypothesis:
1. The US sanctions will never be lifted until Russia returns Crimea. That will never happen so sanctions are permanent until simply ignored by EU. Both US and Putin have acknowledged this fact.
2. Russia is not currently “bargaining” with the US on any level. Both sides admit there has been ZERO high level diplomatic or military communications. So, there are no “bargaining chips” if there is no bargaining.
3. Putin has stated many times he has given up negotiating with US. If, through some miracle, an agreement is made, the US will violate it before the ink is dry.
4. The sanctions are actually weakening Russia’s enemies far more than Russia. Russia’s European NATO enemies are facing economic collapse due to sanctions while Russia is not. Militarily, the sanctions are in Russia’s favor.
So, neither US nor Russia currently want the sanctions lifted, but for vastly different reasons.
“The US sanctions will never be lifted until Russia returns Crimea.”
There were new sanctions added because of the war, not because of Crimea. Those are the ones I’m talking about. They also hurt Western economies.
“Russia is not currently “bargaining” with the US on any level.”
So? Did you not understand that the whole point of my post was that the chances for “bargaining”, your word, is far higher if Russia threatens to cut off all Ukrainian access to the Black Sea? You: “They’re not bargaining NOW, so that can’t happen!”
“Putin has stated many times he has given up negotiating with US.”
I smile at your childishness. “But Putin SAID…. so he never will!” Such a spergy argument, cute.
“The sanctions are actually weakening Russia’s enemies far more than Russia.”
Um, explain how that is “a problem with my hypothesis”? And you don’t realize you contradict your own sperg point that “the U.S. says they won’t lift any sanctions NOW so that means they won’t in the future either!” Keep it straight.
Nearly all of Ukraine’s grain export went through Mariupol.
Point being? You mean, because grain exports went through Mariupol, Russia taking Odessa or threatening to take it would be no bother for Ukraine, because grain exports used to go through Mariupol? Fascinating. Apparently nothing can ever change in any way.
“Possibly, now with Mariupol taken”.
“Mariupol taken”? Are you serious ? Going through MSMs assiduously every day I get the impression is that Zelensky is marching forward and nearing Moscow. Or is it that MSMs are also drugged like Zelensky
Where are the billions and billions being flooded into Ukraine going if Mariupol is taken
Try to keep up. The Azov battalion has broken free in Mariupol and have blown through Moscow and are on the Chinese border about to occupy Beijing to liberate Taiwan.
LOL 😀
They got way over there with their U-boats.
The only ones elevating the Azov Battalion to a super power here are the Pro Putin Lovers.
One battalion that can stop a whole Russian army.., no wonder Putin is having nightmares about them.
“Mariupol taken”? Are you serious ¨
Do you not know that the last remaining resistance in Mariupol is holed up in a factory with no way out and with no supplies coming in? And hundreds of those have already surrendered. So what are you complaining about in my post, exactly? Please explain. Or did you just use my post to do some strange criticism against Zelensky and the media? Weird choice.
“Where are the billions and billions being flooded into Ukraine going if Mariupol is taken”
You seriously think the money can’t be going to other parts of Ukraine than the city of Mariupol? What was the point of that ridiculous statement? Try to do better. And don’t bother me if you are unable to keep up with the news. All of Mariupol is in Russian hands except one location with about 2,000 soldiers remaining.
I think he was being sarcastic.
Regret he could not catch it.
See my response below.
Like before, into a few pockets…
I am very much inclined to agree…!
No turning back for Russia now. Seems just a matter of time before this war expands to include other European countries. Of course, the U.S. as always the case pushing for more war all the time to booster the U.S. Offense Industry.
Wish it wouldn’t let Nato run the whole of Europe…….
ROFL
Bloated Vladimir Putin video heightens theories Russian leader is sick
New video shows Vladimir Putin looking bloated and awkwardly gripping a table for support — heightening suspicions that the warmongering president is seriously ill.
The footage released by the Kremlin Thursday shows Putin, 69, tightly gripping the table with his right hand as soon as he sits down — then keeping it there throughout the nearly 12-minute clip.
Putin sits with hunched shoulders and regularly fidgets and taps his toes during a meeting with his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to discuss the fate of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The clip shows Putin and his key adviser “both depressed & seemingly in bad health,” tweeted Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who was previously an adviser to Russia.
