This isn’t about bombing them into submission, though. They have to respond to every active threat against the state and if that’s some guys in a civilian house with rockets, then unfortunately that property is getting levelled.
I fully agree. From every documentary I’ve watched on this, I’m fairly certain the majority of the people there want to be under Russian control. Zelensky needs to let go of that one.
Trump's rhetoric is not at all helpful ... it's always him being Billy Big Balls, which is ironic because he was Donny No Balls historically ... Zelensky is not the reason for the continuation of the war, as Trump is claiming - Putin and his continuing ambition is the reason for that. Zelensky is in a difficult position because if he simply concedes Crimea (and other occupied territory) it will be seen as a betrayal by many ordinary Ukranians. He needs help to find a negotiated settlement that is not seen as a complete capitulation to Russian aggression and the last thing he needs is an inflated orange blimp constantly mouth farting whilst giving mad Vlad a reach around.
Eight people have been killed and more than 70 injured, including six children, in a Russian mass missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight on April 24, Ukrainian officials said. Authorities initially reported nine people killed, but the Prosecutor General's Office later said only eight fatalities had been confirmed. At least 42 people have been hospitalized, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said, adding that a rescue operation was ongoing to retrieve victims stuck under rubble. https://kyivindependent.com/explosions-heard-in-kyiv-amid-russian-missile-attack/ A series of explosions rocked the capital around 1:00 a.m. local time on April 24, Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground reported. Additional explosions were later heard around 4 a.m. local time. Russia launched attack drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, Kyiv City Military Administration said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko added that six children, as well as a pregnant woman, were among the injured. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said that at least two children are not accounted for. Fires were reported in residential buildings, Kyiv City Military Administration chief Tymur Tkachenko said, adding that cars and commercial buildings have been impacted as well. Fallen debris was found around the city, Tkachenko added, describing the attack as "Russian peace in all its glory." Kyiv 24th April, after missile strike (will not let me copy text)... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
I disagree, Europes paws will be all over this behind all the secrecy. I don't believe Zelenskyy is acting alone, he's being guided.
Russia will never give up Crimea. Makes no difference who is in charge in Moscow, to them it would be like the USA giving Texas to Mexico. Everyone needs to understand this.
No disrespect mate, but Trump only has to sneeze and the whole of the western media is over it, a lot of the articles I see from the likes of the BBC are clickbait. When will we be happy, once Zelenskyy has dragged us into this, and our own kids have to go and serve on the front-line. I agree Trump is not helpful, but nor is the media by giving him blanket coverage, because the Russians will be feeding into that, what happened to the good ole days of news blackouts to silence him, to tone down the rhetoric, we all have a responsibility here, the recklessness of the media is getting people killed. That takes nothing away from Russia, Putin or Trump, it's merely saying we are all playing a part in this, and we should be looking at this as a whole, not a good guy, bad guy scenario which we seem to enjoy feeding us.
It kind of is. I agree that if you put weapons in a house, then that house becomes a target. But Israel are quite open about trying to bomb Hamas to obliteration.
I don't think he's acting alone either - but Putin will be in no hurry to come to the negotiating table whilst Trump is effectively giving him a green light to make hay whilst the sun shines... and keep all the hay when the harvest finally ends... The danger to the world is that I don't think NATO will simply stand by and let the whole of Ukraine be taken ... and monetary support to Ukraine is not, alone, enough to prevent that ...
I really don't know what the answer is to this, but it's going to get much worse if we don't start bringing in some practical solutions. The media coverage of Trump needs to be toned down, that would be a good starting place. Sanctions should mean sanctions, not us still feeding Russia with cars via other states, because of either greed or protecting our economy, and at the expense of Ukranian lives. Starmer and Europe as a whole should be telling Trump to tone it down. Somehow we've got to keep a lid on this for four years until that **** is gone from office, that will mean conceding land. We need America on side, whether we like it or not, we should do that the best we can without escalation and without future risk to ourselves. American people working in Ukraine will help stabilise that. My primary aim would be to find a solution until the Americans get rid of Trump and not replace him with someone like Vance, yeah not much chance of that at the moment....so we either fight or shut up and concede some land - neither is favourable, but I know which one I would choose, that being the latter.
