Ukraine war mega thread

[harrybarracuda]

Never mind eh, thanks to your orange shitbag he's now got billions more to spend building weapons.

[david44]

Many of Putins are poor N Koreans or volunteers from B Desh Nigeria prisons, Russian Buriyat minorities not fully aware leavins Siberian villages bereft offit men and breadwinners , conned or bribed its tragic, as USA ignores a real democracy,The oil hike will pay for more, dangerous times

[Shutree]

Russian Buriyat minorities not fully aware leavins Siberian villages bereft offit men

If you look at those sad 'final portraits' of Russian soldiers moments before a drone hits, do you see any young, healthy Russians?
There must be a large number of professional, trained soldiers who are not on this battlefield. I can't help but wonder what Putin is planning for them.

[pickel]

There must be a large number of professional, trained soldiers who are not on this battlefield. I can't help but wonder what Putin is planning for them.

They send the fodder first in waves, then if the survivors manage to get a foothold they send in the trained troops to finish the capture. Most of Russias elite troops are dead. Sheer numbers and lack of empathy for their own are the only reason they can gain any territory.

[Seekingasylum]

The Russian psyche is to suffer in stoicism it seems. Their bravery is that of the serf complicit with their own oppression incapable of resistance to tyranny and a belief rooted in stupidity they might survive and have their reward, a handful of roubles sufficient for them to subsist in a lumpen futile existence.

They remind me of the Welsh.

[Salsa dancer]

You're probably right there. Many years ago I read an account written by a guy (perhaps Russian...I am unsure) who helped liberate a town in Russia from the Wehrmacht. The locals there didn't realize they were being liberated,

but assumed they were going to be executed, so meekly filed into a courtyard and stood in front of a wall waiting to be shot.

The writer was astonished and claimed this was proof of there being a lot of the submissive Asian mentality in Russians, so I guess he had other reasons to think this.

[Shutree]

the submissive Asian mentality

You apparently never met any of my past girlfriends.

[misskit]

Zelensky Reveals Some Allies Asked Kyiv to Stop Attacking Russian Oil

On 30 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, told reporters that some of Ukraine's allies have asked them to reduce the level of attacks on Russian energy installations amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has caused global oil prices to surge continuously.


“Recently, following the global energy crisis, we have received signals from some allies about reducing retaliatory actions specifically targeting the oil and energy sector of the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said in a voice message sent to reporters.


The Ukrainian leader did not specify which parties made the request but made clear that Kyiv is unlikely to comply with it.

“I want to emphasize once again that if Russia is ready to stop attacking Ukraine's energy sector, we will not retaliate against theirs,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine is “ready for all forms of ceasefire.”


Over recent months, Russia has instilled fear across many Ukrainian cities by heavily bombing energy facilities, causing millions of civilians to suffer electricity and heating shortages during an unusually cold winter.


Meanwhile, Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure since the start of the Middle East war, aiming to prevent Russia from profiting from rising oil prices. In just the past week, Ukrainian drones have attacked multiple Russian refineries and oil export stations.

Zelensky Reveals Some Allies Asked Kyiv to Stop Attacking Russian Oil

[bsnub]

There must be a large number of professional, trained soldiers who are not on this battlefield.

This is way, way off. Those "professional" soldiers all died in the early days of the war. They are long dead and there is nothing left but the dregs you see in that drone footage. The ruzzians are scraping the bottom of the barrel and have been for some time.

[bsnub]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s upbeat assessment that his troops were “holding more positions and inflicting more damage” to Russia points to a turnaround in their war fortunes after fears that reduced U.S. support for Kyiv would hand Vladimir Putin an advantage.

Zelensky's boast on May 19 about dynamic changes in Kyiv's favor would have been hard to predict earlier this year amid stalled United States-led peace talks, the Trump administration lessening support, and a winter of relentless Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy and critical infrastructure.

