The Russians are actually fighting to bring back a breakaway province that was part of Russia for over 250 years. The Russians want their Texas back and you cannot get much more patriotic than that!
VIDEOS
1. Ukrainian howitzer fires shells in northern Donbas
The Sun
3.89M subscribers
Apr 10, 2023 2:00 p.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri56kSApB-U
Ukrainian howitzers fired rounds of artillery shells from a forest near recaptured Lyman in northern Donetsk region on Friday (April 7).
The town of Lyman was recaptured in October 2022 by Ukrainian troops during the first large Ukrainian counter offensive in east Ukraine.
Unit commander Viktor, 27 years old, told Reuters that using a self-driving howitzer was convenient as it allowed for quick maneuvres.
“We can quickly move into our position, quickly aim for the target, quickly fire, and then quickly leave, so that the enemy can’t hit us.”
His brother-in-arm Oleksandr praised the servicemen’s professionalism, rating their level of motivation higher than that of newly mobilised soldiers.
“These guys attempt to attack 24 hours, seven days a week.”
A division commander at only 22 years, Oleksandr added that Russian artillery strikes on the Lyman front section had increased over the last days.
2. Russian tanks approaching Ukrainian army positions up to 100 meters were destroyed into pieces
Kanal13
1.53M subscribers
Apr 10, 2023 1:00 a.m. DST
The Russians let go of their “Texas” voluntarily back in 1991 and signed treaties to that effect.
Ukraine has been independent for over 30 years.
And there is the little point in that the Ukrainian people don’t want to be part of Russia.
There is no argument here. Russian claims are as illegitimate as those of China in re the “nine dash line”.
“The Russians are actually fighting to bring back a breakaway province that was part of Russia for over 250 years.”
WRONG.
You may appreciate this article for a historical context:
“Russian strategic culture: Why Russia does things the way it does”
By Martti J. Kari, former intelligence Colonel in the Finnish Defence Forces
[Background
My background is that I have served in military intelligence for most of my career. I am an officer and an intelligence colonel who retired last fall. I started here in January at the university as a teacher. I teach intelligence. As I have spent most of my career in intelligence, Russia and the Soviet Union have always been my point of interest.
As a young lieutenant, I was sent to what was then Leningrad to study the Russian language. Even then I started to wonder why the Russians were doing things differently than we do? Why do they see the world differently than we see it? Since then, I have worked with the Russians and with the Soviets until my retirement. I’ve been to the Soviet Union and to Russia a lot during my career and have been in a lot of contact with them.
When I started writing my Ph.D. here at the university, I discovered the theory of strategic culture. That theory opened up how to rationalize and think about why Russians do things differently than we do.]
*** “Russia has a messianic mission, regional enlargement efforts, and a belief in Russianness.”
If we look at when Russia was liberated from the Mongols to the present day, it is all the same. If you think Russia will change, you can think so, but I don’t agree. Levada surveyed Russians about the most significant people in world history. Most chose Stalin, even though millions were executed or died in his camps. The majority said Putin is the toughest man in world history. An increasing number of Russians know nothing of Stalin’s purges.”
Published in Foreign Policy
https://ricochet.com/category/foreign-policy/