Tat Atfender 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇫🇷🇺🇸🌻

Key point I also made on several itw. I understand Europeans want to leave the door slightly ajar so as not to let russia and its US allies do the cooking alone. But the risk is that they’ll get caught up in pointless talks that distract them from the real aim: defeating russia.

The talks in Abu Dhabi have ended. A few observations. The fundamental obstacle to ending this war is that neither belligerent currently sees an available peace settlement that would secure its essential interests at a lower cost than continuing to fight. Negotiations can arrange prisoner exchanges and address other practical questions. But they cannot manufacture a political basis for peace where none yet exists. For Putin, ending the war with a “victory” reduced to conquering the Donbas would create an enormous problem of historical judgment. Around 1.5 million Russian casualties, killed and wounded, to acquire another devastated stretch of Ukraine? Future generations of Russians might remember Putin as the opposite of a strategic genius: the ruler who squandered his country’s people, resources and international position for gains grotesquely disproportionate to their cost. This helps explain Moscow’s determination to turn negotiations about its war against Ukraine into negotiations about a “new European security architecture.” Russia needs a prize larger than the Donbas. Weakening NATO, pushing the Americans out of Europe and acquiring a veto over its neighbours’ sovereign choices would provide one. The historical precedent is clear. At the Berlin Conference in February 1954, Molotov proposed a European collective security system that would have displaced the Western alliances and relegated the United States to “observer” status. Today’s vocabulary is different; the strategic ambition is familiar. If war against Ukraine could deliver the displacement of American power from Europe, the Kremlin could present it as a historic success and draw dangerous conclusions about what further wars might achieve. For Ukraine, the calculation runs in the opposite direction. However appalling the costs of resistance, capitulation could still cost more. What is at stake is the survival of an independent state and the continued existence of Ukrainians as a distinct political nation. Putin’s account of Ukrainian history treats a separate Ukrainian identity as something cultivated by Russia’s enemies, including Polish elites and Austrian authorities. The dangerous implication is that what was supposedly constructed can be dismantled. Deportation, killing and forced Russification become instruments for undoing a nation whose independent existence the aggressor refuses to accept. From Kyiv’s perspective, surrender would therefore offer no reliable escape from violence. It could simply remove the means of resisting it. Europe already has a security order worth defending. Its principles include sovereignty, territorial integrity and the freedom to choose alliances. Russia’s violation of those principles is a reason to enforce them, not to replace them with arrangements requiring Russian permission. Nor does the United States have a compelling national interest in surrendering its position in Europe to Russia. Its European presence sustains American influence, military reach and alliances. Whatever commercial opportunities Trump, Witkoff or Kushner may see in an accommodation with Moscow, those opportunities do not establish that such a retreat would benefit America. A deal attractive to individual negotiators is not necessarily a strategic bargain for their country. That is the underlying impasse. Moscow wants a peace that converts aggression into a wider strategic victory. Ukraine needs a peace that preserves its ability to survive. Europe cannot accept Russian control over European security, and America has no sound strategic reason to facilitate it. Until those calculations change, the war is likely to continue. Calling the process a negotiation does not make the interests compatible. Without that compatibility, we will keep getting diplomatic choreography and, around it, this ridiculous circus.

I see no point in negotiations without a ceasefire. I see no point in negotiations without Putin’s diplomatic isolation. I see no point in negotiations that produce no result while economic deals produce results. portnikov.substack.com/p/mee…

The best short-term outcome of the talks would be an energy ceasefire that helps Ukraine survive the winter. But one question remains: why would russia agree to stop attacking our energy infrastructure when no additional pressure is being applied? @TimesRadio

Russia: HIV epidemic in 27 regions, epidemiologists say l.euronews.com/lfJC

Q: President Zelensky's country was actually invaded by Russia. Trump: When they had their first meeting, there was great disrespect shown to Russia.

The verified record of Russia's crimes in Ukraine: case files, UN statements, fact-checks, sanctions, the cost of the war, and a calendar of where Ukraine is on the agenda. Every figure has a source, a date and a tier. Open data, 6 languages.

