Last Night
Former hardline Russian President Medveda describes what a nuclear blast would feel like and says Russia is prepared to do it.
HERE https://twitter.com/AbrahamStein8/status/1651237250682830848?s=20

Posted by: Dave Oneil | Apr 26 2023 14:50 utc | 3

Ukraine is going to be partitioned, and I believe cease to exist. Parts being absorbed by the neighboring countries, including Russia. The die hard Ukrainians, who are still alive, will move, most likely to Germany and Poland. The people staying behind will assimilate.
What is now Ukraine will most likely be more prosperous and better to live in, than what was before.
And the anti Russia Ukrainians will be far better controlled in Germany and Poland! Both countries are anti Russia in any case.
I think both the Russians and the Ukrainians now fully understand each other. You threaten us, and we will kill you.
That is as simple as it is.

Posted by: g wiltek | Apr 26 2023 14:58 utc | 5

Everyone knew Ukraine never had a hope in hell. Just another bunch of useful idiots obeying their masters in the US. This whole ordeal has opened the eyes of the ROW to the absolute mafia style of the west and their lackeys. Russia exposes their BS on a daily basis which is far more important than winning outright in the conflict. Russia can continue to wear down and eliminate the threat on their border until all objectives are met. There will be no ceasefire or peace agreement unless it is exactly what Russia wants. Ukraine and the west will never agree to the terms so the SMO will continue on as long as it takes.

Posted by: Watzov | Apr 26 2023 15:05 utc | 7

Ukrainians are saying, and looks like it, that Russia is on the defensive across the whole front except for trying to finish taking bahkmut where they are simply destroying every building left so it’s a done deal now, but the Ukrainians insist on making them do it so it’ll be done whenever.
New fronts are going to open up, russia is shelling pretty regularly from across their border and AD looks tighter, much tighter, getting lots of shoot down reports not any mysterious explosion reports in russia(except for one of russias errant glide bombs)
Defences in kherson are working. Zelensky proclaimed a big victory there and I guess that’s the end of it for now. But russias positions seem unaffected.
Slaviansk and kramatorsk are getting shelled pretty hard it seems and kupiansk is a sore spot for ukraine.
So russia looks fully prepared to defend and is working over Ukrainian logistics.
Biden has yet to ask congress for more money. Zelensky is still holding out for more. Impass there. One presidential drawdown I think.
Orban is worried about Ukrainian peacekeeping missions.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 26 2023 15:11 utc | 9

@English Outsider | 2

Instead the Russians did something entirely unexpected. They deployed only a fraction of the forces at their command.

That was not really unexpected. That is the exact same strategy they employed in Syria: a small force, small enough to be economically sustainable, but strong enough to do the job. The U.S. (and allies) are trying to attract Russia in some quagmire, Georgia, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijian, now Ukraine, for some time now. They failed, but they’ll try again. That is why I am saying, since the beginning of this war, that Russia beating Ukraine means nothing: they need to beat NATO and then try to disrupt NATO, i.e. driving a wedge in the “alliance”.
About the rest you are right.

Posted by: SG | Apr 26 2023 15:28 utc | 11

” 2) Why were outright swindlers put at the head of the People’s Republics of Donbass, who discredited the ideas of the Russian Spring by the very fact of their presence in power? How and in what way were the most famous heroes of 2014, commanders of the militia, physically eliminated? Who bore or will bear responsibility for the fact that instead of a “showcase of the Russian World” in the LDNR, for 8 years there was a swamp in which people lived much worse than in the Russian Federation and worse than in Ukraine? ”

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 26 2023 15:38 utc | 13

This fast war crap: Russia can produce more arms than people. They are fighting to preserve human capital, because some Russian finally figured out how to calculate human life value. They are outproducing NATO and destroying NATO military assets. How long did it take to train all those officers killed with a Kinzhal. Modern war moves slowly. Sorry it doesn’t match a video-trained attention span.
Russia hedged its investments: it pressured Donbass while it tried a decapitation strike against Kiev. Everyone has rightly pointed out that Russia would have had trouble with an insurgency. Better to kill those guys in uniforms. Same with this NATO hardware.
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 26 2023 14:44 utc | 2
Almost everything you mentioned was a result of bad intelligence or successful maskirovka operations. We might have all been surprised to see Russia stomp out NATO forces, but I think the Russian MOD had a better estimate of capabilities.
1 In business, when you compromise with an MF, you lose. Why would Russia compromise now? It should smash all NATO hardware so that NATO is financially depleted replacing it. Russia outproduces NATO for now. Even if NATO could outproduce Russia later, will they be able to do 2 years of total war spending to catch up? They haven’t yet.
2 What remnant? So that NATO can arm it with nukes and an alliance this time? There will be no remnant. It won’t even be a proxy state. Russia needs to prove it can unconditionally win against all of NATO. Do you think anyone is going to mess with Russia in the near future when all NATO hardware is a smoking wreck? Russia needs to take all of Ukraine. Partisans are nothing compared to bioweapon labs and nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 26 2023 14:57 utc | 4
Amateurs talk tactics, officers talk strategy, generals talk logistics.
Russia needed 8 years to reactivate its military industrial complex.
You believe in magic missiles and magic ammo?
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 26 2023 15:11 utc | 9
Kherson has been an armored vehicle shooting gallery for the last month. The offensive equipment they were accumulating there was destroyed before it could concentrate for an attack. Russia’s November conscripts are just finishing up training.
Video gamers fantasizing that there is such a thing as perfect attack are so annoying. Counterattack is always the best. Destroy the spearhead with defensive measures, wreck the attacking formations, smash them up in a counterattack. Seems obvious. The primitive Ukrainian army managed to hold Bakhmut despite being outgunned 10:1.
It seems odd those who cheer on Russia but have no concern for Russian lives. WW2 cosplayers.

