Ukies soldiers were killed by friendly fire. Instead to wear yellow ribbons, they put green ones and were targeted by their “friends”.
 
Is it true, or were they killed because they left their position?!

Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 17:42 utc | 3

Russia:  commiting suicide just like every other Western nation. 
 
“According to Andrey Besedin, head of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “By the end of the year, 1 million specialists from India will come to Russia, including to the Sverdlovsk region. A new Consulate General is opening in Ekaterinburg to handle these matters.”
“Russia is currently facing a significant labor deficit, particularly in its industrial regions, and plans to recruit up to 1 million foreign workers – including from India. The Russian Labor Ministry estimates the shortfall could expand to 3.1 million workers by 2030. To mitigate the gap, authorities intend to raise the quota for qualified foreign workers in 2025 by 1.5 times”
“He added that many Russian workers have been deployed in the Ukraine military operation, while younger Russians show limited interest in factory work. Sverdlovsk Region, situated in the Ural Mountains, remains the backbone of Russia’s heavy industry and defense manufacturing.”
 
https://www.rt.com/india/627560-russia-india-labor-mobility/

Posted by: The Painter | Nov 12 2025 18:50 utc | 5

🙂 I celebrate every Ukrainian ex-soldier saved from NATO-imposed genocide by their escape and or surrender. Best of luck to you in rebuilding your life and home from when monsters took over your homeland and down this avoidable warpath. Peace be upon you.

Posted by: titmouse | Nov 12 2025 19:18 utc | 7

unimperator | Nov 12 2025 19:01 utc | 6
 
Friendly visit, no problem. According to Peskov only Europe prepares for war with Russia. Us did not do anything against Russia at all, they don’t have nukes or other weapons in Eu and were never involved in Ukr. 

Posted by: rk | Nov 12 2025 19:32 utc | 9

Wow…. Poor thing!
 
TCC extorted 100 thousand US dollars from Angelina Jolie for the release of her driver-guard, whom they had detained earlier. Western publications say that Jolie was shocked by this situation.I don’t understand why she was shocked. Isn’t this what democracy and the American dream look like?@NeoficialniyBeZsonoV
 

13:33

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 12 2025 19:42 utc | 11

Hypersonic Strike And Ground Gains: Russia’s Multi-Domain Pressure On UkraineSouth Front
 
Russian forces struck the Main Centre for Signals Intelligence of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate near Kyiv, using hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. This attack is in retaliation for an attempted theft of the latest MiG-31K fighter-interceptor by the Ukrainian intelligence service. Russian pilots were reportedly offered up to $3 million to hijack the aircraft. However, the operation was thwarted by Russian FSB officers.
The mopping up of the eastern districts of Pokrovsk is coming to an end. The ‘394 km’ railway station has been occupied and the pocket between Gnatovka and Novopavlovka has been sealed off. The fog over the city enables the Russians to move reinforcements into the city without fear of attack by FPV drones.

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 12 2025 19:50 utc | 13

Alex Krainer just laid out the EU war plan. Apparently the plan is to send Euro troops to Ukraine, who will then inevitably get killed and then scream for Trump to come to rescue the Euro states.
A gamble that may or may not work out, either way, the odds are quite stacked against it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtElzgNVHdw

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 12 2025 20:01 utc | 15

Posted by: fnord | Nov 12 2025 20:07 utc | 16
 
Not only that, but Makhno and his people never ever fought with Petliura (= the Ukrainian nationalists, some nasty breed, not unlike today). Only against them.
 
It’s sad to see the confusion among Ukrainians today.

Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 12 2025 20:19 utc | 17

An American Navy patrol aircraft P-8A Poseidon flew about eighty kilometers off the coast of northwestern Russia, observing several bases of the Russian Northern Fleet, especially the largest and most important naval base for the Russian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine fleet ***
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 12 2025 19:01 utc | 6
 
In a follow up report, the P-8A crew reported seeing two legs of the Russian naval deterrent flanking a very large Posiedon nuclear torpedo, which curiously was waiving back and forth. 

