Difference between revisions of "U S and Britain reportedly believe the Ukraine war could last 1020 years become a Russian quagmire"

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<p>At the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US intelligence assessed that Russia could conquer Kyiv in just three days. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been highly critical of the EU's financial and military aid for Ukraine and has maintained close ties with Russia. A little earlier, we told you about a&nbsp;report in the Financial Times that the EU was proposing to sabotage Hungary's economy if Budapest blocks further aid for Ukraine this week. Peter Szijjarto has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior officials today. This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO".</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>I think that the Ukrainians are highly motivated and therefore are willing to tolerate very high costs. I mean, the Kremlin has a very effective propaganda apparatus and is successful in inculcating some belief among the ordinary Russians that this is a just war, and thereby driving up the willingness of the Russian people to suffer costs. In the end, I think that the Russians are not willing to suffer as many costs as the Ukrainians are. Gideon Rachman How do you assess the incentives of the Ukrainians? I mean, I suppose we hear from them and it’s difficult to dispute it, that they have no incentive to settle because they feel they’re fighting for their freedom and for their statehood. Gideon Rachman I mean, I think, you know, we talk about the first world war, but when you listen to what Putin says, the war that preoccupies him is the second world war.</p><br /><br /><h2>The ripple effects of Russia's war in Ukraine continue to change the world</h2><br /><br /><p>Russia's invasion of Ukraine has focussed the West's military minds. He highlighted numerous threats, but there is one common thread amid all these warnings - Russia. Shoigu added that Russia could achieve its military goals with "consistent implementation of the measures in the action until 2025." However, Mr Orban's political director said this morning that Hungary was open to using the EU budget to allow further aid for Ukraine. A spate of Ukraine-linked attacks on Russia's oil infrastructure have reportedly led Moscow's energy ministry to propose restricting flights over energy facilities. Meanwhile, [https://telegra.ph/Discovering-the-Fox-News-Studio-Location-in-NYC-04-15 https://telegra.ph/Discovering-the-Fox-News-Studio-Location-in-NYC-04-15] 's Russia expert, Nandan Unnikrishnan, said India was unlikely to sign "any major military deal" with Russia because it would cross a red line with the US.</p><br /><br /><ul><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>It's hoped that the flight data recorders will shed light on what happened to the Il-76 plane that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians on board.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Russia has shown that it is committed to a long conflict in Ukraine and that it has the capacity to send hundreds of thousands of men to war.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>It also said that it monitored the launch points of missiles and their delivery logistics, especially through military aircraft, to reduce to threat of attack.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Ukrainians also make a calculation it’s just worth the cost.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular the war started by Moscow.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /></ul><br /><br /><p>While the bipartisan majority of lawmakers support arming Kyiv, 57 Republicans voted against a $40 billion emergency aid supplemental in May. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made several concessions to those Ukraine aid skeptics to secure the votes to win his protracted speakership battle. But Smith also said ATACMS producer Lockheed Martin no longer makes the missiles, and the U.S. military still needs them in its stockpiles. Smith indicated he disagrees with the Biden administration’s decision not to send long-range missiles, noting every Ukrainian official assured him they would not use them to attack Russia. “It would have to get pretty bad for the Russians to get there,” he said, adding that there’s no way of knowing how many reserves the government stashed away after years of fat checks from energy sales.</p><br /><br /><h3>Joe Biden vows Russia will ‘never’ prevail in Ukraine</h3><br /><br /><p>Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov, in comments to Reuters, reiterated on Thursday that - contrary to practice before previous PoW swaps - Kyiv had received no requests from Russia to refrain from attacks in the airspace where the plane was downed. Question marks and suspicions surround the shooting down Wednesday of a Russian military transport plane that was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians. “Ukrainian forces have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks. However, Russian morale highly likely remains especially troubled.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>But there is no smooth drop-off — most of them end relatively quickly. Ukrainian military officials have conceded that hopes and expectations of a great breakthrough in the counteroffensive were not met. They predict intense fighting is likely to continue into the next year but say Kyiv's forces are unlikely to launch any more counteroffensives. Russia, meanwhile, is likely to focus on consolidating the territory it has already seized, particularly in eastern Ukraine. A Russian lawmaker suggested that a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war that was shot down over the Belgorod region Wednesday was part of a two-plane convoy en route to a prisoner swap with Ukraine. The Ukrainian leadership knew very well that, according to established practice, today Ukrainian military personnel would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield for exchange.