News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
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June 29, 2025
Ukraine Open Thread 2025-144
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I’m skeptical of 3-5mo collapse sort of predictions. I mostly lurk but I’ve seen such predictions on these pages from time to time since it kicked off in 2022, and I thought the same myself at times, particularly in 2022. Ukraine is on the defense but not remotely out, she’s still putting up a fight over nearly every km. Could it all collapse in a few months? Sure I think, in theory, be it some internal event, or various pressures eventually piling up, or some other major external events severely impacting it, some change with RU targeting (idk if we’re really seeing that yet vs just an uptick in volume), etc, anything is possible. However, my caution even with that thinking is that it’s also applicable to the Russian side of the equation to some degree if not equally, and her enemies aren’t standing still.
But just military speaking, at the moment my thinking is there seems enough fight left, enough money, gear, supplies, munitions, still flowing to keep up a relatively effective slow retreating\defense if used wisely. Plenty of replacement bodies still being trained and pushed to the fronts no matter the demo costs to make up for losses. The ~20sqkm rough daily avg of recent weeks is better than the ~10-15 we’ve seen at times past, but till that starts creeping up toward a sustained doubling, I would caution on predictions of a pending military ‘collapse’ or even overall front collapses.
At the moment Ukraine seems positioned to just keep trading bodies in exchange for slowing down the RU process of taking that which isn’t yet obtainable at the bargaining table (namely at least the rest of the 4 oblasts), and that which Ukr knows RU must have politically, and that which Ukr, at least under Zel can’t survive giving up, without a fight. Seems to me they are still getting enough external sponsorship to keep those slow-losing efforts up for awhile.
I wonder if July and August may be instructive. Many things mentioned and opined about in the winter and spring were thought to be particularly impactful and showing by the summer. By no means exhaustive, but I mean things like running though stocks flooded in early in the year, AD degradation\limitations, isr improvements, TCC fatigue\challenges, UAV production attrition, RF production output increases and product evolution, yada yada,yada. Well here we are a few weeks into summer, it’ll be interesting to see if any of such will be more noticeable or impactful as predicted over the coming weeks, or not, and other developments have already countered them.
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 3:48 utc | 101
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 3:48 utc | 1
Nice story bro, as they say. Did you use the same AI as your sock 1JZ?
Posted by: 1JZ | Jun 30 2025 3:26 utc | 99
Posted by: acementhead | Jun 30 2025 4:03 utc | 102
*** The last vestiges of the Soviet Era have mostly died away or retired from the scene, and the possibility of additional Islamic Republics is very possible. ***
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 30 2025 3:41 utc | 101
.
Two thoughts come to mind.
Three generations for a population to heal from pretty serious abuse is abouut right – sometimes longer when there is some particularly bad stuff that happened. See e.g. Exodus 20:5 ” You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me” (NRSVCE). Azerbajian has not been a picnic in the 20th century, certainly.
Three generations, of course, assuming you don’t have a force for evil stoking hatred from the initial iniquities – like western operations in Galicia for the past 70 years.
The other observation is the incorporation of faith into Russian policy, Islamic Republic or not, is extraordinarily wise and a show of confidence and stregnth. A healing balm that may help the Three generations rule not last longer than it needs to.
Posted by: frithguild | Jun 30 2025 4:27 utc | 103
June 30: The Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation refused to participate in the 23rd meeting of the interparliamentary commission on cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, the Milli Majlis reported.
The meeting was supposed to be held in Moscow.
telegram https://t.me/intelslava/77290
Posted by: Melaleuca | Jun 30 2025 4:36 utc | 104
June26:
Massive explosion reported in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The blast occurred at the old pyrotechnic platform of the Azerbaijan Film Cinema complex. Cause still unclear.
Authorities and emergency services are on site.
—-
>>>>Days ago. But. Tehran responded to Baku allowing an Israeli drone/apartment assassination AFTER Trump called time out.
https://nitter.net/DD_Geopolitics/status/1938375864166850630.
}{ pyrotechnic complexes implode all the time.
Yep. Where better to hide your covert drone manufacturing.
Plausible deniability should it go booom.
https://nitter.net/DD_Geopolitics/status/1938375864166850630
Allegedly. This was the apartment attack Tehran retaliated against by smacking Baku.
https://nitter.net/pic/orig/media%2FGuZPQUCb0AAPKrw.jpg
https://nitter.net/DD_Geopolitics/status/1938323884543250493
Posted by: Melaleuca | Jun 30 2025 4:46 utc | 105
Posted by: acementhead | Jun 30 2025 4:03 utc | 103
??
I have no socks but those on my feet atm, wtf does my post have to do with 99, who ai or not is making a different point, mostly about the tech battle?
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 5:24 utc | 106
I’m beginning to suspect that the whole neo-militarism and tank mania in Germany could also have a completely different goal: Saving the spark plug!
On closer consideration, that doesn’t sound so abstruse. The German automotive industry has been mercilessly left behind and has completely missed out on electromobility. The suppliers who manufacture spark plugs, fuel injectors and carburetors have been hit all the harder. The salvation: tanks, howitzers, self-propelled guns and the like – everything still runs on petrol and diesel! So what could be more obvious than keeping a dying technology alive with the tools of death? Let’s not misunderstand each other: It’s not about workers, nobody cares about them! But it’s about an incredible amount of accumulated capital, about big industrialists and billionaires. They have enough money, resources and motivation to bribe politicians and shape opinions. And, if necessary, accept a nuclear third world war. Well… 🤔
Posted by: xblob | Jun 30 2025 6:22 utc | 107
Posted by: acementhead | Jun 30 2025 4:03 utc | 103
The first (99) was certainly AI drivel, it reads like a robot. Not Knighthawke though. There is a human element.
Posted by: watcher | Jun 30 2025 6:53 utc | 108
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 3:48 utc | 102
Could it all collapse in a few months?
There are three sides in this war: (1) Russia, (2) the Ukraines, and (3) the West.
Russia wants to take back the Ukraines from NATO while developing its capitalist economy, populating its territory, and improving its demography by increasing its population.
The West want to delay Russia’s development and hurt Russia’s demography by way of a proxy ’cause it cann’t fight Russia directly.
The Ukraines want to hurt and weaken Russia as much as possible, as demanded by its patrons, by consuming its male lower- and middle-class population.
The incentives of all three sides are aligned in the direction of prolonging the war.
The only constraint to going slow would be if Russia had presidential elections and the incumbent wanted to show big results to get re-elected. But that’s not the case. Elections in Russia are scheduled to 2030.
