Donetsk

Well, I mean, first of all, it's morally obtuse.

Europe can't complain about Donetsk and Crimea.

Let's use Crimea as an example.

If the Russians started offering great real estate deals in Crimea, selling the real estate of Ukrainians who are forced from their homes, if Peloton decided to have a biking trip through Crimea.

Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine struck two enemy ammunition depots.

in Zaporizhzhia region, and a fuel and lubricants depot in Donetsk.

Targets included a Russian ammunition depot near Militopol, Zaporizhzhia, ammunition depot in Kilborobny, Zaporizhzhia, UAV control post near Chazavyar, Donetsk, and a fuel and lubricants depot in Donetsk as well.

So lots of military strikes ongoing.

i i saw this this was in the new york post it was in my feed ukraine knocks out 15 russian oil refineries costing 23.2 billion in damage and i was looking for the you know over what period of time because that's kind of important to understand so it didn't say what period of time but it did tell us this 23.2 billion air ukraine kiev's airstrikes have knocked 15 of russia's 38 major oil refineries out of operation causing more than 23.2 billion in economic damage ukraine's military ger said uh on thursday just 12 refineries are running at reduced capacity following the precision strike so that's that's where they have to go 12 more i mean and then that you know if something comes back online they have to knock it back down but that that's a lot of damage um over some time.

We don't know what this big, beautiful bill is, but I do think it's unlikely that Europe will be too keen.

europe haven't been involved in you know negotiating this bill or this deal or whatever it's going to look like and i think it's unlikely that they're going to be all too pleased with what trump is going to try and force them into additionally i think it's unlikely that both russia and ukraine are going to get what they want out of this Currently, at a bare minimum, it appears that Russia likely wants to get all of Donetsk, which Ukraine doesn't want to give them, and Ukraine wants post-war security guarantees provided by a Western country, which Russia almost certainly doesn't want Ukraine to have.

so i don't see how trump has got a deal that's got past these prerequisites specifically or especially if it means that nato troops are going to be pulling further back from russia's borders like if that's the concept how is that providing security guarantees to ukraine unless the the deal is ukraine can like join nato and be part of those security guarantees but it doesn't mean European forces are going to be based in Ukraine.

It all just seems a bit fucking mental, to be completely honest.

And bottom line up front, it's everywhere.

So we've had a lot of conversation recently in the east, Donetsk, where Operation Vivaldi pushed the Russians back north of Liman.

We know that affected the Russian offensive operations trying to move into the fortress belt of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, and Konstantinivka.

There was additionally some Russian forces pushed back in the Dopropylia section.

What he's talking about here are essentially glide bombs.

Helicopters aren't really getting anywhere near the front.

But what we've seen in other areas of the front, especially down here in Donetsk, is that the glide bombs are striking very heavily.

5, 10, 20 kilometers back from the front lines.

I served an LDS mission in Ukraine in 93 to 95 and learned Russian.

I lived in eastern Ukraine in Donetsk, which has been the...

the heart of the occupied territory since 2014, when Russia initially invaded.

I served there, as I said, in 93 to 95, and just fell in love with the place.

And in fact, on my first night in Kiev in March 2018, I went to a feminist talk at the Isolazia.

a cultural platform which had been displaced by the invasion of Donetsk.

And there were sort of just groups like young, far-right men outside, just sort

of

And then I also spent two summers in 94 and 95 between my first and second and then second and third years in law school teaching English via the Ukrainian National Association and Ukrainian Pritzvita Society's Teaching English in Ukraine program.

I went to Kharkiv because Donetsk was not available in 94.

Kharkiv was my second choice.

I came back there the next year.

the red carpet meeting, where basically we know that they drummed up a 28-point peace plan that I described at the time as having been written in the Kremlin and translated into English in the White House, probably using artificial intelligence.

And that was when we first saw this demand of of giving up further land, i.e. the fortress belt, that 20% or so of Donetsk, which, as you know, Sean, is the gateway to Kiev and the rest of Ukraine.

And that is a demand that they have held to.

But there was also in that, you remember, and I can't remember all 28 points off the top of my head, But there was limitations on the size of the Ukrainian army, i.e. we want you nice and weak and vulnerable, so when we do decide to come back, we can have our way with you.