Statement made by Ukrainian First Lady

[Fallonangel]

The Ukrainian First Lady has made a statement addressing the UK telling us while we are counting our pennies they are also counting their casualties.
Aibu to feel selfish moaning about my lifestyle reductions?

I don’t think Putin is a nice person , but I don’t think he’s suddenly gone mad as some people seem to think. He’s always seemed the calculating sort. There might be a desire for the old Soviet Union but in terms of world domination he will only be thinking economically. Only one country that was recently responsible for world domination and that was Britain.

Strange, how some are trying to deflect away from Mrs Zelensky and her shocking lack of thanks.

OP.You are right. She has jumped the fucking shark with her carry on counting pennies, peasants attitude and will have made more enemies than friends.

Because Putin was very useful for/chummy with Trump and Johnson.

Trump's gone, new broom's in, albeit a senile broom who can't stand up without falling over, the USA wants to draw a line. Johnson's also on his last legs so no loss there. Putin's a bit too influential now and not withstanding that Russia is an absolute basketcase politically and economically is also a pretty rich guy so time to put him back in his box.

Zelenskiy is also very rich but troubled politically so they get him to ramp it up on the border just to the point where NATO can say "Aha now Mr Putin, what you did yesterday and for the past eight years wasn't war but what you're doing today is and look, a country near to NATO too, you bad bad man. Now we must crush you and assert that the balance of power has changed."

The U.S. is giving Ukraine another $16+ billion. Maybe she’s trying to guilt the U.K. into doing the same — I honestly don’t know.
Also, it’s her job as “first lady” to get as much exposure for Ukraine as possible in as many places as possible. I can’t and won’t shame her for appearing in Vogue or any other periodical or television show. She’s trying to help her country and a few years ago, had no idea they would be in this position.
I can’t imagine being a Ukrainian right now.

Except ofc they'll get Zelenskiy to do it. Because nobody actually wants a world war.

I wonder what they promised him would happen?

Obviously he was expecting fire power but did you notice in the early days he also made much mention of a no fly zone?

The Sunday Times will report tomorrow that Zelensky,Green Tee Shirt Man,has declared crippling inflation is a price worth paying.
Easy to say when your'e a very rich man.

She did not go out of her way to direct a message only at the UK.
She was asked in an interview with Laura Keunnsberg what her message to the UK people would be regarding the increased cost of living resulting from the war in the Ukraine.

Far from it being a worry for them, the asset rich do very well out of inflation as it goes.

Obviously he was expecting fire power but did you notice in the early days he also made much mention of a no fly zone?
Yes I can't imagine why a man whose country is being bombed to shit with tens of thousands of civilians deliberately targeted might just ask for help combating that gigantic and terrifying threat from the air.

Is that really meant to be some kind of conspiracy?

Putin is not Hitler and has fatally shown his failing hand by invading Ukraine. The Nazis under Hitler had the support of fanatically inspired millions of humiliated Germans by the loss of WW1 and the resultant peace coupled with the collapse of the economies and hyperinflation and built in the ruins some of the best industrial and military technology of their time something Putin evidently does not have and never will.

Western leaders need to crank back the talk of we are all under an existential threat of his imperial ambitions and this is another 1938, it is not and never was. Russia would no doubt be satisfied by keeping the Donbass and Crimea, areas that are distinctly favourable to life under Putin's Russia particularly now ethnic hatred has been fomented, probably irretrievably on both sides. This has now become a proxy war that neither side can win and the west is not prepared to go to the next stage which Ukraine is literally begging for, which let's be under no doubt is the beginning of WW3.

Tragic and monstrously unpalatable as it may be encouraging Zelensky to sue for an imperfect, bloody peace is the best way forward not just for Ukraine but for the peace and security of the western world.

But this is a snippet, she may say thanks at some point in the interview? It's not aired in full until tomorrow.

I feel like she's reminding people about the casualties because as we feel the impact on our household budgets and put more pressure on our governments, Ukraine is afraid public opinion will sway towards appeasing Russia and pressure for Ukraine to cede territory to conclude the war to end the economic impacts we are suffering.

that would be a terrible outcome. We have to remember why we are applying these sanctions and suffering this energy crisis - because Russia is indiscriminately and unprovokedly attacking a sovereign nation and unleashing terror, bombing civilian targets and is cutting off energy supplies whilst sabre rattling with nuclear power plants and chemical weapons. I mean, just think about Salisbury.

