Reuters: Pope says Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations

[Emrys]

26. Ridiculous stance.

It's as if you blank out how the Russians have treated any Ukrainians in areas of Ukraine they've seized.

If you think capitulation is going to save Ukrainian lives, in the short, medium or long term, then you need to spend less time kidding yourself that you're better informed than many of us, and some more time reminding yourself of what they've done where they've managed to occupy territory, say Bucha for one example, and listening to what Putin and his cronies have in mind for Ukraine and its people, then for more countries and people sweeping west. They're saying it out loud with visual aids, so it's not hard to pick up the gist. That future brings subjugation with all the grisliness that entails, gathering those that haven't yet been killed to add to his own forces to top up the numbers lost by his cavalier tactics to perpetuate the imperial war he intends to wage.

Last time I challenged you on your mysterious magical "in the know" sources of intel, all you had to offer was a string of MSM links all singing off the same songsheet - oh noes, the Ukrainians' drones are dropping out of the sky left, right and centre because the Russians have deployed EW countermeasures. It was the night before Christmas, so I had better things to do than try to correct your misconceptions and repeat myself by pointing out that those EW installations were nothing new, were not always effective, sometimes backfired and stopped the Russians' own drones deploying as intended, and were handily mirrored by Ukraine's own EW efforts. Guess which side's looking like it's gained the upper hand in that field in the intervening period?

Meanwhile, the Russians aren't daring to deploy their ships beyond the Sea of Azov for fear they'll get sunk, and they've cut right back on their flights anywhere near Ukrainian airspace because their planes are getting blown out of the sky with quite some regularity. At the same time, Ukraine is paring away methodically at various facilities in Crimea and attacks on militarily significant locations in Russia itself are practically daily occurrences.

The Russians, rather than having the inexaustible supply of raw troops you seem to envisage, having seemingly exhausted their supply of deperate convicted criminals, are being driven to trick gullible people from India and Africa into signing up for visas, only to be shipped off to the front, usually to die within days. Doesn't seem like the actions of a country that has a handle on replenishing its cannon fodder, does it?

As for Ukraine, it's not so much that younger people are avoiding enlistment, it's that Ukraine's mobilization was always planned to take place in stages, with the younger militarily inexperienced cohort held back till the final stages if needed - those plans have been published, so they're no secret. That's why the age averages have been rising, but the journos you seem to rely on either don't know it or are deliberately misleading people.

But go ahead and fixate on the minor land gains Russia's made in already devastated towns and villages if it makes you feel more in the know. We'll see how that pans out when Ukraine finally has enough firepower to make a show of it, which shouldn't be long now.