Handy aping

Pro-Ukrainian propaganda can hardly justify the loss in Bakhmut (née Artemovsk) meatgrinder, but they try hard nonetheless.

It’s a pity to see Latynina, formerly great writer of science fiction with nuanced Old Chinese vibes, in such an unenviable role of "good Russian": she might have known better how civil wars on the ruins of an empire develop into all-consuming wildfires like the Camp Creek one. Her talent had been long withered away, но кушать-то хочется.

Tom Cooper writes about grim matters on the Ukrainian frontline with remarkable healthy cynicism:

I’m always a little bit of a ‘Devil’s advocate’, so let me remind you that a lots of locals are pro-Pudding/Russia, and are looking forward for these to ‘return’. This might be unpleasant to conclude, and unfair to those Ukrainains from this and similar areas who are not, but it’s a matter of fact. Thus, it’s safer to have them out of the way also in order to prevent them from informing the FSB and GRU about what is the ZSU doing there.

That’s why, folks, even in the case of Ukrainian victory and eviction of Russian army from Donbass (the Crimea is beyond the event horizon, realistically speaking), these “lifeless things that make sounds” and their lands are destined to become eternal source of troubles rivaling Na Trioblóidí for Ukrainian pro-Western nationalists. However, the division of Ukraine after long series of battles on attrition in this flower war is much more probable, with Donbass serving the role of dead barren zone of avoidance between two main constituents of the Russian empire, now artificially turned dire enemies.