Shoigu is also rumored to be suffering health woes.
America’s only hope is a sick Putin on a deathbed . Otherowse it is afraid that it will end up lighting its own pyre .
As I look at the map, I have come to realize that Odessa is strategically positioned to warehouse and distribute imported weapons from both the Black Sea and from both Moldova and Romania. (I’m not saying that’s happening… only that it could.) So, you’re probably right.
It’s obviously in the discussion in the Kremlin. They would not need to send more troops into Moldova. Just be connected to it to provide support since politically the region is already closely allied with Russia. So obviously they’d love that end game. SW Ukraine would definitely not.
Russia already dominates the Black Sea though, and will definitely keep Mariupol as it is part of Russian Donbass. They can reach Transnistria through the sea. And especially after this war, no one will dare to try to take Transnistria by force.
It’s a crappy muddy place anyway, where drug smugglers drive through the unguarded border from Ukraine every day. Their national museum is a tiny building with practically nothing in it. There’s no education to be had, Romania soaks up anyone with an above average IQ from Moldova and Transnistria alike. Your country is a real pit when Romania is a step up. Imagine living in a place where all music, all science, all literature, all technology, all car production, even any good furniture production, is foreign. I saw an eye-opening documentary – no country needs Transnistria. Not Moldavia, not Russia, not Ukraine. That’s why Moldavia has made no move to retake it.
Russia needs those ports, they probably built them
Russians definitely built Odessa, and it was Russians who built the cities in coal-rich Donbass, while the Ukrainians were on their farms. Odessa is always present in Russian history. But as a Russian there says, anyone who said anything pro-Russian in Odessa’s politics since the 2014 coup was beaten down. A mayor who said he’d seek balance turned around and was completely subservient to the coupsters. And they have their own extreme battalion there that is like the Azov Battalion.
When Zelensky after being elected begged Azov to stop bombing Donbass, and they flat-out refused, the Odessa battalion threatened to move soldiers to the Donbass border if Zelensky insisted. (It’s on video, Zelensky telling an Azov commander, “I’m 41 years old, I won the election, you have to listen to me.”)
Where can this video be found of Zelensky saying “I’m 41 years old”? I’ve heard of it more than once now. Can you provide a link?
Did they ever prosecute those responsible for the trade union building massacre in Odessa?
No. But they might be prosecuted soon…
There are antiwar people. There are prowar people of the proUkraine & proRussia factions. My prediction is: Zelensky’s treatment in the English language press as a mastermind weakens as the Donbass gets conquered.
No one is completely antiwar. When people started protesting “against war” during the Vietnam War they carried communist North Vietnamese flags and chanted “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh is gonna win,” celebrating the ongoing invasion and the mass killings that would come. The media just didn’t show that and presented them as “antiwar,” and that’s what popularized the word. (After that they said nothing about the pro-Soviet Vietnamese invasion of pro-Chinese Cambodia, or the Vietnamese deployment of soldiers to control Laos on behalf of its new communist rulers, or about the Chinese invasion of part of northern North Vietnam to punish them for invading Cambodia.)
Everyone supports some side in some war or other either presently or historically, and usually support sides in many such wars.
“No one is completely antiwar.”
Wrong.
Mmmm, don’t know how one could pick out one phrase from a post which is wrong all the way through..
I’m old enough to remember that time of history. It wasn’t quite that simple. There was the doctrinal left that had some delusions about Mao and his little red book and there was the opposition against the Vietnam war. Even if there was a degree of overlapping, it doesn’t mean the two were identical.
Agreed; And some of remember that Mao brought China back from Blue Blood Bostonian drug cartels damages. We also remember what US backed Chang Kai Check did to the indigenous Taiwanese.
Chiang’s rule in Taiwan didn’t compare to what Mao did in China, insofar as persecution of the populace is concerned.
I m a putin fanboy and I was against this war and still against this war.
Once Putin has secured the Donbas republics and a land corridor to Crimea, declares victory, and withdraws from the rest of Ukraine (I’m still assuming he’s not a complete f*cking idiot), Zelensky will probably go the way of the man he enjoys being compared to so much — Winston Churchill, who was deposed in the 1945 election.
