Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government could not guarantee the safety of foreign delegations visiting Moscow to attend the Victory Day Parade next Friday, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. “Our position is very simple for all countries traveling to Russia on May 9: We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy told reporters, according to a report by Ukrainian news agency Interfax on Saturday. “They provide you with security; therefore, we won’t give you any guarantees. Because we don’t know what Russia will do these days,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying. He also warned that Russia could orchestrate provocations, including “arson, bombings and so on, only to blame us.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are among the leaders set to attend the celebrations to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany on May 9 in Moscow, according to several media reports.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and the country’s former president, referred to Zelenskyy’s statement as a “verbal provocation” on his Telegram channel, according to Reuters. Zelenskyy “understands that in the event of a real provocation on Victory Day, nobody will be able to guarantee that Kyiv will live to see May 10,” Medvedev threatened on his channel.
In the run-up to the celebrations, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a one-sided three-day ceasefire starting on May 8. Kyiv referred to Putin’s truce announcement as a manipulation attempt, while calling for a ceasefire that would be “immediate, full, and unconditional, for at least 30 days.”
Comment: Now that’s a piece of cold hearted psychological operations. And Putin and some of his guests appear to be falling for it. Since Zelenskiy’s equivalent of saying, “Nice parade you got there. Shame if something would happen to it,” both Serbia’s Vucic and Slovakia’s Fico said they can’t attend the 9 May victory parade. And even more damning, Reuters and others reports that “Vladimir Putin will be present at the parade on Red Square via video communication.” This may be true. Or it could be a bold faced lie. In either case, Putin should be declaring loudly and defiantly that he will be in Red Square and addressing the crowd, the dignitaries and the world in person. If he doesn’t, how many other dignitaries, even his friend without limits, Xi decide to stay home?
Will Ukraine try to send drones to Red Square during the parade? Maybe. I’m sure Putin has upped the air defense ring aroung Moscow for the event, but how much faith does he have in the effectiveness of that air defense? Even a Ukrainian drone performing a fly by will, most likely, cause immense panic and become the cause for an untold number of Telegram videos. What happens if a couple of locally launched unarmed FPV drones start flying above the VIP stand? Or better yet, a couple of free flight model airplanes? All the EW in the world can’t stop that. They managed to kill Russian generals in Moscow, launching a model airplane should be possible. It’s up to Zelenskiy and Budanov whether this goes beyond just this ambiguous threat. And it’s up to Putin to boldly stand up to that ambiguoys threat.
TTG
I’m not sure whether droning the Victory Parade would be counted as a terrorist threat or as military action. Feels like a terrorist threat to me but I can see arguments the other way being put forward. Best consider it under both headings, I suppose.
Coping with terrorist threats is something all countries are used to and Russia is no exception. Very much so in the case of the Ukrainian war. Kiev regularly commits acts of terror. From WAPO and the NYT we have irrefutable proof that those acts of terror are backed and facilitated by the West.
So the Russians will have to neutralise the source of the terrorist activity, one hopes without having to go all the way to the Polish border to do so; and as best they can prevent the West backing and facilitating more such attacks.
The line between terrorist activity and legitimate military action is not easy to draw. I regard the Kursk Bridge or a gathering of military personnel in Sumy as legitimate military targets. I regard the Twin Towers or a civilian market place in Gorlovka as illegitimate targets. Terrorist targets. Others draw the line differently but the fact that the boundary might be disputed doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
It’s a line, wherever you draw it, that we in the West cross regularly. We back and facilitate terrorist attacks as a matter of course. We did so in Syria using the Jihadis. We’re doing so in this case using the Ukrainian “Banderite” ultras.
We’re doing more of it now. Partly because the devil always finds work for idle hands to do: we have a well developed machinery for such work and that machinery staffed with great numbers of specialists. Partly, maybe, because we’re a bit desperate: half a millennium of undisputed Western domination is coming to an end and we’re scared the easy living will end with it. Probably will by the looks of things at least as far as we in Europe are concerned, though most of that is unnecessary and self-inflicted.
There’s another line we cross regularly. The distinction between covert and open war. Running the war and directing operations for Kiev, and providing personnel who fight alongside the Kiev forces, seems to qualify as covert war though, my view, that’s in truth open war. I doubt the Russians would get away with it if they were doing it to us but so far we get away with it doing it to them.
But providing weapons that can strike into Russian territory, and giving targeting and operating instructions for those weapons, is open war. Launching missiles against Russia from planes flown out of Poland or Romania is open war. We’re lucky that the Russians let us get away with that as well. Presumably they do so because they want to keep the escalation down a notch or so but I doubt they’ll be that forbearing indefinitely. It’s arguable that if the ever-cautious Putin hadn’t been in charge we’d have been seeing mushroom clouds long since.
And I’m not sure we’ll be seeing the cautious side of Putin that much more. Looks to me as if he’s given the US and Europe just about all the rope we’re going to get. I’d hoped that with the change of US President we’d be seeing an end to using terrorists or “look no hands” warfare to pursue our objectives. But Western policy remains much the same whoever is US President so swapping a dotard for a buffoon hasn’t affected matters much.
So in that overall context mounting attacks on the Victory Parade, however those attacks are categorised, doesn’t look to be a good move. Nor the rest of what we’re doing in the world. How many Americans feel that way too about these infantile and vicious antics? In the case of the other bit of craziness the West seems to be drifting towards, war with Iran, some definitely do. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy.