At the moment Ukraine seems positioned to just keep trading bodies in exchange for slowing down the RU process of taking that which isn’t yet obtainable at the bargaining table (namely at least the rest of the 4 oblasts), and that which Ukr knows RU must have politically, and that which Ukr, at least under Zel can’t survive giving up, without a fight.
You are wrong. The Ukraines don’t want to win the war or keep territory or even survive.
The Ukraines just want to hurt and weaken Russia as much as possible to please its patrons while dying as a nation.
This is possible because the Ukraines have a leadership that is dettached to any national interest, a leadership that are pursuing their own personal enrichment by stealing Western treasure and consuming Ukraine’s male population.
In the words of famous pragmatical philosopher Josif Visarionovich Dzhugashvili, the leadership of the Ukraines are “rootless cosmopolitans”.
The Ukrainian population (minus the Donbass) are responsible for this very large error, as they supported a Jewish comedian that pretended to be president in a TV show. Ukrainians (minus the Donbass) are the stupidest population of any country in the world for falling for that, moronic to the cube, drooling retards that deserve what’s happening to them and what’s coming next, which is Grozny levels of destruction in Kiev and the westernmost regions.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Jun 30 2025 6:54 utc | 109
3 to 5 months seems really optimistic to me.
3 to 5 years more realistic.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 7:30 utc | 110
3 to 5 months seems really optimistic to me.
3 to 5 years more realistic.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 7:30 utc | 111
The former is against the AFU
The latter against nato boots on the ground
As already mentioned RF has chosen its ground, east of the dnipre
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 8:00 utc | 111
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 8:00 utc | 112
NATO has no boots to put on the ground, and less balls to do so.
more we willing the casualties, or economic collapse from their pretty cities getting dusted without mercy.
Putin is trying to conquer Ukraine.
Any NATO country who tries to bring in their army he will destroy, not conquer, and NATO knows it.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 8:29 utc | 112
Any NATO country who tries to bring in their army he will destroy, not conquer, and NATO knows it.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 8:29 utc | 113
As I said
As already mentioned RF has chosen its ground, east of the dnipre
If they’re stupid enough Europe will end fighting with stretched logistics and lose a huge quantity of men and means
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 8:52 utc | 113
Excellent phrase for the search engine …
@Melaleuca #97
Azeri ambition because a bigger stronger Azerbaijan is a counterweight to Erdogan/Türkiye
Azerbaijani support underpins Turkey’s ambitions in South Caucasus | Aug. 2021 |
Turkey is bolstering defence cooperation with Azerbaijan as it seeks to double down on the military success of last year’s war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. As skirmishes along the Armenian-Azerbaijan border increased in recent weeks, there was even speculation that Turkey was on the brink of forging a joint military force with Baku. Turkey helped Azerbaijan come out on top of the six-week conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and it wants to capitalise by further boosting its influence in the South Caucasus.
Under president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey has made no secret of its thirst for a grander role in swathes of the Arab Middle East, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean. But if it pushes too far in the Caucasus, it risks antagonising Russia, which views the region as its own historical backyard.
Symbolised by the popular motto of “one nation, two states,” Turkey and Azerbaijan have held a close bond since Baku declared independence in 1991. The countries are predominantly Muslim, share ethnic and cultural similarities and are linked by strong economic interests.
Azerbaijan same as in 2008 Georgia under Saakashvili … strong support Israeli weapons and military advisors on the ground. United with US administration to provoke war with the “evil” empires … any non-Jewish nation. See Pact of Baghdad and CENTO in the 50s and regime change. OBL was correct about US bases on Islamic soil.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday [last week] praised the unity and brotherhood with Türkiye at a key delivery ceremony of post-quake houses in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras.
“I express the respect and love of the Azerbaijani people to all the people living in the earthquake-affected areas. You know and should know that you have 10 million brothers and sisters in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijanis also know that we have more than 80 million brothers and sisters in Türkiye. Long live Türkiye! Long live Türkiye-Azerbaijan unity and brotherhood!” Aliyev said at the ceremony alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The brotherhood and unity between the two countries is an important factor not only for the region, but also on a global scale, reminding that the Shusha Declaration officially elevated Turkish-Azerbaijani relations to the level of an alliance.
See map Turkic people here.
Another hotspot: Uyghur Muslim Ethnic Separatism in Xinjiang
@Melaleuca | Mon, 30 Jun 2025 02:30:00 GMT | 95
Ok. Thanks for playing….
For any other student of geopolitics 101 I’d suggest a summer catch up course…
But, for you, nah. Carry on….
Have you ever been to Turkmenistan? Can you even find it on the map? Geez, man, you can’t even spell it right. Any evidence to back up your claims about it? Nah, all your geopolitics consists of “da Jewz control everything.” I should buy you a “geopolitics” coloring book, it seems to be your level of study.
“1. Reiterates its support for the status of permanent neutrality declared by
Turkmenistan;
2. Calls once again upon States Members of the United Nations to respect
and support this status of Turkmenistan and to respect its independence, sovereignty
and territorial integrity;
3. Welcomes the decision of the Government of Turkmenistan to declare”
Res. GA 69/285.
As I said – Turkmenistan is a permanently neutral country. One of perhaps only two truly neutral countries in the world, with Bhutan being the other. That means it doesn’t belong to any alliance, or align with any particular country or bloc. Its foreign policy practice is mulitvectoring, which means it hedges between its bigger neighbors, like Russia and Iran, and other powers, in order to survive. I think I explained that to Surferket the other day.
There’s no evidence that US/Israel “have” Turkmenistan. The Central Asian republics are in fact further from the influence of US/Israel than you might think.
Posted by: James M. | Jun 30 2025 9:35 utc | 115
@Newbie | Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:52:00 GMT | 113
As already mentioned RF has chosen its ground, east of the dnipre
If they’re stupid enough Europe will end fighting with stretched logistics and lose a huge quantity of men and means
Europe’s never going in. They won’t go without the US, since they want Americans to do the bulk of the fighting, and because the US has the only nuclear deterrent that scares Russia. But the US will never go in for lots of reasons.
So Europe is going to have to deal with Russia on its own. One thing about the 5% defense spending mark for NATO, besides the fact that pretty much no member state will reach (except maybe Turkey), is that it gives the US the off-ramp to exit the alliance, or at least significantly reduce its commitment.
That’s why the SMO is so significant. It changes the security architecture, the alignment of European countries. Either they will have to stand against Russia on their own (balancing), or they will have to seek accommodation with Russia (bandwagoning). Either way they lose out.
Posted by: James M. | Jun 30 2025 9:51 utc | 116
@xblob | Mon, 30 Jun 2025 06:22:00 GMT | 107
The German automotive industry has been mercilessly left behind and has completely missed out on electromobility.