</p><br /><br /><h3>Russian Ministry of Defense statement on plane crash</h3><br /><br /><p>When he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s original plan envisioned Russian forces capturing Kyiv within as little as three days. "I'm afraid we need to steel ourselves for a long war," he wrote. "Time is the vital factor. Everything will depend on whether Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its soil faster than Russia can renew its capacity to attack." And in a stark warning, the newly appointed head of the British Army said the UK and allies needed to be capable of winning a ground war with Russia.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Russian forces are already trying to slow down tanks in Ukraine with mines, trenches, and pyramidical, concrete “dragon’s teeth,” a type of fortification not seen in combat since World War II. Ukrainian forces, once equipped and trained for combined arms warfare and tank tactics, will be “designed to punch a hole through a defensive network,” Donahoe predicted. “I would love to think the kinetic phase could end in 2023, but I suspect we could be looking at another three years with this scale of fighting,” Roberts said. Russia was not present at the discussions, however, and&nbsp;U.S. national security spokesperson John Kirby stated ahead of the talks that the White House did not expect any "tangible deliverables." It's become clear that the counteroffensive won't produce quick results and that success — however that might be measured in terms of retaking Russian-occupied territory — is not guaranteed. Ukraine will do all it can to keep pressure on the Russians there to make it untenable for the Russian navy in Sevastopol, the handful of air force bases there and their logistics base at Dzankoy.</p><br /><br /><ul><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>We’re gonna win, we’re going to win.” And finally, reality and truth hit him smack in the face that they couldn’t win and they wouldn’t win.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>So that’s the only strategy that I can see Putin really using nuclear weapons.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will fully investigate the circumstances around the shooting down of a Russian military transport plane allegedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on Wednesday.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Some analysts say Kyiv would lack leverage if it entered peace negotiations now, with the result likely being “peace” as dictated exclusively by Moscow.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /></ul><br /><br /><p>"Ukraine may shift tactics to deal with a downturn in Western aid, but I don't believe they will surrender." "However, that does not mean that there are likely to be serious peace talks and a possible end to the war in 2024. Russia blamed Ukraine for what it called the "barbaric" shooting down of the Russian military transport plane over the border Belgorod region, killing all 65 Ukrainian POWs on board and nine Russians. "The goal is obvious — they want to reduce international support for our state. It doesn't work! Ukraine has the right to protect and destroy the means of an aggressor's air attack," he said in comments translated by NBC News. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov responded to Zelenskyy's comments Thursday, saying "if he means an international investigation into the criminal actions of the Kiev regime, it is definitely needed," news agency Interfax reported. Russia’s battlefield losses are so huge that western officials doubt it has the capacity to mount an offensive on the same scale again.</p><br /><br /><ul><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>He was one of a group of prominent bloggers who have built up large online audiences as cheerleaders for Russia's war in Ukraine, while sometimes criticising its tactics.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>President Macron of France has spoken to President Putin on the phone.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Ukraine expert Terrell Jermaine Starr recently told me, "every step that Ukrainians took towards Europe came as a direct result of Russian aggression."</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Separately, Ukraine's armed forces said in a statement that they would continue to "control the airspace to destroy the terrorist threat" of strikes crossing the border from Belgorod into Ukraine's Kherson region.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Ukraine confirmed an exchange of prisoners was scheduled for Wednesday but one did not take place.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /></ul><br /><br /><p>Ukraine's army said Wednesday that it would continue to "control the airspace" to reduce the threat of missiles, "including in the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction," after a Russian military transport plane&nbsp;crashed in the Russian border region of Belgorod. Under this scenario, Russia escalates its military operations. There are more indiscriminate artillery and rocket strikes across Ukraine.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,New York,NY 10036. "There may be an effort to create it but the Ukrainians are not going to go gently into the good night. They are going to fight like hell." From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. The second thing to keep in mind here is that you must believe that any deal you make will stick, so there won’t be drastic changes in the future which will give one side an advantage and they will renege on the deal. The thing that is striking is that there is a cap on Ukrainian aims.</p>
