Sums up Ukraines soldiers on the front lines:

Captain Filatov, on the front line, said there was no time for wishful thinking about diplomacy or leaders bringing an end to the conflict.

"We've fought so long that we rely only on ourselves, not on presidents, gods or talks," he said. When asked if his men maintain hope, he glanced at a passing soldier: "Vasyl, do you have hope?"

The soldier laughed. "No," he replied.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/world/europe/russia-ukraine-frontline.html

Russia now stepping up attacks in the south, too. Kherson under siege again. SITREP

Russia is hunting civilians in Ukraine for drone practice. Chatting today with @kelley7622 to better understand the ongoing 'human safari' in Kherson. pic.twitter.com/KnFZyll7GN

— Preston Stewart (@prestonstew_) May 29, 2025

txags92 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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txags92 said:

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74OA said:

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SamHou said:

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I wish Trump would go with the stick approach - if no peace, then US sanctions China and India for oil purchases and supplies Ukraine with tomahawks. But that's a pipe dream

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The stick is the only thing Russia in general and Putin in particular understands.

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To make the stick a viable threat, sometimes you have to demonstrate the willingness to use it. Otherwise it is just empty words.

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The only stick that will work would be western troops on the ground. Theres nothing left weapon wise that will turn this war.

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There are ways we could turn the tide or at least stop the slow orc advances without boots on the ground. Shutting off russian export sales through punitive tariffs is one that would choke Russia's economy in short order. Giving Ukraine a significant number of Tomahawks and authorizing them to hit Russian oil export infrastructure. Using our airborne radar systems and other assets to vector interceptors to missiles and drones.

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I approve of this. It would be such sweet irony to "help" our European allies who are so worried about this conflict by destroying Russia's oil and gas exporting….that Eastern Europe completely depends on.

🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪

🤡 "The Baltics are a geopolitical misunderstanding. Who wants to burn in a nuclear Armageddon for the Baltics? Well, who?"

Russian propagandists have begun to talk about "Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn in three days". pic.twitter.com/6pTtKvDP1U

— MAKS 25 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) August 10, 2025

Sums up soldiers on almost every front line ever

MaxPower said:

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txags92 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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txags92 said:

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74OA said:

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SamHou said:

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I wish Trump would go with the stick approach - if no peace, then US sanctions China and India for oil purchases and supplies Ukraine with tomahawks. But that's a pipe dream

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The stick is the only thing Russia in general and Putin in particular understands.

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To make the stick a viable threat, sometimes you have to demonstrate the willingness to use it. Otherwise it is just empty words.

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The only stick that will work would be western troops on the ground. Theres nothing left weapon wise that will turn this war.

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There are ways we could turn the tide or at least stop the slow orc advances without boots on the ground. Shutting off russian export sales through punitive tariffs is one that would choke Russia's economy in short order. Giving Ukraine a significant number of Tomahawks and authorizing them to hit Russian oil export infrastructure. Using our airborne radar systems and other assets to vector interceptors to missiles and drones.

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I approve of this. It would be such sweet irony to "help" our European allies who are so worried about this conflict by destroying Russia's oil and gas exporting….that Eastern Europe completely depends on.

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Eastern Europe has been weaning themselves off of Russian gas. Several eastern European countries are already completely independent of it.

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/04/how-eastern-europe-overhauled-its-natural-gas-market?lang=en

Quote:

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As Eastern Europe marked the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2025, the region could rest assured of a sustainable future independent of Russian natural gas supplies. Almost all of Central and Eastern Europe is no longer dependent on natural gas imports from Moscow.

In 2021, Eastern European countries imported almost half of their gas from Russia. (For the purposes of this article, the term "Eastern Europe" covers the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.) Only two countries in the regionAlbania and Kosovowere wholly independent of Russian gas. In 2024, five additional countries went without importing any Russian gassix if Transnistria is excluded from Moldova's import data. Russia went from supplying an average of 80 percent of each Eastern European country's gas to 37.6 percent.

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Waffledynamics said:

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🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪

🤡 "The Baltics are a geopolitical misunderstanding. Who wants to burn in a nuclear Armageddon for the Baltics? Well, who?"

Russian propagandists have begun to talk about "Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn in three days". pic.twitter.com/6pTtKvDP1U

— MAKS 25 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) August 10, 2025

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Latvia reinstated conscription mid 2023.

Because of Russia, Russia, Russia!

Putin isn't backing down from his insistence that Russia must get paid to make peace.

"The Kremlin earlier this week reiterated demands that Ukraine give up territory, abandon its bid to join NATO, and accept limits on its military, in exchange for a withdrawal of Russian troops from the rest of the country."

ALASKA
EU

74OA said:

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Putin isn't backing down from his insistence that Russia must get paid to make peace.

"The Kremlin earlier this week reiterated demands that Ukraine give up territory, abandon its bid to join NATO, and accept limits on its military, in exchange for a withdrawal of Russian troops from the rest of the country."

ALASKA
EU

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"withdrawal of troops from the rest of the country"? They are demanding to keep all of the territory they currently occupy, plus some that they don't. Not a big "give" for Vlad there...

