It turns out “There is a nuance” (“Есть нюанс”) is a stock phrase in the vocabulary of obscene Russian humor. Andrei explained to Larry that (for Russians only) a sly slap-down is immediately implied by Putin’s “there are nuances” response to ceasefire proposals: “Putin was politely telling Trump’s team of negotiators that they could shove the proposed ceasefire deal in Riyadh up their ass.”
And that’s putting it politely indeed, once you’ve heard the traditional anecdote starting with “Garry asks the general for the definition of ‘nuance’.” I’ll not repeat it further, but no doubt someone around here will. This being a somewhat seedy geopolitical bar, at times.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 14 2025 11:27 utc | 304

Upon relating Larry and Andrei’s frankly funny interpretation of Putin’s “there are nuances” (above), it occurs to me we’re seeing another instance of that special Russian stylistic flair, in this. Humor constantly plays a vital role in human interactions, sometimes in international diplomacy.
Putin’s “nuances” joke illustrates an aspect of Russian humor which can fly right over your head: The inner joke Putin relates is best told scrupulously deadpan. The smirk is to be strenuously repressed, as it would stifle the funny.
The following (from my “phenomenology of humor” collection) is not a Russian joke. But how often would history provide an opening to share it here?

A husband and wife were watching a TV program about psychology explaining the phenomenon of mixed emotions. The husband turned to his wife and said “Honey that’s a bunch of crap. I bet you can’t tell me something that will make me happy and sad at the same time.”
She replied “Out of all your friends, you have the biggest penis.”

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 14 2025 11:55 utc | 306

Putin to trump…
Are you going to dance all eveing with your hand on my arse ? Or are we going to ‘really’ negotiate ?

Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 14 2025 11:59 utc | 308

“There can be no restrictions on the size of the army, and there can be no prohibitions regarding Ukraine’s participation [in international organizations], including the European Union and NATO” said Yermak”.
Posted by: Jo | Mar 14 2025 12:00 utc | 311
More propoganda layering by the west. I dont EVER remember Russia saying it objected to kiev joining the EU. But correct if im wrong.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Mar 14 2025 12:07 utc | 310

Putin to trump… are we going to ‘really’ negotiate ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 14 2025 11:59 utc | 310
Why negotiate? Trumpy just planted more nukes in Europe ( x.com/SMaurizi/status/1898406322842062955 )
On the other side, Putin has completely forgotten “nato go back”, “no more US nukes in Europe”, “close US biolabs” and so on. Now Putin asks Trumpy to invest in Russia, anything he wants he can have. Give them a bit of time and they’ll appear in Ukr, if not used directly or on npps they fully control. But feel free to think the smo is a victory and that all those zombies dead from their own suicide attacks, not thanks to some RF great strategy, matter to anyone or will change anything.

Posted by: rk | Mar 14 2025 12:27 utc | 312

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 13 2025 21:02 utc | 183
Nice clarification, Love. We hate it too.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 13 2025 21:27 utc | 197
I sure do. Wasn’t it Twain who said patriotism is supporting your country always, and your government when it deserves it?
It’s been a long, long time since I supported “my” government.

Posted by: Hunsdon | Mar 14 2025 12:32 utc | 314

It’s like some of you never even negotiated for so much as buying a car.
A week ago Ukraine was loudly proclaiming it didn’t need a new car and would never buy one from Russia. Now we are in the stage where Ukraine says that it wants a new car if it is practically free and Russia says they’ll sell one to Ukraine if Ukraine pays $10k over sticker. In the end, Ukraine will buy the car at least sticker or slightly above because it really needs a new car. Russia will throw in the nice floor mats and a year’s worth of free oil changes and Ukraine will go away bragging about how shrewd they were. Trump and company will step in and talk about nice the car is, what a fair deal it was for all, and how everyone worked hard and made meaningful concessions to make the purchase happen.
The real hold up will come when they get to the financing departments and start talking about the payments. Ukraine is already thinking about defaulting and they want some security guarantees to keep the repo man away. Russia is thinking Ukraine’s credit is shaky and that it should probably stick a GPS device on that car to make it easy to find when Ukraine starts to miss payments.
Meanwhile, Europe is across the street with a shady used car lot telling Ukraine it has a sweet 78 Dodge that is real clean and dependable, just burns a little oil, if they don’t want to make the payments on a new car.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Mar 14 2025 12:56 utc | 316

