Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
This 'small chunk of Ukraine" is essentially Ukraine itself. Think as if they are removing Wall Street from Manhattan.
The Donbas region holds immense strategic, economic, and symbolic importance for Ukraine — and has been at the heart of the conflict with Russia for over a decade. Here's a breakdown of why it matters so much:
🏭 Economic and Industrial Significance
- Coal and Steel Hub: Donbas (short for “Donets Basin”) is rich in coal and was once the industrial powerhouse of Ukraine, producing nearly 90% of the Russian Empire’s coal by 1913.
- Heavy Industry Legacy: Cities like Donetsk and Luhansk were built around mining and metallurgy, making the region vital for Ukraine’s economy, especially during the Soviet era.
- Infrastructure and Trade: Control of Donbas supports access to key transportation routes and ports like Mariupol, which connect to the Black Sea and Crimea.
🛡️ Strategic and Military Value
- Buffer Zone: For Russia, Donbas serves as a strategic buffer between NATO-aligned Ukraine and its own borders. For Ukraine, retaining it is essential to national defense.
- Land Bridge to Crimea: Russia’s push to control Donbas is partly to secure a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
- Frontline of Resistance: The region has been a battleground since 2014, with Ukrainian forces defending against Russian-backed separatists and full-scale invasions.
🧠 Cultural and Political Identity
- Russian-Speaking Population: Donbas has a large Russian-speaking population, which Russia has used to justify its intervention and annexation attempts.
A Mi-24 helicopter of the Belarusian Air Defense Forces reportedly intercepted a Russian Gerbera UAV flying towards Ukraine over the Gomel region of Belarus, on July 12. This means that Belarus has intercepted more Russian drones than all NATO/EU forces combined.
https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1944671551657594911
NATO military supply transport flights to Poland with weapons and ammo deliveries to Ukraine are back. Lots of deliveries so far today from Germany and the UK.
Last first
Large Russian speaking population because Soviet Union forced Russian language into Ukrainians and moved lots of their people in “displacing” ethnic Ukrainians.
“Small chunk”, if pitin does not gain control of all the territories he has annexed and by Russian law part of Russia then he loses.
“Buffer zone “. This war and the war in Iran proves there is no such thing as a buffer zone, beyond that decades of NATO on Russias border and no invasion shows that the buffer zone is more of pitin’s BS
You are correct about the economic importance of the areas taken however those were never stated goals of pitin’s SVO🤔
More lies and BS
“NATO military supply transport flights to Poland with weapons and ammo deliveries to Ukraine are back”!
“Lots of deliveries”!
It’s a new phase in the war.
Testing Russia’s ability to adapt to new resource restrictions, while new resources flow to Ukraine.
Awaiting the President’s statement today...
“NATO military supply transport flights to Poland with weapons and ammo deliveries to Ukraine are back”!
“Lots of deliveries”!
It’s a new phase in the war.
Testing Russia’s ability to adapt to new resource restrictions, while new resources flow to Ukraine.
Awaiting the President’s statement today...
Were you on the debating at McDonalds Univ?
Trump said that European security benefits US interests and noted that Europe is committed to helping Ukraine defend itself. Trump stated that “having a strong Europe is a very good thing” and that Europe thinks supporting Ukraine is important.[6] Rutte stated that Trump's July 14 announcements are building on the June 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, in which NATO decided to “keep Ukraine strong” and increase Europe's defense industrial production. The joint declaration from the NATO summit highlighted that Ukraine's security contributes to NATO's security.[7] Axios on July 13 cited a source stating that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron following the call that Putin “wants to take all of [Ukraine].”[8] ISW continues to assess that a Russian victory in the war that results in the conquest of all of Ukraine would bring combat experienced Russian forces up to NATO's borders from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean such that the United States would need to move large numbers of US forces and commit a significant proportion of its fleet of stealth aircraft to Europe.[9]
Additional US military aid to Ukrainian forces will arrive at a dynamic, not static, frontline characterized by ongoing Russian offensive operations aimed at achieving slow maneuver and by Ukrainian counterattacks in key frontline areas. Russian forces intensified offensive operations throughout the theater in February and March 2025 and have maintained pressure along the entire frontline over the last six months. Russian forces have established or are actively establishing at least eight salients that Russian forces could leverage in mutually reinforcing tactical- and operational-level envelopments along the frontline. Recent Russian attacks in the Velykyi Burluk direction indicate that the Russian military command intends to create a salient from which Russian forces can threaten Ukrainian forces in the rear of the Vovchansk and northern Kupyansk directions.[10] Russian forces have also developed salients aimed at forcing Ukrainian troops to withdraw from frontline towns and settlements under threat of envelopment in the Kupyansk, Borova, Lyman, Siversk, Kostyantynivka, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka directions over the last year. ISW assessed in late January 2025 that Russian forces were developing and disseminating a doctrinal method of advance throughout the theater that aims to conduct slow envelopments of frontline settlements at a scale that is reasonable for Russian forces to conclude before culminating, and Russian patterns of advance over the last six months are consistent with this assessment.[11] The Russian military command's apparent decision to bypass the Ukrainian fortress belt in Donetsk Oblast and attempts at a multi-year operation to envelop the southern half of the fortress belt further underscores Russia's commitment to this new doctrinal method.[12]
