Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

Were you all called re reg when you signed up? Honestly never been on here before. Irish times took away their comments section hence my debut.

Really? Documents recently retrieved from the Russians confirm the Oryx 'confirmed links'. That was a handy discovery. Do you have a source for this Indiana Jones like treasure?

You people need people like me to point you to the truth.

"we cannot put the blame solely on Russia. We cannot forget that Ukraine is a failed state. There are numerous factors that have contributed to this war."

Seriously, after such a comment its author should be 100% muted on the forum because he/she/() must be paid troll shtestiring purposely as I can't believe someone sane can think this way.

Isn't the road from Lysychans'k to Sivers'k still open?

That is true but I read that the Russians took 90% of Lyman last night. Thats a huge loss as its a major transport hub. The speed of the retreat and the ease with which that town has been taken looks to be indicative of the morale of the current frontline Ukrainian soldiers. Once Lyman is taken the only road as you say is the Siversk/Bakhmut Highway left and the rapid western push from Popasna will close that off in the next few days if the current momentum continues.

These things are exponential. They seem to go slow and then as reality sinks in surrenders happen very quickly. Hopefully anyway so they don't have to die for nothing.

Pretty sure they are highlighting the futility of continuing a war that cannot be won and the tragic consequences of more western weapons that will only lead to more children without fathers. The implication from the tweeter is that they are taking joy in these horrific consequences and I think anyone who actually watches the video will view this as extremely misleading. Remember that roughly half of the Ukrainian population consider themselves Russian so it makes no sense that they would take joy in this.

From their point of view if the focus would be on negotiations instead of importing out of date weapons for the severely depleted Ukrainian army that are getting destroyed before they even reach the frontlines this would not be happening. Nor would the oncoming food shortages about to hit the western world in the next couple of months happen.

Invade country, get sanctioned, steal grain from that country and sell it elsewhere, whilst blockading that country from selling grain that is critically required by other countries. Then try to blackmail the global food supply to get sanctions removed, whilst playing the "victim" in all of it.

"The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has been speaking during his regular briefing where he rejected claims that Russia had blocked grain exports from Ukraine.

Instead, Peskov accused the west of creating such a situation by imposing sanctions on Russia.

Peskov told reporters:

We categorically do not accept these accusations. On the contrary, we blame Western countries for taking actions that have led to this.

Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea have been blocked since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, leaving more than 20m tons of grain stuck in silos in the country.

Yesterday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said the Kremlin would allow ships carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports in exchange for the lifting of sanctions."

All true but all is fair in war.We should have no illusions about the gang in Russia.

We should however harbour plenty of blame and scorn for those who parrot their lies.

You are correct the main highway is still open to Siversk from Bakhmut. But one route out of Lysychansk with its narrow back roads would involve a similar sitting duck situation that the Russians experienced with the convoy outside Kiev at the start of the conflict. The time for a retreat has passed.

In the absence of a retreat I think you are being very optimistic about the several weeks timeline. That amount of time would give the Ukrainian forces time to receive the weapons currently being transported from the west which is something the Russians will be well aware of. Time will tell if you are correct but from what I've read about the Ukrainian battalions morale and video statements I think the area will be fully surrounded a lot sooner than your estimate.

Apologies. I worded that incorrectly. I meant to refer to the current main theater of war in Donbass. Thanks for pointing it out.

For the Donbass region yes I do your honor:

Wikipedia. I see.

Enough said.

Secondarily, are you seriously expecting anyone to believe the outcome of a referendum held by Russia?

This is preposterous nonsense. Nothing, absolutely nothing that the current Russian regime says, can be considered truthful.

On the "evidence" presented, it is safe to conclude that your assertion is balderdash.

It wasn't held by Russia it was held by the Donetsk Peoples Republic. Here is CNN reporting on it in a (vary rare for them) balanced way. It was a different world 8 years ago.

There was nothing alleged about it.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-parliament-language-idUSKCN1S111N