ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

"Take these seeds so sunflowers grow when you die here!!"
This woman is a badass:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60525996

That is incredible.

The use of thermobaric weapons (referenced in the tweet above) is one of the bleaker scenarios: a weapon that sucks the oxygen out of a particular area -- a bunker, a subway station, and so on.

Also, this may come to nothing, but:

Document from Ministry of Health shows Russia is clearly preparing for a major medical event where doctors have to be drafted from across the country. The letter is signed by Deputy Health Minister Plutnitsky.

— Emma Burrows (@EJ_Burrows) February 25, 2022

x-post. Sunflowers? Yes, great footage. Bravery.

(I'd just read that many Russian soldiers don't want to be there and have been threatened and something about that clip also made that seem believable).

Sunflowers are Ukraine's national flower.

yeah I've seen some footage of Ukrainians helping the badly wounded Russian soldiers, who appear to be like 19 and don't really look like they wanna be be there

Thanks for that Eazy - I didn't know that and found something incredibly moving about it.

Grain of salt, etc.

The #Anonymous collective has leaked the database of the Russian Ministry of Defense website. #Ukraine

— Anonymous (@YourAnonOne) February 25, 2022

bummed that "Ghost of Kyiv" thing was a fake apparently

there's a fucking video of a tank driving on a highway, there being a sole car being driven by an elderly man nowhere near the tank, and the tank swerves and runs over the car.

the man survived the initial event and was extricated from his vehicle, hoping he remained ok....don't watch the vid, but this video making the rounds to fight the obvious peacekeeping propaganda. just sickening video.

what was that ghost of kyiv thing about? i saw it getting mentioned on reddit a bunch, so assumed it was stupid.

Apparently some Red Baron fighter jet ace

yeah legendary Ukrainian Fighter pilot that took down a bunch of Russian aircraft on the first day

but i think some of the footage used to verify this was from a video game smh

this whole thing is making me sick to my stomach

Searches for “how to make a molotov cocktail” spiked in Ukraine in the last 24 hours, according to Google search data.

I've struggled to listen to the news in the morning (UK, Radio 4, generally), AndytG.

xp

Molotov cocktail production pic.twitter.com/zdKLyq4rDL

— C O U P S U R E (@COUPSURE) February 25, 2022

Alex Vindman (the Ukraine-born expert that Trump hated so much) has suggested something akin to Lend/Lease, where we sent all these weapons & vehicles to the USSR before we officially joined WWII as a active combatant - I think we should do nothing less

it seems safe to think that weapons and other aid will be forthcoming from the western powers for as long as the Ukrainians are able and willing to resist. but by the time major military aid could be assembled and shipped it's likely there would be some difficulty finding safe points of entry for anything larger than Stinger missiles.

From what I gather, we are already talking about more than Ukraine, because arms are reportedly being sent to other nearby NATO countries who are rightly nervous, not to mention other countries (like Finland and Sweden) that Putin also explicitly warned against joining NATO. I can't even fathom what his end game is, or why he decided to do this now.

it's because Brandon is weak! geez keep up

Oh yeah, forgot about Brandon.

god the "this never would've happened under Trump" argument drives me up the fuckin wall, as though he didn't give Putin every single thing he wanted

And took shit away from Ukraine! That's why he was impeached the first time!

Anyway:

“Why should our government entertain your presence here when you’re acting as an apologist for slaughter?” @mcculld asks Russia's ambassador to Ireland. @rtenews
pic.twitter.com/SujhiqatGE

— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) February 25, 2022

New Polling!!

It said 92% of Republicans had a negative view of Biden, while 81% had a negative view of Putin

god the "this never would've happened under Trump" argument drives me up the fuckin wall, as though he didn't give Putin every single thing he wanted

― frogbs, Friday, 25 February 2022 21:36 (one minute ago) link

I think that's their point, right?

Um, you guys talking about the US running guns to Ukraine, I don’t you’ve fully thought this out.

Comrade Calz would have something saltier to say if here were here probably.

I've thought it out, send them arms

America has a rich, glorious history of arming belligerents in conflicts that have nothing to do with us, why stop now

Worked great in Afghanistan in the 80s.

Statement concerning crisis in #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Ck17sMrAWy

— Abdul Qahar Balkhi (@QaharBalkhi) February 25, 2022

See, if Trump had just issued tweets like the Taliban, he would've never been kicked off

Alex Vindman (the Ukraine-born expert that Trump hated so much) has suggested something akin to Lend/Lease, where we sent all these weapons & vehicles to the USSR before we officially joined WWII as a active combatant - I think we should do nothing less

what came after Lend-Lease?

So how should Ukrainians resist an invasion vs an imperalist nation that has ten times the military capacity?

Just brainstorming no bad answers.

what came after Lend-Lease?

Uhh, Allied victory over the Axis?

In between those two?

I'm not sure if there are unofficial rules of the game about such matters, but the US and Russia have a long history of arming each others' opponents in proxy wars. One thing that would represent a major escalation that some people have called for would be trying to enforce a no-fly zone.

Personaly, I wouldn’t go too far into WW2 comparisons while arguing for appeasement and against nation’s rights to defend themselves against an imperial aggressor.

https://twitter.com/PMBreakingNews/status/149733729904193126

Breaking: Intensive gunfire heard in Kyiv. Ukraine President Zelensky says Russian troops will storm the city tonight. pic.twitter.com/WwXGHERj5R

— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) February 25, 2022

I wouldn’t go too far into WW2 comparisons

arguing for appeasement

nation’s rights to defend themselves against an imperial aggressor

We're talking about the US and arms dealing, do follow along.

Lend-Lease of war material to UK in 1940 is an extremely poor parallel case. For that matter, so is Afghanistan in the 80s. If Russia controls its borders, Ukraine would be very hard to arm in any quantity, and they have no mountainous terrain to hide in like Afghanistan. This feels more like a shift into a new Cold War based on vigorous containment.

Cool, so if Ukrainians can defend themselves it will include procuring weapons for said defense.

If Russia controls its borders, Ukraine would be very hard to arm in any quantity, and they have no mountainous terrain to hide in like Afghanistan

Looks like the Ukraine border with Romania (a NATO country) passes through the Carpathian Mountains and is about 380 miles long.

xp
And my country shouldn't be the one sending them.

A "new Cold War" and the "long history of arming each others' opponents in proxy wars" are things that anyone without apocalyptic fantasies should be actively opposed to.

Positive thought for those wanting the US to supply weapons: historically that not being loudly announced in the media doesn't need to mean it's not happenig.

And my country shouldn't be the one sending them.

The Ukrainian people salute your solidarity.

Don't worry, Germany will pick up the slack. The 5000 helmets they promised back in January are finally en route:

https://www.businessinsider.com/helmets-germany-offered-ukraine-en-route-days-after-russian-invasion-2022-2

"Appeasement" implies that the country I live in has, or should have, any say over something happening on the other side of the globe.

Considering the victim country has made it clear joining NATO was a priority and that it is suffering the consequences of that act of sef-determination, and that your country is the key player and architect of NATO, then yes, the US has a say in this.