Face to face with the Russian-backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine

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GTX

All hail the God of Frustration!!!
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I post this story not to try to illicit a flame war or the like but simply to help people understand that the Ukrainian Crisis is not so clear cut as some would make out. This is not simply some devious plan created by President Putin with squads of Russian forces covertly operating to invade/conquer the Ukraine. Perhaps you will ignore what is written as simply clever propaganda or perhaps you will take the time to consider. That is up to you. Anyway, the article:

Face to face with the Russian-backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine

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Thanks for posting this.
History is full of tragedy and the people on both sides usually have a lot more in common then they'll ever realise.
 
The news reports coming out of Kiev make it seem as though the insurgency in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts is wholly the result of Russian aggression perpetrated by foreign volunteers. What if the majority of the people residing in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts want to be part of the Russian Federation?
 
What if Mexican in ...


It is impossible that all were fully satisfied
 
Orionblamblam said:
What if the majority of people in Chechnya don't want to be a part of the Russian Federation?

The response by the United States and the West is largely based on its interests in the region.
 
Triton said:
The response by the United States and the West is largely based on its interests in the region.

The response by anyone is largely based on their interests in the region.

But while true, it misses the point. If Russia is so enthralled with the idea of "ethnic groups" determining borders, then they should be cutting Chechnya loose right about a generation ago.

And Russian vs Ukrainian ethnicities? Unless they were wearing flags, I doubt many other people could tell 'em apart. And even if they could... who cares?
 
It's certainly a very confusing situation since next to Belarus Ukraine is probably the most Russified country anywhere. Plus at least part of the most "rebellious" pro Russian territory was actually part of Russia (USSR) until Khrushchev gifted (back?) to Ukraine. When that happened during the height of the soviet/Warsaw pact era it didn't really mean much and even after the collapse it didn't mean much because Ukraine was so obviously culturally and ethnically related to Russia. Even in Kiev where the name European Union isn't a dirty word your more likely to hear people speaking Russian than anything else.

For Russia's part though they could have stayed Ukraines closest national friend if they could live with it being a little closer to Europe at the same time economically but they have managed to completely polarise the country. What are they hoping to achieve? The part they are likely to get if the country falls apart has a little coal and lots of poverty. The other half makes lots of essential military equipment for the Russian federation and is the countries beating economic heart. The West (particulary the US Thanks to tar sands and fracking) can live without Russia but the reverse isn't necisarily true. Though you wouldn't know this to listen to domestic Russian news, apparently sanctions will be a boon to domestic industry and will usher in a new brilliant era of cultural renaissance for the eastern orthodox church... mad.

It's long held Russian dogma that if Ukraine becomes a NATO country (or treaty-less equivalent) Western Russia becomes indefensible but if the county splits in two as Russia seems to be making happe, NATO membership becomes a lot more likely, at least for the western half. They also just gave every European defence hawk (endangered species I know) a prefect argument to push defence budgets and keep NATO together and relevant for years to come. With the sanctions coming and without the Ukrainian military supply chain can Russia effectively counter without a HUGE shake up to their spending and industry?

What did they hope to get out of it? Thinking very conspiratorially I suppose if they were looking really long term they could be hoping to destabalise Ukraine by taking over half and killing the economy in the other half until it becomes a near failed state like South Ossetia and work some finlandization.

Obviously it comes from a place of nationalistic pride and you can't deny the bump in popularity Putin has gotten from it but at such a high cost I have to think something else is going on, it's not like he was facing imminent domestic threat to his presidency and needed a distraction, they just had the Olympics.

It's all very interesting though, almost unique in history to see the rebuilding of an empire, normally they grow and then fall apart, they don't normally come back...I suppose this is the end of the end of history.

Quick disclaimer: what I've said in no way discounts the passionate and I'm sure genuine feelings of the separatists or to say that their aren't genuine issues with the people now in charge in Kiev. It's just that Putin is normally the arch pragmatist and strategist and I don't see what he thought/thinks is going to happen and what he thinks he's going to get out of it, I struggle to believe he didn't see this turning Europe and half of Ukraine against Russia and him personally, he obviously sees an angle I don't.
 
We as a nation are distracted at this moment. So Russia does something
to get our attention.
 
