Are negotiations with Ukraine possible?

The commander of the battalion "Vostok" Alexander Khodakovsky ("Skif") expressed his opinion on the prospects for negotiations with the Ukrainian side.

“Are negotiations with Ukraine possible? Not only possible — this is, in the end, the only possible outcome of the confrontation.

The diplomatic impasse is resolved by the last argument of the kings — war. This is what the United States has done with its adversaries in our time — for example, with Iraq — this happened in our situation.

Iraq is remembered today in connection with the military aspect, pointing out that the Iraqi campaign prompted Russia to make structural changes to the army. But Iraq should also be studied in its post-war form — what happened to the country and what a pain it became for the States: no one have heard that a healthy and prosperous state appeared on the world stage — post-Saddam's Iraq.

But Iraq is far from the States, and Ukraine is at our side — and we cannot help but think about its post-war status.

But let me return to negotiations and peace: I will have to talk, but with whom and with what cards in my hands? It is important.

Now Ukraine hopes for one thing: with its successes on the battlefield, but more within the framework of the information confrontation, backed up by successes on the battlefield, to shake up the situation inside Russia — only then can it talk about Crimea and not only. We understand that we are now standing in the middle of the swing, maintaining balance, and it is important for us to maintain balance.

If Ukraine, or rather the West, fails to realize its global plan, we will press Ukraine. It will cost more than we would like, but we will press it.

But you need to press it in such a way as to pull out the sting from the scorpion completely — then negotiations are possible.

What remains of Ukraine should become a peaceful and prosperous entity, unable to gather more military potential for itself and the people on the mountain.

I do not believe that we will be able to occupy the entire territory of Ukraine, and most importantly, to keep its disloyal population under control without resorting to constant violence — I do not believe.

If we dare to swallow the ruff whole, then we risk getting a lump in the throat spread by spikes. Therefore, in the current state of affairs, we must create final advantages for ourselves, from the position of which we will talk,” Khodakovsky summed up.

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Russia was not pessimistic in the negotiations on Minsk-2, the Kremlin said

Moscow was initially not pessimistic about the Minsk agreements, its goal was to reach a settlement of the situation, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"No, of course not. There was a goal to fulfil, implement these agreements and reach a settlement," the Kremlin spokesman said.

He recalled that later the representatives of Ukraine, Germany and France - direct participants in the Minsk process — openly stated that this was camouflage to prepare Kyiv for a forceful solution to the Donbass problem.
Earlier, former presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, who oversaw the Ukrainian direction, said that while working on the Minsk agreements, he did not count on their implementation.

Peskov advised journalists to seek clarification of these words from Surkov himself.
"You know how much the Russian side has made efforts on the negotiation track in order to force the Ukrainian side, and Berlin, and Paris to still take the path of implementing the obligations that the parties assumed under these Minsk agreements," he said.

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Zelensky Loses His Blank Check as U.S. Tells Him Support Is 'Finite'

The military aid destined for Ukraine could be in jeopardy, with U.S. support increasingly being seen as "finite" by some lawmakers.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed the United States' commitment to Ukraine. Speaking at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, Austin said the U.S. and Kyiv's allies "continue to work together to provide Ukraine with full combat-credible capabilities and not just equipment."

It had been reported the previous day that the Biden administration was gearing up to announce another aid package destined for Ukraine. According to The Washington Post, another tranche of "large military assistance" is expected to be unveiled within the next week.

"We will continue to try to impress upon them [Ukraine's leaders] that we can't do anything and everything forever," one senior administration official told the paper.

But the Institute for the Study of War think tank noted that U.S. officials have "privately signaled to Ukraine that Western security aid to Ukraine is finite."

Yet Austin described Kyiv as being at a critical juncture in the war effort, with the first anniversary of the invasion fast approaching.

"Ukraine has urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment in the course of the war," he said on Tuesday.

Speaking in his evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "speed is of the essence," including in "carrying out decisions [and] shipping supplies."

At the moment, bipartisan support for the U.S. financially backing Ukraine "remains fairly robust," according to Rob Singh, professor of politics at Birkbeck, University of London.

