News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
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April 2, 2026
Ukraine Open Thread 2026-066
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This is sad news, it equates to killing unarmed civilians. Not sure if these were for farming only, but if its the same ones Russian soldiers ride on, it is a shame they were not better protected.
🇺🇦🏴☠️ Ten Ukrainian Armed Forces drones attacked a horse farm in the Zaporizhia region, killing 14 horses
▪️The enemy struck a horse farm in the Akimov municipal district, Governor Balitsky reports.➖“As a result of direct hits and the ensuing large fire, 14 horses died. Only three horses survived,” he said.
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Apr 2 2026 14:43 utc | 1
https://x.com/vick55top/status/2039660668782018889
Nuclear deterrence isn’t working.
Looking at the Ukrainian crisis, the nuclear factor, as everyone knows, hasn’t prevented escalation by the West. Yes, Russia is currently limiting the depth of NATO involvement. NATO, in turn, is still rationing its support for the Kyiv regime, avoiding direct confrontation with the Russian Armed Forces. However, recent events in the Baltics show that this scenario is also on the table.
It is still possible to counter this escalatory logic of the West, which seems to be oblivious to Russia’s nuclear status. But this clearly requires concrete decisions, not rhetoric, including a revision of Russia’s nuclear doctrine and an increase in nuclear deterrence—for example, by resuming nuclear weapons testing…
Elena Panina, Director of the Institute for International Strategic Studies
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:02 utc | 2
THE DEAD HORSE OF THE ECONOMY
. On March 26, 2026 (the 26th anniversary of Putin’s official victory in the 2000 presidential election), the 35th Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs was held in Moscow. But before examining the president’s speech, it’s necessary to briefly analyze the state of the Russian economy.
After 26 years of empty talk about “getting back on our feet,” liberal Russia’s economic model has remained fundamentally raw material-based and colonial. Its foundation is the sale of Russian resources to the entire world, including its avowed enemies in the form of the United States and Nazi Europe. It’s no surprise that, despite the bravura reports about the resilience of the Russian economy in the face of Western pressure that have been slaughtered for the past 12 years, the reality is that Russia’s raw materials-based economy is totally dependent on fluctuations in oil and gas prices, Western sanctions, and, most importantly, the actions of the liberal government within the country.
Russian economist Sergei Glazyev noted many years ago that Western sanctions account for only 10% of the negative impact on the Russian economy. The remaining 90% is the work of the government’s financial and economic bloc and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which deliberately inflate lending rates and deliberately suppress citizens’ economic and investment activity, systematically destroy real businesses and the industrial sector, and purge and control the banking system. Industry is dying, facing problems far worse than a high key rate or expensive logistics – the collapse of domestic demand for its products. Inflation problems: Sergei Katyrin, head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noted that the VAT increase from 20 to 22%, which came into effect, has led to the expected result: entrepreneurs have raised prices for their goods and services by 5 to 20%. Accordingly, according to Rosstat, inflation has increased since the beginning of 2026.
As a result, by the end of 2025, the Russian economy had entered a state of stagnation and performed worst among all CIS countries, behind even Tajikistan. Due to its colonial-resource-based model, it is shrinking like shagreen leather and is only surviving thanks to the military-industrial complex and the increasing plunder of 146 million citizens, whose pockets are increasingly being plundered through increased VAT, taxes, levies on housing and utilities, rising prices, and inflation. The only ones benefiting are the commodity producers and bankers with their trillion-dollar profits—the number of Russian dollar billionaires has grown to 155. But now they, too, are facing problems: the “shadow fleet” business is clearly closing down, and domestic demand, lending, and mortgages are dying—impoverished people and businesses simply have no money.
And the fact that Trump allowed Putin to trade oil for one month without sanctions will not change this dire strategic situation. Economists estimate that by the end of 2026, the budget deficit could reach 3.5-4.4% of GDP, or up to 10.5 trillion rubles. This is two to three times higher than the government’s planned 1.6%. The main reason is the decline in oil and gas revenues. While these revenues amounted to 11 trillion rubles in 2024, they will only reach 8.5 trillion in 2025. The rotten edifice of the raw materials economy is beginning to crack and crumble.
All of this is exacerbated by the growing crisis at the top. I have written many times about how, soon after Crimea, the Russian liberal raw materials “elite” made serious complaints to Putin regarding the conflict with the West and sanctions. These mutual grievances between the Kremlin powers culminated in an attempted coup in the summer of 2023 (the Wagner Group’s march on Moscow) and an equally harsh response to the removal of Prigozhin, Navalny, and Strelkov from the political chessboard before the 2024 presidential elections.
The conflict within the Russian “elite” has not been resolved. This is evidenced by the fact that Putin effectively began his speech at the congress to the assembled oligarchs and industrialists by justifying his actions in Crimea: “We are all well aware of the events of 2014, when we were forced—Russia was forced, we were forced, I have said this many times—to do everything necessary to protect our people then in Crimea, and later in southeastern Ukraine as a whole.”
So, it turns out, “we were forced,” “we were compelled,” instead of what the Motherland and the Russian army expected: “The Russian world defended and saved our compatriots from Ukrainian fascism and Western aggression.”
Putin continues: “To respond to the challenges of the times, Russia must be—what? Strong—we constantly discuss this face to face. And united in understanding its national interests, in resolving the current challenges facing us, and in achieving strategic development goals.”
To be strong, united, and powerful, Russia must first and foremost be JUST. It is precisely the lack of social justice and total lawlessness that has already led to a split and complete alienation between Russian society and the liberal government. This has been further exacerbated by the recent punitive purges of Russian villages, including the illegal confiscation and slaughter of livestock .
As for “strategic development goals,” all national projects over the past 20 years have failed one after another or produced meager results due to rampant corruption, which Putin himself noted will increase by 12.3% by 2025. The extinction of Russians and other indigenous peoples has reached such proportions that all demographic data has had to be classified. And the migration problem has long since become a controlled catastrophe, triggering a wave of ethnic crime, Islamization, and Crocus City Hall.
At the same time, Putin recognizes that the current raw materials-based economic model offers no bright future, nor will it ever. He doesn’t want to change it, so he’s calling for even more belt-tightening: “Now, when the prices of our traditional exports are rising, but the markets are also in turmoil, there may be a temptation to take advantage of the situation, to receive opportunistic revenues and, as they say, ‘eat them up,’ to use them for dividends or, as far as the state is concerned, to inflate budget expenditures. I’ve already said this publicly somewhere, but I want to emphasize it again in this audience: we need to remain prudent. If the markets swing one way today, they could swing the other tomorrow – there are very knowledgeable people here, with good experience, there are no random people here, in this audience, you understand this perfectly well – and therefore, moderate conservatism and a moderate conservative approach are necessary both in the corporate sphere and in public finance. And we will certainly adhere to this in the budget system, fulfilling our obligations to the citizens of the country.”
Simply put, the budget will be sequestered. Finance Minister Siluanov has already spoken about the need to cut spending by 10-12% to at least partially plug the trillion-ruble holes in the budget. At the same time, at a closed meeting with leading business leaders, according to reports, the president proposed that the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) make voluntary contributions to the budget.
Other measures proposed by the president include total digitalization and the reduction of administrative barriers, which the government itself has painstakingly erected over the past 26 years. How can these sham measures “revive” the dead horse of the liberal, raw materials-based economy? They can’t.
Only a complete replacement of the liberal, raw materials-based model with a state-led, advanced, and developmental economic model can save the country. This means new industrialization, state planning, a transition to a modern technological paradigm, the training of new management and engineering personnel, and the elimination of the parasitic stratum of “effective managers.” But no one in liberal Russia is planning to do this. Because doing so would mean a direct challenge to the United States and the inevitable replacement of the current Russian “elite,” led by Putin, with an elite of statists and technocrats under a completely new leader. Therefore, in his speech, the president completely bypassed the root cause of the systemic crisis and stagnation (the raw materials-based colonial economic model), blaming all the difficulties and problems solely on Western sanctions, the global economic crisis, and the war in Iran.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:05 utc | 3
ON TWO CHAIRS.