Forcing Putin to abandon his current theory of victory and agree to end the war on reasonable terms requires Ukrainian forces to stop Russian advances and begin to retake operationally significant areas. Western aid provided in support of this effort is essential to hastening an end to the war. Ukrainian forces have been successful in holding Russian advances along the frontline to a foot pace while inflicting significant casualties on Russian forces. Putin has demonstrated throughout the past year, however, that he believes in a theory of victory that posits that indefinite Russian gains – no matter how slow or how costly – will allow Russia to achieve his goals in Ukraine.[31] Putin's theory assumes that the Russia can outlast and overcome Western military assistance to Ukraine and that Ukrainian forces will be unable to liberate any significant territory that Russian forces seize. Putin is operating under the assumption that Ukraine will not be able to acquire and sustain the manpower and materiel required to prevent creeping but indefinite Russian advances or to contest the initiative and conduct counteroffensive operations at some scale to liberate territory. Western military aid to Ukraine's ground forces is required to enable Ukrainian forces to stop Russian advances and then push Russian forces back in critical areas. Such successes will invalidate Putin's assumptions that Russian forces can continue gradual advances indefinitely and that Russian forces will be able to hold any territory they seize. Only significant Ukrainian battlefield gains will prompt changes in his calculus and force Putin to discard his efforts to prolong the war, come to the negotiating table, and agree to a peace settlement on acceptable terms to bring about Trump's desired just and lasting end to the war.
Timely and reliable Western military assistance to Ukraine coupled with increased economic pressure is necessary to bring about an end of the war on terms satisfactory for the United States, Europe, and Ukraine. Well-provisioned Ukrainian forces have previously demonstrated their ability to prevent Russian forces from making even marginal gains and to retake significant territory despite Russian manpower and materiel advantages.[32] Western military aid to Ukraine will enable Ukrainian forces to maintain, if not increase, their ability to inflict the significant materiel and personnel losses on the battlefield that are straining Russia's economy. Western provisions of air defense systems to Ukraine will protect Ukraine's people and enable Ukraine's defense industrial base (DIB) to flourish and increasingly meet Ukraine's long-term national security needs. Ukraine's DIB has proven critical for maintaining Ukraine's drone-based defenses that are limiting Russian forces to creeping advances at high costs, and the West will continue to benefit from Ukrainian innovations and industrial capacity in the long-term. Economic pressure, in the form of both Western sanctions and enduring labor shortages and demographic issues brought on by losses in Ukraine, will further strain the Russian economy and reduce the funds available to Moscow for its protracted war effort.
Putin remains committed to his original war aims over 1,200 days into his full-scale invasion and is trying to avoid making concessions at any cost, including those that would risk the long-term security of the Russian state and the stability of Putin's regime.[33] Putin is deliberately protracting the war in Ukraine, believing that time is on Russia's side. Putin has chosen not to enact socially unpopular policies that would boost Russia's war effort in a sustainable way and continues to bet that the West will abandon Ukraine long before he must. The Trump administration has set the stage to seize on this critical moment, via both military aid to Ukraine and expanded economic pressure on Russia, to exploit Russia's weaknesses and negotiate a deal that maximizes US, European, and Ukrainian interests.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-july-14-2025
Go to UkraineWarVideoReport
r/UkraineWarVideoReport
UNITED24Media
LeopardAteMyFace, Russian Edition: fled U.S. “racism” for “safety” in Russia - got beaten by racist neighbors; Francine Villa, an American Teacher who moved to Russia in 2019 because she felt unsafe in America ... Today’s LOL report:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1lzu76v/leopardatemyface_russian_edition_fled_us_racism/
Go to UkraineWarVideoReport
r/UkraineWarVideoReport
18 hr. ago
LowTechDroid
The average Russian believes Ukraine is full of Nazis and that all Ukrainian “Nazis” must be killed for the country to be “normal again.” It’s not just Putin.
https://x.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1945050436081172605
IMHO, if there are surplus Tomahawks available, they should be sold to Germany, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
OPCON for the Tomahawks would be NATO.
Shake up at the top of the Ukrainian Government, apparently driven by getting an upgraded Ambassador to the USA, for this next phase of the war. Another indicator that there is a big shift occurring.
