Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 31, 2025 09:11
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PAGE 194 of 194

Monday, December 29, 2025 7:37 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Russian forces have advanced at an average rate of 14.4 square kilometers per day in 2025, meaning it would take Russian forces until April 1, 2029 (1,190 days) to seize the rest of the four oblasts should the current tempo persist.

This calculation, however, does not take into account the many obstacles Russian forces would face along the way, such as crossing the Dnipro River, overcoming other water features throughout the oblasts, and seizing the major cities of Zaporizhzhia City (with a pre-war population of about 710,000 people) and Kherson City (with a pre-war population of about 280,000).

Russian advances are not likely to be linear, and it will likely take Russian forces longer than 1,190 days to seize all four oblasts.

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-december-28-2025/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 29, 2025 7:40 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Bundestag members call for supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine

by Iryna Kutielieva | 28 December, 17:36

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/12/28/8013729/

Omid Nouripour, Vice President of Germany's Bundestag, who represents the Greens, has called for the transfer of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Source: German press agency n-tv, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "It is good that Chancellor Merz is laying claim to a leadership role for Germany. Merz must now stick to what he rightly demanded while in opposition and clear the way for Taurus deliveries."

Details: Nouripour stressed that refusing to supply cruise missiles to Ukraine would cost human lives.

Quote: "It is not enough simply to support the Ukrainian president in phone calls. The EU must increase pressure on Putin. Putin is the only one who can immediately put an end to this horrific war. Without pressure, he will not budge."

Background:

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in summer that he was taking a cautious approach to an initiative to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles.

For their part, Germany's Greens have urged the government to provide greater support for Ukraine, including by supplying Taurus cruise missiles.

________________

A German Taurus missile costs roughly €1 million to €1.5 million ($1.1 to $1.6 million USD) per unit for existing stock, but new advanced Taurus Neo missiles are priced higher, with recent plans for 600 units costing around €2.1 billion, equating to about €3.5 million ($3.8 million USD) per missile including support, though experts estimate the base missile cost closer to €1.75-€2 million.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 29, 2025 7:56 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Why the Pantomime by Trump? It Has Always Been About Defending Putin
And Perhaps Getting A Nobel Prize

By Phillips P. OBrien | Dec 29, 2025

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/why-the-pantomime-its-always-be
en

Let’s start with two recent quotes about Vladimir Putin.

The first was a claim by President Trump yesterday during the press conference he held with President Zelensky after the latest episode of the long-running pantomime negotiations between the USA, Ukraine and Russia.

“Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed…President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.”

And then this quote from Trump’s chief of staff and intimate, Suzie Wiles, in her extraordinary Vanity Fair interview. It has the ring of truth

“The experts think that if he (Putin) could get the rest of Donetsk, then he would be happy,” Wiles told me in August. But privately, Trump wasn’t buying it—he didn’t believe Putin wanted peace. “Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country,” Wiles told me.

Both of these statements cannot be true. Indeed they cancel each other out. There is one that is far more likely to be true (Wiles estimation) and one that was almost certainly a lie (what Trump said yesterday).

The statement by Trump that Putin wants to see Ukraine succeed seems to have been deliberate choice by Donald Trump to deceive. The reason for that lie is to protect Vladimir Putin and mislead the American people (and the world) about Russia’s intentions. It explains why this pantomime is no joke or “nothingburger”. Instead, it has been deadly effective and it serves Russian interests and has protected Russia for almost a year and threatens to do so well into a second year.

Btw, you can watch the whole press conference here. The lie about Putin wanting Ukraine to succeed comes at 20:05.

The fact was that Trump spent most of the press conference yesterday either defending or praising Putin and undermining the Ukrainian position. It is indicative of why he is doing what he is doing and why it has been so effective. This whole pantomime is not a “nothingburger” or anything like that. It is a very effective con that has gone on for almost a year, which has provided protection to Putin/Russia and strung along Europeans and Ukrainians. Moreover, it is a pantomime that Trump will keep going as long as possible.

Lets look at other examples of how Trump defended or praised Putin during the press conference yesterday. Will include the time stamps so you can check

The Praise For Putin.