Russia's motives in the Donbas and in Abkhazia and Ossetia are simple and clear. In order to exclude the admission of Georgia and Ukraine to NATO, territorial problems are necessary for these countries. The NATO Charter does not allow such a state to be accepted into the Alliance. To guarantee this state of affairs, two smoldering conflicts have been created in both cases:
for Ukraine - the Luhansk and Donetsk republics
for Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russian interests have found support on the ground. The people of Donbass do not want to have anything to do with Ukrainian fascists, and Abkhazians and Ossetians with Georgians
 
 

Thought about posting this as well; the results, after all these years of "local miners" and "factory workers" supposedly managing to conjure up anything from heavy artillery and apparently an endless supply of ordnance from thin air to procuring the latest in Russian EW and UAV technology from local chicken coops, are glaringly obvious. The study traces fairly mundane weaponry but as tedious and meticulous as this work might be, it is very important that it's done to a standard which will hold up in any (impartial) judicial process, anywhere. If not for anything else than future reference. Here's the actual study and an NYT article as well:


 
current events with Ukraine.

  • Nov 1st: Russian build-up on Ukraine border (Reported by US media)
  • Nov 2nd: CIA Director Burns goes to Moscow
  • Nov 3rd: Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrei Taran resigns
  • Nov 3rd: Far-right 'Right Sector' Dmytro Yarosh appointed as advisor to Comander-in-Chief
  • Nov 4th: US Official visits Kiev
  • Nov 4th: USS Mount Whitney Enters Black Sea (Command & Control Ship of US Navy)
  • Nov 5th - Now] Increased recon-flights over Black Sea, additional reports of Russian troop deployments

As of Saturday morning, November 13, 60% of the capacities of the state-owned thermal power plants of the company "Centenergo" are idle in Ukraine due to the lack of coal. This was reported by the press service of Ukrenergo.

Thus, the record 14 power units of the following TPPs do not work due to the lack of coal:
• Luhansk - 15 power unit;
• Uglegorskaya - 2, 4, 6, 7 power units;
• Krivorozhskaya - 5 power unit;
• Transcarpathian - 5, 7 power units;
• Zmievskaya - 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 power units;
• Kharkiv CHPP-5 - 3rd power unit;
• Tripolskaya - 4, 5, 6 power units;
• Kiev CHPP-5 - 1, 3, 4 power units;
• Kiev CHPP-6 - 1, 2 power units.

Let us clarify that only 3 out of 23 power units carry the load at state-owned thermal power plants, which is about 10% of their capacity. At the same time, 4 units do not work at private thermal power plants due to the lack of coal.



Ukraine is preparing for rolling power outages.

We already wrote that the enterprises of the Cherkasy region began to receive schedules of hourly power outages.

As entrepreneurs say, such charts come to entrepreneurs in other areas as well. In particular, the head of SAVEFOP Sergei Dorotich confirmed to us the existence of such "letters of happiness" in the Poltava region.

Yesterday, the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, warned about the possibility of false blackouts in the capital.

"If the frosts persist for several weeks at a temperature of minus 15, the probability of rolling blackouts, which has not happened for 20 years, is very high," Klitschko said.

Such a threat is associated with a shortage of coal and gas, which is already being stated at 12 enterprises that produce electricity and heat, Klitschko explained.

However, officially, the government continues to deny the possibility of rolling blackouts. Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, on the air of the Right to Power program, assured that as of today there are no grounds for rolling blackouts. And he accused Klitschko of disinformation.

The press service of Ukrenergo also assures that there is no talk of rolling blackouts.

Meanwhile, business and people are already in a panic.

"In the regions, they are very afraid of power outages, especially since they are actually going on in many settlements, although they are not called rolling. In particular, power outages in the Sumy region have become more frequent. We are worried not only about power outages, but also about the consequences - heating boilers can overheat and explode, "says the head of the Yaroslav concern, Alexander Barsuk.

We were figuring out whether rolling blackouts are being prepared in Ukraine.

Without electricity - 8 hours a day

Enterprises of the Cherkasy region received a large schedule of hourly power outages. And shared it with "Strana".

It states that, for example, the Cherkasy plant of reinforced concrete products, Cherkassyryba, the Cherkasy plant of autochemistry and others may be left without electricity from midnight to 2:00, then from 6 to 8 in the morning, from 12:00 to 14:00 and from 18:00 to 20:00. That is, in total, the supply of electricity can be limited to 8 hours a day.

"Cherkassyelevatortorg", "Vtormet", Oblagrokhim, paint and varnish plant "Aurora" and others may be left without electricity from 2 to 4 am, then from 8.00 to 10.00, from 14.00 to 16.00 and from 20.00 to 22.00, in total - the same 8 hours per day.

