Russian invasion of Ukraine

[alach]

Besides the facts that not only local police departments let alone nations have a policy not to negotiate with terrorists, and allowing russia to keep any stolen land would set a dangerous precedent around the world, russia's other demands are just simply ludicrous and devoid of reality. The only one who thought there was a deal to be made was trump because he thinks deals make him look good. (they do not.) Zelensky and Europe and Biden's administration all knew this, that is why they continue to transfer weapons to Ukraine to help defend itself.
Maybe today russia will be finally called out.
Ukraine to change negotiating stance for Abu Dhabi talks after Russia's massive strike

A new round of trilateral Ukraine-US-Russia talks is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi just one day after Russia’s largest attack against Ukraine this winter, as Moscow launched a record number of missiles, targeting Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the assignment and the position of Ukraine’s delegation in Abu Dhabi will be “adjusted” after Russia launched its largest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy reiterated that by launching 71 missiles and 450 drones against Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its true intentions, which remain unchanged since the first day of the full-scale invasion in early 2022.

“Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously," Zelenskyy said. "The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly.”

Opinion Poll: Most Ukrainians Against Giving Russia Donbas for ‘Security Guarantees’

A majority of Ukrainians oppose handing over the eastern Donbas territory to Russia in exchange for promises of peace, and the number of Ukrainians ready to fight the Kremlin “as long as is necessary” is increasing, a major public opinion published on Monday found.

Slightly more than half – 52% – of respondents “categorically reject” the idea of transferring title to Ukraine’s Donbas region to Russia in exchange for security guarantees, while 40% are willing to consider it, according to findings published by the Ukrainian political research group Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

The prevailing view across Ukrainian society that the country would not be made safer by meeting Russian demands to give the Kremlin Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions – approximately 20% of Ukraine’s territory and population – where the front is stable and has not changed for months, KIIS Executive Director Anton Hrushetsky said in a statement.

[Gorsameth]

Starlink took measures so Russia can't use them anymore to navigate their drones over Ukraine. Turns out Starlinks security was so weak Russia could use them to fly their drones vastly deeper in Ukrainian territory.

Now in the defense of Starlink at least they came up with some measures to prevent that pretty fast after Ukraine figured out what was going on. In response Russia presumably is ramping up Iskander production.

And Elon has previously turned off Starlink to fuck with Ukraine.

That piece of shit does not get the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know Russia was doing this. I find it more likely that they took action because they were discovered.

[alach]

Funny, I had the same reaction.

Kyiv groans a collective ‘WTF?’ to Trump’s latest Putin comments

U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that his Russian counterpart "kept his word" by not launching mass missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure for a week has been met with bewilderment and dismay in Kyiv.

"I believe this is either a mockery of our misfortune, a lack of understanding of the situation, or wishful thinking," Volodymyr Ariev, a lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity party, told the Kyiv Independent.

The confusing saga of a supposed truce on striking energy infrastructure began when Trump surprisingly announced on Jan. 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed not to strike Ukrainian cities for a week.

Characteristically lacking in details, he gave no indication of when, or if, it had started, leaving plenty of gaps for the Kremlin to fill, which it promptly did, saying the truce would concern only Kyiv, and last only until Feb. 1.

Overnight on Feb. 3, Russia unleashed the biggest mass attack of the winter so far, further hammering Ukraine's energy infrastructure as temperatures plunged below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

[Deus Mortis]

Starlink took measures so Russia can't use them anymore to navigate their drones over Ukraine. Turns out Starlinks security was so weak Russia could use them to fly their drones vastly deeper in Ukrainian territory.

Now in the defense of Starlink at least they came up with some measures to prevent that pretty fast after Ukraine figured out what was going on. In response Russia presumably is ramping up Iskander production.

Not necessarily the security, the problem comes from Starlink is the backbone of communications for Ukraine and the product can be bought by literally anyone so it is easy to smuggle in large amounts, and you can't do a blanket blackout of it in Ukraine without major issues. So all Russia really had to do is have their drones launch and get into Ukraine airspace to start working as Starlink doesn't work in Russia already. That is why they had to get creative with it and make it so it shuts down if it detects that whatever has the box is moving too fast(aka suicide drones).

