X Close

Dodging shells on Ukraine’s eastern front In Kreminna's Forest of Surprises, combat is almost face-to-face


July 1, 2023   9 mins

I’m running. Shells explode around me. Sometimes they roar like thunder; sometimes they whistle on approach. Large parts of the forest are on fire. Smoke rolls by like dry ice.

“Run. Run. Run,” says Dima. I follow him over the fallen trunks of trees felled by artillery; over shell craters that have become pools; through the deep grooves of old vehicle tracks. I’m slowing down now. My ill-fitting helmet is slick with sweat. Droplets sting my eyes.

“Don’t touch anything!” shouts Dima as he turns to motion to a wooden box lying on the earth. It could be mined. We are in the “Forest of Surprises” on the front lines of Kreminna, running to the Ukrainian trenches near the zero-contact line. There, Ukrainians and Russians are killing each other just metres apart.

Up in the sky, Mavic drones are scouting for movement. In the distance are three lines of Russian brigades. All I see is Dima just ahead of me, a commander in the Dnipro 1 Battalion, zig-zagging through lethal hail to deliver a drone to his comrades. Strip it all away: the tech and the money; the politics and the endless tweeting. This is what war comes down to: men running through forests praying that the shells won’t hit them.

***

“We are proud that Dnipro 1 was the first volunteer battalion to form in 2014 to fight the Russians.” It’s earlier that day, and over a year since I last saw battalion commander Yuriy Bereza, one-time politician and full-time warrior. His beard has grown since I embedded with his unit in Rubizhne on the eastern front. It hangs from his chin like a Kung-Fu master’s; he even caresses it in that slow, pensive way. “I’m not cutting it until we win,” he says with a smile.

Sitting on the P66 highway that reaches across the border into Russia, Kreminna was one of the first places the Russians targeted last February. The city’s mayor, Volodymyr Struk, who was reportedly in their pay, was found shot in the heart in early March. “Unknown patriots,” was Kyiv’s terse explanation. But they could not stop the Russians taking the city in April. They have held it ever since.

 

When the Ukrainians pushed the enemy out of the nearby town of Lyman on 1 October, Kreminna became integral to sustaining Moscow’s invasion. “The Russians understand that if they lose Kreminna, their entire line of defence will fall,” said Luhansk’s Regional Governor. They have, accordingly, built up significant fortifications in the city and the surrounding forests. The Kremlin has also sent in troops from around Kharkiv and the northern theatre to bolster their line of defence. Re-taking the city is now vital to Kyiv’s counter-offensive.

Dima’s battalion is stationed in a building that, until recently, was occupied by Russians. “That wasn’t us,” he says sheepishly, pointing to a mound of rubbish left outside. “It was the Russians — we haven’t had a chance to clear it up yet.” In a place where assault rifles loll against walls, his embarrassment strikes me as incongruous and oddly sweet — a leftover refinement from before the world went mad.

In his HQ, Bereza sits drinking coffee. “We met in April, right?” I nod. “Well, since then, the battalion has been involved in many battles. Kharkiv, Leman, Izyeum, Kopiansk, Kreminna. All the difficult fighting.”

A couple of days earlier, I spoke to Dima over the phone. “It was hard today,” he told me. “Russians were attacking with everything — artillery, drones, tanks, planes. We got to a clearing in the forest and then suddenly I saw 100 of them charging towards us… Fuck man… That was hard.” More than 90% of the soldiers in Dnipro 1 have been injured once; more than 70% twice; almost 50% three times. Since March, 22 of his 600 comrades have been killed.

Dima, a commander in the Dnipro 1 Battalion

I ask Bereza about the situation on the front. He sighs. “The main problem since we last met is that we still haven’t received anything from the lend-lease list [an agreement in which the US agreed to supply material, including weapons, to Ukraine]. We have only old cars and Soviet weapons. We don’t even need powerful weapons — just mortars and artillery. Get those and we can liberate Kreminna in two weeks. Officially, we are promised lots of things, including Bradleys and Brownings. Practically, we don’t see anything — and we are in the most intense places with the most intense fighting.”

As an explosion pierces the air, Dima interrupts. “This is the way it works. First, lend-lease [equipment] goes to Special Forces. Second, to the airborne brigades. Third, to operative units of the National Guard. Then, if something is left over, it comes to us. But it never does. There are a lot of weapons in the country — we know which units have them. But the way the general staff share them is not the best. Sometimes weapons are given to troops who are not prepared. It’s the result of bad decision-making.” Bereza goes on to explain that many Western weapons are not on the front line because they are deployed according to the agreement negotiated in March 2022. A lot has changed since then. “It’s stupid,” he says.

The following day, I saw their frustration simmer over when, in the middle of a conversation with Dima, Bereza got a call. “Don’t fucking give me excuses! Don’t tell me what the situation is here. I am here — I tell you what the situation is!” he bellowed into his phone. “We are fighting intensely, and you don’t give us machine guns or snipers? Every day we let the Russians escape. Why can’t we put machine guns in position? Why do I have to wait days for this shit? Where are my fucking weapons?”

Now, though, Dima is clear: “The situation on the front is totally different from on paper — from what middle-management officers think. We need to be able to change orders based on a changing reality. If a soldier fights, he risks death. But the people who fight in the paper army carry no risk. It’s just another day. We need to change this. They are writing while we are dying.”

A message pings on Bereza’s phone. He grins. The air force is using UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, he tells me.

But will that be enough for the counteroffensive to succeed? They both grimace. “Not only do we not have enough weapons, but the Russians have completely mined the front,” Bereza replies. “They also have a lot of brigades on their second and third lines. So we must first destroy those, for which we need more long-range missiles, and only then think about breaking through.”

Dima weighs in: “We are very grateful for Western weapons. But sometimes Western countries and politicians think they can give us 20 bullets and a piece of Ukrainian territory will be liberated. These are arguments made from maths and physics — but for the counter-offensive to be successful, you have to kill a specific amount of Russian troops to break through. This is the equation. Not the amount of bullets, but the amount of dead Russians.

“Also — and we don’t like to admit it, but I will — the quality of the new soldiers is getting worse. Before it was just volunteers, now it’s conscripts and they’re not so motivated. Before, when we lost comms with the troops, we knew they wouldn’t abandon the positions. But now we need to coordinate every step — speaking constantly to the sergeants to micro-manage everything.”

There is a broader political dimension to all this. Western countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine on the understanding that they will make significant gains against the enemy. For the first time, Ukrainian comms have let Kyiv down. Many in London and Brussels and Washington appear to believe that the counter-offensive means thousands of Ukrainians charging the Russian lines and breaking through — but here on the front, it just doesn’t work like that. “The counteroffensive is military dancing,” Bereza concludes. “We move our troops from point to point to make them think we will break through in that exact place. And when they move, we destroy them, draining their reserves. It could last for months without a breakthrough. It’s not a miracle.”

