Russian special military operation in Ukraine #46

An interesting post under the latest Alexander Mercouris video:

bobu567:

There are 3 ports in the area of Odessa (1) Odessa Main Port (2) Odessa North (3) Several miles North of Odessa , the largest. The Russian attacks over the last 3 days have been at port #1 and Port #2. The third has been untouched . . . so far. By the way #3 is where U.S. Cargill Agri-Corporation bought the massive Grain export terminal.
REPORTEDLY RUSSIA IS WILLING TO EXTEND THE GRAIN DEAL AS SOON AS THE WEST HONORS THEIR HALF OF THE DEAL (a) NO WEAPONS ON SHIPS (b) RUSSIA IS ALLOWED TO SHIP GRAIN AND FERTILIZER.
If the West doesnt ant to deal Port #3 (Cargill's GrainTerminal) will most likely be taken out also.
It will be easy to monitor as Port #3 is all grain terminals. No warehouses to hide military equipment and ammo.
P.S. US Congress just authorized $260 million to aid Ukraine Farmers More charity for U.S. corporations. . LOL, U.S. Corporations Cargill and Monsanto bought up 46 Million acres of PRIME Ukraine Farmland as of September 2021. I'm sure that number has gone up much more

S70 Okhotnik was seen paired with a Mig35

It is said that Okhotnik has dropped FAB on the enemy

Arkanghelsk wrote:What are the prospects for American elections in 2024, and how will it affect the Ukrainian Crisis?

2024 will be a decisive year in global politics, because of the Saturnalian ritual of US presidential elections

Currently a political crisis brews as Republican political candidate Donald Trump is embroiled in multi-indictments, with the opposition party trying to jail their main political opponent before the elections come

But if the democrats and their deep state allies are prepared to rig elections and flip states, why is there the impending need to jail Trump at this stage?

The issue is defined as such: currently the democrats have no other candidates which will toe the main party line. Joe Biden is in a scandal of his own, and at the same time the aging leader is prone to gaffes that are typical of a senior who is declining in mental faculties and who displays more and more the symptoms of dementia and potential alzheimers

The issue is, if the senior citizen ails to the point of total incapacitation, or even death, the alternatives will mean absolute defeat of the democrats, even if they have the power to overturn elections, the population will not tolerate such unpopular officials like Kamala Harris to ascend to the seat of highest power in USA

The other issue is that the Republicans seem aware of this situation,  and have taken into account that even if Joe Biden survives another year, that they have a strategy to defeat him, which is reminiscent of the 1992 election results, in which incumbent George W. Bush Sr, a former CIA head, failed to secure victory ahead of his challenger Bill Clinton

Bush was not a popular candidate in 1992, his first term was marred by the gulf war debacle, and the country was yearning for progressive initiatives to overcome the stagnating economy that Bush had introduced

The issue for democrats was that although Clinton was popular, and his policies were widely supported, his competitor had the backing of the intelligence agencies and the establishment, as Joe Biden has today

But an unlikely turn of events occurred, as a 3rd candidate, Ross Perot, threw his hat into the race, and took a whopping 19% of the vote, ending Bush's aspirations for re-election, and deciding the victory in favor of Bill Clinton

2024 portends to be an interesting year, as RFK Jr, the nephew of former president JFK, looks more and more like a nascent leader of a 3rd party in which votes can be siphoned away from democrats, while Trump with his base of voters can come away with a lead as Clinton did in 1992

This strategy is a strong one, as disapproval of Joe Biden is at the highest level with multiple issues facing the American people from surging inflation, a recession which is hurting growth of business, and weakening of the banking system with regional banks suffering under persistent rate hikes as the FED tries to fight off inflation, albeit to no avail

The repercussions of a Trump victory could be described as such: Trump will focus on the economy, and his first order of business will be to cut off the Ukrainian anchor which is generating inflationary pressures due to the rise of oil prices, and a general disruption of global markets

At the same time Trumps main enemy are the Chinese, who ruined his own re-election campaign by unleashing COVID-19 at a time when Trumps polling was at an all time high, and hanging 1 million American deaths around the populist figurehead

Coupled with a national lockdown that choked the US economy, Trump sunk rapidly in the face of mounting deaths, and civil chaos during the summer riots exploding in the wake of the death of George Floyd-