[alach]

No surprise here. Find some dirty dealings, follow the money, and it ultimately leads back to a conservative leader. You would think the global electorate would have learned this lesson by now.

By buying Russia’s oil, Hungary is fueling the Kremlin’s war machine – and enriching foundations linked to Orbán

Hungary is buying Russian oil despite alternative supplies being available, according to a report that accuses Budapest of failing to pass down to consumers the savings it makes from buying cheap Russian fuels.

Instead, the savings become profits for Hungary’s largest oil company, which is part-owned by foundations linked to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, according to the report from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), a European-based public policy institute, which shared an advance copy of its analysis with CNN.

The CSD analysis found that domestic fuel prices in Hungary were on average 18% higher than in the neighboring Czech Republic in 2025, even though Budapest still buys cheaper Russian oil, while Prague buys costlier non-Russian alternatives.

Thieves, grifters and war criminals, the lot of them. Lil Marco was conveniently meeting with Orban today, a day after skipping out on the Ukraine meeting and having the nerve to criticise Europe for clean energy.

[Endus]

No surprise here. Find some dirty dealings, follow the money, and it ultimately leads back to a conservative leader. You would think the global electorate would have learned this lesson by now.

By buying Russia’s oil, Hungary is fueling the Kremlin’s war machine – and enriching foundations linked to Orbán


Thieves, grifters and war criminals, the lot of them. Lil Marco was conveniently meeting with Orban today, a day after skipping out on the Ukraine meeting and having the nerve to criticise Europe for clean energy.

I'm gonna be real for a sec, and be kind to conservatives for once. Kinda.

The glut of grifters and con artists on the right isn't because there's an ideological connection between the two. The right offers two unique advantages; their only ideological maxim is "rules exist to protect the in-group and not to bind them, and to bind the out-groups but not protect them". And the unthinking faith in their leaders that derives from that maxim (since there's no other ideological test to apply to see if they're worth supporting).

That means if a grifter can get into their "good books", they're golden. They will practically never be questioned, and even if that happens, they will often be able to just walk away or make a vague nonpology. Conservatives are the perfect marks.

You try a similar grift among lefties, and they'll check up on you, and the moment you fail a purity test, you're gonna get devoured. It's more likely a decent person trips a bit and gets unwarranted pushback than that a grifter will run amok without being identified, for better or worse.

Now, there are also a lot of legitimately awful people in conservative leadership, but the reason for the number of grifters isn't actually because conservatives generally support being grifted. They just lack the framework to understand when it's happening. It makes them very easy to take advantage of.

[alach]

I'm gonna be real for a sec, and be kind to conservatives for once. Kinda.

The glut of grifters and con artists on the right isn't because there's an ideological connection between the two. The right offers two unique advantages; their only ideological maxim is "rules exist to protect the in-group and not to bind them, and to bind the out-groups but not protect them". And the unthinking faith in their leaders that derives from that maxim (since there's no other ideological test to apply to see if they're worth supporting).

That means if a grifter can get into their "good books", they're golden. They will practically never be questioned, and even if that happens, they will often be able to just walk away or make a vague nonpology. Conservatives are the perfect marks.

You try a similar grift among lefties, and they'll check up on you, and the moment you fail a purity test, you're gonna get devoured. It's more likely a decent person trips a bit and gets unwarranted pushback than that a grifter will run amok without being identified, for better or worse.

Now, there are also a lot of legitimately awful people in conservative leadership, but the reason for the number of grifters isn't actually because conservatives generally support being grifted. They just lack the framework to understand when it's happening. It makes them very easy to take advantage of.

Can't argue with that.
But being a safe space for cheats and liars doesn't make you a party of not cheats and liars.
When trump hijacked the republican party he turned it from a party of small government and fiscal conservativism to a legitimate party for cheats and liars and open for business to terrible people worldwide.

