So the U.S. has effectively stepped back, Europe feels powerless and short on money and matériel, and Ukraine is exhausted short of funds, men, and equipment, and struggling with corruption and uneven leadership. All this against the Russian military: not the juggernaut it once was, but still a dangerous foe. And we’re supposed to call this ‘winning’?

 

Azov’s chief delivers a damning indictment of the military and political leadership the narrative is clear for anyone willing to look. It’s over. General Syrskyi, whom critics sometimes call ‘the Butcher,’ replaced the widely popular and celebrated commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi, whose soaring public support was increasingly seen as a threat to President Zelensky’s ambitions. It’s a tragedy, but when Zelensky toured the capitals of the Western world cheered, flattered, and returning home with promises that often felt half-empty the fix was already in.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdan_Krotevych

 

“I Know We Can Win”: Ukraine’s Most Famous Soldier on the State of War

 

https://offbeatresearch.com/2025/11/i-know-we-can-win-ukraines-most-famous-soldier-on-the-state-of-war/

 

For his part, Krotevych believes the “culture of lying” that once infected the Russian military has now become more prevalent on the Ukrainian side. 

“I think that Russians stopped their lying culture in the army, maybe in the beginning of 2024,” he says. “They stopped lying, and we started lying.” 

 

Krotevych argues that Syrskyi’s favoured assault units — which answer directly and only to him — are frequently used for militarily useless and highly costly PR stunts, driven by political pressure from Kyiv. “In one assault regiment under Syrskyi, there were more losses in one month than [Azov] took in two years,” Krotevych says. “It’s too stupid to lose people so Syrskyi can say to the President, ‘Mr. President, I carried out the operations that you asked me to do’, it’s stupid. I know how many losses we got in other units to free some village and to make a Telegram post. And in a week, that village would be re-captured by the Russians. It’s so stupid, no, I don’t understand.” 

 

 

On 11/21/2025 at 4:57 AM, Jingthing said:

I started this thread with an explanation that I was not (and am still not) predicting which side would ultimately prevail (or that it might end with a both sides being very unhappy).

All I meant to communicate was at that time in my opinion the MOMENTUM was on Ukraine's side.

I stand by that opinion at that time.

However, that never meant that the momentum or indeed the final outcome was necessarily destined to remain on Ukraine's side.

My current opinion is that Ukraine has for now lost the momentum.

Why?

Trump has proven again again he will always slip back to being Putin's poodle.

Trump like his stooge Witkoff is totally ignorant about the history of the conflict.

He never cared about peace, always hated Zelinskyy, always loved Putin as he wants to be like Putin.

He does care about dramatic announcements, vapid claims of winning, and getting prizes. To decent Americans, a total disgrace, but tragically he remains in power.

The corruption scandal surrounding Zelinskyy now represents a very serious problem for Ukraine, domestically and abroad.

Obviously, it was way way too close to Zelinskyy for people to believe that even if he didn't directly profit, that he didn't know about it. How could he have not known?

So the people of Ukraine already stressed to the bone by years of Z fascist Russian terrorism are justifiably pissed off, and while still opposing Russia, are obviously much more divided on their own leadership.

Enemies abroad (including Trump and Witkoff in my estimation) are circling like vultures.

More luckwarm friends now have a new excuse to back off from helping Ukraine,

Can Zelinskyy manage to remain a legit leader and effectively address this crisis?

Well the man has remarkable political skills but he's not a magician. Maybe he can, but I can't imagine how.

So if he can't, there needs to be some kind of leadership transition in Ukraine.

In a time of war that obviously weakens Ukraine.

It's also represents a long sought after opportunity for Putin to try to install a puppet.

So even though Ukraine continues to be amazing as far as attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure, for the time being, it looks to me that the momentum has shifted to Russia.

I’ll fix your title for you but the writing was on the wall from the very beginning, as I’ve said since day one. In my view, it was an unwinnable war, whatever the rights and wrongs, and enormous amounts of treasure and countless lives have been lost for muddy fields in places most people here know little about and care even less.

 

Ukraine is winning the war ?

1 minute ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

I’ll fix your title for you but the writing was on the wall from the very beginning, as I’ve said since day one. In my view, it was an unwinnable war, whatever the rights and wrongs, and enormous amounts of treasure and countless lives have been lost for muddy fields in places most people here know little about and care even less.

 

Ukraine is winning the war ?

Yes, Putin is a killer for land grab, bit like Hitler...😒......

