Russian military operation in Ukraine #64

Trump is squeezing Greenland in Russia's interests, by Gevorg Mirzayan for VZGLYAD. 01.10.2025.

Donald Trump's claims to Greenland, at first glance, are entirely in line with the interests of strengthening the United States - and therefore the collective West as a whole. However, in reality, it is easy to see that the interests of the United States and the West in this matter are very different - and most importantly, Trump in this case is working for what both in Europe and Washington are called "Moscow's narratives." What are we talking about?

Of Donald Trump's three territorial claims (Canada, the Panama Canal and Greenland), it is the last one that is currently the most thought out and even seriously discussed. Let us recall that the elected US president declared his intention to purchase Greenland, a huge island in the North Atlantic, which was first owned by the Norwegians and then by the Danes. And he made it clear that after his official inauguration on January 20, 2025, he will begin to take concrete steps to bring the island into the American harbour - for example, through purchase.

And there is a precedent. The Danes have already sold their territories to the US – the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea. In 1917, the US bought them for 25 million dollars.

However, the matter may not be limited to trade. Trump did not rule out the use of economic pressure and even military force against Copenhagen. Which the Danes, to put it mildly, will not be able to cope with. “Denmark’s military capabilities there are limited to four inspection vessels, a Challenger reconnaissance aircraft and dog sled patrols,” Reuters reminds.

The new American authorities provide a clear economic and military-political justification for the need to acquire Greenland. Firstly, they need it to facilitate access and control over the Arctic territories. “There is Russia, which wants to rule the Arctic – and it now has more than 60 icebreakers, some of them nuclear. And we have two, and one of them recently caught fire,” laments Trump’s new national security adviser Mike Walz.

In fact, the US has three icebreakers, but only one is afloat – Polar Star, built in 1976. Yes, the program for building new ships has already been adopted, but the first icebreaker will not leave the slipway before 2029. Greenland is a huge unsinkable icebreaker.

And, of course, a huge treasury. “We’re talking about critical minerals, we’re talking about natural resources. We’re talking about oil and gas. We’re talking about our national security,” continues Mike Walz, noting that all of this is happening against the backdrop of melting Arctic ice. Melting that makes Arctic mineral extraction cheaper and opens up the American version of the Northern Sea Route, allowing goods to be shipped from Asia to Europe via the coasts of the United States, Canada, and Greenland.

But will the Americans be able to get all this? They hope that all this wealth will be given to them peacefully, through a referendum. There is an independence movement in Greenland, and in the wake of Trump’s statement, they have already demanded a referendum. But not to join the United States. “We want to be independent one day. But our ambition is not to move from being governed by one country to being governed by another,” says the island’s finance minister, Erik Jensen.

However, Greenland cannot physically afford full independence. The island's population is 10 times smaller than that of Luxembourg, despite the fact that the island's territory is 840 times larger than that of the European duchy.

Local separatists need not independence, but rather concessions from the mother country – much like the British authorities, who launched Brexit in order to wring additional preferences from Brussels. “In reality, it was not about separating the territory from Denmark, but about the terms of interaction between the parties – primarily financial. Moreover, the more separatist sentiments were observed in Greenland, the more demands they put forward,” recalls Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs” and scientific director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

The Greenlanders have already received their first concessions. King Frederik X of Denmark changed the royal coat of arms, essentially equating Greenland and the metropolis (i.e. Jutland) on it. “The Faroe Islands and Greenland each received their own field, which strengthens the significance of the kingdom in the royal coat of arms,” the royal house said in a statement.

In turn, the Danish government hopes to get rid of the annoying Americans through its own concessions. For example, in matters of security. “With the melting of the Arctic ice and the opening of new shipping routes, we are unfortunately also seeing an increase in great power rivalry. We are seeing Russia arming itself. We are seeing China also starting to show interest,” says Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen. Clearly hinting at the possibility of reaching an agreement with the US on ensuring the island’s security.

Or in the development of Greenlandic deposits. “We are open to dialogue with the Americans about how we can cooperate even more closely than now to ensure the implementation of American ambitions,” the minister added.

Moreover, the Danish government does not have money for these deposits anyway. "Greenland is a large and potentially rich territory. But in fact, this is an unbearable burden for Copenhagen - the kingdom cannot afford the costs of developing the resources," says Fyodor Lukyanov.

