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

[SasaM]

If it is true he behaved like spoiled child that got irritated because of his ego not being stroked and of truth, his ignorance of other countries history, but it is no suprise for most politicians and general populus, especially US, for them basic formal history is another dimension, and you should sometimes get informed about basics to get some understanding why and how, but for those types it is too much to ask and understanding is not part of agenda, there is only self interest involved, so what is the point of talking altogether, you only talk when you have reasonable parties on both sides, and in the west there is little of that left.

FWIW.
The Financial Times is a British media outlet that would have its own agenda, as in UK's and EU's interest, in 'reporting' that Trump and Putin had a fallout in relations. More so, it would paint both of the leaders in more or less exactly the way the impression of that 'news story' conveyed.

Yesterday's NewsReal presented much more realistic and probable interpretation of Trump's actions and publicly displayed statements/behavior, Putin's stance and in general the kind of diplomacy the RF has been conducting, than most of the news and analyses in the Western media.
OSIT.

 

[SasaM]

Zelensky is ready to launder money for three more years.

Truth be told, as he appears to be and probably really is, with so little not to say nothing in his head, as conscience and soul are most certainly nowhere to be found in him, that caricature of a humanlike creature "is ready" to launder money for the rest of his days, which he very likely wishes, almost surely mistakenly though, to last much longer than just three more years.

 

[palestine]

In case somebody missed this:

International Statement on Peace for Ukraine

International Statement on Peace for Ukraine​

Signed by:

President Zelenskyy
Prime Minister Starmer
Chancellor Merz
President Macron
Prime Minister Meloni
Prime Minister Tusk
President von der Leyen
President Costa
Prime Minister Støre
President Stubb
Prime Minister Frederiksen
Prime Minister Sánchez
Prime Minister Kristersson

Russia's stalling tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace. We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.

We must ramp up the pressure on Russia's economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Macron is preparing to send 2,000 troops to Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Ukraine does not want journalists to report about the "real picture" on the battleground.

 

[Ben]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/politics/pentagon-tomahawks-trump-ukraine

The Pentagon has given the White House the green light to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, leaving the final political decision in President Donald Trump’s hands, according to three US and European officials familiar with the matter.

The assessment buoyed the US’ European allies, who believe that the US now has fewer excuses not to provide the missiles, two European officials said. Trump also said just days before meeting Zelensky that the US has “a lot of Tomahawks” that it could potentially give to Ukraine.

Something is needed to avoid attention on the catastrophic military situation for Ukraine. Will it be related to a different conflict, though?

This story coming out now on CNN just feels like direct Deep State pressure on Trump to escalate the situation. Putting him on the spot.

 

[Navigator]

Is it too far fetched to think that the Putin in Budapest saga (I want to meet, I don't want to meet), and the stock shortage excuse Trump is delaying/diverting from the fact that the crazies calling the shots in Ukraine will complicate things for the Peace President if allowed to have the symbolic Tomahawks launched deep into Russia?

To expand a little, it could be said that the Putin in Budapest meeting was more of a move by Trump to get the Europeans out of his back by using the meeting as a bargaining chip. It didn't seem like they had anything new to talk about after Alaska, so why meet again? All of a sudden?

 

[axj]

There is still some sanity within the EU in Hungary, Slovakia and now also Czechia:

Hungary’s anti-Ukraine alliance proposal gets support in EU nation

Those with sound minds must unite against “collective madness” in the EU, the deputy head of Slovakia’s ruling Smer party has said

www.rt.com

Romania would have been a part of this too if the election was not blatantly stolen there.

 

[Nathan]

An update on Simplicius’ substack:

Desperate Special Forces Bid to Save Pokrovsk Fails as AFU Faces Unprecedented Collapse on Every Front​

Desperate Special Forces Bid to Save Pokrovsk Fails as AFU Faces Unprecedented Collapse on Every Front

The situation continues getting worse and worse for Ukraine.

simplicius76.substack.com

Some excerpts:

The reason this has particular importance, however, is that Pokrovsk’s encirclement has become a major canary-in-coal-mine for the AFU’s present condition. The encirclement that Russian forces have achieved around this agglomerate appears to be the tightest they’ve ever managed around any city—if we are to believe pro-Russian maps—which is an extremely telling sign vis-a-vis the current combat capability of Ukrainian troops.