They also knew what they had. A modern combustion engine produces exhaust which is actually cleaner than the intake air. It took the climate scare and operation Dieselgate to leave the industry out like that. One also wonders what exactly went wrong with the natural cooperation between new EV makers and old luxury or utility brands which have all the other tech – it was oft talked about in Germany, but nothing came of it.
Posted by: persiflo | Jun 30 2025 10:26 utc | 117
Re: Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 29 2025 17:58 utc | 38
But now the most important thing. We are planning to reduce our defense spending, both next year and in the next three years. While there is no final agreement between the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Economic Development, everyone is thinking in this direction. Meanwhile, Europe is considering how to increase its defense spending. So, who is preparing for aggressive actions, us or them?
Yes, of course, we want to complete the special military operation with the result we need. This is what we are counting on, not aggressive plans against Europe and NATO countries. We plan to reduce our expenses, while they plan to increase them. So who is being aggressive? This is the basis of our defense and security policy.
Putin talking about reducing defence spending when after 3 years they occupy only 20% of Ukraine and are nowhere near reaching their goals is quite literally insane.
Finish the job – then talk about cutting spending.
Talk about proudly putting the cart before the horse!
Russia will never win this war with that half-hearted attitude from the top.
Posted by: Julian | Jun 30 2025 10:50 utc | 118
Russian news outlet raided in Azerbaijan being reported
Shame the new north south rail route involved this country as not too late to divert around?
Posted by: Jo | Jun 30 2025 11:25 utc | 119
Posted by: Julian | Jun 30 2025 10:50 utc | 118
You don’t understand the Russian mentality.
Russia is in no rush as time is on their side because the West is overextended (see ME, China) and debt ridden.
It took Russia 21 years to beat Sweden culminating in the victorious Battle of Poltava in 1709.
Posted by: canuk | Jun 30 2025 11:30 utc | 120
Re: Posted by: Jo | Jun 30 2025 11:25 utc | 119
Russian news outlet raided in Azerbaijan being reported
Shame the new north south rail route involved this country as not too late to divert around?
Divert around? What – through Turkey or Armenia?
So – who do you trust – Pashinyan or Erdogan (Aliyev’s ally and patron).
?!?
Posted by: Julian | Jun 30 2025 11:44 utc | 121
Posted by: Milites | Jun 29 2025 17:25 utc | 178
Thanks. I don’t believe the European leaderssaw themselves as patsies, though that’s how they look now. Their statements in early 2022 show that they were hoping for a quick kill of the Russian economy at only short term and manageable cost to themselves.
On the military side, statements made by the US leaders at the time show what they were expecting. A quick Russian military victory followed by a gruelling guerrilla war. They must have been perplexed when the Russians sidestepped that scenario. But as Martyanov said, a few years back now, there are at least some military realists in the Pentagon. So the Americans adjusted fairly early on to the course they’ve followed ever since. Using the Ukrainians to “bleed” the Russians for “cents on the dollar”. And they were still hoping that the sanctions war would at least weaken the Russians severely. From Vilnius on, maybe from before, my view, it was apparent that they hoped for no more than that.
You and many other of “b’s” correspondents do a lot of work on the military side of the conflict. I believe there’s a lot of information on this site, from “b” down, about the military evolutions at the very start of the war. The brief opening Russian campaign at the very start of the SMO, before they settled down almost at once to straight attrition, is very poorly documented. As Chirkin intimated, while we in the West focused on what was little more than a sideshow up around Kiev we tended to ignore the key events early on in the Donbass. Still hoping that you and “b’s” other correspondents will find time to set out more on those very early stages.
Thank you for that most useful link you sent.
Posted by: Blissex | Jun 29 2025 19:06 utc | 179
Blissex – yes, what happened in Mariupol in 2014 was awful. For the succeeding years it was really no more than an Azov fiefdom. The liberation was very like the relief of East Aleppo. Same devices used by the Kiev forces – using civilians as shields etc – and same hostage release techniques used by the Russians – opening of humanitarian corridors etc.
From the videos I noted a marked difference between the conduct of the ultra units and the conduct of the Ukrainian regulars. There were a couple of broadcasts I saw on Ukrainian TV (translated – I don’t have the languages) in which ultras stated they’d learned from ISIS. The people of Mariupol were lucky, although they still went through a very rough time, that the Russians had already learned in Syria how best to deal with those Jihadi techniques.
An opposing view of the liberation of Mariupol, and its sequel, came out yesterday on the BBC:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6912mqp1go
Posted by: Cynic | Jun 29 2025 19:48 utc | 180
“As for “Gerasimov and Shoigu” why is Surovokin still in exile and Strelkov imprisoned?”
Can anybody know? Fallout from the Prigozhin affair?
Posted by: English Outsider | Jun 30 2025 11:46 utc | 122
The Guardian get all their news straight from the SBU – “Russia pays young Ukrainians to be unwitting suicide bombers”:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/30/russia-pays-ukrainians-suicide-bombers-shadow-war-you-now
“SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko told the Guardian …”
I do wonder what happened at the Guardian in the Assange/Snowden days when MI5 raided their offices to examine all their computers. Ever since, they’ve toed the line. Must have found some pretty incriminating things.
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Jun 30 2025 12:32 utc | 123
Posted by: Cynic | Jun 29 2025 19:48 utc | 180
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Jun 30 2025 12:32 utc | 123
It looks like that some people love to spread lies and propaganda.
To read the western merdias is bad for one’s mental health.
Posted by: Naive | Jun 30 2025 12:39 utc | 124
Don’t forget, five B2s were lost in the war over Serbia, and the defense technology hasn’t deteriorated since then.
Posted by: Genesiss | Jun 29 2025 17:55 utc | 37
Liar! It’s not five, it’s fifty five and it’s not B2s, it’s B52s.
Also, I’m holding my breath waiting for the port of Dubrovnik to be given to Serbia… 😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
Posted by: abc | Jun 30 2025 12:43 utc | 125
English Outsider@122…..????? Graft, Priggy brought it to the forefront and changed the course of the SMO, much of the brass on the take were reshuffled, some removed many are still there……otherwise Russia should have wrapped the SMO up fairly quick….if the Pentagon had to shift gears on the fly they were never in control in the first place …..wonder who was pulling the EU strings…..
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 30 2025 12:49 utc | 126
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 30 2025 12:49 utc | 126
Priggy was an arrogant fool and possibly a traitor.
He attacked Bahkmut, wasting may many troops and weapons. This was against the advice of the general staff who had a much better idea of the real resources available. Even now after years of extra production those underground bunkers in nearby chasiv yar are hard to control. Sure it was a major morale boost at the time.