The same shutdown periods are indicated not only for enterprises, but also for entire streets, that is, for the population (Khomenko, Vernigory, Tankistov, Smelyanskaya, Pavel Buta, Desantnikov streets, etc.)

There are also other time periods for outages: from 4.00 to 6.00, from 10.00 to 12.00, from 16.00 to 18.00, from 22.00 to 24.00.

That is, the schedule is drawn up in such a way that during the day, various enterprises and city districts will be disconnected for a total of 8 hours.

The schedule itself was drawn up back in June this year, but it was only sent out now.

"There is nothing surprising in the existence of the schedules for limiting consumption. They should be drawn up in case of various kinds of emergency. But, as a rule, such schedules do not go beyond the walls of the city administration. And the fact that now they are being sent out suggests that time "H" is not ruled out, "says our source in the energy market.

For enterprises "letters of happiness" on electricity came as a complete surprise - they have not received them over the past couple of decades. Therefore, they immediately panicked. It is believed that this is no longer just a warning "just in case", but a real threat of blackouts.

It is noteworthy that no dates for outages are indicated in the schedule - only time intervals.

"If they send out, it means that they do not know exactly the period of outages, and how long they can last. Most likely, they will be until March next year. And this is already planned, otherwise, if it was about unexpected failures, nothing I wouldn’t warn you, they would simply turn it off, and that’s all, ”says Yuriy Korolchuk, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Studies.

Such schedules are also received in other regions, - Dorotich told us.

In particular, enterprises of the Poltava region receive notifications about the restriction of electricity supply. And in the Kiev region, the prepayment for electricity was increased - if earlier they were taken according to the average consumption, now they are in accordance with the established limits.

Alexander Barsuk says that they have not received schedules yet, but power outages have become more frequent in the Sumy region, so both business and people do not have the best presentiments.

“Everyone is afraid of blackouts. It’s not only a matter of electricity, but also heating. Boilers can suffer, up to overheating and explosions,” he says.

"Opening Pandora's Box"

Note that experts have long warned that this winter the risks of rolling blackouts will increase sharply, especially if there is frost and an increase in electricity consumption.

Coal at domestic thermal power plants is less than 500 thousand tons, and there is virtually nowhere to take it in the required volumes. The import of electricity, which came to us from Belarus, will slightly unload the energy system, but will not completely solve the problem - those


View: https://twitter.com/colonelhomsi/status/1459303648480178176



View: https://youtu.be/j3l2kJTernI



Ukraine gov preparing for military solution to Donbass conflict
Critical lack of soldiers in all/most divisions,
officers act bestial to soldiers,
faulty APCs with lack of spare parts,
many units exist only on paper,
soldiers hate officers and vice versa,
motivation of contract soldiers low,
contract soldiers from last couple of years are in it solely for money and attempt to avoid officers,
officers do not know what contract soldiers are doing,
soldiers sneak away at night to drink,
problems with fights (amongst soldiers),
military equipment gets lost, or deteriates, or is sold to civilians cheap,
contract soldiers attempt to stay away from demarcation line,
volunteer soldiers who faught in 2014-16 all largely gone.
 
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The saga of Belarus and Ukraine between 1991 and the present day does not reflect well on anyone.
The corruption and autocracy rampant in
both countries as well as Russia's desire to keep them firmly under Moscow's control is well documented.
But the EU and NATO failed to learn any lessons from the disastrous collapse of Yugoslavia into sectarian states.
Western policies to both have failed to bring any meaningful reforms or contribute to reconciling different communities.
Simply hurling sanctions and abuse at Putin has been as unsuccessful as it was against Milosevic.
Military intervention by NATO left the protagonists in Yugoslavia biding their time for revenge on one another at a future date.
Fortunately military action against a nuclear armed Russia is impossible.
Diplomacy may seem slow and often ineffectual but now is the time for it.
 
Belarus blinding polands troops at border, than there is the build up in Ukraine. Considering Poland's WW2 past with Ukraine having those as two allies is like having Israel become allies with Iran or Palestine, Poland and Ukraine is also relaint on their gas. Nothing will happen as usual. While Turkey and Ukraine do try to assist each other its just getting too difficult for them to even try to catch up in terms of military offense and defense technology and weapons even though they try their best.
 