The irony is that no matter how the epic with the purchase/concession/referendum/conquest of Greenland ends, this whole story already has one winner. It is Russia.

It would seem that if Trump gets Greenland, the US will strengthen its position in the Arctic. However, there will still be no fundamental strengthening – within the framework of NATO, the US can already put whatever it deems necessary in Greenland. However, Trump’s claim to control the island itself (especially in the form in which it was expressed) brings Moscow three major benefits.

First, Trump is splitting the collective West. Who could have thought a few years ago that the US would threaten to invade a NATO country? And that Europeans would seriously talk about their readiness to fight the US? And now they are talking – French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has warned that the European Union will not tolerate any attack on territories within its borders. And the more Europeans think about protecting their sovereignty, the less they will be interested in Ukrainian affairs.

Secondly, Trump is raising the issue of border revision – in which Moscow, in the West’s view, committed almost a crime in 2014 by returning Crimea. As the then-Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has stated , borders “cannot be changed by force.”

When the West was told that the territorial Pandora's box had been opened by itself in Yugoslavia, Russia was told that there was no talk there of annexing part of one state to another. Now Trump is openly demanding precisely such annexation. Simply because that is how he understands the national interests of his country.

Thirdly, Trump proposes to resolve the issue through a referendum – and here Moscow also has questions from the series “really?” After all, no one in the West recognized the referendums held in the former Ukrainian territories in 2014 and 2022 – neither their results nor the right to hold them.

"If there are words about the need to take into account the opinion of people (in Greenland), then perhaps we should remember the opinion of people in the four new regions of the Russian Federation. And we need to show the same respect for the opinion of these people," said Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.

As a result, Trump’s actions are knocking out one of the West’s key diplomatic arguments against Russia’s actions in Ukraine – that Moscow is allegedly creating precedents that undermine the entire existing world order. It turns out that the new American administration is not only doing the same, but is also de facto recognizing the correctness of Russia’s actions in 2014 and 2022. Moreover, it is ready to go much further, taking away territories without any referendum, by force. As Jean-Noël Barrot noted , “we have entered an era when the principle of survival of the fittest is returning.”

Good morning, as they say.

https://m.vz.ru/world/2025/1/9/1307746.html

Не дай мне бог сойти с ума...
(Oh Lord, don't let me go insane.)
Нет, легче посох и сума;
(To starve and beg would be less pain;)
Нет, легче труд и глад.
(To toil and sweat less load.)
Не то, чтоб разумом моим
(It's not that I have set much store)
Я дорожил; не то, чтоб с ним
(By sanity, that evermore)
Расстаться был не рад:
(To part with it I'm loath).
Pushkin.
You might be interested in The Best of Alexander Pushkin, Lost in Translation?, translated by Yuri Menis, a Ukrainian born poetry translator who became a US citizen in 2000, and lives in Northern Virginia.

I didn't really want to: the US has finally sold out Ukraine, by Victoria Nikiforova for RiaNovosti. 01.10.2025.

You will be surprised, but Ukraine has suddenly lost its strategic importance for its Western partners. They have urgent matters to attend to - Hollywood is burning, new details of P. Diddy's orgies have come to light, and now it is time to annex Canada, Panama, Greenland. No, no, the Anglo-Saxons have no time for Kiev. The influential Financial Times just says it straight out: " Ukraine is not the center of the Universe ."

That is, literally yesterday Nezalezhnaya was it, and now suddenly astronomy has changed. But what happened?

The dynamics of the process vividly resemble the Ukrainian manner of surrendering cities and villages. As long as Bakhmut could be defended, it was of incredible strategic value to Kyiv. Once the Russian army took it, Artemovsk was of no value at all. Western patrons adopted this trick. Now they are betraying the whole of Ukraine in exactly the same way.

As long as it was used to cause trouble for Russia, Nezalezhnaya was of strategic value. And now this card has been played, it is being thrown under the table. Cruel? But you were warned.

The Russian side has been telling Ukrainians since 2013: don't fall for Western promises, you'll be used and screwed. But no, the people there really liked to shine in the spotlight. "The whole world is with us," "Ukraine is an outpost of the West," "Ukraine will defeat Russia" - for more than ten years they obediently swallowed all the noodles that Western propagandists skillfully hung on their ears.

Who now have other things to do: since Trump’s election, the Ukrainian topic has practically disappeared from the front pages of leading Western media.