[Endus]

Can't argue with that.
But being a safe space for cheats and liars doesn't make you a party of not cheats and liars.
When trump hijacked the republican party he turned it from a party of small government and fiscal conservativism to a legitimate party for cheats and liars and open for business to terrible people worldwide.

"Small government" and "Fiscal conservativism" are dogwhistles. They're semantically meaningless. Literally everyone thinks the government should be as small as it needs to be to do what government needs to do; the only alternative is wanting government to be wasteful and bloated for no reason, and literally no one thinks that. And fiscal conservativism is the same; everyone agrees government should spend as little as it needs to in order to get stuff done. No one thinks wasting money is a good idea.

Conservatives have only ever used those phrases as a dodge to avoid talking about their real philosphical maxims. Which were often "open bigotry" or "might makes right". That's why Republicans always want to cut social spending and remove protections for minority groups, but fully support high spending on the military, policing, and prisons. They have never actually given a shit about spending or government overreach, they just know that if they come right out and say "the poors shouldn't have healthcare, they should die and stop being parasites", people will treat them like the callously cruel assholes they are.

[alach]

I'm not a fan of the blanket generalization, and even if you are 100% correct that doesn't include some somewhat decent people over the years that thought fiscal responsibility was a sensible message and were tricked into believing it.
Anyways, this isn't the place for all that, this is about putin killing Ukrainians with the support of trump ally orban, who allows pro-Nazi parties to march through the streets of a European city.
Definitely not a part of a group I was referring to.

[Gorsameth]

Can't argue with that.
But being a safe space for cheats and liars doesn't make you a party of not cheats and liars.
When trump hijacked the republican party he turned it from a party of small government and fiscal conservativism to a legitimate party for cheats and liars and open for business to terrible people worldwide.

Please tell me about the Republican fiscal conservativism.

[alach]

Please tell me about the Republican fiscal conservativism.

I'm not gullible enough to believe in it. I'm not a republican. But some people are, and some people honestly believe in it. I don't think we should fault them all for that. I don't like to fault all of anyone.
But like I said, wrong thread.

[Deus Mortis]

No surprise here. Find some dirty dealings, follow the money, and it ultimately leads back to a conservative leader. You would think the global electorate would have learned this lesson by now.

By buying Russia’s oil, Hungary is fueling the Kremlin’s war machine – and enriching foundations linked to Orbán


Thieves, grifters and war criminals, the lot of them. Lil Marco was conveniently meeting with Orban today, a day after skipping out on the Ukraine meeting and having the nerve to criticise Europe for clean energy.

This isn't just a problem with Hungary, it is a problem in Europe and one that Trump actually stated to Europe during his first term and got laughed at. https://energyandcleanair.org/decemb...and-sanctions/

In December, France and Spain increased their imports of Russian LNG by 18% and 27%, respectively.

LNG: The EU remains the largest buyer of Russian LNG, accounting for almost half (49%) of Russia’s total LNG exports, followed by China (23%) and Japan (18%).

Pipeline gas: The EU is the largest buyer, purchasing 35% of Russia’s pipeline gas, followed by China (31%) and Turkiye (28%).

In December 2025, EU imports of Russian gas increased 13% month-on-month, rising by 0.42 bcm compared to November. This growth was driven mainly by LNG imports, which rose 18% (0.33 bcm), while pipeline imports increased 6% (0.10 bcm).In 2025, EU imports of Russian gas declined 31% year-on-year, falling by 16.62 bcm. Pipeline imports dropped sharply 45% (13.68 bcm), while LNG imports fell 13% (2.94 bcm). Since the start of 2025, gas transit via Ukraine has completely stopped, leaving TurkStream as the only pipeline transporting Russian gas to the EU. Despite the overall decline, TurkStream flows increased 8% year-on-year, partially offsetting the loss of Ukrainian transit.While there was a decrease in Russian gas flows into the EU, parallely there was a 10% year-on-year increase in power generation from fossil gas in 2025, equalling a total of 35.2 TWh. The increase means that overall gas imports for power generation increased and other sources made up for the fall in gas from Russia. The increase was weather-driven in the short term, but shows the need to rapidly increase clean electricity generation to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.