I campaigned for no more foreign wars. And now we are supposedly on the verge of going to war with Iran.”
Risking open war with Russia. Risking war with Iran. And the European politicians as eager too. Who are these creepy losers, who have in their hands the future of the West?
…………………
Rep Green quoted by Jimmy Walter on Larry Johnson’s site. The Gorlovka killings mentioned by Dr Rob Campbell.
https://sonar21.com/demoting-michael-waltz-will-trump-avoid-a-war-with-iran/
https://robcampbell.substack.com/p/ukraine-and-world-affairs-weekly-f3b
EO,
If a Ukrainian drone blew up a bunch of Russian WWII veterans or Muskovite bystanders, it will be spun as a terrorist attack or at least an outrageous aggression. Same goes for a hit on foreign dignitaries. If that drone hits a few Russian generals or marching Russian troops, it would be a military strike, although it would still be outrageous.
A mere overflight would be a brilliant psyop.
Russia has been striking Ukrainian apartment blocks for three years. They are deliberate terror bombings aimed to cow the Ukrainians into surrender. Although that was official strategy for both Allied and Axis forces in WWII, today that is terrorism on the same level as the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11.
TTG – I strongly disagree with your claim that the random hits on Ukrainian apartment buildings are “deliberate terror bombings”.
The low volume of casualties for those cases is far more consistent with collateral damage from (1) bad targeting, (2) bad missile controls, and (3) Ukrainian missile defense.
US MSM made a lot of noise about the 12 people killed in Kiev a week or so ago. On that same day, Israel killed 100 people in Gaza, including 12 people in one family. THAT is ‘deliberate terror bombing’; and if that is indeed Russia’s intent, they’re doing a lousy job of implementing that goal. If Russia was intentionally targeting the civilian population of Ukraine, the casualties would be 10-100 times higher than what has been reported.
OTOH, Russia has – at times – consistently attacked Ukraine’s electricity grid. That is clearly ‘strategic bombing’, with a ‘terrorish’ component: part of the aim is to “cow the Ukrainians into surrender”.
elkern,
Ukraine saves most of those civilians because of air raid warning and shelters. The striking of apartment complexes is not random. It has been consistent over the last three years.
The killing in Gaza is deliberate terror bombing. I agree with you on that.
“Russia has been striking Ukrainian apartment blocks.They are deliberate terror bombings”
“OHCHR has estimated the number of deaths of civilians, or non-armed individuals, in Ukraine at 12,910 since the start of the war on February 24, 2022.”
In case of a deliberate terror bombings, there would be 300,000 of them.
aleksandar,
Ukraine’s civil defense efforts are quite effective. Shelters are largely an inheritance from the Soviet days.
EO –
Putin will stage a few false flag attacks. Perhaps not in Moscow, but for sure on celebrations in other towns.
Count on it.
Leith – the Russians do false flags all over the place. Got themselves some HIMARS and had a go at the ZNPP fuel rods. Same with Chernobyl recently. Damned if they didn’t do another false flag on the KNPP. Even recruited some UK SF and did a false flag Commando raid or two on Energodar.
They surpassed themselves at Bucha. Recruited some Kiev terror squads and went to a lot of trouble faking up a false flag there too. And the Russians have been shelling their own civilians in Donetsk since ever, just to make Kiev look bad. Even did a HIMARS strike on the Azov POW camp back a while back.
Not a lot of people your side of the Atlantic know all this. You have to read the British press to find out about it. Or watch UK TV.
But when you see the Kiev forces proudly putting out videos of Russian POW’s being shot in the legs as they get out of the van and left to die trussed up on a concrete floor, or see more proud photos of Russian speakers in Kiev stuck half naked to lamp posts so passers by can give them the a beating or two as they freeze to death, or see interviews on Kiev TV advocating the killing or expulsion of inconvenient people in the Donbass – any of that must immediately be dismissed as more Russian false flag. Goes without saying.
This is a Russian agent posing as a Ukrainian politician who’s threatening his fellow citizens in the Donbass. It’s quite well done, for a false flag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHWHqj8g7Bk&t=3s&ab_channel=SLAVYANGRADBLOG
Soldiers commit atrocities, Leith. That’s a fact of life. British, Australian, American, Russian, Ukrainian. Could give you dozens of examples and you could give me dozens more. But when an entire ruling elite – and make no mistake, it’s the ultras who have the whip hand in Ukraine at the moment – build their ideology around atrocity and integrate it into their way of war, then you’ve got trouble. When UK and US Intel aids and abets those atrocities, and we know something about that side of things from the Colonel’s acerbic comments over several years, then you’ve got double trouble. Leave the Russians to sort out the mess we’ve made of Ukraine and get on with our own affairs for once. Not as if those don’t need urgent attention.
EO,
The drone attack at Chernobyl was a Russian attack with a HESA Shahed 136 drone. Even the IAEA agreed with that assessment. It was part of a 100+ Russian drone attack that night. I’m not sure about the numerous attacks on the ZNPP. I haven’t seen convincing evidence one way or the other. The Russian claim of downing a Ukrainian drone miles from the KNPP is hardly an attack on the KNPP. Ukraine denies it ever launched a drone attack on the sight. As for the POW massacre at the Olenivka prison, the UN determined it was a Russian attack and was inconsistent with a HIMARS strike. Russia’s claim is definitely a false flag.