The fact is that the West is losing in Ukraine: multi-billion dollar financial injections, equipment and weapons supplies, training of the military, sending tens of thousands of their own troops under the guise of mercenaries - all this has only led to Russia developing at an accelerated pace, and its army is constantly crushing the enemy and liberating more and more settlements of the former Ukrainian SSR. And yes, the West has also lost the information war, no one even remembers their stupid fakes.

It turns out that the hyped military alliance NATO, the US, claiming world leadership, and their vassals, also not without ambitions - all this suffered a crushing defeat in the proxy war with Russia. Well, it remains to pretend that they did not really want it. The main thing now is to technically remove Ukraine from the information field, to extinguish the spotlights in the rays of which the Kievites were grimacing. Let everyone forget this disgrace as quickly as possible.

"Stop hyping this [Ukrainian – Ed.] conflict, pretending it is a global battle that will determine the fate of the world order," the Financial Times quips. "The popular argument that a bad peace deal on Ukraine will allow China, Iran and other adversaries to become more aggressive in their regions is based on assumption, not fact."

Do you notice how quickly they distort? For three years, all Western media have been blaring in the ears of the entire world precisely about the global significance of Ukrainian victories and betrayals. The argument that Ukraine's defeat will lead to an outburst of aggression from China, Iran, and tutti quanti has been worn out to the point of holes. At that time, victory over Russia was precisely the West's true goal, and this was not hidden at all.

And now that they have failed to win, the rhetoric is being replaced right before our eyes. It turns out that the conversation is no longer about getting rid of Russia. The debate is only about how to make peace with it quickly, before everything collapses.

The underlying reason for all this indecent fuss is that Washington is turning the tables on China. A fresh op-ed in The New York Times just named Beijing the United States' main enemy in the "industrial war."

While the whole world thought that Chinese-American cooperation was beneficial to both countries, it turned out that everything was wrong. It turned out that the treacherous Chinese deprived the States of millions of jobs and closed tens of thousands of factories and plants. That is, it was not greedy American capitalists who moved production to the Celestial Empire, depriving tens of millions of compatriots, but the Chinese are to blame.

China is compared to Germany, which used industry as a weapon, and we all understand where such excursions into history lead. These are preliminary propaganda salvos in the all-out war that the United States will wage – and is already waged – against China. We have been through all this, too.

It is characteristic that The New York Times was the main leader in the propaganda war against Russia. It was there that Ukraine and all the movements of its expired leader were constantly on the front pages. Now the Ukrainian case has been pushed aside. Well, we are waiting for the fight for Taiwan's independence and attacks on the Chinese leadership.

Note to Ukrainians: guys, it's not enough that your partners used and screwed you. That's not all. The next act of the Marlezon Ballet is that you will be found guilty of everything. And the inept defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the loss of territories and resources that American oligarchs bought for cheap, and the kickbacks and embezzlement of your mafia leaders, and the fact that you fled to the West and tried to get benefits there. They will remind you of every penny, every attempt to dodge the front, every careless word. Perhaps this will finally teach you that you have no friends in the West.

https://ria.ru/20250110/ukraina-1992970024.html

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (from January 4 to January 10, 2025)

From January 4 to January 10, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 28 group strikes with precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, as a result of which the infrastructure of military airfields, weapons depots, assembly workshops, storage sites for unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as temporary locations of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries were affected.

During the week, units of the North group of forces continued to destroy the Armed Forces of Ukraine formations in the Kursk region. Air strikes, unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery fire hit the manpower and equipment of heavy mechanized, tank, six mechanized, four amphibious assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade and five air defense brigades. We repelled two enemy counterattacks. Units of the mechanized and motorized infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two air defense brigades were defeated in the Kharkov direction. During the week in the area of responsibility of the North group of forces, enemy losses amounted to over 2,835 soldiers, 30 tanks and 122 armored fighting vehicles. 117 vehicles and 30 field artillery guns were destroyed.

The settlement of Nadiya has been liberated by the active actions of units of the Zapad group of forces. The manpower and equipment of four mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, three air defense brigades and a National Guard brigade were defeated. 19 attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to regain their lost positions were stopped. The enemy lost up to 3,530 troops, a tank, 28 armored combat vehicles, including a Polish-made Rosomak armored personnel carrier, as well as a Bradley armored combat vehicle, seven M113 armored personnel carriers, and five HMMWV armored vehicles. 52 vehicles, 46 field artillery guns, 11 of them manufactured by NATO countries, ten electronic warfare stations and 15 ammunition depots were destroyed.

