War Comes to Kyiv
War Comes to Kyiv | The New Yorker, Joshua Yaffa
Interesting article that showed up in my inbox. This is a copy and paste ot it with minor editing. If you follow the link, there are other short articles to be read. I believe the takeaway from this article is the courage of Zelensky. The Ukraine will fall apart without him. Can the Russians be this bad militarily?
The road into Kyiv is lined with military checkpoints, many of which are manned by local volunteers from whatever town the highway passes through. In the outskirts of the city on Saturday morning, I stopped to get out at one, an improvised construction of cement blocks and sand bags, and was greeted with wary suspicion by a sizable middle – aged man with a silver beard. He told me that he was a veteran of Ukraine’s war against Russian proxy forces in the Donbass region and, for the last several months, had been preparing for an invasion: gathering together other veterans in the area, securing supplies, deciding who would do what when the attack came. I asked whether he thought their makeshift barrier could impede a Russian assault.
“We won’t just be shooting from here,” he said. “But from the houses, from the yards, from the basement – we’ll be spread out everywhere. We know this place. It’s ours.”
Closer to Kyiv, the checkpoints were manned by professional soldiers who seemed uninterested in wasting time, and we were quickly on our way. As we rode into town, the streets were marked with an ominous quiet. Kyiv was hit with missile and rocket strikes from the very start of Russia’s invasion, on February 24th; that same day, Russian paratroopers tried to capture a military airfield just outside city limits—an attack that was initially successful, then repelled, and then, if reports are to be believed, ultimately decisive. The northern suburbs have seen ongoing gun battles. It is clear that Russia’s invasion has little to do with the unresolved war in the Donbass, which had been seen as an obvious pretext, and is instead focused on regime change. To remove Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and install a pliant, pro-Russia replacement, however, requires taking the capital.
“We’re watching Shecky Greene transform into Churchill,” Stewart said, a reference to the nightclub comedian who was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show,” and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who led the United Kingdom during World War II…
Stewart praised what he characterized Zelenskyy’s “grace” under the circumstances.
“What this dude is doing, it is incredibly moving,” he said.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jon-stewart-zelenskyy_n_621a8ccde4b03d0c8039bf5d
Zelensky rejects the Kremlin’s offer to hold talks in Belarus, saying it’s not neutral territory.
NY Times – Feb 26
(It’s going to be practically impossible to find a ‘neutral’ country acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine, no?)
Putin says he’s ready for diplomatic talks with Ukraine after speaking with China’s President Xi
President Vladimir Putin said he’s ready to authorize talks with Ukraine on a possible neutral status for the country, hours after speaking with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as Russia’s military invasion approached Kyiv.
Putin is willing to take up a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss neutrality, and to send a delegation to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the announcement.
The offer came after a phone call between Putin and Xi in which the Russian leader said he was ready for talks “taking into account the signals just received” from Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement. Chinese state TV had earlier reported that Xi urged Russia and Ukraine to negotiate to “resolve issues” on the call and had reiterated Beijing’s support for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. …
II’s 2003 paved Putin’s road
He didn’t have Pooty-poots
Putin had his
Barack knew this, Plus was too timid
His backing down in Syria was Putin’s big green
Ifs are worthless, but if only Hillary
She’d jerked him up short
Let’s hope it is not too late
Should have never come to this
The Hague is making it’s case
2003 is the fly
Just in
Zelensky says he has agreed to talks with Russia