That’s assuming he doesn’t get too independent and end up like JFK instead.
The idiot who iis trying to stamp the rejuvenated Nazis in Europe — while Europe is too confused ? The pure blood Arian Ukrainians of Galicia, the Catolics — they have said plenty disguisting things, are on record DAILY with their hate of not just Russian but all Christian Orthodox population of Ukraine and elsewhere — what else they need to do to convince you of the evil staring you in the face?
They have proven who they are for years — , and we covered up for them! They are making 2/3 of Ukrainians scared, making Greeks. Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Romanians scaded — in
spite of their governments going aling with NATO program.
Our whitewashing of that scum, support given to them by the West is making the nonWestern world stand up and notice. We — not Russia — have become tone deaf.
You will never, ever have me support the human evil they stand for. The evil is now
ensconced in Kyiv, and Zelenski dances to their tune.
Has he forgotten what Banderites did to his family and millions others during Hitker’s romp thrkugh Ukraine.
I an sure some juveniles in State Department and NATO think it is funny.
Excuse me for not laughing. My family paid the price as the superior beings spread death in Europe in WWII.
Their stench is spreading again. And we are the idiots pretending not to see. More than that — we ADMIRE. their courage and zeal for killing Russians. So much for vaunted Western “values”.
They will bring havoc in Europe which might not love them anymore quite soon
Why wouldn’t they also keep their land corridor to Transnistria? Leave Ukraine landlocked as punishment for siding with their enemies.
Moscow’s stated aims were disarm and denazification. The defeat of the Banderites in the Donbass will be the first aim achieved. The second aim is the issue i guess. I believe denazification means invasion of Brussels. The EU has no one to blame but itself.
The only way to get the Nazi scum out of Ukraine would be to to invade Lvov. That will not happen. The next best thing would be to deprive them and their backers from access to Odessa AND access to Kyiv.
Leave Galicia out of Ukraine — and let Poland take it. Banderites killed plenty of Poles in WWII, Let them all sort it out by themselves.
The real nazis are further away, overseas…
Better get Thomas Knapp on a plane to the Kremlin to make sure they don’t make any “idiot” moves regarding their own historic territory!
I don’t have any great interest in attempting to run Russia.
And as I’ve repeatedly said, I’m assuming that Putin isn’t an idiot.
Yes, I have thought about that too. Is there a viable opposition to Zelensky today? I can only imagine a far-right post-war Ukrainian government whose mantra will be “he gave away too much”.
The opposition is either outlawed or in jail now
That last paragraph would explain why he desisted from adhering to the Minsk Accords that he said he would do when he ran for office.
I am afraid he might be taken out by his own bosses (and they are not Ukrainians). I’d much prefer for him just being outvoted during a regular election and leaving for good for one of his villas in the Us
Well they can try, Ukraine now has more tanks than Russia, Ukraine is mobilizing reserves so in another month will have an extra 100k trained soldiers. Russia isn’t doing that. In fact it seems Russian recruiting offices in Russia are catching on fire at an unusually high rate. Russia has lost the sooner they realize it the fewer people die.
I take anything about Ukraine with a grain of salt.
A graduate of Baghdad Bob University?
I wonder if those reserves will be trained better than the forces we trained in Vietnam for many years, and the forces we trained in Afghanistan for 20 years.
Signs point to yes. Hey did you hear the mansion of the governor of the Moscow oblast caught on fire? 20,000 square foot mansion what do they pay governors over there? Lots and lots of weird stuff going on in Russia too many smokers I guess.
Maybe they have Foundations like the Clinton Foundation.
Wishful thinking, my friend, wishful thinking…
I am certainly rooting for Ukraine. They seem to have won the battle of Kiev. What are the Russians going to say as the last of them departs over the Kerch straight bridge, how is that going to have been the plan all along?
You need to listen to that interview with Scott Ritter if you think Ukraine won the battle of Kiev. There was no battle.
That is the dumbest statement I’ve read here today.
One front at a time.
Best idea ever. Turn Ukraine into a landlocked state and let the EU supply them with goods by rail or road.
Then Zelensky can stew in his bunker for ten more years.