The Bucha massacre has been investigated by numerous groups including Amnesty International, the UN, the BBC and the NYT. They have all concluded the Russian Army perpetrated the widespread massacre. Video evidence exists showing Russian military units killing civilians. The Russian attempt to claim this was a Ukrainian false flag operation is a macabre joke.
The videos of Ukrainians tied to lamp posts are from the early days of the war. Looters, mostly in Kyiv, were caught, tied up like this and left for other Ukrainian citizens to mock and strike. They could have spoken Russian and/or Ukrainian. It didn’t matter. They were looters.
Do some Ukrainians openly call for the expulsion, and even execution, of those who collaborate with the invading Russians? You betcha. Does the Ukrainian government arrest and imprison such collaborators? Of course it does. It even sanctions the assassination of such collaborators in the occupied territories. On the other side, Russian soldiers, civilians, Kremlin TV personalities and even Russian government officials strike up a chorus calling for the extermination of all Ukrainians and the extinction of the Ukrainian culture.
Yes, soldiers commit atrocities. But the Russian Army’s heinous behavior in the occupied territories shows it is official policy. They cannot be allowed to continue such behavior on Ukrainian soil without resistance. It will undoubtedly require a long struggle, just like the long struggle to free the Baltic Nations. And that struggle did not always mean military resistance, but it did require continuous resistance. The West never acknowledged that occupation as legal.
TTG – more will come out after the war but what’s come out so far is pretty damning. Some of it already admitted to by Kiev and the western press.
As for Bucha, the refusal to release the names of the victims, and the Security Council failure to conduct an investigation, plus the failure to ensure the production of forensic evidence, tells its own tale.
Bucha’s the reason why the Russians went to great lengths afterwards to evacuate towns and cities before they shortened their lines. They didn’t want another one.
It’s also the reason, and never mind the legalistic stuff, why they will hold what they’ve taken and possibly considerably more. Any “ceasefire” that doesn’t ensure overall security merely condemns more to the attentions of the Kiev death squads.
I wish your President knew more about these things. I do understand that he’s mustn’t lose support for the midterms but he should grasp that he’s up against the iron determination of the Russians to put it out of the power of the ultras to behave as they have been doing.
That’s core, as the recent Putin and Lavrov interviews and statements demonstrate and as the Russians have been saying since ’22. Trump just needs to listen for once, instead of heeding all the nonsense he’s fed in Washington and that the Europeans are still trying to push down his throat.
With you 100% on the Baltic states. We’re also, I believe, amongst the very few people who sincerely regret that the pre-2014 Ukraine didn’t survive in its entirety. Corrupt and maladministered, yes, but what’s new about that? It still had the makings of a great country.
EO,
Here’s a short bibliography of various investigations of the Bucha massacre. Either you haven’t read any of this stuff or have discounted it in favor of the Kremlin’s false flag fable. As far as I know, there has only been one trial of one captured Russian soldier so far. He was found guilty of murder.
https://www.rferl.org/a/rferl-exclusive-investigation-bucha-execution-new-evidence/33372667.html
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/un-report-details-summary-executions-civilians-russian-troops-northern
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/21/ukraine-russian-forces-trail-death-bucha
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/russian-soldiers-cleansing-operation-bucha-ukraine/
https://www.ukrainer.net/en/memories-from-bucha/
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/6/21/inside-ukraine-war-crimes-investigations
As for security in the region goes, yes, any settlement has to address that. Unless both sides are at lease somewhat satisfied, this will remain a barely cold cold war. The frontier countries have already moved to provide for their own security. Finland and Sweden joined NATO. Poland is rearming massively as are the Baltics to the extent they can. Borders are being fortified. Russia will have to factor all that into her security posture. And the West, and especially the US, do have to somehow address the Kremlin’s security concerns. I don’t know what that’s going to look like.That’s why peace is so freakin’ hard.
TTG – that prompted by the Fox News interview with Senator John Kennedy.
“Trump needs to be willing to turn Putin, Russia ‘into fish food,’ outspoken GOP senator says
Sen. John Kennedy argues US-Russia relations won’t get better until Trump makes dominance ‘clear’ “
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-needs-willing-turn-putin-russia-into-fish-food-outspoken-gop-senator-says
EO,
Moscow has its Medvedev. Washington has John Kennedy.
At least they’re human. Been keeping a close eye on Starmer and reckon robotics is far more advanced than Musk lets on.
There is nothing more pathetic than someone who makes threats that he can’t deliver.
That video is nothing more than 9 minutes of some idiot issuing threats left, right and center to people who know that those threats are empty even if he isn’t aware of that fact.
If Ukraine wipes out dignitaries during Russia’s well-justified celebration of victory in World War II,
will Russia’s remaining leaders respond by nuking Kyiv, and Zelenskyy?
Yet more up the escalation ladder.
TTG,
“If a Ukrainian drone blew up a bunch of Russian WWII veterans or Muskovite bystanders, it will be spun as a terrorist attack or at least an outrageous aggression.”
There will be no need for the Russian to spin it as a terrorist attack. It *is* a terrorist attack.
Also, “a hit on foreign dignitaries” is a terrorist attack.
I’m surprised by the tone of your comment. Think about when the Russian missile hit a meeting of Ukrainians military officials at a restaurant/hotel, you’ve condemned it as a terrorist attack (of which I agreed) because there are civilians around.