Posted by: Jo | Mar 14 2025 11:58 utc | 309
Regarding Keith Kellogg and why he was removed as envoy
<< Gen Kellogg's daughter has run an NGO in Ukraine since before the SMO commenced; its focus centers on facilitating to and fro of the foreign mercenaries who wind up fighting for Ukraine--like in the Da Vinci Wolves, the Mozart group, etc. Her NGO also sees to the rehabilitation of foreign mercenaries and their transit back to homelands. Funding for her NGO is coming from an external source, perhaps USAID or National Endowment for Democracy or the Open Horizons group, perhaps a mix of all three. The sticky thing is that Gen Kellogg received an all expenses paid trip to Kiev on the dime of his daughter's NGO in autumn 2023. This info did not come to light in the U.S. until mid-January 2024. At that point it was not only an optics problem but also an ethics problem: how compromised was Gen Kellogg-? It was easier for him to serve as a stalking horse of sorts in the early days of the minerals deal, but after that his utility had exhausted itself.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Mar 14 2025 13:07 utc | 318

>>>> may not be, “the one”

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 14 2025 13:12 utc | 320

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs committee of the upper house of Russia’s parliament, probably reflected the mainstream elite opinion in his Telegram post: “Russia is advancing. Real agreements are still being written there at the front. Which they should understand in Washington, too.”
Recalcitrant & unbowed, Andriy Yermak jutted his chin on 13 March: “We all understand that part of our country is currently under temporary Russian occupation – that is a matter of fact, a reality. But if we are talking about legally recognizing any part of Ukraine as belonging to Russia, that will not happen.”
Regarding “the nuances”—but not the scatological weight of the term, which others have nicely annotated—a professor at Syracuse University, Brian Taylor, said, “Putin’s answer seems carefully crafted to sound like a ‘yes’ to Trump but is actually a ‘no’ in practice, unless Ukraine is forced to submit to Russia’s demands.”

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Mar 14 2025 13:18 utc | 322

It has been a week chock-full of media dynamics, so notice of this may have evaded your attention<< From TASS on 10 March: "According to the information received by the SVR, the British leadership sees a threat to its interests in the promotion of dialogue between the US and Russia to resolve the Ukrainian conflict," it noted. "London fears that this could lead to a failure of the British strategy ‘to contain’ Moscow, the central part of which is control of Ukraine. Its possible loss, according to British estimates, would undermine plans to create a Russophobic ‘belt of limitrophe states’ in Europe and organize Russia’s maritime ‘blockade.’" "London is extremely irritated by the fact that [US President] Donald Trump ‘dialogues with Russia as a superpower and shows disregard to close allies.’ [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer was stung by the US President’s ‘provocative question’ during the joint press-conference about the ‘ability of the British nation to confront the Russians alone.’ Following the Prime-minister’s visit to the United States, Downing-street concluded that ‘true friends’ were de facto kicking the British to the curb of the process of reformatting European and global security." According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, in the current environment, "The British authorities consider it an ‘urgent priority’ to undermine ‘peacekeeping’ efforts of the new US administration on the Ukrainian track. "The media and specialized NGOs are tasked with demonizing Trump, portraying him as ‘a man with a poor peacekeeping record and susceptible to Kremlin manipulation.” Another example cited by the SVR is that "Starmer’s Cabinet bends over backwards to strengthen the sustainability of the Kiev regime in the face of growing pressure from Washington." "Loud promises are coming from London to send rockets, troops and aviation to Ukraine, no matter what it costs UK economy which is in a deep recession. Nevertheless, behind the scenes, British politicians admit that all these intentions may be ‘ado about nothing’ since without continued US support they are unrealizable," the SVR emphasized. << https://tass.com/politics/1925079

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Mar 14 2025 13:30 utc | 324

I continue to wonder about Ukraine running away from the battlefield. Can this continue? If so, it’s reason for more patience and Bull sh*tting about peace, etc.
Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 14 2025 12:36 utc | 317
There is no ongoing rout whatsoever in the others sectors. Even in Kursk the ukrainians will likely form a new defensive line somewhere in their territory.

