The friend of my neighbor came back from his trip to Russia (they have to drive by car to Kaliningrad, then take the airplane to Moscow, then take the train). They, Russians, don't even care much about the war in everyday life. For them, it's some "fucking around" in the west. I was surprised.

Tell him to visit Kyiv, they party like there's no war going on

There is no war in Kyiv itself and yeah, he said that, too.

Why would there be war in Kiev? Russia is fighting the US and NATO?

At 5:00

Estonian Military Intelligence claims Russian Armed Forces took initiative in the SMO zone.

There are unverified reports that the US is trying to convince Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, the same reports are saying that Ukraine is having none of it and they (Ukraine) are in this for the long haul.

https://kyivindependent.com/us-state-department-denies-pressuring-ukraine-to-negotiate-with-russia/

The U.S. State Department denied reports that the U.S. has been urging Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia, Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a briefing on Nov. 7."[A]ny negotiations...are up to Ukraine," Patel told reporters. NBC News reported on Nov. 3 that officials from the U.S. and Europe had held behind-the-scenes talks with the Ukrainian government on possible negotiations with Russia. Sources told NBC News that the conversations included potential Ukrainian concessions. "We are not aware of any conversations with Ukraine about negotiations outside of the peace formula structure," Patel told reporters, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky's 10-point plan for an end to the war. Zelensky's peace formula calls for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from illegally-occupied Ukrainian lands and the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity. In an interview with NBC News on Nov. 5, Zelensky denied that the war had reached a stalemate and urged international allies to continue supporting Ukraine's defense. "If Russia will kill all of us, they will attack NATO countries, and you will send your sons and daughters. And it will be — I’m sorry, but the price will be higher," the president said. Western support for Ukraine has wavered in recent months. Partisan battles over aid funding have caused turmoil in the U.S. House of Representatives, while some E.U. leaders have withrawn military support or admitted to "tiredness" over the war. Zelensky acknowledged that the fatigue was real, but did not say Ukraine was ready to cede territory in exchange for promises of peace. “We are not ready to give our freedom to this f***king terrorist, Putin,” he told NBC News. Patel also said in the Nov. 7 briefing that the U.S. did not expect Russia to participate in meaningful peace talks."[T]he Kremlin has no interest in negotiating or ending this war, and we are committed to supporting our Ukrainian partners," he said.

and another one: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-european-officials-broach-topic-peace-negotiations-ukraine-sources-rcna123628

WASHINGTON — U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said. The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said. They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements. And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. Some U.S. military officials have privately begun using the term “stalemate” to describe the current battle in Ukraine, with some saying it may come down to which side can maintain a military force the longest. Neither side is making large strides on the battlefield, which some U.S. officials now describe as a war of inches. Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.

and another one: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-2666200768/

Western officials are starting to broach the idea of peace talks with Russia as the situation on the ground in Ukraine has devolved into a stalemate, according to a major new report from NBC News. American and European diplomats reportedly used a recent round of talks in Malta to encourage Ukraine to consider what concessions it may be willing to make — a significant shift from the public messaging around the summit, which was largely framed as an opportunity to build support for Ukraine’s maximalist peace plan. Officials are now privately referring to the situation on the ground as a stalemate, and some “have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin,” the report notes. A State Department spokesperson denied NBC’s reporting on Tuesday, reiterating the administration line that “nothing should happen about Ukraine without Ukraine” and saying that the U.S. is “not aware of any conversations with Ukraine about negotiations outside of the peace formula structure that you’ve already seen a number of engagements take place on.” The news comes at a difficult time for Ukraine as the world’s attention has largely turned toward Israel and Palestine, where weeks of intense fighting has left Gaza in a humanitarian disaster. The West’s differing reactions to the two conflicts have further complicated efforts to bolster Global South support for Ukraine. In the United States, President Joe Biden is now attempting to link $14.3 billion in aid for Israel to an additional $61.4 billion in funding for Ukraine, a move that House Republicans have so far rejected. The chances that there will be a gap in American funding for Kyiv have continued to grow as a potential government shutdown looms later this month. And in Europe, many leaders have begun to move away from full-throated support for Ukraine given the stalling efforts on the battlefield and the economic impact on the continent. Even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has staked out a distinctly pro-Ukraine stance since taking office earlier this year, told Russian pranksters posing as African Union officials that “there is a lot of fatigue” in Europe due to the war. “We [are] near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out,” Meloni added. None of this guarantees that Russia is prepared for talks. Some experts argue that Russian President Vladimir Putin sees a chance to wait Ukraine and the West out through a war of attrition, a serious possibility given the extent of Ukrainian losses (the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now reportedly 43 years old) and the relatively low appetite for future funding among Republicans in the U.S. In fact, Russia appears to have already leaned into this approach with its renewed bombing campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, a move that could cause blackouts across Ukraine during its often brutal winter. If Russian President Vladimir Putin does end up pursuing his advantage, Ukraine’s strongest boosters may be kicking themselves for ignoring the advice of more skeptical voices, including former Joint Chiefs head Mark Milley, who said late last year that the winter could provide “a window of opportunity for negotiation.” “There has to be a mutual recognition that a military victory is probably, in the true sense of the word is maybe not achievable through military means, and therefore you need to turn to other means,” Milley said. As Branko Marcetic recently argued in Compact, the consequences of ignoring Milley’s advice may be severe.“[J]ust as pro-peace voices had warned, Ukraine is now looking at the worst of both worlds: accepting a far inferior peace deal, while having weathered the tremendous human and economic costs of a prolonged conflict,” Marcetic wrote. “Most perversely, [Kyiv] has been put into this position by those who postured as its most ardent supporters, the hawks who thought of the war as a way of humiliating Russia on the cheap.”

This post was edited by ferdia on Nov 10 2023 11:01am

Next intelligence report: Winter is coming as there is snow starting to fall

"The war is waged not only on the ground and in the air, but also in the minds. Ukrainian psychological operations in the future will be understood in textbooks. One of the most successful is the counteroffensive. For several months we deceived the enemy, claiming that we were conducting a large-scale ground operation. Cyber ​​troops dispersed this idea in enemy social networks and minds. For several months now, the Russians have been subject to a powerful psychological attack, while our troops are gaining strength and getting stronger for a real counter-offensive."

Channel 1+1, Ukraine

source / link ? and hi