Posted by: Aaron Lee | Apr 26 2023 15:46 utc | 15

As it was buried deep in the Biden thread, here again:
+
Weeb Nation, who does daily updates on what happens on the frontier, has done his own calculations of the casualties suffered so far in today’s update.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRXOoil-nO4
Short version:
Russia (all included) – 150,000 casualties, of which 35,000 are incapacitated or killed (death / wounded ratio 5-1)
Ukraine – 400,000 casualties, of which 100,000 are incapacitated or killed (death / wounded ration 2 or 3-1 due to conditions in the field and in Ukraine as such)
+
For clarification: I assume that this chap scans tons of info on the various telegram and other channels, so he can keep his maps up to date. He will come across the data given by various sources.
He notes the one survey carried out by BBC Russia, which so far has “only” found some 14k confirmed deaths in Russian obituaries, memorandums et al. Even if you triple that number, the figures are rather low. People simply have to keep in mind that losses in personnel since the retreat from Kiev have dropped considerably.
+
07:26 PM, 17 February 2023
BBC News Russian and Mediazona have identified 14,709 Russian service members killed in the Ukraine war.
+
-> https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/02/17/bbc-number-of-russias-casualties-in-ukraine-war-in-past-14-days-five-times-higher-than-average-en-news
The alleged “Mossad” report from a Turkish newspaper earlier this year (25 January) had it as follows:
UKRAINE:
157,000 Dead
234,000 injured
17,230 Captive
234 Dead – NATO military trainers (US and UK)
2,458 Dead – NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, …)
5,360 Dead – Mercenaries
RUSSIA:
18,480 dead
44,500 Injured
323 Captive
https://hurseda.net/gundem/246987-iddia-mossad-a-gore-ukrayna-ve-rusya-kayiplari.html
The numbers above are consistent with what we get told by various other Western source, or, e.g. Doug McGregor.

Posted by: CM of Berlin | Apr 26 2023 15:59 utc | 17

As blindingly dense as the fog of war competently tries to be and remembering my saying one could, it seems, deliver the Italian Alps into Ukraine quietly, it’s quite possible this war in Ukraine could reveal weapons not acknowledged by the US or even known to the Russians. War, the ultimate anything goes disaster, may well disrupt the current battle prognoses with something even more reprehensible than the current slaughter, especially concerning weapons deployments.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Apr 26 2023 16:06 utc | 19

Can any guess what their solution to this particular problem will be? I’ve been pondering it for the best part of a year now and still can’t.
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 26 2023 14:44 utc | 2
De-dollarization and subsequent bankruptcy of Pentagon et.al.

Posted by: Exile | Apr 26 2023 16:09 utc | 21

Norweigan
I have to use different nicks since someone *wink wink* keep banning my criticism of the russian invasion. Go figure who.

Posted by: Zamom. | Apr 26 2023 16:13 utc | 23

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 26 2023 16:10 utc | 22
He likes to pretend that B actually pays attention to him.
It’s kind of funny. It says right in the “Post a comment” section that using multiple names is sock-puppeteering and will get you banned. So, obviously, B has better things to do.

Posted by: Chris | Apr 26 2023 16:18 utc | 25

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 26 2023 16:10 utc | 22
More like clone or incarnation No. 56 or the like. Truly sad.