Video of Zelensky on Zoom
Call with white powder on his desk
https://t.me/salovnarezku/1975
Nah, he will either be taken out by his own (and Putin blamed, as usual) or run away to one of his multi-million villas in Miami or elsewhere
That may be the strategic plan but the operational and tactical execution has been abysmal.
Russia hasn’t dared place boots on the ground in Odessa.
The Moskva, the only ship capable of leading an improbable coastal landing by non-existent Russian amphibious troops, was sunk by NATO-Ukraine.
The only Ukrainian Oblast to fall according to plan Z was Kherson, and only half that oblast turned. It took weeks to secure the northeast and southwest.
Meanwhile Ukraine has been able to push south from Mykolaiv and pressure Kherson. There is no chance of a landward push West from Kherson into Odessa.
Odessa is Mariupol on steroids and any pro-Russian sentiment crushed internally by 8 years of pro-Western Ukraine/NATO infiltration.
Russia has the largest army in Europe and Ukraine has the second largest. With attrition and time Ukraine will cease to exist. Hungary and Romania will own Western Ukraine and Russia will own Eastern Ukraine.
But it is people, not armies that determine the outcome of wars of national resistance.
The US won every battle in Viet Nam but lost the war.
Even if Russia conquers territory in Ukraine, Russia will be unable to pacify or hold onto it in the long run.
Might makes right is a seriously flawed philosophy and history has demonstrated its lack of staying power.
Whole peoples and their nations have come then gone, many perhaps far sooner than they had to, embracing might makes right.
History only recalls a handful of its victims who thought themselves victors of might and right.
NATO was bad enough but we didn’t need Russia and Ukraine joining them in a race to self-immolation.
sad how Putin blundered into the trap the US prodded him into. Now NATO is expanding to 32 countries, five bordering Russia, with the Baltic a NATO lake. The total devastation of Mariupol and the atrocities in the suburbs of Kyiv will make it impossible for the Russians to pacify any territory they conquer. Instead of de-Nazification, the images of the Azov fighters holding out against impossible odds in Mariupol could make the Azov fighters national heroes.
Such is the law of blowback. Sad that Putin was like all the other arrogant leaders who over-estimated the importance of military assets and underestimated the strategic importance of support by the indigenous population.
Agreed. The patronizing Russian attitude towards Ukrainians is their greatest downfall.
Enough of the inhabitants of Ukraine, whatever the shared Kievan Rus ancestral ties with Russia, wanted their own identity as separate from Russia. Rather than help that, the Russians dismiss it.
Identity politics isn’t something the West made up; its a real scientific phenomenon and they’ve harnessed it for war and destruction.
I hate to get into the obvious but the writer deserves it. Stating that Russia has since 2/24 taken inly a small portion of Southwest.
Russia has taken Azov Sea coast, very critical for the security of Crimea. Ukrainian shipping will no longer travel through Kerch Straits, and cannot cause crisis by not respecting rules of navigation under the Crimean bridge. Writer is forgetting that Russia controls now Crimean access to mainland, by taking over Kherson.
Looking at the map, what remains of Ukrainian access to Black Sea? Yes, only Odessa region.
Russia does not have to go into Odessa immediatelly. It only needs to go around it in a strait line from Kherson to Moldovan breakaway region where Russian peacekeeper’s are located.
On the other hand it can be a midirection. The question is — is it more importantant to isolate Odessa from Kyiv or to isolate Kyiv and Odessa from Lvov?
It will be difficult for Ukraine to make decisions.
First, is it worthwhile for them to make a stand in Donbas, tie their forces in loosing battle, or to give up defending anything across Dnyeper, and bring forces to prevent cutting Kyiv off from Odessa region. And prevent cutting Galicia off from Kyev. .
Is this push in Donbas yet another diversiom the way Kiev was at the beginning of the intervention?
Because the MSM is in Baghdad Bob mode, your only hope for a reality-based picture of “facts on the ground” is to track it down in the alternate media.
Here is Scott Ritter’s most comprehensive presentation yet of the situation:
I listened to this in the middle of the night. Ritter is spot on. One of the best interviews with him I have heard. Everyone should listen to this.