Agreed - and Zelensky needs to concede that Crimea is more 'Russian' than Ukranian - he can still save some face and appease Ukranian 'constitutional' indignation by agreeing to support a Crimean people's choice ... whatever that looks like - best outcome for him is that they go independent... realistically, Crimea will vote to join Russia ...
tbf he has a point and as both me and @Archers Road said very early on there is no way Russia will hand back Crimea as all Russians view it as part of Russia so it is really just a case of using it as a bargaining piece as time ois againt Ukraine. edit : think i should have carried on reading before posting
Based on Trumps comments today and yesterday re Russia/Ukraine I see someone who genuinely wants this to stop but is simply not equipped to get it done, he doesn't really have the chops here to push something through or convince either side. I agree with most I have read in here tbh, Ukraine needs to just get out of this conflict and realise their territory is gone man. It's over, Russian ain't going to take over anymore but they're not going to lose anymore either. The conflict has hit a geographical standstill, most battle lines are on rivers or vast open plains that are difficult to attack and it's simply not going to change. It's over. One thing that I always have to emphasis, no matter what opinion people have regarding Ukraine's politics, it's relationship with Europe, if they should have been cozying up with NATO, if Russia felt "threatened" that's all white ****ing noise. The reality is that in Kyiv, Russia purposely targets playgrounds, apartments, random carparks with ZERO strategic thinking. They have a bomb from Iran or North Korea, they shoot it, that's all they think. There are bombings across Ukrainian cities every single day and they target primarily civilians. In the city of Chernihiv, the Russians purposely bombed a breadline. They purposely killed 18 people waiting to get a ration of bread. Ukraine killed a Russian officer and the Russians in anger responded by bombing and killing 18 innocent starving people. There are countless incidents, there could be a book written with the number of wikipedia pages dedicated to Russian attacks on civilians in these past 4 years. The "Russia were provoked and bullied by the West" line is honestly one of the most pathetic woe is me arguments I have ever read. Russia happens to be the largest country on earth, with millions of citizens, vast natural resources and an absolutely massive military (a paper tiger one but large all the same) and they somehow felt boxed in and started shaking in their boots. Russia CHOOSE to have bad relations with the West. They didn't have this problem 20 years ago, they have made a conscious decision to step on toes, threaten, send planes over borders, spy, poison, throw people out of windows. So, **** Russia, I don't want our countries to have anything to do with Russia. Anyway, peace out
This ^^^ I've heard this 'don't poke the bear' argument i.e. don't allow NATO to expand its borders. Well, Putin wanted to be a part of NATO back around 2002 and was told that Russia would have to apply like every other country. He thought he'd get special treatment and threw his toys out of the pram when he didn't Ever since, Russia have been acting in a way that provokes hostilities with the West, and Putin wonders why NATO want to strengthen their alliance ? As for Trump, I mentioned it the other day, but he is a classic case of Dunning-Kruger effect. Somebody who grossly overestimates his competence and ability and at the same time lacks the intelligence and insight to understand that.
I think it was more the Orange Revolution that ruined Russia-NATO relations, the former wanting to keep Ukrainian elections nice and corrupt so that a pro-Moscow puppet would be returned every vote. I'm firmly against Putin and see him as a complete megalomaniac, but it does need to be said that NATO's whole raison d'etre was to counter the Soviet threat. The fact that NATO didn't disband or morph into something else entirely when the USSR collapsed was a pretty obvious statement: We don't really trust you, and we still see you as a threat. In a way, it's exactly the same psychological argument people make about the Israel-Hamas situation and I can tell you it is without question one of the reasons the far right is so strong in Israel at the moment: If you continue to demonise a people, they will feel threatened and humiliated and will respond by living up to the negative labels you've given them.
The problem with that argument though is that Russia are and have proven to be a threat. Disbanding NATO would have given them even more of a impetus to invade other territories. Remember they took Crimea, invaded Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine, none of which are NATO territories. Do you think if Finland, Latvia, or Estonia (who are seeking membership) weren't a part of NATO they would be safe ? Putin's was invited to join NATO, but his behaviour subsequently to rejecting the application process has proven exactly why we need NATO. And I don't buy the argument that because Russia or Israel have been demonised it is why they behave the way they do. Their behaviour is why they are regarded as such, not the other way around.
As you’d expect them to be? No issues with that, they’re enemies. Over the last 6 month or so more and more Palestinian people are speaking out against Hamas and have confirmed that the fighters do take over civilian homes and fire from them. They do indeed use mosques and hospitals to fire from. Every time Hamas does this it makes all these places legitimate targets.
Yeah I only mention that because you seemed to be saying that they weren't ? Anyway, I agree, if you put weapons / rocket launchers into homes etc then they become a target. What's needed now is for Israel to get on board with a ceasefire that will see Hamas hand over governance to the PA and disarm.
