Ukrainian Website Blocked After Bombarded With Requests From Surrendering Russian Soldiers, Report Says (businessinsider.com) The Russian government on Sunday banned users nationwide from accessing a Ukrainian website that encourages Russian military members to surrender. Since October 4, a site called Hochu Zhit has received more than 2,000 requests from members of the Russian military to abandon their posts and voluntarily surrender to Ukrainian forces, the Kyiv Independent reported. Translated from Russian, Hochu Zhit means "I want to live." The Ukrainian state-run website promises to adhere to Geneva conventions for the treatment of prisoners of war and offers surrendering Russian military members three meals a day, legal support, and medical attention if they apply to surrender via the site or its affiliated hotline. The hotline was first announced on September 19 by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, just two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 military reservists — many of whom have been drafted — to the battlefield.
Americans have always been isolationist, until another country makes an attack on U.S. shores. Then all hell breaks loose. The average American isn't educated enough on global events and policy to even understand why they should be supporting Ukraine, much less why they should be enthusiastic about it. Most Americans think of foreign policy as something that happens in the next state, not on the other side of the planet. Sometimes you have to do what's right, regardless of the polls. Biden should also do more to educate the American people on what the stakes are in Ukraine, but is probably refraining from doing so to either prevent panic or prevent more Americans from going over there and trying to become heroes. Americans are probably also nervous about the possibility of the war escalating into the U.S. putting boots on the ground.
The company that set up that poll. “Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft” Their purpose…. “ the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a newly planned anti-war foreign policy think tank, aims to get noticed for more than just the money behind it…..The group’s inception is driven by a shared concern over the United States’ long-standing reliance on military force over diplomacy.. “ Soros and Koch Are Uniting to Fund an Anti-War Think Tank Recent issues at “Quincy Institute ” regarding the Ukraine War… “Two prominent figures have resigned in protest from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft—one of the only major think tanks to promote a skeptical view of US power and military interventionism. In announcing their departures, Joe Cirincione and Paul Eaton criticized the organization’s dovish response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “This is a completely unjustified, unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state. There was no justification for this,” Cirincione said in an interview Thursday with Mother Jones. “And yet Quincy keeps justifying it.” America's top anti-war think tank is fracturing over Ukraine. But other polls….. “Despite this, most Americans (66%) continue to support the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, although this is down seven points from late April (73%).” The latest wave of our Reuters/Ipsos poll tracking the Russia/Ukraine crisis finds nearly two-thirds of Americans are closely following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-po...kraine-despite-russia-threatening-use-nuclear “Even before the Ukrainian military's recent success over Russian forces in Kharkiv, Americans favored backing Ukraine's ambition to reclaim its territory.” Americans Back Ukrainian Goal of Reclaiming Territory
I realize the military realities as of today are a little bit hard to match up. I've tried to find a place where the Ukrainians were beating back a Russian counterattack. Didn't find one on quick search But seriously I just got the idea because it was a bear. You're overthinking it. It wasn't supposed to be that clever. The bear was the joke
Ah. I just wasn’t sure if something new happened in Kherson, such as Russia attempting a failed counterattack with conscripts.
The U.S. finds a way to piss off Turkey for failure to support Ukraine: upgrade the weapons of Cyprus to free up Russian weapons to send to Ukraine. Cyprus, which is an island just south of Turkey, had apparently bought large quantities of Russian weapons over the years. I wonder if the U.S. could leverage this weapons trade into something larger with Turkey: "If you donate this amount of weaponry to Ukraine, we won't make the trade with Cyprus." The island is one third Turkish people, and two thirds Greek people. A quiet US move in the Mediterranean may help put more pressure on Russia, but not everyone in NATO is happy about it
Russian Oil Depot Near Border With Ukraine Burns After Being Shelled, Regional Governor Says (rferl.org) An oil depot in the Belgorod region of Russia bordering Ukraine caught fire after being shelled on October 15, the third consecutive day of strikes on strategic targets in the region. "We're getting bombed again. One of the shells hit the oil depot in the Belgorod region," regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Gladkov posted a photo showing flames and plumes of black smoke rising above a building near a communications tower. Local emergency services said the depot is in the village of Razumnoye-71, near the city of Belgorod, according to TASS. One of 10 tanks with residual diesel fuel was set alight, TASS reported. Gladkov also said a customs checkpoint had been shelled for several days in a row and that 14 shells had landed there on October 15 but caused no injuries.
Russian fighter jet plows into apartment building in Russian town across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, killing 6-12 people. Russian fighter plane crashes into apartments near Ukraine
interesting you mention that. Of course polls are far from infallible. But, from the gallop poll…. Too much aid…. …..not enough aid
China stops sending Russian LNG to Europe. They are not sure their own people will have enough heat this winter. China has stopped sales of LNG to Europe to make sure its own households have enough gas for the winter, report says
My estimation is Trump would not have supported Ukraine’s ascension to NATO and thus Putin had no pressing need overthrow Zelenskyy as long as Trump was in the Oval. Which tells me Putin feels like he’s doing this out of necessity, whether that’s for right or for wrong. There’s more to this, but all the pieces are there and it’s most likely not a complete coincidence.
Biden wasn’t supporting it either. Ukraine was never getting into NATO with a frozen conflict in Donbas and Crimea. Same with Georgia. All indications are that Putin was inevitably going to make this move at some point. The acceleration in his preparation became obvious to the world in roughly September 2021. Now whether that was a reaction to our embarrassing strategic defeat in Afghanistan or revelations about Putin’s failing health or something else, we probably won’t know until some time after the war when members of the Russian inner circle go public with their experience. But this much is clear: Putin had been acting very patient and very strategic with his power projection since the early 2000s; something made him think the time was now to abandon caution.