5 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

I’ll fix your title for you but the writing was on the wall from the very beginning, as I’ve said since day one. In my view, it was an unwinnable war, whatever the rights and wrongs, and enormous amounts of treasure and countless lives have been lost for muddy fields in places most people here know little about and care even less.

 

Ukraine is winning the war ?

Of course it wasn't unwinnable. That's absurd.

If Biden from the start has applied maximum sanctions, maximum arms support without conditions, and ignored Putin's nuclear threats, it likely would have been over in Ukraine's favor within the first year.

Of course, the definition of "winning" for either side is going to flexible regardless. 

4 minutes ago, transam said:

Yes, Putin is a killer for land grab, bit like Hitler...😒......

More than a bit like Hitler. There is still time to stop him. 

12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

More than a bit like Hitler. There is still time to stop him. 

All Hitler analogies are misguided, which is exactly why Godwin’s Law exists. Putin is Putin he has managed to hold power in his homeland for nearly a quarter of a century, enriching and being sustained by a circle of kleptocrats, and using crony capitalism to patch over some of the intrinsic failures of the old Soviet command economy. But he hasn’t re-industrialised the country beyond perhaps its major cities, he hasn’t built an army capable of steamrolling into Europe unopposed, and he hasn’t created industrialised death factories to annihilate his enemies. He is dangerous, certainly, but not irrational.

The reason Europe, the U.S., and NATO have no appetite for fighting him directly beyond proxy support is because Russia is a nuclear power and the West has no willingness to accept mass casualties of its own citizens in what is, fundamentally, a Slavic regional war.

 

In many ways, that constraint was baked in from the start. What I couldn’t predict, however, was that Zelensky is both a skilled actor and comedian, and that his greatest role would be convincing both his own people and the West that he could win. A more pliant Putin puppet who bent the knee might have struck a deal, leaving Ukraine as a Belarus++ rather than facing an Iraq- or Libya-style fate which now looks to be it's future when their friend's and their magic money mysteriously dissapears and his mates could still have their golden toilets. 

2 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

All Hitler analogies are misguided, which is exactly why Godwin’s Law exists. Putin is Putin he has managed to hold power in his homeland for nearly a quarter of a century, enriching and being sustained by a circle of kleptocrats, and using crony capitalism to patch over some of the intrinsic failures of the old Soviet command economy. But he hasn’t re-industrialised the country beyond perhaps its major cities, he hasn’t built an army capable of steamrolling into Europe unopposed, and he hasn’t created industrialised death factories to annihilate his enemies. He is dangerous, certainly, but not irrational.

The reason Europe, the U.S., and NATO have no appetite for fighting him directly beyond proxy support is because Russia is a nuclear power and the West has no willingness to accept mass casualties of its own citizens in what is, fundamentally, a Slavic regional war.

 

In many ways, that constraint was baked in from the start. What I couldn’t predict, however, was that Zelensky is both a skilled actor and comedian, and that his greatest role would be convincing both his own people and the West that he could win. A more pliant Putin puppet who bent the knee might have struck a deal, leaving Ukraine as a Belarus++ rather than facing an Iraq- or Libya-style fate which now looks to be it's future when their friend's and their magic money mysteriously dissapears and his mates could still have their golden toilets. 

Suggesting that Ukraine becoming another Belarus is a good thing basically destroys any credibility you may have ever had (if any). I'm through wasting time engaging with such idiocy. BYE.

30 minutes ago, transam said:

Yes, Putin is a killer for land grab, bit like Hitler...😒......

I personally blame the cowboy and indians flics many of you watched as kids and took for documentaries rather  than gloating celebrations of a genocide that they are whilst building your national myths. 

1 hour ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

So the U.S. has effectively stepped back, Europe feels powerless and short on money and matériel, and Ukraine is exhausted short of funds, men, and equipment, and struggling with corruption and uneven leadership. All this against the Russian military: not the juggernaut it once was, but still a dangerous foe. And we’re supposed to call this ‘winning’?

Are you saying the Europeans are unless without the USA? 

 

When you talk about corruption why do you only talk about Ukraine.  Russia is nothing but a corrupt mob state run by a dictator.  

 

Russian showed the world their military is a joke.  

3 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

Are you saying the Europeans are unless without the USA? 

 

When you talk about corruption why do you only talk about Ukraine.  Russia is nothing but a corrupt mob state run by a dictator.  

 

Russian showed the world their military is a joke.  

