Kremlin says pullout was rushed and chaotic as it congratulates its soldiers on biggest gain since last May
  • TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6920·
    9 months ago

    Nothing shows how bought out the Republicans are to Russia more than the statement on how they didn’t want to send weapons to perpetuate war. That’s all these assholes want to ever do. The one time they don’t and it’s for daddy Putin. Half the issues with populism in the US seem to stem from the level of destructive populism Russia enjoys.

    • freagle@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      1810·
      9 months ago

      This is how proxy wars go. The Republicans aren’t bought out by Russia. The USA uses proxies for specific strategic goals. When the goal is achieved or becomes untenable, they cut off the proxy. That’s just how it goes.

      To avoid showing voters the realpolitik they need some plausible reasons for cutting off the proxy. Usually it’s a combination of fiscal responsibility noise and isolationist noise. This is no different.

      The USA was provoking Russia. Russia got provoked. The USA activated some sleeper cells, those cells got neutralized. The USA wanted to see Russian capabilities, they got what they could, including intel on hypersonic missile performance, but I don’t know if they got what they wanted.

      And then multiple fronts got opened up against the West (Niger, Palestine, etc) and threat escalations emerged in unexpected locations (Iranian missiles im Venezuela). And it’s become clear the West can’t produce the war machine it needs for the conflicts that are coming. So, it’s time to cut off the proxy. Russia doesn’t have the means to occupy Ukraine. The USA is not worried about Russian expansion, so there’s no more reason to be there, except of course the rhetorical reasons that were used to mask the proxy nature of the conflict in the first place (russophobia, anti-communism, moral posturing, etc). So, to control the domestic mood, the Republicans get to play their part as dirt bags, make a bunch of rhetorical noise about why we can’t fund them anymore, and psyops adds some Russiagate flavor through networks of influence to mask the reality: the proxy has outlived its usefulness and the USA is cutting them off.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
      318·
      9 months ago

      Not from the US or Europe, but I kept hearing news about Ukraine countering Russia? What just happened?

      US Republicans are working towards autocratic facism in the US, and fundamental yet unspoken within that is their palpable relationship with other autocratic and autocratic hopefuls like Un and Putin.

      US Republicans (and their voters) would rather live under theocratic facism than to have to share the world with people they don’t understand. They believe by supporting Putin, they’ll achieve their goals, which to date, has show to be an effective strategy.

      Republicans, the elected ones and the ones that just vote R, have become the enemies of Democracy globally, and within the United States.

    • zed_proclaimer [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      185·
      9 months ago

      You have probably been reading propaganda. Russia has been clearly winning for over a year, and all indications are that time and attrition is on Russia’s side as well. This was quite obvious and clear from the start to anyone familiar with the history of wars involving Russia versus Europe; Russia has massive resources to tap into and an extremely educated population with extensive military and logistic legacy knowledge from the Soviet Union, which was the world superpower militarily in terms of land wars on the Eurasian continent. Russia is also a handful of kilometers from the frontline and capable of massive standardized domestic production of arms - Ukraine is getting a hodgepodge of expiring arms from all over the world in an uncoordinated piecemeal fashion. Of course Russia’s system of war is better. It’s also the soviet advantage in WW2, logistics and industrial production.

      Pro-Ukrainian propaganda has been flooded through everywhere in the Western media world, so it’s likely all you have been exposed to. I recommend dabbling in Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern diplomatic and news sources to get a wider picture of what actually is going on. Ukraine is never getting back Donbas or Crimea, and they will be lucky to get out of this with Kharkiv or Odessa

    • Jackinopolis@sh.itjust.works
      125·
      9 months ago

      Massive swell of people to make any progress to have something to campaign with for Putin’s re-election. Ukraine has been generally running low on artillery and can’t fully capitalize on countering large unit offenses. The Ukrainians have a lot of western equipment but are low on funds to supply them.

      • freagle@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        82·
        9 months ago

        The average age of Ukraine’s army shot up by almost 10 years. They have depleted their troop count, a tragic example of killing off all the military aged males through war.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
        138·
        9 months ago

        You can’t reload Western equipment with funds, and the West’s ammunition production capacity has proven to be lacking compared to Russia’s.

          • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.mlEnglish
            114·
            9 months ago

            Karma for the US constantly treating NK like shit for the gall of existing. Their ideology is literally “leave me alone and i’ll leave you alone” but that wasn’t enough apparently, they had to slam them with murderous sanctions and constant warmongering propaganda.

            • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
              4·
              9 months ago

              How is it karma that Russians are killing Ukrainians with those shells? It’s not like it’s Americans dying.

              • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.mlEnglish
                15·
                9 months ago

                Ukraine is basically the last thing Russia needs to reestablish the Soviet Union. The US is willing to let that happen just so that they can put all their chips into shooting at people who literally can’t shoot back. When they eventually lose to the full might of communism, that will be why.

                Basically they’re prioritizing maximizing harm so much they don’t even care just how stupid their actions are for their long term survival.

                • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
                  3·
                  9 months ago

                  I’m not sure if you’re joking or being serious. Russia is trying to reestablish Soviet Union…?

        • Gabu@lemmy.ml
          37·
          9 months ago

          Hahahahaha, good joke. Well, I suppose it’s true, if you think of rusty nails and pellets as being “ammunition”.

    • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
      65·
      9 months ago

      Russia has been trying to get this for a few months, estimates show ~30k Russian solider fatalities and over 400 tanks/infantry vehicles.

      From what I know it was strategically important to the Donetsk region, which Russia would like to get back under control. It’s also a bragging point for the “election” because it’s the largest advance they’ve had since last May, they pushed a ton of lives through the meat grinder to take it.

      source

      As to the counteroffensive, there’s a page about it on wikipedia! It wasn’t as successful as they’d hoped, they didn’t even manage to get the minimum goal. They’ve been focusing on taking out the Black Sea fleet, overcoming anti air in Crimea, and sabotaging fuel depots inside Russia since.

  • SinningStromgald@lemmy.world
    186·
    9 months ago

    I sure hope some alphabet agencies in the US are looking deep into the senators blocking aid to Ukraine for being foreign agents of Russia.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the city in the industrial Donbas region to avoid encirclement, the army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday, adding that he had acted to “preserve the lives and health of servicemen”, stabilise the situation and move troops to more favourable defence lines.

    The capture of Avdiivka gives Russia full control of the area surrounding Donetsk, a large Ukrainian city that was seized by Russian proxy forces in 2014, and comes as the second anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears.

    The Ukrainian army had struggled on the frontline around Avdiivka in recent months during one of the most intense battles of the war, which left the city almost destroyed and caused nearly all of the more than 30,000 prewar population to leave.

    The US president, Joe Biden, had warned that the city might fall to Russia due to weapons shortages exacerbated by months of Republican congressional opposition to a new US funding package for the Ukrainian military.

    After the failure of Ukraine to pierce Russian lines last year, Moscow has been trying to grind down Ukrainian forces just as Kyiv weighs up a major new mobilisation and Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed a new commander to run the war.

    It holds particular symbolism for Russia as it was briefly taken in 2014 by Moscow-backed separatists who seized a swathe of eastern Ukraine but was recaptured by Ukrainian troops who built extensive fortifications.

    The original article contains 451 words, the summary contains 237 words. Saved 47%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Gabu@lemmy.ml
    812·
    9 months ago

    As usual, mods remove replies calling attention to discussion manipulation by a specific nationality mentioned in the post.