But its use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has offset dwindling American aid. Successful drone strikes behind the front lines and deeper inside Russia have given Kyiv reason for optimism.

“The overall dynamics of the war are gradually shifting in Ukraine’s favor compared to previous months,” Giorgi Revishvili, a military analyst and founder of the Russia Analyzed Substack, told Newsweek. “The situation for Ukraine is markedly better than it was last year.”

Ukraine Steps Up Drone Production and Attacks

Ukraine’s defense ministry has touted a significant increase over the last year in the production of reconnaissance, mid-strike, and deep-strike drone systems, as well as fiber-optic first-person view (FPV) drones, which are effective along parts of the frontline.

“Over the last six months Ukraine has demonstrated that it has the initiative in drones,” said Matthew Arnold, director of the Democratic Resilience in a New Age of War Program at the London School of Economics think tank, LSE Ideas.

He told Newsweek that Ukraine will gain confidence from knowing that the withdrawal of much U.S. aid did not collapse the war effort. “It is learning, adapting and deploying drones quicker and more successfully than Russia can.”

Revishvili said it was a notable recent development that Kyiv had intensified its mid-range strike campaign against Russian logistics at an operational depth of 18 to 65 miles inside occupied territories, such as in southeastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s forces have also stepped up frontline operations to increase their elimination of Russian troops, while expanding their deep- and mid-range strike campaigns to pressure the Russian economy and disrupt logistics in the operational rear, he added.

Establishing a land corridor linking occupied Crimea to Rostov in Russia was one of Moscow's objectives, which Ukraine tried to thwart during its unsuccessful 2023 counteroffensive.
“Now, Ukrainian forces are targeting Russian supply lines there almost daily, and even pro-war Russian military bloggers are sounding the alarm,” Revishvili said.

Next Six Months ‘Critical’

General Andriy Biletskyi, the commander of Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps, told Reuters that if Kyiv maintained momentum over several months, frontline gains could force Putin to abandon the part of the Donetsk region it does not occupy.

Russian demands in U.S.-backed peace talks include getting the entire oblast it claims to have annexed in the eastern Donbas region. Kyiv has repeatedly said this would not be acceptable.

Biletskyi told Reuters that Russia’s army is exhausted and incapable of making major breakthroughs, a situation complicated by Elon Musk's decision to cut access to his Starlink satellite-based internet service for Russian forces. He said his troops were holding the flank around Sloviansk, the northern bastion of eastern Ukraine’s highly defended Fortress Belt, forcing Moscow to attack the city head-on, but causing a heavy loss of Russian troops and field commanders.

Ukraine’s forces must define those directions “where we can improve our positions, take some strategic points,” which would give Kyiv leverage over Russia in talks, Biletskyi said, stressing that on the battlefield, the next six months “are the most critical."

Revishvili from Russian Analyzed said that if Ukraine can sustain and expand its campaign, it could create significant challenges for Russian forces. Controlling the operational depth and the steady attrition of logistics can significantly affect Russian frontline operations, reducing their ability to sustain offensive momentum and advance, he said.

“This could also create gaps across the frontline that Ukraine may be able to exploit,” Revishvili said. “However, the extent to which Ukraine can capitalize on such opportunities remains to be seen and will depend, in part, on its ability to address its ongoing manpower shortages.”

Ukraine Gains

Zelensky said this month that Ukraine had retaken nearly 230 square miles of territory this year. By contrast, Russia’s advances slowed to 40 square miles in Ukraine this year, compared with 625 square miles in the same period last year, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The U.S.-based think tank said Kyiv's forces were challenging the war's positional character and could soon stage limited mechanized assaults.

The ISW said Kyiv had re-secured an overall drone advantage and its success in curbing Russian advances and reversing gains, combined with Kyiv's reintroduction of some tactical mechanized maneuver, “may mark the beginning of a new phase of the war.”

