It seems to me that in this scenario, Belarus is the only one that really gets screwed over. Russia can say “nyah nyah, it wasn’t us, so sorry Luka, you’re on your own” and NATO can unleash its full might against Belarus while avoiding a direct conflict with Russia.
Not to mention it is super hypocritical for Russia to complain about this.
As always in warfare, one’s complaints are aimed at two almost totally disjoint audiences with nearly diametrically opposed POVs: your home front and sympathizers vs. your oppositions’ home front and sympathizers.
Putin complaining about attacks on Moscow play very well at home, in his allies countries, and not at all beyond that. Zelinskyy complaining about attacks on Kyiv play very well at home, in his allies countries, and not at all beyond that.
We in the West all know the situation is not fully symmetrical. Russia is waging illegal aggressive war, while Ukraine is defending itself from an illegal aggressive war. But beyond that, the diplomacy and propaganda are necessarily mirror images seen in opposing mirrors. War is ever thus.
The strike on Reni is interesting because, as near as looking at Google Maps can tell me, there is no direct rail connection between it and the rest of Ukraine - all rail from Reni goes through Moldova.
So for Ukraine to get grain to Reni by land, not through Moldova, it would have to truck it there, load by load. Horrendously inefficient in terms of labor and fuel.
But if moving grain through Moldova by rail is OK, could Ukraine use the Moldovan river ports upstream of Reni? They seem to have pretty good rail connections to the interior of Moldova, though I can’t see if they connect to Ukraine (especially Odessa). Of course, where does Transnistria figure in all of this?
" Connections exist to Ukraine at Kuchurhan, Mohilyv-Podil’s’ky, Ocnița. The track between Basarabeasca and Reni crosses the border back and forth. The Kuchurhan crossing as well as the Tighina–Tiraspol–Kuchurhan segment are under the control of the Transnistrian separatist authorities, the circulation of trains on the route depending on the level of political tensions between the separatists and the Government of Moldova." Apparently a fourth crossing near Odessa exists too.
Two of the three main crossing are in separatists territory. Elsewhere in the reference there are problems with old infrastructure, old equipment, non-electrification, and it’s all single track. Going from Moldova/Ukraine requires a change of gauge at the border.
Also on rail:
"The study is part of the Solidarity Lanes action plan and suggests that European track gauge lines to Lviv and Chiṣinău would be the first step to improving connections between Poland and Ukraine, and between Romania and Moldova.
“Extending the standard gauge of the European railway network to Ukraine and Moldova will facilitate the movement of goods and services, helping the two countries to integrate more quickly into the EU market and accelerating Ukraine’s post-war recovery,” EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, who is responsible for bank’s operations in Ukraine and Moldova, said."
Why is someone recording 360 degrees in the city looking up. They are literally not looking at anything and are panning the sky’s as if they’re expecting something to happen.
Insane Russians in positions of power…
Press person from Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1685568476579024896
The nuclear saber-rattling of former Russian president Medvedev suggests the Ukrainian counteroffensive to evict the invading occupiers from their land is making progress:
https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1685573843094544384
The war is certainly spreading.
Link The war is coming to Russia, Zelenskiy warns after latest drone attack | Ukraine | The Guardian
What does “ukrobanderovtsy” mean?
The term Banderite was also a key propaganda term for the post-war Soviet state and more recently for Russia as pejorative term and personal insult for Ukrainians. Itself the term is not an insult and also carries connotation of honoring the memory of Stepan Bandera as a fighter for longtime dream of the Ukrainian statehood, particularly in the unofficial name for the Ukrainian city of Lviv as “Baderstadt”.
I wrote something on Bandera here:
Here’s a link to an MSN article as well.
A Ukrainian boy weeps for his by a bombed-out house, as he holds a drawing of his family. He folds the drawing into a paper airplane, which turns into a drone, which turns into a squadron of drones. Red lines indicate the drones’ progress toward their target. The final red line leads to Moscow. Fade to black, sho graphic ‘August 24’.
Seems pretty obvious to me.
The phone/camera operator heard something flying around, but could not see it. Nor was the noise directional enough they could aim their phone-camera accurately. So they just panned around hoping to get lucky.
first pics emerging of the attack on the bridge that connects UKR with the Krim-peninsula … (attack was 2-3 days ago)
The URL can be changed to Twitter (and #m removed) to allow embedding of tweets:
I read that this is a trailer for a film being released on August 24th. I’m quite confused.
I’ve noticed Kryvyi Rih seems to get targeted after successful Ukrainian attacks in Russia. This time it was drones attacking Moscow. It’s Putins way of personally hurting Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Hit his hometown. Or maybe Putin is just a psychopathic asshole. 
Guardian live feed
When you’re a gangster, not a politician or statesman, everything is personal. Putin is a gangster.
why not both?