Ukraine Invasion 2: We're the baddies now

Politics & News
10713

A Polish judge has refused to extradite a Ukrainian citizen – suspected by Germany of sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 – arguing that if Ukraine was responsible for the attack, then it was a “just” act.

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, who was brought to Warsaw District Court in handcuffs, was detained in Poland last month on a European arrest warrant.

Judge Dariusz Lubowski ordered his release, after a ruling that was met with a ripple of surprise from the crowd in court and a smile from the man in the dock.

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10714

Dude is denying he did it, I thought.

10715

Italy did the same: Italy's top court blocks extradition of Ukrainian suspect in Nord Stream explosions' case - ABC News



Ukrenergo: Emergency power outages have been introduced in almost all regions of Ukraine, schedules in the regions where they were in effect are not working. What this is connected with is being clarified.

Poltava, Kremenchuk sectors under massive combined strikes by aero/ballistics, cruise missiles. Stay in shelters until the threat is over. The main goal is energy infrastructure.

Russia has massively attacked Ukraine’s gas infrastructure for the sixth time since the beginning of October. Last night, the enemy once again carried out a large-scale combined attack on the facilities of the Naftogaz Group. Dozens of missiles (including ballistic ones) and hundreds of Shahed drones struck civilian facilities that provide Ukrainians with gas and heat. Unfortunately, there are casualties — four of our colleagues were injured. There is destruction in several regions, and some critical facilities have been temporarily shut down. Such strikes directly affect the volumes of domestic gas production, which the company is forced to partially compensate for through imports.

“I appeal to everyone — please use gas economically whenever possible. Every saved cubic meter matters today. We have the strength to cope with this as well. Thank you to everyone who helps,” said Serhiy Koretskyi, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine.

10716

Some real gems in this, especially if you watched the Tucker interview or read about Putin giving his long history rant:

https://archive.ph/dYtAA

There are some signs Putin may be aware the Alaska talks could have gone better. “It’s not funny,” he said, when asked earlier this month if he had explained the history of Ukraine to Trump.

The Russian president then delivered a rambling historical discursion spanning medieval princes such as Rurik of Novgorod and Yaroslav the Wise, along with the 17th century Cossack chieftain Bohdan Khmelnytsky — figures he often cites to support his claim Ukraine and Russia are one nation.

Taken aback, Trump raised his voice several times and at one point threatened to walk out, the people said. He ultimately cut the meeting short and cancelled a planned lunch where broader delegations were due to discuss economic ties and co-operation.

10717

Lol Trump turned on Putin because Putin bored him with actual history.

I only hope he read this verbatim:

Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!

Thou Turkish devil, brother and companion to the accursed Devil himself, and secretary to Lucifer!

What the hell kind of knight art thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with thy bare arse?

The devil shits, and thy army eats!

Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we fear not thy army, by land and by sea we will fight thee, fuck thy mother.

Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, Jerusalem beer-brewer, Alexandrian goat-fucker, Greater and Lesser Egypt’s swineherd, Armenian thief, Podolian hangman, Cossack’s dog, Tartar’s cat, swine-snouted sow, Bracław goat, Kamianets executioner, and the whole world’s fool, and our Lord’s fool.

The devil take thee!

That’s what the Cossacks have to say to thee, thou basest born of runts unfit to herd swine.

Now we conclude, for we know not the date and have no calendar; the moon’s in the sky, the year’s in the book, the day’s the same over all the world — and for this kiss our arse!

Signed:
The Zaporozhian Host.

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The greatest letter in human history (probably not real, but whatever, I’m sure it captured the spirit).

10718

USA sent 13k tanks, 400k jeeps and trucks, and 14k planes to the USSR during the war.

But, the USSR had more people was one of the main things. Germans killed about 2 Soviet soldiers for every German the Soviets killed.

10719

My understanding is that the USSR massively out produced Germany as well in tanks (plus everything else), in addition to having more people. With the T-34 being simple and mass produced.

10720

Forgot which book this is from but the compelling argument made in the book is that any 2 out of the 3 main Allied forces would have struggled to defeat Germany. The most likely result would have been a peace with most of Europe controlled by Germany. Without the US materials support early in the war Russian losses would have been too much to recover from. Without Russian manpower and an active second front the US losses would have been too much for them to fight 2 fronts. Without the UK as a staging area, UK navy and support from UK overseas territories the US and Russia wouldn’t have been able to effectively help each other.

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10721

Perhaps. I think this downplays the leading and decisive role that the USSR played. (As a lot of analysis does).

The Germans struggled at 500 miles from home. Struggled more at 1000. They were running on a few train lines that were susceptible to partisan attack, and millions of horses.

The idea that they could sustain an invasion past the Urals seems almost impossible.

I suspect it would have taken longer but that the Soviets would have beaten them back eventually.

They never had the chance to reach an accommodation in the way that western Europe could have, it was a battle for existence.

10722

If the America First people were in charge (Lindberg POTUS, which could have happened), USA would have fought Japan only, allied with Germany, won the war and be a fascist country rn. Imagine that.

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10723

An International EU arrest warrant (or two) requires evidence / a decent chance of obtaining a conviction and the dude was smirking for some reason

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More info on casualty estimates:

https://archive.ph/qP98w

https://www.economist.com/interactive/europe/2025/10/17/russia-latest-big-ukraine-offensive-gains-next-to-nothing-again

Our meta-estimate suggests that, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion to January of this year, Russian casualties amounted to 640,000–877,000 soldiers, of whom 137,000–228,000 have died. By October 13th, those totals had risen by almost 60%, to 984,000–1,438,000 casualties, including 190,000–480,000 dead.

So this year would be 344k-561k, of which 53k-252k are dead. (Through October)

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10725

That really doesn’t seem sustainable, at least not for a dictators vanity war.

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10726

There was some speculation about this awhile ago, which is worth a read imo:

https://x.com/RALee85/status/1975892918368980993


I think they will continue for some time though. Putin does not value the lives at all, and he’s kept his population poor enough that they’re still willing to die for the money.

A second mobilization is possible too.

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10727

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1979480770868646238

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10728

Discussions like this are always maddening. If the USSR didn’t ally with the Nazis early on, they never dominate the West. They get zero credit for winning the war

10729

At this rate it looks like they might run out of gasoline to even get the cannon meat to the front. How is this winnable now? but yeah, Putin doesn’t want to admit it, so the slaughter (and rationing and lines around the block) continue on.

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10730

A lot of people like to overvalue the USSR’s role in the WW2 and Stalin was obviously a stupid piece of shit, but

that’s absurd. It’s not like they just died by the millions to destroy much of the German Army in Russia, they won the Battle of Berlin in which the Germans had almost a million casualties.

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Cool the net out even after allying with Nazis and dividing Eastern Europe.

10732

No. No thank you