Why anyone takes seriously a human rights council that still has China, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Qatar and the UAE on it, I can only wonder at.

I think it's reasonable to be critical of countries that want to weaken Russia at the expense of Ukrainian lives. Ultimately I think it's up to President Zelensky to choose what sort of peace/outcome he wants for Ukraine and the West should support him in whatever decision that is. We shouldn't be telling him what's best for Ukraine.

Hey! Play the ball, please.

In principle, I agree. This will be a bit more difficult in practice though as the West in some form will be on the table as well. Two issues at least: security guarantees and sanctions.

It's not up to this guy. It's up to the soldiers fighting on the ground and people supporting them.

By the way, it was Pres. Zelensky that has a very famous recording of "I need ammo, not a ride". So, weapons are being delivered.

Surely if the Ukrainian war has taught govt's, the military & defence analysts anything - it's that the days of the battle tank are numbered - as they are being proven to being easily pulverised by all the latest shoulder launched anti-tank missiles and even drone launched missiles. In fact I bet NATO's Cold War era Franco-German MILAN anti-tank missiles ( short for Missile d'Infanterie Leger Antichar ) would be as effective against tanks today, as it was from the mid 1970's onwards, in fact MILAN is still used by many forces today and was only finally replaced by JAVELIN in the British Army in 2005.

Looking back at NATO's Cold War era exercises in West Germany - MILAN was very much a key anti-tank weapon in defence of the Fulda Gap back in the 1980's.

MILAN - Anti-tank Guided Missiles

__________________
Surely the time has come for Boris to 'circle the wagons' for a bit of herd immunity ?

Actually, the choices are up to Putin who is the one controlling the invasion, not Zelensky.
The only choices Zelensky has are the ones offered to him by Putin, other than outright surrender.

pretty sure that was fake news as it turns out no one could verify that Zelensky actually said it. sounds good though.

Stupid people like me assume messages by Ukraine diplomats, Ukraine embassy in the UK, are representative of the Ukraine's public communication.

https://twitter.com/UkrEmbLondon/sta...06134692970499

I do not agree that the days of the battle tank are numbered.

What Russia has demonstrated in Ukraine is first that if you fail to follow the military doctrine of close air and flanking infantry support for your tank advances then you will lose your tanks.
Secondly, Soviet era tanks do not stand up well against anti tank weapons.

I think there's now a high probability that the West will continue to sanction Russia as long as Putin remains in power, whatever the outcome in Ukraine.

As for Ukraine, after being left in the lurch by the West following both Minsk and Budapest agreements, I think there's a duty to let Ukraine take the lead for securing their own future.

yeah, apparently they wouldn't respond to requests whether they had independent confirmation of him saying it or whether they were just repeating it secondhand. that and the fact that his own press secretary denied ever hearing it suggests it was probably the latter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...ily-confirmed/

as i said, it sounds good though and i guess that's what sells the papers

Reports on the BBC radio about two missiles targeting a train station in E. Ukraine where large queues of evacuees were patiently waiting for trains West.

I assume these weapons are reasonably accurate and two suggest they hit what they were aimed at.

What is the strategic objective to deliberately killing fleeing civilians? And deterring others from fleeing? Surely fewer civilians make it easier for the Russians.

The only explanation, to me, is simply kill for the sake of killing.

Putin wants Ukraine to be subservient, so he wants to break the spirit by bombing them into submission. Germany tried that with the UK Blitzkrieg, but it only strengthened their resolve.

Negotiating with Russia is a lost cause, they live in a parallel universe. The international focus should be on China, and forcing them to take a position on the sovereignty of Ukraine.

maybe dropping sanctions wil be part of the deal-making and wider negotiations.

Negotiations are only possible on the foundation of an agreed set of facts. Russia is far from that right now.

We're closer to Russia defaulting on sovereign debt than dropping sanctions. That will make things a lot more interesting.

China (and India) have already made their position clear: they want to remain neutral and this is not their fight. On sovreignty, they already declared: "China firmly advocates respecting and safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries," Wang said, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry. "This equally applies to the Ukraine issue."

China is in an awkward position as it is the biggest trading partner for both Ukraine and Russia. China relied quite a bit on Ukraine military tech and Ukraine was also part of the Belt and Road programme. China is heavily reliant on Russian energy/commodities so they cannot make enemies of them.

China isn't going to go out of its way to help Russia, its simply not in their interest to do so. Ordinarily, maybe they'd take advantage of low prices and buy a little more oil, or sell them some drones. But given the current situation it is simply not worth the backlash to do that. All the state owned oil enterprises are steering clear of Russian oil.

__________________
By replying to this post, you hereby grant Phil_MCR a royalty-free license to use, in any way, anything posted by you on the internet. If you do not accept, stop using EF and delete your account.

Indeed with both Ukraine and Russia believing they can improve their position by continuing to fight, the final outcome of the war will establish the facts on the ground that will then enable a negotiation.

One of the principles of a civilised nation is you don’t shoot your enemy in the back, ie when running away!

This should not go unpunished.