This is the most ignorant Russian Military Fanboy analysis I’ve ever tried to sit through. That Ritter is an otherwise intelligent commentator only highlights his mistakes.
Starting with, where in Ukraine is Russia’s equivalent of the legitimate Assad Syrian government and legit Syrian Arab Army to ally with against extremist radicals?
There isn’t.
Russia entered Ukraine with zero formal indigenous support in place. Only Kherson Oblast flipped, and that was far from a complete flip outside the capital region.
Russia is fighting the ‘legitimate’ Zelensky government but the only indigenous support they can count on are the DNR and LNR popular militias. So already the claim that this is a parallel to Syria falls apart. Whatever land Russia takes, they have to hold themselves, not with pro-Russian Ukrainians recruited from ‘liberated’ oblasts.
Most Ukrainians will first default to the legit Zelensky government, as did most loyal Syrians to the legit Assad government. This includes Ukrainian popular acceptance of neo-Nazi extremists as legit military forces and accepting that Russia is an invading force.
Then – the absurd claim that the entire northern campaign – now abandoned – was a mere feint to prevent reinforcement of Donbass?? How dumb is that? Feints should never be so costly, plus, they abandoned any pro-Russian supporters there back to Kiev.
Interdiction against Ukraine reinforcements to the Donbass is what air power is for, except Russia hasn’t using air power competently at all.
Russian shock and awe in Syria destroyed the
IS before they could retreat materiale into Syrian civvie populations. Yet hardly any air power was used to destroy Ukraine Nazis on the ground.
Millions of people are suffering from Russia’s ineptly executed war of choice.
However immorally instigated by NATO, Russia’s ‘special military op’ has been totally incompetently fought to the detriment of Russian troops and Ukrainian civilians.
The only explanation is that Russia isn’t focused on fighting a shooting war, but the SMO is part of the greater economic war. This economic world war was instigated by the West against itself and the rest of the world, leading with China sanctions with no substitute economic base in place, then COVID-1984 smashing remaining Western-oriented supply chains.
The WEF Reset means the West defeats itself economically to keep a few Euro-First oligarchs on top. The Russian SMO helps that collapse to proceed, which theoretically is good for Eurasia, but even there that’s a fail.
The only thing keeping Russia alive is the refusal of the rest of the non-Western world to obey the West and isolate Russia.
Yet Russia’s inept handling of the Ukraine war hurts the non-Western world as well and leaves them more vulnerable to the Reset.
The non-Western world suffering Reset will be unable to support Russia long-term. COVID-1984 already devastated major industries servicing the West like the Asian/South Pacific garment industry.
Western elites crashing global food supply chains is clearly intended to be the coup de grace to the first economic blow, starving the developing world down and destabilizing for removal, any Eurasian-friendly governments.
Not everything he says is wrong but certainly incomplete. For example, no-one wants Russia to be part of NATO, sure – but Ukraine is the largest Eastern European country and like Russia could easily displace Western Europe and especially Germany as an economic and financial centre.
His assessment of Russia’s use of Article 51 is dead on correct, as is the assessment that all neo-Nazis should die as well. However, Kiev and Zelensky in particular never have to surrender.
Russia has had to retreat from Kiev, Chernhiv, and Sumy just to hold onto Luhansk and Donestsk because of severe logistical and tactical fails across the SMO crescent.
Odessa is a bridge too far. Its delusional to think Russia can ever take Odessa on their own; they need Odessa to flip and that’s not happening.
Ukraine/NATO prepared operationally too well both in Ukraine and apparently Russia itself for the apparently ad hoc Russian SMO to succeed.
Russia must be victorious in order to save face. It will go to any length to do so.
Indeed – since the original goal of regime change by seizing Kiev turned out to be too difficult, taking new territory in the south and east is the next best thing, and a more achievable goal. Ukraine will soon be a much smaller, landlocked country.
Too difficult?
Indeed, taking a city of 3 million people, when the CIA has been helping nationalist militias dig in to defend it for the last 8 years, is quite a challenge. Sweeping up the south of the country is more doable.
The annual growth rate of Kyiv? About 15,000.
Ukraine still appears to be a country where most people live outside the big cities.