TonyL,
Deliberately hitting civilians in Moscow would be a terrorist attack just as deliberately hitting Ukrainian children on a playground would be a terrorist attack. Hitting foreign dignitaries will definitely be a diplomatic catastrophe.
A Russian missile strike on Ukrainian military officials would be a legitimate military attack, but strikes on all those civilian, non-defense industry targets consistently over the last three years is a policy of terror.
For Ukraine it would be a strategic mistake to take out a bunch of high mucky mucks from a variety of nations in Moscow, and Ukraine is not seeking any more dedicated adversaries. The risk of a false flag being exposed makes that a very poor risk/reward ration for Putin..so my guess is this is only psy-ops. NTTAWWT.
Mark Logan,
I agree. It would be a mistake. And it definitely would be a serious diplomatic setback. Buzzing the parade or just sending inert drones would make all the statement needed.
A target near enough to the parade for the explosions to be heard, but far enough to not actually endanger the guests, would be adequate for Ukrain’s purposes.
fredw,
That appears to be exactly what they intend to do. A waved of UAVs plinked a few targets in the general area of Moscow today.
“I’m sure Putin has upped the air defense ring around Moscow for the event”
Another possibility is just to work out where the additional forces came from and strike there. Doesn’t have the same drama or entertainment value, though.
After defeating Russia on the battlefield, now in year three of defeating Russia on the battlefield, minus all that Black Sea coastline, a lot of other territory, and lots of casualties, Zelensky warns Trump he’ll get assassinated if he dares show up in Moscow.
What a wonderful psyop!
Fred –
Panama, not resolved. Canada not ever going to be the 51st state. Trade war falling apart. Xi sells off US bonds. Greenland says no. Iran tells him to FO. Yemen still lobbing missiles and drones. Giving up on Ukie/Russkii peace deal.
And now Zelenskyii won’t let him go see Putin’s parade in Moscow. Poor Dementia DonOld.
But don’t worry, he’ll have his own personal birthday parade next month. And it will only cost us $45 million. What a bargain!
Leith,
It is Europe selling treasuries not China. Yemen is interdicting Europe’s supply lines, not ours. Germany is deindustrializing and Spain enjoying the benefits of offsetting China’s coal fired power plant emissions.
The US Army’s 250th anniversary coincides with Trump’s birthday. Apparently you would prefer being triggered by the dying MSM than understand the truth. Zelensky will,either retire with the $ he has stolen from us, and everyone else, or he’ll get replaced by some other fellow countryman.
Fred,
“It is Europe selling treasuries not China”
You kept saying this and provided no source to back it up. So I guess it is a MAGA’s talking point.
“Yemen is interdicting Europe’s supply lines, not ours.”
You could not be more wrong. Yemen has been interdicting *any* ship that coming in and going out of Israel. In supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, Yemen declared war on Israel, remember?
Ships that declared they are not doing business with Israel have been allowed to transit without problem.
TonyL and Fred,
China, Japan and a lot of European countries have been selling US treasuries. Same with some US holders of US treasuries. But it’s a prudent effort at diversification, not an effort to confront Trump’s tariffs. China has been doing so for a decade.
TonyL,
Go correlate the rise in the euro with fake news then and see what you come up with.
Trump on Zelenskyy and Putin:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/24/politics/trump-ukraine-war-frustration
I was watching Night News on tv..A woman reporter was doing a one on one
with Donald Trump..Appeared to Be A His Residence..and she Immediately
Began Her Questioning About His Campaign for a THIRD TERM,,, She
Started By Commenting on his hats for sale ..Promoting A Thrd Term..
Then he Mentioned Our Constitution..And If It Shold By Obeyed..Trump said
He DIDNT know..
Based on that answer I Believe He is Thinking NOT in the Time of War..Wehen He
Could Declare Marshal Law..Like President Roosevelt Did..And Get Reelected to
a THIRD term.. Then I believe,,That Trump Thinks HE will Go Down in History..
As a Greater President..Than Roosevelt..And As The Greatest President. In US History
JIM Ticehurst and Patrick Henry..
Jim-
Roosevelt didn’t declare Martial Law. It was the governor of Hawaii that declared it after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
The obvious point to make is that from Bonkers Boris Johnson to today every foreign leader who has taken the long train trip to Kiev to pay homage to Zelensky has sought – and received – assurances from Moscow that the Russian armed forces will not touch that train nor will they target any place that is on the itinerary of that foreign visitor.
Even though There Is A War On.
Zelensky’s current “cold hearted psychological” statement is churlish, immature, and quite frankly silly. Foreign leaders are gathering in Moscow on that day. He knows they are going to be there, and he knows why they are going to be there.
So if he launches an attack on that place at that time then he can not pretend that he isn’t knowingly targeting those foreign leaders, because he surely is.
The Ukrainians should have been more mature than this. Zelensky should have answered any question on this issue with a simple, straightforward bit of unassailable logic: the Russians don’t target foreign leaders that visit Kiev, so we will return the curtesy and refrain from targeting foreign leaders that visit Moscow. You’re welcome, Putin.
YR,
Exactly correct.
