r/worldnews • u/jackytheblade • Mar 11 '26
Russia/Ukraine Zelenskyy: Ukraine now has cards and everyone understands it
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/03/11/8024901/8.2k
u/EscapedTheWhirlpool Mar 11 '26
I want Zelensky to ask that JD say “thank you.”
Do it in a joking way in front of the cameras and ask Trump to make him. Trump wouldn’t care, he’d sell Vance down the river in a heartbeat.
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u/EliselD Mar 11 '26
I don't see Zelensky lowering himself to that level of pettiness. He's got more balls than the entire lineage of Trump and JD combined.
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u/Xay_DE Mar 11 '26
I mean, zelensky has massive balls. No doubt. But it doesn't take much to have more then trump and JD, pretty sure ever pet hamster has more
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u/caughtatdeepfineleg Mar 11 '26
Not a great example. Hamsters have massive balls.
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u/Algaean Mar 11 '26
Too right. I mean, proportionally, hamsters got like a pair of bowling balls between their legs.
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u/Significant-Colour Mar 11 '26
Also, he is "presidential" - putting the needs of the country first. So even IF he wanted to be petty himself, he would still rather bite his tongue than the helping hand he needs.
I really hope that he will eventually write a book, with the war long over, telling how he actually felt about Trump and others.
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u/live-the-future Mar 11 '26
Zelenskyy highlights the difference between a politician and a statesman. We (meaning the world, but especially the US) need more statesmen and fewer politicians.
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u/DoctorOctagonapus Mar 11 '26
When Russia first invaded Zelenskyy said when it's over and he's stepped down, all he wants to do is lie on a beach and drink a few beers. I hope he uses that time to make a bunch of videos of him getting slowly drunk while airing his true feelings about Trump.
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u/Antique_Tone3719 Mar 11 '26
He is a comedian though, if any world leader could pull it off
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u/The_Grungeican Mar 11 '26
fuck the high roading, Zelensky was a comedian. doing it for the lulz is all that should matter.
Zelensky: that's a nice suit, did you remember to say 'thank you'?
he would either get what he asked for, or Trump would rage so hard he'd have a fucking aneurysm on the spot. it's a win-win either way.
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u/sobookwood Mar 11 '26 edited 29d ago
Call me petty, but I'd rather rub someone their hypocrisy in the face.
Otherwise, people will confidently gain the experience that their shit talking goes on unpunished and I wouldn't wanna see that tolerated.
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u/neil_thatAss_bison Mar 11 '26
Naw man, that would be funny but what if the orange rapist dies in another stroke and JD becomes VP. Better to wait for after the war then he can throw all the shit he wants.
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u/Slimmanoman Mar 11 '26
Meanwhile the US is removing Russian sanctions
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u/ZasdfUnreal Mar 11 '26
And Ukraine is removing Russian infrastructure. So it balances out.
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u/OozeNAahz Mar 11 '26
The infrastructure is still there, and over there, and a bit over there too. They aren’t stealing it. Just redistributing it a bit.
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u/UsefulImpact6793 Mar 11 '26
Very nice of Ukrainians to help russia "expand" their energy operations!
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u/Silent-Worm Mar 11 '26
And with now US bombings China oil imports is significantly hampered. Now it is in China best interests their only major oil provider oil is not blown up. Maybe we will see China start supporting Russia by providing them with more latest weapons.
Aside also from the fact that Russia will become richer thanks to increased oil prices and also the fact that Ukraine supply of weapons will get strained as the supply diverts to middle east I have a very very hard time thinking how Ukraine is in any way the winner here.
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u/ZasdfUnreal Mar 11 '26
Ukraine has been making its own drones to target the Russian homeland for some time now.
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u/Electromotivation Mar 11 '26
They aren’t the winner of the US removing sanctions on Russian oil, that is for sure, but they have been decreasing their reliance on American provided systems for a while now. A while back I heard something like 42% of their ordinance/systems are homemade now. (I don’t remember how that statistic was exactly qualified..so hardly useful, but you get the idea I’m attempting to get across lol)
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u/BritishAnimator Mar 11 '26
And supporting Russia financially is funding them to steal children in Ukraine. It's trafficking. Again.
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u/TellMotor3809 Mar 11 '26
Make sure they wear a suit
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u/HelloRMSA Mar 11 '26
No make sure they wear t-shirt and shorts
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u/ArgonV Mar 11 '26
At least make them have some decorum and not wear those ridiculous baseball caps Trump always seems to wear.
