the collapse of the soviet union was a disaster for the entire human race

"President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal"

WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THIS A MONTH AGO ZELENSKY??? THEN WE COULD HAVE THOUSANDS LESS FUCKING DEAD PEOPLE

helicopter attempting to evacuate Azov leaders from Mariupol shot down.

What's been happening in the last 12 hours or so?

Economically:
Russia and Ukraine:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government, Central Bank and Gazprom to implement measures to switch to ruble payments for gas for unfriendly countries by March 31.
• Russia will not supply gas for free if Europeans refuse to pay for fuel in rubles
• Central Bank of Ukraine reports that "99.2% of funds [have been] spent from a bank account created on February 24 for the needs of Ukrainian troops." Is this true? Is this encouraging foreign donations? Perhaps both? Either way, not good for Ukraines morale.
• Biden says - "ruble was almost immediately reduced to rubble", but is currently trading at only 20% below pre-war levels.
• Russia's stock market reopened today.
• Russia’s war has so far cost Ukraine $564.9bn worth of damage to infrastructure, lost economic growth and other factors, the latter’s economy minister has said.

Europe:

• EU will remain dependent on Russian energy resources until at least 2027 - European Commission
• Dutch brewing giant Heineken said on Monday it has decided to exit its business in Russia, after previously saying it would halt new investments and exports there.

World:

• Fertilizer trading at double its price during the 2008 financial crisis, having gone vertical.
• Oil up 30%, Nickel up 50%, aluminium up 10%, wheat up 30%, corn up 20%.

Diplomatically:

• Ukrainian Presidential adviser Arestovych commented on the video showing Ukrainians shoot Russian POWs, stating that he harshly condemns such behavior, that Ukraine "doesn't abuse prisoners because it's a European country" & the events on the video "look like a war crime".
• Zelensky: “I’ve talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing, If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had one percent of their courage.”
• Just a brief mention - Biden approval rating falls to record low, lmfao
• Germany's Chancellor Scholz says it is not NATO’s objective to achieve regime change in Russia - now both Scholz and Macron have shown a tiny rift between them and Biden. Hopefully it widens?
• A total of 45 Russian diplomats expelled by Poland have left the country, the RIA news agency reported. Russia's ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreev, warned of consequences for this.
• Ukraine will insist on sovereignty and territorial integrity at the next round of peace negotiations with Russia that is to take place in Turkey, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Sunday.

Militarily:

Russia:

• Ukrainian military is sometimes using trucks from the postage service DHL to transport mortars and mortar crews. These trucks were apparently given to them by the company.
• Footage of the Russians driving through Gostomel airfield, northwest of Kiev, which looks pretty destroyed.
• Also northwest of Kiev, Russia appears to occupy Borodyanka based on photos, which correlates with Defense Politics Asia's map.
• Russia destroys a military base near Chernihiv.
• Russian missiles strike Lutsk (not far from Lviv), and Uman (about halfway between Odessa and Kiev), Zhytomyr (west of Kiev, beyond the front), and Kiev. Seems to be fuel depots.

DPR:

• Russia (or DPR) appears to be advancing south of Izyum towards Slovyansk, a large city in the Donetsk oblast, along the major road between Kharkiv and Donetsk (city). The river Seversky Donets runs through Izyum and the general area - there have been days-long battles by the Russians to cross it safely.
• DPR capture Verkhn'otorets'ke, a village north of Donetsk city, and are advancing beyond it.
• DPR continues to advance on Gorlovsky, which is a large-ish city a bit further north than Verkhn'otorets'ke.
• Russian (or DPR) raise their flag over the northern Kalmiussky district of Mariupol.
• Azov continues to flee as soon as the situation gets hot rather than try and defend with their lives, reports the Russians. Azov's main base is under attack. Azov is also " firing from behind the backs of civilians"
• update: An Azov base in Mariupol has been destroyed, and the remaining Azov forces have been effectively cut in half. According to reports on the ground, they're leaving behind whole districts to retreat into the Azovstal factory.
• Apparently, the Chechen Republic has confirmed that Kadyrov is actually in Mariupol and commanding a special operation.
• Apparently a lion escaped from Mariupol Zoo and is running around the city. Hope he eats some Nazis?
• Mayor Vadym Boichenko said about 160,000 civilians were trapped in Mariupol without power.

LPR:

• Chechens are cleaning up Rubizhne, in the LPR, of Nazis disguised as civilians trying to escape the city.
• LPR takes out (some? most? all?) Ukrainian-controlled Popasna's artillery.

God it would’ve been so funny if Zelensky was speaking at the oscars and Will Smith just smacked Chris Rock during a plead for more fighter jets and rocket launchers

Taiwan has no current plans to suspend technology cooperation with Russia

No more free Taiwan for the lib I guess

Alright I'm back, today was just orientation, videos on policy and sexual harassment you had to watch on your phone but I got paid! So that's my first day of work in the bag. My week of training starts tomorrow at 4:30 to close.