Should Ukraine attack the parade, or any VIPs, Foreign or Russian, in Moscow, Russia’s response should be to immediately wipe Kiev off the map, with Zelensky himself being specifically targeted.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of the runt beggar of a dictator and hope that the Trump admin. is too. In which case targeting info could be supplied to Russia. His threats against international VIPs are the perfect excuse to clear the deck of that loose cannon. Neither he nor Ukraine are anything near as important as he thinks he is, though I understand that the US neocons and various lunatics from the EU have pumped him up to delusional levels of self-importance.
Trump got the mineral deal he wanted. Make sure the next guy honors it and get rid of the sawed off incendiary. Take Newland’s advice and screw the EU. Make peace.
As I have said since day 1, the EU and neocon crazies want Crimea returned to Ukraine. They have stated as much in no uncertain terms recently. It was ALWAYS the objective. That means that Russia was justified in preemptively attacking Ukraine. NATO build up in Ukraine was ALWAYS about capturing Crimea, no matter how much TTG and similar minds demure else wise. Russia will NEVER surrender Crimea.
Yeah, Right,
It’s true that Russia wisely refrains from trying to target foreign dignitaries visiting Ukraine and that both Ukraine and other countries coordinate these visits with Moscow to avoid such attacks or mistakes. But in March 2024, a Russian missile attack on Odesa struck within 500 to 800 meters from a visiting Greek delegation. In January 2025 Russia launched a drone assault on Ukraine, with some strikes hitting Kyiv while the UK prime minister and Italian defense minister were visiting the city. Were they deliberately targeted attacks on those visiting dignitaries? I doubt it.
Could Zelenskiy have responded as you suggest? Of course. However, his ambiguous threat is causing Moscow to scramble just in case. If Putin doesn’t show up in person rather than viewing the parade and addressing the crowd in person, he will suffer a catastrophic loss of confidence.
Actually, with so much of Russia’s air defense concentrated in Moscow for the parade, that would be the time to strike targets elsewhere throughout Russia.
TTG: “However, his ambiguous threat is causing Moscow to scramble just in case.”
To what end, TTG? Just because something CAN be done doesn’t mean that it is a wise thing to do.
This “ambiguous threat” (which really isn’t “ambiguous” at all, but nevermind) is crass and stupid, it serves no purpose, and it exposes Zelensky – not Putin, but Zelensky – to the Laws of Unintended Consequences for no discernable advantage to the Ukrainians.
I mean, honestly, what is some crackpot Azov faction decides now that it is a very good idea to take a shot at the Chinese delegation in Moscow?
The consequences of THAT to Ukraine’s chances of survival don’t need spelling out.
“If Putin doesn’t show up in person rather than viewing the parade and addressing the crowd in person, he will suffer a catastrophic loss of confidence.”
Oh, please. Are you serious?
Yeah, Right,
Moscow has already cancelled any Victory Day parades in Crimea. That’s a scramble as is the talk about Putin not showing up in person, true or not. You seem pretty exorcised by this “ambiguous threat.”
OK, you seem to think that Zelensky’s churlish brain-explosion was a good idea from a shrewd operator.
Good. For. You.
Quite WHY you think that his statement works to his advantage is a mystery to me but, heh, to each his own.
Zelensky: “Our position is very simple for all countries traveling to Russia on May 9: We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,”
TTG: “Moscow has already cancelled any Victory Day parades in Crimea.”
Quite the Freudian Slip there, TTG.
Still, I’m sure that Putin is buoyed by the knowledge that even this site considers that Crimea is a “territory of the Russian Federation”.
It’ll be quite the comfort to him as he huddles in his dank bunker during the Moscow parade.
Yeah Right,
Not a slip at all. The victory parades in Crimea were cancelled. The Moscow show will go on as will similar shows throughout Russia. There was a children’s parade in Vladivostok. They’re painting Victory Day graffiti on the ruins of towns and cities in the Donbas.
So sorry, it was a slip on your part.
Your entire argument is that what Zelensky has threatened to do INSIDE RUSSIAN TERRITORY is double-plus-good because it has forced the Russians into canceling Victory Day events, thereby embarrassing the Russians.
And your evidence?
Why, it is the cancellation of Victory Day events in a place that neither you nor Zelensky considers to be Russian territory.
I….. honestly, are you unable to see the disconnect?
Yeah Right,
Have you forgotten that Ukraine has been bombing the shit out of the Russians throughout Crimea and the other occupied territories? You don’t think Zelenskiy is thrilled that he stopped the Russians from celebrating victory Day in Sevastopol?
A squad sized group of Ukrainians in uniform marched in London’s VE Day parade. Very appropriate as in WW2 the 1st Ukrainian Front often spearheaded the whole Eastern Front, and they were in Berlin when it fell. They even got a salute from the king.
https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3loggiwklks2y
Good on ya Brits EO.
Leith,
Did Kier Starmer arrange to have some Russians in the parade too? How about Americans? Any other allies or just the pro-Zelensky signal to the crowd?
Fred,
No Russians. The NATO and Commonwealth detachment marched as one unit with the flags of all those countries followed by personnel from Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, US, Germany and France. Maybe others. I couldn’t tell. A detachment of 11 Ukrainian soldiers in Britain for training marched at the rear of the NATO and Commonwealth detachment carrying their own flag.
Fred –
Dementia DonOld turned green with envy after seeing clips of the London parade. Now he will want SecDef WhiskeyLeaks to dress up US troops for his June birthday parade. And he’ll be crying out for his own Household Cavalry Troop with red tasseled helmets – make the White House Marine Guards wear those tall bearskin caps – and leopard skin cloaks for the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps.
