https://archive.li/Z0m5m

The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.

Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.

“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.

“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.

    • barsoap
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      10 months ago

      A war of avoiding national embarrassment and getting re-elected. The equivalent of starting a bar fight because someone picked up the gal you eyed through your whisky glass for two hours.

      • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        Okay, so what you’re saying is that our genocidal war in Iraq that killed a million people, displaced 30 million more, poisoned their soil and DNA with depleted uranium and created ISIS…You’re saying all of that was done for even stupider reasons than the ones you think are driving the Russian Federation now.

        Is that supposed to make the US look better, and not monstrous?

        Or, more relevant question, why on Earth should the country that lied to start that war be trusted about anything, ever again?

        Nobody has been able to give me a compelling answer that doesn’t just boil down to “because other countries must be worse, have to be worse, for my worldview to make sense.” And I get it, I’ve been there. I was a bit of an American chauvinist for a while. But the more familiar I became with history, especially in the 20th century, the more it became clear to me that America has no equivalent in the scale of it’s evil.

        Btw just curious, (and not the smug condescending internet kind of “curious”, the real deal): Have you ever checked out Blowback? If you’re a podcast person it’s fantastic, season one is about the Iraq war and it really goes into depth on the history and context behind the war. Some of the reasons you mentioned, some others. Highly recommend.

        • barsoap
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          10 months ago

          Is that supposed to make the US look better, and not monstrous?

          No. Yanks are idiots I said it before and I’m certainly willing to repeat it. The age of enlightenment by and large never reached them.

          Have you ever checked out Blowback?

          Nope and honestly I’m not particularly interested because I was already arguing with idiots back then that they’re making a heap of mistakes, I’m sure there’s details in there that I don’t know but I’m well-versed in the overall gist of it all from back then.

          If you’re up for crying and laughing at the same time though I have something for you. The history of the USA ones, the subtitles are quite good.