Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[The Larch]

Poland, Hungary ban grain and food imports from Ukraine

WARSAW, April 15 (Reuters) - Poland and Hungary have decided to ban imports of grain and other food from neighbouring Ukraine to protect the local agricultural sector, the two governments said on Saturday, after a flood of supply depressed prices across the region.

Ukraine expressed regret about the Polish decision, saying that "resolving various issues by unilateral drastic actions will not accelerate a positive resolution of the situation".

After Russia's invasion blocked some Black Sea ports, large quantities of Ukrainian grain, which is cheaper than that produced in the European Union, ended up staying in Central European states due to logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.

In a letter to the European Commission last month, the prime ministers of five eastern European countries said the scale of the increase in products like grains, oilseeds, eggs, poultry and sugar had been "unprecedented", and said tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports should potentially be considered.

The impact of the oversupply has created a political problem for Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) in an election year, with the economy mired in stagflation.

"Today, the government has decided on a regulation that prohibits the entry, importation of grain into Poland, but also dozens of other types of food (from Ukraine)," PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said during a party convention.

The list of these goods, which will range "from grain to honey products, very, very many things", will be included in the government regulation, he added.

Ukraine's ministry of agrarian policy and food said the Polish ban contradicted existing bilateral agreements on exports, and called for talks to settle the issue.

"We understand that Polish farmers are in a difficult situation, but we emphasize that Ukrainian farmers are in the most difficult situation right now," it said in a statement.

Later on Saturday nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government joined the ban, saying the status quo would cause severe damage to local farmers.

Hungary did not give details on when its ban on grain and other food imports would go into effect, but said it will expire at the end of June.

Poland's Kaczynski said: "We are and remain unchanged friends and allies of Ukraine. We will support her and we support her. ... But it is the duty of every state, every authority, good authority in any case, to protect the interests of its citizens."

Kaczynski said Poland was ready to start talks with Ukraine to settle the grain issue.

Hungary's government said it hoped for changes in regulation at the EU level, including a re-thinking of the elimination of import duties on Ukrainian produce.

[Legbiter]

Denmark will deliver the first batch of souped-up Leopard 1s in the next couple of weeks. Ukraine will get about 80 in total over the next months. Need to train up 

Danmark lancerede projektet om at renovere et stort antal Leopard 1A5-kampvogne sammen med Nederlandene og Tyskland i begyndelsen af februar. Første delmål i projektet er fortsat at kunne levere kampvogne til to bataljoner – svarende til cirka 80 kampvogne – over de kommende måneder. De første kampvogne ventes at være klar til ukrainske træning indenfor de kommende uger.

https://www.fmn.dk/da/nyheder/2023/fungerende-forsvarsminister-de-forste-leopard-kampvogne-snart-klar-til-ukraine/

[Josquius]

Everything helps of course but quickly googling I'm seeing a lot of doubt of the leopard 1s abilities vs t72s and 80s. Any idea?

Of course the Russians are pulling vintage ww2 tanks out of storage so comparing to their best is kind of unfair.

[Legbiter]

Leopard 1s with modern optics and electronics absolutely beat the Soviet shitpile, especially if used as intended in combined arms maneuvers. There's several hundred of them owned by private companies in Europe and they were basically created for just this one purpose (kill vatniks). The problem is the whole procurement effort feels 6 months behind schedule.

[jimmy olsen]

Wait, you also have Micaelense family connections?   

No I just know a lot of people from there. Like 90 percent of the Portuguese people in Ontario are from the azores

As for me, Lisbon on my dads side. although his parents were from figueiró do vinhos, all the siblings grew up in Lisbon. Moms side is from Nazare

A long time coworker of mine is Portuguese-American. It's weird because it is not really a nationality group with any broad visibility. The way she tells it, she grew up in some small coastal town (I think a historical fishing community) I think in either Rhode Island or Massachusetts and she says it is kind of like a little Portuguese enclave. Basically everyone there is of Portuguese descent and she was heavily steeped in that until she left for college.

They were by far the biggest minority in my hometown

[Josquius]

Seeing posts of big Ukrainian artillery/rocket strikes in Lukhansk... Counter attack starting up?

[Hamilcar]

Interview with Ukrainian gigachad Kyrylo "Deeper and Deeper" Budanov.

https://youtu.be/BbGagkXBmIw

[PDH]

He could never win a Discord argument.  Just saying...

[Hamilcar]

He could never win a Discord argument.  Just saying...

Budanov is a top tier shitposter. Those zoomer kids on HOI4 discords don't stand a chance.

[Jacob]

I'm so pleased to see the general success of pro-Ukrainian shitposting

[Legbiter]

Bradleys in Ukrainian camo. 

[Razgovory]

Those are sexy dolls.

[DGuller]

Just when you think that maybe you found the bottom to the depth of Russian depravity, you come across this story: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/europe/wagner-commanders-russia-kill-children-intl-hnk/index.html.  Just how do you denazify this kind of society when it has nukes?

[Tamas]

Just when you think that maybe you found the bottom to the depth of Russian depravity, you come across this story: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/europe/wagner-commanders-russia-kill-children-intl-hnk/index.html.  Just how do you denazify this kind of society when it has nukes?

A permanent cold war seems the only viable solution.

[Josquius]

One by one pay off the post-Russian empire warlords to give you their nukes and hope none of them decide/manage to launch them in the meantime.