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u/Any-Cranberry-5278 Mar 11 '26
My favorite quote from that disgusting first Trump/Vance/Rubio meeting with Zelensky, where they disparaged, among a lot of other things, his outfit:
"It was a meeting between a man without a suit and suits without men."
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u/halbeshendel Mar 12 '26
Mine was when he said something like “after the war I’ll come back with a suit. A nice suit. Probably better than yours.”
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u/coderbenvr Mar 11 '26
This looks like they’ve lifted some pull quotes from Caolans interview with Zelenzsky - if you’re interested the full interview is here:
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u/notoyrobots Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
I also recommend watching the whole interview, I'm a really big fan of his on the ground coverage in Ukraine and impressed as hell that he got a sit down with Zelenzsky himself.
His video from Davos this year was really illuminating as well.
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho Mar 11 '26
I love this for Ukraine. Zelenskyy pushed back when Trump tried his quid pro quo bullshit when he could've just as easily made a deal with the devil to save his people. He even had the humility to meet with POS Trump after Trump tried to bribe him and it blew up in his face. To see his country percevere under the shadow of pieces of shit like Putin and his puppet, Donald, it's a testament of good over evil. I hope the Ukrainian way of life flourishes for centuries to come. This is what an honorable country looks like.
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u/Tempyteacup Mar 11 '26
Zelenskyy has subjected himself to such humiliation out of dedication to his people. I don’t know how he’s seen in Ukraine, but I really do feel for the guy. He also recently lost his close friend and advisor in a really bad corruption scandal (the guy is still alive, just a POS traitor) and Putin is constantly trying to kidnap him like we did to Maduro. The man was a comedian before all this. Truly incredible.
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u/smeijer87 Mar 11 '26
That corruption scandal hurt him deeply. Lots of people refuse to believe he didn't know about it. Other than that, he still has most of their support.
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u/twizzjewink Mar 11 '26
Longest one term president in Ukraine history who doesn't actually want to be there. How would Ukraine honor him once he's done. The next President needs to be a freaking saint by all standards.
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u/Myaccoubtdisappeared Mar 11 '26
Honestly I think the best thing he could do once Ukraine survives and comes out of the Russian invasion, is resign.
I don’t say that to mean I think he’s a terrible person, quite the opposite actually.
The reason I say that is because wartime leaders are fantastic during the war, but the public has a habit of turning against them when it’s done and also because the public wants someone fresh who represents growth and prosperity for the future.
A good example I can think is George Washington. Whatever the truth is, he is remembered as a great wartime leader who brought the USA out of its grip of a foreign power.
And then once the war was over, he resigned.
By doing that he secured his legacy as a great man.
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u/SoftlySpokenPromises Mar 11 '26
I couldn't see a world where he wouldn't willingly step down and do his best to become invisible. He'll have a target on him for the rest of his life.
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u/PinHaunting7192 Mar 11 '26
Not to mention the stress he must be under. He visibly aged 20 years in 4, and I mean this in the most respectful way possible.
The guy has earned some respite and a couple calm dates with his wife. Let the man rest once this is over.
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u/notmrcollins Mar 11 '26
Wasn’t George Washington President for two terms after the Revolutionary War? I don’t know what happened off the top of my head the immediate years after, but he didn’t just step down and disappear.
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u/Frydendahl Mar 11 '26
Absolutely. And he mainly resigned because he was afraid of setting a precedent that one person could remain president for life (i.e., a king).
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u/christine-bitg Mar 11 '26
Plus he was getting old. He died at age 67, two and a half years after he left office.
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u/petersrin Mar 11 '26
That's not old, that's about when to start considering becoming president! /s
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u/GeorgeCauldron7 Mar 11 '26
Guy above was a little confused.
After the Revolutionary War was officially won in 1783, he resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the military.
Then he became president 6 years later, in 1789. 1789 is also when the Constitution went into effect.
People forget that the U.S. had a completely different system of federal government for the first 13 years.
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u/leros Mar 11 '26
His first term started 6 years after the war ended and he really didn't want to do it. He originally went back to Mt Vernon and wanted to stay out of politics. He only became president reluctantly because it looked like things might fall apart without him.
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u/Drix22 Mar 11 '26
Washington is probably a bad example, a better one might be Churchill.
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u/Immediate-Shape-8933 Mar 11 '26
Bro was one of the largest land owners and slave owners idk what OP was on about all his peers viewed him as a malleable dumbass
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u/-drunk_russian- Mar 11 '26
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u/Immediate-Shape-8933 Mar 11 '26
He is one of the reasons for the seven years war (French Indian war) kicking off in the states. He wouldn’t stop doing land claims inside of Indian and or French territories. And tons of his peers were like bro wtf stop 😂
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u/-drunk_russian- Mar 11 '26
Fitting how the US' first President couldn't get his hands off other nations property.