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In fact, the vast majority of conflicts on the territory of the former USSR are caused by the policies of the communists. The communists just wanted as many good positions in government as possible to take. Each republic that was part of the USSR had its own government and its own communist party. Thanks to this, the number of different officials already in the first half of the 1920s was 10 times more than in tsarist Russia.
The other side of the issue was the peoples. The communists had a kind of fetish for the creation of "national territories", regardless of whether people wanted to live separately or not. Therefore, they picked up any ideas, including the establishment of distinctions between different ethnic groups, which led, for example, to conflicts in Karabakh, as well as the separation of some peoples from others. In the 20s and 30s there was a lot of talk about what is better to remove the borders between the republics and make an integral state, but this each time ended with accusations of "great-power chauvinism" and "Russian nationalism", in fact, this meant that those who spoke about the indivisibility of territories were to the counter-revolutionary fascists. Who will remember now that many Russians lived on the territory of Kazakhstan? There was even a Russian autonomous region with a predominance of the Russian population, which was later abolished. Who will now remember that Stalin carried out Ukrainization on the territory of modern Ukraine? Working people were fired from their jobs for not knowing the Ukrainian language. Who will talk about genetics, culture, etc.? Yes, no one, everyone just does not care. In the late 80s, in fact, there was a disintegration in the style of medieval feudalism, when yesterday's neighbors began to gnaw each other's throats for the sake of some piece of land.
In the case of the Donbass and Crimea, they were banally donated to Ukraine by the Soviet government. After the collapse of the USSR in the 90s, there were many supporters of joining Russia in Crimea. At that moment, a conflict began between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, but Yeltsin had too many problems to be able to seize Crimea - including because at that time Ukraine had more troops than the Russian Federation.
To consider from the point of view - "who is good, who is bad" is now impossible. In all these conflicts, no one disdains to play "dirty". Of course, the Russian Federation will view NATO as an aggressor, because NATO has "slightly" increased in size since 1991, of course NATO will view the Russian Federation as an aggressor, because the Russian Federation wants to expand - or, at least, wants to control the former USSR. Apparently, eastern Europe will almost never be calm.
 
To reference the “Ukrainization” of the Ukraine but to then not make any mention of the man-made terrible famine of the 30’s that killed many millions is bizarre and perhaps illuminating.


And Yeltsin formally recognised Ukraine’s existing borders, not aware of any evidence of some kind of intention or plan to seize parts of it like Putin has.
 
To reference the “Ukrainization” of the Ukraine but to then not make any mention of the man-made terrible famine of the 30’s that killed many millions is bizarre and perhaps illuminating.


And Yeltsin formally recognised Ukraine’s existing borders, not aware of any evidence of some kind of intention or plan to seize parts of it like Putin has.

The Holodomor took place on the territory of the RSFSR as well, the Russians have an expression, "the starving Volga region" ("golodayusheje Povolje"). Why would the Communists purposefully destroy the Ukrainians, whom they themselves recorded as Ukrainians?
It's much simpler. The communists wanted a lot of money, the population had a lot of savings. The so-called "Torgsin" bought gold and sold food. Moreover, he sold food several times more expensive than the USSR abroad. Simply put, the communists created a deficit to be given gold. Torgsin thus received several hundred tons of gold, as well as other jewelry. By the way, the communists even before that organized several such robberies, when they took away apartments, took away savings in banks, etc. Of course, now it is beneficial for Ukraine to make the Holodomor look like an attempt to destroy Ukraine.
Can you read Russian? These are clippings from Soviet newspapers of the early 30s: 1114660_900.jpg
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Moreover, Ukrainization also affected the territory of the RSFSR.
Probably, the communists had so much money that they could afford to spend it on such events.
Project of "national uniform" for Ukraine, 1944:
16575207_original-352x500.jpg
Why?
Yeltsin was too drunk to be able to dictate the text of the ultimatum. As I said, he actually did not have the opportunity to do something because of the weakness of the army (after all, if my memory serves me correctly, Ukraine had two Soviet military districts?). In addition, Ukraine has transferred an arsenal of nuclear weapons to the Russian Federation.
In fact, I really feel sorry for people from the former communist bloc. In addition to all that they have endured in the 20th century, they are deprived of a quiet life due to various political squabbles. "Zakovia must return Krakuzovsk town to Vltavia!" - "The government of Muravia expresses concern about the conflict between Vltavia and Zakovia, and calls for peace" - "Vltavia will triumph! May revenge on the disgusting bastards of Zakovia!" This is approximately how it looks from the outside.
And of course, in the place of the conflict "Zakovia vs Vltavia" there will always be some foreign soldiers, "who are not there, you have invented everything," some nationalists, someone will, as always "express concern" and help someone with a weapon, everything that happens will be accompanied by the distortion of history, as well as very clumsy and crude propaganda. Everything as usual.
 