All show, and no go. Just like himself.
“for his June birthday parade.”
Just for your information:
https://www.army.mil/1775/
You seem to know so much.
Have you forgotten that?
Or does TDS cause it to be ignored?
Keith Harbaugh,
The Army has been planning the celebration for a year, but the DC parade is a recent addition that was previously dismissed for the exorbitant cost. It was added at Trump’s insistence. Ever since he attended a Bastille Day parade years ago, he’s wanted one.
For me, the 250th birthday of the Army is a big, big deal.
I certainly think it deserves a parade through Washington.
If France can afford a parade for Bastille Day,
cannot the U.S. afford a parade for the 250th anniversary of its Army?
Keith Harbaugh,
There will be parades on Army posts throughout the country as there should be. I’d rather see a parade in DC on the 4th of July with all the services. No tanks, just marching formations and bands. Maybe a series of flyovers.
KH –
14 June is also Trump’s birthday. Additionally the 14th is Flag Day by Act of Congress.
Bone Spurs Trump who dodged the draft is NOT going to be celebrating the Army’s 250th on the 14th. And he won’t be celebrating our Flag’s 248th.
TDS, yes. Seems that syndrome affects all Americans in one way or another, even those wearing MAGA hats.
The subject of the expansion of NATO is an important one.
Larry Johnson has discussed that here:
https://sonar21.com/why-the-hell-was-nato-expanding-as-the-size-of-the-russian-military-shrank/
TTG, I would be interested in your comments on what LJ wrote.
TTG – I read them. Sounds absolutely terrible. Did when I read similar reports at the time. I see no reference to the indiscriminate shelling of Bucha nor to what happened after the Russians left. Nor to any independent forensic examination. Nor any explanation for the bodies being dragged around to provide a photo-op for the Western press.
Some on the pro-Russian side claimed that some of those bodies moved as the cameras went past. From that they argue that the photo-op was staged with live people pretending to be dead.
I doubt that very much. A while back I watched that video of the Russian translator visiting the Donbass. It’s the video I submitted a link to here just recently. The Russian translator claimed that corpses sometimes moved shortly after death. But I looked it up and it’s not only shortly after. That’s why forensic examinations should have been conducted. We know that after the Russians left Kiev sent in death squads to winkle out the pro-Russians in Bucha. So the time of death was in this case important.
On the Russian late 2021 security demands set out in the draft treaties, doesn’t look as if the Russians have a hope in hell of getting them met. You Americans might find some sort of modus vivendi but I doubt we in Europe will. We’ll be riding the White Tiger till Kingdom come. It’s what we do.
Still leaves the Russians the all-important problem of what to do about remnant Ukraine. How will that get “demilitarised and denazified”, the original goals of the SMO and still the goals.
I’m dead sure the Russians don’t want to occupy. Terribly expensive and would confirm old hatreds. But how can they neutralise the place unless they do? I’ve been conducting a silent argument with Sleboda on this issue for a long time now. Diffidently, because Sleboda is sure-footed on subjects I know only a little about and that from the outside. But I still don’t think Sleboda’s got it dead right. I don’t think, once the ultras are out of the way, that neutralising remnant Ukraine is going to be quite the task Sleboda states it will be.
I base this opinion on the fact that when Zelensky was the peace candidate he not only got overwhelming support from remnant Ukraine as a whole. He got at least some support in the west of the country. I think also that wherever they live, a whole lot of Ukrainians are now sick of being the patsies in a larger conflict and are quite ready to say, “A plague on both your houses. Just let us live in peace.” I see that with so many I see interviewed. They shape their words according to what side of the line they find themselves on. But their faces tell a truer story. They just want it to stop. My view.
Anyway, only fair to leave the last word to Sleboda. The relevant section 4 minutes starting around around 12 mins with – “I think this regime is incapable of surrender…”
https://youtu.be/cNFWN8nKVUc?t=726
EO,
Indiscriminate shelling didn’t tie hands behind backs and shoot people in the head. Those independent agencies uncovered and dug up the bodies soon after the Russians left. That process was often filmed. They conducted forensic examinations. They took the statements of the survivors. The same process occurred after the discovery of the mass graves, mostly civilians, in the forests of Izium. Again Russia tried to cry hoax and false flag. Stop trying to cover for Russian murderers and torturers.
I agree with Sleboda when he says “this regime is incapable of surrender.” They will not surrender to the Russian murderers and torturers. Nor will broad swaths of the Ukrainian people.
TTG,
Shelling didn’t tie the hands, but troops from the SBU did. There are many recorded incidents – including video – of Ukrainian executions of citizens sympathetic to Russia.
Since you pro-Ukraine zealots want Crimea so badly and will settle for nothing less, the killing will go on indefinitely; or until Russia decides to get serious and swiftly end it. Putin’s big mistake was underestimating the determination of NATO (and lapdog Zelensky) to waste Ukrainian lives in pursuit of Crimea and, therefore, going in too weak. Spetsnaz should have taken out the lapdog and NATO advisors just before the invasion jumped off. Russians do suck at war fighting. Too bad for the pro-Russia crowd.
Your propaganda – righteous Ukrainian freedom fighters and Russian Ork monsters marching all the way to the Atlantic – lost its mojo a while back.
EO
Independent forensic examination was done by a special team from French Gendarmerie.
But guess what ?