Interesting Wyatt at DPA discussed the issue a day or so ago and said that Priggy fought like an American – hit hard with everything and use lots of troops etc. That is sort of what NATO tried in their “counter offensive” at about the same time. Assumes unlimited resources. Wyatt was suggesting that Russia’s careful approach is actually the way of modern warfare.
The Priggy approach was what NATO expected. Russia to go full bore. Win some territory quickly and then be faced with on going sabotage and rebellion.
Posted by: watcher | Jun 30 2025 13:58 utc | 127
“As for “Gerasimov and Shoigu” why is Surovokin still in exile and Strelkov imprisoned?”
Can anybody know? Fallout from the Prigozhin affair?
Posted by: English Outsider | Jun 30 2025 11:46 utc | 122
—————
Because he looked unhealthy AF and there’s a lot of generals in the army.
Strelkov is a wannabe warlord, running a cult of personality. He’s a natural trouble-maker and a net negative for the Kremlin. That’s why he’s in jail.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Jun 30 2025 14:10 utc | 128
Meleuca 87 – We have been expecting the color revolution in Belgrade since the spring…..with the Ukrainian Nazi EU government now flat lining, I expected the focus to shift toward Serbia.
Its time to put the army in the streets with shoot to kill orders, otherwise its going to be Maidan Square 2014 in Belgrade 2025, which was and is the EU/WEF/NATO plan all along.
Put them down hard and arrest all the CIA/MI6 and NGO agents now fomenting this staged revolution.
Posted by: tobias cole | Jun 30 2025 14:13 utc | 129
Its time to put the army in the streets with shoot to kill orders,
Posted by: tobias cole | Jun 30 2025 14:13 utc | 129
with the state of current day propaganda, that would also be exploited by the “civilized world” by creating another “tiananmen square” out of that, planting the seeds for further unrest.
students – army – protest. it just screems for a repeat.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 14:21 utc | 130
Look to the color revolution attempt in Belarus as an example of what Serbia should do. No killing, but no pulling punches either. Most of the “protesters” are metrosexual business majors, so they’ll whine like little bitches when they get slapped down, but the authorities need to slap them down hard anyway. Just don’t kill them.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 30 2025 14:43 utc | 131
As far as froggies, the Quebecios are pretty confined to Canada. The US dodged that bullet in 1812.
Posted by: frithguild | Jun 30 2025 1:51 utc | 89
Lucky that we kept them away from Louisiana /s
Posted by: Samu | Jun 30 2025 14:45 utc | 132
123 – When it reported recruitment problems and desertion among Kiev’s forces, I assumed this was on a “double plus” scale because even the Grauniad was reporting it.
Posted by: Waldorf | Jun 30 2025 15:03 utc | 133
Put them down hard and arrest all the CIA/MI6 and NGO agents now fomenting this staged revolution.
Posted by: tobias cole | Jun 30 2025 14:13 utc | 129
So who is selling to Ukr all the weapons FSB is complaining about (twice!) then? ( tass.com/world/1981877 )
I say let them sink in the ngo mud if that is what the people want. The same for Armenia. Cut all trade, deny entry. Each must live like they vote. it would be best for Russia to help all these clowns transition to Nato faster, it’s not like they don’t have 2 more nukes
Posted by: rk | Jun 30 2025 15:09 utc | 134
UN Report Exposes Torture of Russian POWs in Ukraine
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250630/un-report-exposes-torture-of-russian-pows-in-ukraine-1122367314.html
Ukrainian soldiers have executed at least 26 Russian military personnel either taken prisoner or wounded on the battlefield since Feb 2022, according to a report by the UN OHCR. Furthermore, more than half of the Russian prisoners the UN spoke with were subjected to torture.
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 15:41 utc | 135
*** Lucky that we kept them away from Louisiana /s
Posted by: Samu | Jun 30 2025 14:45 utc | 132
Ah yes! The Acadiens were French from Normandy and Brittany (Celts), so not very French really. After settling for several generations in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes, the English ejected them in 1755. Thusly many went to Louisiana.
Interesting group – wonderful cuisine – but not very French except for the language. Cajuns have much in common with hilbillies actually (Celtic ancestry and family structure) and practically nothing in common with the Quebecois. Cajuns are not a large enough to move any needles for US national policy coalitions.
Posted by: frithguild | Jun 30 2025 16:00 utc | 136
Azerbaijan is showing off the Kremlin.
And Putin – in his infinite wisdom – is not kicking the entire Azerbaijani diaspora out of the country, is not declaring the ambassador of this enemy country persona non grata, but is once again making himself the clown of the Turkish sultan.
When will the Kremlin realise how to distinguish between friends and enemies (the Kremlin calls them partners)?
Putin, it’s the height of summer.
Take off the gloves at last.
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 16:03 utc | 137
“By 2050, 50% of Ukraine’s territory will fall into a drought zone
This was stated yesterday by Sokolov, Deputy Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
Climate change and a declining water balance are putting a large portion of Ukraine’s agricultural sector at risk. According to Sokolov, even with modern technology, the problem cannot be fully resolved.
“Available water resources allow for effective irrigation of only 4 million hectares, while another 11 million hectares may become unusable. What should we do with the rest of the land? 11 million hectares will simply be impossible to use. If we start reducing production, it won’t just be our problem as a business or a country — it will become a global issue. And it might be worse than the climate problems themselves.”
Leaving aside whether one believes the projection or not, Water is indeed a critical issue already for Ukrainian agriculture, particularly in the south. If you follow the conflict you will note the large number of canals and reservoirs in the area of the eastern line of contact. The USSR constructed a fairly extensive system of water management infrastructure to supply irrigation water and supply urban areas with reliable water service. Quite a lot of this system has been damaged since 2014, and even before that lack of maintenance had resulted in problems for the irrigation network. Mariupol and Donetsk still do not have sufficient water available, despite some Russian efforts to repair the existing water network and construct new pipelines to deliver water. The North Crimean Canal and the Zaporhizhia NPP really need the Kahovka dam to be repaired for efficient operation to be restored.
I believe this is one reason Russia’s minimum territorial demands in the negotiations so far include the Zaporhizhia and Kherson oblasts entire, as this would give Russia control of the lower Dnipr and the Kahovka hydro dam. While less than ideal, control of the lower reach is critical for effective water management in the new Russian regions. Should Russia be able to gain control of all areas east of the Dnipr then they would have a say in managing the rest of the main reservoirs on the river.
You can see that the EU has been busy planning and assuming that Ukraine would retain control of the entire river:
https://www.euwipluseast.eu/en/partners-countries-activities-ukraine/ukraine/river-basin-management-plan
Of course water is also a key resource for industrial development and mining operations.
