It appears that Ukraine is really playing the russians. Pretending like they may attack Putin's big "victory " celebration, which I don't think they have the slightest intention of doing. In response russia is pulling lots of air defense from other regions to the capital. Last night Ukraine took advantage of this with a massive attack of 448 drones and missiles. Hit two major defense manufacturing sites and two military airfields and who knows what else... Only a few stooges are attending the parade; and of those coming most are sending lower ranking dignitaries. Airports have huge delays from all the shutdowns and russia seems to have shut off mobile telephone service, some internet and some ATMs and credit card transactions not working. I am hoping for another mass attack on the 9th but possibly that won't happen. You can imagine the tremendous amount of planning coordination and just hard work involved in drone strikes of this magnitude. In other news, some on the Trump team (Vance and Kellogg) seems to be blaming russia finally for blocking peace but as usual no new sanctions, no pressure on russia, In fact Trump saying they should be allowed to participate in the World Cup as an incentive for peace. Can he really be that dense?
Ukraine and Europe have prepared a thirty day ceasefire plan and have said if russia doesn't stop fighting on Monday they will ramp up sanctions and military aid. Macron claims Trump would then be open to more American military aid, but as Kasparov says, no one has seen Trump take one concrete step yet to hinder or put pressure on russia. So who knows.....
A female medic, identified only as Svitlana, single handedly stopped Russian assault. Svitlana had been a nurse before the war. Her son was killed defending Ukraine. Seeing a group of Russian fighters was about to surround her unit, she used grenade launcher to defend her comrades, driving back the Russians who survived the assault. Ukraine girls really knock me out!
Yes, this was in a village and the russians took a position in a house between her unit and Ukrainian lines. She snuck back there and stuck that grenade launcher through a window. "Approximately 68,000 women serve in Ukraine's Armed Forces, with around 5,000 of them serving in combat zones. While a significant number of women are in combat positions, the actual number varies depending on the source and how it's defined. Some sources report 5,500 women fighting on the front lines, while others state 10,000."
Where is the Trump outrage? He somehow got conned into sabotaging the European plan and supporting Putin's Turkey plan and now everyone in the world can see Putin is not serious about peace and yet total silence from the White House? USA congress and Europe ready to assess massive sanctions but need a go-ahead from Trump to be really effective. Difficult to see this as anything besides outright collaboration with the russians. Also, Trump said that if Putin refuses a peace deal, the US will provide Ukraine with support "beyond what it can imagine". Then why aren't hundreds of ATACM missiles being loaded on USA cargo planes right now? Because it is clear to the whole world that Putin does not want peace. Zelensky challenged Putin to meet him in Turkey and I believe Trump also urged him to come and said he himself would show up if Putin did. Putin refused and sent this team that tried to impose a capitulation agreement onto Ukraine in 2022. USA has their secretary of state there and russia sends a couple of insignificant goons? How many times will Putin slap Trump across the face? NATO chief: Russia sends low-level team to Istanbul peace talks https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/n...on-at-ukraine-talks-in-istanbul-50514249.html
Being sarcastic....he will look for a way to convince Putin to stop the war so he can glorify himself. Some sort of incentive....He's doing the same thing in Saudi to prevent China from getting a foothold in Middle East. And lifting sanctions on Syria which I agree with with. Trump isn't doing it out of goodwill though.
I know he would like to always glorify himself. But I have a hard time seeing that he is trying to get Putin to stop the war. Both USA congress and Europe are ready to slam on really tough sanctions but they need the go-ahead by Trump. And where is the massive military aid he said he would give if Putin refused peace. Putin has already refused peace by not showing up in Turkey and sending a couple of meatheads to negotiate. It actually looks more like he is trying to end the war by getting Ukraine to capitulate.
