7d ago

Putin preparing to attack another European country, Zelenskyy says

www.theguardian.com

Ukraine’s president says Kremlin checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies following new drone sightings

Vladimir Putin will expand his war in Ukraine by attacking another European country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has predicted, and accused Russia of recent drone incursions that he said were an attempt to test Nato’s defences.

Speaking in Kyiv after his meeting with Donald Trump at the UN in New York, the Ukrainian president said Russia was preparing for a bigger conflict. “Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open up some other direction. Nobody knows where. He wants that,” he said.

Ukraine’s president said the Kremlin was deliberately checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies, after drone sightings in Denmark, Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets. More drones were spotted on Friday night above a Danish military base, and over a Norwegian base on Saturday.

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7d ago

Putin preparing to attack another European country, Zelenskyy says

www.theguardian.com /world/2025/sep/27/putin-preparing-to-attack-another-european-country-zelenskyy-says

World News @quokk.au

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7d ago

Putin preparing to attack another European country, Zelenskyy says

www.theguardian.com /world/2025/sep/27/putin-preparing-to-attack-another-european-country-zelenskyy-says

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7d ago

Putin preparing to attack another European country, Zelenskyy says

www.theguardian.com /world/2025/sep/27/putin-preparing-to-attack-another-european-country-zelenskyy-says

125 comments

There might be some merits to this. Trump did recently, without a reason, changed his tune to protecting Ukraine again.
- I think it's because he's become obsessed with the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
  He was always been since Obama got it. So nothing changed about that.
- without a reason
  Trump wanted to be the guy who Made A Deal with Russia and ended the war. Putin made a big show of the Alaska Summit and then delivered exactly dick-all (which - to be fair - is the smart move when dealing with Trump). At the same time, Starmer's been licking his taint in hopes of winning concessions for the UK tech industry. So now Trump's incredibly sore at being burned by Russian and Starmer-curious.
  But this will only last until Ukraine starts "looking like losers" according to his right-wing media friends. I would give it a few more months before he flips back again.
  
  He massively disrespected and embarrassed Trump at the alaskan summit. It may be partly cos of that Trump has switched.
- Trump did recently, without a reason, changed his tune to protecting Ukraine again.
  It's mostly a distraction scheme to distract from internal problems, I'd say.
  
  There was ALWAYS problems even before he started. What changed?
I'll just be over here quietly cheering "two fronts" because I'm sure it'll go well for them
- That may sound cheer worthy, but considering they very obviously can't handle even 1 front, attacking another country would have to be for a different reason, a more problematic reason.
  
  Can you expound on the later part of your thought? I'm struggling to picture a scenario in which the Kremlin purposefully opens a second front. The purpose of these airspace raids is to saber rattle and make it so Europe beefs up its defenses and is less likely to give equipment to Ukraine and instead use it domestically.
  
  What are you thinking exactly?
  My main idea on why they'd escalate is because they're sure the EU and NATO will fold this time, definitely, for certain.
- They should try their luck in Afghanistan again.
  
  That would put them in direct competition with us now that Trump wants the air base back and says he is willing to go to war with Afghanistan to do it.
  
