"Eleven Ukrainian political parties have been suspended because of their links with Russia.

The country's national security and defence council took the decision to ban the parties from any political activity. Most of the parties affected were small, but one of them, the Opposition Platform for Life, has 44 seats in the 450-seat Ukrainian parliament.

The Opposition Platform for Life, Ukraine's biggest opposition party, is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Moscow oligarch with close ties to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian authorities last year charged Medvedchuk, a longtime ally of Putin who is believed to be the godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter, with treason and placed the oligarch under house arrest, a move that angered the Kremlin."

Of course, pro Russia media and pundits, including a bunch in the US, are reporting this as the "top" opposition party. The seats it now has were elected before the invasion.

Previous president, Petro Poroshenko, leads the European Solidarity Party.

10thYrSr said:

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EastSideAg2002 said:

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txags92 said:

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RebelE91 said:

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benchmark said:

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RebelE91 said:

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Interesting comments from Lavrov.

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I found his comments fallacious and repulsive ... curious what you found interesting?

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There is no diplomatic negotiating room with the UK, he considers foreign soldiers to be mercs, etc. the comments can be repulsive and interesting at the same time.

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So he is ok with Ukraine just executing anybody they capture from Wagner?

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and Syrians, Chechnens, Belarussians, etc

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Did you guys forget that this is a WAR!? in war, do what you want to do. If you lose, then you are screwed.

It's like you people think there are rules of engagement imposed on everyone!

No! This is war. Civilized warfare exists between mutual combatants who have agreed to those terms. This is not the case here. This is Russia fighting Ukraine.

Do you think anyone will be brought to trial for war crimes? How do you do that against a nuclear armed country? Russia will continue to do what they want. They will operate outside of convention because nobody is going to hold them accountable. We have already done all we can do without actively going to war against them, and it didn't phase them.


One last time, I'll say to you that Russia can do as they please, because there is NO chance we are going to call their bluff.

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It's not a WAR. It's a special military operation…
-Putin

Much more info in the linked article. Putin is avoiding a general mobilization

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/high-casualties-russia-pulls-out-all-the-stops-to-find-fresh-troops-a-254bf9c2-c83b-4492-8dea-1f5cec53b03e

"The Russian army is using all means at its disposal to find reinforcements. They are luring them with attractive offers, issuing threats and even simulating a general mobilization by sending out huge numbers of summons to reservists which some, either out of ignorance or fear, interpret as a call up order.

But an official call up can only take place once Putin declares a general mobilization. That, though, would be an indirect admission of his army's weakness, a military force that had been considered vastly superior to Ukraine's army prior to the invasion. More importantly, a general mobilization would have a more direct impact on the daily lives of Russians, which the Kremlin wants to avoid at all costs. The result has been a kind of veiled mobilization."In order to accelerate that recruitment effort, the Russian parliament abolished the age limit for contract soldiers in expedited proceedings. Now, people up to the age of 65 can sign their first deal with the military, instead of the age limit of 40 that had previously applied.

The terms of the deals being offered are striking, with recruits receiving offers of at least 200,000 rubles ( around 3,000 euros) a month for their troubles, a sum that used to be reserved solely for mercenaries, such as those fighting for the Wagner Group. Depending on specialization, rank and experience, offers can even be much higher than that, such as the one made to Kirill Krechetov in Nizhny Novgorod. Furthermore, Putin has decreed that the families of fallen soldiers are to receive more than 12 million rubles, the equivalent of 190,000 euros."

The BBC says that volunteer units are taking part in fighting in some of the most kinetic areas in Ukraine and volunteers generally receive 3-7 days of training. One of the volunteers interviewed said there was no training in tactics and that many volunteers are over 45. 2/

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 21, 2022

That's surprising little pay to go off and die.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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That's surprising little pay to go off and die.

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Not in rural Russia.


families could retire off of those death benefits (that will probably never get paid).

Unlikely any Russian troops will be paid anything near what they were promised. Reasons will be manufactured to avoid any monetary payments. But all is not lost, surely handsome care packages of potatoes, toilet paper, canned meats and maybe handwritten "Thank You" notes from Putin will make up for any lost revenue.

AGS-R-TUFF said:

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Unlikely any Russian troops will be paid anything near what they were promised. Reasons will be manufactured to avoid any monetary payments. But all is not lost, surely handsome care packages of potatoes, toilet paper, canned meats and maybe handwritten "Thank You" notes from Putin will make up for any lost revenue.

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Are we to assume the care packages won't be spoiled like the rations they were given at the beginning of their invasion?

New Ukrainian strikes on Snake Island. CONFIRMED

Some background on the Kaliningrad situation.

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Kaliningrad is the only Russian port on the Baltic Sea that is ice-free year round and is an important launch point for the nation's naval fleet. Its strategic location prevents ships from having to circumnavigate Scandinavia by way of a northern passage, traveling through the Arctic Ocean. This is the route ships have to take from the second port of the Baltic Fleet in St. Petersburg.

Kaliningrad's location also means that Russia has naval vessels stationed behind NATO lines.

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Didn't realize that St. Petersburg got ice bound that often.

Thanks for posting that.

Also why Russia benefits greatly if the planet actually warms and arctic ice melts. A year-round Northern Passage shipping route would be a huge boon to the Russian economy and warmer temps would make Siberia more farmable. The climate change true believers are quite concerned with this possibility.

This war is designed to give them greater access to arable land now and more coastline. Food and ports make them globally important to the point they can't be effectively ignored.

Captain Positivity said:

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Also why Russia benefits greatly if the planet actually warms and arctic ice melts. A year-round Northern Passage shipping route would be a huge boon to the Russian economy and warmer temps would make Siberia more farmable. The climate change true believers are quite concerned with this possibility.