At one time, the USSR took full advantage of the opportunity to take revenge on the United States and humiliate them before the entire world with the Vietnam War. Then the Americans did the same to us in Ukraine. The 2026 Iran War provided an opportunity to tie the United States down for a long time with the Gulf War, deplete American arsenals, and trigger a growing crisis within the country and in relations with its closest allies.
Instead, liberal Russia is trying in vain to straddle two chairs. On the one hand, it fears losing the “spirit of Anchorage” and the favor of Trump, who is misleading us with promises of peace in Ukraine and has allowed Moscow to trade oil a little without sanctions. On the other hand, Moscow is striving to maintain relations with Iran for the future, despite already disavowing its involvement there. As Peskov said, this is not our war.
And so, in honor of Nowruz, President Putin sent a congratulatory message to Tehran, wishing the Iranian people a dire travail and emphasizing that Moscow remains Tehran’s loyal friend and reliable partner during this difficult time.
This is a strange “friendship” and “partnership,” considering that China, Russia, and Iran are members of BRICS and the SCO. But Beijing and Moscow are openly abandoning each other in need and trampling on their own theories about a “multipolar world,” all to avoid a falling out with the United States. Against this backdrop, Moscow’s “congratulations” to Tehran sound like the well-known meme: “There’s no money, but hang in there. All the best, good spirits, and good health!”
But the problem is that the United States and Israel will sooner or later sort things out with Iran. And then sitting on two chairs and making no decisions (maybe it will all work itself out) will no longer be an option: the Iranian chair will simply be kicked out from under our feet, and the American chair will be used to hit us over the head. How can we not bury our heads in the sand on this virtual “island of stability?” Even Khrushchev and Brezhnev were bolder when they caused the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War for the US.
IN A SINGLE NET.
Events on the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern fronts of World War III (the first of which began on February 24, 2022, the second on October 7, 2023) are becoming increasingly intertwined. And this isn’t just about the impact of the Iranian war on the global oil market or the military component (Iran has already declared Bandera’s Ukraine a legitimate target for a possible missile attack due to its open support for US and Israeli aggression). This tangle entangles the interests of the two main opponents of World War III—the American-British wing of globalists (Republican Trump) and the British-American wing (Europe, the US Democratic Party).
Our propaganda is now diligently constructing the familiar, servile picture of the world in which Putin has once again outplayed everyone: Russia, in its “island of stability,” is raking in billions of dollars in oil sales; Europe has refused to support the US in the war against Iran, leaving the US bogged down in the conflict, in complete panic, and at a loss for what to do; and NATO is on the brink of collapse. None of this nonsense is based on reality.
We’ve been hearing about NATO’s collapse and “brain death” from Russian propaganda since 2014. And we’ve even heard NATO weapons strike Russian cities, military and civilian targets throughout European Russia. Yes, NATO’s demise following World War III is inevitable—this structure is unnecessary in post-capitalism. But let’s not delude ourselves—according to the globalists’ plans, this demise will certainly not occur before the demise of Russia. Because it is precisely through the instruments of NATO and the EU, as well as the Russian liberal “elite,” that the masters of the global game intend to defeat us.
As for the sharply increased oil revenues of liberal Russia, this is a temporary phenomenon that will only slightly delay the inevitable collapse of the raw materials-based economic model. Because its “stability” and “sustainability” depend solely on external markets controlled by the masters of the global game. Trump quite successfully squeezed our oil umbilical cord by imposing sanctions against the Russian energy sector, forcing India and China to reduce their purchases of our oil, and launching a hunt for Russia’s “shadow fleet.” A little earlier, the Americans and British undermined our Nord Stream pipeline. And the great geostrategist and mastermind of cunning plans was unable to do anything about it. As Putin said in an interview with Carlson, it would have cost him more.
We only managed to breathe a sigh of relief when Trump himself allowed Moscow to trade on the global market for one month without sanctions. Thus, the Kremlin is 100% on the White House’s side, helping it stabilize the oil market, which has been thrown into crisis by the war with Iran. But in a month, the sanctions noose will once again tighten around the neck of Russia, a resource-rich country.
In this regard, it’s noteworthy how Europe has resolutely refused to purchase additional volumes of Russian oil and gas, consistently pursuing its previous policy of completely abandoning them. Putin and his protégé Dmitriev have repeatedly openly called on Hitler’s Europe to make such purchases and asked for some kind of signal, even though Europe is fighting against us in Ukraine. And in response, there’s been silence.
And let’s not forget who will receive the lion’s share of the temporarily increased oil revenues, and where. Certainly not us. A quick look at the news feed reveals the economic crisis in Russia. Salary arrears even for public sector employees, stagnation in the metallurgy industry, the extinction of small and medium-sized businesses, a crisis of loan defaults, punitive purges of Russian villages with mass slaughter of livestock, a crisis in the housing and utilities sector, healthcare, and education. A migration and demographic catastrophe. There are trillion-dollar holes in the federal budget.
Where is that oil and gas money? But the number of dollar billionaires in Russia has reached a new high, reaching 155. The banking sector is sitting on trillions in profits. Meanwhile, the state and the people are left with meager scraps, and they continue to eke out a miserable existence.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:10 utc | 4
GM | Apr 2 2026 15:02 utc | 5
Nuclear deterrence still works, it deters nuclear attacks. It never was meant to deter every conventional attack, there is a lower bound.
Posted by: SOS | Apr 2 2026 15:17 utc | 5
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:10 utc | 7
Good stuff and very informative GM. Unfortunately it is wasted on this crew. Anything at all that challenges their world view in the slightest is dismissed out of hand. They have invested so much effort over years to create their own little bubble that anything that challenges it is a deadly threat to their egos. They would rather be wrong than question their basic assumptions. But I appreciate your efforts.
Posted by: Maverick | Apr 2 2026 15:22 utc | 6
A short analysis of territorial gains since the start of the SMO:
Put the address back together. Doing it like this keeps this lost from being deleted.
xcancel dot com/SU_57R/status/2039441213452079273#m
Posted by: Nobody Special | Apr 2 2026 15:47 utc | 7
Copy/paste ruins every bits of originality , Copy/paste ruins every bits of originality .
Quick news :
The so-called “counter-offensive” seems to have met it’s end north of Guliapol, the buffer zone in Sumy/Karkov is still growing slowly : mud is not dry yet…
The works of the TCC seems harder and harder. Kupiansk is now “a spanish speaking” town.
Last weeks : drones strikes targeted several SBU offices, trains and “nova poshta” (logistic) , air-bombing over Slaviansk/Kramatorsk too. Lost of 404’s drone to Lenningrad via the Baltics and Finland (article 5 someone ?)
One SU34 disappeared over Crimea ; no bragging from the AFU before the RUAF announce : seems like “accidents happens.”
And Gehlenskiy gave Kaka Kalas a medal. (she’s now officially a “blue ribbon goose”)
Im Westen nichts neues …
Posted by: Savonarole | Apr 2 2026 15:54 utc | 8
Iran war handing global helium dominance to Russia. Russia poised to make huge profits selling helium to China, which needs it for its computer chip production.
xcancel dot com/amborin/status/2039517125484958059#m
Shadowbanned / GM AI, Maverick, and others, hardest hit.
Posted by: Nobody Special | Apr 2 2026 15:56 utc | 9
Drones in Karelia
https://t.me/kupolrussia/59950
Hadn’t happened since June 2025 and a couple times before that, when they came 99.9% from Finland…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:04 utc | 10
Russia poised to make huge profits selling helium to China, which needs it for its computer chip production. Posted by: Nobody Special | Apr 2 2026 15:56 utc | 13
Correction — Russian oligarchs are poised to make huge profits.
Meanwhile Russian civilians and Iranians are getting missiles and drones raining on their heads.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:05 utc | 11
Good stuff and very informative GM. Unfortunately it is wasted on this crew. Anything at all that challenges their world view in the slightest is dismissed out of hand. They have invested so much effort over years to create their own little bubble that anything that challenges it is a deadly threat to their egos. They would rather be wrong than question their basic assumptions. But I appreciate your efforts.