Posted by: Satepestage | Mar 14 2025 13:43 utc | 326

Ukrainian neo-Nazi Demyan Ganul, who was accused of playing a key role in the 2014 mass killings of anti-Maidan activists in Odessa was treated to point-blank street corner justice on Friday morning, 14 March, executed by a one assassin @ close range.
Graphic footage shows the even in broad daylight in the presence of numerous passersby & in range of security cameras.
Ganul led the enforcer unit of the Right Sector unit in Odessa. He was instrumental in the heinous Odessa massacre: chasing a anti-Maidan protesters into a building which was subsequently locked w/ the protesters inside and set ablaze.
More recently, Ganul has been part of a team which forcibly abducted individuals who resisted conscription.
Last July, Ganul posted pix of his attack on a fitness trainer who had insulted Ukrainian military personnel. Local reports indicated that the trainer was also sexually assaulted before being turned over to authorities.
<< BTW: on 13 March, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Ukrainian government to compensate victims of the 2014 massacre in Odessa for its failure to prevent the violence itself or to conduct a proper investigation. << In the goosestepping sig heiling neo-Nazi *democracy* of lunatics, Ganul may already have a street named for him.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Mar 14 2025 13:48 utc | 328

LoveDonbass @183: “…no offense to any of my American friends at the bar. I don’t hate you. I hate what your country does.”
I’ll admit I feel a little guilty at times over my country’s behavior in the world. After all, I suppose I could have done more to set things right, like go all Ted Kaczynski on America’s oligarchs, not that it would have really changed anything.
That said, I really do like how your country happily fellates my country without even having to be asked. I mean, the US whipping it out and slapping it on your country’s face works, but a subtle gesture towards the zipper on ol` Uncle Sam’s trousers and your nation drops to its knees, eager to please as well. That kind of willful servility really goes to a people’s heads, you know. America’s huge ego is easily understood after that.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 14 2025 13:51 utc | 330

Posted by: Savonarole | Mar 14 2025 13:48 utc | 329
###########
It is easy to forget that the masses of the voting public in the West have never used, let alone heard of Telegram.
They are informed by state approved TV.
I am a firm believer that people cannot act upon that which they do not know.
Keeping people unaware is key to making them compliant and docile.
Many states dreams of filling hearts and minds with endless propaganda and lies.
See the EU’s crackdown on TikTok during elections for an example of how threatened TPTB are by information channels that they do not control.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 14 2025 13:59 utc | 332