Posted by: CM of Berlin | Apr 26 2023 16:24 utc | 27

Ukraine has lost probably over half of the military base in the center of Bakhmut and getting smoked out of the high rise building area. The cauldron has really shrunk / is shrinking fast now.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 26 2023 16:26 utc | 29

BREAKING NEWS | SIGNIFICANT RUSSIAN BREAKTHROUGH | Bakhmut Front Update 26/04/23
Few minutes ago … a major move …
Garage area taken – further move East …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8sk_qSUx54

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 26 2023 16:35 utc | 31

Chinese readout of Xi-Zelensky phone conversation

Zichen Wang 26 Apr 2023
China and Ukraine have just said that Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelenskyy talked over the phone. Below is our English translation of the Chinese official readout reported by China Central Television.
In the afternoon of April 26, President Xi Jinping spoke by phone with President Zelensky of Ukraine by appointment. The two sides exchanged views on China-Ukraine relations and the crisis in Ukraine.
Xi noted that China-Ukraine relations have gone through 31 years of development and reached the level of strategic partnership, which has provided a boost to the development and revitalization of each country. I appreciated President Zelensky’s repeated expressions of the importance he attaches to the development of China-Ukraine relations and cooperation with China, and thanked the Ukrainian side for its strong assistance in evacuating Chinese citizens last year. Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the political basis of China-Ukraine relations. Both sides should look to the future, adhere to the long-term perspective and planning of relations between the two countries, continue the tradition of mutual respect and sincere treatment between the two sides, and push forward the strategic partnership between China and Ukraine. China’s will to develop China-Ukraine relations is consistent and clear. No matter how the international landscape changes, China is willing to work with the Ukrainian side to move forward the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
Xi noted that the complex evolution of the Ukrainian crisis has had a significant impact on the international situation. On the Ukrainian crisis, China has always been on the side of peace, and its core position is to urge peace and promote talks. I have successively put forward the 四个应该 “four shoulds,” 四个共同 “four commons,” and 三点思考 “three points of reflection.” On this basis, China also issued a document entitled “China’s Position on Political Settlement of the Crisis in Ukraine.” China is not the author of the crisis in Ukraine, nor is it a party to it. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible big country, we will neither watch the fire from across the river nor pour oil on the fire, nor will we take advantage of the opportunity to make profits. What China is doing is open and aboveboard. Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out. There is no winner in a nuclear war. All parties concerned should remain calm and restrained in dealing with the nuclear issue, and truly look at the future and destiny of themselves and all mankind, and work together to manage and control the crisis. Now that rational thinking and voices are increasing, all parties should seize the opportunity to accumulate favorable conditions for a political solution to the crisis. We hope that all parties will reflect deeply on the crisis in Ukraine and, through dialogue, seek a common way for the long-term stability of Europe. China will insist on urging peace and promoting talks, and make its own efforts to stop the war and ceasefire and restore peace as soon as possible. China will send its Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs to Ukraine and other countries for in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. China has already provided a number of shipments of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is ready to continue to provide assistance within its capabilities.
Zelenskiy congratulated President Xi Jinping on his re-election, appreciated China’s extraordinary achievements, and believed that under his leadership, China will successfully meet various challenges and continue to move forward. China upholds the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in international affairs and exerts great influence in the international arena. Ukraine adheres to the one-China policy and hopes to develop comprehensive cooperation with China to open a new chapter in Ukraine-China relations and work together to maintain world peace and stability. Zelensky presented his views on the current crisis in Ukraine, thanked China for the humanitarian assistance provided to Ukraine, and welcomed the important role of China in restoring peace and resolving the crisis through diplomatic means.
…

https://www.eastisread.com/p/chinese-readout-of-xi-zelensky-phone

Posted by: too scents | Apr 26 2023 16:36 utc | 33

@ English Outsider, §2:
Agree with almost all you say, EO.
But I don´t think partisan warfare was ever likely (except in NeoCons´ dreams). The Ukraine is (or was) a modern, urbanized European country. Despite the best efforts of BBC´s “Media Action” over the past nine years, I don´t think most Ukrainians have morphed into fanatical Russian-hating Nazis. Just the military leaders, with Zelelnsky as a front, have.
Russia will take everything from Kharkov to Odessa and allow a rump “Ukraine” (to be renamed Chornarus, “Black Russia”) comprising the six or eight oblasts surrounding Kiev, with a similar status to Belarus (White Russia).
The most likely future of this ´Chornarus´ would be that the locals turn against Zelensky and the Nazis with a vengeance and do the Russians´ job for them, especially if the new state survives with Russian economic support.
What happens to Galicia and Bessarabia is more obscure. Either the Russians occupy them, which they don´t want to (because the locals are anti-Russian) or Poland could pick up Galicia and Rumania Bessarabia if they played their cards right and abandoned the EU/NATO lunacy. This seems very unlikely in the case of Poland. Doubtless the Russians will have considered these options, with Rumania more likely to jump ship and reorient itself and its trade to the Black Sea.

Posted by: John Marks | Apr 26 2023 16:42 utc | 35

Given future economic conditions in Europe, it seems likely the Ukrainian refugees will form cartels, along with the prior refugee populations from the Middle East and Africa. Those RPGs and machine guns will come in handy.

