Russian build up along Ukraine

No. Just a negotiated corridor to allow those leaving MARIUPOL a safe passage. The Liner could be from a third country on charter. As time goes on a particular action by him may close the window. Higher levels need to talk to Putin and give him some reassurance without giving him Ukraine.

Shelled or mined. At this stage I wouldn't trust Russia with any civilian corridor anywhere, add in the gross incompetence of the Russian Navy as you say it has the potential to go extremely wrong with a lot of innocent people dying, not that they aren't already sadly.

There’s no question that it’s a war, but legally (for Russia) Conscripts aren’t meant to be deployed for foreign operations and can’t be used for 6 months after conscription. Putin already said they weren’t in Ukraine and then there MOD had to admit they were. If they don’t demobilise at the end of the month there will be hell to pay even for Putin.

Remember if the US figures are right they’ve taken nearly as many dead in two weeks as the US took in 20 years of Iraq and Afghanistan combined, and nearly 2/3 of what the ussr took in 10 years in Afghanistan.

Rumours that mobile crematoria are being used by the Russians to avoid body bags coming home. Who knows if that's true or not. But one way or the other, Ivan and Ivanka Public are going to find that their son isn't coming home and they are not going to like it. Who cares about Big Macs and iPhones?

There have been rumours about that alright, not sure if any of them have been captured (which is saying something given the scale of equipment that is being taken by Ukrainians), but yeah sooner or later families are going to find out about their sons.

Did you see how quickly that tank column retreated yesterday? Clearly everyone has been on the take in the Russian supply chain/military since the fall of the USSR, add in the appalling treatment of their conscripts and it’s not a huge surprise.

Not yet but after this is said and done we May see an accelerated push to form an integrated EU army

As regards an EU Army, that might clash with current NATO commitments and allocation of Forces. HQ's have come together and assets were put in place for things like OP PONTUS, initial migrant rescue schemes , and OP SOPHIA an anti migrant enablers operation in and off the North African region. There was also the more active scheme off the Horn Of Africa. We took part in the former two and had officers in the Italian based HQ., as well as Irish Naval ships at sea who rescued around 17,000 people . The Taoiseach mentioned today he would consider troops in Poland as part of an Eu mission.

At the EU summit in Versailles today, they couldn't get positive consensus on either energy divestment or fast-tracking Ukrainian EU membership.

There may be increased commitment to EU crisis response structures out of this, but the notion of a unified EU military command is fanciful. Especially as NATO has been catapulted back to primacy in the bulwark of Western Hemisphere defence. And it looks like either or both Sweden and Finland will soon join that Organisation, which will cement its place as the standalone single-purpose entity for the defence of Old Europe and democratic Europe.

Chacking effort work by Jonny Brazilian and God bless Embraer!

If peace talks breakdown ,if I were Zelensky I would take out that new russian bridge to crimea with a bomb or would that drive Putin completely over the edge

You be surprised. I am sure that NATO could lend him a few drones well capable of reaching the bridge and bombing it.

Even at present Russia is still not in control of the sky over Ukraine's. A standard jet bomber may be able to reach it even at present.

A special forces team of with Ukrainian or military contractors may be able to access it over land. Maybe Henry Garvie and the boys now they are retired a few years.

Then it's back to Henry and his gang

Given it’s the supply route for Crimea and their Southern Front, you can bet they are keeping a close eye on it (as much as the Russians can, as this war has demonstrated they are a fecking joke).

There have been a few reports of localised counterattacks, but I haven’t seen anything suggesting that a major assault might be imminent, the Ukrainians are faced with the same problem as the Russians in being limited to the road network due to the mud. However given the US is now conservatively putting Russian losses above 7k, and the possibility of up to three times that wounded, how much effective combat power is left in the Russian advance is an open question. They are still in another “operational pause” as they try to unfuck their logistics while facing issues of having such crappy commas that their most recent general was killed after “Ukrainians” traced his phone call and took out his command (that’s 4 generals he’s lost now), add in mixed views on whether China is willing to fully back Russia, and they could be in for more issues within the next week.

Now is the most worrying time for me.

Putin has gone into paranoia overdrive. His command and control on the ground is gone to ****. His commanders in the field are being picked off. His conscripts are being massacred / captured /deserting. Logistics do not exist. His armour and rotary wings are being picked off by superior enemy smart weapons. Fixed wing are afraid to fly where Star Streak, Sky Sabre and likely their own built S-300 are deployed. He is benching senior members of the military and intelligence services. Senior brass are privately expressing their anxiety and frustration at the entire undertaking to journalists and foreign diplomats. His Defence Minister Shiogu, the second most popular politician in Russia has disappeared from view, likely taking the blame for the farce.

The question is, what does Putin do with all that levelled against him? The potential response is the worry.