Posted by: frithguild | Nov 12 2025 20:22 utc | 19

Alex Krainer just laid out the EU war plan. Apparently the plan is to send Euro troops to Ukraine, who will then inevitably get killed and then scream for Trump to come to rescue the Euro states.
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 12 2025 20:01 utc | 15
 
This might be the European Empire plan, but it will fail like the plan to steal the blocked Russian billions, when several countries like Belgium refused.
 
And stupid as the “Euro states” will not be under attack. And once the corpses will begin to be sent back to their original country, the public of those countries will react negatively to their fascist leaders supporting a nazi 404 country.
 
So that all those plans are balabalabala…
 
But of course with nazi supporter psychopaths in power, foreign state troops can remain a possiblity. They will be targeted in priority by the Russians.
 

Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 20:34 utc | 21

from wikipedea  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor_Makhno
“..Makhno was initially distrusted by other members of the group due to his apparent penchant for drinking and getting into fights. ..”
Another revolution fuckwit whose efforts just result in lots of people getting killed?
 

Posted by: tucenz | Nov 12 2025 20:40 utc | 23

Military summary:
RUAF effectively controls Stepnogorsk, poised to move toward Primorske (Dniepr shore, south of Zaporozhye).
They broke through the flank E/NE of Gulyapole, with no more defensed areas between Uspenovka and the Gulyapole road.
FAB-3000 in southern part of Mirnograd on AFU airborne brigade also detonated massive ammo depot.
RUAF moving north in the flank west of Pokrovsk, forcing more retreats and withdrawals. Hryshyne could fall in a week or two.
Still potentially several thousand AFU troops trapped in Myrnograd.
RUAF keeps beating off AFU attacks coming from NW of Pokrovsk, mainly with drones. Lot of AFV losses.

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 12 2025 20:48 utc | 25

The Painter @5
Not the same as the West. The West brings them to do mostly highly skilled work on a permanent basis whereas Russia for factory work on a temporary basis. India has a massive trade and remittances surplus against USA but Russia has a surplus in trade with India. Those workers can be paid in Indian rupees Russia gets from oil and gas trade. A win-win for both unlike the lose-lose situation of West-India trade.
 
Russia will also need a large number of workers to power its industrial and agricultural surge when former Ukie territory is put to good use and global warming opens up new habitable zones. The West on the other hand loses all these while turning into a second Asia from Scotland, London, Toronto, NY to LA. Other major cities will soon follow.

Posted by: Jason | Nov 12 2025 21:06 utc | 27

Posted by: Jason | Nov 12 2025 21:06 utc | 27

 
Russia in recent years had trouble in investing surplus Indian currency. They will put them to good use getting workers for factories, farms and mines both in Russia and Ukraine.

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 12 2025 21:17 utc | 29

13
Russian forces struck the Main Centre for Signals Intelligence of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate near Kyiv, using hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. This attack is in retaliation for an attempted theft of the latest MiG-31K fighter-interceptor by the Ukrainian intelligence service. Russian pilots were reportedly offered up to $3 million to hijack the aircraft. However, the operation was thwarted by Russian FSB officers.
 
Maybe NATO was tricking the Russian pilot, planning to shoot him down over NATO territory…Article 5

Posted by: Fredrick | Nov 12 2025 21:35 utc | 31

Posted by: Fredrick | Nov 12 2025 21:35 utc | 31
 
I don’t know. I think they wanted to get a good look at that aircraft. 

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 12 2025 21:38 utc | 33

@ Suresh | Nov 12 2025 21:42 utc | 34
 
Dunno, still seem to be some concerted effort at causing more derailments than Ukrainian railways…

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 12 2025 21:52 utc | 35

So there we have it, the sum total of a united European military response…
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 12 2025 20:59 utc | 26
 
Well said. France is the closest to send troops…, but only if there is a ceasfire.
 
Question to Piotr Tolstoi: what if France will send troops?
 
Answer: We will them all.
 
Anyway I can only say it again: the Europeans are cowards. They mourned currently loudly the victims of a terrorist attack 10 years ago with less than 200 casualties. Imagine one thousand corpses being returned. Dead for France?! Really?!
 
