⚡️ Governor: Russia controls 70% of Luhansk Oblast.
The Kyiv Independent
@KyivIndependent
⚡️ Governor: Russia controls 70% of Luhansk Oblast.
Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai says the entire region is under heavy fire.
5:11 PM · Mar 11, 2022
= new reply since forum marked as read
Think "state", like Oregon or Virginia. (More like "states" in Germany, to be honest. Less local power, more central power.)
The LNR was one of the secessionist states and claimed the entire "province." Except that most of the province wasn't under their control. Their constitution *says* the entire "state" is LNR territory, however. And Putin and henchmen were very clear that extending control over this land was(n't) what Putin had in mind when he recognized the LNR and DNR as countries. It was clear he did--then somebody confirmed it--then somebody said nobody confirmed it, because that's not what he meant.
Like the maternity hospital in Mariupol. At first the Russian military said it wasn't destroyed by them, it was destroyed in a false-flag operation by the Ukrainians themselves (while besieged by Russian troops, apparently). Nobody thought that reasonable. So the Russian diplomatic press corps (the remaining media, for the most part) quoted some high muckity-muck (did I type "m"?) as saying it was the home of the Azov Battalion, i.e., all Nazis. No mention of the previous authoritative explanation. (Yes, this is a pattern. You can do it when you have government control over deciding what is and is not "truth". Note that to a large extent Russia is corporatist--the government control, but doesn't own, things. So Channel 24? Controlled, not just by legal niceties, but not owned. Very Germany or Italy 1930s.)
One stated goal--and the *big* goal in Russia media, is "defending" the LNR and DNR from the ongoing military attacks. (Again, you control the narrative, you control the populace. A controlled populace is the best kind for some views of "democracy." Remember, Stalin, Brezhnev, were socialist but that's economics--they were always "deepening democracy" and were "democratic". The US was "fascist".)
One possible end-game, and one that scares me because some pronouncements by US diplomatics and spokesfokes (by which I mean they're spokes in a wheel, transmitting force from axel to rim), is rooted in the "end the war" tripe.
To wit, having put the DNR and LNR territories "to right" and produced a buffer zone--not to mention a land bridge and acquiring resources that would remain "Crimean"--Putin could say, "We've met our goals." The spineless West would heave a sigh of relief and leave Greenie with no choice but to agree to peace or be bereft of official support.
Note that the Ukr press reported that the Russians tried to send in folx to control the Zaporizhzh'a (which I wish people would stop pronouncing "Zaporizha" AES 'atomic power plant' in Ukr/Ru acronym form) because it now was the property of Rosatom. In other words, it was "nationalized" as Russian property.
(In an aside, I haven't seen much on the two alleged false-flag operations alleged in the Ukr press. One involved planes, the other artillery. In the plane incident, planes left BR space, did a 180, and then crossed into BR territory and bombed a populated area. In the other, artillery from Russia-controlled Ukr soil shelled a populated area. Lukashenka was apparently called to talk to his puppeteer. Allegedly to join the fight with BR bodies liberally littered on the ground. (Afterwards, there was an official denial from BR that the artillery shelling happened. Not having checked relevant sources for 2 hours, I hope that meant Lukashenka said 'no'.)
Ukr joke:
"Russians like to lie around (вялаются
. In Russia, they lie around drunk. In Ukraine, they lie around dead." (I'd add the Ukr word for "dead", but I already have too many software keyboards on my computer.)