As people ping pong truce/peace discussions, let us take a long long step back.
1. The nato early 2022 attempt to force RF to fight against the AFU fortifications in donetsk (or lose the oblasts) was not stupid, it was a very dangerous play that seriously risked a strategic defeat of RF in ukraine (or a destabilization at home)
2. Putin’s preempting and choosing other axis for the attack was extremely well played (if suffering from being severely under strenght) in the long term.
3. April peace talks should have solved everything, RF was overextended but AFU had no chance of wining
4.Bozo then sold what was not an impossibility. In the medium term AFU could do a lot of damage and between that, sanctions and other destabilizing factors, RF could fall. Bonus points for being done with soviet weapons and slav on slav killing (we’re discussing UKUS interests, not ukrainian)
5. We could say that the danger zone, for RF, was august 2022 to july 2023. Very risky but finally excellent choices were made by RF. A deployment of wagner to hold the line, a minimal 300k mobilization, cleaning up the RFAF, outting its industry in partial war mode, retracting unsustainable lines, building serious defense lines, dealing with the wagner folly.
6. But by august 2023 it was over for AFU, having exhausted the soviet material (and the western trinkets given for the breakthrough offensive) , it would start to need and ask for more and more top shelf material (that europe didn’t have in any significant quantities) . Having lost over a million and a half men, replenishing would start being a major problem. It’s ability to break RF lines had been proven lacking. AFU objectives were unattainable and had wasted a huge portion of its capability for nothing.
7. Meanwhile RF had overcome it’s instabilities, streamlined and even thrived in spite of all sanctions and destabilization efforts.
8. Game over.
9. Stalemate enters into play, UKUSEU double down, not for victory but to pin down RF in an eternal ukraine quagmire, but knowing full well that would entail other boots on the ground if things went beyond 2027.
10. By the end of 2023 RF pushes the pedal to the floor. What was assumed to be a sustainable situation suddenly saw its lifespan cut by half.A lot because AFU stubbornly continued to fight for every useless inch.
11. The august kursk caper was a suicidal doubling down that I still can’t understand
12. End of 2024 is another idiotic stage where going full WWIII seemed like thee western objective.
13. 2025 what is trump doing? I would say he’s fully aware of the previous points and needs not to lose to much face, and if he could winsomething he’d love it.
If us does not disengage, and throws unkraine under the bus, whoever loses launches nukes.
As eu is still in 12 mindset, he must (at minimum) disengage the us from a nuclear exchange.
Is it easier to convince putin that if he keeps it local he can nuke uk, etc?
Is it easier to convince western europe to fold?
So two major scenarios, peace (of sorts) or nukes (in a nice scenario a limited european exchange)
So yes, as I mentioned often enough, a 10 year truce will do nicely.

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 14:02 utc | 334

Trump posted on Twitter begging Putin to spare the lives of surrounded Ukrops (and no doubt US /Nato officers, is what he is after, as was the case after Mariupol battle).
Putin already designated them terrorists. No negotiations with terrorists, no mercy.

Posted by: unimperator | Mar 14 2025 14:05 utc | 336

Posted by: CullenBaker | Mar 14 2025 12:56 utc | 318
Indeed. This is going to take a while.
Grab some popcorn and watch Rubio and Waltz slowly broken on the wheel and await Elensky’s resignation in a huff.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Mar 14 2025 14:11 utc | 338

The Indian Generals Put the US Ceasefire Horse After the Russian Army Cart Where It Belongs – Putin Invites Trump to Get Details From the Horse’s Mouth
https://johnhelmer.net/the-indian-generals-put-the-us-ceasefire-horse-after-the-russian-army-cart-where-it-belongs-putin-invites-trump-to-get-the-details-from-the-horses-mouth/
“In this discussion on Thursday morning, Chennai time, two leading Indian military analysts, Lieutenant-General (ret.) Ravi Shankar and Brigadier (ret) Arun Saghal explain that the 30-day ceasefire which the Americans and British have proposed for the Ukraine battlefield should follow as one of the outcomes of the end-of-war negotiations, and not be a precondition for talks.
Otherwise the ceasefire proposal is nothing more than a smoke screen to cover US and NATO reinforcement and resupply of the Ukrainian forces which are now surrounded or in retreat.
Listen to the hour-long podcast…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 14 2025 14:34 utc | 340

DJT begs on Truth Social for VVP to spare the lives of “1000s of Ukrainian soldiers” trapped in the Kursk kill-box, though he must know that a beaucoup number of NATO mercs teamed w/ the fig-leaf AFU for this ill-advised Incursion, too.
So he may be catching flak from NATO members.
But in this proxy war, which the U.S. is waging against Russia, DJT did not, for instance, order his proxy Zelensky a month ago to withdraw militarily from an impossible gambit, which rapidly was going from bad-to-worse, in order to save “1000s of Ukrainian soldiers.”
Suddenly it is expedient for DJT to beg VVP not to enact a massacre the likes of which we have not witnessed, according to DJT, “since WWII”–?
DJT in this, his war, has beaucoup blood on his hands.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Mar 14 2025 14:36 utc | 342

Trump deserves a ….
‘Noballs’ peace prize.
😁

Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 14 2025 14:42 utc | 344

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 14 2025 13:59 utc | 334
I agree there are lots of people propagandized by the states approved medias , but nowadays I’m not so sure they are still the majority. The usual “gaussian curve” of public opinion shrink itself a lot since the plandemic and other cases of narrative overdoses.

