Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]

yogeshkumar · Post by **yogeshkumar** » 13 Mar 2022 04:47

Zelinski is a US puppet. Nothing more, Nothing less. He is no hero, in any shape or form. All he had to do to keep peace and harmony in Ukraine was to implement Minsk2 agreement. But his paymasters (aka US) didn't want him to. He and his corrupt Government banned Russian from school curricula, even though most of Ukrainians speak russian. Zelinski is a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel.

Coming to current crisis, if Zelinski was really a leader, he could have avoided this crisis by helping keep Ukraine really neutral. But that was not allowed by his US masters. So now Zelinski is leading the destruction of Ukraine..all just to please his puppet masters in US.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 13 Mar 2022 04:57

On the flip side, a Belarussian/Israeli dual citizen friend says the war is due to Putin's desire to win the elections due in Russia next year. Says there's no free press either to air multiple points of view, so most Russians are backing the government line because that's all they are being told.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 13 Mar 2022 05:02

British ex-Army soldier/merc goes to war in Ukraine, gets hit with rockets/helicopter fire, runs scared into the woods, gets picked up by Ukraine Territorial Defense who torture him thinking he's a Russian spy, gets released, immediately goes back home to the UK. https://twitter.com/j_bigboote/status/1 ... pwr4pK3_HQ

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 13 Mar 2022 05:21

ManuJ wrote:
Cyrano wrote:[Zelinsky] He seems to be fighting from the shadows with a shadow army... very clever, but at tremendous cost to common Ukr people.
The cost, to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, has been imposed by Putin.

Zelinksky is doing what any good wartime leader whose country is being attacked by a superior country would do - he is uniting his countrymen in a desperate fight for survival, while at the same time pressurizing the rest of the world (at least the western world) to support the underdog.

I am not supporting Russian aggresssion and do not believe everything Russian media says but

Russia had defined NATO membership for Ukraine as a red line since 2000.
Zelensky had spoken about reclaiming Crimea in Aug 2021 and signed a law to abolish the "Crimea" free economic zone. Why? Zelensky as the leader of an smaller nation has been instigating a much larger foe.
If Zelensky is a democratic leader, why are opposition leaders jailed?
Why was Russian banned in schools in Russian speaking areas? Was it not an attempt to erase Russian identity? Note that this fact is not contested but rarely mentioned in Western media.
Till a few days back, Western media was saying that Russia will not stop with NATO membership issue+Crimea+DPR+LPR. Zelensky had parroted the same lines. After the Kremlin made public its goals which were exactly as per above, Western media was silent about this. Why does Zelensky not call out Kremlin's bluff? There are enough third parties like India and Israel to ensure it.
By arming untrained civilians and even kids, Zelensky has put a targeton every Ukrainian male above 15.

I hope that the Ukrainian people do not suffer any more due to their leader. If Zelensky thinks, he is going to fight Russia to a stalemate and force a ceasefire, he is smoking some strong stuff being provided by others.

bala · Post by **bala** » 13 Mar 2022 05:21

Brits, over a long history period, have shown cowardice in warfare. Their rule in India was supported by Hessian mercenaries from Germany who did all the frontline fighting. The Brit soldier turns tail as soon as there is impending danger. Deceit, trickery, using others in your fight seem to be their hallmark. In the two world wars, Indian soldiers did most of the frontline fighting, 350,000 brave Indians died in vain, their families never compensated. A Brit soldier is no match to an average Gurkha in terms of bravery and courage.

vinod · Post by **vinod** » 13 Mar 2022 05:28

This is a brilliant read
https://pekingnology.substack.com/p/ukr ... rce=direct

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 13 Mar 2022 05:35

Here's how US, NATO and Zelinsky are going about to get Russian soldiers and Ukrainian amateurs to kill each other

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 13 Mar 2022 06:08

vinod wrote:This is a brilliant read
https://pekingnology.substack.com/p/ukr ... rce=direct

Excellent but I wonder why they do not take the "emotionally gratfying but rationally possible" line wrt India.

Y. Kanan · Post by **Y. Kanan** » 13 Mar 2022 06:52

This war is such an unnecessary tragedy. It all could have been avoided by the US simply accepting that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO. Putting aside the obvious "non-starters" the Russians demanded, which everyone knew they weren't serious about (such as rolling back NATO from the Baltics), it was clear from the beginning that the real demand was "No NATO for Ukraine".