Here is a real good summary about thee Turkey situation: @SavchenkoReview It is necessary to realize that these negotiations will not bring results… and all participants in this process understand this perfectly well. The Russian delegation was sent to push for a peace treaty on Moscow's terms, that is, the surrender of Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation has a mandate to discuss only a 30-day ceasefire. Meanwhile, CNN writes that Putin is now accumulating forces for an offensive in all areas. And Trump, understanding that Putin is not going to agree to peace, pretends not to understand the degree of humiliation and contempt that the Kremlin dictator is demonstrating towards him with this whole show in Türkiye.
Just a little wrapup of the last few days and explanation of the message russia posted just now. The russians are now becoming quite open in revealing their alliance with the Trump team as they try to destroy Ukraine. Dimetrev is a lead negotiator for russia. Just a little refresher on what has happened over the last few days. Europe, together with Ukraine gave russia a deadline of May 12 to agree to a full scale 30 day ceasefire or else face new very heavy sanctions on russian banking and energy. The president of France talked to Trump on the phone about this and was told that Trump was all in and would even provide increased military aid to Ukraine if russia refused. Trump says publicly that if russia refuses he will provide aid to Ukraine "beyond what it can imagine". Putin ignores the demand for a ceasefire and instead proposes the ridiculous idea that russia and Ukraine should meet personally in Istanbul, an obvious stall tactic. Ukraine's sensible position has always been no negotiations until a ceasefire is agreed on. Instead of staying united with Europe and Ukraine and insisting that russia agree to a ceasefire, Trump says that the Istanbul plan is a great idea and that Zelensky should go. Zelensky, like almost everyone in the world now, fears offending Trump, especially since Trump has veto power over even any other country transferring much needed air defense missiles to Ukraine. Zelensky says OK, but with a twist. He says he will go there personally to meet with Putin, at the same time expressing his belief that Putin is afraid to meet face to face. It appears that then Trump tries to persuade Putin to come to Istanbul with the incentive that Trump will also go. (So they can gang up on Zelensky?) But Putin disses Trump and instead sends the most low level diplomats, two guys who tried to force Ukraine to capitulate shortly after russia invaded in 2022. (It's possible this was all for show and that Trump actually agrees with Putin to just send the nobodies which enables them to delay and avoid a ceasefire). russia comes to the meeting with ridiculous demands which are again just a capitulation for Ukraine, even giving up large territories of Ukraine that russia has not even taken by force. (I will include all their demands in comments.) So this note below from the russians is basically an open thank you note to the Trump team for helping sabotage the European plan and helping them keep the war going.
The russian demands, Ukraine wisely ignores the BS and comes only to an agreement to release 1000 POWs from each side. @SavchenkoReview Russian Demands voiced by Medinsky in Istanbul: 1. Neutral Ukraine – No foreign troops or WMDs on Ukrainian soil, similar to Austria’s neutrality model. 2. No Reparations – Mutual renunciation of any claims for war damages. 3. Rights for Russian Speakers – Ukraine must adopt European standards for minority rights and end “nationalist propaganda.” 4. Recognition of Territories – Ukraine must not deny Russia’s constitutional claim over five Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea), and international recognition is sought. 5. Immediate Ceasefire Condition – Ukrainian forces must withdraw from all five Russian-claimed territories.
In Romania election, pro Ukraine moderate beat hard right pro Russia Trump endorsed candidate by 55%-45%. Several leading MAGA personalities traveled to Romania to campaign for Russian backed loser.
Trump really clinched it today. All Europe and Ukraine and any sensible American understands now that he is an ally of russia, not an ally of Europe or Ukraine. Certainly not an ally of Americans. Even his own team said the main purpose of his phone call with Putin was to get a 30 day full ceasefire. He failed miserably. Putin slaps him in the face again. And so predictably he tries to spin it as a victory.
Will the cowardly USA Republicans actually follow through with their threat of massive sanctions and tariffs on russia or will they continue to allow Trump to lead them by the nose? If they do nothing, they are also russia's allies. They will all go down in history as traitorous scum.