Posted by: Maverick | Apr 2 2026 15:22 utc | 9
I know, but it doesn’t hurt to post it. I read it anyway.
Also, it is good to repost the Russian analyses because after all the accusation thrown at me is that I am some kind of troll, paid CIA/MI-6 agent, etc.
But while I do have original thoughts on my own, it is far from the case that I came up with everything I have tried to educate people here and elsewhere on on my own. You hear the same bitter complaining inside Russia too. Of course, you don’t see open calls for Putin’s execution in the middle of the Red Square, because that is a very dangerous thing to do inside Russia, but many people have come quite close to it in indirect ways.
P.S. Ritter is now inside Russia, take a looks at how much his tone changed:
https://scottritter.substack.com/p/cigar-diplomacy
After he was outright calling Putin out for being a coward and for having Kiril Dmitriev around a couple months ago. But inside Russia he has to toe a different line.
Also notice who else is there — I guarantee you that Fursov as one of the main intellectual voices behind Stalin’s rehabilitation after the USSR collapse is not at all happy with the current Kremlin policies, but he is keeping quiet about it too. Because currently the repressive apparatus of the state is targeting partiots, not liberals, and it is not safe to openly criticize the people at the top directly. Only the policies and only indirectly…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:11 utc | 12
Drones in Karelia https://t.me/kupolrussia/59950 Hadn’t happened since June 2025 and a couple times before that, when they came 99.9% from Finland…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:04 utc | 14
Looking through the alerts from the last few hours, there is nothing for Smolensk/Pskov/Tver/Novgorod/Leningrand/Vologda.
So it was launched from Finland indeed…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:15 utc | 13
Putin has proven to the world that he is in fact a weak, feckless leader whose failure to act forcefully with sufficient military action has led to the deaths and maiming of hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian people. Maybe his lawyer background over cautiousness has something to do with his inability to act decisively even after the attempted assassination on his life at Valdai or the successful attack on Russian strategic triad air bases.
Posted by: Nemesis | Apr 2 2026 16:18 utc | 14
Good stuff and very informative GM. Unfortunately it is wasted on this crew. Anything at all that challenges their world view in the slightest is dismissed out of hand. They have invested so much effort over years to create their own little bubble that anything that challenges it is a deadly threat to their egos. They would rather be wrong than question their basic assumptions. But I appreciate your efforts.
Posted by: Maverick | Apr 2 2026 15:22 utc | 9
Therefore I wonder, why are you here at all? It really looks like you should be at the other bar down the road, where the three letter agencies are congregating. All American. You would feel much more comfortable and really at home there.
Here, we are really trying to find what’s true and what’s not, and learning to distinguish between information and disinformation.
Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 2 2026 16:20 utc | 15
Maybe his lawyer background over cautiousness has something to do with his inability to act decisively even after the attempted assassination on his life at Valdai or the successful attack on Russian strategic triad air bases.
Posted by: Nemesis | Apr 2 2026 16:18 utc | 18
Has nothing to do with it, and is a myth anyway. Putin has always absolutely ruthless when it comes to crushing internal opposition, and doesn’t give a single fuck about legalities when it comes to that. And still is. Some prominent recent examples immediately come to mind.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:27 utc | 16
Thousands and Thousands of young Russian soldiers has been killed because Vladimir Putin is a Zionist.
Posted by: Valerio del Bierzo | Apr 2 2026 15:48 utc | 11
Millions of slavic and russian lives have been saved, because Vladimir Putin isn’t an emotional, trigger happy retard like the resident western concern trolls. This of course makes them mad, because they hate everything russian and especially russian people while pretending otherwise. General moron always advocates for nuking Ukraine, Poland and Baltic states with significant russian speaking minorities, he never advocates for nuking England, because that’s where he resides in. Putin, the traitor hasn’t made a single concession in four years of negotiations, despite hysterical bleeting from Helmer and his parrots here about Minsk 3.0 before every round of negotiations.
——————–
Unfortunately it is wasted on this crew.
Posted by: Maverick | Apr 2 2026 15:22 utc | 9
Feel free to take your girlfriend and the rest of your socks back to substack, you’re wasted here. The bar is a circlejerk free zone.
Posted by: pinche | Apr 2 2026 16:30 utc | 17
GM,
chamber of commerce said what? i guess what % of kids going hungry in a population doesn’t count.
i don’t know how to answer all that crap you posted. i don’t think Russia or China is the savior of humanity. but i don’t speak a lick of Russian or Chinese, and when I listen to an untranslated speech from either Putin or Xi (or others), I learn more than from listening to *any* Western public figure.
why? cuz i’m not made more stupid by listening to Putin in Russian, unlike Donald and co in the West.
as far as a functioning state goes, which is the last country in the world anyone wants to be in when the shit hits the fan? except rich people, it’s the United States. what a shithole, a Satanic shithole this country is.
but thanks for the news we can use! i doubt China will have a meth-driven Zombie outbreak. i can see one out my bedroom window at the new and improved Narcan center a block away.
Posted by: duck n cover | Apr 2 2026 16:33 utc | 18
For Vladimir, Russian lives are worthless, and Zionist lives are sacred.
Posted by: Valerio del Bierzo | Apr 2 2026 16:32 utc | 22
How many times has VVP mentioned the “Russian speakers in Israel” and how they have to be protected?
How many times has VVP mentioned the Russian people in Belgorod (and increasingly deeper) who are under daily bombardment by US weapons and the need to protect them?
What has VVP done to protect them?
Somehow nobody wants to touch those uncomfortable questions…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 17:02 utc | 19
RF only has one real and achievable option here, as the spring dry season approaches.
Make a real break though attempt along the southern portion of the front to reach Odessa, the Black Sea ports, Transnistria, and the Hungarian border.
Yea it could be costly, but its high time to push the pedal to the metal, and get the job accomplished. The SMO has worked to a point, and now its time to turn up the heat, especially with the US now hip deep in a quagmire in the ME, on behalf of the fascist Tel Aviv government. Patton’s old adage about a vigorous offense over a static defense applies here.
Get your anti drone units, spednatz-sf, and porcupine tanks ready and get moving – your 4 years in and counting. Carpe Diem………..
Posted by: tobias cole | Apr 2 2026 17:09 utc | 20
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 16:59 utc | 25
genius. that already happened. by accident. at Chernobyl.
people can use their own minds about this or that particular of Russia policy or of the whole. in the West, any country attempting anything, good or bad in itself, outside of the child-sodomizing mentality of a Jamie Dimon is immediately shit upon, repeatedly and universally.
so that no one in the West even has the chance to consider a policy in itself, for itself. cuz RUSSIA BAD. CHINA BAD.
it’s not even worth paying attention to. it’s all slander, all designed to enslave the West to endless war.
thanks for doing your part.
Posted by: duck n cover | Apr 2 2026 17:11 utc | 21
Make a real break though attempt along the southern portion of the front to reach Odessa, the Black Sea ports, Transnistria, and the Hungarian border. Yea it could be costly, but its high time to push the pedal to the metal, and get the job accomplished.
Posted by: tobias cole | Apr 2 2026 17:09 utc | 27
Absolutely impossible with the current force structure and rules of engagement.
It requires mobilization and taking Europe out of the war.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 17:12 utc | 22
RF should convoy all tankers leaving the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland and Murmansk.
If there is any interference, then RF should begin detaining UK and French tankers.
Posted by: tobias cole | Apr 2 2026 17:13 utc | 23
Absolutely impossible with the current force structure and rules of engagement. It requires mobilization and taking Europe out of the war.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 17:12 utc | 29
Wrong, or rather, what are you basing your analysis on?
“Impossible” – a tougher approach is always possible!
The question remains: do we want that, or do we precisely not want that?
Odessa… a problem in itself… if Putin doesn’t take Odessa, 90% of the Russian population considers the SMO lost, regardless of what Putin says.
The problem is likely that THE WEST places more value on Odessa than on the rest… without Odessa, exporting all raw materials – wheat, ores, oils, etc. – would be almost impossible because the land route would be blocked by EU states, making us dependent on them… and furthermore… the EU market, for example, reacts sensitively to genetically modified and chemically contaminated wheat or coal at low prices. Without Odessa, there would be no rest of Ukraine that would be viable and competitive in the market. BUT what in Ukraine still belongs to the Ukrainians?
