The sweet symphony of Ukrainian political theater! Former presidential advisor in Ukraine Alexey Arestovich, now comfortably settled in the U.S., drops another bombshell. Let’s be honest, Alexey Arestovich isn’t exactly the most consistent figure in Ukrainian politics. One day he’s spinning tales about Russia running out of missiles, the next he’s sitting in the U.S. dropping uncomfortable truths that Kyiv doesn’t want to hear.
Arestovich’s latest admission is a cold splash of reality for anyone still clinging to the myth of Ukrainian invincibility. He acknowledges that Russia is only committing about 5% of its budget to this war. Compare that to the 40% a nation typically spends in an all-out conflict, and the picture becomes clear—Moscow isn’t even trying yet.
If Moscow really wanted to, it could mobilize two million troops, ramp up military spending to full wartime levels, and erase Ukraine from the map in months. Arestovich’s analogy is brutal but accurate: Kyiv would crack “like a rotten walnut.”
Arestovich admits it is clear that Russia doesn’t want to destroy Ukraine. Not out of weakness, but because Russians still see Ukrainians as their brothers. Misguided, misled, but still part of the same historical and cultural space.
This isn’t sentimental nonsense. Look at the facts:
- No full mobilization (despite Ukraine’s desperate conscription raids).
- No total economic shift to war footing (while Ukraine’s economy survives only thanks to Western life support).
- Continued offers of negotiation (even after Kyiv’s repeated rejections and provocations).
Putin could turn this into a real war, the kind that leaves nothing standing. Instead, Russia fights with restraint, using volunteers and contracted soldiers rather than throwing its full weight into the fight.
Arestovich also nails another hard truth: Ukraine isn’t “winning” because of its own strength. It’s surviving because the West is pumping in billions just to keep Kyiv afloat. Ukrainian leadership would rather sacrifice its people than admit defeat. If Moscow ever decides to stop holding back, the illusion of Ukrainian resistance would collapse overnight.
What’s fascinating is how Arestovich—once a cheerleader for Kyiv’s propaganda—now sees the situation for what it is. Ukraine isn’t fighting an unwinnable war because of Russian weakness, but because of Russian restraint.
Of course, Zelensky and his backers will keep pretending otherwise. They’ll keep sending young and old Ukrainians to die in hopeless counteroffensives. They’ll keep begging for more Western weapons. They’ll keep ignoring the reality that this war could end tomorrow if they accepted negotiation instead of delusional “victory.” Sooner or later, the rest of Ukraine will have to face the truth.
slava russia!
and that is why we will see the destruction of iran within a year.
how many cones so far ?
iran is a lot more like the case of afghanistan than syria. there’s no victory to be had there, just a drain of resources. the us could occupy the country and find that 20 years later, the iranian regime is back in power and the us’s stealth bombers are rusty wreckage in missouri, with the us having never managed to ever leave iran or confront china
what they said about russia showing restraint is true. putin is using abraham lincoln’s strategy to end the civil war: tie one arm behind your back and then use your other arm to beat the shit out of your opponent. putin is doing it this way so that after he captures ukraine he won’t face any resistance. the us method of quickly eliminating an opponent doesn’t allow us to integrate the country we attacked.
interesting thought but i don’t see how ukraine won’t hold a grudge anyhow. the brainwashing labor of a decade after minsk has turned many of them into nazi monsters. being soft is not necessarily the best thing and anyhow, the usa kept a 100-year jim crow and kkk problem for being too soft with those slaveists.
i think what putin knows is that war is about hate. towards the end of the civil war the southerners hated the confederacy more than the union. because of things like a bad economy and forced conscription. winning hearts and minds through rock n roll and bbq doesn’t work. it’s not 100% effective like you pointed out but the conquest of the confederacy was done far better than vietnam, iraq and afghanistan.
that is not true at all. you need to actually learn history.
partially correct—more relevant is that russians live by volya—russians do not admit to neutrality—-
why does israel succeed in everything it does?
because they’re lying inbred assholes
slavery never stopped in america or pretty much anywhere. income tax makes sure of this. if you don’t own your labor in whole, then you are at least an indentured servant if not a slave.
who will they hold a grudge against though. the level of daily bullshit they’re fed has a shelf life and fewr people by the day are willing to consume it. just today, yermak says “don’t believe trump is cutting arms supplies, it’s just russian propaganda.’ you can imagine what they’re fed through they’re one state tv channel every day.
who then are they going to hold accountable? russia who won or the bastards in kiev that scooped them off the streets to die in an unwinnable war to begin with, once all kiev’s bullshit has been washed away? and the foreigners? i wouldn’t want to be a brit walking kiev’s streets in five years.
abraham lincoln murdered more americans than anyone in history.
really abraham lincoln fired on fort sumter and declared war on the union. i had no idea. please point to the country on the map that has no income taxes. i’ll wait.