As a result of the decisive actions of the units of the "Southern" group of troops, the settlement of Kurakhovo was liberated. Formations of eight mechanized, two motorized infantry, infantry, mountain assault, two airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two air defense brigades were defeated. 16 enemy attempts to restore the tactical position were thwarted. During the week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 1,715 military personnel in this area, three tanks, including a Leopard made in Germany, 12 armored combat vehicles, including two M113 armored personnel carriers made in the United States, 17 vehicles and 20 field artillery guns, four of them Western-made. Six ammunition depots were destroyed.

Units of the Center group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defenses and liberated the Dachenskoye settlement. Units of seven mechanized, two motorized infantry, a jaeger, two airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade, two air defense brigades, a National Guard brigade and a brigade of the National police of Ukraine were defeated. 94 attempts by AFU units to restore their lost positions were stopped. The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to over 3,485 military personnel, 11 tanks, including four Leopard made in Germany, 40 armored combat vehicles, including three VAB armored personnel carriers made in France, as well as those made in the United States: six M113 armored personnel carriers, an M1117 armored personnel carrier, MaxxPro and HMMWV armored vehicles. 41 vehicles and 34 field artillery guns were destroyed.

The units of the Vostok group of forces improved their position along the front line, defeating the formations of three mechanized, two amphibious assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a marine brigade and three air defense brigades. 8 enemy attempts to regain lost positions were thwarted. The enemy lost over 1,120 military personnel, a tank, six armored combat vehicles, including three MaxxPro armored vehicles manufactured by the United States, 30 vehicles and 26 field artillery guns, eight of them manufactured by NATO countries. Six ammunition depots were destroyed.

Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, two infantry brigades, a coastal defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two air defense brigades and a National Guard brigade. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 685 military personnel, two armored combat vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, 44 vehicles, 11 field artillery guns, five electronic warfare stations and six ammunition depots.

During the week, 91 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of contact.

Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force. Air defense systems shot down eight US-made ATACMS tactical missiles, five French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, 41 US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket launchers, as well as 689 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 652 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 39,896 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 20,467 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,507 multiple rocket launchers, 20,385 field artillery guns and mortars, 30135 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12545668@egNews

Russian MoD reporting 13,370 Ukrainian casualties over the past 7 days.

Summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the course of repelling the attempted invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the territory of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region (as of January 10, 2025)

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine formations in the territory of the Kursk region.

Units of the North group of forces defeated formations of a tank, two mechanized, two amphibious assault brigades and two territorial defense brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Viktorovka, Zamostye, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Nikolaevka, Nikolaevo-Darino, Novaya Sorochina, Pogrebki and Russian Porechnoye. Four enemy counterattacks were repelled.

The enemy's manpower and equipment were hit by tactical, army aviation and artillery fire in the areas of the settlements of AGRONOM, Bogdanovka, Bondarevka, Viktorovka, Goncharovka, Guevo, Zazulevka, Kositsa, Kruglenke, Kubatkin, Kurilovka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Nikolaevo-Darino, Nikolsky, Novenke, Sverdlikovo, Sudzha, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, Yuzhny, as well as Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka and Obody in the Sumy region.

During the day, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to more than 280 soldiers, two tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, three armored combat vehicles, six vehicles, five artillery pieces and two mortars were destroyed. Three soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered.

In total, during the fighting in the Kursk area, the enemy lost up to 50,600 military personnel, 296 tanks, 222 infantry fighting vehicles, 161 armored personnel carriers, 1,520 armored combat vehicles, 1,441 vehicles, 353 artillery pieces, 44 multiple rocket launchers, including 13 HIMARS and six MLRS manufactured by the United States, 16 anti-aircraft launchers. missile systems, eight transport-charging vehicles, 90 electronic warfare stations, 13 counter-battery radars, four air defense radars, 29 units of engineering and other equipment, of which 15 are barrier engineering vehicles., one UR-77 mine clearance unit, as well as seven armored recovery vehicles and a command and staff vehicle.

The operation to destroy the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues.

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12545678@egNews

time for convoy duties, the US can issue all the naval blockades it wants, arm the tankers with anti ship missiles. We'll see what the bully does if it actually tries to enforce this blockade

That will do a lot to improve the atmosphere in Trump/Putin talks or the chance thereof.