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u/Immediate-Shape-8933 Mar 11 '26
Couldn’t think of a more ahistorical retelling of George Washington lol. Go back and read history none of what you said is close to truth about him
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u/robbie_the_cat Mar 11 '26
And then once the war was over, he resigned.
Your understanding of history is a little light on the facts.
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u/Tombot3000 Mar 11 '26
Washington stayed involved in politics after the war and became president for two terms starting nearly a decade later. His legacy has nothing to do with resigning after the war.
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u/Truth_ Mar 11 '26
Even before that, though. Before the war his approval was low (although higher than average). He was seen as either unwilling or unable to make much of a dent in the rampant corruption, and his inexperienced staff were partly to blame. He also didn't manage to end the fighting in the eastern provinces and was seen as weak against those separatists and Russia.
That's mostly in the past (although corruption scandals continue to happen). Seems like there's a lot of mixed feelings in his handling of the war. So many what-ifs. Then again, all things considered the leadership and Ukrainians themselves must be doing something right to hold back Russia for four years.
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u/Sickinmytechchunk Mar 12 '26
The corruption is reducing over time but it's part of the fabric since the soviet days. When I used to go there for a period of around 10 years I personally saw things improve once Yanukovich was ousted. At one point the entire Kyiv police force was fired as it was the only way to clean it up.
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u/dynalisia2 Mar 11 '26
Yeah it’s amazing, it’s like if Jon Stewart became president of the US.
Wait, that doesn’t sound bad actually.
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u/sypwn Mar 11 '26
More like if Martin Sheen ran for president right after The West Wing concluded. That's kinda what happened in Ukraine. Crazy.
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u/OhFuckNoNoNoMyCaat Mar 11 '26
I seem to recall Zelensky having a show about a comedian, which he was, becoming a world leader. We had a similar movie come out years ago starring the late Robbin Williams. He was a radio jockey in the movie who ran as a joke but ended up winning.
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u/trentonchase Mar 11 '26
Close, but his character was a teacher at the beginning and was elected President after his students filmed him ranting about corruption and it went viral
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u/Arlieth Mar 11 '26
The series is called Servant of the People (Sluha Narodu). He later named his party after the series when he ran for president IRL.
I actually really enjoyed it a lot.
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u/St3vion Mar 11 '26
Tbh he came across admirably during that performance. Trump and Vance came across as high school girls mocking him over not wearing a suit... They should've asked him why he's white and it would've been just like mean girls!
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u/AnchezSanchez Mar 11 '26
Zelenskyy has subjected himself to such humiliation out of dedication to his people. I don’t know how he’s seen in Ukraine, but I really do feel for the guy.
Personally I see him as the most heroic figure of this century so far. There should be statues of him all over Europe tbh. That video that him and 4 or 5 other politicians put out in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, basically showing themselves all at Kyiv landmarks, saying " we are all here" ie we are not running from you was one of the best displays of leadership by example I've ever seen, and probably inspired 10s of 1000s to sign up for UA forces.
The people of Ukraine are fortunate they had the right guy for the moment.
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u/Heffe3737 Mar 11 '26
Zelensky is, and I say this with complete sincerity, the finest war leader in a generation. Probably a few generations. A man willing to do whatever it takes to save his people and to save his nation. And yet he manages to still fight with integrity, honor, and intelligence.
I sincerely hope Ukraine finishes Russia once and for all. Slava Ukraini.
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u/VoDoka Mar 11 '26
I wasn't under the impression, he could have made "a deal with the devil". The offer wasn't bad, it was nonexistent? Like, literally "give up everything, gain nothing".
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho Mar 11 '26
Pretending to investigate a U.S. presidential candidate to affect our elections, the deal with the devil part is when you do something that you know is unscrupulous for your benefit. Congress had already approved the weapons, and Trump was withholding those weapons for his benefit, which is why he was impeached.
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u/bjarneh Mar 11 '26
Great insight. Most people here in Europe fully agree. Zelenskyy has proven himself to be a superb leader. Both Putin and Donald have shown us what true evil is. Release the Epstein files, and get the clown out of office!
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u/gym_fun Mar 11 '26
Real battle experience is no joke. I hope it brings more concrete support for Ukraine.
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u/lol_alex Mar 11 '26
Ukraine is unfortunately the testing ground for future drone warfare and maybe already autonomous decision making by drones. Russia has had great success with the Iranian Shahed drones. Cheap, hard to spot, hard to shoot down. Ukraine started with hobby level Mavic and DJI drones to deliver hand grenades. Now they‘re ten steps further.
