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[AfricanKing]

Russian troops enter strategic Black Sea port city of Kherson, mayor says

Russian troops are in the Ukrainian city of Kherson and forced their way into the council building, the mayor said after a day of conflicting claims over whether Moscow had make the first major gain of a city in its invasion that began eight days ago.

www.reuters.com

MOSCOW/DONETSK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russia faced the prospect of harsh new Western sanctions on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and ordered the deployment of troops there, deepening Western fears of a major war in Europe.

Ukraine said two soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the east in the past 24 hours, and reported new hostilities on Tuesday morning.


A Reuters journalist saw tanks and other military hardware moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk overnight, but no insignia were visible on the vehicles.

Western leaders are trying to work out what Putin will do next, and whether Russia plans a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after massing troops near the borders of its ex-Soviet neighbour and demanding a redrawing of security arrangements in Europe.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country may break off diplomatic relations with Moscow. read more

Russia's parliament was expected to ratify treaties with the two separatist regions on Tuesday, and rising fears of war pushed oil prices to a seven-year high on Tuesday, while safe-haven currencies including the yen rallied and stocks around the world tumbled. read more

Putin's announcement on Monday, and his signing of a decree on the deployment of Russian troops to "keep peace" in the two breakaway regions, drew international condemnation.


U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to halt U.S. business activity in the breakaway regions and European Union officials met to discuss sanctions. The EU's top diplomat promised the first punitive measures on Tuesday. read more

"We've got to ensure that, whatever happens, Russia will feel the pain ... to make sure Russia has absolutely no incentive to go further," said Ireland's Europe minister, Thomas Byrne.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the description of the Russian troops as peacekeepers was "nonsense".

"We can, will and must stand united in our calls for Russia to withdraw its forces, return to the diplomatic table and work toward peace," she told reporters after an emergency meeting of the White House Security Council late on Monday

A senior U.S. official said the deployment of Russian troops to the breakaway regions did not merit the harshest sanctions the United States and its allies have prepared in the event of a full-scale invasion, as Russia already had troops there.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Yeah it sucks, no politics allowed here tho.

 

[AfricanKing]

Yeah it sucks, no politics allowed here tho.

Checked in with bossman - said its okay as long as it does not get heated

 

[The Cockatrice]

Checked in with bossman - said its okay as long as it does not get heated

Ah cool then. Don't get your hopes up about the heated part tho Anyway, I like how they "refrain" from calling it an invasion yet it is a textbook invasion. Now sure how the sanctions will do anything but we'll see.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

As someone from Eastern Europe from a country that suffered for centuries under Russian hegemony:

I am baffled that the West tries to 'life hack' Russia, when it is really simple: Russia only values strength, it detests and exploits weak nations and countries. As painful as it sounds: Ukraine had since 2014 to do anything about Crimea.

I am equally surprised nobody tried to show Russia by rejecting the West they become more dependent on China.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Western leaders are trying to work out what Putin will do next, and whether Russia plans a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after massing troops near the borders of its ex-Soviet neighbour and demanding a redrawing of security arrangements in Europe.

Russian doesn't need to invade Ukraine, it wants the country in a fragile state and disorganized as a buffer zone with the EU and NATO.

 

[ManaByte]

These last few weeks have felt like Kramer and Newman’s game of Risk. We’re now at the subway part.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

An all-out war seems very unlikely imo. NATO will do everything it can to avoid it but this is still some wild shit.

 

[anthony2690]

Howcome Russia is invading Ukraine?
What are they hoping to gain/achieve?

 

[Lanrutcon]

It's not an invasion.

We just drove a tank into your country without asking.

 

[ManaByte]

Howcome Russia is invading Ukraine?
What are they hoping to gain/achieve?

 

[anthony2690]

I feel like I know the answer, but is that real? (I'm assuming it's a real good Photoshop)

 

[Irobot82]

Russian doesn't need to invade Ukraine, it wants the country in a fragile state and disorganized as a buffer zone with the EU and NATO.