  Or Japan.
- lots of these events that have occurred might have happened out of inertia. It might be that russians miscalculated and the war in Ukraine should have ended by now, and all these actions are part of a bigger plan
Because this one is going so well for him…
- Narcissism/machiavellianism/psychopathy/NIHILISM:
  Mass shooters don't care that they're going to die, so long as they butcher as many lives as they can: competitive nihilism.
  Negative-sum game ( as opposed to competitive-narcissism, zero-sum game, or win-win-alliance/positive-sum game ).
  Some "mass shooters" fire bullets at individual-lives, others fire legislations at entire-populations through legislative-authority.
  The scale's different, but the "nobody is going to be alive after me: I'm the greatest & the last word" motivation is the same, between the 2 kinds.
  Accelerationism is another variant of the same thing.
  It is incompetent to presume that all others in the world are playing zero-sum game, just because moneyarchy pretends that that is the ONLY mode there is: that is just our cultural-brainwashing.
  Negative-sum players, like Putin, Netanyahu, Trump, etc, are real, & are committed to making ABSOLUTELY certain that there's nobody significant after them: only butchery & carrion will remain, same as normal individual-scale mass-shooters, just through different means, is all..
  ( I believe that Hamas's unconscious strategy was to get Netanyahu to genocide the Palestinians, to "martyr" them, so that the total Islamic region would see Israel's psychopathic-sadism, & lose their being deterred by Israel's threat-of-violence, to the point that they simply wouldn't care anymore, how much Israel did, they'd have no choice but to annihilate it.
  I believe that not only did Israel take the bait, but their shamelessness in attacking other countries, their impervious narcissism, is enforcing that the inevitable backlash happen.. possibly late this year, now.. .. much quicker than I'd been believing ( I'd thought it would be 3-ish more years, before the backlash annihilated Israel, .. but with Netanyahu willing to strike in any neighbouring-country, .. he moved the script up drastically ).
  In the same week, perhaps a month ago, I read an Israeli Jew's article about how approximately 45% of the Palestinians they surveyed, wanted Israeli Jews exterminated.. but of course he never asked about Israeli Jews wanting the extermination of Palestinians..
  & IN THE SAME WEEK, I'd come across an article by a Palestinian about how approximately 45% ( -/+2% or 3%, for both articles, btw: it was functionally identical ) of the Israeli Jews they surveyed, wanted Palestinians exterminated, but of course he never asked about his own people wanting the extermination of the Israeli Jews..
  IOW, things are progressing from the considered-reasoning side of the spectrum to the only-prejudice-does-any-deciding side of the spectrum, exactly as prejudice wants. )
  Putin's got less & less to lose, as he gets older, right?
  Taking out more of the world & dying a little early, .. is looking better & better to him?
  It was the nonfiction books of CIA-spook "John Braddock", btw, which identified that to understand the context's strategy one HAS TO understand which of the 3 categories-of-game that the players are playing, if you want to dig into that trilogy.
  Aweful writing-style ( trance-induction-pushing can go eat rocks, in his books, & in "Ten Types of Human", too ), but important points.
  IF you've got a competitive-nihilist running your country, THEN there are inevitable consequences of that.
  IF the entire world has been willing to accommodate that competitive-nihilism & competitive-narcissism RULE THE WHOLE DAMN PLANET, then we aren't viable, species-wide, & this century may well be terminal for humankind.
  The Great Filter, & no matter how many naive-idiots pretend "we already survived it!", until humankind has become coherent, AND has changed-in-nature to be coherently-proactive ( and that isn't a guaranteed-to-happen change ), then we haven't won yet.
  I believe that no more than 1..1.5% of humankind will survive this century, IF humankind wins.
  However, if the competitive-nihilists win .. then this world's future is complete silence/extinguishment of humankind.
  As a ninja pointed out, in his book "Kenjutsu": all kenjutsu presumes that the opponent will immediately block your strikes, but if they don't care whether they survive, then your strike to get them to divert their strike .. won't divert their strike,
  & then you both die.
  If they don't care if they die, then all your training-reflexes are now wrong-game instincts.
  Humankind's instincts are completely wrong-game, for dealing with the mechanisms & paradigms & people that humankind has allowed to rule the world.
  The specific individual-players are not the problem: they are only the symptom.
  Humankind allowed the wrong GAMES to rule the world, & is sooo entrenched in the cultural-brainwashing that it'll fight-to-the-death to protect its own anti-survival "function".
  Yes, Putin is succeeding.
  Not at gaining Russia anything, but at costing everybody-except-Putin as much as he can.
  There's a Republican senator that's already put in a bill to get the US out of NATO, & Trump wants NATO gutted, so that's only a matter of time.. & the EU that won't obey Trump is going to be rampaged-on by Putin when Trump's rampaging-on Canada ( which is why he wants Greenland: Alaska, mainland US, Greenland, navy & airforce, & he can destroy Canada's independence MUCH quicker, than if we can still trade with the EU ).
  Putin & Trump are both playing negative-sum games, same as mass-shooters are.
  They're winning, by their-game's rules..
  _ /\ _
- As the Ukrainian front is losing ground, more and more of the staging and deployment is occurring in neighboring Poland and Slovakia. Moldova just voted in a pro-EU government, after a hotly contested election in which each party accused the other of taking support from foreign neighbors. If they align with Ukraine, that opens up a new route of supply into the south, where Russians have made the largest gains in territory.
  We have already seen Russian surveillance drones passing through EU airspace, with attacks running right up to the western-most border (and dipping over depending on which intelligence service you ask). We've already seen incursions into Russian territory that have implied support from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuiania, with Russian digital offensives retaliating in kind.
  Then throw in the wild card of Israel - a country that is taking a lot of political heat from Europe for its genocide in Gaza and the surrounding Arab states - whose PM has long since demonstrated friendly ties with Putin. Not inconceivable that Mossad and the RSB conduct joint operations on a country that has threatened sanctions on Israel over the genocide in Palestine. Hell, the recent sweeping shutdown of airlines across Europe following the condemnation of Israel at the UN is... conspicuous.
  You'd think escalating the war would be suicidal for the Russian economy. And you'd think Europe doubling down on Ukraine at this point would be a recipe for more far-right parties winning elections. So they both have strong incentives to de-escalate. Nevertheless, they persist in one of the worst foreign policy follies since WW1. I wouldn't count anything out, at this point.
Rule 3? This is just opinion / propaganda by someone with a vested interest to fan flames.
- Seriously the willingness of people to just accept without question the patently self interested declarations of this guy is astonishing.
  