I don’t see Russia ever being willing to compromise on their minimum territorial claim, and likely they will try to either claim additional territory east of the Dnipr or insist that whatever government survives in Kiev will be amenable to cooperative control of the upper dams and their reservoirs.
This issue is separate from the eventual fate of Odessa and Nikolaev, whatever that may be.
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 30 2025 16:30 utc | 138
Posted by: James M. | Jun 30 2025 9:35 utc | 115
As I said – Turkmenistan is a permanently neutral country. One of perhaps only two truly neutral countries in the world, with Bhutan being the other.
Bhutan is a Indian/ British slavecolony:
In 1910, Bhutan signed the Treaty of Punakha, a subsidiary alliance that gave the British control of Bhutan’s foreign affairs and meant that Bhutan was treated as an Indian princely state.
On 8 August 1949, a treaty similar to that of 1910, in which Britain had gained power over Bhutan’s foreign relations, was signed with the newly independent India.[32]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan
Posted by: Paul from Norway | Jun 30 2025 16:37 utc | 139
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 16:03 utc | 137
#######
You’re being very emotional.
It should be of no one’s interest to start another front with NATO.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 30 2025 16:40 utc | 140
So as some want precise (even if inaccurate) DS gives 14.7 km2
Casualties 1.350
Marat’s latest
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/brief-frontline-report-june-29-2025
S posts on ukraine again
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-62925-russia-launches-largest
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 16:41 utc | 141
The Central Asian republics are in fact further from the influence of US/Israel than you might think.
Posted by: James M. | Jun 30 2025 9:35 utc | 115
#######
Please stop. I didn’t bring a shovel for all of this bovine excrement.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 30 2025 16:43 utc | 142
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 16:03 utc | 137
over a culture fair snub and rumored raid on a news office?
Kick out all Azeris from Russia?
Are you stupid?
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 17:27 utc | 143
S posts on ukraine again
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-62925-russia-launches-largest
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 16:41 utc | 141
Interesting, this could be the start of the E105 drive north that I mentioned months ago (tried and failed then)
“And like clockwork, days after those initial reports, there are now Russian breakthroughs ongoing as of today. The most notable happened in Kamyansk, right on the Dnieper, where Russian Airborne forces of the 247th Regiment stormed the center of the town and put up the flag: ”
Also good is the bombing campaign
“Counting missiles, it was well over 500+ units launched in one night. The attacks wreaked havoc on various sites, from Ukrainian airports, to energy infrastructure in Poltava, the Drohobich refinery in Lvov, and Kremenchug oil refinery as well.
One report from Legitimny:
The Russians began to clear all industrial facilities associated with the army.
1. Fuel/oil
2. Metallurgy
3. Cement factories
4. Railway infrastructure and mobile transport
5. Any industrial facilities that can be used as large rembases.
6. Airfields and facilities related to the production of drones.
7. Ports
8. Energy infrastructure (so far only next to LBS).
9. Other business/industrial facilities, as a blow to certain monetary assets characters in Ukraine.
For the first time in the war, the Russians began to destroy cement factories, which means the Russians are not particularly counting on peace negotiations.”
Another good point is about RF forces on the theater, considering that the initial invasion batch had to be returned, seems about right.
“While Ukraine continues to bleed men, Zelensky has given us an update on Russian manpower, now claiming there are roughly 700k Russian troops in Ukraine, with an additional 50k just over the Sumy and Kharkov borders: ”
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 30 2025 17:42 utc | 144
Video on BBC hit piece on Mariupol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iygjk-Fz4Pg
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 30 2025 17:42 utc | 145
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 17:27 utc | 143
You know, I’m the same age as W.W.P.
So I have a comparative wisdom of age (???).
And that tells me that W.W.P. should just take off his gloves to minimise the risk of a world fire.
Russia’s enemies interpret his behaviour as weakness, making him the animator for further malicious actions by Russia’s enemies.
Anyone here at MOA who calls others ‘stupid’ has a problem.
Kind regards
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 17:45 utc | 146
Azerbaijan wants its terrorists and mafia released. So at state level they’ve kidnapped some Russians to trade. If Russia does not manage to have them released in a few days, they might be killed and other clowns will start doing the same. So in theory Russia will have to spank them hard, in public. Can you imagine what US would do if some shit from Baku started to arrest Cnn teams to exchange for terrorists and drug dealers? I don’t think they would kiss ass but Russians don’t care when their soldiers and civilians are tortured, so the Sputnik team is screwed
Posted by: rk | Jun 30 2025 18:02 utc | 147
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 17:45 utc | 146
Start a world fire to minimize a world fire…
… Stupid sock.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 18:08 utc | 148
Posted by: rk | Jun 30 2025 18:02 utc | 147
. monkeys randomly pecking away at typewrites have had more predictions come true than the hundreds of jokes you have offered up as predictions.
Yeah, dude, tortured and killed Sputnik writers.
Totally gonna happen.
Also stupid.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 18:11 utc | 149
No surprise that the British are involved in this – what a vile lot.
“Leaked war plans sent to the US NSC instructed Kiev to carry out “ISIS”-style drone attacks on Russian trains and rail bridges, foreshadowing a series of deadly Ukrainian attacks this May and June.
A coterie of British and American academics advising the US National Security Council explicitly urged Ukraine adopt the tactics of ISIS in a detailed proposal for “anti-rail drone operations,” according to leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone.
The aggressive war plans recommended in the files eerily foreshadowed Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web, which consisted of a series of brazen drone attacks waged inside Russia between May 24 and June 1 – the eve of scheduled negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. A pair of Ukrainian bombings of Russian trains in Bryansk on May 31 and Kursk and the following day left seven dead, and injured more than 30 people, including two children.
The attacks on Russian rail infrastructure have continued since the launch of Operation Spiderweb, suggesting the British-born strategy has heavily influenced the thinking of Kiev’s increasingly desperate military.
The leaked plans reviewed by The Grayzone explore the use of “inexpensive drones” as “a low-cost means for disrupting Russian logistics,” but also include blueprints for terror attacks composed by three “drone experts” before being passed to the Biden administration’s then-Director for Russia at the National Council, Col. Tim Wright.
Those experts belonged to a secret academic-intelligence cell called Project Alchemy, whose existence was first exposed by The Grayzone, and which was founded with a mission to “to keep Ukraine fighting” by imposing “strategic dilemmas, costs and frictions upon Russia.”
