• Kremlin leader to be sworn in for new term on Tuesday
• Envoys of US, EU, Canada, most EU nations to skip ceremony
• France, Hungary and Slovakia expected to attend
• Ukraine wants allies not to recognise Putin as president

"No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said. "We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity."

Britan and Canada said they would not send anyone to attend the ceremony, which comes a day after Russia on Monday announced it would hold tactical nuclear weapons drills that it said it hoped would cool down "hotheads" in the West.

A European diplomat said 20 EU member states would boycott the event, but that seven others were expected to send a representative. Apart from France, Hungary and Slovakia were both expected to attend, two diplomatic sources said.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it would not attend.

Underscoring divisions over how to deal with Russia, a Paris diplomatic source said: "France will be represented by its ambassador to Russia."

US, Most EU Nations to Boycott Putin's Inauguration Over Ukraine War | Reuters

What the fuck, France?

The funniest part about this bit of this statement is that they've once again confirmed that Crimea isn't Russian by their own logic.

Crimea is/was Russian until Ukraine started bombing it with allied weapons, then suddenly it became not-Russian because their threat of "any attack on Russian soil means bad news for you guys!" is paper thin, Crimea suddenly becomes not Russian because they're afraid, showing that Storm Shadow's striking Russia will be no issue because they're already backed down on their threat.

"Casey was warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad" could be targeted, the foreign ministry said."

What kind of threat is it to say they'd strike British equipment on the territory of Ukraine? Lmao. They've been doing that since we started sending equipment, so it's nothing new? Yeah I'm sure this threat is making Britain shiver, I won't be able to sleep tonight knowing Russia has threatened UK by doing something that doesn't even affect UK and they've been doing since the start.

Also them saying "abroad" feels like them covering their ass by not specifically saying "UK" but instead areas of the world UK operates in, but I'm not even sure what ones those would be, maybe they could send Wagner in to do their dirty work again but it would go as well as the last time Wagner attacked American troops, British troops would wipe them out like pathetic little bugs.

Also, could instead of will, is quite funny. Don't push me, I COULD hurt you...Scary. But like I said above, thanks for confirming Crimea isn't Russia, Lmao. It's so frustrating, look at this fucking paper tiger, empty threats and even their threats are soaked in their own cowardly piss, lift the damn restrictions on Ukraine already.

3 russian radar systems and 2 air defense stations were targeted over the last few days

https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/05/06/ukraine-targets-three-russian-radar-stations-two-air-defense-systems-over-past-day/

StrategyPage goes into depth on the effect that the strikes on Russian oil refineries are having. My own thoughts are that the effect is really just kind of moderate, bc the pricing of a barrel of crude oil in Russia is about $70, which isn't a whole lot more than the pricing before the refinery attacks started in earnest- 60 dollars was where the Russian oil barrel pricing was at. But that's fine, not everything is equivalent to chopping an arm or leg off. Sometimes death comes from damage over time, from the proverbial thousand cuts.

https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/2024050703212.aspx

Trump has reached a point where he is tying with biden in a national poll, so Biden has clearly been gaining a bit of momentum. Why? I personally think that news about his shady behavior coming out in his trial as well as his unpresidential attitude has started to cost him votes. Now, a national poll can only show a trend as it it isn't definitive. In fact, trump leads in the battleground states. But if this trend continues, he will lose. And if Trump loses, then ukraine will get all the aid it needs as the Republicans won't be deferring to his wishes of letting the Russians win. If Trump loses the trial he will probably lose the presidential election as well.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/06/biden-trump-tie-hispanic-black-younger-voters/73504174007/

God...Europe is so fucking naïve.

Also..