Fair points, but there's a difference between Russia's military being "a joke" and it still being able to grind through a war of attrition on its own border with a population three times Ukraine's size.
If it's such a joke, why isn't Ukraine winning decisively? The days of mocking Russia for using washing machine chips and fighting with shovels are long since gone and that sort of thinking is precisely what's led to this impasse.

Yes, Russia is thoroughly corrupt but that's precisely why it can sustain losses that would topple any democratic government. The mob doesn't answer to voters.
The real question isn't who's more corrupt. It's whether Europe has the political will to step up when America steps back, or whether we're all just outsourcing our security to whatever administration happens to be in Washington.And if the US pulls the plug bang goes the intelligence and targeting and maybe Musk's Starlinks as well. 

 

Read the link I postred upthread by the head of Azov. 

 

https://offbeatresearch.com/2025/11/i-know-we-can-win-ukraines-most-famous-soldier-on-the-state-of-war/

 

For his part, Krotevych believes the “culture of lying” that once infected the Russian military has now become more prevalent on the Ukrainian side. 

“I think that Russians stopped their lying culture in the army, maybe in the beginning of 2024,” he says. “They stopped lying, and we started lying.” 

The walls are closing in on Zelensky

Ukraine faces a triple threat amid growing casualties, a corruption scandal and a peace plan that amounts to capitulation  -DAILY TELEGRAPH 

 

https://archive.ph/gN0Cv#selection-4237.0-5088.1

 

Gennady Druzhenko reckons that of the 1,000-odd fellow military recruits in his training camp, he is the only one who is there willingly.
The vast majority are conscripts, many of them old or unhealthy, press-ganged off the streets to plug the growing gaps in Ukraine’s front lines.
His comrades’ morale could not get much worse, but in the wake of the corruption scandal last week engulfing Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, a new low has been reached.
“Some of these guys are nearly 60 and it’s a tragedy that they’re being mobilised anyway,” Mr Druzhenko told The Telegraph

Hindsight is a cruel mistress... 2022

 

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-neutral-status-russia-peace-agreement-volodymyr-zelenskyy/

 

In a separate interview with the Economist, Zelenskyy said that some of his “partners” are “using Ukraine as a shield,” explaining how he sees the differing viewpoints of Western allies toward the war, with two disparate main strands.

On one hand, Zelenskyy said, there are those who “don’t mind a long war because it would mean exhausting Russia,” even “if this means the demise of Ukraine and comes at the cost of Ukrainian lives.” On the other hand, other countries want the war to finish quickly “because Russia’s market is a big one … [and] their economies are suffering as a result of the war,” Zelenskyy said. 

On 11/20/2025 at 2:46 PM, BLMFem said:

(..)what exactly do you find funny in that post?

Concept of current Russia "imperialism" is ridiculous and funny. So ROTFL again 

4 minutes ago, t0mt0m said:

Concept of current Russia "imperialism" is ridiculous and funny. So ROTFL again 

Really? What exactly is so ROTFL funny about Russian imperialism. Or are you laughing so hard you cannot type?

Is that it, comrade?

1 hour ago, Mike_Hunt said:

Russian showed the world their military is a joke.  

Yeah, thats why even after 3,5 year they still stand tall agains whole combined forces of NATO with bilions pumped in this futile conflict. Russia with its "obsolete" army vs NATO with newest expensive technologies - 1:0 .

15 minutes ago, BLMFem said:

Really? What exactly is so ROTFL funny about Russian imperialism. Or are you laughing so hard you cannot type?

Is that it, comrade?

It's funny because people who apparently watched way too many movies (where Russia was always portrayed as a main western countries antagonist) believed in it. This rusophobic psyop run for a decades by media and so called show business is strongly embedded in an average non-slavic mind who even never been to Russia. I don't blame you because this is just the way you guys were taught by history lecturers at school and later brainwashed by media. Most of the people are lacking of background knowledge and proper perspective about this conflict. Just staying in their rusophobic "comfort zone" instead of looking how the real culprit of this conflict is NATO and Ukraine itself.

43 minutes ago, t0mt0m said:

Yeah, thats why even after 3,5 year they still stand tall agains whole combined forces of NATO with bilions pumped in this futile conflict. Russia with its "obsolete" army vs NATO with newest expensive technologies - 1:0 .

After 3.5 years plus they can't take over little ole Ukraine.   