But the Biden administration WANTED this war. They wanted the distraction from domestic issues. They needed something they blame for the poor economy and the inflation that were already on people's minds before the invasion. Now all economic woes can be blamed on Russia. They wanted an excuse to sanction Russia like no nation has ever been sanctioned before, in effect waging war on Russia via economic strangulation. And of course, the US military-industrial-war complex needed another dramatic boost in taxpayer cheese, yet another massive wealth transfer from the American people to the industries that benefit from military spending and war.

They wanted this war and were happy to sacrifice Ukrainian lives (and Americans' standard of living) to get it. It's all a geopolitical game for the empire. You think any of the Washington elites care about gas prices or inflation?

I'm disappointed so many Indians, even on this esteemed forum, have swallowed the western narrative on Ukraine. You have failed to exercise your critical thinking faculties and are being manipulated by mass media, and you don't even know it.

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 13 Mar 2022 06:59

I hope Russia gives up any hopes of installing a puppet government in Ukraine, not going to happen. He has already cleaved the Russian majority areas out of Ukraine. What remains is fiercely Russia-phobic.

I pray that wisdom dawns on Zelensky.

Western media keeps hoping that sanctions and a few days delay in the war will force Russians to revolt against Putin

. They have already realized that the "oligarchs" do not wield any influence with Putin - that hope was vibrant in the first few days during the pull out all sanctions phase.

John · Post by **John** » 13 Mar 2022 07:59

This war is such an unnecessary tragedy. It all could have been avoided by the US simply accepting that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO.

Macron already had a deal that called out exactly that it even included recog for Crimea and two provinces (in fact US or allies never really wanted Ukraine in NATO). But even while he was working out the deal Putin had called for invasion days before. Putin wanted nothing short of puppet regime in west and annexation of east.

And when Macron (turned him into Neville Chamberlin) found that out he was furious one of the reasons Europeans where so quick to fall in line with sanctions.

I do suspect Chinese leaked lot of discussions Xi had with Putin to US Intel incl postponement of invasion date till post Olympics. In game of politics there are no Allies.

Baikul · Post by **Baikul** » 13 Mar 2022 08:14

IndraD wrote:British ex-Army soldier/merc goes to war in Ukraine, gets hit with rockets/helicopter fire, runs scared into the woods, gets picked up by Ukraine Territorial Defense who torture him thinking he's a Russian spy, gets released, immediately goes back home to the UK. https://twitter.com/j_bigboote/status/1 ... pwr4pK3_HQ

His own accounting of the story, and subsequent comments on twitter are hilarious.

yogeshkumar · Post by **yogeshkumar** » 13 Mar 2022 08:22

John wrote:Macron already had a deal that called out exactly that it even included recog for Crimea and two provinces (in fact US or allies never really wanted Ukraine in NATO). But even while he was working out the deal Putin had called for invasion days before. Putin wanted nothing short of puppet regime in west and annexation of east.

That is not correct. What Macron said to Putin was that - there are no "imminent" plans to invite Ukraine to Nato. Putin addressed this in his official speech. This is what Putin said: "They say Ukraine is not going to be part of Nato anytime soon... not tomorrow. But what about after tomorrow? "

Russia had presented very reasonable demands to US/Nato in December to address Russia's security concerns. But US/Nato firmly rejected those demands.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 13 Mar 2022 08:22

This war is a contest of wills. With real consequences.

The Russian will and the US Deep State will.

Russian will to demonstrate that they are not push overs and that they are a great power.

The US will to deny that Russia is a great power. If the US has to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian inorder to achieve it. So be it.

In this the Ukrainian's have been willing participants due to hate of Russia.

yogeshkumar · Post by **yogeshkumar** » 13 Mar 2022 08:34

Pratyush wrote:This war is a contest of wills. With real consequences.
In this the Ukrainian's have been willing participants due to hate of Russia.

Agree with most of your comment. As for Ukrainians hatred of Russia - its not completely true. It's a western media propaganda.

Majority of Ukrainian population in East Ukraine is either Neutral.. or leans towards Russia because of deep Russian heritage.