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<p>That said, there wasn't much of a political will for third countries to sanction Cuba at the time. It's possible today's situation with Russia might make such a policy more politically palatable if the U.S. attempted it again, though I can't find any serious proposal in the government to do just that. After Russia first invaded in 2014, the U.S. military stepped up training for the Ukrainian military in western Ukraine. U.S. trainers continued working in Ukraine right up until the full-scale Russian invasion a year ago. From the very beginning of the war, President Putin has drawn parallels between the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and the current military campaign against supposed "neo-Nazis" in Ukraine.</p><br /><br /><ul><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>A U.S. official tells CBS News that Russia could tactically seize Kyiv and Ukraine in four to six weeks.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Girkin has accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of notpursuing the Ukraine war effectively enough.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>It notes the building gives Ukraine a "localised defensive advantage" and says Russian forces will probably suffer significant losses if they attempt to assault the facility.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>"The U.K. foreign secretary estimated it would be a 10-year war. Lawmakers at the Capitol were told Monday it is likely to last 10, 15, or 20 years — and that ultimately, Russia will lose."</li><br /><br />  <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /></ul><br /><br /><p>Chancellor Olaf Scholz also recently authorized supplying infantry fighting vehicles to help push Russian forces out of occupied Ukraine. Senior officials from around 40 countries, including China, and India, held talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the weekend with the aim of agreeing on key principles that could underline a future settlement of the war. Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region. Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus. Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, recently told a German newspaper "we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a Nato country one day". While he said such an attack is unlikely now, "our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible".</p><br /><br /><h2>Moscow and Kyiv face off over downed POW plane amid suspicion and allegations</h2><br /><br /><p>Russia lacks a decisive, breakthrough capability to overrun Ukraine and will do what it can to hold on to what it currently occupies, using the time to strengthen its defences while it hopes for the West to lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine. Yet the Army is already looking at how it might create a citizens' army. One Whitehall source told the Times that the training of Ukrainian civilians on UK soil could act as a rehearsal for rapid Army expansion. Finland, Nato's newest member and a country which has an 800-mile border with Russia, has wider conscription. Around 80% of the male population complete some form of military service.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>So if we both know how the war is gonna end and more or less what the outcome is gonna be, then it makes no sense for us to keep on fighting because we’re just throwing away lives, cost. So we have to come to the stage where both sides more or less know what the outcome is going to be, and we are not there yet. There is an additional stage and after that, certain leaders may not wanna terminate the war because they are afraid that their loss will cost them their lives. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said last week that its main goal in 2024 is to boost its domestic defense industry in the face of uncertain future supplies from its Western allies. It has also changed conscription laws, foreseeing the need to bolster its forces, which are dwarfed in size by Russia's but are more highly trained and equipped.</p><br /><br /><h3>Joe Biden Calling Donald Trump the 'Sitting President' Sparks Ridicule</h3><br /><br /><p>"A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states," the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak. He says Europe is rich enough to do so if it has the political will, pointing to a recent report from the Estonian Ministry of Defence suggesting that committing 0.25% of GDP annually towards Ukraine would provide "more than sufficient resources". "The document referred to in the Financial Times article is a background note written by the secretariat of the council under its own responsibility which describes the current status of the Hungarian economy," the statement by the senior EU official said. A senior European Union official has denied member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine. The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>And even though the fall of the Soviet Union was notable for its lack of bloodshed, many in Ukraine refer to today's conflict as a true "war of independence." All these measures were approved when both the House and the Senate were controlled by Democrats. [https://www.openlearning.com/u/michaelsenbishop-s2dhzs/blog/DisableGoogleNewsFeedOnIphoneEasily https://www.openlearning.com/u/michaelsenbishop-s2dhzs/blog/DisableGoogleNewsFeedOnIphoneEasily] are saying the U.S. should stop funding Ukraine. Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly support aid for Ukraine, and most Republicans do as well. The U.S. Congress approved four separate spending bills for Ukraine in the past year totaling $112 billion. The rest is funding the Ukrainian government (this helps pay the salaries of Ukrainian government workers) and humanitarian aid to help the millions of Ukrainians who have been driven from their homes.