11 minutes ago, t0mt0m said:

It's funny because people who apparently watched way too many movies (where Russia was always portrayed as a main western countries antagonist) believed in it. This rusophobic psyop run for a decades by media and so called show business is strongly embedded in an average non-slavic mind who even never been to Russia. I don't blame you because this is just the way you guys were taught by history lecturers at school and later brainwashed by media. Most of the people are lacking of background knowledge and proper perspective about this conflict. Just staying in their rusophobic "comfort zone" instead of looking how the real culprit of this conflict is NATO and Ukraine itself.

After seeing what the Russians did to the civilian population in Bucha, I'm a proud rusophobic.

12 minutes ago, t0mt0m said:

It's funny because people who apparently watched way too many movies (where Russia was always portrayed as a main western countries antagonist) believed in it. This rusophobic psyop run for a decades by media and so called show business is strongly embedded in an average non-slavic mind who even never been to Russia. I don't blame you because this is just the way you guys were taught by history lecturers at school and later brainwashed by media. Most of the people are lacking of background knowledge and proper perspective about this conflict. Just staying in their rusophobic "comfort zone" instead of looking how the real culprit of this conflict is NATO and Ukraine itself.

Yes, sure. The people of the former Iron Curtain countries that were occupied for close to half a century agrees wholeheartedly!

 

Seriously, do you Russian trolls really believe you're convincing anyone with this drivel?😂

3 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

After seeing what the Russians did to the civilian population in Bucha, I'm a proud rusophobic.

Well I'll be damned, Mike got a thumbs up from me!

Zeliniskyy and Ukraine elites make billions siphoning the cream off the top of Western war funding.
You - press-ganged, cannon-fodder, nobodies get to go to the front and die.  Maybe your fighting the wrong enemy? 

8 minutes ago, connda said:

Zeliniskyy and Ukraine elites make billions siphoning the cream off the top of Western war funding.
You - press-ganged, cannon-fodder, nobodies get to go to the front and die.  Maybe your fighting the wrong enemy? 

Lies.

Russia's government is tightening its internet control, with widespread outages and restrictions already defining 2025 for its citizens. These pervasive measures are impacting daily life, from public transport to critical health monitoring.

 

The impact is profound: credit cards fail for public transport, ATMs disconnect, and messaging apps are down. Mobile phones often lose texts and data after international travel, and mothers of diabetic children report being unable to monitor blood glucose levels during outages.

 

For months, mobile phone internet shutdowns have affected dozens of Russian regions, ostensibly thwarting Ukrainian drone attacks. Popular messaging apps are also restricted, with the government promoting a state-controlled alternative critics fear is a surveillance tool.

 

Frustrations grow in Russia over cellphone internet outages

 

A woman looks at her smartphone in central Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)© (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

 

 

Widespread cellphone internet shutdowns began in May and persisted through summer and into the fall. In November, 57 Russian regions on average reported daily disruptions to cellphone links, according to Na Svyazi, an activist group monitoring shutdowns.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, bannork said:

Russia's government is tightening its internet control, with widespread outages and restrictions already defining 2025 for its citizens. These pervasive measures are impacting daily life, from public transport to critical health monitoring.

 

The impact is profound: credit cards fail for public transport, ATMs disconnect, and messaging apps are down. Mobile phones often lose texts and data after international travel, and mothers of diabetic children report being unable to monitor blood glucose levels during outages.

 

For months, mobile phone internet shutdowns have affected dozens of Russian regions, ostensibly thwarting Ukrainian drone attacks. Popular messaging apps are also restricted, with the government promoting a state-controlled alternative critics fear is a surveillance tool.

 

Frustrations grow in Russia over cellphone internet outages

 

A woman looks at her smartphone in central Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)© (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

 

Widespread cellphone internet shutdowns began in May and persisted through summer and into the fall. In November, 57 Russian regions on average reported daily disruptions to cellphone links, according to Na Svyazi, an activist group monitoring shutdowns.

 

 

It's early days in Russia's Big Brother internet but with China's help they will no doubt get there and it's always worth remembering that China will simply not allow Russia to fail albeit in a vassalage state as it's them next if that were ever to happen. When we overwinter in Thailand every year, we're struck by how good the 5G system is and how fast it performs nearly everywhere. Huawei has played a major role - an analyst estimated in 2022 that approximately 60% of Thailand's mobile networks still came from Huawei, despite operators trying to diversify to Ericsson and Nokia Asia Times. Th

 

Yes, China is helping Russia build internet control capabilities, but the irony is that Russia's current disruptions exist precisely because it doesn't yet have China's sophisticated system.

