Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine

[Tristan]

I'm not sure whether to post this in this thread, but it seems that there have been explosions at two refineries in two countries, Romania and Hungary, which receive Russian oil. Was it an accident or a boycott?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1980554373970424180

https://twitter.com/x/status/1980648043386138891

 

[Niall]

I'm not sure whether to post this in this thread, but it seems that there have been explosions at two refineries in two countries, Romania and Hungary, which receive Russian oil. Was it an accident or a boycott?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1980554373970424180

https://twitter.com/x/status/1980648043386138891

It's reasonable to consider sabotage, given the coincidence with the announcement that no Trump-Putin summit will take place in Budapest for now, but the fire at the Hungarian refinery didn't cause substantial damage and has already been contained, plus the reason Moscow and DC gave for not holding another summit - no substantial changes in their positions on resolving the Ukraine war - means there's no reason for the leaders to meet at this point.

In other news, a former US State Dept official told Sky News he thinks the real ratio of Ukrainian to Russian losses is 36:1

https://twitter.com/x/status/1980718375757029645

That's more than double what we heard in this Cs session (15:1), but it may map to reality in terms of recent Ukrainian losses rather than the overall war.

 

[axj]

Both Russia and Hungary are saying that the cancellation of the summit is fake news:

Hungary blasts ‘fake news’ about Putin-Trump meeting

The “pro-war political elite” is trying to thwart the summit between the Russian and the US leaders, Budapest has warned

www.rt.com

 

[sToRmR1dR]

The European officials will meet Trump in the White House to present him a plan for prolonging the Ukraine conflict.

 

[Possibility of Being]

I'm not sure whether to post this in this thread, but it seems that there have been explosions at two refineries in two countries, Romania and Hungary, which receive Russian oil. Was it an accident or a boycott?

According to local sources, there was no explosion in the MAL refinery.

Domestic Fuel Supply Unaffected by Refinery Fire, MOL Assures
2025.10.22.

By Tuesday afternoon, the fire at MOL Danube Refinery’s AV3 plant had been completely extinguished. The fire broke out on Monday night at the refinery in Százhalombatta (near Budapest). The company’s Tuesday afternoon announcement stated that production is gradually resuming, thus ensuring Hungary’s fuel supply. [...]

Piroska Bakos recalled that ... The fire was localized by firefighters, no injuries were reported, and the cause of the accident is being investigated. [...]

Krisztián Pulay, managing director of the MOL Group, emphasized that

no evidence had been found to suggest that any external influence had contributed to the outbreak of the fire. Furthermore, there is no connection between the explosion at the Romanian oil refinery and the fire at the Danube Refinery.

Responding to questions from journalists, Krisztián Pulay said that the fire broke out in one of the refinery’s three distillation plants. This is where crude oil first enters the refining process, where the raw material is separated into different components according to boiling point, which are then sent to other plants for further processing.

He emphasized that 120 people work in the plant group, with 20 people per shift, and no one was injured before, during, or after the fire. He also refuted reports in the press that there had been an explosion at the plant. He said that

in an emergency, the gases produced are released into a flare, which produces a loud noise. This noise may have been perceived as an explosion in the surrounding area,

They believe that the fire will not affect the supply chain, but they will be able to say for sure once the damage has been assessed.
Finally, he emphasized that the unit affected by the fire is important, but not critical to the refinery as a whole.

On top of that, Magyar Nemzet reported today:

The police ordered an investigation into the fire at Mol's Százhalombatta refinery. There is no suspect in the case yet.

The criminal department of the Pest County Police Headquarters initiated proceedings against an unknown perpetrator in connection with the fire in Százhalombatta due to negligent endangerment during the occupation – the police informed our newspaper.

 

[mabar]

Is so difficult to understand, I guess.

From DDPolitics TC

Trump has canceled plans for a Budapest summit with Putin, saying it would be a “waste of time.”

The White House concluded that Russia is still clinging to its maximalist demands, including full control of the Donbas region, rejecting Trump’s proposal to freeze the war along current frontlines.

A senior U.S. official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call with Lavrov showed that “Russia’s position has remained largely unchanged.”

Trump told reporters he’ll announce his updated Ukraine peace plan within 48 hours, insisting the war “will end.”

The Kremlin, meanwhile, reiterated that no NATO troops can be part of any peace deal.

You do think the new sanctions will do the trick? I do not think so, though.
DD Politics

The U.S. Treasury has announced new sanctions against Lukoil and Rosneft, targeting key pillars of Russia’s energy sector.

The Trump administration is trying to bully Russia into a ceasfire, without addressing the root causes of the conflict.

The reason they are conducting these tests is because where there's smoke, there's fire, right?
From Ostasko! Important TC

Ruslan Ostashko on the nuclear forces exercise conducted by Vladimir Putin: "Spectacular footage. Russia conducted a large-scale exercise of strategic nuclear forces under Putin's leadership. Tu-95 bombers took to the sky, the intercontinental ballistic missile 'Yars' was launched from the ground (video), and the submarine 'Bryansk' struck from the depths of the Barents Sea with a 'Sineva' missile.

The launches went according to plan: 'Yars' flew from Plesetsk to Kamchatka, and 'Sineva' from the nuclear cruiser 'Bryansk'. The bombers carried out cruise missile launches.

The Kremlin says they were testing the coordination of all branches of the military and the readiness of the command system. All tasks were successfully completed.

The exercises took place against the backdrop of a tense international situation – Russia reminds that its strategic shield is at full combat readiness".

 

[axj]

It was recently posted that Putin compared a premature end of the conflict to the humiliating peace in WW1 by the bolsheviks which as he said dishonored the sacrifices of so many.

And indeed now that the most difficult part of the Ukraine war seems to be over for Russia and they are winnng, why should they agree to anything less than the fulfillment of their objectives?

Russia even seemed to step back their initial core demands for denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine as a step towards Trump in the negotiations. I am not sure if he fully appreciates that when claiming that Russia is sticking to maximalist demands - or maybe Trump is just blustering and bending the truth as usual as part of negotiations.