However, either the amount left is still significant, or there are some very important people remaining because the Ukrainian GUR decided to launch a daring “behind enemy lines” special forces helicopter operation to the tip of the encirclement, for reasons we can only speculate on for now.

As stated, such a GUR suicide infiltration attempt is nearly unprecedented and represents an act of desperation commensurate with the direness of the situation. Given this attempt and Putin’s own unprecedented proposal for media to view the encirclement, we can only assume Pokrovsk’s ‘kettle’ is one of the most complete that Russian forces have ever managed thus far.

So, what do we have?

Pokrovsk and Mirnograd both set to soon fall. Kupyansk set to fall; Seversk, Krasny Lyman, Novopavlovka, and Konstantinovka all being stormed and likely to fall next, with Gulyaipole and others then to become besieged.

Russia had at one point averaged only one major city capture per year (Mariupol ‘22, Bakhmut ‘23, Avdeevka ‘24). Now, Russian forces stand to topple a whole host of cities in rapid succession. Likewise, Ukraine has launched a major ‘counter-offensive’ each year since the start of the war: there was Kherson and Kharkov in ‘22, the ‘grand’ Zaporozhye one in ‘23, and Kursk in ‘24. This year of 2025 has been the first without a major Ukrainian counter-offensive.

These two opposing facts above tell a story: The AFU is a spent force and Russian advances are accelerating drastically.

At the same time, Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s power grid have been the most determined they’ve ever been, with many noting ‘unusual’ behavior such as doing double-taps on repair crews and launching giant drone swarms on each facility, rather than simply one or two missiles. Several Ukrainian officials have already called for people to abandon Kiev as they warn it will be without heating for major parts of the coming winter.

The main fronts discussed earlier all seem to be collapsing to the same old trickle and ‘thousand cuts’ tactics. Most importantly what this means is that Russia does not appear to be paying an exorbitant cost in casualties and equipment for these recent successes, other than expendables like bikes, civilian cars, bukhankas, etc.

If this is truly the case, this bodes extremely badly for the AFU. It would mean a point of no return has been reached where Russia no longer has to expend outsize resources for these accumulating breakthroughs, which means they will only continue unabated.

We don’t know for certain if this is the case; for instance, the fact that this sudden collapse of the AFU has corresponded precisely to the advent of rasputitsa and other inclement winter-like conditions could mean this has more to do with Russia’s recent surge. But as I’ve stated many times before, Russia has always had its biggest campaigns during the winter, wherein the Bakhmut and Avdeevka operations were carried out.

One thing to remember is that as the AFU’s collapse rolls on, it can only accelerate by nature of the fact that there are smaller and smaller time intervals allowing Ukraine to build proper defensive lines at the appropriate distance behind each collapsing front or Russian breakthrough. This is why I’ve said for a long time that the collapse can only go parabolic at some point, rather than remaining linear in intensity.

The only thing that can slow it at this point is probably a major new mobilization by Ukraine, whether down to the 18-year old cohort, or women as well. But, one: that could mean Zelensky’s political suicide; and two: even if the mobilization were to begin now, it would take half a year or more before real effects were even seen.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

A large number of Western journalists would like to go to frontline areas to report about the entrapment of Ukrainian troops, the Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

West is encouraging Ukraine to carry out a sabotage at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant with casualties among the Ukrainian and EU citizens in order to blame Russia, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

 

[Thebull]

West is encouraging Ukraine to carry out a sabotage at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant with casualties among the Ukrainian and EU citizens in order to blame Russia, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

Always on the cards and even more so when they have troops surrounded. Especially with the media interest.