Trump gushed about the closeness of his relationship with Putin and it came up regularly during the press conference. He boasted about how long the Trump-Putin phone call was before the meeting with Zelensky—”two and a half hours” (17:11).

btw, that really is extraordinary. Before meeting with Zelensky for far less than 2.5 hours, Trump initiated a call with Putin to coordinate plans. And afterwards Trump was slated to call Putin as well for a debrief. He clearly gets nervous about operating without Putin’s advice.

Moreover, Trump a number of times waxed rhapsodical about the closeness of his connection to Putin and in particular how the two bonded about what he calls the Russia “hoax”, but of course which was very real. Here was the first mention (10:27).

“Uh, and I spoke with President Putin. I got along with him very well despite the Russia Russia Russia hoax, which was a total hoax. Used to say, "What is going on over there?" But it was a total hoax as he knew and as I knew.”

Here was the second mention, which shows Trump believes they have bonded (16:03).

“Don’t forget we went through the Russia Russia Russia hoax together. And he'd call me, I'd call him, I'd say, "Can you believe the stuff that they're making up?" And it turned out we were right.”

Finally, Trump feels so close to Putin that he explains the Russian dictator’s opinions and even goes further and agrees with them. Trump did that most openly when he explained why Putin rejected a European class for a ceasefire along the present line while adding that he (Trump) does as well (20:26).

“Q. Did did Russia agree or did Putin agree to a ceasefire to allow a referendum to take (place)?

A. Not a ceasefire and that's one of the points that we're working on right now. No, not a ceasefire. He feels that look, you know, they're fighting and to stop and then to if they have to start again, which is a possibility. He doesn't want to be in that position. I understand that position.”

So, the US president now outlines the Russian position and empathizes with it.

Putting Pressure On Ukraine

A number of times Trump went out of his way to demean Ukraine and diminish its importance to the USA. For instance, Trump repeated his claim that Russia is winning the war, and Ukraine needs to take a deal now or face a worse situation in the future. The latest version of the Ukraine has “no cards” argument. Here was how Trump described the military situation in the Donbas. (Starts 9:37).

“well I think uh the land you're talking about some of that land has been taken some of that land is maybe up for grabs, but it may be taken over the next period of a number of months and you're better off making a deal.”

Maybe most illuminating was this chaotic meditation during which Trump stated the US had no real interest in Ukraine as opposed to European states while boasting about the fact that he had cut off all US aid for Ukraine (17:52).

“We’re protected by a thing called the Atlantic Ocean and lots of other places to be honest and uh they're (European States) not, you know, they're right there, but we're working together with them as we should be. But I'm doing it to save lives. You know, we're not spending any money. Biden gave 350 billion dollars away.”

So in Trump’s presentation Ukraine is going to have to take a bad deal and moreover he is describing his cut off of support for Ukraine (which has hurt the Ukrainian military) as a good thing,

Putting No Pressure On Russia

Btw, what was never said by Trump would be that there would be any sanctions or extra weapons for Ukraine if Russia refused a deal. The word sanction was never even mentioned once. And Trump admitted a number of times that there is a strong likelihood that they will reach no deal. He intimated that if there was no deal, the most likely result would be the US washing its hands of the conflict.

The Purpose Of The Pantomime

So the presentation was as follows:

Putin is a good man, with whom Trump gets along well and is personally close, and Putin wants Ukraine to succeed while being given large slices of Ukraine.

Ukraine is losing, had better cut a deal with Russia now before it has a greater defeat, and it is a great thing that the US is providing no more aid for Ukraine.

Russia will not be sanctioned or Ukraine will not receive more aid if there is no deal.

And we might say that is the purpose of this pantomime. What Trump is doing is exactly what Putin wants. He is protecting the Russians in allowing them to prosecute the war how and where they want (they made two very large attacks on Ukrainian cities in the last few days, killing civilians and cutting power). He is also making it clear that Russia will receive no penalty if it continues to do this.