All this told, Trump has a debt to settle with the Chinese leadership, who turned out victorious in the first round of trade wars that Trump engaged in

His focus will not be Zelensky and the Ukrainian state, or NATO, his focus will be to bring to bear retribution for perceived personal sleights against him and the US by the Chinese government

There is a lot that can happen before any of these scenarios begin to surface, but what can be said is that 2024 will not be the ushering of a new era of peace, but it will be the continuation of global turbulence marked by political, economic, and military instability

Pretty decent take, and as the article points out not a lot is going to change regardless of who wins. I do hate to be a bearer of bad news because I want peace, but its very likely that things get even worse in terms of relations between Washington and Moscow because war in the US is seen as an economic stimulus program. Republicans and whatever peace democrats and independents and anyone else who wants the US to reevaluate its relations with Kiev and/or urge peace talks will be branded and smeared as Russian agents and Kremlin stooges. Yeah, this war is about what all foreign wars (the first few years of the Afghan war excepted) have been about since Korea, namely making a literal and metaphorical killing for the Military industrial complex, big energy, and the Intel apparat. As such there is no longer in US politics such a thing as a peace dividend. Peace is not profitable and if peace breaks out tomorrow the bottom falls out of Wall Street. So the greedy bastards and heartless psychopaths we are forced to choose between on election day will be outdoing each other on the Russia "threat." I do expect the Rayguns era bear in the woods ad to make a comeback although honestly I would love for a candidate to do the 60s era flower commercial. The one where the little girl is plucking flower petals and there is an atom bomb explosion at the end showing what a Barry Goldwater election would lead to.

The only hope I have left is that Bidiot and whoever comes after him continues the policy of no American soldiers in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the trend in American foreign policy since at least 1916 is that when a president says a variation of "we are not going to send our young men overseas to do the job [country x's young people] should be doing themselves" it almost invariably means its just a matter of time before American young men and women get placed in harm's way. IF there are not American soldiers openly fighting under the American flag by sometime in 2025 and there are not nuclear exchanges by 2026, I will be somewhat relieved. That's just the way this country is. I wish you guys were dealing with a nation that had a mentally stable populace and economic, military, academic, and political power elite but you aren't. Oh, I would love to be proven wrong on that and for a strict treaty to be written where Crimea and all territory south and east of the Dniepr are recognized as part of Russia and that the rump state is a demilitarized state whose security is guaranteed solely by non aligned nations and that is not allowed an air force or a security force of more than 100,000.

Backman wrote:

This bullshit again. This is probably the start of a new narrative to name and shame China and accuse it of helping Russia in the war. It serves 2 purposes. It belittles Russia's own capabilities and blames China. Because Russia cant do anything right and if it does, it must be because the Chinese are helping.

Russia should say it has found a way to use Starlink signals to improve targeting. then sit back and enjoy the show.

Another interesting article on the issues of munitions in the west, a few key points below.
What's crazy is the cost increase from last year and now.  First paragraph USA purchased 83 LRASMs costing $6.6mn each, a year later they cost $9.3mn each that's a increase of $2.7mn each is this an indication of the turmoil of USA economy?

1)The US defence department has signalled its intention to refocus on munitions after years of under-investment. In its 2024 budget, it asked for $1.1bn to fund 118 LRASMs, up from $550mn for the 83 it requested the year before.

2)The CNAS report says existing inventory is “too small to blunt an initial invasion, let alone prevail in a protracted conflict

3(The Pentagon tends to prioritise big, expensive items such as ships, aircraft and vehicles, “leaving missiles and munitions with inadequate funding”, according to a recent CNAS report

We can’t keep chasing shiny things,” says Richard Spencer, a former secretary of the navy under Donald Trump


4)The US defence industrial base has consolidated significantly since the 1990s — the number of prime contractors at the Pentagon has fallen from 51 to five. As some parts are made by only one or two suppliers, there is typically no way to replicate production elsewhere.

Plagued by cost overruns and delivery delays, the notion of reforming the US acquisition process is perpetual, but the challenges in doing so are “hard baked into the system”, says Cook, with the Pentagon, White House, and Congress all having input on procurement.

5)The defence industry is so consolidated that it can’t very quickly expand to support a greater demand,” warns Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defence programme at the Center for a New American Security, a think-tank. “So we’re slow and behind and don’t have enough of anything” in munitions.