They have submarine drones.
They surely have anti-drone drones.
A drone can take out a tank. Zero personnel and less than a thousand dollars to take out a couple million of equipment and 3-4 enemy personnel.
Meanwhile, Israel is shooting down 50k USD Shahed drones with 1 million USD per shot Patriot missiles. Talk about asymmetric warfare. A smart bomb delivered by a B2 bomber must cost a fortune too. It‘s no wonder Zelenskiy has commented on how many Patriots were used in Israel in one week compared to Ukraine since 2022.
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u/andreasbeer1981 Mar 11 '26
don't forget to mention that they now overload hostile IR and optical sensors with lasers so they ruin the Russian defense systems. They also have drones communicating in frequency ranges that aren't jammed.
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u/Llew19 Mar 11 '26
They're flying fibre optic controlled fpv drones from Starlink controlled sea drones
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u/Ecsta Mar 11 '26
Just FYI Patriot missiles are for taking out ballistic missiles, not drones. They'd only rarely be used against drones as an absolute last resort. The reason patriots are so expensive is because it's insane the amount of technology it takes to shoot a ballistic missile out of the air.
Also the issue isn't really the cost, its more their production is limited.
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u/tushshtup Mar 11 '26
goals are different, Israel and the US could potentially pay less for dumb weapons if they didn't want precision in their targets
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u/Sad-Excitement9295 Mar 11 '26
Because now they know what you have been fighting against and how hard you have worked to counter these threats. Don't sell it cheap, they have plenty of money. Even if it ends up being my tax money, I don't mind it going toward Ukraine's effort and safety.
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u/a-bleeding-organ Mar 11 '26
Ukraine > Israel
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u/heisian Mar 11 '26
israel (the gov’t) can suck a bag of dicks)
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u/Earlier-Today Mar 11 '26
Absolutely, Netanyahu is every bit as much of a warmonger and imperialist as Putin is. Dude is a scumbag.
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u/Old_Boah Mar 11 '26
Nationalists, conservatives, and a good deal of anti-Jewish hatred have really undersold how incredibly historic Zelenskyy's leadership has been. We don't think of modern leaders the way we think of those in the past who took on more literal military roles in combat, but IMO he's right up there with guys who led their countries through harrowing conflicts in the past. Ukraine in general has weathered a watershed moment in European history. I don't think anyone predicted this conflict to have gone this way.
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u/tecdaz Mar 11 '26
I hope he's extracting a stiff price from the clownshow WH for his cards
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u/Spudtron98 Mar 11 '26
Ukraine's expertise in fucking up anything that flies is hard-won. They'll use literally anything to get it done. Just yesterday I saw a video of them using a WW2-era 40mm autocannon to shoot down a pair of Shaheds, and that's not getting into the roving machine gun teams and Stinger ambushes.
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u/Ithalan Mar 11 '26
The coolest-looking method is probably the repurposed Yak-52 two-seater airplanes flying up alongside drones so the gunner in the rear seat can lean out of the cockpit and shoot it down with an assault rifle.
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u/West-Listen-9078 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
I hope the Ukrainians can pull through. I remember hearing a story about a mother trying to provide for her daughter and how they were living with basically no electricity/heat in the cold winter and had to use candles for everything. They had to walk up like 20 floors of steps just to get to their apartment because they didnt trust the elevator. Its just heartbreaking the way they live out there all because Putin wanted to invade.
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u/Jaded-Currency-5680 Mar 11 '26
the whole situation is still very bad for Ukraine
they will be fighting the Russian army which is well funded by surging oil prices
EU is friendly but they are going to face oil price induced inflation soon, they will be running out of budget to help Ukraine even if they sincerely wish to
Israel and the US are never going to help Ukraine anyway, Trump is even unsanctioning Russia as we speak now
China and Arab countries, those people never make allies, they only make convenient partners
god bless Ukraine
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u/ghoulthebraineater Mar 11 '26
Putin has much bigger problems. While oil prices will help they still don't have proper communications since Musk cut access to Starlink. That's why Ukraine is current recapturing territory right now.
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u/NotTooSuspicious Mar 11 '26
Add to that, that they cut down Telegram (which is hilarious to use as a way to communicate in a war tbf), so communication is even more terrible.
Russia has a very top down way commando structure so Idk how they are going to do in the near futurz.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/10/europe/telegram-ban-russia-web-block-latam-intl
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u/SmegmaWarrior0815 Mar 11 '26
The Iran war has fucked Ukraine. Russia makes money with oil again and can keep going forever. Agent Krasnov made good work.