Lawmakers are also likely to continue with their approval for Ukraine support packages if an anticipated Russian offensive "inflicts even more death and destruction," he said.

Yet there is also a growth in how many Republicans believe the U.S. is giving Ukraine too much help, Singh told Newsweek. Many Republican congressmen still back sending aid, but a "small but important group of populist nationalists are much more skeptical."

Earlier this month, Florida representative Matt Gaetz put forward a "Ukraine Fatigue Resolution," in which he called for an end to the military and financial aid being sent to Ukraine, as well as a peace agreement.

"President Joe Biden must have forgotten his prediction from March 2022, suggesting that arming Ukraine with military equipment will escalate the conflict to 'World War III,'" Gaetz said in a statement to Newsweek.

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New evidence emerges of US involvement in blowing up Nord Stream
American journalist John Dugan presented new data on the undermining of the US Nord Stream

MOSCOW, February 16 — RIA Novosti. NATO exercises Baltops-2022, which took place last summer near the Danish island of Bornholm, involved American divers with deep-sea equipment, according to an anonymous letter received by American journalist John Dugan.
He provided the text of the letter to RIA Novosti. According to Dugan, he has every reason to trust an anonymous source, as he presented evidence — photos from the exercises and documents. But he asked not to distribute them, for fear of revealing his identity. The letter was sent from a disposable email box on October 2nd. Dugan tried to contact the author, but was unsuccessful.

"I completely trust the letter. It contains details that only a person who is well acquainted with the Baltops-2022 exercises and deep-sea equipment could provide. Everything was correct," the RIA Novosti journalist said.
The author of the letter claims to have participated in the Baltops exercise last June. According to him, on June 15, a helicopter delivered a group of Americans in civilian clothes.
"My first thought: they looked like a group of terrorists," the letter says.

The author explains that their hairstyles, moustaches and beards, as well as the absence of name tokens, seemed strange to him.
The divers were greeted by a Vice Admiral of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet and a group of plainclothes men. The author of the letter did not hear their conversation because of the noise of the helicopter.
An eyewitness said that he noticed Americans using MK-29 rebreathers that use an oxygen-helium mixture for deep-sea diving. In addition, they had other highly professional and expensive equipment that is not used by conventional naval units. In addition, they brought small boxes

The divers themselves said that they would participate in mine clearance exercises: they had to sail on a rubber boat to a certain area, find and defuse anti-ship mines. However, they did not have the equipment for this. And after a conversation with the vice admiral, the author of the letter claims, they did not go to the area of ​​the exercises and were absent for quite a long time.
“They left the boat in their rebreathers and disappeared underwater for more than six hours. There is no autonomous equipment that will allow a diver to stay underwater for six hours. With the latest military systems, three or four hours maximum,” the letter says. According to the author, the US military returned without the boxes, then they were taken by a helicopter.

At a briefing before the start of Baltops-2022, the commander of the Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Eugene Black, said that the exercise program included the development of underwater mining. But since the author of the letter could not be contacted, Dugan was unable to confirm the identity of the Vice Admiral referred to in the letter.
#TransFormatorBuzzes : 💤
The truth is slowly emerging...
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The United States admitted that the downed aircraft were not engaged in reconnaissance

American experts have concluded that the downed flying objects were most likely weather balloons or research devices, said John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council at the White House.

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🐉A phoenix kite controlled by a drone was launched in China

A beautiful sight. It looks like the era of new kites without strings is coming.

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#TransFormatorBuzzes 💤 :
So, on average, it will take for US from 2 to 5 years to replenish the ammunition, transferred to Ukraine...