This war is designed to give them greater access to arable land now and more coastline. Food and ports make them globally important to the point they can't be effectively ignored.

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Don't really believe climate change such as you describe will happen quickly enough for Russia to have that luxury. Their time on the world stage is winding down, not up.

Globalism means vulnerability to supply chain interruptions and just in time models fail under that occurrence.

The senior Estonian civil servant said there had been "multiple border violations by helicopters" from Russia over the past week.

— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) June 21, 2022

https://news.sky.com/story/estonia-says-russia-has-violated-its-airspace-for-first-time-by-helicopter-in-highly-provocative-move-12638006

AGS-R-TUFF said:

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Unlikely any Russian troops will be paid anything near what they were promised. Reasons will be manufactured to avoid any monetary payments. But all is not lost, surely handsome care packages of potatoes, toilet paper, canned meats and maybe handwritten "Thank You" notes from Putin will make up for any lost revenue.

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You forgot to include the liter of canola oil

The Germans finally set their history aside and come through to deliver for Ukraine. AID

74OA said:

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The Germans finally set their history aside and come through to deliver for Ukraine. AID

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Well I guess you can call it aid and not military supply.

• 30 Gepard armored self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, including around 6,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition

This is 200 rounds per Gepard. They have a fire rate of 1100 Rounds per minute or 18 rds a second. At this rate each one will have an effective life in combat of about 11 seconds. CYA I may have missed somebody else shipping them ammo for these systems or is this a serious typo????

• 5.8 million rounds of handgun ammunition
• This is on top of 16 million rounds already delivered.

It must be really bad to have to start throwing 9MM down range at enemy armor and or troops. Using 45 rounds a load out that would outfit 484,444 personnel. I think they would be better off putting 90% of this up on gunbroker for .36 a round and using the $7,063,200 to buy a couple of attack drones. Hell if they marketed it right they could probably double that.

Sadly UKR lost several M777s in the last couple of days so some of the artillery will certainly be welcome....just need more than 10K rounds.

• Seven Panzerhaubitze 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers, including training and spare parts (joint project with the Netherlands)
• • 10,000 rounds of artillery ammunition

https://funker530.com/video/russian-strikes-knock-out-us-supplied-m777-howitzers/

Russians are truly insane.

aggiehawg said:

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Russians are truly insane.

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"You probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw" - Lenin

nm

Europe spent a century systematically killing off many of their masculine men fighting each other. What is left is a somewhat softer, weaker population that will take a few generations to balance back out.

It has affected their politics and foreign policy for decades. They are still war adverse, understandably.

Never thought of it like that but that does make sense. It has been a slow creep but after WW2 they have become soft

Some say its easy for sailors of small vessels to get to know Jesus on the big sea. I think these russian soldiers just came to know him in the presence of hell.

Its an 11 min video of the ammo storage hit by UKR. You can skip ahead here and there and get a good understanding of how bad it must have been right there on location.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaUkraineWar2022/comments/vi18yw/russian_ammo_dump_hit_by_ua_missiles_footage/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

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Belarusian Ministry of Defense announces "mobilization exercises" from June 22 to July 1 in Homiel region bordering Ukraine

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/22-june-belarusian-ministry-of-defense-announces-mobilization

Quote:

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Russian forces attempting to gain full control over Sieverodonetsk, to block Ukrainian military near Borivske and Voronove, battles ongoing, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/22-june-russian-forces-attempting-to-gain-full-control-over

By now it may have already fallen. This next update is from Lysychansk, 10 hours ago.

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Head of Luhansk regional administration: Russian forces approaching Lysychansk, city is under constant shelling

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/22-june-head-of-luhansk-regional-administration-russian-forces

We just got under attack on our way out of #Lyssytschansk which is almost encircled. Thank god, Giorgos, Vadim and I are not injured, only one window of the car broke. Russians propaply attacked the road with Mortar. Before that we were inside Lyssytschansk. Soon more @BILD 👇 pic.twitter.com/Iw9h6MN7Gi

— Paul Ronzheimer (@ronzheimer) June 22, 2022

The Belarusan push maybe a feint and a very good one. They don't really need to do much to be a major concern for Kiev, when they are really in a struggle in the east. It will be one thing to lose ground in Lysychansk area but a way bigger loss if they lose a bunch of soldiers and equipment trapped south of there.

On reddit and Funker 530 in the last 4-5 days the number of russian attack success vids on UKR has tripled if not more. Orynx numbers have been flat on both sides and I suspect this is due to being shorthanded with analysts, but orcs have lost 5 aircraft in the last week and UKR 2.

UKR has also attacked O&G assets and even snake island. Meanwhile orcs have been saber rattling with Estonia and others.

Are we at a place where the world and both sides are considering these current lines to be the new map?

My prayer is for UKR to kick russia completely out including 2014 invasion lines. We will be just repeating this in a few years after russia replaces its losses.

EU currently providing #Ukraine w/long-rage artillery, tanks & #MLRS, per @eu_eeas Amb Charles Fries at #EUDFF22

"We have adapted our offers to the #Ukrainian needs"

— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) June 22, 2022

They don't want a war with NATO, they want to try to frighten NATO enough to break the flow of aid to Ukraine. If they want a war with NATO they can just lob a few cruise missiles at a major NATO city. But when Putin gets mad at the aid to Ukraine, he bombs Lviv, not Poland.

Maybe Putin is crazy and desperate enough to attack the Baltics before this is all over. The fact that he hasn't already tells you how much he is afraid of an actual war with NATO. He wants NATO to back down, not escalate.

How much Russia is shelling the cities they will be vulnerable for several years. They go through bombs about as fast as they go through soldiers