Live Conflict Ukraine-Russia War

[Huelague]

It's looks increasingly likely that later this week the European Union will free up a loan mechanism for Ukraine of approximately $200 Billion usd, that will be paid back using confiscated Russian financial assets. At $100 Billion usd per year, the funds are designed to cover 2/3 of Ukraine's Government and military budget for the two year period of 2026 and 2027. If the plan passes later this week, step 1 in Europe's plan to take the invasion of Ukraine into their collective hands will be complete. As Donald Trump prepares significantly sever the U.S. role in Europe's defense matters, this will mark beginning of Europe fighting for itself.

With the Russian asset backed loan in place, the next step is to ask individual EU countries + Canada , Britain and Norway to continue to dig deep and support Ukraine use their own budgetary funds to augment the loan and increase the military support to Ukraine through programs such as PURL, the Czech Ammunition Initiative and the Danish model of direct support for Ukraine's domestic defense industry, where it is cheaper to build many weapons than it is in the West.

Below are some figures detailing planned support from Ukraine's Allies in 2026, over and above the loan being discussed.

Germany : $13.5 Billion usd
Norway : $8.4 Billion usd
Britain : $6.0 Billion usd
Sweden : $4.8 Billion usd
Netherlands : $4.5 Billion usd
Canada : $3.0 Billion usd
France : $2.0 Billion usd (estimate)
Italy : $1.5-2.0 Billion usd (estimate)
Denmark : $1.5 Billion usd
Spain : $1.0 Billion usd
Belgium : $1.0 Billion usd
Poland : $1.0 Billion usd (estimate)
Portugal : $250 Million usd
Lithuania : $250 Million usd
Latvia : $120 Million usd
Estonia : 117 Million usd

Total: $49 Billion usd

These are the numbers that have been made public to this point. Numerous other countries have not yet detailed what their respective financial support will look like. It's safe to assume that the support will rise to over $50 Billion usd, however.

If we are to assume that Ukraine gets approximately $100 Billion usd via the Russian asset loan, and a further $50 Billion in funding EU countries, they are set to receive an influx of approximately $150 Billion usd in 2026, and a similar number in 2027. That's a massive surge funds, thr likes of which Ukraine has not received in any year of this war. If there was ever an opportunity for Ukraine to significantly increase the strength of their military via an insane weapons buying spree, 2026 and 2027 are the years in which to do it.

So much about the financial aspect of the situation. Now, how much of the assets will be used to fight Russians and how much will be used to build mansions? Next question, if they really want to use this money buy weapon system, who will use this? The million Ukraine refugees in Europe?

 

[Relic]

So much about the financial aspect of the situation. Now, how much of the assets will be used to fight Russians and how much will be used to buiatld mansions? Next question, if they really want to use this money buy weapon system, who will use this? The million Ukraine refugees in Europe?

Lol, I know your questions are rhetorical, but I'll bite anyways.

1. There is corresponding mechanism being proposed that an EU monitoring apparatus tracks the specific use of funds and ensure they're used as intended. This was proposed after the most recent $100 million usd corruption scandal in Ukraine. Everybody knows who Ukraine is. Far from a perfect country plagued some of the same Soviet style corruption that can be found in Russia. That said, they're a country battling to clean it up and they're actively arresting and jailing people as they're getting caught and they're working with international security intelligence agencies to help overcome the pervasive issue.

2. Ukraine has a standing military of approximately 800,000 personnel. Some 6 million people have fled Ukraine since the outset of the war from a pre-war population of 43 million people. Even counting the estimated war dead, there are 36-37 million people living in Ukraine. It's still the 8th most populous country in Europe despite all they been through over the last 4 years. Ukraine has a shortage of soldiers at the front. That's well captured. Largely, however, that has to do with badly needed pay reforms (something large scale funding would help solve) and bad rotational policy and an unwillingness to drop the conscription age. Many of Ukraine's manning problems could be solved in under a years if targeted reforms were put into place.

 

[MaciekRS]

Our foreign minister

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2001187246402130411

Also Sikorski about russia
"Sikorski: “What makes Russia unfriendly is simply, it's not just the person of vladimir putin, it is Russia's state ideology. Russia had its episode when the heroes were Sakharov, right, the dissidents, and now it's the Tsars again, and the most expansionist and cruel ones—Stalin and so on. A country that has such a state ideology is by definition a threat to its neighbors. Every American administration learns about Russia and Europe anew. I think every American administration believes that if we talk to these Russians in a friendlier way, they will reciprocate. And they always pay back in the same coin. We know this in our region. We, as Europe, the European part of NATO, have doubled our defense spending since the first Trump administration. If the allies do most of what they themselves committed to, by the end of the decade we will have military capabilities that will be sufficient to deter putin."

 

[contricusc]

If the allies do most of what they themselves committed to, by the end of the decade we will have military capabilities that will be sufficient to deter putin."

Europe’s military problem is not solved by only pouring more money into conventional forces. European countries need to make nuclear weapons, and ICBMs. Unless they do that, the only European countries that matter will remain France, and to a lesser degree the UK (which is dependent on US tech for its nuclear deterrent).

The rest of Europe needs to understand that in order to deter Russia, you need to have the means to wipe out Moscow from the map. And long term, it is equally important to be able to deter the US, and the only way to do that is by being able to wipe out New York with a nuke.

The rules based order guaranteed by the US post 1990 is over. The US is back to its imperial mindset, and non-nuclear countries will be at the mercy of the negotiations between US, China and Russia.

Europe meeds to make nukes, and advanced delivery systems. If you want to matter in the XXI century, you need to be able to nuke the US, China and Russia. That’s the only way to guarantee that you won’t end up as collateral damage between the ambitions of imperial powers.

 

[Spitfire9]

What's the situation?

In 2022 Russia set out to invade, defeat , occupy and install a puppet government in Ukraine or else annexe the country. The short, sharp war to take over Ukraine did not work out as planned. Nearly 4 years later

- hundreds of thousands of Russian troops have been killed

- Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine

- Russia's non-military industry has been decimated

- Russia's national wealth fund has almost been exhausted

- Russia's GDP is heading for negative growth if that has not yet arrived

- Russia's banks have been forced to make unwise loans to Russia's MIC, risking banks with future collapse

- state revenue from crude oil has fallen, resulting in the state being unable to balance income against spending

- with a shortfall in state revenues, Russia is selling gold reserves and raising taxes on business and citizens

- apart from companies in the MIC, Russian companies are posting reduced profits or losses

- many Russian businesses are closing down or are heading for bankruptcy

- Russia is suffering attacks on its infrastructure and industrial infrastructure

This is not what Putin foresaw when he invaded Ukraine. The invasion has proved to be disastrous for Russia's armed forces, for Russia's economy, for Russia's finances and for Russia's people.

Apart from the things I have listed above (and more I have not listed), all is going great in Russia due to its special military operation in Ukraine!

 

[Soldier30]

A Russian drone attacks a group of Ukrainian FPV drones. To conserve battery power, the drones do not fly but wait for targets. Russian drones also use this method. After detecting the Ukrainian drones, the Russian drone dropped ammunition. The video was filmed in the village of Mayak, in the Pokrovsky district of Donbas.