This right here. Russia does not want Ukraine in the EU. They want it to be a hotbed of corruption with barely a semblance of government and law and order.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Howcome Russia is invading Ukraine?
What are they hoping to gain/achieve?

Weaken Ukraine and keep it that way to act as a buffer between Russian and the EU/NATO. Which is why they do not want the country in joining any of these arganizations.

 

[FunkMiller]

This is one big game of how much can Putin get away with, against a west that has been mired in navel-gazing and self flagellation for the past three decades.

Hopefully they will actually grow a collective fucking backbone, and come down hard on the poison midget. NordStream being cancelled by the otherwise appeasing Germans is a good start.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I'd like a break from insanity but I don't think we'll get that in the next decade or so.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

NordStream being cancelled by the otherwise appeasing Germans is a good start.

I can only imagine how much the Germans are bending over to keep the project alive. Don't close your nuclear power plants dummies.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Apparently Nord Stream 2 just got put on hold.

 

[iorek21]

I am curious to know how will the west react to this.

 

[jason10mm]

I am curious to know how will the west react to this.

 

[Kraz]

Appears the West is trying its best not to annihilate Russia and let them exist in a civilized world. Imagine it sucks to be on the border with a goomba run nation like Russia. China did do an amazing job getting them off their border. Would take an organized effort of disparate nations to defang Russian military quick. Consider the way things have been going China would do a sight better job at managing north eastern Asia than Russia.

 

[Lord Panda]

More conferences and meetings should do the trick.

 

[Toots]

I feel like I know the answer, but is that real? (I'm assuming it's a real good Photoshop)

 

[trikster40]

I think We said the same thing about Germany and Poland right before WW2.

“I wouldn’t call it an invasion, but…”

 

[Dr.D00p]

China will be looking on with interest, like it or not, they're going to take Taiwan at some point and the West's reaction to Russia & Ukraine will pretty much determine whether that is sooner rather than later.

 

[FunkMiller]

I think We said the same thing about Germany and Poland right before WW2.

“I wouldn’t call it an invasion, but…”

A better parallel is the invasion of the Sudetenland. Germany was allowed to annex an entire swathe of Czechoslovakia with no reprisals. Cannot be allowed to happen here. There’s every chance at some point the west will have to start killing Russians to stop Putin. He’s full of piss and vinegar, but sits on an economy and a society that’s very weak. All it needs is a strong, proportionate response from the allied western nations. Will we get it?

 

[FunkMiller]

Yeah it sucks, no politics allowed here tho.

Western governments of all political persuasions have allowed Putin to reach this position over the years. No reason this has to get political, because they’re all to fucking blame.

 

[Dr.D00p]

Western governments of all political persuasions have allowed Putin to reach this position over the years. No reason this has to get political, because they’re all to fucking blame.

Well that's the fundamental weakness of democracies when dealing with scum like Putin, they have a natural tendancy to put their heads in the sand for as long as humanely possible and just hope they go away. When they don't, the shit show that ensues is always far,far worse than what would have been the case if they'd just faced the reality, sooner.

 

[DeepBreath87]

Obviously the problem is there is only so much that can be done about a country with enough nuclear weapons to glass large portions of the planet. I think we probably shouldn’t pretend to be foreign policy experts. All I will say is that I hope China doesn’t take this as a green light to roll over Taiwan.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Western governments of all political persuasions have allowed Putin to reach this position over the years. No reason this has to get political, because they’re all to fucking blame.

well we all rely on russia for one thing or another, some more than the others. gas in my country, other shit in other countries. Western leaders are a bunch of pussies tho and are just waiting for Americans to make a move.

 

[Kraz]

Obviously the problem is there is only so much that can be done about a country with enough nuclear weapons to glass large portions of the planet.

A fear that allows the cowardly to show their bellies. Might explain why they have to act tough against the vulnerable and those they perceive as weak.

 

[EviLore]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.

 

[AV]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.

I don't think there'll be many of us to look back on anything when WW3 comes.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Hopefully russia will cease fire and go back

Very stupid of them to invade ukraine

 

[Maestr0]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.