Exactly, NOTHING!
Aside from that, I think little of such crystal ball analyses and conclusions that are pulled out of thin air…because YOU KNOW NOTHING. You just imagine you know something…nothing more.
Just keep your mouths shut instead of spouting such rubbish…about things that probably not even an active Russian colonel in a regimental staff could assess, since he’s NOT in the Kremlin!
Posted by: Genesis | Apr 2 2026 17:31 utc | 24
In the spirit of Anchorage, Trump received a nuke to use against Iran
en.topwar.ru/280365-rosatom-anonsiroval-finalnyj-jetap-jevakuacii-rabotnikov-s-ajes-busher.html
Posted by: rk | Apr 2 2026 17:42 utc | 25
I see GonadMonkey (GM) is now starting to hallucinate due to the CO2 build-up in the Tel Aviv bomb shelter it’s holed up in.
Good.
Posted by: AleaJactaEst | Apr 2 2026 18:04 utc | 26
1.305 AFU casualties.
https://tass.com/politics/2110919
Just an addendum , maybe apart from calling traitor and/or stupid, our care trolls could “kill” putin again, I’m missing the dozens of cancers and/or other diseases that should have killed him 4 years ago…
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 2 2026 18:07 utc | 27
So many war lovers, everywhere. “More war! More war! Nuke ’em! Nuke ’em” like junior high cheerleaders at a video game competition.Putin has done an admirable job of protecting Russian sovereignty, not rising to the constant bait and insults, and well on the way to achieving Russia’s goals WITHOUT throwing the whole world into war or nuclear destruction. History will likely show him as one of the great leaders, if nothing else, because there will be a history to be remembered.Meanwhile, China continues. And the US and the West self-destruct. Hopefully without taking the rest of the world with them.
Posted by: The Owl | Apr 2 2026 18:12 utc | 28
Much comment here that the Russian elites are interested only in securing their own advantage, blind to the true interests of the average Russian.
That might be true of our own elites, or half-true anyway. Certainly feels like that in England to very many. But I don’t see how anyone on “b’s” site can assert so confidently it’s true for over there. How can any of us in the West know how the average Russian feels? We don’t have their cultural or historical background nor any secure knowledge of their popular culture. And Russian, like my own language, is a language in which a great deal is conveyed by nuance or allusion. On the rare occasions when we hear Russians speak from the heart, we cannot tell therefore whether what we hear is what they are saying.
A crude guide is given us by the polls. These seem to indicate general support for the SMO. We’re not looking at a country fatally riven by doubt or indecision. I ventured a few years back on a generalisation that at least seemed to fit the popular mood in the old Donbass. “An amateur’s judgement, mine, is that at most Dugin gives expression to the general desire in Russia for a transformative change to come out of the present apocalyptic conflict with the West. The recent corruption clear-out in Russia might indicate that’s getting underway…” Maybe Karlof1 or another commenter who focuses on the Russian dimension of this conflict could say whether they feel that too.
But all that’s speculation, guesswork, for most of us in the West. Maybe stop these generalisations about how the Russians feel or what they ought to do next and focus more on how effective their conduct of this war is. In contrast to the actions of our own leaders, who to be honest just look as if they’re flapping around like wet hens at the moment, the Russian leadership does look effective to me. Given that caution is imperative because some of the wet hens have nukes. From the Iran thread this, then, looks like a more realistic assessment of what the Russians are up to, and an explanation for why, contrary to the expressed wishes of many here, they’re not firing off their missiles at Berlin or London – that in spite of the fact that Berlin and London are certainly firing off missiles at them! (my bolding)
” Unlike Iran, which is in a hot, direct existential struggle with the US and Israel, Russia is managing an indirect existential war with NATO. Putin’s strategy appears designed to achieve Russia’s core security objectives while strictly minimizing casualties and avoiding a total regional conflagration. It isn’t ‘slow’ due to hidden loyalties; it’s slow by design to ensure Russia outlasts the West without depleting its own future.“
Posted by: Cable Guy | Apr 2 2026 17:24 utc | 71
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 2 2026 18:39 utc | 29
So many posts, so few actual mentions of the word Ukraine.
And the usual NAFO hand-wringing, wailing and gnashing of teeth about the mood inside Russia (as if they really had a clue), yet not a single word about the mood inside Ukraine.
At the tail end of the last thread I posted two more incidents of resistance against the junta press-gangs.
For all the verbose, even grandiose, pseudo-analysis masquerading as deep insight in many of the posts in this thread, here’s a heads-up:
Don’t ignore the mood, the events occurring inside Ukraine, they still have a say and you will be blind-sided by the outcome if you continue to ignore this.
That. Is. All.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 18:56 utc | 30
B1 bridge in Iran demolished in 4 weeks. Dnieper bridges still intact after 4 years.
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 19:03 utc | 31
B1 bridge in Iran demolished in 4 weeks. Dnieper bridges still intact after 4 years.
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 19:03 utc | 31
Whatever happened to all those Ukrainian postage stamps commemorating the destruction of the Kerch bridge?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:13 utc | 32
All the Dniepr bridges need to stay up anyway, so people have got somewhere to hang the junta and all its collaborators from…
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:18 utc | 33
@ Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:13 utc | 32
The really fun thing about 404 postage stamps, from a pholatelic-historical perspective, is that they’re printed without fixed face values. In place of a value in currency is a letter whose value in hryvnia changes according to the rate of inflation.
A system pioneered, wouldn’t you know, by the USA.
Posted by: malenkov | Apr 2 2026 19:30 utc | 34
Re-posting from the old thread:
An employee of the TCC was stabbed to death in Lviv
In Lviv, an attack was carried out on a serviceman of the TCC and SP
This was reported by RegioNews with reference to local telegram channels. As noted, his neck was cut. It is known that the attack on the CCC employee occurred during notification measures and document verification. An unknown person stabbed a 52-year-old soldier in the neck. Ambulance doctors who arrived at the scene performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but it was not possible to save the victim’s life. Law enforcement officers are looking for the criminal.
https://regionews.ua/ukr/news/lvovshchina/1775131991-u-lvovi-zarizali-pratsivnika-ttsk (via translation add-on.) Some brief video here of the emergency services attending: https://news-pravda.com/world/2026/04/02/2204396.html
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 13:33 utc | 287
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:31 utc | 35
And this one:
Video clip of a guy fending off the press-gang with a chain: https://news-pravda.com/world/2026/04/02/2203626.html
“To the last Ukrainian ” they cry, though perhaps we have already gone past the point of the “Last Ukrainian willing to go to the front line… ”
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 13:42 utc | 288
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:32 utc | 36
And what kind of forum software ignores its own formatting?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:33 utc | 37
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 18:56 utc | 30
I was lucky to read those reports at the end of the last thread and immediately thought:
Ukraine must really be at breaking point now. It looks like the “almost civil war” situation is getting hotter. It’s not too speculative to think that the Russian leaders are fully aware of this and ready to take advantage of it.
Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 2 2026 19:35 utc | 38
Ukraine must really be at breaking point now. It looks like the “almost civil war” situation is getting hotter. It’s not too speculative to think that the Russian leaders are fully aware of this and ready to take advantage of it.
Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 2 2026 19:35 utc | 38
Yes, although I’m beginning to think there might not be an identifiable singular breaking point, more a cascade of individual events that, on their own, could be dismissed as one-offs, but a cascading effect takes hold; the more videos circulate of active push-back, the more others think “Hey, we can do that too”.
And definitely agree that Russian intel sources are well aware of what’s going on. What better way to denazify a country than have them turn upon each other?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:55 utc | 39
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 19:54 utc | 39
You are not Russian, that is an objective fact.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:58 utc | 40
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 19:54 utc | 39
Thats a whole lotta cope. Paid by the word?