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Good night
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Reporter Seymour Hersh on “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline”: Exclusive TV Interview

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show with the legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh. In 1970, he won the prize for his reporting for the Dispatch News Service on the My Lai massacre, when the U.S. slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese women, children and old men on March 16, 1968. His reporting in The New York Times on CIA spying on antiwar activists during the Vietnam War era helped lead to the formation of the Church Committee, which led to major reforms of the intelligence community. In 2004, in the pages of The New Yorker magazine, Sy Hersh exposed the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

Well, last week he published another bombshell report, but this time on his new Substack page. The piece was headlined “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline.” It looks at one of the great mysteries of the past year: Who was behind the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, which were built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe? The pipelines were severely damaged last September in a series of underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea. In his new piece, Sy Hersh cites an unnamed source who says the sabotage was carried out by the U.S. Navy, which planted remotely triggered explosives during NATO exercises last September. Hersh reports the Biden administration began planning the act of sabotage in December 2021, two months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
...
"I think the consequences politically for us are enormous. I think the reason that Biden and his people in the White House have denied the story and continue to deny it, and yet accepted by some of the press — my old newspaper, The New York Times, I don’t know why they’re not doing more reporting on this, instead of relying on a denial and walking away from the story. Ditto for The Washington Post. I think the consequences politically for us in the long run, looking at even potential some countries walking out of NATO. If that’s what he thinks, that our being cold is less important than him keeping a war going that he’s not going to win, it strikes me."
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The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine

By James G. Rickards is the editor of Strategic Intelligence, Project Prophesy, Crash Speculator, and Gold Speculator for the Daily Reckoning
...
I’ve written extensively about two facets of the war in Ukraine that you don’t hear from legacy media in the United States or U.K. The first is that Russia is actually winning the war.

U.S. outlets such as The New York Times (a channel for the State Department) and The Washington Post (a channel for the CIA) report endlessly about how Russian plans have failed, about how incompetent they are about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have pushed back Russians in the Donbass, and how NATO weapons such as U.S. Abrams tanks, U.K. Challenger tanks and German Leopard tanks will turn the tide against Russia soon.

This is all nonsense. None of it is true.
...
Russia’s Winning on the Battlefield
Meanwhile, Russian forces have nearly encircled the city of Bakhmut, which is a major transportation and logistics hub, with several key roads and rail lines passing through it. It’ll probably fall to the Russians within weeks.

Losing Bakhmut will be a major blow to Ukraine, despite claims in the western media that it really isn’t very important. Ukraine’s entire 800-mile defensive line would probably begin to crumble, and they don’t have heavily fortified positions to fall back on. Ukrainian troops, while brave and competent soldiers, are exhausted and running out of supplies as it is.

On top of that, it appears likely that Russia is preparing a devastating offensive with massive amounts of men, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, helicopters, drones and fixed-wing aircraft.

This Russian army is not the same army that invaded Ukraine a year ago. It’s much better trained, led and equipped. It’s learned from the mistakes it made during its initial invasion last February. Ukraine shouldn’t expect them to repeat those mistakes.
...
The second facet of this war not reported in the media, or at least downplayed, is the growing risk of nuclear war.

This risk increases with every escalatory step by both sides. The U.S. is the leader in reckless escalation by supplying long-range artillery, Patriot anti-missile batteries, intelligence, surveillance, and now the tanks. Russia responds at each step.

There’s a number of steps before the two sides arrive at the nuclear level, but neither shows a willingness to step back.

By the way, Russia has every legal right to attack those NATO countries supplying arms to Ukraine. By supplying arms to a party to the conflict, they’ve given up their neutrality and have become, in effect, combatants. Russia hasn’t done this because it doesn’t want to bring NATO directly into the fight. But legally, it can.
...
Is Anyone Really Prepared for This?
The U.S. won’t end the weapons deliveries because Joe Biden is afraid of losing face and his closest advisors such as Victoria Nuland have an irrational hatred for Russia and are total warmongers.

Now, we can add a new danger, resulting from desperation. This is the fact that the U.S. itself may be the biggest loser in the war.

As Ukraine disappears under a massive Russian onslaught, the U.S. will grow increasingly desperate. Its credibility is on the line after committing so much money, materiel and moral weight to Ukraine’s defense.

The Biden administration has essentially turned the war in Ukraine into an existential crisis for the U.S. and NATO, when it never should have been. Ukraine has never been a vital U.S. interest. But the war is existential for Russia, and won’t give up.

