Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
PAGE 99 of 111
Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.
Nobody else does either, faggot.
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Quote:“Hello!” Ilyukhina lunged forward and hugged Stratt. “I’m here to die for Earth! Pretty awesome, yes?!”
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.
Nobody else does either, faggot.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Evil. Be a dick.
I leaned to Dimitri. “Are all Russians crazy?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “It is the only way to be Russian and happy at the same time.”
“That’s…dark.”
“That’s Russian!”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10857981-hello-ilyukhina-lunged-forwa
rd-and-hugged-stratt-i-m-here-to
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.
Nobody else does either, faggot.
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Quote:Day 1461 of Putin’s Three-Day War
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.
Nobody else does either, faggot.
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Be Evil. Be a dick.
Courage, betrayal — and reasons for hope
Paul Krugman
Feb 23, 2026
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/day-1461-of-putins-three-day-war
Source: Institute for the Study of War
Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2002. Putin expected a quick Russian triumph — reports are that he expected the Ukrainians to fold in days. He never said “three days,” but this meme has become shorthand for his belief that it would be a walkover. Western military analysts who had bought into propaganda about Russia’s military strength shared his assessment.
U.S. right-wingers were especially enthralled with what they perceived as the toughness, masculinity, and anti-wokeness of Russian soldiers.
But Putin’s dream of a short, victorious war has turned — as such dreams usually do — into a long nightmare of blood, destruction and humiliation. Ukrainian courage and Russian incompetence — combined with the effectiveness of British and American man-portable weapons — ensured that the attempt to seize Kyiv became an epic debacle. The three-day war is about to enter its fifth year.
I am not a military expert. But I pay attention to those who are — especially Phillips O’Brien, who has been far more right about this war than anyone else I know. Furthermore, the future of the war will depend greatly on an issue I do know something about, Europe’s ability to provide Ukraine with the support it needs. So I thought I would use the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the war to talk about where we are right now.
First, about the military situation. The maps at the top of this post show how the area of Ukraine under Russian control — shaded pink — has changed over the past year. You may ask, what change? Exactly. The Ukraine war isn’t like World War II, in which breakthroughs could be exploited by armored columns sweeping into the enemy’s rear. It’s a war in which the battlefield is swarming with drones, where there isn’t even a well-defined front line, and the “kill zone” within which even armored vehicles are basically death traps is many kilometers wide.
Some observers still don’t understand how the reality of war has changed. Thus there have been breathless reports about the danger Ukraine would face after Russia seized the “strategic city” of Pokrovsk since July 2024. Russian forces finally entered Pokrovsk late last year and may now occupy most of the rubble. But it made no difference.
This reality shows how idiotic it is for the U.S. Department of Defense — sorry, Department of War — to decide that its mission is to embrace a “warrior ethos.” Bulging biceps and macho posturing won’t help you prevail in modern war, while bombastic stupidity is a good way to get many soldiers killed.
So if modern technology has turned war on the ground into a bloody stalemate — much bloodier for Russia than for Ukraine, but still indecisive — what will determine victory and defeat? The answer, which has been true in most wars, is that it will come down to resources and logistics.
If this were purely a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainians, for all their heroism, would be doomed. Russia, after all, has four times Ukraine’s population and ten times its GDP.
But Ukraine has powerful friends.
For the first three years of the war, the United States was the most important of these friends. Indeed, Ukraine wouldn’t have been able to resist Russia without U.S. aid.
Unfortunately, top Biden officials were too cautious. They didn’t want Putin to win, but they clearl
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Why bother quoting me before posting that shit?
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I don't give a fuck.
Nobody else does either, faggot.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
An ultimatum is a demand with consequences if the demand isn't acted on: "Do X, or Y".
Deterrence is a stated response to the OTHER party's initiating action: "If YOU do X, we'll do Y".
You're dropping ultimatums bc you don't have a leg to stand on.
Logic. Not your strong point, is it?
Meanwhile, Russia keeps advancing along the entire front.
Too funny...
T
Animated map: Changes in Russian military positions in Ukraine
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/animated-map-changes-in-russian-m
ilitary-positions-in-ukraine/vi-AA1WSSCt?
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Russia threatens to aim nukes at Estonia — then claims it’s “not a threat”
By Olena Mukhina | 23/02/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/russia-threatens-to-aim-nukes-a
t-estonia-then-claims-its-not-a-threat/
No better way to start the Russian work week than by making death threats against countries just across the western border of Russia. The Russians are hungover from a weekend of heavy drinking. Making threats makes them feel more alive.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
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Love it...
T
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_______ Insert nobody gives a fuck emoji here.
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Quote:This thread works fine, and it is important to remember precisely what was happening 4 years ago. Signym has been predicting Russia's victory for all the years this thread has existed. Victory might actually arrive in two, maybe four, months:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Hungary blocks EU sanctions AND $106 billion loan for Ukraine, risking a domino collapse
By Peeter Helme | 23/02/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/hungary-blocks-eu-loan-sanction
s-ukraine-imf-domino/
“Without that support from the EU and the IMF, Ukraine’s economy would most likely collapse,” Maksym Samoiliuk, an economist at Kyiv’s Centre for Economic Strategy, told the Financial Times.
The Centre for Economic Strategy and DiXi Group warned in December that Ukraine needed to start receiving EU tranches by the end of March 2026. That deadline is five weeks away.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Evil. Be a dick.
Looking back in this thread and discovered 6ixStringJoker has been writing "Nobody cares" for four years. Obviously, he does care that the Russians win.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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KYIV, Ukraine, Feb. 23, 2026 — Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an updated joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5) released today by the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations currently estimates that as of 31 December 2025, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is almost $588 billion (over €500 billion) over the next decade, which is nearly 3 times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for 2025. https://tinyurl.com/4zj4v46y
Of the total long-term needs, reconstruction and recovery needs are the highest in the transport sector (over $96 billion (€82 billion)). This is followed by the energy sector (nearly $91 billion (€77 billion)), the housing sector (almost $90 billion (€77 billion)), commerce and industry sector (over $63 billion (€54 billion)), and agriculture sector (over $55 billion (€47 billion)). The cost of explosives hazard management and debris clearance is almost $28 billion (€24 billion), despite some progress in surveying and demining that helped to contain losses in this sector.
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/23/world-bank-maps-ukraines-deepes
t-scars-195b-in-direct-damage-and-a-588b-bill-for-survival/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Editorial: Trump’s theater and Europe’s fear could bring 4 more years of war
By The Kyiv Independent
February 24, 2026 10:46 AM
https://kyivindependent.com/editorial-this-war-can-last-another-4-year
s-but-it-doesnt-have-to/
The year is 2030.
With spring around the corner, Ukraine has just endured the toughest winter of the war yet. It was Russia’s eighth winter campaign against the country’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s air defenses have improved. Its grid has grown more resilient. But Russia’s weapons are deadlier, its drone swarms larger, its tactics more adaptive — inflicting severe damage and forcing millions to live in darkness.
Another U.S. administration has come and gone after promising to end the war swiftly. European leaders are once again renewing sanctions and announcing aid packages on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The United Nations has just released a report calling 2029 the deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since 2022, when the full-scale invasion started.
Sounds impossible?
It shouldn’t.
Because here we are in 2026, marking four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion — and the pattern is already set. Russia escalates. Ukraine adapts. The West deliberates. Talks resume. Talks stop. The war grinds on — and Ukraine buries its dead.
In 2022, it was hard to imagine this level of destruction lasting more than a year. In 2023, it was hard to imagine it lasting three. Today, the idea that it could continue until 2030 feels unbearable — but not unrealistic.
Both Ukraine and Russia have demonstrated unwavering determination — one to attack, the other to defend — resulting in a war of attrition that has now lasted for years.
Backed by China and buoyed by continued global demand for its oil, Moscow has sustained its war effort, paying lucrative bonuses to volunteer recruits, upgrading its weapons, and scaling up their production.
With Western — or at this point, European — support, Ukraine has received enough financial and military assistance to keep its guns firing, expand its drone industry and largely hold Russian forces at bay, suffering only incremental territorial losses that come at enormous cost to Russian soldiers.
But what about the peace deal that U.S. officials insist is just around the corner?
When U.S. officials boast about the progress they are making in peace negotiations, they omit an inconvenient but crucial detail.
On the surface, the main barrier to ending the war is a piece of land – specifically, the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast that Russia wants, and that Ukraine refuses to surrender.
But the impasse is not the land itself.
Russia continues to openly seek nothing less than military-political capitulation from Kyiv, and demanding the bloodless handover of Ukraine’s most fortified strongholds is just the first step. Ukraine, meanwhile, sees Russia’s real intentions for exactly what they are, and has no intention of capitulating.
For Russia, this war is about imperial restoration — whatever name the empire takes this time. Without Ukraine, that project will never materialize.
For Ukraine, the stakes are existential — its sovereignty, its statehood, its identity are on the line.
When both sides view the war in existential terms and both retain external backing, a multi-decade-long conflict is not far-fetched. History offers plenty of such precedents.
So yes, this war could last until 2030 — if the West’s current strategy remains unchanged.
In 2022, the West helped Ukraine survive but not win. Too many decisions that could have shifted the balance early — from advanced weapons systems to sweeping sanctions — were delayed, diluted, or delivered incrementally.
The logic behind this caution was clear: escalate gradually and leave space for Russia to reconsider its course before facing harsher consequences.
Thanks to this, visions of a truly just end to the war, with the return of all occupied territories, have faded.
Four years of full-scale war later, Ukraine is figh
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Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Evil. Be a dick.
I presume you are unaware that every comment you have made reveals personal failure and the certainty of a shortened life. Kind of like everything the Russians do reveals that they cause their own suffering, their own relative poverty compared to Europeans, and their shortened lives on the actuarial tables of life expectancy.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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What is Putin hiding? 115 Russian statistics suddenly go dark
By Kathrine Frich | Feb 24, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/war/what-is-putin-hiding-115-russian-statistics
-suddenly-go-dark
Economic transparency in Russia is shrinking, according to Ukrainian intelligence officials.
Dozens of key statistical indicators have stopped being updated, while others have disappeared from public databases altogether.
Kyiv now claims the move is an attempt by the Kremlin to conceal the real state of Russia’s economy.
Data disappears
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says Russian authorities have stopped updating 115 statistical indicators since the end of 2025.
According to the agency, 168 statistical tables have either been removed or reduced in official data collections.
The Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistics System reportedly no longer provides current figures for dozens of categories.
New entries are instead marked as “temporarily closed.”
The Kremlin has not publicly explained the changes.
Income and spending classified
The SVR claims that household income and expenditure data are now classified. This includes figures on public sector wages for teachers, doctors, nurses, researchers and cultural workers.
Information on social benefit payments has also reportedly been restricted.
As a result, it is no longer possible to see how much Russian households spend on essentials such as food, utilities, housing and medicine.
War and prison figures hidden
The Ukrainian intelligence service further alleges that data related to what Moscow calls its “SVO” campaign in Ukraine is no longer publicly available.
According to the SVR, figures on troop numbers and funeral costs have been removed. Media reports also indicate that data on prison populations is again being withheld.
Officials in Kyiv argue the data blackout is aimed at limiting public reaction to economic hardship.
In 2025, 31% of Russians reportedly said they did not have enough money for groceries, while 39% described the economic situation in their region as worsening.
Sources: Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SVR), Dialog.ua, LA.lv.
https://www.la.lv/115-statistikas-raditaji-vairs-netiek-atjauninati-pa
t-dati-par-partiku-klaisifceti-ko-kremlis-slepj#google_vignette
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Most of Ukraine lacks defense against ballistic threats, Zelenskyy says
By Liliana Oleniak | Tue, February 24, 2026 – 13:10
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/most-of-ukraine-lacks-defense-against-
ballistic-1771931443.html
Most of Ukraine's territory remains without air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in an interview with Tagesschau.
80% of Ukraine's territory remains unprotected against Russian ballistic missiles
According to Zelenskyy, his previous statements on air defense were not a criticism of partners, but an attempt to draw attention to the real situation.
"I will not say where our Patriot systems are located. But 80% of our country's territory does not have such anti-ballistic missile systems," the President says.
He stresses that Ukraine continues to seek opportunities to strengthen its defenses.
Ukraine finds funds for air defense systems
The President emphasizes that even in the absence of a sufficient number of systems, Kyiv, together with its partners, is working to finance their purchase.
"Even if we are not given the systems, we have found the money for them together with our partners," Zelenskyy says.
According to him, he personally held negotiations with representatives of Germany, Norway, Northern European countries, and Canada. The President notes that air defense systems are extremely expensive.