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Apr 2 2026 20:03 utc | 41
What if:
In February 2022, Russian forces swept in and took Kiev in 8 hours? @ GM would have complained they should have done it 4 hours
In February 2022, Russian forces carried on sweeping westwards and take Warsaw in 24 hours? @ GM would have complained they should have done it in 12 hours?
In February 2022, Berlin is taken in four days? @ GM would have complained it should have only taken two days and they should have nuked the place first anyway.
Nothing Russia does, or could do, or maybe able to do, will ever be enough for a bloodthirsty ghoul with binary personality disorder who won’t be truly happy until the Northern Hemisphere is charred to a crisp.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:10 utc | 42
RF should convoy all tankers leaving the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland and Murmansk. If there is any interference, then RF should begin detaining UK and French tankers.
Posted by: tobias cole | Apr 2 2026 17:13 utc | 23
This should have happened months ago.
Posted by: Englishman | Apr 2 2026 20:19 utc | 43
@GM
1.Putin is nothing, he leads the most sophisticated common leadership of any country outside China. His personal attitudes is a fetish for british yellowpress. The rationale ground russian government is shaking is a wider field than western universitys teach.
2.The industrial structure oft a country depends in its existing industries. Explain Please, how the world biggest aluminium-industry should be managed, the worlds seconds gold extracting industry, the world second biggest semiconductor – making and so on. It has to run for any change for producing condoms with maracuja-taste only for you.
3. Russian leadership is a generational task, Mr. Lawrow and Mr. Mischnustkin were never educated for something like a carriere. For shure even the next generation will misunderstood by westerners like you.
Posted by: OberstHecht | Apr 2 2026 20:24 utc | 44
Thats a whole lotta cope. Paid by the word?
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Apr 2 2026 20:03 utc | 42
I think he is in a state of panic, sensing that Ukraine is running out of road militarily, financially and at a societal level.
And that is his worst nightmare, Ukraine disappearing as a viable entity for attacking Russia before his dream of overthrowing the “Putin ray-zheem ” can be fulfilled.
Browderite, Nulandite, Bidenite, Zionist, the Putin Overthrow Derangement Syndrome is so strong I can almost smell it.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:25 utc | 45
punitive purges of Russian villages with mass slaughter of livestock Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:10 utc | 4
What is that? I have not heard of such a thing. Where and why?
I do agree that it is beyond stupid for Russia to sell off non-renewable resources to the people who are trying to kill them.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 2 2026 20:27 utc | 46
Have the officially stated goals of the SMO been achieved
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 20:18 utc | 44
Not yet: https://postimg.cc/PLkbPMJB
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:28 utc | 47
I really don’t understand the ruddy blush so many folks are in, $DEITY knows what they would have made of the Hundred Years War…
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:33 utc | 48
Cattle is culled in Siberia. Pasteurella. Hundreds of thousands of cows. And it is being done in a very heavy handed way, ruining a lot of farmers.
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 20:31 utc | 50
That isn’t punitive purging; Western governments do the same. Here in the West of England the M5 motorway through Gloucestershire had speed restrictions, due to the lack of visibility caused by the drifting smoke of bonfires arising from a government-mandated cull of cattle after a foot and mouth disease outbreak.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:41 utc | 49
Just in case it’s not clear, the bonfires were of the slaughtered cattle carcasses.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:44 utc | 50
And also just in case it is not clear, it ruined a lot of farmers.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:52 utc | 51
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:05 utc | 3
It is a lie that “high” interest rates reduce investment.
“High” interest rates actually increase investment. Investment comes from capital formation. Capital formation comes from savings. Savings is the ONLY source of capital formation. All saving causes capital formation.
“High” interest rates just mean that the borrow-and-spenders can not steal so much of the wealth generated by savers.
Why is there anything? Why isn’t there just nothing? It is because some people, the savers, consume less wealth than they create.
Posted by: acementhead | Apr 2 2026 20:54 utc | 52
It is a lie that “high” interest rates reduce investment.
Posted by: acementhead | Apr 2 2026 20:54 utc | 55
At the risk of topic drift, I’d make the point that high interest rates encourage prudent investment; that is, an investment proposal needs to have a solid business case showing a return that can beat the return available just by saving.
Unlike the Western model, where relatively low interest rates generate all sorts of fly-by-night, get rich quick schemes. Though that model is under increasing pressure now, looking at Western bond rate trends.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 21:03 utc | 53
And just in the interests of stirring things up:
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 19:54 utc | 39
You are not Russian, that is an objective fact.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:58 utc | 41
hasn’t yet received a direct rebuttal; things that make you go hmmm…
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 21:18 utc | 54
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:32 utc | 36
That mood in Ukraine you’re keeping an eye on carefully (grateful for your work there!) is so important. Not only because internal dissatisfaction with the Kiev government might lead to he Ukrainians throwing off their shackles themselves. But because, if the mood does change to any extent, the Russians are going to find it easier to re-establish relations after the war with whatever remnant Ukraine turns out to be.
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 2 2026 21:23 utc | 55
What if:In February 2022, Russian forces swept in and took Kiev in 8 hours? @ GM would have complained they should have done it 4 hours
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:10 utc | 43
GM is apparently the only poster left here who wants Russia to win the war, which is why he is attacked so fiercely. All the local cheerleaders want it to continue, forever.
Why didn’t Russian forces sweep in and take Kiev in 8 hours, by the way? Was an never-ending quagmire Russia’s plan from the start?
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 21:36 utc | 56
That mood in Ukraine you’re keeping an eye on carefully (grateful for your work there!) is so important. Not only because internal dissatisfaction with the Kiev government might lead to he Ukrainians throwing off their shackles themselves. But because, if the mood does change to any extent, the Russians are going to find it easier to re-establish relations after the war with whatever remnant Ukraine turns out to be.
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 2 2026 21:23 utc | 58
Very much so, and it kind of relates to the exasperation I have with the likes of Doctorow and Helmer, along with wannabes like @ GM. They spend so much energy trying to analyse the tea leaves and chicken entrails in the Kremlin dumpster they miss the more significant, but less high-profile shifts elsewhere.
The Ukrainian people still have a part to play, how that turns out is fertile ground for speculation, but completely ignoring it as a factor will seriously derail some of the lofty prognostications that parade themselves as the be all and end all.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 21:40 utc | 57
Why do people seem to think 4+ years is a long time for a modern conflict. Have they been living under a rock? Or perhaps they are only 12 and have yet to be introduced to junior high history.
Posted by: nwwoods | Apr 2 2026 21:48 utc | 58
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 21:36 utc | 59
GM is apparently the only poster left here who wants Russia to win the war, which is why he is attacked so fiercely. All the local cheerleaders want it to continue, forever.
Are you absolutely sure about that? After all, it was @ GM that tried to criticise the “Putin ray-zheem ” from a purportedly communist perspective in a previous thread, yet seems to be petrified by the remote possibility of a proletarian uprising in Ukraine?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 22:20 utc | 59
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 21:36 utc | 59
GM is apparently the only poster left here who wants Russia to win the war, which is why he is attacked so fiercely. All the local cheerleaders want it to continue, forever.
Addendum: one thing we can all be absolutely sure about:
@ GM is not Russian.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 22:25 utc | 60
And also just in case it is not clear, it ruined a lot of farmers.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:52 utc | 54
In Russia only those farmers suffered who neglected the cattle vaccination, many of those avoided vaccination to conceal the real numbers of their herd – to diminish their taxes.
It is still a pity that they suffered, but each was compensated for their losses.
Posted by: Rutte | Apr 2 2026 23:42 utc | 61
Posted by: catdog | Apr 2 2026 21:36 utc | 59
GM is attacked because he does not know the value of things. For instance that men have sacrificed their lives and their limbs.
GM does not respect. Does not know what gratitude is. If life was a Hemingay novel a character would say to GM he needed shut up and GM would not understand, he would just go on and on — like a stuck LP.
Posted by: JustSomeOldGuy | Apr 2 2026 23:49 utc | 62
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:41 utc | 52
*** That isn’t punitive purging; Western governments do the same. Here in the West of England the M5 motorway through Gloucestershire had speed restrictions, due to the lack of visibility caused by the drifting smoke of bonfires arising from a government-mandated cull of cattle after a foot and mouth disease outbreak.***
The government department DEFRA’s own vets/inspectors were a major factor in f+m spreading.
