Russia invades Ukraine Feb 2022

[Banks of the Bann]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/06/russia-sends-disabled-soldiers-slaughter-ukraine-war-army/

A wounded man lies in a muddy ditch, stripped of his uniform and too weak to stand. His ribs protrude beneath the chain of his dog tags, the only trace of the soldier he once was. He murmurs incoherently, clearly too mentally incapacitated to communicate or move.
The man in the video is one of several mentally disabled men reportedly sent to the front line by Russia, The Telegraph has been told.
Ukrainian officials say it is a strategy that reflects Moscow's growing reliance on vulnerable recruits and its willingness to deploy an almost limitless supply of manpower to make gains on the front lines, regardless of the human cost.

Yes, as if Ukraine only recruits young, fit, and enthusiastic soldiers. Such tripe. Sadly war is a nasty business, and neither side can cover itself in glory. The sooner it's over the better, but those who think that can happen without major territorial concessions from Ukraine are living in loo-lah land.

Oh look, it's Burdizzo back to 'both sides' the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An insidious form of pro-Russian propaganda in itself. Odd how some posters are really triggered by criticism of Russia.

By all means Burdy, provide the link to the severely mentally disabled Ukrainian soldiers.

As for territorial concessions, Ukraine won't give up its people to Russification (genocide) or recognise Russian sovereignty over its land.

How odd to hear an Irishman call such a thing 'loo-lah land'. Absolute hypocrite.

[Wildweasel74]

Here theres 1 country defending themselves and another invading it. What if the UK was like Russia. They invade Ireland and have us wrapped up by lunchtime, saying we all give up based on chatter on here, and rely on peace terms after.

[Dag Dog]

The both siders would have a field day claiming that EU an member on Britain's border, crooked politicians like Michael Lowry and far right nazis like Justin Barrett made it necessary for Britain to invade.

[Banks of the Bann]

The both siders would have a field day claiming that EU an member on Britain's border, crooked politicians like Michael Lowry and far right nazis like Justin Barrett made it necessary for Britain to invade.

Don't forget all the ethnic English speakers that need saving from persecution.

[Main Street]

You're quoting The Spectator ffs. You don't even acknowledge that. A right wing war hawk editorial that has a disgusting history of islamaphobia and has a disgusting history of whitewashing and supporting genocide.

You have lost all credibility here.

My first engagement with you was because you took issue with a post I made on the Irish President thread. I read a few posts from you and others which sought to completely misrepresent and smear the Irish President due to the fact she is quite rightly critical of Western foreign policy. You smeared her with utterly baseless allegations because you disagree with her perfectly valid points.

You are now putting forward articles for a disgraced right wing editorial that looks to further smear a left wing politician of the utmost integrity because she is also critical of the Wests neo liberal war hawk policy.

Further to that I have exposed you of being utterly obsessed with Ukraine but completely ambivalent to a genocide in Gaza. You have taken to putting forward the views of genocide deniers as credible, as we have seen with your referencing of The Spectator as credible. You have relentlessly and baselessly smeared left wing politicians who have been a great advocate for Palestine and have also been consistent with their condemnation and objection to Putin.

You are not sincere. How on earth could any decent human being think that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than the Genocide in Gaza.. you're like Piers Morgan - just a right wing troll who believes in nothing.

I will leave you to this thread now and your fascist rantings.

1. You haven't been able to rebut a single thing in the article by the Ukrainian journalist -> you resort instead to cry about the Spectator. Deflection, pure and simple.

2. You haven't been able to rebut any of the valid criticism I made about president elect CC -> you resort instead to baseless claims about 'smears'.

3. CC's points aren't valid and I outlined why - you and others were unable to rebut what I said - > you resort then to just repeat your baseless claims about 'smears'.

4. You make various claims and then when challenged you are unable to rebut -> You are unable to provide a single example of an agreement Ukraine has broken with Russia. (And ignore that Russia has broken EVERY agreement with Ukraine.

5.I am not ambivalent to the genocide in Gaza -> I have condemned it. I don't need to post about it. There are no braindead genocide deniers and apologists mucking up the Gaza thread.

6. I have never once stated that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than Gaza -> more made up shite from you.

