It HAS BEEN TWO long years of the slugfest between Russia and Ukraine…
With American lawmakers dancing around resuming military for Ukraine and European aid not enough?
(And Donald Trump pressing to punish the Ukraine President for not helping him hurt President Biden years ago and trying to help his ‘main man’ Putin))
The mood is dour…
Russia President about to be re-elected to keep leading Russia?
He has pressed forward in small military gains, but in larger propaganda move to worry Ukraine fighters, European countries and a American President….
Update…Leaders from Italy, Canada, and Belgium, traveled to Kyiv on the date of the second year of the conflict…..
Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has the capacity to keep Kyiv supplied with the weapons, technology and intelligence to fend off a takeover by Moscow. But Washington is now perceived around Europe to have lost its will.
The Europeans, in contrast, have the will — they just committed another $54 billion to reconstruct the country — but when it comes to repelling Russia’s revived offensive, they do not have the capacity.
That is the essence of the conundrum facing Ukraine and the NATO allies on the dismal second anniversary of the war. It is a stunning reversal. Only a year ago, many here predicted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, bolstered by European tanks and missiles and American artillery and air defenses, could push the Russians back to where they were on Feb. 24, 2022.
Now, some harsh lessons have emerged. The sanctions that were supposed to bring Russia’s economy to its knees — “the ruble almost is immediately reduced to rubble,” President Biden declared in Warsaw in March 2022 — have lost their sting. The International Monetary Fund’s prediction that the Russian economy would shrink considerably was only briefly true; with the huge stimulus of military spending, it is growing faster than Germany’s. Income from oil exports is greater than it was before the invasion.
With the setbacks, and the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, hope has just about collapsed that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will conclude anytime soon that he can make no further gains and should enter a serious negotiation to end the war.
American and European intelligence officials now assess that Mr. Putin is determined to hold on, even at the cost of huge casualties, in the hope that a failure in Congress to fund Ukraine’s effort sufficiently or a victory by former President Donald J. Trump in November will make up for the Russian leader’s many early mistakes…
Ukraine isn’t the only country worried about the Russian leaders ultimate ambitions …
Putin has always been afraid of NATO since the old Soviet Union came apart….
(He has friend in ex-President Trump who wants the US out of the organization)
Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries such as the Baltic states and Finland warn that a threat to their own territory may be just over the horizon, with some intelligence agencies saying the Kremlin could make such an attempt within a decade. Now they are taking lessons from their enemy’s robust defense lines in Ukraine, noting that Russia’s system of minefields, concertina wire and trenches made it all but impossible for Kyiv’s forces to advance last summer.
European states are still clamoring for F-35 fighter jets and space-age weapons, but the renewed interest and investment in century-old tactics is the latest example of how Russia’s war in Ukraine is upending long-held assumptions about how to defend NATO territory, with a revived focus on stopping tanks and mobile artillery. And though policymakers say they are still confident that NATO would come to their defense, they add that Trump’s rhetoric makes it more important than ever to be able to hold their own for as long as they can….
Daily Guardian update ….
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Four western leaders, including the prime ministers of Italy, Canada, and Belgium, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to show solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Reuters reports that Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Belgium’s Alexander De Croo and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to the Ukrainian capital together overnight by train from neighbouring Poland, the Italian government said in a statement.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had signed a bilateral security agreement with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv. Canada joins Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Denmark in concluding a 10-year security deal with Kyiv. The agreements are intended to shore up Ukraine’s security until it can reach its aim of becoming a member of the Western military alliance, Nato.
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Alexei Navalny’s body has been handed over to his mother, a spokesperson has confirmed. The spokesperson for the Russian opposition politician, who died while in prison last week, said funeral arrangements are still to be determined. It is “unclear” whether the authorities will interfere, they added.
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Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, had demanded that Russian authorities release his body for burial and accused a “demonic” Russian president Vladimir Putin of “torturing” his corpse. In a six minute video posted on YouTube, Navalnaya accused Putin of holding her husband’s body “hostage”, and questioned Putin’s often-professed Christian faith, Reuters reported.
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A fire broke out and was extinguished at Russian steelmaker NLMK’s main plant, the regional governor said on Saturday, the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Preliminary data indicated the fire at the Novolipetsk Steel plant was caused by a drone, the Lipetsk regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said on Telegram, without mentioning Ukraine, Reuters reports. There were no casualties, Artamonov said.
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Hundreds of people gathered at Marble Arch in central London to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the conflict reached its second anniversary. Demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags, with others wrapping them around their shoulders, PA Media reported. Other protesters bore signs urging Russia to “stop the war”, labelling Russian president Vladimir Putin a “terrorist” and urging international powers to offer more support.
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Russia is unlikely to take part at the outset of a high-level Ukraine peace conference which neutral Switzerland plans to host in the coming months, Swiss president Viola Amherd was quoted as saying by a newspaper on Saturday. Amherd’s interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung daily was published a few hours after Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis told the United Nations that Bern aimed to hold the conference “by this summer” after the idea was floated in January.
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David Cameron warned allies in the United Nations against “fatigue” and “compromise” over Russia’s war in Ukraine as he urged countries including the US to keep up support for Kyiv. The UK foreign secretary said the world must “recognise the cost of giving up” in a speech in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, PA Media reported.
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The UK has pledged £8.5 million in humanitarian funding allocations to the Red Cross Movement and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Foreign secretary Lord David Cameron said: “Ukrainians are bravely defending their land against Russia’s brutal invasion, but the past two years of war have had a tragic impact on millions of people across Ukraine. Families have been separated, towns and villages decimated, and vital civilian infrastructure destroyed.
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Protesters said they dumped two tons of dung outside the home of the Russian ambassador to Poland on Saturday, as they marked the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Activists put a bloodied Russian flag with the letter “Z” on the pile of manure and stuck a sign into it that said “Russia = shit! We don’t want you in EU! Get out!”, pictures of the protest in Konstancin-Jeziorna, seen by Reuters, showed. The town near Warsaw is where the ambassador lives…..
Note….
There WILL a resumption of American aid and combat equipment…
Americans overwheliming support it…
(Trump does NOT…He’s NOT the President anymore)
The question is how long the wait….