"They cost between 1.5 and 2 billion per system. And a missile costs between two and three million," he explains.
Zelenskyy says that he agreed on the allocation of additional funds for these needs.
Ukraine calls on European countries to combine their technological efforts to create new means of countering ballistic missiles.
Colonel Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, also said that Russian mass attacks on Ukraine often combine several types of air threats at once. These include ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as strike drones. Under such conditions, even modern air defense systems are operating at the limits of their capabilities.
Read also: Russia sets record for ballistic missile launches at Ukraine in January
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-sets-record-for-ballistic-missi
le-1771262538.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Moscow accused France and the U.K. of seeking to provide Ukraine with nuclear arms.
Offering no evidence, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on Feb. 24 that the "British and French elite" are helping Kyiv acquire nuclear weapons technology and delivery systems to secure "more favorable terms" in peace talks.
Fact-check: Russia pushes nuclear claims to derail peace talks, distract from war anniversary
By Martin Fornusek | February 24, 2026 7:48 PM
https://kyivindependent.com/fact-check-russia-pushes-nuclear-claims-to
-derail-peace-talks-distract-from-war-anniversary/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
What is Putin hiding? 115 Russian statistics suddenly go dark
By Kathrine Frich | Feb 24, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/war/what-is-putin-hiding-115-russian-statistics
-suddenly-go-dark
... according to Ukrainian intelligence officials.. Kyiv now claims ... Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says ... According to the agency ... The Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistics System reportedly ... The SVR claims ... Information on social benefit payments has also reportedly ... The Ukrainian intelligence service further alleges ...
According to the SVR ...
Officials in Kyiv argue ...
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Ukraine learned four things in four years of war. You won’t like any of them.
We know because we lived it.
By Euromaidan Press Staff
24/02/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/24/four-years-of-war-taught-ukrain
e-four-things-you-wont-like-any-of-them/
1. Russia won't stop—and negotiations are how it buys time.
Russia has signed 26 ceasefires with Ukraine. It has violated all 26. It is a strategy. Putin applies the playbook of Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko: stall, demand the impossible, blame the other side, rearm while the world talks.
The only thing that has ever made Russia retreat has been military force. History has no example of an unconfronted aggressor stopping on its own. Rhineland led to Austria led to Sudetenland led to Poland. Chechnya led to Georgia led to Crimea led to Donbas led to the full-scale invasion.
A bully only stops when somebody stops him.
2. Russia can be stopped—but not for free
Russia came with the world's supposedly second-strongest army. We forced it to retreat from Kyiv. We drove it out of Kharkiv Oblast. We made it abandon Kherson—the only regional capital it ever captured. Ukraine had no navy—Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is gone, anyway. It has suffered 1.2 million casualties for 11% of our territory. We destroyed one-third of its nuclear-capable bomber fleet in a single operation. No retaliation came.
Russia is beatable. But stopping evil costs money, weapons, political courage. It costs blood—people willing to put their lives on the line for freedom. Ukrainians are already paying that price. The question is whether the rest of the world will share it, or keep hoping the problem goes away while Ukrainians do the dying.
Experts in Norway did the math: equipping Ukraine to win costs Europe roughly half of what a Russian victory would.
The uncomfortable truth is that for four years, the West has chosen not to.
3. The red lines are in your head.
Leopards were "escalatory." They weren't.
ATACMS were "escalatory." They weren't.
F-16s were "escalatory." They weren't.
Striking inside Russia was "escalatory." It wasn't.
Every Western red line was imaginary—fed by Russian threats designed to trigger exactly that paralysis.
A senior European official admitted it at GLOBSEC: "We are good at deterrence, but even better at self-deterrence."
Estonia's Defense Ministry put it bluntly in 2023: the fear of escalation is "unnecessarily high," and drip-feeding Ukraine aid doesn't create a strategy—it merely drags the war out "at an immense cost, primarily for Ukraine." Lithuania's foreign minister asked why NATO is protecting Russian bombers better than it is protecting Ukrainian civilians.
The logic is perverse. The West chose four years of half-measures to avoid a nuclear threat that Russia has never acted on, despite Moscow’s repeated threats.
And what did caution buy? A destroyed energy grid. Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. The deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since the full-scale invasion began. And a precedent every dictator is studying: threaten nuclear war, and democracies will let you grind your neighbor to dust at a pace they can tolerate.
4. Russia wants you to think this is only about Ukraine.
Firebombs at DHL hubs in Leipzig and Birmingham. A German navy ship sabotaged in Hamburg. Five Dutch rail lines hit during the NATO summit. Sabotage attacks in Europe tripled in a single year. These weren't random. Russia is rehearsing.
Four years of fighting us taught Russia priceless lessons: exactly where NATO breaks. Which leaders fold. How many months the debate takes. That 32 nations will argue themselves into paralysis while drones fly every night.
Now imagine we fall. Russia absorbs our defense industry, our resources, and the most combat-hardened army in Europe. Thirty-seven million Ukrainians learn that the West watched them be erased rather than act. Who fights for you then?
Our po
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Hungary’s Orbán stakes his reelection on anti-Ukraine message
By Justin Spike | February 25, 2026
https://apnews.com/article/hungary-orban-anti-ukraine-campaign-electio
n-2f729cf3694dc06fb8bc564c123c80e2
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Facing tough odds in an upcoming election, Hungary’s pro-Russian prime minister is trying to convince voters that the greatest threat to the country is not economic stagnation — the focus of his top opponent — but neighboring Ukraine.
Viktor Orbán is running an aggressive media campaign replete with disinformation whose central message is that Hungarians should refuse to align with the rest of Europe in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. That path, he argues, risks bankrupting the country and getting its youth killed on the front lines.
Billboards erected across the country show AI-generated images of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flanked by European officials, holding out his hand as if demanding money. It’s a not-so-subtle reference to the European Union’s efforts to help Ukraine financially and bolster its defenses as the war enters its fifth year.
“Our message to Brussels: We won’t pay!” the publicly funded billboards read.
Orbán, who retook office in 2010, faces the strongest challenge to his power in an election set for April 12. The EU’s longest-serving leader and his right-wing Fidesz party are trailing in most independent polls to an upstart center-right challenger, Péter Magyar. His rise was aided by political scandals that have damaged the credibility of Orbán’s party; a presidential pardon given to an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case led to a public outcry, prompting the president and justice minister to resign.
Orbán and Fidesz have sought to change the conversation. They have blanketed the country with taxpayer-funded billboards, as well as advertisements on radio, television and social media. A petition mailed to every Hungarian of voting age claimed the EU’s plans to help Ukraine financially would bring economic ruin.
In a video Fidesz released on social media last week, a little girl asks her forlorn mother: “Mommy, when is daddy coming home?” In the next frame, the fictional father — bound, blindfolded and kneeling on a muddy battlefield — is approached by a [Ukrainian] soldier and shot in the head.
Much more at https://apnews.com/article/hungary-orban-anti-ukraine-campaign-electio
n-2f729cf3694dc06fb8bc564c123c80e2
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Declining birth rates could spell economic disaster
Feb 24 2026
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/24/russia-ukraine-birth-rate-fertility-ra
te-war-women-children-demographics-economy.html
In 2021, Ukraine’s total fertility rate stood at 1.22 but this has since dropped to 1.00 in 2025, according to United Nations population data. Some have cited a more dire metric, with the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, warning in December that the fertility rate in the country had plunged to 0.8–0.9 children per woman, with the war and insecurity across Ukraine causing this “critical decline.”
For a society to replace itself from one generation to the next, without relying on migration, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is necessary.
Russia, too, has also seen a longer-term trend downwards in its fertility rate exacerbated by the war. In 2021, Russia’s fertility rate was 1.51 but by 2025, it had dropped to 1.37 children per woman, down from 1.4 recorded the year before.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine Battlefield Dead Could Reach 500,000 in Fifth Year, Estimates Suggest
Russia has lost as many as 325,000 troops, according to some estimates, with more than 200,000 deaths verified by researchers.
By Paul Sonne and Constant Méheut | Feb. 24, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/europe/ukraine-war-deaths.htm
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Paul Sonne reported from Berlin, and Constant Méheut from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Even as President Vladimir V. Putin hails Russia’s advances on the battlefield, four years into his invasion of Ukraine, his force has suffered perhaps the worst losses any major power has seen in a conflict since World War II.
There is little sign that the conflict is getting any less deadly, as Ukraine looks to harness new battlefield technology to raise the cost of Russia’s gains. Estimates suggest that the death toll for the entire war among both Russian and Ukrainian fighters could rise beyond half a million this year, with deaths adding up particularly on the advancing Russian side. By some counts, the toll could even have already topped that figure.
The number of soldiers killed in the war remains a heavily guarded secret on both sides, as Moscow and Kyiv aim to avoid projecting weakness.
Some estimates indicate that Ukraine has lost more soldiers as a proportion of its wartime population than Russia has, even if Russian losses have been far larger overall. Estimates put the number of Russian troops killed at more than five times the losses that the U.S. military suffered during the Vietnam War.
Journalists from the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service published new results on Tuesday of their effort, dating to the early months of the invasion, to compile the number of Russian soldiers who have died. Their count is based on verified names in obituaries, cemetery burials, social media reports from relatives, probate records and other Russian state data.
https://en.zona.media/article/2026/02/24/casualties_eng-trl
The outlets updated their tally of verified Russian deaths to 200,186 but emphasized that the figure “remains a conservative floor, not a ceiling.” They identified nearly 27,000 Russian cities, towns and villages that sent soldiers to Ukraine who were ultimately killed.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, based in Washington, recently said that Russia had suffered up to 325,000 deaths on the battlefield. The number appears to be a reasonable projection, given the confirmed numbers from Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, which do not fully capture battlefield deaths from 2025 and 2026.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-grinding-war-ukraine
“No major power has suffered anywhere near these number of casualties since the Second World War,” said Seth Jones, a co-author of the C.S.I.S. study, noting that one exception could be Chinese losses during the Korean War, though estimates from that conflict vary widely. “It is just short of shocking.”
The center’s study estimated the number of wounded and killed on the Russian side, often referred to together as casualties, to be as many as 1.2 million.
On Tuesday, Mr. Putin marked the fourth anniversary of the war with a speech to the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B. He said that the Russian intelligence service needed to do more to protect the Russian homeland from Ukrainian attacks. A day earlier, Mr. Putin met with widows of fallen soldiers at the Kremlin.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an address highlighting Ukrainians’ perseverance, hosted senior European leaders in Kyiv, and visited a makeshift memorial in the capital’s central square, where he said he hoped that President Trump would visit the country to see its suffering.
The authorities in Ukraine, like Russian officials, have been secretive about army losses. Ukraine has restricted access to demographic data that could help estimate the number of Ukrainians killed in action, and it has released casualty figures in the tens of thousands that most observers consider understated.
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Prosecutor details scandal rocking Ukraine's defense
February 25, 2026
https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukraine-detains-air-force-logistics-chief
-in-aircraft-shelter-corruption-probe-50586999.html
As Ukrainska Pravda reported on Feb. 25, authorities detained the commander of logistics for the Ukrainian Air Force, Col. Andrii Ukrainets, and the head of the SBU directorate in Zhytomyr Oblast, Col. Volodymyr Kompanichenko.
In May 2025, 1.4 billion hryvnias were allocated to build prefabricated arched shelters. Inspections later found that the projects did not meet safety standards, the shelters failed to protect aircraft adequately, and the cost of the work was significantly inflated.
Despite those findings, advance payments under the contracts were transferred.
The Air Force logistics commander approached the head of the SBU directorate to conceal the embezzlement of budget funds and halt inspections.
He asked to “facilitate” the bribery of the leadership of military counterintelligence.
According to investigators, the officials proposed transferring about 13 million hryvnias — 1% of the project financing — in exchange for concealing the misappropriation of budget funds. They also planned to involve “loyal” auditors to prepare fictitious reports on the quality of construction.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Pokrovsk has likely fallen, yet Russian momentum stalls — ISW
February 26, 2026, 02:38 AM
https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/pokrovsk-falls-to-russia-but-kremlin
-fails-to-exploit-its-capture-50587178.html
The slow, agonizingly expensive capture of Pokrovsk — a city far smaller than the "fortress belt" strongholds of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk — serves as a grim omen for the Russian army. Their inability to exploit this "victory" exposes the fragility of the Kremlin's claim that the rest of the Donbas will fall quickly or easily.
Major Hryhoriy Shapoval, spokesperson for the Eastern troops grouping, said on Feb. 25 that eight key settlements in the Pokrovsk direction remain under full Ukrainian control.
