Vladimir Putin admits to 360,000 “irretrievable” losses in Ukraine. Trumps special envoy to Ukraine confirms Russians losing 5 times more troops.
- Thread starter Mister Terrific
- Start date
Kyle C. Barker
Migos VERZUZ Mahalia Jackson
i think he was piecemealing it for war but I'm sure the bulk of 300bill is still there
The U.S. only holds 6 billion of the Russian assets. The Russian assets are spread out with EU nations but I think Germany, Belgium, and France hold about 200+ billion at the moment. Japan may even be controlling some of it too.
Mister Terrific
It’s in the name
Mister Terrific
It’s in the name
https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-lifts-ban-ukraine-using-us-arms-strike-inside-russia-2024-11-17/
Biden allows Ukraine to use US arms to strike inside Russia
By Mike Stone and Humeyra Pamuk
November 17, 20242:29 PM ESTUpdated 15 min ago
Item 1 of 3 Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Fasano, Italy, June 13, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Summary
Decision comes after months of resistance from Washington
Shift may aid Ukraine's negotiating position
It is unclear if Trump will reverse Biden's decision once in office
Russia warns of escalation if limits on US weapons use are loosened
WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration has allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday, in a significant reversal of Washington's policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
The move comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and follows months of pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine's military to use U.S. weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border.
The change comes largely in response to Russia's deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the decision said.
The White House and the State Department declined to comment. The Ukrainian foreign ministry and president's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Russia has warned that it would see a move to loosen the limits on Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons as a major escalation.
Ukraine's first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to the sources.
While some U.S. officials have expressed skepticism that allowing long-range strikes will change the war's overall trajectory, the decision could help Ukraine at a moment when Russian forces are making gains and possibly put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if ceasefire talks happen.
It is not clear if Trump will reverse Biden's decision when he takes office. Trump has long criticized the scale of U.S. financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of Trump's closest foreign policy advisers, Richard Grenell, criticized the decision.
"Escalating the wars before he leaves office," Grenell said, in an X post responding to the news.
Some congressional Republicans had urged Biden to loosen the rules on how Ukraine can use U.S.-provided weapons.
Since Trump's Nov. 5 victory, senior Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they would use the remaining time to ensure Ukraine can fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a "position of strength".
'WAY TOO LATE'
The U.S. believes more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia and that most of them have moved to the Kursk region and have begun to engage in combat operations.
Russia is advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 despite taking heavy losses, and Ukraine said it had clashed with some of those North Korean troops deployed to Kursk.
Stretched by personnel shortages, Ukrainian forces have lost some of the ground they captured in an August incursion into Kursk that Zelenskiy said could serve as a bargaining chip.
"Removing targeting restrictions will allow the Ukrainians to stop fighting with one hand tied behind their back," Alex Plitsas, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.
"However, like everything else, I believe history will say the decision came way too late. Just like the ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams Tanks and F-16. They were all needed much sooner," he added.
Despite Zelenskiy's pleas, the White House had been reluctant to allow U.S.-supplied weapons to be used to strike targets deep inside Russia for fear this could escalate the conflict.
Kyiv's other allies have been supplying weapons but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws NATO countries into the war or provokes a nuclear conflict.
Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, also called the move a response to North Korea's involvement.
"President Biden responded to the entry of North Korean troops into the war and the massive Russian missile strike in a language that V. Putin understands - by removing restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western missiles," Sikorski said on X.
.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e7vl01gngo
21 hours ago
Vitaly Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring Russia editor
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Soldiers returning from the war have claimed at least 242 lives, reports say
“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to kill you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.
She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.
When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.
The attack on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.
Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been killed by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.
Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous criminal convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.
These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.
"This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down," he told the BBC.
"People who have committed heinous crimes - murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles - they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes."
There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.
Official media call them "heroes," and President Vladimir Putin has dubbed them Russia's new "elite". Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.
Geroi Spetsoperatsii
Participants in Russia's war in Ukraine are hailed as heroes by pro-Kremlin media
It is not unheard of for released convicts return from the war in Ukraine, reoffend and then escape punishment for a second time by going back to the front.
This makes some police officers despair. “Four years ago, I put him away for seven years,” policeman Grigory told the Novaya Gazeta website.
"And here he is in front of me again, saying: 'You won't be able to do anything, officer. Now's our time, the time of those who are shedding blood in the special military operation.'"
Russian courts have routinely used participation in the war against Ukraine as a reason to issue milder sentences.
But many cases don’t even reach court. Moscow has introduced a new law against “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” which has made some victims of crimes by veterans afraid to report them.
Olga Romanova, the head of prisoner rights NGO Russia Behind Bars, says a sense of impunity is driving up crime rates.
"The main consequence is the gap between crime and punishment in the public mind. If you commit a crime, it is far from certain that you are going to be punished," she tells the BBC.
In 2023, the number of serious crimes registered in Russia rose by almost 10%, and in the first half of this year the number of military personnel convicted of crimes more than doubled compared to the same period a year before.
Sociologist Anna Kuleshova argues that violence is becoming more acceptable in Russian society, especially because criminals can now escape punishment by going to war.
"There is a tendency to legalise violence. The idea that violence is a kind of norm will probably spread - violence at school, domestic violence, violence in relationships and as a way to resolve conflicts.
"This is facilitated by the militarisation of society, the turn to conservatism and the romanticisation of war. Violent crimes committed within the country are being atoned by the violence of war."