A drone was spotted over a powder factory. Afaik they still did not find the pilot. LOL!

Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 22:06 utc | 37

Glad to continue this talk in 10 years.
Posted by: Nervous German | Nov 12 2025 21:56 utc | 36
 
Excellent!

Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 22:08 utc | 39

Posted by: Cheney | Nov 12 2025 22:09 utc | 40

 
So, this is your Ukie Cheerleaders’ only hope now – for Zelensky to last somehow till Russia becomes like the USA?

Posted by: Poslan1 | Nov 12 2025 22:32 utc | 41

This is from the Wiki page on U.S. Grant:
 
“Although previous Union campaigns in Virginia targeted the Confederate capital of Richmond as their primary objective, this time the goal was to capture Richmond by aiming for the destruction of Lee’s army. Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, “Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also.”[14] <B>Although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. He meant to “hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the loyal section of our common country to the constitution and laws of the land.” Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment.</B>”

Posted by: the pessimist | Nov 12 2025 22:37 utc | 43

” Glad to continue this talk in 10 years.Posted by: Nervous German | Nov 12 2025 21:56 utc | 36 ”
 
There wont be a Germany in 10 years. 

Posted by: The Painter | Nov 12 2025 22:44 utc | 45

unimperator@6…..are they telegraphing or what? Anyone wanna make book on some parts of the Northern Fleet becoming anchors. I’d imagine they’ve got the multiple drone drop perfected, thinking along the lines of the tractor trailer (articulated lorry, for the Brits in house) with the air drones caper, a plane could accomplish a similar feat, dropping torpedo shaped drones (they have them already)……..that by the way guys, will be the way of future navel wars, Sea Drones, well tested in the Black Sea and by the sounds of it we may get a practical demonstration in the North. Could be a TommyHawk Chop type thing being planned, lots of juicy targets for Britkrainia to pick off in Northern Russia……..
 
Cheers M 
 
 

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 12 2025 22:50 utc | 47

Posted by: Cheney | Nov 12 2025 22:09 utc | 40

 So, this is your Ukie Cheerleaders’ only hope now – for Zelensky to last somehow till Russia becomes like the USA?
Posted by: Poslan1 | Nov 12 2025 22:32 utc | 41
 
Cheney is dead, isn’t he?

Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 22:53 utc | 49

Guinness-powered gobbledegook, which defeats even the most advanced AI translation app…

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 12 2025 22:50 utc | 47
 
Well, that’s what the most advanced AI translation app told me…

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 12 2025 23:02 utc | 51

Painter,
 
What’s wrong with a country inviting skilled workers in if they have a demonstrable shortage of workers due to a war?  And Russia surely does not have enough skilled labor for current conditions.  Will some stay?  Sure, those who perform well, learn Russian and agree to the social contract will probably be invited to stay.  Russia does have a lot of empty land.  That is completely consistent with how the US/AUS/NZ/CAN operated in a bygone era, in the US that era ended in 1965.In the US, prior to 1965, we had resident aliens who, after demonstrating good work habits, good morals, loyalty to the US and rudimentary English [yes, there were tests] were allowed to take the oath of citizenship.  To the best of my knowledge, I never saw any displays of resentment towards a new US citizen who had earned their way in, quite the opposite.  In days of yore, non-citizens were tossed out of the country unceremoniously on the first strike. 
 
I’m pretty sure the Ruskies, after all they have been put through in the past 35 years, know how to toss an @$$hole out of the country.  BTW, Russian prisons are pretty rough place, a non-citizen would be out of their flipping mind to cross swords with the Russian legal system…I mean flipping nuts.

