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"...for many years" starting when? After they took over in 2014? Have they been adding Russians to the population, diluting the Ukrainian percentage? Population transfers of that nature are agains international law. It's considered a form of genocide or ethnocide. Not that that would stop Russia from using that tactic. They've been doing it in one or more of their ethnic republics, deliberately to dilute the vote, since sometime in the late 1990's or so.
Yes that is exactly what was happening. And speaking of Nazis, that Russian team known as the Wagner Group, headed by the guy with the SS tattoos on either side of his neck, let's take a look at them for a minute. Not only were they moving Russians from Russia into the landgrab areas, they were also driving out the ethnic Ukrainians. They also shot down that passenger plane with nearly 300 people on board, mostly Dutch and Australian. And wouldn't you know it, they have a Serb unit, who also participated in their "fun activities" in destabilizing territories in Ukraine.
Quote:
Wagner PMCs were first active in February 2014 in Crimea[4][5] during Russia's 2014 annexation of the peninsula where they operated in line with regular Russian army units, disarmed the Ukrainian Army and took control over facilities. The takeover of Crimea was almost bloodless.[137] The PMCs, along with the regular soldiers, were called "polite people" at the time[138] due to their well-mannered behavior. They kept to themselves, carried weapons that were not loaded, and mostly made no effort to interfere with civilian life.[139] Another name for them was "little green men" since they were masked, wearing unmarked green army uniforms and their origin was initially unknown.[140]
After the takeover of Crimea,[137] some 300 PMCs[141] went to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where a conflict started between Ukrainian government and pro-Russian forces. Thanks to their help, the pro-Russian forces were able to destabilize government security forces in the region, immobilize operations of local government institutions, seize ammunition stores and take control of towns.[137] The PMCs conducted sneak attacks, reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and accompanied VIPs.[142] In October 2017, the Ukrainian SBU claimed it had established the involvement of the Wagner Group in the June 2014 Il-76 airplane shoot-down at Luhansk International Airport that killed 40 Ukrainian paratroopers, as well as a crew of nine.[6] Russian and Serbian "mercenaries" were already reported being involved in the summer 2014 battle for the airport, although it was not stated if they were linked to Wagner back then.[143][144]
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Wagner is believed to have a Serb unit, which was, until at least April 2016, under the command of Davor Savičić, a Bosnian Serb[8] who was a member of the Serb Volunteer Guard (also known as Arkan's Tigers) during the Bosnian War and the Special Operations Unit (JSO) during the Kosovo War.[70][71] His call sign in Bosnia was "Elvis".[71] Savičić was reportedly only three days in the Luhansk region when a BTR armored personnel carrier fired at his checkpoint, leaving him shell-shocked. After this, he left to be treated.[8] He was also reported to had been involved in the first offensive to capture Palmyra from the Islamic State (ISIL) in early 2016.[70] One member of the Serbian unit was killed in Syria in June 2017,[72] while the SBU issued arrest warrants in December 2017, for six Serbian PMCs that belonged to Wagner and fought in Ukraine, including Savičić.[73] In early February 2018, the SBU reported that one Serb member of Wagner, who was a veteran of the conflict in Syria, had been killed while fighting in eastern Ukraine.[74][75]
He's involved with the Wagner Group, and he has close ties to Putin. Another poster shared links explaining that Putin was enraged when a lucrative deal between Ukraine and the West which was supposed to go to Prigozhin ended up going to a Ukrainian instead, and this enraged Putin (and I'm sure Prigozhin too).
Ruth, this is barely scratching the surface of all the intrigue surrounding the build up to this horrible atrocity of human suffering and carnage. The infinite greed of men who have already amassed more money than they could spend in 10 lifetimes, and their sick-minded supporters just keep bleating away.
It seems like there is a clear simple division between people. You either believe 100% with complete absolutism that Putin is doing the right thing and back everything up with proof from russian news or some obscure nut-job source that are complete homers to the russian viewpoint, or you see the atrocities of blown up buildings, dead children, and mass migration through plain old news videos from everywhere on television, twitter, tiktok, and facebook.