Another explosion sounds. “Ooh, an Excalibur,” says Bereza excitedly.

*** 

“Ok, then, if you haven’t changed your mind, you can come to the zero-contact line. But David, please understand it’s very dangerous.” It’s lunchtime and we are sitting in the base’s kitchen. Bereza is fastidiously cutting courgettes into small slices in preparation for dinner. I am offered a bowl of small raw cloves of garlic to munch on.

Dima needs to deliver a drone to the battalion’s trench on the zero-contact line — and is letting me accompany him. I shouldn’t really be going, and Dima is clearly nervous about the trip. “David, you won’t wear that on the front, will you?” he asks, pointing to my white T-shirt. I assure him I have packed something far less incongruous.

Half an hour later, as we are getting ready, he rips the Velcro “Press” sign off my body armour. The Russians, he explains, want to kill journalists. It will make me more of a target. We get in the 4×4 and start to drive.

Dima asks me if I’ve had first aid training. Can I use a tourniquet? Give CPR? There are only two of us; he needs to know that I’ll be able to do something if he gets hit. As we approach the front, the road disappears and Dima stops to put the tires on four-wheel-drive mode. “In war you need to be a good driver,” he says. “Because if you’re not a good driver, you’re dead.” Dima has messaged ahead to the trench that we are almost there. We pass two bullet-ridden vehicles by the side of the road. “That’s war,” he says, before turning up the music on his phone. Creedence Clearwater Revival are belting out “Fortunate Son”. “Fucking Vietnam!” roars Dima with delight. “We need a fucking helicopter!”

As we enter the Forest of Surprises, the sun disappears behind trees and the sound of shelling begins. The “surprises” here include tanks, mines, drones and artillery, to name a few. Dima explains that we are now so close to the Russian positions that the combat is almost face-to-face. The scenery around us transforms into flames. Smoke clogs the air, squeezing out the oxygen; the ground is a veil of ash. Small fires rage everywhere. “Look what the fucking Russians have done to my country,” says Dima. “If they cannot take the country, they will destroy everything in it.”

The vehicle bounces around, weaving in and out of felled trees and shell craters, which we need to do anyway for security: set a straight course and a drone might be able to calculate our trajectory and call in a strike. In this sense at least, the smoke is good because it gives us cover from the enemy overhead.

As we approach the front, Dima begins to focus on the hard end of his job. “Our commander says that out here we have two missions,” he adds. “The first is: don’t die. The second is: kill Russians. We especially need to observe the first, because if you die, you can’t kill Russians,” he says with a smile.

The shelling is louder now. Dima points out the different effects of different kinds of weaponry. Artillery fells trees at the base. Rockets obliterate them. This war is becoming an ecological catastrophe almost as much as a human one. Ukrainian soldiers appear. They are walking in single file along the side of the path, moving between positions or simply rotating out. We are now officially right on the front. We park up and get out. Dima puts the boxed-up drone under his arm and tells me to follow him all the way — staying close. We run through the front as shells go off around us. Eventually, we reach a small clearing and there, beneath a canopy of branches acting as camouflage, three small steps lead down into the earth.

This is the trench by the zero-contact line. I scuttle down as a shell explodes. Inside are six men packed into a space of about 7×7 feet. A radio sounds in the background. Dima hands over the drone and chats to the guys. The rotation here is three days on the front, six days back at base. I ask one of the soldiers, Olek, what his role is. “Nowadays, I try to kill Russians,” he replies.

As we wait for the shelling to subside, I am handed some Indian tonic water caked in sand. The guys start to laugh at my helmet. Back in Odesa, I managed to source only an olive green one, which made me look like a soldier, so I was also handed a black cover to cover it. But according to the soldiers here, I look more like a priest. I sheepishly take it off.

When it’s time to leave, we scramble out of the trench to the sound of buzzing. “Faster, faster, faster!” yells Dima. A small, black Ukrainian drone whirrs past, making its way through the trees toward the Russian positions. As we draw closer to the car, I slow down to look at the sun shining through the trees: it’s strangely beautiful. Suddenly a shell explodes off to the right. Dima gesticulates furiously at me to hurry. The Forest of Surprises is no place for sightseeing.

***

The following morning at the base, after our successful mission, Bereza presents me with a signed Battalion flag. My fixer Rodion is impressed. “This is a huge honour, David,” he tells me. “The flag [of a battalion] is very sacred. It says: ‘We respect you, we trust you — you are one of us.’”

I’m not one of them, though. I’m just an observer. I dashed only once through the front under fire with Dima. These men do it almost every day. Are they heroes? I remember something Dima told me the day before, as we were discussing the problem with weapons and central command.

“They say we are an army of heroes,” he told me. “But we don’t need heroes. We need soldiers who live. Heroism is complete fucking bullshit. You only create heroes when someone somewhere has made a mistake. At the heart of every heroic story is a human life. A mother without a son. A daughter without a father. A country without its citizens. Let’s have no more fucking heroes.”


David Patrikarakos is UnHerd‘s foreign correspondent. His latest book is War in 140 characters: how social media is reshaping conflict in the 21st century. (Hachette)

dpatrikarakos

Join the discussion


Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber


To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.

Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.

Subscribe
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

83 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jeremy Raine
Jeremy Raine
1 year ago

Well done DP….acutely observed…I’m a long way from the front lines in Eastern Ukraine ( Sydney Australia)
…Dima impresses…but the Ukrainian fighter has always impressed me , as do the average Ukrainian I’ve been observing via news feeds on the YouTube platform….
.from the time , late in February 2022 , I started focusing on the region to today , July 1, 2023.
Instead of a history lesson , be it as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Eastern outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , or part of the Soviet Empire…I have to say , I did not pay much attention to the region post 1990.
Stories such as this one bring it home..life & death , an immediacy that catches the breath & forces you to put aside the frivolous attitudes you might have toyed with prior….
DP…keep them coming , but as Dima says stay alive !!

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeremy Raine

“The main problem since we last met is that we still haven’t received anything from the lend-lease list ”
and
“Also — and we don’t like to admit it, but I will — the quality of the new soldiers is getting worse. Before it was just volunteers, now it’s conscripts and they’re not so motivated. ”
Curiously I don’t see those headlines in the Western MSM nor much commented on here. Neither bode well for this years offensive, never mind a long drawn out conflict.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Bailey

The Russians have a far larger reservoir of unwilling and reluctant recruits than the Ukrainians, so you’re right. Germany’s population was about a third of Russia’s before WW2. The Reds just kept throwing bodies against the Wehrmacht meatgrinder until German manpower was exhausted. Hitler’s many tactical and strategic blunders completed the rout.

