'Certainly what is the case is that if Ukraine’s partners pulled out the stops and provided support to this campaign, the Russian ability to make money from oil would not just be damaged for days, it would be months or longer.
In other words, it would help Ukraine win the war.''In other words, the Trump administration has already started to actively weaken Ukraine.
And remember, Trump has not lifted a finger to ask Congress for any new aid for Ukraine. When the last of the Biden aid gets delivered—that’s it. What we are seeing is an unstoppable process of the Trump administration turning the US away from being an open supporter of Ukraine into something more neutral or even a supporter of some basic Russian goals.
This is not just ominous for Ukraine, its ominous for democracies around the world.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian RefineriesOne thing that makes Rubio’s comments so pathetic is that its becoming clear that Ukraine is doing more to win the war than he understands and could do even more if properly supported by the US and others. The importance of ranged strike has become more and more obvious over the last few weeks. The reason that people like Trump (and those in the Biden Administration) have always opposed ranged strike for Ukraine is not because they do not believe Ukraine can win, its because
they never wanted Ukraine to win. Limiting Ukrainian ranged strike has always been a way of saying to Putin that the US respects his position and wants to keep him in power.
And its been sadly effective.
Because right now we are more and more witnessing what the Ukrainians can do with ranged strike, even relying overwhelmingly on their own home-made systems, which are not nearly as sophisticated, accurate and powerful as western ones.
The Ukrainians for another weak have kept up the attack on Russian oil refining and distribution. Looking at just the attacks we know about over the last two months, its clear that the campaign has been a high priority.
..
And impressively for Ukraine, the pace of these attacks is, if anything, [is] accelerating .. The attack on Ust-Luga was particularly telling. This is one of the main ports for Russia to ship out its oil to the shadow fleet. For a few days now, reports are that all oil shipments from the port have halted.
Its both an important but also frustrating development. Ukraine clearly has an excellent target set and is going about it. And if oil production and shipping in western Russia could be seriously degraded, this will hit the Russian economy hard. Russian oil revenues were already declining before these attacks happened.
However, it will take much more than one attack each to make this campaign work. See how long it takes the Russians to get Ust-Lugo back and working, and you will see how hard it really is to completely disable a target.
Certainly what is the case is that if Ukraine’s partners pulled out the stops and provided support to this campaign, the Russian ability to make money from oil would not just be damaged for days, it would be months or longer.
In other words, it would help Ukraine win the war.
..
Ukraine is being swamped by the stupidity of the age, and everything that can be done to counter that stupidity must be done. And that starts with ridiculing stupid headlines.'
- Prof. Phillips P. O’Brien,
Weekend Update #118: The Trump Administration’s Talking Points are Straight from Moscow, February 2, 2025
Context(Ukraine must win) - 'If only Ukraine’s partners had the courage to arm Ukraine to win..''..slashing the American armed presence in Europe..'(Russia, a fascist imperialist regime, must lose) - 'It is normal for Russia to lose wars.''What are Ukraine's borders? .. they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991.' - Navalny