Posted by: John Merryman | Apr 26 2023 16:46 utc | 37

@31:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/04/ukraine-open-thread-2023-100.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02b751a3065f200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02b751a3065f200c
Looks like we are in the “phase change” state where it all collapses for the AFU. Thanks for the link – Weeb Union seems very calm and not prone to theatrics. I did catch one questionable statement – he said there is still one supply road in, but most other sources are reporting that the 0506 highway remains cut off near Khromove. So we have a likely situation where the remaining AFU troops are completely screwed, thanks to Zelensky and his stupidity.

Posted by: Chris | Apr 26 2023 16:53 utc | 39

Xi, in other words, has threshed empty straw with Zel.
So sehe ich das.

Posted by: Oberbayer | Apr 26 2023 16:55 utc | 41

g wiltek @ 5 and Contrarian Ed @ 24 get it.
When RF does finally move west the Banderas are not going to bury arms, ammo, explosives, and prepare for a generation of insurgency. They are going to run. The Russian garrison in Galicia and Volhynia is going to be fierce. I would expect heavy use of informers and no mercy. In any event the Banderas have largely identified themselves on social media, those records will be scrutinized.
Ten years ago there was still Russophile population even in Lvov. Expecting all those were obliged to leave. What will remain will be the very old and an RF garrison.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 26 2023 16:56 utc | 43

I see we have a genocide enthusiast with us. That’s the only drawback to open comments 🙁
Back on topic, I wonder how the conversation went between Xi and Xelinsky?

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Apr 26 2023 17:04 utc | 45

Due West @ 32
The sooner the anglo heart beats its last the better.
RESPONSE: SOON THE RUSSIANS WILL TAKE AND CLEAR ALL OF THE DONBAS. Then they will launch against the USA and key NATO targets. This will be the end of the USA. I base this upon Daniel 7:5.
After the USA goes down with fire within one hour, the time of Jacob’s trouble will begin. That includes more than just the “anglo heart”. The time of Jacob’s trouble will last until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ about March of 2034.
A lot of anglo hearts are going to see their last beat when the USA is nuked. This may not be too far away.
I know what is coming and have a general good idea of when. I have exited the USA and any of her territories for now. There is no sense attempting to survive what the USA is about to go through. It’s best just to leave her. She left the Lord a long time ago.

Posted by: young | Apr 26 2023 17:08 utc | 47

Russia will take everything from Kharkov to Odessa and allow a rump “Ukraine” (to be renamed Chornarus, “Black Russia”) comprising the six or eight oblasts surrounding Kiev, with a similar status to Belarus (White Russia).
The most likely future of this ´Chornarus´ would be that the locals turn against Zelensky and the Nazis with a vengeance and do the Russians´ job for them, especially if the new state survives with Russian economic support.

Doesn’t work. Chernigov/Sumy is a huge strategic vulnerability and needs to be under firm control. Even if it has in fact been surprisingly Banderized over these last three decades.

What happens to Galicia and Bessarabia is more obscure. Either the Russians occupy them, which they don´t want to (because the locals are anti-Russian) or Poland could pick up Galicia and Rumania Bessarabia if they played their cards right and abandoned the EU/NATO lunacy. This seems very unlikely in the case of Poland. Doubtless the Russians will have considered these options, with Rumania more likely to jump ship and reorient itself and its trade to the Black Sea.
Posted by: John Marks | Apr 26 2023 16:42 utc | 35

Bessarabia isn’t anti-Russian. Where did that idea come from? It’s also not Romanian.
There is a reason why Vladimir Saldo proclaimed “We will retake Nikolaev, Odessa and Izmail” a few weeks ago.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Apr 26 2023 17:12 utc | 49

Ten years ago there was still Russophile population even in Lvov. Expecting all those were obliged to leave. What will remain will be the very old and an RF garrison.
Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 26 2023 16:56 utc | 43

There still is, but it’s mostly old people who grew up in the USSR.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Apr 26 2023 17:14 utc | 51

@2 the only solution to remnant ukraine is that it can’t pose a threat. There’s two ways that works
1. It agrees in good faith to be peaceful and its allies insist on it for aid and incorporation.
2.it poses no threat despite its intentions.
Number 1 is win win diplomacy – the China solution?
Number 2 is nuclear warfare by Russia there to destroy strategic amounts of Nato military after they move in to enforce a Ukrainian victory.
Or of course Russia can lose and worry about protecting Moscow never-mind a strategic victory against nato.
Maybe, maybe everyone get exhausted and it lingers on in chaos until a new order emerges.
So 4 ways I guess. But I think you were assuming Russian victory in the donbass.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 26 2023 17:14 utc | 53

One more take on Bakhmut. It may be an unpopular opinion, but the reason why there wasn’t a particular “de-blocking” operation, which has been expected for months, is actually that the 80k or 60k or whatever troops, that were supposedly earmarked for it, were mostly stripped and sent to Bakhmut and the immediate western outskirts. So there might not actually be a possibility for the “deblocking” operation.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 26 2023 17:23 utc | 55

Ramsey Glissadevil | Apr 26 2023 17:04 utc | 46
Where will 300,000 come from? At some point there will not be enough people working in support and infrastructure for the army to operate. I think maybe Ukraine is already struggling to get enough labour for basic day to day clearance, repairs, fire etc. Ukraine already had the highest death rate in Europe before covid, then they lost 500 a day to covid, mostly older, now it is losing its young (plus millions lost to migration).
Also, the Ukraine ‘army’ as an entity is fairly new. Previously there was UAF and lots of private militias (funded by MPs and oligarchs). This has had to be amalgamated into some kind of unified force: a considerable challenge. It was also why it was easy for NATO to take over.