6)Cynthia Cook, director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at US think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS calculated in its Taiwan war games this year that the US would use its entire stock of long-range anti-ship missiles — approximately 450 — within a week of conflict


7)US production capacity is under strain from parts and labour shortages, too. And Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia programme at CSIS, dismisses the notion that European defence groups can fill the gap. With 27 member countries, the EU has a “really fractured defence industrial base where the big European countries like Germany, France [and] Italy are usually focused on selling to themselves”, he says.

8 ) western defence apparatus spending decades prioritising efficiency and lower costs, adopting the same sort of just-in-time supply chain used by the auto industry. That suited a period of relative peace but, say observers, has cut the slack in the system necessary to expand weapons production quickly.


https://www.ft.com/content/370771ac-ab9f-4161-8c8d-bf5e87870b00

d_taddei2 wrote:Another interesting article on the issues of munitions in the west, a few key points below.
What's crazy is the cost increase from last year and now.  First paragraph USA purchased 83 LRASMs costing $6.6mn each, a year later they cost $9.3mn each that's a increase of $2.7mn each is this an indication of the turmoil of USA economy?

It's inflation

The US CPI does not comport with true inflation

And Jerome Powell will hike rates the rest of the FOMC meetings from 23-24

This means inflation is still a problem, and that's a combination of factors -

Energy prices sent everything else higher, cost of materials, overhead, labor, is all more expensive

And this in turn has resulted in higher prices throughout the economy

But the foremost causal factor is the higher cost of the debt service - so even if powell and the central bank hike rates, it might temper the surge in pricing,

But the result is a higher cost of interest/debt service

The problem is worldwide, and systematic, market wide

There's no diversification that can help, the only thing which can help is the weakening of domestic currency, and import substitution

The cost of import is too high, and we see even Chinese goods have become more expensive

Russia damaged the Chinese consulate in Odessa when they struck one of the storage facilities, nobody was hurt thankfully, hopefully a sorry will suffice

Godric wrote:Russia damaged the Chinese consulate in Odessa when they struck one of the storage facilities, nobody was hurt thankfully, hopefully a sorry will suffice    

It should, China probably gets its choice of any captured NATO wonderwaffle to reverse engineer to its heart content so in about 12 to 18 months, China is going to have its own domestically produced Leopards and Bradleys.

Godric wrote:Russia damaged the Chinese consulate in Odessa when they struck one of the storage facilities, nobody was hurt thankfully, hopefully a sorry will suffice    

The Ukies can plant some bombs or drop a rocket on the said consulate during the pounding and there you have it, an attempt at cracking the Russo-Chinese alliance.

Polls are notoriously inaccurate and often wrong, for anything when done due to numerous problems.

Especially western polls intended to sway public opinion rather than reflect it.

The Brits have a long tradition of making up stories without even leaving their offices and talking to anyone in many of their newspapers...

We got some experts here on Ukraine and US rationality. I mean of course the Kerch bridge is a legit target. We can hit it which will cost us the entirety of the Odessa and Nikolaev ports. It will also cost us our ag export economy.

Can these experts fill us in on the logic of hitting the Kerch bridge again ?

The west is running lots of games all at once... the fact that their part of the grain deal was pretty easy for them to act upon, yet they never even bothered to try suggests the plan was always for the deal to fail eventually and the reason would be so they could blame Putin for food prices increasing around the world... of course one could argue if food exports are so critical to the world then why are EU countries blocking Russia from delivering hundreds of thousands of tons of food currently locked in EU ports by EU regulations preventing insurance for those ships.

I suspect the plan there is that the price of food goes up and starts causing famine in some parts of the world and then the west will come up with the amazing idea of seizing the Russian food in EU ports and delivering it at market prices to those starving countries... so they can make big money and appear to be the good guys... and of course they will siphon off the food they need for feeding their stock and dropping the prices for food in their countries first and the Russian fertiliser will be pinched too of course... and it will all be Putins fault obviously.

Of course lots of western resources in Russia that Russia can seize in response...

But all the world will hear about is a few thousand tons of Russian grain from European ports saving the day... nothing about hundreds of thousands of tons feeding pigs in Spain for example.

