Zelenskyy can certainly afford to throw some shade Bulgaria's way. It's not like he's being undiplomatic with Britain, Germany, Poland, or the U.S. If Bulgaria is unwilling and unable to support the war effort, then Zelenskyy is correct to call them out. Same for Hungary. When you're wrong, you're wrong, and people should call you out on it. Zelenskyy is in a battle for his country's survival, and has a need to straighten out countries that are willing to look the other way at Russian atrocities. I have no problem with his diplomatic skills.
stormshadows take out another russian general france agrees to provide long range missiles us expected to agree to supply long range missiles (ATACMS) russian command and control must be moving back rapidly Ukraine-Russia war live: Russian general 'killed by British Storm Shadow missile' (msn.com) Kremlin threatens with "consequences" after France's decision to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine (msn.com) Ukraine Receives Storm Shadow Boost as France Commits 'SCALP' Missiles (newsweek.com)
Russians are starting to surrender in at least one combat zone, an indication that Russia is getting closer to giving up. A total of 29 Russian soldiers surrendered in Tavriia in the last 48 hours. Increasing number of Russians surrender on Tavriia front (yahoo.com)
The U.S. justification for using cluster bombs in Ukraine. Basically, Russia has used so many mines and cluster bombs in Ukraine that the countryside will have to be cleaned up extensively whether Ukraine uses them or not. Plus, Russia often targeted civilians with their cluster bombs, while Ukraine will target the Russian military. I was on the fence about the U.S. providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, but it makes more sense with the explanation. The US isn't too concerned about creating a lasting nightmare for Ukrainian civilians with mines and bomblets because Russia already did it (yahoo.com)
BS, you weren’t on the fence about giving Ukraine cluster munitions. Aside: two million cluster munitions couldn’t dislodge Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon.
Here is an impressive comparison: Ukraine has taken back almost as much territory in the last five weeks as Russia had captured in the previous six months. Ukraine's army liberates almost as much territory in 5 weeks as Russians captured in 6 months – ISW (yahoo.com)
They're just too efficient to ignore, in my amateur opinion. @uftaipan can correct me, but I read something recently on how it takes around 11 conventional shells to hit one "target" but only takes like 0.86 cluster shells to get a hit. The numbers may be off, but the point holds and it's an important point as this is an artillery war, not a typical modern war with air power.
Why Russia has not taken more territory than it has … Why move forward when your enemy comes to you to be killed ?
Stefan Laurell ( spelling from memory) on Twitter is a great follow https://twitter.com/Stefan_Laurell?t=wjZsNPWFeD7MFsshzdbfdg&s=09
Seems like the incentives are increasing for both sides to negotiate a settlement. - US use of cluster bombs will be hard on Russian forces - That whole area is and will be a wasteland for some time, so at some point you have to question what they are fighting over. - Potential for Ukraine to be part of NATO and maybe even EU is a big incentive for Ukraine to get this thing over with - I am sure Russia will be happy with any way out where they can save face.
Sweden once confused a school of fish for a Russian submarine and it created a panic. It has made a number of solid decisions of late. Ex: Covid, child genital mutilation, immigration restrictions … but LOL at its Russia paranoia.
Hotel was hosting a leadership meeting. Thought they were out of range or protected. Thought wrong. This has to be creating a lot if disarray in an already chaotic situation. This is the highest ranked general to be killed so I have to think he was surrounded by a lot of other highly ranked officers and their support staff. Long range precision strike on a high value target. Win for the good guys. Ukraine took out a senior Russian general with a Storm Shadow missile nearly 100 miles behind the front line: reports (msn.com) A Storm Shadow strike on Berdyansk would demonstrate the range of Ukrainian missile power, as the site is about 95 miles behind the front line — previously unreachable by heavy air strikes from within Ukraine-held territory. Ukraine's US-supplied HIMARS, supplied in June 2022, have a range of around 50 miles. But the Storm Shadow, also known as a SCALP missile, is fired from an aircraft and has a post-launch range of about 155 miles. This represents "an absolute step change in the range of a very capable missile," defense analyst Michael Clarke told Insider. An undisclosed quantity of Storm Shadow missiles was sent to Ukraine by the UK earlier this year, with France announcing on Tuesday that it would supply Ukraine with additional missiles
Absolutely concur. Russia is already using them, so the morality question does not apply in my opinion. Their real value is in making it that much harder for Russia to mass forces outside of an urban environment, either to reinforce or set conditions for offensive operations. There’s a reason Russia is mad about this development. It’s like when Bama threw a fit over Hugh Freeze buying players at Ole Miss. “How dare they use our own unethical tactics against us!”