And the same time he is making the Europeans and Ukrainans go through all these false motions as if the USA was an honest negotiator and the Europeans keep falling for it. British PM Keir Starmer yesterday, for instance, went out of his way to praise Trump for his supposed efforts to secure peace.

This is why Trump needs to say the deliberate untruths, such as the meeting yesterday bringing peace closer when it clearly did not. He needs to act like this process has a purpose in serving European/Ukrainian interests, when its real purpose is to help Putin.

One final point. The meetings did have one other purpose. Even though Trump realizes that there is hardly any chance that this process will result in a peace deal in January, he needs to act like they have a chance as the deadline nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is 31 January 2026. Trump covets the award, not as much as he covets Putin’s friendship but he definitely wants it.

The great tragedy (once again) is that innocent or not so innocent fools keep falling over and over again for this deception. Yesterday’s talks did not bring us closer to peace, they were not a sign of the US and Ukraine agreeing a common position, and they were not a success. They were just another example of how the US is now helping Russia.

Not admitting the truth of this is a sign that Trump has won.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 29, 2025 8:06 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Monday, December 29, 2025 9:05 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

6ix, will you ever know that you, Trump and Putin are evil and all of you earned your misfortunes? Self-awareness only comes in bursts and spurts for you three, but then you force the realization back into the darkest recesses of your minds where it won’t bother you until the next time the evil thoughts escape out of your mouths and fingertips as you type. 6IXSTRINGJACK wrote on Tuesday, December 2, 2025 1:35 PM

Quote:
If I do end up killing myself, I'll make sure to remark in the suicide note to pour over this site, along with the long list of abuse, constant suggestions out of the both of them that I kill myself, death threats and assassination fantasies out of second, and for them to find Second and Ted in real life, and have my family sue all three of you. My disabled brother would at least never have to worry about anything in his life if that's the way this all goes.

I think I'm okay with that outcome.

http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=2&tid=67251&p=1

Putin has made the same threat to kill himself (as 6ixStringJoker did, above) and the world if Russia isn’t victorious in Ukraine:

While Vladimir Putin has used various phrases to suggest that Russia's defeat in Ukraine would have global consequences, his most direct quote regarding the necessity of Russia's existence for the world's survival is: "Why do we need a world if there is no Russia in it?".

This statement and similar rhetoric have been reinforced by recent actions and warnings throughout 2024 and 2025:

• Nuclear Doctrine Revision (2024): On November 19, 2024, Putin formally signed a revised nuclear doctrine that lowered the threshold for the use of atomic weapons. The new policy allows for a nuclear response to conventional attacks that pose a "critical threat" to Russia's sovereignty, as well as joint attacks by non-nuclear states supported by nuclear powers.

• Civilizational Threat Warning (2024): In his 2024 State of the Nation address, Putin warned that Western intervention in Ukraine "threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization".

• Ultimatum for Victory (2025): Throughout 2025, Putin has maintained that the only way to end the war is for Russia to achieve its goals by force if Ukraine and the West do not agree to his terms, which include total control over annexed territories.

• Escalatory Rhetoric: In December 2025, Putin stated that if Europe were to start a war with Russia, it would end so swiftly that there would be "no one left to negotiate with". He has also hinted at the possibility of using nuclear weapons to bring the invasion to its "logical conclusion".

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 29, 2025 4:20 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Dr. Strangelove or: How the West taught Putin to stop worrying and love his bombs

By Andrew Chakhoyan | December 29, 2025 9:18 PM
Academic director at the University of Amsterdam

https://kyivindependent.com/dr-strangelove-or-how-the-west-taught-puti
n-to-stop-worrying-and-love-his-bombs/

In Netflix's House of Dynamite, a ballistic missile hurtles toward the United States, the nightmare scenario that keeps defense planners awake at night. Yet the West's Russia policies, over the past decade, have done more to increase the odds of such a catastrophe than prevent it.

Washington's unwitting effort to teach Moscow that nuclear threats work and aggression pays has culminated in a 28-point dictator’s wishlist, bizarrely presented as a "peace plan."

The United States, the world’s most powerful nation, is chasing Kyiv for territorial sacrifices while meekly pleading with the predator state to accept them.