Another factor is that Russia is the bad guy and Kiev is the victim so Russia pummelling Kiev over any attack on a bridge reinforces that in already blinkered western eyes...

This bullshit again. This is probably the start of a new narrative to name and shame China and accuse it of helping Russia in the war. It serves 2 purposes. It belittles Russia's own capabilities and blames China. Because Russia cant do anything right and if it does, it must be because the Chinese are helping.

Perhaps we can take the positive that the accuracy and precision of the Russian military can no longer be denied and claims of genocide against the Ukrainian civilian population no longer stand up... except if you call Kievs conscription practises an attempt at self genocide which they probably are.

Russia has done nothing against China since the end of the USSR, but still China is disrespecting Russia by openly copying Russian military designs. For now, Russia is very patient with the Chinese, but at some point in the future, Russia will have to raise its voice.

Everyone copies... and China saving money in design by reproducing designs proven to work is just normal... everyone does it.

Just look at quite a few Russian drone designs... especially the larger ones that look similar to foreign types... there is no really a huge variation in design for a lot of drones made by most countries around the world.

Part of it is fashion, but also part is technology... if you look at fighter planes the first were straight wing biplanes and then straight winged monoplanes and then jet engines increased flight speed to where swept wings were needed but some went for delta wings, then variable sweep wings were fashionable because they allowed very high speed with shorter runways... for heavy aircraft like the Blackjack and Backfire the swing wing still makes sense to allow supersonic speed and still take off from reasonable runway lengths... then swept and variable sweep wings were replaced with more sophisticated wing design of the MiG-29 and Su-27 with lifting body shapes and straight trailing edges but swept leading edges with LERXs... and smart wings with leading and trailing edge surfaces that can make a thin profile high speed wing high lift like a much thicker wing for lower speed landing and take off.

Failures like lift jets are aberrations... but occasionally keep coming back, despite disappearing for a reason.

For my understanding, China is not a real friend of Russia. I am not saying that China has some hidden agenda, like greater Manchuria, but understand that China is opportunistic, so Russia should never let its guard down. So, be self-sufficient in everything you can, and don't handicap yourself by relying too much on the Chinese. Maybe countries like Iran, India, or Saudi Arabia can balance it out.

Any country can be trusted to follow its own interests.... Russia does not expect China to screw its own people to keep Russia happy and China should not expect Russia to screw Russians just to make China happy.

A bit of respect and understanding goes a long way... Russia wont tell China what to do regarding Taiwan, just as China isn't telling Russia what to do with regard to Crimea or Ukraine. Russia is not telling China it needs to be a democracy and China is not telling Russia it needs communism back.

The way Russia treats its own people is its business and the way China treats its own people is its business.

There are 3 ports in the area of Odessa (1) Odessa Main Port (2) Odessa North (3) Several miles North of Odessa , the largest. The Russian attacks over the last 3 days have been at port #1 and Port #2. The third has been untouched . . . so far. By the way #3 is where U.S. Cargill Agri-Corporation bought the massive Grain export terminal.

Putin said the west has 90 days (can't remember if it was 60 days or 90 days) to fulfill all their side of the agreement and Russia will return to the deal, but if they don't then there is no return to the deal (suggesting that that remaining port will be hammered and put out of order when the time is up).

Honestly I am glad the west can't keep their side of a bargain... they take advantage of the deal and cheat so being able to rip it up and throw it in their faces is very satisfying...

Plus the problems Russia faces with grain exports from EU ports on western ships that wont sail in fear of sanctions, which can't get western insurance for fear of sanctions, and payments can't be made because they can't access SWIFT, and the ammonia pipeline from Ukraine is not operating to make fertiliser... well Russia is just going to have to pull finger and start sorting out grain exports to the world on Russian or neutral ships with Russian or neutral insurance with party to party payments set up... and then Russia will be independent of EU strings...

S70 Okhotnik was seen paired with a Mig35

The MiG looks tiny...

The only hope I have left is that Bidiot and whoever comes after him continues the policy of no American soldiers in Ukraine

Hate to be a prick but your only chance of opposition to the conflict in Ukraine is for US bodies coming home in body bags making the sheep think a bit more about the conflict.

It was body bags that ended US participation in Vietnam... but mostly honest reporting... and the ironic thing is that we in the west have not had honest war reporting since because the US government recognised how unappealing real war is to the general population.