Never published.
Seems that the results were not in accordance with “doxa”
EO/Aleksandar –
That French forensics team turned over their Bucha findings to the ICC and to Ukrainian prosecutors. The forensics confirmed some of the bodies had burn marks, broken bones and missing teeth, thereby corroborating evidence of torture. That French Team was not a media outfit that needed to openly publish the results.
But there were independent investigations published by Amnesty International, other NGOs, the the Associated Press, NY Times and Frontline. There is CCTV video of Russian troops arresting Ukrainian civilians who later turned up murdered. There are families that witnessed the arrest of their loved ones who later were discovered shot in the back of the head or neck with hands tied behind their back (a la the Katyn Forest Massacre). Family members told of house-to-house searches where men and boys were arrested if any article of military uniform was found; they were never seen alive again. There are cell phone intercepts of seemingly guilt-ridden Russian soldiers calling home and acknowledging participation in or witnessing of the killing of Ukrainian civilians.
There were 450 murdered victims including women, children, and elderly people. A few were members of Ukraine’s territorial militia but most were civilians. There was documented cases of rape, looting and indiscriminate killing. Wounded survivors who played dead described the summary executions.
Unless we look at both sides, TTG, we can’t evaluate what happened in Ukraine or what should be done now. If we insist on just the one side, ours, we merely become cannon fodder for the politicians to point in any direction they want.
It’s now crystal clear what the politicians want. We must fall in behind our leaders and support the war against Russia. If we don’t, we might start asking questions of the politicians themselves. If we dutifully chant “We have always been at war with Eastasia” we’re less likely to do that. War’s a great means of getting us all to fall in line.
But when it comes to Ukraine only a very few of us, who know what was happening in the Donbass from 2014 on, even know what questions to ask! Some questions, however, virtually ask themselves. Why have the German politicians, who are currently making a great song and dance about suppressing far-right parties in Germany, been promoting for a decade and more elements in the Ukraine that are more far-right than anything seen in Europe for eighty years?
And following on from that, why are we?
Got a nasty feeling, TTG, the way things are going it’s only in the States it’s going to be possible to ask such questions. “Fourth Reich”, when one looks at what’s being done in the way of suppressing opinion in Europe, isn’t entirely a figure of speech!
This is Galloway giving us a blast on what’s happening in the Sahel. I reckon the politicians will shut him up if they can and am a little surprised they’ve not done so already. Galloway also disapproves of what’s being done to the Palestinians and over here people who express that disapproval publicly sometimes get hammered.
“The Man America Fears The Most – Ibrahim Traore.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzA4921NKwU&ab_channel=JudeBela
And returning to the subject under discussion here, just to show that all in England are not dutifully cheering the politicians on, a distinguished ex-diplomat puts in his view:-
“Will anyone criticize Zelensky’s threat to attack the Moscow Victory Day parade?
If Putin threatened to bomb VE Day, we’d go to war over it.”
https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/will-anyone-criticize-zelenskys-threat
In 2014 the Minsk Agreement was signed. The European and Ukrainian signatories had zero intention of abiding by it. That’s what was going on in 2014.
EO,
In Germany – and pretty much everywhere else in the civilized world – “far right” = the original Christian population that wants to maintain their culture. Somehow muslims, who are about as close to being the archetype of non-liberal/non-woke, right wing extremists as any population could possibly be, remain a protected class. In fact, muslim continued take over of the west is encouraged by the same people who seek to silence, by any means, the original population – and the governments of these countries use far right methods, like arresting and jailing citizens for speaking freely, to enforce the muslim take-over.
I don’t think “far right” means what they want it to mean. Orwell can explain.
In Germany … “far right” means
The German AfD was expelled from the EU’s far right parliamentary group last year, even Italy felt they went too far in respecting “their culture” or their ancestors, now they have to create a new far-far right group in Strasbourg:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/23/germanys-afd-expelled-from-far-right-eu-parliament-group
23 May 2024
The far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament says it has decided to expel the Alternative for Germany (AfD) delegation weeks before elections for the assembly.
The decision follows comments that Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s lead candidate in the elections, made to an Italian newspaper at the weekend that the members of the Nazi paramilitary SS force were “not all criminals”.
Best thing for Merz to do would be to ban any party that disagreed with him. Only way to ensure wrongthink doesn’t get in the way of Barbarossa II. People usually look to the end of the Weimer Republic to account for the current German disaster but there’s no need to go that far back. Brecht was a bit of a rogue, my view, but saw some things straight:-
“After the uprising of the 17th of June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?”
Damn. Weimar. And I thought I’d taken a firm line with my typing errors.
Yes, what pity, such a beautiful couple.
https://tinyurl.com/what-a-pity
I Had One other Thought To Consider..All That Debate..Over Rather
Donald John Trump…Was Recruited..By Putins..Agents.
.After considering The Possibility..That It Could Seem That
Happened
.Considering Trumps Long Cotnact
With Russia And Vladimir Putin.. I Now Suspect That Trump Admired
Putins
Imperial.Life in the the Czars Palace.. and Vast Fortune….
That I Believe..By His Now Second Term.Donald J Trump..just Recruited..
HIMSELF..And Thats Why He is Causing So Many Liberal/Left Politicians
To Get Elected…Canada..Who Should Be Our Strong Partner.