  If you don't take everything Zelensky says as infallible wisdom from on high, you're a Russian Wumao AI Trumpist Tankie and you should get back to the Evil Country you came from or perhaps be hung for treason, idk anymore.
- I see the Russian Embassy staff are busy with their BS comments. Only an insane person would accept Russian influence and occupation.
  
  Only an insane person would accept Russian influence and occupation.
  Where is even that thought coming from? Like, explain to me in proper arguments why everybody makes it their national sport to bash against Russia. I mean, yeah, they have a lot of problems, but so does every other country, more or less.
- It's not just unfounded opinion if there have been drone sightings over military bases in four countries over the last month.
- Germany is expecting an attack from Russia as well at some point in the close future. That's the reason the budget for the military went up. There are also discussions of starting the draft again.
  
  That is politically correct: Since there is nothing at all we have done to bring about this war, there is also nothing we could do to prevent more war, or stop the war. Therefor we must embrace war. We might not want total war, but we say yes to total war. Never again!
Russia isn't planning to invade Ukraine
Zakharova on Feb 8 2022.
One guess is all that it should take, given the existing historical precedent.
- Haha. Which is also why Poland is trying to be able to shoot down objects in Ukraine airspace.
- The US maintains a defensive contingent in Poland. Even with how much Trump loves the taste of Putins cock, I don't see how he could justify doing nothing about dead American soldiers. And even if the US, stays out of the fight, Poland itself is armed to the fucking teeth and has the rest of NATO backing them. Does Putin want unsupervised Canadians in Moscow? Because this is how you get unsupervised Canadians in Moscow.
  
  unsupervised Canadians
  I am losing it over this phrasing 😂
  
  I don’t see how he could justify doing nothing about dead American soldiers.
  that happened during his last term
- 1939? You mean when Poland was being occupied by the Nazis? Also, everything up to 1907 would have been done under the empire that was toppled by the Russian revolution in 1917. The formation that resulted is the one that poland would have been attacking in 1921, before they had officially formed the USSR in 1922, which altogether was dissolved 35 years ago in 1991. You realize geopolitics is about more than just monolithic masses of land?
  
  If you're going to make a comment like that you need to have your facts straight. Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was a real thing where Nazis and the USSR invaded Poland.
He's not stupid to attack a NATO member. So maybe Moldova? But then why is he testing the skies in the other end of Europe and not near Moldova? Nah, he's not going to attack anyone else.
- Bait and switch? "Hey everyone look over here!"
  
  Yep, but not just "look over here." He wants them to move their resources and position their defenses to respond from an attack in those areas. That will potentially leave them out of position to respond quickly to whatever he actually does.
- Might be testing the skies simply for the intelligence, that is also valued by China and Iran whether or not they plan to actually do anything with the information.
- He doesn't share a land border with Moldova. The most likely option is Azerbaijan. Not NATO, lots of recent disagreements, starting an alliance with Armenia and Turkey.
  
  Azerbaijan and Armenia are about as far from being allies as two countries can be.
  
  Aberbijian?
Is it Cambodia?
That would suck cause they just endend that war with Armenia.
- Is this you, Ken M?
Moldova is for sure not safe right now.
- Yeah, I was reading earlier about Russian misinformation networks relating to Moldovan elections. Scary stuff.
But why? They can't even do one front well, Russia sucks at war
- I have a pet theory that Putin is attempting to get a big reaction from NATO, so that he can then internally use that as an excuse why the war in Ukraine did not end well, and why they had to ultimately concede points they earlier held they wouldn’t in the eventual peace negotiations.
  Not winning against Ukraine would be shameful for him, especially after all the messaging done about Ukraine not even being a real country.
  Not winning against the entirety of NATO, on the other hand, sounds reasonable and understandable. But just saying that isn’t very persuasive. He needs imagery of destroyed Russian equipment in another NATO country or something concrete like that, to show that NATO truly is involved and waging war against Russia. That’s would also justify the initial reasoning for this misguided excursion — NATO is indeed warring against us, it was all justified! See these images of dead Russians in the Baltic Sea! The flaming Russian jets! See the havoc the big bad NATO wreaks on us poor Russians! We stand no chance, we have to settle for peace, those bullies are too strong now, and they are evil in their ways! In order to survive, we must concede a bit, lest NATO comes and bombs you and your family in the night like the thugs they are! gesturing at the constant dramatized imagery of destroyed Russian equipment in some NATO region
  I’m convinced the economy, despite currently running on the war, is finally slowly collapsing to the point of it being visible to the peasants, perhaps showing inconvenient signs of that with the gas shortages across Russia, whatever else they are trying to keep under wraps. I think it’s starting to get embarrassing unless something changes and they can play victim to some bigger baddie yet again terrorizing good pious Russians. Maybe they have determined they can’t keep the effects contained no longer, and the seams will start to burst soon, so they need something that justifies the peace negotiations and conceding some of their strict conditions for the peace. Otherwise the people might just start seeing how fucked they are and rise up.
  