As previously reported here, Project Alchemy researchers called “to take a page from ISIS’ playbook,” presenting the jihadist group’s psychological operations as a model for Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilians. The Grayzone can now reveal that Alchemy’s team also urged US war planners to look to the Islamic State for inspiration in using commercial drones for attacks on Russian civilian targets.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/06/23/nsc-advisors-isis-drone-attacks/
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 30 2025 18:15 utc | 150
why do we even have a Ukraine thread?
Putin begged for peace from Trump, froze the conflict at the line of contact to satisfy his oligarch friends, just like Moa’s resident retards said he would do, and they said it dozens of times a day for three months straight.
“Putin is begging for a ceasefire!!”
remember writing that at least once a day like it was the Rosary, retards?
Any of you retards want to admit how stupid that was?
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 18:18 utc | 151
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 3:48 utc | 101
People here have been saying it is about to be over for years. It doesn’t seem to be over yet. Russia can still pull it out but at a cost orders of magnitude greater than the original 3 day war forecast that ran on Russian TV just before this mess started.
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 18:49 utc | 152
Posted by: Genesiss | Jun 29 2025 17:55 utc | 37 “Don’t forget, five B2s were lost in the war over Serbia, and the defense technology hasn’t deteriorated since then.”
Will Iran be displaying all the F-35’s they just downed alongside all those B-2’s that Serbia got?
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 18:52 utc | 153
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 18:49 utc | 152
oh boy, the “3 day to kiev” propaganda that general milley set in motion haunts nafotards to this day. funny. and sad. but thats the “highly educated” people we have here in the west.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 18:58 utc | 154
Peter Turchin wrote this back in July 2023, back when the thesis was Russia win the war of attrition due to shell production superiority. The assumption was that it cost N shells per enemy casualty inflicted, and Russia will always have more shells. It is time to revisit these ideas.
Ukraine War is now no longer an artillery war. Vast majority of casualties are now inflicted on both sides by drones and not artillery. 65% of casualties are now inflicted during resupply/rotation. The war is evolving in a direction that increasingly favors the defender at a tactical level. Movement of any kind near the front is increasingly dangerous and this danger zone is expanding from the line of contact as both sides deploy ever longer range drones. Under conditions of drone saturation, casualty rates correlate with movement. The more surface movement within N km of line of contact, the more chances to get hit. The attacker has to move forward to attack, so they are exposed to an extra set of movement in addition to resupply and rotation. Regardless of the success of any given attack, just the surface movement associated with an attack will increase expected casualties.
As both sides increasingly turn to unmanned logistics, the casualties associated with resupply missions should fall over time. Attack and rotation should become the primary cause of casualties. This is evolving into a war of turtles. The best way to stay alive is to stay in an underground hole and not come out. Attack/ambush enemies that have to come out on the surface and move for whatever reason from an hidden underground hole. It is becoming much less obvious who would win given the trends. Each side have some control over their own casualty rate by reducing surface movement. This means both sides have some initiative to drag the war out longer while neither side can force the collapse of the other.
The dynamic is such that strike power is getting close to saturation. Once recon/strike complex gets perfected so that surface movement is basically suicidal, the impactful evolution will take place in the survivability domain via unmanned logistics and reduced surface movement. The tech/tactics evolution tree for recon/strike is now stuck. It will have to figure out how to discover/destroy underground targets efficiently in order to change the dynamics. The increasing introduction of unmanned platforms works against innovations in recon/strike in terms of forcing an end to the war via attrition. Unmanned platforms are in principal infinitely attritable.
The Ukraine War is evolving in the direction of longevity. The longer it lasts, the more tech gets introduced that allows it to last longer. There is a live long enough to live forever dynamic.
Posted by: 1JZ | Jun 30 2025 19:01 utc | 155
Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 18:58 utc | 154
To be fair to the Nafotards the Americans evacuated their Kiev embassy, so they expected Russia to take it pretty quickly.
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Jun 30 2025 19:02 utc | 156
Thanks, is that to both of you? The Irish can refer to ‘himself,’ which I found most amusing. The ‘Bear’ reference is intriguing.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Jun 30 2025 0:10 utc | 85
Ever hear of the old TV show “BJ and The Bear”? I adopted a cute twist on that name to represent my duality as an overall optimistic person with a bearish economic outlook in the days leading up the GFC.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jun 30 2025 19:36 utc | 157
1JZ | Jun 30 2025 19:01 utc | 155
Thus we see Russia striking cement plants, fuel refining, storage, and transport, drone manufacturing and assembly points, and using heavier drones near the combat lines to ruin fortifications. Also the construction of netted road corridors to allow safe passage of men and material to the front.Seems they are trying to create a window of opportunity to push forward and capture some key logistic hubs as quickly as possible.
The strategies are indeed evolving.
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 30 2025 19:40 utc | 158
@Oberbayer
Anyone here at MOA who calls others ‘stupid’ has a problem.
When a head and a book are banged together and it sounds hollow, this is not necessarily a fault of the book. – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Posted by: persiflo | Jun 30 2025 19:56 utc | 159
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2025 18:11 utc | 149
You are calling everyone stupid here, same messages copy-pasted during your night shift at the mall. Is your vodka bottle empty?
Posted by: rk | Jun 30 2025 20:02 utc | 160
Breaking: Massive Ukrainian artillery attack on Donetsk- fatalities reported.
Posted by: JohnGIlberts | Jun 30 2025 20:08 utc | 161
@1JZ
Each side have some control over their own casualty rate by reducing surface movement. This means both sides have some initiative to drag the war out longer while neither side can force the collapse of the other.
Your analysis, while interesting, is confined to the dynamcis at the frontline; while attrition of fighting capability happens/can happen literally all over the place.
If the time scale is stretched, so rises the incentive to attack in the Hinterland. And if resupply and rotation are critical drivers of mobility, their respective trails into the Hinterland will become more important. The ISR/Strike complex should be vigilant over vast territories, preferably with effectors close by (UAV CAP). Ranged fires can be countered by dispersion of assets.
Yes, this looks a lot like static killboxes established by both sides. If that is remotely sensible, then it should be imperative to have some kind of means to enter a maneuver element which can dislodge such boxes in one go.
Posted by: persiflo | Jun 30 2025 20:13 utc | 162
I’m skeptical of 3-5mo collapse sort of predictions.
Posted by: knighthawk | Jun 30 2025 3:48 utc | 101
You can’t apply linear timing to exponential events.
Germany went from D-Day to VE-day in 11 months, and we’re well past Ukraine’s D-day. The AFU is a shell of it’s former self, with their own people stating there’s squad-sized groups defending 5+ kilometers of front. All the fresh troops are people grabbed off the street, bussed to the front and handed a gun.
