The biggest reason the elites are ready sacrifice hundreds of thousands of their young men in a war.
If you are broke, get involved in a war.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfr...dkt_nbr=010504ae3954

Report: Russian Expansion Includes Half of Ukraine by 2026

Plans revealed this week by Ukrainian intelligence services indicate Russia intends to extend the war well into 2026 and take over vast territories that run well beyond its public demands for a formal ceasefire.

Ukrainian Presidential Office Deputy Head Colonel Pavlo Palisa told reporters on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to take over Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by September 1 and build a buffer zone at the northern Ukrainian-Russian border by the close of 2025.

"They [Russia] have plans even for 2026. The plan for next year is to occupy the whole part of Ukraine which is situated on the left bank of the Dnipro River," he said.

Palisa added that Putin eventually plans to take over all of Ukraine on the eastern side of the Dnieper River and capture the regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv by the end of 2026, thereby eliminating Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea.

"Unfortunately, they are not speaking about peace. They are preparing for war," he said. Institute for the Study of War (ISW) published a map on Friday detailing Putin’s plans for expansion of nearly 85,000 square miles of Ukraine with a goal of holding 129,000 square miles by the end of 2026, or almost half the country.

In late May, President Donald Trump gave Putin a two-week ultimatum to present his intentions for peace or face stricter economic punishment. The U.S. and other Western nations have now proposed secondary sanctions against Russia and those who buy Russian oil to further squeeze Moscow into meaningful peace negotiations.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urged U.S. lawmakers to pursue the secondary sanctions to force Putin back to the negotiating table. "It's necessary to create the right atmosphere that Russia will go to negotiation - but go not to make a show, but concrete and real negotiation," Yermak said. The ISW indicated that so long as Ukraine continues to receive Western aid in the form of military defenses, Putin is unlikely to succeed in his plans for expansion.

Despite repeated calls from the White House for a ceasefire, the conflict appears to be headed in the opposite direction. Earlier on Saturday, Russian drones and missiles hit Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least three and injuring nearly two dozen more. The increased attacks by Russia follow last weekend’s Operation Spider Web by Ukraine which destroyed dozens of Russia's long-range bombers. Two days later, an underwater bomb was detonated taking out Russia's Kerch Strait Bridge, a critical piece of infrastructure that connects occupied Crimea to Russia's Krasnodar Krai region.

Last week a Patriot battery was taken out in Kiev.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88hXo2mMtk

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Last week a Patriot battery was taken out in Kiev.
...

Text to speech garbage.

FWIW Ukraine has lost 30 Patriot systems in 2 years of fielding them.

And they will continue such losses.

It's a big target, the area Ukraine operates them makes predictive target location easier given what they are trying to protect and the Patriots effective range.

If Ukraine is unsure of a Patriot's position being unknown or not, time to move. Moving creates a greater opportunity of spotting the system.

War, as a business model, sucks balls...

Operation Spider Web 2.0

This is from a Russian source. Not a Ukranian source. There are multiple reports of this on-line from a variety of sources for anyone who wants to check. Just breaking.

Ukraine did a massive raid on a Ruzzian train with drones It took out the locomotive and then went for the tanks and 13 and other equipment Here are some vatniktears from Ruzzian Telegram branding it Spider web 20 Another unthinkable fuck-up by our special services. There is no point in remaining silent any more. The enemy destroyed a locomotive with tanks and dozens of amen vehicles. At some point, hatches through which grain is poured began to fly off from railway containers, such as hoppers (grain trucks), while they were moving. It was through them that drones flew out and attack the equipment that was located on the platform cars What genius came up with the idea of combining a train of equipment with grain trucks is a mystery, as well as how the SBU managed to hide drones there, is also unknown, but the result was this. The first blow was delivered to the locomotive, after which the train began to lose speed and wa: stopped. The enemy destroyed most of the equipment without hindrance. Operation Spider Web 2.0

quote:

This is from a Russian source. Not a Ukranian source. There are multiple reports of this on-line from a variety of sources for anyone who wants to check. Just breaking.

Or, you could post a link to where you got it from.

Russia claims to have pushed into central Ukrainian region for first time

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/08...-dnipropetrovsk-intl


Subunits from the Russian military’s 90th tank division reached the border of Dnipropetrovsk with the Donetsk region, large parts of which are already under Russian occupation, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. After this, they continued into Dnipropetrovsk, the defense ministry claimed.