7. Your first engagement with me..., aye no worries numbSkull.

8. Run along then. If you don't to engage with me don't make piss poor attempts at trolling on this thread.

Darth Putin
The "pro Hamas tankie 2.0". Says you have to let a nuclear power take over territory and remove the inhabitants to prevent nuclear war. Gets very angry, overloads & then reboots as the "what about tankie" when told about the irony of this.

[PadraicHenryPearse]

You're quoting The Spectator ffs. You don't even acknowledge that. A right wing war hawk editorial that has a disgusting history of islamaphobia and has a disgusting history of whitewashing and supporting genocide.

You have lost all credibility here.

My first engagement with you was because you took issue with a post I made on the Irish President thread. I read a few posts from you and others which sought to completely misrepresent and smear the Irish President due to the fact she is quite rightly critical of Western foreign policy. You smeared her with utterly baseless allegations because you disagree with her perfectly valid points.

You are now putting forward articles for a disgraced right wing editorial that looks to further smear a left wing politician of the utmost integrity because she is also critical of the Wests neo liberal war hawk policy.

Further to that I have exposed you of being utterly obsessed with Ukraine but completely ambivalent to a genocide in Gaza. You have taken to putting forward the views of genocide deniers as credible, as we have seen with your referencing of The Spectator as credible. You have relentlessly and baselessly smeared left wing politicians who have been a great advocate for Palestine and have also been consistent with their condemnation and objection to Putin.

You are not sincere. How on earth could any decent human being think that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than the Genocide in Gaza.. you're like Piers Morgan - just a right wing troll who believes in nothing.

I will leave you to this thread now and your fascist rantings.

1. You haven't been able to rebut a single thing in the article by the Ukrainian journalist -> you resort instead to cry about the Spectator. Deflection, pure and simple.

2. You haven't been able to rebut any of the valid criticism I made about president elect CC -> you resort instead to baseless claims about 'smears'.

3. CC's points aren't valid and I outlined why - you and others were unable to rebut what I said - > you resort then to just repeat your baseless claims about 'smears'.

4. You make various claims and then when challenged you are unable to rebut -> You are unable to provide a single example of an agreement Ukraine has broken with Russia. (And ignore that Russia has broken EVERY agreement with Ukraine.

5.I am not ambivalent to the genocide in Gaza -> I have condemned it. I don't need to post about it. There are no braindead genocide deniers and apologists mucking up the Gaza thread.

6. I have never once stated that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than Gaza -> more made up shite from you.

7. Your first engagement with me..., aye no worries numbSkull.

8. Run along then. If you don't to engage with me don't make piss poor attempts at trolling on this thread.

Darth Putin
The "pro Hamas tankie 2.0". Says you have to let a nuclear power take over territory and remove the inhabitants to prevent nuclear war. Gets very angry, overloads & then reboots as the "what about tankie" when told about the irony of this.

does darth Putin have a label for "pro Israeli Ukrainians"? 

[seafoid]

There are Zionist Jews in Ukraine.

[Banks of the Bann]

You're quoting The Spectator ffs. You don't even acknowledge that. A right wing war hawk editorial that has a disgusting history of islamaphobia and has a disgusting history of whitewashing and supporting genocide.

You have lost all credibility here.

My first engagement with you was because you took issue with a post I made on the Irish President thread. I read a few posts from you and others which sought to completely misrepresent and smear the Irish President due to the fact she is quite rightly critical of Western foreign policy. You smeared her with utterly baseless allegations because you disagree with her perfectly valid points.

You are now putting forward articles for a disgraced right wing editorial that looks to further smear a left wing politician of the utmost integrity because she is also critical of the Wests neo liberal war hawk policy.

Further to that I have exposed you of being utterly obsessed with Ukraine but completely ambivalent to a genocide in Gaza. You have taken to putting forward the views of genocide deniers as credible, as we have seen with your referencing of The Spectator as credible. You have relentlessly and baselessly smeared left wing politicians who have been a great advocate for Palestine and have also been consistent with their condemnation and objection to Putin.

You are not sincere. How on earth could any decent human being think that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than the Genocide in Gaza.. you're like Piers Morgan - just a right wing troll who believes in nothing.

I will leave you to this thread now and your fascist rantings.

