Before the Ukraine invasion, I had believed that European/Russian relationships were OK despite the 2014 invasions.

Trade was buzzing in both directions, cross border travel was basically problem free, and Russia sat in many global groups like a superpower.

Now Putin has thrown all this up in the air and however, the war is finally resolved life will be different for Russian consumers for some time to come.

apparently the captured azov battalion fighters are not being exchanged, rather they are being sent to russia for investigation.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nt-Russia.html

Russia's Foreign Ministry posted this one hour ago.



https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/statu...o_aJgWBRg&s=19

Ukrainian troops are suffering massive losses as they are outgunned 20 to one in artillery and 40 to one in ammunition by Russian forces, according to new intelligence painting a bleak picture of the conflict on the frontline

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2096715.html

Yes but this should have happened in March, not June...

It seems that one or two British idiots who went to Ukraine to fight have been taken prisoner by the Russians and have received a death sentence.. one each.
The reasoning being that they are not regular soldiers but mercenaries and therefore not protected by the Geneva convention.

i think they were actually there before all the armchair hero's started encouraging gullible morons to go an' kill some ruskies... if they didn't commit war crimes hopefully they will be able to be exchanged.

What Does Russia Want?

Why the war will go on.

By Tom Nichols
JUNE 09, 2022

https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/...me-putin-goal/

Your best solution is to put pressure on the Western nations to deliver the heavy weapons they promised.

Not true;
Simply being mercenaries is not grounds to execute them. I do hope the law of unintended consequences does not strike and the Ukrainians start executing captured members of the Wagner Group. That would be a horrible escalation.
This war is already bloody enough.

given that russia has 5,600 ukrainian pows while ukraine only has 550 russians pows i don't think you have to worry about that happening.

As far as I understand it, foreign fighters in Ukraine are enlisted in the regular Ukrainian army. This makes them regular soldiers under the Geneva Convention and not illegal combattants.

Do the Russians know this?

and it begins...

U.S. Lacks a Clear Picture of Ukraine's War Strategy, Officials Say
https://news.yahoo.com/u-lacks-clear...120806912.html

You mean those guys with Ukrainian and British citizenship who were there before Putin's paranoid invasion?

Putin is weird and getting weirder, the latest
"The price of success on the Baltic was a failure on the Black Sea: the regions of Azov and Taganrog won from Turkey in 1696 had to be surrendered in 1711." So what will Putin surrender?

BTW, the Second Northern War lasted 21 years so how long is Putin forecasting this Ukraine war to last

Russian consumers - don't you mean the russian plebs ?

Surely despite all their protestations of Russian citizens being equal ( whether under Putin's government and before that Soviet governments ) the average Russian citizen is still no better than the Serfs by which the Tsarists viewed the 'lower orders' and by which the Kremlin regard the views of the common people today - the only difference being they can 'spoon feed' the russian plebs with Russian propaganda via state run TV direct to the plebs homes and even censor their internet access. Maybe even recruit the plebs friends and neighbours to spy on their views and behaviour, just like they used to do in the days of the secret police.

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

I do not disagree but I was meaning those who like to buy jeans, McDonalds, Starbucks &&&&&

It's crazy how much his face has changed in just a few months, it's really bloated now.

This is Putin just before the invasion, on Feb 21.

This is Putin at xmas, on Dec 23 last year. After about 1min into the clip he has his chin up, the same pose he has in the Feb clip above, so no double-chin and the same thin neck.

Have reserved some popcorn for the answer from Turkiye diplomacy