Kyiv Independent (15 July):
Ukraine’s prime minister submits resignation, parliament set to dismiss government on July 16
“The Ukrainian parliament is scheduled to vote on the dismissal of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s government on July 16, a lawmaker and a source in the parliament told the Kyiv Independent.
A vote on the new cabinet is expected the following day...
...The voting this week will follow Zelensky’s appointment of Yuliia Svyrydenko, the first deputy prime minister and economy minister, to lead the government...
...Zelensky has signaled that Shmyhal, who has served as prime minister since 2020, might be appointed the new defense minister, while the current defense chief, Rustem Umerov, is being floated as a possible ambassador to the U.S.”
10 billion is a good start.
Did I mis-judge Trump? Time will tell.
“Trump has privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russian territory, even asking Zelenskyy whether he could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons, according to people briefed on the discussions. “
https://x.com/ChristopherJM/status/1945046965173006780
“”We’ll strike if you give us weapons.” — Zelenskyy responded to Trump’s question about why Ukraine hasn’t yet hit the Russian capital.
In response, Trump said that Ukraine should increase pressure on Putin — not just on Moscow, but on St. Petersburg as well.”
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1945043436031082964
“The Times reports that President Zelensky has found an unexpected ally in the White House. According to the publication, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, who was born in the former Yugoslavia, regularly reminds her husband of the victims of Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities.
On Monday, during a conversation in the Oval Office, Donald Trump said: “I come home and tell the First Lady: ‘I spoke with Vladimir (Putin) today — we had a great conversation.’ And she replies: ‘Really? Meanwhile, another (Ukrainian) city is being hit again.’””
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1945089417305002398
“Axios reports that Trump has announced a major initiative to supply weapons to NATO allies as part of a new plan to support Ukraine. In the first wave, the U.S. plans to sell around $10 billion worth of arms to its partners. This includes missiles, air defense systems, and artillery shells.”
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1944828716615344225
What are the RuZZian Boys on FR going to do if Trump becomes Ukraine’s ally?
Trash Trump? They will have to deal with MAGA on FR.
Pretend to like Trump while trashing his policies?
They need to have some meetings in St. Petersburg to get their strategy planned out.
50 days (4 September) or else - Bone-Crushing Sanctions.
President Trump also announced 100% secondary tariffs, if there is no deal in 50 days. Like his similar deadline for Iran to make a deal, we can expect action on day 51.
So far, China has been making money on the Ukraine war, taking over Russia’s economy, getting sharply discounted oil, and having Russia distract political heat from China.
But 100% secondary tariffs on Chinese exports to the USA, would cost them much more than they make on Russian oil discounts. That finally puts incentives in the right direction for China.
The Saudis are ramping up production, and can be ready by D-Day (4 September), to snap up all of Russia’s oil export market share, and make a fortune doing it. The incentives are in the right direction for them as well.
The Summer driving season will be over, with a normal seasonal slowing of demand to further smooth any market price shock. Today, oil markets were unfazed by president Trump’s announcement - they have had ample warning, and have watched production and inventories climb to meet the needs of a Russian cut off. Expert insiders, betting with their own money, assess no significant price shock from this.
Just around D-Day, the Yamal Peninsula will begin dipping below freezing at night, and in October, the ground will be frozen. Fairly perfect timing to magnify the destructive effects of oil flow shutdowns. Domestic demand will still be flowing (unless interdicted by Ukrainian deep strike weapons), but Russia will have a complex nightmare just trying to keep their infrastructure intact - especially if they are short on money to pay for the needed people and equipment.
Of course, the financial impact for Russia to suddenly lose 2-3 million barrels per day of revenue will be a full blown crisis
All I know is lets celebrate and be very happy that Pres DJT has come around on Ukraine. Lets hope Trump stays the course on arming Ukraine with the Europeans paying the freight.
Now all the cheap bastard libertarians cannot complain about USA spending money there.
I believe that the Europeans paying us for Ukraine weaponry was a large factor in Trump going anti-Putin. There is also the Melania factor. She has been talking to Trump. She and her parents know what Russian/USSR domination has done to nations nearby her Slovenia. Which was under the Josip Tito brand of communism, which accommodated USSR to survive.
lol
“NATO military supply transport flights to Poland with weapons and ammo deliveries to Ukraine are back. Lots of deliveries so far today from Germany and the UK.”
Great news! They can resupply Ukraine the quickest. They/NATO now know that Trump will resupply NATO’s drawn down weapons stocks, with European nations paying for all this re-weaponization of Ukraine armed forces.
Putin will not be getting resupply from Iran. No more drones, since Israel took out Iran’s drone factories. No more Iranian missile too. F Vlad Putin!
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