The Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Riedquat]

So, Zelensky has said - as of about an hour ago - that Ukraine will not give up territory in exchange for peace with Russia.

So, what now?

It carries on. Giving anything to Russia is only a last resort when all the alternatives are worse. As of now Russia has nothing to gain by carrying on, so why give in to them unless the alternative is complete destruction? The only loser to Russia growing up and leaving is Putin's ego (which alas is the one driving factor).

[hammerofglass]

Appeasement never really works anyway. They tried it with Crimea, look where that got them.

[Madner Kami]

So a motion was put forward in the russian Duma, their parliament, to renounce the "western sounding" title of President of the Russian Federation to "Pravitel" of the Russian Federation. "Pravitel" can be vaguely translated with "Ruler", suggesting a monarch, a singular souvereign, an autocrat, a Leader.

The State Duma proposed to rename the "president" to "ruler"

MOSCOW, July 10/ Radio Sputnik. The Liberal Democratic Party proposed replacing the term "president" with the word "ruler" until the foreign title of the position "has taken root completely." This was reported to RIA Novosti in the press service of the Duma faction.
As the authors of the initiative noted, the title of the post of head of the Russian state "always embarrassed them."
Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party explained that the term "president" in the sense of the head of the executive branch was first used in the United States at the end of the 18th century. The title of the position later spread throughout the world.

[...]

For the record: The LDPR is neither liberal, nor democratic. The party was founded and headed by Wladimir Schirinowski, a staunch fascist and anti-semite, who was born under the name Wladimir Wolfowitsch Eidelstein. Yes, he's of jewish descent, if you didn't catch it from that name... This shit... In Germany, we've got this nice word: Realsatire. When reality is so unbelievable unreal, that you can't help but percieve it as life satirizing itself, outright putting satirists out of work. Schirinowski gained a lot of state-recognition, having been honored with medals on various occasions and, when he died of complications from CoViD in April of 2022 despite having been inocculated 8 times, got a state-funeral with Putin attending it in person, along with other public officials.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, Ukraine bombared an airfield near Cherson, killing a number of high ranking officers, blowing up a munitions depot and badly hurting the logistics efforts there with an unclear amount of vehicles having been destroyed. Mentioning munitions depots blowing up in Ukraine, this has become a theme all over russian-occupied Ukraine in recent days. HIMARS and western supplied artillery-systems raise the heat underneath the russian arses steadily and it seems as if Ukraine is beginning to ramp up a serious move towards reconquering Cherson, as partisan activity in the area has steadily and steeply risen there over the recent weeks, the russian authorities becoming really nervous, arresting and searching everyone who even vaguely looks like a ukrainian loyalist and Zelensky having called civilians in the city to vacate the premises. Ukrainian forces are, in places, less than a quarter hour of a regular drive away from the city.

Oh and largely ignored by the general news-outlets, possibly due to the overshadowing meeting of the G7 and NATO, a conference was held in Lugano, Switzerland on July the 4th and 5th during which some countries pledged to help in the rebuilding of specific regions in a free, post-war Ukraine:

The following countries committed to specific restoration in these areas:
Ireland-Rivne Region
Germany-Chernihiv
Canada-Sumy
USA & Turkey-Kharkiv
Czech R, Finland-Luhansk
Belgium-Mykolaiv
Swe & NE-Kherson
Switz-Odesa
Norway-Kirovohrad
Austria–Zaporizhzhia
Poland- Donetsk

[TGLS]

Czech R, Finland-Luhansk
...
Poland- Donetsk

Quite a way to to declare that the breakaway puppets of Donetsk and Luhansk have to go. I wonder if Crimea was left off deliberately.

[Dragon Ball Fan]

I have been hearing about this conflict since it started from multiple sources and am naturally on Ukraine's side but at the same time, I have heard some talk about how some Ukrainian officials encourage their soldiers to shoot Russian soldiers, even if they surrender.

If that is true, part of me can't blame them but another part asks, why is that action a war crime if being desperate enough excuses it?

[clearspira]

I have been hearing about this conflict since it started from multiple sources and am naturally on Ukraine's side but at the same time, I have heard some talk about how some Ukrainian officials encourage their soldiers to shoot Russian soldiers, even if they surrender.

If that is true, part of me can't blame them but another part asks, why is that action a war crime if being desperate enough excuses it?

Depends on many factors. If there is a prison nearby then fine, arrest them. But if you are in the middle of nowhere and a Russian comes up to you to surrender, what do you do? Let them tag along like an escort quest? It'd also worth noting that it's SOP for any army to assume that a surrendering enemy is still an enemy. Remember Saving Private Ryan? That German they let go who later came back to fight them?

Besides, Ukraine is now effectively fighting a guerrilla war. They don't often have the luxury of following the rules.

[clearspira]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62130725

Iran in supplying Russia with drones now. The proxy war continues.

[Madner Kami]

Czech R, Finland-Luhansk
...
Poland- Donetsk

Quite a way to to declare that the breakaway puppets of Donetsk and Luhansk have to go. I wonder if Crimea was left off deliberately.

Yup. These are only regions where the war was or is currently being fought in. War hasn't come there. Yet.

[Thebestoftherest]

I have been hearing about this conflict since it started from multiple sources and am naturally on Ukraine's side but at the same time, I have heard some talk about how some Ukrainian officials encourage their soldiers to shoot Russian soldiers, even if they surrender.

If that is true, part of me can't blame them but another part asks, why is that action a war crime if being desperate enough excuses it?

That honestly a good debate. All I can say is it possible that the authority or soldiers can't justify wasting resources holding them prisoners. Think about it, and be honest if you have medicine to heal a bullet wound and you have the choice between giving it to the guy who been shooting you and an innocent child most people will choose the later. I am not saying there isn't a debate to be have, or if they commit war crimes, but some people might not have the luxury of obeying the rules.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I have been hearing about this conflict since it started from multiple sources and am naturally on Ukraine's side but at the same time, I have heard some talk about how some Ukrainian officials encourage their soldiers to shoot Russian soldiers, even if they surrender.

If that is true, part of me can't blame them but another part asks, why is that action a war crime if being desperate enough excuses it?

It's not really a mutual war effort. If Ukraine did something that was heinous then the global powers might strong arm them, but it's unlikely.

Mostly no war crime will be accounted for because a) it's not as tight a court system as a country's own federal court system, and b) because nobody is going to get in Ukraine's face when they're the one's being invaded.