These include Sukhetske, Suvorove, Nykanorivka, Dorozhne, Ivanivka, Nove Shakhover, Novyi Donbas, and Vilne.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine Is Losing the War
With Moscow Pressing Its Advantage, Kyiv Should Trade Land for Peace
Michael C. Desch
February 26, 2026
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/ukraine-losing-war
MICHAEL C. DESCH is Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the O’Brien Notre Dame International Security Center.
Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration is pressing Kyiv to agree to painful territorial concessions as the price for peace. In a draft peace agreement first reported by Axios in November, the administration proposed that the entire regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk be recognized as de facto Russian territory and that Russia retain control of the parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia its forces now occupy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing back, refusing to do anything that would violate his country’s territorial integrity. Yet the realities of the battlefield are not on his side.
Ukraine has been putting up valiant resistance, but its determination cannot disguise the fact that it is losing the war. Russia controls a large swath of Ukrainian territory, and Kyiv has little chance of dislodging it, as Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive in 2023 demonstrated. To be sure, recent Russian gains have come very slowly and at significant cost; over the last three years, Russia has taken a mere one percent of additional Ukrainian territory. But that does not change the reality that Russia now holds almost a fifth of the land within Ukraine’s 1991 borders—or that Russia’s greater resources and population mean that Moscow can fight on for years to come. Overcoming those Russian advantages and clawing back lost land on the battlefield would require time and investment that Ukraine doesn’t have. Current circumstances are therefore pushing Kyiv toward a compromise peace—one that will necessarily include the surrender of Ukrainian territory.
FALLING BEHIND
Judging by sheer numbers, the trajectory of the war does not favor Ukraine. The rates of battlefield losses on each side are one example. The Russian media outlet Mediazona tracks Russian military deaths using social media, obituaries, and official government notices and provides the most reliable estimates. (Estimates by Western intelligence agencies vary dramatically and often correlate with government policy preferences.) As of the end of 2025, Mediazona’s analysts identified 156,151 Russians who have been killed in the war and, because not every death is publicly reported, used population data to estimate a total of 219,000 dead. The Ukrainian nongovernmental organization UA Losses, employing a similar methodology, has reported 87,045 Ukrainians killed in action and 85,906 missing in action, a figure that likely includes unacknowledged deaths and desertions.
Although Ukraine is suffering fewer losses in absolute terms, the war is depleting a greater proportion of its manpower. Ukraine’s population today is just under 36 million, which is about 26 percent of Russia’s population of 140 million. Ukraine has just under 9.5 million men between the ages of 25 and 54, and it has lost between one and two percent of that cohort. For Russia, which has a little over 30.2 million men in the same age group, somewhat higher losses account for just 0.5 to 0.7 percent of the total. Ultimately, Russia, with its much larger population, can sustain larger total losses than Ukraine can.
Moreover, Russia is fighting mostly with contract soldiers—people who have volunteered—and keeping conscripts away from the front. The result is more motivated Russian soldiers. So far, Moscow is not having much trouble meeting recruitment needs. Ukraine, in contrast, relies heavily on conscription. Recent recruitment shortfalls and desertions have prompted increasingly draconian efforts to meet conscription a goal of 30,000 men per month. These include “busification,” the practice of grabbing men off the street and taking them in minivans
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Ukraine's Flamingo Missile Finally Did What It Was Always Supposed To Do: Blast A Russian Factory
The Flamingo's belated success comes after months of controversy
Feb 26, 2026
https://www.trenchart.us/p/ukraines-flamingo-missile-finally
• Missile-maker Fire Point promised the Flamingo would add heft and reach to Ukraine’s deep strikes, but production has been slow to ramp up
• After months of disappointment, Ukraine may finally have gotten some real results from its giant Flamingo cruise missile
• A 20 February Flamingo raid may have inflicted major damage on a Russian missile factory in Votkinsk
• The attack could cause a ripple of delays in Russian missile production
Ukraine has finally put its giant Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles to good use. On the night of Feb. 20, at least one of the six-ton Flamingos blasted a hole in the roof of a missile workshop in Votkinsk, in western Russia 1,400 km from the front line.
The strike, which came six months after Ukrainian firm Fire Point dramatically revealed the jet-propelled, largely fiberglass Flamingo to reporters, may have significantly damaged the Votkinsk missile plant. Votkinsk apparently produces components for many of Russia’s most powerful missiles, including the Oreshnik, Kinzhal, and Iskander-M.
The February strike is a possible win for Fire Point as critics question the company’s early claims regarding the Flamingo. More importantly, it’s a win for Ukraine as it struggles to blunt Russia’s relentless campaign of drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian cities and power plants. The missiles Votkinsk helps produce have inflicted widespread damage in Ukraine.
The Flamingo’s developers face deep skepticism. Last fall, Fire Point insisted it would massively scale up production of the FP-5 and quickly boost annual output to more than 2,000 missiles. But in the nine months since the first secretive combat trials of the ramp-launched FP-5, the Ukrainians have fired only about 16 missiles in seven raids, resulting in just four damaging hits.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia's Army Crumbling in Ukraine
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Don't wait for Putin to fall: Budanov outlines Ukraine's only safe scenario
Thu, February 26, 2026 - 21:20
Author: Daryna Vialko
The fundamental ideology of Russia has never changed. Therefore, Ukraine needs to create conditions under which Russia will cease to exist as an empire, stated the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with the Arab media outlet Al-Modon.
Read also: Putin suddenly talks about potential successor
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/putin-suddenly-talks-about-potential-s
uccessor-1746370010.html
"Regime changes in Russia have not changed its essence. Regardless of its current name, its core ideology remains unchanged," Budanov emphasized.
He noted that Russian authorities, neither in the Tsarist era, nor during the Soviet period, nor now, have ever aimed to improve the living conditions of their citizens.
"Overall, the policies of the current Russian president are not substantially different from those of the Tsarist or Soviet eras. Likewise, we should not expect Russia to change again due to internal factors. We must create conditions under which Russia disappears as an empire," Budanov said.
The head of the Presidential Office added that several regional states should emerge on Russian territory, each taking care of the welfare of its own people.
"Only then will Ukraine, Europe, and the entire world feel safer," Budanov noted.
Putin isn’t the only root of the problem
Earlier, in an interview with journalist Piers Morgan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of removing Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a quick solution.
According to the President, the root of the problem is not only Putin, but also the power system he built, which could produce a new Putin even after the current Kremlin leader is removed.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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The People’s Republic of China (PRC) reportedly issued a warning to Chinese citizens in Russia about a law compelling service in the Russian military. Hong Kong-based media outlet South China Morning Post reported on February 26 that the PRC Consulate in Russia called on Chinese citizens living in Russia to “take note of” a new Russian law requiring male permanent residents under the age of 65 to serve at least one year with the Russian military.[35] The South China Morning Post referenced a Russian November 2025 law that requires foreign citizens and stateless men aged 18 to 65 who are “legally capable” to serve in the Russian military for at least one year to apply for Russian citizenship or a residency permit.[36] The November 2025 Russian law grants exceptions to Belarusian citizens, men who provide proof that they have already fulfilled the service requirement in the Russian military, and men who provide documentation from Russian military enlistment and recruitment centers that they are unfit for military service. Russian state media notably did not publicize these aspects of the decree at the time.[37] The PRC consulate reportedly did not directly warn PRC citizens against serving in the Russian military but called on PRC citizens in Russia to “make prudent decisions” to “ensure lawful residency status in Russia.”[38]
The PRC consulate’s warning is an indicator that the PRC may be concerned that Russia will coerce its citizens living in Russia into military service through this law. Russia has conducted raids against migrants with expired permits or who are undocumented and coerced them into military service under threat of criminal charges or deportation.[39] Forcing foreigners to serve in the Russian military as a condition for a residency permit or citizenship is a significant escalation in its recruitment mechanisms. ISW has recently observed indicators that the Kremlin is preparing for rolling call-ups of its involuntary reserve to mitigate manpower shortages from Russia’s slowing recruitment rates.[40] The PRC consulate’s statement may be a supporting indicator that Russia is ready to conduct involuntary reserve call-ups and other coercive force generation mechanisms that could affect its citizens living in Russia.
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-february-26-2026/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine running low on anti-ballistic missiles, Defense Minister unveils air defense boost plan
Ukraine, Fri, February 27, 2026 - 11:44
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-running-low-on-anti-ballistic-
missiles-1772185446.html
Only 12 years, not 4 years, late to start thinking about this.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine is losing, and Britain and France are acting like it's an existential matter for them.
A lot was invested, and many loans were made, on the promise of substantial Russian resources coming under western control. Failing that, Ukrainian resources. Failing that, Russian frozen assets.
Failing that ....?
Look to banks and investment houses for the reason for butt-puckering.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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February 27, 2026
Former Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte pointed to the Russian public’s endurance of poor living conditions as a key pillar of Putin’s resilience. She cited the popular Russian sentiment, "We never lived well, so why start now?" as a primary reason why worsening economic conditions fail to spark provincial unrest.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/why-russia-s-weak-economy-doesn-t-bother-
putin-50587581.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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February 24, 2026
Recruiters have flooded Russian job boards with vacancies for work "in the rear" or on so-called "SVO" (Special Military Operation) duties in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson. These ads promise "humanitarian aid" and "patrolling safe zones" without any involvement in active combat.
However, when confronted by an undercover reporter, one recruiter admitted that the official position of "peacekeeper" does not even exist within the Russian Armed Forces. Similar ads have appeared for "Crimean Bridge guards," "staff clerks," and "repair welders."
The true objective is simple: to lure citizens to the military recruitment office. Once a contract with the Defense Ministry is signed, there are zero guarantees that the recruit will be assigned to a non-combat role.
https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/peacekeeper-scam-used-to-recruit-ru-
citizens-to-army-50586581.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Ukraine is losing, and Britain and France are acting like it's an existential matter for them.
A lot was invested, and many loans were made, on the promise of substantial Russian resources coming under western control. Falining that, Ukrainian resources. Failing that, Russian frozen assets.
Failing that ....?
Look to banks and investment houses for the reason for butt-puckering.
You post as though you live in a bubble. We both know you don't comrade.
T
‘People aren’t coming home’ | Mark Galeotti on the reality of Putin’s meat grinder campaign
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Russia shed its skin three times — tsarist, soviet, oligarch — but the imperial beast inside never died, Budanov says
Russia’s imperial core must be ripped out and carved it into nations, or the world never sleeps safe, he stresses.
By Olena Mukhina
27/02/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/27/russia-shed-its-skin-three-time
s-tsarist-soviet-oligarch-but-imperial-beast-inside-never-died-budanov-says/
World security is only possible after the collapse of Russia as an empire, says Head of Ukraine's President's Office Kyrylo Budanov. The strategic goal should be to divide the aggressor country into several states, with each being focused on the welfare of its own people, reports Al-Mudun.
A change of regime in the Kremlin does not alter the Russian Federation's aggressive nature.
Regardless of its current name, its core ideology remains unchanged, Budanov states. Only the eradication of Moscow’s imperial ambitions will guarantee world security.
Overall, the policies of the current Russian president are not significantly different from those of the tsarist or Soviet eras, he adds.
Imperial ambitions remain — they must be eradicated
“Russian authorities have never prioritized improving the living conditions of their citizens, whether under the tsarist regime, the Soviet Union, or the modern oligarchic capitalist system,” he says.
According to him, Russia has changed over the past 12 years — it has become poorer across all areas: economic, political, and demographic. However, Budanov notes, one thing remains unchanged: Russia’s imperial ambitions.
“This is precisely what must be completely eradicated to make Russia a civilized country. Can we achieve this? Undoubtedly, it is our goal,” he says.
Division into national states — the key to world security
“Unfortunately, this will not happen in the near future. But I am confident that we will achieve our goals, if not now, then soon,” he states.
In his view, it is futile to expect Russia to change again due to internal factors. Instead, conditions must be created that will cause Russia to collapse as an empire. Only then will Ukraine, Europe, and the entire world feel safer.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Elon Musk Moves Against the Russians in Ukraine
Russian forces falter as the world’s richest man intervenes in the war once again.
By Simon Shuster | February 27, 2026, 7 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/02/elon-musk-ukrain
e-russia-starlink/686155/
On a frigid day late last month, a Russian attack drone slipped through Ukraine’s air-defense systems and glided into Kyiv’s government district, heading in the direction of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office. The drone flew so low that officials inside the Cabinet of Ministers building could see it passing beneath them from their windows on the seventh floor. “A bunch of people saw it and were running around, like, ‘What the fuck was that?’” one government official recalled.