</p><br /><br /><h3>Donald Trump Reacts to US Troops Killed by Iran-Backed Militants</h3><br /><br /><p>Hein Goemans Well, the Germans quote unquote, “lost” on the battlefield and they kept fighting another four years. And at some moments they came very close to winning, right? So it’s a somewhat naive perspective because I think that Russia has plenty of hardware and mobilisation potential to keep fighting for a long time. The question is, do the Russians think that they still have a chance to score the necessary victory? So, I mean, if they push back the Russians all the way to the 1991 borders, the Ukrainians are gonna say, “We’re willing to settle,” and it would be genuine. I don’t see why the Russians would ever accept it, to repeat myself.</p><br /><br /><p>That hasn't let up, if only because it's a powerful emotional and recruitment tool. Twenty million Soviets — Russians, Ukrainians and others — died fighting Hitler's armies. In other words, the war affected nearly every family here. This is a grinding trench and artillery war of attrition. The invasion has been a disaster for President Vladimir Putin and in order to justify it at home he at least has to take control of Ukraine's Donbas region, after which he can falsely claim that the army saved Russian citizens persecuted by Ukraine.</p><br /><br /><p>I mean, Putin may be removed, but then there will be a more hawkish leader who’ll replace him. I mean, they are willing and Putin is certainly not stupid either. But he says basically if this doesn’t work, try something else. I mean, there’s rumour now that he’s trying to force the Russians to have another go in Kyiv and the military is saying we can’t do that and we don’t wanna do it but Putin is insisting he is just trying different strategies. This is why Wagner is allowed to do this horrible thing with the prisoners.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>It's hoped that the flight data recorders will shed light on what happened to the Il-76 plane that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians on board. Kyiv was initially silent as details of the plane crash emerged Wednesday morning. Later, Ukraine's intelligence agency confirmed that a prisoner exchange had been scheduled but did not take place. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited the south-western frontline at Mykolaiv and the nearby city of Odesa on Saturday. He insisted after his visit that Ukraine would not cede any of the occupied territories in the south of the country to Russia, which occupies the bulk of the country’s coastal areas. While Ukraine’s location has afforded it outsize attention relative to other conflicts, it’s also what makes the prospect of a drawn-out war even more likely.</p><br /><br /><ul><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>"They understand the wider strategic point, which is that this is a confrontation between the West and Russia and at stake is not just the future territorial integrity of Ukraine but the security construct for Europe and the West with Russia," he noted.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>And on the other hand is the west, which is telling the Russians this war is gonna be too costly because we have sanctions on you and your complete economy will implode.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Yet the Army is already looking at how it might create a citizens' army.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>Ukrainian officials have spoken bluntly in recent days about the need to boost the supply of heavy weapons to the country if Russian forces there are to be defeated.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br />  <br /><br /> <li>But Smith also said ATACMS producer Lockheed Martin no longer makes the missiles, and the U.S. military still needs them in its stockpiles.</li><br /><br />  <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /></ul><br /><br /><p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will fully investigate the circumstances around the crash, adding that "facts" were a key priority. He accused Russia of "playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society." But despite the dire state of Russia’s forces and the years-long quagmire its economy faces, Putin has shown no indication he intends to scale back his goals or seek a way out of the war, insisting Russia’s victory is “inevitable” and its “goals will be met in full”. Nearly a year later, Russia’s army is no closer to winning the war — and has even lost part of the territory that Putin attempted to annex last September.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>This week, Mr Putin put his nuclear forces on a higher level of alert. Most analysts doubt this means their use is likely or imminent. But it was a reminder that Russian doctrine allows for the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. “Either Ukraine keeps fighting with sustained Western support and eventually forces Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine entirely, with the possible exception of Crimea,” he said, referring to the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. He noted, however that this would pre-suppose a Russian military collapse and a change in the country’s leadership – something that could take “a long time to achieve and would necessitate considerably greater military capabilities” than Ukraine currently possesses.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, conceded in an interview that his country had “concentrated our energy supply too much on Russia” to the point that it was not possible to change course “if the worst came to the worst”. But he defended his predecessor Angela Merkel’s policy of seeking good relations with Moscow. Ukraine has been calling for a large influx of western weaponry so that it can try to push back the Russian invaders, but what has been offered so far is less than Kyiv has requested. The US, UK and Germany have promised to send 10 rocket artillery systems, but Ukrainian advisers have called for 60 or even 300. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also warned of a longer-term conflict. It's perhaps the only thing more complicated than sanctions enforcement, and this question touches on both.</p>