To reference the “Ukrainization” of the Ukraine but to then not make any mention of the man-made terrible famine of the 30’s that killed many millions is bizarre and perhaps illuminating.


And Yeltsin formally recognised Ukraine’s existing borders, not aware of any evidence of some kind of intention or plan to seize parts of it like Putin has.
confused about wiki their blaming the famine on the soviets that have starved as well? I thought it was something similiar to what the UPA did in East Galacia and Volhynia which is why I am telling them good luck on any alliance with Poland. I dont know why I find it amusing that the EU went from getting super mad on blaming the eastern block nations for not taking refugees but all of a sudden the EU does a complete 180 assisting in poland not wanting to take refugees to meet the EU's quota. I think even than some eastern block nations would realize they are being used as useful idiots.
 
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Lots of hand waving, dubious tirades about history and more dubious still sources of information.

Another day online while trying to keep track and discuss what is going on in Donbas, Luhansk and Crimea. Seeing the subject matter everyone involved is posting in generally here, entirely predictable as well - but the presence and prevalence of these reactions are also tangentially telling of the overall situation taken in context, of course.

Whether Putin's regime is about to shift gears there remains to be seen but certainly they're opening more options by moving troops and equipment; these movements are now visible even to open source researchers due to increased commercial access to SAR radar satellite imagery and such. The regime is of course portraying themselves as being entirely reactive as if NATO's increasing vigilance in the area wouldn't in any way be warranted by the Putin's own, long continuing, offensive actions. This is a longstanding tradition by now.

Particular ire is reserved for Ukraine's actual use of Bayraktar UAVs against Russia's unacknowledged troops/irregular forces who move and use heavy weaponry in the agreed exclusion zone in Luhansk/Donbas (such breaches are routine - and sometimes kill Ukrainians - but are usually not as effectively challenged). Putin's regime thinks it has escalation dominance as they simply don't care what happens to the people in the area and seem to think that eventually the EU and the U. S. will just grow tired of throwing in resources to limit and repair the damage.

Which brings me to corruption and oligarchy.

The saga of Belarus and Ukraine between 1991 and the present day does not reflect well on anyone.
The corruption and autocracy rampant in
both countries as well as Russia's desire to keep them firmly under Moscow's control is well documented.
But the EU and NATO failed to learn any lessons from the disastrous collapse of Yugoslavia into sectarian states.
Western policies to both have failed to bring any meaningful reforms or contribute to reconciling different communities.
Simply hurling sanctions and abuse at Putin has been as unsuccessful as it was against Milosevic.
Military intervention by NATO left the protagonists in Yugoslavia biding their time for revenge on one another at a future date.
Fortunately military action against a nuclear armed Russia is impossible.
Diplomacy may seem slow and often ineffectual but now is the time for it.

Please don't play into the hands of the likes of Putin and Lukashenka with blanket statements. I understand the frustration, but Putin invading Ukraine was the direct result of the nation - the majority of the population in staunch opposition to Putin's hand picked president Yanukovich (aided by latter Trump campaign manager Manafort, no less) - trying to rid itself of its Kremlin puppets and cronies. The same thing in Belarus, the vast majority tried to rid itself of Lukashenka and the reaction was the same - open violence against any demand of accountability or the emergence of an equal civil society. Ukraine has since made tremendous strides in very difficult circumstances and in Belarus the uprising is still ongoing albeit can't manifest itself in mass protest form at the moment.

The oppressors are not the majority, not by a long shot and there's no circular rule of history forcing these peoples back into the charades they've for so long suffered. This is not some sectarian or ethnic conflict; if it becomes one it is only because Putin's regime, its adherents and its oligarchs are trying to make it so - or anything really, apart from anyone questioning their relative power and privilege. The Balkans are not a good comparison at all since the Kremlin plays favorites there as well; they even tried to assassinate North Macedonia's PM and stage a coup to prevent them from becoming a NATO member, remember? Or, you know, as the GRU calls these things nowadays, "Friday". Didn't work that time though.