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Bailey

The Russians have a far larger reservoir of unwilling and reluctant recruits than the Ukrainians, so you’re right. Germany’s population was about a third of Russia’s before WW2. The Reds just kept throwing bodies against the Wehrmacht meatgrinder until German manpower was exhausted. Hitler’s many tactical and strategic blunders completed the rout.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeremy Raine

“The main problem since we last met is that we still haven’t received anything from the lend-lease list ”
and
“Also — and we don’t like to admit it, but I will — the quality of the new soldiers is getting worse. Before it was just volunteers, now it’s conscripts and they’re not so motivated. ”
Curiously I don’t see those headlines in the Western MSM nor much commented on here. Neither bode well for this years offensive, never mind a long drawn out conflict.

Jeremy Raine
Jeremy Raine
1 year ago

Well done DP….acutely observed…I’m a long way from the front lines in Eastern Ukraine ( Sydney Australia)
…Dima impresses…but the Ukrainian fighter has always impressed me , as do the average Ukrainian I’ve been observing via news feeds on the YouTube platform….
.from the time , late in February 2022 , I started focusing on the region to today , July 1, 2023.
Instead of a history lesson , be it as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Eastern outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , or part of the Soviet Empire…I have to say , I did not pay much attention to the region post 1990.
Stories such as this one bring it home..life & death , an immediacy that catches the breath & forces you to put aside the frivolous attitudes you might have toyed with prior….
DP…keep them coming , but as Dima says stay alive !!

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Actually, rather typical of the mood on the front lines of any war.
And the mood is far bleaker among Russians on the other side. Far more have died in far bloodier–and fruitless–attacks all winter.
The only way to break this stalemate is to send more weapons.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You’re delusional, the Ukrainians have lost thousands of men and a large number of Tanks and armoured fighting vehicles since they started the “Spring offensive” its been a disaster, complete and total

This time last year Zelensky was telling everyone, he would retake Crimea by Christmas, and you believed him. Right now Z is telling everyone he’s going to retake Crimea by Christmas, and you still believe him

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Oh, funny thing though, Putin doesn’t dare call a new draft, while the Ukrainians are drafting people, as mentioned in the article. Guess who’s going to have more troops, and with better motivation?
Every Russian except Putin now knows that this has been a disaster. The ruble is at 87/$ and rising, while the stock mkt is at 982, and falling.
Zero gains by Russia in many months.
The End of Russia, sadly…

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Yeah, well, Putin has nukes and will likely use them. He’s not the good guy (and neither is Zelensky), but he’s not losing this thing.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Until he does.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Until he does.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Yeah, well, Putin has nukes and will likely use them. He’s not the good guy (and neither is Zelensky), but he’s not losing this thing.

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Max Blumenthal to the UN Security Council. on U-tube.
https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Oh, funny thing though, Putin doesn’t dare call a new draft, while the Ukrainians are drafting people, as mentioned in the article. Guess who’s going to have more troops, and with better motivation?
Every Russian except Putin now knows that this has been a disaster. The ruble is at 87/$ and rising, while the stock mkt is at 982, and falling.
Zero gains by Russia in many months.
The End of Russia, sadly…

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Max Blumenthal to the UN Security Council. on U-tube.
https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You have to be a paid federal agent of some sort. No one who knows anything believes this. Russia has controlled the air and had nearly a 10 to 1 artillery advantage since the beginning.
Everyone who knows anything about military offensives knows that military offensives take at least a 3 to 1 death rate. Only without proper air cover, and artillery cover, (and they have said as much) it’s been far worse for Ukrainian solders, which is proven out by the fact that this big Spring (now Summer) offensive has been a bust.
First it was going to be magic night vision helmets that was going to help them, then magic Leopard tanks… Now it’s magic F16s that won’t show up for months, with pilots with little training on them… This fantasy land stuff kills Ukrainians.
But guys like you, you don’t care. To you this is like a sporting event and you want your team to win. So, people like you just keep pushing anything but peace.
Here are the facts. The Russian military is at this point, much larger, trained up, competent, and powerful. Stop pretending like they are faltering fools with no ability. That is propaganda that kills Ukrainians. Politicians have been pushing that from the start, and it’s wearing pretty thin at this point. 

Peter B
Peter B
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

You keep coming on here and saying all these things.
If they’re true, why hasn’t Russia steamrollered Ukraine months ago ?
Or is it just that they’re not really trying at the moment ?
Meanwhile D. Walsh keep saying “Russia is winning”. But they’ve been “winning” for so long (according to him) that they’ve surely “won” many times over by now. And yet, they haven’t …
I think you guys need to seek professional help.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

And the Russians are winning, they have destroyed 2 or 3 different versions of the Ukrainian army

Have you not seen the videos of the Leopard and Bradley’s being destroyed before they manage to fire a shot, its a turkey shoot

The next wonder weapon for the Russians to destroy is the F16

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

I think you must have been facing a mirror, at least subconsciously, when you wrote above: “you’re delusional”. If your overheated insistence on the certainty of major Russian victory had any binding on-the-ground effect, that would have happened long ago.
But let me ask you: Are you just (desperately) convinced the Russians will win, or is that a prospective outcome you would celebrate? What if they were to then swallow Belarus and Estonia–still a rah rah Russophile?

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

If all other things were equal the army with the artillery advantage would win. Well the Russians have a large artillery advantage, added to that all the other things are not equal, the Russians still have an airforce and the worlds best air defence system

You don’t have to look very hard to find videos of how the “spring offensive” is going, its a disaster, people like ML on here are 100% delusional

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Well you certainly sound convinced. Perhaps you are more correct than I want to admit as a North American observer. Still, you seem to alternate between expressing general antiwar sentiments and enthusiastically rooting for Russian success. Do you think if Putin’s expansionist urges are appeased here that they will then subside?
I think we can agree that the ongoing human cost is a nightmare that didn’t need to happen. putting aside one-sided or simplified blame.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

I would like the war end today

There was a deal on the table last year, I really wish the Ukrainians took it

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

I’ll let it go after I say that I think the war would never have started and could end today if not for the disastrous, pointless miscalculations of Putin. Why are you putting the burden on the invaded country?!

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

If my neighbour constantly encroaches on my garden,taking an inch here,an inch there,placing a trampoline so his kids can annoy me by pretending to be playing but really getting an eyeful of me naked sunbathing and then on Saturdays having all his mates round to drink and smoke weed and chucking all the cans in my garden,well eventually I’m going to take action of some sort. The USA has been doing the equivalent for years and it is the USA who are keeping this conflict going and for quite other reasons than caring about ukranians. No one cares about Ukrainians.

Michael F
Michael F
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Gosh, you have some issues with trust.
I have reviewed your comments. Churchill was a puppet of whom, exactly? King George VI? The Templars?
And since when was war anything other than a huge waste of money?
You don’t have to love Ukrainians. But you clearly haven’t met many or done much for them.
It seems from your posts that you are insular, antisocial, and blame everyone else for your ills.
May I recommend you watch It Happened Here (1964) – it will give you some clues as to how you could behave were the UK to be invaded.