Western Ukraine is different story. A good chunk of population in western Ukraine really thinks of themselves as European. They are the ones who have been racially discriminating against ethnic Russians. EU/US is using this segment of population to wage war against Russia. Deep down, EU/US deep state calls them right wing extremists. You can check Rep Ro Khanna's tweet about them from year 2018.. which he recently deleted.

Baikul · Post by **Baikul** » 13 Mar 2022 08:49

bala wrote:Brits, over a long history period, have shown cowardice in warfare. Their rule in India was supported by Hessian mercenaries from Germany who did all the frontline fighting. The Brit soldier turns tail as soon as there is impending danger. Deceit, trickery, using others in your fight seem to be their hallmark. In the two world wars, Indian soldiers did most of the frontline fighting, 350,000 brave Indians died in vain, their families never compensated. A Brit soldier is no match to an average Gurkha in terms of bravery and courage.

Totally OT post incoming.

In World War One, after the initial battles of Ypres and Neuve Chapelle, Indian troops were taken out of the main European theatre to other strategically ‘side’ commands including Gallipoli and Egypt. Although their valour in these initial battles can be seen simply in the VCs given to Darwan Singh Negi and Khudadad Khan.

In World War Two the bulk of Indian troops never fought in Europe which was again the main theatre. Most were concentrated in the campaign against the Japanese in the East, most famously under General Slim, and again Africa and Egypt. Except for Italy, and the famous battle of Monte Cassino.

Without undermining their relevance or sacrifice or contribution, it’s therefore questionable to say that Indian troops did the bulk of the frontline fighting in either world war. However that does not undermine their significant and decisive contribution which tends to get downplayed. They picked up the slack in key theatres and without them it’s likely that both world wars would have gone for a longer period of time, or worse for the British (something that a leading General Auchinleck acknowledged). There are incredible tales of valor and sacrifice.

Also where are you getting your information about the contribution of Hessian mercenaries on India, is that they did the bulk of the fighting?

KL Dubey · Post by **KL Dubey** » 13 Mar 2022 09:41

Y. Kanan wrote:
I'm disappointed so many Indians, even on this esteemed forum, have swallowed the western narrative on Ukraine. You have failed to exercise your critical thinking faculties and are being manipulated by mass media, and you don't even know it.

Agreed. All these kinds of major events are also test beds for AI based mass manipulation algorithms. It looks like BRF posters are no exception in falling prey to this type of manipulation. In a few years people may be debating based on GPT written articles with fake human names.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 13 Mar 2022 12:57

Naah, in future there will be forums where only AI members will post and some of us - the lucky ones - will be Mods !

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 13:03

Y. Kanan wrote:
But the Biden administration WANTED this war. They wanted the distraction from domestic issues. They needed something they blame for the poor economy and the inflation that were already on people's minds before the invasion. Now all economic woes can be blamed on Russia. They wanted an excuse to sanction Russia like no nation has ever been sanctioned before, in effect waging war on Russia via economic strangulation. And of course, the US military-industrial-war complex needed another dramatic boost in taxpayer cheese, yet another massive wealth transfer from the American people to the industries that benefit from military spending and war.

.

Follow the money. Some people Obama soros and thier gang are getting wealthier because of the war not to mention Biden s family . The emperor is naked and this time they outdid themselves. The US Dollar will lose its predominant position as the defacto currency, a deeply divided world order will arise, small countries will not be able to survive on their own.. welcome to G2.

vinod · Post by **vinod** » 13 Mar 2022 14:30

yogeshkumar wrote:
John wrote:Macron already had a deal that called out exactly that it even included recog for Crimea and two provinces (in fact US or allies never really wanted Ukraine in NATO). But even while he was working out the deal Putin had called for invasion days before. Putin wanted nothing short of puppet regime in west and annexation of east.
That is not correct. What Macron said to Putin was that - there are no "imminent" plans to invite Ukraine to Nato. Putin addressed this in his official speech. This is what Putin said: "They say Ukraine is not going to be part of Nato anytime soon... not tomorrow. But what about after tomorrow? "

Russia had presented very reasonable demands to US/Nato in December to address Russia's security concerns. But US/Nato firmly rejected those demands.