This approach to peacemaking is as helpful as pouring vodka on a raging fire. Expansionist wars end only in one of two ways: the aggressor is defeated, as Hitler reminded us in 1945, or the cost of continuing outweighs the gains, as Russia learned in Afghanistan in 1989. There is no third way.

Zoom out from the 24-hour news cycle and the absurdity slaps you in the face. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. For nearly a decade, Western capitals buried their heads in the sand, offering only halves of half-measures. Moscow predictably read this as a green light to escalate. But after 2022, when Russian tanks rolled over Ukraine’s sovereign border en masse, looking the other way ceased to be a viable option.

In early 2025, the Trump administration recognized that peace negotiations are a two-step process – hostilities must be halted first, and everything else comes after. Within 24 hours of the March Jeddah talks, Ukraine accepted the unconditional ceasefire – demonstrating it wants peace, not war.

And Russia? Before the Americans put a ceasefire on the agenda, it was murdering Ukrainian children in their beds with depraved regularity, and so it continues to this day. Russia commits unimaginable, most heinous war crimes; the world watches.

Rejecting peace at every turn, the aggressor was given the famous "two weeks" deadline, on repeat. But those came and went without serious consequences. Russia effectively spat in the face of American negotiators, and the White House failed to find the resolve and wisdom to respond.

Empty demands, unbacked by pressure, do not deter colonial revanchism. They invite, incentivize, and assure it.

If Ukraine were to offer preemptive concessions, it would derail the very goals Western leaders are pursuing. Only the willfully blind wouldn't see that yielding to a violent aggressor, like Russia, is a straight line to a larger war. To advocate for peace through strength is not warmongering; abandoning it, is.

History has run this macabre experiment — repeatedly. Europe's political class convinced itself in 1938 that handing Hitler the Sudetenland would secure "peace for our time." Instead, it taught the Nazi regime that democracies lacked resolve. The result wasn't stability — it was a continent-wide inferno.

When Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, the West pushed Tbilisi into a ceasefire while Moscow consolidated territorial control. The aggressor paid no price. Six years later, Russia returned to this script in Crimea, then Donbas. Every off-ramp became the runway for the Kremlin's escalation.

No Western concession can alter Moscow's trajectory toward Beijing, because that alignment is structural. Russia's extractive economy is export-dependent, and its military-industrial base cannot function without Chinese inputs. Most critically, Russia's imperial ethos requires perpetual confrontation with the West as a way to legitimize despotic rule. That naturally drives Moscow into Beijing's arms.

A Russia kicked out of Ukraine has at least a theoretical chance to rethink its colonizer identity and decouple from China. A Russia rewarded in Ukraine has no such incentive — it will cement a junior-vassal status under Chinese domination, locking in the very geopolitical shift Washington says it fears.

Moscow's nuclear threats follow a pattern: whenever it faces pushback, Russia rattles its doomsday saber. It didn't use weapons of mass destruction when its army collapsed outside Kyiv, nor when Ukraine liberated large swaths of Kharkiv Oblast, nor when Crimea came under attack. More tellingly, Xi Jinping — to whom Putin now effectively reports — has ruled nukes out. This naked blackmail is a performance meant to frighten Western publics, not signal Moscow’s willingness to commit imperial suicide.

By breaking the nuclear taboo, the long-standing norm that responsible states do not threaten first use, the Kremlin bears sole responsibility for eroding the nonproliferation regime. But when the West caves and refuses to accept the basic premise that aggression must be punished, it does not allay nuclear risk.

It makes confrontation or an accident born of brinkmanship more likely, not less.

The West ignores this at its peril: even if America and Europe are not interested in the war, Russia's war is very much interested in them. As Casey Michel, a prominent Russia analyst and head of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, has noted, the long-term security of the United States turns on a simple question: whether an expansionist nuclear power can dismember a non-nuclear neighbor, and what signal Washington sends if it succeeds.