Reports from people all over the country of these officials not taking adequate protective measures when moving betweeen infected and unaffected areas.
The government (Tony Blair’s NuLab) was not at all interested in treatments alternative to massive culling.
In addition to which, quite a number of farmers were keen to get the insurance money.
And some UK so-called “free market” (neo-totalitarian would be a more accurate descriptive) think-tanks were urging that farming should be done away with in Britain anyway, as part of their own longer term desire for the imposition of globalized specialisations (beef for instance should only come from faraway countries such as Uruguay and Argentina) — and thereby control and blackmail of countries via transnational agencies — of all food production and distribution.
🙁 Droned horses! What a waste of both! Those horses only wanted to live! Those drones only wanted to fly (or was it, I wanted to fly upon those drones — without exploding of course)!
I understand why Iran sees the AFU Ukrainian drone operators as an immediate hostile threat worth neutralizing ASAP.
malenkov, this Ukrainian variable stamp value sounds like a version of the Forever stamps of USA, but more comical. I think if the Forever stamp’s value was written $N as a mathematical variable it would have hurt its adoption. Though it probably could have been screwed up if one used the wrong word, too, such as $Enough. Branding is such a delicate art… Still not a stamp collector, let alone interested in the challenge to get one of those vulgar celebrations of criminality.
And indeed, with all the consistent dredging for anything remotely negative about Russia, I too have a sinking suspicion GM might not actually be a Russian. There’s notable cultural appreciation for cynicism, dry, and even gallows humor, but this isn’t it. A bit too earnest, and I believe there was a play about that very importance; it causes mix ups. 😉
Posted by: titmouse | Apr 3 2026 2:33 utc | 64
Therefore I wonder, why are you here at all?
Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 2 2026 16:20 utc | 15
Left hand talking to the Right hand.
Blissfully unaware the US military is imploding – 3 Generals sacked. Pam “Dow” Bondi transitioning to Pri…….fuckit………SACKED!
Tulsi “Ass Licker/Brown Nose” Gabbard, the silly chook about to have her head lobbed off in 3….2…….
Stephen Miller’s eyes rolling at Trump’s speech, I think he’s been dobbed in by the other back stabbers too………
Meanwhile gains have been made in Kharkov oblast with comms line cut.
Steady progress in the Zaporozhye Oblast with a fortified area over 5sq km have been completely cleared. The link between Pokrovskoe and Gulyaipole is under threat.
Posted by: Suresh | Apr 3 2026 3:33 utc | 65
@ acementhead | Apr 2 2026 20:54 utc | 52 who wrote
”
Capital formation comes from savings. Savings is the ONLY source of capital formation. All saving causes capital formation.
”
I call ignorance about how banking works here……capital formation comes from bank loans and those loans are not all backed by savings.
with a short search
- Bank Loan Volume: As of June 30, 2025, total loans and leases for U.S. commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loan associations reached $13.05 trillion.
- Personal Savings: Personal savings in the U.S. reached approximately $975 billion in 2024
Sorry for the OT but felt it necessary
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2026 7:25 utc | 66
From Pravda.ru
The German witch (Merkel) confessed to deliberately deceiving Russia in Minsk again and mocked the naive Russians.
“In 2015, when we signed the Minsk agreements, then Putin could have just seized Ukraine. No one would be able to resist. And I am glad that Ukraine has survived these years and remains a sovereign state, and I certainly hope that it will be so. Even if I can’t influence it anymore. But, of course, I see that the number of problems has not decreased, but increased. Nevertheless, looking back, I think it was right to try as long as possible to prevent Ukraine from being invaded. So that she can get stronger first, including until 2021.”
Another reminder to those who believe that it is possible to come to an agreement with the West, that the authorities in the SHA finally have pragmatists who will offer Russia a “mutually beneficial deal.” The lifting of sanctions and investments, and there will be universal prosperity.
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Apr 3 2026 8:59 utc | 67
Off topic, but replying – The ‘no fixed value’ postage stamp scam was also introduced in the UK several years ago, one of the benefits of privatised mail. Typically stamps are designated “first class” or “second class”, and the price increases fairly frequently while the associated level of service decreases. Another revenue generating aspect is that it becomes difficult to do the Diophantine math to determine what combination of 1st and 2nd class stamps is EQ or GT than the cost of a 22 gm letter to international zone 2, so people hold more stamps unnecessarily and buy more stamps than needed.
Posted by: jorge | Apr 3 2026 9:01 utc | 68
Belgorod. “Somehow nobody wants to touch those uncomfortable questions…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 17:02 utc | 19”
The question is uncomfortable , its stupid. You tal as if any AD system can be 100%. Ask a anyone in Kiev, Tel Aviv, Tehran, the Gulf States or Belgorod. The answer will be much the same. Welcome to the real world.
Posted by: Yarpos | Apr 3 2026 9:18 utc | 69
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 15:05 utc | 3
GM’s flame seems defensive – if nobody will believe him, so what? It’s an assembly of bar flies, not the Sermon on the Mount. It’s interesting to compare it with Simplicius’ article today: https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sanctity-lost-even-neocon-pantheon?publication_id=1351274&post_id=192813600&isFreemail=true&r=1gxfxu&triedRedirect=true
More generally, it seems reasonable to expect that Russia’s economy is a balancing act with a large role still played by oligarchs. The middle of a successful war effort is not a good time to introduce anti-globalist or anti-neocon measures. Putin did some housekeeping before the SMO, and will probably do more after it if he retains his popularity – at the moment, vastly more than any of his war-mongering foreign adversaries. In any case, GM seems to be glossing over details (the Russian “Opposition” under the Navalnys is irrelevant and unpopular, the pogrom against farmers unevidenced) in order to advance the theory that Russia would do better with a social contract balanced toward a more centralised style of government. Perhaps it would. It does for China. But Russians are simply not Chinese. The social and emotional templates are non-transferrable.
An interesting Ukraine-Iran parallel seems to be that Russia is giving Iran a passable imitation of the support US is now giving Ukraine via NATO – valuable military and engineering data, covert weapons, probably indirect economic support. But I could be watching clouds.
Posted by: jorge | Apr 3 2026 9:23 utc | 70
Ukraine must really be at breaking point now. It looks like the “almost civil war” situation is getting hotter. It’s not too speculative to think that the Russian leaders are fully aware of this and ready to take advantage of it.
Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 2 2026 19:35 utc | 38Yes, although I’m beginning to think there might not be an identifiable singular breaking point, more a cascade of individual events that, on their own, could be dismissed as one-offs, but a cascading effect takes hold; the more videos circulate of active push-back, the more others think “Hey, we can do that too”.And definitely agree that Russian intel sources are well aware of what’s going on. What better way to denazify a country than have them turn upon each other?
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 19:55 utc | 39
Apparently that is, at best, a U shaped curve, there was increased unity as time progressed and signs of a significant split (e.g. massive anti regime protests that I remember were the astroturfed Z vs nabu) are still missing.
If someone can still remember, some years ago I tried (failed miserably) seeing if end of SMO could be projected by two ways, relative size of ukraine’s population compared to WW1 countries and some early signs of protest.
Some, even here at MoA (and I don’t mean care trolls) mentioned that the massive mobilization neutered the potential for mobilizations against the kiev’s regime, maybe…
I suspect that EU will not allow this to end until “the last ukranian” is neutered by drone, FAB or shell. AS I already meantiond, the true fear for EU is not RF per se, but a defeated and resented foederati AFU entering (still strong, armed and funded) western countries and taking over by means that western countries cannot counter at this time, hence “to the last ukranian ” and the 2030 arms buildup.
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 3 2026 9:54 utc | 71
Meanwhile fresh marat
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/brief-frontline-report-april-1st
Maybe it’s the start of the 37E-36E vertical line to cut out the east … hugging the river would do that ( I know, I know, it’s a long road ahead)
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 3 2026 10:05 utc | 72
Belgorod. “Somehow nobody wants to touch those uncomfortable questions…
Posted by: GM | Apr 2 2026 17:02 utc | 19”
The question is uncomfortable , its stupid. You tal as if any AD system can be 100%. Ask a anyone in Kiev, Tel Aviv, Tehran, the Gulf States or Belgorod. The answer will be much the same. Welcome to the real world.
