Live Conflict Ukraine-Russia War

[Spitfire9]

Are things about to get much more difficult financially for Russia? I guess Putin will be selling more gold soon. Perhaps not a bad time to sell - if buyers do not squeeze enormous discounts out of him.

 

[Relic]

Sweden and Denmark announced a joint air defense package for Ukraine today valued at $250 million usd. The package consists of of the following:

- 1× Batallion of Tridon MK2 Air Defense Systems.
- SAAB Giraffe 1X Air Defense RADARS
- Air Defense Command and Control Vehicles

Tridon MK2 is a truck mounted, mobile air defense system featuring a 40mm air defense cannon and smart ammunition with a range if 13km. The system is highly accurate and designed to intercept attack drones and cruise missiles.

These are the types of air defense packages that Ukraine needs. Not 3-4 units, rather, entire battalions, with accurate, cost effective ammunition, ideally truck mounted for quick, flexible deployability.

https://www.baesystems.com/en-ca/product/tridon-mk2

 

[Soldier30]

Rare footage of the Russian FPV drone "Prince Vandal of Novgorod" and the kamikaze drone "Lancet-51" striking a camouflaged Ukrainian artillery piece of an unknown model. The location of the footage is unknown. Judging by the video, the operator of the "Lancet-51" drone appears to be more efficient.

 

[Soldier30]

A combat sequence of the Russian T-90M "Proryv" tank in the Konstantinovka sector. In the video, the T-90M "Proryv" tank fires ballistic trajectories with high-explosive fragmentation rounds at Ukrainian army positions and a dugout at a range of 8 kilometers. It's worth noting that tank battles in Ukraine and the Donbas no longer exist.

 

[Relic]

The $105 Billion usd loan for Ukraine has now been fully agreed to by EU envoys and will now be sent to EU Parliament for procedural approval. The full text of the bill has not yet been released, but key components have leaked and are as follows.

1. The loan will be released in installments over a period of two years. Ukraine will only have to repay the loan if Russia is forced to pay war reparations. Otherwise, loan participants will foot the bill.

2. The first installment of the loan will be released in April, 2026. The loan is subject to tight scrutiny and regulation. If there isn't continued efforts to solve the corruption problem in Ukraine the loan increments can be paused at any time.

3. 2/3 (66%) of the funds will be used for military purchases. 1/3 (33%) of the funds will be used to bolster Ukraine's Federal budgets in 2026 and 2027.

4. The debt will be split proportionately between EU members states and allies who opt in, with Hungary , Slovakia and the Czech Republic absolved from any debt responsibility. Individual EU countries can continue to fund Ukraine's military efforts using their own national budgets, on top of the broad loan.

5. Attempts to purchase weapons must first take place in Ukraine, the European Union, Switzerland , Norway , Iceland and Liechtenstein . There is a special carve out to allow the purchase of weapons from the United States that Europe is not capable of producing, or not capable of providing in a reasonable period of time.

6. EU allies such as Britain , Canada , Japan and South Korea can also benefit from weapons purchases from their respective defense industries, however, they must first agree to opt in to a "fair and proportionate" percentage of the loan debt / interest in order to benefit from the funds being spent in their respective countries.

EU countries seal deal on €90 billion loan for Ukraine, funded through joint debt

Under the special loan, Ukraine will receive €30 billion to support its budgetary needs and €60 billion to purchase weapons and ammunition.View on euronews

ca.news.yahoo.com

https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-envoys-agree-details-90-bln-euro-loan-ukraine-2026-02-04/

 

[FiReFTW]

lol, so basically the EU is gifting 105 billion to ukraine, and ukraine doesn't need to repay the loan... what kind of LOAN is that, I want this kind of LOAN also, lmao.

 

[Relic]

lol, so basically the EU is gifting 105 billion to ukraine, and ukraine doesn't need to repay the loan... what kind of LOAN is that, I want this kind of LOAN also, lmao.

The "repayment" is that Ukrainian men and women die at the front, while missiles and drones are lobbed into their cities, while the Russian war machine is severely weakened at no cost in blood to Europe.

The Europeans are basically financing the war while collectively rebuilding their military strength to the tune of some $1.2 Trillion usd between 2025-2032. $105 Billion usd is peanuts compared to what they're spending on Europe's collective defense and it's virtually an irrelevant sum of money compared to what they spent over 3 years of the Covid-19 response.

Russia will leave this war with a significantly damaged economy, the vaunted remnants of the Soviet war arsenal shattered, the myth of Russian supremacy in the continent shattered and a millions of young men killed and wounded, from a population that is already in fast decline. They also will not be in position to exert their will in elections throughout Eastern Europe and they'll be hard pressed to continue to attempt territorial expansion.

$105 Billion usd is peanuts for the EU to gain powerful leverage and regional dominance over their largest geopolitical adversary. Every month that Ukraine remains in the fight is another 20,000-30,000 dead or severely wounded Russians. It's also the continued hollowing out of the Soviet stockpiles leftover from the Cold War. Russia's forced to sell off it's vast strategic reserves to fund the war and they're raising money from domestic banks at interest rates that are going to cripple their military funding into the future, while damaging their domestic social services.

If you can't see how cheap and valuable this investment for Europe is in the grand scheme of things, I can't help you. Europe will have given Ukraine approximately $350-400 Billion usd by the conclusion of 2027, helping fund 5 years of the war. During that same 5 years the EU will have a combined GDP of nearly $100 Trillion usd, meaning that the war will cost Europe roughly 0.05% of it's GDP over that period. Virtually nothing in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Soldier30]

Footage of a Russian 300mm Tornado-S MLRS strike on a temporary deployment site for Ukrainian units located in an abandoned building. The video shows the arrival of another group of Ukrainian troops. The video was filmed in the village of Krasnopolye in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.