There was no deal being worked out. Russia viewed it as ploy of endless negotiations.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 13 Mar 2022 16:32

Apparently there is a flourishing surrogate pregnancy industry in Ukraine, and childless French/western couples are big clients. Future parents are worried about their expected progeniture carried by surrogate Ukrainian wombs and are trying everything they can to get their carrying mothers out of Ukraine to safety !

https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/societe/mar ... s-20220301

Please google translate the article to read if you're interested.

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 13 Mar 2022 17:28

ldev wrote:https://plus2.credit-suisse.com/shortur ... ZR9-WTBd-V

Very interesting research note from Zoltan Pozsar of Credit Suisse and formerly of the US Federal Reserve and Treasury.

Highlights:

The global commodity market has been broken into Russian and non Russian sources.

Non Russian commodity prices are going up and will go up further leading to inflation in the West.

Since it is the G7 countries that have launched these sanctions against Russia, the only other central bank with the firepower to buy and hold Russian commodities is the Peoples Bank of China.

They can do this either by selling their vast holdings of US Treasury Bonds or printing more Yuan or a combination of both.

Either will increase US Treasury yields and drive inflation further up.

And both will see the emergence of the Yuan as a potential commodity backed global currency.

The Bretton Woods system of inside money, established in 1943 and modified by Nixon in 1971 (fx reserves primarily denominated in US dollars) has been broken by the seizure of Russia's foreign exchange reserves. When this transformation is complete the US dollar will be lower in value. How quickly this happens depends on the pace with which China decides to internationalize the yuan.

China is the big winner.

While this is a very plausible scenario, I have learned never to write off the US. It always has a Plan B and then a Plan C. And the US would not have taken a step as big as freezing Russian Foreign Exchange Reserves, knowing the loss of confidence from other dollar holding Central Banks without having an end game. What could this end game be?

The only end game that will ensure the continued supremacy of the dollar as the global reserve currency is a yuan without the commodity backing that it needs to emerge as a true alternative. And the entire proposition by Zoltan Pozsar above is based on China using the yuan to backstop and buy collateral in the form of Russian commodities which have no other obvious market. It's a great theory and very plausible but with one big gaping vulnerability. And that is what happens if Putin is replaced with a non-drunken Yeltin 2? From the viewpoint of the US, a Yeltsin 2 could bring about the best thing that could happen which is a dis-armed Russia which is like a giant European Australia i.e. a supplier of raw materials, a part of the Western system and without whose commodities, the Chinese manufacturing engine can be brought to it's knees at any time and the Chinese yuan will remain forever a non convertible currency and hence never a threat to the status of the dollar. The maximal sanctions are designed IMO to cause maximum pressure on the oligarchs, the middle class, in tech and IT who are driving the new Russian economy and who anecdotally are fleeing Russia in large numbers to Georgia, Armenia, Finland, Turkey, the UAE etc. All remaining outbound flights are apparently full. There are no doubt already back channels open between the US and key Russians in the armed forces as well influential oligarchs with a carrot and stick offer i.e. get rid of Putin and life will be back to normal. Putin has not helped himself by the fact that he has isolated himself partially because of Covid in the last 2 years. Anecdotally again, he is closest to his ex KGB security apparatus and not that close to the armed forces or the oligarchs. That could make him vulnerable.

Anyway, very interesting times ahead.

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 18:28

ldev wrote:
ldev wrote:https://plus2.credit-suisse.com/shortur ... ZR9-WTBd-V

Very interesting research note from Zoltan Pozsar of Credit Suisse and formerly of the US Federal Reserve and Treasury.

Highlights:

The global commodity market has been broken into Russian and non Russian sources.

Non Russian commodity prices are going up and will go up further leading to inflation in the West.

Since it is the G7 countries that have launched these sanctions against Russia, the only other central bank with the firepower to buy and hold Russian commodities is the Peoples Bank of China.

The Bretton Woods system of inside money, established in 1943 and modified by Nixon in 1971 (fx reserves primarily denominated in US dollars) has been broken by the seizure of Russia's foreign exchange reserves. When this transformation is complete the US dollar will be lower in value. How quickly this happens depends on the pace with which China decides to internationalize the yuan.

