Russia's War Against Ukraine

[MengJiao]

  And be realistic:

Turkish presidential spokesperson describes Russia's Donbas and Crimea demands as "not realistic"
From CNN's Zeena Saifi in Doha

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin told CNN's Becky Anderson in an interview Sunday that Russia's demands to recognize the annexation of Crimea and the independence of the Donbas region is "very maximalist" and "not realistic".

"These are the red lines for the Ukrainians in the Crimea and Donbas, and rightly so, because they pertain directly to Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. We have not recognized the annexation of Crimea as, like the rest of the world, even China has not recognized the annexation of Crimea ...They [the Russians] should really come up with some other ideas," he told CNN on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.

Turkey has been offering to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and has hosted several meetings, including a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian Foreign Ministers on March 10. The next round of talks between the two sides will be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan relayed a message to Moscow urging the negotiating teams to agree on the final sticking points in order to transition to a meeting at the leadership level between President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Vladimir Putin, Kalin told CNN.

"President Zelensky is ready to meet President Putin, it's President Putin who has said no so far. And our president has said, I'm ready to facilitate bringing the two of you together, in Turkey or somewhere else... We believe that it's only through that meeting, that this war will come to an end," he added.

The spokesperson emphasized that President Erdogan is keeping his line of communication open with both his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to help achieve to end the war, especially with Russia. When asked if President Putin listens to Erdoğan, Kalin said the two have a "long-standing relationship."

"Certainly President Putin is listening to President Erdoğan and to his advice and to his ideas and suggestions. You can understand from their point of view that they don't trust most of the NATO countries, they don't want to talk to them anymore, right or wrong. But the reality is that someone has to talk to the Russian side, someone whom the Russians can also trust. Otherwise, this war can go on for months, for years, and the world cannot afford another prolonged war like that, and certainly, we cannot afford another Cold War."

[GDS_Starfury]

for those keeping count at home heres todays full list of verified equpiment losses for both sides:

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html

[JasonPratt]

Listening to Victor Davis Hanson's recent 53 minute interview (Part 1 of at least 2!) on Epoch TV tonight. Behind a paywall unfortunately, though they're promoting it for a 14 day free trial. Part 2 arrives soon (within the trial time).

It's hard to summarize, as you might expect. ;) Also somewhat politically critical of the current US leadership, as you also might expect (meaning in a broadly cultural sense, not simply 'the administration has been doing this and that so Putin thinks he can do so-and-so safely enough', though there's a lot of that, too); so I'd be leery of posting a link to it. But for those who might be interested in VDH's latest assessments, now you know.  O:-)

And if not from Epoch Times, I'm sure he's making a tour around various places; I can recall another one on YT I saw a few weeks ago, though this interview is pretty up to date of course.

[GDS_Starfury]

of course you would be "critical of the current US leadership".
this is being handled far better then you realize or are capable of admitting.
also drop the bs halo emoji when you know your pathetically trying to stir up shit.

[GDS_Starfury]

this piece of work....

Victor Davis Hanson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson

please read it all.

[Sir Slash]

Jeez Star, do you have to shit in everybody's Wheaties? If you don't agree with something somebody says, just give it a pass for Christ's sake. Didn't your Momma ever tell you, 'Opinions are like a*# holes, everybody's got one'.

[Hot lead and dirty talk!]

of course you would be "critical of the current US leadership".
this is being handled far better then you realize or are capable of admitting.
also drop the bs halo emoji when you know your pathetically trying to stir up shit.

The one thing I have come to realize by reading this entire thread,  is that you are incapable of dealing with anyone that has a different point of view as you.

Why the constant negative vibes? Drink some wine and have some cheese, babe.

[GDS_Starfury]

or the point is to keep the thread non political.

[GDS_Starfury]

Jeez Star, do you have to shit in everybody's Wheaties? If you don't agree with something somebody says, just give it a pass for Christ's sake. Didn't your Momma ever tell you, 'Opinions are like a*# holes, everybody's got one'.

please point out 1 military relevant part of his post.

[GDS_Starfury]

The one thing I have come to realize by reading this entire thread,  is that you are incapable of dealing with anyone that has a different point of view as you.

Why the constant negative vibes? Drink some wine and have some cheese, babe.

if thats your takeaway then you clearly havent digged into all of the maps and information that Ive posted and provided links to.
your loss.

[Sir Slash]

I didn't see any relevant military parts in any of your last 3 posts Star. So does that mean you can't post them? Of course you can. It's called, "Free Speech" and we all get to use it here, as long as it's within the Post Rules, of course. Even the ones you don't agree with. People have posted lots of things and sources I don't agree with here...and they're entitled to. Lose the Hate Brother, you'll live longer. 

[GDS_Starfury]

please give a linked example of relevant information within a pratt post that falls within JH's guideline for this thread.

[SirAndrewD]

I feel the need to lighten the mood. 

Lets have some tractor porn...

[FarAway Sooner]

Nice, SirAndrew.  I was reading a story today that Ukrainian police have had to seize Russian tanks from 10 different private owners' front yards.  It's unclear if people are hanging onto them to use them for agricultural purposes (seems far fetched to me, given the fuel requirements) or for resale at a later point in time.  But the notion of Ukrainian authorities having to tell people that they can't keep their trophy tanks seems kinda crazy to me.

It's really hard to know how much of this stuff is social media fakery, but it makes for interesting reading.

Star, I think most of us have strong feelings on this, but a certain basic level of civility is necessary if we want to keep up this conversation.  JasonP qualified his post well enough that I knew I'd have no interest in checking it out.  Democracy is all about the agreement do disagree.  By resorting to personal attacks on people, you just bring us down.

Given your avatar, I think you can appreciate the pernicious effects of all those negative waves!

[SirAndrewD]

Nice, SirAndrew.  I was reading a story today that Ukrainian police have had to seize Russian tanks from 10 different private owners' front yards.  It's unclear if people are hanging onto them to use them for agricultural purposes (seems far fetched to me, given the fuel requirements) or for resale at a later point in time.  But the notion of Ukrainian authorities having to tell people that they can't keep their trophy tanks seems kinda crazy to me.

It's really hard to know how much of this stuff is social media fakery, but it makes for interesting reading.

I'm sure at least some of it is fakery.  At least one instance in that video the pulling tractor has Invasion Z's on it so I imagine it was hot Russian on Russian action just getting a busted vehicle out of the way. 

However, there's a ton of evidence that the Russians are abandoning a large number of vehicles so while I expect it's inflated, I don't think it's overly so. 

Fun stat is that if claims are to be believed, the Ukrainians have had a net gain in armor. 

Not insignificant when you consider that the Ukrainians have a fairly significant armored force, and if they can achieve local superiority on a few places in the north, they can use it to some very good effect.