The collaboration is real:

Since at least 2015, Russia's Roskomnadzor agency has collaborated with Chinese Great Firewall security officials in implementing its data retention and filtering infrastructure. In 2016, Vladimir Putin signed a joint communiqué with Xi Jinping on information space, followed by meetings with Fang Binxing, architect of the Chinese Great Firewall.

In April 2025, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui announced plans to significantly deepen cybersecurity cooperation with Russia, emphasizing their shared vision for a "multilateral, democratic, and transparent global internet governance system".

A September 2025 leak of Great Firewall data revealed that China exports censorship mechanisms to various countries, showing technical details of how the CCP develops and shares its infrastructure of internet control.

But Russia's system is primitive by comparison:

Russian authorities acknowledge it's "too late" to introduce something similar to China's Great Firewall. The Chinese internet was built differently from the start with only a few traffic exchange hubs, making it easy to control. Russia has several hundred hubs, including ones unknown even to security services.

By the end of 2024, Russia's system had been tested several times in "exercises" involving disconnection from the global internet, using Deep Packet Inspection technology. However, DPI is not employed at a national level anywhere else in the world, and Russia's attempts have been unsuccessful - they couldn't even block Telegram effectively for an entire year.

Russia's 2025 disruptions are the awkward transition phase:

China's surveillance system is sophisticated and extensive, whereas Russia's is still largely inconsistent and emerging. There was virtually no control of the Internet in Russia until 2012.

The current mobile internet shutdowns represent Russia's crude approach while trying to achieve China's seamless filtering. Since September 2025, Russia has required its "Max" messaging app to be preinstalled on all mobile devices, embedding surveillance infrastructure into citizens' daily digital lives - mimicking China's WeChat model.

So yes, China is helping - but Russia's disruptions happen precisely because they're still building toward China's model, not because they've achieved it. China can filter content while maintaining service; Russia currently has to shut things down entirely.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke with Trump late on Saturday after expressing how leaders were concerned that the current deal would not give Ukraine the means to defend itself, requiring a cap on the military and no Nato membership or peacekeepers.

 

The prime minister said earlier in the day that allies had agreed that the 28-point plan contains “elements” that are essential to a lasting peace, but added that the proposal still needs “additional work”.

 

Trump offered allies some hope of salvaging a viable peace deal, telling reporters on Saturday that the peace plan was not his final offer.

 

Ukraine’s allies rally around Zelensky ahead of crunch talks in Geneva

 

Donald the great deal maker. Always changing the deal. Wasn't Russia a paper tiger only last month? He should be a character in the The Mad Hatters Tea Party.

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." 

 

Late in the evening on November 21, the occupied Donetsk region experienced power problems again. This happened against the backdrop of an attack by unidentified drones, according to local Telegram channels.

 

Starting at around 21:20, local public channels began reporting that it was very noisy in the occupied part of the Donetsk region. At least over Makiivka, unidentified drones were spotted. Just 30 minutes later, information appeared in Telegram channels that in occupied Donetsk, Makiivka, Horlivka, Yenakiieve, Khartsyzk, Yasynuvata, and other settlements, power was partially out.

 

This is not the first time the occupied Donetsk region has been left without electricity.

For example, a large-scale blackout occurred on the night of November 18,when unknown drones attacked two thermal power plants - the Zuivska and Starobesheve TPPs. That night, at least Donetsk, Makiivka, and Ilovaisk were left without power.

 

Occupied Donetsk region plunged into major blackout

 

Power outages are being reported in many occupied settlements (Photo: Getty Images)© RBC-Ukraine (UK)

 

 

 

 Owen Matthews - Here’s why delusional Europe won’t keep Ukraine in the fight - The continent long ago surrendered the ability to play a role in great power politics - DAILY TELEGRAPH 

 

https://archive.ph/AVu4N#selection-4159.0-5280.0

 

As historian Niall Ferguson put it bluntly in a recent tweet, “if you want to take back territory and try Putin, you have to win the war … realistically, Ukraine has never been in a position to defeat Russia.” By the same token neither Europe nor the US have had any interest in fighting a direct war with Moscow.
Europe’s politicians may lie to Ukraine and to themselves about their devotion to Kyiv’s cause, but the numbers tell a truer story.

Leadership still alive ty God

Zelensky will reject Trump's plan.

US assistance whilst important is not vital.

Europe should change its strategy towards Trump.