The drone, later identified as a Russian BM-35, caused minor damage when it crashed into a nearby building, injuring no one, the official said on the condition of anonymity. But the incident, which has not been previously reported, set in motion a chain of events that would allow Ukraine to seize the momentum at the front with the help of an unlikely ally: Elon Musk.
Since the start of the Russian invasion four years ago, Musk has played an outsize role in determining the course of the war. His high-speed internet service, Starlink, uses portable satellite dishes to create a Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world, and it has allowed both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries to stay online in the war zone, coordinate troop movements, and navigate drones. No other system can match the reach and reliability of Starlink, which runs on the world’s largest constellation of satellites. Musk has occasionally used that system in ways that have helped one side of the war or the other.
In the fall of 2022, Musk intervened to limit the use of Starlink in Ukraine in a way that senior officers in Kyiv perceived as a service to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He argued that he wanted only to avoid an escalation that would provoke the Kremlin to use nuclear weapons. This time, his actions have worked in Ukraine’s favor, helping its troops break through Russia’s defensive lines in one small but significant section of the front. The reasoning behind Musk’s recent decision to limit Russian access to his technology remains unclear, and he did not respond to numerous requests for comment. The move to back Ukraine seems out of character for Musk, who has tended to follow his ally Donald Trump in advocating for a swift end to the war even if it forces Ukraine to grant painful concessions to the Russians. Whatever caused Musk’s apparent change of heart, the authorities in Kyiv are grateful for it.
Soon after the drone incursion in central Kyiv last month, Ukrainian officials appealed directly to Musk for help. The newly appointed minister of defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, presented Musk with evidence of Russian forces using Starlink to operate their long-range drones, including the one that breached Ukraine’s most sensitive airspace. Fedorov wrote on X (which Musk also owns) on January 29: “Western technologies must continue to support the democratic world and protect civilians—not be used for terror and the destruction of peaceful cities.”
In a series of talks with Musk and his team, the Ukrainians offered a plan to block the Russians from using Starlink. According to several government and military sources familiar with the plan’s implementation, its first phase took effect in the last days of January, severely curtailing the ability of both warring sides to use Starlink for their attack drones. SpaceX, the company that operates the Starlink network, then developed a whitelist of Ukrainian users—and shut off access for the Russians. (The company did not respond to requests for comment.)
“The whitelist was created, software-wise, in, like, one day,” a person familiar with the implementation of the plan told me. The SpaceX team behind it received clear instructions from its bosses: “‘No limits. Take off the gloves; use Starlink for anything to help Ukraine.’” Even inside the
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_______ Enter who gives a fuck emoji here.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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THGR, SECOND... I'm not arguing with hopium and bullshit bc it's impossible to argue with stupid. Either Russia will win, or it won't. I don't expect it to be soon, but I'm certain it will happen, and if it does all your outbursts and psyops will have been for nothing.
And to reiterate what I posted a long time ago: If anyone reaches for nukes first, it'll be the west.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Russia declares large-scale alert for first time during war: What is known
Fri, February 27, 2026 - 21:30
Author: Kateryna Shkarlat
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-declares-large-scale-alert-for-
first-1772220647.html
For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has announced a large-scale missile threat affecting at least 13 regions of the country simultaneously, according to a statement from Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO). https://t.me/akovalenko1989/10458
According to Kovalenko, authorities in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Udmurtia, as well as several regions — Samara, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Saratov, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Rostov, and Kursk — were warned about a possible missile attack. In addition, the alert was issued in Perm Krai.
He emphasized the unprecedented nature of this event for the aggressor country.
"In 13 regions of the Russian Federation, a missile threat was announced simultaneously. In eight of them, this happened for the first time since the beginning of the war," said the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Details of the incident
Kovalenko noted that most of the mentioned regions do not border Ukraine and are located deep within Russian territory.
The situation caused significant attention because it covered a vast area at once, forcing local authorities to respond to a potential threat from the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
Attacks deep inside Russia
Recently, Russian territory has increasingly become the target of drone attacks, striking sites far from the front line. In particular, SBU drones attacked facilities in Tatarstan located more than 1,200 km from the border.
Moreover, following a successful operation by Ukrainian special services in the same region, a key oil refining unit caught fire in Tatarstan, causing significant damage to the aggressor country’s energy sector.
Earlier, "unknown Shaheds" in Tatarstan also disrupted Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) celebrations, forcing local authorities to introduce emergency security measures.
In addition to remote regions, enterprises in central Russia have also come under attack.
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/drones-attack-chemical-plant-in-russia
-s-1772011862.html
Recently, drones targeted a chemical plant in the Smolensk region that is involved in Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Despite a systematic Ukrainian drone strike campaign leaving hundreds of thousands of unlucky Russian citizens living in the city of Belgorod in cold and dark apartments for weeks, Kremlin-controlled media have barely noticed, mostly reporting that the robot aircraft swarms were all shot down.
Russian mainstream information platforms like TASS, RIA Novosti, and RT have not just downplayed blackouts and heating plant damage and mass evacuations from thousands of homes following repeated Ukrainian attacks on the city of 300,000 some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ukraine’s northeastern border, but effectively ignored them.
The most recent major Ukrainian attack on Belgorod’s power grid and public heating infrastructure hit overnight on Feb. 22-23.
Breaking through air defenses, a mixed strike package of drones and missiles scored hits on the city’s Frunzenskaya power substation near Dragunskoye village, and the Belgorod Combined Heat and Power Plant, based on eyewitness videos and independent local channels showing explosions and fires at those locations.
The independent Belgorod news platform Pepel_Belgorod reported on the Ukrainian robot aircraft squadrons’ progress in near real-time. Air raid warnings went into effect at 9 p.m., and air defenses opened fire about 11 p.m. Shortly before midnight, at least one missile – most reports said two or more – hit the Belgorod power substation, instantaneously blacking out about half of the city.
By the time the all-clear was called, at about 2 a.m., fires were burning at both the city heating plant and at locations where shot-down drones had struck homes or businesses, and the blackout had spread to encompass almost all of Belgorod, save a few government buildings with generators. Six people were reported injured.
By mid-morning, geolocated images emerged of smaller substations across the city still burning from the overnight strikes. Social media users – in violation of Russian law banning posting of such things on the internet – uploaded images of the entire front facade of the six-story Ministry of Agriculture local branch office, unfortunately located adjacent to one of the city’s sub-stations, blackened by explosions and with all its windows blown out. Chunks of drones or pieces of falling missiles – whether Ukrainian or Russian wasn’t clear – struck and damaged the main cupola of Belgorod’s Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov, and Their Mother Sophia, an official statement said.
Other independent news and social media reports chronicled falling Ukrainian weapons or Russian anti-aircraft missiles, or their debris, hitting apartment high-rises, automobiles, and office buildings. Some debris scattered 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) or more, official reports said, to break windows and even automobile windshields in the villages Dubovoe, Nikolskoe and Tavrovo.
A Monday statement from Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) took credit for the attacks and damage caused and declared the strikes “effective.” A Russian Defense Ministry statement, without admitting any Ukrainian hits on anything, announced air defense forces had shot down 65 violators of the Russian Federation’s airspace above Belgorod, which were close to half of the 152 Ukrainian incoming drones or missiles claimed destroyed that day by Russian armed forces.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, in an official statement, described the night’s battles as a “massive” attack causing “serious damage to energy infrastructure,” and said blackouts and heating outages would affect homes of “some residents” in the city and district.
The wooden Church of the Holy Martyrs thankfully was not set on fire, but within Belgorod city, 8 multi-story buildings, 2 private homes, 38 cars, a social facility, and 3 commercial properties were damaged, Gladkov said in a midday update to Belgorod citizens that did not, however, mention the blasts and their effect on the Ministry of Agriculture building. Gladkov and other officials did not state publicly what percentage of Belgorod city was blacked out,
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
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America is bombing the shit out of Iran and Russia is helpless to intervein.
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be Russia's friend is fatal."
THG
T
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Quote:We've overestimated Russia for too long
Originally posted by THG:
America is bombing the shit out of Iran and Russia is helpless to intervein.
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be Russia's friend is fatal."
THG
T
By Casey Michel | February 27, 2026 10:10 PM
https://kyivindependent.com/weve-overestimated-russia-for-too-long/
The recent anniversary of Russia's expanded invasion, which is now stretching into its fifth year, is as good a time as any to take stock of the state of the war itself.
For Ukraine, the fighting remains existential, and it is Ukrainians themselves who continue to suffer and to sacrifice not just on behalf of their own defense, but on behalf of broader stability in Europe. Somehow, though, many Western partners still fail to see one clear fact: that it is Russia, and not Ukraine, who has suffered a staggering strategic failure because of this war.
This perception is perhaps understandable. The steady, day-to-day drip of news from the front line paints a picture of a war of attrition, with a larger Russia and its supposed manpower reserves at a natural advantage.
But this daily snapshot masks a far broader, far more striking reality, which observers in Washington (and elsewhere) would do well to recognize.
Not only has Ukraine seen a remarkable string of strategic successes — whether in assuring Ukrainian sovereignty and nationhood, or in creating the most innovative and most lethal military force in Europe — but it is instead Russia that has seen a breathtaking, even historic string of strategic defeats.
Indeed, it's not too much to argue that Russia's invasion, and especially its most recent offensive campaign beginning in 2024, deserves a place among the most blinkered, most disastrous military efforts not just of the past decade, but even of the past century.
Start at the top-level. At the outset of the war, Putin laid out a series of strategic goals, ranging from "denazifying Ukraine" to returning Ukraine to its place as a subaltern for Russia. As a now-infamous article in the state outlet RIA Novosti wrote, Ukraine "will be reorganized, re-established and returned to its natural state as part of the Russian world."
These goals are no closer to fruition now than they were four years ago. If anything, they are far further than they've perhaps ever been.
Not only has Russia's invasion consolidated Ukrainian nationhood, but it has revealed to outside observers that the claims of some kind of inseparable "brotherhood" between Ukraine and Russia were always a falsity, a fiction of Russian propaganda excusing Russian brutality, Russian revanchism, and Russian colonialism.
After it became clear that Russia's initial goals would fail, Putin pivoted.
Following its initial failure, Moscow restructured its aims to focus on conquering the Donbas and all of the four Ukrainian oblasts that Putin claimed to annex in 2022. Leaning further into claims of Russia's "historic right" to control the region — and that the war was, in reality, simply about protecting the ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in the region — Moscow launched an ongoing offensive dedicated to snatching Ukraine's easternmost provinces, regardless of the cost.
Yet even then, such an offensive has been nothing short of a strategic calamity, on par not only with the failures of Russia's initial campaign in 2022, but even on par with things like Saddam Hussein's bungled 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the disastrous French attempts to retain sovereignty over Algeria in 1950s, or even Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
It has been, as analyst Lawrence Freedman recently said, a "massive failure," a rolling catastrophe whose contours still aren't fully appreciated.
Pick a
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The Economist highlighted the battlefield as Putin's primary problem. During World War II, the Red Army advanced 1,600 kilometers from Moscow to Berlin. In contrast, since 2022, enemy forces in Donetsk Oblast have advanced only 60 kilometers.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/putin-fears-peace-will-collapse-the-russi
an-regime-50585593.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Western analysts say Russia is on track to losing 50,000 soldiers a month. A Meduza investigation suggests those estimates are based on manipulated data.
6:06 pm, February 24, 2026
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/02/25/western-analysts-say-russia-is
-losing-50-000-soldiers-a-month-a-meduza-investigation-suggests-those-estimates-are-based-on-manipulated-data
Strip out the retroactive missing-persons reclassifications and correct for the improved database coverage, and current Russian battlefield deaths likely do not exceed 600 per day. Adding the severely wounded who cannot return to service brings total irreversible losses to roughly 900 per day — about 27,000 per month. That is barely half of Zelensky’s target, and it is probably not rising fast enough to force a strategic crisis on the Russian side in the near term.
The broader lesson of this analysis is not simply that one set of numbers is wrong. Rather, the methodology underlying many published Western estimates has a structural flaw: it applies a multiplier derived from historical data to a database that the Russian state is now actively manipulating. As Moscow has grown more systematic about processing its missing soldiers, the raw inputs feeding Western casualty models have become less reliable, not more. The apparent spike in Russian deaths through 2025 is, in large part, a data artifact, and the strategic conclusions analysts are drawing from it deserve serious scrutiny.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
America is bombing the shit out of Iran and Russia is helpless to intervein.
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be Russia's friend is fatal."
THG
T
Intervene.