Posted by: S Brennan | Nov 12 2025 23:06 utc | 53

Re Indian workers in Russia.
I saw a snippet. = Every country in the world (197 at last count) could take 2million Indians, and there’d still be more than a billion Indians in India.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Nov 12 2025 23:08 utc | 55

The whole of the Daniel Davis interview of Krapivnik is worth listening to but the section set to is at around 6 minutes.  A brief account of what it was like in the Donbass earlier.  I believe if we in England knew what had been occurring in the Donbass after 2014 English attitudes to this war would be very different.
 
https://youtu.be/us9v–sHXpg?t=406
 
Krapivnik was born in the Donbass and seems to have visited it fairly often.  Somewhere else in the video he points out that a lot of this war is Russians fighting Russians.   Right back to accounts of the Napoleonic wars Russian troops were noted for not breaking under fire*.  Obstinate.   Makes for admirable troops, both sides.  Also for the heavy casualty rate when the Ukrainians, as is usually the case, are out-gunned. 
 
……………………….. 
 
(*The best account I’ve come across of that earlier war is “Russia against Napoleon: the battle for Europe, 1807 – 1814.  Dominic Lieven.   I read it fairly recently and oddly enough found several close parallels with modern times.  The stubbornness of the Russian infantryman was one of them.)

Posted by: English Outsider | Nov 12 2025 23:26 utc | 57

Posted by: English Outsider | Nov 12 2025 23:26 utc | 57
 
La Grande Armee, Georges Blonde, is also good. It details the French army but also gives good descriptions of other armies, including the Russians, Germans, etc. 

Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 12 2025 23:33 utc | 59

Cheney is dead, isn’t he? Posted by: Naive | Nov 12 2025 22:53 utc | 49

 
He is still voting Dem in the next elections, so why not push some Dem narrative here till then?

Posted by: Poslan1 | Nov 12 2025 23:58 utc | 61

What’s wrong with a country inviting skilled workers in if they have a demonstrable shortage of workers due to a war?  And Russia surely does not have enough skilled labor for current conditions. 
Posted by: S Brennan | Nov 12 2025 23:06 utc | 53
The wealthy will always cry that they don’t have enough labor so supply and demand is always in their favor and wages are tamped down. And developers and business people always want population growth to increase their business. If Russia opens up their country to the hordes of India they will slowly go from being Russia to being India. 

Posted by: Cheney | Nov 13 2025 1:42 utc | 63

What really keeps commenter Painter up at night? The idea that his beloved traditionally dominant white skin euro-based culture could in the future get progressively more beige as they me goes by. 

Posted by: nwwoods | Nov 13 2025 2:47 utc | 65

Posted by: nwwoods | Nov 13 2025 2:47 utc | 65
 
British people 10,000 years ago:
 
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britain-blue-eyed-boy.html
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man
 

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Nov 13 2025 3:11 utc | 67

Posted by: Cheney | Nov 13 2025 3:12 utc | 68
 
Your ignorance is bliss isn’t it?

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Nov 13 2025 3:13 utc | 69

@ 36
Forgot about Chechnya? Tad bit larger than Dearborn. About 1 in 5 Russians who follow a religion follow Islam. Muslim fighters played a major role in the liberation of Mariupol. If Russia’s so strong, maybe it’s because they’ve got a shit ton of Islamic muscle.
 
A lesson nervous Kraut once said: “All religions are just as good as each other, so long as the people who practise them are honest, and even if the Turks and heathens came and wanted to populate this country, then we would build mosques and temples for them.”
 
Since the fretting about Islam is really a nervousness about white skin disappearing from the Earth, are white Britons under threat of their progeny becoming more tan as their kids mix with Arabs? With white people being the majority by far, it’s more likely that the kids of the Arab, Indian, and Pakistani immigrants are going to become more pale. 68.8% of the population of Germany is ethnic German (whatever that is, as “Germany” as a modern idea goes back less than 200 years, and each one of these assholes has a regional identity which sometimes trumps the national one, but I digress). The next biggest ethnic group is the Turks, at a whopping 3.6%. With those numbers, it won’t be long until the Turks and Germanized, and as the German economy shrinks and its workforce retires, Germany will be a much less desirable place to immigrate to. Fret less, genosse.

