Previous day’s thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4211814/posts
Summarizing this war:
A tragedy for Ukraine.
A disaster for RuZZia.
A strategic win for the USA.
“Why Internet Trolls Do What They Do and How to Spot Russian Fakes”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLtBzvw0—0
“Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.”
https://twitter.com/TheDeadDistrict/status/1730119780873441750
Maria Mateiciuc
@MariaMateiciuc
I just got back from Ukraine, where I was visiting some friends.
Everything we have heard about what’s happening in Ukraine is a lie.
The reality is darker, bleaker, and unequivocally hopeless. There is no such thing as Ukraine “winning” this war.
- By their estimates, they have lost over one million of their sons, fathers and husbands; an entire generation is gone.
- Even in the Southwest, where the anti-Russian sentiment is long-standing, citizens are reluctant or straight-up scared to publicly criticize Zelensky; they will go to jail.
- In every village and town, the streets, shops, and restaurants are mostly absent of men.
- The few men who remain are terrified of leaving their homes for fear of being kidnapped into conscription. Some have resorted to begging friends to break their legs to avoid service.
- Army search parties take place early in the morning, when men leave their homes to go to work. They ambush and kidnap them off the streets and within 3-4 hours they get listed in the army and taken away straight to the front lines with minimal or no training at all; it is “a death sentence.”
- It’s getting worse every day. Where I was staying, a dentist had just been taken by security forces on his way to work, leaving behind two small children. Every day, 3-5 dead bodies keep arriving from the front lines.
- Mothers and wives fight tooth and nail with the armed forces, beg and plead not to have their men taken away. They try bribing, which sometimes works, but most of the time they are met with physical violence and death threats.
- The territory celebrated as having been “won back” from Russia has been reduced to rubble and is uninhabitable. Regardless, there is no one left to live there and displaced families will likely never return.
- They see the way the war has been reported, at home and abroad. It’s a “joke” and “propaganda.” They say: “Look around: is this winning?”.
- Worse, some have been hoaxed into believing that once Ukrainians forces are exhausted, American soldiers will come in to replace them and “win the war”.
There is no ambiguity in these people. The war was for nothing - a travesty. The outcome always was, and is, clear. The people are hopeless, utterly destroyed, and living in an unending nightmare.
They are pleading for an end, any end - most likely the same “peace” that could have been achieved two years ago. In their minds, they have already lost, for their sons, fathers and husbands are gone, and their country has been destroyed. There is no “victory” that can change that.
Make no mistake, they are angry with Putin. But they are also angry with Zelensky and the West. They have lost everything, worst of all, hope and faith, and cannot comprehend why Zelenky wishes to continue the current trajectory, the one of human devastation.
I didn’t witness the war; but what I saw was absolutely heart-breaking.
Shame on the people, regardless of their intentions, who have supported this war. And shame on the media for continuing to lie about it.
8:37 AM · Jan 6, 2024
·
3.7M
Views
Update on the conflict in Ukraine for January 21, 2024…
- As Ukraine and its Western sponsors continue losing the conflict strategically, Ukraine continues conducting military operations to win public relations victories;
- Ukrainian drone strikes on St. Petersburg and a Russian oil depot inflicted no tactically or strategically significant damage;
- Such strikes have demonstratably only galvanized the Russian population further behind Moscow and are admittedly aimed at encouraging the Ukrainian population to remain invested in the conflict;
- The US government has claimed that without further financial aid, Ukraine will decisively lose the conflict, omitting the fact that even with additional financial resources, the arms and ammunition Ukraine needs does not exist to be purchased and transferred to Ukraine in the first place;
- France has urged arms manufacturers to boost output, claiming to have switched to a “war economy mode,” despite the necessary prerequisites to do so not being met and France being unable to boost output without huge investments in both money measured in billions, and time measured in years;
- The fate of a Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft continues to remain at the center of Western commentary, specifically because of a lack of strategically significant developments in Ukraine’s favor on the battlefield. The fact that Western media admits the allegedly destroyed plane has already been replaced reveals how insignificant the incident is;
- The Western media continues promoting narratives of heavy Russian losses around Avdeevka, identical to narratives that preceded the fall of Bakhmut to Russian forces last year;
- While such narratives are meant to depict Russia as weak and failing, the relentless tidal wave of men and equipment would not be possible unless Russia possessed vastly superior means of raising manpower and military industrial output;
Military Summary
@MilitarySummary
#UkraineRussianWar #Avdiivka
As a result of the fighting in the south of Avdiivka, the Russians managed to encircle the Ukrainian Armed Forces troops in the former air defense base. During the short assault, the Ukrainians decided to surrender. Now the former air defense base is under the complete control of the Russian army.
How Russia is Losing Kaliningrad (and why it matters)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yki6pigUbfw&t=3s
Two Ukrainian-made drones have successfully enforced "sanctions" on Russia's hydrocarbon trades. You can be sure that we are talking not only of millions but billions of USD which will not come or the very least severely delayed. Penalties for not fulfilling contractual duties are not even included.
https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1749467450561732813
...it might take weeks, maybe even months, until the facility will return to significant capacity.
It might take months to survey the damage.
https://twitter.com/UKikaski/status/1749410731219451919
Do not eat brown snow.
10 Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers on their way to the launch lines for mass cruise missile attack on Ukraine right now.