Loser.
--------------------------------------------------
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March 1, 2026
Russia launched more than 14,670 guided aerial bombs, 738 missiles, and nearly 19,000 attack drones over the three winter months. https://t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official/18142#
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/01/the-numbers-behind-ukraines-wor
st-winter-since-the-full-scale-invasion/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Although Russia and Iran are allies and partners, Moscow is not helping the Iranian regime defend itself from US and Israeli attacks.
"Now that Iran's regime is in trouble, the lack of support from its allies is especially noticeable, with Russia particularly absent. Right now, Moscow is not rushing to rescue its 'ally'."
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/03/02/8023468/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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“We shouldn’t have started with Ukraine”: Russia’s elite openly regret Ukraine war
By Kathrine Frich • March 2, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/war/we-shouldnt-have-started-with-ukraine-russi
as-elite-openly-regret-ukraine-war
Russia’s upper ranks now acknowledge that launching the invasion was a major strategic error.
“The Kremlin made a grave mistake in choosing Ukraine as the target of the attack. If the target had been different, Putin could have achieved much greater results.”
There is recognition that the war has brought heavy political and economic costs without delivering the expected strategic gains.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Putin’s $2.5 trillion gambit
By David R. Henderson and Ryan Sullivan | Mar 2, 2026, 06:00 PM
https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2026/03/03/putins-25-trillion-gamb
it/
As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, debates over sanctions, negotiations and military aid increasingly hinge on a central question: How costly has the war been for Russia itself? Our analysis, using standard economic tools, finds the cost so far to be about $2.5 trillion.
Combining casualty figures, equipment and operational costs, and GDP losses indicates a total cost of approximately $2.5 trillion for the Russian Federation. To put that number in perspective, we note that it exceeds Russia’s $2.2 trillion GDP.
How do these costs compare to the benefits? Russia has gained approximately 28,000 square miles since the start of the war. Conquering a territory of this size has come at a cost of approximately $90 million per square mile in blood and treasure.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine's electricity deficit has fallen to 1 GW, energy minister says
By Alyona Kyrychenko — 3 March, 17:12
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/03/03/8023699/
Ukraine's power system recorded a 5 – 6 GW electricity deficit in winter, but it has now fallen to 1 GW.
Source: Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, as reported by Liga.net, an independent Ukrainian online news outlet
Quote: "As of today, the deficit is 1 GW, which is five to six times less than it was in winter. This naturally means a reduction in the number of queues for domestic consumers and slightly less burdensome [power outage] schedules for businesses."
For reference: Ukraine's state-owned electricity transmission operator Ukrenergo defines a "queue" as a group of consumers and businesses using a specific amount of megawatts. The Dispatch Centre sets the number of queues needed across oblasts to address energy deficits. Critical infrastructure and eligible industrial companies that import at least 60% of their energy cannot be disconnected, according to a Ukrainian Cabinet resolution.
Details: Shmyhal also noted that businesses are adapting by developing their own distributed generation. He added that solar power plants are the fastest and most cost-effective way to produce electricity in Ukraine.
Quote: "Ukraine gets plenty of sunlight, and with the arrival of sunnier days and the summer, there will be a surplus of solar energy. This will need to be balanced through the installation of suitable batteries."
Background: In February 2026, Ukraine again imported a record amount of electricity – 1.26 million MWh, a 41% increase compared with January 2026.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Not enough Patriot missiles to stop 60 Russian Iskanders a month. The Iran war is draining what’s left.
Ukraine’s only defense against ballistic attacks became a whole lot harder to obtain
By Igor Kossov | 03/03/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/03/not-enough-patriot-missiles-to-
stop-60-russian-iskanders-a-month-the-iran-war-is-draining-whats-left/
Patriot missile systems are Ukraine's only defense against ballistic missiles, of which Russia makes 70 to 85 per month.
But Patriot ammo, already in global short supply, is quickly draining as the US and Gulf states fend off Iranian missiles.
Ukraine has survived the winter but Russia’s airstrike campaign is not slowing down. Every month, hundreds of drones and missiles attack cities, killing people and damaging vital infrastructure.
While Ukraine has multiple options to deal with drones and cruise missiles, the country has just one answer to ballistic missiles, which plummet from the sky at steep angles.
With Iran firing hundreds of missiles at multiple targets in the opening days of the latest war, Taiwan preparing for an invasion from China, Europe trying to build up its capabilities, and Ukraine dealing with Russia’s terror strikes, everyone wants to get their hands on as many Patriot munitions as possible. But the US only produces limited amounts each year.
“Patriot missile production has been a bottleneck in US capabilities,” DeVore told Euromaidan Press. “The disconnect between supply and demand does mean that the US government has quite a bit of power in deciding whom to prioritize.”
High demand, limited supply
The Patriot system has gone through several generations of missile interceptors. The ones in use today include the older PAC-2 and the more widely-fielded PAC-3 MSE.
US defense contractors can produce 550 PAC-3 MSE interceptors per year, according to the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Estimates. The US Army is buying 224 of them, while the remaining amount is slated for foreign sales. Each missile costs about $3.8 million.
The US also produces the cheaper PAC-2 interceptors for foreign buyers, but in much smaller quantities, according to US open source analyst John Ridge.
The DoD recently signed a framework with defense giant Lockheed Martin to raise PAC-3 MSE production to 2,000 units per year over the next 6-7 years. The agreement has yet to be funded, but should slowly alleviate these issues over the next half-decade.
That does nothing for the short-term bottleneck. Current rates of production are not enough to feed both US and global demand, stoked by active wars and simmering tensions around the world, from Ukraine to Taiwan.
More about alternatives to the Patriot at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/03/not-enough-patriot-missiles-to-
stop-60-russian-iskanders-a-month-the-iran-war-is-draining-whats-left/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russian forces “deliberately and brutally” executed 337 Ukrainian prisoners of war as of the end of 2025, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said on March 3.
Lubinets made the statement during a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-executed-at-least-337-ukrainian-po
ws-50588722.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia–Ukraine War: escalation, not stalemate
The apparent stasis of Russia’s war in Ukraine rests on an unstable equilibrium that is driving escalation, not compromise. Russia’s recruitment dilemmas, Europe’s finances and China’s choices will shape its future.
Nigel Gould-Davies
Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia
25th February 2026
https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2026/02/russiaukr
aine-war-escalation-not-stalemate/
The fifth year of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has begun. It is Russia’s longest continuous major war since the 18th century (the 1979–89 Soviet war in Afghanistan was a sideshow in tempo and casualties by comparison). It is also one of the longest wars between neighbours globally since 1945. In 2025, Russia gained less than 1% of Ukrainian territory and lost over 416,000 troops. Given the length, cost and stasis of the war, how likely is it to end soon?
The driver of the war has not changed over the past four years. Russia seeks to subordinate Ukraine, and Ukraine is determined to resist this. These positions remain incompatible. Both states are materially capable of continuing to fight and judge the costs politically tolerable. The war will end only if Russia wins it or accepts that it cannot win. It cannot currently do the first and refuses to do the second. Since it will not scale back its goals, it must scale up the resources it commits to them. This is a strategy of attrition: generating sustained, superior mass and firepower to grind down an enemy. It is the opposite strategy to the initial invasion plan to seize Kyiv in days. Mass has replaced speed.
Russia’s recruitment strains
In an attritional war, the side with more blood and treasure usually wins, where commitment remains equal. But though Russia’s population is over three times larger than Ukraine’s, and its economy over ten times larger, its attrition has so far failed. Ukraine’s remarkable ingenuity and resilience cannot alone explain this, for Russia has the resources to convert into superior mass. Yet so far Moscow has mobilised only a small, though growing, proportion of its total potential strength. This reflects an under-appreciated tension in its strategy. While the Kremlin sees the war as a core interest, it implicitly understands that most of Russian society does not. Few Russians are genuine enthusiasts of the war, though more are willing to profit from it. This has forced the Kremlin to carefully calibrate the pace and means of converting resources into useable force.
This is true above all of manpower. Rather than compel its citizens to fight, Russia pays them lavishly to do so. For the first time in modern history, it is waging a major war with a contract, not a mass conscript army – topped up with criminals, foreign recruits and up to 15,000 North Korean troops. By trading the rate of battlefield progress for stability at home, it has tried to flatten the curve of social strain. The result is not merely attrition but prolonged, constrained attrition.
Russia is approaching an inflection point in recruitment. Battlefield losses have begun to exceed the number of recruits. Quality is also falling: recruiting officers now complain of alcoholics, drug addicts and the destitute. Moscow may sooner or later face the choice of ordering a compulsory mobilisation or accepting decisive failure. In anticipation, it is building a system for issuing mass call-ups. Activating this would be a moment of truth for the regime. The brief ‘partial mobilisation’ it reluctantly imposed in September 2022 provoked widespread anxiety and a large outflow of draft avoiders. The Kremlin wants to avoid repeating, let alone expanding, this precedent.
A second reason for Russia’s failure is Western financial and material support for Ukraine. This now comes overwhelmingly from Europe. By a curious symmetry, Europe’s margin of superiority over Russia – over ten times economically and over three times by population – is almost identical to Russia’s over Ukraine. It provides a much smaller proportion of
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THE PURGE: Shoigu’s "Gray Cardinal" Arrested! Ex-First Deputy Defense Minister Tsalikov in Custody
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
THGR, SECOND... I'm not arguing with hopium and bullshit bc it's impossible to argue with stupid. Either Russia will win, or it won't. I don't expect it to be soon, but I'm certain it will happen, and if it does all your outbursts and psyops will have been for nothing.
And to reiterate what I posted a long time ago: If anyone reaches for nukes first, it'll be the west.
erous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
You're beginning to change your tone a bit comrade. At one time you were all in that Russia was winning and going to win it all. You were all in that Russia controlled the Black Sea and always would. Now they don't dare go there.
This whole thread and several others were/are, about explaining to you how you were/are, wrong. Shit, I think you still post that Ukraine started the war. Some bullshit about Ukraine wanting to join NATO. The thing is, is that before Russia invaded Ukraine the first time 70% of Ukrainians didn't want to join NATO. Would you care to correct why Russia invaded?
Without you posting propaganda religiously about how Russia was/is winning, these threads wouldn't exist. SECOND and I respond to your posts by posting facts showing we are right and you were/are, always wrong.
tick tock and don't forget to hit subscribe.
T
HUGE BLACK SEA KA-27 STRIKE: RUSSIA LOST CONTROL Vlog 1339: War in Ukraine
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Why was Ukraine defending Ukraine so cheap? And why is attacking Iran so expensive?
More kaboom per buck in Ukraine. ONE BILLION DOLLARS goes seven times farther in Ukraine than in Iran
Attacking Iran versus defending Ukraine
Paul Krugman | Mar 5, 2026
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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(News reporting concentrates on soldiers, but maintenance and factory workers are MORE important to winning a war. Millions and millions of Ukrainians showing up at work 5 days per week and being competent at their job is even more vital than 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers maiming/killing a few hundred Russians per day.)
How Ukraine is trying to fix a critical shortage
By Luca Léry Moffat, Dominic Culverwell
March 6, 2026 1:00 PM (Updated: March 6, 2026 3:56 pm)
https://kyivindependent.com/tinder-for-the-labor-market-ukraine-eyes-i
ts-next-generation-of-blue-collar-workers/
Since Dmytro Volynets studied mechanical engineering at university over a decade ago, he's worked in retail, call centers, and on a warehouse floor.
Unable to join the army due to a spine injury, the 35-year-old has struggled to find a coherent career path related to his studies — even as several industries offering high paying jobs face labour shortages.
In large part because of Russia's full-scale invasion, Volynets' story is typical right now in Ukraine — despite possessing some of the highest rates of tertiary education in Europe, the country faces low productivity and a persistent shortage of skilled workers.
Construction, transport, energy, and industry reported critical labor shortages in 2024 and 2025, according to Swiss development organization Helvetas — driven in part by a war now in its fifth year that has disproportionately absorbed the blue-collar workers that Ukraine needs.
Hoping to play a small role in plugging that gap, Volynets is now back in school, taking a six-week vocational training course in which he's learning to operate CNC machines — high-precision metal cutting equipment, used across industries including in Ukraine's burgeoning military sector.
"I can't protect my country as a soldier, but I can make rockets," he says.
Ukraine's skill gap
Labour shortages are not new in Ukraine, the population of which shrank year-on-year since the mid-1990s, according to the World Bank. But Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 caused a precipitous acceleration of this trend — with mobilization and emigration reducing the country's workforce by a whopping quarter, according to one recent study.