Posted by: Savonarole | Mar 14 2025 14:44 utc | 346

To the drunks who live in Plato’s Cave (or Borrell’s Garden), and who DON’T KNOW what HAPPENED YESTERDAY between the USA and RUSSIA! Pay due attention to the last paragraph!
Posted by: Elber | Mar 14 2025 14:06 utc | 339
Thanks for an excellent review, Elber. I have just one correction to give — I am not a drunk, but I do live in Plato’s cave and am happy to be here, in the company of the returning true philosophers who understand the importance of dialogue, and of those who merely by accident of location are presently seeing the morning sun after a windblown night.
Sleepers awake! It is a blessed awakening, and there is much work to do.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 14 2025 14:50 utc | 348

Some, under the influence of Alcibiades, propose drunkedness and a noble lie reside in Plato’s cave. This is nonsense. Plato describes neither. In fact, he later proposes, in the final dialogue, “The Laws” that we are all in the presence of a conversation happening on the way upwardstowardthe cave of Zeus.. We Christians see that journey as if towards the tomb of Christ, a Lenten activity. In fact, on Wednesday of Holy Week in my region, pilgrims are physically present on the main highways northward to a sacred shrine. This also happens in other faiths as well.
So now we begin a new journey, not down towards endless war but up towards peace.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 14 2025 15:02 utc | 350

british dunce stramer:

Putin’s appetite for conflict and chaos is already there, and it will only grow.
And Russia is already threatening our skies, our waters, our streets, our national security.
And that’s why I think the fundamental tasks of policy right now are to make tough decisions on security.

dear brits. better stop breathing and drinking water. it may be russian.

Posted by: Justpassinby | Mar 14 2025 15:07 utc | 352

I found an interesting article on ZH that is being totally blacked out and censored by Google.

The United States Marine Corps has warned that the constant support it has provided to Ukraine’s military over the last three years of war has significantly drained its own supplies and could impact war readiness. This was the testimony of the second highest-ranked Marine, Gen. Christopher Mahoney (assistant commandant of the Marines), to a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday.
“The Marine Corps has provided over $2 billion [replacement cost about $5 billion] in equipment and munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine via PDA presidential drawdown authority

Rather than cite ZH, here is the direct source:
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/statement_of_general_christopher_jmahoneyusmc.pdf
This story is being embargoed by the Hill, Politico, and all other MSM.
I believe it has very strong implications. Trump is fucked. There are no more weapons left to send. The cupboards are empty. China, North Korea, and Iran know this.
He has no realistic options to pressure Russia, other than silly economic sanctions. Trump isn’t stupid – economic sanctions function equivalently to tariffs, which he loves. They protect the country being sanctioned from globalism, foreign competition, and imports.
What a perfect situation for Russia! They’ve only grown stronger and more autarkic.
Russia has endured and thrived for over 3 years under US sanctions. The country’s GDP is better than that of Europe’s. Any further sanctions are symbolic only.
I believe that Putin is aware of this, too. Any further aid packages of a military nature will only harm US readiness even more, tempting Iran or China to make a move.

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 15:16 utc | 354

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 15:16 utc | 356
#########
Dangerous times in the prison yard when sharks smell blood in the water.
America has bullied for so long, this was never going to end with hugs and forgiveness. Everyone will want their pound of flesh.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 14 2025 15:19 utc | 356

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 15:16 utc | 356
What does Trump want with sanctions or tariffs against Russia, especially since it currently appears that the US actually urgently needs the little it still imports from Russia, e.g., uranium… They haven’t been able to get titanium since August 2024 because Putin is sanctioning the US with it and several other things!
The US has done about $4 billion in sales with Russia.
Russia, on the other hand, has over $40 billion with India…
So what does Trump want other than big talk?