The only end game that will ensure the continued supremacy of the dollar as the global reserve currency is a yuan without the commodity backing that it needs to emerge as a true alternative. And the entire proposition by Zoltan Pozsar above is based on China using the yuan to backstop and buy collateral in the form of Russian commodities which have no other obvious market. It's a great theory and very plausible but with one big gaping vulnerability. And that is what happens if Putin is replaced with a non-drunken Yeltin 2? From the viewpoint of the US, a Yeltsin 2 could bring about the best thing that could happen which is a dis-armed Russia which is like a giant European Australia i.e. a supplier of raw materials, a part of the Western system and without whose commodities, the Chinese manufacturing engine can be brought to it's knees at any time and the Chinese yuan will remain forever a non convertible currency and hence never a threat to the status of the dollar.

Anyway, very interesting times ahead.

Indeed even Spotify refuses to play Russian songs !!.. what kind of world are we living in

Baikul · Post by **Baikul** » 13 Mar 2022 18:33

New York Times video journalist Brent Renoud being reported as killed in Kyiv.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/150 ... 64416?s=21

Edit (few hours later): He did not work for NYT, but was a seasoned documentary maker and journalist.

https://twitter.com/cliffordlevy/status ... 62629?s=21

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 18:36

I think all this hubris against Russia has been a long time in planning by the Americans ( deep state for lack of a better word, populated by the likes of Soros, Obama etc) ever since The Soviet Union dissolved., this is their end game.

Ukraine is just a convenient excuse, Europeans the collateral damage.UK their ever following poodle

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 18:38

But be careful what you wish for., the Russians would only be too happy to join a "western alliance" but what they dont realise is that the west want a neutered and tamed Russia to be used for its natural resources

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 18:53

When I heard someone ranting on about boycotting Russian goods and services, I asked them did they stop buying Saudi oil with their bombing of civilians in Yemen. Totally lost for an answer

kit · Post by **kit** » 13 Mar 2022 19:17

yogeshkumar · Post by **yogeshkumar** » 13 Mar 2022 21:42

Looks like Russia is finally starting to inflict the real damage on Nato assets in Ukraine.

https://southfront.org/at-least-66-ukra ... near-lviv/

skumar · Post by **skumar** » 13 Mar 2022 21:47

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 13 Mar 2022 21:50

Another angle to this conflict: it's a war of mercenaries

https://chanakyaforum.com/war-of-mercenaries/

Deans · Post by **Deans** » 13 Mar 2022 21:59

yogeshkumar wrote:
John wrote:Macron already had a deal that called out exactly that it even included recog for Crimea and two provinces (in fact US or allies never really wanted Ukraine in NATO). But even while he was working out the deal Putin had called for invasion days before. Putin wanted nothing short of puppet regime in west and annexation of east.
That is not correct. What Macron said to Putin was that - there are no "imminent" plans to invite Ukraine to Nato. Putin addressed this in his official speech. This is what Putin said: "They say Ukraine is not going to be part of Nato anytime soon... not tomorrow. But what about after tomorrow? "

Russia had presented very reasonable demands to US/Nato in December to address Russia's security concerns. But US/Nato firmly rejected those demands.

That's true. the UK foreign secy, German Chancellor and Macron were unable to assure him of what he had been asking for.
- Minsk 2
- No NATO membership for Ukraine, ever (not no membership in the immediate future)
I don't think it was therefore possible for Putin to even raise the issue of Crimea.

The NATO membership has to be seen in the context of Ukraine signing an enhanced partnership agreement with NATO in 2020. That's when all the
AGTM's and MANPADS started coming in. It was seen as a step towards full membership.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 13 Mar 2022 22:07

US was supplying weapons to Ukraine from 2017 onwards. There is a video of republican and democratic party senators in Ukraine about killing Russians in Ukraine with US supplied weapons in 2017.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 13 Mar 2022 22:57

Of course, if you recollect Trump's impeachment hearings, US Govt officials are on record about supplying Javelins to Ukraine and wanted to supply even more. Even then Dems and now Reps are trying to take each other out using Zelinsky. Zelinsky and Ukr have proven to be a way bigger condoms than ImmyDimmy and Pakis could ever be.

srikandan · Post by **srikandan** » 13 Mar 2022 23:02

Allowing citizens dual-nationality is a bad idea, given as to how most of the Ukrainian politicians have american citizenship. This is how regime changes are done "organically" it seems.

