To ask if most of us have forgotten about Ukraine

[BeaBachinasec]

The invasion was terrifying and dramatic. We admired the plucky Ukrainians defending their homeland against the mighty Russian bear.

And now? I'm not quite sure what's going on anymore and wonder if most of us have lost interest as the war has rumbled on relentlessly.

There's a whole topic on the conflict in the Middle East, nothing like that for Ukraine.

If Nato etc has such capability, why is Russia taking territory?

Why are you asking this? You answered it three times over, yourself.

@Alexandra2001 Yes, it's about political will in the west. Something that Russia is actually trying very hard to undermine through a massive campaign of online disinformation.

But it's absolutely not about capacity as you have claimed.The West has more than enough weapons to supply Ukraine, with economies that are easily strong enough to make more than is required.

Heavy armour isn't really the priority compared to air defence and artillery.

To win, Ukraine needs to carry on inflicting unsustainable losses on Russia to the point where Russia lacks the political will to continue. The more we can aid Ukraine, the faster that will happen. It's not about invading and occupying Moscow. Ukraine has a defensive advantage with a clear end goal... Russia has neither of those.

Regarding the political fallout in Russia, who knows? At some point there needs to be a successor to Putin. Likewise with Kadyrov in Chechnya. It's actually very likely that there comes a time when powerful Russians decide that the armies they control are needed for power struggles closer to home, and just pull them out. We've already seen that with Wagner.

Hope it's not Patrushev.

Not Putin, but the fact that other countries are sending just enough help to keep the war afloat instead of ending it, which really should not be that hard against an enemy who is rolling around the battlefield in golf carts because they don't have enough tanks is saying something!

Wars go on because it is in the intere$t of certain powerful people for them to go on, make no mistake about it.

I’ve stopped keeping up with the wars. I was genuinely trying to keep up from the beginning, along with other news in the name of being “educated”.

I’ve never been so miserable and seen the world so negatively as when I was “keeping up with the news”

So no thanks. Back to concentrating on the life in front of me.

Think about this, though: Ukraine is at war, and has a considerable interest in foreign agents with ill-intent not getting into the country to cause mischief. How likely is it that an ordinary bloke with false papers would not be picked up at the border on his way in?

@trekking1

Not Putin, but the fact that other countries are sending just enough help to keep the war afloat instead of ending it, which really should not be that hard against an enemy who is rolling around the battlefield in golf carts because they don't have enough tanks is saying something!

Totally agree there :s

There's some evidence that Biden was really worried about the potential for nuclear weopons being used early and again in autumn last year - tactical battlefield ones, not strategic - but honestly, the lack of all in support has been dismaying. The cost in Ukrainian lives especially. The Republican nonsense that led to 6 months' delay and Russians gaining ground - now that's been politically motivated and culpably destructive.

Not completely forgotten but much less attention. Sudan's conflict almost totally ignored too.

I fear the propaganda is coming from an adult.

The reference to a Mayfair mansion is Russian Botspeak; in 2020 Zelensky bought some shares in a company which bought two flats near Regent's Park (not in Mayfair), which do not actually belong to Zelensky any more than my having a couple of shares in Boeing would mean that I owned an aircraft. He hasn't bought Highgrove either, another BotFiction.

The interminable accusations about Zelensky's wealth are of Russian origin, and surfaced first when Putin was demonstrated to have creamed billions off the Russian economy to spend on his mansions in the country, and yachts on the seas. Every so often it is bottily suggested that Zelensky owns at least one yacht as well as the mysterious mansion in Mayfair.

I have a Ukrainian lady with me. Been here since May 2022. We are in awe of her fortitude. She is part of our family and we follow the horror that she and her family back home are going through. No we haven't forgotten. Perhaps because my father came on the kinder transport. Puts it into perspective.

@Lucanus To defeat Russia, UA needs to take territory, that needs troops and armour.

Artillery against well dug enemy, isn't enough on its own.

We do not have the means to make weapons within a reasonable time frame....factories need to be built, machinery installed (machinery that also has to be made) people found to work in them, huge undertaking... private companies will & are making more but they wont do the investments required unless Govts put in the orders.. and they aren't, certainly not in Europe
E.G the UK has a plan to invest £10bn over the next 10 to 12 years in munitions. thats fucking pathetic.

I think Putin is little bit unstable!! i don't know the chain of command they have in order to use a battlefield nuclear weapon rather than a intercontinental one, but i think if Russia was in full retreat, anything could happen.

I would like nothing more than Russia to be pushed back and out of Crimea , its just that i think the chance to do that was at the beginning of the conflict, Ukraine had its tail up, Russia was stunned by UA resilience.... but we dithered, we all did, to our eternal shame.

Russia now has Ukraines measure and i think unless we went all in, with $100s of billions of weapons etc, Russia will not be defeated but the east side of the country will be decimated, along with the cream of Ukraine's youth.

Given the level of intel the US has, IF Biden thought Russia might use a Nuke, then i think thats credible.

