txags92 said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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That's one sleepy ship

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If you rub their bellies, they turn over.

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I laughed too hard at this

docb said:

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What day are we at in this "special military operation"?

Pic is from Leningrad

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It's a peaceful, but fiery SMO...

So, European nations gathered $750M to buy US weapons for Ukraine, gave the US the money, and now Trump refuses to give them the weapons. https://t.co/iijavj7IWs

— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) March 26, 2026

PJYoung said:

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So, European nations gathered $750M to buy US weapons for Ukraine, gave the US the money, and now Trump refuses to give them the weapons. https://t.co/iijavj7IWs

— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) March 26, 2026

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How very Trump.

Zelensky isn’t angry. He is patient in a way that makes it worse.
He is saying that Ukraine is now turning to the Middle East and the Gulf for what Europe has failed to deliver. Ballistic defense. Financing. The things Europe has had four years to coordinate and still cannot… https://t.co/jYKoruim2X

— Gandalv (@Microinteracti1) March 26, 2026

Quote:

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Europe has failed to deliver. Ballistic defense. Financing. The things Europe has had four years to coordinate and still cannot because Hungary sits in the room and nobody has figured out how to remove a hostile state from an alliance it is actively sabotaging.

Four years. That is how long the EU has been pissed on by Orban and responded by scheduling another meeting.

And now Zelensky is cutting deals with Gulf states based on shared drone warfare expertise. Ukraine teaches them how to survive modern aerial attack. They help fund Ukraine's defense. A clean bilateral arrangement that bypasses the entire European bureaucratic apparatus completely.
If that deal gets done, it is the single most embarrassing indictment of EU foreign policy in the institution's history. Not because Ukraine found partners elsewhere. Because it had to.

Europe built a system so paralyzed by its own consensus rules that a single pro-Kremlin government in Budapest can hold 400 million people hostage for four years while a democracy bleeds out on the continent's eastern border.

The question is whether Europe is even embarrassed enough to notice.

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Interesting cost comparison

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After wasting more Patriot missiles to shoot down cheap Shahed drones in the Middle East in 3 weeks than it has provided to Ukraine over 4 years, Pentagon wants to keep $750 million in air defense missiles committed for Ukraine, already paid for by the Europeans through PURL.

Ukraine only uses these expensive missiles to shoot down Russia ballistic missiles.
It costs Ukraine $10,000 to shoot down a Shahed drone with 2 interceptor drones.
It has cost the United States ~$5 million to shoot down the same Shahed drone with air defense missiles. Ukraine can shoot down 500 drones for the cost it takes the US to shoot down 1 identical drone.

Ukraine has a higher interception rate of Shahed drones than the US at 0.2% of the cost.

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🚨 After wasting more Patriot missiles to shoot down cheap Shahed drones in the Middle East in 3 weeks than it has provided to Ukraine over 4 years, Pentagon wants to keep $750 million in air defense missiles committed for Ukraine, already paid for by the Europeans through PURL.… https://t.co/9wyMnGEbmn pic.twitter.com/HrGb8Ac6IT

— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) March 26, 2026

Is there any confirmation we've been using patriots on shaheds?

“Russia is close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran, according to western intelligence reports that detail Moscow’s efforts to keep its embattled partner fighting.

Senior Iranian and Russian officials began secretly discussing delivering drones… https://t.co/xzBsogPn8z pic.twitter.com/pemiC0lav3

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 26, 2026

Not if, by doing so, they can eliminate Ukraine's access to some of the weaponry that's been most effective in opposing them. Eventually you encounter diminishing returns from additional waves of drone attacks into apartment blocs and civilian infrastructure.

Now, hopefully, the administration decides to take a defiant stance against Russian aid of Iran instead of seeing an opportunity to play "let's make a deal".

Not sure I'm following you here - how would shipping weapons to iran limit the Uke's access to weapons?

Forces us to utilize existing availability of stocks for our own needs in Iran instead of selling/authorizing sale to Ukraine/NATO/Euros

Thanks

Financial Times report

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Two senior European officials, speaking anonymously given the diplomatic sensitivity of the topic, said their intelligence agencies believed that Russia was preparing to deliver drones to Iran for use in the war with the United States and Israel. They offered no details about prospective shipments or timing.

A third European official was not as definitive, saying there were "strong indications" that the Russians and Iranians had made such a deal. But that official did not know whether any drones had been delivered, or were in the process of being delivered.

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Quote:

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Russia then built its own production facility for the drones in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, around 620 miles east of Moscow. While Russian specialists initially assembled drones from Iranian kits, the operation has scaled up dramatically.

In early 2023, the plant produced roughly 100 drones per month but now can produce thousands. The design has also evolved. Russian engineers have modified the original into a distinctively Russian product, featuring domestic airframes, warheads and navigation systems.

Last July, Timur Shagivaleyev, the head of the special economic zone that houses the Yelabuga factory, described it on Russian state television as "the biggest and the most secretive strike drone factory in the world."