1. You haven't been able to rebut a single thing in the article by the Ukrainian journalist -> you resort instead to cry about the Spectator. Deflection, pure and simple.

2. You haven't been able to rebut any of the valid criticism I made about president elect CC -> you resort instead to baseless claims about 'smears'.

3. CC's points aren't valid and I outlined why - you and others were unable to rebut what I said - > you resort then to just repeat your baseless claims about 'smears'.

4. You make various claims and then when challenged you are unable to rebut -> You are unable to provide a single example of an agreement Ukraine has broken with Russia. (And ignore that Russia has broken EVERY agreement with Ukraine.

5.I am not ambivalent to the genocide in Gaza -> I have condemned it. I don't need to post about it. There are no braindead genocide deniers and apologists mucking up the Gaza thread.

6. I have never once stated that what is happening in Ukraine is worse than Gaza -> more made up shite from you.

7. Your first engagement with me..., aye no worries numbSkull.

8. Run along then. If you don't to engage with me don't make piss poor attempts at trolling on this thread.

Darth Putin
The "pro Hamas tankie 2.0". Says you have to let a nuclear power take over territory and remove the inhabitants to prevent nuclear war. Gets very angry, overloads & then reboots as the "what about tankie" when told about the irony of this.

does darth Putin have a label for "pro Israeli Ukrainians"? 

I've had a look at his account on X for you, I don't think he does. I also checked to see if he had a label for Pro-Russian Palestinians. Doesn't seem to have that either.

He seems to reserve his ire for braindead westerners, rather than labelling the victims of aggression in either conflict.

[johnnycool]

There are Zionist Jews in Ukraine.

And in Russia.

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/10/the-tiny-rocket-that-will-protect-europe-from-putin/

Held in the hands of the chief executive of Frankenburg Technologies, the "Mark 1" looks like a scale model of a rocket.
At just 65cm from top to tail, the missile is roughly the size of a baguette and smaller than the average human arm.
As he speaks, Kusti Salm slaps the full-size foam replica into his palm and waves it through the air for emphasis.
But the scope of the project he outlines from a glass-walled office overlooking the airport in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, is monumental.
"We are not apologetic about the fact we manufacture weapons," says Mr Salm, the former chief civil servant in Estonia's defence ministry.
"We are not afraid to say we are manufacturing them to take down Russian long-range drones.
"And we are not all apologetic about the fact that this will be the most-needed capability in the Western world in the next five to 10 years.

The missiles in Western defence arsenals are typically "exquisite": rare, expensive and capable to the nth degree. By contrast, the tiny Mark 1 aims to just be "good enough".
It can fly just 2km (1.2 miles) and would struggle to function in the heat of the desert or chill of the Arctic Circle.
A balance has been struck between the pursuit of cheap parts and overall accuracy, which the company hopes to increase to 90 per cent – currently, it is around 56 per cent.
But driving the capabilities down has helped make the Mark 1 into "affordable mass", says Mr Salm. Factories have been set up in two Nato nations, with the aim of producing hundreds of missiles per day.
Although he does not give a price for the weapon, he says it comes in at roughly a tenth of existing rocket air defence systems (a Stinger missile costs around £400,000). For Western nations, it also presents a compelling use case.

In Ukraine, teams of pilots launch "interceptor" drones to take down Russia's barrages. These are cheap (around £2,500 each), but the success depends in large part on the skill of the pilot.
While Kyiv has thousands of trained experts, the West has startlingly few – certainly not enough to protect 2,100 critical infrastructure sites along Nato's eastern border around the clock.
With the Mark 1 guided to its target by AI, its launchers can, to an extent, be left to their own devices.
The Frankenburg team has experimented with "the shape, the positioning of the wings, and the centre of gravity, centre of pressure, you know, all these things" in order to maximise accuracy, Mr Salm says.
In order to solve the challenge of rocket science on a tight budget, Frankenburg hired some of the biggest brains in the field.
The chief engineer is Andreas Bappert, who designed the highly sought-after Iris-T air defence system, now in use across Nato and in Ukraine.
It plucked the chief engineer working on the Spear III missile at MBDA UK, a lynchpin project for UK defence that has been hit by delays. And "Latvian geniuses" have joined the team, says Mr Salm.
They are doing things "that you cannot learn over a weekend from YouTube videos, as you can with drones", he adds. "There are no Rocket Science for Dummies books that you can order from Amazon."


