Ukraine Invasion: Part 55

[MagicFox]

We're on 55. Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 That last one went quickly!

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Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

Slava Ukraini

From BBC

While Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Downing Street, his finance minister tuned in via a video call to secure more funding.
Sergii Marchenko watched on as the UK's chancellor Rachel Reeves signed papers to approve £2.6bn in loans to support Ukraine.
Those funds are linked to frozen Russian assets, as part what are called Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans.
The loan will be repaid using the extraordinary profits on those Russian assets, £236bn of which are in Europe alone.

Appreciate you all.

Let's hope those frozen assets do move during this thread

I've just watched the Trump and Vance v. Zelensky footage. I noticed there was a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in camera shot. It's very nice of the White House to pay tribute to our great war leader but highly ironic given that Churchill would have almost certainly told Zelensky:
"Never surrender!"
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Thank you for the new thread, MagicFox.

I don't think it is possible for just anybody to ask for an invitation to visit the Royal Family home and get one, so I'm going to go along with the idea that King Charles was under no pressure to offer hospitality.

Here for it ❤️🇺🇦

Thank you for the new thread, @MagicFox

Slava Ukraini!

Fuck you Trump and your slimy, shallow, suppurating pile of talking heads.

Thank you for the new thread.

💙💛

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Thanks for the new thread.

Delighted that the king has invited Z round for tea

Thanks for the new thread and hope that Zelenskyy gets the full red carpet treatment tomorrow, from both the king and all leaders.

Looks like Trudeau is flying in for this summit tomorrow along with an array of European leaders.

seems the meeting with King Charles went well.

Thanks for the new thread

They're meeting tomorrow, that pic is of a previous meeting.

Reporting for duty. 🫡

And while I’m here, here’s an analysis of the damage done, including to Trump.

https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/trump-zelensky-ukraine-peace-deal-64d05419?st=RuTFY7&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-1-2025

Key Takeaways:

• Senior US officials are suggesting that the United States may cut all aid to Ukraine, although US President Donald Trump has not indicated any such intention. Cutting the current flow of aid to Ukraine would directly undermine President Trump’s stated goal of achieving a sustainable peace in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces enabled by essential US assistance are inflicting unsustainable losses on Russian forces while holding them to marginal gains. This situation, combined with the severe challenges Russia will face in 2025, offers the US great leverage in peace negotiations. A suspension of ongoing US military assistance to Ukraine would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue to increase his demands and fuel his conviction that he can achieve total victory through war.
• Curtailing aid to Ukraine would risk diminishing US influence in the world and emboldening US adversaries.
• Putin, not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, remains the main obstacle to a lasting peace agreement on Ukraine.
• The Kremlin launched another informational effort intended to discourage additional US and European military assistance to Ukraine by claiming that Russia has won the war in Ukraine.
• European countries remain committed to supporting the Ukrainian military and defense industry, however, amid preparations for a European defense summit about Ukraine on March 2.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and Russian forces recently advanced near Velyka Novosilka.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continues to recruit medically unfit soldiers in an effort to address personnel shortages.

Checking in from holiday 🫡

Times Square ❤️

I wonder how much of Trump is performative outrageous politics which he has used throughout his political career? The erratic mercurial outbursts are not an unknown and I think diplomatically it is actually very hard to understand Trump's settled mind.

The white house just up may have been an outrageous play for the maga base causing editorial writers across the world to hit their keyboards but I wonder how much of Trump is sound and fury (signifying nothing).

personally this may be against the grain but I think there will be relatively rapid restoration of Ukraine and IS relationships in some form. Trump has made what he sees as a point, extremely badly and in a bullying way, but maybe he is just happy making the very public point. Fundamentally I think this is about the state of western alliances and I believe these remain strong, Europe and the US will just have to engage in more intense diplomacy to find common ground on Ukraine.

I don't particularly like Trump but he is not stupid and all are grateful for the assurance the US has made in ensuring all our collective security. T rump maybe has crossed a line with the Zelensky meeting and a number of influential states will I am sure be privately making this quite clear and maybe a couple of good rounds in Florida may put Trump in a more considered state of mind. Remember Trump is vain and editorials talking of Churchill weeping in his grave may actually punch rhrough, I actually don't think Trump wants history to show him as weak on this which is a risk.

I personally think IS military support for Ukraine will continue and there will be further efforts by Europe to bring a more coordinated approach to negotiations which will not continue to benefit Putin.

Trump has got what he wants to some wxtent, commitments to increased of European defence spending and an acknowledgment that US ministry assistance has been vital. He's been a bit of a sick going about this but maybe he will have some reconsideratiin.

Dick not sick

And another thing....

I think IS security guarantees will be essentially naked in if you have a nominal European defence force. To my mind (Maybe wrong of course) if there was any theoretical clash between Russian and European forces in Ukriane (high unlikely) the fundamental alliance s in the West will stay strong and the US in no way is going to stand idly by and see perhaps British troops be attacked without support.

think how strong the relationship between the UK and US is with military joint venture from the second world war onwards. Our two countries are inextricably linked at quite a fundamental level so to my mind having a container Bri tjsh force in Ukraine brings US security guarantees even if not publically states (to appease some republicans). It is noteworthy Putin does not want Eurpean forces in Ukranian soil as any further invasion of Ukraine then brings a real risk of world war 3 as you can see a number of rapidly escalating scenarios.

maybe we should focus on getting a small but symbolically extremely significant European peace keeping force into Ukraine as fundamental in any peace talks? Just a few troops distributed in Ukraine would be enough to deter Putin who for all his nuclear willy waving is not mad form doing something stupid?