Posted by: fnord | Nov 13 2025 3:47 utc | 71

The stubbornness of the Russian infantryman was one of them.
Posted by: English Outsider | Nov 12 2025 23:26 utc | 57
 
During Barbarossa, von Rundstedt achieved encirclements in Uman and Kiev – maybe of the grandfathers of the soldiers encircled in Donbass during the SMO. History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. 

Posted by: frithguild | Nov 13 2025 3:58 utc | 73

Saint Jimmy@52…..yuck fucking yuck, live in the country that spent four hundred years genociding my kin folk……..hell no? 
Cheers M 
 
……..the war, er, SMO is going great guns, Russia is pounding the shit out of Ukraine, by design, they gonna have one shit hole of a failed State next door. Smashed……well, it’s said you break it, you own it…..so there is that aspect of the war……and just three years in and with only 97 years and a few months to go I’d say it’s gonna be a SlogMow for many years to come…….I know, the Russians won…….

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 13 2025 4:06 utc | 75

Alexander Mercouris: ‘Kiev Crisis’
 
https://www.youtube.com/@AlexMercouris/videos
 
“Zelensky corruption probe target; Pokrovsk troops surrender; Zaporoshye panic; Kupiansk.”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Nov 13 2025 4:21 utc | 77

So, is it a good thing when a different ethnic or racial group mass migrate into an area, displacing, marginalizing, and gradually replacing the original ethnic or racial group? Easy question. Is a good thing? ***
Posted by: Nobody Special | Nov 13 2025 4:03 utc | 75
 
Like when the Monguls arrived in Kiev? Some might have been happy about that, others less so and yet others wouldn’t be able to say. 

Posted by: frithguild | Nov 13 2025 5:20 utc | 79

https://www.southfront.press/the-severed-hand-of-midas-internal-sabotage-undermines-ukraines-defense-capacity/ <=the link needs to be read by all.. several paragraphs from the article quoted below says a lot about why Ukraine has not be able to negotiate a peace treaty with Russia.. Read it please.. 
“NABU’s intensified activities did not happen on their own. This organisation was established with the direct involvement of the United States. Its main function is to control Ukraine’s state elite. Should Zelensky’s regime begin to cross unspoken red lines, the bureau will immediately initiate arrests and investigations.'”‘”
“By instructing NABU, the White House solves several problems at once. The most obvious of these is control over the spending of military and financial aid from Western countries. Since the volume of supplies is so high, Ukrainian officials are increasingly tempted to profit from this. Without external oversight, the majority of foreign funds would simply be stolen. There would be nothing left with which to wage war against Russia. Prolonging the conflict in order to deplete Russian resources is a key objective for the West.”
“A less obvious function of the bureau is punitive. With its help, the White House and its allies can put pressure on the Ukrainian elite. No one in the upper echelons of power is without sin. Any official or oligarch can be detained or removed from office if they fail to act in accordance with the unspoken rules. As soon as Zelensky and his subordinates overstep the mark, the Americans are quick to remind them who is really in charge.””
“Ukrainians are doing everything they can to undermine Western control over their secret activities. In July, Volodymyr Zelensky introduced legislation to restrict the independence of the NABU. Within a few days, rallies and protests against the law swept through Kyiv. Under the current conditions of total media control, it is clear that the people could not organise themselves. These protests were clearly orchestrated from abroad by individuals permitted to operate in Ukraine.”

Posted by: snake | Nov 13 2025 6:42 utc | 81

In response to Naive@48,
 
That’s what makes it a risk-free bet, when both sides are betting with time they don’t have. As they say in Russia, “Либо ишак сдохнет, либо падишах.”

Posted by: Skiffer | Nov 13 2025 7:55 utc | 83

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 13 2025 3:51 utc | 72
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang@51…..no Jerr, it was a bet, are you taking it? Sorry if it was to shallow for you. The bet: after careful surveillance of Russia’s Northern Fleet HQ, an attack is being planned by Whitehall. You remember, the guys who say they are at war with Russia…..I fully understand if you chose not to take the bet, fully. Cheers M 

I will bet that if the Whitehall hassars attempt anything like that several prime naval bases (at least) in th UK will be viited by some very nplesant guests who may or may not inlude Mr. Oreshnilk.
Lay off the potine Sean, you have the DT’s.  
 

