Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 08/05/2025 5:21:34 PM PDT by Mariner
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from U.S. President Donald Trump, and retains the goal of capturing four regions of Ukraine in their entirety, sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters.
Trump has threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions and impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy its oil - of which the biggest are China and India - unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine.
Putin's determination to keep going is prompted by his belief that Russia is winning and by scepticism that yet more U.S. sanctions will have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war, according to three sources familiar with discussions in the Kremlin.
The Russian leader does not want to anger Trump, and he realises that he may be spurning a chance to improve relations with Washington and the West, but his war goals take precedence, two of the sources said.
Putin's goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace agreement, one of the sources said.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
It wouldn’t be Trump that he’s doubting, but Congress resolve to back Trump.
Who knows people out there want us to be foaming at the mouth about Russia they’ll publish anything hoping to get us angry?
If Pootie can’t be stopped by losing a quarter of a million dead Russians, then some pesky sanctions ain’t gonna stop him.
Agree. It’s Yahoo News/Reuters and there are no direct quotes from anybody in the article aside from this:
"If Putin were able to fully occupy those four regions which he has claimed for Russia he could claim that his war in Ukraine had reached his objectives," said James Rodgers, author of the forthcoming book "The Return of Russia".
War totally dependent on which leader controls Russia, and the leader’s origins. Only way to end the war is for Putin to be replaced by a new leader with roots from Ukraine or other border states. Then after a couple more generations the war starts up again due to a leader with Moscow roots who claims the border regions as part of Russia.
There will never be lasting peace there, as in so many other regions of the world with factions seeking to reclaim “lost” lands. Oh well, hope we make it to the 22nd century.
Pootin is stopping Trump from winning Nobel peace prize.
Politicians doubt Trump’s potency at their own peril.
Did you consider the possibility that your estimate of the dead is wrong?
If you were right, Russia would have terrible problems getting people to voluntarily sign military contracts.
But they aren’t having these problems (although they have increased pay a lot).
bttt
I considered it, yes. I AI’d it.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-russian-casualties-in-l2cPNAa1TS.iEgNPE.ZV8A
I haven’t been following the war that closely but I thought Russia captured most those regions already.
That’s true, unless Saudi Arabia and some others including the USA seriously bump up oil and natural gas production so that countries like China and India can actually forgo Russian production. The USA should have worked on that continuously during Biden’s term anyway, but did not. The Euros could have helped a little by keeping coal powered power plants going, not nuking (so to speak) some of their nuclear power plants, etc.)
However... If the Ukies can keep hitting Russian refineries, and specifically distillation towers, Putin’s war machine, and Russia itself, will grind to a halt. Russia is particularly vulnerable in its need for refined products.
A few pieces of slightly dated US technology added to Ukrainian long range drones would make them much more effective. As we should be doing a better job of working on drone tech, ourselves, such cooperation would be quite useful in improving our own drone capability(s).
They have captured most of them, but not all, including some significant areas that were not heavily Russian anyway. (Think "patchwork" in some areas, rather than "uniformly Russian".)
Putin is a fool if he thinks completing these oblasts' capture and some sort of peace deal in which Ukraine is militarily weak will solve his problems. For one thing, if Ukraine is militarily weak, it will not be able to control millions of Ukrainians who have a score to settle with Russia. There will be a hugely popular insurgency that will, with Western backing or not eventually take down any puppet or pro-Moscow government. In the meantime Russia can expect more and more sophisticated long range drone attacks. You might call it a guerilla war by drone. Weak Ukrainian forces would not be able to stomp those out, so what does Putin do? Continue sallying forth into the rest of Ukraine?
That's just for starters.
“There will be a hugely popular insurgency”
2026
Some Russian forgot to order coal for the power plant.
Some ‘Ukrainians’ stole the electricity transmission lines to sell the copper.
The Ukrainians driving food to the grocery stores went on strike because some Russian embezzled the money for their pay.
Two Ukrainians were sent to Siberia because they didn’t have functional cellphones on their persons traceable to them.
Like I said, if you were right, Russia would have terrible problems getting people to voluntarily sign contracts. But they aren’t, so you are wrong. AI is often a situation of garbage in garbage out
“Putin is a fool if he thinks completing these oblasts’ capture...will solve his problems.”
He’s only gaining future problems by capturing pro-Kiev areas.
Putin should simply ignore the oblast lines drawn on paper.
“some sort of peace deal in which Ukraine is militarily weak”
Putin will insist on Ukrainian neutrality and that there be no NATO personnel in Ukraine.
That means Ukraine itself will have a strong need to be able to defend the territory it still has. The Ukrainians won’t OK a deal that leaves them with an inadequate defense.
Ukraine will remain the most militarily capable all-European country to the best of its fighting ability, which Putin surely knows after a cost of around 200,000 dead Russians.
Congress is owned by major defense contractors. They’d be thrilled if this war lasts 20+ years.
Putin is banking on Trump’s inertia in a political environment where the U.S. is bankrupt and most MAGA supporters don’t give a hoot about the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
I’m not right?
Then suppose you tell me how many fatalities Russia has had in their war with Ukraine?
And provide a link.
“If the Ukies can keep hitting Russian refineries, and specifically distillation towers, Putin’s war machine, and Russia itself, will grind to a halt. Russia is particularly vulnerable in its need for refined products.”
Most Russian freight moves by rail. Russian cities are mainly apartment blocks, and compact. Trucks generally only have to travel a few miles from the rail depots. Any Russian general that can advance more than 10 kilometers in a month probably gets a medal.
In the Soviet era 35 years ago, only a small percentage of Russians had cars. Russians generally know how to get by without them.
The typical Russian lifestyle is far simpler than the American lifestyle. Weekends are not spent stuffing the backs of SUVs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.