Ukrainian Strikes Inside Russia

Zelensky said Ukrainian "middle strikes" against Russian air defenses and military logistics up to 120 miles behind the front line had quadrupled since February. These have slowed Russian advances and hampered the transport of personnel and material to the front.

Ukrainian strikes have targeted Russian facilities far from the frontline, ranging from export terminals on the Gulf of Finland to inland refineries. Overnight Thursday, Ukrainian forces struck an oil facility in Volgograd, only a day after they had hit the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region for the fifth time this spring.

A Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow on May 18 targeted Sheremetyevo Airport, the Moscow Oil Refinery, a petroleum pumping station, and two firms that make electronics for the Russian military.
“It is much more palpable inside Russia that the war is shifting through increased Russian vulnerability inside the homeland,” said Arnold, the program director of LSE IDEAS’ Democratic Resilience in a New Age of War Program. “Ukraine has a very deliberate strategy of undermining Putin’s notion that he can wage war on Ukraine with limited costs to Russia’s economy or people.”

Putin Maintains His Demands

Despite reports of a decline in Russia’s battlefield performance, Putin still believes his forces can capture all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which comprise the Donbas region, by autumn, according to the Financial Times, citing unnamed sources who spoke to the Russian president.

Putin also this month reiterated his call for Ukrainian troops to surrender, saying they were about to collapse and suggesting that he is in no mood for backing down. This could be in part fueled by the Russian military command, which likely shows Putin exaggerated maps, giving him a false sense of the frontline, according to the ISW.

Revishvili said that some axes remain more challenging for Ukraine. Around Kostiantynivka, a critical city for the defense of Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces are employing small-group infiltration tactics while leveling the city through heavy bombardment as they seek to make it ultimately untenable for Ukrainian forces to defend.

“Russian troops are working to establish footholds and expand their presence around the city before gradually penetrating deeper into urban areas,” Revishvili said.

"The battle for Donetsk is not solely a military matter—it also carries significant political weight,” he said, “therefore, Russia must experience not only military setbacks but political ones as well.”

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-upp...ussia-12007941

[39TG]

Up to the Europeans to defend their continent against Putin and the small Russian economy. That's how it should be.

[bsnub]

Up to the Europeans to defend their continent against Putin and the small Russian economy. That's how it should be.

GTFO of here with that weak ass trumpanzee bullshit. We are a part of the NATO alliance for a reason. Two years left and your fat orange clown, and his idiotic policies will be done and dusted.

[cyrille]

We are a part of the NATO alliance for a reason.

The New York Times thought the 'A' stood for 'American' though, so probably few Americans know what that reason is.

[bsnub]

The New York Times thought the 'A' stood for 'American' though, so probably few Americans know what that reason is.

Shameful and embarrassing to put it lightly. It is amazing how fast history can be undone.

[Norton]

Shameful and embarrassing to put it lightly. It is amazing how fast history can be undone.

Trump's embarrassing election is proof of the rampant ignorance of the majority of Americans.

[bsnub]

Trump's embarrassing election is proof of the rampant ignorance of the majority of Americans.

Indeed, you are right. The thing I find so perplexing is the folks who lived through the entire Cold War that seem to have completely had their memories wiped of the threats we faced during that time. Cold War memories are precisely why we need to support Ukraine and be arming them to the teeth.

[bsnub]

Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early on Wednesday, hours before international guests gathered for the city’s flagship economic forum, in a blow to Vladimir Putin.


Several long-range drones crashed into oil storage facilities after Russian air defences failed to shoot them down. There were loud explosions and black smoke rose high above the city from the blazing oil terminal.


St Petersburg’s governor, Alexander Beglov, said the Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts had been targeted. Ukraine also struck the nearby Kronstadt naval base and shipyard in Leningrad oblast, which is home to Russia’s Baltic fleet.


Video footage showed a Ukrainian drone flying low above the port and hitting a Russian guided-missile ship. The corvette, the Boikiy, caught fire. It was in dry dock undergoing repairs.