Posted by: olaf22 | Apr 26 2023 17:26 utc | 57

The GUR buys products at prices almost half that of the Ministry of Defense, – Our Money, with reference to the purchase prices published on Prozorro
In particular, the GUR buy pollock for 69 UAH per kg, and the Ministry of Defense – for 120 UAH. And this, according to the publication, is the lowest price for all contracts, including the supply of products to the military stationed far from the front line in Kyiv.
For comparison: rice at the GUR costs 26 UAH per kilogram, at the Ministry of Defense – from 59 UAH. The situation is the same with the price of carrots: in the GUR they buy it for 12 UAH, in the Ministry of Defense – for 28 UAH.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17471

Corruption in the Ministry of Regional Development continues and no one cares about it. Would like to, then with one call they would cover the shop.
Hundreds of millions are earned on such cheating, for which at this moment the army feels a lack of money for UAVs, transport and the latest equipment.
The military itself has to raise money for its own security. At the same moment, Bankovaya refused to return allowances to the military due to lack of money in the budget.
The Ministry of Defense and all purchases are personally controlled by the Head of the Office of the President Yermak. Most likely, all office workers share in these schemes, since months after the corruption scandal, “theft” continued.

https://t.me/legitimniy/15212

Posted by: Down South | Apr 26 2023 17:38 utc | 59

Posted by: olaf22 | Apr 26 2023 17:26 utc | 57
Where will 300,000 come from? At some point there will not be enough people working in support and infrastructure for the army to operate. I think maybe Ukraine is already struggling to get enough labour for basic day to day clearance, repairs, fire etc. Ukraine already had the highest death rate in Europe before covid, then they lost 500 a day to covid, mostly older, now it is losing its young (plus millions lost to migration).
Also, the Ukraine ‘army’ as an entity is fairly new. Previously there was UAF and lots of private militias (funded by MPs and oligarchs). This has had to be amalgamated into some kind of unified force: a considerable challenge. It was also why it was easy for NATO to take over.
I estimated that Ukraine would surrender when the military was reduced to 200,000-400,000. I took 300,000 as the midpoint. My estimates could easily be way off. Maybe Ukraine surrenders when they have 600,000 soldier?
I figure Russia will maintain an army of 400,000-550,000. If Russia drops below 400,000 then Russia will mobilize another 300,000. (like Russia did in November) If Ukraine drops to 300,000…then Russia will outnumber Ukraine with soldiers and superior weapons.
NATO is a wild card…of course.

Posted by: Ramsey Glissadevil | Apr 26 2023 17:45 utc | 61

@ shadowbanned,§49:
Most of Bessarabia is Moldavia which is ethnically Rumanian.
Northern Bukovina (around Chernovtsy) was majority Rumanian with many Poles and Jews before WW2. It´s now a mix, majority Ukrainian, minority Rumanian. Bujak in the south is even more of a mix, with Turks and Bulgarians as well as Rumanians and Ukrainians.
Bessarabia is not a priority for Russia, especially if Rumania left EU/NATO to regain it.
The priority for Russia is the security and clarity of the Dniester (as a boundary) and Odessa.
Yes, I said “six or eight” oblasts. Chornarus (if it were ever created) would probably be the six: Kiev, Zhitomir, Xmelnitsky, Vinnitsa, Cherkassy, Yelizavetgrad – and maybe (but unlikely) Poltava.
More of a difficulty to predict is the future of Galicia-Volyn.

Posted by: John Marks | Apr 26 2023 17:52 utc | 63

I see we have the reiteration of a well known Anti-Human troll in our midst yet again. Please let it starve.
There appears to be a three-way race to see which nation can be the worst: UK, USA, Poland. The UK edged ahead by a nose as Sputnik reports, “Moscow: West Intends to Turn Ukraine Into ‘Radioactive Landfill’ as Part of ‘All-Out Escalation'”:

“James Heappey’s comments are a grim testament to the ruthlessness of the Anglo-Saxons’ policy of an all-out escalation of the ‘proxy conflict’ they themselves unleashed in Ukraine. It has by now become self-evident that the West intends this country to become not only an anti-Russian military ‘shooting range,’ but also a radioactive landfill – with all the ensuing grave consequences for the health of local residents and the environment in the region,” the statement by Russia’s Embassy in London said….
He also admitted that the UK was not monitoring the locations from where these rounds were fired and added that his country was not obligated to help Ukraine clear up the depleted uranium rounds post-conflict. The UK official’s remarks serve as indication that Britain intends to leave all responsibility for use of the shells that poison the soil, pollute nature, and cause cancer both among civilians and military personnel with their eager Kiev clients. [Emphasis Original]

I recall a world famous film from the 1960s where it’s lead male character says “the British need to set a good example” for the use of the English language and other forms of behavior. Unfortunately, it appears British leadership now inhabits the bottom of the swine trough from which it feeds and where it clearly seems satisfied to dwell.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 26 2023 18:06 utc | 65

It’s no coincidence that, as has been pointed out here recently, Galicia’s leading literary figure was the author of Venus in Furs, the man immortalised in Krafft Ebing’s coining of the word ‘Masochist’.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2023 18:12 utc | 67

English Outsider@2
I am sure that you are, largely, right. The intention was to produce a shock to Russian society -diagnosed as brittle and vulnerable by the hundreds of thousands of Fifth Columnists infesting the capitals and Academies of the NATO countries- which would lead to regime change.
It was that which, I believe, prompted the idiots running Sweden and Finland, and even Switzerland and Austria to drop their neutralists poses. They were absolutely certain that the Bear was about to expire leaving all manner of plunder for club members.
I don’t think that anyone except the clowns in the Ruthenian SS diaspora, who will never learn, planned for an insurgency rooted in popular russophobia- that was never going to happen. It don’t in the forties and fifties and it sure as hell won’t now.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2023 18:21 utc | 69

@Contrarian_Ed

The same happened after WW-II when most Banderites emigrated to Canada

Explains a lot of the pro-Ukraine fervor here. Hell, the Deputy PM herself comes from Nazi/Banderite stock.

Posted by: Frank McGar | Apr 26 2023 18:24 utc | 71

@AaronLee in what fantasy world is the “primitive” Ukrainian army (that might be the appropriate adjective, but note that this is also at least the second best army in Nato) holding Bakhmut? Human shields and human wave tactics and an extreme disregard for the lives of Ukrainian soldiers have caused Russia to take a cautious approach, but this is not Stalingrad. Bakhmut is lost along with all the battalions wasted.

Posted by: JT | Apr 26 2023 18:34 utc | 73

@ English Outsider | Apr 26 2023 14:44 utc | 2
The SMO never seems to have been designed to be short.
( and I take Ukraine to be an object not a destination.)
Russia ( and China ) are busy demoting the dollar and
making the US demonstrate their true nature.
The more sanctions are kicked of and the more contrived those are
the better.
Otherwise the whole operation would be moot.

Posted by: MAKK | Apr 26 2023 18:52 utc | 75

Anyone who doesn’t read the Bandera Blog is missing a lot: (the really bad stuff always begins in Canada)
“Ten days before 73% of voters in Ukraine cast their ballots for Volodymyr Zelensky in the spring of 2019, as Banderites and allied far-right nationalists initiated their “Protect Ukraine” campaign against Zelensky, which later became the “Capitulation Resistance Movement,” distinguished “experts” and politicians (including Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, on his way to earn less than 25% of votes) got together for the annual Kyiv Security Forum.
“It seems safe to speculate that Zelensky, a comedian who campaigned on ending the war in eastern Ukraine, was not popular among the event goers. This high-level forum is organized by former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation, which has partnered with the Atlantic Council, an influential U.S. think tank funded by NATO, Washington, and others. “Yats is the guy” who led an IMF-subservient “kamikaze” government and the unpopular “People’s Front” party that welcomed prominent OUN-B members and other far-right nationalists.
“Mykhailo Basarab, a Senior Fellow of the Kyiv Security Forum who spoke at the 2019 event, later joined the Coordination Council of the “Capitulation Resistance Movement.” That summer, Basarab speculated on Poroshenko’s Channel 5 that Zelensky’s presidency was a “Russian special operation.” Danylo Lubkivsky, the director of the Kyiv Security Forum and a board member of the Open Ukraine Foundation, joined the advisory “Strategic Council” of the “Resistance Movement.”
“Zelensky dissolved parliament to hold early elections in July 2019. His “Servant of the People” party won an outright majority. Earlier that month, the new Ukrainian president visited Canada, where he was grilled by leaders of the Ukrainian Canadian community aligned with his nationalist opposition in Ukraine. According to Roman Medyk, president of the League of Ukrainian Canadians (a Banderite “facade structure” dating back to the 1940s), “I attended the meeting and had the opportunity to ask the first questions of the new president.”
“The Institute of National Remembrance is considered to be the leading state institution for the further development of Ukraine as a political nation. The director of the institute is Volodymyr Viatrovych. Do you support the work of the Institute and its leader?
“Readers of the Bandera Lobby Blog probably know by now that Viatrovych, “The Historian Whitewashing Ukraine’s Past,” is an important OUN-B member. The new Ukrainian government fired him a couple months later. Writing about Zelensky’s visit to Canada, Medyk claimed that “the entire Ukrainian diaspora support[s] the position of leading Ukrainian MPs, including Andriy Levus, on national security issues.” Levus, as deputy OUN-B chairman and former deputy chief of the Ukrainian Security Service, appears to have led the “Resistance Movement” from the start.
“It was at that summer’s Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto that Donald Trump’s Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations pulled aside Volodymyr Zelensky and his chief of staff to warn them about “the Giuliani factor,” by which “he meant ‘a negative narrative about Ukraine’ that was ‘being amplified by Rudy Giuliani’ and was unfavorably impacting ‘Ukraine’s image in the United States and our ability to advance the bilateral relationship’,” according to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s “Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report.”
“ ‘Ukraine tried to take me down. I’m not fucking interested in helping them,’ Donald Trump allegedly said to the U.S. delegation that attended Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration. That summer, the Trump administration tried to make Zelensky announce an investigation of the Biden family, first in exchange for a coveted invitation to Washington, before withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military assistance.
“I think he [Zelensky]’s going to make a deal with President Putin, and he will be invited to the White House,” Trump told the press in August. “He is a reasonable guy. He wants to see peace in Ukraine.” The following month, Trump offered to join peace talks moderated by France and Germany, and Zelensky agreed to discuss the “Steinmeier Formula,” a simplified version of the Minsk agreements, to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine…..”
Ot continues, and just gers better at
Bandera Lobby Blog

Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2023 19:03 utc | 77

The old 2S7 “pawns” turned “Malka” returned to college.
He learned geography and communication.
Received with mentions he works today in counter-battery.
Fast and accurate work, where 203 mm packages are delivered to the exact address.
A communication from the Russian MOD, propaganda as I like it.
https://t.me/mod_russia/25886

Posted by: la bouteille | Apr 26 2023 19:10 utc | 79

If ever there was a left-liberal foe doing the bidding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) while pretending to speak for the “left,” Dr. Lawrence Wittner, a Professor of History emeritus at SUNY/Albany, must be at the top of the list.
I am not saying that I know that he is a paid employee or contractor for NED, I have no knowledge or proof of such things. I only say that if you read this concise and professionally written article originally published by ‘Foreign Policy in Focus’ on April 24, 2023, and picked up by ‘Counterpunch’ today under the title: The Ukraine War Has Never Been America’s War; then like me, you might wonder as well.
Dr. Wittner has managed to touch on every lie while ignoring every truth and fact concerning the lead up to the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine. The article is there to read, so I will not go into detail except to offer up a few paragraphs of his poison pen to give you the flavor of his diatribe, starting with the first paragraph
“Although supporters of the Russian invasion, occupation, and annexation of Ukraine blame “U.S. imperialism” for the Ukraine War, the U.S. role has been relatively minor [minor?]. The major actors have been Ukrainians, striving for independence, and Russians, striving to end it.”
As things turned out, developments did not go well for them in Ukraine, where Yanukovych’s extensive corruption, authoritarian behavior, and reversal of his promise to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union led to three months of massive anti-government demonstrations and deadly shootings of protesters by police. Finally, in February 2014, abandoning a last-minute agreement he had signed with the political opposition for a broader cabinet, Yanukovych fled to Russia….”
“Although the Russian government and its sympathizers claim that this popular upheaval was a “coup,” the reality is quite different. The “Revolution of Dignity,” as most Ukrainians called it, had widespread popular support. After Yanukovych abandoned his post, the Ukrainian parliament removed him from office by a vote of 328 to 0. Elections for a new president were quickly organized and held democratically….”
“Instead of taking a hard line toward Russian expansionism, the U.S. government went along with its NATO partners, Germany and France, which brokered compromise accords―the Minsk agreements of 2014-15 among Russia, Ukraine, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Designed to resolve the conflict in the Donbas, Minsk I and Minsk II required a ceasefire, withdrawal of foreign military forces, the disbanding of illegal armed groups, a return of the Ukrainian side of the international border with Russia to Ukraine’s control, and limited autonomy for the Luhansk and Donetsk regions―all to be supervised by the OSCE…..”
“Even today, when the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians support continued resistance to the Russian invaders, leading U.S. politicians have called for abandoning Ukraine to its fate, while major figures in the U.S. foreign policy establishment argue for compromise with Russia because ‘Ukraine’s goals are coming into conflict with other Western interests’…..”
This is what passes as “left discourse” among the pro-imperialist flea flicker who chases the Neo-Liberal, Neo-Cons, among the Democratic Party hound dogs.