We live in a house of dynamite, that much is true. But the fuse cannot light itself; it is the KGB man who plays with matches, then reaches for the gun, while the rest of the dwellers look on in shock instead of forcing him to stop. That is the deeper lesson the Netflix film left unaddressed.

Systems fail not because they are fragile, but because people with the power and responsibility to stop a malignant actor hesitate until it is too late.

The danger is not that Russia will suddenly do something unthinkable; it is that the unthinkable is routinely tolerated: “of the nearly 53,000 verified civilian casualties from the start of the full-scale invasion, more than 3,000 have been children.” If Moscow walks away with anything resembling victory, this won't stay contained to Ukraine.

For the world that prospered under a hard-won security order, the choice couldn't be clearer: help Ukraine kick the aggressor out and defuse the threat, or keep indulging fantasies of "deal-making" and usher in a bigger war.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 29, 2025 6:34 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
6ix, will you ever know that you, Trump

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 5:54 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Russia claims Ukraine allegedly attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Valdai residence.

Peace plan 90% agreed. Then Putin called Trump. Now Trump is “very angry” at Ukraine, except the “attack” did not happen.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/29/peace-plan-90-agreed-then-putin
-called-trump-now-trump-is-very-angry-at-ukraine/

Why is the residence attack a lie?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that on the night of 29 December, Ukraine allegedly tried to attack Putin’s residence with 91 drones. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense itself confirms other numbers, Spravdi reports.

According to the data:

From 11:00 PM on 28 December to 07:00 AM on 29 December — 18 UAVs over Novgorod Oblast;
From 07:00 to 09:00 AM — another 23 drones.

In total, 41 drones, not 91 as Lavrov claims. These numbers are also confirmed by the governor of Novgorod Oblast, with no mention of an “attack on the residence.”

Authorities in the Valdai district, where Putin’s residence is located, reported no emergencies. District head Yuriy Stade held a scheduled public broadcast on social media, without mentioning attacks or security threats.

Lavrov's statement about 91 drones that allegedly attacked Putin's residence is not confirmed by any other official statements from the Russian side, neither the Ministry of Defense, nor the regional authorities, nor local structures.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 5:56 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Russia losing six times more troops on front line than Ukraine

By Kateryna Shkarlat | Mon, December 29, 2025 – 20:55

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-losing-six-times-more-troops-on
-front-1767033826.html

Russia is losing six times more troops on the front line than Ukraine. Daily losses of the Russian army on the front amount to 1,000–1,100 soldiers, states the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, in an interview with Channel 24.

He was asked about the number of irreversible enemy losses, referencing Russian calculations of contracts signed with the armed forces. In particular, the Russian army faces a discrepancy of roughly one and a half million between those reportedly enlisted in the military and the 700,000 currently at the front.

"Yes, these are real losses. This is evidenced by the fact that the enemy planned to form 14 new divisions this year. Only seven were actually formed: two marine divisions consist of just one regiment each. The formation of the other seven brigades has been postponed to next year," Syrskyi said.

Russia is forced to take personnel from these divisions and assign them to combat units, confirming the aggressor country’s problems with manpower recruitment.

"This is facilitated by the effectiveness of our forces. The latest figures show that daily enemy losses average 1,000–1,100 personnel," the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

He also confirmed the difference in losses between Russia and Ukraine — the Russian forces are losing roughly six times more soldiers than the Ukrainians.

"This is the difference specifically in killed personnel. This is the total figure across all branches of the Armed Forces," Syrskyi emphasized.

Russian losses in the war

Since the start of the full-scale war, the aggressor country has lost 1,205,690 soldiers on the front. In particular, enemy losses on December 28 amounted to 1,180 troops.

Western officials told the Financial Times that Russian generals often lie to President Vladimir Putin about the situation on the front. For this reason, the Kremlin leader believes that Russia could allegedly defeat Ukraine.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 11:47 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

US peace efforts make a full circle, as Putin tells Trump Ukraine out to kill him

By Oleksiy Sorokin | December 30, 2025 1:57 pm

https://kyivindependent.com/us-peace-efforts-make-full-circle-as-putin
-tells-trump-ukraine-out-to-kill-him/

Donald Trump’s peace negotiations have seemingly made a full circle.

