Ukraine Russia War #6

[ordinaryjelly]

Zelenskyy in his most recent address to his people, while his message is noble and just, he looks beyond exhausted and shattered. I know he knows of the 'support' from wherever because he talks to the other world leaders, but seeing him become increasingly shattered and looking so exhausted must be hard. I hope the support in arms and weapons, while not in men on the ground, (or is it?) is enough.

Still they stand.

 

[Pinotsgoats]

My Uncle posted this, and bless her my mum sent it to me (he's selectively German, depending on several factors). Jeez, that's a big image, sorry about that

 

[SunshineRae]

Here's the Cabbage-in-chief saying Iranian instead of Ukrainian, and Kamala Harris mouthing Ukrainian. I'm sure the state of Biden played a part in Putin's thinking.
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FFS!! Diane Abbott yesterday saying about Putin rolling into Croatia and Biden saying the Iranian people. Not good enough.

 

[WilmaHun]

I'm not sure why it crossed my mind, but I was thinking about all those pregnant women in Ukraine right now who will be giving birth in the middle of a war and how terrifying it must be to be bringing a child into the world right now

 

[Rosie glow]

The next town over from where I live has a big lorry park, for the last couple of days a few Ukrainian hgv drivers have been stranded there, they had no fuel no food and couldn't contact their families or employers, The town rallied round and fed them they have now got fuel and been able to move on and are heading home not knowing if they have family or homes left to go to truly heartbreaking.

 

[Nora Fenn]

That's the ultimate insult he's bound to strike now

Just had another graffiti pic on WhatsApp, “Putin’s Ma makes lumpy gravy”

 

[under the ivy]

Says a lot.

 

[Yel]

Like you took a seat from the Afghanistan evacuation? How are you getting the hundreds of the miles back to Lviv? Taking another seat off evacuation transport that is in very short supply.

As if the poser would walk 40+ miles anyway. I hope he gets stuck out there for months, but seeing as he's already talking of fleeing he'll probably get out.

 

[Mark81]

A lot of people aren't thinking through wanting nato to act. If they do, and a Russian plane is taken down and Russia retaliates are they going to be OK with other countries being attacked, possible nuclear attack in Ukraine or even an allied country, 1000s more soldiers and civilians dying. Will they be happy if their sons and daughters are sent to fight, or even if conscription returned.

Sure not all of that will definitely happen, but some of it could. This would not be a war going on in the middle East that we see on the nightly news and otherwise forget about. It would be real and on our doorstep. It would be one massive step into the unknown.

 

[BigMavis]

Can I be that person? I'd rather a war tourist or whatever its called lose their life than an innocent Ukrainian caught up in this awful situation.

 

[thegirlscout]

Can someone explain to me why the reporting of Russia for war crimes is important now?

I'm not making light of it. But war is a crime full stop.

What does this acknowledgement mean?

As strange as it may sound there are ‘laws of war’ and a war crime is something that goes against those laws. What constitutes a war crime is ‘intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostages, unnecessarily destroying civilian property, deception by perfidy, wartime sexual violence, pillaging, the conscription of children in the military, committing genocide or ethnic cleansing, the granting of no quarter despite surrender, and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity’.

 

[Prefrontalmedialcortex]

It’s stronger and braver to love.

 

[AlanBanan]

Someone just sent me a pic of graffiti somewhere in Belfast, “Putin’s Da sells Avon”

He would be even more distraught at the thought of a gay club up north being called “The Kremlin”

 

[ordinaryjelly]

I went to Ukraine in 2012 when they jointly hosted the Euros Football Championship with Poland. We went to Lyiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv to watch matches. We went as guests of a company my husband worked with. We were wined and dined and treated well. We had a happy time, it was wonderful. Such fun.

Today I have seen streets we went to, buildings we saw, places we stood, being shelled and attacked.

I know we have had other conflicts around the world in our lifetime, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Yugoslav, Cenepa, Aceh, and so on and on and on.

But when you see places you have been being attacked, it is suddenly more personal. I wasn't watching the news at first but today I have done, I should probably stop. It is a lot.

Liked Zelenskyy said today on the UN vote - you have chosen the right side of history.

I hope "we" do enough, and more if needed.

 

[curiousbeaver]

On PM BBC Radio 4 (about 40 mins in if anyone wants to listen on BBC Sounds) yesterday Evan Davis was talking to Lord David Richards former chief of the defence staff.

What he spoke about- can Ukraine actually win when Russia unleash their full arsenal? - is very sad. I have summarised his view below.

His take was that we should be realistically assessing whether Ukraine can win. His view was that despite extreme bravery from Ukrainians etc etc, they are unlikely to win alone (taking into account the relative military capability). Therefore tactically we should assess if Russia are going to win anyway regardless of strong Ukrainian resistance. If so, fighting back is futile and just raises the number of dead bodies. He said that as a military tactician, sacrificing lives should only be accepted where you can realistically win. The implication was that Ukraine and world leaders should be thinking of the option of surrender to save lives.

They didn’t follow up with what might happen then but I guess crippling sanctions, exclusion from the rest of the world and an inability to suppress universal unrest from within would be likely to unseat Putin within a year. No matter what happens Putin’s days are numbered.

He was also saying the weapons etc supplied may be of limited value since we can’t send in trained personnel to use them properly or teach others.

He said the threat of nuclear weapons from Putin is real. He says Putin is usually coldly rational but it is worrying that he is speaking in such an emotional way about this war. In the context of the conversation, the implication was Putin would consider nuclear IF NATO intervened.

 

[veevee04]

People are shocked about Ukraine because of the implications it could have it's on our doorstep , the 2 world wars started in Europe. Russia has the largest single nuclear arsenal, they have invaded a sovereign independent country. The middle East has been at war almost constantly since time began. Things have been relatively peaceful between the larger countries for a long time. I thought the time of huge conflicts were behind us.

 

[Nora Fenn]

Someone needs to tell Liz that less is more, especially for such a sombre occasion. Big earrings, a necklace and a brooch? I found it a bit distracting.

I know what she says is more important than how she looks but....

When all this is over I have visions of Liz addressing the nation with Putin’s balls hanging from her earlobes.

 

[BigMavis]

I would pay to view to watch Lavrov and Putin being hung drawn and quartered. Yel delete if inappropriate and I'm breaking rules as I probably am.

 

[under the ivy]

 

[Robo123]

This may not be sinister, Romania may have switched their tracking off maybe for tactical/safety reasons?

BREAKING: Romanian military helicopter has crashed, killing five people on board, while searching for a Mig-21 that had disappeared from the radar off Black Sea coast.