[Flarelaine]

Anyways, this isn't the place for all that, this is about putin killing Ukrainians with the support of trump ally orban, who allows pro-Nazi parties to march through the streets of a European city.

... while the anti-Nazi march is banned because Antifa Bad. Just to get the complete picture.

[alach]

... while the anti-Nazi march is banned because Antifa Bad. Just to get the complete picture.

And that's who the current American administration wants to emulate.

[diller]

This isn't just a problem with Hungary, it is a problem in Europe and one that Trump actually stated to Europe during his first term and got laughed at.

I'm pretty sure the issue is that there is no easy alternative, no one wants to support Russia, also it seems it's just few countries "Europe" doesn't apply to everything.

Where in Europe still relies on Russian energy?

[Mayhem]

... while the anti-Nazi march is banned because Antifa Bad. Just to get the complete picture.

So uh, the meme "are we the bad guys" becomes two hungarians in nazi uniform asking themselves "are we Nazis?"

[Flarelaine]

So uh, the meme "are we the bad guys" becomes two hungarians in nazi uniform asking themselves "are we Nazis?"

Only they're not asking but posing proudly for photos.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/300...nd-stahlhelmen

[Mayhem]

Only they're not asking but posing proudly for photos.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/300...nd-stahlhelmen

That's so incredibly depressing. 80 years after the Allies won, the biggest players are now siding with Nazis themselves, plus Israel because logic and empathy was killed by 4chan memelords. What the fuck.

[Magistrate]

Only they're not asking but posing proudly for photos.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/300...nd-stahlhelmen

Notably this has been happening by the thousands for generations. The difference is that this year is the first counter protests were banned.

[alach]

Rubio meeting with Orban was not a good look.
While proud nazis walked the streets, Orban declared Europe the enemy, not russia and promised to block any aid to victim Ukraine despite it costing him or his country nothing.
And Rubio went there and told him he's a great leader and the US has his back...
He probably had a sack full of money for Orban as well , for being the good little trump praiser, straight from the tariffed American public.
Or maybe it was for advice on how to become a great dictator.

- - - Updated - - -

I hate bumping my own posts. Seems like I'm asking myself out on a date. "Oh hey, wanna go out tonight?" "Sure, where do you wanna go?" "Oh, I don't know, somewhere spicy!" "Oh, you are such a flirt!"

Anyways, the peace talks are continuing and from what I gather, in order to keep boss baby trump complacent, Ukraine is willing to surrender land, but not any that it still controls. putin, as usual, has not changed a single thing since the peace talks began, and wants all of the Donbass. If the US is serious with their threats of punishment, and the EU passes the next sanction package maybe it would force putin to take the deal, which would be still be an enormous win for him and a huge middle finger to the current world order and peace on Earth. A goal I believe trump is ultimately after. After all, nothing would make your name last in all the world's history books than the guy who destroyed it.
If the above is true, it might explain why we are seeing increased activity on the battlefield and putins escalation of strikes on the citizen population.

EU 'won't shy away' from new sanctions on Russia if G7 allies fail to reach deal

Ukraine Regains 201 sq km in Five Days Amid Russian Starlink Disruptions

Ukrainian forces have recaptured 201 square kilometres of territory from Russian troops between 11 and 15 February, marking their fastest advance in over two and a half years. According to AFP, which analysed data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and reported by France24, this gain nearly matches the total territory Russia seized throughout December 2025. The recent progress represents Ukraine’s most significant territorial achievement over such a short period since the counteroffensive launched in June 2023.

The ISW analysis suggested that the advances may have been facilitated by disruptions in Russian communications caused by the recent blocking of Starlink access. Russian milbloggers had reported that interruptions in Starlink were creating command and control difficulties, affecting their battlefield coordination.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive has been concentrated roughly 80 kilometres east of Zaporizhzhia, where Russian troops had been making gains since the summer of 2025. Ukrainian forces have also regained ground on the Kharkiv, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka fronts, pushing back Russian positions along multiple axes.

Russia launched more attacks on Ukraine's Naftogaz facilities in 2025 than in previous 3 years combined