War in Ukraine

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.

 

High energy prices aren’t helpful to China either

 

Live footage from Kherson:

 

Who is who in this metaphor?

 

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

 

not quite as much if they get a free pass to buy discounted Russian oil and gas

 

Ah. I just wasn’t sure if something new happened in Kherson, such as Russia attempting a failed counterattack with conscripts.

 

Maybe, but I couldn't find it. It was just a bear joke.

 

I barely got it.

 

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

 

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.

 

All a part of that brilliant Russian strategery we used to hear so much about, doubtless.

 

Uh huh

 

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.