Is the U.S. just going to throw up its hands and concede Russian victory? NATO may actually disintegrate in the face of such spectacular failure. So, we’ll probably double down.
...
The American people and investors in particular are not prepared for any of this. They should be. It’s becoming increasingly likely.

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On the eve of the anniversary of the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, Acting Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, spoke in an exclusive interview with aif.ru about the timing of the liberation of Donbass, about life under shelling and whether it is worth waiting for UN assistance in resolving the conflict.

#TransFormator provides extracts from this interview:

Q: There was unofficial information that the country's leadership set the task in the coming months to release either the entire DPR, or most of it. What do you think, is it possible to do this and what does it depend on now?

— Despite heavy losses in certain sectors of the front, the enemy is still desperately resisting. For the command of the VFU, even the obviously losing positions of the units are not the basis for an order to retreat.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the enemy has equipped huge industrial zones for their purposes, which are typical for the Donbass - here in every city there are large industrial facilities. Defence lines are being erected right in the cities where civilians continue to remain, firing points are being equipped in multi-storey buildings. Our guys are reclaiming our land inch by inch, given these complicating factors. Therefore, it is still premature to talk about the timing of the liberation of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Q: UN Secretary General António Guterres recently said that the prospects for achieving peace in Ukraine are declining, and the risk of nuclear conflict is increasing. What do you think?

— The chances of achieving peace, alas, were initially very small: such an outcome is not interesting for the Western "partners" of Ukraine. Not for that they provoked and kindled the conflict.

Obviously, its escalation is beneficial, first of all, to the United States. This is evidenced by the constant pumping of Ukraine with weapons, including long-range ones.

The conflict is contrary to the internal interests of European countries, and many ordinary Europeans have already felt the consequences of the aggressive American policy. They manifested themselves in the economic crisis and falling living standards...

Q: Can the UN actually help in any way in settling the process, or can we no longer count on it now?

— At the moment — hardly. We remember well that even the Minsk agreements approved by the UN Security Council resolution were ignored by Ukraine. Trust in anyone's guarantees is undermined. You can only count on yourself.

Q: Despite the difficult situation, the DPR continues to live. People work, children study. What are the biggest difficulties for civilians now? What have you been able to do lately to help them?

— The reality today is that there is no peaceful life in our region. Even the settlements of the Republic remote from the front, which were considered rear areas, are subjected to shelling from NATO weapons. The issue of security is now key. Therefore, children do not go to school everywhere; in Donetsk and a number of other front-line cities, they study remotely.
...
However, despite the shelling, we are actively undergoing the process of restoration, the Republic has turned into a giant construction site. This is especially noticeable in the rear cities. Last year, 1,965 objects were restored, and 25 apartment buildings were put into operation.

This year, we plan to restore almost 2,300 objects, it is planned to build at least 40 high-rise buildings. As soon as security allows, the front-line cities will also turn into construction sites. Existing experience allows you to quickly deploy work.
...
The Ministry of Defence of Russia also makes a great contribution to the restoration of the Republic. In addition to the construction of residential buildings in Mariupol, last year the Military Construction Company built several water conduits within the Republic. Now VSK is laying a water pipeline from the Don River so that Donetsk, Makeevka, Gorlovka and other cities will not be left without water.

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The aif.ru correspondent talked to one of the brightest representatives of the young Donbass, 20-year-old Anastasia. Since childhood, she dreamed of joining the military and fighting at the very forefront. Her dream began to come true — Nastya serves as a signalman in the 1st Donetsk Army Corps of the RF Ministry of Defence. In addition to the service, Nastya is actively involved in volunteer and military activities.

#TransFormator provides extracts from this interview:

Q. How long have you been in the service and why?

Anastasia: Yes, a few weeks ago I fulfilled my dream and became a member of the Russian army. I wanted to serve since childhood, when the military conflict began. For the past six months, she has been trying to get into the service. Three times I was in the military registration and enlistment office. I was not taken due to the fact that I am a very young girl. I tried to get as far as possible. They didn’t take me, but in the end they took me to the headquarters as a signalman.

