r/RussiaUkraineWar

What do the local Russian folks think about this whole disaster?

Honestly I'm echoing my very own post I made 2 years ago. It truly amazes me how a single question led to 4 auto-deletions & another auto-ban (r/tooafraidtoask failed to live up to its name apparently). The title of said original post was 'how do the Russian citizens think of Putin.'

If(!) actual Russian citizens frequent this sub, I have to ask, esp because folks in my country believe Russian citizens are being "brainwashed" that Ukraine is the one at fault both from the beginning and now.

On August 10, a court in the city of Pervomaisk in southern Ukraine sentenced Bogdan Syrotiuk—a 27-year-old socialist and leader of the Trotskyist Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists—to 15 years in prison for “high treason” for calling for the international unity of Russian and Ukrainian workers against war.

Bogdan has been convicted of a thought crime, in a ruling that blatantly violates international human rights law and the European Convention on Human Rights. The charge rested on the antiwar articles Bogdan published on the World Socialist Web Site and on his opposition to the Ukrainian government’s glorification of Nazi collaborators.

The very statements cited in the ruling make clear that he was an opponent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called on workers and young people in both Russia and Ukraine to oppose it. The verdict cites his “comparisons with fascists and Nazis” and his “reinterpretation of national heroes and historical figures”—explicitly citing as evidence his denunciation of the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose movement participated in the Holocaust.

The savage treatment of Bogdan and the kangaroo-court character of the proceedings explode the official narrative that has dominated the governments and media of the United States and Europe: that Ukraine is an embattled democracy, fighting to defend freedom against an unprovoked invasion. The prosecution of Bogdan exemplifies the real state of affairs in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian state has outlawed left-wing politics and suppressed all independent political and trade union activity. In March 2022, the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended 11 opposition parties and merged the major national television channels’ news into a single state-run broadcast. That June, the courts banned the largest opposition party in parliament. Strikes are prohibited under martial law, and wartime labor legislation has suspended collective agreements and stripped basic protections from the majority of the workforce. Elections have been suspended since Zelensky’s own term expired on May 20, 2024. He rules by decree.

Disclaimer: I understand I'm stepping into the lions den with this one. Though I have read the rules of the forum, and believe that a good faith discussion about exploring the avenues to end the conflict through diplomacy are not outside the boundaries of the rules of the sub. To make it abundantly clear from the outset - I'm not "Pro- Putin", I'm not "Pro-Russia". As I'll get into, I believe the war waged by Russia on the Ukrainian people is unjustified and has resulted into one of the most horrific string of events not seen in Europe since world war two, with a death toll difficult to comprehend. Nonetheless, if the goal is to end the conflict and achieve peace, and I believe that is the goal of most ordinary people, there must be room for a nuanced discussion where ad-hominem attacks are left at the door.

After hours upon hours of extensive research, I believe I've got a fairly good grasp on the conflict and an (admittedly somewhat looser) grasp on the impossibly complex history behind it, though one can always learn more.

I've come to the opinion that though the invasion of Ukraine was an unjustified assault by Russia on the people of Ukraine, the West and more specifically the USA, has as they have done some many times throughout history, actively and aggressively contributed to the destabilization of the region, making a violent conflict at the very least expected, if not inevitable. I believe I can back this claim up with substantial evidence, all of which is public record.

If the goal is to end the death and destruction caused by the conflict, the west cannot view the war through the lens of rules-based internationalism, (a purely moralistic lens, which conveniently erases all of the provocations they enacted) and must instead view it through the lens of geopolitical realism (a less palatable, realistic lens which forces us to reckon with the mistakes, and in some cases the deliberate acts of aggression carried out by both Democrat and Republican presidents with the assistance of the security state and media apparatus).

To frame this conflict as an act of Russian imperialism that began in February 2022 represents in my opinion a fundamentally flawed understanding of history and how geopolitical policies and strategies of large powers have operated throughout history. I believe in order to characterize the conflict purely through a moral lens, necessarily requires one to reject the idea of a security dilemma or the legitimate security concerns a state may have. The rejection of these ideas flies in the face of the bulk of observable history across the world. None of this is or should be considered a justification of the actions great powers take when they pursue the strategic goals within their spheres of influence, but simply an acknowledgement of reality.

With all that out of the way, and my position clearly outlined, I'm wondering if anyone wants to have a discussion, either on how the West could go about helping to end it, or if anyone thinks what I've said above is inaccurate, I'd be happy to have a good faith discussion on any part of it.

Quisiera conocer las diversas opiniones sobre ambos bandos y cual es el mejor para enlistarse? el problema es que no tengo formacion militar. Quiero adquirir experiencia unos dos años maximo y volver a mi pais con ese conocimiento para trabajar aqui.

This is an introduction video which portrays a researched perspective of the War between Ukraine me Russia from its start in 2022, until its most recent developments.

It is part of a channel dedicated to covering developments in the war with combat footage on a regular basis.

the sheer tempo of this war over the last 48 hours is getting completely out of hand.

​According to reports from ANI, Russian air defence claimed to have downed over 800 Ukrainian drones in a single day, while Reuters reported heavy Russian missile strikes hitting major Ukrainian industrial sites like a key steel plant. At the same time, reporting from Ukrainska Pravda and The Times revealed that Ukraine has deployed British-made long-range Banshee jet drones for deep strikes into Russian logistics hubs near Belgorod.

​Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts have completely collapsed. Firstpost confirmed that Moscow rejected a Turkish-brokered Black Sea naval truce proposal, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded direct answers from Washington over alleged US intelligence feeds used to guide strikes inside Russia.

​Along NATO’s eastern border, Romanian air defences and NATO fighter jets in Latvia had to scramble and shoot down stray military drones entering their airspace, kicking off bitter debates in Poland and the UK over thinning defence stockpiles and Patriot missile supplies.

​How do you see these deep-strike drone campaigns shaping the front lines heading into autumn?