If Zelensky actually surrendered, libs would immediately embrace the ‘stabbed in the back’ narrative, and some would be openly anti-Semitic about it

G7 rejects Russian demand to pay for gas in rubles

The Group of Seven major economies have collectively agreed to reject Moscow’s demand to pay for gas imports from Russia in rubles, according to German Energy Minister Robert Habeck.

On Monday, Putin ordered the government, the central bank, and Gazprombank to develop the necessary tools to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly states” to rubles from March 31.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia will stop shipping natural gas to countries that reject the demand.

Massive infrastructure changes to save the Earth from climate apocalypse: sorry, can't do it, too expensive, howyougunnapayforit, would be too much change too fast

Cutting off nearly half your country's power generation source in a single day to allow neo-Nazis to survive a couple weeks longer in a hopeless conflict: We must do it, for the good of all mankind

To be more precise, Russian gas accounts for 40% of the EU's natural gas imports, though Russian oil, which I don't think is being affected(?) is 25% of EU imports, and Russian coal is about 50% of EU's imports (as far as I can tell - figures for this are scarce) which I also don't think is being affected(?). But the former is more difficult to procure than the latter two because liquefied natural gas requires a lot of infrastructure that Europe doesn't have other than the infrastructure connected to Russia. And also reverting to coal would be a disaster for the environment as it's the dirtiest fossil fuel, and oil prices are going up, and diesel (for much of Europe's car fleet) is also facing major shortages. So this is still utterly disastrous and will lead to a recession but it's not as if half of Germany's houses are just gonna blink off. So yeah, going into a recession and agricultural crisis to allow neo-Nazis to survive a couple weeks longer in a hopeless conflict: We must do it, for the good of all mankind!

Germans, however, are told to fear not! Simply wear a sweater!

Baden-Württemberg Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection Peter Hauk has backed a complete German ban on importing gas and oil from Russia in response to Moscow’s military assault on Ukraine.

Hauk supported the response to Russia’s actions despite the impact it could have on his country’s own citizens, who are already struggling with soaring energy prices that make it challenging for them to heat their homes.

“You can withstand 15 degrees [Celsius] in winter in a sweater. No one dies of it. But people are dying elsewhere,” Hauk said, referencing the toll Russia has inflicted on Ukraine.

Surely, however, Europe can get their supplies from somewhere else? Unfortunately not, says the UAE:

The world’s energy markets need Russian oil and no producer can replace it, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Energy Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Monday.

Russia produces some 10 million barrels of oil a day, which makes it a critical member of the OPEC+ energy alliance, al-Mazrouei explained during an energy forum in Dubai.

Russia is the world’s second biggest crude exporter after Saudi Arabia. Following Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, some nations, led by the US, have pledged to stop buying Russian oil and gas. The United States, Europe, and others have been calling on Gulf Arab oil producers to ramp up production and help bring down crude prices, which at one point shot above $120 a barrel.

Last week, the EU stepped back from imposing an embargo on Russian crude and petroleum products, despite pressure from the US. An immediate embargo on Russia’s fossil fuels “from one day to the next would mean plunging our country and the whole of Europe into a recession,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week. Europe gets nearly 30% of its crude and roughly 50% of its petroleum products from Russia.

Reducing dependence on natural gas – something that the EU hopes to achieve over the next few years – may prove difficult as well. Qatar – which holds the third-largest natural gas reserves in the world – said last week that it was practically impossible to replace Russian gas on the European market, as between 30 and 40% of the total volume of gas supplied to the world market comes from Russia.

And finally, Germany continues to have a normal one:

Russian speakers in Germany are assaulted on a daily basis as hate crimes against people of Russian and Ukrainian origin have spiked in the country, reaching a staggering 200 cases every week, according to Germany’s police chief.

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RWA podcast having some dog shit takes https://mobile.twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1508526482351611906

the russian army was utterly victorious in ww1 & was two months away from conquering istanbul when the february revolution occurred, no one doubted russian troops would be in berlin by autumn 1917, that's why the revolution was kicked off lol (guess by whom)

Straight up doing a "stab in the back myth" but for russia now instead

ww2, again, yes, much of it was a catatrophe bc of communist malicious idiocy but i don't think there is any debate about the outcome of the war?

"Communist malicious idiocy"

Lmao and i saw people here like posting their shit

Britons face ‘historic shock’ to their incomes, BoE governor warns

Britons face a “historic shock” to their incomes this year sparked by surging energy prices that will hit UK economic growth and consumer demand, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned on Monday.

Bailey said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would fuel the UK cost of living crunch, adding the energy price shock in 2022 would be larger than during any single year in the 1970s.

What the actual fuck would Russia have to gain from poisoning people that they have peace talks with? Libs are delusional.

“For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power”

I like to think Biden was talking about himself in that moment.

'we have to do something, we have to stop Putin' my dad was going off, to which I said we all die in nuclear hellfire when that happens.

how do these boomers not get it? you never shut the fuck up with cold war takes, but forget Russia literally has like one of the biggest nuclear arsenals in the fucking world. don't fuck with the guy with all the god damn nukes maybe??