Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

Your question has been answered repeatedly - you negotiate with Putin as you would anyone else. Either some concessions on sanctions, on territory, or on NATO. The idea that the Russians are currently in Ukraine with a goal of ethnic cleansing like the Serbs in the Balkans is so far removed from the truth. There is strategic value to them, in taking Ukrainian territory, in resources and in the ability to defend with a terrain advantage, and control of sea of Azov.

If you believe Putin's reasoning for invading Ukraine and not having agreed peace terms to date is because he's "a murderer" then you are not even playing the same sport here.

Presidential adviser Arestovych in 2017: Russia and US are battling for Europe, in particular on the territory of Ukraine:

That's getting hot here...

(please turn on subtitle translations)

Afghanistan was a very different scenario - the USSR lost as they tried to occupy a country with nothing in common with themselves, and guerilla tactics which they couldnt effectively counter.

Ukraine is quite different - not only have Russia been supporting separatist movements in the East for close to a decade (or longer), but they are fighting a conventional standing army, not guerillas launching raids from the mountains of Afghanistan.

As for time being on their side, unfortunately much of Ukraines manufacturing is done in the east, most farming in the south. The west is generally poorer than the east, and much less industrialised. Zelensky stated recently that Ukraine needs $7bn of external funding every month just to keep functioning, which I assume is excluding war materials. How many months will the west continue to fund the Ukraine exchequer? It cant go on indefinitely, especially as inflation and looming possibility of recession puts pressure on western countries finances.

The Russians I'm sure arent much better with sanctions and parts shortages, however their factories are still intact, so whatever factories arent short of parts can still produce war materials (likely the minority of factories not facing shortages). They are self-sufficient in food and ag, and the Chinese are still trading with them. While their economy is likely struggling severely, it is nowhere near as bad as Ukrainian economic climate.

Both sides have an interest in downplaying losses, not least for morale purposes, but also if you deny that a serviceman has been killed, you do not owe his family pensions/payments.

Documented cases of this from both sides, but anecdotes dont give any idea to the scale of the problem.

Russia likely has higher losses as its harder to attack than defend, but allegedly 10s of thousands of Ukrainians are in the encirclement around Severdonetsk/Lysychansk, so if that closes it could be a huge amount of losses (dead or captured) for Ukrainians either.

That is not true. He is an official body, so he speaks on behalf of his country and current president of Ukraine V. Zelensky.

If this shouldn't be treated as an official position of Ukraine, then they should have removed this video from the official Ukrainian Youtube channel. But it's still there.

An interview with Oksana Pokalchuk, Amnesty International Ukraine on RTÉ radio this evening gave sickening details of investigations into war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, including widespread looting, sexual crimes and murder. Such is the depravity of the perpetrators that disabled people were targeted according to Oksana.

Unspeakable crimes, as Cormac O hEadhra quite correctly described them.

A comprehensive report is being prepared by Amnesty International.

Perhaps, but at least the Ukrainians are on their backs in theirs looking at the stars.

Live on that topic of Lithuanian independence (in Russian 💁‍♂️):

So either it's just to threaten NATO, or a serious attempt to go further.

Good article via RTE on the role of artillery in the conflict, and possible impact of deliveries of medium range artillery to Ukraine.

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0607/1303352-us-uk-missile-systems-ukraine-russia-military-analysis/

I read this a few weeks ago. It's depressing (of course) but there's also an interesting quote in it apparently from one of those Russia-supported people's republic fighters involved in attack on Mariupol:

I wonder is that the kind of person in those "People's Republics" who is "welcoming" the invasion and pleased Putin is taking Ukraine in hand? I wouldn't have said that was a healthy pov at all or one that's going to bring forth a bright future.

Any part of Ukraine that escapes the net and survives this ordeal inflicted on it is going to do much better than under Putin's + other KGB cronies guidance and will likely join the EU eventually too...(oh dear, I hope I don't upset anyone posting here predicting that?...)!

Putin and co wither + corrupt everything they get their claws on + all they have is negative tactics to get ahead by destroying the work of others (e.g. spending billions upon billions trying to tear apart the EU that better men and women worked to build, trying to ruin and sabotage the Covid-19 response in the West and spread the virus about during the pandemic rather than switch that effort to the tougher job of improving Russia's own response).

The Soviet Union was bounded by a prison type wall in the centre of Berlin and a deadly barbed wire electrified fence complete with a death strip no man’s land and automatically trip wire engaged machine guns from the Barents Sea to the Adriatic. It was a massive prison. Yes it was driven by ideology but to have to go to such lengths to hold on to its population was a clear indication of the type of future it was offering.