Yet paradoxically, the issue faced by businesses today is not always the lack of workers available — but a lack of relevant skills.
"The biggest gap is in blue-collar professions, like plumbers, welders, machine operators, drivers," Michael Shneider, CEO at Kyiv School of Economics, says.
According to the country's economy ministry, over 12 million Ukrainians are economically inactive, and another 1.5 million are stuck in low-productivity jobs. Simultaneously, they estimate that Ukraine will face a shortage of over half a million blue-collar workers in 2027.
That skill shortage could deteriorate further as Kyiv lifts travel restrictions for men. Already, companies like steel plant ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih have reported an exodus of young factory workers after the government revised travel rules for 18-22-year-old men last August.
The talent pool is also drained by military recruiters targeting male-dominated workplaces, like factories, making it harder for companies to find and train new employees. Now, those jobs are in high demand — with repair work necessitated by Russian air strikes and a burgeoning military industry compounding the need for that skillset.
With the country facing a $586 billion reconstruction bill, according to the World Bank, and with the military sector set to play a central role in Ukraine's future economic competitiveness, a lack of builders, laborers, tradesmen, and factory workers could be a fatal bottleneck.
What's being done?
While mobilization and emigration are hard to fix while Russia continues its full-scale invasion, the skills gap still can be.
To get a more granular picture of that gap,
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Why was Ukraine defending Ukraine so cheap? And why is attacking Iran so expensive?
More kaboom per buck in Ukraine. ONE BILLION DOLLARS goes seven times farther in Ukraine than in Iran
Attacking Iran versus defending Ukraine
Paul Krugman | Mar 5, 2026
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Oh yeah? How long has Ukraine been "fighting" now?
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
THGR, SECOND... I'm not arguing with hopium and bullshit bc it's impossible to argue with stupid. Either Russia will win, or it won't. I don't expect it to be soon, but I'm certain it will happen, and if it does all your outbursts and psyops will have been for nothing.
And to reiterate what I posted a long time ago: If anyone reaches for nukes first, it'll be the west.
THGR:
You're beginning to change your tone a bit comrade. At one time you were all in that Russia was winning and going to win it all. You were all in that Russia controlled the Black Sea and always would. Now they don't dare go there.
You make shit up to "prove" me wrong? Quotes and links, please. You'll be looking a long time bc I never said that.
Quote:Like I said, it's hard to argue with stupid. Since when did "the people" count in Ukraine? "The people" voted for Yanukovich. He was ousted in a CIA/ State Dept coup. "The people" voted for Zelensky, they voted for his peace platform. "The people" might not want to join NATO, but the west was angling to make Ukraine part if NATO, Zelensky was hinting about getting nukes at the Munich Security Conference literally 5 days before the SMO.
This whole thread and several others were/are, about explaining to you how you were/are, wrong. Shit, I think you still post that Ukraine started the war. Some bullshit about Ukraine wanting to join NATO. The thing is, is that before Russia invaded Ukraine the first time 70% of Ukrainians didn't want to join NATO. Would you care to correct why Russia invaded?
https://x.com/DietHeartNews/status/2028837897374253108
Quote:Liar. You and SECOND post religiously whether I post or not.
Without you posting propaganda religiously about how Russia was/is winning, these threads wouldn't exist. SECOND and I respond to your posts by posting facts showing we are right and you were/are, always wrong.
Russia is winning.
Stupid.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Ukraine unveils new interceptor drone capable of speeds over 320 km/h
By Andrii Konyk — 6 March, 18:37
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/03/06/8024259/
Ukrainian defence company The Fourth Law (TFL) has unveiled the Zerov-8, an autonomous interceptor drone equipped with an AI-powered automatic target detection system.
Source: press service for The Fourth Law https://thefourthlaw.ai/blog/the-fourth-law-launches-zerov
Details: The new interceptor was developed using a tailsitter design which allows the UAV to take off and land vertically. The company says the Zerov-8 has a maximum speed of 326 km/h and an interception speed of up to 270 km/h. The drone can operate within a radius of up to 20 km. The interceptor carries a warhead weighing up to half a kilogram and is equipped with either a daytime or thermal camera.
A key feature of the new interceptor, the company says, is TFL's Anti-Shahed detection module, based on artificial intelligence.
Quote: "The system autonomously detects a drone by analysing the object's movement, its thermal signature and other parameters using AI. After detection, the system 'highlights' the target and continues stable tracking while operating in parallel without interfering with the flight. The operator chooses the direction of interception independently. The module is installed on board together with a thermal camera (typically a Kurbas-640 Beta), a flight controller or a video transmitter."
Details: The detection system on the Zerov-8 can detect targets up to 1 km away in ideal contrast conditions, while in difficult weather conditions it can identify an enemy drone at distances of up to 300 metres. The development is currently undergoing the final tests in a full cycle of autonomous interception, the company said.
There are plans for the drone to be integrated with external radars to automatically guide the Zerov-8 onto an interception trajectory and minimise the human factor. In particular, the UAV will receive coordinates from Skyguard systems or ground control stations. The developers also plan to add safeguards against loss of communication and a function ensuring guaranteed target capture within a 500-metre radius.
The Fourth Law explained that the interceptor was named after Mykola Zerov, a Ukrainian poet and translator who belonged to the generation known as the Executed Renaissance. Zerov was arrested by the Soviet authorities and shot in the Sandarmokh Forest on 3 November 1937. In doing so, the company is continuing its line of products named after Ukrainian cultural figures who were persecuted in the USSR.
Background: Earlier, the Ukrainian company Odd Systems presented an updated line of the Kurbas cameras that will be used on Zerov-8 interceptors. In addition, Yaroslav Azhniuk, founder of The Fourth Law, has announced that several of the manufacturer's products were codified in September last year.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Money Matters
By Peeter Helme | March 06, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/06/ukraine-energy-economy-march-20
26/
According to the OECD, Ukrainian defense spending consumes 25% of GDP, with the budget deficit running near 20% of GDP — putting public debt on a trajectory toward 120% of GDP during 2026, up from 50% in 2021. All civilian expenditures remain entirely dependent on Western aid. The current account deficit ballooned from 8.4% of GDP in 2024 to 16.2% in 2025, as imports grew 21% while exports fell 4%.
The Kyiv School of Economics Institute assessed in February that Ukraine’s total war losses reached $1.7 trillion — three times its prewar GDP.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia’s failure to secure quick victory in Ukraine seen as major setback for Kremlin, analyst says
Experts say the extended fighting has damaged the image Russia once projected as a dominant military power.
March 5, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/news/russias-failure-to-secure-quick-victory-in
-ukraine-seen-as-major-setback-for-kremlin-analyst-says
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia is reportedly sharing intelligence with Iran to support Iranian attacks against US forces in the Middle East in contrast to the Kremlin’s recent attempts to frame Russia as a potential US ally and US-Russia relations as increasingly friendly. Three officials told the Washington Post on March 6 that Russia has given Iran the locations of US military assets, including warships and aircraft, since the US-Israeli February 28 strikes against Iran.[1] One of the officials characterized Russia’s provision of targeting information to strike US forces in the Middle East as a “pretty comprehensive effort.” The Washington Post noted that analysts indicated that Russia’s reported intelligence sharing fits the pattern of Iran’s strikes against US command and control infrastructure, radars, and temporary structures. The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Principal Research Scientist Mike Peterson stated that Russia could be giving Iran high-quality satellite imagery with which Iran could identify what bases the United States and its allies are currently using and other information, such as the location of aircraft, intelligence stations, and logistics flows.[2] Iran may not have regular access to high-quality satellite imagery, even from commercially available sources, and may be relying on Russia to get such imagery. Prominent commercial publisher of satellite imagery Planet Labs enacted a policy on March 6 subjecting all new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones, excluding Iran, to a mandatory 96-hour delay before making it publicly available, and other companies have held policies to never release images of US or allied bases.[3] Russian intelligence sharing, thus, may be supporting Iranian strikes on US military assets.
ISW has long assessed that the Kremlin has self-defined the United States as one of Russia’s primary geopolitical adversaries and has been conducting several strategic efforts to challenge US interests globally.[4] ISW has previously observed reports that Russia provided targeting data to the Iranian-backed Houthis in 2024, with which the Houthis used to strike western shipping vessels.[5] Russian intelligence sharing with a state against which the United States is conducting a military campaign belies recent official Russian statements that Russia is interested in warming its relations with the United States.[6] Russia is likely only maintaining a friendly facade toward the United States as a means of persuading the United States to abandon Ukraine in ongoing peace negotiations and secure an unwarranted reset of US-Russia relations, allowing Russia to more easily accomplish its longstanding goal of destroying the Ukrainian state.
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-march-6-2026/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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What a load of horseshit.
No more stories with nameless so-called people.
If you want to be taken seriously, have real people with real names that can be verified, and that can also be held accountable if they're lying.
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Kyiv reports zero deaths from cold during energy crisis — but there's a catch
By Polina Moroziuk
March 8, 2026 9:22 AM
https://kyivindependent.com/kyiv-reports-zero-deaths-from-winter-outag
es-but-doubts-remain/
During the winter, rumors circulated online suggesting that cold indoor conditions may have contributed to several deaths in the capital. Among the cases that drew attention were the deaths of an 82-year-old Pavlo Loiko and another 88-year-old woman in Kyiv's Podil district. In both instances, city and regional authorities said forensic examinations determined the cause of death to be chronic cardiovascular disease rather than hypothermia.
But an employee with a Kyiv-based volunteer organization, who chose to remain anonymous, said they were "skeptical" that official data captured the full impact of the winter outages.
The volunteer described regularly encountering elderly residents struggling to endure prolonged cold at home during blackout periods. "We often arrived at apartments that were simply freezing," the volunteer said. "Older people were wearing multiple layers indoors, wrapped in scarves and hats, trying to keep warm however they could."
"I think some people could have died from cold conditions," the volunteer said. "But hypothermia usually is not what gets written as the diagnosis. The cold triggers something else, a stroke, respiratory failure, another condition, and that becomes the official cause of death."
Asked whether cold exposure can still play a role in mortality even if it is not listed as the official cause of death, Heisler said it can.
"Oh, absolutely," she said. "Cold can increase cardiovascular mortality and respiratory mortality. It doesn't have to be recorded as hypothermia."
The health effects of cold exposure can also emerge days after the initial event.
"Mortality risk peaks about five to six days after severe cold exposure, and it can last for up to around twenty-three days," Heisler said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia spent three years trying to break Western support for Ukraine—then Iran did it in a week
The Iran war’s first casualty may be the world’s attention to Ukraine.
By Matthew Parish | March 07, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/07/iran-war-russia-ukraine-western
-support/
The windfall Moscow didn’t plan for
Financial markets reacted instantly. Within days of the first strikes on Iranian infrastructure, Brent crude rose above $93 per barrel for the first time since 2023. Maritime insurers increased risk premiums for vessels passing through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, while energy analysts warned that even limited disruption could remove several million barrels per day from global markets.
For Russia, whose war economy remains heavily dependent on hydrocarbon revenues, rising oil prices are not merely an economic development but a strategic windfall.
As several analysts have already noted, higher energy prices directly strengthen Moscow’s fiscal position. Russia’s federal budget still depends heavily on oil and gas receipts; every sustained increase in global prices expands the Kremlin’s capacity to finance its war effort. In that sense the Middle Eastern crisis arrives at a convenient moment for Moscow, offsetting some of the pressure imposed by Western sanctions.
But the implications run deeper than energy markets.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Weekend Update #175: The Week In Which Ukraine Stood Up To Help The USA And The USA Stood Up To Help Russia
Also, Ukrainian Territorial Gains And Russian Personnel Losses in February
Phillips P. OBrien | Mar 08, 2026
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-175-the-week-in-
which
We have two powers in action this week. One, Ukraine, has adjusted to the realities of modern war. It was not easy, but the Ukrainians have been flexible, determined and resourceful. The other, the USA, was smug, domineering and did not understand what it was doing. The result, not surprisingly, was that the USA was left unprepared for its war and has had to ask for Ukrainian help for itself and its allies.
This kind of miscalculation happens in war, btw. The thing that does not is that while the USA was begging for aid from Ukraine, it was providing protection and a windfall of support for the power trying to destroy Ukraine—Russia. So we have a situation that the Ukrainians are helping the USA and the USA is helping/protecting Russia. This must be the lead story for the week.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Russia’s allies keep dying. Russia keeps doing nothing. Defense analyst explains the Axis of Evil’s fatal flaw.
The whole system runs on one thing. Take it away, and there’s no axis at all.