Furthermore, the AFU is already defending (and losing) their last bastions. Once those are wrapped up it’s indefensible open territory all the way to the Dnieper.
Ukraine’s a house of cards; they may not even last 4-5 months.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jun 30 2025 20:15 utc | 163
No cement factories=no fresh dragons teeth and bunkers….road and bridge and factory industrial buildings repairs….assuming not much is in stock.
Posted by: Jo | Jun 30 2025 20:18 utc | 164
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 30 2025 17:42 utc | 145
Was already posted. Pack of lies and propaganda with the support of ukronazis.
Why do you love lies?
Posted by: Naive | Jun 30 2025 20:19 utc | 165
Posted by: Oberbayer | Jun 30 2025 17:45 utc | 146
We had armchair generals who wanted to give advice to the Russian Army.
Now we have armchair presidents who want to give advice to the Russian government.
It shows two things:
1) that they are complete ignorant (they do not have 1% of the information available to the Russian government);
2) that they are stupidly impatient (they want to act immediately, without thinking, a very primitive way to act, typical of western mentality).
Fuck off concern trolls!
In the meantime ever
Posted by: Naive | Jun 30 2025 20:28 utc | 166
In the meantime everything is fine for Russia.
Contrary to the western countries.
Posted by: Naive | Jun 30 2025 20:28 utc | 167
Posted by: rk | Jun 30 2025 20:02 utc | 160
You are calling everyone stupid here, same messages copy-pasted during your night shift at the mall. Is your vodka bottle empty?
Fvcking Hilarious!! Loved it…
Posted by: bisfab | Jun 30 2025 20:29 utc | 168
Iran Warns Ukraine of ‘Consequences’ Over Recent Comments
https://www.rt.com/news/620805-iran-summons-ukraine-envoy/
“Tehran has summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires and delivered a formal protest over remarks by Ukrainian officials in support of the recent US-Israeli attack on the country. The move was announced by Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday.
‘By supporting the military aggression of the Zionist regime, Ukrainian officials have in fact ignored Ukraine’s legal obligations regarding respect for the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter and the four Geneva Conventions,’ Sharam Farsai, the head of the First Eurasian Department, told the Ukrainian envoy…”
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 20:41 utc | 169
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 18:58 utc | 154 ” “highly educated” people we have here in the west.”
I guess these people are in the west?
https://x.com/francis_scarr/status/1697553040071430306
But they still appear quite frequency on Russian TV.
https://youtu.be/SiHnD1DzgQU?list=PLLWQyEN3YRo41QwWb7e8J5YjBX80WmGtG&t=88
What is she talking in regard to breakfast?
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 20:42 utc | 170
Posted by: 1JZ | Jun 30 2025 19:01 utc | 155 “Ukraine War is now no longer an artillery war. Vast majority of casualties are now inflicted on both sides by drones and not artillery.”
I noticed in the last week or two the dropping of artillery shells by drone. 155mm and 122mm claimed in the videos I’ve seen. Drone hovers over the target and drops the shell.
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 20:50 utc | 171
Naive | Jun 30 2025 20:19 utc | 165
Did you watch the video? Of course not, so you posted a clueless comment.
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 30 2025 20:52 utc | 172
Posted by: ed4 | Jun 30 2025 20:42 utc | 170
keep on repeating general milleys propaganda, you just make yourself look more “educated”.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 21:08 utc | 173
BTW, anyone notice that the AFU’s biggest “win” lately has been stabilizing the Sumy front? Woohoo, glory days that.
They’re so low on operational reserves they had to send their elite NATO-trained unit which previously had focused entirely on training other units and has not been engaged in actual fighting.
There’s zero talk of AFU offensives these days, only Ukies warning of pending Russian offensives.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jun 30 2025 21:38 utc | 174
TJ at 163: “The AFU is a shell of it’s former self, with their own people stating there’s squad-sized groups defending 5+ kilometers of front.”
If that is the case, then why are the Russians not pouring through at multiple locations along the long front? There must be more to the story. Mines? Drones? Bobby-traps?
Posted by: Gavin Longmuir | Jun 30 2025 21:59 utc | 175
There must be more to the story. Mines? Drones? Bobby-traps?
Posted by: Gavin Longmuir | Jun 30 2025 21:59 utc | 175
The AFU is naturally concentrating in those places where the RF is advancing, and it IS an attrition war. When the RF wants those basically undefended stretches they take them, but for now they’re encircling and pounding the better defended AFU bastions.
Posted by: TJandTheBear | Jun 30 2025 22:21 utc | 176
R2R: At The Hague: NATO Surrenders To the Military Industrial Complex
https://www.youtube.com/live/qWN2Epu-Yao
“On June 25, 2025, NATO leaders assembled at the Hague to proclaim they would ratchet up military spending to unprecedented peacetime levels. After examining NATO’s radically pro-war posture, Dimitri Lascaris proves that the military industrial complex has destroyed the little that remained of democracy in the world…”
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 22:33 utc | 177
Azerbaijan is being used by the Americans as a threat to Iran.
Being Turkish (the Azeri dialect is mutually intelligible with Turkish) and the Tabriz region of NW Iran speaking the same Azeri dialect of Turkish, makes Azerbaijan very useful to the Americans.
Neighbouring Russia´s turbulent Dagestan may also make Azerbaijan useful, just as the Americans tried to use Georgia.
Turkey might also try, with NATO (American) backing, to simply take the Tabriz region off Iran and join it up with Azerbaijan and Turkey proper. Even Russia might agree to this for the price of a small slice of northern Azerbaijan whose northernmost provinces (Xizi & Quba) are populated by the non-Turkish Lezgians, a small Caucasian group mainly in Russia.
Erdoğan might find this an acceptably small price to pay for uniting all the Turks together – under his rule, and stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Caspian sea.
Posted by: John Marks | Jun 30 2025 22:35 utc | 178
correction to #177 above: R2R – NATO Will Bankrupt The West
https://www.youtube.com/live/qQNzEpu-Yao
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 22:38 utc | 179
3rd time lucky? Correction to above:
https://www.youtube.com/live/qWNzEpu-Yao
R2R: NATO will bankrupt the West
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 22:40 utc | 180
@LoveDonbass | Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:43:00 GMT | 142
Please stop. I didn’t bring a shovel for all of this bovine excrement.
Oh Mrs. Donbass, these threads were so nice without you. Go back to sowing your own anti-Americanism, while living in America/West. You are so far removed from reality its sad. As I said before you need a life, or at least a better husband.
