Odessa braces for Russian assault as humanitarian conditions deteriorate

The Washington Post ^ | 3/7/2022 | Karla Adam, Rachel Pannett, Annabelle Timsit, Paulina Firozi, Brittany Shammas, Lateshia Beachum

[MinorityRepublican]

The southern Ukrainian city of Odessa was on Monday bracing for a Russian assault as humanitarian conditions across the country continued to deteriorate under Moscow’s increased shelling of civilian areas.

The mayor of the strategically important port city told The Washington Post that “the aggressor is not far from Odessa,” with the Kremlin’s forces having already captured the city of Kherson to the east and eight Russian warships looming just outside Ukraine’s territorial waters.

Concern mounted as the third round of talks between the two sides ended without a breakthrough. Ukrainian officials said Russia pressed them to give up Crimea and territory in eastern Ukraine as a condition for halting the invasion. However, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said they made some progress on organizing local cease-fires and evacuation corridors for women, children and other civilians, who have increasingly come under attack with Russia stepping up indiscriminate shelling.

[ARW]

I don’t understand. I thought the ghost of Kiev had killed all the Russians.

[Fungi]

Six individuals to write this? Why? Were they all aquiescent on the final draft? Prove it.

[rdl6989]

Just a little overkill.

[Navy Patriot]

I see the Washington Post has been rehabilitated.

[JoSixChip]

I see the Washington Post has been rehabilitated.

No kidding.

[escapefromboston]

Something tells me that the Russians aren’t going to be all that nice to Odessa.

[caww]

Putin building a land bridge wall around the Baltic Sea to protect his ports and access to the Mediterranean.

[palmer]

He'll need slices of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.

[caww]

Here's a map.....You can see by taking Odessa he's surrounded the Baltic Sea to protect his ports and access.

[caww]

Not if you look carefully where his ports are etc.

[dfwgator]

[caww]

Romania and Bulgaria ar EU and Nato members so he won’t go there.

[Luke21]

Did each of these cons write a paragraph?

[upchuck]

It took SIX posties to crank out this garbage. WOW!

[fluorescence]

The Baltic Sea lies to the north of Poland.

His ports are east of Crimea, e.g. Novorossiysk. Odessa is well and truly out of the way of any Russian ports.

If it’s to protect his access to newly seized Ukrainian ports then what’s the limit of what you think he deserves to grab? After he takes Odessa he might as well move on Romania to protect his access to Odessa (and how dare NATO and the EU put a country right on his border), and then to Hungary to protect his access to Romania, and then Istanbul because the Turks could cut off his access through the Bosphorus.

[Dr. Franklin]

Here's a map.....You can see by taking Odessa he's surrounded the Baltic Sea to protect his ports and access.

Actually, that's the Black Sea. The plan is to
1) Take all of Ukraine on the East Bank of the Dnieper, the so-called Left Bank;
2) Deny Ukraine access to the Black Sea at the mouth of the Dnieper;
3) Control energy plants in the region like the nuclear power plants.
In short, the goal is to dismantle Ukraine as a sovereign state and repeat the historic division of Ukraine between Poland and Russia. He actually offered to do this when Tusk was Poland's PM in 2008, as recounted by Radoslaw Sikorski, who was then Poland's foreign minister:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-poland-sikorski/polish-ex-minister-quoted-saying-putin-offered-to-divide-ukraine-with-poland-idUSKCN0I92A720141020

[Mr. Jeeves]

Taking Odessa allows Putin to create a land bridge all the way to Transnistria.

[caww]

LOLOL....I guess I have the Baltic on my mind....thanks for the correction....Black sea.

[caww]

I have to agree...though I’m not sure exactlly yet how he’ll divide Ukraine but it looks like as you wrote.