After U.S. pressuring Ukraine to accept an unfavorable peace settlement, Kyiv spent over a month renegotiating the offer and getting close to receiving Trump's blessing on a revised proposal.

Then Vladimir Putin called. Twice.

A few hours before the second call, on Dec. 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukrainian drones had allegedly attempted to strike Putin's state residence with 91 drones in Russia's Novgorod Oblast overnight.

No evidence had been provided of the following claim. That didn’t matter.

The following day, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had doubled down on the claim that Ukraine was to assassinate the Russian president, once again directing the comments to Trump.

"It's not just directed against President Putin personally. It's also directed against Trump, aimed at thwarting President Trump's efforts to promote a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict," Peskov said on Dec. 30.

"'May he perish,' each of us may think to ourselves," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his Christmas Eve address, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peskov tied the two events together. “I'd like to recall Zelensky's Christmas address and the words he addressed to Putin,” he said.

Trump’s response was predictable.

"I don't like it. It's not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it ... I was very angry about it," Trump said on Dec. 29 after holding a call with the Russian president.

When questioned on the source, Trump hesitated.

“You're saying maybe the attack didn't take place? That's possible too, I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did."

Zelensky on Dec. 29 dismissed Russia's claims as "another lie," warning that Moscow is using the allegation to justify potential strikes, most likely targeting Kyiv.

"With this statement about an alleged attack on some residence, they are preparing the ground to strike, most likely the capital and government buildings," Zelensky said.

Yet, the Ukrainian president’s comments fell flat.

“Deeply concerned by reports of the targeting of the residence of the president of the Russian Federation. Ongoing diplomatic efforts offer the most viable path toward ending hostilities and achieving peace. We urge all concerned to remain focused on these efforts and to avoid any actions that could undermine them,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X in English and Russian on Dec. 30.

The leaders of Russian-friendly Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan held phone calls with Putin, condemning the attack that has yet to be confirmed.

“Pakistan condemns the reported targeting of the residence of His Excellency Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation. Such a heinous act constitutes a grave threat to peace, security, and stability, particularly at a time when efforts aimed at peace are underway,” wrote Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Pakistan expresses its solidarity with the president of the Russian Federation, and with the government and people of Russia,” wrote Sharif, as Russia was bombing Ukrainian civilians, cutting millions of people in Kyiv and other major cities from power and heating.

The ease with which Russia was able to gather support for its president and war effort has puzzled Ukraine.

“Almost a day passed, and Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence.’ And they won’t. Because there’s none,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Dec. 30.

“We were disappointed and concerned to see the statements by Emirati, Indian, and Pakistani sides expressing their concerns regarding the attack that never happened,” he added.

“Such reactions to Russia’s baseless manipulative claims only play into Russian propaganda and encourage Moscow for more atrocities and lies.”

Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian-born political analyst, says the timing of Putin’s statement “is clearly no coincidence.”

“There was a conversation (between Zelensky and) Trump that was positive for Ukraine. The Kremlin had to respond somehow, and this strongly resembles a defensive reaction on its part. The goal is clear: to show Trump that Zelensky is not a viable negotiating partner, that Ukraine wants to continue the war, and so on.”

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 12:07 PM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Trump says he believed Putin's lie because Putin owns Trump. How much did Putin pay?

Valdai Residents Report No Signs of Claimed Ukrainian Drone Attack on Putin Residence

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/30/valdai-residents-report-no-s
igns-of-claimed-ukrainian-drone-attack-on-putin-residence-a91581

“There was no noise that night, no explosions, nothing,” one resident was quoted as saying. “If something like that had happened, the whole town would have been talking about it.”

__________

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry: Russia's tale of attack on Putin residence is merely pretext to abandon peace efforts

By Alona Mazurenko | 30 December, 14:51

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/12/30/8014002/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 12:32 PM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

In this exclusive interview, Peter Pomerantsev (author of "How to Win an Information War") reveals how Sefton Delmer's "black propaganda" operations defeated Nazi Germany by appealing to Germans' "inner pig dog" — their greed, self-interest, and desire for survival — rather than their moral conscience. (What moral conscience? Had they fully functioning moral consciences rather than partial ones extending only a tiny distance beyond their own skin? This is news to me that Russians, Nazis and Trumptards had moral consciences. Since when? I have NEVER seen any evidence for that idea from Trumptards' behavior toward those who aren’t either family or nearly identical to them.)