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 13 Mar 2022 23:27

Zynda wrote: Russian AF have been using mostly Su-25, Su-34s for CAS. There is no need to use air superiority platforms or newer multi-role ones (Su-30, 35s, etc.) since there are very little Ukrainian Air assets that can take off. BTW, it seems like RuAF have run out of PGMs or saving whatever stock it has for more important stages of conflict (say if the war escalates involving NATO) because they have using dumb bombs lately in CAS & strike roles and have paid some penalty by having quite a few number of their birds being shot down.

I've been reading on this too and also been thinking. Training pilots is an expensive affair. Is it that there is less no of pilots to run missions? not enough radar / ground assets to man the skies. Not sure what exactly is the problem thats ailing. And yes, not having the precision bombs is also turning out to be a problem.

John · Post by **John** » 14 Mar 2022 00:04

Russian vehicle for traversing the mud DT-30, Not gonna lie this looks pretty cool not sure more of these will solve there logistic problems. Shame it was taken out, didn’t even know such a vehicle existed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vityaz_(ATV)

Video of DT-30 taken out by Ukr forces: https://youtu.be/oTQb2e2dK_I

Video of DT-30 in operation with Russian army: https://youtu.be/x-Ml9KKEz18

dnivas · Post by **dnivas** » 14 Mar 2022 00:33

John wrote:
Deans wrote:
I think those are intentionally maximal demands. He will settle for:
- No NATO membership for Ukraine (and Georgia).
- Implement the Minsk-2 agreement, which all parties signed up for in 2015.
- Recognise Crimea as Russian (or if Ukraine insists its a disputed territory) remove sanctions.

In return for that, all sanctions go and Russian troops withdraw.
That's actually worse than pre invasion deal that Macron was negotiating it included all that and even got Ukr to go along with it, it also included some recog for two eastern provinces as well.

You are just making up stuff now. That was not what Macron agreed during negotiations. Russia would never go with another Verbal commitment and NATO was not going to sign a document regarding Ukraine / Georgia. Find me an article before Feb 24, that says NATO was willing to sign a document

dnivas · Post by **dnivas** » 14 Mar 2022 00:48

I seriously do not know what your agenda is here John, but your constant parroting of lies since the beginning ; 'ghost of Kiev' , '13 soldiers', bunch of fake psy ops twitter posts is harming the pro India focus of this forum. Since our independence, it is a fact that USSR/ Russia supported us more than the US and to an extent maintains a large proportion of our CURRENT weapons. you keep cheering for a Russian loss. This would cause a serious loss for India politically and economically. luckily for us , we are able to witness the spate of disinfo that can in the future in a moment turned on us [imagine all the indian business in the west having shit thrown on, or damaged].

Are you telling me that because Pakistan becomes part of Chinese Alliance where the chinese start placing missiles on our border, we should just roll over and say 'master'?
Would we not take the initiative and attack pakistan, what we consider part of our ethos. So far for a loss of < 1000 civilians the Russians have been slowly grinding down the Ukr cities. Your mental masters in the meantime would have blown up bridges, blown up the electricity grid, shock and awed cities, blown up wedding processions and then called them all "collateral damage". So shame on you sir.

dnivas · Post by **dnivas** » 14 Mar 2022 00:55

US ex spec force reporter based in Ukr interviewed someone from the frontlines [Kyiv]

"Sitting close to the frontline, the last safe mode of transportation leaves for greener pastures. A core group of about 30 foreign fighters remains out of around 200 people who were here just minutes ago. The base we came from was struck by rockets in the early morning hours. People we lived with for a couple days are confirmed dead. It is only a matter of time before our location is targeted. We are about to be cut off by a Russian tank column any day now. Food, water, and ammunition dwindle slowly. The mood is somber, people are sending their last messages to friends and family."

Note by the reporter :
"An important note: this American is a special ops veteran who completed combat deployments to Afghanistan. He came to Ukraine before Russia's full-scale war on Feb. 24. He is an experienced, well-trained soldier who gave up his lucrative career in the US in order to help Ukraine"

https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/stat ... 1975075845