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

What a bizarre re-location of the issue. The US-NATO alliance is keeping the conflict going only in the sense that they will not permit some or all of Ukraine to fall, and that’s only after Ukraine demanded respect (from most) with their determined, desperate fightback.
The US is certainly a dominant and self-interested global actor, but not only so. And they have not added territory since 1898. I care about the people of Ukraine and Russia and I care about my Ukrainian neighbors, Russian ones too (there are many of both where I live). I care more about my family and few close friends, of course.
Who is it that you purport to care about by advocating concession to the territorial ambitions of Vlad the First?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Certainly destroying Russia as we speak.
Ruble is at 89, and falling, while the RTS is at 980.
Sleepy Joes’ plan to destroy Russia is on track!

Michael F
Michael F
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Gosh, you have some issues with trust.
I have reviewed your comments. Churchill was a puppet of whom, exactly? King George VI? The Templars?
And since when was war anything other than a huge waste of money?
You don’t have to love Ukrainians. But you clearly haven’t met many or done much for them.
It seems from your posts that you are insular, antisocial, and blame everyone else for your ills.
May I recommend you watch It Happened Here (1964) – it will give you some clues as to how you could behave were the UK to be invaded.

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

What a bizarre re-location of the issue. The US-NATO alliance is keeping the conflict going only in the sense that they will not permit some or all of Ukraine to fall, and that’s only after Ukraine demanded respect (from most) with their determined, desperate fightback.
The US is certainly a dominant and self-interested global actor, but not only so. And they have not added territory since 1898. I care about the people of Ukraine and Russia and I care about my Ukrainian neighbors, Russian ones too (there are many of both where I live). I care more about my family and few close friends, of course.
Who is it that you purport to care about by advocating concession to the territorial ambitions of Vlad the First?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Certainly destroying Russia as we speak.
Ruble is at 89, and falling, while the RTS is at 980.
Sleepy Joes’ plan to destroy Russia is on track!

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

If my neighbour constantly encroaches on my garden,taking an inch here,an inch there,placing a trampoline so his kids can annoy me by pretending to be playing but really getting an eyeful of me naked sunbathing and then on Saturdays having all his mates round to drink and smoke weed and chucking all the cans in my garden,well eventually I’m going to take action of some sort. The USA has been doing the equivalent for years and it is the USA who are keeping this conflict going and for quite other reasons than caring about ukranians. No one cares about Ukrainians.

Aidan Trimble
Aidan Trimble
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

As usual, your broken English reveals you to be nothing more than a Russian shill. Your comments can be completely disregarded.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Aidan Trimble

I’m Irish

If I occasionally make a mistake, in spelling ect, its because I’m using my phone

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Aidan Trimble

I’m Irish

If I occasionally make a mistake, in spelling ect, its because I’m using my phone

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

That was why tatterdemalion Boris Johnson did that sudden surprise dash to meet up with his mate Zelensky with £15milion of our tax payers money. It was a bribe or pay off to keep the fight going. Their puppet masters needed to keep them on script. This war is far too PROFITABLE all round to end it. It’s going to drag on for years because a lot of people are making money out of it – on both sides. But not us.

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Watch Max Blumenthal (u-tube) explain it all to the UN Security Council.
https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

The war won’t drag on because, as in 1855, 1905, 1917, and 1989, Russia will lose.
Long wars are simply not in the Russian character.
They only won WW2 because of Lend-Lease and an inhuman Stalinist regime.
But Vova is too soft–and too frightened–to go Stalinist.
He still might use the knout, tho.
Russian soldiers who are crippled won’t be able to run away.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Watch Max Blumenthal (u-tube) explain it all to the UN Security Council.
https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

The war won’t drag on because, as in 1855, 1905, 1917, and 1989, Russia will lose.
Long wars are simply not in the Russian character.
They only won WW2 because of Lend-Lease and an inhuman Stalinist regime.
But Vova is too soft–and too frightened–to go Stalinist.
He still might use the knout, tho.
Russian soldiers who are crippled won’t be able to run away.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

I’ll let it go after I say that I think the war would never have started and could end today if not for the disastrous, pointless miscalculations of Putin. Why are you putting the burden on the invaded country?!

Aidan Trimble
Aidan Trimble
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

As usual, your broken English reveals you to be nothing more than a Russian shill. Your comments can be completely disregarded.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

That was why tatterdemalion Boris Johnson did that sudden surprise dash to meet up with his mate Zelensky with £15milion of our tax payers money. It was a bribe or pay off to keep the fight going. Their puppet masters needed to keep them on script. This war is far too PROFITABLE all round to end it. It’s going to drag on for years because a lot of people are making money out of it – on both sides. But not us.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

I would like the war end today

There was a deal on the table last year, I really wish the Ukrainians took it

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Well you certainly sound convinced. Perhaps you are more correct than I want to admit as a North American observer. Still, you seem to alternate between expressing general antiwar sentiments and enthusiastically rooting for Russian success. Do you think if Putin’s expansionist urges are appeased here that they will then subside?
I think we can agree that the ongoing human cost is a nightmare that didn’t need to happen. putting aside one-sided or simplified blame.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  AJ Mac

If all other things were equal the army with the artillery advantage would win. Well the Russians have a large artillery advantage, added to that all the other things are not equal, the Russians still have an airforce and the worlds best air defence system

You don’t have to look very hard to find videos of how the “spring offensive” is going, its a disaster, people like ML on here are 100% delusional

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

I think you must have been facing a mirror, at least subconsciously, when you wrote above: “you’re delusional”. If your overheated insistence on the certainty of major Russian victory had any binding on-the-ground effect, that would have happened long ago.
But let me ask you: Are you just (desperately) convinced the Russians will win, or is that a prospective outcome you would celebrate? What if they were to then swallow Belarus and Estonia–still a rah rah Russophile?

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

These people adopt contrary narratives, simply because they want to make themselves seem more interesting and in the know than they really are.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

And the Russians are winning, they have destroyed 2 or 3 different versions of the Ukrainian army

Have you not seen the videos of the Leopard and Bradley’s being destroyed before they manage to fire a shot, its a turkey shoot

The next wonder weapon for the Russians to destroy is the F16

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter B

These people adopt contrary narratives, simply because they want to make themselves seem more interesting and in the know than they really are.

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

If what you say were true, then Russia would have already won this war special military defeat.

Clare Knight
Clare Knight
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

That seems to be an unnecessarily heartless comment to Martin Logan. I didn’t get the feeling that he doesn’t care.

Last edited 1 year ago by Clare Knight
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Clare Knight

Having been in the army many decades ago, I certainly do care about the people on both sides.
But the only way to win any war is to defeat the other side.
Ukraine is doing that.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Clare Knight

Having been in the army many decades ago, I certainly do care about the people on both sides.
But the only way to win any war is to defeat the other side.
Ukraine is doing that.

Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

I am reminded of Vietnam. Why didn’t the much larger, wealthier, more populated, more powerful United States win that one?