Posted by: Ost Rentner | Mar 14 2025 15:26 utc | 358

@361
There more the west escalates the more holes in materiel readinesss.
Soon Trump will not be able to get any noise out of his Sabre.
Like U.K. and EU

Posted by: paddy | Mar 14 2025 15:34 utc | 360

The murder suspect in the assassination of Ukrainian TCC enforcer Demyan Ganul looks like a father who lost a son. That’s how justice looks like.
https://tgstat.ru/en/channel/@DDGeopolitics/142102
https://tgstat.ru/en/channel/@DDGeopolitics/142084

Posted by: xor | Mar 14 2025 15:36 utc | 362

As an exercise for barflies, try putting any of the keywords in that story I linked to into Google or Bing’s search engine. My experience was that it yielded zero results. I had to find it by using DuckDuckGo.
I believe this is definitive proof of censorship and news embargoing by Google, probably at the behest of the US state dept. BTW – who controls that State Dept, now?
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 15:23 utc | 359
As i Mentioned, the filter is fully in the media, and general Mahoney didn’t make things easy for them.
He went fully official on their asses within the opening statement (don’t blame us if things go tits-up )
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/statement_of_general_christopher_jmahoneyusmc.pdf
Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) Training Readiness
The Marine Corps has provided over $2 billion (replacement cost about $5 billion) in equipment and
munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine via PDA. Replacement and reimbursement for these inventory
losses are needed to rebuild the depth of magazine needed to gain and maintain lost proficiency. Though
some funds have been reimbursed through PDA replenishment funds, the defense industrial base (DIB)
faces significant challenges in meeting production demands for replenishment. New procurement lead
times delay replenishment, as existing programmed deliveries take priority. To mitigate impacts, the
Marine Corps has adjusted training allocations and inventory management. However, continued high-
demand support may require the service to accept further risks to either training readiness or strategic
readiness

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 15:37 utc | 364

Google’s indexing has been working for a long time, mostly only within the Western bubble. You’ll notice this when you use a VPN because you get different results than if you use a direct search.
This was already the case during the coronavirus pandemic and hasn’t changed; only more terms have been added to the index.
Even with Firefox, there are differences, but not as noticeable as with a VPN.
If you know the URL or title you’re looking for, it works reasonably well. If you search for terms related to the topic, you’ll only land on welcome pages.
I tested it from Europe with a VPN…if I enter the USA, it only gets as much as from Germany, and the same goes for Canada.
If I select Asia, I find the most…if I select Belarus (Russia is blocked by almost all providers), I find even more. This is called, or was called during the socialist-communist era in the Eastern Bloc, CENSORSHIP, and we’re familiar with it here and used to it…but you probably aren’t?
Am I smiling now?
Posted by: Ost Rentner | Mar 14 2025 15:36 utc | 365
Ok, then it can be a local thing, but as mentioned, the most interesting part is the total absence of the word ukraine in ALL (but one) of the articles covering the hearing.
Media has completely fallen into line with the old regime, how soon before they are thoroughly deloused?

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 15:42 utc | 366

re Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 14 2025 13:43 utc | 327
People always seem to forget that the Israeli citizenry is only about 80% really or claimed Jewish — and this doesn’t include the OTs. Nuking “Israel” would wipe out hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Palestinians.
I can’t see how nuking the Palestinians’ rightful home does the Palestinians any favors. Are they clamoring for Israel to be nuked?