Posted by: Ed | Apr 26 2023 19:17 utc | 81

Judging Freedom & Macgregor up 23 minutes ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9uv2uN2E5s
activists at a NYT/WaPo panel speak out at the Columbia University disrupting the meaningless talk
2 mio. viewers within an hour I think
https://twitter.com/JosBtrigga/status/1650978643567423494
https://twitter.com/JosBtrigga/status/1651040961621884928

Posted by: AG | Apr 26 2023 19:30 utc | 83

@English Outsider,
Trick the Poles into taking over whatevers left along with Lviv in a manner that thuroughly pisses off the rest of HATO and walk away. The Poles can’t think straight when Lviv is involved, so they’re sure to fall for it.
Meanwhile the Dollar Reich will continue its collapse and eventually neighbours might start taking on a much more mature attitude.

Posted by: Loncal | Apr 26 2023 19:33 utc | 85

What stood out for me of the Xi/Z conversation was that Z said that Ukraine supports the one China policy.
It just seems odd to me coming from the empire leadership of one proxy war country about the potential other empire proxy war over Taiwan with China…..an oddly squared circle of lies.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 26 2023 19:37 utc | 87

John Marks@80
I am sure that you are right about Sacher Masoch, I’ve seen him described as a socialist. His short stories sound interesting.
I’m glad to hear that Austrian public opinion is sound.
Ed@81
I particularly relished “.. Finally, in February 2014, abandoning a last-minute agreement he had signed with the political opposition for a broader cabinet, Yanukovych fled to Russia….”
As a description of what heppened it misses the entire round of assassinations by sniper, which has been shown to have been the key moment of the coup, making sure that elections and the people of Ukraine did not rear their ugly heads.
Still Dr Wittner’s punishment – the obloquy of publication in St Clair’s organ-does seem severe, though thoroughly deserved.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2023 19:39 utc | 89

“..Is this MI6 playing Biggles again?..” Hereward@88
Belfast is where MI lost its heart. They are searching Kiev for Freddie Scappaticcis.
They’d love to watch as that game was played out again-voyeurs at the slaughterhouse.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 26 2023 19:45 utc | 91

Posted by: mikee | Apr 26 2023 14:43 utc | 1:

So Xi Jingping finally talked to Zelensky. But why now?

Why NOT now? The central part of this phone conversation was that China will send a special representative to Ukraine and other concerned nations to mediate a peace plan. Ukraine’s press release did not refute that, meaning they agreed to this process. So, NOW the peace process is rolling, even if the guns have not yet gone silent.
In China’s position paper, the two really important points to note are:
1) Mutual security concerns must be mutually observed. Meaning: Ukraine must find ways to de-militarize, de-nazifize, De-NATOlize. Russia will seek means to provide guarantee to not aggress it’s dear brotherly neighbor 🙂
2) UN clause of territorial sovereignty be observed. Meaning: Russia will not grab any more Ukraine land, but Donbass and Crimea have voted to be RF and is therefore under Russian sovereignty, just like Baltic States voted NOT TO BE part of Russia back in 1992 and became NOT PART OF Russia regardless whether the status fits the International Laws of UN, as Chinese Ambassador Lu opined.
Those would be the starting points of meaningfulnegotiations. I think China is going to convince the Empire and EU and NATO that, since they provided the weaponries and ammunitions and money and bullshits that caused Ukraine to fire their guns and kill Russians in Donbass since 2014, and resulted in all these present damages, the Empire/EU/NATO cabal should be responsible for restituting the damages plus compensations. China will be glad to serve as the referee and monitor, at no charge. Oh, the restitution of damages must include the damages to the Eastern part of Old Ukraine/New RF, east of Dneiper River that is.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Apr 26 2023 19:49 utc | 93

karlof1 | Apr 26 2023 16:46 utc | 36
It will be interesting to see were China’s approach leads. I assume Chinese and Ukraine foreign ministers/other officials would have been in contact organizing the phone call.
All of a sudden, Zelensky announced the counter offensive has to be delayed as weapons had not arrived (Nato says all promised weapons have been delivered), then the phone call. Coming so close together I assume the two are connected.
The leaked pentagon documents possibly tying in as well.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 26 2023 19:59 utc | 95

Russia will allow Poland, Hungary, and any other nation which lays claim to land currenly within the present Ukrainian State to be absorbed by anyone who wants the problems involved. Or Russia might do what it did to East Prussia make it a waste land for the next ten or twenty years then slowly develop it again.

Posted by: Stritchplatte | Apr 26 2023 20:03 utc | 97

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Apr 26 2023 19:49 utc | 93
Very interesting scenario.
If that pans out, and China ends up leading a peace process in Ukraine that excludes the US and UK, those of us civilians in the US and Old Blighty are going to have to start wearing those CoVID full face shields in public, to protect ourselves from flying brain matter from the exploding heads.

Posted by: Chris | Apr 26 2023 20:17 utc | 99