 

[Halo is Back]

I don't think the economic sanctions will be as hard on Russia as the western powers think they will. I believe one of the major reasons why Russia and China strengthened thier alliance was to increase thier potential for global trade together. Putin has thought about this and calculated the risks.

 

[DeepBreath87]

A fear that allows the cowardly to show their bellies. Might explain why they have to act tough against the vulnerable and those they perceive as weak.

It’s a perfectly rational concern. Only a fool wouldn’t consider the possibility of nuclear war. Russia’s ability of project actual power is pretty limited. But their ability to cause nuclear annihilation is very real.

 

[Star-Lord]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

 

[TheMan]

Well they’ve already entered Ukraine now. Clever how they laid the groundwork years ago by posting troops in those separatist areas- now world leaders (including our own) won’t yet call this an invasion even though that’s what exactly what we’re seeing

 

[Kraz]

It’s a perfectly rational concern. Only a fool wouldn’t consider the possibility of nuclear war. Russia’s ability of project actual power is pretty limited. But their ability to cause nuclear annihilation is very real.

Undoubtedly the possibility has been considered by everyone in their capacity to weigh the options and their courage and what they stand for made known.

 

[DrAspirino]

NordStream being cancelled by the otherwise appeasing Germans is a good start.

Germany won't ever do that. It would mean shooting themselves in the foot, as it would only mean more expensive gas and paying Ukraine the tax for the gasoducts there.

The EU desperately needs cheap gas, which is something the USA and its allies isn't able to provide, but Russia is via the Nordstream 2. That's the main reason they won't do shit against Russia in the short term.

If anything, I think Russia will occupy the Donbas region to insure Ukraine stays the same as it has always been since the fall of the USSR: a buffer zone.

 

[Sybrix]

Germany won't ever do that. It would mean shooting themselves in the foot, as it would only mean more expensive gas and paying Ukraine the tax for the gasoducts there.

The EU desperately needs cheap gas, which is something the USA and its allies isn't able to provide, but Russia is via the Nordstream 2. That's the main reason they won't do shit against Russia in the short term.

If anything, I think Russia will occupy the Donbas region to insure Ukraine stays the same as it has always been since the fall of the USSR: a buffer zone.

Germany has already halted the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

 

[Wildebeest]

All I was hearing from US policy "experts" was how Putin was just bluffing for a better negotiating position and wouldn't move his army an inch.

 

[The Cockatrice]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.

 

[DrAspirino]

Germany has already halted the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Which is biting them in the ass right now (regarding gas prices).

I'm no fan of Putin (not in the very least), but you have to agree that what he's been doing is nothing short of brilliant, in geopolitical terms. For example, you can't technically call military troops movement an "invasion" if those troops are supporting a separatist region (Donbass in this case). It'd be like calling the argentinean liberating army that came to my country with San Martin "an invading force", when in reality we were trying to beat the spaniards to gain independence.

But in reality, we all know the Donbass thing was an invasion that was years in the making (via subversion first).

I really hope this is as much as things escalate and then we get back to normal, which means Ukraine being a "buffer zone" and Russia being Russia.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Do we have anyone here from russia?

Would be glad to hear your opinion on this

 

[AJUMP23]

This is not going to go well.

 

[Wildebeest]

but you have to agree that what he's been doing is nothing short of brilliant, in geopolitical terms

This is the point in the story of 1984 when you get shot in the back of the head on the street by the secret police.

 

[jufonuk]

A better parallel is the invasion of the Sudetenland. Germany was allowed to annex an entire swathe of Czechoslovakia with no reprisals. Cannot be allowed to happen here. There’s every chance at some point the west will have to start killing Russians to stop Putin. He’s full of piss and vinegar, but sits on an economy and a society that’s very weak. All it needs is a strong, proportionate response from the allied western nations. Will we get it?

 

[jufonuk]

If we look back through the smoldering ruins and this turns out to have been the prelude to WW3...well, it's been an honor, ladies and gents.