Latest revision as of 22:07, 18 April 2024

That said, there wasn't much of a political will for third countries to sanction Cuba at the time. It's possible today's situation with Russia might make such a policy more politically palatable if the U.S. attempted it again, though I can't find any serious proposal in the government to do just that. After Russia first invaded in 2014, the U.S. military stepped up training for the Ukrainian military in western Ukraine. U.S. trainers continued working in Ukraine right up until the full-scale Russian invasion a year ago. From the very beginning of the war, President Putin has drawn parallels between the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and the current military campaign against supposed "neo-Nazis" in Ukraine.











  • A U.S. official tells CBS News that Russia could tactically seize Kyiv and Ukraine in four to six weeks.








  • Girkin has accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of notpursuing the Ukraine war effectively enough.








  • It notes the building gives Ukraine a "localised defensive advantage" and says Russian forces will probably suffer significant losses if they attempt to assault the facility.








  • "The U.K. foreign secretary estimated it would be a 10-year war. Lawmakers at the Capitol were told Monday it is likely to last 10, 15, or 20 years — and that ultimately, Russia will lose."










Chancellor Olaf Scholz also recently authorized supplying infantry fighting vehicles to help push Russian forces out of occupied Ukraine. Senior officials from around 40 countries, including China, and India, held talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the weekend with the aim of agreeing on key principles that could underline a future settlement of the war. Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region. Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus. Germany's Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, recently told a German newspaper "we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a Nato country one day". While he said such an attack is unlikely now, "our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible".



Moscow and Kyiv face off over downed POW plane amid suspicion and allegations



Russia lacks a decisive, breakthrough capability to overrun Ukraine and will do what it can to hold on to what it currently occupies, using the time to strengthen its defences while it hopes for the West to lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine. Yet the Army is already looking at how it might create a citizens' army. One Whitehall source told the Times that the training of Ukrainian civilians on UK soil could act as a rehearsal for rapid Army expansion. Finland, Nato's newest member and a country which has an 800-mile border with Russia, has wider conscription. Around 80% of the male population complete some form of military service.





So if we both know how the war is gonna end and more or less what the outcome is gonna be, then it makes no sense for us to keep on fighting because we’re just throwing away lives, cost. So we have to come to the stage where both sides more or less know what the outcome is going to be, and we are not there yet. There is an additional stage and after that, certain leaders may not wanna terminate the war because they are afraid that their loss will cost them their lives. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said last week that its main goal in 2024 is to boost its domestic defense industry in the face of uncertain future supplies from its Western allies. It has also changed conscription laws, foreseeing the need to bolster its forces, which are dwarfed in size by Russia's but are more highly trained and equipped.



Joe Biden Calling Donald Trump the 'Sitting President' Sparks Ridicule



"A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states," the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak. He says Europe is rich enough to do so if it has the political will, pointing to a recent report from the Estonian Ministry of Defence suggesting that committing 0.25% of GDP annually towards Ukraine would provide "more than sufficient resources". "The document referred to in the Financial Times article is a background note written by the secretariat of the council under its own responsibility which describes the current status of the Hungarian economy," the statement by the senior EU official said. A senior European Union official has denied member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine. The Week is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.







And even though the fall of the Soviet Union was notable for its lack of bloodshed, many in Ukraine refer to today's conflict as a true "war of independence." All these measures were approved when both the House and the Senate were controlled by Democrats. https://www.openlearning.com/u/michaelsenbishop-s2dhzs/blog/DisableGoogleNewsFeedOnIphoneEasily are saying the U.S. should stop funding Ukraine. Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly support aid for Ukraine, and most Republicans do as well. The U.S. Congress approved four separate spending bills for Ukraine in the past year totaling $112 billion. The rest is funding the Ukrainian government (this helps pay the salaries of Ukrainian government workers) and humanitarian aid to help the millions of Ukrainians who have been driven from their homes.