Fabian Hoffmann, a missile technology expert, says: "There are quite a lot of experts who can build warheads, or sensors or engines. But there are not that many people who can integrate all these sub-systems into a functioning, workable missile – probably a few dozen."

[seafoid]

https://www.ft.com/content/ebdf1a09-6aeb-4176-ac63-9668e5cc3362

Russian forces managed to secure positions deep within the frontline city, and have used a relentless barrage of drone strikes over a narrowing Ukrainian access corridor to prevent Kyiv's troops from resupplying. With Russian troops roaming through most of Pokrovsk, the satellite town of Myrnohrad is "under threat of operational encirclement", Ukrainian war monitoring group DeepState wrote on Saturday. The military's failure to prevent creeping Russian infiltration into the city has highlighted Kyiv's manpower imbalance with Russia, which has benefited from a far larger population to draw on and has been able to replenish its frontline forces with volunteers attracted by major financial incentives, despite heavy losses.

[Dag Dog]

Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Ireland next month
A major security plan will be put in place for the two-day visit with Zelensky set to arrive on December 2

Robin Schiller
Today at 15:00
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is set for a two-day visit to Ireland next month, the Irish Independent can reveal.
High-level talks have been held this week with the Government now planning for Mr Zelensky to arrive in Dublin on December 2 and meet with senior officials as part of his travel itinerary, before he departs the following day on December 3.

A major security plan will also be put in place with gardaí expected to declare the visit an 'extraordinary event' to ensure there are sufficient personnel available for the policing operation.

An extraordinary event would mean that all annual leave and rest days for gardaí would be cancelled, aside from in exceptional circumstances, in selected garda regions.

This is expected to be put in place during the duration of Mr Zelensky's two-day visit, and potentially a day in advance on December 1.

It would include the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR), but could also extend to other divisions outside of the capital, to augment garda numbers and ensure there are both sufficient personnel available to police the foreign dignitaries visit, and that day-to-day policing isn't impacted.

The various garda representative groups have been put on notice about this, although an extraordinary event has not yet been formally declared. This can be done up to 14 days before it takes place.

The Ukrainian president is set to meet with senior Government officials during his planned two-day visit, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin as well as Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris.

It has not been confirmed if Mr Zelensky will also meet with President Catherine Connolly, who was inaugurated this week, although one senior source said it "would be standard" for a high-profile dignitary to meet with the President at Áras an Uachtaráin during a visit to Dublin.

It has also been mooted by Government TDs that the Ukrainian president could potentially address the Dáil during his time here.

The Taoiseach formally extended an invite to Mr Zelensky to visit Ireland over two months ago.

Mr Martin said he spoke with the Ukrainian president by phone on September 1, in which he reaffirmed Ireland's support to the war-torn country and their commitment to a just and lasting peace.

He said Mr Zelensky was "very thankful to the people of Ireland for our sustained support for the people of Ukraine".

The Taoiseach also said that they discussed how any peace deal to end the three-year war must be "sustainable, comprehensive and durable", and that this can only be achieved with "significant security guarantees underpinning any ceasefire and ultimately peace".

Mr Zelensky also met the Taoiseach during a brief stopover at Shannon Airport in March while his airplane refuelled on his journey to meet US president Donald Trump.

Mr Zelensky also addressed the Dáil chamber via video link in April 2022, the first leader to do so while at war, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that February.

At that time, he requested Ireland play a leadership role in strengthening EU sanctions against Russia.

His visit next month however will be his first visit in person to the capital.

An Garda Síochána declared an extraordinary event in September 2024, for the arrival of UK prime minister Keir Starmer which coincided with the UEFA Nations League match between Ireland and England.

[Dag Dog]

The first test for Catherine Connolly. Will see show him courtesy and decency, or will she allow her pro-Kremlin side reveal itself.

[Armagh18]

The first test for Catherine Connolly. Will see show him courtesy and decency, or will she allow her pro-Kremlin side reveal itself.

Obviously.

[Dag Dog]

The first test for Catherine Connolly. Will see show him courtesy and decency, or will she allow her pro-Kremlin side reveal itself.

Obviously.

Hopefully