Peter B
Peter B
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

You keep coming on here and saying all these things.
If they’re true, why hasn’t Russia steamrollered Ukraine months ago ?
Or is it just that they’re not really trying at the moment ?
Meanwhile D. Walsh keep saying “Russia is winning”. But they’ve been “winning” for so long (according to him) that they’ve surely “won” many times over by now. And yet, they haven’t …
I think you guys need to seek professional help.

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

If what you say were true, then Russia would have already won this war special military defeat.

Clare Knight
Clare Knight
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

That seems to be an unnecessarily heartless comment to Martin Logan. I didn’t get the feeling that he doesn’t care.

Last edited 1 year ago by Clare Knight
Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

I am reminded of Vietnam. Why didn’t the much larger, wealthier, more populated, more powerful United States win that one?

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

It would help if the author included a few facts such as the number of Ukrainians killed so far estimated at 400,000, the fact that the regime in Kiev has stopped the forthcoming elections and is essentially a dictatorship conscripting its young men to be sent off to be slaughtered.

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

He is imbedded with Ukrainians. There is no pretense of objectivity or detachment and that should not be expected under the circumstances. I do think Patrikarakos could be a bit less bellicose or cinematic in his scenic passages, because the tone suggests to me: “War is hell…ain’t it great?!”

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

Britain didn’t hold elections during the Second World War and had conscription of young men to fight, are you suggesting that Churchill was a dictator?

Last edited 1 year ago by Billy Bob
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

Yes. He was a “useful idiot” . He would,with a little regret,but he would sign death warrants for millions of people at a stroke. From bombing,combat,famine. Our side or the other side. He obeyed orders and did what the script demanded.
Yes,he was charismatic and amusing,and had charm. I don’t deny that or his writing talent. But he was CHOSEN because he would obey orders.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Sounds like something from a Russian school syllabus…
Was he in the pay then of “World Capital??”
Who then was his “secret controller?”
Oooh, this is getting interesting!”
Russian conspiracy theories are always the best!

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Sounds like something from a Russian school syllabus…
Was he in the pay then of “World Capital??”
Who then was his “secret controller?”
Oooh, this is getting interesting!”
Russian conspiracy theories are always the best!

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

Yes. He was a “useful idiot” . He would,with a little regret,but he would sign death warrants for millions of people at a stroke. From bombing,combat,famine. Our side or the other side. He obeyed orders and did what the script demanded.
Yes,he was charismatic and amusing,and had charm. I don’t deny that or his writing talent. But he was CHOSEN because he would obey orders.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

I actually heard it was 45 million.
Do you think there is a Ukrainian coverup?

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

Max Blumenthal agrees with you. Watch his report to the UN security council on u-tube. https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Not a “report”.
Unsubstantiated claims–like the ones on here.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Not a “report”.
Unsubstantiated claims–like the ones on here.

AJ Mac
AJ Mac
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

He is imbedded with Ukrainians. There is no pretense of objectivity or detachment and that should not be expected under the circumstances. I do think Patrikarakos could be a bit less bellicose or cinematic in his scenic passages, because the tone suggests to me: “War is hell…ain’t it great?!”

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

Britain didn’t hold elections during the Second World War and had conscription of young men to fight, are you suggesting that Churchill was a dictator?

Last edited 1 year ago by Billy Bob
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

I actually heard it was 45 million.
Do you think there is a Ukrainian coverup?

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Watkins

Max Blumenthal agrees with you. Watch his report to the UN security council on u-tube. https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You’re delusional, the Ukrainians have lost thousands of men and a large number of Tanks and armoured fighting vehicles since they started the “Spring offensive” its been a disaster, complete and total

This time last year Zelensky was telling everyone, he would retake Crimea by Christmas, and you believed him. Right now Z is telling everyone he’s going to retake Crimea by Christmas, and you still believe him

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

You have to be a paid federal agent of some sort. No one who knows anything believes this. Russia has controlled the air and had nearly a 10 to 1 artillery advantage since the beginning.
Everyone who knows anything about military offensives knows that military offensives take at least a 3 to 1 death rate. Only without proper air cover, and artillery cover, (and they have said as much) it’s been far worse for Ukrainian solders, which is proven out by the fact that this big Spring (now Summer) offensive has been a bust.
First it was going to be magic night vision helmets that was going to help them, then magic Leopard tanks… Now it’s magic F16s that won’t show up for months, with pilots with little training on them… This fantasy land stuff kills Ukrainians.
But guys like you, you don’t care. To you this is like a sporting event and you want your team to win. So, people like you just keep pushing anything but peace.
Here are the facts. The Russian military is at this point, much larger, trained up, competent, and powerful. Stop pretending like they are faltering fools with no ability. That is propaganda that kills Ukrainians. Politicians have been pushing that from the start, and it’s wearing pretty thin at this point. 

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

It would help if the author included a few facts such as the number of Ukrainians killed so far estimated at 400,000, the fact that the regime in Kiev has stopped the forthcoming elections and is essentially a dictatorship conscripting its young men to be sent off to be slaughtered.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Actually, rather typical of the mood on the front lines of any war.
And the mood is far bleaker among Russians on the other side. Far more have died in far bloodier–and fruitless–attacks all winter.
The only way to break this stalemate is to send more weapons.

Victoria Powell
Victoria Powell
1 year ago

Brave reporting on the terrifying reality of war.

Clare Knight
Clare Knight
1 year ago

Exactly.

Clare Knight
Clare Knight
1 year ago

Exactly.

Victoria Powell
Victoria Powell
1 year ago

Brave reporting on the terrifying reality of war.

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago

Interesting article and well written. However, the author also needs to provide some important background information. Two cases in particular the interview between the Hindustan Times and Victor Oban – He is going to block the EU proposal for another 50 billion in aid and also wants the previous spending on the 70 billion in aid audited. The interview with in Zaluzhny reported in the Washington Post where he says that the current offensive has failed/is stalling and that he will not go on the offensive again until he is provided with F16, ammunition and new artillery.

Jeff Watkins
Jeff Watkins
1 year ago

Interesting article and well written. However, the author also needs to provide some important background information. Two cases in particular the interview between the Hindustan Times and Victor Oban – He is going to block the EU proposal for another 50 billion in aid and also wants the previous spending on the 70 billion in aid audited. The interview with in Zaluzhny reported in the Washington Post where he says that the current offensive has failed/is stalling and that he will not go on the offensive again until he is provided with F16, ammunition and new artillery.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

The first victim of war is truth.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 year ago

The first victim of war is truth.

Lisa I
Lisa I
1 year ago

It sounds horrendous. I can only imagine the psychological damage both countries soldier’s will have from the war. Alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, PTSD etc, That’s the part we don’t think about until a war is over. All because of a dictator’s stupid decision.

Last edited 1 year ago by Lisa I
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa I

And they’ll all come here,claim asylum,a free social housing house or we can turf some old folks out of a care home to house then,and inflict their alcoholism and psychosis on us.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Where will they get all the boats?

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Where will they get all the boats?