Russia claimed Sunday that its forces are for the first time pushing into the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, an area it has been trying to reach for months, in a move that could create new problems for Kyiv’s much-stretched forces.

The extent of the advance is unclear, as are Moscow’s ambitions for the assault. CNN is unable to verify the battlefield reports, and Ukraine has denied the Russian advance.

Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia forces, which is in command of the area Moscow alleged it broke through, told CNN that “the Russians are constantly spreading false information that they have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region from the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka directions, but (in neither place) is this information true.”

But if confirmed, the Russian advance would be a setback for Ukrainian forces at a time when peace talks have stalled. Russian forces have also in recent weeks made incremental progress in the northern Sumy region, as well as near Lyman in Donetsk.

The Russian advance would also put further pressure on the Ukrainians’ grip on the town of Pokrovsk, a key hub that has been under Russian assault for months. Ukraine’s General Staff said Sunday morning that its troops had stopped 65 “offensive” Russian actions in the Pokrovsk direction.

An Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessment of Russia’s offensive campaign found that Russian forces continued their offensive operations in the Pokrovsk direction on Saturday, but did not advance.

Russia now controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, according to the Ukrainian analysis group Deep State. That includes Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that were occupied before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Dnipropetrovsk is bordered by three regions that are partially occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

One of Russia’s declared goals is capturing all three regions. It already occupies all but a slither of a fourth region, Luhansk.

Dnipropetrovsk is more sparsely populated and rural than those four regions, known as the Donbas, and will be more difficult to defend. It is an important mining and logistics center and had an estimated population of three million before the war began.

Russia’s claim comes days after its forces advanced further in the northern Sumy region, bringing the region’s capital within range of drones and artillery.

While capturing the region’s capital city, also named Sumy, is likely beyond what Moscow is setting out to do, the move underlines the pressure Kyiv is under, from the northern border to the Black Sea.

More at link


Also

https://economictimes.indiatim...leshow/121707691.cms


https://www.france24.com/en/li...nipropetrovsk-region

quote:

if confirmed, the Russian advance would be a setback for Ukrainian forces at a time when peace talks have stalled. Russian forces have also in recent weeks made incremental progress in the northern Sumy region, as well as near Lyman in Donetsk.

FAFO

No more assistance or peace talks. Zelensky needs to be gone...

So, basically what I said. Zelensky's attack didn't cripple Russia, it just made Putin come over the top at him.

The only surprising thing about this exchange is Mitch never froze up.

https://x.com/theblaze/status/1932833502896013358

I like Hegseth, and I liked his answers. I am so sick of Mitch McConnell and his buffoonery, droning on and on about America losing to our adversaries, saying the quiet part out loud: We bought in heavy on a puppet war that we shouldn't have, we couldn't get it done under the last puppet regime, and the window has closed. Keep showing your true colors, you fucking hack. You and Lindsay Graham, bought and paid for.

Zelensky's Latest Tweetstorm Is Full Of Panic

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Zelensky fired off over a dozen paragraphs in his latest tweetstorm on Saturday afternoon that can be read in full here.

He demanded the imposition of more sanctions against Russia’s banking and energy sectors, complained about the “warm” tone of the US-Russian dialogue, expressed worries about reduced aid, fearmongered about Russia’s military-industrial complex, and pushed back against claims that he’s oppressing Russians, Russian speakers, and Russian Orthodox Christians. He’s clearly panicking.

In the order that he made his points, the first one about sanctions alludes to the proposed bill to impose 500% tariffs on Russia’s energy clients, which would likely be applied towards China and India if passes with waivers for EU countries (and probably only those that meet Trump’s defense spending demands). Politico warned that this could backfire against the US, however, while the Treasury Secretary warned that it could undermine diplomatic efforts. It’s thus little wonder that Zelensky is panicking about this.

Moving along, Zelensky’s complaints about the “warm” tone of the US-Russian dialogue are a direct response to the Trump-Putin bonhomie, the latest manifestation of which saw Putin calling Trump on Saturday to wish him happy birthday alongside discussing the latest phase of the Israeli-Iranian War. It’s still anyone’s guess whether Trump will disengage from NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine or double down on it, but judging by Zelensky’s tweetstorm, he’s taking the first possibility very seriously.