Will Russia counter, ceasing supplies to the US of for example oil, uranium and titanium castings? There are no doubt other items.

You are contradicting yourself a bit when you claim that nothing will change, but then say Trump will be even more aggressive.

Dems said that they would have talked to Russia themselves, given the sad state of things in 404. But as said, you cannot be more aggressive than what US has been already, everything else is falling for the chimp's current chest bumping. He is nothing but a pathetic shyster trying to look big and strong in front of statesmen that have idiots like him for breakfast. US was, is and will be as aggressive as they can, regardless of who is the establishment's butler of the day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with RAI News 24 that 60,000 Ukrainian troops are participating in the operation in Kursk Oblast, TASS reports .

Zelensky also stated that Kiev’s European and American partners had been informed about the start of the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Kursk region .

On January 9, the President of Ukraine, at a meeting of the contact group on support for the country at the Ramstein military base in Germany , stated that the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the Kursk region was “one of the biggest victories” for Ukraine during the conflict.

https://www-gazeta-ru.translate.goog/army/news/2025/01/10/24804062.shtml?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

how the hell is it a victory when Russia is using the invasion to grind your forces down to fertilizer?

In reference to
"Trump is squeezing Greenland in Russia's interests" article

Your forgetting that when The west's enemies do such it's a war crime, needs sanctioning etc etc and when the west does such it's perfectly ok and it's called democracy or liberation or some other crap excuse. That's the difference. I wouldn't be surprised if Denmark succumb to trump's pressure. Along with Panama. However I think Canada is just a pipe dream for trump. But if he succeeds with Greenland and Panama then the question is where will be next

Except the morons in Brussels, nobody cares about US sanctions.

The collapse, in real time:

Frontline summary for the evening of January 10 from Oleg Tsarev

🟥 There was no news from the Kherson area — the Russian Armed Forces are conducting routine combat work to search for and defeat AFU targets.

🟥 In the Zaporozhye direction, the front is also unchanged. According to local data, throughout the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to hit our rear, the air defense system shot down all the missiles. In the area of Kamenskoye, the Russian Armed Forces disrupted the enemy's rotation. Our "Hurricanes" and" Grads " are hitting the Orekhov area.

🟥 The eastern flank is active on the Ugledar front. Russian Armed Forces storm Yantarnoye. Our fighters also control the road from this village to Dachnoye —where fighting is taking place on the northern and eastern outskirts. From Shevchenko, the Russian Armed Forces advance and take up positions near the river in the north of the village of Ulakly. In addition, the progress of our plantings to the Spill was noted.

🟥 On the eastern flank of the Pokrovsky direction, Baranovka practically came under the control of our troops. Our troops are attacking in the direction of Tarasovka. News comes from Pokrovsk that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have retreated from Zelyony, and Russian groups have cleared the pocket between Dachenskoye and local Shevchenko, while continuing to push through the APU defenses in Chinushino. On the western segment of this section, our units took control of the Mezhevaya-Pokrovsk road section and reached the approaches to Kotlino, which is only one field away. The battle for the quarry in the north-west of Salty is still raging. Here, the Russian Armed Forces are solving the operational task of reaching Udachnoye, from the northern mine of which the road to Pavlograd is visible. To the south, the Russian Armed Forces are pressing the enemy in Yasenev, and from it to Shevchenko they are attacking to Andreevka.

🟥 In Toretsk, the fighting has shifted beyond the administrative border of the city – to the north-western outskirts. Here, the Russian Armed Forces, having reached the last defense node of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Toretskaya mine, began to storm its waste land from the western side. Behind the APU there are several houses in the private sector behind this mine and its waste materials. There are also tactical successes in the western suburbs of Toretsk, where our units are developing an offensive along the Shcherbinovka-Novospasskoye line.

🟥 In Chasov Yar, heavy and fierce fighting continues on the territory of the Refractory Plant. From there, they report that our forces pushed back the APU, recapturing two more workshops. In the north of the city, the Russian Armed Forces control the Northern and Tenth MKR, clearing Novoseverny. Further south, in the area of Stupochek, our troops expanded the control zone near the South-Eastern mine, advancing 500 m.