By Alya Shandra | 09/03/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/09/russias-allies-keep-dying-russi
a-keeps-doing-nothing-defense-analyst-explains-the-axis-of-evils-fatal-flaw/
Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei is dead. He is the third Russian ally to fall in three months, following Assad and Maduro.
In a 2024 Euromaidan Press interview, defense analyst Mykhailo Samus mapped the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea alliance as an interconnected system and argued that Ukraine's war is the key to dismantling it.
We asked him whether that system is now falling apart—and what the Iran war actually changes for Ukraine's fight.
The "Axis of Evil" sounds formidable. But Samus argues it has always had one structural weakness: without China, it wouldn't exist at all.
"This system works because China provides all the resources, money, technology, and components," Samus says. "They created the flow of military-technical cooperation between all these countries. A bright example is the Shahed kamikaze drone—designed by Iran with components from China, the US, and other countries. These technologies were transferred to Russia, and the thousands of drones attacking Ukraine are the result."
The same pipeline feeds North Korea, which is getting technology for submarines and missiles—a problem the Pacific region will feel sooner or later, Samus warns.
But China uses proxies rather than acting directly. Russia destroys the European order. Iran destabilized the Middle East through Hezbollah, Hamas, and other proxies while keeping Syria in chaos. Venezuela worked in South America. North Korea handles the Pacific.
Step by step, though, Iran has been losing its zone of influence. And China isn't stepping up to defend it.
"China is not ready to say openly that they are prepared to compete directly with the United States," Samus says. "They prefer to sit by the river and watch the bodies of their enemies float past."
Even Iran's own leadership sees it. "They said, of course, China is supporting us," Samus notes. "But they supported with components and machinery—for money, not for free. And this is not how allies do serious business."
China still lacks the nuclear, economic, and military power for a direct confrontation with the US. "They are not even decisive regarding Taiwan," Samus says.
If the US-led coalition succeeds in stabilizing Iran, the implications for China go far beyond the Middle East. "China loses another very strong proxy," Samus says. "This could mean China loses the capability and even the intention to dominate the world."
If China is the silent backbone, Russia is the helpless bystander. Three allies gone in three months, and Moscow didn't lift a finger.
Why not? Because it can't.
"Russia doesn't have any resources," Samus says flatly. "What can they do now? They openly said they are nothing here. They cannot even say something against Trump or the military forces collected by the United States and Israel around Iran."
Russia just sits and keeps silent, he says—can't even tell Washington, "This is our friend, you shouldn't kill our friend." A lot of Putin's declared friends are already dead. Nothing from the Kremlin.
Samus reserves particular scorn for Moscow's offer to mediate.
"They said they could be a moderator. What the hell, a moderator? Your friends are killed by the United States, and you say you could be a moderator? You should just get out if you cannot propose something strong and effective."
Russia and Iran: intelligence sharing, friction, and a ballistic missile pause
The partnership wasn't just drones. Russia and Iran were exchanging intelligence and military technologies righ
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The controversial death toll in Ukraine
New technologies help calculate the number of casualties, estimated at up to nearly two million, despite attempts by Kyiv and Moscow to conceal them
Luis de Vega | Kyiv - MAR 07, 2026 - 23:00 EST
https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-08/the-controversial-
death-toll-in-ukraine-the-deadliest-european-war-in-eight-decades.html
General or partial assessments of the number of victims in the war in Ukraine reveal the high human cost of an armed conflict unprecedented in Europe in the last eight decades. With estimates of nearly two million military casualties, it is reminiscent of the worst conflicts experienced in the 20th century on the Old Continent. The most conservative figures — around half a million deaths on the Ukrainian side — are five times higher than those of the Balkan War (1992-1995), which totaled 100,000, of whom 13,500 were civilians.
The Ukrainian Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has just raised the number of missing persons to 90,000, including military personnel and civilians of all ages, sources from that agency confirmed to EL PAÍS. “The majority, of course, are military personnel, and we assume, unfortunately, that many of them have been killed,” the commissioner added, declining to provide a detailed breakdown to avoid giving the enemy any clues. The Ministry of the Interior, for its part, puts the number of missing adults at just over 99,300, of whom 3,400 are women.
In the latest available overall estimate, the number of military casualties — killed, missing, wounded, and prisoners of war — during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which marked its fourth anniversary on February 24, is the highest in Europe since World War II. Although both governments try to conceal their losses in the armed conflict that has ravaged Ukraine and barely report on them, these figures are approaching two million (1.2 million for Moscow and between 500,000 and 600,000 for Kyiv), according to a report released a month ago by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. Civilian deaths in Ukraine exceed 15,100, according to the U.N. tally.
The last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed this sensitive issue was on February 4. He reported 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed, a figure far lower than estimates by independent sources. Meanwhile, authorities in Kyiv have even shut down websites dedicated to reporting on casualty figures, despite Ukraine not considering these a state secret. Ukrainian media outlets are also attempting to shed light on this thorny issue.
Access to all kinds of open sources of information about the most documented and widely publicized war in history allows us to uncover a wealth of data, despite the wall of silence imposed by each side when it comes to reporting their own casualties. Cell phones, social media, drones, satellites, geolocation, cameras installed in public and private places… everything makes it much easier for anyone to extract information than in previous conflicts.
Dmytro Dzhulai, a reporter for Radio Free Europe, has amassed a vast amount of information on his computer thanks to the four years he has spent investigating the massacre of 500 civilians by Russian soldiers in 2022 in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Less data is available on another notorious massacre, and one with far larger numbers: the killing of 8,000 Bosniak Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces over three days after UN troops withdrew from Srebrenica in the summer of 1995.
Dzhulai knows every corner of Bucha where a body has been found. He knows which Russian military unit was deployed on each street, who was responsible, their photos, their contacts… In his office in the Ukrainian capital, he shows videos of soldiers executing residents in cold blood and, moments later, robbing them of their belongings. In many cases, the priority was getting hold of their cell phones. “The Russian soldiers used the phones of the Ukrainians they murdered to call their own families or par
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Ukrainian forces have been increasingly striking Russian military infrastructure in occupied Crimea in the past weeks, with Ukrainian officials reporting strikes at least 14 times since February 11.[33] Ukrainian forces have largely targeted Russian air defense systems, radar systems, drone infrastructure, and ammunition facilities. Ukrainian strikes have likely degraded Russian air defense in the area, allowing subsequent strikes to reach their intended targets.
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-march-9-2026/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine's Flamingo missile maker promises FP-9 ballistics will reach Moscow
By Kollen Post | March 9, 2026 8:07 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/ukraines-flamingo-missile-maker-promises-f
p-9-ballistics-will-reach-moscow/
Ukraine's most famous missile maker start-up is trialing a new ballistic weapon that the firm claims will reach Moscow by the end of the summer.
In a March 9 interview with Army TV, Denys Shtilierman, the principle owner and chief engineer of Fire Point, touted the future stats of the FP-7 and FP-9, in turn short and long-range ballistic missiles that the company initially announced in September.
Fire Point is the maker of the FP-1, likely the most popular deep-strike drone in Ukraine's arsenal, as well as the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile.
A sticking point for all of Ukraine's deep-strike weaponry has been that Russia has effectively ringed Moscow and St. Petersburg with air defense systems. Drones and even cruise missiles almost never get through, a problem that Shtilierman acknowledged even as the maker of both.
"The FP-9 will be able to strike targets in Moscow easily because it has a very high speed of impact," Shtilierman said. "For example, the Iskander has a speed of about 800 meters per second. At that speed it hits.
"Ours will hit at over 1,200, so we'll overcome anti-air defenses noticeably easier. Yes, something will get in the way, but 25% or something like that will get through and hit the target."
Shtilierman recently published videos of the launch of the FP-7. In the more recent interview, when asked as to the current stage of their development of ballistics he said "we'll be testing them on the neighbors shortly."
Of the longer-range and heavier-hitting FP-9, Shtilierman had previously indicated hopes to have functional models ready by June 2026.
One of the biggest winners of Ukraine's wartime defense spending, Fire Point's history is not without controversy. The firm began a press tour across Europe last summer touting its Flamingo missile, with claimed range, payload, accuracy and production figures that far exceeded any demonstrable impact on the battlefield.
The Kyiv Independent reported in August that the firm was facing an anti-corruption probe, the first public mention of Shtilierman in association with Fire Point. Shtilierman publicly came out as the majority owner of Fire Point in November, explaining financial ties to a network surrounding Timur Mindich as personal rather than via his deep-strike company.
More recently, however, an increasing number of Flamingo missiles are popping up throughout Russia, in welcome news both for the firm and for Ukraine's overall defense.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Keeping Kyiv Warm Under Fire
As Russian strikes batter the grid, a corruption scandal deepens Ukraine’s winter crisis.
By Anna Conkling | March 9, 2026, 5:00 AM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/09/russia-ukraine-war-energy-corrupt
ion-scandal/
KYIV—The roar of a generator bellows through a snow-covered courtyard in the city’s Troieshchyna neighborhood, drowning out conversation inside the six military-green tents pitched in a courtyard outside of residential buildings.
It had been running for three days straight, far longer than it was designed to, powering emergency heating stations for residents whose homes have gone cold during Ukraine’s harshest winter in more than a decade. When the machine stalls, even briefly, the lights flicker and the heat falters.
Inside the tents, run by Ukraine’s State Emergency Services (DSNS), there are cots, children’s books, and a Starlink connection. Anatoly, a DSNS commander, serves cheese sandwiches and tea, encouraging civilians to eat. By evening, more residents trickle in. Though they had braced for another wartime winter, few expected temperatures to plunge to minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit, or that strikes would continue to decimate the energy grid with peace talks ongoing. Many say their apartments hover around 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s simply impossible to stay there anymore. “More people begin to show when they learn that they can eat food here,” Anatoly said. “Many don’t have the electricity to cook at home.”
As Russia’s war in Ukraine passes the four-year mark, many Ukrainians believe Moscow’s strategy of attrition now centers on freezing cities into submission. Part of the battle has shifted decisively toward the country’s energy grid—and toward Kyiv itself. January and February’s waves of drone and missile strikes marked some of the most sustained assaults on the capital’s heating and electricity systems since the beginning of the war, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and heat in subzero temperatures.
The attacks are a test of Ukraine’s resilience on two fronts. First is the physical struggle to keep the energy grid from collapsing under a new wave of Russian strikes. But behind this there is also a mounting political struggle to maintain public trust amid widening energy-sector corruption allegations. The scandal, which involved government officials receiving kickbacks from energy suppliers, adds to a political divide in Ukraine at a time when unity is needed most.
Throughout the war, Russia has launched hundreds of strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Kyiv had largely been spared from the worst of it, going days or even weeks without major attacks. However, over the last year, Russia’s attacks on Kyiv have intensified, with record-breaking drone and missile attacks occurring in the capital city and the country writ large.
2026 has proved no different. On Jan. 9, Russia carried out a massive overnight attack on multiple Ukrainian cities. This included a strike on the Lviv region using the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile for only the second time—something EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas said was “meant as a warning” to Europe and the United States. Kyiv was also hit especially hard, with four people killed and 25 injured. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said 6,000 residential buildings—nearly half of the capital’s total—lost heat. As of March 2, 1,100 residential apartments in Kyiv still lack heating and are expected to remain without it for the remainder of the heating season, according to Klitschko’s office.
The race to repair the grid is ongoing. Ukraine’s largest private investor in the energy sector, DTEK, told Foreign Policy that more than 1,000 workers are trying to restore heat across the city, assisted by crews from other regions and from Ukrainian Railways. But each new strike sets back their work, driving a relentless cycle of destruction and restoration. “There’s a huge amount of work,” said Ihor, a DTEK maintenance worker. Crews are already stretched thin, working extended shifts in freezing conditions. “It’s v
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Top-secret reports reveal true extent of Russian fatalities in Ukraine
Defense Intelligence reveals the figure that Moscow keeps under seven locks
By Kateryna Shkarlat | Tue, March 10, 2026 - 17:35
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/top-secret-reports-reveal-true-extent-
of-1773156909.html
According to internal official Russian reports obtained by the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the aggressor’s irrecoverable losses (killed and severely wounded) amount to 1.315 million people.
Particular attention in the report was paid to the change in the ratio between those killed and wounded. Currently, out of 100% of Russian losses, 62% are killed, and only 38% are wounded.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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How Russia tries and fails to hide its casualties in Ukraine
https://kyivindependent.com/impossible-to-ban-grief-how-russia-tries-a
nd-fails-to-hide-its-casualties-in-ukraine/
Russia has tightened control over information about its battlefield losses in Ukraine, cutting off data and closing one public loophole after another. The effort has not stopped the evidence of the dead from surfacing.