This is how talking poinst usually are:
- Putin lovers talk in big generalities of denazification and Western propaganda and American fascism. Like as if there is any meaning to constantly shouting out these dumb generalized words.
- Everyone else talk about specifcs, dead civilians, blown up hospitals and schools.
- Putin lovers respond to everyone with oh you're looking at fake videos and western lies. Like any country whether European or American would waste an second of time or penny to make a fake video?
- The thing is the "West" has nothing to gain from an attack on Ukriane. Russia has everything to gain on the attack in Ukraine.
And don't forget that Putin lovers like to bring out a long list of the bad things that the USA has done, that the US is the most corrupt country in the world...blah blah blah..
(they forget about Mexico) And because the US has done
all these bad things then it is a green light for Putin to do anything he desires...
bomb schools, hospitals, kill babies....
Unfortunately the Ukrainian president bet that NATO would save his ass without any real agreement from NATO.
Wow. Just wow. No wonder he's been so desperate, even accusing his would-be benefactors of one thing or another, to try to pry a more aggressive approach out of them.
Wow. Just wow. No wonder he's been so desperate, even accusing his would-be benefactors of one thing or another, to try to pry a more aggressive approach out of them.
For me, this is the saddest part of Ukraine/Russia disaster.
I don't punch walls, but if I did, I would a punch wall over it. It makes me that angry.
If Zelenskyy knew Ukraine would fight alone, would he done a better job at the bargaining table?
Why didn't Zelenskyy know the parameters of NATO?
Why did Zelenskyy allow foreign powers/countries provide weapons to anti-Russian militias?
Did Zelenskyy sleepwalk into this disaster? He was a comedian without any political experience.
It's a disaster for Ukraine's people, Russia soldiers and their families.
Both sides are ruined. There are no winners.
What I really wished is that Zelenskyy had a diplomatic advisor from France. A neutral third party who could have explained diplomacy and negotiation to him. He was too unexperienced for a complex situation.
It's not too different from George W Bush. He had no political experience He surround himself with bad advisers. He needed a response to 9/11 and he jumped the shark by invading Iraq.
It's not pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian or pro-American or pro-Iraqi or pro-anything. These are manmade, unnecessary disasters. It make me so offing mad!!!
Mariupol stands as a barrier between Crimea and Donbas. Take Mariupol and you control a direct line from Crimea to the Russian border, and don't have to rely only on that single bridge at Kerch that is insufficient for needs and could could be sabotaged.
Thank you. This is what I was thinking. And if you control that direct line, you can better protect your shipping from the ports on the Russian side of the border.
So far I think he has been almost flawless politically, maybe excluding his speeches that always appear as too supportive for the country he is talking to (be it Germany, UK, America, EU or Israel) yet what do you expect from a political leader to do more?
Mariupol will go down in history as a great example of human spirit. The only issue I'm afraid is that unlike the black sea seagulls here people don't think in unison and there is always someone to think differently and betray the spirit so to speak. Soon even Zelenski may be unable to save them, another solution would be needed but it should NOT be to surrender.
There's a proposal up for discussion at NATO this week, that the Russian money that's been frozen be used to rebuild Ukraine. From a legal standpoint it's one thing to freeze money, but another to seize it.
There's a proposal up for discussion at NATO this week, that the Russian money that's been frozen be used to rebuild Ukraine. From a legal standpoint it's one thing to freeze money, but another to seize it.
Hey, I'm all for that...Russia destroyed ..Russia pays for rebuild
There's a proposal up for discussion at NATO this week, that the Russian money that's been frozen be used to rebuild Ukraine. From a legal standpoint it's one thing to freeze money, but another to seize it.
Considering that the Russian soldiers are already using their army trucks to haul their looted Ukrainian plunder back to mother Russia, not to mention the full scale obliteration of their country by Russian invaders, I'd call it a wash.
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) And because the US has done 