🟥 Positional battles are taking place in the Seversky sector. Near Belogorovka, our troops disrupted another rotation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Although there is no data on the advance of the Russian Armed Forces in this area, according to statements from the enemy camp, the situation for them is rapidly deteriorating.

🟥 In the Krasnolimansk direction, Russian troops took a section of heights from the southern outskirts of Makeyevka to the road to Grekovka. To the south, our troops are storming the AFU bridgehead in the vicinity of Ivanovka. According to the latest data, in the area of Ternov, our troops control positions called "Pike" and "Mitten".

🟥 On the Kupyansk Front, the Russian Armed Forces hold a bridgehead about 3 km deep and 9 km wide on the western bank of the Oskol River, near Dvurechnaya. To ensure its stability, our troops are storming the heights in the West.

🟥 In the Liptsevsky area of the Kharkiv section, our FPV drone operators are disrupting the next attempts of enemy counterattacks. On Volchansky there are fierce shooting battles in urban buildings, our troops have taken possession of five more houses and advanced 50 m. As you can see, the APU are fighting desperately and every meter is taken in heavy battles.

Arrow wrote:USA has imposed a naval blockade on Russian tanks.

Google search Naval Blockade, click tools, click last 24 hours, nothing mentioning any blockades imposed on Russia. Your source does not say Naval blockades are imposed on Russia despite sanctions.

Can we stop making shit up on the spot?

Except the morons in Brussels, nobody cares about US sanctions.

Indeed... the US is pushing against the current and they are wearing out their allies because most of these new sanctions are going to cut off Russian oil and gas to the EU meaning they can't buy either so cheaply directly or indirectly and so they will have to buy from America or approved suppliers, which is exactly what the US wants, but also is going to further increase energy costs for Americas allies...

More and more countries are going to just say no to the US... not just on some things but across the board... especially with new tariffs on the way too.

The west is isolating itself... but lets always cheer their aggressive nature because it backfires so spectacularly and the choir sings on... as their feet start to get wet from the rising waters.

Some nearly unknown leader of some fringe party in Bulgaria making such statements is not really any sort of "gathering of the vultures."


If the Trans-Carpathian Rus is not breaking off, then I do not think such statements hold much meaning.


https://asaland.proboards.com/thread/278/transcarpathian-rus-demands-independence



Much more likely is the annexation of south-eastern Poland to Ukraine.



Greater Ukraine Map.

Alexander Kazakov: Russia is driving the Armed Forces of Ukraine from three fronts to win the battle for a cease-fire from the United States
13:58 09.01.2025 (updated: 16: 25 on 09.01.2025)

The fact that the West forced Russia to fight in Ukraine is its strategic mistake. We will now become its gravedigger, says Alexander Kazakov, a political analyst, adviser to the head of the Just Russia - For Truth faction in the State Duma and adviser to the first head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko.
He said this in an interview with the publication Ukraine.roo.

