Russia - threadbanned users in OP

No one can replace him but it is also the nature of the situation that people will get less fond of him, war fatigue, frustration, people blaming him for this and that. It is a hard road he has in the job.

His place in history is assured though and in the fullness of time all will acknowledge his greatness in his countries fate.

Apparently it's because a lot of the shells would be purchased from Turkey

Most Western leaders would give their right arm to have a 60% approval rating.

According to the quoted article Zelenskys approval was at 37% just before the war.

Not suggesting the SMO has had much success, but they did take bigger towns in the south, such as Mariupol, Berdyansk and Melitopol. And Kherson, which they didn't manage to hold for very long after the "annexation referendum" (anyone remember those?).

400,000 dead Russians

50% of territory taken in 2022 retaken back

Global coalition in support of Ukraine

Pariah terrorist state

Most sanctioned country in the world

Economy in tatters

2 years later and the war to conquer Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia. Ukraine just needs the support to hold on and Russia will collapse. I hope that most Americans will be repulsed by Putin controlled criminal Trump and he will be rejected in this years presidential elections and the republican party will become unelectable for ever lending him support. In the meantime Germany must give the Taurus missile system to Ukraine. Why they refuse to give it I don't know

The West should seize more Russian assets and send interest to Ukraine, says UK PM

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the West on Sunday to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to send interest already accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.

On the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the UK leader said Western allies must go “further” with their sanctions to “shake” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief “that he can simply wait us out”.

Sunak wrote in an article in the Sunday Times:

We must be bolder in seizing the hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets.

That starts with taking the billions in interest these assets are collecting and sending it to Ukraine instead.

And then, with the G7, we must find lawful ways to seize the assets themselves and get those funds to Ukraine too.

The prime minister’s comments follow G7 leaders pledging Saturday to explore “all possible avenues by which immobilised Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine”.

The grouping of advanced economies confirmed Russia’s already seized sovereign assets will remain frozen “until Russia pays for the damage it caused to Ukraine”.

Ukraine needs almost half a trillion dollars to cover the reconstruction costs of Russia’s invasion, the World Bank, European Union, United Nations and the Ukrainian government said in a joint report earlier this month.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said that the confiscated Russian assets should foot most of the bill. Kyiv wants the West to unlock around $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to fund the rebuild of its cities, roads, bridges and energy facilities destroyed or damaged by Russia’s two-year assault. (The Guardian UK)

I heard some analyst on the news the other day say that before WW2, in the period of appeasement of Hitler in the mid 1930s, the UK was only spending around 3 or 4 percent of GDP on defence. That went up by several percent in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland, but it then skyrocketed to around 40 percent in 1941 when the UK was fighting for its very future. The point he was making was that the savings you make through appeasement are more than offset by the cost you incur later when those you have appeased come after you . Not only paying money but also in blood.

Yes, thank you. I wonder to myself did Putin's big show of nuclear warheads on flatbeds in late Feb 2022 give western countries any pause, or was that always going to be the policy anyway?

A wised elderly man hits hard in Russia.

Imagine if this guy was President of Russia..

sergei dogface lavrov denied refueling in Brazil

It's very clear that Ukraine have been hugely constrained especially by the US. The Putin & the West documentary seems to be right in that Ukraine were warned, by the US, not to attack the Kerch again. It's such an obvious target. This combined with having to put up with endless attacks but being told they can retaliate on Russian soil suggests that the US are actually afraid of Putin's threats. Why ?

Some extra context:

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Russia's war in occupied territories, Zelensky said the exact amount is unknown, adding that it would be possible to find out once the territories were liberated...

The HRMMU stressed that the actual number of those killed and injured is likely to be significantly higher.

I have heard it said that russia’s talk of nuclear weapons isn’t meant for leaders of countries but to get western media talking which will cause public sentiment to go against Ukraine as nuclear holocaust should be avoided at all cost.