This observation leads to the third point that he made about reduced US aid, which follows the Secretary of Defense recently announcing such cuts in the next budget but without detailing how much they’ll be. While it’s possible to drastically scale up aid even in those conditions if the decision is made as proven by how much unplanned support the Biden Administration gave Ukraine in 2022, from Zelensky’s perspective, the writing on the wall is that Trump is presently disinterested in doing this.

His fourth point is the least disputable of the five since even the New York Times admitted as far back as September 2023 that Russia is far ahead of NATO in the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition”. As could have been expected, Zelensky also fearmongered about Russia’s intentions by implying that it might be plotting to invade NATO, but mostly everyone is numb to that narrative by now. It therefore probably won’t be enough to convince the West, especially the US, to resume 2023-like levels of aid.

Altogether, his tweetstorm says a lot about Ukraine’s increasingly difficult position if one reads between the lines, with this being brought about by Russia’s arrival in Dnipropetrovsk. Even if only some of what Zelensky is worried about comes to pass, especially reduced US aid and forthcoming American pressure upon Ukraine to comply with Russia’s demands, then the conflict might end sooner than expected. To be sure, this can’t be taken for granted, but it’s realistic enough of a scenario to make Zelensky panic.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...weetstorm-full-panic

Fuck this asshole. Gold Digging Whore demanding his allowance.

Another U.S. weapons depleted stockpile shortage article


Pentagon halting some promised munitions for Ukraine

The decision was driven by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, and was made after a review of Pentagon munitions stockpiles.

https://www.politico.com/news/...ack&utm_medium=email

The Pentagon has halted shipments of some air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine due to worries that U.S. weapons stockpiles have fallen too low.

The decision was driven by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, and was made after a review of Pentagon munitions stockpiles, leading to concerns that the total number of artillery rounds, air defense missiles and precision munitions was sinking, according to three people familiar with the issue.

The initial decision to withhold some aid promised during the Biden administration came in early June, according to the people, but is only taking effect now as Ukraine is beating back some of the largest Russian barrages of missiles and drones at civilian targets in Kyiv and elsewhere.

The people were granted anonymity to discuss current operations. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement following the publication of this story, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said that the decision “was made to put America’s interests first following a DOD review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe. The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran.”

Included among the items being pulled back are missiles for Patriot air defense systems, precision artillery rounds, Hellfire and other missiles that Ukraine launches from its F-16 fighters and drones.

The losses will surely be felt on the ground as Ukraine continues to beat back fresh assaults by Russian forces.

Russia over the weekend launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the three-year war, with a reported 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles. Of these, 249 were reportedly shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

The move comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands last week. The U.S. president, who has been repeatedly frustrated in recent weeks by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reticence to come to the bargaining table to end his war on Ukraine, emerged from the meeting more sympathetic to Kyiv’s cause than before — and did not rule out sending more Patriot air defense systems — despite the Pentagon’s decision to freeze some aid, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.

“They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, as they call them, and we’re going to see if we can make some available,” Trump said at a news conference at the end of the NATO summit in the Hague on Wednesday. “They’re very hard to get.”

The decision by the Pentagon to halt some of the shipments stoked anxiety among Ukraine’s allies in Congress that the country would be left vulnerable to further Russian airstrikes.

“U.S.-made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses … They work. They save lives every day,” said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus co-chair. “If this reporting is true, then Mr. Colby …is taking action that will surely result in the imminent death of many Ukrainian military and civilians.”

The munitions are a mix of air defenses and precision weapons that have been flowing to Ukraine for much of the past two-plus years. They include two different streams of support that the U.S. has provided Ukraine, both under the Biden administration. Some come from drawdowns on current stockpiles, with the DOD receiving money to replenish those munitions as quickly as possible. The second comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in which the U.S. funds the purchase of weapons for Ukraine from American defense firms. The money has been used to put weapons under contract for the Ukrainian government.

Money in the fund was obligated by the end of the Biden administration, with deliveries coming whenever the systems are ready. The drawdowns from current stockpiles have continued under the Trump administration, which has been using up the last of the $61 billion in funding to replenish U.S. stocks of weapons and provide billions in aid for Israel and other partners.

The Trump administration has not requested any further aid for Ukraine, though there is enough left over from the Biden administration to last Ukraine several more months, according to an administration official.