The strikes are deeply embarrassing for the Kremlin, taking place about 10 miles from the forum, where Putin is due to make a keynote speech on Friday. Guests arrived for Wednesday’s opening ceremony under a pall of thick smoke. Others were unable to fly in after St Petersburg’s airport was temporarily closed.


About 20,000 visitors from 130 countries are expected to attend the three-day annual summit, which has been described as Russia’s answer to Davos. They include the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, the far-right American influencer Candace Owens and the Tate brothers.


Andrew Tate, the British-American self-described misogynist, landed in Moscow on Tuesday, together with his brother Tristan. They face criminal charges in Romania including forming a crime group, human trafficking and money laundering. British authorities have charged them with rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain. They deny all allegations.


Donald Trump has sent an official US delegation led by Rodney Mims Cook Jr. Cook is overseeing the president’s controversial White House ballroom extension and is chair of the US Commission of Fine Arts. Another guest is the former Hollywood actor and Putin supporter Steven Seagal.


Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on social media, said the strike was the latest example of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions”. He said drones had hit “important facilities on Russian territory”, including the Petersburg oil terminal, the Kronstadt base and a factory producing weapons in the Tambov region.


Zelenskyy noted that the oil trans-shipment facility, one of the largest on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, was about 1,100km (680 miles) from Ukraine’s state border. “I thank our warriors for their precision. Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer,” he said.


Speaking later alongside Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, in Kyiv, Zelenskyy described Wednesday’s strikes as fair. “Just a day ago, there was a massive attack. We responded accordingly,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time before we can scale up the intensity of our responses.”


Rutte said: “Russia’s recklessness is not new. But as Ukraine continues to stand strong, to innovate and to make battlefield gains, Russia is increasingly desperate.”


On Tuesday a barrage of Russian missiles and drones killed 23 people across Ukraine and injured scores more, prompting Zelenskyy to renew his plea – made in a letter last week to the White House – for the US to provide Kyiv with more Patriot interceptor missiles.


In recent months, Ukraine has waged an increasingly successful aerial campaign to disrupt Russia’s economy. Long-range drones have hit ports and oil storage facilities, military factories and airbases.

They have blown up tankers and trucks on a crucial road connecting occupied southern Ukraine with Crimea, leading to fuel shortages across the peninsula.


Ukrainian officials shared video footage on Wednesday that showed drones buzzing noisily above St Petersburg’s skyline. “The Petersburg forum is opening with a nice plume of black smoke in the background after Ukrainian strikes,” posted Serhii Sternenko, an adviser to the country’s defence minister.


In the past, Russia has used the St Petersburg forum to court western investors. Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most have stayed away. The Kremlin has instead invited close regional and other allies, including this year the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania, alongside ministers from Cuba, Belarus and Saudi Arabia.


Moscow’s economy envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, described the forum as a gathering of “sovereign countries”. He criticised “globalist” rivals who took part in the annual Davos gathering in Switzerland in January. “The countries of the global south are actively moving toward partnership with Russia and will be strongly represented,” he said.


Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg as ‘Russian Davos’ opens in city | Ukraine | The Guardian

[Bettyboo]

Up to the Europeans to defend their continent against Putin and the small Russian economy. That's how it should be.

You probably shouldn't have formed NATO then, should you???

[bsnub]

Great video about SAS/SBS involvement in the Ukraine war.

[bsnub]

Kyiv — Several retired U.S. generals and the former director of a U.S. intelligence agency told CBS News they believe Ukraine now has the upper hand in the war with Russia.

They gave that assessment to CBS News as Ukraine's top general Oleksandr Syrski said this week that his army has retaken 600 square kilometers — about 232 square miles — from Russia so far this year. Syrski did not say where the gains occurred but said the fighting was heaviest in the country's southeast Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole areas.