- Alexander Yuryevich, how do you assess the situation in the free defense zone in the first days of 2025?
- After the liberation of Avdiivka, our offensive operation continues continuously, which does not stop for a single day. When the Russian leadership says that the initiative is on our side, it means that we control the entire front line. Where necessary – we keep it at rest. Where necessary – we attack. The degree of intensity of the battle is also determined by us.
Moreover, it refutes both Soviet and Western military textbooks. In military theory, it is said that any offensive operation develops in waves. There is an offensive rush. Troops occupy enemy territory. Then they will stabilize the front line in order to tighten up the rear (the distance from Donetsk to Pokrovsk is wow, more than 50 kilometers in a straight line, and the supply must go 24/7). And we, again, did not stop.
- why?
"That's a good question. It is better to ask the General Staff about this. But according to all the laws of military science, we should have stopped somewhere in July-August 2024. The enemy also counted on this: "In the fall, the Russians will stop due to the natural laws of war, and Ukraine will launch a counterstrike." But we didn't stop.
In 2024, we had another major achievement. I would even say that it is historical.
The fact is that no one in the world has fought such a war as in Ukraine since 1945. SVO is a continental war with a long front line and opposing armies of 2 million people. That is, for 80 years, several generations of military leaders have changed. And after 1991, everyone began to be guided by the theory of new wars: special operations, sabotage raids.
The same applies to Russia. Let me remind you that excerpts from Gerasimov's famous interview were published in February 2014, when the Maidan was in full swing. It was from that moment that the West started talking about the"Gerasimov doctrine". It is since then that Zaluzhny speaks of Gerasimov as his teacher. Why? Because then Gerasimov also talked about special forces, digitalization and drones. And in the SVO, we were caught in a cross between the First and Second World Wars.
And since the fall of 2022, serious analysts have said that the Russian military has lost the skill to conduct combined-arms operations. What is Operation Bagration? This is a strategic offensive operation by forces of several fronts with a single plan under a single command. So we are doing something similar from the winter of 2024.
From the entire front line, we have identified a specific section: from Toretsk to Pokrovsk in the north and from Ugledar to Velikaya Novoselka in the south (between them Selidovo and Kurakhovo). Let's follow what happened in this particular theater after the liberation of Avdiivka. You can make a cartoon of our progress on the map. It will be impressive. Because in addition to our promotion, it will show our ability to manage the fight.
Where it is profitable for us, we make our promotion intensive. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are barely concentrating their reserves to slow it down, and we are stopping. Then we start an intensive advance in another place, they leave everything and run there. That is, the enemy is wasting time, money, people and equipment.
And if you look at it in dynamics from the liberation of Avdiivka to today, you will see a single plan for this operation in all this limited theater. And this operation is being conducted by the forces of three combined groups of troops: "Center", "East"and " South". What is the UGA today? It's like a Front during the Great Patriotic War (several armies and the forces attached to them, like tank divisions).
In short, we have not forgotten how to conduct combined-arms operations. This is an obvious fact. It's just that our opponents don't want to admit it, and for some reason we are too shy to talk about it.
I would also like to note that the morale of our army is now much higher than that of the Ukrainian one. Although the enemy still resists stubbornly.
Recently, a video was published of how our drone dropped a projectile on two riders. One was killed, the other was unharmed. The surviving rider could raise his hands and go after our UAV to surrender (now the drones show them the way and guide them through minefields). Instead, he shot himself in the head.
When I posted this video on my Telegram channel, I wrote that this is bad news for us.
- Does this not contradict your words that the morale of our troops is definitely stronger than that of the enemy?
- Does not contradict.
What is the simplest explanation for this rider's behavior? This is a convinced Bandera member who has committed a lot of war crimes and will not be able to hide them (he also sees what terms outright Nazis get from us). And there is a second explanation. This is an ordinary conscripted man who has his family held hostage. If he surrenders, his two sons will go to fight in his place the next day. And if he dies, the family won't be harmed.
In addition, there have already been many cases at the front when an enemy sniper, instead of killing our soldier, kills a prisoner.
All this is perseverance from despair.
That is, a significant part of the mobilized Ukrainians are hostages. It is unlikely that this person was a Nazi or someone who shouts from the trench: "The Russians do not give up." There aren't many of them.
The enemy also confirmed that in the first battle, a thousand people from the elite Anna Kievskaya brigade fled. That is, Ukrainians are asking for training in Western countries in order to try to escape and ask for asylum. This suggests that their morale is generally lower.
Therefore, I believe that both of these stories confirm my thesis.
- It turns out that the morale of our troops and the quality of management bring us results in the form of an increased speed of advance at the front?
- yes. And this is despite the fact that there is no such task.
When Putin was asked on the "Direct Line" when the Kursk region would be liberated, he not only did not answer, but clarified: "I won't say it on purpose. If some idiot hears any deadlines, he'll think it's an order and start putting the guys down." Today it became clear that we are not fighting for territory. The army never fights for territory at all. Territory is a matter for politicians. The task of the army is to inflict a military defeat on the enemy. It doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter when.