I.e. Ukraine must give us everything and agree to disarm while we rebuild our military to finish the job later. Might as well go ahead and demand that Ukraine pay to rebuild the orc-occupied portion of the country while he is at it...

Seeing a lot today on Russia's potential breakthrough north of Pokrovsk, so here's a map.

This is a collation of recent Sentinel-2 and other satellite imagery from August 8-10 (methodology below). Topline: small Russian assault groups most likely breached Ukrainian lines. pic.twitter.com/PoPh74zYzo

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 12, 2025

????

I talked with @Tatarigami_UA: "You have 2-3 people teams who walk through gaps in defenses. Eventually, you can get 2-3 platoons in the area. They just keep moving as deep as they can... If Russia has reserves, they can exploit it, If they don’t, it will likely get contained."

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 12, 2025

MORE: Kremlin officials continue to emphasize that Russia is unwilling to compromise and remains committed to achieving its original war goals in Ukraine. Putin’s recent demand is notably only about the conditions that Ukraine must meet before Putin will agree to a ceasefire, not… https://t.co/V5Xnpz8rkE pic.twitter.com/NCmdyTwBQw

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) August 12, 2025

If Trump pushes Ukraine to trade out its fortified front line in Donetsk and Luhansk, you can put a fork in Ukraine's eastern half. They wont be able to build out its defenses before russia regroups and attacks from a better position within a year.

Italian media Corriere della Sera, citing a Kremlin adviser, says Putin’s proposals include: Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas, partial Russian pullback from Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv, Ukraine renouncing NATO membership, demilitarization, federalization, and a bilateral… pic.twitter.com/1l6xv9V4E0

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) August 12, 2025

Who?mikejones! said:

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Italian media Corriere della Sera, citing a Kremlin adviser, says Putin’s proposals include: Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas, partial Russian pullback from Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv, Ukraine renouncing NATO membership, demilitarization, federalization, and a bilateral… pic.twitter.com/1l6xv9V4E0

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) August 12, 2025

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So nothings changed but putins request to meet. Why is that and Trump should respond with the threat of sending 300 tomahawks.

The General Staff said more than 110,000 Russian troops are concentrated in the Pokrovsk area and are attempting to penetrate defenses by sending small infantry units between Ukrainian lines.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 12, 2025

Europe continues to step up, long ago surpassing the US in total aid to Ukraine and now exceeding the US in military aid, too.

"In May and June 2025 alone, European governments allocated 10.5 billion ($12.3 billion) in new military assistance, of which at least 4.6 billion ($5.4 billion) is being routed through procurement contracts, rather than pulled from existing stockpiles, underscoring the growing centrality of industrial output over surplus arsenals."

AID

not sure why Putin would agree to end the war

when he is about to capture Poprovsk and the Uke army is starting to teeter...

I think the real issues have always been about (a) neutralizing (if only as a pretext) what he saw as a threat from Ukraine toward (ethnic) Russian populations and (b) money, which is at last becoming an issue. It's not really about land, which of course Russia has plenty of. Trump can simply strategically offer terms that enrich the Russian oligarchs more than continuing the war does (plus I am skeptical that the Russian economy might be closer to a negative tipping point than the Russians claim).

And yes consider the source, but the Russians are certainly very upbeat right now about the summit and just ending the war. Keep in mind also, the other/primary beneficiary of the war (China) has their hands full right now in many respects and might also want it to end sooner than later.

My point is just that if Putin, Xi and DJT want it over, it's gonna end.

US official to Axios:

Even if the diplomatic efforts fail, Trump will continue selling weapons to NATO countries for Ukraine.

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 13, 2025

The US imposing terms on Kyiv might have worked a year ago, but Ukraine and Europe are now proving they can fight on without active US involvement. Trump reportedly agreed to the following, but whether he remembers any of it in Alaska remains to be seen.

"Kyiv set out five key demands. Ukraine will engage in no peace talks without a prior ceasefire, Ukraine must be involved in negotiations and Ukraine will make the decision on any territorial concessions with discussions beginning from the current front lines. Kyiv has also said it needs solid security guarantees -- with U.S. involvement -- to agree to any deal, and that more sanctions and pressure should be put on Russia if the Alaska summit is unsuccessful."

RED LINES

Ukrainian forces repelled another large mechanized assault on Mala Tokmachka in the Orikhiv sector. Russian troops advanced from Verbove with heavy armor across fields, followed by motorcyclists attempting to break in from Novoprokopivka. The attack failed. Reported Russian… pic.twitter.com/ljkDPZiDpi

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) August 14, 2025

Updates covering pre-summit jitters and the status of the frontline.

"Zelenskyy reiterated that withdrawing from Ukraine-controlled territory was out of the question, especially as the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, were not being discussed.

"We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part our territories are illegally occupied," Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. "Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive."

Zelenskyy said this is what occurred in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula."

EXTORTION

Waffledynamics said:

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????

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Reading reports that this Russian assault collapsed.