A person familiar with the halt of the munitions said that the Pentagon had been dividing them into categories of criticality since February, over concerns that the DOD was using too many air defense munitions in Yemen.

Marco Rubio on his many roles, plus a chat with Trump’s ‘chief Twitter troll’ | The Conversation
The Pentagon had an action memo ready to deliver to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to freeze some of the most short-ordered munitions in U.S. stockpiles to Ukraine, the person said, but the decision gathered dust on the DOD chief’s desk for months as the agency went through personnel turnover.

Plans were in place to redirect key munitions, including artillery shells, tank shells, and air defense systems, back to the U.S. homeland or Israel.

“They have proposed repeatedly since March to pause the shipments,” the person said.

More at link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8KQxI64I80

On June 30, 2025, Russian officials declared complete control over the Lugansk People’s Republic, finalizing what they call the “reunification” of the region with the Russian Federation.

Trump Confirms Arms For Ukraine U-Turn Days After Pentagon Halts Delivery

Another drastic foreign policy U-turn by the Trump administration, after just a week ago some weapons shipments to Ukraine were halted - and now it's back ON apparently...

President Trump first unveiled Monday after last week's 'disappointing' phone call with President Putin, for which the US leader was "very unhappy", that he would send “more weapons” to Ukraine.

"We’re gonna send some more weapons we have to them. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now," Trump said, alongside a US and Israeli delegation, on the day Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the White House.

Last Thursday night saw what was likely a record aerial attack on Ukraine which lasted for seven hours. Trump has said the US would send "defensive weapons primarily." He remarked: "So many people are dying in that mess."

Ukraine's President Zelensky has tallied that last week Russia launched around 1,270 drones and 39 missiles in total at Ukraine, doing serious damage in many places, including the capital area. The Ukrainian government reacted Tuesday by seeking clarify on the sudden policy shift from the White House:

The ministry of defense in Kyiv said in a statement on Tuesday that it had not received official notification of the change in policy and it was “critically important” for Ukraine to maintain “stability, continuity and predictability” in the provision of arms, especially air defense systems.

The statement added: "We are grateful to the United States for all its support and highly appreciate the efforts of American partners aimed at achieving genuine peace."

Adding insult to injury for much of Trump's base, which has long supported his efforts to disentangle America from Kiev - and stop sending the Ukrainians billions in taxpayers' money - the Department of Defense is actually touting this move as in keeping with 'America First'.

"Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities," the Pentagon said in a new press release.

Here is the White House merely one week ago:

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CBS News that in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war the "decision was made to put America's interests first following" a Defense Department "review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe."

What actually changed? It remains that the simplest way to wind down this tragic war is for Zelensky to agree to territorial concessions, but he won't even so much as budge on recognizing Crimea, and it looks like Washington is certainly not trying to convince or pressure him at this point. Zelensky will continue gladly taking his arms handouts from Uncle Sam without willingness to make compromise at the negotiating table. The war, and horrific killing, will go on with no end in sight.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...tagon-halts-delivery

At this point it is merely politics to send more weapons to Ukraine. After the collapse, the United States can say we did everything we could short of sending our troops in.

In all reality we have few weapons systems we can spare as even Sec of State Rubio has already commented on.

US only has 25% of all Patriot missile interceptors needed for Pentagon’s military plans

https://www.theguardian.com/us...-missile-interceptor

The United States only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon’s military plans after burning through stockpiles in the Middle East in recent months, an alarming depletion that led to the Trump administration freezing the latest transfer of munitions to Ukraine.

The stockpile of the Patriot missiles has fallen so low that it raised concern inside the Pentagon that it could jeopardize potential US military operations, and deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg, authorized the transfer to be halted while they reviewed where weapons were being sent.

Donald Trump appeared to reverse at least part of that decision on Monday when he told reporters in advance of a dinner at the White House with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would “send some more weapons” to Ukraine, although he did not disclose at the time whether that would include Patriot systems.

Trump also told Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a phone call that he was not responsible for the halt in weapons shipments and that he had directed a review of US weapons stockpiles but didn’t order the freeze, according to people briefed on the conversation.

But the determination last month to halt the transfer, as described by four people directly familiar with the matter, was based in large part on the Pentagon’s global munitions tracker, which is used to generate the minimum level of munitions required to carry out the US military’s operations plans.