If Putin is smart, he won’t annex Transnistria even if Russian forces conquer Odessa. As long as people can move freely between Transnistria and Novorossiya, the issue of sovereignty is secondary. That’s how territorial issues between “hereditary enemies” in Europe became irrelevant due to the EU’s single market and the Schengen open borders area.
By not annexing Transnistria, Putin will keep Moldavia close to the Russian sphere of influence. If Moldova plays it smart by cultivating good relations with Russia in the East and the EU in the West, it can prosper by becoming a trading hub between East and West. Something Ukraine could have become if Ukrainian nationalism hadn’t thrown a spanner into the works.
Or if Obama didn’t organize a coup in Kiev and cultivate the Ukrainian naztionalism/nazism, you mean…
If that’s the case, they need to be on the phone with Lavrov like, yesterday…
French authorities are in the process of transferring an unspecified number of 155mm to Ukraine, according to an interview with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Ouest-France newspaper in France was the first to report the transfer of the CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. It has since been reported that the Ukrainian military could receive 12 CAESARs in total and that 40 Ukrainian personnel are set to begin training on the system in France.
French President Macron also told Ouest-France that a shipment of Milan anti-tank guided missiles was being sent, as well. Video footage had already emerged reportedly showing Milans in use in Ukraine earlier this month.
Separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government is looking to help facilitate a transfer of Polish to the Ukrainian military. Other kinds of military assistance continue to pour into Ukraine from various countries. Yesterday, the United States announced a new aid package for Ukraine, worth $800 million, bringing the value of American commitments announced just in the past two weeks to $1.6 billion. The new batch of American aid includes 72 towed 155mm howitzers and an equal number of vehicles to pull them along, 144,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition, and various “field equipment and spare parts.” The aid package also includes “over 121” Phoenix Ghost unmanned aerial systems,
a previous unknown loitering munition, or ‘suicide drone,’ developed specifically for Ukraine under a contract with the U.S. Air Force.
Yesterday, news also broke that the Slovenian government would be sending a number of M-84 tanks, which are derivatives of the Soviet T-72M that were made in the former Yugoslavia, while Dutch authorities were working on a transfer of German-made PzH 2000 155mm track self-propelled howitzers. The German government is set to help facilitate both of these deliveries.
They are so nice, helping the Russians with more target practice.
Hopefully the news on today’s election in France will be good.
It indeed turned out very well!
It would be nice if Odessa also became a small yet super modern democratic beacon experiment leading capitalist consumers to the promised land.
It would also be nice if Moldova gained sea coast plains. The world will be very different if Eurasia establishes Aquarian age full process democracy.
He is talking of the region of Ukraine which in 2010 voted more than 60% for the pro-Russian presidential candidate. How pro-Russian they will be after the war remains to be seen.
i think that if i was the boss of russia the very first thing i would have done is occupy the entire coast of ukraine
I agree but if I were President, before occupying the coast of U., I would have a huge party, loaded with good Russian caviar, some good crusty bread and vodka martinis…drink to success, then invade… ;-}
They did have the party, and that’s why the war isn’t going well for them. They are good at parties and parades, not so much at fighting real warriors defending their land.
Did the general just blabber carelessly? I doubt it.
More likely the general spoke with tactical deliberation, his comment designed to keep the Ukrainian forces currently defending Odessa, “pinned” there so that they do not present a threat to the rear of the Stage 2 Russian effort in the Luhansk/Donetsk cauldron.
More like wishful delusion.
If Russia truly had air superiority over Ukraine, no Ukraine force anywhere would have to be so pinned.
In fact you’d want them on the move so as to more easily pick them off with air power.
Like the locals say with tears in their eyes: “What took you so long? We’ve been suffering under the yoke of these Nazi’s for 8 years. Now make sure you stay”.
And stay they will. These are Russian lands. West will never threaten Russia from there ever again. The landlocked rump ukraine around Lvov will be deprived of the rescourses and fruits of the hard working South they hate so much, as well as the ports of export. It’ll be totally dependent on the west.
A phase 3 will disarm and de-nazify even that part but without any unnecessary senseless killing which is why it probably will take more time than phase 2. Waking up from a Stockholm syndrome situation always do.