It's inflation

The US CPI does not comport with true inflation

No. It is profiteering. Gouging... theft...

Russia damaged the Chinese consulate in Odessa when they struck one of the storage facilities, nobody was hurt thankfully, hopefully a sorry will suffice

Just don't blame old maps... they don't like that excuse...

The Ukies can plant some bombs or drop a rocket on the said consulate during the pounding and there you have it, an attempt at cracking the Russo-Chinese alliance.

They have done a lot worse than that... including murdering their own civilians and trying to blame Russia for it...

WTF Business Insider




With such headings, Forbes is giving RT a run for its money.


Maybe Russia shouldn't shy away from paying these Westoid presstitutes from time to time to counteract Ukrop's propaganda because RT is very bad at actual narrative building, even though facts are undisputedly on the Russian side.

What did he expect ? The shit he says is unacceptable in war time. This has been coming for a long time 

TASS writes:

"The former head of the DNR militia Igor Strelkov (Girkin) has been detained in Moscow and charged with extremism, according to his wife Miroslava Reginskaya. Law enforcement agencies confirmed the information about his detention

He wants to go to prison so he can volunteer for the front. 

Arkanghelsk wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:Another interesting article on the issues of munitions in the west, a few key points below.
What's crazy is the cost increase from last year and now.  First paragraph USA purchased 83 LRASMs costing $6.6mn each, a year later they cost $9.3mn each that's a increase of $2.7mn each is this an indication of the turmoil of USA economy?

It's inflation

The US CPI does not comport with true inflation

And Jerome Powell will hike rates the rest of the FOMC meetings from 23-24

This means inflation is still a problem, and that's a combination of factors -

Energy prices sent everything else higher, cost of materials, overhead, labor, is all more expensive

And this in turn has resulted in higher prices throughout the economy

But the foremost causal factor is the higher cost of the debt service - so even if powell and the central bank hike rates, it might temper the surge in pricing,  

But the result is a higher cost of interest/debt service

The problem is worldwide, and systematic, market wide

There's no diversification that can help, the only thing which can help is the weakening of domestic currency, and import substitution

The cost of import is too high, and we see even Chinese goods have become more expensive

Correct its inflation, i know some believe its just profiteering, but no, there really is a commodities shortage going on, as well as money printing like crazy, due to the reverse repos for the banks.
Simply put, the US is using their banks to buy bonds with printed money, using the banks as a middleman.
This better know as monitizing the debt.

So we have a double wammy of inflation via printing and supply shortages.
And if that wasnt enough, this entire sanctions war has completely destroyed the credibilty of the Western financial system as a whole.
Apparently the West forgot what the "Fiat" in Fiat Currency stands for.

This will cause hyper-inflation in due time, there is no way out of this, they wont stop spending and and commodities arent gonna go back anytime soon, the dollar and by extension the American empire are done for.

This is why so many countries are going to BRICS/SCO, becuase these countries aren't stupid, they can see this coming financial collapse of the West from a mile away.

Kartapolov said Wagner troops were sent to "train" Belarusian soldiers in preparation for a potential attack against Poland to potentially seize control of the Suwałki Gap,

a small but strategically important strip of Polish territory between Russia and the exclave of Kaliningrad that has long been a sticking point for Russia. His remarks come after Poland moved troops last week to its Eastern border due to Wagner concerns.

It seems Russian senior leadership, and Putin believe Russia can win against NATO in Suwalki, and Baltics

It will be a fast war, not like Ukraine as Russia will indiscriminately hit NATO when it goes into Suwalki

NATO cannot do much in this area, as the General Staff is correct, in the short term, NATO has no equipment to rebuff a Russian advance - 1st armored corps will take time to commit to the fight, and Russia can attrite 1st armored easily by targeting them directly

Once Russia seizes Suwalki it will be the new Checkpoint Charlie




Kartapolov is Duma Defense Committe chair and ex commander of the Western Military District

Tactically - taking Suwalki would mean seizing a strip of land north of Belarus along Lithuania and Latvia

11th army corps in Kaliningrad can seize the corridor itself

While Belarusian troops and Wagner seize the strip

Seizing Suwalki would mean taking more land then just the corridor, as the area must be defended in depth from attacks

If the NATO QRF starts hitting Wagner, Air defense inside of Belarus can ground NATO airpower, while the Russian army levels the baltics proper

From there the conflict would expand along the Belarusian border and into Ukraine itself

This is why a Russian counteroffensive to the Dnieper is what is being suggested as a staging point for the inevitable expansion of the conflict with NATO in western Ukraine and the baltics

Be interesting to see how long NATO would last as the conflict would escalate to the highest threshold

But losing suwalki and some of the baltics wouldn't mean use of B61 or invocation of article V

I mean, without 155mm shells or armored vehicles, how could you do it?

