- Ukraine says it has liberated four villages in the south-east, calling these the first settlements won back from Russia since Kyiv’s counter-offensive began
- On Monday morning, officials reported that “the national flag is once again waving” over Storozhove, in the Donetsk region
- A day earlier, footage showed Ukrainian troops celebrating in Blahodatne and Neskuchne - and a minister said nearby Makarivka was also taken
- The settlements are relatively small - and Moscow is yet to confirm any retreat
- The Institute for the Study of War backs up Kyiv’s claims, saying Ukraine captured “multiple settlements” along the frontline over the weekend
- On Saturday, President Zelensky acknowledged that the long-awaited counter-offensive was under way
An area amounting to about 6 km by 6 km. Still an excuse for cheerleading and manufacturing consent for escalation. One of the villages is like 6 houses.
It’s funny how with certain folks its always the fighting back that’s the escalation, never the original aggression…
Oh yeah the original aggression. Which one?
Your head is so far up your own propaganda I can’t even tell what you’re trying to say here.
Western liberals keep ignoring anything before 2022 in order to create a black-and-white narrative. This leads them to the conclusion that they’re fighting absolute evil and so any means are justified no matter how many people will die, and how dangerous and even counter-productive their actions.
Nah. I don’t see Russia as absolute evil. And there are plenty of means the west does not consider justified. Nobody I know falls into either of these categories.
I don’t want Ukraine to kill poor Russian sods but as long as Russia kills poor Ukrainian sods I think it’s only fair if they get to shoot back.
Most of us just want Russia to go home and let Ukraine be Ukraine.
This is such a simplistic view of the war. The civil war started because the country already had internal fault lines, and was pulled in different directions by Russian and Western meddling until it broke. The invasion was just the latest in a series of escalations. Nothing about this war is in the interest of the people living on the battlefield, they got duped or forced into fighting each other. Encouraging them to fight on is messed up.
Edit: I’d also like to add that Russia seemed quite willing, prior to the invasion, to have a compromise in which Ukraine would be neutral. The US especially clearly wasn’t interested, insisting instead on its own supremacy, in which no opposing or neutral countries are to be tolerated. To this end they also supported the worst elements of Ukrainian society, ultra-nationalist Banderites, which they had been doing since the end of WW2.
Ah the Maidan Coup, ya the Ukrainians shouldn’t have done that, you’re right
How dare the people rise up against their rightfully-installed rulers and decide they want someone else. What did they think this was, a democracy?
Yanukovich, while definitely corrupt, won in a fair democratic election that was judged free and fair by international observers… The coup overthrew a democratically elected leader. He was not appointed by anyone.
I guarantee you it means something to the residents of those six houses.
It’s easy to lose track of individual humanity at the scale of a war, but this victory is the one these people will always most remember when they think of the tide turning. Their lives are worth something.