Russia's soldiers bringing wartime violence back home
21 hours ago
Vitaly Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring Russia editor
Soldiers returning from the war have claimed at least 242 lives, reports say
“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to kill you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.
She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.
When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.
The attack on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.
Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been killed by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.
Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous criminal convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.
These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.
"This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down," he told the BBC.
"People who have committed heinous crimes - murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles - they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes."
No more easy deals for Russian convicts freed to fight
'It flew right into her room': Ukrainian girl killed by Russian drone as attacks surge
There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.
Official media call them "heroes," and President Vladimir Putin has dubbed them Russia's new "elite". Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.
Participants in Russia's war in Ukraine are hailed as heroes by pro-Kremlin media
It is not unheard of for released convicts return from the war in Ukraine, reoffend and then escape punishment for a second time by going back to the front.
This makes some police officers despair. “Four years ago, I put him away for seven years,” policeman Grigory told the Novaya Gazeta website.
"And here he is in front of me again, saying: 'You won't be able to do anything, officer. Now's our time, the time of those who are shedding blood in the special military operation.'"
Russian courts have routinely used participation in the war against Ukraine as a reason to issue milder sentences.
But many cases don’t even reach court. Moscow has introduced a new law against “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” which has made some victims of crimes by veterans afraid to report them.
Olga Romanova, the head of prisoner rights NGO Russia Behind Bars, says a sense of impunity is driving up crime rates.
"The main consequence is the gap between crime and punishment in the public mind. If you commit a crime, it is far from certain that you are going to be punished," she tells the BBC.
In 2023, the number of serious crimes registered in Russia rose by almost 10%, and in the first half of this year the number of military personnel convicted of crimes more than doubled compared to the same period a year before.
Sociologist Anna Kuleshova argues that violence is becoming more acceptable in Russian society, especially because criminals can now escape punishment by going to war.
"There is a tendency to legalise violence. The idea that violence is a kind of norm will probably spread - violence at school, domestic violence, violence in relationships and as a way to resolve conflicts.
"This is facilitated by the militarisation of society, the turn to conservatism and the romanticisation of war. Violent crimes committed within the country are being atoned by the violence of war."
Kyiv reveals total Ukraine casualties in Putin’s war for first time
Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 wounded. That compares with 600,000 dead and wounded reported for Russia.
www.politico.eu
Kyiv reveals total Ukraine casualties in Putin’s war for first time
Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 wounded. That compares with 600,000 dead and wounded reported for Russia.
Zelenskyy reiterated his push for a "just peace" that includes guarantees for Ukraine against a renewal of Russian aggression in the future. | Nikoletta Stoyanova/Getty Images
December 8, 2024 2:40 pm CET
By Veronika Melkozerova
KYIV — Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action and 370,000 more were wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, in Kyiv's first disclosure of total casualty figures in the the nearly three-year conflict.
Zelenskyy announced the figures in a Telegram post on Sunday after United States President-elect Donald Trump said early Sunday that Ukraine had "ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers" in the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin almost three years ago.
In February, Zelenskyy said Kyiv had seen 31,000 troops killed in action in the conflict, but refused to give the number of wounded, saying he didn't want to give the Kremlin too much information. Since then, he has routinely described estimates published by various media outlets as overblown.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers who died on the battlefield," plus 370,000 who have been wounded, Zelenskyy said in his post. "And this is taking into account that in our army approximately 50 percent of the wounded return to service, and all injuries are recorded, including minor and repeated ones,” he said.
“And let’s not forget we managed to return 3,767 warriors from Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy added.
The Ukrainian figures compare with 600,000 dead and wounded reported for the Russian side. Zelenskyy insists that Moscow's losses are larger than that.
“Updated data on Russian losses exceed 750,000 of their people. This is 198,000 Russians killed and more than 550,000 wounded,” the Ukrainian president said. Since September Russia has been losingfive or six troops for every Ukrainian soldier lost in battle, he added.
Zelenskyy reiterated his push for a "just peace" that includes guarantees for Ukraine against a renewal of Russian aggression in the future.
"A cease-fire without guarantees [means conflict] can be reignited at any moment, as Putin has already done so," Zelenskyy said. "To guarantee that there will be no more Ukrainian casualties, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to the occupation," he added.
Mister Terrific
It’s in the name
Russia: Reject discriminatory bill banning non-Russian speaking migrant children from schools
Reacting to news that the Russian State Duma has passed a bill banning migrant children who do not speak Russian from enrolling in schools, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said:“This bill not only blatantly violates international law, which Russia is bound by, but also the country’s own Constitution, which prohibits discrimination and guarantees everyone the right to free school education. It is a gross display of xenophobia elevated to the level of state policy.”
“We call on the upper chamber of Parliament to resolutely reject this dehumanizing legislation. Its enforcement would marginalize hundreds of thousands of children, deprive them of a chance to obtain essential education, disparage their dignity and significantly impact their life chances. Every child, regardless of nationality and status, has the right to education and deserves an equal opportunity to learn and thrive.”
this is dumb, sure you'll get some parents to self-deport but you'll also likely still have thousands of young people who never got a grade school education become adults in your country and they'll have to survive on their own. this is a policy that'll help create criminals out of necessity if they can't qualify for a job because they can't read or write at an acceptable level.
Mister Terrific
It’s in the name
Only way to guarantee more soldiers for the meat grinder.