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa I

And they’ll all come here,claim asylum,a free social housing house or we can turf some old folks out of a care home to house then,and inflict their alcoholism and psychosis on us.

Lisa I
Lisa I
1 year ago

It sounds horrendous. I can only imagine the psychological damage both countries soldier’s will have from the war. Alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, PTSD etc, That’s the part we don’t think about until a war is over. All because of a dictator’s stupid decision.

Last edited 1 year ago by Lisa I
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago

I’m not impressed. We want to kill Russians. What sort of credo for life is that. Bunch of turnip heads in my opinion. Nasty, selfish creeps. Like east European taxi drivers when you ring for a taxi and you just know this grim,scowling figure is an axe murderer and he’s got the axe in the boot. I loathe Ukranians and in ALLOWED TO. There is now law,not even a moral law,that says I have to like everyone or that everyone has to like me. Even Jesus didnt like everybody.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Filled with the Christian charity of Patriarch Kyrill…
The real problem is that Lenin and Stalin elevated the very lowest Russian classes into positions of power. Crime was all they knew, and crime was all they could pass on to their heirs.
Virtually everyone in high positions after 1991 had been in the Party. so they simply reverted to the criminal ways of their fathers and grandfathers.
This is a deeply criminalized society. Anyone descended from one of those criminals is also likely to be a criminal. Russia either needs to be totally reformed, or totally isolated.
Russians simply lack all self-control–which is why Putin tried to steal Ukraine. If he doesn’t lose, he’ll try it again.
He can’t help it.
Clean, decent people should not have to put up with Russian criminality.
That’s particularly true for Ukrainians.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Filled with the Christian charity of Patriarch Kyrill…
The real problem is that Lenin and Stalin elevated the very lowest Russian classes into positions of power. Crime was all they knew, and crime was all they could pass on to their heirs.
Virtually everyone in high positions after 1991 had been in the Party. so they simply reverted to the criminal ways of their fathers and grandfathers.
This is a deeply criminalized society. Anyone descended from one of those criminals is also likely to be a criminal. Russia either needs to be totally reformed, or totally isolated.
Russians simply lack all self-control–which is why Putin tried to steal Ukraine. If he doesn’t lose, he’ll try it again.
He can’t help it.
Clean, decent people should not have to put up with Russian criminality.
That’s particularly true for Ukrainians.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago

I’m not impressed. We want to kill Russians. What sort of credo for life is that. Bunch of turnip heads in my opinion. Nasty, selfish creeps. Like east European taxi drivers when you ring for a taxi and you just know this grim,scowling figure is an axe murderer and he’s got the axe in the boot. I loathe Ukranians and in ALLOWED TO. There is now law,not even a moral law,that says I have to like everyone or that everyone has to like me. Even Jesus didnt like everybody.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago

If there is anyone reading these comments who REALLY BELIEVES all that BBC hawked garbage about little boys being abducted from school and forced into uniform in the face of their weeping mothers pleas,well please watch the films on you tube of Pavlo from Ukraine. It’s very enlightening. He’s not in uniform and he’s not going to be in uniform. He’s not been caught in the draft and I don’t think he’s going to be. His cousins aren’t either. They’re all doing alright. In the town near him and the bigger cities he visits there are plenty of men just going about their normal lives ITS NOT LIKE HOW WE’RE BEING TOLD.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Russia has committed atrocities just like that in EVERY past war.
It’s in their DNA.
We’ve seen it in Irpin. We’ve seen it in Bucha.
Eventually, we will have to demilitarize the region from the Russian border to the Urals. That’s the only real solution.
But for now Russians just need to be ejected from Ukraine.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Russia has committed atrocities just like that in EVERY past war.
It’s in their DNA.
We’ve seen it in Irpin. We’ve seen it in Bucha.
Eventually, we will have to demilitarize the region from the Russian border to the Urals. That’s the only real solution.
But for now Russians just need to be ejected from Ukraine.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago

If there is anyone reading these comments who REALLY BELIEVES all that BBC hawked garbage about little boys being abducted from school and forced into uniform in the face of their weeping mothers pleas,well please watch the films on you tube of Pavlo from Ukraine. It’s very enlightening. He’s not in uniform and he’s not going to be in uniform. He’s not been caught in the draft and I don’t think he’s going to be. His cousins aren’t either. They’re all doing alright. In the town near him and the bigger cities he visits there are plenty of men just going about their normal lives ITS NOT LIKE HOW WE’RE BEING TOLD.

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago
Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago

Watch the Max Blumenthal video on u-tube. He explains the “war” in Ukraine. https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Max: “Don’t believe your lying eyes!”

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Jimjim McHale

Max: “Don’t believe your lying eyes!”

Jimjim McHale
Jimjim McHale
1 year ago

Watch the Max Blumenthal video on u-tube. He explains the “war” in Ukraine. https://youtu.be/Eq4643bsH8w

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

I actually don’t blame Scott Ritter or Col Macgregor for dishing out the nonsense claims and figures to boobs willing to believe it.
They are making money off them, which is in the capitalist tradition.
Most ultra-processed fast food is very bad for you in the long run, and will eventually kill you.
But not many would ban it.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

It’s so comfy to sleepwalk through life.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Col MacGregor said that Kyiv would fall.
Since then he ahs been predicting the defeat of Kyiv every three weeks.
A broken clock is right at least twice in a day.
Accuracy that the Col. can only aspire to.

Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

That’s becoming a dead metaphor – digital clocks that a broken have dead screens.

Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

That’s becoming a dead metaphor – digital clocks that a broken have dead screens.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Col MacGregor said that Kyiv would fall.
Since then he ahs been predicting the defeat of Kyiv every three weeks.
A broken clock is right at least twice in a day.
Accuracy that the Col. can only aspire to.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

It’s so comfy to sleepwalk through life.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

I actually don’t blame Scott Ritter or Col Macgregor for dishing out the nonsense claims and figures to boobs willing to believe it.
They are making money off them, which is in the capitalist tradition.
Most ultra-processed fast food is very bad for you in the long run, and will eventually kill you.
But not many would ban it.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

“This is the future, Winston:
Imagine Victoria Nuland’s boot, smashing Putin’s face–forever.”
How can we stop this nightmare?!

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

“This is the future, Winston:
Imagine Victoria Nuland’s boot, smashing Putin’s face–forever.”
How can we stop this nightmare?!