By the way, we have already passed the main watershed ridge (Donetsk Ridge). Now we will roll to the Dnieper, and there is just a bare steppe.
I would also like to clarify about the Kursk region. Don't worry that we haven't released her yet. We outplayed Ukraine in this regard. What was the enemy's logic? They commit this pirate raid, hell breaks loose in Russia's public opinion ("For the first time since 1945, the enemy is on our territory"), and Moscow will be forced to liberate it at any cost.
This calculation was correct. We did the same thing by launching an offensive on Volchansk in May 2024. And in the case of the Kursk region, we did not succumb to provocation. We said: "Fight so fight." We didn't make Kursk our main destination. And the APU did it. How many enemy vehicles we have accumulated there. We've been hunting for Hymers for months, and in the Kursk Region we hit six of them in a week.
"And it helped us advance in other sectors of the front.
- of course. It also made us angry and angry.
I understand why we are misunderstood by the Anglo-Saxons, who have been making the same mistake for centuries. They do not understand that if you strike a blow at Russian society, it will not go to overthrow the government, but will consolidate around the government. But why we are not understood by Ukraine, who are the same as us-I don't know.
Moreover, the fact that the West forced us to fight is its strategic mistake. We're going to be his gravedigger now.
- In 2025, after the inauguration of Trump, everyone expects the start of negotiations between Russia and the United States. In what state and with what thoughts did the parties approach them?
- The split of the once unified anti-Russian Western bloc is obvious. Now the war party and the peace party are clearly being formed there. What the world will be like is a separate question. There may be such a war for peace that no stone will be left unturned. Moreover, the war party is an anti-trumpist one. Moreover, these two parties now have the same positions. We can't say that any of them will win tomorrow.
Moreover, the war party can still drive Trump into a certain corridor. When angry bulls are released from their pens in Spain, the cross streets are blocked for them and they run only along a narrow corridor. They want to do the same with Trump. The War Party is doing everything possible to prevent Trump from starting a dialogue with Russia.
And now I will tell you one story in the hope that it will not happen.
All these bio-drone attacks and attacks on Lgov from NATO weapons aim to make Russia's decision to strike decision-making centers in Kiev (the building of the SBU or the Verkhovna Rada) uncontested. But as soon as we do, the Kiev regime will blow up neighboring buildings, and then lay the bodies of children and women in piles on the street. They know how to make such productions. All this will be filmed in good quality and sent to Trump.
You can also recall the story of Ivanka Trump. When she showed her father a fake video of a chemical attack in Syria, Trump decided to launch a hundred missiles at Syria. Yes, the US military warned us about this, some of the missiles did not reach the target, but the point is that Trump can make such hasty decisions simply because he watched a movie.
And if all the Western media come up with some new "Butch", no negotiations between Trump and the Russians will be impossible.
Therefore, we can accuse the Russian leadership of weakness as much as we want, but let's judge this by concrete results. They also said about Stalin that he was scared on June 22, but this turned out to be a lie, and in the end, on May 9, we won.
In 2024, we held presidential elections. We gave Putin a huge credit of trust. Credit of trust is the money that politicians spend on unpopular but useful decisions. Every time the enemy fires on our territory, this credit is squandered. The people demand a nuclear bomb in Kiev, and even the "Hazel Tree" does not fly there.
Even I sometimes demand to go somewhere and then turn on my cool head. Noble rage is not needed when making decisions. We need it later to implement these decisions.
- Enemy propaganda can respond to this: "Don't you hit Ukraine because you hope for Trump?"
"We don't rely on Trump. We don't know what it will be like at all. We expect that in 2025, at the end of January-beginning of February, new options for overcoming the crisis will open up, which were not available for three years of the SVO.
Of course, any negotiation is an art of compromise. But so far, Moscow is demonstrating a reinforced concrete position. What is it actually talking about? "Kherson is Russia. It is located on the right bank of the Dnieper River. The Kiev regime must issue an order, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informs its commanders on the ground that from tomorrow morning at 6 am they will unilaterally cease fire, return ammunition to warehouses and go beyond the former border of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. If we understand that Ukraine has complied with this order, we will also cease fire."
These are the necessary conditions for us to just start talking about negotiations. Our territory must be liberated. If Ukraine doesn't leave, there will be no negotiations at all until we release it.
Moreover, the events at the front say that if the enemy does not do this, then he will face a different reality on the ground. First of all, we are already present in the Kharkiv region, where there has not yet been a referendum. Secondly, we are located near Pokrovsk, where the borders of the Dnipropetrovsk region are just around the corner. What will Ukraine do about it?
This will be the main diplomatic battle of January-February.
And in this situation, everyone will be against us: both friends and enemies. Because the main point of application here is a cease-fire as a condition for negotiations on negotiations. This is also what China and India want.
Yes, after our brilliant victory at the BRICS summit in Kazan, where the topic of Ukraine was not mentioned at all, Beijing has not been making peace initiatives for a long time. But now the Chinese will also insist that Russia agree to at least a temporary cease-fire. They'll give us a lot of nerve-racking stuff that won't seem too bad. Get ready.

https://ukraina.ru/20250109/1060158868.html