.Liberal or Conservative..Now it is VERY HOSTILE..Toward Trump Who
wants to BUY other Countrys…instead of Proposing They Consider State Hood..
or Mutual Trade Agreements..I think Donald Trump..Is doing all This on Purpose.
With Support From His Staff and Advisors..Proposed..Trump..recruited HIMSELF/.
JIM
Patrick, Jim , whoever you are today, maybe take a break from the bottle? Drinking and listening to liberal media is the ultimate mind screw and it seems to have overtaken you.
Have you noticed that the oil rich Canadian province that adjacent to Montana is voting to secede from Canada? Perfect opportunity to become the 51st state. Maybe your buddy Wiser and Old Grandad don’t like to talk about that. The rest is just their cocked up conspiracy theories and boozy desire to fight Russia in the parking lot. Weird that they like globalism so much.
Eric Newhill,
No vote has been conducted to secede from Canada. Latest Canadian polls show such a referendum would garner far under 50% approval. It’s much like the Québécois, a perennially vocal minority.
TTG,
The secession vote will be by next summer. The point is it indicates that Canadians themselves are not happy with their federal government, now run by an idiotic zero emissions globalist.
Apologies to Patrick/Jim for the rude comment from me. Sometimes I over-react to blatant insanity. It appears that Patrick/Jim has forgotten about the Louisiana purchase, the purchase of the SW and California and the purchase of Alaska – or maybe it’s just crazy when Trump proposes it; because TDS.
The TDS is out of control as is general world view of the progressives. Sick of it.
Apparently Russia’s 80th anniversary Victory Day Parade went off without incident:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3807exyno
At the parade
There are two seemingly contradictory views of Ukraine:
That it is a state controlled by Nazis,
or a state controlled by Jewish oligarchs (e.g., at one time, Igor Kolomoisky
https://lefteast.org/ihor-kolomoiskys-contradictory-roles-across-borders/ ).
An informative article, from a Jewish source, is:
“The Ironies of History: The Ukraine Crisis through the Lens of Jewish History”
March 9, 2022
by David Myers, The Jewish Quarterly Review
https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/ironies-history-ukraine-crisis-through-lens-jewish-history
“the bloodlands soiled by Nazi murderers in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 …”
Apparently the bulk of that killing of civilians mentioned above was not down to the invader. The German military of the time thoroughly approved but the work itself was mostly done by the Western Ukrainian nationalists. Those now revered in Kiev and their modern day imitators now termed Freedom Fighters in the West.
The murders mentioned in the article above were murders of civilians. When it came to fighting – that is, organised armed combat – by far the greater number of Ukrainians did not fight for the Germans. Instead they formed a significant and courageous component of the Red Army. Took very heavy casualties. The Ukrainian partisan fighters, who made life very difficult for the German military, also took heavy casualties.
The Ukrainians who fought on the side of the Germans mostly didn’t. Not on the front line. Those Ukrainians – the Western Ukrainian SS units and the rest – were not up to the standard of the German units and were mostly used behind the lines for fighting the partisans or for killing Jews. Or any Russians, Poles or Ukrainians on the other side they could get at.
These are just the facts and remain the facts whether one is a Putin troll or a Merz troll or just the average Joe looking around. The man writing all that nonsense above would do well to look around some more.
https://forward.com/news/462916/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-ukraine/
“Ternopil — A bust of the genocidal Yaroslav Stetsko (1912–1986), who led Ukraine’s 1941 Nazi-collaborationist government which welcomed the Germans and declared allegiance to Hitler. A rabid antisemite, Stetsko had written “I insist on the extermination of the Jews and the need to adapt German methods of exterminating Jews in Ukraine.” Five days prior to the Nazi invasion, Stetsko assured OUN-B leader Stepan Bandera: “We will organize a Ukrainian militia that will help us to remove the Jews.””
Bandera is now an icon of the present government in Kiev.
Little of this gets through to the electorates of the West. It is a vicious paradox that the German government, that makes a big deal of being ashamed of those ancient atrocities, supports to the hilt a regime in Kiev that glorifies them.
Nor is it anything to be proud of that my own country, the UK, follows suit.
EO,
Bandera has been fully rehabilitated across Ukraine. And it is disconcerting that his vicious crimes are being forgotten in the process. In much the same way, Putin is rehabilitating Stalin and Stalinism. The current Kremlin leaders proudly own the murders and destruction wrought by their predecessors from the 1930s through the 1950s across Ukraine, Belarus, the Balkans and Poland. And let’s not forget that WWII began with Hitler’s and Stalin’s invasion and partition of Poland, a fact that Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations conveniently sweeps from the collective memory.
Yes, there’s a lot more to it than that brief summary I submitted covers, TTG.
But from 2014 to the present day I take a more parochial view. I simply don’t like my own government assisting in installing these “Banderites” in power, training them up for the subsequent eight years, and even now still attempting to use them as a battering ram against the Russians.
It was a puny Barbarossa II that we assisted in, and always doomed to failure. Neither we nor the Americans should have been part of it. We weren’t, last time round.
TTG, this might interest you:
https://www.military.com/off-duty/movies/2025/05/09/billion-dollar-spy-real-story-of-only-russian-agent-whose-portrait-hangs-cia-headquarters.html
Keith Harbaugh,
Looking forward to that movie. I was unaware of Tolkachev’s story. He was before my time recruiting and running agents into the USSR and Russia, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of my training stemmed from lessons learned from that operation.