Posted on 09/15/2026 1:55:36 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
For Americans who follow the Russian-Ukrainian war, the past few months must look very strange. In the first half of summer, the story from Kyiv – and the many western media outlets that repeated it – was that Ukraine was winning. Then, not long after the NATO summit in July, Kyiv announced it lacked the interceptors to prevent a winter disaster. The country needed 300 missiles to survive, we were told. Even if these 300 missiles arrive, they are unlikely to protect a country as large as Ukraine from the sheer volume of Russian ballistic attacks and glide-bomb strikes. Now it’s September, and Ukraine says it’s facing a $27 billion shortfall in defense funding. There seems to be a vast difference between the public relations campaign and the reality in Ukraine.
I know a little about that public relations campaign. I was President Zelensky’s first press secretary, entering office alongside him in 2019. I left in 2021 and remained sympathetic to the President as he fought the Russian invasion. But by 2025, I’d come to the conclusion that Ukraine will never be able to win this war militarily. The only solution is a negotiated peace.
Under the current Ukrainian regime, the chances of peace seem remote. In late June, President Volodymyr Zelensky approved a 40-day campaign of long-range drone strikes within Russia to force the Kremlin to end the war. It was supposed to be an “influence operation,” designed to show the Russian people the true cost of the conflict. But it was Ukrainians who suffered the most. The Kremlin instead escalated, bringing more destruction, more death and none of the negotiations that would ultimately save lives. Russia, it seems, was only emboldened by the attacks. The Kremlin merely reiterated its conditions for ending its aggression.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
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,
Jim
IBZC
IBA
History has shown many times that when a successful politician rises to the top, then finds himself at war as the “ Commander in Chief”, it often does not end well.
I’m not the only one who saw Zelensky losing this “war” from almost the beginning.
Blood bath for the people but how much progress to show for it.?
What would notable progress look like? The kind that absolutely leads to the end of hostilities?
Of course, Vlad is a an SOB too but a smarter one.
Europe and Russia have been committing mass suicide since July 28, 1914. Don’t expect anything to change anytime soon.
A bit off topic, but here is a fact: ( to add clarity, something western MSM will never do).
“Russia will get the largest gas field in Ukraine.
In 2010, the Yuzivska gas field was discovered in Donbas, containing enough fuel to power the entire European continent for 60 years.
Obama pressed then-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych to let US corporations exclusively develop it, but this was denied. The CIA then effected a coup of the Ukrainian government and established a proxy state in 2014.
That area will be entirely Russian and all options held by British-Dutch Shell or Canadian Yuzgaz will expire....”
Get used to it, Vlad is keeping his ethnic Russian Donbass...
I will add the field requires fracking....the war cheerleaders heads will explode when Trump signs the deal with Russia for US companies to extract it....
Those laughing? Just watch.
I will add the cost for Diesel in the EU is close to $10 a gallon, EU $9.88, France $10.24, Italy $9.79.......no economy can survive that.
https://www.fuel-prices.eu/live/
.....and the brain dead EU officials are cheering on Ukraine in striking Russia’s diesel and energy......FOOLS....or just plain suicide. Comical.
Europe and their massively subsidized proxy Zelensky absolutely do not care one bit about hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men being forced to the front to lose their lives or lose their legs and arms.
For them it is only about increasing costs to Russia, an attempt to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
If it is not at all in the interests of Ukraine or Ukrainians, which it isn’t, they completely do not care one bit.
They will kill every peace deal
Paraguay sustained immense casualties, but even the approximate numbers are disputed. Paraguay was forced to cede disputed territory to Argentina and Brazil. The war began in late 1864, as a result of a conflict between Paraguay and Brazil caused by the Uruguayan War. Argentina and Uruguay entered the war against Paraguay in 1865, and it then became known as the "War of the Triple Alliance".
You've got that right.
For them it is only about increasing costs to Russia, ...
Germany Diesel just hit 2.50 Euro per liter.....( $11 USD plus a gallon).....how high can it go?
Winter is coming for Russia and Russia is in no way prepared.
Between Ukrainian kinetic actions and just basic worn out shoddy heat and power plants with a smattering of corruption, Russia is facing a very rough winter, but fear not russiaphiles, dear leader will be fine😎
Yes Putin should be afraid😂
Are there any Donbas “ethnic Russians” still alive🤔😎
Ukraine does not have the population, GDP, natural resources or manufacturing base to compete against Russia in anything, sure as h3!! was and is never going to win a war against them.
Anyone that thought differently was delusional.
Their only hope is for some one to step in the breach for them. It is obvious that is not going to happen.
If it took the author this long to figure that out, he's got no business with any implement sharper than a bowling ball, much less a pulpit in the public forum.
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.