Ukrainian psychological operations teams have rediscovered Delmer's counterintuitive insights: telling Russians about rising crime rates works better than showing them war crimes.

Download the book from https://annas-archive.org/search?q=Peter+Pomerantsev

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025 5:55 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Ukrainian commanders neglected the defense of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Now the town has fallen … and the chaos has just begun.

By David Axe | Dec 30, 2025

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/30/huliaipole-has-fallen/

Struggling to mobilize enough fresh manpower to fully replace its losses along the front line, the Ukrainian military now has precious few reserves. And that means commanders must make hard choices about where to attack, where to defend ... and where to hope the Russians don't exploit gaps in Ukrainian lines.

It's now evident that, in recent months, the Ukrainian brass chose to attack in Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast in the northeast, defend around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast in the east ... and accept a high degree of risk around Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in the southeast.

But hope isn't much of a strategy. Sensing weakness, the powerful Russian Dnipro Group of Forces moved aggressively against Huliaipole, a critical strongpoint for the defense of Zaporizhzhia city, 80 km to the west. Abruptly just before Christmas, the Russian 57th Motor Rifle Brigade captured the town.

Huliaipole was the largest and most fortified Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast—a town that had long remained impregnable while Russian forces battered themselves against its defenses from multiple directions.

Its fall—chaotic, with at least two top officers killed or captured, a command post abandoned with equipment still inside—wasn't a sudden collapse. It was the predictable result of defending with a few territorial battalions what needed a full brigade. Russia still recruits over 30,000 soldiers monthly. Ukraine doesn't. The 80-km path to Zaporizhzhia city and its 700,000 residents is now open.

A gamble that didn't pay off

Now Ukrainian defenses in Zaporizhzhia Oblast are in disarray. And it's unclear whether, or how, the Ukrainian 17th Army Corps can prevent further Russian gains—and stave off a direct threat to Zaporizhzhia city and its approximately 700,000 residents.

Ukrainian forces that should be reconsolidating west of Huliaipole have wasted precious people and equipment in a bizarre local counterattack toward Rivnopillia, 9 km east of Huliaipole.

Maps and more at https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/30/huliaipole-has-fallen/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, December 31, 2025 3:39 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

ISW has observed evidence indicating a Russian presence (either through assaults or infiltration missions) in 4,899.75 kilometers in 2025 — indicating that Russian forces have sustained at least 83 casualties per square kilometer.

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-december-30-2025/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, December 31, 2025 3:40 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
ISW has observed evidence indicating a Russian presence (either through assaults or infiltration missions) in 4,899.75 kilometers in 2025 — indicating that Russian forces have sustained at least 83 casualties per square kilometer.

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-december-30-2025/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

How To Kill 50 Russians On 1 Road In 1 Night

First, wait for the Russians to walk in a straight line without thermal camo—and then swarm them with bomber drones

Dec 30, 2025

https://www.trenchart.us/p/how-to-kill-50-russians-on-1-road

The village of Novopavlivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, lies roughly halfway between between two eastern hotspots: the ruins of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast and the ruins of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Capturing Novopavlivka would bring the Russians a few miles closer to the city of Pavlohrad, a strategic hub for Ukrainian forces in Dnipropetrovsk. But that effort suffered a setback this week when Ukrainian bomber drones massacred an entire platoon of Russian infantry marching along a road apparently around five miles east of Novopavlivka.

Yes, the Kremlin can afford to lose 50 infantry. But it can’t afford to frequently lose 50 infantry. Russian manages to recruit enough fresh troops every month to make good its losses—30,000 or so—but only barely.

In fact, it’s possible that in recent weeks, Russian losses finally exceeded Russian recruitment. The Russian military may finally be shrinking the way the Ukrainian military has been shrinking for many months now.