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 14 2025 15:50 utc | 368

Related posts (RT)
” USA IS BLANK ”
Reuters: USA wants to supply GLSDB bombs to Ukraine instead of ATACMS missiles!
The US is ready to resume deliveries of precision-guided GLSDB long-range bombs to Ukraine, the Reuters news agency reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Kyiv has reportedly completely exhausted its stockpiles of US ATACMS missiles, and the GLSDB bombs are intended to fill this gap. The GLSDBs have been modernized to better counter Russian electronic suppression systems.
GLSDBs can hit targets up to 150 kilometers away, while ATACMS missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometers.
The contracts for the purchase of these bombs were signed during the term of former US President Joe Biden.

Posted by: berthold | Mar 14 2025 15:51 utc | 370

“I think it was due to the huge amount of Russian soldiers there”
Posted by: MiniMO | Mar 14 2025 15:50 utc | 371
I meant Ukrainian soldiers – I think they had more 80,000 soldiers there at the start. Russia won’t give numbers still there, but I’m guessing it is now around 35-40 thousands.

Posted by: MiniMO | Mar 14 2025 15:54 utc | 372

@Ukrainian drone strike on Tuapse, which is in Southwest Russia on the Black Sea damaged an oil tank and started a fire more than 1,000 square meters.
Posted by: MiniMO | Mar 14 2025 15:46 utc | 369
Exactly. Ukrainian. Only Biden was guiding atacms and himars. Trump never does it, it’s only the Ukr specialists and scientists or the evil Europeans that attack Russia, US has nothing to do with Ukr.
Also I see that Trump demands today that all captured or blocked in Kursk to be released immediately. He has spoken! I understand his idea because Putin released Azovs and many of them were sent to vacation in Turkey where they recovered on the beach and a few months later they returned to continue. British “mercenaries” were also released only to return a few months later. It seems fair to do the same in Kursk. How can they invade Belgorod without a vacation and new weapons?

Posted by: rk | Mar 14 2025 16:00 utc | 374

GLSDBs can hit targets up to 150 kilometers away, while ATACMS missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometers.
The contracts for the purchase of these bombs were signed during the term of former US President Joe Biden.
Posted by: berthold | Mar 14 2025 15:51 utc | 372
Saab did a cheap good work on those, but specs for anti-EW were clearly off.
But they are limited to the number of rocket engines recycled like that.
——————–
Russia is not short of manpower.
It is able to maintain regular rotations and effectiveness without conscription.
They have created several new major formations over the last 18 months in anticipation of a direct conflict with NATO.
Russia already has a tight labor market, conscription would only worsen that.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 14 2025 15:57 utc | 375
Don’t waste time wine mini, and you are absolutely right, one problem going forward is that RF has been too successful and has grown it’s army by 50%+ but at the cost of taking in almost half of each levée as contract recruits.
On the plus side it has half a generation fully trained, experienced and rotated veterans.

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 16:04 utc | 376

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 14:02 utc | 336
I can answer 11 for you, Newbie. Alexander Mercouris said and has repeated that he thinks the Kursk operation was part of the nuclear obsession of Zelensky. Recall that that threat was voiced at the start of the Ukrainian attack upon the eastern oblasts, and that in central Dnieper area the struggle was all about nuclear.
To their enormous credit, the Russians have been engaged in developing non-nuclear capabilities such as the oreshnik which supercede nuclear without the latter’s devastating effect on the environment in which we all have to survive. The latter is the rare earth we all need to keep in mind. It is rare indeed. We will never have another. If you want an existential motive, that’s the mother of them all.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 14 2025 16:05 utc | 378

started a fire more than 1,000 square meters.
Posted by: MiniMO | Mar 14 2025 15:46 utc | 369

Reality check: it’s a square 20 by 50 meters, so your glee is misplaced

Posted by: Rutte | Mar 14 2025 16:18 utc | 380

He has no way to escalate, other than nukes.
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 15:35 utc
“…We have never been this close to peace,” she said.
Posted by: Newbie | Mar 14 2025 16:15 utc
Oh dear. We’re really close.

Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Mar 14 2025 16:28 utc | 382

I remember one professor coining the verb logorrea. I’m afraid that is the difference between Biden and Trump.

Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Mar 14 2025 16:47 utc | 384

Germany arranges to change its constitution to go into deficit on “infrastructure and defence” spending…

Posted by: Ornot | Mar 14 2025 16:51 utc | 386

Here’s what Putin said today at his Security Council Meeting:

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good Evening!
We will begin work, and today we have the planned issue of restoring Russian-American relations.
We know that the new administration, led by President Trump, is doing everything to restore at least some of what was practically reduced to zero, destroyed by the previous US administration. This process is not easy, if not difficult. Nevertheless, as everyone knows, I had a telephone conversation with President Trump, and our Foreign Minister had the first contacts with his American counterpart, and Russian presidential aide [Yury] Ushakov met with his counterparts. So, in general, the situation is beginning to move. Let’s see what will come of it. We will deal with this topic today. We have two speakers: Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Naryshkin Evgenievich.
But before we start work, I would like to say that we have read today’s address by the President of the United States, Mr. Trump, to spare the lives of servicemen of the Ukrainian army, whose units are blocked by Russian troops in the zone of the invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kursk region.
In this regard, Please note that Ukrainian militants committed in the invasion zone numerous crimes against the civilian population. These deeds, like I have already said that the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation qualifies as terrorism.
At the same time, we understand President Trump’s call to be guided by humanitarian considerations with regard to these troops. In this I emphasize that in the event of laying down their arms and surrendering, they will be life and dignified treatment in accordance with the norms are guaranteed international law and the laws of the Russian Federation.
For the effective implementation of the call of the President of the United States, an appropriate order is needed from the military-political leadership of Ukraine to lay down their arms and surrender.
I suggest Let’s move on to the agenda for which we have gathered today. You are welcome the floor is given to Sergei Lavrov. [My Emphasis]

It’s really annoying when the entire context isn’t told and BS gets spun from what is provided. As of last night’s reports, most Ukie troops are already out of Kursk, while some remain isolated in the forests. I must agree with Putin that if the Ukie troops want to live then they must surrender wherever they are. Unfortunately, that’s an order only Zelensky can give, and we all know he won’t.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 14 2025 17:14 utc | 388

Don’t know if this is true, but worrying sign if it is…
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 14 2025 17:14 utc
Putin knows his adversaries, and their unbridled madness. My guess: Trump is the one who denies pushing the button atm.

Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Mar 14 2025 17:26 utc | 390

Heavy google censorship happened overnight the momment biden took office.
The information tap regarding activist sites was turned off. Oh boy did i notice. Oh boy did i miss it.
Not speculation, trust mark2.
PS trump has’nt turned it back on and wont.
He is the swamp.

Posted by: Mark2 | Mar 14 2025 17:32 utc | 392

No quarter can be given to any remnants of the UAF (or mercs) still in Kursk. It’s Russian land. Putin was clear – surrender, or die.
Let’s hope it is a false report. One suspicious detail is it mentions Sudzha, when that was taken several days ago, and the LoC is well south of there. Any UAF in Sudzha proper are likely dead or captured. Maybe they meant the general Sudzha salient>

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Mar 14 2025 17:36 utc | 394

Western MSM is in damage control mode, trying to desperately refute Trump’s claim of thousands of Ukrainian troops in encirclement.

Posted by: unimperator | Mar 14 2025 17:44 utc | 396

The whole Sudzha thing was about optics.
Posted by: Waldorf | Mar 14 2025 18:00 utc | 399
I thought it was about the gas metering station as the resident garden gnome was pushing here for week. In the end the gas pipe played its role after all, lmao.
Returning all kidnapped citizens by Ukraine in Kursk oblast and turning over war criminals responsible for atrocities on civilians should be added as another condition for the ceasefire.

Posted by: 5thcolumn | Mar 14 2025 18:08 utc | 398

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jewo0MzPeLU
Summary of Sudzha events released today, with some interesting images.

Posted by: Waldorf | Mar 14 2025 18:56 utc | 400