President Poroshenko, U.S. Senators visit command post near Shyrokine in Donbas. Facebook.com/pg/petroporoshenko
Daily Mail: It looks like a scene from WW2 but this is the frontline in Ukraine at Xmas 2016 as troops take to TRENCHES in the fight against pro-Russian rebels
* Ukrainian soldiers using trenches to fight pro-Russian rebels in country's east
* Images show troops sheltering in icy man-made ditches near Luganske village
* It comes amid reports of gunfire between the two sides despite a recent truce
These are the crude battle trenches being used by Ukrainian troops on the front line in the fight against pro-Russian rebels.
In scenes reminiscent of the Second World War battle for Stalingrad, a soldier crouches down for shelter in the icy ditch near Luganske village in the east of the country.
Another image shows a fighter using the walls of the man-made trench as protection as he fires off rounds from a machine gun.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: A brief summary (and my take) on what is happening in Ukraine.
These U.S. senators are not helping the situation .... McCain visits frontline Ukraine troops in anti-Putin gesture (USA Today). This is going to hurt "big-time" .... For Europe Bound Gas, Russia Successfully By-Passing Ukraine (Forbes) .... and the Russian press is gleefully reporting on it .... Ukraine sees significant cuts in Russian gas transit (RT). It looks like those who are trying to get rid of the corruption are corrupt themselves .... A Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Activist Is Now Being Investigated for Corruption (Fortune). In the Western press there is talk of abandonment .... The West Abandoned Ukraine to Its Own Detriment (Terrell Jermaine Starr, NYT) .... and talk of progress .... Ukraine is making progress (L. Todd Wood, Washington Times). But on the ground the misery continues to grow .... Millions in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance, UN relief wing reports (UN News Centre). More details on the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine can be read here .... Humanitarian Bulletin: Ukraine: 1 October - 31 December 2016 (Relief Web). As to what is my prediction for 2017 .... Ukraine has to compromise with its eastern Russian population and with Russia itself .... Ukraine Must Make Painful Compromises for Peace With Russia (Walter Pinchuk, WSJ). Unfortunately .... I do not see that happening .... in fact .... I see the economic situation getting worse, and the war will just continue to grind on.
The Ukraine is running out of time. More and more the people of the DPR and LPR see less and less reason to try to live with those killing them daily.
ReplyDeleteAgain I ask you, why should the Ukraine compromise? With you it is always the Ukraine has to do something. Lets get one thing straight here the Ukraine is the victim here not Russia so stop playing up the Russians and placing blame on the Ukrainians. The Russians need to leave the following: Crimea, Donbas, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They do not own these territories, the Ukraine and Georgia do. When the Russians leave then the Ukrainians and Georgians can compromise for peace.
ReplyDeleteJay, its the other way around son, the DPR and LPR started it after getting goaded into by their puppet masters in Moscow. The bad guys are Russians then the LPR and DPR. They started it.
ReplyDeleteMaiden,
DeleteAssention Agreement collapsed ( Ukraine would have taken a $60 billion a year haircut)
EU Compromise
Violent armed Coup
Unconstitutional Government
Persecution of Minorities legislation passed
Neo-Nazi's appointed to office
Anti-maiden forms using the same tactics as Maiden
Protestors labelled terrorists
Protestors beaten, burned alive and shot
Protestors arm themselves and defend themselves
After a string of small victories and larger defeats, the Anti-Maiden forces become more committed, more militairly professional, better armed ( from captured Ukrainian units and Cold War stockpiles) and defeat the Ukrainian Army and the Neo-Nazi Battalions is set piece, tactically brilliant battles and a set piece seige.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xWuxhLYl7R0
Losers have to compromise.
ReplyDeleteThat's why the Ukraine signed the Minsk II Agreement, which puts and rnd to the crisis,
but because of internal politics, ( neoNazi's mostly) and external support for the failed State, Ukraine hasn't implemented any of the requirements of Minsk II in over two years.
The Ukraine's problem is very much like the Georgian/South Ossetia problem used to be. A minority was oppressed and attacked, they took up arms, the situation stalemated militarily, and over the decades, instead of building economic and cultural ties, Georgia elected a blockade.
North Ossetia boomed, and despite the physical barriers, South Ossetia became more culturally and economically dependent on North Ossetia.
Georgia had so demonized the South Ossetians that when they launched their failed war, their NATO trained military focused on looting and ethnic cleansing rather than closing the Roki Tunnel.
We keep Quebec in Canada through federalization, acknoledgeing it's special status, and through trade and cultural exchange. Not military power.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Jme77Dfc4