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/world/europe/iran-russia-europe-drones.html

Why should Ukraine trust anything we say? This means we gift Putin the rest of the resource-rich Donbas, while Russia also keeps stolen Crimea and the extensive territory it is occupying along Ukraine's southern coast.

"The price of U.S. security guarantees to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine became explicit this week: Kyiv must give up all of Donbas, about 10% of its territory, or about 15% of its prewar GDP.

The US has asked Ukraine to withdraw from all of the eastern region, including areas it has held during more than 14 years of Russian attacks, before it will finalize the long-term protections it has been discussing with Kyiv for months, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said, describing the negotiation in comments to Reuters."

DONBAS

Rubio has explicitly called out those statements as false/lies.

🚨 BREAKING: Sec. Marco Rubio just called out Zelensky as a LIAR

Q: Did the US tell Zelensky that security guarantees depend on withdrawing from Donbas?

RUBIO: "That's a LIE, and I saw him say that, and it's unfortunate he would say that because he KNOWS that's not true! That's… pic.twitter.com/x67WcgT55v

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 27, 2026

Russia may be about to declare force majeure on oil exports. This is a big deal given the Hormuz situation. They have previously curtailed fertilizer exports. Ukrainian attacks on petro infrastructure are starting to bite hard.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russia-Warns-of-Force-Majeure-on-Oil-Cargoes-After-Port-Disruptions.html

Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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He does have a reason, which is to buy himself political cover for rejecting a peace agreement.

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He doesn't need political cover for rejecting a deal that cedes land Ukraine controls.

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FACT

I wouldn't discount the possibility that someone like Witkoff implied this to the Ukrainian side without it having gone through Rubio.

We've seen disconnects emerge before.

2wealfth Man said:

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Russia may be about to declare force majeure on oil exports. This is a big deal given the Hormuz situation. They have previously curtailed fertilizer exports. Ukrainian attacks on petro infrastructure are starting to bite hard.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russia-Warns-of-Force-Majeure-on-Oil-Cargoes-After-Port-Disruptions.html

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Like that's going to do anything? May not have contractual damages in a much later civil suit.

Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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He does have a reason, which is to buy himself political cover for rejecting a peace agreement.

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He doesn't need political cover for rejecting a deal that cedes land Ukraine controls.

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That's the point. He is lying saying they were asked to cede land Russia didn't hold so he could make the deal look worse than it was.

MaxPower said:

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Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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He does have a reason, which is to buy himself political cover for rejecting a peace agreement.

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He doesn't need political cover for rejecting a deal that cedes land Ukraine controls.

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That's the point. He is lying saying they were asked to cede land Russia didn't hold so he could make the deal look worse than it was.

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I guarantee you there is no deal that Russia would have on the table that would simply freeze the line of control. Come on now.

Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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He does have a reason, which is to buy himself political cover for rejecting a peace agreement.

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He doesn't need political cover for rejecting a deal that cedes land Ukraine controls.

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That's the point. He is lying saying they were asked to cede land Russia didn't hold so he could make the deal look worse than it was.

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I guarantee you there is no deal that Russia would have on the table that would simply freeze the line of control. Come on now.

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Exactly. Russia has never wavered from its demand that it must have all of the Donbas as part of any deal.

I think they will be coming to the table with revised demands soon.

4 straight days they have been hammered both far and on the front.

Same two major oil export facilities hit again and now a big chemical factory. **** russia.

❗️🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukrainian kamikaze drones reportedly struck the “Apatit” plant in Cherepovets, Vologda region — around 900 km from Ukraine’s border.

▪️ The facility is among Europe’s largest producers of phosphate-based fertilizers, phosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid, and a key player in… pic.twitter.com/QMywO9ek0b

— NSTRIKE (@NSTRIKE1231) March 27, 2026

🇺🇦🚀🇷🇺 Esta noche Ucrania atacó con misiles de crucero ucranianos FP-5 "Flamingo" la fábrica de explosivos de la empresa Promsintez en la ciudad de Chapáyevsk, situada a + 1.000 km de la línea del frente pic.twitter.com/wiT5zac4SV

— Mundo Andriy (@andriy_ht) March 28, 2026

My bad. Already posted.

That same video was posted 2 days ago. it's not new.

MaxPower said:

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Gordo14 said:

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MaxPower said:

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He does have a reason, which is to buy himself political cover for rejecting a peace agreement.

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He doesn't need political cover for rejecting a deal that cedes land Ukraine controls.

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That's the point. He is lying saying they were asked to cede land Russia didn't hold so he could make the deal look worse than it was.

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Here's the rest of what Rubio said:
No security guarantees until the war ends.
The US "explained" to Ukraine "what the Russians are insisting on" for the war to end (i.e. the rest of Donbas).
It is up to Ukraine to decide if it wants to make that concession to end the war and get security guarantees.

So, while the US did not expressly tell Ukraine it must give up the rest of the Donbas for security guarantees, it did say there will be no guarantees until the war ends--which Russia insists is dependent on Ukraine conceding the rest of the Donbas.

I can entirely see Zelenskyy subsequently paraphrasing the US position on security guarantees as he did. He may have misquoted the US, but he certainly didn't misrepresent the US bottom-line.