Q. You have been living in a military conflict since childhood. What was your childhood like?

— At first it was not scary. Because we didn't understand what it was. It seemed that the hostilities would end quickly, but it all dragged on for nine years. All my childhood, my friends and I spent in basements. They hid from shelling, but did not leave anywhere. They did not leave their home. When I grew up, they called me to Moscow to enter the university. But my conscience did not allow me to leave my homeland, which is torn apart by hostilities. I was born and raised in the city of Enakievo. This city was considered rear. There were no such heavy shelling as in Donetsk, but in the first years of the confrontation with Ukraine, we lived in a blockade. There was a period when food was not delivered to us at all. We lived only at the expense of humanitarian aid from Russia. Then as a child, I did not realize this yet, but now I understand how terrible and inhuman it was from Ukraine to its own citizens. This resentment has remained with me to this day, and perhaps that is why I went to serve. My parents were very worried about me. They wanted to take it out. But I did not want to leave my small homeland anywhere.
...
— My brother supports Ukraine. He is on that side. In social networks, he posts calls to kill Russians, despite the fact that his whole family lives here. Despite this, I try to maintain a good relationship with him. In social networks, there is a lot of hate towards me and my friends living in the Donbass. There are mostly those who support the pro-Ukrainian side. They scribble hundreds of comments. I don't pay attention to it. Let them come here and say it in person. I suggest they meet on the battlefield.
My brother left in 2014. He left to study. Then the Maidan began. All this time he was there, and these ideas entered his head. Although his family is here. He knows what's going on here, but propaganda has completely remade him.

Q: In Russia, young people are often criticized. They are accused of lack of patriotism. What do you think about it?

— Everyone who is now running from mobilization and says that Russia does not need the Donbass is banal cowards. Real men are all here in the Donbass. I see a lot of guys and girls of my age who take part in the fighting. People who fight no matter what. Almost all of my classmates Many guys from the company and the university went to the front. Many did not return. It's hard to take it all in.

But there is no more strength to cry. You become callous, living in a war, and you don’t even think about the fact that at the age of 20 you lost a lot of friends.

I believe that my generation is the future, and if we unite now in the fight against this evil, then we can build a strong and healthy future. And our country will be as strong and powerful as it was before. I believe in our generation.

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You may read the complete version in automatic translation here.

Translated from FighterBomber:

It's been a long time since I picked up a saber camera.

Su-34 sortie to bomb Ukrainian positions.
Without these all your moires, gluings and other garbage.

If anything, the crew that flew before and after this crew were shot down. (All alive and well, by the way).

This is the best job in the world!

P.S. it suddenly turned out that the one who made the animated intro for this video and one of the crew members with the video are brothers.
And you say the Internet is big. 😏

Who needs 4K quality, the video can be viewed on my YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/OkDwczqSzCY

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DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF RUSSIAN ASSEMBLY DEBATES FRENCH JOURNALISTS WAR HAWKS.

Piotr Olegovich Tolstoy (Russian Author Leo Tolstoy’s great-great-grandson), the Deputy Chairman of the Russian assembly known as Duma, appeared on BFM Régions, a French network of local news television channels.

He debated six French journalists about the Ukraine\Russia conflict.

Unfortunately, the French journalists’ conduct was unprofessionalism and detached from reality.

The YouTube video has an English closed caption and is just over an hour long

Some of the debate’s highlights are as follows with the linked captioned video time:

•European support for Ukraine is extending the war. [02:12.710]

•European countries are following America’s lead in solidarity with Ukraine. [05:25.740]

•Journalists make an issue about the Wagner Group paramilitary are mercenaries. Tolstoy points out the hypocrisy that Canada has the Mozart regiment, and there are also Polish and American mercenaries. [07:45.180]  

•Claim that the Wagner Group uses criminals. Tolstoy points out that the French Legion used criminals and enlistees of foreign origin. [11:05.510]

https://sonar21.com/deputy-chairman-of-russian-assembly-debates-french-journalists-war-hawks/

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