Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

A. The Russian army (much like any other army in the world who are paid to die and kill if necessary to serve their countries interests) have after 8 years of constant civilian shelling of their ethnic brethren annexed part of the former borderland that they had invented, owned and given away in order to stop the killing.

B. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have fought heroically to defend their homeland and push out the invaders.

C. The best end to this war will be to no longer see the sight of normally sane, peace loving Irish people who openly state that they are hoping to see the deaths of not just one but thousands of fellow human beings. No matter who they are.

Its all subjective.

It's not a buzzword. There are different types of sanctions, targeted restrict transactions to/from a specific individual or entity.

Not sure what this means?

Who is banned from Current Affairs thread?

Ah, OK.

Thank you for that!

That sig must be self referential.

Just find these sorts of stories from Ukraine so depressing.

Obviously this kind of thing goes on the world over, we all know so many states & governments abuse their own citizens abysmally...what is new?

I think it is hard to accept it when you see one country stroll over a border, and then for whatever bogus made up reasons, start up this shít with people who were previously minding their own business on the other side of it. If that doesn't disturb you with the precedent it is setting (if Russia "succeeds" here, even by Putin's own lights)...maybe you aren't paying attention??

Anyway am sure the good "question more" team may say there's no hard evidence presented here, the Beeb is Western Capitalist Biased Russophobic media out to impugne the honour of Russia's liberating anti-Nazi army in Ukraine!

Exactly, this is entirely a war of choice by Russia, at any point they can stop and turn around. Every single death, Russian or Ukrainian is entirely Putin's responsibility.

We constantly hear Russia state TV and the Russian parliament openly threatening to attack other nations, invade them, nuke them. Other countries don't talk about invading Russia. There is no real threat to Russia, it's manufactured to validate their aggressive expansionism.

Further on the defence of Donbas:

BETWEEN 60 AND 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying on the battlefield every day, and another 500 wounded, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

https://www.thejournal.ie/biden-medium-range-rocket-systems-ukraine-5779756-Jun2022/

The Donbass front has been in preparation for almost a decade. After Minsk I, even with all the ceasefire breaches, the Donbass frontline was constantly reinforced. It is the single best defensive line Ukraine have, which is why despite it being broken in several places, in others it is still holding and hasnt budged at all from the pre-Feb lines.

If Ukraine retreat from Donbass the Russian advance will pick up considerably, and the Ukrainians themselves wont have time to properly reinforce defensive positions behind. Also looking at terrain, the closer you go to the Dnieper the flatter and more open the land gets, which is much harder to defend. Around Donbas is reasonably hilly which makes defense easier, having to defend an open plain would go something similar to Kherson oblast (totally flat) which fell in record time in February.

That said if they allow their troops to be encircled in Lisichansk it will be a big loss - curious as to why they do not reinforce those positions or attempt to counterattack either side of the Russian pincer movement thats gradually closing in. If Ukrainians have so many troops in reserve why not deploy some to try and prevent that encirclement?

The border of Donbas also features natural defenses with a river and high hilltop positions on the western side.

We'll probably see the war slow there for a time.

With all the bad news on the Eastern front at least seems to be some progress near Kherson. Ru troops also seem quite demoralised

Russian press is seething over Ukraine's win over Scotland last night in the WC play off and even claimed that Scotland threw the match (!!).

Looks like they will be besides themselves if Ukraine actually qualify on Sunday against Wales.

If I was a Scot, I would be raging about that performance last night....they never even showed up (but not for the reasons the Russians think!).

Looks like the whole world will be willing Ukraine on on Sunday, it might be the biggest sports story of the year if they qualify.

From the Beeb:

Ukrainian volunteers and officials who refuse to collaborate with Russian authorities in the occupied city of Mariupol and nearby villages are being imprisoned and executed, BBC Monitoring reports the Mariupol city council saying.

A Telegram post from the authority, which cites mayor Vadym Boychenko, says a "fake DPR [self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic] court" has sentenced the head of one coastal Azov village to 10 years in prison while at least one civil servant has been executed by shooting.

Dozens of volunteers, who helped evacuate residents and tried to deliver food and water to the blockaded city in March and April, are also being held in Olenivka prison, the city council says.

"A Ukrainian judge is also awaiting a verdict from the fake republic. There are reports of her being tortured," it adds.

Meanwhile, Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, has said on Telegram Russian occupying troops have sought to speed up the distribution of Russian passports in Mariupol.

He cited "sources" as saying that the DPR's migration ministry had instructed the Moscow-installed authorities in the city to find premises where paperwork would be submitted by residents to obtain Russian passports.

The BBC cannot independently verify these claims.

Have also read reports of inhabitants being forced to clear rubble/bring out bodies or they are denied food/water. Also reports of 10's of thousands of bodies.