borschtisgarbo

What does "honesty on economy" even mean??

Vladimir Putin has "made a decision" and there will be "severe punishment" following Ukraine's incursion into Russia, according to the Russian ambassador to the US.

Mr Putin was clearly frustrated at the Ukrainian incursion, but a ruthless Russian military response was only one option. Ukraine is short of military capability - soldiers and weapons - and it appears that they have deployed up to 10,000 soldiers (probably battle-hardened) into Russian territory. This "fixes" these Ukrainian forces well away from the frontline Russian action in the Donbas.

Mr Putin knows that progress on the frontline will slow when winter arrives, so his forces have perhaps 10 to 12 weeks remaining to achieve the objectives of his so-called Special Military Operation. By focusing on Russian main effort in the Donbas, Mr Putin knows that Ukraine has diluted the forces available to resist the Russian assault towards Pokrovsk, which might enable greater progress in the limited time available.

Once Russia's objectives in the Donbas have been achieved, Mr Putin might consider that he can address the Kursk incursion in slower time.

What could 'severe punishment' mean?

Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida condemned the vote as "an unlawful act that is the grossest violation of the basic principles of freedom of conscience and human rights". Metropolitan Klyment, spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, told Suspilne it has "always acted within the limits of the law" and would seek to "defend the fundamental constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religious belief".

In Kyiv, believers were praying outside the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, where the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was formerly based. "There's no politics here. We just come and pray for our children and our loved ones... I've never seen any KGB agents," said 56-year-old Svetlana, who declined to give her surname, referring to allegations of сollaboration with security services. In a lilac dress and matching headscarf, Svetlana said she had been baptised and married in the church and worried about its potential full closure. "If they close, people will still pray in the streets, maybe we'll put up tents, there will be prayers anyway," Svetlana said.

Pro-Russian telegram groups have recently started speculating about a potential Ukrainian offensive into Zaporozhye by Ukraine.

This was originally claimed by a telegram mil blogger called 'romanov light'. He claimed Russia would mobilize in may, which obviously didn't happen, so take this with a BIG pinch of salt.

If this is real, then we'll probably see a repeat of the 2023 summer offensive, but worse

Dear residents of the community, we see that today the enemy has almost come to our city of Pokrovsk. Only a few more, a little more than 10 kilometers from the outskirts of the city of Pokrovsk. We see that for all the shelling that has been on our community and the city, the enemy cynically hits or critical infrastructure, or private buildings, or residential buildings. People are dying. So please, do not just leave, evacuate, especially families with children, especially the elderly.

The situation is only getting worse. It's not going to get better

Hmmmmm.....