Maybe a Morgenthau plan is in order for rump Ukraine. Considering the vast fertile plains of Ukraine, it’s probably more realistic for Ukraine than it was for post-war Germany.
A number of small de-industrialized agrarian statelets would make sure that the spirit of the Bandera fascists will not wreck havoc again.
That will not happen since Ukrainians don’t want to break up their country into several smaller states. If that happened they would just join together again. How would Russia enforce keeping them apart without occupying them forever, which they won’t do? The one thing that will happen is that Donbass will no longer belong to Ukraine, which will probably include Mariupol, and the question is how much land in the south east aside from that. But it’s not as easy as some seem to think to just break off more land.
For one, who do you think are Ukrainians? After eight years of sorting out and defining who are the “real Ukrainians” or which dialect is the “real Ukrainian” — the animosity is running deep. Catholic Western Ukraine believes to be superior, pure Arians and have redefined the entire Russian history and considers just about the entire Christian Orthodox population — treasonous.
The toxicity has engulfed population. This iis the main reason for the huge refugee crisis. It is understandable. People sre scared of cultural police looking for traitors.
Time to stop the romantic version of Ukraine. Certain evils when allowed to fester will take long to remove and wounds to heal.
“Catholic Western Ukraine believes to be superior”
Off topic, but don’t all Catholics feel that way.? As one who grew up Catholic, that was driven in my head from day one. That and never ask any serious questions about gOD.
Give it some time after the spec.op and de-nazification is over and following the Chechen example: like Chechens now, ukranians too will become one of the proudest and fiercest fighters in the Russian army.
If they go for Moldova or recognize transnistria when the Russian speakers have not been molested at all there then Russia is a threat to world peace just like usa
Oh boy. Of course Russians in Transnistria aren’t being molested. It’s occupied by Russian peacekeepers!
Dpr and lpr were under defacto Russian protection and under direct protection after recognition but that didn’t stop the shelling by Ukrainian forces.
Given that Hitler’s effort to seize a tiny portion of Poland was seen as proof that he had visions of controlling all of Europe. The general’s suggestion about a move into Moldova will be seen in the same light. Whether or not there is any real consideration of such a move, Putin should have Minnekaev’s lips sewn together.
Correct, he basically pushed Germany’s pre-WWI border slightly to the east. Most people believe that Germany annexed all of Poland when in reality it was a joint operation between the Reich and the USSR. Funny how France and Great Britain only declared war on the Reich and not the Soviets, however…hmmm.
“Funny how France and Great Britain only declared war on the Reich and not the Soviets, however…hmmm.”
Not really any hmmmm about it. The treaty under which France and England agreed to defend Poland against aggression specified German aggression only. They had to declare war on Germany, or abrogate the treaty. They had no such obligation to declare war on the Soviet Union.
The treaty itself should make anyone say “hmmm”…
“We will go to war for you, Poland…but only if GERMANY attacks you”. Talk about a blatant agenda.
I hope the war doesn’t go on long enough for Russia to take all of eastern Ukraine or the entire Black Sea coast, but Russia may pressure the Ukrainian state to accept a truce, if not a formal peace, by threatening the loss of more territory and resources.
The Kremlin is failing to deter NATO expansion and failing to disrupt Ukraine’s military alignment with the West.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large and Chairman of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Arctic Council Nikolai Korchunov warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO on April 17 and claimed that the expansion of NATO would be to the detriment of “traditionally non-aligned blocs” by leading to mutual distrust. Finland’s parliament debated its accession to NATO on April 20 and will likely ask to join the alliance in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, US and Western military support continued to reach Ukraine’s armed forces to bolster their operations in Donbas, demonstrating the continued efficacy of the pro-Ukraine coalition.
Odessa is mainly inhabited by ethnic Russian Ukrainians so it will fall within the Russian sphere of influence.
You have never been in Odessa, Obviously.
On the southern front there has been a lot of troops captured. Near Malinovka just east of Hulipole 17 were captured. Made up of 2 Azovs (Nazis), 1 a foreign instructor, and one Croat. What’s interesting is that more and more we’re seeing foreign fighters among the AFU troop compositions. There’s been 3 different new videos showing fighters with British flags. In the north Russians recovered a chevron of a Sergeant in the French Foreign Legion.