Posted by: James M. | Jul 1 2025 2:41 utc | 181
Mappers and the MoD have not confirmed this but the governor of Lughansk oblast has said that Russia has regained full control over it.
https://www.rt.com/russia/620809-russia-full-control-lnr/
Posted by: James M. | Jul 1 2025 2:55 utc | 182
Gavin Longmuir@175….FPV Drones, they account for almost 50% of all battle casualties, three plus times more than artillery……smaller and lighter, faster deployment concealment time than artillery hardware and shells, can be used in close or from afar….the changing face of war….neither side has a clear drone advantage….edge to Russia perhaps, but the bleed continues….
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jul 1 2025 2:56 utc | 183
New head of MI6 is granddaughter of Ukrainian Nazi
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/06/29/tzuv-j29.html
an echo of Canada’s Freeland.
Once might be a coincidence. Twice?
Posted by: jayc | Jul 1 2025 4:02 utc | 184
Mappers and the MoD have not confirmed this but the governor of Lughansk oblast has said that Russia has regained full control over it.
https://www.rt.com/russia/620809-russia-full-control-lnr/
Posted by: James M. | Jul 1 2025 2:55 utc | 182
Could be, very little left for a while
Posted by: Newbie | Jul 1 2025 4:44 utc | 185
Ukraine Kills Donetsk Woman With British Storm Shadown Missiles
https://x.com/RT_com/status/1939771363784331460
“Civilian building in Donetsk destroyed in strike – RIA footage.”
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jul 1 2025 4:51 utc | 186
@Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jul 1 2025 4:51 utc | 186
And at the exact same time US says Russia is killing civilians.
“We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war. Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine” ( x.com/generalkellogg/status/1939743538159472688 )
Posted by: rk | Jul 1 2025 8:36 utc | 187
” Dimitri Lascaris proves that the military industrial complex has destroyed the little that remained of democracy in the world…”
Posted by: JohnGilberts | Jun 30 2025 22:33 utc | 177″
I think he means what little remains of democracy in the West – no?
Posted by: Tim Glover | Jul 1 2025 9:09 utc | 188
TJandTheBear | Jun 30 2025 21:38 utc | 174
Still Ukraine are throwing in more men to Tyotkino and the other tiny bit of Russia they occupy, and they’re still hanging on in Chasov Yar. I do wonder if the adoption of full drone warfare has enabled ground to be held with fewer men, as happened in WW2 compared with WW1.
We all look to the day when the front crumbles, but sadly it may not be formations with flags driving over the hard ground in trucks, drones mean little safety even well behind the contact line.
Back in WW2 days surrendering snipers tended to get short shrift from the people they’d been shooting at. “Too late, mate”. Will the same apply to drone operators?
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Jul 1 2025 9:45 utc | 189
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jun 30 2025 21:08 utc | 173
Amazing to hear the president of Belarus repeating “general milleys propaganda”
https://x.com/i/status/1697553040071430306 at the 19 second mark.
True, Putin thought it would take 2 weeks:
https://time.com/3259699/putin-boast-kiev-2-weeks/
Posted by: ed4 | Jul 1 2025 9:51 utc | 190
Looks like our British, German and French missile loads got fired out on Donetsk last night.
I suppose it has come use them or lose them now.
There must be panic over the big ‘thousand bomber’ type raids every few days now.
Indicative of a lurch towards the finishing line?
Whatever, Lviv and Odessa ain’t for the world much longer – these Naval Admirals must be throwing everything at them.
Good to see videos of escaped Ukrainians smiling and laughing hq int made it safely to Romania. Will happily accommodate and support such ‘draft dodgers’ if they make it to London. We’ll done lads.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Jul 1 2025 9:59 utc | 191
Posted by: ed4 | Jul 1 2025 9:51 utc | 190
general milleys propaganda still haunts you i see, thats tough.
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jul 1 2025 10:02 utc | 192
Posted by: ed4 | Jul 1 2025 9:51 utc | 190
Hmm…time.com not really an impartial source, not even trustworthy. Try to find an impartial source, or even better a pro-Russian source, better still the original quote itself.
As to what Lukashenko says – apart from Belarus being an initial staging area – well, his claims are not actually relevant.
The “3 day” claim was and will remain Western propaganda, stated by General Milley.
This was the Western hope, luring Russia into a new Afghanistan style guerrilla warfare, requiring far less Western resources.
Just my €0.02…
Posted by: Richard Head | Jul 1 2025 10:18 utc | 193
Posted by: Justpassinby | Jul 1 2025 10:02 utc | 192
Sweet…
Posted by: Richard Head | Jul 1 2025 10:20 utc | 194
@LoveDonbass | Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:43:00 GMT | 142
“Please stop. I didn’t bring a shovel for all of this bovine excrement.
Oh Mrs. Donbass, these threads were so nice without you. Go back to sowing your own anti-Americanism, while living in America/West. You are so far removed from reality its sad. As I said before you need a life, or at least a better husband.”
Posted by: James M. | Jul 1 2025 2:41 utc | 181
God, she is a pain!
Posted by: canuk | Jul 1 2025 10:22 utc | 195
Marat mentions cutting withdrawal from certain pockets…
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/brief-frontline-report-june-30-2025
For those interested, also questions to Deputy Director of the State Duma of Russia (Oleg Anatolievich Matveychev ) in another post
Posted by: Newbie | Jul 1 2025 10:41 utc | 196
Posted by: jayc | Jul 1 2025 4:02 utc | 184
You forgot Kaka Kallas … 3 times the charm 🙂
Posted by: Savonarole | Jul 1 2025 12:16 utc | 198
7 more Russians kidnapped by Azerbaijan.
The police proudly published videos with all of them beaten and with blood on them.
Kazakhstan is also a nice country: “Ukrainian drones attack defense plant in Izhevsk”
( en.topwar.ru/267265-drony-vsu-atakovali-oboronnoe-predprijatie-v-izhevske-primerno-v-1300-km-ot-ukrainy.html )
Posted by: rk | Jul 1 2025 13:22 utc | 199
@199,
Yes, it shows exactly how these Muslim countries see Russia at the moment. Weak and socially divided. To be honest, a lot of ‘help’ is done by those right wing nut jobs in Russia (Rybar, 2 majors, Fedorovici, Podolyiak and others) who are inflating the situation more with Azerbaijan. Its not enough that there some extremist Russians already fight for Ukraine that is undermining the state, but you have these military bloggers with huge audiences that are doing the exact job with neighbor countries.
When you are fighting NATO, you should at least do some proper diplomacy and perhaps work on some strategic “silence” until you actually solve the UKR conflict. Perhaps Russia can learn a few things from China along the way. If not, they will have hostile countries to the West of their borders but also unfriendly ones in Asia surrounding them.
Posted by: JamesBond | Jul 1 2025 14:15 utc | 200