Posted by: Yarpos | Apr 3 2026 9:18 utc | 69
The AFU/NATO had neither the capacity nor the courage to terror bomb Belgorod prior to the SMO. They do now. That has nothing to do with AD.
So:
1) How is it that the AFU/NATO gained both the military-technical capacity and the courage to terror bomb Belgorod given that the SMO was started to prevent that?
2) Why haven’t the necessary military-technical measures been taken to stop that?
3) Why is the Supreme commander-in-chief nowhere to be seen on this and many others related and very much urgent matters?
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 10:25 utc | 73
@GM | Apr 3 2026 10:25 utc | 73
The consequences of that failing could be interpreted to either
1)Increase peoples motivation to continue the war
or
2) To cause opposition to the war
or
3)increase motivation for changing leader
My guess is 1) would win
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Apr 3 2026 10:47 utc | 74
@ titmouse | Apr 3 2026 2:33 utc | 64
Actually the US stamps denominated with letter codes precede the “forever” stamps by a couple of decades. Here’s an article about the phenomenon.
Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2026 11:04 utc | 75
Another reminder to those who believe that it is possible to come to an agreement with the West, that the authorities in the SHA finally have pragmatists who will offer Russia a “mutually beneficial deal.” The lifting of sanctions and investments, and there will be universal prosperity.
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Apr 3 2026 8:59 utc | 67
What is “the SHA”? I’m guessing you imported this from a Russian original, namely США (and more correctly SShA), the Russian equivalent of “USA”.
Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2026 11:10 utc | 76
The AFU/NATO had neither the capacity nor the courage to terror bomb Belgorod prior to the SMO. They do now. That has nothing to do with AD.
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 10:25 utc | 73
——————
Idiotic statement. Before the SMO there was no open conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Only Dombass and Lugansks were shelled and no wonder weapons were supplied to Ukraine by the West.
You could as well say that before the USRAEL attack on Iran, no Gulf States were shelled, droned or missiled by Iran.
Posted by: scc | Apr 3 2026 11:13 utc | 77
3) Why is the Supreme commander-in-chief nowhere to be seen on this and many others related and very much urgent matters?
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 10:25 utc | 73
Things are complicated now. If Putin agrees to the plan of making Medvedev president again, he will stay quiet to attract the bad feelings.
“The EU is no longer an economic union. It could very quickly turn into a full-fledged military alliance, extremely hostile to Russia, in some ways worse than NATO” – Medvedev
While Putin maintains his style which some locals see as weakness, Medvedev is always angry on twitter and talks about war with Eu to gain support from the upset population for future elections. But he is very careful to always say European war to not upset master Trump, even more since Trump sent two subs to nuke Russia after Medvedev forgot to kiss his ass one time.
The same Medvedev told Eu to give Greenland because Trump will have it anyway. He’s Trump’s PR now, like the Rdif Ukrainian exchange student. He never had problems with American and British planes in Black sea, which are there even now. Make sure to forget that detail when you read that something was blown up in Crimea.
His message perfectly works with Maga sect propaganda that wants to make it look like Trump, and generally speaking US, has nothing to do with Ukr war and that only Eu is responsible for war. There was no Vicky, no weapons from Trump, nothing, he’s a real joy.
Though it’s hard to say no to Medvedev’s trick because that would imply something falls on Ursula’s head or at least in the city with WAR in name. Who would say no to that?
Posted by: rk | Apr 3 2026 11:34 utc | 78
“Russia has repeatedly said that in order to stop the hot stage of its special military operation, Ukraine must withdraw troops from Donbass, but Moscow has not set any deadlines for that, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.”
https://tass.com/politics/2111447
So, 1.000-1.5000 daily AFU casualties, probably the deadliest military conflict since ww2 (or at least korea), was cold stage…
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 3 2026 12:10 utc | 79
Ukraine and World Affairs: Weekly Update, 3rd April 2026: May be Useful to Some: Editing “Ukraine and World Affairs: Weekly Update” – Substack
Posted by: The Busker | Apr 3 2026 12:44 utc | 80
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 3 2026 12:10 utc | 80
Some here remember when 1500 was the daily number for Artemovsk only. Don’t over-react , Peskov “cold stage” was maybe referring about the relations with 404 officials and state apparatus “at large” , it’s unclear and the translation might not help much.
For now the only “non military related” targets were the SBU (note the quotations marks). TCC were a target, but not the regular police for an example.
It might not be so easy to find valid targets to “seek&destroy” with actual engagement rules these days. RUAF would maybe extend the target list. The opposite side (AFU and militias) has a “best rule is no rule” mentality starting the ATO and never evolved since, but I don’t think Moscow will play it the same kind of “nice” as Tel-Aviv does.
Posted by: Savonarole | Apr 3 2026 14:27 utc | 81
jorge | Apr 3 2026 9:01 utc | 68
*** Off topic, but replying – The ‘no fixed value’ postage stamp scam was also introduced in the UK several years ago, one of the benefits of privatised mail. Typically stamps are designated “first class” or “second class”, and the price increases fairly frequently while the associated level of service decreases. ***
Yes, but it is all so wonderful now that the postal system, water, rail, electricity etc. is privatized and everything can be ever so much like the wonderful neoliberal US* which was the whole point of political traitors wanting to be in NATO and force “convergence” in the first place.
* except of course for the public not having guns — odd how a disarmed public are supposed to trust the rotten establishment having plenty
The Ukrainian budget will last another two weeks, MP Razumkov announced.
Until mid-April, in the current situation, that is, we’re talking about roughly two weeks… Unless something is passed. They’ll try again to cover it with taxes, which will be shifted onto the people.
@ukr_leaks_eng
Posted by: Jo | Apr 3 2026 17:22 utc | 83
Ireland is allocating €40 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the Irish Foreign Office announced.
@ukr_leaks_eng
UK gave c 1.4 billion from interest from seized Russian funds.
The European Commission proposed to the Council of the European Union that Kiev receive €45 billion to cover the €90 billion in military funding blocked by Hungary and Slovakia.
But Kallas says The European Union will allocate €80 million to Ukraine from the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets.This was announced by European Union Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas. But still
Kaja Kallas disappointed Ukrainians once again yesterday.
I can’t give a specific date for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. It depends on both sides: Ukraine must carry out the necessary reforms, and the EU must do everything in its power to ensure Ukraine’s accession.
Earlier, she dispelled any illusions about the €90 billion loan.@ukr_leaks_eng@ukr_leaks_eng
confused.
@ukr_leaks_eng
it seems to be confirmed that 200 ukraine military are based on Libyan shores to attack Rusdian tankers/shadow fleet as happened last week. plus back in March Ukr saboteurs attacked a tanker in the Black Sea near Bosphoris Straight that might have been carrying European fuel. Without seemingly any worthwhile response from their nor Nato.
Though Tallinn has cottoned on to Ukr drone flights in their air space and asked them stop.
Nabu has asked for those mainly at the head of the energy fraud to be returned for trial, there is another scam of millions regarding fraudulent grain sales..
Posted by: Jo | Apr 3 2026 17:42 utc | 84
Posted by: Simon | Apr 3 2026 12:03 utc | 79
“Russia is betrayed by Putin’s Zionists.”
There is no reason to use the silly euphemism “Zionist” here.
If Putin is working for the Jews, why do they hate him so much?
Posted by: Jan Sobieski | Apr 3 2026 18:26 utc | 85
From TG Masno:
I recently visited the main cemetery in Sumy for the first time in over a year, and honestly, I was completely shocked by what I saw.
There used to be a large open area near the entrance — roughly the size of a football field — that was always empty. Now, that entire space has been filled with graves of soldiers. Row after row, stretching across what used to be open ground.
What struck me even more was that the cemetery has expanded beyond that. The old car park — which used to be quite large — has also been turned into burial space. It’s now covered with graves as well.