According to the tracker, which is managed by the joint chiefs of staff and the Pentagon’s defense security cooperation agency, the stockpiles of a number of critical munitions have been below that floor for several years since the Biden administration started sending military aid to Ukraine.

The Trump administration started a review of the depleted level of Patriot missiles and other munitions around February, the people said. Deliberations accelerated after the US deployed more of the interceptors in the Middle East to support the Houthi campaign and to Israel.

The situation also became more acute following Trump’s move to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities last month, the people said, when the US fired close to 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles fired in performative retaliation at the Al Udeid base in Qatar.

The recent depletion of Patriot missiles and other munitions formed part of the basis of a “recommendation memo” by Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, that outlined several options to conserve weapons and sent to Feinberg’s office.

Earlier reports said Colby, who has drawn criticism from Democrats for prioritizing shifting resources from the Ukraine conflict in preparation for a potential war with China, had paused the transfer but two of the people said the undersecretary’s office lacks the power to make such a unilateral move.

The decision was rather made by Feinberg, the former chief executive of Cerberus Capital Management to whom Colby reports, the people said. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth then signed off on Feinberg’s determination.

But the abrupt pause has come at a critical time for Ukraine, as Russia last week launched its largest aerial offensive to date and Ukraine has limited options to acquire both precision-guided and more basic weapons to hold off increasingly intense Russian attacks.

Ukraine is also largely unable to directly buy weapons from defense contractors for its purposes, since a new order is estimated to take years to fulfill, and it would only be completed after the Pentagon had its own orders completed since the defense department is a higher priority customer.

Trump’s decision to reverse course and allow some defensive munitions to be sent to Ukraine appears to have come amid growing frustration with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who he criticized on Monday for not helping end the war.

Spokespeople for the White House and the Pentagon confirmed some transfers would resume at Trump’s direction but did not specify whether the weapons being sent to Ukraine would involve munitions at critically low levels.

“As Operation Midnight Hammer proved, the American military is stronger than it’s ever been. President Trump wants to stop the killing and has pledged to provide Ukraine with additional defensive munitions,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.

While Trump has publicly complained about Ukraine aid in financial terms, Feinberg was briefed that the larger problem has been with the ability for the US to manufacture the weapons to quickly backfill the depleted stockpiles, two of the people said.

The US has been transferring weapons to Ukraine using two principal channels: through a drawdown of defense department stockpiles, and through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), where the defense department pays contractors to manufacture weapons to go to Ukraine.

Both transfer mechanisms was set to have been affected by the freeze, the people said, since the Pentagon is prioritizing replenishing its stockpiles using the same defense contractors being relied upon to build weapons for Ukraine through the USAI program.

For the latest weapons shipment to Ukraine, the US had earmarked dozens of Patriot missiles among other munitions including air-to-air Sparrow missiles, Hellfire missiles, GMLRS rocket artillery and anti-tank guns.

The principal concern appears to revolve around the Patriot missiles, which the US produces 600 per year but Iran alone has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles remaining it could theoretically use against US bases in the region if the ceasefire with Israel were to break down.

The US has also transferred around 2,000 Stinger missiles to Ukraine, which officials estimated to be equivalent to two-and-a-half years of production, and is increasingly used by the US military for its own defense purposes against hostile drones, the people said.

Putin's stepping up attacks makes sense...hit them when their defenses are low. It's as if the US expects Putin to pause while Ukraine rearms. Is that how we would conduct a war? From the Russian perspective this is how they get to the end of the war more quickly.


Putin Sends Message To US With Record 700+ Drones, Missiles On Ukraine Overnight

President Putin continues playing hardball and sending tough signals in the face of Trump administration criticisms, and after on Monday the White House confirmed it is reversing course on its recent pause on weapons to Ukraine, as it will instead send more.

Russia overnight launched an unprecedented 728 Shahed drones as well as decoy drones, accompanied also by 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, Ukraine's air force announced Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described that the northwestern city of Lutsk, near the borders with Poland and Belarus, suffered the most intense attacks and damage, and ten other regions were also targeted.

Lutsk hosts military airfields frequently used by Ukrainian cargo planes and fighter jets, and has long been a region crucial to military logistics and a hub for foreign military.

Zelensky said that the Kremlin was "making a point" with this fresh attack, especially as it comes so closely on the heels of the Pentagon U-turn concerning weapons shipments to Kiev.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...es-ukraine-overnight