As far as I understand, he is coming into the country with his real papers but using fake identity to cross the Polish border as no interest in fighting. I am sure he is not the only one. Plenty of Russians are doing the same.
Ukrainians coming over with fake Romanian passports is a tale as old as time. In 2003 I was dating a Ukrainian guy who crossed the border under the pretence of going to a sports tournament using fake identity and then went ahead to work as a builder. We also shared a house with two young Bulgarian guys who lived under Lithuanian passports. The fake identity industry is still pretty healthy in the UK, I would imagine.
But again, this is not something I am willing to think too much about. He is here legally under the refugee programme and what his own government is doing about that is really none of my business.

considering the amount of various conflicts around the world the govt are the main ones that can assist, the public can help but even then they can only do so much.

here are the basic titles in Russia's nuclear command structure, listed in hierarchical order:

1. Supreme Commander-in-Chief (President of Russia)
2. Minister of Defense
3. Chief of the General Staff
4. Commanders of Strategic Nuclear Forces (Strategic Missile Forces, Long-Range Aviation, Naval Strategic Nuclear Forces)
5. Operational Commanders (Military District Commanders, Fleet Commanders, Strategic Commanders)
6. Field Commanders and Launch Officers

I'm more worried about friends and family in Israel, under constant rocket bombardment. Our friend's nephew was just found dead in a grave alongside another body, when we thought he was being held hostage.

I'm very sorry for your friends and family in Israel and I can understand why your thoughts are with that conflict but we cannot forget or play top trumps with conflicts as there are a huge number of people who have had relatives murdered and tortured in Ukraine too whilst they themselves are living under constant bombardment.

The Guardian and BBC, neither of which are "bots" have both reported on this, as have other media outlets. He didn't "buy a few shares" : he and three associates all had a 25% stake in multiple offshore companies that bought London mansions, he failed to disclose this and later quietly transferred his interest for an undisclosed amount including an unspecified ongoing income stream. This was all revealed by the Pandora Papers years ago, prior to the conflict in Ukraine becoming a national war situation.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/revealed-anti-oligarch-ukrainian-president-offshore-connections-volodymyr-zelenskiy

Ukrainian nationals in the UK previously protested outside one of these properties, in demonstration of their frustration at what they stated was government corruption.

Straining at gnats there aren't you? If you really want to look at rotten money, look at the billions and multiple yachts, mansions and god only knows what else Putin has ;)

Not that Putin would ever visit a front line under fire and put himself in danger.

By the way just so's you know, Zelenskyy had made into the million before ever he ran for politician.

Not gnats really, no. Multiple offshore companies with assets across the world is pretty substantial stuff. Separate from this, there is Kolomoisky, who he has since turned on :

EU auditors warned last month that “grand corruption and state capture” remained widespread in Ukraine.

Since entering politics Zelenskiy has been dogged by claims he is under the influence of Igor Kolomoisky, a billionaire whose TV channel screened Zelenskiy’s show. During the campaign Zelenskiy’s opponents alleged $41m from Kolomoisky entities found its way between 2012 and 2016 into offshore firms belonging to Zelenskiy and his circle, including Film Heritage.

@GordonBlue why don’t you turn that considerable interest towards Kremlin corruption, as already suggested?

I have a Ukranian guest too. She travelled home to east Ukraine a couple of weeks ago for the first time since leaving nearly two years ago. Not an easy journey and a family member was ill. They died before she got home. I had a feeling she might not come back to the UK but she has. Shell shocked because her Granny died before she could make it home but I get more of a sense she was frightened to be there more.

I'm not great with keeping up with news, but she thinks Zelenskyy has bought Highgrove off The King for £20m. I do worry about her naivety and the crap they are fed via various non UK media (she has no idea about our media)

@WinterMorn because I'm talking about Zelenskiy here.

It's disappointing that any attempt to examine how he gained power and wealth is met with bot accusations, denial, lies and minimisation, particularly when the extent to which he and his associates are compromised plays an important part in Russia's view of Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine (and Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the 'Stans) are complex and they are also intertwined, politically and economically. It's not a case of good guy vs bad guy. I mean, hardly any wars are really but this one certainly is not.

@Alexandra2001
To defeat Russia, UA needs to take territory, that needs troops and armour.

Artillery against well dug enemy, isn't enough on its own.

Your premise is incorrect. Ukraine is not going to win by brute force frontal assaults to retake territory. Casualties will be far too high and gains will be small.

They need to progressively degrade the Russian situation until the Russians withdraw. That has many aspects, including the long range attacks on oil refineries, disruption of supply lines (Kerch bridge included), missile strikes on bases, command centres etc, and steady attrition of Russian soldiers by drones, artillery and missiles.

Political instability or changes in Russia might speed up withdrawal, or they might not. There's no guarantee that whoever succeeds Putin will take a less hardline approach; imperialism has been a central Russian policy for centuries.

But in the short term, Ukraine is losing too many men because of artillery shortages and because of a shortage of prepared fortifications. They're successfully repelling most of the Russian attacks, but taking high casualties in the process. More ammunition would enable them to stop the attacks earlier, with fewer losses.

Essentially, Ukraine will retake territory by winning the war. It will not win the war by retaking territory.

Agree @trekking1

There are several good books that can clear this up for you. I am happy to recommend one 🙂