Russian’s ain’t gonna JUST let Western Troop’s move into the Ukraine without a fight….
This while NATO, led by an American General begins planning….
Anybody think Trump can get Putin and Zelensky together at the same table IN PERSON?
NOT ME….
Putin & Co. Keep reminding people they want ALL of Ukraine and the other countries to tries that LEFT the ole Soviet Union….
Oh?
Russia and Ukraine still throwing drones at each other….
And?
Poland has found a Russian drone that landed in their country…..
Hmmmmm?
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Work is under way on the military component of security guarantees for Ukraine that European leaders and Donald Trump have committed to if there is a peace deal. A small group of military leaders held discussions in Washington to work out options, a western official told Reuters on Wednesday, shortly after a bigger virtual meeting wrapped up. Gen Dan Caine, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, held the talks, which also involved around half a dozen other Nato defence chiefs. The chair of the Nato military committee, Adm Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, called it a “great, candid discussion … Priority continues to be a just, credible and durable peace”.
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As the “coalition of the willing” began to take on a preliminary shape, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine was also working on a plan with its allies on how to proceed “in case the Russian side continues to prolong the war and disrupt agreements on bilateral and trilateral formats of leaders’ meetings”. Yermak said: “Our teams, above all the military, have already begun active work on the military component of security guarantees.”
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Russia, meanwhile, continued to display its apparent intention to delay a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, writes Pjotr Sauer. Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, complained on Wednesday that Moscow should be included in any talks on Ukraine’s security guarantees: “To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere.” Russia gave Ukraine a supposed “security guarantee” under the Budapest memorandum of 1994, which Putin has long since comprehensively violated by attacking Ukraine.
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Lavrov avoided any direct reference to a possible Putin-Zelenskyy summit and said China, Russia’s ally in the war, should be among Ukraine’s security guarantors. Kyiv is likely to view that with deep scepticism, given that Russia uses equipment and materials from China to attack Ukraine, and that the two countries have vowed to pursue a “no-limits” partnership.
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Analysts suggested Putin would probably only meet Zelenskyy to accept a complete Ukrainian capitulation. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said: “He has repeatedly stated that such a meeting would only be possible if there were well-prepared grounds, which in practice means Zelenskyy’s acceptance of Russia’s terms for ending the war.”
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Drones attacked Kyiv over Wednesday night into Thursday morning as the Ukrainian air force issued a national alert for missile attacks after Russian warplanes took off. Earlier on Wednesday, at least three people were killed in a Russian artillery attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, local officials said. Another four were wounded. The governor, Vadym Filashkin, said it involved eight strikes from a multiple rocket launch system and targeted a local market. At least 14 people, including a family with three children, were wounded in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s northern region of Sumy.
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A “massive drone strike” on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa injured one person and caused a large fire at a fuel and energy facility, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Wednesday. Ukrainian drone forces, meanwhile, scored a major hit on the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region, where fires and explosions were captured on video.
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A Russian military drone exploded in Polish farmland, also on Wednesday, blowing the windows out of houses and igniting a furious response from authorities. “Once again, we are facing a provocation from the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone,” said Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Polish defence minister. The explosion was in a cornfield near the village of Osiny, about 100km (60 miles) from Warsaw and near the borders with Ukraine and Russian-allied Belarus. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, condemned “a new violation of our airspace from the east … The foreign ministry will protest to the perpetrator of this violation.”
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It was believed to be a Russian drone type called Gerbera, which is often used as a decoy in attacks against Ukraine. Poland’s Gen Dariusz Malinowski said the aircraft “was a decoy drone, which was not armed but carried a self-destruct warhead”. Russian drones and missiles have crossed into the airspace of Nato members Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania several times in the three and a half years since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The latest incident comes less than a month after a Russian military drone flew into Lithuania from Belarus….
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ISW...Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 20, 202
- The Kremlin is demanding that Russia have a veto over any Western security guarantees for Ukraine in an effort to undermine ongoing US, European, and Ukrainian efforts to establish conditions for lasting peace in Ukraine.
- The Kremlin appears to be demanding that any security guarantees be based on those proposed in the Istanbul 2022 framework, which would grant Russia and its allies the right to veto Western military assistance to Ukraine and leave Ukraine helpless in the face of future Russian threats.
- The Kremlin is continuing to indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to have an immediate bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the timeline proposed by US President Donald Trump.
- The Russian economy continues to face budget deficits as a result of increased defense spending and detrimental effects of Western sanctions and secondary tariffs.
- Secondary tariffs are likely forcing Russia to sell oil below market price, which could be decreasing the incoming flow of foreign funds into the Russian economy and depleting Russia’s primary source of wealth.
- The Kremlin is reportedly considering replacing Russian Investigative Committee (Sledkom) Chairman Alexander Bastrykin, likely as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to form a new and younger elite.
- Ukrainian forces advanced near Pokrovsk. Russian forces advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Lyman, Toretsk, and Velykomykhailivka….
Daily Kos grund report for Today….
Ukraine strikes are hurting the Russian oil/gas industry and it’s Economy…..
A Russian drone lands in Poland…..
India don’t care about Trump…It’s buying Russian Oil…..