Researchers have turned to a patchwork of indirect Russian statistical figures to calculate Russia's battlefield losses. One useful resource used to be data on excess mortality, measured by comparing how many people die in a given period to the number expected based on prior years, using Russia's official death registrations.
In the first year of the full-scale invasion, researchers were able to use this data to reach a rough estimate of Russia's war-related casualties. This loophole, however, was closed in 2023, when Russia's statistical agency Rosstat was ordered to cease publications linked to demographics. These were never resumed.
Data on inheritance cases in Russia, which are published in a unique state register, emerged as another source of information. "To put it very simply, we look at the register and see if there is an abnormal number of inheritance cases for men in a given time period," Treshchanin said. "Together with other statistical data, this can give a relatively accurate estimate of the number of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine."
But such cases were suddenly deleted, and in about 50 (out of 83) Russian regions, there are no cases left online at all.
While Russia limits access to these and similar statistics, the country's social media remains flooded with information on Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. Even in an authoritarian regime, it's impossible to ban people from grieving for their relatives.
In a school there is some commemorative event for a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine, children plant trees or something similar, and someone puts up a commemorative plaque. As there are many events like this, this helps identify a lot of Russian casualties in Ukraine.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Western electronic technology is powering Russia’s most terrifying weapons
By Denys Svyrydenkov and Stanislav Brusby | March 11, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/11/western-tech-russia-glide-bombs
-umpk/
Russia’s use of glide bombs has changed the course of the war, and Ukraine still lacks a way to counter them effectively.
The widespread deployment of glide bombs by Moscow started in late 2023.
The Russian military industry developed a kit that, when attached to a standard unguided free-fall bomb (of which Russia has a nearly unlimited stockpile since Soviet times), converts it into a guided, high-precision glide munition. This kit is known as a Universal Planning and Correction Module (UMPK).
UMPK also dramatically extended the range at which aerial bombs can be used, allowing Russian bombers to operate without entering Ukraine’s air defense zones and drop bombs from well behind the front lines.
These bombs are very difficult to intercept; they are much cheaper and more abundant than missiles, while their several hundred kilograms of explosive can destroy front-line fortifications.
In January 2026, the use of glide bombs hit a new monthly record, with over 5,700 dropped—a 26% increase compared to December 2025.
The bombs are being used against cities close to the front lines. In Sumy Oblast, they are employed to create “buffer zones” by systematically leveling border villages and striking logistics hubs. Sumy has experienced a sharp increase in strikes from FAB-3000 bombs—three metric ton behemoths that cause massive destruction.
In Zaporizhzhia, glide bombs quickly became the dominant weapon after September 2024; by early 2025, they were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties in the city. Odesa witnessed its first-ever glide bomb attack in October 2025.
With the ongoing development of extended-range UMPK variants, glide bombs now threaten cities far from the front lines.
More about which Western technology companies are supplying Russia at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/11/western-tech-russia-glide-bombs
-umpk/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Putin fears fate of Russia's last emperor Nicholas II executed after abdication, Kellogg says
By Kateryna Danishevska | Thu, March 12, 2026 - 11:55
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/putin-fears-fate-of-russia-s-last-empe
ror-1773309012.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin must realize that Russia is no longer capable of winning a war against Ukraine. However, he fears the fate of Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor who was executed after his abdication, former special envoy of the President of the United States, Keith Kellogg, said in an interview with Japanese television channel NHK.
Kellogg said Putin must acknowledge that "he's not going to gain any more land" when discussing what is needed for the fastest possible ceasefire.
He said Russia continues to suffer losses due to sanctions, noting that "sanctions are taking a bite" out of the Russian economy. According to him, Russia has probably suffered 1.2 million to 1.4 million killed or wounded.
The American general also said Putin is aware of the damage and losses caused by the war he launched and fears responsibility for his actions.
Kellogg noted that Putin is concerned that "he'll be another Nicholas II," pointing out that the last czar was shot dead after his abdication.
According to Kellogg, a ceasefire could be possible "today" if Ukraine and Russia freeze the conflict along the current front lines.
He also said it is Putin, not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who does not want a ceasefire. Russia demands that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donbas region, while Ukraine refuses to cede territories under its control.
Trump says Putin is ready for peace, Zelenskyy is not
Recently, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, once again stated that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly prevents reaching a peace deal. According to him, Ukraine is rapidly losing bargaining positions, while the Kremlin is supposedly ready for dialogue.
Zelenskyy, in turn, responded that to end the war, the United States should put more pressure on Russia, not on him. In addition, security guarantees are needed that will form the basis of the peace agreement.
Ukrainian president also says that peace with Putin is necessary for Ukraine, regardless of his personal dislike for him.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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(What other solution can there possibly be than nuking the US before it unleashes zombies and Terminators on Russia?)
Paranoid Kremlin warns of US unleashing ‘zombie apocalypse’
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev claimed US military biological research could trigger a "zombie apocalypse" similar to The Last of Us TV series
By Will Stewart, Myriam Toua | 07:03 ET, Thu, Mar 12, 2026
https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/201823/dmitry-medvedev-war
ns-us-biological-research-could-trigger-zombie-apocalypse
Medvedev advanced the conspiratorial assertion that the United States has established an extensive network of approximately 400 biological laboratories worldwide, accusing Washington of pursuing research capable of disseminating dangerous diseases - claims Western governments have consistently rejected as disinformation.
He contended that breakthroughs in genetic engineering and synthetic biology might enable the artificial creation of novel pathogens that could be disseminated in ways difficult to detect.
These striking assertions appeared in an extensive article entitled "New Technologies: A Stairway to Heaven or a Road to Hell," where Medvedev outlined a bleak future dominated by artificial intelligence, biotechnology and autonomous weaponry.
"The existence of all humanity, whose situation is becoming increasingly precarious and bleak, is at stake," he said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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USA bio labs in Ukraine.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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43% of Russian POWs rated Ukrainians as less than fully human — and Kremlin propaganda explains why
The more a captured Russian soldier believed Kremlin narratives, the more likely he was to dehumanize Ukrainians on a validated scientific scale — a finding researchers say helps build the legal case against Russia’s propagandists as abettors of aggression.
By Yuri Zoria
14/03/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/14/43-of-russian-pows-rated-ukrain
ians-as-less-than-fully-human-and-kremlin-propaganda-explains-why/
Russian propaganda was strongly linked to combat motivation, cut voluntary surrender rates, and normalized dehumanization of Ukrainians among captured servicemembers, according to a landmark study by Ukrainian NGO LingvaLexa.
Titled "Words That Kill: How Russian Propaganda Shapes Mobilization and Combat Motivation," the research surveyed 1,060 Russian prisoners of war under formal legal procedures — using a methodology its authors describe as distinctive for quantifying propaganda's behavioral effects on soldiers who had actually fought in Russia's war against Ukraine.
Three-quarters of captured soldiers accepted at least one Kremlin narrative
The average level of belief in Kremlin propaganda across all tested 18 narratives stood at 47.61%. Overall, 76% of respondents accepted at least one propaganda narrative to some extent.
The study tested beliefs across five thematic clusters:
• legitimization of Russia's invasion of Ukraine;
• moral framing of the war as a crusade against Western decadence;
• historical revisionism denying Ukrainian statehood;
• dehumanization and victim-blaming narratives — accusing Ukraine of crimes Russia itself commits;
• denial of Russian involvement in the Donbas and Crimea aggression since 2014.
Much more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/14/43-of-russian-pows-rated-ukrain
ians-as-less-than-fully-human-and-kremlin-propaganda-explains-why/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukrainian drone-maker Fire Point is about to solve one of Ukraine’s biggest wartime problems: the size of the warheads on its most numerous deep strike drones.
The firm is altering the designs of its FP-1 and FP-2 attack drones to increase the size of their warheads. The fuel tank was moved into the wing.
The effect of the move is to preserve the fuel capacity of both types while also freeing up space for larger warheads. After the addition of wing tanks, the FP-1 will range 600 miles with a 225-pound warhead, up from 130 pounds. The enhanced FP-2 will range 130 miles with a 350-pound warhead, up from 230 pounds.
The extra oomph is important. While Ukrainian drone units routinely strike targets across occupied Ukraine and deep inside Russia, they rarely inflict lasting damage. Their warheads are simply too small.
https://www.trenchart.us/p/ukraines-best-deep-strike-drones
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
USA bio labs in Ukraine.
Bullshit comrade...
T
Enter Sting Interceptors
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Ukraine’s February Campaign Against High-Value Russian Targets
Which High-Value Russian Assets Were Targeted by Ukrainian Forces in February
March 14, 2026 20:00
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4101663-ukraines-february-campaig
n-against-highvalue-russian-targets.html
The final month of winter became one of the most productive periods for Ukraine’s Defense Forces in their campaign against high-value Russian military assets, particularly air-defense systems. These operations stand out by their systematic nature. Throughout February, Ukrainian forces targeted multiple components of Russia’s layered air-defense network—from short-range tactical systems protecting frontline units to strategic air-defense assets.
These successes are not measured solely by the destruction of equipment worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. More importantly, the strikes have created noticeable gaps in Russia’s air-defense architecture—gaps that Moscow’s defense industry is unlikely to close quickly given production constraints and the impact of international sanctions.
Tor-M1 SAM system
Strikes Against TOR Air-Defense Systems
February saw a series of successful strikes against TOR-family short-range surface-to-air missile systems, which Russian forces widely use to protect ground units and critical infrastructure near the front line.
The first such operation took place on February 11, when units of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces conducted a strike using Middle Strike attack UAVs. The operation destroyed four air-defense systems, including three Tor-M2 systems and one Osa SAM system.
Three of the systems were struck in occupied areas of Donetsk region, while another TOR was destroyed in Kherson region.
Later, on the night of February 20, operators from the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces conducted another strike against Russian air-defense positions, destroying three additional TOR systems in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region.
During these operations Ukrainian forces employed FP-2 strike drones armed with 60-kg warheads, which proved highly effective against the lightly armored vehicles used by Russian short-range air-defense units.
The estimated value of the three TOR systems alone is approximately $75 million.
The following night, Ukrainian forces continued their operations, destroying two additional TOR-M1 systems—one on the outskirts of occupied Donetsk and another near Mariupol.
In total, at least nine TOR-series air-defense systems were reportedly destroyed during February, representing a notable reduction in Russia’s short-range air-defense coverage in several sectors of the front.
ANTEY-2500, Triumf and other strategic air-defense assets
Ukrainian operations in February were not limited to short-range systems.
On February 17, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck an S-300VM (Antey-2500) surface-to-air missile system in Donetsk region. The S-300VM is among the most capable missile-defense systems in Russia’s inventory, designed to engage both aerodynamic and ballistic targets.
S-300VM Antey-2500 SAM system
The S-300VM Antey-2500 is also one of the most expensive and technologically sohisticated air-defense systems fielded by Russia. Depending on configuration—including launchers, radar systems, and missile stocks—the cost of a battalion-level set is estimated at $120–150 million, with some estimates placing the baseline price of a single system at roughly $100 million.
Export contracts provide additional context. For example, Russia’s 2014 contract with Egypt for the delivery of Antey-2500 systems, together with associated equipment and replacement parts, was reportedly worth approximately $1 billion.
For comparison, a single interceptor missile used by S-300 family systems is estimated to cost at least $2 million.
Later in the month, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces reportedly tracked down and destroyed a radar station associated with an S-300V system in Donetsk region. Such radars are responsible for detecting and tracking bo
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Ukrainian drone-maker Fire Point is about to solve one of Ukraine’s biggest wartime problems: the size of the warheads on its most numerous deep strike drones.
The firm is altering the designs of its FP-1 and FP-2 attack drones to increase the size of their warheads. The fuel tank was moved into the wing.
The effect of the move is to preserve the fuel capacity of both types while also freeing up space for larger warheads. After the addition of wing tanks, the FP-1 will range 600 miles with a 225-pound warhead, up from 130 pounds. The enhanced FP-2 will range 130 miles with a 350-pound warhead, up from 230 pounds.
The extra oomph is important. While Ukrainian drone units routinely strike targets across occupied Ukraine and deep inside Russia, they rarely inflict lasting damage. Their warheads are simply too small.
https://www.trenchart.us/p/ukraines-best-deep-strike-drones
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
According to Peter Zeihan, because Iran is targeting its Arab neighbors, they will be investing tons of money in Ukraine to build up its Drone infrastructure; they want them.
T
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