I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The scale of it was overwhelming, and it left me deeply shaken.
https://t.me/Novichok_Rossiya_2/47722
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 3 2026 18:57 utc | 86
If Putin is working for the Jews, why do they hate him so much?
Posted by: Jan Sobieski | Apr 3 2026 18:26 utc | 86
That question should be inverted, and applied to everyone else too.
The Jews hate everybody, because their religion teaches them that they are the “chosen people” and everyone else is subhuman who is there to only serve them. Which has generated so much bad behavior from Jews throughout history and then nasty reacitons to it, that they have also accumulated lots of additional reasons to hate everybody.
So the question isn’t why the Jews hate somebody, that is the default condition.
The question is why people work for them. In order for that to be something implausible, we should have no obvious examples of goyim working for the Jews. But that is kind of a silly objection right at this time given what is going on in the Middle East — the US military is serving as the mercenary army of Israel.
Thus it is not at all implausible that Putin is controlled by Zionist interests. In fact that is the only explanation that can make sense of the situation. Then you look at the people around him, and what do you see? Jewish oligarchs that have been around him since his Leningrad days…
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 19:13 utc | 87
There used to be a large open area near the entrance — roughly the size of a football field — that was always empty. Now, that entire space has been filled with graves of soldiers. Row after row, stretching across what used to be open ground. What struck me even more was that the cemetery has expanded beyond that. The old car park — which used to be quite large — has also been turned into burial space. It’s now covered with graves as well.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 3 2026 18:57 utc | 87
Well, football field and part of old parking…. maybe 10.000-15.000 graves and then some
If Kursk was ~12% of 2024 casualties during 6 months (so 6% of 2024), and 2025~2024~2023+2022, could be near the ballpark of 1.400.000 AFU permanent loses (half, 700k, KIA) from my latest projections.
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 3 2026 19:13 utc | 88
On the question of Russia & Zionism -debated here- Sovereignista has just put up a piece by amarynth ‘Andrei Martyanov: Russia has WARNED Israel and US against using nukes | Ep. 19’, with an embedded interview of AM from The Cradle.
The piece is worth reading. If only for the claim about the warning. Which, if true, suggests Zionists do not run Russia. Amarynth also defends the charge otherwise.
The claim that “Russia is being soft on Israel”: That is not the case. I’ve heard from Russians who strongly oppose Israeli dual citizens, and authorities are currently tracking down those who fight for the IDF or who support the killing of children in Gaza and similar atrocities against Palestinians. I haven’t seen anyone with dual citizenship arrested in Russia yet for these crimes or for misrepresenting themselves, but further action is likely.
Damn. I can barely type or think in sentences today.
Posted by: JustSomeOldGuy | Apr 3 2026 19:26 utc | 89
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 19:13 utc | 88
“Thus it is not at all implausible that Putin is controlled by Zionist interests. In fact that is the only explanation that can make sense of the situation.”
Is there, in your opinion, any (gentile) politician in the world who is not controlled by the Jews?
Posted by: Jan Sobieski | Apr 3 2026 19:33 utc | 90
Russian Telegram is more full of Iran’s exploits against US, Israel and their puppet states than it is about Russian accomplishments. Iran is putting Russia to shame so far.
Posted by: MiniMO | Apr 3 2026 20:40 utc | 91
Is there, in your opinion, any (gentile) politician in the world who is not controlled by the Jews?
Posted by: Jan Sobieski | Apr 3 2026 19:33 utc | 91
Iran and North Korea clearly aren’t
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 20:55 utc | 92
Posted by: MiniMO | Apr 3 2026 20:40 utc |
You have no idea what the actual extent of Russian support to Iran is and how important it might be
Posted by: Night Tripper | Apr 3 2026 21:02 utc | 93
You have no idea what the actual extent of Russian support to Iran is and how important it might be
Posted by: Night Tripper | Apr 3 2026 21:02 utc | 94
But we do know that it is not what it should be, because what Russia should be doing right now is flying sorties out of its own airfields to shoot down cruise missiles and jets over Western Iran.
And that is clearly not happening.
It used to though — the Korean war was the Americans against the Soviet airforce and Chinese land army participating directly.
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 21:17 utc | 94
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 21:17 utc | 95
I think it’s a sad state of affairs if you sit there, waiting for b.’s new post to go up, ready to copy-paste.
Posted by: The Far Side | Apr 3 2026 22:02 utc | 95
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 2 2026 20:25 utc | 45
yup. they want Russia to “finish the job quickly” just as this is getting good, since Iran seems to have it’s own slo-mo strategy.
And about time Iran joined the fight. For 4 years Iran watched Russia carry thr cross of fighting NATO alone, now Iran is in. A good thing, now both of them can slowly collapse the USA.
But we do know that it is not what it should be, because what Russia should be doing right now is flying sorties out of its own airfields to shoot down cruise missiles and jets over Western Iran.
Posted by: GM | Apr 3 2026 21:17 utc | 95
Other way around, Iran should have been helping Russia with jets and missiles…
…oh what’s that, Iran had its own problems? So does Russia.
AND
They discussed these problems and exactly how they would handle them since at least 2015….
…discussion, which never included your dumb ass, for obvious reasons.
USE NUKES!!
INVADE ARMENIA AND GEORGIA!
What a fucking retard.
MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. The European Union could turn into an extremely hostile military alliance toward Russia, “worse than NATO,” Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council, said on Max.
“It is obvious that there are powerful contradictions within the alliance, which have been exacerbated by the Iranian campaign. And European political freaks, especially in Brussels, are seriously thinking about creating a full-fledged military component within the EU. But this is altering the picture of the world,” Medvedev warned.
He said until now the Russian rhetoric about EU membership has been restrained and calm in relation to all neighbors, even to Ukraine: join it, if you want.
“But now everything has to change – now the EU is no longer an economic union. It can quickly turn into a full-fledged and extremely hostile military alliance against Russia, in some ways worse than NATO,” the politician said.
“It will be a disgusting rabble of rabid European parasites and their task will be to earn political capital and, of course, dough by inflating Russophobic hysteria. It’s time to abandon the tolerant attitude towards joining the military-economic European Union of our neighbors.”
Medvedev said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already done this neatly when he told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that Moscow was calm about the development of Yerevan’s relations with the EU, but Armenia would not be able to be in two customs unions at once – the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Posted by: arby | Apr 3 2026 22:50 utc | 98
Russian Telegram is more full of Iran’s exploits against US, Israel and their puppet states than it is about Russian accomplishments. Iran is putting Russia to shame so far.
Posted by: MiniMO | Apr 3 2026 20:40 utc | 92
Iran wouldnt even have a chance if it wasnt for all the work Russia put in destroying western materiel over the past four years.
“Is there, in your opinion, any (gentile) politician in the world who is not controlled by the Jews?”
Posted by: Jan Sobieski | Apr 3 2026 19:33 utc | 91
Oh no. Not that old nonsense again! Israel is just another proxy that’s got out of hand. Which suits the Western power centres, mainly in Washington, just fine. If if it didn’t they wouldn’t keep the Israelis supplied. Israel, as Merz says with unusual honesty, is merely doing our “dirty work” for us. But it’s our dirty work.
And to move on from there and to tar all Jews with the same brush is just stupid. Like assuming all Muslims are evil because our Jihadists in Syria were evil. Or assuming all Ukrainians are inclined to genocide because the extremists we put in power in Kiev were inclined to genocide.
Yes, the Israelis at present are subject to what one can only call mass psychosis. Much of what they’re doing at present is straight psychotic. Revolting. But having experienced the proxy war hysteria rampant in both England and Germany in 2022, and having seen it from afar at that time in much of the States, it doesn’t seem that difficult to plunge any national group into mass hysteria.
Get the circumstances right and from there it’s easy enough to move on to the approval and then to the commission of atrocities. We in the West, or our politicians but with the approval or acquiescence of very many of us, are expert in advancing what we see as our national interests by just such means. You going to blame the proxies only, Mr Sobieski? Or we who set them to their work.
Posted by: English Outsider | Apr 3 2026 22:55 utc | 100