Russia - threadbanned users in OP

There appears to have been a major failure of intelligence. They underestimated the Ukrainians to a great degree (probably through their inherent arrogance and racism towards their neighbours) and overestimated the Russian capabilities, not realising their own army was second rate and not fit for purpose.

Good piece here in the WP about Russian logistics and their issues during this war

Sort of a partnership. One will provide the energy and raw materials the other will make the goods and sell the goods 70% cheaper to the other 80% of the world.

No just Russians facing the consequences of their war on Ukraine,

Or is this it's ok because the Russians say they are only denazifing Ukraine ,

So it's all good as long as it's not Russians getting bombed in their beds and hospitals

From the Guardian:

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings surged in March to levels not seen in five years as the war in Ukraine enters its second month, according to an independent survey published Wednesday.

According to the Levada Center, which is Russia’s main independent pollster, Putin’s job approval grew to 83% in March from 71% in February. The last time Putin reached similar approval ratings was in 2017, prior to the introduction of an unpopular pension reform that raised the country’s retirement age.

The past month also saw increases in Russians’ trust for the country’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the country’s ruling party United Russia, the pollster said.

The share of those who said Russia is moving in the right direction has also grown to 69%, a jump of 17% from the month before.

Independent sociologists have questioned the logic of polling public opinion in a country where information about the war is carefully curated by state television which has portrayed the country’s invasion of Ukraine as a defensive “special military operation” aimed at “de-nazifying” Kyiv. Sociologists have also said respondents in the country could be afraid to tell pollsters they are opposed to the war. Russia’s parliament earlier this month passed a far-reaching law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.

Still, the latest Levada polling appears to indicate that the Kremlin has so far managed to galvanize support for its invasion of the country.

The Levada Centre has not released a poll of public opinion specifically on the war since the conflict began. Plans to publish results of an earlier poll were scrapped by the centre’s employees because of concerns that their results would promote the intensification of the conflict. State-run opinion polls have indicated that around 70% support the country’s actions in Ukraine.

Looks like it's all settled according to lavrov .....

What good does bombing Russian civilians do to the Ukrainian defensive effort of their country? Honestly?

Other than satisfying your apparent bloodlust for russians

Yes it's called war ,

You know the war started in Ukraine for no other reason than putin wanted it .

Now explain why you don't want to see any Russians getting killed in a war they started ,

I wonder 🤔

This is exactly what I said

I'd be happy to see hundreds of missles to hammer Moscow ,st Petersburg and any other population centers in Russia. But first the Ukrainians need to push to take all of Ukraine back before turning Crimea into Mariupol flatten it

Yes, agreed, but ironically, that's exactly what Putin feared and went to war over. Russian's know and have known for a long time who is stealing the wealth, but unfortunately have been able unable to do anything about it. Putin had driven a coach and four ( and possibly several tanks too) through the Russian Constitution. And once he demolished Khodorfsky, the wealthiest of all the oligarchy's, that was it. No further opposition materialised.

That's been suggested as an endgame proposal quite a few times on this thread. They "gave up" NATO a good while back, Crimea is probably gone and those enclaves might be a small loss. Still a way to go IMO but common ground is starting to emerge. Makes a change to see him not threatening things.

He's nothing left to threaten ,he's gone down invading other countries , sanctions and nuclear weapons ,

Between him and the UN ambassador they have truly become the laughing stock