До тристоронніх перемовин Росія готується, запускаючи балістику по українській критичній інфраструктурі. Де дозволяє безпекова ситуація, тривають ремонтні та рятувальні роботи у постраждалих регіонах. Комбінована була атака, загалом росіяни застосували 172 дрони і 36 балістичних ракет, і всі ракети – по Києву та області. Головна мішень удару – знову енергетика. У столиці складна ситуація з постачанням електрики, води та тепла. Пошкоджені житлові будинки, Північний міст, частково зруйнований дитячий садочок. На Київщині був удар по підстанціях, які зʼєднують Рівненську та Хмельницьку АЕС із Києвом та центральними регіонами України. Пошкоджені підстанції також на Вінниччині, Житомирщині, Рівненщині, Харківщині та Дніпровщині. Крім Києва, ще дванадцять регіонів були під ударами. Дев’ять людей постраждало, серед них одна дитина. Дякую всім нашим людям, які щодня захищають країну від цього терору, відновлюють і роблять все, щоб Україна пройшла зиму. Але коли Росія намагається штовхнути Київ – багатомільйонне місто – і всю країну у блекаут, не можна лишати Україну наодинці. Ми розраховуємо на збільшення двосторонньої підтримки з боку Америки. Ми розраховуємо на збільшення уваги до України з боку Конгресу США. Тому що Росія постійно збільшує кількість своїх ударів. Важливо, щоб підтримка України залишалася серед пріоритетів американської політики. Розраховуємо на єдність обох партій у питаннях безпеки, підтримки України, засудження російської агресії та посилення санкційного тиску на Путіна. Рішучість та послідовність Америки у підтримці України мають велике значення для наближення миру.

Today, it became known that the leader of the Just Russia-Patriots for Truth party, Sergei Mironov, and his wife adopted a child who was taken from Ukraine. 10-month-old Margarita Prokopenko was taken last year from an orphanage in the then-occupied Kherson to the territory of the Russian Federation. There, the child's name and place of birth were changed entirely. Now, the child is registered as Marina Mironova from the Moscow region. This is the first documented case of the adoption of a #Ukrainian child by a Russian politician of this rank. Experts in international law qualify such actions as a war crime, which is considered genocide. Officially, Margarita and two-year-old Ilya Vashchenko were taken to Moscow for "examination, determination of further treatment tactics and rehabilitation." @HromadskeUA wrote about this in July. It is worth noting that Margarita's father died, and her mother was deprived of parental rights. However, the girl has other relatives with the right to take custody of the child. However, this did not prevent the Russians from #kidnapping the child and changing her personal data completely. Ilya's fate is currently unknown, but it is noted that he also held a new birth certificate. Nothing is surprising about such news today. The #Russian authorities are pursuing a systemic genocidal policy against the Ukrainian nation, using the least protected category of the population - children from orphanages. And this story shows how much this policy is approved at the state level. The international community should be aware of these facts; this is the only way to save our children. Video: rosZmі (in October 2022, the Russian military "evacuates" children from the #Kherson orphanage

Putin does not have a veto over European security. Any agreement to end the war must prevent Russia from re-arming and re-attacking. This is why earlier this year, I put forward a paper with core demands towards Moscow, which was discussed by EU Foreign Ministers. This should be the basis for any negotiations. Concessions should be on the aggressor, not on the victim. My press remarks in Warsaw alongside @sikorskiradek and @andrii_sybiha ↓

TWO PICTURES TO DESCRIBE THE DYSTOPIAN WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN‼️🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 One of the most horrifying spectacles we are witnessing: human suffering turned into a celebration for the cameras. In the first picture, US-sanctioned Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev presents the First Lady with a drawing, reportedly from a Ukrainian girl supposedly said to have “chosen” to be evacuated to Russia. He represents Vladimir Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes involving the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. Yes, you read that correctly. A Ukrainian child taken to the country invading her homeland, presented as a heartwarming story by the representative of the man wanted over the deportation of Ukrainian children. In the second picture are the mothers and grandmother of Oleshky, whose children with disabilities were abducted by Russia in 2022. At Emile Foundation, we worked alongside their relatives to trace them and establish their locations. We know who they are. We know where they are. Yet despite repeated requests, Russia refuses to return them. Four years later, these families are still waiting. Still pleading. Still holding photographs instead of their loved ones. Is this the new world order? The aggressor celebrated as a saviour while the families of those it abducted are left behind? After Alaska, I consider this the most embarrassing and morally horrifying spectacle yet. A ceasefire turned into a carefully staged public relations show, while families continue to suffer. Where is the shame? Where is the humanity? Watching this, I see human lives pushed aside for publicity, political trophies and awards. Officials congratulate one another while mothers beg for their children. And then you wonder why you lost the elections. Americans have empathy. They care about human lives. That includes Republicans who refuse to associate themselves with this shameful spectacle. You cannot expect people to abandon their humanity out of political loyalty. Look at these two pictures. Then tell these mothers what, exactly, they are supposed to celebrate.