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago

Normally when one side runs out of bullets they have to surrender, and say “we lost”. But if there are still some bodies to throw into the fight, and nations want to use them in a proxy war, they will send them more bullets to keep fighting. Also, it seems clear that modern warfare doesn’t tend to go well if you don’t have air cover. If that’s not arriving for months, and it takes pilots years to learn to fly them well, then there is a name for that….a “fantasy”. The only people who would send more Ukrainians into this situation like this are those who really don’t care about Ukrainian lives. 
The only people who get mad at the truth like this when it is said are those who also really don’t value Ukrainian lives.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

But more importantly:
“The only people who would send more Russians into this situation like this are those who really don’t care about Russian lives.”
Actually, now it’s only one person: Putin.
Moreover, the only difference is that, without full control of the Dnipro, and most of Donbas, every Ukrainian knows their nation is crippled.
Ukraine didn’t get to be Ukraine by accident.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

That’s actually not true at all. They’re trying to join NATO, which Russia has always considered that a threat a red line. This is why we lied to them with the Minsk agreement in 2014, so we could pump Ukraine full of military equipment, and train them up (See Victoria Nuland for that). That failed (Also see Victoria Nuland for where they found the Russian speaking, needing to be trained to speak Ukranian Volodymyr Zelenskyy from). The reason they are crippled now with all the losses is everyone listened to terrible views like you expressed just now, pretending they could win. Like the Russians are really weak, and incapible, and collapsing… That’s all more fantasy talk. Really just more lies…lies that lead to more dead Ukranians!
Also we now know, at (least those of us who don’t have our heads up our behinds), there was a peace agreement draft that was signed by the Ukrainians. Boris put an end to that. There is the real screwing over! That’s the source that killed all these people, the warmongering neoliberal neocons! So, yes, they’re screwed now, because of that!. Then people like YOU who push war with lies, with propaganda! It’s on your hands to that extent, so you’d better push war with more seriousness to your own culpabiliy So, yes they are screwed as a nation state, but having a surrendered nation and still alive is better than dead. You think the people in Crimea are miserable? Not really.
Again, you’re not valuing human life! None of this has! This is not a game! This is life and death! We have a histroy of doing this. The facts come out later if anyone cares or is paying attention by that time… We bult war on a house of cards, used a bunch of people who are now either dead or screwed over… This is our pattern… Next up on the list… Taiwan. War is big money for certian people! Billions are changing hands! Trillions are on the line with Blackrock buying up Ukraine, so of course it’s a must win for our side…
This is also about the USD, and the control of central banks. This was about the USA taking out cheap oil and gas from its European competition. Which is why we provoked Russia into this reaction. 
This is also about China’s belt and road initiative. We’ve got people in the neocon thinktanks in the US who have actually come out and said these things out loud! (Mike Pompeo for one) This is about keeping China (the worlds workshop) and Russia (cheap fuel and resources) from joining up with Europe (creativity, high end manufacturing and invention) to make an unstoppable pan Eurasian economic powerhouse that cuts the declining USA out. So, we had to cut Russia out, and by so doing also China who wants to build train tracks across Eurasia to facilitate all this.
This is about your Davos types not wanting any of that. This is about power. It’s way bigger than everyone is discussing, and it didn’t just start in 2020. None of these people really care about which Slavs control which border in the Donbass.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Think you mean Victoria Nuland.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

The West seems to be doing a very good job of beggaring, and then frightening Russians out of their wits.
But think about the Russians who once really believed all that nonsense about Russia following its “Special Path.”
Now they know there is nothing ahead but collapse.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

“divide et impera“.

It always works.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Indeed, look at Russia’s successful strategy during the Cold War.
Brought on the prosperity of the 90s.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

Indeed, look at Russia’s successful strategy during the Cold War.
Brought on the prosperity of the 90s.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Everything you have written here is totally true and accurate.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

“Thunderous, stormy applause for half an hour.”

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

“Thunderous, stormy applause for half an hour.”

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Think you mean Victoria Nuland.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

The West seems to be doing a very good job of beggaring, and then frightening Russians out of their wits.
But think about the Russians who once really believed all that nonsense about Russia following its “Special Path.”
Now they know there is nothing ahead but collapse.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

“divide et impera“.

It always works.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Everything you have written here is totally true and accurate.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

That’s actually not true at all. They’re trying to join NATO, which Russia has always considered that a threat a red line. This is why we lied to them with the Minsk agreement in 2014, so we could pump Ukraine full of military equipment, and train them up (See Victoria Nuland for that). That failed (Also see Victoria Nuland for where they found the Russian speaking, needing to be trained to speak Ukranian Volodymyr Zelenskyy from). The reason they are crippled now with all the losses is everyone listened to terrible views like you expressed just now, pretending they could win. Like the Russians are really weak, and incapible, and collapsing… That’s all more fantasy talk. Really just more lies…lies that lead to more dead Ukranians!
Also we now know, at (least those of us who don’t have our heads up our behinds), there was a peace agreement draft that was signed by the Ukrainians. Boris put an end to that. There is the real screwing over! That’s the source that killed all these people, the warmongering neoliberal neocons! So, yes, they’re screwed now, because of that!. Then people like YOU who push war with lies, with propaganda! It’s on your hands to that extent, so you’d better push war with more seriousness to your own culpabiliy So, yes they are screwed as a nation state, but having a surrendered nation and still alive is better than dead. You think the people in Crimea are miserable? Not really.
Again, you’re not valuing human life! None of this has! This is not a game! This is life and death! We have a histroy of doing this. The facts come out later if anyone cares or is paying attention by that time… We bult war on a house of cards, used a bunch of people who are now either dead or screwed over… This is our pattern… Next up on the list… Taiwan. War is big money for certian people! Billions are changing hands! Trillions are on the line with Blackrock buying up Ukraine, so of course it’s a must win for our side…
This is also about the USD, and the control of central banks. This was about the USA taking out cheap oil and gas from its European competition. Which is why we provoked Russia into this reaction. 
This is also about China’s belt and road initiative. We’ve got people in the neocon thinktanks in the US who have actually come out and said these things out loud! (Mike Pompeo for one) This is about keeping China (the worlds workshop) and Russia (cheap fuel and resources) from joining up with Europe (creativity, high end manufacturing and invention) to make an unstoppable pan Eurasian economic powerhouse that cuts the declining USA out. So, we had to cut Russia out, and by so doing also China who wants to build train tracks across Eurasia to facilitate all this.
This is about your Davos types not wanting any of that. This is about power. It’s way bigger than everyone is discussing, and it didn’t just start in 2020. None of these people really care about which Slavs control which border in the Donbass.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

But more importantly:
“The only people who would send more Russians into this situation like this are those who really don’t care about Russian lives.”
Actually, now it’s only one person: Putin.
Moreover, the only difference is that, without full control of the Dnipro, and most of Donbas, every Ukrainian knows their nation is crippled.
Ukraine didn’t get to be Ukraine by accident.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago

Normally when one side runs out of bullets they have to surrender, and say “we lost”. But if there are still some bodies to throw into the fight, and nations want to use them in a proxy war, they will send them more bullets to keep fighting. Also, it seems clear that modern warfare doesn’t tend to go well if you don’t have air cover. If that’s not arriving for months, and it takes pilots years to learn to fly them well, then there is a name for that….a “fantasy”. The only people who would send more Ukrainians into this situation like this are those who really don’t care about Ukrainian lives. 
The only people who get mad at the truth like this when it is said are those who also really don’t value Ukrainian lives.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago

Ukrainian nationalists are the dumbest people on the planet right now

Someone needs to tell them that fighting to the last man for the neocons, is not a winning move

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

How about you volunteer to go and “tell them”?