Donald Trump Reacts to US Troops Killed by Iran-Backed Militants



Hein Goemans Well, the Germans quote unquote, “lost” on the battlefield and they kept fighting another four years. And at some moments they came very close to winning, right? So it’s a somewhat naive perspective because I think that Russia has plenty of hardware and mobilisation potential to keep fighting for a long time. The question is, do the Russians think that they still have a chance to score the necessary victory? So, I mean, if they push back the Russians all the way to the 1991 borders, the Ukrainians are gonna say, “We’re willing to settle,” and it would be genuine. I don’t see why the Russians would ever accept it, to repeat myself.



That hasn't let up, if only because it's a powerful emotional and recruitment tool. Twenty million Soviets — Russians, Ukrainians and others — died fighting Hitler's armies. In other words, the war affected nearly every family here. This is a grinding trench and artillery war of attrition. The invasion has been a disaster for President Vladimir Putin and in order to justify it at home he at least has to take control of Ukraine's Donbas region, after which he can falsely claim that the army saved Russian citizens persecuted by Ukraine.



I mean, Putin may be removed, but then there will be a more hawkish leader who’ll replace him. I mean, they are willing and Putin is certainly not stupid either. But he says basically if this doesn’t work, try something else. I mean, there’s rumour now that he’s trying to force the Russians to have another go in Kyiv and the military is saying we can’t do that and we don’t wanna do it but Putin is insisting he is just trying different strategies. This is why Wagner is allowed to do this horrible thing with the prisoners.





It's hoped that the flight data recorders will shed light on what happened to the Il-76 plane that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians on board. Kyiv was initially silent as details of the plane crash emerged Wednesday morning. Later, Ukraine's intelligence agency confirmed that a prisoner exchange had been scheduled but did not take place. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited the south-western frontline at Mykolaiv and the nearby city of Odesa on Saturday. He insisted after his visit that Ukraine would not cede any of the occupied territories in the south of the country to Russia, which occupies the bulk of the country’s coastal areas. While Ukraine’s location has afforded it outsize attention relative to other conflicts, it’s also what makes the prospect of a drawn-out war even more likely.











  • "They understand the wider strategic point, which is that this is a confrontation between the West and Russia and at stake is not just the future territorial integrity of Ukraine but the security construct for Europe and the West with Russia," he noted.








  • And on the other hand is the west, which is telling the Russians this war is gonna be too costly because we have sanctions on you and your complete economy will implode.








  • Yet the Army is already looking at how it might create a citizens' army.








  • Ukrainian officials have spoken bluntly in recent days about the need to boost the supply of heavy weapons to the country if Russian forces there are to be defeated.








  • But Smith also said ATACMS producer Lockheed Martin no longer makes the missiles, and the U.S. military still needs them in its stockpiles.










Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will fully investigate the circumstances around the crash, adding that "facts" were a key priority. He accused Russia of "playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society." But despite the dire state of Russia’s forces and the years-long quagmire its economy faces, Putin has shown no indication he intends to scale back his goals or seek a way out of the war, insisting Russia’s victory is “inevitable” and its “goals will be met in full”. Nearly a year later, Russia’s army is no closer to winning the war — and has even lost part of the territory that Putin attempted to annex last September.







This week, Mr Putin put his nuclear forces on a higher level of alert. Most analysts doubt this means their use is likely or imminent. But it was a reminder that Russian doctrine allows for the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. “Either Ukraine keeps fighting with sustained Western support and eventually forces Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine entirely, with the possible exception of Crimea,” he said, referring to the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. He noted, however that this would pre-suppose a Russian military collapse and a change in the country’s leadership – something that could take “a long time to achieve and would necessitate considerably greater military capabilities” than Ukraine currently possesses.





The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, conceded in an interview that his country had “concentrated our energy supply too much on Russia” to the point that it was not possible to change course “if the worst came to the worst”. But he defended his predecessor Angela Merkel’s policy of seeking good relations with Moscow. Ukraine has been calling for a large influx of western weaponry so that it can try to push back the Russian invaders, but what has been offered so far is less than Kyiv has requested. The US, UK and Germany have promised to send 10 rocket artillery systems, but Ukrainian advisers have called for 60 or even 300. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also warned of a longer-term conflict. It's perhaps the only thing more complicated than sanctions enforcement, and this question touches on both.