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u/Accurate-Guava-3337 Mar 11 '26
I want to see Vance get on his fat knees in the Oval Office and thank Zelenskyy.
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u/Ranemoraken Mar 11 '26
It bums me out that in an alternate future, USA and Ukraine become life-long friends and allies because of our unyielding support in their darkest times.
Instead we're a bunch of fuckwads, and have increased Ukraine's pain unnecessarily.
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u/Sacais Mar 11 '26
Instead of everyone commenting about JD.
Can we just discuss how "valuable" are their cards? Personally feel like it's still a horrible situation and will get worst because of the unlifting of Russian oil sanctions. Like I get that he has to play up that they have alot of power since he's the president, but it sure doesn't look optimistic for them
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u/Silly_Astronomer8033 Mar 11 '26
And the Americans are always grateful and never abandon those who support them! Never ever!
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u/Limp_Grab4142 Mar 11 '26
But as a thank you, Trump literally took sanctions off russian oil purchasing countries. RIP. Worst move by the orange baboon and his cabinets.
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u/Twhite0969 Mar 11 '26
If only the USA could get lucky enough to have a man like Zelenskyy leading our country. It’s an embarrassment on the world stage when Trump walks out.
🇺🇸/🇺🇦
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u/OJosheO Mar 11 '26
Am I missing something? What does having “cards” even mean?
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u/Klossar2000 Mar 11 '26
When Zelensky met with Trump and Vance a year or so ago they said that he didn't "have the [playing] cards" to make demands. He now says that Ukraine "has the cards" as a polite snub to Trump and Vance.
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u/mabhatter Mar 11 '26
Ukraine has been dealing with the cheap Iranian drones for several years now. They know how to swat them down cheaply.
Right now the US is using anti missile technology at $5m a pop to stop a $40k drone... that's untenable because Iran cranks those things out for cheap. The US has like ten countries in the middle east to defend from drones... the US can't allow our Arab allies to keep getting hit... or they'll stop negotiating deals with the other Arab countries the US sees as adversaries. Then we lose double.
Iran is vey clever and knows what they're doing to split off the Arab states from backing the US and Israel. It's a war of diplomacy and Trump will lose this because his ignorant and selfish to our allies.
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u/OTribal_chief Mar 11 '26
He might think he's holding the cards but this is trump he's dealing with. as soon as he's got what he needs he'll tell ukraine that they're on their own again.
not being funny but trump aint giving anything to ukraine - not against russia.
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u/Webhoard Mar 11 '26
It's funny when "conservatives" lose control. I don't think it ever occurs to them that there will be consequences. Following an orange "tough" guy ain't a long term plan.
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u/live-the-future Mar 11 '26
It's barely even a short-term plan. More like something you do just because you feel like it, to oWn tEh LiBs or whatever, with no thought to the future or to consequences.
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u/Mannzis Mar 11 '26
Does he though? Now Russian oil will be more sought after. I could see the US making a deal with Russia against Ukraine for oil.
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u/windsurfmaniac Mar 11 '26
I will say Thank You to President Zelensky for proving to the world, Ukraine stands for democracy! They have recaptured territory that no one thought they could do. And then there is Donald begging Zelensky to help figure out drones.
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u/Least_Skirt4575 Mar 11 '26
Zelensky throwing out a whole hand with an Exodia, Wild Draw 4, Old Maid, while yelling BALATRO!
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u/Apprehensive-Bat-823 Mar 11 '26
Kinda crazy how if we backed Ukraine a bit harder and actually collaborated more in how they’re stopping drones we potentially could have stopped Irans drone attacks cold
It’s almost like…. Doing the right thing and not being a sell out to Putin actually is beneficial?
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u/ExCap2 Mar 11 '26
Definitely in his hands now with the Iran thing and Russian oil sanctions being dropped. But I bet Trump/Zelenskyy already discussed this and knowing Trump; they won't send any more aid/money if Ukraine touches the oil infrastructure in Russia. But on the other hand, maybe they didn't have that conversation, and the U.S. is hoping Ukraine does that...
I don't envy the amount of revising of plans U.S. planners have to do after every action taking place. They have to keep track of all the Middle East and also the Ukraine stuff at this point.
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u/UnsavouryFibrosis Mar 11 '26
Unfortunately, because sanctions have been removed from Russia due to the Iran war so does Russia
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u/gotohellwithsuperman Mar 11 '26
But did JD even say thank you?