One night apparently this week, a Russian unit—possibly the 27th Motor Rifle Division—reportedly tried to rotate forces along the front line near Novopavlivka, where Russian and Ukrainian troops have been taking turns attacking in recent days.

But the Russians took few of the usual precautions. They moved out in an orderly column, seemingly without wearing the thermal cloaks that might’ve masked their body heat and helped them blend in with the snowy landscape on Ukrainian drones’ infrared sensors.

A Ukrainian surveillance drone spotted the platoon column: bright hot bodies standing out like beacons on the dark cold landscape. Heavy bomber drones swarmed the road. One grenade at a time, the bombers reportedly massacred the entire platoon.

There’s a lot we don’t know. The geolocation is tentative. We have video of the initial surveillance (see at top). But ostensibly related videos of grenade drops (see above) might actually be associated with a different time and place.

But we know Novopavlivka is important. It wouldn’t be surprising for the Russians to rush fresh infantry into the sector. Likewise, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Ukrainians to deploy a large number of bomber drones in the area.

While Russian formations to the left and right advance through Huliaipole and Pokrovsk, the 27th Motor Rifle Division and adjacent units are trying to push through Novopavlivka and surrounding villages—and enjoying some success despite horrific losses.

The pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team, citing the Ukrainian Deep State analysis group, reported Russian gains in Novopavlivka this week. But then, the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies noted a Ukrainian counterattack from Novopavlivka around the same time.

One thing is clear. “The contested area has expanded,” CIT observed.

The bomber drone massacre along that road, if indeed it’s the road observers suspect it is, underscores Russian and Ukrainian advantages in the area. The Russians enjoy a significant manpower advantage—it’s five to one in many sectors.

But the Ukrainians still enjoy a drone advantage. The Russians can, at times, match the Ukrainians in smaller first-person-view drones. But Russia has consistently lagged behind Ukraine when it comes to reusable bomber drones.

Those bomber drones absolutely wreak havoc on exposed infantry. And in the fields east of Novopavlivka, it’s hard not to be exposed.

The Russians ultimately captured Pokrovsk and Huliaipole by infiltrating the settlements with small groups of infantry. Yes, losses were horrendous along the approaches. But once the Russians were inside the settlements, the urban rubble sheltered them from Ukrainian drones. And Ukrainian brigades had too few infantry to root out the Russians block by block.

Surrounded by open fields for miles in all directions, the Russians who may have gotten bombed near Novopavlivka had nowhere to hide. The terrain blunted the Russians’ manpower edge while sharpening the Ukrainians’ own drone edge.

It’s not for no reason many analysts have urged Ukrainian commanders to shift to a rural defense wherever possible. It may be tempting to fortify towns and cities and invite the Russians to close urban fights. But in fact, Ukrainian forces—more to the point, their drones—now fight better out in the open.

It’s a lesson those Russians outside Novopavlivka learned in the hardest way possible.

Thanks for reading Trench Art! This post is public so feel free to share it.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, December 31, 2025 9:11 AM

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

2025 In Review: The Year The US Changed Sides

Among many stories, one stands out

By Phillips P. OBrien

Dec 31, 2025

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/2025-in-review-the-year-the-us-
changed

US aid, as Trump boasted about in front of Zelensky on Sunday, is over. The US is only selling small amounts of military equipment (at high profit margins) to European states, allowing them to pass on material to Ukraine. The US has ruled out, seemingly into perpetuity, Ukrainian membership of NATO, has called for the cessation of not only conquered lands, but unconquered part of Ukraine to Russia. It has called for an amnesty for Russian war criminals, the return of Russian seized assets, and even restrictions on Ukrainian sovereignty going forward.

Overall, the US was treating Ukraine as a partner by the end of 2024 and is now treating that country as an annoyance to be put in its place in the US's quest for better relations with Russia.

The US has changed sides.
___________

Phillips Payson O'Brien is an American historian and professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He was formerly at the University of Glasgow where he ran the Scottish Centre for War Studies.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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