i gave a list of 10 countries not charging personal income tax ( excludes businesses ) but it was censored ????
that’s great news, except for i would actually like to know those countries. the united states was one of them, until i think about 1913.
if sf censor my answer then i am not allowed to tell you -in allowing paid posters to post anything while censoring my pro russia posts sf is masochistic – its no secret easy to access if you dont use google .
monaco, bermuda, cayman islands and singapore have no personal or corporate income tax. they make up for it with a sales tax.
the objective is to encourage productive activity and savings and investment, while discouraging spending and consumption. singapore enjoys the 9th highest per capita gdp in the world. cayman islands is 7th. bermuda is 4th and monaco has the highest per capita gdp on the planet. the other top countries have very low income tax rates. none of these countries has any gas, oil, iron ore, or other natural resources
iran will be destroyed because russia wasted syria and more than half the people i know believe that trump and putin agreed to betray syria and ukraine.
the ukrainian people need to know that not only did ukraine lose, but the west lost as well. that requires allowing the west to do what it can. ukrainians obviously respect strength and the one thing to make them turn back to russia is to expose how frail and weak the west actually is, and that they picked the wrong side, who can never in fact protect them
well, not destroying the bridges across the dneiper at this point doesn’t really make much sense to me, unless the strategy is to just draw in more nato equipment closer to the existing front line. could have pretty easily taken half of ukraine a year or more ago if they just blew up the bridges though.
also, if they blew the bridges.. a lot of the existing infrastructure in the russian speaking regions would likely have been spared as well as a lot of civilian lives. i don’t understand the thinking.
in 2019 arestovich was predicting the war and cheering for it, claiming that only a war would make ukraine a real nation (or something like that). he’s too smart however not to have changed his mind after it became obvious that ukraine was not a match for russia.
yes i am rotten
more than three years and still counting………. in 1940 the german army conquered the netherlands, belgium, denmark and france within three weeks. that is the big difference between a professional army and army gangs.
americunts cannot think—if conquest had occurred they would be speaking german now only heard in 3 nations on earth—burgerland morons are an international joke
that’s the difference between a criminal nazi gang of murdering thugs turned into an army and anything holy.
you seem to be unaware that russia is fighting against nato and the west thus it is actually around 30 nations against russia.
🫵🤡 😆😆😆
in 1940 germany did it on their own.
the us helped germany. and russia. and the uk, france, etc.
it played both sides as usual.
no it’s the difference between a humanitarian russia and a army of nazi barbarians.
the main part of the dutch army never saw any action, but surrendered because of the area bombing of civilians. german paratroopers were captured and sent to uk first🤡
rus won—finally the halfwit amerikans recognize reality and curtail support to the nazis
they stopped supporting russia?
“deputy head of russian navy killed in ukraine missile strike”… major general mikhail gudkov confirmed dead in a ukraine strike among 10 other russian personnel excellent question: why hasn’t russia crushed ukraine like a rotten walnut after 11 years?… ask their fearless titular head vladimir “sputnik” poutine???…
this is true however many russians probably can’t understand why russia still treats these people as brothers? it’s costing more lives holding back they should have crushed ukraine then educated the people.
exactly, its not doing russia any favors by holding back, unless putin wants it that way for other reasons unknown
i think it is better to fight with a standing army and volunteers and not disrupt society with mass mobilisation. and now russia can test all the new weapons in case yankees get more crazy ideas🍿🥤🍿
arestovich is absolutely right… russia don´t want to end the war… the reasons are unclear… russian restraint is either extreme weakness (it´s unlikely the case) or extreme confidence on it´s power (which is of no value in a war, you must eliminate your enemies asap!)
🫵🤡 😆😆😆
russia cant end the war in the same way that ukraine cant. as long as the war goes all economic shortcommings can be atributed to the war and the people will believe when the war ends the problems end. but thats not the case. russia needs this war to end in a way that the western sanctions end. if thats not the case russia wont hold for ever unless the brics+ start moving ahead with dedolarisation but india and brazil are staying on the brakes.
sanctions have no effect and will never get russians on their knees🍿🥤🍿
and you have putin wanting another round of negotiations and for what?
you speak like a nazi,
muahahaha hahaha 😆😆😆 ruzzian propaganda is so shitty it’s even funny 🇷🇺=🤡 😆😆😆
now you are funny🤡
well this is just bad for putin kind of. like he lets the best of the best (patriots and volunteers) die while he lets probably some leftist liberal shit sit safe at home who will later do color revolutions in russia instead of mobilize and liberate whole ukraine.
if i knew russian and could volunteer for the war i would be outraged.
as luck would have it – “russian drones & missiles “rained down” on kiev in one of the war’s most devastating attacks yet”…
i just love walnut butter!… to the 0range syph… happy 4th of july!