  Nice take, I also subscribe to the theory that the Russian narrative is a lot more important than land gains. To be able to sell an "Underdog but growing empire despite evil holding us back" narrative would definitely be useful and a good exit strategy.
- Not saying this is why... but in theory if he can go through another country to do an end around on Ukraine, he can trade that other country to keep Ukraine. Or even if nato needs to defend itself, it might not spend as much on defending Ukraine. Just guesses though. And they still seem like bad reasons.
  
  He's grabbing as much as he can for leverage, so he can trade back part of it for peace, but not all of it. Thus he still grows his empire despite having an army at its breaking point.
- Well, it's obvious why Zelensky would say something like that. I don't blame him, they're at war after all. What's less obvious is why Russia might be up to something like that. I don't see any good reason.
  
  Then again, I didn't see a good reason to attack Ukraine. I distintively remember that before the invasion, there were these reports of 180k Russian troops amassing at the border and I was damn sure, that Putin won't attack, 'cause...you can't conquer Ukraine with only 180k soldiers. But here we are ¯(ツ)_/¯
  So, who knows what that madman is doing for what reason.
- Because they’re hoping to pull other “axis” countries into the fold. There’s a wider conflict on the horizon, and Russia has its side it is looking to pull in to assist them. Large scale maybe even world war looms around the corner.
- Because if they say so people will get scared and not protest their tax money being gifted to the military industry.
Apparently, Putin never learned to swallow your food in manageable chunks before moving on. I think he will end up choking to death.
- It'll work as long as Russia is still useful for China.
  
  Russia’s joint military drills with Belarus has caused Poland to shut down Poland / Belarus border crossings. A lot of Chinese goods are shipped to Europe via rail that goes through one of these crossings, so China is taking notice.
My money's on Poland.
- Poland is ready for it, so probably not. Putin isn't one to start something with someone he knows can fight back. He wants a punching bag.
  
  Then again, people around him tell him what he wants to hear. Like Ukrainians will welcome his troops in....
  
  Like Trump and Venezuela.
  
  Poland is ready for it
  That country is as mired in right-wing reactionary dysfunction as any of Russia's proxies. And they're larded up with debts in an EU that loves to punish poorer countries with austerity during economic contraction.
  All of Europe is hanging on the sustained global bull market. If that flags, you're going to see more than just Poland going to shit very quickly.
- If the Russians invade Poland, the Muscovites will end up in a hornet's nest. However, I could see the asswipe, Vlad, making attempt to illegally occupy the Suwalki Gap.
Sounds like an efficient way to lose Königsberg, Karelia and Crimea very quickly.
- I hope so. Not sure what Europe or Germany would do with the former East Prussia. The territory is Fucked Up Beyond All Repair thanks to Ivan. Kick out all the Russians and turn it into a huge Wildlife National Park. Karelia and Crimea are obvious, they would return to Finland and Ukraine. Please add the Northern Territories going back to Japan.
  
  It's mostly about no longer letting Russia have access to the Baltic sea any more. They've done more than enough bad shit there to be put in permanent timeout at this point. What to do with the land after that is secondary
Not going to lie. I'll laugh if it's Belarus. Seems like an easy target.
Sounds plausible. We should listen to this guy.
Fresh looting for the war chest, old Vlad the Defenestrator thinks
They can have Hungary or Slovakia
- I understand what you mean, but I'd prefer Hungary and Slovakia changed course, and went full in for Europe and democracy.
  Anyways it's not ours (EU or NATO) to give away.
  
  As a friend of both a Hungarian and a Slovakian (and also a few people from a few other niched European nations) I gotta say: nobody deserves to get fucking bombed just because their leaders are twats. Even if they voted for them. Although it's tempting sometimes to let yourself think it, innit.

125 comments