https://archive.li/Z0m5m

The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.

Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.

“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.

“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.

  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Ukraine has lost. They are not getting their separatist regions back.

    Their choices are to keep fighting, which will not change this outcome, or negotiate an end to the war so they can stop dying and start rebuilding. Their negotiating position will only weaken as the war continues absent some one-in-a-million stroke of luck.

    This isn’t “I kick you and you don’t defend yourself.” It’s “I kick you, you defend yourself, lose, and choose to either walk away or keep getting beaten up.” And that’s not even digging into the actual causes of the war, which are nowhere near as clear cut as Russia one day waking up and deciding to attack out of the blue.

          • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Federatin is great I really forgot all the deep, nuanced, informative conversations I used to have on Reddit. I am learning so much here!

            • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              I don’t know, we really have to look at defederating from some of these hostile communities. That rude user just told me to kill myself, whereas my polite Hexbear comrades would only send me an emoji of pig shit if we had a serious disagreemt.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Ukraine has lost. They are not getting their separatist regions back.

      [citation needed].

      In any case Ukrainians disagree with you and keep on fighting. Heck even if Russia occupied all of Ukraine they’d keep on fighting. It’s not in your hands whether they fight or not, and their motive is just, so why not help them? Because you’re a defeatist? Come on.

      • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        In any case Ukrainians disagree with you and keep on fighting

        Yeah, that’s why they’ve been kidnapping people to the front lines, because the Ukranian people want to fight so much. That’s why they conscripted prison inmates and forbid any man undder 60 from leaving when the war broke out, right. Because of all that popular will to fight.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          There’s been plenty of court cases and firings over improperly handled conscriptions. Prison inmates IIRC weren’t conscripted but given a choice. Plenty of Ukrainians – also men – returned from other European countries to fight, left countries where they had a free welfare ride and working permits. Plenty of women fight in the army. It surely must be terrible over there /s.

          Meanwhile Russia is force-conscripting pretty much any man they can get their hands on and sending them, without equipment, into meat grinders. Have a look at Storm Z units.

          • DPRK_Chopra [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, one lesson I’ve taken from this conflict, is if you ever get conscripted into a modern war, don’t fucking go, because someone in power probably wants you dead. You’ve got russia on one side trying to smash their own domestic fascists and dwindle their numbers (see Wagner in Bahkmut) and you’ve got Ukraine trying to burn through anyone they think might have Russian sympathies. It’s just a shitty situation all around, and of course it usually affects the poorest.

            The point remains this is going to go on until the west, or better yet, the people of Ukraine can acknowledge the reality of the situation and muster the phrase “territorial concessions”. Continuing to expend lives on the idea of retaking Crimea is not a path to victory.

          • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            improperly handled conscriptions.

            Technically they fired every conscription officer in the country for bribery so I’m not sure that really supports your case.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          You know what would be even more senseless than dying in a trench? Dying in an FSB torture cellar while your family gets raped.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Stuff you don’t want to hear so didn’t hear, apparently: Russian torture cellars. Other things you might not want to hear include Russians castrating POWs.

              • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                1 year ago

                I said the war is lost and Ukraine should negotiate. You said:

                It’s not in your hands whether they fight or not, and their motive is just, so why not help them?

                I pointed out how ridiculous it is to say “why not help them” is to someone who just said they believed the war was lost. Rather than continue this conversation, you went off on a tangent. Brilliant.

                • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s not a tangent. Even if Ukraine lost (and it didn’t, and you made no actual argument on why I should believe so) with the kind of atrocities Russia is committing in occupied territories tons of people would, and, well, do, fight against the occupiers.

                  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    1 year ago

                    you made no actual argument on why I should believe so

                    Would anything convince you?

                    And yes, bringing up allegations of war crimes is a total non sequitur in a discussion about whether the war itself is winnable for Ukraine. No war crime is excusable, but every side of every war commits them.

      • Ukraine has lost. They are not getting their separatist regions back.

        [citation needed].

        Points at the utter failure of the joke of a counteroffensive to even breach Russia’s first line of defense after months of hype about retaking Crimea

        In any case Ukrainians disagree with you and keep on fighting.

        You mean the ones forced to fight because they were kidnapped off the street and will be shot if they try to leave? Or the fascists that are in charge?

        Heck even if Russia occupied all of Ukraine they’d keep on fighting.

        Part of the reason why Russia does not want to occupy all of Ukraine.

        It’s not in your hands whether they fight or not,

        Nor yours, but it is in the hands of NATO leadership who have stymied peace negotiations at every opportunity.

        and their motive is just

        [citation needed]

        so why not help them?

        Why would we want to help people get forced into a meat grinder?