Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Europe that it cannot withstand Russia without Ukraine’s military, calling Ukraine’s victory vital to stopping Kremlin expansion.

Speaking to Polish media, Zelenskyy stressed that Russia’s larger, more brutal army would target other European nations if Ukraine falls.

He criticized Western allies for underestimating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions, urging them to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses.

  • Cyborganism
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    1591 day ago

    He’s right.

    Ukraine grows a LOT of grain. It’s going to be a big problem when they stop providing Europe and the world.

    • @einkorn@feddit.org
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      511 day ago

      On a more cynical note: Ukraine grows a lot of Russian obituaries, which the EU doesn’t have to, should they try to invade the Baltics once they are successful in Ukraine.

      • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        5223 hours ago

        I’m not certain why your point was downvoted (maybe the wording confused people)… but folks may grumble about paying extra taxes to financially support the Ukrainian army but that does not even compare to the rage governments would face if they started sending volunteer or drafted troops to fight the frontline.

        It’s incredibly cynical of course - but if Ukraine is willing to fight and die for European freedom for the low low cost of just some money its insane to reject their offer.

        Russia will not stop at Ukraine. They may stop at the Polish border, but the Baltic states are absolutely within Putin’s gaze.

        • @khannie@lemmy.world
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          1818 hours ago

          if Ukraine is willing to fight and die for European freedom for the low low cost of just some money its insane to reject their offer.

          Insane. It pisses me off no end that we haven’t given them the tools to not just defend their freedom, but to win. Fuck your fear of escalation. There are North Korean soldiers fighting a war of aggression in Europe.

          Like how much more are we going to take?

          • ZeroOne
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            26 hours ago

            Your biggest mistake is assuming that those tools will help against a country that has experience dealing with actual superpowers on the frontlines Backed by a nuclear power & a 2nd superpower

          • @DicJacobus@lemmy.world
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            714 hours ago

            all of it. Europe bought the lie of peace dividends, outsourced their defense to America, and elected weapons grade morons and co-conspirators like Burlesconi, Merkel and Orban, who opened the door for Putin to put Europe in a comprimising position once he decided to s tart shooting.

            And now America wants out.

            Europe’s either going to have to prepare for war. or accept that Russia is going to get to do what it wants, and continue to ratfuck European politics with shit like Orban, Fico, and whatever the fuck BRUV is.

      • Enkrod
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        2 hours ago

        Reads differently

        Looking ahead, most of the respondents expect current risks to persist, in particular the frequency of extreme weather events, and the unpredictability of how the Russian invasion of Ukraine will evolve. Concerning the latter, risks are not only linked to the availability of imports, but also to ongoing price volatility both for inputs and commodities and to potential logistical restrictions in place. Several respondents anticipate no decline in food inflation in the coming months, as input and production costs are expected to stay up, thus keeping consumer prices high due to delayed price transmission between different stages of the food chain

        So there are concerns about the invasion and it’s driving food inflation.

        • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          1 hour ago

          I never claimed climate change couldn’t cause increased prices. But EU has lots of spare farmland that farmers are paid to NOT use to REDUCE production to avoid huge stockpiles like we had in the 70’s.
          EU can increase production a lot if we want.

          So as I wrote EU is not and is not likely to become dependent on Ukrainian grain.

    • Ⓜ3️⃣3️⃣ 🌌
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      923 hours ago

      Based on prices increase for the last two years « because it’s from Ukraine »… either we are being fooled by big corps or Ukraine do produces 80% goods and food for Europe

      • Cyborganism
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        722 hours ago

        Well, if you’re from the EU, that would make sense. In America, we grow a lot of grain here in Canada and the US.

        • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          Eu is mostly self sufficient on base foods:

          https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-11/efscm-assessment-autumn-2023_en.pdf

          If you look at fig. 4 on page 5, almost every meat source is above 100%, and fig 5 show most plant foods vary between 60-130%.

          In the 70’s the ECC which EU was called back then, turned European agriculture around from huge deficits to huge surpluses. To ensure self sufficiency in case of international destabilization. This resulted in enormous stockpiles, leading to a more balanced policy, which we seem to have achieved.

          In short EU is NOT dependent on food from Ukraine, but others are.
          We do import soy and maize, but have a surplus on grains.

          • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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            19 hours ago

            The main shortfall in the EU is protein crops, not just soy but most of our lentils are from Canada, we’re more of a pea continent and not really growing that many of them. It’s unlikely that imports from the Americas will be cut off, though, and if they are then we still won’t be anywhere close to famine but meat and milk products will become a lot more expensive.

            • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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              210 hours ago

              True, but as it is now, farmers in EU are actually paid for NOT farming as much as they can. EU can increase production significantly within a year. But yes that would mean that prices would increase on some products, but I don’t think it would increase very much on meat, although it would probably make fodder a bit more expensive.

              EU has capacity for significant surplus production overall, and we could shift a lot of imported products to products grown in the EU.