Posted by: Barrel Brown | Nov 13 2025 8:56 utc | 85

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 12 2025 20:59 utc | 26

 
Pure gold. It’s so accurate I’m convinced you were hiding somewhere in that room.

Posted by: Avtonom | Nov 13 2025 8:59 utc | 87

The Russophobic MSM has now been several days without news of Ukraine. They usually produce it on an hourly basis.
Did Nato put a gag order on reporting from Ukraine? Things are really bad.

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 13 2025 9:14 utc | 89

In response to Stark@88,
 
Ukraine is fighting for the “Whiteness” of the Western world, against the invading Moscal Mongol hordes, don’t you know. Although, to be fair, they’re also fighting for its persisting “Gayness”, though not all of them are happy about that.
 
Meanwhile, in that same Western world, among people struggling under the weight of artificially created migration-flows from the “non-White” nations of this world, themselves victims of Western imposed meddling and war, some see Russia as the “great White hope” that, somehow, will one day bail them out of their misery. For some among these people, any “non-White” patterns in Russian strategies or behaviors undermine their internal narrative. In any case, the “Whiteness” of Britain or Germany, and even their “Gayness”, are critical touchstones for topics related to Ukraine, in the head-canon of many observers.

Posted by: Skiffer | Nov 13 2025 9:46 utc | 91

Posted by: unimperator | Nov 13 2025 9:14 utc | 89
Not really, they (the west) are as comfortable with the status quo as the Russian leadership are. No real breakthroughs, steady as she goes. Everyone stays calm.
 

Posted by: Night Tripper | Nov 13 2025 10:21 utc | 93

Posted by: snake | Nov 13 2025 6:42 utc | 81
Someone in the US is definitively trying to “unplug” Gehlenskyi with that NABU case. Qui Bono ?
Things are not so clear at the moment. I’m still wondering witch silo in the US administration is at play here. The 5 eyes neocons with the London/Bruxelles connection ? The Zionist inquisition no one expected with the Dnipro mafia ? The realpolitik multi-polar pragmatics who need weapons elsewhere ?
I can’t tell …
One thing is sure is : it won’t help the local morale nor the willingness to continue “until the last” and that’s surely not the intended effect (they all want that conflict to go to it’s bitter end , the difference only residing in the execution speed of the process.)

Posted by: Savonarole | Nov 13 2025 12:20 utc | 95

Posted by: The Painter | Nov 12 2025 23:28 utc | 58
 
Western Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, maybe more) have been relying on guest workers starting around 1955 all the way through at least early 1990’s. I don’t know, maybe they are still using guest workers today, not sure.
Many of the guest workers were Turkish and Yugoslavian, possibly other countries as well.
American immigration is slightly different than the West European guest worker policy, but the American example can also provide some ideas for Russian policy makers regarding immigrant labor.
In any case, the point is that we can look at the history of West European and American labor policies to get an idea of Russia’s future. 

Posted by: Spiridon | Nov 13 2025 13:07 utc | 97

Set to around 13 minutes and runs on for another two to 15.47. 
 
https://youtu.be/o4V_hYK6Bt8?t=794
 
Two minutes that sum up the wasted opportunities and the cost to the Ukrainians of that waste.  Pays tribute to Mercouris along the way for Mercouris’ careful disentangling of the Alaska summit and the sequel to that summit.   I believe the work by Mercouris on the subject has already been linked to in “b’s”  comment section.  (I do wish the fashion these days wasn’t so much for videos.  Far better to set it all out in print.  Faster and easier to reference.)
 
But yes, the Russians offered enough off-ramps throughout.  I suspect, however, they knew they’d never be taken.  Amongst those who deplore the conduct of the West in provoking this war there’s a tendency to see the Ukrainians as malevolent actors.   Set aside the ultras and the corrupt and it was never like that.  They were always the patsies. 
 

Posted by: English Outsider | Nov 13 2025 13:30 utc | 99