Anyway it would also disperse the Abrams tanks in the theater to force them to cover more ground, rather than allowing NATO to leisurely send the armor into Ukraine

In other words taking NATO on is advantageous, as it means they cannot just sit back and send weapons to Ukraine - they'd have to fight a conventional war and their economies would truly collapse

Arkanghelsk wrote:Kartapolov said Wagner troops were sent to "train" Belarusian soldiers in preparation for a potential attack against Poland to potentially seize control of the Suwałki Gap, ...

Under normal circumstances I'd say that Russians aren't retarded enough to outsource something as important and risky as Suwalki to incompetent traitors like Wagner but at this point nothing would surprise me

Something this big should be done by a military, does Russia even have that anymore or is it just bunch of randos doing whatever the guy with biggest hat tels them?

Putin warns of Poland’s intentions in Ukraine and Belarus

Warsaw is looking to take control over western parts of Ukraine, the Russian president claims


Polish leaders are planning to form a NATO-backed coalition to intervene in the Ukraine conflict and take over parts of western Ukraine as well as, possibly, Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Friday.

Speaking at a meeting with permanent members of Russia’s Security Council, Putin said the government in Kiev is willing to go to any lengths to stay in power, including selling out its own people and handing over Ukrainian territories to “foreign owners.”

The first in line, according to the Russian president, are the Poles, who he claimed “probably expect to form some kind of coalition under the ‘NATO umbrella’ and directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine, in order to then 'tear off' a bigger piece for themselves, to regain, as they believe, their historical territories – today’s western Ukraine.”

During Friday’s meeting, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, also alleged that Warsaw was considering capturing western territories of Ukraine by deploying its own troops to the region as part of a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian security initiative.

According to Naryshkin, Polish officials are gradually coming to the realization that “the issue of Ukraine’s defeat is only a matter of time,” regardless of the amount of Western military assistance sent to Kiev.

------

This is why taking the fight directly to NATO is more important than letting them arm Ukraine

Wagner is good to fight NATO because they can provide experience and training in the first violent head on collision with NATO

Dissuading NATO from a Galicia intervention would not be limited to only deterrence, but also direct confrontation in other sectors, to not allow them the luxury of staging and arming and attacking Russia in Ukraine

Poland Considering Sending Troops to Western Ukraine - Russian Foreign Intel Head

- Poland is considering establishing control over the western part of Ukraine through the deployment of its troops there, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin said on Friday.

The SVR head believes that Warsaw is coming to realize that the defeat of Ukraine is a matter of time.
"The Polish leadership is intensifying the mindset to introduce control in the western territories of Ukraine, the western regions by deploying their troops there," Naryshkin said at a meeting held by President Vladimir Putin with the permanent members of the Security Council.

In this regard, Putin instructed the Russian foreign intelligence head to monitor Poland's plans for Ukraine.

Putin stressed that Polish leaders plan to form a coalition under the guise of NATO and intervene in the conflict in Ukraine in order to seize land and return, as they believe, their historical territories.

"There have been media reports about plans to create a certain so-called Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian union: that is, we are not talking about some gathering of mercenaries, there are enough of them, and they are being destroyed, namely a regular, assembled, equipped military unit that is planned to be used for actions on the territory of Ukraine, including for allegedly ensuring the security of the current Western Ukraine. And in fact, if you call things by their proper names — for the subsequent occupation of these territories," Putin said at a meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council.

Poorland seems hell-bent on committing suicide by the Russian military. Russia will use tactical nukes If any NATO military is foolish enough to directly intervene in the Ukraine conflict.
If Duda had an IQ above room temperature, he would've kept his mouth shut and waited for the Russians to finish the job. He could've made a secret deal with Russia, and the Russians would've gladly handed over the West of 404 for free.