"I would assess operationally Ukraine is winning in the context they are defeating enemy operational objectives, creating conditions for follow-on operations and preserving freedom of action," retired Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an email this week.

Two generals agreed with Ashley's characterization, stressing the view that on the front lines, Ukraine was outmaneuvering Russia.

Military experts say the key factor driving Ukraine's recent successes is evolutions in its mid-range drone strike capabilities. Since 2023, Ukraine has developed an effective arsenal of short-range First Person View (FPV) drones that now cause more than 90% of Russian casualties, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And beginning in 2024, Ukraine has also effectively deployed long-range drones and cruise missiles that have targeted, most recently, military bases in St. Petersburg, more than 600 miles from Ukraine's borders.

Until recently, finding drones to hit targets reliably between 30-60 miles remained elusive. A front-line R&D unit of Ukraine's elite Khartiia Brigade told CBS News in March that expanding their drones' ranges to surveil and hit targets beyond 30 miles was their "top priority."

Rob Lee, a Ukraine-based military analyst and former U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, said Ukrainian units have now largely solved this problem.

"Ukraine just lacked this capacity last year, the ability to hit targets at 50 to 100 kilometers (30 to 60 miles) past the front line," Lee told CBS News. "They're doing that very often, basically every day now. And the quantities of these drones they're using is only going to increase."

In a war of attrition where both Ukraine and Russia are attempting to outlast one another's resources, these mid-range strikes could prove increasingly important for Ukraine. By targeting logistics hubs and resource stockpiles, Ukraine is attacking the systems that sustain Russian offensives.

"Command posts are getting targeted, warehouses with ammunition, vehicles," Lee said. "And so over time, it's going to degrade what gets to the front line."

However, both Lee and Ashley cautioned against conflating Ukraine's operational successes with an inevitable strategic victory.

"All of this is reversible and fragile at best depending on how much Putin wants to escalate," Ashley said.

"The situation has gotten better for Ukraine, but I don't think we're going to see a breakthrough," Lee said.

Retired Gen. Joseph Ralston, a former supreme allied commander in Europe, said he still believed no one is winning the war because "Russia is not strong enough to take all the territory they want without using nukes and Ukraine is not strong enough to take back the territory they have lost."

Still, both Lee and Ashley argued that recent battlefield trends suggest Ukraine has the upper hand.

"Both sides still see victory, which means no one will entertain a ceasefire anytime soon," Ashley said. "But time is not necessarily on Putin's side."

Ukraine winning war with Russia, retired U.S. generals say, as top Ukrainian commander says over 230 square miles retaken - CBS News

[bsnub]

Some great videos...

[bsnub]

[39TG]

GTFO of here with that weak ass trumpanzee bullshit. We are a part of the NATO alliance for a reason. Two years left and your fat orange clown, and his idiotic policies will be done and dusted.

NATO was once needed; not any more. The world has moved on. Russia is fxcked. Hard working main street Americans shouldn't be paying for European defense. Let Europeans pay for their own defense, but I hope Mr. Trump isn't exchanging Xmas cards with the Russian dictator. I'd rather he and Mrs. Trump were doing that with King Charles.

[bsnub]

Go fuck yourself FaRT, spew your supplied idiotic trumpanee talking points someplace else.

[Bettyboo]

NATO was once needed; not any more. The world has moved on. Russia is fxcked. Hard working main street Americans shouldn't be paying for European defense. Let Europeans pay for their own defense, but I hope Mr. Trump isn't exchanging Xmas cards with the Russian dictator. I'd rather he and Mrs. Trump were doing that with King Charles.

If America leaves NATO (please do), and you lose all your European partner basses...., and Ukraine join NATO immediately then the world would be a better place. Please go...

By the way, the USA makes billions in profit from being in NATO, so you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about - that's why you set up; to build your Empire. But, now your Empire is dead - you're not needed. Please go, isolate yourself, and kill/beat up your own citizens, so Trump's ego (and tiny IQ) are satisfied.