I don't have any particular love for the Ukrainian First Lady or know much about her, but I don't think it's wrong to remind us what this is all about

I'm not sure she'll be worried about a lack of support from the hard of thinking that don't know the difference between the UN and NATO

@thefoggiest Because it’s just the Cold War all over again. If/when Ukraine falls, it’s the “doorway” to the West. Putin will be able to complete his dream of re-assembling the USSR, and he has the backing of Russians, who are at the absolute height of Soviet nostalgia - 75% of Russians said they thought the Soviet era was the greatest time in Russia’s history (in a poll in 2020), so he has all the home support he needs to do this. Our leaders needs to do a much, much better job of communicating what’s at risk, as you have no idea, so people like VirginiaWool can spin a fairy story for you. The truth is, if you don’t fight Putin for Ukraine, then all the little post-Soviet republics around Ukraine will fall back into a new USSR, as that is what Putin wants his legacy to be, and once he has that, why should he stop? Yes, there’s a lot of speculation that he’s sick, and that’s why he’s pushing so hard now on something to be his legacy, but that part really isn’t the focus - the focus is what he DOES, and what he’s doing is making it clear that he won’t stop until he has Ukraine. He has the support of 75% of Russians and neither the UK nor US governments have 75% support for helping Ukraine. Meh, Ukraine will fall, and a lot of British and American people will shrug (some of us will see the writing in the wall and have momentary panic attacks or get drunk), but then one day, FINALLY, a light will go on for all those people who shrugged, that it was just Hitler and Poland all over again. They gave Hitler Poland and of course if didn’t stop him. If you turn a blind eye and let Putin have Ukraine, of course it’s not going to stop him. And while you might think this is happening in countries all over the world, no. It’s really not. That one country violates a second country’s sovereignty and no one does anything while the death toll mounts. If they do, it’s call war.

Yes we are very lucky to be counting our pennies and not our casualties. Very very lucky.

And? Is that a bad thing ma’m?

My sympathies with the everyday Ukrainian remain as strong as ever but Mrs. Z. can fuck right off.

the idiomatic expressing “counting pennies” means having to budget carefully, not that Brits are making a fuss about literal pennies.

Perhaps they don’t teach idioms in Russian EFL centres.

I'd prefer Laura Kuenssberg and her agenda to fuck right off tbh

He is not Hitler - these comparisons are so disingenuous when framing arguments as to 'what is to be done ?' Let's not forget the USSR was failing spectacularly which is one of the main reasons Gorbachov, enlightened as he was tried to pivot to a more open and freer society having a nation bankrupted by Stalin, war, Cold War and a top-down, hugely imperfect command economy.

What we are doing now is pushing Russia into a greater alliance with hostile states like Iran and China and sowing the seeds of WW3. If Putin gets an off-ramp, however hateful that is to many I am almost certain he will take it and an imperfect peace and rebuilding can begin. The alternative seems to be to partially destroy our economies and prepare for WW3 and from talking to family and friends there is precious little appetite for that.

@CheapBeersFilledwithCrocodileTears
If/when Ukraine falls, it’s the “doorway” to the West. Putin will be able to complete his dream of re-assembling the USSR

I swear I dont mean this in a provocative way, just a straightforward way: is that really our problem? I dont see how this is similar to Hitler. Maybe at some point we need to take a step back from deciding where we personally would draw the lines of borders.

It's Putin. Being an absolute monster

Yes, he is a monster and Nixon/Kissinger were absolute monsters when they bombed Vietnam and Cambodia back into the stone age in a war which killed 3.5 million SE Asians in the name of democracy but Kissinger got a Nobel Peace Prize for his labours. We live in a hugely imperfect world sadly.

Who's a new poster? I've been here in various guises for years.

And ive made no claims one way or another as to genocied but i do have to ask why is it considered genocide when Russia are the perpetrators?

Why was it not genocide when the West lay waste to the Middle East or when the Ukrainian military was shelling civilians in Donbas for 8 years?

Can't be arsed to argue anymore when fuck-off Russian bots is the level of argument. If I could be bothered to engage I would ask what is your commitment and how far are you prepared to go to support Ukraine ? Putin is a monster and has been for many years and I was against him way back when when he was splashing money around western economies and governments that emboldened him by not resisting autocracy then.

Not sure 'imperfection' cuts it tbh. An imperfect world is not justification for allowing what is happening. I don't agree he'd be satisfied no.