J B
J B
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Xуй будеш?

Andrew Watson
Andrew Watson
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

No the dumbest are the Russians who didn’t get out before mobilisation and end up losing their lives for gangsters.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

But nice to see Girkin’s view, post-putsch:
“After Prigozhin’s rebellion, Russia has become much stronger….well, approximately like an organism after a heart attack…”
Fact is, unless Ukraine gains back both sides of the Dnipro, it can never repair the dam.
Neo-cons didn’t destroy the Nova Kakhovka dam, an act which is now desertifying much of southern Ukraine. Now the only way to repair it is to take both banks of the Dnipro.
And the Russians destroyed the dam because they are now desperate, fearful they won’t hold on to even the pathetic gains they still have.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Ukrainian nationalists, you mean like anyone who has ethnic identity and want to live in their own country in their own ways?

Last edited 1 year ago by zee upītis
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

A nation of spivs and gold diggers.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

But they are the clean, sane version of Ancient Rus.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

But they are the clean, sane version of Ancient Rus.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  zee upītis

A nation of spivs and gold diggers.

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

How about you volunteer to go and “tell them”?

J B
J B
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Xуй будеш?

Andrew Watson
Andrew Watson
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

No the dumbest are the Russians who didn’t get out before mobilisation and end up losing their lives for gangsters.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

But nice to see Girkin’s view, post-putsch:
“After Prigozhin’s rebellion, Russia has become much stronger….well, approximately like an organism after a heart attack…”
Fact is, unless Ukraine gains back both sides of the Dnipro, it can never repair the dam.
Neo-cons didn’t destroy the Nova Kakhovka dam, an act which is now desertifying much of southern Ukraine. Now the only way to repair it is to take both banks of the Dnipro.
And the Russians destroyed the dam because they are now desperate, fearful they won’t hold on to even the pathetic gains they still have.

Last edited 1 year ago by martin logan
zee upītis
zee upītis
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Ukrainian nationalists, you mean like anyone who has ethnic identity and want to live in their own country in their own ways?

Last edited 1 year ago by zee upītis
D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago

Ukrainian nationalists are the dumbest people on the planet right now

Someone needs to tell them that fighting to the last man for the neocons, is not a winning move

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

There is now exactly one–and only one–Russian left who supports this war:
Vova Putin
Every other Russian, both military and civilian, realizes it is hopeless.
And every Russian also knows that if that particular Russian’s heart should stop beating, it’s the end of all their problems.
We’re going to see a lot more surprises from Russia.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Whre do you get this stuff from? Russia is actually very united at this point. In fact, part of the frustration is apparently at the slow pace of things with Putin playing a long game while Germany collapses economically, France burns (you think the coup is going to overthrow Macron?), the US cities full of feces, dying drug addicts, cultural, and economic collapse happens. Time is on Russia’s side on this. Other than that, from what I have heard, the people in Russia are pretty happy, because their economy is growing, they have no food inflation, full shelves, a bright future in BRICS. Meanwhile we in the West are committing economic and cultural suicide.
We were told the sanctions were going to collapse them. It just drove them into new growing markets. The first thing we need to do is stop lying about things. Lying about reality never works out. It might pull something over for a short period of time, but it’s not a good long term plan for good things to happen to us.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Ah, you’ve spotted that the people pushing hardest for war with Russia. Are the same people whose policies are slowly destroying the West

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Slowly? Seems pretty fast to me.

Rob N
Rob N
1 year ago
Reply to  D Walsh

Slowly? Seems pretty fast to me.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

There are 90 year-old Old Marxists dying in hospitals who once dreamed of seeing the Fall of the West.
Hasn’t happened.
And won’t happen.
The Old Marxists will die, and nothing will change.
Just accept that Russia’ stock market is at 982 and falling. While it has to use 70-year old T55 tanks.
And doesn’t even bother to evacuate its badly wounded.
Every Russian except Putin knows the war is lost.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

But it’s still on isnt it.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Rather like WW2 in 1944.
In both cases the war was lost, but the losers fought on.
And they fought on because they were/are losers.
Russia in 2023 is no different from Germany in 1944.

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  jane baker

Rather like WW2 in 1944.
In both cases the war was lost, but the losers fought on.
And they fought on because they were/are losers.
Russia in 2023 is no different from Germany in 1944.

jane baker
jane baker
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

But it’s still on isnt it.

Ralph Wade
Ralph Wade
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

“ Russia is actually very united at this point.” Steve – where the heck were you last weekend? As I recall, Russia had a bit of an insurrection over this topic. You are handwringing over the death and destruction befalling the poor Ukrainians, but is seems to me if anyone is united, it is the Ukrainian population wanting to get the Russians out and are willing to fight for freedom.

D Walsh
D Walsh
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

Ah, you’ve spotted that the people pushing hardest for war with Russia. Are the same people whose policies are slowly destroying the West

martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

There are 90 year-old Old Marxists dying in hospitals who once dreamed of seeing the Fall of the West.
Hasn’t happened.
And won’t happen.
The Old Marxists will die, and nothing will change.
Just accept that Russia’ stock market is at 982 and falling. While it has to use 70-year old T55 tanks.
And doesn’t even bother to evacuate its badly wounded.
Every Russian except Putin knows the war is lost.

Ralph Wade
Ralph Wade
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve White

“ Russia is actually very united at this point.” Steve – where the heck were you last weekend? As I recall, Russia had a bit of an insurrection over this topic. You are handwringing over the death and destruction befalling the poor Ukrainians, but is seems to me if anyone is united, it is the Ukrainian population wanting to get the Russians out and are willing to fight for freedom.

Steve White
Steve White
1 year ago
Reply to  martin logan

Whre do you get this stuff from? Russia is actually very united at this point. In fact, part of the frustration is apparently at the slow pace of things with Putin playing a long game while Germany collapses economically, France burns (you think the coup is going to overthrow Macron?), the US cities full of feces, dying drug addicts, cultural, and economic collapse happens. Time is on Russia’s side on this. Other than that, from what I have heard, the people in Russia are pretty happy, because their economy is growing, they have no food inflation, full shelves, a bright future in BRICS. Meanwhile we in the West are committing economic and cultural suicide.
We were told the sanctions were going to collapse them. It just drove them into new growing markets. The first thing we need to do is stop lying about things. Lying about reality never works out. It might pull something over for a short period of time, but it’s not a good long term plan for good things to happen to us.

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve White
martin logan
martin logan
1 year ago

There is now exactly one–and only one–Russian left who supports this war:
Vova Putin
Every other Russian, both military and civilian, realizes it is hopeless.
And every Russian also knows that if that particular Russian’s heart should stop beating, it’s the end of all their problems.
We’re going to see a lot more surprises from Russia.