Everywhere you look now on the battlefield there are foreign flags. The storming of Rubizhnoe videos showed American flags visible. Now there’s reports that a Canadian General may be one of the high value targets trapped in Azovstal. In fact the general was under investigation for sex crimes and had quickly fled to Ukraine to dodge repercussions.
A Turkish newspaper is claiming Macron abandoned over 50 French officers who are trapped in Azovstal, these are high-rank French officers. Good luck to the French voting that clown Macron back in office, France you deserve everything that is coming to you. They’re on the ground to ensure that Ukrainian military & Nazis are able to use the weapons handed over by the Western countries.
The Ministry of State Security of the LPR found documents confirming the information transfer of the OSCE SMM with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Correspondence included a “list of infrastructure facilities in the Luhansk region that may be subject to fire damage” was found.
Information was collected by the head of the OSCE Severodonetsk team, a citizen of Poland, Yaroslav Kurak. The order to start collecting information was given Deputy Head of the OSCE Lugansk Human Rights Team Pilar Castro Moto, a Spanish citizen.
An OSCE Employee Admits To Passing Information To Foreign Intelligence Services – LPR. The Interior Ministry of the LPR has shown documents confirming that the OSCE special monitoring mission has been working for a long time in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
The OSCE was waging war on the side of the post-Maidan Kiev regime. The OSCE monitoring data also included the movement of regular Russian military personnel in the last 50+ days. Russia, an OSCE member state, has pointed out that the organization’s actions have contributed to the death of Russian and DNR/LNR troops.
France has been supplying ammunition to the AFU “by diplomatic mail on board civilian aircraft. Boxes with cartridges of 12.7 mm caliber were found at one of the positions of Ukrainian security forces in Donbass, where the addressee is the French Embassy in Kiev.
Good luck to the French voting that clown Macron back in office, France you deserve everything that is coming to you.
This was known from the beginning. Bully behavior. Take the land by force for profit and control. Only Dictator Putin lovers here believe the BS excuse of de-nazifying Ukraine and keeping them from Joining NATO. Russia just wants to completely annex Ukraine.
Does anyone know how to block the Ukrainian troll on here. If you do
let me know. I am tired of looking at the Nazi hero of Ukraine in Bandera that he uses for his photo.
Try clicking on “block.”
ROFLOL. General Twerp may as well be working for NATO. Or the WEF.
Russia has already had to retreat from Kiev and pretend to defeat Mariupol. The invaded area has shrunk by 1/3.
Up to a quarter of the 150 000 soldiers and assets assigned to the ‘special military operation’ have been squandered.
Whatever Russia takes, its in doubt that they have the staying power to hold.
The only explanation is that Russia isn’t fighting war in the Ukraine so much as fighting the economic war the West instigated against Russia and itself.
The Russian SMO helps the WEF Reset defeat the West for them.
I doubt this was a planned statement. Russia doesn’t pick their Generals for their professionalism and career growth, they do so based on Loyalty and Low IQ to prevent a military coup hence why they are so mediocre in the battlefield and cannot keep their mouths shut. I’m sure this guy has already been reprimanded and will not be answering questions again.
👍
How will Zelensky get his cocaine?
All I want to know is,
Do they have Nazis?
Gog pivoting south, be it NATO or Russia, Gog will be leaving all immediate conflicts where assembled to pivot but those among the remaining standing Armies Become Conscript to Serve Lucifer. So technically ALL assembled are in Lucifer’s wheelhouse to employ unfettered. Can you imagine?
Russia is very adamant about personal salvation of its troops and Azov Nasis are not. Most of the Russians in the military will simply go away. Those left back didn’t make the Harvest cut and garner. The Billy Graham salvation is what Pat sells and it is junk. You have to confess a new Lord, Not your Sins! Confessing your sins for salvation is a guaranteed goat trail into the trib and that is all over NATO nations.
Gog sees the Rapture, the whirlwind.
What his left on both sides of any conflict are Lucifer’s mighty army: Gog and Magog.
The left behind are now under Lucifer’s last hour of Dominion, are All his (hegemony for you intelected types) save those outside of the Elect who want to confess Jesus for Salvation- they get martyred everywhere, so choosing now is much better on the system.