These are not isolated incidents. No one is insulated from the effects and even a direct threat of authoritarianism. "Londongrad" is awash with oligarchs' loot and happy enablers of corruption; perhaps some of this is building a weird de-escalating codependence between some very unsavory powers and the rest but it's a dangerous (and sometimes provably deadly - polonium, novichok, open windows, etc.) game. Diplomacy is worth naught if it stems from false premises or cannot be backed up by other means. In these times of hybrid, all of society, conflicts clinging to binaries such as "military action" is counterproductive. Putin's regime certainly sees itself in conflict, acts constantly in bad faith and does not feel very restricted. We shouldn't try to anticipate what these characters want only to accede to them in advance.

It's a vastly different thing to sometimes act cynically to actually being defeatist and cynical.
 
FDr1towWEAM0SDL



The Ukrainian military, who themselves a few days ago used an unmanned aerial vehicle to strike the DPR, today decided to present themselves as victims of the actions of the NM LPR. The press headquarters of the so-called Joint Forces Operation (JF) announced the alleged use of drones by the LPNR troops.

The OOS press service publishes a release claiming that the people's militia of the republics (in Ukrainian terminology “Russian-occupation troops”) used UAVs that “crossed the line of contact”.

From the message of the Ukrainian side:

“The enemy used UAVs, which dropped VOG-17 (30x29 mm grenade launcher ammunition - approx. VO). The drone was recorded crossing the demarcation line. As a result of these actions, one soldier was injured incompatible with life. Also, two more servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were wounded.

At the same time, it is added that from the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at that moment artillery and mortar fire, called "return", was fired. Although, the Ukrainian side itself announced the conduct of this fire at least an hour before there were statements about the alleged use of NM LDNR drones.
 
Lots of hand waving, dubious tirades about history and more dubious still sources of information.
That's ironic, considering your post is literally a litany of "Ukraine good, Putin caused everything" simplicity, the subsequent thought train of which will find it impossible to understand how it could possibly be that a bunch of Russians ended up in Ukraine's borders, with no desire to be so, and enough desire to fight to separate 25 years later. No amount of "Putin regime corrupt and bad" will make the situation as simple as you try to make it out.

Whether Putin's regime is about to shift gears there remains to be seen but certainly they're opening more options by moving troops and equipment; these movements are now visible even to open source researchers due to increased commercial access to SAR radar satellite imagery and such. The regime is of course portraying themselves as being entirely reactive as if NATO's increasing vigilance in the area wouldn't in any way be warranted by the Putin's own, long continuing, offensive actions. This is a longstanding tradition by now.
1.) Russia has used a force build up at the border as a negotiating tool since at least 2015, this isn't anything particularly new.
2.) Interesting how Putin's own long, continuing offense has managed to move the border barely past Russia into Ukraine, while NATO has somehow shifted much, much farther East (when it is not invading some random country that is). Take Putin and his cronies out and you still have a situation that would be a strategic concern for any Russian leadership.

Particular ire is reserved for Ukraine's actual use of Bayraktar UAVs
I have not seen any serious ire past the norm, considering Ukraine used the world's most ovverated UAV to strike a howitzer or two, something they were capable of doing before hand.

against Russia's unacknowledged troops/irregular forces who move
Seperatist forces have ALWAYS outnumbered any Russian actual military commitment in the conflict, and significantly so. Obviously Russia has supplied them though.

and use heavy weaponry in the agreed exclusion zone in Luhansk/Donbas (such breaches are routine - and sometimes kill Ukrainians - but are usually not as effectively challenged)
LOL convenient to ignore the number of times Ukraine fires heavy weaponry in breach of ceasefires. Seriously both times do it all the time.
The majority of the population in staunch opposition
The majority of Ukraine's population thought its Western backed "totally not Russian puppets" from the previous "regime" sucked so bad they elected Yanukovich.

to Putin's hand picked president Yanukovich (
lol @ Yanukovich being hand picked by Putin.

- trying to rid itself of its Kremlin puppets and cronies.
And instead kept its own homegrown cronies and oligarchs! Bravo! Believe it or not Ukraine was a corrupt mess since 1991 not because Putin machinated it. Him being fine with it is another story altogether.

The same thing in Belarus, the vast majority tried to rid itself of Lukashenka
Huh? vast majority? Brave claims. Lukashenko has plenty of support from many demographics. Not everyone is a young, urban activist.

Ukraine has since made tremendous strides in very difficult circumstances
Ukraine is still a poverty, corruption stricken dump. It made no progress when it elected Ushchneko either.
 
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